Read Known Devil Online

Authors: Matthew Hughes

Tags: #Occult Investigations Unit, #Occult Crimes Investigation, #zombies, #wereweolves, #vampires, #demons, #gangbangers, #crime spree

Known Devil (16 page)

BOOK: Known Devil
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LAW AND ORDER?
GANG WARFARE THROUGHOUT THE CITY
TERRORIST BOMBS DESTROYING LIFE AND PROPERTY
DRUG-ADDICTED “SUPES” RUNNING RAMPANT
IS THIS THE MAYOR’S IDEA OF
LAW AND ORDER?
All of this was in what looked like thirty-point type.
As far as I knew, the only life that the “terrorist bomb” had taken belonged to one of those supes that the Patriot Party disapproved of, but my experience has been that political advertising and the truth have a nodding acquaintance at best.
I must have dozed off, because the next thing I remember was a tapping noise that turned out to be somebody knocking on the door of my room.
“Yeah – who is it?”
The door opened just wide enough to admit the head and shoulders of a uniformed cop who I vaguely recognized.
“You got a visitor, Sarge,” he said. “Says she’s your daughter.”
I glanced toward the window and saw that night had fallen. “It’s OK, officer,” I said. “Let her through.”
 
A moment later, Christine was in the doorway, bearing both a suitcase and a worried expression. I wondered why she was just standing there, but then I remembered.
“Hi, honey,” I said. “Come on in.”
She set the suitcase down at the foot of the bed. “I’d run over there and throw my arms around you, like a good daughter should,” she said. “But my guess is that it might hurt like hell.”
“You’re right – it probably would,” I told her. “Apart from this goose egg here, my back is sore from where some bastard dropped to his knees on me while I was down. There’s no permanent damage – just lots of colorful bruises that are very sensitive to pressure.”
She bent over the bed and kissed me carefully on the cheek. “I’d offer to have a few words with the assholes who did this you,” she said as she stepped back. “But my guess is, right about now, they’re just finding out that Hell doesn’t have cable TV.”
“I’ve heard that it does,” I said, “but all they get down there is reruns of
Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo
.”
When she finished laughing at my dumb joke, I asked her, “How come you know about all that? Did McGuire call you?”
She picked up a chair from the corner, put it next to the bed, and sat down.
“Nobody called me,” she said. “But the
Times-Tribune’s
web page is updated on a regular basis, remember? You’re the front-page story right now”
“Shit, I forgot about the digital edition.”
“I noticed that the story didn’t have any quotes from you,” she said.
“That’s the main reason that uniform is at the door,” I said. “To keep the goddamn media out of my face.”
“I figured that would be your attitude, and I managed to help out a little.”
“Really?”
“Really. I shared an elevator with a reporter and camera guy from Channel 22,” she said. “When I realized who they were coming to see, I, uh,
convinced
them that there was no story here, and they might as well leave. They took the same elevator car back down.”
“That’s my girl.”
“I figured that cop was outside in case whoever sent those three guys after you decided to send a few more.”
“Well, yeah – that, too.”
“That’s why I used some vacation time and took tonight off,” she said. “I’ll be right here, in case something happens. Unless you’ve got some hot babe coming over later to cheer you up. If that’s the case, I can wait in the hall with your brother officer while the cheering-up is going on.”
“Even if I knew where to find a hot babe,” I said, “the way I feel right now, anything she did would probably finish the job those guys started behind Jerry’s.”
“You don’t know any hot babes?” she asked with a half-smile. “What about what’s-her-name, that blonde cop from Wilkes-Barre?”
“Lacey Brennan.”
“Yeah, that’s her name. What about her? I thought you guys had a thing going.”
“That’s kind of up in the air right now,” I said. “Anyway, she’s in Wisconsin, visiting her sister.”
“That doesn’t sound too good.”
“We’ll see,” I said.
“Well, once you’re feeling better, let me know if you’re in the market. I bet I could fix you up with one of the warm girls at work.” She gave me a full-on smile, complete with fangs. “I know a couple of cute vamps, too, if you feel like a walk on the wild side.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said, and decided to change the subject. “McGuire says that the three guys who jumped me are muscle-for-hire up from Philly.”
She gave me a look. “Philly. The Delatassos?”
“Seems like,” I said. “I can’t think of anybody else in Philly I might’ve pissed off recently.”
She chewed her lower lip for a few seconds. “Why humans? If they waited until dark, they could’ve sent vamps after you.”
“Misdirection, maybe. Killing a cop brings down a lot of heat. Maybe the Delatassos didn’t want it focused on them.”
“You’re sure killing you was the objective – they weren’t there just to rough you up or something?”
“No, it was a hit.” I told her what I’d heard the goons say to each other while I was semiconscious.
She nodded slowly when I was done. “So they intended to take you out. Sounds like they would’ve succeeded, too, if not for – who?”
“That’s a question I’ve been giving a lot of thought to,” I said. “The answer’s been pretty fuckin’ elusive. I can’t think of–”
Another knock sounded on the door. The uniformed cop stuck his head in and said, “Your partner’s here, Sarge.”
“OK, thanks,” I said – then, in a louder voice I called, “Come on in, Karl.”
 
