Kiss Me Deadly

by R. Lee Moore

  “I told you, they were the ones who contacted me,” King cried. “It was never the same number. I swear.”

  King began blubbering and whimpering as she frantically nodded her head in agreement. She'd gotten the point, and she was likely acutely aware of the consequences of doing otherwise by now. Tamina was still tempted to kill her anyway for what she'd done, but she might still be useful. Besides, she wasn't going to get away with her part in the murder. Tamina would make sure of that one way or another.

  “Let her go,” Tamina told Siobhan.

  The she-wolf growled her disapproval, but released her grip on the woman nonetheless. Then she grabbed the woman by the scruff of the neck and violently flung her into the wall hard enough to shatter the plaster and drywall creating a body sized hole on impact. King cried out when she hit, but when she dropped face first onto the floor below, she was silent and unmoving.

  “Not exactly what I meant,” Tamina observed. “She still alive?”

  “Unfortunately,” Siobhan replied.

  “I got no problem then,” Tamina said with a shrug as she walked out the office door. “Watch her a second will ya. Don't kill her.”

  She dialed up the dispatch number and started humming to herself while she waited for the line to be picked up.

  “Mendoza,” she said when the ringing stopped. “You get a call about a werewolf attack in an office building downtown?”

  “How do you know about that?” Mendoza's voice came back irritably. “Do you have something to do with that? You do, don't you?”

  “Uh, yeah,” Tamina replied. “Listen, I'm sure locals are already on their way. Is there anything you can do to keep them from running in guns blazing trying to kill Red and me? I'd really appreciate it.”

  “No promises,” Mendoza replied.

  “Thanks,” Tamina said. “Hey, if you could send a team over to, that'd be great. Got someone for them to take into custody. Oh, and could you let Harris know to expect a few angry phone calls. Probably something he should know about ahead of time.”

  “Sure,” Mendoza said dryly. “Not like I've got any work to do or anything. Got nothing better to do than to put out the fires you start. Why not.”

  “I owe you one,” Tamina replied.

  The line went dead without an answer, and Tamina winced slightly. Somehow, she thought that was going to cost her dearly. Probably worth it though, she decided.

  “Hey Red,” she called out back into the office. “Going to have company soon. Might want to make yourself a bit more presentable if you can.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Surprisingly, it was Lieutenant Decker that was the first on the scene, followed closely behind by a pair of Supernatural Affairs Security vehicles. He'd told Tamina that the minute he heard the call go out, he knew who it was and what was going on. He wasn't happy about being there on his off time, but he'd shown up and been ready for action nonetheless. That fact alone earned the man a bit more respect in Tamina's eyes.

  LAPD units didn't start showing up until over ten minutes later, and only after the all clear had been called out over the radio. For some reason, the initial call about a feral werewolf being loose in the building didn't make them all that eager to show up. They'd taken their time, probably hoping Supernatural Affairs would get there and take care of the situation before they even showed up. It was the typical local response to anything supernatural.

  By that time, Siobhan had already slapped Jennifer King awake and forcefully jammed her back into the chair behind her desk. When the woman started talking, the story was worse than Tamina had expected it to be, and she quickly found herself making sure that Decker was between her and King as much as possible. Too much of a risk of her anger getting the better of her otherwise.

  King tried to minimize her part in the whole incident of course. She talked about how even before this all started she'd tried to convince Amy Lynn to back away from her refusal to work with shapeshifters. She'd offered as much as she could afford, which wasn't much considering the fact that the company was apparently failing, but Amy wouldn't budge no matter how much she tried.

  Then came the moment when King had found out that Amy was talking to different production companies, and was preparing to jump ship once her contract expired. That was when the anger and the hatred had started. She'd felt that she was the one responsible for Amy's popularity. As delusional as it sounded, she felt she was the one who had done all the work that turned Amy Lynn into a star. That in spite of everything she'd done for her, Amy was going to cast her aside like she hadn't done or meant anything. Doing that would end up taking the production company's largest source of income away when they could least afford it.

  She'd called it a betrayal, and it was that betrayal that had really set Jennifer King off. Even in the state she was in, with the broken bones and throat raw from screaming, the pure hatred she had for Amy Lynn still came through in the tones of her voice. There was a cruel spiteful look in her eyes whenever she mentioned the dead woman's name.

  She'd been properly horrified of course when she received the first call that led to Amy's death. She tried to play that part up quite a bit in fact, right up until Siobhan growled a vivid threat at her. After that, all pretense of any sort of innocence or being caught up in the circumstances and the heat of the moment had been dropped out of fear that the she-wolf would continue hurting her if she didn't. She wasn't wrong.

  It was apparently a simple enough decision in the end. King had held such anger and contempt for Amy that it hadn't taken her much convincing to send her to her death. All she had to do was get Amy to a house in the hills and King would end up with five hundred thousand dollars. More than enough to save her company and get her revenge for Amy's supposed betrayal at the same time. Not only that, since King owned all the rights to Amy's previous work, once it got out that she was dead she was going to release her whole catalog again. She actually planned to profit off her murder as much as she possibly could. Her body being found had been part of the arrangement. A little something to help Jennifer King profit off her memory. That part didn't go over well with Siobhan.

