I waited for an hour. The officer, I hadn’t caught his name, spent a while on the phone mumbling. My hearing was good enough to know that his call had nothing to do with me seeing Carl. After an hour he glanced up at me.
“You can go through now,” he said and nodded his head toward a door to his left. I stood up and walked to the door. He came around the counter and barred it.
“I’m going to have to get you searched,” he said. “Can’t have you slipping weapons to the prisoner.”
“As long as it’s a woman doing the search we’re not going to have any trouble,” I said. I kept my voice calm, but I pinned him with my stare. He didn’t know what I was, didn’t know I could take him on any day, but he understood eye contact and undercurrents. That deserved a bit of respect at least.
He let me through the door and a woman stood on the other side in uniform, hair pulled back in a tight bun. She smiled at me, and she didn’t look as hard as she had when she hadn’t been smiling.
“Just a quick pat down,” she said. “But you don’t look like you could be trouble.” Looks could be deceiving. I smiled at her and spread my legs, linking my fingers behind my head. She was thorough despite her comment, and when she was done she nodded at me.
“I’ll take you through to him now. I’m glad he has someone to see him. He’s been alone since he landed here a week ago.”
“He’s been here a week?” I asked. Why hadn’t he phoned us earlier? And why didn’t he have a lawyer? We had to do something about that. The female officer unlocked a heavy metal door and let me through, locking it again behind me. I was alone in a passage that had bars for walls. Cells were all around me, but only one was occupied.
Apparently Fort Atkinson didn’t have a lot of criminals.
“Adele, thank god,” Carl said and stood up. He looked terrible. He had a beard grown out to a length that confirmed he’d been here a week. He’d lost weight and his hair was a mess. He wore a red collar shirt with buttons missing and a pair of jeans that were dirty like he’d been rolling in the mud. It was the exact opposite from the Carl I knew.
“What the hell happened?” I asked.
“I didn’t do it,” he said right away. “I didn’t kill her. She was already dead when I got there.”
“That’s convenient,” I said and sat down on a wooden bench that I guessed the guards used.
“Don’t pull that shit with me, Adele. I know you and I don’t always get along, but you have to believe me. You know me, if I get caught doing something I’ll take what they dish me.”
I pulled up my eyebrows. I wasn’t sure that I did know that. I didn’t really know anything about Carl at all, despite the fact that I’d known him for years. What I did know was that he didn’t get caught. After everything we’d been through, everything we’d done, he hadn’t been in trouble with the law once. Not even close.
“I believe you,” I finally said. Not because I didn’t think he was capable, but because if he really did do it, he wouldn’t have been in jail for it. “Do you have a lawyer?” I asked.
He shook his head. “They wouldn’t let me call anyone until I called you to come here. They didn’t try to question me either. I would have demanded one straight away.”
That made me suspicious. Why didn’t they let him call anyone right away? And why didn’t they ask anything about what had happened? Was it that clear?
“Tell me what happened,” I said. “A vampire died, and you’re being pinned for it.” That, at least, might get me somewhere.
Carl nodded. He looked somber, like it was getting to him. This wasn’t like him at all, no form of death ever phased him. “She stayed in a cabin just outside town. She preferred the woods. When I got there that night she was crumpled against the far wall, a silver stake wedged between her ribs. The smell of that ink shit hung thick in the air, and she had metal manacles clamped around her wrists.”
“So she couldn’t dematerialize,” I said, nodding. That was how we used to do it. We’d stop them from getting away by wrapping any part of their bodies in metal. Vampires couldn’t dematerialize through metal. Carl nodded.
“How did they get you?” I asked.
He shook his head, jammed his thumbs into his eyes. “I didn’t leave when I found her. I ran to her, checked if she was still alive even though I knew she couldn’t be. Someone called the cops but I don’t know who. When they found me it didn’t take long to put two and two together.”
“And you’ve been here ever since,” I said. “No prints on the stake?” I asked. He shook his head.
“Nothing on the metal either. There was no trace of anyone being near her body.”
“And they’re so sure it was you?”
“There were traces of me everywhere else. In the kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom…”
I frowned. “You were all over the place, weren’t you?”
Carl sighed and covered his face with his hands. He looked vulnerable, small and lost. It was something I’d never seen on him before.
“It was because I’d been there before,” he said.
“Jesus, Carl. No wonder they pinned it on you then. What were you doing in a vampire’s house so many times? You know that’s not how we do it.” By the sounds of it he’d been there more than once. We knew how to break in and not leave a trace, if we needed to pick up a scent. Carl had been careless.
The questions was why.
He looked up at me, and he looked like he was about to cry. He had a far-off look in his eyes, like he was looking past me, not at me.
“She was my girlfriend,” he said.
I left Carl sitting in a slump on his cot, face buried in his hands. I wasn’t going to lie, that had come as a shock. For as long as I could remember, Carl had hated vampires. He’d even hated Connor to a degree, and as far as I knew that hadn’t really changed much. And now he told me he’d been dating a vampire?
