Night and Day (24 page)

“No, that wasn’t his name,” she said with a shake of her head.

“Lugosi played Dracula in the old movies,” I said. I was silent for a moment, then said, “I
think your Count Chubula was Mike Ponittzo.”

“That’s it,” Sara said. “Mike Ponittzo. You know him?”

“I met him when he was here,” I said. “Got back late that night, Joshua was in the
office with him and another guy. The other guy must have been Dowling, I guess. Young-looking guy with a healthy head of snow white hair. Joshua didn’t introduce him. Ponittzo, on
the other hand, insisted on being introduced to me. I think he thought he’d give me a scare with
the fangs and the accent. He was kind of creepy, but not as scary as he thought he was. I didn’t
hang around long enough to catch much of his act.”

“Well there you go,” she said, closing the notebook. “Go see Count Chubula and he can
probably tell you anything you need to know about the Dowling case.”

“I’m afraid it’s a few days late to ask Ponittzo anything.”

“How come?”

“He and his bloodfather ended up dead outside the Uptown station Tuesday morning.”

“No shit,” she said. “That was Ponittzo? The cops didn’t release names, just said that two
vampires had been murdered and left outside the police station. Did they put a stake in the
Count’s heart?”

I shook my head. “Shotgun blast to the chest.”

“Bet that was a real disappointment to him. He probably would have preferred a wooden
stake.”

“Ponittzo was involved with one of the uptown mobs?”

“Joshua said all the cut joints are connected to one mob or another,” Sara said with a shrug.
“Part of the cost of doing business. Where do you think they get the . . . well, people they cut.”

“At Carpenter’s, they call them refreshments,” I said.

“Yeah, but Carpenter’s is a classy cut joint. I hear he even pays his humans.” She paused.
“Those places Ponittzo and his bloodfather owned are dives. Believe me, I’ve been inside. I
know.”

“Slurp-clubs,” I said.

“Slurp-clubs, cut joints, same thing.”

“You think Carpenter is connected to one of the mobs too?”

Sara burst out laughing. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I thought you knew.”

“Knew what?”

“Okay, maybe you wouldn’t know. I guess you don’t hear a lot of the hot vampire gossip.”

“Knew what?” I repeated.

“The word on the street is that Lou Carpenter has a silent partner,” she said. “See, Carpenter
was supposedly a maitre’d at some fancy restaurant somewhere up north. Got changed in the
first couple of days of the war. Same guy who changed him also changed a mob guy. Which
meant Carpenter and this mob guy were bloodbrothers, which normally wouldn’t mean much.
But both Carpenter and his bloodbrother were in the first wave that hit the city here. And when
it was done, their bloodfather got them together and suggested they work together. The
bloodfather was apparently real family-oriented, and when your bloodfather makes a suggestion
like that . . .”

“Bain explained the whole thing to me.”

“Oh, okay, that’s good,” she said with a smile. “Didn’t want to go saying something that
would get me in trouble with certain people. Anyway, Carpenter opened his cut joint, and his
bloodbrother worked in the background to make sure it would be successful.”

“And the bloodbrother is . . .”

Sara smiled. “Well, the story I heard said Carpenter’s bloodbrother is Arnie Kaiser. The Razor himself.”

I remembered hearing about Kaiser when the newspapers and TV news were filled with
stories about the police crackdown on the uptown mobs. Among his colorful traits was his habit
of carrying a straight razor in his pocket. When he needed a drink, he’d slash the first human he met and have a sip. Didn’t matter
where he was or who the human was, Kaiser would whip out a straight razor and start slashing.

“Nice guy to have as a partner,” I said.

“And one Carpenter can trust,” she said. “Daddy said play nice together, so that’s the way
it’ll always be.”

I grinned. “Thanks, Sara. You’ve been more help than you know.”

“Hey, you think Joshua hired me just for my looks?” she asked, smiling back. “You should
get to know me, Charlie. You might be surprised at what I can do.”

