A/N: This chapter is sort of a transitional one, but I tried to pack it with some humor and romance, and a little adventure. Hope you like it.
Chapter 11
MICK
A quick internet search, and I'd found the address of Simon Partridge's business partner, Harrison Archer, here in LA. It was in a quiet, relatively wealthy neighborhood, and Beth rode shotgun with me in my old Mercedes. It really did seem like old times. The house was dark and we drove on past, parking down the street so we wouldn't garner as much suspicion. We walked back to the two-story mcmansion, casually holding hands like lovers on a moonlight stroll. We nodded politely at others doing the same, steering clear of those walking their dogs. They still growled at us, eliciting apologies from their surprised owners. Animals didn't like vampires much.
At Archer's house, we looked around, then snuck up the side of the yard, ducking behind a long hedge to conceal ourselves. At the front door, I noted the simple security system, grateful I knew the factory override code. I stood still, listening a moment, then punched in the numbers on the key pad.
"You hear that?" I whispered to Beth.
She turned her head slightly, trying to detect what I meant. "What? I don't hear anything."
"No one's home."
"Maybe they're sleeping," she suggested.
"No. No one's home. Listen. No heartbeats."
She grinned in the pale light. "Oh my gosh. You're right. I'd be able to hear that, wouldn't I?"
I smiled back gently. "Yep."
"Cool."
I took out my lock picks and quickly opened the door. I was glad she didn't need a light now either, as we walked through the living area, looking for clues. Everything seemed neat and tidy. Family pictures on the wall indicated that Archer had a lovely wife and young son. We explored the house until we found what looked to be a home office. A pc was on the desk, and I turned it on.
"Why couldn't Partridge have just done this himself?" Beth asked me.
"For one, he doesn't want to dirty his hands. For another—he has no idea I'm doing this."
She grinned her approval. I was glad to know several months working in the DA's office hadn't made her overly concerned about warrants and laws and such.
"Close that blind, would you please?" I asked Beth. She did so, then stood behind me as the computer booted up. Her hands on my shoulders were a little distracting. This heightened sexual attraction was amazing, but not conducive to good detective work when all it took was one touch for me to want to take her there on Harrison Archer's floor.
I gritted my teeth and clicked on the web browser icon. It brought me to his e-mail page. Nice of him to have saved his password so I didn't have to try to guess it. So far, this little expedition had been wonderfully hassle free.
"Bingo!" I said, bringing up an e-mail with the subject line: Your Itinerary. It was from an online reservation service.
"Looks like he's going to Chicago," said Beth when I opened the e-mail.
"Uh-huh. He left last night. And there's his hotel reservation too. I guess he hasn't been kidnapped after all. Damn. I hope I can get a flight out tonight."
"You mean we, don't you?"
"Beth—"
"You said I could be in on this."
"Not on a plane full of humans going to a hotel full of humans, in a city full of even more humans."
"LA is full of humans," she pointed out.
"But I can keep you more or less isolated, what with my own private home and transportation. Chicago would seem like a smorgasbord to a newly turned vamp."
She was quiet a moment, and I could practically hear the wheels turning in that keen mind of hers. Then: "I know. We could use Josef's plane and I bet he has a house or apartment in Chicago. We could rent a car and not use public transportation. And I'd make sure I drank plenty of blood."
Her idea was persuasive; but then, add to that how she began nuzzling and kissing my neck and I would have agreed to anything. I turned in the chair and pulled her wandering mouth to mine, indulging myself for a brief moment before releasing her and trying to refocus. She grinned.
"Is that a yes?"
I snorted as I scrolled down to note the details of the itinerary. "Okay. You can go, provided Josef's stuff is available. Now, keep your hands to yourself for five minutes, woman, so I can—uh-oh."
That e-mail was a little longer than I'd first thought. It included the ticket information for Archer's wife and child. "Crap. That complicates matters."
Beth looked over my shoulder to see what I meant. "Why? You think this is just a family holiday? It's the middle of the school term; why would they suddenly go on vacation?"
"Well," I said, "if what Partridge says is true, Archer took all their money. We've got to find out the real story, and I don't want the guy's family becoming collateral damage in whatever this is."
"Maybe you should get more information from Partridge first."
I turned on the nearby printer and printed out a copy of the itinerary. "That may not be such a good idea. I've been thinking about your suspicions about his honesty. If I tell him where these people are, what's to stop him from going after them and taking his partner out? Something's not right here, and now I'm very curious to find out what that is."
"What if Archer did steal from him though?" Beth asked. "Doesn't Partridge have the right to get his money back?"
"Yeah, but I don't like the idea of him taking matters into his own hands."
"You could quit. Tell him you don't want the case now."
I scrolled through the rest of Archer's new and recently deleted e-mail. Nothing relevant popped up.
"He'd just hire someone else to do the same thing," I told her. "At least we have some scruples here." I got to my feet, then began rifling through the drawers of his desk. Yeah, I know; my scruples were a little shaky too, breaking and entering and going through the man's personal things. Beth helped by looking in a small filing cabinet. She pulled out a folder full of bank statements.
"Phew. This guy doesn't need money. He has close to a million dollars just in his checking account. And his savings is up into the millions."
"Maybe he has debt we don't know about, that he needs the company money to pay," I suggested. "And there's always the old stand-by: greed."
Beth took my place in the desk chair, and typed in the internet address of Archer's bank. She used the account number to log in and check his current balance. The guy really should get some better security; all his passwords were saved for easier access. Maybe after this case was over, I could suggest my online security services. I smiled to myself at the thought.
"Look at this," she said triumphantly. "Two days ago, Archer's account jumped by ten million. How much did Partridge say he stole?"
I grinned. "Ten million."