Karl Renfer had brought me a small plastic baggie that turned out to contain a Reese’s Cup, two Snickers bars, and a pack of Lance cheese crackers. “Just in case the food in this place is as bad as I hear,” he said, then looked toward my other visitor. “Hey, Christine.”
“Hey, Karl.” A look passed between them, and I wasn’t sure how to read it. Then I remembered that Karl had, out of necessity, spent a day in my basement with Christine a few months back. He’d been working until almost sunrise, and hadn’t had time to make it home.
During the daylight hours, a vampire is literally a corpse. But neither Karl or Christine had ever mentioned how much time they’d spent together downstairs once the night had returned. They’d never brought it up, and I’d never asked.
And I sure as shit wasn’t going to ask now.
Instead, I said to Karl, “Is this an official visit, officer, or are you just here on a goodie run? Not that I’m complaining.”
“Nothing official,” he said. “Once I found out what had gone down this morning, I took a couple hours’ personal time. McGuire said you weren’t in bad shape, considering, but I decided to see for myself.”
“I’ve been worse,” I told him.
“Yeah, I can tell,” he said. “But there is one thing that’s been bothering me a little since I got here, though.”
“What’s that?”
He looked down at the bed. “Is that a gun under your blanket, or are you just glad to see me?”
“McGuire got my Beretta back for me,” I said. “A little extra firepower never hurts.”
“Speaking of firepower,” Karl said, “I had an interesting email waiting when I got in to work tonight. From one of my snitches.”
“Do tell,” I said.
“Is this secret stuff?” Christine asked. “Should I go out in the hall?”
Karl gave her a smile and a shrug. “Don’t see why. Your old man’s gonna tell you all about it later, anyway.” He looked at me. “Right?”
“Yeah, most likely,” I said.
“Since he trusts you, I trust you,” he told Christine. “You might as well stick around. Besides, you’re the only one in here who’s easy on the eyes.”
They exchanged that look again, and I made myself stop wondering what it might mean. Christine’s love life is none of my damn business, as she’d be the first one to tell me. Neither is Karl’s.
But – my daughter and my partner. Dear sweet merciful Jesus.
“So you got this email…” I said to Karl.
“Yeah, from a guy who’s kinda on the fringes of the Calabrese organization. He picks up interesting gossip once in a while. He trades it for small favors, or just the chance to bank some goodwill.” He paused.
“Come on, Karl,” I said. “Stop milking it. What’s the guy say?”
“He tells me that Calabrese has brought in some out-of-town talent to help in this war with the Delatassos.”
“Philadelphia?” I asked. “Don’t tell me we’ve got more thugs from Philly in town.”
“No, this one’s from Boston. And he’s no run-of-the mill thug. Word is, Calabrese hired John Wesley Harding.”
There was silence in my little room until Christine broke it by saying, “John Wesley Harding? Wasn’t he some desperado in the Old West?”
“Hardin,” Karl said. “You’re thinking of John Wesley Hardin. This guy’s name is the same, except for the ‘g’ at the end.”
“
Desperado
’s not a bad description, though, from the stories I heard,” I said. “Dude’s supposed to’ve killed more people than the Black Death, although that’s an exaggeration. Probably.”
“Is he warm?” Christine asked.
“He was,” I said. “Still is, as far as I know. Maybe that’s why Calabrese hired him. Could be he wants somebody who’s as deadly in daylight as he is at night. That’d be pretty useful in the kind of war Calabrese is fighting.”
“Wonder if one of Harding’s parents was a Bob Dylan fan?” Karl said.
“Well, what
I’m
wondering,” Christine said, “is whether he’s Daddy’s ‘guardian angel’.”
Karl looked at her. “You mean whoever iced those three guys this morning?”
“Them, as well as the one who took out the Delatasso fangster who got behind me, that night Calabrese got cornered,” I said. “I agree with McGuire – it seems pretty unlikely that I’ve got
