by Tim Ellis
‘You’ve trodden on too many toes, Dark. People will be out to destroy you now.’
‘You know that for a fact, do you?’
‘An educated guess.’
‘Which reminds me – do you happen to know who these faceless people in power are that the Chief Constable was referring to?’
‘Why would I know?’
‘You’re a member of the secret handshake club, aren’t you?’
‘Don’t be impertinent, Dark. Haven’t you got a press briefing to go to? Although what you’re going to tell them is a mystery to me.’
He stood up. ‘I’ll think of something.’
His phone vibrated.
It was Lake.
‘I’ll see you soon then,’ he said to Henn. ‘Great coffee, by the way.’ He made his way out.
‘Yes?’
‘It’s me.’
‘I know. Make it quick. I’m on my way to sell snow to the Eskimos.’
‘I’m sorry! Anyway, guess who’s on the list of park-keeper’s helpers at Brabyns Park?’
‘Well?’
‘Are you not going to guess?’
‘What do you think?’
‘Leah Rice.’
‘The stripper?’
‘Exotic dancer.’
His face wrinkled up. ‘Doesn’t she work at the Satin Gentleman’s Club on Tasle Alley in Manchester every night?’
‘That’s what I thought, but I called the club and they said that she doesn’t work every night. And guess what?’
‘She wasn’t working last Monday night?’
‘You guessed.’
‘It was hardly a cryptogram. Surely she was working on Saturday night?’
‘She called in sick.’
‘Okay, I’m coming back to pick you up. This is what I want you to do while I’m in transit.’
‘Yes?’
‘Call Manchester University and find out what the subject of her degree is.’
‘Okay.’
‘Get some background on her. I want to know if she’s had any changes in her life recently?’
‘Okay.’
‘Get a Search Warrant for her house and her car.’
‘Okay. Anything else?’
‘Did the men arrive to collect your stork scissor collection?’
‘All gone.’
‘Good. I’ll see you in about twenty minutes.’
‘Okay.’
He ended the call. Leah Rice! Why wasn’t she a suspect? Why hadn’t he guessed there was something wrong with Ellie? Why had Ellie jumped into his mind? Leah Rice had nothing to do with Ellie – did she? Wasn’t it the same? Did he have a blind spot when it came to attractive women?
The press were waiting for him. There weren’t many. It was freezing cold, and it was Monday morning. There was a collective groan when he said, ‘The briefing is postponed until four o’clock this afternoon at Bootle Street.’ He didn’t explain why. If Leah Rice was watching, it would tip her off, and he wanted the arrest to go off smoothly.
Lake was ready to go when he arrived at his office.
‘Ready?’ she asked, passing him on the stairs.
‘Where are you going?’
‘To arrest Leah Rice.’
‘Don’t you have information to pass on?’
‘I can do that while we’re driving to her house.’
‘Make me a coffee first.’
‘A coffee! She’ll get away.’
‘Does she know we’re coming?’
‘Well no, but . . .’
‘Coffee.’
Lake hurried into the kitchen. ‘It’ll have to be quick.’
‘Quick coffee tastes lousy. Make me a slow coffee.’
Her shoulders sagged. ‘Why are we not rushing?’
‘You tell me?’
‘Fools rush in?’
‘You’re not as stupid as you look, Lake.’
‘Very kind.’
‘So, what have you got to tell me?’
She came out of the kitchen with his coffee.
He sat down and put his feet up. ‘Well?’
‘Her degree is in Eastern European History with an emphasis on Romania and the Romanian language.’
He grunted.
‘Her mother died of breast cancer three months ago. She’s also been diagnosed with the hereditary gene, which is an aggressive mutation. The doctors have told her that she has an eighty-five percent chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer within the next five years and recommended that she undergo a double mastectomy.’
He pulled a face. ‘The trigger.’
‘She also has her own website, which includes her photographic portfolio, because she wants to be a model and maybe an actress. Anyway, she has a tattoo on her back in the shape of a large thorny rose . . .’
‘Yes, I recall seeing it.’
‘Oh!’ Lake’s eyes narrowed. ‘When was that?’
‘And?’
‘It’s not just a thorny rose. The stem has been created out of a Romanian word – “ucigas”, which means “slayer” in English. She also wears a silver crucifix around her neck.’
He nodded. He’d seen her wearing that as well. ‘It’s all circumstantial evidence. Did you get the Search Warrant?’
‘Yes.’
‘What are we waiting for?’
‘I don’t know.’
During the journey to 97 Ladythorn Avenue in Marple, Dark’s phone activated through the Bluetooth in his car.
‘Dark?’
‘Inspector! How are you on this grey and miserable morning?’
‘I’m well. Aren’t we due to meet in your mortuary at eleven o’clock?’
