Fiona Frost: Order of the Black Moon (38 page)

Counting each minute, I couldn’t wait for each class to finish, longing for the final bell, which eventually came.
Wolfe and I
hopped in the car with my black suit
to the police station
.
Not wanting to leave her car at school, the inseparable duo followed behind.

Once we arrived at the station
,
we switched cars to Detective Chase’s Impala, Agent Bronson poised to follow us.
Attempting to claim a spot in
the back seat next to Wolfe
,
the detective directed me
to
take the
front
seat, giving me a raised eyebrow
.
T
his was going to get annoying with him watch
ing and interpreting my every move.

“We got some interesting news about Parker Thomas, III
—t
he one who inherited a ton of money and was the brother of the victim
,
”
he
said
, driving the car out of the parking lot
.

“Yes, Mr. Thomas teaches at our school,” I said
.

“
K
now where his wife works?”

I
swiveled
in my seat to
catch
the expressions of the faces in the backseat
.
A
ll blank, including my own.

“No, I’ve never met nor seen his wife, actually,” I
added, my brows furrowed in confusion.

“Me neither,” Wolfe said.

“
Beth Thomas, s
he works at the prison.
The warden has also conducted
an
investigation
into
the escape and determined it had to be an inside job.
Strange
, huh?
”
he
said, turning onto Copper Street.

“Yeah, quite strange,” I added.

We arrived
at
Dimitri’s house next to the
m
arina
with a full view of the Lakeside Trailer Park from their front porch, n
ot the best part of town.
The detective took
the lead down the jagged, cracked sidewalk to the front door.
He knocked on the
door;
we stared
at each other with awkward expressions.
I had forgotten the others hadn’t witnessed Dimitri’s shocking appearance. I glanced at Willow, knowing she was about to freak out.

“Do they know we
’re
coming to visit
?
”
I
queried in a whisper.

“Yes and no,” Detective Chase countered.

“What
’s
the meaning of your dual answer?
”
I whispered loudly, smiling.

“Dimitri knows
,
but nobody else.
He said he wouldn’t mention it to Victoria and
Melanie
.
”

“I see.
This might be interesting,” Wolfe said
quietly, raising
an
eyebrow
.

After a couple of
long
minutes, Dimitri LeMorte answered the door wearing a white tank top with
ragged
holes
and a pair of
worn khaki shorts
.
His
exposed skin
was
covered with
bizarre
tattoos.

“Hello, fine people.
Please,” Dimitri
said, stepping
back into the
house
with a wave of his hand for us to enter.

Willow
struggled silently with Lauren
about entering the house.
Being the c
oward of the
group, she’d be a fine physician one day, but criminal investigations
were not going to be in her future
.
Lauren
was the one to push
her into doing things
against her will
.

The inseparable duo
locked arms at the elbows as they
stepped into
the house
;
Willow’s eyes dar
ted
around the room in a panic as she attempted to hide behind Lauren.

The décor, if you could call it that, was alarming
.
The
air
was rancid like cigarettes mixed with a thick
potpourri—
similar to Desde’s Gothic Garden
.
He had lit ceremonial candles, mostly black
, some crimson,
and they were circled around the couch, chair and loveseat in the living room.
Had we just walked into a ritual? Should we run?
My eyes scanned the room for a sword. I couldn’t find one. This put me at ease.

T
he art
hanging
on the walls
—
screaming bloody people,
barren trees with black ooze streaming from their branches, human-animal hybrids flying in the sky
with snarls exposing sharp teeth
.
S
carlet
couches
were the focal point of the room with
vampire bat arch
es
making up the backs.

Willow
was
teary eyed
, repeatedly attempting to
capture
Detective
Chase’s attention with
anxious facial expressions
,
and refusing
to turn in
Dimitri
’s direction. She should have known someone like him would sense her fear.

Wolfe wasn’t bothered by Dimitri’s appearance and kept a
calm
head
—I figured as much.

Lauren
was
enamored as if she were at an amusement park or a zoo
—
she moved her head around in a wonder, soaking in the scene.

