Kiss of Death (27 page)

Carey comes straight from the interview room to the observation room.

“Any trouble?” Sloan asks.

Carey shakes his head. “No, he was happy enough to come. But I had to wait for him again.”

“Ward likes to keep people waiting.” I lean on the small ridge below the one-way mirror. “Likes to remind us all how important he is.”

Carey rolls his eyes. “Arrogant bastard. So, Diet Coke for our vampire, what about you ladies?”

Sloan and I both decline. While Carey goes off to get Ward's drink, Sloan joins Ward in the interview room. She starts off with a standard spiel, telling Ward that the LAPD will be recording the interview and that she'll be going over parts of his earlier statement and also asking
some new questions. If Ward's worried, he's not showing it.

“He's not exactly quaking in his boots, is he?” Carey stands next to me, Diet Coke in hand.

“No.”

“Well, I'm up.” Carey leaves the observation room and within a few seconds he joins Sloan and Ward.

“Here you go, Mr. Ward.”

Ward thanks Carey and pops the tab.

“Okay, let's get started.” Sloan presses Record on the AV system and states the date, time and the fact that Detectives Sloan and Carey are interviewing Mr. Anton Ward in relation to the death of Sherry Taylor.

Sloan starts with Ward's name. “Please state your full name, sir.”

“Anton Ward.”

“And you were born Brett Joseph Simons on September 7, 1977?”

“Correct.”

“You studied art and history at Stanford from 1996 to 1999 and then moved to L.A. in 2001?”

“Correct again, Detective.” He gives Sloan one of his seductive smiles. He's fighting an uphill battle there.

“And your current occupation?”

“I am self-supported.”

Anton Ward has never worked a day in his life. His parents supported him during school and by the time he was at college, he'd inherited his family's significant estate.

“You were charged in 1996 with driving under the influence.”

“I lost my way, Detective. I didn't cope well with my parents' deaths.”

“And you're a vampire, Mr. Ward. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Tell us a bit about that.”

He holds his hands out. “Like what?”

“Do you drink blood?”

“Yes. I feed off willing blood donors, mostly from within my house, a couple of times a week. And, as you know, I'm also a psi-vampire, which means I can feed off people's energy to supplement my needs.”

“Which you also do with willing donors?”

“Correct. I could feed from most people without them even realizing it.” He smiles. “They'd just wonder why they felt so tired, so
drained
. But I will only feed from willing donors who understand what I am doing.”

“So when was the last time you fed?”

He smiles and takes a deep, contented breath. “Last night.”

“With?”

“Teresa Somers and Paula Torres from my clan. They're both delightful creatures.” Now Ward looks at Carey. “As I'm sure Detective Carey noticed.”

Carey doesn't respond verbally, but I do sense a slight annoyance in his eyes. Ward sees it, too, because he gives another smile.

Sloan moves on to After Dark, asking Ward what they do, how long they've been around for, how members gain entry, membership fees and so on. There's nothing surprising, nothing new, but now we have it on record in video evidence.

Next Sloan moves on to their earlier questioning of Ward. “When we came to see you on Monday we showed you a photo of twenty-year-old Sherry Taylor who had been found murdered in Temescal Gateway Park.”

“Yes.”

“Was this the photo we showed you?”

“Yes.”

Sloan holds the photo up to the camera. “And you said you'd never seen this girl before or heard of Sherry Taylor?”

“Correct.”

Sloan shuffles a few folders on the table and plucks out a purple folder. She flicks through some papers before taking out the first photo—the one of the twins talking to Sherry, although she's obscured Sherry's face. “Do you recognize these men?” Sloan hands Ward the photo.

He only looks at it for a couple of seconds. “Yes. That's Jerry and Tim Benson.”

“They're not in your group?”

“Correct, Detective. Nor have they ever been officially presented to me by one of my members. However, I know many people in the community, as you can imagine I'm sure.” The line's delivered with more than a hint of conceit over his celebrity status.

