“Yes. Only, there is no resisting him. You can’t say no.”
“I find that hard to believe,” she said. “You telling me this guy could make me just walk off a cliff to my death or pull out my gun and shoot myself in the head?”
“Basically, yes. Maybe not directly, but his power is such that he would give you a compelling reason to believe that walking off that cliff or shooting yourself in the head was the most appealing option available to you.”
All right, then. That notion set Jackie’s nerves on edge. “This why Nick is trying to keep everyone else out?”
“Yes. He knows that if you encounter him, the result will likely mean your death.”
Laurel sat up straight now. “Then how does he plan to stop him?”
“That’s the infuriating thing about Nick Anderson,” she said, her voice showing the first real signs of anger Jackie had heard. “I don’t think he’s planning on stopping him at all.”
“Wait.” Jackie held up her hand. “Hold on. He’s trying to keep us away from a murderer he isn’t trying to stop?”
“Oh, he’ll try,” she said. “Nick is alive today because he promised to try to stop him, but he’s sure he can’t. He’s just playing this game out until its inevitable conclusion, which with three more deaths will come to its horrible, mindless end.”
“What end is that?”
“Drake is going to kill Nick.”
“Ah.” Things were falling into place now. The history was making some twisted sort of sense. Jackie walked over and sat down next to Laurel. “Maybe you should give us your whole story, from the beginning.”
She laughed again. “You have a few hours?”
Jackie leaned back and folded her hands over her stomach. “Yeah. Yeah, we do.”
Chapter 23
Only an hour later, Jackie leaned back in the safety and privacy of her Durango and ran her fingers through her hair. She closed her eyes, waiting, hoping for things to settle, come together, and get off the tabloid pages.
“You okay?” Laurel said and then laughed nervously. “I couldn’t tell if you were going to laugh her out of the room or slap her upside the head.”
Jackie dropped her hands to her lap. “I wanted to smack you a couple times. What the hell was going on in there? It was like watching a supernatural episode of
The Dating Game
.”
She looked at Jackie for only a second and then looked outside, at her hands, and at anywhere but near Jackie’s face. “Sorry. It . . . I was just . . . um . . .” Her face scrunched up, trying to unscramble whatever jumble of words were running through her head.
The pink flush of embarrassment brought a smirk to Jackie’s mouth. She had never seen Laurel in this state before. It had always been the other way around. “It wasn’t very subtle, you know. She touched you every chance she got.”
Laurel sighed. “Pretty obvious, huh?”
“I should arrest her just on principle, flirting with an FBI agent in the middle of an interview.”
Laurel came halfheartedly to Shelby’s defense. “I don’t think she was trying to disrupt our questioning.”
“I think Ms. Fontaine is the sort of woman who does what she wants, when she wants, and doesn’t give a rat’s ass what anyone else thinks about it.”
Laurel gave her a meager nod and shrug of agreement.
“That’s . . . You like that sort of . . . Shit! I should have slapped her upside the head.”
“I could have dissuaded her if I’d wanted to, Jackie. You don’t have to protect me from that.”
“I know,” Jackie said, flustered. “It’s just that . . . um . . . just, I’ve never seen you do this before. Like, ever.”
“I should have been more professional. I’m sorry.”
“Well,” she started. Laurel was right, of course, but why now of all times? “Yeah, you should have, but maybe it helped loosen her up, too. She was nervous.” Despite the incredulity of the story, Jackie could not free up her mind from their interaction. “She’s really that irresistable?”
Laurel nodded. “Oh, yeah, and then some, but it’s more than that. She’s . . . powerful is the only word I can think of. But it’s more than that.”
Jackie started up the Durango finally and got them back on the road. “Is it because she claims she’s a vampire?”
“No. Well, I guess that has something to do with it.” She laughed. “Crazy, isn’t it?”
Who was Jackie to say? She could hardly make any claims to know anything about healthy relationships, but one fact remained, nonetheless. “You can’t pursue this right now, you know.”
Laurel leaned back against the seat with a heavy sigh. “I know. I have a tendency to fall for women I can’t have. It’s a curse.”
Jackie watched the road in silence, the words sinking in. “Okay, I guess we’re going to have this conversation now.”