“Please, have a seat
.
Victoria and Melanie will be back shortly
.
They ran off to the marina
to grab some milk.
How
may
I assist you?”
he said in a strange, foreign accent that wavered between British and French.

Detective Chase gestured for us to take a seat on the
bat-inspired
furniture
,
and we
filed in and took our places, Lauren
dragging Willow
who
nearly sat in
her
lap as she finally
flashed her
eyes upon Dimitri’s face, spotting his
red-spiraled
horns.

“Well, Dimitri.
It seems as though you were spotted in front of the Arles Cave early Thursday morning after the second murder in
Dracul’s Den
.
The witness stated you were with another man, mid-t
hirties, in front of the cave.”

“I might have been spotted there.
See, I
’d
been at a friend’s house over by the Southfork Hills.
We got into a bit of a scuffle, so I
took off
on foot.
Took me forever to walk home.
And I do remember walking by the cave on the way.
L
ook at a map,
that was my shortest route,
Detective,
”
Dimitri said, gazing
in
to each of our eyes
.

Trying not to laugh at Willow’s reaction, I scanned the room, spotting a black lacquer table in
the
corner with an organized group of items on top.
Rinden bowls
.
B
ottles of oils
and a few candles I didn’t recognize.
Black magic
.
I
decided to make it
my mission to
stay on
Dimitri’s good
side.

“Did you see anybody else in front of the cave?
The witness
spotted you with someone else.
Do you recall seeing your cousin, Gerald Smith, that night?”

Dimitri hesitated while he
continued to
gaze at Willow
, tilting his head to the side like a dog who had just heard a word he recognized
.
He was feeding off her fear.
Detectiv
e Chase cleared his throat, his face composed.

“No,
” Dimitri turned back to
the detective,
“
but if a witness saw me
and then somebody else, well, maybe he
assumed
we were together?”

“I never said the witness was male, Dimitri.
Do you remember seeing a
Hispanic
gentleman that night?”

“I figured anybody who was out in the early morning during that time had to be a male
.
Especially with crazy murderers
on the
loose.
N
o, do not remember seeing him,”
he
lowered his head, pointing his horns at
the detective
, gazing up at him from under his eyelashes
.
Willow throttled a tiny squeal as she backed into Lauren on the couch as if Dimitri was about to
fire
laser beams
from his head
.

The front door opened
abruptly
,
and
the pink-haired
Victoria and her mother Melanie walked in, a gallon of milk in Victoria’s hand.
Seemingly caught off guard,
she
huffed, shifting her weight as she stared at us with a puzzled expression.
Melanie was in full
workout
attire, reasonably fit for a woman of her age.
Victoria was wearing dressy 1960’s
G
othic attire.

“What are
they
doing here
?
”
Melanie scoffed, throwing her keys on
the
black
lacquered
table.

“Mel, let’s be kind to our guests.
They are simply here to visit and see what we know about these aw
ful murders that
have happened
,” Dimitri purred, smiling impiously at Melanie and Victoria.

Melanie sighed.
She dragged a
c
hair from the dining room table and sat behind Dimitri’s
loveseat;
Victoria followed her lead and did the same
while shooting our group a vicious glare.

“What can we do for you guys,” Victoria said boldly
, grimacing as she raised her chin a fraction
.

“Victoria, where were you on Thursday
f
rom midnight until 4 AM?”

“
I’ve already told the other officers, but here I go again.
I was spending the night with Damien Lee, my boyfriend.”

Detective Chase jotted notes
o
n his notepad and turned his attention
towards
Melanie
.

“
C
an you please tell us where you were?”

“I was at work.”

Victoria
nodded
in agre
ement
, her thick, spiked choker nearly covering the vampire bite tattoo on her neck.
It didn’t look comfortable.

“Victoria, was Damien’s grandmother home with you two?”

“Yes, but she’d never know.
She’s got that old lady
brain
disease.”

“Do you mean Alzheimer’s
?
”
the detective
inquired
, scrawling more
notes.

“I think Damien calls it
old timer’s di
sease.
But all
she wants to do is make us soup,
even if she’s just done it,
”
Vi
ctoria sneered, rolling her eyes.

“
Ar
e
you
s
till seeing Damien romantically?
”