by Jon F. Merz
“I do.” I turned to leave. “Thanks for the drink.”
“Thank me later,” said Eva.
I walked outside and slid into the Acura, gunned the engine and then rolled out of her driveway. A block down, I turned down a side street and pulled over to the side of the road. I had a message from Letourneau telling me to call him back as soon as possible. I did.
“Where are you?”
“Running down that other lead,” I said. “How’d you guys make out?”
“It’s not her,” he said. “We got the search warrant, but turned up nothing. And besides, it turns out she hasn’t been in town for several weeks. She couldn’t have committed the murder.”
“You sure about her being away?”
“Confirmed with the TSA. She was overseas in Europe.”
“Dammit.”
“What about you?” asked Letourneau. “How’d it go on your end?”
“Depends on who you ask,” I said.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“I don’t know about this one, either. She’s definitely aggressive enough. As in velociraptor-in-mating-season aggressive.”
Letourneau paused. “You’re telling me I go in with a SWAT team and you go for drinks and almost end up getting laid? I am definitely in the wrong line of work.”
“You’re also married,” I said.
“Hall pass,” said Letourneau with a laugh. “So, she didn’t give you anything concrete?”
“I went in trying to see if she could translate any of the symbols from the blood-smeared walls.”
“And?”
“Nada. She didn’t particularly look comfortable when I showed her the pictures with all the blood on the walls. If she had committed the crimes, I might have seen some sort of facial tick that would give me something to go on. As it was, nothing.”
“Dammit.”
“I do have an invitation to come back later though and bed her.”
“How much later?”
I peered through the windshield. It was getting on late afternoon and the sun at this time of year was already trudging slowly west. “I’m waiting for her to go out right now. I need to get a look at the interior of the house and see if I can find something to incriminate her.”
“You want company?”
“Nah, if she comes back and finds me inside, she’ll assume I’m there to take her up on the offer of a quickie. If I bring you, it’s going to look a little kinky.”
Letourneau laughed. “Good point. Let me know how it goes. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll get worried. You want to shoot me the address just in case she gets the upper hand?”
“Not really. I’ve got contingency plans in effect if that happens.” That was a lie, of course, but I didn’t want Letourneau looking into Eva’s background and finding something that might make him question reality and put me in an awkward position.
“I hate it when you hold out on me, Lawson.” Letourneau hung up the phone and I glanced at it before stowing it in the seat divider.
The question now was, how long would it take Eva to get ready to go out? Did she have any sort of security system in place? I didn’t need the Dedham cops to come screaming up the drive and find me there without a reason.
I gave her ten minutes and then slowly reversed my position, rolled out on to her street and cruised past the house. I saw an idling Audi in the driveway which started moving as I drove past. I turned right at the next option and drove slowly down. In my rearview mirror, I could see the Audi pass by and immediately stopped the Acura and turned around.
Time to go.
I pulled the Acura in and hopped out with my little bag of lock picks. At the front door, I was inside within thirty seconds and stood there for a moment to adjust my hearing to the ambient sounds of the place. I needed to know what was natural and what was not in case she suddenly came back.
From the foyer, I moved beyond the sitting room and the kitchen, doing a quick once-over of both rooms, but not really expecting to find anything. My priority right now was to find her bedroom and then the basement.
Upstairs, I found Eva’s room, tastefully decorated with a distinctive feminine style that seemed big on plush pillows and a four-post bed with some type of fabric over the top. She had a fireplace in the room and in front of that, it looked like a very comfortable and furry rug. I wondered if she’d made love on the rug with other men. It certainly would not have surprised me.
From the master bedroom, I did a quick scan of the other rooms, carefully looking into the drawers and finding nothing of interest. Eva had a helluva lot of clothes and shoes as evidenced by the walk-in closets she had populated with all manner of outfits and heels.
But nothing to suggest she was a killer who had sided and diced her way through at least two victims in the hopes of summoning a demon.
Back downstairs, I found my way to the basement. It was old and unfinished, which I thought might mean a better chance of finding something I could use. The old stairs creaked as I walked down them and it reminded me of when I used to live in my old house in Jamaica Plain. The stairs creaked the same way and used to scare the hell out of me at night when I had to bring out the trash.
At the bottom, my feet touched cold cement and I scanned the area. I didn’t risk turning on the light because I didn’t need to. My eyes could see perfectly well in the darkness and what I saw was a big mess. I moved quickly, checking out boxes and trunks.
It was on the third trunk that something stood out to me. A small, old, black leather doctor’s bag. It looked like the kind they used to use to make house calls back in the day. I imagined she could have easily carried any assortment of things in there.
I cracked it open and peered inside.
Scalpels.
They gleamed as though they’d been polished recently and I felt my heart beat tick up a notch. I wondered if I could bring them in and have them tested for DNA evidence. Or had Eva washed them so well that every trace was gone?
