by Tracy Ellen
Not wanting to scare her, I simply said, “I appreciate you not deserting me.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t forget you stuck your neck out for me, too.”
I smiled faintly at the gruff toughness in her voice as she brushed off my thanks. “Go girl power, huh?”
“Dang straight, dude,” she agreed with a quick laugh.
“Nobody else but me has returned your messages from last night, right?” Luke hadn’t mentioned that he or Anna called Melly back, but I wanted to cover all the bases.
“That’s right, nobody called until you and I’m totally relieved you did.”
“Good, so am I.” It didn’t pertain to my investigation, but I asked, “When we met, you mentioned working to save money for school. Do you know what you want to do?”
“Yes,” she answered instantly. “I am going to get my doctorate in Special Education Administration. Eventually, my goal is to open an adaptive physical education center for ASD kids, and then my dream is to franchise that center into thousands across the United States.”
“Those are fantastic goals,” I replied admiringly, recognizing the acronym for Autistic Spectrum Disorders. I didn’t know much more on the subject of autism, but I know a lot about being a determined teen with goals and dreams. “But geez, Mel, I bet your parents wish you weren’t such a wishy-washy girl.”
She giggled lightheartedly, sounding about twelve. “My mom says I came out of the womb issuing orders. Now, don’t go telling the world, but my family calls me Major Melly.”
I chuckled in commiseration. “Mine calls me Junior.”
She exclaimed, “Oh my God, so you get how the boys in school loved teasin’ me over my nickname!” She recited, “Smelly Melly, Major Pain, Major Melly from Smelly Helly.”
Trying not to laugh, I said, “Yeah, luckily, not too much rhymes with Junior.”
I didn’t bring up my bodyguard Tre J glowering over my shoulder, not that I needed her help bringing mouthy, teasing boys to heel. A sideways smile, a bat of my eyelashes, and a little wiggle usually did the trick back then.
‘It still does the trick now, even big boys will be boys,’ the sex kitten voice purred.
I smiled slightly at that truism.
Melly’s lively laughter died down. “But my goals aren’t that big of a stretch, not when you know the family history. I’m the oldest of six kids and have an autistic brother, Max, a year younger than me. Growin’ up with a brother who has special needs, I’ve had years and years to think about what specific therapies could benefit autistic kids, and their families, if they were more readily available and affordable.”
“You, Major, are a pretty cool girl.”
She laughed again, clearly blushing. “Not really, Junior, but I’m workin’ real hard on it.”
I led the conversation back around to the creepy Mr. Koch. We cheered a little more over the good news of his arrest and cursed his chances of getting out on bail. Before ending the call, Melly and I agreed to keep each other posted on any further developments.
I doodled on my phone list while my mind swiftly analyzed our conversation, an idea blooming for later consideration. For now, I could eliminate Melody as the reason Luke knew of Mr. G, so that was forward progress.
Next, I called Anna.
I know, what nerve, right?
But is it so terribly bad when my BFF picked up immediately, despite the fact it’s her honeymoon, despite the time difference in Nevada, and since I so desperately need answers why a murderous bloodsucker has fixated on me?
I agree, I don’t think it’s so bad either.
Reggie’s snoring could plainly be heard in the background.
“Holy Hannah, when did Reg start snoring like that?” I shook off this latest example of married life in action. “Listen, Sister Anna, I don’t mean to be rude because I know you’re hurting, too, but I’m not talking about Darcy right now.” I didn’t let her get started with the twenty questions, but continued on firmly, “I’m sorry, I just can’t yet.” I paused for a moment, dazedly watching my hand shake a little before I firmly gripped the cardboard coffee cup. “I need you to answer a couple of quick questions, and then I’ll call you back later tonight, whenever it works for you. We’ll talk then.”
After Anna’s heated, offended whispers of agreement that I was totally rude because she hadn't even said one word yet died down, I asked, “When you and Luke were looking for me last night, did you tell him about my meeting Melody and Kyle Koch in the staff hallway?”
“Junior, is it the crying and dying thing? Is that why you won’t talk about Darcy and Arthur, and what you’re going to do about the boys?”
