Known Devil (2 page)

Karl hadn’t complained about taking the damaged elf to the hospital. He wouldn’t be allowed to take part in any interrogation, anyway. The Supreme Court had ruled in
Barlow v. Maine
almost forty years ago that anything a suspect said in the presence of a vampire – police officer or not – was inadmissible, since there was no way to establish whether vampiric Influence was used to induce cooperation.

Cops have learned to be careful about this kind of stuff. Nobody wants to see some scumbag’s conviction overturned because his lawyer claims there was a vampire three doors down the hall while the scumbag was answering questions.

That meant the other elf was all mine – sort of. The Scranton PD policy says that no detective is ever supposed to be alone in an interrogation room with a suspect. A lot of other police departments around the country have the same rule. In years past, some cops had been careless or stupid and actually been taken hostage by supposedly harmless prisoners. So now you’re supposed to have at least two detectives present to carry out an interrogation.

Since Karl was at the hospital with the elf he’d maimed, I’d have to get another detective to join me while I talked to our suspect, who hadn’t yet asked for a lawyer. His name was Thorontur Carnesin, according to his driver’s license.

Yeah, lots of them have driver’s licenses. You won’t be surprised to learn that they mostly drive subcompacts.

When I looked inside the Occult Crimes squad room, the only detective around was Marty Sefchik. I knew his shift would start in about an hour – which was when his partner, Carmela Aquilina, usually showed up. Unlike Carmela, Sefchik often came in early. I heard he and his wife didn’t get along so well.

Sefchik was looking at the early edition of the
Times-Tribune
, but he looked up when I appeared in the squad room door.

“Hey, Stan, what’s up? I hear you and Karl almost got taken off the count by a couple of fuckin’ trolls with slingshots or something.”

“They were doing a little better than slingshots, asshole,” I told him. “One had a 9mm Walther, and the other bastard was packing a Colt Python.”

He whistled. “Serious iron.”

“Uh-huh. And they were elves, not trolls.”

“Get the fuck outta here – elves? When did
they
get all badass?”

“I don’t know, but I was just about to ask one that very question. Wanna sit in?”

“Fuck, yeah. Gotta be more fun than the paper.”

“Almost anything is. OK, come on.”

 

The interrogation rooms are ten feet by ten, with furniture consisting of a scarred wooden table and a few beat-up chairs. A big iron ring is screwed onto the top of each table, and a suspect under interrogation gets one wrist handcuffed to the ring. Having a hand free allows the suspect to write or hold paperwork, but makes it pretty hard to commit mayhem. And that table is bolted to the floor.

Thorontur Carnesin had been sitting bent over, with his head resting in the crook of his shackled arm. But he sat up quick enough when we came in. Sefchik and I each pulled up a chair across the table from him.

The elf didn’t look too good. I wasn’t surprised that he had the reddest eyes this side of Transylvania – not after the salt I’d thrown in his face. But he was sweating, and it wasn’t warm in the room, which gets AC pumped in just like the rest of the building. I also noticed some tremor in his hands that hadn’t been present in the diner. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to hold the damn gun steady.

If this had been a human, I’d have said he was strung out – needing a fix of something and needing it bad. But supes don’t do drugs. Give or take the fucking goblins.

“How ya doin?” I said. “We’ve met before, although we weren’t introduced. I’m Detective Sergeant Markowski, and this is Detective Sefchik.”

“Yeah, hi,” the elf said. His right hand actually moved a couple of inches from the shackle, as if he’d intended to shake hands. I guess he bore no ill will for what happened in Jerry’s Diner.

The fact his right hand was shackled meant he was a leftie, like a lot of elves are. We always leave their pen hand free, in case they feel like writing a confession.

“You’ve been advised of your rights,” I said. “I know that, since I’m the one who did it. You understand that you don’t have to talk to us without a lawyer present.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “I know. It’s cool.”

“Your name’s Thorontur,” I said.

“Yeah.”

“People call you ‘Thor’?”

“Yeah – how’d you know?”

“Lucky guess,” I said. “Mind if we call you that? It’s less of a mouthful than ‘Thorontur’.”

