by Alex Archer
When the press conference wrapped up, she was more frustrated than when she’d arrived.
“I’ve seen you before, haven’t I?”
Annja turned to find the girl staring at her, studying her features more closely this time.
“I don’t think so,” she told her, looking away.
But the girl would not be denied.
“Yes!” she exclaimed. “Yes, I have! You’re that woman from the TV show, the one that was just filming in Prague.”
Annja glanced around, afraid one of the journalists would overhear and take an interest in what was making the girl increasingly excited. She needed to get off the street.
“Not here,” she said, grabbing the girl’s hand and pulling her through the crowd. “Come on.”
Annja led the girl to a café a short distance down the street. They settled into a table in back. Annja ordered coffee for both of them; she really didn’t want any but knew the waitstaff would hover until they ordered.
When she turned back, she found the girl grinning at her, holding up her cell phone. A picture of Annja working with the film crew outside Faust House was displayed on the screen.
“You’re Annja Creed, from Chasing History’s Monsters,” the girl said triumphantly. “My friend is a huge fan, so we went to watch you filming your show in Prague.”
Annja couldn’t deny it now, not with her own picture staring back at her, so she went with the flow, hoping to learn something useful from the situation. The girl had helped her after all.
“You’re right. You’ve caught me. I’m Annja. Nice to meet you,” she said, holding out her hand.
“Brigitta,” the girl replied, shaking Annja’s hand. “My friend is going to flip when I tell her I had coffee with you.”
“Yes, well, about that...” Annja began. “Perhaps you can wait a few days before doing so?”
Brigitta was watching her closely. “You’re not here on vacation, are you? You’re working, and whatever you’re working on has to do with the woman from the press conference, doesn’t it? That’s why you know what happened!”
Brigitta was no slouch, Annja had to give her that.
“Yes, I’m working. And it might have to do with the woman they were just talking about. I’m not sure yet, though, and that’s why you can’t tell your friend about meeting me. If word gets out that I’m here, I’ll have a difficult time finding the information I need.”
The girl’s eyes had gotten wider as Annja spoke, and now she leaned forward.
“It’s the Blood Countess, isn’t it?” she asked quietly. “She’s come back, just as legend claimed.”
Annja was shocked. That was twice in less than twenty-four hours that she’d heard Báthory’s nickname floated about. Granted she was in Báthory country, but still...
“What legend is that?”
Brigitta laughed. “Right. Like the host of Chasing History’s Monsters doesn’t know the legend of the Blood Countess’s return?”
“Humor me,” Annja said with a smile.
“After she was tried and convicted of bathing in the blood of all those women, the king had her walled up inside her own bedroom suite as punishment for her crimes. You know about that, right?”
Báthory hadn’t gone to trial, was never convicted and was walled up inside her bedroom at the request of her own family, but that was beside the point, apparently. Annja just clenched her teeth and nodded, seeing no need to correct her companion.
“She lived for four years—four years, can you imagine that!—before they found her dead on her bedroom floor.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Annja said. “But that’s nothing new. Most people who know anything about Elizabeth Báthory’s history know that.”
“Yes, but what they don’t know is that Báthory wrote a message in blood on her bedroom wall before she died.”
Uh-huh, Annja thought. Aloud she said, “And that would be...?”
The girl’s eyes gleamed. “I’ll be back,” she said, in what was quite possibly the worst Austrian accent Annja had ever heard.
As Annja sat there, staring at her without expression, Brigitta burst into laughter. “I had you! I totally had you!”
Annja wasn’t amused. “Right. Well, it was good meeting you, but now I’ve...”
“Wait! Wait!” the girl said between giggles, reaching out and grabbing Annja’s arm to keep her from leaving. “I’m sorry. I was just joking around. I’ll tell you the real story. Honest.”
Grudgingly Annja let herself be persuaded. Something about the girl called to her, and she had learned to trust such instincts since possessing the sword. There was information to be learned here; she was certain of it.
“I wasn’t kidding. The countess did write on the wall of her bedroom before dying. She used candle wax to do it, though, not blood. They even found the candle in her hand.”
“I see.” Annja eyed her skeptically.
“No, seriously,” Brigitta protested. “The family tried to cover it up but word leaked out. Some say it was through the countess’s lover, though how anyone could love a woman like that, I don’t know.”
Growing tired of all the chitchat, Annja said, “Can you please get to the point?”
“Oh, right. Sorry. The countess wrote amikor vissza on the wall above her bed.”
“Which means?”
“When I return. How creepy is that? Maybe she’s come back. Maybe it was the countess that killed those girls after all.”
Annja was about to thank her for her time and get the heck out of there when the word Brigitta had used hit her like a shovel over the head.
Girls.