She sat quietly in her seat, eyes closed for a moment. “I was in love with you, Jackie.” There was a mixture of anger and regret in her voice. “And, yes, I know it was dumb and irrational, but you were what I wanted, simple as that, and despite the advice of several therapists, I could not let you go. You needed me as much as I needed you.”
Jackie stared straight ahead. What could she say to that? What did she want to say? This was virgin territory, beyond her realm of experience. Was there a
Dummies
book for this kind of shit? And, of course, what she
did
say sounded completely inane and absurd to her ears. “When did you get over me?”
“About an hour ago.”
The light they were stopped at turned green, but Jackie’s feet were frozen. She stared over at her best friend. “I wish I’d known.”
Laurel laughed at Jackie, perhaps a little too bitterly. “Why? Would it have made things better? Would you have sat there with me in the seat next to you, feeling comfortable knowing I was in love with you? That I dreamed of making love to you?”
Jackie squirmed in her seat, and someone behind honked. She put the portable siren out on the roof and rolled the window back up. “I don’t know how I would have felt, Laur. I didn’t get the chance, and maybe you’re right. Fuck, you probably are right. I’d have been weirded out. But I’m your best friend, and doing good by you matters more to me than anything. I’d have dealt with it.”
Tears fell, rolling down Laurel’s cheeks. “That’s good to know. Thank you. And you’re right. I should have trusted you would deal with it.”
Silence followed, and Jackie let her foot off the brake and continued on toward downtown. Finally, she said, “No. You’re right. I’m a fuckup when it comes to relationships. If you’d told me, I’d have screwed things up between us somehow. Or, worse, gotten drunk and slept with you.”
Laurel laughed at that. “The thought has crossed my mind a time or two.”
The tension eased, and Jackie smiled at her friend. This was all good. They would figure it out and move on. Things would get back to normal. She would find someone to love who would feel the same way. “I wouldn’t even know if I should be top or bottom.”
“Oh,” she replied with a knowing grin. “You’d be top, Jackie, believe me.”
The laughter rolled out of her now. “True enough, I guess. This is just the weirdest conversation. Will I get to hear all the sordid details of your sexual escapades?”
“Slut. You’re just as curious what a vampire will do in bed as I am.”
“What? No! Christ, no. You and biker girl go have fun . . . after the case is over with.” Who was she kidding? She would want to know everything. “I’ll expect a lengthy and detailed report.”
“You might regret that choice, Agent Rutledge.”
Jackie grinned and shook her head. “Undoubtedly.”
Back at headquarters, Jackie dropped off the sample of synthetic blood to be analyzed and found that Belgerman, for better or worse, was still in the office. He had likely read Hauser’s data by now and was waiting impatiently for an update. There would be a meeting of the violent-crimes task force in the morning, and he would want something clear and concise to give them.
Yeah, good luck with that one. Jackie flopped down into her desk chair while Laurel seated herself in hers. “We need to let Belgerman know that all this crazy shit is real. He won’t be happy.”
“The team needs to know what we’re dealing with,” Laurel said.
“We don’t even know what we’re dealing with. Ms. Fontaine wasn’t exactly full of details on that end.”
“I know. The next one will be an adult female though, according to what Shelby said.”
“Thirty-one, brunette,” Jackie said. “That doesn’t narrow it down a whole lot. Likely a couple million of those in the Chicago area alone.”
“Maybe that tarot card had more of a clue in it than just which family member this guy was going to kill next?”
“Could be. Give it to Hauser and see what the geeks can come up with.” Jackie pushed away from her desk. “Let’s go fill Belgerman in.”
They found him in the conference room, the case notes spread out across the large cherry tabletop. A map on the wall had several pushpins inserted, marking all relevant points of interest. Next to it, a dry-erase board highlighted the basic information discovered thus far.
He motioned Jackie and Laurel to the chairs and then walked over and closed the door. “One of you want to clue me in on this?” He tapped Hauser’s report on the table. “I can see you’ve got something, and that means I like what I saw in these pages even less.”
Jackie glanced over at Laurel. “You tell him. This is your area, not mine.”
Laurel gave her a sardonic smile. “Thanks. Sir, in my opinion, we’re after something supernatural.”
He plopped back down in his chair and rubbed a hand over his tired face. “Yeah, I suspected as much. Is it Nick Anderson?”
Laurel shrugged. “Maybe, but if I were to guess, I’d say no. He hasn’t been very forthcoming on his side of things, but we got Shelby Fontaine to share some information with us that sheds some light on this case.”
