Grave Illusions

by Lina Gardiner

  Chapter Fifteen

  The odor of overheated bodies permeated the air inside the house. Waxy, perfumed candles of every size and color burned in various locations around the first floor. With its twelve foot ceilings, and no interior walls left standing, it was a wonder that whoever had gutted the place knew enough to leave the load bearing beams in place. The house was old, the wood inside rotting and dried out. It would be an instant firetrap if someone kicked over a candle.

  “They’re just kids,” Britt said loud enough to be heard as he scanned the crowd. Teenagers for the most part. Not vampires. Not murderers. Kids, dressed up in all forms of attire, including Goth.

  He moved through the crowd, keeping a close eye on Tat. If Tat got loose in this crowd of teeny boppers, pity the poor kid that found himself facing the man whose eyes rarely blinked. The kids were either so high they didn’t notice the NYPD jackets, or they didn’t care. Either way, having adults moving through them dressed in police attire didn’t faze them a bit.

  “Shit. These are just teenagers. Not vamp…”

  Britt spun around and glared at Tat. “Quiet! Don’t say that word out loud here. Never say that word out loud in public.” That had been drilled into their heads. But then, Tat had a big mouth and little common sense.

  The top of Griz’s head appeared in Britt’s periphery. Terry stood beside him. Even though she was only five-foot-seven to Griz’s six-four, she had presence. Her expression radiated that “don’t mess with me” look that few people were able to ignore—except the kids at this party. She looked like she’d been brought up by a gang. She was tough. She somehow fit right in here with these gloomy kids. Her face was thin and her lips permanently positioned in a grim line. He had the feeling her life hadn’t been that great even when her husband was alive.

  He waded through a group of sixteen year olds who were smoking cigarettes like it was the most important thing they could do at this stage of their life, like it defined them.

  “Hey man, aren’t you kind of old for this kind of party?”

  Britt looked down at the huge letters on his jacket, then back at the kid. “No. I’m a cop.”

  The kid smiled like a fool. “Righteous.”

  A youngster with a headful of curls bounced toward him. This particular lad had progressed from cigarettes. He sucked in a lungful of marijuana and laughed in that dopey, half-stunned way tokers always did. He’d already lost way too many brain cells and didn’t have enough left to know any better.

  Tat started to push toward the kid and it didn’t take an epiphany to figure out why he wanted to pick a fight. Probably hoped to liberate the kid from his dope.

  Britt shoved an arm out in front of Tat’s chest to stop him before pulling him into a corner where the kids couldn’t hear them. “Calm yourself right now or you’ll be sorry. And I’ll only tell you once to stay away from these kids.”

  “Think you’re the bitch’s meow, don’t you. Well, you’re in for a big surprise, Ex-Cop. That woman’s already spoken for and you’re not the one who’s going to get her.”

  Britt stared at him hard. “What woman are you talking about?”

  “Don’t play dumb with me, Brittain. I’m talking about the one and only She-Vamp. You don’t think you have a hope in hell, do you?” He laughed and ran the back of his hand over his mouth as spittle flew out. “Nope. I’m afraid you’re going to be one sad schmuck when you find out.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Like I’d tell you anything.” Tat blinked several times. Quite a change in body language for a guy who rarely blinked at all. Like maybe he’d said more than he should have and regretted it.

  “You’ll tell me, or you’ll be sorry.”

  “Jeez, I’m scared. The big, bad cop-killer is going to make me sorry—only I know you didn’t really kill that cop,” he said sarcastically. “Yeah, I heard how sickening it was the way you hung around the cemetery afterwards.” He held up his cigarette-yellowed hands and played an invisible violin.

  Britt had no idea how he controlled himself. He should’ve gone for Tat’s gizzard. Matter of fact, his fists were aching to rearrange something, preferably Tat’s bony face, but he held back. If he acted on his anger right now, some kid might inadvertently get caught in the cross-fire.

