Fire Brand (City of Dragons Book 6)

by Val St. Crowe

  “Where’s Wyatt right now?” Vivica tossed the paper towel she’d been using into the garbage and went over to the sink.

  “He’s with Lachlan,” I said, heading over there too. “Why don’t you sit down and I’ll tackle these dishes?”

  She waved me away. “Don’t be silly.”

  “Come on, Vivica,” I said. “You do so much for me. You watch Wyatt practically every day.”

  “And you pay me for that,” she said. “Plus give me a place to live where I don’t have to pay rent. So, I’m pretty sure we’re square.”

  I pointed at her kitchen table. “Sit down.”

  She hesitated. And then she shrugged. “You want to wash dishes? Be my guest.”

  There weren’t that many dishes anyway. There was the aforementioned refillable pouch, two bowls, a couple spoons, and a sippy cup.

  Vivica snagged her coffee cup off the counter and sat down. “So, what’s up?”

  “It’s about Eaglelinx,” I said, picking up the dish scrubber. “What do you know about the Executive Board?”

  “Not much,” she said. “When Dan worked there, he didn’t really have much interaction with the higher-ups. He was pretty low on the totem pole. Until, you know, he found out things he shouldn’t know and got himself killed.”

  I was quiet for a moment. I scrubbed the bowl and then I rinsed it. “Dan didn’t deserve that.”

  “No,” she said softly. “He didn’t.”

  “That’s why we’ve got to stop Eaglelinx once and for all.”

  “Does this have to do with that attack last night?” she said. “I can’t believe Jackson and I both slept through that.”

  “No, I’m glad you did,” I said. “Because it could have been dangerous, but you guys stayed safe.”

  “And you really think that whatever those things were that came from the ocean are connected to Eaglelinx?”

  “Well, Scott seemed to think so,” I said. “He mentioned the Executive Board.”

  “Dan never really talked about them,” said Vivica. “I don’t know much.”

  “Well, tell me everything you do know,” I said. “You never know what might be important.”

  “Um… well, it’s nothing. I mean, sometimes he’d say things like that they were working on something big and the orders came directly down from the Executive Board. Stuff like that. I don’t know anything about them, but I got the impression that they were scary. That you wouldn’t want to be called in to meet them or anything like that. And no one ever did. The Managing Board deals with the Executive Board, and the Managing Board tells everyone whatever their decisions were.”

  “Huh,” I said. I’d almost met with a member of the Managing Board, and as far as I knew, they were flesh and blood, not things that came out of the sea. “Anything else?”

  “No.” She shook her head.

  I scrubbed at the spoons and rinsed them. “Anything at all. Think hard.”

  “Uh…” She chewed on her lip. “I was at a company Christmas party once, and I met a secretary. She worked high up in the company, and she made some comment about the Executive Board, but it wasn’t anything that out of the ordinary. She was drinking the punch, and it was alcoholic, and she said, ‘I should have this on a regular basis to deal with the Executive Board.’”

  “She worked with the Executive Board directly?”

  “I, um, I think so?”

  “What was her name? Do you remember her name?”

  “Um…” Vivica wrinkled up her brow. “I think it started with a T. Like Tammy or Tina or… No, it was Tess. I’m pretty sure it was Tess.”

  “Last name?”

  Vivica shook her head. “I never got her last name. Or if I did, there’s no way I remember it.”

  “Well, that’s better than where we were before we started talking.” I started to scrub the sippy cup. “See, you’re helping out tons.”

  “How?” said Vivica.

  “We’ll find this Tess person,” I said. “She’ll give us answers.”

  * * *

  But a search of the online listing of employees at Eaglelinx returned no one named Tess. I wondered if maybe she’d quit. I hoped she wasn’t dead. I wouldn’t put it past those jackasses to do something like that.

  Lachlan and I had taken the day off work the day before to go to the crypt, so we didn’t feel like we could really play hooky today, even though we were concerned about Eaglelinx. So, we headed into the office later on. We were late, but we were there.

