The Bloody Mary Diet: The Detective Adele Series Book 1 (15 page)

I turn to look at David and he is staring at me. I guess I should introduce myself before he looks at my
cleavage anymore and we both end up barfing. “Hi, my name is Catherine, Queen of the West and All Who Reside Here. Your dad sent me. I am your sister.” The queen thing was totally gratuitous but I should get something out of it. David looks shocked. Viktor and the assholes, they should be a punk band, look even more confused than usual. I hope that stupid is not contagious. Keep in mind all of this has gone down in about two minutes and it probably takes Viktor that long to button and zip his own pants, forget about accepting a complete change in regimes.

Viktor is staring at us.
I get the feeling that he is not on the inside track of vampire politics. “Demetri is king.”

“He was king. I am now queen by right of challenge and battle to the death. I killed Demetri and his second, Ivan the Bloody
, thereby becoming rightful ruler and Queen. So suck it.” I am really, really stalling. Why is Trevor not here yet? I throw Viktor and his friends down the alley again and glance over at David. He seems to be taking all this really, really well, he may even be enjoying it. I think he is enjoying it. That cannot be healthy.

“I’m David. I don’t have a sister, classic only child
here.”

“Me too, I mean only child, not classic. I
am your half-sister. Our dad sent me to find you after our grandmother died and mentioned me in her will. He didn’t really know about me. She was a serious bitch by the way. No offence.”

“None taken. Can you show me how to do that throwing thing?”

“Sure, I would love to. We have to wait for them to get up again and come closer though.” I am having a moment with my little brother. How cool is that. I hope we don’t die.

Viktor and his friends seem less sure about what to do at this point. They really aren’t getting up but I don’t know what to do either. I can
’t arrest them because I am not really a cop right now. I can’t shoot them because I don’t have a gun. I can’t run because they are blocking the only way out. Teaching David to knock them down again really seems like the only productive option.

“Viktor, come here. I want to show David something. Please.” Gran always said to be polite.

Victor stands up but he hesitates, “No.”

“Why not, if you stay there you can’t get us and we can’t get away so we will all have to
just stand here forever. That won’t help anyone. Stop being such a chicken.”

And that’s when Viktor and his two friends pull a total mind scramble on me. They turn and run. I am not kidding. We are outnumbered four to two, they are bigger than us and they probably have guns. And they run. So much for being gangsters.

I take my first real breath in about twenty minutes and turn to David. He is smiling ear to ear. This kid is not right, not right at all. We are definitely related. We start walking down the alley, which is no longer blocked thanks to our very brave captors. Trevor and Michaels are standing in the street. Viktor and his friends are laying in the street in front of them. Michaels kicks one of them. That was fast. Trevor waves me over and asks me to identify Viktor as the man who kidnapped and assaulted me. I identify him and he and his friends are cuffed and moved to the waiting police van.

Trevor says
that they have made about thirty arrests so far on outstanding warrants alone and more than half the people in the club are under age. Turns out Viktor owns the club and will probably be charged with that too. I introduce David to Trevor.

“Nice to meet you, sir.” They shake hands.

“What a suck up!!! Call dad and tell him where you are before I throw up on you. You are even making my bunny slippers want to heave.” David laughs and pulls out his cell phone. When he walks away a few steps I hear Viktor call me. At least I think he is calling me. He just yells, “Stupid Whore.”

I walk over to the back of the van and look at him through the open doors. He is glaring at me and says that I will suffer for what has happened. I have already suffered. Every nightmare thing I have seen on every nightmare day of this nightmare job. I have suffered through the feeling
s of every victim I have ever helped find justice and now this worthless parasite is telling me he will make me suffer. I climb into the van and put one finger on his forehead. I push every horrible memory of every burnt, dismembered, mangled corpse I have ever seen and I push them into his head. I let him live it just like they did, just like I have. His eyes go blank and he starts to scream. I hop down from the van and walk away. Trevor was right. It does help to share the burden. I will have to do it more often.

I can still hear Viktor screaming as the van pulls away. Maybe I
am stronger than I thought.

By the time our dad shows up David and I are on our way to being really good friends. He wants to come over
to our place so I can teach him how to use some of his powers and I really am looking forward to having a family member that doesn’t actually remember the Roosevelt administration. Teddy, not Franklin, if it matters.

As Trevor and I are wrapping things up I hear one of the badges talking
. They say that some of the regulars mentioned girls from the club being forced into a red Jag in the alley behind the club. The girls were never seen again. It’s amazing how some people start talking when they are in cuffs. I swear it’s like the blue uniform and badge act like a verbal laxative on some people.

On a hunch I walk a little distance away and call my brother on
the phone.

“Hey David, do you know anything about girls being taken from Venom and not coming back.”

David pauses for a minute and says “Yes, why?”

“What do you know?”

“They were girls that owed Viktor money. Almost always drugs. He would act like the money wasn’t a problem until they were addicted and then demand payment. By then it was usually way more than they could possibly have so he would say that they “worked” for him. Kind of like I did except we would never see them again. I don’t know what he did with them but they were all pretty and young. Viktor would hand pick them and start feeding them drugs until he owned them.”

“Do you think they were killed?” I ask.

Another pause. “I don’t know but probably not.”

“Why not?”

“Because a dead girl isn’t good for what he wanted them to do.” David’s voice had gone totally flat. I couldn’t ask anything else.