“Yes.” I implored, “Please Anna, yes or no. Did you tell Luke?”
Anna had once witnessed my eyes popping out of my head as I wheezed for every breath after a hard crying jag, so while I could almost see her throwing her hands in the air in exasperation, her whispered answer was sympathetic, not pissed. “Yes, I told Luke. I had to explain to him and Reg what Melody’s phone messages meant and…”
I cut her off. “Anna, it’s okay. Believe me, telling Luke was the right thing to do. You had to explain so that Luke could track me down, but did you mention Kyle Koch’s boss to Luke?”
“Who?” Anna asked blankly.
“The high roller, Mr. Girdelli.”
“Shoot, I forgot all about him!” Anna exclaimed, and then lowered her voice again to ask bemusedly, “Wait--did I even know about him? Who is he?”
Before I could answer, she whispered anxiously, “Luke seemed to know who to call, so I didn’t screw up Luke finding you sooner, did I?”
“No, you're right. I probably didn’t even have a chance to tell you about Mr. G. Nothing got screwed up by you, I promise. You saved me.” I hesitated, but didn't end the call. Violating my own instructions of not talking, I asked quietly, “How’s Stella? I got a text from her last night that Eric George was pretty broken up. How’s he doing?”
“Oh Junior, he was destroyed at the news of the baby,” Anna responded sadly, “but he’s been so great. He supported Stella’s decision not to get married. They’ve been hanging together ever since she told him. When your wedding was postponed because of…the bad news, we all chilled in his suite,” she scoffed a little, “except for Crazy, of course. She said she had something more important to do.”
“That’s good you guys all hung out together,” I murmured, for once not caring who or what the ex-cousin was off doing.
“Yeah, it was nice. NanaBel finally escaped London, too, but since everyone is heading home from Vegas in a couple of hours, she and the baron flew back to Germany.” She sighed. “I’m glad she has the baron because I think the news of Stella’s miscarriage hit her harder than we thought.”
I digested that news quietly, realizing I had no idea what NanaBel’s plans were from her last email. Reggie’s gasping snores interrupted our silent moment, and I repeated my promise to call Anna later.
“I really do apologize for waking you up and butting in on your honeymoon.”
Anna pointed out dryly, “I have a baby pressing on my bladder already, and I share a bed with your friggin’ foghorn of a brother. The only thing you interrupted was my murderous thoughts.”
That elicited a giggle from me, and then I asked casually, “By the way, whose idea was it not to tell the police I’d gone missing because of Kyle Koch?”
“Oh, that was Luke’s idea.” Anna’s whisper turned disgusted. “Reggie agreed at once, but I made Luke swear to God he’d find you before I agreed to go along with anything those two cooked up. See, Junior, I’m finally learning!”
“And I’m very proud of you for insisting on that little detail before you lied through your teeth to the rest of the family about where I was.”
Anna tried to muffle her burst of involuntary laughter while she protested softly, “No way! Luke said it wasn’t lying, just not telling the whole truth to save people from worrying.”
“Uh huh,
keep telling yourself that. In the meantime, please pass the word to everybody that I want to be left alone for the day.”
“Oh, okay Greta Garbo, I’ll let them know.” The snarky tone disappeared when she said quietly, “Take care of yourself and we’ll talk later tonight.” She made a sound between a huff and a laugh. “And I want to know every detail about what happened last night, especially that vampire ball. Jesus, only you could have their wedding ruined by a vampire!” She whispered fervently, “Do you know that’s the second time you’ve been kidnapped in less than two months? I mean, what the fuck, Junior?”
“Huh, interesting statistic,” I responded vaguely and then quickly ended the call.
Surprisingly, I felt a little bit better after talking with my friend. I didn’t blame Anna for being snarky. It probably was selfish of me to not reach out to my family and friends today and return their texts, calls, and emails. Tomorrow I might feel bad and apologize, but right this minute I didn’t give a damn.