  Christy was at her desk as we settled in. “Late night, you two?”

  Lachlan shook his head at her. “You don’t even want to know.”

  “Oh, not the fun kind?” She turned to grin at us. “You weren’t here yesterday either.”

  “Yeah, but that was planned,” I said. I wandered over to the whiteboard and peered at our suspects. We were getting nowhere fast with this case, weren’t we?

  “I’ve been watching that.” Christy pointed to the whiteboard. “Hasn’t changed lately. All the same suspects in the same positions. You haven’t eliminated anyone?”

  “We’re waiting on some handwriting analysis,” said Lachlan.

  “Yeah?” said Christy. “What’s that going to prove?”

  “Well,” said Lachlan, “we’re hoping it proves that the son there, Dashiell, wrote a fraudulent check to himself.”

  “Which would prove he was the killer?” said Christy.

  “Not exactly,’ said Lachlan.

  “Give him motive, then?” said Christy.

  “Maybe,” said Lachlan.

  “Well, he’s up there at the top of your list,” she said. “He must be pretty important. You must have something on him that makes you think he’s the killer.”

  Lachlan and I exchanged a glance.

  Christy chuckled. “I don’t know how you two ever close cases at all.”

  Lachlan folded his arms over his chest. “Hey, why don’t you focus on your vampire gang murder? Or did you already solve that?”

  “Not quite yet,” she said. “But I’m almost there.”

  “Well, we’re almost there with this case,” said Lachlan.

  “Sure, you are,” she said knowingly.

  “We are,” said Lachlan.

  I grabbed him by the arm. “Lachlan?”

  He looked down at me. “Yeah?”

  “Did you ask Christy about Thanksgiving?”

  He turned back to her. “You got plans for Turkey Day?”

  “Um…” She looked back and forth between us. “You’re inviting me to your place?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “We usually do an afternoon thing, but this year, that falls right in nap time for both of the boys, so we’re going for the evening instead. Probably around five, if that’s cool.”

  “Are there, uh, going to be family members there, like your great-aunt Agatha or something who’ll try to fix me up with her son?”

  “No,” I said. “Lachlan and I don’t have relatives like that.”

  Lachlan laughed. “I do. Sort of. I haven’t really seen my extended family in years, though. They won’t be there.”

  “Okay,” she said. “All right, then. I’d love to come. What should I bring?”

  “You don’t have to bring anything,” I said.

  “I can bring dessert,” she said. “I make a mean pumpkin cheesecake.”

  “Okay, yes,” I said. “Bring that. Definitely bring that.” That sounded delicious.

  She grinned. “Thanks for the invite, guys.”

  “Of course,” I said, smiling back.

  “It was my idea,” said Lachlan. “Just so you know.”

  “Well, I would have thought of her,” I said, glaring at him. “Why don’t you go see if we have handwriting analysis or not?”

  He shrugged. “I’m only saying that you should remember that, Christy.” He started to walk away, but he pointed both fingers at her. “I got your back, even after everything.”

  “After what?” she said. “Wh
at are you talking about?”

  He was backing away from us now, arms spread. “After all those names you used to call me. You hurt my feelings practically every day.”

  She snorted.

  Lachlan kept walking backwards. And then he ran into someone else’s desk.

  And both Christy and I cracked up.

  * * *

  “How long you been on the junk?” said Lachlan, eyeing Dashiell. We were standing outside his apartment. Dashiell hadn’t let us come this time again. He seemed awake, but he looked pretty out of it. It was just after sundown, so I suppose that we could have blamed it on the fact that he was just waking up if we wanted, but knowing what we did about him, it was likely drugs.

  Dashiell furrowed his brow. “Man, I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

  “No?” said Lachlan. “Why don’t you let us in? You’re in a world of trouble right now, and we’ve got a lot to discuss.”

  “I’m not letting you in,” said Dashiell.

  “You did last time when you were high,” said Lachlan.

  “You got no proof that I was on anything.”

  “You were definitely strung out on junk,” said Lachlan.