With enough new information to go on, I shut down the computer and we headed out of the house. I re-engaged the home security system and stood in the shadows of the porch, looking and listening to make sure we weren't seen.
"Okay, let's go," I whispered, taking her hand and going back the way we came behind the hedge. On the sidewalk again, we both heaved a mental sigh of relief.
"That was fun," Beth said happily.
I had to admit that it was. "We're still a great team, you and I."
"A giant thrill ride that never ends, you said once."
I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, and, heedless of our surroundings, pulled her into my arms. "That's an understatement," I said, before bending my head to kiss her.
A nearby growl made us jump apart, as did the energetic pounding of two canine hearts. Dogs generally have one of two reactions to vampires: run or attack. I guess these two were in attack mode, for the two German shepherds were coming at us at a dead run, growling and barking, their leashes dragging the ground. Behind them, we could hear the sound of their master yelling for them to come back.
"Max! Shep! Heel!"
They were paying him no mind. Had no one been around, I would have waited to fight them off. Not enough to hurt them much, but to let them know who the alpha male was around here. I'd also probably vamp out to add some healthy fear to the mix. But, it being a busy neighborhood, I realized our options were a bit limited.
"What do we do?" Beth asked frantically.
"Run!"
We headed for my car, and I was thinking how glad I was that the top wasn't down tonight. Dogs can run fast, but vamps can run faster. Unfortunately, we had a few obstacles in our way, like cars, people, trees. We made it to the car and opened our doors, the two beasts close on our heels. Beth stumbled a little at the last minute, and one of the animals clamped down on her ankle. I smelled her blood and rage as the pain made her automatically vamp out. I slid inside the car and slammed the door on my own pursuer, while Beth growled and hissed at the dog who held fast to her leg. Instantly, as if he'd been hit, the dog sensed Beth's supernatural gaze and looking up at her silver eyes and elongated canines, abruptly let go, backing away and crying in fear. The other dog joined its brother and, upon seeing Beth's otherworldly face, hearing her angry roar, it too whimpered and ran off with the other. Beth shut her door, and I drove away, needing to get as far away from the scene as possible before someone made my license plate number. So much for a hassle-free mission. My earlier thought had apparently jinxed us.
"You okay?" I asked anxiously, heading the car back toward my place.
"Yeah," she said, her human habit of breathing heavily still a part of her reaction. Of course, there was no breath to warrant it. "Damn, that stings." She tore off the lower part of her t-shirt and wrapped it around the wound, and I caught a tantalizing glimpse of toned stomach.
"It'll heal fairly quickly," I told her. "And no need to worry about rabies."
She chuckled. "Well, that's a comfort. You were serious when you told me animals and humans were not a good mix."
"Yeah. Unlike humans, they can sense that we are different, that we aren't like humans. Understandably, it scares them." I smiled then, realizing this was the first time I'd seen Beth fully vamped out in response to danger. It took a lot of control when you were in pain not to go a little crazy and kill everything in your path, especially if you were a newbie. I cast her a proud, sidelong glance. "You were great back there, by the way."
She turned toward me, her leg up on the bench seat, still holding the cloth to the bite. She grinned. "Thank you. That was amazing. It hurt like hell, but instinctively I knew I could scare them. And as much as I felt like killing them, I didn't want to. I imagine they were just protecting their master." She looked a little sheepish as she willfully turned back to her human face. "You think anyone saw me?"
"I don't know, but a flash of fang in the moonlight might be easily explained by tricks of the darkness. I'll get you home and cleaned up, then call Josef to see if we can use his plane. You had enough adventure for one night?"
"Surprisingly, no. But then, the night has just begun for vampires, hasn't it?"
I glanced up at the moon, just rising in the night sky, and looked on Beth with more love than I thought possible. "Yes, sweetheart, that it has."
JOSEF
"You need what? To go where?"
I juggled the phone between hands as Simone tied my tie for me. We were going out on the town for the first time in an entire week, and I was grateful to be getting out of this house. A vampire needs to feel the night, and that's hard to do when you're babysitting your best friend's newbie. Now, here was Mick, calling for yet another favor. Oh well. It was always great to have him owe me one. Or, in this case, two.
"Your plane, Josef. To Chicago. Tonight. I'm working on a case and unless you want Beth to stay with you, this is the only safe way to take her anywhere right now."
"Sure, no problem. Running the tab here, as usual. I'll call my pilot, and we'll be waiting for you at the airport in about an hour."
"We?"
"Yeah. I was planning on taking Simone out to a play tonight, but I have the sudden urge to stroll down Michigan Avenue, and make love to my wife on the top of the Hancock Building. That sounds much more appealing than another boring rendition of Les Miserables."
Suddenly, my tie was pulled much tighter than necessary, and I looked into Simone's annoyed brown eyes. I gave her my most charming grin, despite the intense feeling of strangulation.
"Tell Beth I'll see her soon," Simone sighed into the phone. "Josef, on the other hand, might be a little too incapacitated to make it."
"Will do," replied Mick, chuckling at the threat in her tone. We hung up, and I pocketed my phone.
Simone released my tie and frowned at me. "I've been looking forward to this all week, Josef."
I took her hands and pulled her back to me, admiring the deep copper color of her halter-style dress, the careful upsweep of her dark blonde hair.
"Your lovely gown won't be wasted, my love. I'll take you dancing, and I'll make good on that promise about where we make love tonight."
She considered me a moment, and I watched the light of lust begin to glow in her eyes. "Alright…but I get to be on top."
I kissed her lightly, my hands running up and down her sexy bare back. "It will be my pleasure," I grinned, and hungrily devoured her luscious lips.
A/N: If you liked this, please post a review! I'd love to hear from you, and I try to answer every logged in post. Thanks so much for reading.
