Gumshoe Gorilla (25 page)

I decided not to mention Daniel's arrest. The agency likes to keep a low profile with the cops. Daniel's trouble with the police might just get him fired.

"Anyway, it was at about one in the morning," I went on. "Was he out on a booking for you?"

"I don't know. Let me check."

He went into the living room to ask Tuti, and came back a moment later.

"Nope. In fact, Daniel gave us notice that he won't be taking any assignments after 11 pm for a while."

"Really? How long ago was that?"

"It started last weekend. He said he wanted to stay home nights with his boyfriend. I told him that he'd miss a lot of business. We get a big rush between midnight and two in the morning, and Daniel's got a lot of repeat customers."

The coffee finished brewing and Buddy poured us each a cup.

"You take sugar?"

"Thanks."

While he measured out a couple of spoonfuls, I took my palm display out of my pocket and had Sherwin call up a picture of Vincent.

"What about this guy?" I asked. "Does he work for you?"

"Nah. Who is he?"

"Daniel's new beau. I thought he might be in the business."

"Not working for me. Pity, too. He's cute. And he looks a little like Daniel. We could dye their hair the same color and book them as brothers. I've got a couple clients who'd be into that."

Brothers?

My heart skipped a beat. I grabbed the palm display and took another look at Vincent. He did look a bit like Daniel. I hadn't noticed it before, because their behavior is so different. What if...

The idea died before it had a chance to go anywhere. It was a nice story, a guy looking for his long lost brother who'd gone into the camps. But it just didn't make any sense. First, there's the stubborn fact that you can't do that kind of search. The records are sealed, and a birth date and a vague description isn't enough to track someone down. Second, it didn't explain why Vincent was using a phony name. I mean, if Daniel really was his brother, Vince would have announced the fact the first time they met, right? And lastly, there was the whole sex thing. How many people would spend all this effort to track down their brother so that they could then seduce and date him? Ok, maybe there were a few sick puppies out there. But it still didn't seem like a probable motive.

Well maybe Buddy knew something about the other boys in Vincent's file.

"What about these guys?" I asked.

I called up the pictures of the other nine. Buddy shook his head at one after the other, then finally recognized one.

"Yeah. I think he worked for me a couple years ago. Do you have a name?"

I called up the form and read it off to him. "Gordon Flash". Buddy had Tuti look him up.

"Yeah. He worked for me for six months. Then found some rich guy who was willing to put him through design school. Sorry, that's the only one I recognize."

"Don't worry. It was just a guess."

"Anything else I can help you with?"

"Yeah. But it's a longshot. Has Daniel ever told you about his past? I mean, before he came to Atlanta?"

Buddy shrugged.

"Sorry. We only talk business."

"That's all right. Can you at least tell me when he came to work for you?"

"Sure."

He leaned over to look at the monitor while Tuti clicked a few keys.

"Here we go. Daniel interviewed on... July 8, 2029. He's been with us ever since."

That fit. According to the bio from Vince's files, Daniel ran away from a camp up in North Carolina in April of that year. That left a couple months unaccounted for before he turned up in Atlanta working for Buddy. I wasn't sure if that was significant or not. It was only two months, but... well, Daniel can make a lot of mischief in two months.

"Thanks," I said. "You've been a big help."

"No problem. But I do want something in return."

"What?"

"When you find out what trouble Daniel is in, I want you to tell me about it."

I thought it over.

"If it's anything that affects your business, sure."

"Fair enough."

Buddy took a sip from his coffee mug and eyed me over the rim.

"So what's the deal with you and Daniel, anyway. You two dating?"

"Uh... no. He's just somebody I look out for."

"Really?" Buddy said.

He looked me over again with renewed interest.

I felt the blush going off again.

I said goodbye to Buddy and Tuti, and started the walk back to my office. Away from light and human company, the night and my lack of sleep started playing their tricks on me again. My shadow got bored with my shape, and tried out some others. A dragon. A wolf. A knight on horseback. It seemed to like the knight, and kept adding new details as it was reborn at each streetlight. First a lance. Then a horned helmet. After a while, I started hearing the faint clip clop of hooves on asphalt.

