Night and Day (11 page)

He stopped and pointed at me. “That’s what Joshua did for you.”

Bain opened his desk again, took out a wallet that I recognized as mine, and removed the
blue disk I’d used at the police line. He tossed it on the desk between us.

“This disk says precisely that and more. With this, Joshua said that your actions were his
actions.” He shook his head. “The thought of doing that, having that level of trust in a human, is
frankly alien to me. It is alien to most vampires. To nearly all vampires.”

“But not Joshua,” I said.

“Don’t imagine you’ll meet a vampire like Joshua again, Mr. Welles,” Bain spat. “Once it’s
clear what they are, they’re destroyed. Immediately.”

“What they are?”

“Unbound,” Bain said. “I’m completely sure Joshua was an Unbound.” He paused. “To be
honest, I think I knew it from the beginning.”

“I don’t know what an Unbound is,” I said.

He sighed, and began pacing again. “There’s probably a great deal you don’t know about
our condition , Mr. Welles. There are many things that are never discussed with humans.” He
paused for a moment. “The change is profound. You’re aware, of course, of the physiological
changes. Increased strength. Blood for nourishment. The ability to heal injuries and wounds.
Lack of aging. Extreme sensitivity to sunlight. Those are the obvious things. But only the
barest hint of what has truly changed.”

I didn’t say anything. Bain was right. I knew what Vees could and couldn’t do, but I didn’t
have a clue what made them tick.

“We have a very orderly society, Mr. Welles,” Bain continued. “One based on obedience
and devotion. Obedience and devotion to the bloodparent. It is an integral part of the change.”

He paused. “That’s not to imply that we are merely puppets of the vampire who changed
us. We can disagree, we can argue.” He shook his head. “We cannot, however, disobey. If my
bloodfather orders me to do something, I will do it. Because I have to. And more importantly,
because I want to.”

“Sounds . . .” I paused. “If you’ll excuse the term, oppressive.”

Bain laughed as he continued to pace. “It all depends on your point of view, doesn’t it. To
me, to other vampires, it’s the natural order of things.” He stopped pacing and stared down at the
floor for a moment, then looked at me, hard. “What is unnatural are those who are changed and
do not feel this sense of obedience, of duty. It’s very rare. Something in the body chemistry, the
synapses in the brain, whatever. We call them Unbound. They’re a cancer on our society, their
lives controlled purely by their own motivations. They’re uncontrollable, dangerous. Physically
a vampire, psychologically...”

“A human?”

Bain smiled humorlessly. “Perhaps. That’s why they’re destroyed the moment they reveal themselves.”

“And you believe Joshua was an Unbound?”

Bain began to walk again. “I think I always knew. Joshua served under my command at . . .
an important military installation when the war began. He was a brilliant officer. Very smart,
very loyal. After my change, I needed officers to secure and defend the base. Joshua’s position
made him a key part of that. After his change, he continued to follow my orders with the same
skill, loyalty and diligence he’d always shown.”

He sighed. “Until the day he disobeyed me. I gave him a direct order, he accepted it, and
then he disobeyed it.” Bain shook his head. “As it turned out, he did the right thing. My order
was hastily made and poorly thought through. However, that wasn’t the point. He’d disobeyed
me, his bloodfather. He should not have been able to do that. If he could disobey me, there was
only one explanation.”

“You didn’t take any action?”

Bain laughed. “The only course of action was clear. Order his destruction, or destroy him
myself. I was . . . unwilling to do that. So his disobedience went unmentioned. Joshua was
decorated for his actions, and the implication was that he had been following my orders. Only he and I
knew differently.”

He shook his head slowly and dropped down in his chair behind the desk. “This is difficult
for me. I am not accustomed to baring my soul to anyone. You’re a human, which makes it even
more difficult.” He stared at me evenly. “I don’t dislike you, Mr. Welles. Nor do I like you.
Perhaps I think of you as one of those cows in the field. They’re just . . . cows. You’re just a
human. And I mean no offense by that.”

“None taken,” I said.

“Good,” he said, nodding. “To make a long story shorter, I never told anyone my suspicions
about Joshua. Some may have had suspicions of their own, but they had no proof, and Joshua’s
position as my bloodchild made it impossible to bring such a charge without absolute proof.”

He looked down at the desk. “I never had a family of my own. The military was my family,
the soldiers under my command my children. Continuing my relationship with Joshua was as
easy as it had always been, as an officer under my command. Later, when he left the military and
started his detective agency with you as his partner, I disapproved. I made that disapproval clear
to Joshua. He listened to my disapproval and then did what he was going to do. Much as the
adult child of a doting parent might. It didn’t damage our relationship. In time, I even came to
accept the situation.”

Bain looked up at me. “Which brings us to today, Mr. Welles. Someone murdered Joshua.
I want to know who.”

“You’re the Deputy Area Governor,” I said slowly. “You must have resources available to
find the killer. Why ask me?”

“You knew Joshua,” he said. “You were his friend. You know the cases that he was
working on. You know some of the people he knew. Perhaps you even know some of his
enemies. And you’re a skilled investigator.” He paused. “Who better?”

“From what you said about humans, I would have thought you’d rather use your own
people.”

“Frankly, I would.” Bain said, the words slow and distinct. “But what I would rather do and
what will achieve my goal of finding the killer or killers are two different things.”

I didn’t say anything.

“Let me ask you a simple question. Do you want to know who killed Joshua Thomas?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Then your goal is the same as mine. End of discussion.” He opened a desk drawer and
took out another file folder. “By law, Joshua’s estate reverts to me. I will retain his fifty percent
interest in Night and Day Investigations. Since I understand that the financial success of the
business depends on servicing both a human and a vampire clientele, I will select an investigator
to work at night. This investigator will be the junior partner in the detective agency and you will
have full use of his or her services.”

