Cause of Death: Unnatural (The Cause of Death Series) (8 page)

Jarek's thoughts came back to her in a millisecond,
his mind cool and dangerous in hers.
Careful,
my darling,
he said.
I'll tolerate
this little game for you, but I don't like having to tolerate this ape you've
dragged along.

His
name is Nick,
said Em hotly,
and
I'd appreciate it if
you'd ...

You're
sleeping with him, aren't you?
Jarek's voice in her head was
dripping with disgust.
You've fallen in
love with a mortal. You're weak Em.

Em yelled into his mind.
Jarek! Save it. We're working.

Nick had taken a step back at Jarek's words,
stunned and surprised, and not a little bit angry. A frown forced its way
across his usually amiable face and he opened his mouth to speak when Jarek
interrupted him.

Jarek coughed a little and shifted his feet.
"I've watched too much American television I guess," he said with
an
sheepish grin. "I didn't think things like locks
bothered you guys. Of course, if we busted a lock back in London there'd be
hell to pay, but you guys do it all the time, don't you?"

Thank
you
,
said Em, tartly.

Nick relaxed. "Yeah," he said,
smiling back. "I mean, no! No, it's totally illegal, but I mean,
sometimes..." he trailed off looking flustered, and didn't catch the sly
sideways look Jarek cast him. He was looking instead at Em, who was crouched in
front of the lock jiggling a pick inside it.

"Em!"
Nick
exploded. "What are you doing? We don't actually have a warrant."

"Mr Edwards did have a good point,"
said Em, working on the lock.
"Since when is that a
problem?"

Nick spluttered.

"Nick, we need to talk to this guy.
We've got nothing in this case. Narcotics have given us this chance, and I'm
damn well going to take it. Who is going to care whether we have a warrant or
not? He's a drug dealer for crying out loud." Em felt the lock click.
"Are you going to be ok with this?" she asked.

Nick stared at her. He looked at Jarek who
had taken a sudden interest in one of the dusty windows to one side of the
door. Em could feel Jarek's amusement and wished he'd shut up and go away. Nick
looked at Em again, and Em was sure she could see disappointment in his eyes.

"Nick?" she said.

He was silent.

'This is OK, Nick," she said.
"Robert told us not to come back without a lead. If anything goes wrong
I'll take the rap. Nick?"

"Yeah," he said softly. "Come
on then."

He pushed the door open, and they went in.

In the gloom inside the warehouse they could
just make out the figure of a man leaning against a head-high wooden crate. He
had his arms folded, and a slight smile on his face. It was fairly obvious he'd
heard everything that had gone on just outside the door, and had come forward
to greet them.

He threw his arms wide.

"Welcome!" he said. "Will's
the name, blood's my game. How do you want it today? I can speed it up, slow it
down, beef it up, thin it out, spice it up and serve it out. How may I be of
service?" He had an infectious grin and gave a little mock bow.

Actor, thought Em affectionately. She
couldn't help it, she really liked Will. When they'd met that night at Alina's
Em had told him a team from crime scene would be coming to see him. She'd told
him he needed to pretend not to recognize her. He hadn't liked the sound of any
of that, but he'd said he'd play along so long as Em promised to protect him.
She'd assumed he'd meant from the law. She was good with that.

Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out
his badge. Em noticed Will was watching Nick closely, with his own hands
casually on his hips, near his belt. Did
Will
have a
gun?
wondered
Em. She didn't think so, but could see
that this situation needed to be dealt with very carefully.

"We're from ..." began Nick.

"You're cops," said Will.
"As if I couldn't tell.
It's plain as day you're
police." He didn't sound aggressive and he smiled to soften his words.
"Well, you are, and you." He gestured to Em. "That one over
there I'm not so sure about." He flapped a hand at Jarek and stared at
him, and his eyes opened just a little wider as Jarek stared back.

"He's English," said Nick, shortly.
"And we're forensic pathologists, actually. Not police."

Will grinned and spread his hands in an open
gesture of give and take. "Hey," he said. "Even pathologists
have needs, desires... I expect the English do too. A guy's got to make a
living you know. I've got to try."

"We're investigating the bodies that
were found out front of the burlesque club further up the shore there. We've
just got a few questions for you..."

Em could feel Jarek's impatience behind her
rising like the tide. He was ready to tear Nick apart, and chew straight
through Will's mind and take what they needed. And he might still have that
goofy self-deprecating smile on his face, but little cracks of dark energy were
beginning to split out of him, and it wouldn't be long before someone as astute
as Will began to notice. Already Em could feel the fear beginning to rise out
of Will, and he was staring a little harder at Jarek than was polite.

Em decided to cut through Nick's routine
questions.

"We've heard there's someone powerful in
town," she said.
"Someone with ... particular ...
likes and desires.
We've heard they spend a lot of time at Alina's club,
and we've heard you're up there a lot too. Anything you'd like to tell us about
that?"

Will had chatted politely with Nick up until
now, but at Em's words he turned a little grey. He cleared his throat and
crossed his arms across his chest. He looked Em straight in the eyes, but
turned his own head a little to the side.

"Ah, that would be, ah, confidential
information," he said quietly with a little upward twinge at the side of
mouth that Em knew meant he really was sorry.

Behind them Jarek snorted and took a quick
step forward.

Nick took a quick glance at Jarek and stepped
forward as well, more to stake his own superiority at the scene than to express
his impatience with
Will
. Jarek stopped short and
snarled, not quite at Nick. Nick folded his arms, making sure to flex every
muscle in his upper body as he did so.

