The Bloody Mary Diet: The Detective Adele Series Book 1 (7 page)

I keep waiting for someone to yell “Surprise” because I totally am
surprised but everyone just looks at me. I didn’t hang the banner, or buy the balloons and roses.  They are a nice touch though and if I had thought of it before I might have. Trevor had better get his butt up here really soon because I am getting nervous.  I guess this is our second date.

Just as I am about to pass out from the tension Trevor walks in drops to one knee and pulls out a ring.

“Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” Trevor looks uncertain for the first time since I laid eyes on him twenty something years ago.

“Yes, nothing could ever make me happier. I love you.” I said that.
Seriously. No wonder they call me Crazy Cate. I know that I am being compelled but I am not sure why. Trevor better have a really good explanation for this or I am going to want chocolate, too. A girl has to look out for herself these days. And I like chocolate.

Trevor slips on the ring and stands to give me a kiss. The office bursts into cheers. 
I am elated and confused, more confused than elated. Trevor takes my hand and guides me to his office. I hope he has an explanation for this because I really don’t.

He
closes his door and sits behind his desk and pulls me into his lap. We are both quiet for a minute. I am hoping he will just explain and I won’t have to ask but he is silent with his eyes closed and his cheek pressed to the top of my head.  He probably is tired.  I know I would be if I had stayed up all night stuffing my co-workers office with balloons and streamers and roses.  That is why I never do it. But I still need answers and tired or not Trevor is going to give them to me because no one else can.

“Trevor, what was that? I was not expecting a proposal just yet and that was very public.”

He sighed, “I didn’t want to tell you.  I was hoping to give us some time but something has happened. I have been receiving threats.  From the local vampire leaders. Traditionally they have paid off city officials, any city officials to look the other way when someone died or went missing, fifty years ago I changed that. If vampires were going to be accepted into society we had to follow the rules. At least the most basic ones, like no murder. It was hard but most of the community saw the necessity. You have the take the responsibility with the benefits. Eight months ago a new leader took over this area of the U.S. Pretty much the entire western sea board.  It was a challenge and Demetri won.  Our old leader was killed and now Demetri is in charge.  He came to me six months ago and wanted to put me on the pay roll.  To make things like they were in the old days. Vampires don’t need to kill and the ones that do only do it as a show of power.  Demetri wants that option.  I told him no. I wound not take his money and any deaths that looked vampire related would be investigated and prosecuted.  He made the offer twice more, increasing the amounts both times. When I said no again he started sending me these.”

Trevor pulls
out a folder of pictures and dumps them on is scary. Really, really scary.  There are even pictures of me asleep in my bedroom taken from right beside the bed. Pictures of me at dinner, waking, everyting I did. Even pictures of Molly, Gran and Charles.

Trevor says
that they had never come with a note but the threat was implied.  They knew who I was and what I meant to Trevor.  Last night after he dropped me at home the offer had changed.  Demetri had met him at his house unexpectedly.  The price had gone up. If Trevor didn’t turn his head Demetri would take mine.  Trevor could pick.  I was his weakest point. Therefore that was what Demetri would exploit.

The public proposal was meant to protect me. The one cardinal rule that all vampires everywhere adhered to was you
can’t hurt another vampire’s mate.  The bond is permanent and if a mate is killed the vampire often goes rouge and has to be put down.  If you are lucky it can be done before it draws too much attention. Of the dead body kind. It makes for very bad press and hurts the entire community.  If we are married I can’t be touched. It is part gentleman’s agreement and part just good business.

Married is probably
better than being beheaded. I assume anyway because people willingly get married all the time but I can’t remember the last time I heard of an elective decapitation.

Trevor says we have to go to the court house today or by tonight we will be on the run.  Demetry is not
expecting this and by tonight the element of surprise will be lost and I will be better then dead. He is telling the truth, I can feel it. It still seems strange but it also seems right. If that makes sense.