“Yeah, sure. Whatever. Listen, dude, you gotta–”

“Don’t call me ‘dude’. It’s ‘Detective’,” I said.

“OK, sorry. Thing is, I’m feelin’ real bad, OK? I gotta see a doc, have him give me somethin’.”

“We might be able to help you with that,” Sefchik said. “But, we call a doctor, you know, first thing he’s gonna ask is what’s wrong with the patient. So, how’re you feeling bad, exactly? You got the flu, or something?”

“Naw, it ain’t that. I need some meds, you know?”

A junkie. The little bastard was acting just like a human going through withdrawal. And that just wasn’t possible.

“What kind of medication are we talkin’ about, Thor?” I said. “You under a doctor’s care right now?”

“No, dude,” he said. “It’s just that–”

My right palm slapped the table, hard. “
I told you not to call me ‘dude’. I’m not gonna tell you again.”

Thor jumped a little, which is what I’d intended. “Sorry, uh, Detective,” he said. “I didn’t mean nothin’ by it. It’s just how I talk, you know?”

“Not in here, you don’t,” I said.

I was acting like a real hardass because I wanted psychological domination over this guy. Something very fucked up was going on here, and I wanted to know everything about it. Everything.

“Yeah, OK, Detective. Whatever you want.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that, Thor. Because what I
want
to know is what’s up with you, and I want it without a lot of bullshit.”

I sat back in my chair to give him a little space.

“You claim you need some kind of medication,” I said. “What exactly is it you think you need – and why?”

“Hell, I don’t know the scientific name, or nothing, man – uh, Detective. We call it Slide.”

“We? Who’s
we
?”

“Me and Car. And some other dudes we know.”

“Car’s the guy who was with you in the diner tonight? The one standing on the table?”

“Yeah, that’s him.”

“What his real name?”

“Caranthir Helyanwe. But most of us just call him Car.”

“So, you and ‘Car’ and your buddies take this stuff called ‘Slide’,” I said, “and now you’re
hooked
on it?”

Drug-addicted elves.
Shit
.

“Nah, I ain’t hooked on nothing. I can quit whenever I want.”

The elf even
talked
like a fucking junkie.

“OK, you can quit whenever you want,” Sefchik said. “So why don’t you just quit it now?”

Thor licked his lips. “It ain’t that I
need
it, OK? But I ain’t had any in a while. I just
like
the stuff – that’s all.”

“A
while
– how long ago is that, exactly?” I asked. “When did you last have some of this Slide?”

The tongue ran over his cracked lips again. “I dunno. Couple days ago, I guess.”

“And you like this stuff so much,” Sefchik said, “that you and your buddy were willing to stick up a fucking diner just to get money for some?”

Another shrug. “Slide ain’t cheap.”

“What’s it do for you, anyway?” I asked him.

He looked at me as if I’d just spoken in Polish. “Say what?”

“He means,” Sefchik said, “How do you feel when you’re using it?”

“It hits you in, like two stages, man… uh, Detective. At first, it’s like fireworks are goin’ off inside your head, you know? There’s flashes of light, all different colors – some that ain’t even been invented yet.”

“How long does that usually last?” Sefchik asked.

“Oh, m… Detective, I don’t fuckin’
know
. I never looked at my watch – hell, I probably couldn’t have seen it, anyway, with all the colors goin’ off inside my head.”

“So, there’s two stages,” I said. “What happens after the flashing lights?”

“After that, you just feel gooood, you know? All relaxed and happy and shit. It’s like you just got laid, but about ten times better.”

“And how long does that go on for?” I asked him.

“Like I already told you–”

“I know,” I said. “You don’t check your watch. But give me a ballpark estimate – an hour, three hours, half a day, all day?”

He wiped a shaky hand over his face. “I dunno, maybe three hours, could be a little more. But that’s about right, I guess.”

Sefchik frowned. “How much per pop?”

“Twenty-five bucks.”

“How do you take it?” I asked him.

Thor turned his sweaty face toward me. “Huh?”

I will not hit the suspect in the head. I will not hit the suspect in the head
.

“Do you snort the shit, inject it, smoke it, stuff it up your ass – what?” I said.