When I’d freaked out he’d called me a hypocrite, and he’d been right. I used to kill them too, and now Connor and I were living together and happier than any couple could be. But having said that, I was half vampire. I’d grown up with vampires. Being with Connor was like coming home.
Carl was human. There was no link other than the fact that he’d killed a lot of them. And now this.
Did I believe that he’d dated her? Yes. He was too distraught, looked too much like hell for that not to be true. Did I believe that he hadn’t killed her? I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. My immediate reaction was no, but when I thought about it I just didn’t know.
He’d begged me to prove his innocence. That meant going behind the law’s back and looking into his life. The former was easy, I’d done it countless times, and even though I wasn’t itching to become illegal again, I knew how to do it. The latter was a whole new idea. I knew nothing about Carl, and had accepted long ago that it was going to stay that way. Now he’d given me full permission to dig as far into his life as I wanted to, to find everything I needed. It wasn’t just unnerving, it was downright scary.
The female officer unlocked for me when I called for someone, and she locked the metal door behind me again. I’d been caged for long enough. Police weren’t my favorite people on a good day, and I’d just seen Carl torn apart. This day had just turned bad. I walked through the door back to the reception area.
“Adele,” Tyrone greeted me about the same time I saw him. He leaned on the counter, chatting to officer what’s-his-name.
“I didn’t expect you here,” I said. Tyrone shrugged and I was aware of his size. He wasn’t wearing his bullet-proof vest because we weren’t training. He was larger than life, his presence filling the room.
“I travel for work now and then,” he said and flashed me a smile that was both heartwarming and unnerving. I didn’t like spending so much time with him. He made me feel unstable, and I never knew if it was because of the underlying attraction – he was a damn good-looking guy, oozing sex appeal – or if it was because of the fact the he was a police
officer.
I nodded without saying anything because I didn’t know what to say.
“Does Mr. Englesberg have a lawyer?” he asked.
“I didn’t realize you knew him,” I answered.
“Officer Milton filled me in on the details.” He flashed a cocky grin and I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
“I thought the information here was classified,” I said and my voice was icy.
“Of course, but I’m on the force.” I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. I was already annoyed and I hadn’t been in Fort Atkinson for twenty-four hours. I didn’t even allow myself to think about my guns. I was with two officers, one of which I knew could shoot bloody well, and I suddenly felt like I was being left out of this conversation.
I hated when people teamed up on me. It wasn’t outright, but when I was a civilian facing two police officers it was pretty clear where their royalties lay.
My phone rang and I answered it. It was the courier guy. His voice was gruff over the phone. I held the phone against my chest.
“I need to take this outside,” I said. Tyrone pulled his eyebrows up at me like I’d done something unacceptable, but I ignored him. He was a cop, but he was just my student. I’m sure there was some sort of hierarchy there. I just didn’t know who was on top right now.
The courier was pissed off. He was at the motel where I’d told him to deliver my guns and I wasn’t there. I promised him I would be there as soon as possible. I popped my head back in through the glass door.
“I’ll be back later with Mr. Englesberg’s lawyer,” I said. Tyrone and Officer Milton just blinked at me. The plan hadn’t been to find a lawyer, but when I’d seen them standing there they were in cahoots, then I’d decided. I was supposed to prove Carl innocent. I didn’t know if I could do that. Hell, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure that he was innocent. It didn’t hurt to have a plan B.
The bright yellow courier van stood in front of my motel door, next to the crummy motorbike I’d rented. The delivery guy looked as pissed as he’d sounded.
“It was a nine hour trip, lady. I’d been at it since before sunrise.”
“I’m really sorry. I was at the police station.”
His face was still sour but he didn’t say anything else. He walked around the back of the van and I followed him. When he opened the door there was a wooden crate that he wedged open with crowbar. My guns were neatly packed inside. I nodded. All there.
He held out a clipboard to me and I signed before I took the crate and walked to the room. The van started and drove off. I was happy to have my guns with me again. I had the Carbine, a hell of a gun that Joel had given me when I was still killing and he was still spotting me. My Glock, Beretta and Smith & Wesson were all there, shiny, smelling of gun oil. I ran my fingers over the hardware and I felt better already.
I wasn’t allowed to just shoot people, but it made me feel better that I could if I wanted to.
I wasn’t going to wear my guns until sundown. It was a small town that I didn’t know. The first two people I’d dealt with since my arrival, besides the motel guy at reception, were police officers. Not a good start.
I found a phone book on top of the little box television in the room and flipped through the pages until I found the number of a lawyer with the worst advertisement I’d ever seen. It was the only lawyer listed in this county, so I dialed his number.
“Payne,” he answered his phone. I wondered if he was one.
“I’m looking for a lawyer to represent a murder case,” I said.
He was quiet just for a moment, but long enough to make me doubt.
“Sure,” he said and his voice sounded confident, but the doubt was already there. Maybe it was because I thought he wasn’t sure. Maybe it was because I wasn’t.
I arranged with him to meet with Carl later that afternoon. It didn’t seem like he was very busy. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not – I didn’t really know anything about lawyers and what they did. When I sat down on the bed after hanging up the phone, I dialed Connor. He wouldn’t be awake to take my call.