I pictured Eva then slicing open one of her victims and laughing maniacally as blood splashed everywhere while she continued to cut and slice every internal organ out of the thoracic cavity. Her eyes gleamed with a startling frenzy while she spoke a strange language in my head.
My iPhone buzzed in my pocket then and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I grabbed at it and hissed into it. “Yes?”
“Lawson?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s Newby, man. How you doing?”
“Busy at the moment,” I said still looking around. “What’s going on?”
“Listen, man, I made a mistake.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The other day when I told you about the number of the victims? Remember how I said that the symbol marked ‘guardian’ was the first one and you said it related to the cop that had been killed?”
“What about it?”
“I was wrong,” said Newby. “The symbol for the guardian wasn’t the first victim. It was for the third.”
“The third?”
“You understand what I’m saying?” asked Newby. “The one who hasn’t been killed yet - the one we’re trying to save - will somehow be related to some sort of guardian role.”
Some sort of guardian role…I frowned. That could mean anyone from an ambulance driver to a secret agent-I stopped.
Fixer. I was a type of guardian. I protected the secret existence of vampires from humans. I safeguarded my race. And the Balance.
Oh fuck.
“You there, man?” Newby’s voice was insistent in my ear. “She’s going after some guardian type dude.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’ve got it. And I think I might know who it is.”
“Yeah? Who?”
“Me.”
But in that instant, my senses picked up something else. Sounds. And not the ambient noises I’d already catalogued when I’d first come inside. These were different.
New.
And then I heard the
door slam.
Eva was home.
33
I drew my gun slowly and brought the doctor’s bag with me. Keeping my pistol up at the ready, I eased myself back toward the stairs. I could hear Eva walking around upstairs, going from one room to the next. She must have known I was there, after all, my car was back in her driveway. I certainly hadn’t expected her to return home so soon.
Maybe she forgot something.
Like the doctor’s bag?
I waited at the bottom of the stairs and then slowly took them up. In the kitchen, I cleared around the door and nosed my way into the other rooms downstairs.
Eva wasn’t anywhere to be found.
I eyed the stairs leading up to the second floor. What was she doing up there? Why wasn’t she walking through the house calling my name? That’s what any other normal individual would do if they came home and found my car in their driveway.
She must have been trying to set up a trap for me. The stairs were carpeted which helped muffle my footsteps as I moved up them, keeping my back to the wall. I don’t normally like using only one hand with my gun, but I wanted to be sure I didn’t lose the doctor’s bag. Right now, that was the only evidence I had to implicate Eva in the murders.
Music.
I could barely hear it, but she had music playing up there. What the hell was she up to?
At the top of the stairs, I hesitated and tried to decide where her attack would most likely come from. If I’d been in her position, I would have already made my move. But I didn’t really even know Eva aside from the fact that she’d wanted to jump my bones. Maybe she liked the idea of drawing me into some sort of ambush? I didn’t know.
What I did know was I was next in line to be murdered according to what Newby had just told me. If I was to be victim number three, then clearly Eva had elaborate plans for my death and the aftermath, which would no doubt include the removal of my organs and another blood painting party.
Lucky me.
I moved right, foregoing the empty bedrooms on the left and concentrating instead on where I heard the music coming from. With my back to the wall, I slid down toward the master. The volume of music increased the closer I got to it. And I thought I could hear humming now as well.
Was she singing along to the song that was playing?
Not exactly the behavior I thought I’d encounter from someone who was potentially about to die.
The door to her bedroom was partially closed, but I could see through the crack and inside. A fire blazed in the hearth. And I saw two glasses and a ice bucket with a bottle of wine in it.
Eva looked like she was planning a romantic rendezvous with someone. Me?
I remembered the Amalfi crime scene. How it had all played out in my head. The visions I’d had. What I thought were those of how Amalfi died. Maybe they weren’t. Maybe they were visions of how I was going to die.
I flushed them from my head, brought the barrel of my pistol up and eased the door open.
Eva wasn’t inside.
I came in and cleared to my right, remembering the walk-in closet.
Eva came out of the bathroom to my left with a huge smile on her face that fell to the floor and crashed in a million pieces when she saw the gun in my hand.
“Lawson! What the hell!”
“Don’t move,” I said. “Just stand still.”
She was dressed in a chemise that barely covered her. And as suspected, Eva had a fantastic body. But I wasn’t there to ogle her.
“I thought you’d come back to take me up on my offer.”
“To sleep with you?”
“Of course. Why else would you be here.” Her eyes went to the doctor’s bag I held in my other hand. “What’s that?”
“Something I happened to find in your basement. You want to tell me about it?”
She frowned. “I’m not sure what it is.”
“It’s a doctor’s bag filled with an assortment of scalpels.”
“Where did you find that?”
“In a trunk. They all seem perfectly clean, but I’m going to bring them in and have them tested for DNA. If anything matches that of the victims, you’re going to be executed for killing them.”