When we step out the door Michael
s is waiting with Jan to go to the court house with us.  Gran and Auntie Charles are on their way to Ireland by now for the coven meeting.  I guess it will be just us four. Jan is sobbing uncontrollably and I tell her she should wait for the wedding. That only makes her cry harder. Jan is so weird.

We are only four buildings down from the court house so we walk.  The whole thing takes about five minutes. Trevor had gotten th
e paperwork earlier so all I have to do is sign and repeat the words. We walk back to the station hand in hand with Michael trying to comfort an almost hysterical Jan. Did I mention Jan is weird?

W
e walk back into the station and are greeted as the new Mr. and Mrs. Trevor Sterling. Trevor gives me a kiss and everyone cheers like crazy.  It is the only way the Odd Squad can cheer because they really are mostly crazy. 

Trevor whispers “Tonight” in my ear and watches as I struggle into my balloon filled office.  When I finally make it in I freeze.  There is a new envelope in my in box.  They have an official victim 5.  I open the file and it is her. The weird girl from yesterday. The
pictures are from the scene (her bedroom) but it is way different from the others.  She is still in her purple sweater, on top of the sheets and her eyes are open.  The first four were in bed, in their pj’s, eyes shut. She is not even trying anymore. She just got much more dangerous. She doesn’t care if we know.

So much for my super awesome new wedding day.
Poop. It is 3:38 pm.

I take the file to Trevor who is in his office with
Michaels. Michaels has mascara and lipstick smeared on his shirt from Jan’s breakdown. Hilarious. But that is not why I am here.  I show Trevor, my new husband, the new file. I tell him per our agreement where I am going and he says, “No”.

“
No” was not part of the agreement. I simply told him I would let him know where I was. Not that I would listen to him. That was not even implied. I say, “Objection duly noted.” And head for the street.  I will grab a cab and Prof. Mc Neil will wish he had never been born.  This thing just became super urgent and I don’t have time to argue.  Husband thing or not.

Trevor follows me to the curb and blocks me as I try to hail a cab.  Are you kidding me?

“How am I supposed to do my job if I can’t even go interview possible witnesses?”

Trevor, “You can, just give me time to finish with Michael
s and I will go with you. It will not take more then fifteen minutes.”

“In
fifteen minutes I can be in his office.  He can’t hurt me.  It is broad day light and I do not need protection. You have a job too. We can’t work this way.”

Trevor thinks for a minute and finally says yes but we are going to talk about it tonight when we get home.  I smile and hail a cab
. Home. Whose home does he mean? Maybe I was being impulsive. I really do love the new ring though. In ten minutes I am walking up the stairs in the Science Building and Prof. McNeil is sitting in his office.  He is in his early sixties but he looks like he should be ninety. He has lived a rough life. Sucks to be him. And if I am right, which I usually am, it’s about to suck way worse.

I walk into his office without knocking and his head pops up.  I can see genuine fear in his eyes. 
Something has scared him bad. Or maybe he is just intimidated by 5’2” girls.  That would be rough. I bet it is just the talking dead ones with light brown hair and blue eyes that scare him but we will see.

I take the chair across from him and
get straight to the point. I ask him what he knows about Ms. Christine Vale. I think he may faint.  Now he is really scared. I notice a picture on his desk.  I assume it is him and his wife circa 1999. She is expecting.  He sees me looking at the picture and I know I have him. Guilt just pours off of him, he reeks of it and he is starting to sweat. 

I rephrase the ques
tion.  “Where is Christine Vale? I need to know right now. It is, as I am sure you know by now, a matter of life and death.”

The professor does not say a word. He just continues to stare at me like I am the devil.
He is underestimating me.

I try one more time, “I am sure you know what is happening.  We have five dead girls and I can link them all to Ms. Vail and I can lin
k Ms. Vail to you. Out of a sense of basic decency you must tell me where I can find her or what is left of her before anyone else dies.”

Prof. McNeil finally finds his voice, “If you don’t leave now I am going to call the police.”

I reach in my pocket and flip out my badge. Best part of the job. “The police are already here. Where is Christine?”

“Leave. Show me a warrant or leave. I know my rights and you
can’t question me if I don’t want to talk. Leave.”