We were starting to tread dangerous waters again. I glanced at my watch and said, “Look,
it’s almost midnight. Why don’t you take the rest of the night off, go out with your girlfriends or
something, have some fun. I’m going to be crashing in the office till my apartment gets
straightened out. I’ll be here if we get any calls or anything.”

“You sure? I don’t want to be out somewhere if you need me.”

“Positive,” I said. “Don’t worry, if something breaks, I’ll have Takeda track you down.”

“I’m not going to argue with you,” she said, slipping her handbag over her shoulder.
“You’re the boss.”

“Enjoy your weekend, Sara,” I said as I closed the door behind her and locked it.

Chapter Twenty-one

I tried to sleep. I was certainly tired enough. But when I closed my eyes, sleep didn’t
come. Only questions. Even the last of the pain pills didn’t do the trick.

The unique nature of my partnership with Joshua made it difficult for us to actually work
with each other. It wasn’t that we were territorial about our cases. If I had a case that
interested him, or he had one that interested me, we’d read through the case notes, ask
questions, make suggestions. If his case needed something done in the daytime, I did it. If
mine needed something done at night, I usually turned it over to him.

It worked out pretty well, and gave us an edge a lot of other small agencies didn’t have.
But it probably stunted my education about what was going on in the city after the sun went
down. When Joshua and I did have a chance to socialize, we didn’t talk shop. That was a
rule. We had too little time to be friends, and once we started talking about the job, that
quickly crowded out everything else.

Dowling was a good example. The case was strictly a night job, a Vee having problems
with a Vee mob. I didn’t have the knowledge to help, and even if I did, neither side would
have welcomed it. They were comfortable with Joshua. They wouldn’t have been
comfortable with a bloodsac like me.

What I knew was based only on what I heard, from the news, from gossip on the street. It
was enough for me to do the job when the job was finding missing people and doing
background checks. It wasn’t enough to do what needed to be done now. I was sorely in need
of a crash course on street life after the sun went down.

Sighing, I opened my eyes and sat up. I’d left the cell phone on the coffee table next to
the couch. Picking it up, I pressed my thumb against the first button and put it to my ear.

It was answered in the middle of the first ring. “Area Operations,” a man said.

“Charlie Welles. Can you patch me through to Tiffany Takeda?”

“Standby,” he said. “Transferring.”

The phone clicked twice. “Takeda,” she said.

“Welles. How’s it going?”

“We’re making progress,” she said. “Chelsea’s last name is Wilkins, not Marsch, though
she and Jedron Marsch are natural siblings. Their father died while on active duty with the
Marine Corps. The mother was pregnant with Chelsea at the time, remarried two years later,
and Chelsea took the stepfather’s name. Marsch retained his father’s name. Mother and
stepfather deceased, mother during the war, stepfather in Camp Alpha-10. The girl’s
apartment was unoccupied, though she has clearly been living there with a male companion.
We haven’t located her yet, but my teams are going door-to-door, and she has been seen in the
neighborhood in the past 12 to 14 hours. We are . . . optimistic that we’ll locate her soon.”

“Stay on it,” I said. “Put more people out there if you have to.”

“I have sufficient manpower for the job, Mr. Welles.” I heard a muffled voice. “Hold a
moment,” she said.

I could hear a man’s voice, though I couldn’t make out the words. Takeda’s voice was
clear. “Have second and third platoons expand the perimeter two blocks east and north.
Move four strike teams into the area ASAP.”

The man said something else, and Takeda said, “We have a confirmed sighting of Miss
Wilkins less than six hours ago. We’ll find her.”

“Good.” I paused. “I have another question. Do you have a minute?”

“They’ll interrupt if they need me.”

“What do you know about the uptown mobs?”

Takeda was silent for a moment, and I was about to repeat the question when she said,
“It’s not my area of expertise, but I’m aware of them.”