two
guardian angels. I think it’s pretty amazing that I have even one.”
“Well, whoever he is, it’s probably not Mister Harding,” Karl said. “My source says that Calabrese just hired him, and the dude hasn’t even hit town yet.”
“Your source could be wrong,” Christine said. “That ever happen to you?”
“Sure, all the time,” Karl said. “And if his information was off by just a few hours, then, yeah, it could put Harding behind Jerry’s Diner this morning, in time to save Stan’s ass. But it still doesn’t explain the Delatasso guy who got nailed in the street last week.”
“Why not?” Christine asked.
“Because if somebody on Calabrese’s payroll had killed that shooter who’d got behind me,” I said, “Calabrese wouldn’t have been shy about saying so. In fact, he’d probably have told me that it wipes out whatever obligation he might have incurred when
I
saved
his
ass.”
Christine frowned. “So, we’re back to square one,” she said. “Either there are two different ‘guardian angels’ involved here–”
“Which seems unlikely,” I said.
“Which seems unlikely,” she agreed. “Or it wasn’t this Harding guy at all. So we still don’t know who’s doing it.”
“Yeah, I can’t even send him a ‘Thank You’ card,” I said. “Too bad. I had a nice one all picked out.”
Nobody spoke for a little while, then Christine said, “We were talking about Lacey earlier. It just occurred to me that she makes pretty good guardian-angel material, Daddy. She likes you, and you told me that she’s pretty handy with a gun. What do you think?”
“Hmmm. I never thought of that,” Karl said.
“Absolutely not,” I said. “No fucking way.”
Christine tilted her head a little to one side. “How come you’re so sure?”
“Like I told you – Lacey’s in Wisconsin, visiting her sister.”
“Maybe she came back early,” Christine said, “and hasn’t told you yet.”
“No chance,” I said. “If she was back in town, she’d have let me know.” I paused for a second. “Probably.”
That prompted another exchange of meaningful looks between Christine and Karl – something I was starting to get tired of.
Karl looked at me. “You and Lace ever figure out what kind of relationship you guys want?”
“We’re still working on that,” I said. “That’s one of the things she said she wanted to think about out in Wisconsin.”
Karl nodded as if he understood, although I was pretty sure he didn’t.
“Besides,” I said, “if Lacey was watching my back like that, she’d want me to know about it. She wouldn’t be pulling this Lone Ranger crap and disappearing once her work was done.”
“OK,” Christine said. “If you say so. It was just a thought.”
“You’re probably right, Stan – it’s not Lacey who’s your shadow,” Karl said. He gave me a half-smile. “Hell, I bet she doesn’t even know what evil lurks in the hearts of men.”
“Of course she does, Karl,” I said quietly. “She’s a
cop
, isn’t she? She knows.” I looked toward my vampire daughter. “We all know.”
 
“So, who’s gonna replace Victor Castle,” I asked Christine, “as the
capo di tutti supi
?” I noticed sirens in the distance, but that’s a pretty common sound around a hospital.
“It’s anybody’s guess,” she said. “No clear candidate has emerged, as they say.”
“I was in the hospital when Castle took over from the late Mister Vollman, so I never got around to asking you about the process. How does the supe community choose a leader, anyway? Is there a series of… primaries or something?”
The sirens were louder now, and there were more of them. But the sound didn’t seem to be getting any closer to the hospital.
Christine gave me a small smile. “It’s nothing so organized,” she said. “What usually happens is–”
That was when music started coming from Karl’s pocket – the first thirteen notes of the James Bond theme, to be exact. Karl had just received a text message.
BOOK: Known Devil
13.28Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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