Prof. McNeil is not only guilty he is a coward.  He would rather let other girls die then man up and help. What a
total chicken shit.

I tell him this and he takes it the wrong way.
Go figure.

“I am not a coward. I am innocent and you are leaving now or I will file harassment charges.
”

My inner bitch takes over.  I glamour myself to look just like the last picture we have of Christine and smile at him. “I
can’t leave. The door is locked. You are keeping me here against my will and I am an officer of the law. Do you have any idea how serious this is?”

McNeil vaults out of his seat like an Olympic sprinter and runs to the door. Which is locked. I know this because I just locked it.  Part of being a witch. The things you find are not always
admitable in court but neither are the things you do. There is no way on earth to prove I locked that door. No one even knows that I can. McNeil can pull as long as he wants but that door is not moving until I say it moves.

I am sitting in a spinning chair and I start to spin in circles waiting for the dumbass to figure it out and sit back down o
r die of a heart attack or whatever he wants to do.  I am free all day and all day tomorrow too. I tell him that and he finally sits down

He is a
man defeated. “It wasn’t my fault.  It wasn’t my fault. She was pregnant and it would ruin everything. She would tell and ruin everything.  It wasn’t my fault.”

“Where is Christine Vail right now Prof.
McNeil? I need to know right now. I don’t give a shit whose fault it was. Now.”

Prof
McNeil repeats that it wasn’t his fault about three more times and then campus security shows up to open the door.  I guess we made enough noise that someone called.

As they are prying open the door I ask one more time, “This is a matter of life and death. Five girls have already died. Where is Christine?”

He looks at me blankly and says, “It wasn’t my fault.”

When the door crashes
open the young security guy apologizes profusely and I say that I can’t believe that crazy man would lock me in like that. I really don’t believe it because he didn’t lock us in, I did, but if it gets him in some trouble I am willing to live with the lie. I hand the security dude my official card out of habit and I turn and glare at McNeil and give him a mental message.  “I’ll be back.” I do it all Terminator but I don’t think he gets it.

I am half way down the stairs feeling really crappy about my visit with Professor McNeil when the young security guy that “saved me” stops me and introduces himself as David. It makes me think of my brother.  He seems nervous. He asks if we can go to the security office and talk. The office is on the first floor. He is about six feet tall, solid build with black hair and dark eyes. We both have badges. I guess we are on the same team, even if his is less weird. He also feels like he is safe, I get the vibe that he wants to help, I just don’t know with what.

The security office is just behind Mary’s receptionist desk, she doesn’t know me but I know her, sort of. It makes me feel safer. The old lady at the receptionist desk makes me feel safe from the twenty year old security guard. I am the worst cop ever. Ever.

As soon as we walk into his office he sits down at the com
puter and offers me the chair next to his. He pulls up some security footage that has been saved and is streaming side by side. Three different girls standing in the exact same spot. The last one is the dead girl I met, the one I will visit at the morgue today.

In all three shots it is the first day of their vigil. Different days all about a week apart but side by side for comparison and it is astounding. They all standin
g exactly the same place, same posture, same gate. None of them leave until the sun goes down and the security on duty asks them to leave. By day two all three girls are wearing baggier clothes and their gate is more shuffling. Less like a young woman and more like someone who is elderly but determined to get there without assistance. Day three shows all three in the exact same spot, shoulders slumped forward, baggy clothes, socks, sandals and large sunglass’s. Day four is the same only the walking gate is more of a stumble and their appearance is completely unkempt. Two of the girls are wearing the same cloths as the day before. David has set the days from one to four on time lapse video and matched the times of day exactly. Her schedule never varies. She arrives at the same time, stands in the same place and stares in the same direction without moving. Her clothes are not appropriate to the cold weather but seem to be chosen cover her shape. Loose fitting, miss matched and no outerwear even in the rain. February in San Francisco is not toasty on the best of days and she even stands there for approximately ten hours each day. She never leaves until she is forced to. It is the exact same person in three different bodies. Anyone who watched it could see it.