CHAPTER TEN
Twenty minutes? Do they think I am so easily discouraged? Later that afternoon, I press the intercom buzzer for a fifth time. Like yesterday, the AZ Society of Sunshine Love isn’t so welcoming. The place also smells of fresh bleach again. God help any poor salesman who wanders in here.
“Hello?” says a female voice I recognize as Viviana.
“This is Mr. Vanderhorst. I’ve come to drop off my residency paperwork.”
“Come right in,” she says miserably.
The door buzzes, and I step inside. Viviana is sitting in a black silk dress behind her desk, which is piled high with envelopes.
She stuffs a card into one and seals it with a lick.
“Planning a party?” I ask, glancing at the top line of the card in her hand. It’s this Friday night.
“Something like that,” she says glumly.
I guess I’m not invited. Boohoo. “Thank you for answering the door so promptly. I will be sure not to forget the gesture.”
She shrugs without eye contact like she couldn’t care less.
A man with my years knows instantly that she’s unhappy and it has nothing to do with me. A fight with someone, perhaps?
“Is Mr. Aspen in? I wish to get an update on the status of Clive Bakker’s murder.”
She shakes her head and keeps stuffing. “He’s in Chicago.”
“Then put me in touch with whoever is working his case.”
“Mr. Aspen is personally handling it,” she replies.
So he lied yesterday when he said he had his best people on it. “That’s highly unusual for the head of a society to lead a case.”
She shrugs again. “It’s not every day someone so high ranking dies in our territory.”
I should hope not.
“Is this why Mr. Aspen is in Chicago?” What else, besides a lead, could possibly pull him away at a time like this?
“He’s at a car convention—he’s a big collector.”
My hackles rise. “Sorry?” I resist reaching across the desk to remove Viviana’s head. “So you are telling me that not only did Mr. Aspen not assign anyone to Clive’s untimely death, but he is now on…vacation?”
Viviana looks up at me with her green eyes. “He’s meeting with some clients there, too.”
She’s lying.
I narrow my eyes, and she pushes back in her chair. I’m about to let my anger get the best of me, and she knows it. Luckily, I catch myself. I also realize that she’s either not very bright for confessing this news about Aspen, or she’s trying to throw him under the bus.
Given what I’ve learned of the despicable man, I’m guessing it’s the latter. Thump, thump!
“Tell me, Viviana, if I were to guess that Mr. Aspen never intends to lift a finger with regards to Clive, would I be correct?”
“Who am I to say what goes on inside my fearless leader’s head?” She glances down at the pile of envelopes and back at me. Then envelopes. Then back again.
I suspect this is a sign—she can’t say more.
“Very good.” I pull the rolled-up paperwork from my jeans back pocket and hand it to her. “Let Mr. Aspen know that I’ve officially registered myself and my girlfriend, who will be arriving tonight.”
“Your girlfriend?” A note of disappointment flickers in her eyes.
She is attracted to me? Hmmm…I might need Viviana’s assistance in the future, so I add, “It’s a new relationship—one never knows how these things will turn out.” I flash my most charming smile, and she visibly flushes. “Please call and let me know when Aspen is back so I may follow up with him.”
“Yes, Mr. Vanderhorst,” she says sweetly.
I leave and immediately call Lula once I’m outside.
“I’m packing, okay!” she barks.
I slide into my blue mailbox with wheels. “Good, you’re still in Cincinnati. I need a favor. Stop by Clive’s office, find his appointment book, and take pictures of all the pages for the last few months. Look around for anything else that might tell us what he was working on or with whom, but don’t disturb anything.”
“Michael? What’s going on?”
“Just do it,” I command.
“But that’s against the law. We can’t tamper with an investigation, and what if someone sees me there?”
“No one will see you, Lula, because no one is investigating Clive’s death.”
She gasps. “What do you mean?”
“They’re not lifting a finger—I just found out.”
“But they have to answer to the council.” I hear the heartbreak in her voice, and it angers me. She’s still so young, so trusting, and I simply don’t want to take that from her.
Nevertheless, she is wrong.
The council is a group of twelve senior vampires from various territories who oversee our continent. The eldest member of that group sits on an international council. Needless to say, these vampires are extremely ruthless and old-school. They love rules, they love enforcing them, and they love breaking them because they are like royalty and no one will dare stand up to them. All this means that the stronger you are, the more you can get away with. The idea of justice is simply a façade meant to lull the masses and keep the peace. Underneath it all, we are still vampires, searching for angles and looking out for number one. I am no different. I will gladly circumvent the rules when it serves me, though I am a good guy. Not everyone else is.
She adds, “I refuse to believe that the person who hurt Clive won’t be punished. Maybe they know who killed him and just can’t tell you.”
You are too sweet, Lula. “Maybe they do know and won’t take action because they plan to pin it on someone else,” I think out loud.
“No.”
“Yes. And while I would like to believe in justice, you are not here. I am. And something strange is going on.” She doesn’t remember the way things used to be before the time of societies. I caught the tail end of it when covens were constantly at war. It took people like Clive to act as peace brokers. Families who simply couldn’t get along were separated into their own territories and a leader appointed. However, most covens were glad for the change and ready to move on after thousands of years of violence. The few families who refused to sign the pact or live by the new rules were hunted down and eliminated. Since then we’ve enjoyed almost three hundred years of order, peace, and prosperity. Regardless, vampires are who they are, and when you’ve been around as long as I have, you know that a leopard cannot change its fangs. Vampires can be ruthless and underhanded, but most of all, we are creatures of extreme loyalty.
We’re also really, really great at doing things in secret, which is why we are quick to sniff out scandals.
“Either way, Lula, you need to get into his office and take pictures of his appointments and anything else you see before someone shows up to remove possible evidence.”
“I don’t know, Michael. It sounds risky.”
“You are right, which is why you will be extremely careful and use everything Clive taught you. Can I get a ‘yes, master’?”
She lets out a sigh. “Yes, master.”
“Thatta girl. We are not going to allow anyone to hurt our family.”
“Your librarian included?” she says petulantly.
“She is not family. She is merely a stranger I stepped in to help.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
I forget that Lula might be young and emotional, but she is smart as a whip. She knows that while my attachment to the librarian isn’t sexual—because vampires don’t love or desire the human way—Miriam has quickly become more to me than a simple stranger, though I do not know why.
“Call when you’re safely out of Clive’s office and on your way here,” I say.
“Will you pick me up from the airport?” she asks, sounding hopeful.
“Uber, woman. Uber.” I end the call, and my mind goes straight into overdrive. I can quickly see how this entire situation with the Arizona Society of Sunshine Love can go sideways on me. Because I am taking over this investigation, which is very much breaking the law.