  “No one even calls it that anymore,” said Dashiell.

  Lachlan leaned against the doorway. “So, what are you crazy kids calling it, then?”

  “I don’t know,” said Dashiell. “I don’t do it.”

  “Okay, then,” said Lachlan. “So, why’d you forge a check out of your dad’s checkbook?”

  “What?” said Dashiell. “I never did that.” He shifted on his feet nervously, though.

  “Don’t try to lie to us,” said Lachlan. “I got a copy of the check and I got a sample of your handwriting, which you were kind enough to give us last time we spoke, and our handwriting expert says it’s definite that you wrote the check.”

  Dashiell backed up and started to close the door.

  “Where you going?” said Lachlan, pushing on the door. “You want to make this tough, Dashiell? You want me to haul you into the station?”

  Dashiell pushed back. “Just go away, man. Just go away and leave me alone.”

  Lachlan was still pushing.

  But it was no contest. Dashiell was a gargoyle, and gargoyles are remarkably strong, so the door slammed in both of our faces. Lachlan barely got out of the way in time to keep from getting his fingers caught. He jumped back, swearing softly under his breath.

  “Go away!” yelled the muffled voice of Dashiell on the other side of the door.

  “Okay, here’s a theory for you,” said Lachlan, leaning close to the door. “You asked your dad for money. When he said no, you came back the next day armed with a syringe full of Periklur. And then you injected him with it. Then you wrote yourself a check for what you needed. Cashed it and immediately went out to buy heroin.”

  “No way.” The door opened again. Dashiell was shaking. “That’s a lie, man. I didn’t kill my father.”

  “You didn’t?” said Lachlan.

  “No. If I was going to kill him, why wouldn’t I take more money than that?”

  Lachlan shrugged. “Maybe you lack imagination. Maybe you didn’t think he had much more than that.”

  “Are you kidding me? My father was freaking loaded. He had a lot of money. He got paid for doing those speaking appearances all over the country. He got paid big money. And when he wasn’t doing those, he worked other jobs too. And because he was so special, his mother and sisters never asked him to contribute a dime to the household, so he hoarded it all. He had a lot of money. I knew that. And I knew that he had so much that he’d never miss what I took.”

  “Well, you’re wrong about that,” I said. “Because this amount was missed. Paloma, his niece, saw that a big chunk of cash was missing and came to us.”

  “Damn it,” he muttered. “I didn’t think about her. Of course she’s got to be doing his banking. Damn it.”

  “You forged the check,” said Lachlan.

  “Yes, I forged the check.”

  “You used it to buy drugs,” said Lachlan. “I know you’re doing heroin, but I think you were also on something speedy the first time that we interviewed you. Maybe even now. You seem a little twitchy.”

  Dashiell didn’t say anything.

  “We know it’s the truth,” said Lachlan.

  “If you’re going to arrest me for forging the check, then I don’t see why you need me to cop to the drug stuff too,” said Dashiell.

  “I’m not going to arrest you for either of those things,” said Lachlan. “That’s not my case. My case is a homicide. If I arrest you, it’s going to be for murder.”

  “But I didn’t kill him!” Dashiell protested. “I didn’t want him dead. Now that he’s dead, I’m screwed. The money’s all cut off. I mean, I heard that he’s maybe leaving all his kids a little lump sum, but he’s got a lot of kids, so that’s not going to be that much money, not after it’s all divvied up.”

  “The money’s cut off?” said Lachlan. “But if you were getting money from him, then why did you have to forge a check?”

  “Well, he usually gave me some cash,” said Dashiell. “I mean, that’s the whole reason I found him and laid the guilt trip on him in the first place. I didn’t have anyone else to turn to. My mom and my aunts had cut me off and kicked me out. They weren’t going to give me anything else, and they didn’t even want me at the house, because they were afraid I might steal something.”

  “Steal something?” said Lachlan. “You still going to pretend you’re not hooked on smack?”

  “No one calls it smack either,” said Dashiell.