Boys, thought Em.
Always
the testosterone.

Will, meanwhile, seemed to have shrunk a
little. His face was pale and the whites of his eyes were showing. It was plain
he knew exactly what Jarek was now, and he was frightened. But however
frightened he was of Jarek, and Em for that matter, whatever truth they wanted
him to speak frightened him even more.

Nick seemed determined not to notice the odd
tension in the air between Will and Jarek.

"Is that the best you can do?" Nick
said.
"'Confidential information'?
We may not be
police but we can still take you downtown for a chat, you know. How would you
feel about sharing your 'confidential information' with the narcotics division?"

"You can take me anywhere you like,
pal," said Will angrily. "I can't tell you, OK? You think I wouldn't
tell you if I could? I've got a business to run here. I don't need pigs like
you stepping in messing things up. I..."

"
Woah
,"
said Em. "Alright Will, if you can't tell us, you can't tell us. Take it
easy." She felt bad for him. He was scared alright.
But
of what?

"Well," said Nick, taking a breath and
slowing things down a little. "There's a new club in town and your client
demographic must have changed a little.
New customers, new
supplies, new venue.
You've got your old customers and a bunch of
Alina's new ones, yeah?" He paused and Will eyed him warily. "So, how
do you manage all that? Do you keep spreadsheets? Do you write it up a little
black book?" Will said nothing. "What about your phone? Hand over
your phone Will, and let me take a quick look. If you don't want to
tell
us anything, why don't you let me
have a look for myself?"

Will threw his hands up in the air and turned
away. Em could feel the turmoil inside him. He'd obviously been scared or
threatened into silence, but he had enough respect for Em to want to tell her
something. His mind was boiling, and Em felt sorry for him. Sorry for her
friend. But she needed something from him now, not just a lead to take back to
Robert,
she needed to know what was going on at the club,
and who was slaughtering humans for the fun of it. With Nick about pull out the
handcuffs and march Will down to the station, and Jarek about to spin into
another dimension and rip Will's mind through time and space, she was running
out of time. She had to get Will to talk.
Now.

She also needed to keep Nick away from Will's
phone. If Will was stupid enough to keep a record of his customers her name was
likely to be on it. Nick didn't need to see that.

"Nick," she said. "Search the
rest of the warehouse, will you? See what you can find." She wanted him
out of the way for a while.

"Yeah," he said, and slowly walked
away after a last hard look at both Will and Jarek.

Em motioned to a crate nearby.

"Sit down, Will," she said. She
motioned to Nick walking to the other end of the warehouse. "He's not
going to find anything, is he?" she asked softly.

"No," said Will, and he sucked in a
big breath of air and let it out slowly. "I'm sorry, Em. I really can't
tell you."

"I get it, Will," she said resting
a hand on his arm. "You can give me a hint though. Take your time. Think
about what you can say. I'm not stupid, you know. Give me something that isn't
going to incriminate you, something that I can use. I'll figure it out."

Will nodded, and looked at Jarek. "He's
Family, isn't he?" he said. "Not English?"

Jarek chuckled. "Not English," he
said. "And you're safe from me, Will. Em tells me you look after her.
You're hers, as far as I'm concerned."

Will nodded again, and Em could tell he had
relaxed and was beginning to think through his dilemma. He was sifting through
a lot of information, mulling over what to say and what not to say.

Em looked at Jarek over Will's head. He gave
a short nod.

Em stretched out a tendril of dark energy
toward Will's mind. She slipped her mind into Will's like a mist and floated
there carefully, not wanting to do anything to let Will know she was there. She
watched Will thinking, and let the feel of Will's thoughts become obvious to
her. Then she slowly adjusted her own mind to match the patterns of Will's
thoughts. She was wrapped around his mind like a blanket. Every thought he made
she could feel, every memory, every hope and every desire.

She drew in her breath as the power of it
rushed through her. Will's thoughts bathed her in a thousand sensations at
once, and her human body buzzed as her vampire half sorted everything out.
There was a section of Will's mind that was pulsing with fear. Em hovered in
it, amongst it, and revelled in the emotion. Fear was like a rich red wine and
her darker self drank it in, while her human body quivered with the thrill of
it, excited despite herself.

There it was.
A building by
the water, another old warehouse.
Em could see it in Will's mind's eye,
but Will's thoughts refused to take her any closer to it. His fear was welling
up, throbbing. She swam through it playfully, loving the delicious paralysing
chill of it, and then she remembered where she was and who she was doing this
to. Will was her friend, she chided herself. Pull yourself together Em.

Above her Jarek smiled a long slow smile that
twisted up at one corner. He knew what she was doing in there. He knew she was
enjoying it.

It lasted just a moment, and then Em drew
away. Will's rough voice shook her back to the present. He seemed unaware of
what had just happened in his own mind.

"I can tell you this," he said.
"But it's not much."

Nick wandered back over and stood just
outside their little circle watching with his arms folded.

"The,
erm
,
newcomer you're looking for doesn't take no for an answer.
From
anyone.
Not even Alina. Has a big,
erm
,
appetite, and needs to store things away from public view, if you know what I
mean."

Will looked up at Em. She nodded
encouragingly.

"You need to look for a warehouse." Will
looked up sharply at Nick's derisive snort.
"Another
warehouse.
Closer to the water than mine.
Conveniently close to the water." He paused again. "This warehouse is
going to have a history, that's how you're going to find it. A
history
..."

He stopped. He actually looked like he was in
pain, Em thought.
Poor thing.
This was brave of him.