Dominion: Zoë Martinique Investigation, Book 6 (11 page)

I kept quiet, too, since being
invisible didn't necessarily mean being inaudible. When I first
started going out of body, I learned that the hard way.

Joe looked outside after Mastiff came
back in, then shut the door and locked it. "You got some fucking
nerve, Mastiff."

"Me? I do?" the handsome, dark-skinned
detective said. "I'm not the one who just quit the police
department on a whim. That was you. And you did it right in the
middle of a case involving your former partner after he shows up
again here and in Canada. I call that pretty damned
suspicious."

Joe didn't look at his
partner — I mean
former
partner now that he'd quit—as he moved past him to
the kitchen. He didn't offer him coffee, either, but picked up his
own cold mug and downed half of it. "You got something to show me,
then show me."

Mastiff reached into the breast pocket
of his suit jacket and retrieved a DVD case. "This is security
footage taken early this morning of a fight breaking out in the
lobby of a high rise in Buckhead, just down from Lenox Square
mall."

"Name of said high rise?"

"The Oaks."

I blinked. Oh. Wow. That was where
Jason kept one of his condominiums. It wasn't the Revenants' base
of operations, but it was one of Jason's more private residences in
Atlanta.

"And Daniel was in the lobby?" Joe was
playing it cool. No shift in his expression. He even turned and
reloaded another K-Cup into the Keurig. "Why that
place?"

"We think he was going to see Jason
Lawrence."

Joe nearly dropped his cup at that
statement. And I nearly went corporeal. TC put a hand on my
shoulder. "Easy," he whispered.

Easy? The last person I wanted to
involve in this was Jason. Being a Revenant, he'd been careful all
his life to remain a little invisible. But if Mastiff continued
with this, it might bring unwanted attention to him.

And honestly…where had Mastiff gotten
this DVD?

"You know Jason's got nothing to do
with this."

"Then why was Daniel in the lobby of
the very building he owns property in?" Mastiff moved to the
counter. "Can I get a cup?"

"No."

I slapped my hand over my mouth to
stop from barking out a laugh. Ha!

"I see. Well, we'll play it your way.
My investigation into Mr. Lawrence's background and his financials
has already started. I'll find out if he's working to give Frasier
any kind of aid."

Joe put his old mug under
the Keurig spout and hit
brew
. "Mastiff, how many rich snotty
people live in that high rise? And you've singled out this one
person out of all of them?"

"Wasn't hard." The detective reached
inside of his pocket again and pulled out a small photo. He set it
on the table. "I figure—" and he shrugged "—anyone involved with
Zoë was worth looking at. I've seen him around her, a lot. And he's
been in and out of Nona Martinique's shop as well."

"You're fishing."

"Maybe. But you forget, I know about
you people." He turned to the living room, and moved past TC and I
to the flat screen. He slipped the DVD out of its case and into the
machine on the stand. "Come and watch, Joe."

We all crowded around, Joe joining us
last as he finished making his coffee and came to stand behind the
couch.

The image was pretty good quality
given that it was a hidden camera. Then again, The Oaks being an
expensive place to hang a hat, the camera probably wasn't hidden so
it would deter the criminal element.

The camera angle gave a wide shot of
the door, the front counter, and a row of elevators. A few
residents came in and out, flashing cards in front of a panel to
the right of the elevators before stepping through the double
doors. Two people in dark uniform jackets manned the desk and waved
at a few of the elevator riders.

Daniel came through the door. I'd know
him anywhere and I almost dove at the screen, but TC held my hand.
Here it was, confirmation Daniel was alive, and he looked fine. He
still wore his long trench coat, and it looked like the same
clothes he'd had on that night in the park, sans the blood. But I
couldn't see from that angle.

He flashed a card in front of the
sensor on the elevator and the light went green. The car was on its
way. I figured Jason had given him access to the place as a refuge
when he needed it.

Three people ran at Daniel, two males
and one female, all of them dressed in black hoodies, black pants,
and black shoes. Their faces were hidden, but it was obvious to
me—and I was sure it was to TC and Joe—these were Powers. The way
they moved and coordinated their attack on Daniel was too
familiar.

He defended himself like a trained
fighter, ducking, jabbing, rolling, and then one of them was down
and Daniel had their weapon. A gun. He fired at the other two and
they went down. Then he looked up at the camera, down at the gun in
his hand, and ran at the elevator.

Only, the elevator doors weren't open
yet.

"Wait…run that again?" Joe said as he
set his mug on his coffee table.

Mastiff worked the controls
and reset the image back and hit
play
. And again, Daniel ran at the
elevator doors…and then
through
them.

"Son of a—" Joe said as he put a hand
to his head.

Was this possible? My own jaw hung
open as my wings, furled against my back, shifted and moved, making
all the wrong noises.

Mastiff heard it and looked around the
room. He narrowed his eyes and he slowly put the remote control
down next to a fruit bowl. I noticed this behavior real fast. Don't
get me wrong, I liked Mastiff, but I didn't trust him. He was a
good cop, and even though he and Daniel had been friends, he'd seen
Daniel do some seriously fucked-up shit when the Horror had
him.

Mastiff believed Daniel needed to be
locked up. He didn't care if he was healed through the interception
of a First Born. Daniel Frasier was a criminal.

"He went…" Joe was saying.

"Through a wall. So you see why I've
been looking for Zoë, why I need to speak to her. I know what she
is, and you do as well, but none of my superiors have the slightest
concept of what's really out there. So…" He clasped his hands on
front of him, but I noticed he was looking around. "I've contacted
the Society of Ishmael's security."

Joe whipped around and glared at
Mastiff. "You showed them this?" He pointed to the paused image on
the screen.