Her face went pale. “You’re insane. You think I killed those people? Why on earth would I do that?”
“I don’t know. That’s why we’re having this talk instead of me just shooting you and being done with it.”
“You’ve got this all wrong, Lawson,” said Eva. “I’m not the one you want. There has to be some sort of mistake.”
I shook my head. “According to what we know about what was written at the scene I showed you a picture of, the killer used their name.”
“They used ‘Eva?’” Eva put her hands on her hips. “They named me as the killer?”
I remembered what Newby had translated and quoted it back to her. “This was what you wrote at the crime scene: I as named wife of Adam. Remember that?”
“No, I don’t remember that,” snapped Eva. “For the simple reason that I am not the killer and therefore was not at that crime scene. Besides, my name is Eva not Eve.”
“Put some clothes on,” I said. “We’re going to take a drive into Boston where I can get these scalpels checked out and someone can keep an eye on you.”
“You’re making a grave mistake here, Lawson. And to think, I wanted to sleep with you and give you a seriously amazing night in bed.”
“Put some clothes on and don’t try anything, because I will not hesitate to shoot you. Understood?”
She held up her hands. “I know you guys are trained to kill without hesitation. I’m not going to try anything funny. Just let me get dressed and we’ll go.”
I don’t normally carry hand restraints, so I improvised and tied Eva’s hands with a belt from one of her trench coats in the closet. She was far from pleased with me, but at least she wasn’t dead yet. I slid her into the Acura and then walked around to the other side.
I called Niles with the good news. “I’m bringing her in now. I want Arthur there to escort her to a holding area until we can confirm that the scalpels were the ones used to dissect Amalfi and Cousins, okay?”
“You got it,” said Niles. “Let me ask you, though: are you sure she’s the killer?”
“No, I’m not. Which is why she’s still alive. But this is all we’ve got, so I’m running it down. And I’m certainly not about to let her out of my sight if it turns out she is the killer.”
“It’s just that Eva has a lot of friends,” said Niles.
“And I’m doing this the right way,” I said. “For that reason as well. No one can say I acted inappropriately and you’ll back me on procedure.”
“Absolutely,” said Niles.
“See you soon.”
I rang off and looked at Eva. “You all set?”
She held up her hands. “I can’t manage to do my seatbelt, so if you wouldn’t mind?”
I reached over and clipped her in. “There.”
“Thank you.”
I started the engine and rolled out of her driveway. We eased into the traffic and I drove up to the merge at 128 North. It was the evening rush hour, but fortunately most of the traffic was heading away from Boston. We had a clear run up to the Pike.
Eva stayed quiet most of the way. She didn’t seem overly concerned, but I wondered if that was all false bravado. “You want to tell me about it?”
She looked at me. “Tell you about what?”
“The killings. What sort of demon are you trying to summon?”
Eva laughed. “You think I’m lying, don’t you? You’ve got this all worked out in your head that I’m some crazed killer who has been offing people and using their, what, blood? To do what? Summon a demon? That’s simply crazy talk.”
“You’ve got the background.”
“I told you before that I don’t know anything about the Akkadian language.”
I nodded. “And you could be lying to try to save yourself.”
<
br /> “Or I might also be telling the truth,” said Eva. “And you’re the one making the huge mistake here by trying to fit me into a profile that you simply haven’t found the right killer to fit yet.”
“The scalpels will tell us if I’m right or not.”
Eva sighed. “You’re making a determination based on scalpels? I was pre-med before I changed majors. Those are probably just souvenirs from that time.” She shook her head. “Are you always this cavalier with your judgments? No wonder Fixers have such a bad rep. You guys are freewheeling cowboys without any sort of oversight.”
I sniffed. “If that was true, you’d be dead now and you know it. I’d simply shoot you and take my chances with the bag. But I’m not like that. You might be inconvenienced right now by being forced to take this drive, but wouldn’t you rather be inconvenienced than dead?”
“Fair point,” said Eva.
“And if you were in my position, you’d be doing the same thing,” I said. “I didn’t have the luxury of choosing my life the way you did. Fixers are born to this role and have to go along with it unless we wash out of the training.”
“You don’t strike me as the type to wash out of anything.”
“I’ve failed plenty of times in my life,” I said. “But I always keep going until I succeed.”
“An intensity of determination,” said Eva. “It’s admirable. I like that about you.” She paused. “Even if you are a little on the scary side.”
“I’m only scary to people who should be scared of me,” I said. “Other times, I’m a fairly amazing person. Always there for my friends, loyal, and trustworthy as hell. You tell me something, I don’t repeat it.”
Eva stayed quiet for a moment. “Can I tell you something, Lawson?”
“Of course.”
She leaned over toward me, but the seatbelt kept her restrained. “I’m not going to be your prisoner for very much longer.”
“Really.”
Eva nodded. “That’s the truth. And you know why?”