Authors: Ken White
“He told you that it was police business, that kind of thing?”
“No,” Sara said. “He wouldn’t answer. He never opened his mouth. He just stood there.
Looked at me. Looked at the door. Looked at me. Looked at the door.”
“What did you do after they left?”
She shrugged. “I sat here and cried for a while. I don’t know how long. Then I went in and
straightened up your office. The mean cop had left it a real mess. There were files all over the
floor.”
“My files or Joshua’s?”
“I don’t know, Charlie. Just files. They’re in a pile on the floor next to Joshua’s desk if you
want to look.” She smiled. “I was going to try to sort through them later tonight.”
I noticed that she was starting to rock, gently, back and forth in the chair. “Thanks, Sara, I
think that’s plenty for tonight. Go home, get some rest, and be back here at your regular time
tomorrow night.”
“Okay,” she said, grabbing her purse and standing. She turned to me. “You didn’t really
kill Joshua, did you?”
I shook my head. “No. But we’re going to find out who did.”
“That’s good,” she said as she started to brush past me. She stopped, her body pressed
against mine. “So how about you come home with me, Charlie. I’ll rest a whole lot better with
you next to me.”
I pulled away from her. “Jesus, Sara, what the hell is wrong with you?”
Her lips pulled back as she bared her teeth. I took another step back. “I’m tired of being
alone,” she hissed. “I need to feel somebody beside me.”
“So find somebody,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm. “Sara, I’m a . . . well, you’re
what you are and I’m . . . not.”
“Let me give you a little bit of vampire lore you probably don’t know, Charlie,” she said.
“Vampire guys got no lead in their pencils. The blood doesn’t consider it essential.”
“Look, Sara, you’re a good looking woman,” I said, a little confused by her comment about
blood. “I’m sure there are plenty of . . . well, guys like me who’d love a chance to . . . date you.”
“Oh, sure, there are plenty of girls who pick up human guys in the clubs. You’d be surprised
how many human guys get hot over vampire girls.” She shook her head. “I don’t want some
goth asshole who’s been cut and chewed on by half a dozen women. I want somebody I know,
somebody I like.”
I chuckled uncomfortably. “I really don’t think it would be a good idea.”
“Come on, Charlie,” she said, her voice cracking. “I’m not gonna bite you. I don’t want to
get married, or date. I just need to get laid. You know how long it’s been?”
“Sara, please,” I said. “I’m tired, I hurt, and my best friend is dead. Do you think we could
maybe postpone this discussion for another time?”
“Okay,” she said, moving closer to me. “We can postpone it.” Then she was on me, her
arms holding me tightly, her mouth an inch from my ear. And my neck.
“But not too long,” she whispered. She laughed and went out the door.
When I heard the elevator close behind her, I locked the door to the hall and turned off the
light in reception. Then I waited. With any luck, she’d already be out of the building and on her
way home. But if she decided to come back, I was going to have to get serious with her. I kept
the portfolio under my left arm, my right hand inside, clutching the pistol.
After about five minutes, I lost interest in the whole thing. Whether she came back or not, I
wasn’t going to stand in the dark anymore.
The floor lamps that loomed over both my desk and Joshua’s were on. Next to Joshua’s
desk was a three-foot stack of file folders. The wall clock said it was a quarter to six. I jiggled
the box of pills in my pocket, then took it out and removed one pill.
There was nothing to drink in the office except the bottle of gin in my desk, and I didn’t
want to chase a pain pill with alcohol. I swallowed the pill dry.
It was late. I’d had less than four hours of sleep in the last thirty-six hours. Whatever else
needed to be done could wait. I turned off the lamps, locked the office door, stuck the pistol
under one of the cushions on the couch, and laid down. The pain pill kicked in about ten minutes
later, and sleep kicked in a few seconds after that.
Chapter Eleven
Somebody was screaming. A woman. I opened my eyes.
Cynthia stood at the foot of the couch, looking down at me, her hands over her mouth.