I needed sleep. It was late, my brain was fried, and I still had to put together our progress report for Skye. Whatever trouble Daniel was in, it would just have to wait until tomorrow.

I got to the office building and found my car. I started it and pulled out of the lot, with every intention of driving home. But I found myself heading south on Piedmont instead of North. Down to Renaissance Parkway, and the spot where Daniel had been arrested.

Well, maybe a quick look would be a good idea. I'd only seen the place during the day. The dynamics of the neighborhood would be different after dark. There might be someone around who had seen the arrest and could tell me what happened.

I did a drive by of the address. A couple tough looking guys in leather jackets were standing in the parking lot where I'd found the razor blades. One white guy, one Asian. They both had shaved heads, with a row of metal spikes protruding from their scalp like a stainless steel mohawk. I wondered what they were doing, hanging around the parking lot that time of night. They looked too damned scary to be hustlers. Not unless there were some very brave Johns in this neighborhood. More likely these two were dealing.

I drove around the block and ditched the car, then circled back on foot to see what the spikey twins were up to. I found a dark doorway down the street from them and settled into stakeout mode.

It wasn't a long wait. After a couple minutes, two kids doing the goth look came walking down the street. A girl in heels and fishnet stockings and a leather corset. A guy with black teased hair and psycho-mime makeup. They walked right past the spike twins and continued on into the parking lot.

And didn't come out.

OK.

A few minutes later a limo came down the street and stopped. A uniformed chauffeur got out and held the door for a man in his fifties with a walking stick, top hat, and tails. Several teenage boys and girls followed him out of the limo. They were all wearing black tights and white shirts with frilly lace collars. The chauffeur closed the door behind them and then left with the car, while the group walked past the spike-head twins into the parking lot. And also never came out.

OK. This was getting interesting. I waited a few more minutes, and a pack of college kids turned up on foot. This bunch was in nothing more unusual than blue jeans and t-shirts. Yet they also walked past the spikey ones and vanished into the parking lot.

All right. Now I just had to know. I left the doorway and walked right up to old spikes-in-the-head. They looked me over as I walked past, but didn't challenge me.

Behind them, the parking lot was empty. The backs of buildings enclosed it on three sides, so the people must have gone into one of them. I tried the doors, but they were all heavy metal and locked. Rusted signs indicated that one of the buildings had been a porn shop, another a Shakespearean theater. The last had been abandoned so long that the sign had rusted away completely.

Well, all those people had to go somewhere. I tried knocking on each of the doors, to see if anyone would let me in. The spiked twins watched me, but didn't come running over to smash my skull or anything. Eventually I had to give up. I walked back out past the twins, admitting that I was beaten. Hanging my head in shame, I got in my car, and went home.

--Yeah right. Like they're gonna get rid of me that easy.

I went as far as my car, where I picked up some binoculars and a rifle mic. Then I jogged around the block, climbed a fire escape, and set up surveillance from a roof across the street from the parking lot. From there, I had a good view of the next group that came down the street. A woman in a black Elvira dress, surrounded by three shirtless guys in their forties. With the binoculars, I could see the bloody fang marks painted on the guys' necks. As the Mistress of the Dark and her entourage reached the back of the parking lot, the door to the old theater opened up, and they walked inside.

It took me a couple seconds to figure it out. I'd had the rifle mic trained on the door, expecting to hear some sort of coded knock, but it opened before she even touched it.

Duh. I should have seen it sooner. The spiked guys. Why else would they be there?

When the next person came, I was ready for them. A drag queen, in a black leather jumpsuit and a big blond wig. I kept the mic trained on her as she passed tweedle dee and tweedle dum. She didn't stop. She didn't turn to them. And it was just a whisper. But I got it.

I climbed down off the roof, ran back to the car, and stowed the gear in the trunk. And then I went back for a second try.

I walked past the spike heads, and without making eye contact whispered,

"Aurora Sanguinus."

They didn't move or react to it. And if they thought it was strange that I had to come back a second time to get it right, they didn't say anything. But as I crossed the parking lot, the big metal door of the theater opened up in front of me.