“Do I have any input in the selection process?”

“No,” he said curtly. “I’m told that you’re a talented detective, Mr. Welles. From time to
time, I will put different investigators in that position. It’s my hope that they will learn from you.
All financial remuneration that the business receives will go to you, and you’ll also keep
whatever money is currently in the business account. Consider it your payment for the on-the-job training of my investigators. I have no need for money.”

Bain opened the folder. “Joshua owned an apartment in the Uptown District. I’ll retain that.
He also owned a vehicle, a Jeep Cherokee. You’re welcome to that if you want it.”

“Gas is hard to get, and expensive,” I said.

“The vehicle has all the proper stickers. You can fill it at any police station or government
motor pool at no cost.” He paused. “Yes or no?”

“Yes,” I said.

He made a notation in the file. “For the duration of this case, I will be assigning two people
to assist you. One is a vampire, and will be your direct link to my office. The other will be
human and will be available for whatever you require.”

“I guess you’re not looking for input on them either,” I said.

Bain studied me for a moment. “For the vampire, no. This is a sensitive situation. It will be
a member of my staff. As for the human . . .” He paused. “If you have someone in mind, I’ll
entertain a suggestion.”

“I’ll give it some thought. What else?”

He removed a piece of paper from the folder and slid it across the desk, then laid a pen on
top of it. “Read it and sign it.”

I skimmed the document. It was an employment contract, detailing everything he’d
mentioned. He’d already signed it. I hesitated for a moment, then signed.

“Good,” he said, sliding another piece of paper to me as I pushed the contract back across
the desk. “Your copy of the contract.”

I folded it and stuck it in my pocket.

He reached into the desk and came out with something else that he pushed across to me. I
stared at it. “Haven’t seen one of those in a while. Does it work?”

“I wouldn’t give it to you if it didn’t work, Mr. Welles.”

I picked up the cell phone. “I thought they were outlawed.”

“To the general populace, both human and vampire,” he said, putting the file folder back in
the desk. “Cell phone transmissions are relatively easy to encrypt, time-consuming to decrypt,
and it’s not easy to locate the caller with any degree of accuracy unless the phone has a Global
Positioning System chip installed. And GPS chips can be removed or bypassed. After the war, it
was decided that we would remove the temptation to cause mischief. Perhaps one day that won’t
be a problem.”

He jerked his chin at the phone in my hand. “You’ll have the use of the phone for the
duration of this case. It has three programmed speed-dial buttons at the top. The first rings the
Area Operations Center. Identify yourself and they’ll patch you through to me or provide
whatever assistance you might require. It’s manned around the clock. The second rings here, in
my home. The third rings my personal cell phone. If you need to contact me, for whatever reason,
use those numbers, in that order. I’ll see that a recharger is placed in the Jeep Cherokee when
it’s delivered to you.”

“Kind of an old fashioned phone, sir,” I said with a smile. “Don’t you have something with a
touch screen and some apps?”

“It’s a telephone, Mr. Welles. You don’t need apps.”

“Right. What else.”

He picked up the red phone and said, “This is Phillip Bain. I need credentials issued for a
Charles Lawrence Welles.” He listened for a moment, then said, “Human. Use the picture we
have on file for his Private Investigator license.” More silence. “I don’t know. Whatever we
issue our highest-level operatives. Full cooperation, civilian and governmental, penalty of death,
whatever it says. You know the details better than I. Everything over my signature” He nodded.
“That will be fine. Thank you.”

Hanging up the phone, he said, “Your credentials will be ready tomorrow evening. They’ll
be delivered to you.”

“Sounds like the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card,” I said softly.

Bain laughed harshly. “One look at them and the governor of this state would be falling all
over herself to give you anything you asked for. Including her cold body, if that’s what you
required.” He smiled thinly. “Of course, when the case is over, I’ll be taking the cell phone and ID back.”

“Of course.”

He was studying me again. “When you were in Camp Delta-5, I understand you were
offered the change by one of our recruiters.”

I nodded. “Yeah. I wasn’t interested.”

“Why not?”

I was silent for a moment. “I’m comfortable with who and what I am.”

“A glib answer,” he said. “One you’ve obviously used whenever the question came up.”

I chuckled uncomfortably. “Let’s just leave it at that. I don’t want to offend you.”

Bain’s eyes were hard. “By all means, offend me.” It wasn’t a request.

“You want it straight?” I asked. “Okay. I saw what Vees were like, what they did without a
second thought. I don’t want any part of it. I don’t want to live off the blood of human beings. I
don’t want to participate in the kind of casual brutality I saw during the war and in the camp.
Had they offered me the choice between being turned or death, I would have chosen death. And
to be honest, nothing I’ve seen since has changed my mind.”

He continued to study me, then nodded. “Fair enough.”

“Now I’ve got a question for you,” I said. “And I’d appreciate a straight answer.”

“That depends on the question,” Bain said. “Ask.”

“Did Joshua turn voluntarily?”

Bain was silent for a moment, then said, “Did I ask him before I changed him? No. Did he
have a choice in the matter? No. As I said, he was under my command during the war. After I
was changed, I was told what needed to be done, and left to make it happen. I required Joshua’s
assistance to be successful. I called him into my office, had him subdued, and did what needed
to be done. There was nothing voluntary about his change.”

“Thanks for your honesty,” I said.

He nodded slowly and picked up the white phone. “Send in Takeda.” He hung up the phone
and stood, extending his hand across the desk. “Good luck, Mr. Welles.”

As I shook his hand, I heard the door behind me open. “Takeda reporting, sir,” a woman
said.