Blood Law (28 page)

Tasha accepted his handwritten reports. The tight scrawl resembled a foreign language, but years of reading bad handwriting helped her interpret the notes. “Lipscomb was shot and staked, like the others.”

“Then decapitated. Definitely the work of the same killer.”

She scanned the second report. “Adams was beaten?”

Doc Hancock bobbed his head. “Severely, but there were no signs of sexual assault. Mostly blunt-force trauma, but I did find a few stab wounds. Judging from the damage to the surrounding tissue, I’d say you’re looking for a slender but heavy instrument with some kind of pronged, wedge-shaped tip.”

“Did you find
anything
that might lead us to this guy? Prints? Skin under the fingernails?”

Doc Hancock shook his head. “The rain washed away any trace of physical evidence left on Lipscomb’s body.” He pulled a plastic zip-top bag sealed with red tape from the bottom of the stack of reports and handed it to her. “However, when we went to examine Adams, we found this in the folds of her clothing.”

Tasha examined the blood-stained block. “A pack of gum?”

“It may or may not belong to the vic, but I thought the Bureau’s forensic tech may be able to lift a print from it.”

“Yeah, maybe. Anything else?”

“One more thing.” He handed her another report. “Report on some Taser confetti found at the Crimson Swan scene. It was sent to me by mistake.”

Tasha took the paper and scanned over it.

“I think you’ll find it traced back to an interesting source.”

Taser confetti consisted of small paper dots imprinted with a tracking number that scattered over the area where the probes were initially fired. The number could be traced back to a particular weapon and to
whom it was sold. She checked the report a second time before looking to Doc Hancock. “Is this correct?”

“Verified it over the phone.”

“Mind if I hang on to this?”

“Don’t see why not. Like I said, it came to me by mistake.”

Her hands shook as she folded the paper and slipped it into her pocket.

“You want to take copies of my reports back to the Enforcers?”

“No, I have to follow up on this Taser thing. Just fax everything else to Enforcer Baudelaire at the precinct.”

“Will do.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Tasha said, and turned on her heel. She exited the autopsy room and headed for her car.

And to have a little chat with Harvey Manser.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Damian’s deep voice rose with each word.

Alex shrank into the couch in the hotel suite she shared with her mother. Varik and Damian had escorted her back to the hotel while Tubby Jordan and Martin Evans, the man whose nose she’d broken, had been taken into custody by the Enforcers for questioning after it was discovered they were in the diner shredding HSM documents.

The question most concerning Alex now was her own fate. She’d bitten a non-donor human and ingested his blood. She’d broken the most sacred of laws, the Blood Law: “Never take by force from one what is freely
offered by others.” It was a crime punishable by death under vampiric law. Her only shot at avoiding a capital charge was to plead her case and hope Damian took pity on her.

“Of all the stupid shit you could’ve pulled,” Damian railed, “you had to go and bite a human!”

“It was just a little bite,” she said. “In self-defense.”

“Excuse me?” Damian whirled on her. “Did you say something? I sure as hell hope not, because I don’t remember giving you permission to speak yet, Enforcer Sabian.”

Alex clenched her teeth to keep from telling him to piss off.

Varik stepped between them. “Ease up, Damian,” he said calmly. “She knows what she did was wrong.”

“Does she? For that matter, I ought to ship the both of you off to Alaska for screwing up a murder investigation!”

“Varik didn’t—” Alex’s voice faded away as Varik talked over her.

“If that’s what you really want to do, then by all means, go right ahead.” Varik shrugged. “I could spend my weekends ice fishing.”

“I’m warning you, Baudelaire. I’m in no mood for your shit.”

“And I’m in no mood for yours.”

“Stop it.” Emily finally spoke and struck the window-side table with her open palm. “All of you, just stop it. This bickering isn’t going to accomplish anything useful, and it certainly isn’t going to help any of you find Stephen.”

Alex met Varik’s gaze and then looked away. Her mother was right, as usual. Stephen should be their primary focus. According to the note Alex had been given, the kidnappers wanted all vampires out of Jefferson by midnight or they’d kill Stephen. She felt a fresh stab of guilt pierce her chest. If only she’d gotten to him sooner …

Damian jabbed a finger at her, but his voice was calmer when he spoke. “
You
had no business going anywhere near that diner.”