“Who would be the expert?”

“I’m sure there’s a specialist on the city or state police force,” she said. “Local criminal
matters are law enforcement responsibility, not the Area Governor’s Office. Would you like
me to research the subject and arrange for you to meet with a specialist?”

I hesitated a moment, then said, “I’ll let you know. Just get a name and if I need to talk to
him or her, you can set it up.”

“Certainly,” she said.

“Thanks. Call if anything changes with the search.”

Takeda disconnected without another word. I hung up and put the phone back on the
table, then dropped back on the couch and closed my eyes.

When I opened my eyes, it was still dark. Holding my watch close to my face, I could just
make out the hands. About six-fifteen. Takeda hadn’t called, which meant she hadn’t found
Chelsea Wilkins.

I grabbed the cell phone and called the Area Operations office. Ten seconds later, I was
talking to Takeda.

“I’m pretty sure we have her contained in an eight square block area, but we’ve run out
of time,” she said with either a sigh or a yawn. “My second shift force is beginning to arrive,
and I’ll be turning command over to Captain Hill. His men should find her within a few
hours.”

“What happened? You seemed pretty optimistic that you’d have her last night?”

Takeda’s words came slowly. “I don’t know. It’s a combination of things. We weren’t
covert in our search, so she knows we’re looking for her. And she’s probably scared to death.
Plus the residents here aren’t being very cooperative. I’m hoping that when I replace my
forces with Hill’s humans, that situation will improve.”

“Hill knows what to do?”

“I’ve had a platoon in place at the Downtown District police station since midnight,” she
said. “A human platoon is probably replacing them as we speak. When Hill locates the
woman, he’ll transport her there and lock down the station until you arrive. After that, his
orders are to take his guidance from you.”

“He’ll call me when he finds her?”

“He’ll report to Area Operations, they’ll contact me, I’ll contact you.” I heard her yawn.

“You sound beat,” I said. “Do what you need to and get some sleep.”

“That’s the plan,” she said. “You’ll be speaking to Mr. Gabriel today?”

“Yeah, as soon as I can figure out where he hangs these days,” I said. “He moves around
a lot.”

“Officer Nedelmann will be going with you?”

“No, it’s the Jewish sabbath. I’ll be seeing Gabriel alone.”

“I can have Captain Hill provide an escort,” she said.

“That’s okay. Eddie Gee and I have a long history. He won’t do anything stupid.”

“As you wish,” she said. “Good night, Mr. Welles.”

Hanritty was waiting behind the counter when I came through the door a couple of
minutes after seven. He slid a cup of coffee to me and said, “I see you got yourself some
wheels.”

“They’re an inheritance.” I took a sip of the coffee.

“Heard about your partner,” he said, turning back to the griddle. “Tough break.”

“Yeah,” I said, sitting down on a stool.

“Also heard you got your ass kicked by some uptown cops the other night.”

I laughed. “Yeah, that was another tough break. So what’s been happening around
here?”

Hanritty shrugged, his back still to me as he scraped the griddle. “Same old. I serve it,
they eat it. And speaking of serving it, what’ll it be for you this morning? Sausage came in
fresh yesterday.”

“Two eggs, sunnyside, and a couple of sausage patties,” I said.

“Coming up.”

“Seen any more of Johnny Three-Legs lately?”

Hanritty laughed. “I’ve seen him skulk past the window a couple of times like a whipped
dog, but he ain’t come in here since the other morning. He’ll stay away for a month or two,
then he’ll forget and come back again. I have to do that four or five times a year. Sometimes
I wish the kid had at least a couple of brain cells.”

“If you happen to see him wander by and I miss it, sing out. I need to find out where
Eddie Gee’s doing business these days, and I know I can scare it out of Three-Legs easy
enough.”

“Why bother,” Hanritty said, turning. “I can call Debbie and ask. She knows
everybody’s business in this part of town.”