Operation WetFish, Vampire Detective: Ultimate Omnibus Volume 1 of 4 (Operation WetFish, Vampire Detective Ultimate Omnibus)

by Adam Carter

  “Oh hell ...”

  The early morning darkness was suddenly flaring, the chill being swept aside by a blaze more intense than the fake log fire in Pearce’s house. Lin felt a dull pain in her shoulder as she hit the pavement, shut her eyes against the inferno and knew she was dead. Pain shot through her body from a thousand wounds as shrapnel from the door lacerated her flesh ... and then subsided.

  She opened her eyes to find herself lying on the pavement, several metres from where the smoke churned from her burning car, billowing flame into the calm sky. She had been flung several metres by the explosion, it was the only explanation; but then her mind caught up with reality and she realised there was an arm draped across her. She rose to a sitting position as Jeremiah released her. She checked herself over quickly, but aside from a bruised shoulder where she had hit the floor there was no damage at all. Even her coat wasn’t torn.

  Jeremiah did not appear to have suffered any damage either, although half of his face was glowing red and she realised he had been closer to the explosion than she.

  Then she understood he must have flung himself at her the instant he had realised the explosive was there, that he had thrown himself clear across the car and somehow pushed her to safety. But that was impossible. He had been on the other side of the car, and the bomb had gone off the instant she had opened the door. She had not even had the chance herself to register the situation before it had exploded; there simply hadn’t been time for Jeremiah to have reacted the way he had.

  And yet he had.

  Then reality kicked her in the ribs and she realised something else as well.

  Lin was on her feet in an instant. “Welles. He’s here, watching Pearce.”

  “Was always a possibility,” Jeremiah said and she could hear the wheeze in his voice. She looked to him, where he was staggering to his feet, and saw he had not escaped the attack unscathed at all.

  “You’re hurt,” she said, catching him.

  “I’m fine,” he said, refusing to lean on her.

  “Stop being silly. Here.” She threw his arm over her shoulder and looked back to the car. “Well he’s gone now. I doubt he would have stayed around to watch the fireworks, not when he knows the police will be here.”

  “I wonder whether he knew we were police.”

  “Oh he knows all right. He’s just stepped up his game. At least now we know for definite he’s going to try something today.”

  “Hasn’t he already?” Jeremiah almost laughed and broke into a coughing fit.

  “Come on, I have to get you to hospital.”

  “No hospital,” Jeremiah said quickly. “I don’t work well with hospitals. Get me home. I have medical supplies there.”

  “Home?” It occurred to Lin she had no idea where Jeremiah even lived.

  “Yes,” Jeremiah said. “Away from this place before the police ...” They could already hear sirens. The DCI did not like his officers on the front page, and this would most definitely qualify. “Let’s get out of here,” he said, and with Lin’s help the two of them hurried from the scene of the crime.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  She rinsed the towel in the ceramic sink, noting the stylised curves and indentations which made it appear to be an oyster shell, before hanging it on the towel rack over the radiator. It was a full six steps between sink and towel rack, and Lin could see she would have to take at least ten to reach the bathroom door. She gazed round longingly at the bathroom which was bigger than some apartments she had lived in, and a queasy feeling rose in her stomach that you never completely knew anyone.

  Lin ran her fingers across the edges of the circular bathtub, which she suspected may even have been a Jacuzzi, and followed it round in wonder. She paused at the window, which overlooked the garden, or park as she would have called it. There was a pathway curving round spectacular hedges, sheared in the most beautiful shapes she could imagine, and in the distance she could see a two-seater swing set up under the shade of two oak trees. She supposed there was a fancier term for it than swing, and felt a flush of embarrassment that she did not know the correct word.