When I opened my eyes, she recoiled.
“Did you just scream?” I asked, trying to sit up.
“I thought you were dead.”
“Dead,” I repeated. “Who told you I was dead?”
“I mean, I thought they killed you and dropped your . . . body here.” From the look on her
face, she didn’t seem entirely convinced that I was alive.
“No, I’m not dead,” I muttered, lurching to my feet. “I feel dead, or maybe worse than dead,
if that helps.”
“What happened to you?” she asked. “Miss Tindell left me a note that said Mr. Thomas was
murdered and that you had been arrested. I was just coming in here to straighten up when I saw
you laying there and thought . . . well, you know.”
I rubbed my eyes briskly with both hands and walked to my desk. “That about sums it up,” I
said, sliding into the chair. “Somebody killed Joshua, the cops arrested me.” I ran my fingers
over my face. It was still tender, but it felt like a lot of the swelling had gone down. “Beat me
up pretty good, too.”
“But you’re innocent, so they released you,” Cynthia said as she followed me to the desk.
“Yes and no,” I replied. “Innocent yes. But they didn’t release me. I was sprung by our
new client.”
“An attorney?”
“The Deputy Area Governor. Joshua’s bloodfather.”
“Bloodfather,” Cynthia said. “That’s . . .”
“The Vee that turned Joshua,” I said. “He wants us to find whoever killed him.” I looked
around the office. “So what’s been happening here?”
“Captain Mutz called yesterday morning. Didn’t say what he wanted, just
said he’d call back. And Father McCray called on behalf of Mrs. Klinger. He didn’t know
about your arrest, so I just took the message and told him you’d get back to him when you
could.”
I nodded. Jimmy Mutz might not have known about my arrest either when he called. The
night shift doesn’t always pass everything to the day shift. He was probably calling to find out
what to do with Jedron Marsch, the kid Joshua was supposed to pick up.
“Call Downtown station and tell Jimmy Mutz that I’ll be over as soon as I can grab a shower
and a change of clothes at home. Then call Father McCray and tell him I’ll stop by St.
Bonaventure tomorrow.”
Cynthia nodded. “I’m glad you’re back, Charlie,” she said.
“Thanks. Me too.”
As she headed for the door, I pushed myself up. The pill I’d taken barely four hours earlier
was keeping the worst of the pain at bay, but I still ached. I grabbed the portfolio that Takeda
had given me, and pulled the pistol from where I’d stashed it under the cushion. I stuck it in the
portfolio.
They’d trashed my apartment, which didn’t surprise me. When Vee cops make an arrest, it’s
rare that the suspect ever comes home, so they’re free to do what they like. What surprised me
was the sheer violence of the destruction. They hadn’t just trashed it because they didn’t care
about keeping it nice and clean. They’d literally torn my home apart.
For cops, the lowest form of scum is a cop killer. If I’d killed a cop, I wouldn’t have been
surprised at what I found. Hate me, hate my stuff. But Joshua wasn’t a cop. He wasn’t even
well-liked by the rank and file on the night shift at Uptown District. So tearing up the place like
this didn’t make sense.
I stepped over the pieces of shattered furniture and went into the bedroom. Somebody had
taken a knife to my bed and gutted it. The dresser was splintered, the closet stripped bare, my
clothes spread out across the floor. It looked like everything I owned had been hacked up.
I fished around until I found a pair of pants and a shirt that were in wearable condition.
Finding a jacket was another story. They’d all been cut apart, the linings ripped out, the sleeves
split from cuff to shoulder. I’d have to go with the jacket I had on, and hope nobody noticed the
blood and vomit stains.
The hot shower felt good. I made it hotter and hotter, till I could barely stand it. My bruised
body seemed to soak up the heat. When I was done, I shaved, ran a towel through my hair, and
got dressed. I also swallowed the second pain pill Bain’s doctor had given me.
