Authors: C S Winchester
Frankie blinked and took a few deep breaths. She felt mortified for letting him get to her like that.
“
I uh, I shouldn't have come,” she said, backing towards the door. “I'm sorry I disturbed your... Sorry I disturbed you.”
“
Oh, come on, Frankie,” she heard him call after her. “I was only illustrating a point.”
But she was too embarrassed to stay. She pressed the call button on the lift and prayed that Dante wouldn't follow her out. Thankfully he didn't, and she released a sigh of relief as the lift began it's downward journey.
She felt like a fool. Was she really missing sex so much that even Dante turned her on?
No, she thought rationally, Dante was quite likely to turn her on regardless of when she last had sex. He was a very attractive man and he knew exactly which buttons to press. But he had been playing with her and she didn't like that feeling. She wasn't his toy, his pet human, and she hated the fact that she hadn't been strong enough to stop him.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped into the sunlight outside, since there was no way that Dante could follow her out here.
She paused and leaned against the building for a few moments, mentally kicking herself for letting Dante get under her skin, then kicking herself once again as she realised that she hadn't even asked him what she'd gone there to ask.
Well, it was too late now, because there was no way she was going back in there. As she headed back to her car she began formulating a new plan of action. She pulled a hair band from her bag and began scraping her hair back into a messy pony-tail. She needed a secure computer but her home terminal was out of the question while her parents were there, so she called HQ in London and asked them to inform Redford Barracks that she was coming. Their secure communications room would have a computer that she could use.
Frankie quickly wrote a report on the incidents to date and the information she had gleaned about the perpetrator, which she then emailed it to her boss, marked 'urgent'. Since she thought the puppy-killer might have spent time in America, her message also asked him to contact their American counterparts, to see if they had reports on file of similar incidents over there.
Next she called Clara, a local witch she had met on a previous case, and asked her to keep her ears open for any information. Then she phoned Mark, a shapeshifter, and asked him to ask around his friends, reasoning that shapeshifters might well pay more attention to incidents of murdered animals than a regular human would.
Finally she sat back and wondered what to do about asking the vampire community. Her reason for asking them if they had heard anything was the same as asking the shapeshifters; since the animals were drained of blood, that could well peak a vampire's interest. Unfortunately, she only knew how to contact two vampires. Alex, her ex-boyfriend was out, because she didn't want to offer him any encouragement, and the idea of talking to Dante again wasn't something she even wanted to contemplate for a few days.
Besides, asking them was a long shot to begin with, plus they wouldn't really consider killing animals to be a serious crime and so they might not take her seriously. Other MI5 operatives didn't have the vampire option open to them, because they didn't know that vampires existed, and as such she reasoned that it was probably okay to leave them out of this case.
Instead she began looking through the MI5 supernatural database for references to animal abuse, sacrifice, longevity and Hades. Her search brought up over two dozen cases and she began the tedious process of looking through them all.
At four o'clock she took a break and called Will, who updated her on his progress. They didn't have much, only two witnesses who may have seen the killer. One report was someone walking near the home of one of the pets, the other a description of someone walking near one of the the entrances to Corstorphine Hill. Neither witness gave a good description but the information, along with an appeal, would be on the evening news.
Next Frankie checked her email for updates, but no one had contacted her with similar cases. Her boss had replied to her email, questioning the wisdom of pursuing what was little more than than an animal cruelty case, but he had allowed her a few day's leeway because of the suspected supernatural element.
Her boss, Maxwell Holden, had begun his career in the army. He was efficient, a good leader and a decorated war hero, but he was slightly lacking in the compassion department. His nickname was The Robot and it suited his character to a tee.
She brushed his email aside and got back to the case files. As she worked, she was aware of the officers manning the Comm Room looking at her. She knew she was a curiosity but she tried to ignore their stares.
They offered her tea and coffee regularly and they even brought her a sandwich at lunchtime. She could hear them whispering about her, wondering both what an MI5 agent was doing there, and why she never removed her gloves, but they were too professional to ask her.
Frankie stayed until 7pm, partly because she wanted to get this job over with, but mostly so she could avoid her parents for as long as possible, although she knew that she couldn't stay here forever.
She said her goodbyes to the officers present, thanking them for their hospitality and then she headed to her car. The sun had set but the sky was still quite light, so it hadn't been down for long. She headed home with a heavy heart, knowing that her mother would have quite a lot to say about Frankie leaving them alone today. Her mother didn't listen to reason; she seemed to think that if she believed in something for long enough, it would become a reality.
Frankie often wished that were true but sadly she was a realist, bordering on pessimist.
As she pulled up to her house, parking on the road because her parents had parked in the driveway, she could sense there was a vampire in her house, along with two human auras. She mustered her bravado and prepared to face Dante.
“
Hi Mum, Dad,” she called as she unlocked the front door and took her coat off. “How was your day?”
Her mother bustled out from the living room, positively brimming with happiness.
“
Frankie, darling, you'll never guess who's here.”
Frankie plastered a smile on her face and went into the living room behind her mother.
“
Alex!”
Chapter Eight
Alex stood up as she entered. She was pleased to see that he looked hesitant, as though he'd got more than he bargained for when he came here.