“Of course. We understand how prestigious membership of After Dark is, Mr. Ward.” While Sloan is feeding his ego, it's also an acknowledgment of Ward's status. “So the Benson twins would like to be part of After Dark but they've never been put forward?”

“I would say so, yes. Although they have recently become close to Damien Winters, I believe. So perhaps they no longer vie for After Dark membership.”

“Do you know the Bensons well?” Sloan asks.

Ward shakes his head. “Not particularly, no.”

“What
do
you know about them?”

He sighs and stares off into the distance, like he's trying to recall as many details as he can. “I think they came onto the scene about three years ago. Moved to L.A. from—” he taps the top of his soda can “—south somewhere. I can't recall exactly where. Um…what else…? Tim's a hairdresser and Jerry's a journalist, freelance I think.”

“Ever seem violent to you? Or anything else amiss?”

He pauses. “There was one incident when they first moved here. As I have mentioned, according to our code
all donors must be willing, and that code is observed across most of the vamp community. But there was an incident when they first arrived with some girl.”

“Were charges ever filed?” We know the answer is no, because nothing came up in the system for either of the brothers here in L.A.

“I'm not sure if the girl filed a report, but I know she wasn't a willing donor. It was about a year before anyone gave them the time of day after that.” He leans toward Sloan. “It's a big no-no in our world and something that I take upon myself to remind L.A.'s vamps of frequently.”

“Do you know the girl's name?”

Ward shakes his head. “No.” He picks up the photo of Sherry again and looks at it thoughtfully. “You know, this girl
does
look familiar. Maybe I have seen her. At one of the clubs, perhaps?”

Is Ward trying to weasel his way out of his earlier denial or is it simply a case of him now recognizing Sherry? No one could blame him for not making the connection on his first look at the photo—the normal Sherry and the Goth Sherry look very different. And if he's got lots of people, especially women, approaching him at these clubs, he's not going to remember them all.

Sloan flicks through the folder of photos again and hands Ward the photo of Sherry talking to him at Bar Sinister two Saturdays ago, this time Sherry's face isn't blocked out. “This is you talking to her, Mr. Ward. Sherry Taylor in her Goth persona.”

His eyes widen slightly. “I'm so sorry. I didn't recognize her. She does look very different.”

“Yes,” Sloan concedes. “But that doesn't change the fact that you were talking to the victim.”

“I would never harm anyone, Detective. And I can
assure you if I'd realized I'd spoken to her I would, of course, have disclosed that straight away.”

“Of course.” Sloan's voice is sarcastic as she gives Ward a tight smile.

Ward doesn't take the bait. “She's much prettier here than in that other photo you showed me.”

While most of the population would disagree with Ward, she's certainly more his type in her Gothic clothes than her yuppie designer gear.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Ward gives a genuine smile. “Quite.” He takes another mouthful of Diet Coke. “Anything else I can help you with?”

Sloan clears her throat, perhaps getting frustrated by Ward's indifference. “Yes. What did you talk about with Sherry?”

Ward pulls down his sleeves, but it looks less grandiose with the skivvy than it does when he's wearing a shirt with cuff links. “If I remember correctly she was…intrigued by our way of life and asked me questions about After Dark and how I find my donors.”

“Did she offer her services?”

“No, but her interest seemed to be heading in that direction.” He takes a slow breath. “But she seemed…excitable, like perhaps it was a fad, an interest, rather than her true calling.”

“And you didn't pursue her? A beautiful woman like Sherry?”

“Don't sound so surprised, Detective. I have many willing, beautiful donors who I know and know well. Perhaps if I'd seen this girl several times over a few weeks and we'd spoken a little bit more…” He smiles. “I would never take on a donor or sexual partner the night I met them.”

Not many single men in their thirties would turn down the prospect of a one-night stand.

Sloan says, “You were at Bar Sinister with Paula Torres and Teresa Somers on Saturday night, correct?”