  Lachlan rolled his eyes. “Whatever you call it, you’re in bad.”

  Dashiell sighed. He hung his head. “Yeah… yeah, maybe. But I can’t stop, so it doesn’t matter. I tried. I went in to the free clinic, and they gave me methodone, but I just end up using on top of that. I still go to the free clinic and get methodone if I can’t put together money for stuff.”

  “Stuff?” said Lachlan. “You’re calling it stuff?”

  “No, that’s not a name for it or anything,” said Dashiell. “It’s just… you know, it’s the stuff I want.”

  “So,” I said, “you got in touch with your father so that you could try to scam on him for drug money.”

  “Man, you make it sound so horrible,” said Dashiell.

  “Is that about accurate?” said Lachlan.

  Dashiell scuffed his foot against the floor. “Yeah, it is. And it worked for a long time. But then I think he was starting to catch on, figure out that something was wrong with me. He was asking all the wrong questions, and he wasn’t as free with the money. When I asked him that night, the last night I saw him, he out-and-out said no. So, I had to do something drastic. I didn’t have a choice.”

  “You did have a choice,” Lachlan said quietly.

  “No,” said Dashiell. “You ever been hooked on this stuff? It makes all the decisions these days. I’m just along for the ride.”

  “How’d you forge the check without your father seeing?” I said.

  “I didn’t write it in front of him,” said Dashiell. “His check book was sitting out. I went over and made a big show of looking at the flowers he got and reading the cards. And I swiped a check while I was doing that. When I got home, I wrote it out to myself. I told myself that I would only write it as big as I thought I could pay back, and that seemed like an amount I could pay back someday.” He sighed. “I wasn’t really thinking, all right? I just… I needed that money. I needed it.”

  We were all quiet.

  Dashiell looked at us. “I didn’t kill him. I swear that I didn’t.”

  Lachlan sucked in a long, slow breath.

  “Are you going to arrest me?” said Dashiell. “If I get arrested, what happens? Because if I can’t get more stuff when I need it, I start losing it, you know? So, you can’t lock me up.”

  “Actually,” said Lachlan. “That’s not really an issue when
you get arrested. You’d detox in a cell.”

  “That could kill me,” said Dashiell.

  Lachlan cocked his head to one side. “I’m not arresting you. Not today. But I do know a place that you could go to get help.”

  “Man, I already been to the free clinic,” said Dashiell. “I told you that.”

  “This place is different,” said Lachlan. “It’s not free, but they do give out scholarship positions to people who really want to change.”

  Dashiell grimaced.

  “I’ll write down the number and the address for you,” said Lachlan. “If you decide you want their help, you should call. Or just go there. Just show up.”

  Dashiell hesitated. Then he bobbed his head. “Yeah, thanks, man. I will.”

  “Good,” said Lachlan.

  “This means you believe me? You don’t think I’m a killer?”

  “I don’t know,” said Lachlan. “You could have done it. If I find further evidence that points to you, I will be back to arrest you. If you did it, I’ll find out. Trust me. But if you’re innocent, then I’m sure I’ll find the real killer, and I won’t be back to bother you.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “You think he’ll go to that facility you told him about?” I asked. Lachlan and I were back in the office, peering at the whiteboard.

  “I doubt it,” said Lachlan. “I think part of him wants to go, but I don’t think he’s enough in his right head to make that decision. An addiction like that is bad.”

  “But he said that he wanted to stop. He went and got methodone,” I said. “I thought methodone was supposed to help.”

  “In theory,” said Lachlan. “But what addicts really need are abstinence-based programs where they can get individual attention. They need to be taken out of their environment, not thrown back to their apartments and given methodone.”

  “You feel kind of strongly about this,” I said.

  “I worked narcotics before this,” said Lachlan.

  “Right,” I said. “I guess you saw this kind of thing all the time.”

  “Worst thing is that there’s nothing you can do for people when they’re that bad into it.”

  I studied my fingernails. “When we were undercover with the Bryant clan, you used drugs.”