‘I decided to start early. Well, to be honest, Mrs Finn threw me out of the house at six o’clock this morning. Not forcibly, you understand – although she’s quite capable of doing so. Has the biceps of a buffalo, and the grip of an alligator. Anyway, she’s expecting ladies from the Women’s Institute, so she wanted to give the house a bit of spruce up. I wouldn’t mind, but they weren’t due until midday. Certainly, another hour in bed would have seen me right . . . and breakfast reading the newspaper.’
‘So, you arrived in work early?’
‘I did. And because I was here early, I thought I’d begin the post-mortem of Joseph Corbyn.’
‘And you’re calling me because you’ve found something?’
‘I am.’
‘Yes?’
‘Two things. First, a long blonde hair in the wound. There’s no match on the database, but . . .’
‘Don’t worry, Professor. I think we’ll have a match for that hair by the end of the day.’
‘Excellent. The second thing is, I found a number engraved on this stake as well – 4.12.23. Using the other biblical quote as a guide, I think it probably refers to Deuteronomy 12:23, which reads:
Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.
‘Sounds familiar,’ he said. ‘We’re on our way to arrest a suspect now. Thanks for your help, Professor.’
‘You have Mrs Finn to thank for my timely call.’
‘I’ll buy her a bunch of flowers next time I see her.’
‘She’ll be most appreciative. In fact, it might take the heat off me slightly.’
‘Understood, Professor.’
The call ended.
‘It’s still only circumstantial evidence, isn’t it?’ Lake said.
‘Yes, but we now have some forensic evidence. If the blonde hair is a match, it’ll place her at the crime scene.’
***
Leah Rice’s blue Ford Fiesta was parked outside.
‘Do you think we should have brought back-up?’ Lake said.
‘I think I can deal with one young woman, Lake.’
‘She’s fit.’
‘I had noticed.’
‘I meant physically fit.’
‘I know what you meant. What did you think I meant?’
‘I d
on’t know, I’m sure.’
Dark banged on the door.
They waited, but nobody came.
Lake squatted and peered through the letterbox. ‘Maybe she’s gone out.’
‘I’m astounded by your insight, Lake. Make yourself useful. Go round the back. Check the windows and doors, and keep your wits about you.’
‘Okay.’
He tried to look through the front windows, but he couldn’t see anything, because of the net curtains. He moved along the side of the house, but the windows were locked and blacked out. He returned to the front and found the front door ajar. Had Leah Rice returned and left the door open?
He stepped inside.
There was an overpowering smell of garlic.
It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the poor light inside the house.
‘Hello?’ he called.
There was no answer.
‘Miss Rice! It’s Detective Inspector Dark from the SCD in Manchester. I’d like to talk to you, if that’s possible?’
Still nothing.
He made his way along the hallway and into the kitchen – no sign of Leah Rice.
‘Hello?’
He wondered where she was. If she wasn’t here, which the lack of response from her suggested she wasn’t, then who had opened the front door?’
It struck him, as he made his way into the living room, that there were an unusually high number of mirrors and crucifixes hanging on the walls.
There didn’t seem to be anyone downstairs.
He climbed the stairs.
‘Miss Rice? Hello?’
No response.
The bathroom, and two of the three bedrooms, were empty. He went into the main bedroom.
There was someone lying in the bed.
He could barely see anything, because the curtains were drawn and the covers were pulled up over the person. He shuffled closer, bent down and shook the person . . . ‘Miss Rice?’
As he did, he felt a sharp pain in his neck.
He collapsed onto the bed. It was then that he realised the person in the bed wasn’t Leah Rice at all, it was a the shrivelled corpse of a middle-aged woman.
Water splashed on his face.
Leah Rice came into focus on the other side of the bed. ‘That’s holy water, Inspector. I knew you were a vampire as soon as I saw you.’
Everything started to become hazy, like shifting sands in the desert – a mirage. He tried to push himself up, but his arms and legs wouldn’t work. He was burning up, or maybe he was freezing to death. He had no idea. He felt nauseous and wanted to puke.
A woman, a very pretty woman – was it Ellie? – turned him over and sat astride him. ‘Remember me?’ the woman said.
Did he? No, he didn’t think so. He was sure he’d have remembered someone so pretty.
She had a wooden stake in her left hand, and a mallet in her right. ‘I’m going to hammer this stake into your heart now, Inspector. I know you’re a vampire, and it’s my job to hunt down and kill all your kind. It’ll hurt, but you won’t care.’ She placed the point of the stake over his heart and raised the hammer.
Just then, he saw another woman enter the bedroom and hit the pretty female sitting astride him across the back of the head. She fell forward on top of him, and he lost consciousness.
He saw the faces of the people he’d killed in battle, and some of those he had allowed to live. Ellie drifted in and out of his visions looking like a prostitute. Dixie was staring at him through a rain-drenched window, and Lake . . .
‘Sir?’
‘Who . . .? Is that you, Lake?’
‘Yes.’
‘Where am I?’
‘In an ambulance.’
‘Why?’
‘Leah Rice drugged you with Rohypnol.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. I’m ex-SAS. That could never happen.’