  When he calmed down enough to get perspective on the situation, Britt realized Tat was far more dangerous than he gave him credit for. How did he know about Randy? And what the hell did Tat mean when he said Britt wasn’t a cop killer? What, exactly, did Tat know?

  “So how do you feel about everything now hotshot? You lost your job for nuthin’”

  “How the hell do you know about my partner?” He leaned in until his face was only centimeters from Tat’s face. “When we get back to the warehouse, you’d better be prepared to have one helluva talk.”

  With an expression of sour boredom Tat backed up, crossed his arms over his chest and planted his feet wide. “It’ll take more than a sissy-cop to find that out from me.”

  Britt felt his Adam’s apple jump about six times while he swallowed down the expletives that rushed to the surface. He kept his cool. “Sounds to me like you have a story to tell or you wouldn’t have spilled any information in the first place. I’m thinking there’s more you want to tell, but you’re afraid somebody will find out you’ve talked. Is that it?”

  Tat blinked again, and looked around nervously. “You’re wrong. I wouldn’t tell you anything.”

  “That so?” He leaned in. “Then it won’t bother you if I spread the word that you did tell me lots of juicy information.”

  For a minute Tat actually let an expression of shit-faced fear cross his face. But then his pea-sized brain must’ve decided Britt was bluffing because he turned cold again. “F-off!”

  Two young ghouls dressed in black with dyed hair and black lips and heavily lined eyelids watched them from the sidelines, like they were the top billed show.

  “Fight,” one of them said, a hopeful gleam in his eyes.

  “Get lost,” Britt growled at the kids and they scattered like mice. It’d be best if they kept their distance from Tat, anyway. It gave Britt infinite pleasure to know he had Tat on the defensive. The man had definitely spilled more than he should have. Just what did he know about Jess, though? Surely, Tat didn’t think Jess would ever be his woman. He had to know how much she disliked him. How much they all disliked him. So who the hell was he talking about when he said someone else was going to get her? Someone who wanted her bad.

  Jess slid in beside him, and Tat instantly moved away. “Britt, where’ve you been?”

  Come to think of it, Tat never hung around long when Jess was in the vicinity. Why was that? Was he scared of her? Or was it something else. Right now it didn’t matter; he wanted to talk to Jess without Tat listening in.

  “Tat just spilled some very interesting information. He knows a lot more about what’s going on than he should. He just told me he knows I didn’t kill Randy.”

  “Well, well, well,” she said, but didn’t sound the least bit shocked by the revelation.

  “You’re not as surprised as I expected. Did you already know about this?” While he talked to Jess, he kept half his attention on Tat. The kids in this place were just that. Kids. They didn’t need a psycho in their midst.

  “I wanted to send Tat back to death row, but my request was vetoed from within the unit. I knew something was up when that happened. Someone in the department has to be pulling strings. I don’t know how far up the ladder it goes, but I’ve got Sampson working on it.”

  “What did Drake say about it?”

  “At least he pretended to be shocked, but I didn’t believe him. I’ve known him long enough to figure he knows who’s doing this, but he’s not talking. Maybe he can’t tell me.”

  “What do you mean can’t tell you? Do you think he’s being manipulated from the inside? It’s bad enough that we don’t know who Prometheus is or what his agenda is, but if we h
ave to worry about what’s going on inside the department things are going to be a lot more difficult.” He shook his head and stared off into the distance with tired eyes. Abruptly, he looked toward the center of the room. “What’s going on inside that circle of kids?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Would you believe they’re doing the limbo? The scream we heard when we first entered the building was from one of the girls trying to get under the broomstick and falling on her rear end. Caught me off guard for a second. I almost went in with guns blazing.”

  She was kidding. “No vampires here then?”

  “Not now, but there was one here a while ago. I could smell him when I first entered the building. Then I found this and knew why the scent remained strong.” She held up a familiar looking piece of granite and waved it in front of Britt.

  “Shit,” he said, looking at the stone. “I threw that into the garbage chute in my building. How’d it get here?”