“Me and Car mostly smoke it,” he said. “But I know a couple guys who say snortin’ gives you a bigger blast. I dunno; I never tried it that way. Look – can you guys, uh, Detectives help me out here? I need to see a doc pretty bad. I feel like I’m gonna jump out of my fuckin’ skin or something.”

I got to my feet. “Detective Sefchik and I are gonna step outside for a couple of minutes.”

Sefchik stood up too and followed me to the door.

“You guys gonna call the doctor?” Thor asked. The need in his voice was unmistakable.

“We’ll think about it,” I said.

“Cause if you ain’t, then I want a fuckin’
lawyer
in here!
He’ll
get me to a doc. This is fucking inhumane treatment! I got my–”

Then we were in the hall, and I closed the door behind us, cutting off Thor in mid-rant. Sefchik looked at me, his face a study in disbelief.

“Elf junkies?” he said. “Is this asshole fucking
kidding
?”

“Does he
look
like he’s kidding?”

Sefchik shook his head a couple of times. “I knew fucking gobs could get hooked on meth, and that’s bad enough – but elves? What’s next – werewolves shooting heroin? Vamps on speed? Makes my head hurt, just tryin’ to think about it.”

“Yeah, I know just what you mean.”

“So, why’d you take a break?” he asked me. “Just want to vent a little? Not that I blame you.”

“Nothing wrong with venting,” I said. “But the main reason is I have to make a phone call, and I don’t want my man Thor listening in on it.”

 

I pushed a button on my speed dial, and a few seconds later Karl’s voice said in my ear, “Hey, Stan.”

“Hey,” I said. “Where are you?”

“We’re still in the waiting room at the ER. You know how it is – they give you a quick once-over, and if you’re not actually dying, you can go sit and wait for a few hours. I figure an elf’s busted wrist isn’t real high on their priority list tonight.”

“There’s a couple of things I’d like you to do while you’re down there.”

“Like what?”

“When they finally get your little buddy into a treatment room, make sure the docs get a blood sample and send it to the lab.”

“Lookin’ for what, exactly?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Anything that shouldn’t be in an elf’s blood, I guess.”

“I’ll take care of it. What else you need?”

“Since you’re gonna be waiting a while, why don’t you ask your pal about something called Slide.”

“What the fuck’s that?”

“I’m not positive, but I think it might be a drug that elves can get hooked on.”

“Well, fuck me,” Karl said. “You sure about this stuff?”

“No, I’m not. That’s why I want you to talk to Car about it. You know that’s his name, right?”

“Yeah, he told me. Guess he got tired of me saying, ‘Hey, you’.”

“Later on, I want to compare whatever you get from him with what I already heard from his partner, Thor.”

“
Thor
, you said? Like that old pixie joke, ‘I’m tho thor, I can hardly pith’?”

“That’s the one. And listen, if you have to use a little vampire mojo to get him talking about Slide, that’s OK.”

“Seriously? I don’t even know if it’ll work, Stan – but if it does, anything I get from him’s gonna be inadmissible in court. You know that.”

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t want this for the DA’s office – I want it for me, so I can maybe figure out what the fuck is going on here.”

“OK, I’ll see what I can do. We’re gonna be here a while, anyway.”

“Good. Besides, if Influence doesn’t get you anywhere, you can always flash your fangs at him.”

“I’ll keep that in reserve, just in case.”

I checked my watch: 4.22. Sunrise would be about ten after seven.

“Listen, if you’re still there an hour from now, give me a call,” I said. “I’ll bring one of the other detectives over, or even a uniform, if I have to. He can take over custody of Car, and I’ll give you a ride back here, so you can head home in time.”

“Thanks, Stan, I appreciate it.”

“No problem. OK, I gotta go back and see Thor. He was yelling about a lawyer when I left him, and I sure wouldn’t want to violate his constitutional rights by denying him timely access to counsel.”

“Heaven forbid. Alright, I’ll talk to you later, dude.”

“Don’t call me dude.”

 

Thor was as good as his word. Once he was sure I wasn’t going to bring in a doctor to give him a hit of Slide, he clammed up and demanded a lawyer.