Plural.
Annja settled back into her seat and stared at the teenager sitting across from her.
“What girls?” she asked.
7
The phone rang seven times before it was answered. That wasn’t a good sign; it meant she’d considered not even taking his call. She only did that when she was annoyed with him, and her annoyance would make the news he’d called to deliver that much more dangerous. He was going to have to be careful.
When she finally answered the phone, all she said was, “Yes?”
“We may have a problem.”
“I pay you to handle the problems. Why are you bothering me?” she asked.
“This one’s a little different.”
“I’m listening.”
“Something went wrong with the latest disposal. The subject was recovered by two women and brought to the hospital in Nové Mesto. The police were notified.”
There was a pause and then, “And?”
“The subject was neutralized as per our usual containment plan. Arrangements have been made and the investigation will take its usual course.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“One of the women who recovered the subject is an American media personality. The host of a popular television show.”
“Who is she?”
He checked his notes. “Her name is Annja Creed. She’s the host of a program called Chasing History’s Monsters.”
There was a chuckle from the other end of the line. “How interesting. Was she alone with the...subject?”
“For a brief time, yes.”
There was another pause, a much longer one this time.
“Did they speak?”
He sighed quietly. “It’s hard to say. I don’t believe the subject was able to do so, but I could be wrong.”
Then he held his breath. This was the moment. If she told him to deal with it, he was all right. He would do as required and that would be that. But if she said she needed time to consider the issue or that she was sending someone else to handle the problem, then he would need to cut and run as swiftly as possible. The clea
nup crew would have orders to eliminate any potential threat or loose end and, given what he knew, he would be priority number one for both.
The silence stretched and he was starting to think about putting down the phone and getting out while he still could when she finally spoke.
“Send me what you can dig up on this Creed person. Keep an eye on her but do not take any other measures until I tell you to do so. This may actually play to our advantage.”
He let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, cleared his throat and said, “Of course.”
She hung up the phone without another word, the dial tone suddenly loud in his ear.
He didn’t mind.
Escaping her wrath for another day was good enough.
8
“What do you mean, ‘girls’?” Annja asked. “Has there been more than one?”
Brigitta nodded. “Of course. The Blood Countess needs many victims to fill her bath, doesn’t she?”
She seemed to think Annja was crazy for asking the question. But Detective Tamás had made no mention of any other woman murdered in such a fashion. Could it be that he didn’t know? Or had he been playing his cards close to his vest, not wanting to tip his hand when Annja was still a suspect?
“Tell me about them.”
But this time Brigitta wasn’t as forthcoming.
“Oh, no,” she said. “We had a deal. I translate for you and you tell me what you know about the woman from the press conference. Spill it. Then I’ll tell you about the others.”
Not the type to back out on a deal, Annja reluctantly did as she was asked. She told Brigitta about her visit to Csejte Castle and about how she’d helped rescue the now-deceased woman on the road back to Nové Mesto. She left out the details, giving a broad overview of what had happened, but the teenager sat spellbound throughout, reminding Annja that not everyone would have climbed down the rocky slope to rescue the poor woman.
When she was finished, Annja said, “Now your turn.”
Brigitta launched into her tale with enthusiasm.
“Okay, so my friend’s cousin knew a girl who heard that the police found a woman murdered in Kočocve, which is about an hour from here. All the blood had been drained from her body.”
“Your cousin’s friend?”
“No, my friend’s cousin,” Brigitta corrected her, not even noticing the look of disbelief on Annja’s face.
She went on, “And there was this other killing, about four months ago, I think, that I heard about from this girl on Facebook. I don’t know her or anything, but we’re friends on Facebook, you know? She told me that hikers found a woman’s body totally drained of blood and left in the middle of the woods outside of Trenčín. Can you believe that?”
No, Annja couldn’t. Rumors weren’t going to help her. She tried to get some concrete facts.
“Do you know the names of the victims?”
Brigitta shook her head.
“Do you know the names of the people who told you about them?”
“Well, no. They’re just people I know, you know?”
Uh-huh.
“So how do you know they’re telling the truth?”
“What do you mean?”
“How do you know the bodies were really found?”
“Why would they lie about something like that?” Brigitta asked.
Annja could think of at least a dozen reasons, including trying to impress the naive and rather good-looking teen who was sitting across from her waiting for an answer. Not that saying so would do any good.
She wasn’t going to get anywhere with this, she decided. She should cut her losses and get back to work. At least she now knew what was said in the press conference.
“Perhaps you’re right,” she said, smiling to take any unintentional sting out of her remarks. “I think the information you’ve given me is going to be helpful. I appreciate it.”
“You’re going to keep looking into it, aren’t you?” the girl asked eagerly.
