Chapter 5 The investigation Continues

Chap. 5 --- The Investigation Continues

          At the hospital, when they entered Kent’s room, he was sitting in bed. His face was bruised. Bandages covered the cuts on his face and his right eye was swollen shut. He looked at David and asked, “Do I know you? Why do I feel like I should know you?”

         “I’m Detective Arlon and this is Detective Stewart. We need you to tell us who did this to you and why.”

         “He’ll kill me if I tell.”

         “He may kill you if you don’t tell. We have an officer guarding your room, but that might not stop him. If you tell us what happened, we can arrest him and put him where he can‘t get at you.”

         Kent nodded and told them how Santin entered his apartment by force and attacked him. When he finished he looked at David and said, “You promised, you’ll lock him up.”

         “We’ll put out the order to pick him up now.” David nodded to Hank who left to use the phone at the nurse’s station. Then he turned back to Kent. “Now if you want him to stay in jail, you’re going have to answer some more questions. First, who’s Joseph?”

         Kent stared at David. “Joseph?”

         “Yes, Joseph. Bonner sent you an e-mail saying Santin killed him. Who is he?”

         Kent leaned back against the pillows and sighed. “I should’ve deleted that e-mail.”

         “Look here,” David said. “You have to cooperate if you want Santin to stay in jail. You have to tell us everything you know.”

         Kent looked down and muttered, “I might as well go all the way; I’m a dead man if you don’t keep Santin in jail. Joseph Mason. He was a bartender at the Red Dawn; he was a good friend.”

         “What was Bonner afraid he might have told Santin?”

         “I don’t want to go to jail. Promise me that you won’t use what I tell you against me.”

         “Were you mixed up in something illegal?”

         “I really don’t know for sure. I was Arnold Bonner’s accountant. What I do know is that when Armand Santin got involved, things started getting scary. I wanted out, but I was in too deep and Santin told us that if we—” Suddenly Kent began gasping for breath and grabbed his chest. His monitor started beeping, the nurses and doctor came running in and David quickly backed out of the room.

         Hank saw David hurrying out of the ward and then looked into the room. The doctor was listening to Kent’s heart and giving orders to the nurses. When the doctor came out, Hank asked, “What happened?”

         “I’m not sure yet, I’ve ordered some tests. He has a history of heart trouble. At any rate, he has to rest; so you have to leave.”

         Hank got into the hall just in time to see his partner getting on the elevator. He managed to get in with David just before the doors closed and the car started its descent. “I guess, Kent’s not faking to get out of answering any more questions.”

         “No, he’s not faking.” David was leaning against the wall and holding his chest. He pushed the stop button and the elevator paused between floors.

         “What did you do that for?”

         “I need a moment.” David loosened his tie, slid down the wall and sat on the floor with his head down, taking deep breaths.

         Hank bent over him. “Are you sure you don’t need a doctor?”

         “I’ll be fine in a moment. Whatever they gave Kent put him to sleep; the pain in my chest has stopped.”

         “You’ve got to end this link before it kills you. We should go to Veronica —”

         “—No, I can handle it!” David used the handrail on the elevator wall to pull himself back onto his feet. He straightened his tie and pushed the button again. The elevator continued moving down to the parking lot level.

         As they got into the car, Hank asked, “Why don’t you want Veronica to know what’s happening to you? The doctor told me Kent has a bad heart. What would happen if he had a major heart attack?”

         David said, “There’s nothing she can do about this. The link kicks in only when there’s a change in his condition. Like in the diner, when he woke up, we were connected for a moment, only a moment.” David fastened his seat belt. “Let’s stop at the station. I have to change the bandage, for some reason when the link kicks in the cut begins bleeding again.”

         “Does it hurt?”

         “No.” David held his hand up and stared at it. “I noticed that this is where the shattered lamp cut Kent’s hand. I don’t think the porcelain cut my hand. I think, during the link, a wound matching the one on Kent’s hand opened on my hand and the shard got into it.”

         “Then why didn’t it close like the other wounds?”

         “I don’t know. The only difference is that Kent’s blood got into this wound.”

         As they entered the squad room Captain Jameson’s voice boomed. “Arlon, Stewart, my office now!”

         David grinned and whispered to Hank, “Relax, he only sounds scary.” Before entering the office David put his right hand in his pocket.

         Jameson slammed the door behind them and growled, “I heard that, Arlon. Show me your hand.”

         David held up his left hand.

         “Your right hand!” The captain growled the words like an angry bear.

         David slowly took his right hand out of his pocket, held it up, and then turned it over revealing the bloody bandage on his palm. The captain said, “So she’s right. You’re still linked to Kent.”

         “Not at the moment,” David replied. “The link kicks in when there's a change in his condition but it doesn’t last.”

         Jameson turned to Hank. “Why didn’t you call Veronica, like you were told?”

         David answered, “Because I’m his superior officer and I ordered him not to. It would only cause her to worry; she’s already told us she doesn’t know what to do.”

         “All right, but you keep me posted.” He sat on corner of his desk. “Veronica said that you’re going after Santin. You can’t just go and arrest him.”

         “Why not?” Hank asked. “He’s guilty of least three murders. You’re not going to treat him differently, because you’re both vamps, are you?”

         Jameson looked at David, who laughed and said, “It’s not my fault. You made him my partner. How long did you think we could work together before he’d start figuring things out?”


         Jameson said, “That’s right, Stewart; I’m Vampyra. So be careful; you don’t ever what to see my dark side.” Then he told David, “Veronica wants me to pull you off the case, but I’m not going to. I have the Special Squad looking for Santin and told them to report directly to you.”

         Hank asked, “What special squad?”

         David told him, “The Special Squad is made up of officers who are Vampyra or Gifted Crosses. They deal with cases where the perp. is Vampyra. And before you ask, the Vampyra also have their own justice system.”

         Hank followed David into the locker room and made sure they were alone before asking, “How could I’ve lived so long in Pine Falls and not known about all this?”

         David opened his locker and got out a fresh bandage for his hand “I told you the Ordinaries don’t know; the Vampyra work very hard to keep it that way.”

         “What did he mean by his dark side?”

         “Every Vampyra has two faces, the one they show the world and the one that‘s seen when they use their gifts. They claim that one is the manifestation on the Vampyra’s soul or ‘dark side’.”

         “So that first picture you drew is Santin’s dark side?”

         David nodded.

         “How about Veronica and Captain Jameson, is that how they look?”

         “No, each Vampyra’s anima is different.”

         “So it’s not just red eyes, like at the manor house.”

         “Yes, she was holding back.” He threw the old bandage in the trashcan. “I saw her dark side when she saved me from the Bond Street Strangler.”

         “Is that when you got that scar around your throat?”

         David shuddered and touched his throat, “Yes, the wire he used cut deep.”

         “What did she look like?”

         “Fox-like but fierce, she changed before my eyes and leaped at us. I heard the strangler scream and I fell. When I looked around, she had him pinned. He passed out and she changed back.”

         “What does your other face look like?”

         David closed his locker door. “I don’t know. I haven’t completed my becoming. Veronica keeps pushing me to do so. She says that I’m exactly like my great-great-grandfather, Gregory Vale."

         An uniformed officer came into the locker room and said, “The captain said to tell you that the squad found your perp at the Olympic Towers. They’re on their way to get him.”


"Chapter 6--The Challenge"