I was buttoning my shirt when I came out of the bedroom and saw Dick Nedelmann
standing just inside the front door, staring at me. “Hi, Dick,” I said.“I’m glad you’re here...”
“What the fuck are you playing at, Charlie?” he said. There was barely-controlled rage in
his voice.
“What do you mean?” My gun was still in the portfolio, in the bedroom where I’d left it. If
Nedelmann was in a shooting kind of mood, I wouldn’t make the bedroom door.
“The watch lieutenant tells me I’ve been put on temporary detached duty with the State Police,”
he said through his teeth. “Said I’m supposed to report to your office tonight for my
assignment.”
State Police. I had been hoping that Takeda could get him an Area assignment, but
apparently that was above her pay grade. State would do.
I nodded. “That’s right. You’ve been assigned to help me find whoever killed Joshua.”
“Assigned by who?”
“Deputy Area Governor,” I said. “He was Joshua’s bloodfather.”
“I don’t give a fuck who he is,” Nedelmann spat. “I don’t work for bloodsuckers.”
“Sure you do,” I said. “Police Commissioner is a bloodsucker. Deputy Police
Commissioner is a bloodsucker. Downtown District Chief is a bloodsucker. You may not report
directly to Vees, but you sure as hell work for them.”
He stared at me for a minute and I stared right back. If Nedelmann was going over the edge,
this was when it would happen. Finally he shook his head. “Fucking State Police,” he said.
“Every goddamn human on the State Police got their job kissing Vee ass. Or worse.”
His anger was fading fast, but he was still pretty upset.
“Your ID will say State Police,” I said evenly. “It’s just a card and a badge. You’ll be
working for me.”
“I have a card and a badge already,” he said, his voice sullen.
“Yeah, a city card and badge,” I replied. “We’re going to be dealing with Vees, Dick.
Maybe heavy-hitters. You know the way it works. State cop outranks city cop. Area security
force outranks state cop. A place for everybody and everybody in their place. With humans at
the bottom. Unless, of course, they have ID that says different.”
“Why me?”
“I know you,” I said. “You were a good street cop before the war, and you do a pretty good
job now, even with things the way they are. You’ve got the background, you’ve got the instincts.
I need that. So I asked for you.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Yeah, and I don’t like that my partner’s dead, I got the shit kicked out me, and my
apartment is trashed.” I paused. “We’ll both get over it.”
He hesitated a moment, then nodded slowly. “You bet. Okay, so what do you want me to
do?”
“Go home and get some sleep if you can,” I said. “We’ve got a long night ahead of us. Be
at my office at six.”
He nodded again and turned to go. I went into the bedroom, put on my stained jacket,
tucked the portfolio under my arm, and left.
Jimmy Mutz was standing behind the desk sergeant’s counter when I walked into the
Downtown station. He said something to the sergeant and I heard a buzzer go off on the door to
the left of the counter. Jimmy jerked his chin at the door and I headed that way. He was waiting
for me on the other side.
“You look like hell,” he said as he turned and started down the hall.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” I said, following.
“Gotta admit, I was kind of surprised to hear from your secretary,” he said over his shoulder
as he walked. “When I saw your name on the arrest sheet yesterday afternoon, I figured you were
lunch meat.”
“So did I. Nice surprise to find out I was wrong.”
He opened the door at the end of the hall and stepped in, leaving it open. I went inside and
closed the door behind me.
“Have a seat, Charlie,” he said, sitting down behind the bare table in the middle of the room.
I looked around. “This an official chat, Jimmy?” There was no one-way glass in the wall,
but I’d been in interrogation rooms before. Usually sitting where Jimmy sat.
He laughed. “Sit down. I wanted some privacy.” He looked around the room. “Nice thing
about an interrogation room is that I know where all the microphones are and how to turn them
off.”
I slid into the chair opposite him. “Good point.”
“Didn’t see your name on the sprung sheet this morning, which is why Cynthia’s call caught
me off guard.” He paused. “You on the lam, or did they officially release you?”