  Taking up a fresh towel, Lin headed from the bathroom and got a little lost on the way back to the stairs. After only one failed attempt, she managed to find the correct route, and stopped at the top of the landing to once more gaze in abject awe at the sheer grandness of the house. The stairway was old, with a deep and rich carpet which could only have been laid sometime in the past six months. There were carvings across the entire bannister; some as large as her head, others as tiny as a fingernail yet no less intricate. That they were unique to the house was without question, and she imagined a master workman spending many hours over each tiny detail. At the bottom of the stairs there stood the grand statue inviting guests to ascend to the heavens. The statue was at least ten feet tall and Lin could see even from where she was standing that the floor had been reinforced to take its full weight. It depicted a youth bearing unnatural wings, attempting to fly up the staircase, and Lin guessed it was a representation of Hermes from Greek mythology.

  Remembering her purpose, Lin walked slowly down the staircase and entered the living room. It stretched perhaps twenty metres across, and unlike the home of Claire Pearce the fire in the hearth was real, with a battered grating preventing clumsy people stumbling into the flames. There were logs piled to the side, although Jeremiah had placed enough into the flames for her to at last be warm. The rest of the room was decorated in original paintings, landscapes mainly, although there were one or two portraits, and several of black dogs on the moors at night, howling at the gibbous moon. There was an old suit of armour standing to attention by the door, as though a personal guard against potential burglars.

  Jeremiah sat back in one of the ornate chairs, large and ancient and clearly worth more than Lin was paid in five years. His wound ached, but had ceased to bleed, and Lin felt guilty for insisting on going to fetch another towel, for she had only really wanted to have a little nose around the house.

  He smiled at he saw her, refusing to acknowledge the pain at all. “So what do you think of the house?”

  She approached in silence, holding the towel to his injuries, although he seemed not to care for them at all now. His powers of recuperation were amazing, or else he was the world’s greatest actor.

  “I still can’t believe you live here,” she said, in genuine shock of it all. “A part of me’s insisting I died in that explosion, or that it’s sent me batty.”

  He shrugged, still smiling, and winced at the pain the movement caused him. “I don’t like to brag.”

  “Why do you even work?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “If you have all of this, why do you need to work in some grubby bunker? We don’t get paid that much, how can you even afford all of this?”

  “Two questions,” Jeremiah replied. “First, I work because I need to. I have ... good reasons for being at WetFish, and until those reasons are satisfied there’s no place I would rather be. As for how I can afford it all, I have amassed a great wealth through my life. I’m older than I look.”

  “You didn’t inherit it?”

  “Believe me, when I was your age I was very poor. Travelling the lands spouting nonsense no one would believe.” A knowing smile came into his eyes at some distant memory. “Well, it turned out not to be so much nonsense as everyone thought, did it?”

  “I don’t know, did it?”

  He snapped back to the present, remembering he had company, and said, “I am very good with my money, Detective. I invest when I can, and it pays off. Obviously.”

  “Right.” Lin did not recall sinking into a chair, but through the shock of it all she realised she must have done since she was sitting in one now. It was hard, but comfortable, and she found herself amazed at the thought that had gone into even the furniture. It was perfect for someone to sit in, which she supposed was the entire point of a chair to begin with.

  She saw him watching her with amusement in hi
s eyes and he said, “You have questions, Sue, but then I suppose you wouldn’t be much of a detective if you didn’t. Go on, ask away and I’ll endeavour to answer what I can.”

  He was right of course, although she hadn’t even realised it herself. Now he had invited her to do so, a thousand questions rushed to her mind at once and she forced herself to calm down so she could actually take in whatever answers he gave.

  “Hermes. Let’s start with him.”

  “Hermes?”

  “By the stairs.”

  “Ah. Icarus. Warned not to fly too close to the sun, and perished for his folly.”

  “Never did get that story. If you flew too close to the sun you’d get colder. You have to cross through space before you got anywhere near the sun.”