Annja could see where this was going from a mile away. She needed to nip things in the bud before they got out of hand.
“That’s for the police to handle, not me. I’ve got to head back to the States soon to finish the episode we were filming in Prague.” She got up from the table, still smiling. “Tell your friend I said hello, and thanks for the translation help.”
Brigitta asked if they could take a picture together and Annja obliged, then got out of there as quickly as she could. For a moment she’d thought the girl had been on to something, but it was nothing more than the usual rumors that followed a legend like Báthory’s. When you’ve got a figure that epitomizes evil like the Blood Countess did, there was plenty of room for stories to grow and change over the years. Rumors of women killed the same way were almost to be expected, even hundreds of years later.
But what about the woman she’d tried to save? Hadn’t she suffered extreme blood loss? That was just it. Annja wasn’t sure. She’d thought loss of blood had been a major factor in the woman’s death, but Annja didn’t know that for a fact.
She was tempted to do exactly what she’d told Brigitta she would—walk away and let the police handle it. Just head home to New York, focus on the show and leave whatever this was behind her.
But something wouldn’t let her. There was an injustice here that needed rectifying—that was clear—and she’d been unable to walk away from such things since the day she’d accepted the sword and become its bearer.
The dead woman had no one to speak for her, and Annja knew she would have to become her voice.
But where to begin?
That was one answer Annja did have.
Start where it all began.
At the end.
The cause of death.
* * *
HALF AN HOUR later Annja was standing in the hall outside the hospital morgue, waiting for the opportunity to see the man in charge, one Dr. Petrova.
She’d already tried to speak to Detective Tamás, figuring he was her easiest avenue to the information she needed, but she had ultimately been turned away by the desk sergeant. He’d told her the detective was too busy to see her at the moment but she was, of course, welcome to wait. Annja knew where that would lead. She had better things to do than sit around waiting for the detective to deign to see her.
Like waiting for the pathologist to do the same.
No sooner had the thought occurred to her than the doors to the morgue opened and a tall man wearing a white lab coat over a dark suit stepped out. He was in his late sixties, Annja guessed, with a craggy face, arms that appeared too long for his torso and an air of superiority.
He glanced up, noticed her standing there and said something in what she thought was Slovakian.
She shook her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Do you speak English?”
He glared at her but answered nonetheless. “Yes, of course. Can I help you?”
“I certainly hope so. Are you Dr. Petrova?”
He eyed her warily. “Yes.”
“My name is Annja Creed. I was the one who...”
“I know who you are,” he said. “What do you want?”
Annja was taken aback at the sudden hostility but plowed forward nonetheless. “I understand the woman I brought in to the emergency room last night never recovered. I was interested in knowing how she died.”
“Why?”
Annja shrugged. “Personal closure, I guess. Knowing there wasn’t anything more I could have done will help me get past this.”
“No.”
“No, what? There wasn’t anything I could have done?”
“No, I’m not going to discuss the issue with you. Good day.”
Petrova walked past and continued down the hall without a b
ackward glance.
Annja stood there, stunned by his reaction. She hadn’t expected him to say much—it was, after all, an active investigation—but she didn’t think her knowing the cause of death would impede that investigation. His overt hostility had seemed...unusual.
As though he had something to hide.
She watched Petrova turn the corner at the end of the hall and then glanced back at the doors to the morgue.
Before she could talk herself out of it, she pushed them open and stepped inside.
9
Annja discovered there wasn’t much difference between a Slovakian morgue and an American one. She saw the same stark lighting, the same white tiles, the same row of flat metal tables with the floor drains positioned underneath. The refrigeration drawers were situated along the back wall, and a darkened office loomed to her right. Two of the tables contained sheet-covered bodies, but otherwise the room was empty.
Annja breathed a sigh of relief.
There was no telling when Petrova, or anyone else for that matter, might be back. The smart thing would have been to turn around and get the heck out of there before she was discovered; she didn’t think Petrova would take kindly to her trespassing. But if she’d intended to do the smart thing she wouldn’t be here in the first place.
She crossed the room to stand next to the examination tables. A white sheet covered the form on the first table, but by its sheer size Annja suspected it wasn’t the woman she was looking for.
Still, best not to leave anything to chance, she told herself as she reached up and lifted the edge of the sheet, revealing the thickly jowled face of a man in his early fifties with a bullet hole just above his left eye.
She put the sheet neatly back in place and moved to the next table. This time, when she pulled the covering back, she found herself staring into the face of the woman she’d worked so hard to rescue the night before.
She pulled the sheet a little lower, revealing a large Y-shaped incision that started at the top of each shoulder and descended along the center of the woman’s chest, indicating that the body had already undergone an autopsy. Now all she needed to do was find the results.