  “Good question.” She held it out to him. “Want it back?”

  “Nope.”

  She tucked the rock into her knapsack. He didn’t even want to know why she was keeping it. All he wanted to do was forget the damned thing.

  When the limbo was over and the kids jacked up the music again and began dancing, the vibrations in the room increased.

  “Hell. Where’d Tat go?” Britt said, his gaze searching the room. Tat was nowhere to be seen.

  “Last time I saw him he was moving through the circle of kids. You look around and I’ll check the other side of the room,” she said, moving off quickly.

  Britt did as she’d instructed, but there was no sign of Tat anywhere. He had a bad feeling about this.

  Jess met him in the middle of the room. “Anything?” she asked.

  “Nothing at all.” It was like he’d disappeared into the ether.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here.” She gave the signal and the rest of the team followed. “Tat’s probably at the van.”

  Griz looked perplexed when they got outside. “What’s going on? No vampires inside?”

  “Worse than that. Tat’s missing.” Britt said. He should have kept a closer eye on the idiot.

  “What’s that jerk up to?”

  “Who knows,” Jess said. “James, call in the boys in blue and have them quiet down these raucous teens, will you? This is not our jurisdiction and I’m not going to waste another minute on a regular cop’s work.”

  They arrived at the van. Still no sign of Tat.

  “If he’s still in the house, I’m going to have his hide,” she said. “James, go haul his sorry ass out here pronto.”

  Tipping his head, James disappeared into the house. He moved like a cat burglar, smooth and fast. A couple of minutes later he returned without Tat. “He’s not in there.”

  Britt frowned. If James said he wasn’t in there, he wasn’t in there. Even if Tat tried to hide, he couldn’t, because a vampire’s sense of smell was too acute.

  Britt looked down at the ground, his teeth glued together and the muscle working in his jaw. That little slug wasn’t going to get away with spilling it about Randy then disappearing. He probably thought he’d pulled one over on Britt by doing just that. He didn’t realize just how determined Britt was to get the truth out of him.

  “Where the hell did he go?” Terry rubbed her short hair in disgust. She was disciplined. She had no use for loose canons. She’d have made an excellent training officer at the Academy. It might have been right up her alley, if the vampires hadn’t killed her husband and put her on a path of retribution. And he knew that’s what this job was for her. She didn’t have a burning desire for this job; she wanted revenge. He could see it in her eyes.

  As long as she was smart about it, she’d probably get her revenge. Right now Britt understood that kind of thinking. He wanted revenge too.

  “Here’s what we’re going to do,” Jess said. “Fan out. Tat can’t have gotten far. Find him and bring him back. If you don’t find him, be back here in fifteen minutes. This distraction has taken way too much precious time as it is.”

  Everyone went off in different directions, but Britt wanted to search the back lot of the house they’d just left.

  Two steps into the next door neighbor’s yard, a German shepherd started barking like mad. Tat couldn’t have gone through there or the dog would have given him away.

  Britt’s fifteen minutes were up, so he headed back to the van where Jess was talking in low tones to James. Terry had just returned from across the street, and Griz was coming down the sidewalk, empty-handed.

  Britt’s gut felt like sand. It could take days to find the bastard. He drew in a deep breath and straightened his shoulders. No problem. It’d already been two years since Randy had left him to wiggle on a spit. After enduring that, he’d have no problem approaching this problem methodically. Slow and steady. With cop-like precision.

  So why did he want to tear out of here and find that idiot right now?

  “We’re going back to the warehouse,” Jess said, climbing into the passenger seat and watching the back of the van while the rest of the group got in. “Don’t worry about not finding Tat. It’d be easy enough to disappear given a few minutes lead. He could’ve hopped a bus.”

  “Why would he do that?” Griz rubbed the back of his oversized head and frowned.

  “He’s been dissatisfied with the job. He must’ve wanted out,” Jess replied, her gaze going straight to Britt’s. He knew from her expression she’d make sure Tat got that wish whether he wanted it or not, no matter how much pressure she was getting from the inside.