  The she-wolf's backhand bounced King's head off the wall and sent her sprawling down to the floor. Tamina had no problem with that. If Siobhan hadn't done it, she probably would have. Even Decker didn't seem all that upset or concerned at the abuse Jennifer King was getting. With what he'd just heard, and knowing that'd he'd probably seen at least one of the videos on the tablet by now, his reaction wasn't really that surprising.

  “Need to keep a better watch on your prisoners, Martinez,” he remarked dryly. “Can't let them keep slipping and falling like that while they're in your custody. It's dangerous. Who knows what could happen to them?”

  Tamina smirked over at the Lieutenant as she strode over and lifted King back up to her desk by the back of her hair. She'd purposefully made it as painful as possible. It was petty and cruel, but considering what Jennifer King was responsible for, Tamina considered it more than justified.

  “Tell me about this house you took her to,” Tamina said. “You leave anything out, and I'll let Siobhan turn you into a chew toy.”

  “I-I don't know,” King said fearfully looking over at Siobhan. “It was just a house somewhere in Laurel Canyon. Off on the side streets. I don't know the exact address.”

  All Siobhan had to do was growl and King started babbling and pleading incoherently until the she-wolf backed away from her.

  “I have it written down,” King pleaded desperately. Her eyes had never left Siobhan, and the wolf's never left hers. “I have it written down in my notebook in the drawer. I'll show you.”

  She started reaching for one of the drawers with her good hand, but Tamina snatched her wrist out of the air and jerked the woman clean out of her seat a second time. It was possible that she was just going to get an address out of the desk, but at the same time it was also possible that she'd been going for a gun she'd stashed away in there too. As it turned
out, when Tamina shoved King out of the way and opened up the drawer herself, she'd been right on both counts.

  There was a day planner in the drawer that probably held whatever address King was talking about. Beneath that though, was a little compact 9mm just sitting there waiting for someone to pick it up and pop off a few rounds. King may not have been going for the gun, but Tamina wasn't willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. She'd already proved she was willing to send someone to their death. Doing it herself to save her skin wasn't that much outside the realm of possibility.

  “How much are you willing not to see,” Tamina grimly asked Decker over her shoulder. “Like, how hard would it be for you to look the other way while I pistol-whip her unconscious with her own piece?”

  Decker peeked over her shoulder and squinted down at the pistol thoughtfully.

  “Eh,” he said. “If she keeps tripping and falling somebody is gonna start getting suspicious. You may have legal protections and authority to do stuff like that, but I don't. You just telling me what you're gonna do might put me in a situation I don't want to be in.”

  “Even if she deserves it?” Tamina asked hopefully.

  “Doubt IA would take that into account,” Decker replied simply.

  Tamina scowled, and restrained herself. She scooped up the pistol and jammed it into her jacket pocket, then started leafing through the day planner. There were a lot of names and addresses listed, none of which looked familiar at first. Tamina figured she'd let someone else go through it later just in case there was anything interesting or of use aside from what she was looking for.

  “Here it is. Laurel Canyon,” she said showing the book to Decker. “It's been what, three days since they dumped Amy's body? What are the odds they're still there?”

  “Dunno,” Decker replied. “With everything you've told me about these folks, they don't seem to be the complete moron type to me. Look how they sterilized the bodies before they dumped them. No, chances are they're long gone. At least from there.”

  Tamina nodded in agreement. He was right. You didn't stay in the shadows unnoticed by being stupid and making mistakes. Hanging around and operating out of the same house for too long invited too many opportunities to get noticed. Especially since they had to have heard about the raid on the cartel by now. It'd be a miracle if they were still in the same spot after that.

  Still, it wouldn't hurt to go and check in out regardless. Who knows, she thought. There could still be something there that would lead her in the right direction. Something that would tell her where these people were, so she could go out and kill them.

  “You mind putting her in the back of one of your cars, Decker?” Tamina asked. “If we're going to go and take a look, might as well take her along just in case. See if it jogs any more of her memory.”

  “No can do, Martinez. Sorry, but, you see that arm? She needs medical attention before the damn thing falls off,” Decker replied. “Only place she's going is a hospital. She already looks like she's going to pass out. Can't take the chance of her keeling over in the back of the car. That's a headache I don't need.”

  Tamina frowned, but managed to see his side despite her disapproval. As far as she was concerned, King could lose her arm for all she cared. She deserved it. Decker probably felt the same way, but fortunately for Jennifer King, he didn't have the kind of legal leeway in that respect Tamina did. Once King was in his custody, Decker had rules he had to follow no matter if he agreed with them or not. Her life was her responsibility at that point, and he didn't seem to be the type to jeopardize that.

  “Fine. We'll make do without her, but keep an eye on her. Might need her later and don't want anything happening to her that a doctor can't fix up,” Tamina said to him before turning to Siobhan. She was still going to need her. “Hey Red, I know it's late-“

  “Yeah, no problem,” Siobhan answered before Tamina could finish. “Give me the address, and I'll meet you there. It'll give me some time to scout out a bit before you get there.”

