Страница 76 из 84
The door flew open, and a blur of heavy stubble rushed in.
Talk about bad timing! You could count on the fingers of no hands how often young girls show up at my office and take their shirts off. It no sooner happens than her father bursts in to kill me.
It occurred to me maybe they were pulling a badger game. Right before it occurred to me my paranoia had reached absurd limits. Right before I bounced off the file cabinet and slammed into the floor.
“Daddy!” Debbie screamed.
I couldn’t see her, but I hoped like hell she was pulling on her shirt. I sprang to my feet, grabbed a folding chair, did my best impression of a lion tamer.
“Don’t be a jerk,” I said. “She’s just trying to prove he didn’t bite her.” That caught him up short. His mouth fell open. He turned to his daughter. “What’s he talking about?”
She shot me a look. “Blabbermouth!”
Daddy had forgotten I was there. “Debbie, sweetie, what’s this all about?”
She told him. More or less. He showed all the skepticism you would expect, peppered with a dose of overprotective dad, though what could be considered overprotective under the circumstances, I’m not sure.
The remarkable thing is, she got him out of there. Her powers of persuasion were considerable. She’d make a fine lawyer if she ever got a chance. The way she showed Daddy the door was impressive indeed.
The minute he was out, however, she broke just like a little girl. “Oh, my God! This is awful! This is just awful!”
I figured her next segue would be how it was all my fault. I wasn’t up for that again.
“No, it isn’t,” I said. “It’s great.”
She gave me the classic goth-dealing-with-a-moron look. If you haven’t had it, trust me, you don’t want it. It’ll stay with you. “In what way is this great?”
“I wasn’t getting anywhere, and I wasn’t about to. The whole problem was, my hands were tied because you didn’t want the vampire to know you were investigating him.”
“So?”
“You’re not investigating him.” I smiled, spread my hands. “Daddy is.”
I caught up with the vampire that night as he was hailing his cab. The goth must have worked her magic, because Daddy was nowhere around.
I sidled up to the vampire, said, “Wa
He didn’t sink his teeth into my throat. I took that as a good sign. On the other hand, he didn’t seem pleased to see me. And not in the ritual Sergeant MacAullifway. The guy was pissed. “Who the hell are you?” he said.
He had a Brooklyn accent. The goth hadn’t mentioned that. Of course, I hadn’t asked. My interrogation techniques are a little suspect. Just ask Alice.
“I don’t wa
“Her father hired you?”
“Did I say that? I don’t recall saying that. I would certainly be in a position to deny saying that if you ever made the claim. But the gentleman is concerned with whether or not you’re a vampire.”
“Oh,” he said with disgust. “Debbie ratted me out.”
“You ratted yourself out. You look like a vampire. You act like a vampire. Granted, you don’t dress like a vampire. But you walk around like the Prince of Darkness. It’s a little hard to miss. What’s your story?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
“Fine,” he said. “Let’s make a deal. I’ll tell you what you wa
“Done.”
“Okay, what do you want to know?”
“Are you a vampire?”
He grimaced. “That’s not the point.”
“It may not be the point, but it’s what I wa
“The point is not whether I’m a vampire; the point is whether you believe I am. Debbie does. That’s enough for her, and it’s enough for me. If it’s not enough for her father, that’s tough. That’s the way it is.”
“Our deal was you’d answer my questions.”
“I’m answering your questions. You may not like the answers, but that’s not our deal.”
“Do you have an apartment, or do you sleep all day in the ground covered with a layer of dirt?”
“That’s just the type of ridicule I could expect.”
“From a mere mortal?” I asked impishly.
He smiled. “You’re not helping yourself.”
“Maybe not. I’d like just one denial I can take to the bank.”
“Fine,” he said. “Ask me if I mean Debbie any harm.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“Yeah, but isn’t that what this is all about? Does her old man really give a damn who or what I am, or is he concerned for his daughter’s safety? If it’s the first thing, he’s an idiot, and I can’t help him. If it’s the second thing, he should be reassured.”
“What do you do?”
“I’m a student.”
“At Columbia?”
“Yeah.” He cocked his head at me. “What do you do?”
That question always throws me. Despite all evidence to the contrary, I always think of myself as an aspiring actor/writer. At my age, that’s tough to claim. “I’m a private investigator,” I said.
“Uh-huh,” he said. “Are you a real private investigator, or are you just pretending to be one?”
My mouth fell open. He nailed me. Put his finger right on the i
He smiled at my confusion. “There you are. That’s just it. Am I a vampire, or do I just pretend to be? I am what you want me to be. To Debbie I am. To you, maybe I’m not. But who gets hurt?”
I frowned.
He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a stick ofwood. One end was fashioned to a point.
“You know what this is? This is death. I keep it close to my heart, to remind me death is near.” He gri
He stuck the wooden stake back in his pocket. “Life’s an illusion. Yours, mine, Debbie’s. Even her old man. Believe what you want to believe. I can’t help what you think.”
The light changed. Traffic streamed by.
“Ah, here’s a cab.” He raised his arm, flagged it down. “Remember our deal,” he said.
He hopped in the cab and drove off.
I remembered our deal.
I let him go.
NEEDLESS to say, Debbie felt I’d failed.
“You didn’t find out where he lives. You didn’t find out where he goes during the daytime. Which is the whole point. If he’s a vampire, he can’t exist in sunlight. If he can, he’s not a vampire. It’s that simple. Don’t you get it?”
“Can I tell you something?”
“You’re go
“I suppose.”
“You go
“You’re going to make a good lawyer.”
“That’s your advice?”
“That’s an observation.”
“I don’t need your approval.”
“Yeah, I know. Look. There’s no such thing as vampires. But if you wa
“Just a phase I’m going through,” she said sarcastically.
“I didn’t say that. But, frankly, I don’t see you in a courtroom in your Kabuki face.”
She pouted, then switched gears. “All right, look. He’s taking me out again tonight.”
I put up my hand, shook my head. “No. I’m done. That’s it. You don’t owe me anything. We’re all square. Let’s leave it at that.”
She looked betrayed. “But…”
“Sorry,” I said. “I’ve done all I can. Probably more than I should. Anyway, I got work to do.”
I snapped my briefcase shut and went out the door.
I wasn’t worried about leaving her alone in my office. If she could find anything there worth stealing, she was welcome to it.