‘Maybe you’re getting old?’
‘You’re treading on thin ice, Apprentice Lake.’
‘Well, this apprentice saved your ass, Sir. If it hadn’t been for me, you’d be a dead vampire now.’
‘I find that hard to believe.’
‘Don’t you remember?’
‘Remember what?’
####
Follow DI Josiah Dark and DC Annie Lake’s further cases in:
Dark Angel (Josiah Dark #4)
Thank you for choosing and reading my book. If you enjoyed it, I would be grateful if you could write a review and post it on Amazon.co.uk and/or Amazon.com.
Also, come and say hello on my FB Fanpage:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Tim-Ellis/160147187372482
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About the Author
Tim Ellis was born in the bowels of Hammersmith Hospital, London, on a dark and stormy night, and now lives in Cheshire with his wife and a Shih Tzu called Frodo. In-between, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps at eighteen and completed twenty-two years’ service, leaving in 1993 having achieved the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1 (Regimental Sergeant Major). Since then, he settled in Essex, and worked in secondary education as a senior financial manager, in higher education as an associate lecturer/tutor at Lincoln and Anglia Ruskin Universities, and as a consultant for the National College of School Leadership. His final job, before retiring to write fiction full time in 2009, was as Head and teacher of Behavioural Sciences (Psychology/Sociology) in a secondary school. He has a PhD and an MBA in Educational Management, and an MA in Education.
Discover other titles by Tim Ellis at http://timellis.weebly.com/
Also, come and say hello on his FB Fanpage:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Tim-Ellis/160147187372482
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Genghis Khan
Warrior: Path of Destiny
Warrior: Scourge of the Steppe
The Knowledge of Time
Second Civilisation
Orc Quest
Book I: Prophecy
Harte & KP
Solomon’s Key
Parish & Richards
A Life for a Life
The Wages of Sin
The Flesh is Weak
The Shadow of Death
His Wrath is Come
The Breath of Life
The Dead Know Not
Be Not Afraid
The House of Mourning
Through a Glass Darkly
A Lamb to the Slaughter
Silent in the Grave
In the Twinkling of an Eye
A Time to Kill
Deceit is in the Heart
The Fragments that Remain
The Kisses of an Enemy
Evidence of Things Not Seen
Dominion of Darkness
There is no Fear in Love
All is Vanity
Wings of the Dawn
I Will Fear No Evil
The Heart Knoweth
Through the Eye of a Needle
Lest Darkness Come Upon You
Few Are Chosen
Quigg
The Twelve Murders of Christmas (Novella)
Body 13
The Graves at Angel Brook
The Skulls Beneath Eternity Wharf
The Terror at Grisly Park
The Haunting of Bleeding Heart Yard
The Enigma of Apocalypse Heights (Novella)
The Corpse in Highgate Cemetery
The Lost Children of Bethnal Green (Novella)
The Charnel House in Copperfield Street
Tom Gabriel
Footprints of the Dead
Whispers of the Dead
Souls of the Dead
Games of the Dead
Rage of the Dead
Stone & Randall
Jacob’s Ladder
The Gordian Knot
Josiah Dark
Dark Christmas (Novella)
Dark Heart (Novella)
Dark Shadows
Dark Angel
Inigo Morgan
As You Sow, So Shall You Reap (Novella)
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br /> The Measure of All Things (Novella)
Cyrus Kane
An Ill Wind (Novella)
Chains of Illusion (Novella)
Edge
The Serial Killer’s Apprentice
Mata Hari
The Murders of Christmas Past (Novella)
Urban & Brazil
Staring into the Darkness
Collected Short Stories/Poetry/Anthologies/Non-fiction/Collections
Untended Treasures
Where do you want to go today?
Winter of my Heart (Poetry)
With Love Project – The Occupier
The Killing Sands (Anthology)
Raga Man (Short Story)
The Writer’s A-Z of Body Language (Non-fiction)
Summer of my Soul (Poetry)
Sinful 7 (Anthology)
The Black Car Business Vol 2 (Anthology)
Also planned:
Postcards from the Asylum (Novella Collection)
All Things Must Pass (Parish & Richards 28)
Mea Culpa (Abacus Investigations 1)
Chasing Rainbows (Cyrus Kane 3)
The Exhibits in Mrs Salmon’s Waxworks (Quigg 11)
The Serial Killer’s Fantasies (Edge 2)
The Way of All Flesh (Parish & Richards 29)
A Butterfly in the Sun (Mata Hari 2)
Pearls Before Swine (Parish & Richards 30)
Dark Web (Josiah Dark 5)
Warrior: Curse of China (Genghis Khan 3)
Mortis Obscura: Scavenger of Souls (Farthing & Trask 1)
The Timekeeper’s Apprentice
Orc Quest Book II: The Last Human
The Sword of Damocles (Stone & Randall 3)
The Song of Solomon (Harte & KP 2)