“
I'm sorry for barging in, Frankie. I didn't know that you had guests.”
“
Nonsense,” her mother cut over Frankie's reply. “It's been lovely to meet you, Alex. He's very welcome, isn't he, Frankie?”
Frankie didn't bother answering her mother, but grabbed Alex's hand and pulled him into the kitchen with her. She closed the door behind them, so that they at least had the illusion of privacy.
“
What are you doing here?” she hissed. “I told you I didn't want to see you again.”
“
I know and I'm sorry, but I had to see you.”
“
Nothing's changed,” Frankie said as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
“
You still can't forgive me?” His voice was sad.
“
I'm not exactly the forgiving type and pressuring me, bombarding me with gifts and letters isn't the way to earn my forgiveness.”
“
Can you ever excuse what I did?”
“
Even if I could, I still wouldn't want to be with you. We're too different. You want a woman whose only goal in life is to meet Mister Right and look after him. I want to keep my own life, my job, my independence.”
“
Being in a couple means doing what's best for the relationship.”
“
No, being in a relationship means I like spending time with someone, not that I want to give up my life and merge into yours.”
“
It's too soon,” Alex sighed.
“
It's not too soon, Alex. I will always feel this way. You're too old fashioned, your ideas of the perfect relationship are like something out of an Austen novel, but I'm not an Austen heroine. I don't want to spend my days taking tea and making small talk with other womenfolk, because you're too jealous to let me near another man.”
“
Is that really how you see me?”
“
It is,” she nodded. “And I have a lot on my plate at the moment, so I'd appreciate it if you'd leave.”
She pulled the kitchen door open to find her mother waiting in the hallway.
“
Oh, are you done? I was just looking for a newspaper.” Cecilia said, trying to pretend that she hadn't been listening in.
“
Alex was just leaving,” Frankie informed her.
“
Oh no! What on earth for?”
Frankie rolled her eyes, knowing she had heard every word of their conversation.
“
I'm afraid I have a prior engagement that slipped my mind, Mrs Wright.” Alex said.
“
But I thought you were joining us for dinner?”
“
I said I would see what Frankie thought of the idea and clearly she isn't keen.”
“
Don't be silly, Alex. Frankie's just had a long day; she'd love for you to come to dinner with us, wouldn't you, darling?”
At that point her father joined them. Frankie knew how much he hated fighting and so she bit her tongue.
“
I think Alex is busy, Mum.”
“
I'm sure he can make time for you,” her mother assured her.
Alex again tried to make an excuse, but her mother cut him off and he ended up going out with them. Her father drove, insisting that it was his turn.
Though Alex had tried to respect her wishes and leave, now that he was invited he seemed determined to make a good impression on her parents, insisting they dine at the Witchery restaurant, a very exclusive and expensive restaurant in town.
Frankie was under-dressed for the place but she didn't care. The restaurant didn't seem to mind either, only her mother looked upset by her attire. Frankie ignored her snide remarks.
“
I hope you have something nicer in your wardrobe for Angela's wedding,” her mother said as they looked over the menus.”
“
I'm not going to the wedding.”
“
Why ever not?”
“
Let's see, shall we. One, I hate weddings. Two, I have nothing to wear and three, I wasn't invited.”
“
Of course you're invited. You must not have given Angela your address, so she sent the invitation to us.”
“
And you RSVP'd for me without even asking me?”
“
She's your cousin, I shouldn't need to ask.”
“
Oh, Mum, that is wrong on so many levels. Not to mention, illegal. You aren't allowed to open someone else's post.”
“
Don't be silly, sweetheart, it's only a letter.”
“
Which wasn't addressed to you- Oh forget it,” she groaned. “I'm not going, so you'll just have to make my apologies for me.”
“
If it's an issue of having no one to take, I'm sure Alex here would escort you.”
“
It's not that, Mum, trust me.”
“
Well I think it's rather dour of you not to celebrate your own cousin's marriage just because you can't keep a man.”
Frankie excused herself to go to the bathroom and called Will.
“
Frankie, how's the investigation going on your end.”
“
It isn't. I'm sorry, Will, I'm trapped in The Dinner From Hell with my mother and my ex-boyfriend. I just needed to hear a friendly voice.”
“
That bad?”
“
Worse. I am this close to killing her.”
“
Do you want me to call with an emergency?”
“
Oh, that's very tempting but no. I should see this through. Plus I have more case files to read through later. Any luck your end?”
“
Not really. The tip line has received a lot of calls, but we haven't found any wheat among the chaff yet.”
“
Are you still at work?”
“
No, I brought the file home, but I'm just about to pop open a beer and nuke a TV dinner.”
“
Oh, sounds like heaven.”
“
Well you're very welcome to join me.”
“
Thank you,” she sighed, “but I'd better get back to the table. They think I've gone to the loo. Oops, I mean the ladies room.”
“
Okay, I'll talk to you tomorrow.”
“
Yeah. Night, Will.”
“
G'night, Frankie. And remember, don't kill anyone.”
Frankie smiled and hung up. As she sat down at the table again, she found that her mother was giving Alex the fifth degree. They were discussing his nightclub at present.