  “And you think the people back then knew anything about space, Sue?” It was asked with wry amusement and Lin suddenly remembered Jeremiah had once told her he was deeply religious.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  “Icarus is part of Greek mythology, not my religion. Besides, if my faith was weak enough for me to get offended by you saying something blasphemous then that’s not faith at all. Blasphemy is just questioning the truth; offering alternatives is what living is all about. Growing as a species. There are some who believe science to be the antithesis of religion, Sue, but I prefer to see it as its sibling. Science continually asks questions, in science it’s all about theory and counter theory.”

  “Pardon me for disagreeing, but religion is all about stating fact. Surely that’s not the same?”

  “Those in power state fact in order to remain in power. But religion is faith, and faith is about believing something when others do not. And if you can defend your religion – with words and reason I mean – then that, my dear, is what makes religion strong.”

  Lin could sense an old argument, possibly anger, burning within him, and guessed he didn’t think much of religious violence. Still, it didn’t change the fact that flying too close to the sun would not have melted Icarus’s wings.

  Jeremiah seemed to sense her thoughts and said, “It’s a story, written by men. Sure, they got a couple of facts wrong, but they’re only human. The point of the story is to do as you’re told, and not to overreach yourself.”

  “Isn’t that what helps us grow as a species? Isn’t the story telling us to stay in our place then?”

  “A counter theory, very good.” He removed the towel and tossed it aside. The wound was fine now. “Reaching is good,” he told her. “Over-reaching is bad. Sanders wants to rid patches of London of crime, which is good. He then wants to move onto the whole city, which is admirable. But he doesn’t ever think he’ll spread to the country as a whole, or the world. He’s not an idiot.”

  “It’s strange hearing you admire Sanders. But then I suppose his goals have been reached already.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “That patch of London you said? He’s already made one patch crime free.”

  “Really?”

  Lin nodded. “He keeps watch over it, has all the prostitutes who work there under his wing. They’re his eyes and ears. Although it seems a tad strange to me that his crime-free area is patrolled by prostitutes.”

  “And there’s no other crime there?”

  “Nope. If there is, he stamps it out. Personally even.”

  Jeremiah’s eyes narrowed in thought. “Interesting. Very interesting indeed. And who is at the head of these prostitutes? What’s the name of Sanders’s direct contact? He must trust her very much.”

  “Probably. I don’t know who she is though.”

  “Interesting.”

  Lin felt a little uncomfortable at his distant response and wondered whether she had caused the DCI some problems for the future. Still, it didn’t hurt to have Jeremiah know. He was one of Sanders’s officers after all.

  “The suit of armour,” Lin said, changing the subject.

  Jeremiah arched an eyebrow. “Yes?”

  “I don’t get it. Everything else is spotless, but the armour’s dented, stained and ... it’s out of place.”

  “It’s mine.”

  “I know it’s yours, I’m just wondering why it’s out of place.”

  “No, I mean it’s mine. The dent over the left breast? The big one? Saxon’s axe, almost clove me in two. If I hadn’t’ve backed off at the moment of his swing that one would have gone straight through me.”

  Lin stared at him, her mouth agape, wondering whether he was serious. There were several people back at the bunker who thought Jeremiah was nuts, and comments like that really didn’t help him any. Then she saw the glint of humour to his eyes and her face broke into a grin. “Nearly had me there,” she said. “So, you clean all this yourself or do you have a maid?”

  “Of course I have a maid.”

  “Yeah. Course, silly me.”

  “Sue, as much as I like talking about my favourite subject, we didn’t come here for you to question my lifestyle.”

  “Quite right.” In all the shock Lin had been entirely distracted. Jeremiah’s injuries did not seem to be troubling him any more, and while she tended to his wounds he had contacted the DCI to inform him what had happened. Sanders didn’t care about the car (it may have been Lin’s favourite, but it was company owned so nor did she that much) and was grateful they had fled the scene. He had also done something a little uncharacteristic of him and that was to offer them further assistance, but Jeremiah had told him the two of them could handle it. Lin had said Sanders likely didn’t trust them to finish the assignment, but Jeremiah had replied that perhaps it was just Sanders’s Christmas spirit coming to the fore.

