It was getting close to 4 a.m. when Klaus finally got his warrant to search Alexander Lucard's penthouse suite. Part of the problem had been getting the wording on the warrant just right, to include not only illegal listening devices, tape recorders, and microphones, but "possible evidence pertaining to the shooting of Jerry Tate", a list which included the gun used to shoot the talk-show host, computer records of Lucard's Toronto money transactions, his e-mail, and his phone records and appointment book. The logic Klaus used to justify this with Captain Reese and the judge was that if someone was trying to frame Lucard, they'd obviously leave evidence behind, and that evidence would lead them to the real killer. Reese couldn't put his finger on exactly why that sounded so fishy, except that it did. Or maybe it was the way Knight had explained it, with that strange half-smile that kept slipping out at odd moments.
"Well, you've got your warrant." Reese handed the paper to Knight, who skimmed it and then chortled. The captain exchanged a dubious look with Knight's partner, who seemed more tired than usual. "Just try not to upset the guy, okay? Lucard's got a lot of clout, and more trouble on this case is exactly what we do not need. Understood?"
"Perfectly, Captain," Knight responded with an innocent expression that didn't quite disguise his cheerfulness. "It'll be completely by the book. By the numbers. Straight up. No problem!"
"Great," Reese said, watching Knight drag his partner out of the precinct, "That'll be a switch." Had Nick always been this upbeat about search-and-seizure, or was he working on one of his intermittent hunches? Whatever it was, the captain wished he'd get over it. Just watching the guy zip around like that was making him tired.
As was mentioned in Part 9 (and you surely can't have forgotten it so soon) Lucard was by now fairly certain of the identity of the person responsible for his latest embarrassment with the Toronto Police Department. However, that fact in no way prepared him for the sight of Klaus standing in his penthouse suite doorway an hour before dawn, ordering around uniformed officers with snappy phrases like "search everything" and "leave no stone unturned" and "remember to wear those plastic gloves." A few of the officers were muttering under their breaths in annoyance.
"Klaus!?" The name slipped out before Dracula could call it back, but no one aside from his erstwhile protege seemed to notice it. It was definitely von Helsing. Aside from the fact that he could now sense the vampire in the leather jacket through the connection between vampire parent and child (a connection which had been missing when he met Nicholas Knight), Knight had a much older and wearier air about him than that of Lucard's frenetic offspring, whose antics had made Alexander's life so difficult in Europe. Where was Knight? What was going on?
"You'll have to excuse us, Mr. Lucard," Klaus responded suavely as he unscrewed the mouthpiece to the phone receiver and made a show of checking it for listening devices. "But we've decided that the best way to catch our killer is through you. And unfortunately, *some* people at headquarters need to be convinced of your innocence. The warrant's in order, I showed it to your valet and the hotel management." He replaced the mouthpiece and then put the phone back with a resounding clack. Steely-eyed, he surveyed the efforts of the other officers; and noticing that Tracy was in the adjoining room, he turned back to Lucard, whispering in what was evidently meant to be a convincing tone, "Relax. I've got it covered. There's no way they'll convict you."
"What have you done with Knight?" Lucard snarled in a barely audible whisper. "And who do you think you're kidding, Klaus? I knew it was you--"
"Then why didn't you stop me?" Klaus whispered back with a little giggle, abandoning his pose of camaraderie. "Oh, that's right. You couldn't. Can't give the whole vampire thing away to the cops, can we? Darn!" He backed up a step, and resumed his persona as 'Detective Knight'. "Have you found anything yet, gentlemen?"
"We've got a copy of the e-mail messages, sir. One of these looks incriminating," one of the uniforms responded. "Something about arrangements for a demise--"
Von Helsing's eyes widened in mock alarm, then he stalked over to the beat cop, taking the printout from her with an intense "hmmmm." He glanced over the page, then looked slyly at Lucard. "Mr. Lucard, who else has access to your laptop?"
"No one," Dracula responded coldly. "But I'm certain that if anyhthing incriminating is found, that someone must have hacked into my files and placed it there--"
"Any ideas who that someone would be?" Klaus asked, fighting to keep a straight face. Dracula's nostrils flared, and von Helsing saw his former master's eyes glow yellow for a split second before he regained his self-control. "Anyone at all?"
"I have many business enemies, Detective 'Knight'. Including one of my former associates, Klaus von Helsing--"
"Yes, yes, yes." Klaus waved an impatient hand at him, the one with the printout in it, almost smacking the nearby policewoman in the eye. "But your having too many enemies is almost as useful to us as having *no* enemies, if you see what I mean." He crossed his arms, looking pensive. "You see, in the police business, we have to look for motive. Who benefits? Who gets paid? Who gets paid off? Who gets lucky? Who--" Klaus shook his head and got back on track. "My point is, is that these baseless accusations have to have some substance to them. Evidence. Like the evidence we're finding here: not that of a man being framed, but of a man guilty of heinous, awful, dreadful crimes."