I got his voicemail as I expected.
“Hey baby, I just wanted to let you know that everything’s going well here. I saw Carl, I don’t know much yet but we’re meeting with a lawyer later and I’m seeing what I can do, you know, where the lawyer can't.” He knew what that meant. I took a deep breath, hesitated. There was so much more that I wanted to say. I wanted him to know that I needed him. That I was suddenly unsure about who I was, because Carl was expecting so much of me. He wanted me to prove him innocent, but all I’ve ever known was guilty, guilty, guilty.
And Tyrone here… I swallowed hard. I didn’t even know what to think about that. I just wanted to go home.
“I miss you,” I finally said. “And I love you.”
I hung up the phone. I was looking at it when it started vibrating in my hand, the ringtone shrilled. I fumbled with it and found the talk button.
“Adele?” Tyrone’s deep voice came over the speaker. “You doing okay?”
I nodded before I spoke. “I’m perfectly fine, Tyrone. Thank you. I appreciate the connections you used to make it easier for me to see Carl.”
“Of course,” he said. “Everyone can use a little hand out.”
I thought of something. “I’m coming later with Mr. Donald. He’s Carl’s lawyer. Will you arrange that we can get to see him without any problems? Officer Milton didn’t look very happy to see me.”
“Don’t you worry about that. Hank is just a small town guy worried about who sets foot into his town. And you look less dangerous than you really are. I can vouch for that.”
It was supposed to be a flirty line, but it caused a hollow feeling in my stomach, it made me feel guilty.
“You won’t have any trouble later. I’ll be there with you, see to it myself,” he said.
“Oh no, that’s really not necessary—”
“Nonsense, it’s the least I can do.”
Actually the least was a lot less.
“You really don’t have to do that. With Mr. Donald it will be fine, I’m sure.”
“Nonsense,” he said. “I’ll see you later.” He hung up the phone before I could argue with him. I took a deep breath and blew it out again. I felt like an idiot. I was supposed to be the tough, gun-wielding fighter, and I couldn’t say no to a pushy man.
I got up and walked to the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror. The sight had changed a lot in the past two years. I hardly noticed the scar down my neck now, even though I still didn’t bother to cut it up. My father had given me that scar when I’d tried to look after my sister. My black hair usually covered it up but I wore it up more often lately.
I did let it down though for my meeting with Mr. Donald. I didn’t know anything about the law, but I didn’t want to give the wrong impression and the scar made me look wild. So I put on a soft white blouse that made my green eyes stand out eve more, blue jeans so I fit into this little mountain town and I let my hair down to curl around my face in soft waves. When I got to the police station, Tyrone was already there.
I groaned inwardly. I didn’t know how long he’d been there, but I was annoyed that he hadn’t left. I suddenly wanted my gun with me. I’d left the shoulder holster at home – it just didn’t’ give off the right impression meeting with a murder defense lawyer with a gun – and I didn’t have one small enough to fit in my purse.
“Ah, here you are,” Tyrone said and smiled. I looked up and down deliberately, a reason not to look at him.
“Mr. Donald will be here any second,” I said, and just as I did a mustard colored corvette sputtered down the road.
Chapter 3
Carl looked up when we marched into the cell block. He frowned when he saw Mr. Donald, and the crease between his eyebrows increased when he saw me. Mr. Donald was a funny-looking man, so tall that it looked like he wasn’t sure how to handle his body, with blond hair and eyebrows that looked out of place on
his tan skin and an Adam’s apple that bobbed when he talked. He didn’t really look like he’d been in court at all. He wore a suit that didn’t fit him quite right.
Tyrone had stopped at the door, and Carl eyed him wearily, too. He beckoned to me, walking to the far side of his cell.
“What the hell is this?” he asked.
“A lawyer,” I answered.
“What for?”
“You’ve been charged with murder, Carl. It doesn’t hurt to have more people on your side.”
“I thought you were going to prove I was innocent.” he said. I groaned.
“How am I supposed to do that? Don’t you think if it was that obvious you wouldn’t be here?”
Carl narrowed his eyes at me, and I knew what he was going to say before he said it.
“You’re not sure that I didn’t do it, are you?” he asked.
“Look, all I’m saying is that it might not be such a bad idea to have someone in your corner once you have to appear in front of a judge. This town is even smaller than Westham. How do you think things are going to work when they find that one of their own has died?”
“I was hoping it wouldn’t get to that,” he said and he looked sour.
“Well, Carl, I’m just a human.”
He smirked when I said that, and I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t exactly human, but that wasn’t very much beside the point.
“Look, all I’m saying is that you should talk to him. He was the only one I could find, but at least it’s not nothing.”
“You’re still going to try for me?” he asked.
I sighed. I wanted to say no. I wanted to wash my hands of this business and go home to the safe life I knew. But I nodded. “Of course,” I answered and walked back to Mr. Donald.
Carl walked to his cot and sat down. Mr. Donald took out a notepad from his briefcase and started asking him questions. It took an hour to get nowhere, and when we finally left, Carl looked about as distraught as I felt.
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