  Lin had all but forgotten it was Christmas Day.

  “For all the excitement,” Jeremiah said, “we still don’t have any actual leads. There’s not much else we can do at the moment ourselves.”

  “I know. Maybe one of the kids at the shelter will come through for us.” She saw Jeremiah’s grunt of disgust and asked, “What have you got against all that, Jeremiah? I know you gave me that spiel about mollycoddling and everything, but I don’t buy it.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’m a damn good detective and I know tosh when I’m handed it.”

  Jeremiah stared into the fire and for several long moments Lin thought he had decided to be obtuse about it and simply ignore her. When he looked back into her eyes she could see a sadness of the past in him and knew whatever he had to say, it would be the truth. Or at least as near to the truth as Jeremiah could ever speak.

  “I was married once, Detective Lin. I was ... well it was after my somewhat rash youth, I should call it. I tended to go round telling people what to do and what to believe, and no one seemed to like me for it.” He smiled, but there was no mirth to it. “Can’t think why. Anyway, after that I matured, grew out of it. I had a new mission in life, one vastly different to my original one, and I was focused, determined. I was to hunt down undesirables, even back then, and I was good at it. Very good in fact. I made something of a name for myself, even though I tried to keep to the shadows. People knew of me, but they thought I was a wraith, a spectre. They sang of my exploits as though I wasn’t a real man, which was fine with me. I remember many times sitting in the corner of the local pub, or wherever I happened to be, listening to folk regaling young women with my heroic deeds. The man I heard in those tales was not me. I was simply a man, and the creature I would have to have been to have achieved even half of what they were claiming ... well, I was just a man.”

  Lin tried to pinpoint precisely when he was claiming this to be. She did not know how old Jeremiah was, but she had always pegged him for around thirty, thirty-five. He had joined WetFish about ten years ago, she believed, which meant he was talking about a time in the early eighties? That meant he would have to have been a maximum of twenty at the time he was talking of, but to have gained a reputation like that would have taken years. More years than Jeremiah could possibly have
seen.

  “As I said,” he continued, “I married. I shouldn’t have, I knew it even at the time. Mine should have been a lonely path, but I fell in love, and what human heart can resist the temptations of love?” He smiled at the memory. “A year later my daughter was born. Artemis, named after the Greek goddess. I was a hunter, it seemed fitting. Orion for a boy, Artemis for a girl. Artemis was ... well every father will tell you their daughter was the shine of their heart, so I won’t bore you with male gushing. But Artemis was special. Even as a baby her bright eyes were inquisitive, her pudgy fingers grasping. She always wanted to learn, wanted to know, and I could see she had a promising future ahead of her.”

  Lin could foresee this story ending badly and swallowed to wet her throat. “What happened to her?”

  Jeremiah was silent a moment, and then he remembered she was there. “Oh. They took her. The people I was hunting. When she was four years old they took her while I was out hunting. I went after her, I’d never been more enraged by anything in my whole life. I fought them, or ploughed through them would be a better term. There were so many of the things back then, and it wasn’t until many years later that I came to realise just how many of the creatures I actually removed from the country. Some fled, you know. Fled the country so they wouldn’t have to face me, my reputation among them was so feared. But my faith … my faith wasn’t enough. Whirlwind force that I was, by the time I had cut through them it was to find my beautiful Artemis dead. They’d killed her for being mine.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “When I got home, my wife ... well, she left me after that. She blamed me for what had happened, and it was true. I had made her a target, made both of them targets, and there was no denying that. The moral of the story? Don’t over-reach, Detective. Don’t try to have everything, else you will lose it all.”

  Lin did not know what to say. That his story did not match up with reality was hardly the point. Jeremiah clearly believed all of this, and if indeed even a portion was the truth, it went a great way to explain just why he was as nuts as he was. She had herself never been through anything like that, and if she could still operate coming out the other end, maybe she too would be insane. After going through all of that, it certainly explained why he had little patience for charity.