"I sent a copy to a Miss Stephens. Her
name was the liaison contact on file. I'd like to know how Daniel
suddenly has the same power as Zoë. Is he a Wraith as well? And if
he is, is there a way to contain him? Daniel's a dangerous man,
Joe, and he has to be stopped. There have already been more
deaths—"

"If you're talking about the case with
the murdered couples in the park and the ones that seem similar in
Canada, then you're wrong. Daniel had nothing to do with
those."

"Joe." Mastiff shook his head, but he
didn't look at Joe as he talked. In fact, he was looking all over
the living room. "We have an eyewitness who identified the man who
committed the murders and rapes in Piedmont Park and in Canada.
Karl Gibbons."

"Okay, that's good. So you know it
wasn't Daniel who did that."

"No, it's bad. Karl Gibbons was shot
over four years ago while evading police in a robbery. He was
pronounced dead on the scene, the death certificate was signed by
one of the city's finest medical examiners, and the body was
shipped to the Dekalb County morgue."

I nearly fell backward at hearing
this. They knew who he was? Karl Gibbons…and he'd been killed? Four
years ago? That was…a year after he killed Barry, raped me, and
then stabbed me and left me for dead.

But, if he died that many years
ago…how was it possible he was running around and killing again,
unless he…?

Unless he'd been claimed as a Power at
his death.

Usually Virtues killed a human at the
moment they claimed the use of the human skin.

TC nudged me. "Listen."

I refocused on Mastiff and
Joe.

"…disappeared? How did it just
disappear?" Joe was saying.

"It's still a mystery, four years
later. The body was scheduled for autopsy the morning before he
vanished. No forced entry. No security footage. It was more like it
just got up and walked out."

And I bet it did, freshly
piloted by a Power.

"So you see, Joe, we're not sure this
is even possible. But it doesn't end there."

Joe didn't say anything.

"Researching Gibbons's background, we
discovered he was once employed at one of the local strip clubs as
a bouncer, at about the same time one Nona Martinique, the club's
owner at the time, put the club up for sale. It was reported she
and Gibbons were close friends."

I squeezed TC's hand. He returned the
gesture.

"And even after Mrs. Martinique bought
the house in Little Five Points and transformed it into a residence
as well as a place of business, she used Gibbons as a
handyman."

He…he was there? While I was growing
up? I'd been seventeen when she bought the house on Euclid. And I'd
gone off to college at the University only to come back in failure.
But I couldn't ever remember my rapist's face in that
house.

Joe held up a hand. "Hold it right
there. I know where you're going and you don't have to talk so
loud. I'm right here. I'm alone in my apartment." He rubbed at his
chin before he spoke. "You had the DNA gathered from the body
before it disappeared tested against the samples taken from Zoë the
night of her rape and near murder?"

Mastiff nodded. And though he sounded
a bit like a know-it-all earlier, his voice became a little
gentler. "Yes. Perfect match. He was the one who raped her in the
park that night." The detective finally unbuttoned his jacket as he
sat down on the armrest of a chair. "Joe, if there was one thing
Daniel became obsessed with after he met Zoë, it was finding her
rapist. He made detailed notes in the files we had on who had been
around Zoë at the time. But when we retraced the steps he'd taken,
there was no mention of a Karl Gibbons."

"Then how did you make the connection
now?"

"The captain did." He looked a bit
dubious. "I don't know how she figured it out, but she had the
information yesterday, and briefed several of us on it so that we
can mobilize and find Daniel."

"But Daniel's not the one responsible
for those deaths."

"He might not be, but he is
responsible for Captain Cooper's death, Joe. As well as the other
innocent lives he took. The reason she's linking all this together
are those tattoos on their faces." He grabbed up the remote and
went back to the image. He paused it on one of the hoodies as the
face became visible on the side. "Those tattoos are similar to the
ones the new sketches of Karl Gibbons keep sporting. So the
captain's theory is they're all part of a gang, but I'm thinking
they're one of your weird groups, which is why I contacted Miss
Stephens. We need to watch Zoë, put her into protective
custody—"

"So you can catch Daniel?"

"Not necessarily." He tapped the edge
of the remote to his chin. "More to see if we can catch Gibbons, or
whomever he his. If by some unnatural means—and I realize that's
wholly possible around you and your people, Joe—Gibbons is still
alive, the fact these deaths are occurring wherever Zoë is can be
taken as a sign he's stalking her. He might try and kill
her."

"You really think he can kill her? The
way she is now?"

"Miss Stephens says they have
prototypes of those weapons Randall Kemp created." He smiled at the
shocked look on Joe's face. "I've been paying more attention than
you realize, Joe. Those weapons can hurt creatures like Zoë." He
went to the DVD player and retrieved his disk. " Lawrence, Frasier,
Zoë, Gibbons…they're all linked together in some bizarre way. And
because of that link, people are dying. It has to stop. Either you
can rejoin and help us, or we do it the captain's way."

"I'm not going to waste my time going
after Daniel. He's not the murderer this time. Gibbons
is."

"So the evidence says. A dead man's
alive, killing and raping. Sorry if that doesn't work for us. It
all revolves around Zoë, or something about her. Either way, you
can work with us, or against us."

I felt numb. Was Mastiff actually
threatening Joe in a way? Didn't he realize that Joe possessed
serious mojo? If nothing else, if that swirling donut of stuff ever
let loose, it'd do some awesome damage upside Mastiff's
head.

"George," Joe ran a hand through his
hair. Even damp, it was spiky. I did notice how he called Mastiff
by his first name, probably trying to make their conversation more
personal than professional. "Before the captain came to you with
this—did you have any visitors?"