  Decker had insisted on waiting for the ambulance and getting King all settled into LAPD custody before leaving. He wouldn't budge until the paramedics had loaded her into the ambulance and two cars were sent to escort her all the way to the hospital to keep an eye on her once she was there. It took forever, and while Tamina understood the position he was in, having to cross all the T's and dot all the I's, it didn't make her any less impatient.

  It was a half an hour before they got moving, and nearly another half hour trip before they were cruising down Laurel Canyon looking down all the side streets for the address they'd been given.

  When they found the house, it was tucked away in the very back of one of the dead end streets that branched off the main road. There they found a pile of Siobhan's clothes stacked on top of her bike parked in the driveway. Decker was a bit confused by that until he saw the sleek red wolf ghosting through the shadows coming towards them. Tamina managed to keep him from instinctively drawing his weapon and doing something he was going to regret. Siobhan probably wouldn't have appreciated being shot, and Decker definitely wouldn't appreciate being mauled because he was the one who shot her.

  “I have this weird urge to pet her? Maybe scratch her behind the ears?” Decker remarked as he and Tamina followed the red wolf up the driveway towards the house.

  The warning growl that Siobhan gave without even bothering to slow her pace or look over her shoulder at just the thought made Tamina snicker under her breath.

  “Yeah, that's kinda what I thought,” Decker muttered to himself.

  The front doors to the large expensive looking house hanging out on stilts over the hills were gently swaying back and forth in the wind open and unlocked. Siobhan took the lead up the stairs towards the entryway while Decker and Tamina drew their weapons out and held them at the ready. As soon as the she-wolf nosed her way through the opening and brushed the doors aside and fully open, a strong sterile antiseptic smell washed over Tamina's senses strong enough to make her eyes water and her sinuses burn. She forced herself to continue on past the threshold, and when she was able to clear her eyes enough to look around at her surroundings she started swearing under her breath.

  The whole place was empty. Not a single piece of furniture, drop of blood, or even the smallest shred of evidence that the house had been recently occupied. Every inch looked like it had been professionally scrubbed down and sterilized. There was nothing left that even hinted at all the horrors Tamina had seen on the videos had ever taken place here. They'd wiped it all clean. All they'd left behind was a fresh coat of pristine white paint on every surface in the house.

  For a moment, Tamina questioned whether this was even the right address. She'd recognized the layout of the front room the moment she'd walked in, though. She knew they were in the right place. This was where all the men and women she'd seen in all those horrible videos on the tablet had been torn apart and eaten alive. This was where Amy Lynn, and most likely Albira Adams had died, but there wasn't anything here that would help bring their killers to justice.

  “See if you can find anything,” Tamina told the red wolf with frustration lacing her voice. Maybe there was a scent or something she could track.

  Siobhan began creeping around and meticulously sweeping the house with her enhanced senses. After a few moments, she tensed up and bolted down the hallway and out the back door leaving Tamina and Decker alone in the empty house with their thoughts. Tamina leaned against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest and seethed in frustration. Every time she'd thought she'd gotten a lead, it ended up with her running headfirst into a brick wall. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she was making progress, slow as it might have been, but that didn't help. It only seemed to make things worse in her head. For all she knew she was too late and the people behind all of this had already moved on out of her reach. That pissed her off.

  “What's it going to take to catch these assholes?” she growled angrily.

  “At this po
int? Luck,” Decker replied. He saw the look Tamina gave him and held up his hands to placate her. “We both know it's true. If these folks are as good as they seem to be, well we have to be honest here. It's going to take a miracle. Unless your friend there finds something or the lady whose arm you damn near ripped out of its socket can give us more, all we can do is wait.”

  Tamina closed her eyes and thought hard on everything she knew. There was something she wasn't seeing, she thought. There was still a chance that Jennifer King would be useful despite her claims that she didn't know how to contact the people responsible. A thought struck her, and Tamina inwardly chided herself at not having thought of it before.

  She'd been so focused on Amy Lynn and all the evidence she'd gathered for her murder, that she'd neglected to think at all about the other victim who worked in the same industry. Once she'd had the connection, sadly that was the only consideration she'd given Albira Adams. What if there was more of a connection between the two, though? Maybe the two of them had something more in common than Tamina had first thought. It couldn't have been a coincidence.

  “Decker,” Tamina said, opening her eyes. “Albira Adams. Do you know if she worked for anyone or not? Another production company? An agent maybe?”

  Decker quirked a brow.

  “An agent. Slimy little bastard. Didn't get much out of him though,” he said. He paused in thought, and slowly began to nod his head. “You're thinking her agent might have set her up just like King did.”

  “Something like that,” Tamina agreed. “Worth checking out. Don't know why I didn't think about it before.”

  “Could get a warrant. Be a lot easier if you people put in a good word with the judge though,” Decker said. “What you got in mind?”

  “Well, King keeps insisting she doesn't know how to get a hold of these people. I'm thinking, with the proper motivation the two of them in a room together can figure something out,” Tamina replied darkly. “Maybe we can get lucky, and do a little setting up ourselves. Lure them in, find out where they're going to be, and hit them hard.”