Varik backed off and leaned against the wall, arms folded over his chest and one foot crossed in front of the other. His stance was one of indifference, but his eyes were bright gold and remained locked on Damian like twin lasers.

“I know that,” Alex said through clenched teeth. “But Owen Gibson said the cook at the diner had given him HSM material. I don’t know why, but I got it in my head that that son of a bitch knows where Stephen is.”

“Bill Jenkins wasn’t even at the diner.”

“I know that
now
, but I also know the two who were there and HSM are involved.”

“Yes, but Jordan and Evans both claim not to know anything about the kidnapping, the fire, the murders, or the shooting.”

“Evans is lying,” Alex muttered.

“You would know, wouldn’t you?” Damian asked, glaring at her.

She couldn’t meet his gaze. The coppery bite of Evans’s blood still lingered in her mouth and increased her guilt.

Damian swiped a hand over his face and sat down across from her. “Biting Evans is the least of your problems, anyway.”

Her head snapped up. “What does that mean?”

Damian produced a small zip-top bag containing an amber vial from his jacket pocket. “This was found in the center console of your Jeep.” He dropped it on the coffee table in front of her. “Care to explain it?”

Alex frowned and used a corner of her shirt to cover her thumb and index finger as she picked up the bag. Dark liquid sloshed within the vial, and a teardrop superimposed over a crescent moon adorned the cap. “It’s Midnight.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Damian retorted. “What’s it doing in your vehicle?”

“I’ve never seen this before.” She handed the bag to Varik, who’d joined her on the couch. “You can’t possibly think it’s
mine
?”

“No, I don’t,” Damian said, and pulled another bag containing a wad of cloth from his pocket. “We also found this.”

“That looks like a man’s handkerchief.”

“It is.”

“Where did it come from?” Emily asked, moving from the window table to stand beside Damian.

“One of JPD’s forensic techs saw Harvey Manser near your vehicle yesterday.”

“The sheriff?” Varik asked.

Damian nodded. “Any ideas why he’d want to set you up, Enforcer Sabian?”

“Other than my being a vampire and his hatred of all vampires? No, can’t think of a single reason.”

“Don’t get cute. This is a serious situation. If one branch of human law enforcement is actively trying to set you up for a fall, then we have to assume metro police may be in on the conspiracy as well.”

Alex gaped at him. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m very serious.” He picked up the bag containing the vial of Midnight. “As of this moment, all communication between our people and the local agencies is severed. Until we can get this mess under control, neither of you”—he pointed to Alex and Varik—“are to breathe a word of this or anything else related to an ongoing investigation to Lieutenant Lockwood, Sheriff Manser, or any of their officers. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Alex and Varik answered simultaneously, followed by Varik asking, “What about the kidnappers’ demands?”

“We’re working on a plan to bus vampires out of town and to a temporary shelter in the country. It’s just a precaution in the event we can’t find Stephen before the midnight deadline,” Damian answered.

The trilling notes of a futuristic ringtone filled the room. Damian unclipped his phone from his belt and answered it as he walked into one of the adjoining bedrooms.

Alex’s mind spun. She couldn’t believe Damian was organizing a vampire exodus and had severed ties with the JPD and the sheriff’s department. Even though he’d brought more Enforcers to Jefferson as well as set up a mobile lab, the Bureau
needed
cooperation from the locals
to find Stephen as well as remove a large vampire population from their homes. Without it, she feared all investigations, especially that of Stephen’s disappearance, would grind to a halt.

She glanced at her mother, standing beside Varik, as the Enforcer seemed to slip something into her mother’s hand. Frowning, she opened her mouth to speak, but Damian returned with a spring in his step, blocking Alex’s opportunity.

Emily thrust her hand into her pocket, and Varik stepped away.

“Baudelaire,” Damian called, directing his path toward the exit. “We need to get over to the lab. Reyes found something on the cross-stakes.”

Varik fell into step with Damian.

“Hang on a second,” Alex said. They stopped, and she hurried forward. “What about me? What am I supposed to do?”