Before I’d fallen completely back into oblivion on the plane last night, I’d heard Luke explaining the sequence of events after my lost cell phone was retrieved from the concierge. First, he’d listened to my voice mail messages for a clue to my whereabouts. Reg and Anna were with Luke, so they heard Mr. Milton’s message regarding their son and daughter-in-law’s fatal car accident, as well as Melody’s warning of Mr. Koch lurking near my room.
Once Anna related my run-in with Kyle Koch to Luke, and after he’d contacted Mr. Milton to learn that I had not returned any of his phone calls, my fiancé’s suspicions landed squarely on Kyle Koch for my disappearance.
To explain our absence, Anna and Reg had then told everyone that Luke and I postponed our wedding and left Las Vegas last night after getting the tragic news. It was not a lie, as Anna avowed Luke had assured her, but just not the whole truth.
With narrowed eyes, I crossed Anna’s name off the phone list.
Melody and Anna had not told Luke, so I let my thoughts drift as they wanted, hoping for that breakthrough leap of unfounded female logic we girls are so good at conceiving. I got nothing.
My thoughts continued drifting to contemplate Kyle Koch’s actions.
Drugging and kidnapping me in broad daylight took some planning and information of the Bellagio’s operations, not to mention I had to credit the Kochsucker for possessing balls of steel.
Assuming Koch did kill the woman in the bathroom; he took an extremely high risk to drug and abduct me the same day, a female guest from that same hotel. Not only was I involved in the dead girl’s investigation, but Koch knew I’d pointed the cops in his direction. If my disappearance had been reported, Kyle Koch would have definitely been a person of interest to the police. It made about as much sense for Kyle to kidnap me off to his vampire ball, as it did for him to bite a chunk out of his own wrist and suck his spurting blood until he died.
‘There you go again, doing the ASSuming thing, as if his actions should make sense,’ the mean mommy voice chastised.
Tossing down the pen, I sighed loudly in agreement. I blew on the latte before taking another cautious sip, and then another bigger gulp. The hot liquid coursed through me, helping to ward off the chill in the little office. My large, old building, circa 1893, could be hit or miss on heating when trying to keep up on frigid winter days like today. I tucked the robe between my legs to prevent the cold air from seeping under and numbing my bare limbs.
If Luke hadn’t found me at Kyle Koch’s vampire ball, was I meant to be a party favor for all those Twilight Twinkies I’d seen dressed in Goth black and biting on each other? Was that what the white dress signified, some sort of newbie blood offering?
Not that I’ve given it much thought, but as a general rule, I couldn’t care less if people go all Dracula and involve themselves in their friendly neighborhood vampire subculture. Like any fetish between consenting adults, a taste for blood is their grotesque business and none of mine. At least, that is, until some needle-toothed sucker decides to try and sink their fangs into my unwilling body. Then you can bet it instantly becomes my business.
As of last night, Kyle wasn’t in prison. It figured he and his vamp buddies normally used willing blood donors--people such as Catrina Bradley “LaFave.”
Was it Koch’s plan to let me waltz out of his house after he finished doing to me whatever Luke’s rescue had interrupted last night? If Kyle Koch had allowed me to leave his lair, was that white worm douchebag so stupid as to believe I wouldn’t have retaliated in some way?
‘Or, if this is a criminal pattern of behavior for Koch at his parties, either he’s threatened other donors he’s drugged into submission, paid them off to keep quiet, or both. Who knows, some bodies of the less than compliant might be buried deep out in the desert,’ the detective voice reasoned thoughtfully.
‘Oh my, there’s a high probability you would have been murdered last night,’ the accountant voice squeaked out faintly.
Since ‘less than compliant’ could have my picture posted next to the definition in the dictionary, that conclusion was realistic enough to give me the shot in the butt I needed to get moving faster and make another call. I quickly took another drink of hot coffee, reached for the pen again, and slashed Anna’s name off the After-My-Life-Fell-Apart phone list.
“Hi Carrie, this is Anabel Axelrod.”
“Oh, hi Anabel.” Carrie’s tired voice sounded surprised, but more upbeat than mine. “Please don’t say you’re calling because you’ve changed your mind about pressing charges against my sister?”
“No, I’m not pressing charges, so you don’t have to dread hearing my name for the rest of your life.” Covering my mouth, I yawned widely, wondering how long it was going to take for those damn drugs to be completely out of my system.