“If it’s true,” Jackie added.
“Yes,” she said. “It’s a pretty big ‘if’ to swallow.”
Belgerman motioned for her to continue. “No suspense, please. Just tell me, Laurel. I’ve heard this kind of stuff from you before, so as weird as it may be, I trust your opinion on anything that smacks of otherworldly.”
“Thank you, sir,” she said, smiling. “But this is beyond even what I’ve encountered or know about. Our killer does indeed seem to be some sort of vampire who draws blood from his victims to sustain his life, and for what else, we have no idea. He is killing in retribution for the death of his wife and son at the hands of Nick Anderson.”
“So, the stories Hauser dug up?”
“We think they are true, sir.”
“So, Nick Anderson and Shelby Fontaine?”
Laurel winced at her own reply. “Vampires, too, sir.”
“Lovely. Can we keep this out of the papers? It’ll be a fucking circus if it gets out that we’re after a real vampire.”
“Yes, sir,” Jackie said. “I have every intention of doing just that.”
“Good,” he said, standing up and patting her on the shoulder. “’Cause if it leaks, you are the spokesperson on this one.”
“You’re too kind,” Jackie said. “We’ll keep it quiet. I just hope the rest of the team can, once this comes up.”
“They have no choice,” Belgerman said. “See if Anderson will come in tomorrow, and let’s see what he has to say. The rumors flying around this case are giving me a migraine. I want everyone informed.”
“Sir, he wants us as far away from him as possible.”
“Then find a way to convince him, Jack. You’re good at that sort of thing.” He got up and walked to the door. “We need a way to track this thing down. Right now we’re just driving in circles waiting for him to kill someone again.”
“We realize, sir.” He was clearly frustrated. John Belgerman didn’t take to being clueless very well. “I’ll convince him to come in, one way or another.”
“We’ll change the task-force meeting until after lunch, two PM. Gives you a little more time. If you have to, bring Anderson in on suspicion. I don’t care how weak it is.” Belgerman gave them a curt nod and closed the door.
Jackie cleared her throat. “Well, that went fairly well, all things considered.”
“Think you can actually get Nick to come in?”
She shrugged. “If not, we’ll get Fontaine down here. She likes to talk. I’m not sure Anderson will say much if I force him to come down here.”
“I’ll talk to her in the morning and let her know,” Laurel said, sounding more cavalier than she needed to.
Jackie bit off her reply. “Get that card down to Hauser, and let’s go get food. Any luck, maybe Nick and Shelby will find that damn light in the fog, and we can get some traction on this psycho.”
Burgers and chili fries were the highlight of the evening. Jackie was watching the White Sox lose, and Nick did not answer his phone, so she could only leave a message. If he refused to call back, she would ring him first thing in the morning. Shelby thankfully agreed to come around whether Nick did or not, and agreed in such a way as to make Laurel blush.
Jackie dragged the last of her fries through the dregs of chili in the basket. “This is going to be a lot of fun, you know.”
“Shut up.” Laurel reached for her soda and nearly knocked it over. “I deserve a break.”
“You do,” Jackie agreed with a grin. “Still going to be fun as hell. I never get to give you shit over anything.”
“And there’s nothing to give me shit over.” She took a long gulp from her glass. “Not yet.”
Jackie laughed. “Will be if Shelby has anything to say on it. I don’t think she’s the sort to have patience when it comes to something she wants.” Jackie pointed her half-chewed fry at Laurel. “And did you see that bed? Right out of a fucking movie.”
The pink in Laurel’s cheeks turned crimson. “Fuck you. I hate you.”
Jackie popped the last fry into her mouth and giggled. “So much fun.”
A phone-call update from Gamble indicated nothing new. Nick and Shelby were still combing the same general area of town, but with no leads of their own, all the FBI could do was follow. The geeks apparently had come up with nothing recent on Drake.
“So what do we do now?” Laurel wondered.
“Wait,” Jackie replied. “Drake needs to make a move. We’re just grasping at straws.”
“It’s almost nine now.”
“Yeah, I know. I’ll take you home. I’m going to go through everything for the task-force meeting tomorrow. Maybe someone will have a brilliant idea.”
“He might take someone tonight.”
Jackie grabbed her leather coat. “And unless we hear from our local vampires, there won’t be a damn thing we can do about it.”