“I arrived at the club by myself, but I did have a couple of drinks with Teresa and Paula…and many of my other clan members, too.”

“Paula was talking to Sherry on Saturday night, the night she disappeared and just before Sherry left the bar. Did you know that?”

He shrugs, noncommittal. “Paula didn't mention it to me. But she's hardly going to rattle off every person she speaks to.” He leans forward, legs crossed. “You don't think she's involved in any way, do you?”

The tone is a combination of surprise and interest.

Sloan matches his stance but narrows her eyes. “Why don't you tell us? Do you think she could be?”

A small smile plays at his lips. “The answer's no.” He leans back in his seat again. “I can't imagine she'd be involved in anything violent, and certainly not murder.”

Sloan and Carey let the silence sit in the room and I can feel the tension from here.

Ward's the sort of man who's confident enough to let silence fill a room and wallow in it for a very long time, but he eventually breaks it.

“I do have Paula's personality tests and the results of her IQ test. But I'm not sure I should give those to you…I need to protect the privacy of my members, after all. And so far I'm sure you'd agree that we've been most helpful.”

Sloan smiles. “You and your members have certainly been very candid.”

As the interview transcripts show, with all the many and varied personal and sexual details After Dark members gave Carey and Sloan.

Ward gives a slight nod. “You do understand that I can't give you her full records, don't you?”

“Of course.” Sloan forces a smile. “However, she is
a person of interest to us now and we'll be investigating her further.”

“By all means.”

Like we need his permission. It's almost as if Ward sees his members as his possessions.

“I can assure you,” he adds, “that Paula Torres is a very emotionally stable individual. Smart, strong and confident. That's why I like her so much.”

As always, this is subjective. Ward's idea of smart, strong and confident could be quite different from ours. And Paula may have been very careful to only show Ward certain aspects of her personality.

“How long have you known her?” Sloan asks.

“She's been with the group for four years and was introduced to me six months prior to that.”

“Is she one of your favorites?” Sloan gives him a grin.

He returns the smile. “I love all my members, Detective Sloan.”

“Yes, but you spend more time with some of the female members than others. Correct?”

He's silent for a bit, like he has to think about the question. “I do prefer to feed off Teresa, Paula and Rachel. They seem to have…well, their energy levels are extremely high.”

I'm not sure if he's referring to their sexual stamina or to their life force.

“Paula ever shown any sign of jealousy? When you're with other women, perhaps?”

He shakes his head. “No. And she knows better than that. All my members are important to me…I love them all.”

“I see.” Sloan shifts in her chair, leaning back. “Sherry seemed to leave the club in a hurry, while Paula was talking to her. In fact, from the video footage it almost looks like Sherry left midsentence.”

“So you think Paula said or did something to offend her?”

“It's a possibility. We'll certainly need to discuss the interaction with her within the next twenty-four hours.” Sloan moves closer to Ward. “And Mr. Ward, please do not alert her to our intentions. Your cooperation in this would be most appreciated.”

He sighs. “I seem to be doing a lot of cooperating.”

“As any upstanding citizen should.” Sloan's using her familiar blend of authority and matronly discipline on him. I'm sure Ward could challenge her if he wanted, but for the moment at least he seems more than happy to oblige.

“I suppose so.” Slowly, but suddenly, he looks at the two-way mirror and seems to look directly at me. “Is there anything else?”

“Yes. What do you know about Damien Winters' new house?”

Ward pauses. “It seems you know more than me, Detective. I was not aware that Damien had established a new
house
for himself.” He gives each sleeve another exacting tug. “If there's nothing else, I'd like to leave now. Or perhaps I should call my lawyer.” For the first time, Ward threatens to play hardball. No one can deny that he
has
been very cooperative during the investigation, giving us access to his members and talking to us without a lawyer present.

“We're almost done, Mr. Ward. Just one more thing.”

He nods but moves forward in his chair, ready to go.