Carrie laughed shortly. “Uh, no offense, but if I want to help Catrina get her life on track, your name won’t be in our life.”
“Yeah, that’s one of the reasons I’m calling. How’s the sister abduction going?”
Carrie’s answering yawn was loud over the phone. “Oh, excuse me, but I just got up. All said and done, the abduction went surprisingly well. After we left Vegas, I drove straight for fourteen hours without stopping, except for gas and pee breaks, while Cat was passed out in the back seat. When Cat woke up, I was prepared to get screamed at, but she shocked the hell out of me by admitting it felt good to get away from Vegas.”
She yawned again, and dishes were clinking together in the background when I asked, “Did Cat ever say what triggered her attack on me in the bar?”
“Hold on a minute, I need to pour some coffee before I keel over here.” There were sounds of fumbling in my ear and then Carrie asked, “You never said, but are you from Minnesota?”
Surprised at the non sequitur, I sat up straighter and blinked. “Yes, but how did you know?”
Carrie chuckled. “Cat told me a week or so before Christmas, Kyle had some business to handle and he took her along when he drove to Minnesota. When they got to this little town, he started asking around about a woman named Anabel Axelrod. There can’t be too many women named Anabel Axelrod running around.”
“What the…?” Mind racing, I swiveled in my office chair to face the opposite wall. “Kyle and Cat drove to Minnesota? Until last Sunday, I’ve never heard the name Kyle Koch before in my life. I ran into him the same day I met you in Vegas.”
“Yeah, Cat said the jerk hates flying. Oh, and I believe you didn’t know him.” Carrie dropped her voice confidingly and said, “From what my sister’s been saying, I’m convinced Kyle Koch is a psycho. Anyway, Cat was already feeling a little shaky about their relationship before that road trip. But then his sudden obsession with this unknown woman in Minnesota made my sister furiously jealous. You know how you want to cling to a dude when he’s interested in another woman, even if you don’t want the man for yourself anymore?”
I mumbled something in agreement, although I couldn’t imagine what Carrie meant. If my boyfriend
had a sudden obsession with another woman, clinging would be the last thing I’d want to do to him.
“Holy crap, did Cat have any clue why Koch was obsessing over me? Did she say what his business was in Minnesota?”
“He was collecting on a gambling debt. Remember I told you Cat said her boyfriend had clout in the casinos? I found out that’s because Kyle’s some sort of enforcer for a rich man named Mr. G.” Carrie’s tone quivered with big sister disapproval when she continued, “Unfortunately, I’ve learned my sister is the type of woman who perversely wants a man even more when he treats her like shit. I guess Cat saw you one time in Minnesota when she was sitting in their car waiting for Kyle at a gas station. When she asked Kyle why he was so interested in you, he refused to answer. Can you believe that a-hole told Cat it was none of her business, and then said she was nothing compared to you?”
“How weird,” I responded in shocked agreement. “Your sister is perverse to stick around after that crack, and I don’t even know what it means.”
“Me neither!” Carrie exclaimed. “But Cat’s always been crazy competitive, so it spiked her jealousy even more.” Carrie’s tone became a little pleading as she tried to defend her twin’s actions. “My sister was totally in the wrong, but I think that’s why she freaked out so bad when she recognized you at the bar the other night.”
“It's all so bizarre,” I murmured under my breath, as Carrie’s revelations teased at my memory, confirming what I’d begun to suspect but didn’t want to believe.
Carrie laughed a little. “Yeah, it must be bizarre hearing some man is obsessing over you when you’re not even aware he exists. After the Minnesota trip, and once she settled down, Kyle’s nasty behavior was finally forcing Cat to open her eyes. Now I don’t deny it’s a strange way to do it, but my sister was actually working up the courage to leave him by going out drinking so much. She said Kyle has progressively changed for the worse over the past few weeks. What had started out as some kinky fun with…”
When Carrie hesitated, as if suddenly recalling her twin had related some of this data in confidence, I nudged her on with, “Getting their vampire freak on? I saw the business card, remember?”