"Nick, there's a gun here in the bedroom dressing table that matches the caliber Natalie said was used on Jerry Tate," Tracy said as she entered the room. "Mr. Lucard, do you own a gun?"
"No." Lucard glared murderously at Klaus, who contrived to look thoughtful.
"Who else has access to this suite?" Vetter asked, all business, her former fascination with Lucard dissolving in the face of more complications to the case.
"My valet. My secretary. The maid. The hotel manager. And any odd cat burglars who might be hanging around," Lucard said caustically.
"We'll question them, of course," the faux Detective Knight commented, "but are you sure you're not keeping something back, Mr. Lucard? Is there something you're not telling us? Like, oh, say... the identity of the person you had that incriminating conversation with last night? And again tonight?"
"What?" Lucard roared, clenching his hands as he started toward Klaus.
"Oh, didn't I mention that? Well, we got an anonymous tip-- you have no idea how useful those are-- from someone who sent us a tape of you discussing Jerry Tate's death. *Again*. It's very interesting listening- -"
"Klaussss--"
"Why do you keep calling me that?" Klaus frowned deeply, since it was the only thing that was keeping him from snickering out loud. "Are you feeling well, Mr. Lucard?"
"Detective Knight, we just pulled up a copy of Mr. Lucard's financial records on the computer? It looks like he transferred a large sum of money to numbered Cayman Islands bank account. Made a pretty good effort to hide it, too," commented one of the computer cops.
"When I get through with you--" Lucard's voice was a chilly monotone.
"That almost sounds like a threat." Klaus's eyes were slitted, and his lip curled in what was supposed to be a threatening sneer, but to Lucard it looked like he was two inches from cackling out loud. "Why do you want to see Natalie Lambert dead?"
Dracula's jaw snapped shut to prevent him from leaping for Klaus's throat. "I beg your pardon?" he stalled, confused by the change in the interrogation.
"It's on the tape. You were thinking about killing her." Von Helsing circled Lucard, hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, then leaned in close to whisper too low for the surrounding mortals to hear, "Don't even think about going near her. I was having fun at your expense before this, but now it's serious." He backed away from the other vampire and gloated, "You're going down, Lucard. I think we have enough evidence here to lock you away for a long, long time."
"I want my lawyer." There was no reasoning with Klaus in this mood; Lucard had seen it before. All one could do was wait for von Helsing to make the inevitable mistake.
"Nick, I really don't think--" Tracy looked more than worried at this new development; she seemed genuinely upset.
"Then you really shouldn't speak," Klaus sniped back, taking a pair of handcuffs out of his pocket. Several of the other officers stared in shock as Tracy silently fumed. "Alexander Lucard, I am charging you with conspiracy to commit murder. You have the right to remain silent. I suggest you use it. If you give up the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, got it? You have the right to an attorney, though it's not going to do you any good. If you can not afford an attorney - yeah, right! - one will be appointed for you by the Crown. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?" As he'd run this speech by Lucard, he'd forced the other vampire's arms behind his back and handcuffed them together. Lucard looked murderous. Tracy gave up hope of talking any sense into her partner until she had the Captain there to back her up.
"You are going to pay for this, 'Detective'," Dracula warned him.
"I'm trembling," Klaus sneered, dragging Lucard out of the hotel suite by his elbow. Tracy trailed after them, her expression troubled, biting her lip and trying to figure out why, aside from circumstantial evidence, Nick seemed so convinced that Lucard was guilty. And if she committed assault and battery against her partner, would justifiable annoyance be a good defense?
When the trio reached the lobby, Klaus frog-marched Lucard past the front desk, giving the high sign to a couple passing bell-boys and saying, "We got him. There shouldn't be any more trouble. No need to thank us. Just doing our job." Tracy rolled her eyes and followed her partner out to the car. When they got to the Caddy, von Helsing fumbled with the keys while Vetter tried to apologize to the suspect.
"I'm sure there's a logical explanation for this?" she asked tentatively.
"An extremely illogical one. Also unbelievable. So I think I'll wait for my lawyer before I try to tell it." Lucard's expression softened as he looked at Tracy. "But it is most kind of you to still extend the courtesy of reasonable doubt to me."
"Get in the car, you." Klaus took a lot of enjoyment in pushing Lucard's head down so he almost hit it on the roof of the Caddy. Klaus slammed the back door hard, whirled in a circle, then yanked open his own door in almost one motion. Tracy hurried to get in on the other side of the car, since her partner didn't seem inclined to wait for her.
Nick's favorite radio station, CERK, was on when he turned the ignition key. The Nightcrawler was orating about equal value, or equal payment, or something-- Tracy didn't get to hear what, because her partner groaned, "Bor-ring!" and changed the station. James Brown's "I Feel Good" blared into the Caddy as Knight peeled away from the curb, singing along with the radio and grinning like a maniac, Alexander Lucard glowering at him in the rear-view mirror as Tracy Vetter pondered the possible side effects of Prozac on manic-depressive homicide detectives.