Damian pointed to the couch. “Sit. Behave.” He opened the door and stepped into the hallway, calling over his shoulder, “Move it, Baudelaire. I don’t have time for dillydallying.”

Varik paused with his hand on the open door. He used his other hand to brush Alex’s cheek lightly. “I’ll let you know what we find out.”

Her lips thinned, but she nodded. She was out of the official loop but would be able to learn everything Varik did through the blood-bond, if she was willing to risk opening it again.

He turned to leave, and she grabbed his arm.

“What was that thing you gave Mom?” she asked quietly.

He gave her a quick peck on the forehead and smiled before jogging down the corridor to catch up with Damian.

The door closed automatically, and Alex returned to the suite’s sitting area, lost in thought. Had she seen what she thought she saw? Was her mind playing tricks on her?

Her mother sat on the edge of the coffee table, elbows on her knees, staring at something in her hand. She looked up when she heard Alex settling on the couch and once again shoved whatever it was into her pocket.

Alex stuck out her hand. “Hand it over.”

Her mother sighed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit. I saw Varik give you something.”

“Alexandra, I will not have you speaking to me in that tone.”

“Then answer me. What did Varik give you?”

Her mother produced a wad of paper and dropped it into her hand.

She stared at the crumpled five-dollar bill. “Money? He gave you money?”

“Change from breakfast.”

Alex thought of the coffee and fast-food biscuits she’d eaten that morning. Heat rose in her cheeks, and she handed the bill back to her mother.

“Honestly, Alexandra, everything Varik does is
not
a conspiracy against you.” Her mother returned the
money to her pocket as she rose and headed for her bedroom. “You may want to take his advice and trust him once in a while.”

Alex felt the sting of her mother’s words as she listened to the ringing silence around her. Dweezil jumped on the coffee table before her and began licking his paw and swiping it over his face. She watched the cat’s bathing ritual while thoughts of her father, her mother, Varik, Stephen, and a thousand other issues traveled through her mind, gradually growing more organized until she was fidgeting in her seat and staring at the exit.

Eventually her mother returned from the bedroom and sat in the chair across from Alex. Her blue eyes—so much like Stephen’s—pinned her in place. “You’re up to something.”

Alex cleared her throat and picked at a loose thread on the hem of her shirt. “No, I’m not.”

“Oh, don’t lie to me, Alexandra. I’m your mother. You’re plotting something. I can see it in your eyes. You’re thinking of going after Stephen.”

“Mom, you heard Damian. I’m in a shitload of trouble because of what I did today.” The thread she’d plucked began to unravel her shirt’s hem. She dropped it and wiped her palms along her thighs. “Besides, I’m under orders to sit and behave.”

Emily reached for her hand and pulled Alex to her feet as she herself rose. “I’ll be sure to tell Damian that when he calls to check on you.” She smoothed Alex’s hair behind her ears. “Now go find your brother.”

———

Tasha’s cell phone rang at precisely three o’clock, just as the note had promised. “Lieutenant Lockwood,” she answered after three rings.

“You’re being screwed by the vamps,” a digitized voice announced.

“What do you mean?”

“Alberez and his minions have severed all communication with your department.”

“He can’t do that. We’re assisting—”

“The Enforcers have also taken a portly friend of yours into custody.”

“Tubby.” Tasha gasped.

“If you want to save him and yourself, Lieutenant, you will do exactly as we say.”

With the twin snakes of fear and hatred gobbling her spine and sapping her will, Tasha listened as the voice laid out her instructions.

HARVEY EYED THE PHONE AS IF IT WERE A RABID DOG
waiting to pounce on him. A cigarette smoldered in the ashtray in front of him, untouched. Bill had called and told him Tubby and Martin were picked up by the vamps for questioning. Bill was worried that he and Harvey would be next. He’d told Bill to pack his bags and leave town.

A bone-chilling sense of dread filled him. He couldn’t leave. His absence would be too noticeable. He wasn’t able to retrieve his handkerchief from the impound yard before it was turned over to the Enforcers. It would be only a matter of time until they traced it back to him, along with the bottle of Midnight he’d planted in Sabian’s Jeep. He had to figure a way out of that mess. Plus, he had unfinished business with Darryl.