  Without commenting, he turned his head and looked out the van window.

  Jess frowned at Britt as he looked away from her. There was no doubt in her mind that as soon as their shift was over tonight, he intended to start searching for Tat on his own. She could read him more easily every day. Of course, she’d also be looking for Tat while she followed Britt from the rooftops.

  At the warehouse, James pressed the button to open the large garage door and drove the van inside. Jess had always felt as if the place might not be secure, but Drake had insisted it was. The shadowy beams in the thirty-foot roof trusses made a good hiding place for vampires. She’d never liked this spot. Not one bit. She liked it even less since she’d found out Tat had probably betrayed them. The building was no longer secure—probably never was.

  “Everybody go home,” she said suddenly, ignoring their questioning looks. “I realize you don’t know why I’m doing this, and I can’t tell you why right now. Suffice it to say, work’s over for tonight. I’ll fill you in soon.” She yanked at the zipper on her jacket. When it didn’t budge she whipped it off over her head and threw it across the room.

  Britt opened his mouth to speak, but James beat him to it.

  “Jess,” James said. He didn’t say another word, but Jess seemed to understand it, even though no one else did.

  She halted and scowled at James, her eyes darkening, and if Britt’s guess was right, her teeth had just lengthened although she kept her mouth closed.

  “Don’t!” She held up a hand toward James. “I’m the commanding officer, and I’ve given you a direct order. Just go home for tonight. I’ll call you with a new rendezvous location tomorrow. Remember this—we’ll never meet at the same place again.”

  Before Britt got outside with the rest of the team, she called, “Britt, stay a moment after the team leaves, will you?”

  She met James’s gaze and nodded to him, then waited until he left the building and shut the door.

  “Look Jess, I’ve got to go. Can’t we talk tomorrow?” Britt said, hands on his hips.

  “No, this can’t wait until tomorrow. I know why you’re in a big hurry and I’m not going to let you do this alone.”

  “I’m glad you want to help, but I don’t have the first clue where to look for Tat. I may be stubborn as a goat, but I know when I can use some help. So when I need it, I’ll let you know.”

  “Don’t try
to string me along. I know you’re going after Tat. But, he’s my responsibility, and even though I understand your need to find out what he knows, my first priority is to stop him from harming anyone.”

  “Understood.” His monotone obviously didn’t work with Jess. She acted as if she didn’t even notice his disapproval.

  “Look, I’ve got files on him in my office. Let’s check them out.”

  Most of the lights were off in the warehouse. Sounds echoed off the walls and their footsteps became hollow clicks as they made their way across the cement floor. The door to Jess’s office creaked open, and she flipped on the reverberating fluorescent overhead light. The dull gray filing cabinet she mentioned sat in the corner. She didn’t make any move to take files out of it.

  “Want a cup of coffee?”

  “No thanks.” He swallowed. “Got any beer?”

  She raised one eyebrow, but answered, “There might be one in the fridge over there. I think I confiscated one from a wayward team member a few weeks back. It could be long gone.”

  Jess knew exactly what he’d see when he opened the fridge and the little light went on inside. There was a can of beer all right, and it sat right beside the bright red packets of blood that looked very much like a kid’s freezer pops. Would his stomach lurch into his throat when he realized for the first time this was her food? Had he ever thought about how she fed, especially since she didn’t attack people for their blood?

  He slammed the fridge door shut and slowly backed away from it. His face had gone from tanned to sickly.

  Apparently not.

  His reaction twisted her insides, and she didn’t know why. After all, that’s what she wanted when she sent him to the fridge wasn’t it? She wanted to drive him away, once and for all. Make him realize caring for a vampire had repercussions.

  Seeing that blood in the fridge had probably removed those rosy colored glasses he seemed to see her through. But achieving her goal didn’t stop the ache penetrating her chest.

  Right now, his face was the color of a sheet of toilet paper. For a minute she thought he might be sick.