We hung up and I call the city coroner’s office. I knew one of the night guys there and he usually had a good grasp on what came in and out. I had his direct line.

Mark answered, “What’s up Cate? I didn’t know you were back.”

“My vacation
to Crazy Town has been cut short. Something came up and I have a question.”

“Shoot.”

“Have any vampire kills come in to you in the last year. Young pretty girls, probably drugs in their system that were not the cause of death and green paint chips under their nails. I know that is kind of specific but I think I might be on to something and I need to look further.” I can feel the tension on the other end of the line as I ask him. I get the feeling that he wants to tell me and he doesn’t want to all at the same time.

“We probably get four or five vampire kills that match that description each month.
Mostly just in the last year. The paint under the nails I remember specifically on a few. Maybe six.” He finally answers.

I sit down on the curb. How did I not know this? I picture the tru
nk of Viktor’s piece of shit red Jag with the green trunk. I had said at the time that it looked like he had kept a pride of lions in there. More like scared little girls.

“Would you call the paint British racing green?
Like auto paint?” I ask. I already know the answer.

“It was a dark kind of forest green so, yeah, maybe. It was
definitely auto paint.”

I feel sick, “Why don’t I know about this Mark? It is a pattern and I haven’t heard about it even once. Why the fuck would I not have heard about it.”

“Ask Trevor.” And he hangs up.

I look over and Trevor is about three feet away looking at me. He heard the whole thing.

“What the fuck, Trevor. I knew nothing about this. No one said a word. These cases are totally linked to Viktor and probably Demetri as well and no one told me a thing?” Michaels joins Trevor at this point and they both pull me away. It is obvious that no one else is intended to hear this.

“Stop right now. I am the fucking queen and I want to know something you are going to tell me. Right now.”

Trevor and Michael are staring at me again like I have two heads. I have never really been angry at either of them but now I am pissed. I slap their hands away and glare. “You can tell me now or I will go to the coroner’s office right now and get the information myself and then I will call every news outlet in the fucking city and e-mail the nationals. With photos. This will not stand. Everything we stand for says that this is wrong.” Tears are running down my face but I don’t care. I have been betrayed on a level so deep that my world feels like it has literally ended.

Trevor finally says. “We handle these things internally.”

“Internally? What the hell does that even mean? We are a police department. We do not cover up serial murders. If what Mark says is even vaguely true we are looking at sixty killings this year. Easy. What about the ones we didn’t find? What about the ones that are still alive?” I am on the verge of hysteria.

Trevor, “And that is why I didn’t take the money from Demetri. Why I had to stay clean even if it meant
that both of our lives were at risk, ours and Michaels and many more people you don’t even know. We handled the deaths in our way and kept it internal. I can tell you the rest at home but not here. Not now.”

“
You can stay away from me. Both of you. I am going to my Grans house getting some cloths and then I am going to the coroner’s office. Do not meet me there.” I walk away and ask one of the uniformed officers for a ride home. I am still wearing my baby doll nightie and I have to change. He quickly agrees and we head to his squad car. He stars at my boobs a little too long but at least that is normal. Normal. Normal is good.

Chapter 15
: All Grown Up

Gran is up and waiting when I arrive at our house.
This is the first time I have seen her since I got married, went bonkers and came back. I don’t know what time it is but I know it is late. She has a very serious look on her face. I tell her I am going upstairs to change and then I have to go. I ask if I can borrow one of her suits. She always wore Channel. I think she knew Coco but I can’t swear to it. I will have to ask later.

“You may borrow a suit but first you will listen to me. It is time we talked. I have been negligent in your upbringing in so many was but that has to stop. Tonight.” Gran has never sounded so severe. Or so with it.

“I need to get to the coroner’s office. I think that there is a serial kill loose in the city and I think there is a chance my department, our department, has been covering it up. The evidence that I have is all that links some of the deaths together and if someone gets to it before I do it will be lost for good. The shoes I wore the night I was abducted have paint on the heels.  I stomped on Viktor’s car. The same car that was stolen from impound. The paint on my shoes matched the paint on the car. If the shoes are gone that is all I have. They were taken as evidence that night I went to the hospital. If the crime lab can match that paint to the paint under the victim’s nails we have a case. If not I don’t know how to link all together.” I know I am rambling but I am trying to put together what I have left. I can’t count on anyone but myself now. Everything I have ever believed in is gone.

“
Either I work with what I have and make it stick or Viktor will walk out in 80 years exactly like he is now only more pissed off. All the girls will be dead. I have to fix this and then I have to leave.” I can hear the panic in my own voice.

“That being as it may you are going to sit down and listen to me and you are going to do it now.” As she speaks I can feel her power crackling in the air. Gran is
totally pulling rank on me. This is new.

“I never pushed you to learn about our people because I didn’t want you to feel diff
erent. You mother always felt different and that is what pushed her away but you are different. You are different and I am different and so are all the people closest to us. Did you never notice that no vampire or witch ever goes to jail? Does that not seem a little odd to you?” Gran is looking me in the eye. I had never thought of it. “Why do you think that you were always pulled of the case as soon the perpetrator was identified? They were allowing you to keep your hands clean. Letting you take the highroad and pretend that we were all treated equally. That is more than naive, it is denial and you no longer have that luxury. Think about it.”

Gran then
asks, “Did you think that vampires and witches just never commit any crimes that went to trial or was there maybe another reason? A more practical one? If someone locked you away and you did not want to stay could they make you?”

“No.” I answer quietly.