Blood ties – Passion – there's nothing else worth living for - Chapter 2

"So what do we do now?", Mike wondered aloud.

They looked at each other. "Coreen", they said at the same time.

"When was the last time you saw her or talked to her?" Henry asked him.

"Couple of days after Vicki left. I went to her office, Coreen was there, said Vicki had left without even leaving a note, only two hundred dollars in an envelop with Coreen's name written on it. Coreen said she was not taking the money and asked me what to do with it. I said if Vicki had left it, she had to take it. Plus, it was not as if she didn't need it, right? I asked her what she was gonna do. She said she was leaving Toronto for Ottawa. She has cousins there. she hoped they could host her, time for her to find a job and figure out what she was gonna do. She said it was not the same without you and Vicki. She needed a fresh start, somewhere where she would not constantly be thinking about you."

"Ottawa? Ok, that's a start... At least, she must still have her cell so we can contact her and see if Vicki's called her. The thing about the money, it kind of makes me believe Vicki might have drawn money from her bank account so she couldn't be tracked down through her credit card. Did you check it out?"

"Now, listen, buddy", Mike said reprovingly, "I'm not the FBI, you know. I don't have extended authorisation to do whatever I want. I'm just a cop, for God's sake! I couldn't get that information, even if I tried."

"Well, you can't, but I can..." Henry replied, his voice trailing off, his mind already on the next move. He got his phone from his jacket and searched through his personal data base, then dialled the number. "Hey, Jim...yeah, hi, buddy... yeah, I know, long time, no see... ok, I will, you got it", he said, laughing at something the other party was telling him, "Listen, I need a favor... Can you swoop into a bank account and tell me if the person has recently withdrawn a lot of money from it? Yeah, you're right – girlfriend... She's left me, I want to find her, see if she's ok, nothing illegal here... Thanks. Ok, her name's Victoria Nelson, bank account in Toronto. I don't know the name of the bank though... Ok, thanks, text me if you find anything. Right... Talk to you later, bye." He hung up and turned to Celluci. "Next step, Coreen. How long do you need to pack a few things? I'm booking a hotel while you do so..."

They took Fitzroy's car and arrived in Ottawa while it was still dark. Mike had called his boss before leaving to say he had a family emergency and had to take a few more days off while Henry was booking the hotel room. They had to get there before sunrise.

While Henry rested, Mike made phone calls to try and find Coreen. It took him the most part of the day, but he finally got her cousins' address. He had not slept much in the car but it wasn't time for that. The sun had just gone down when he left the diner across the street from the hotel where he'd grabbed some food while waiting for Fitzroy to wake up, or whatever vampires did when they sensed night had returned. He got into the hotel room as Fitzroy was sitting on the bed, yawning and stretching his limbs. "Ok, let's go, your Lordship, I've got the address." he said teasingly.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Constable", Henry said coolly, "But I do have more urgent needs to tend to..."

"You're kidding me, right? Don't tell me you're going to... feed?!" Mike was appalled.

"Well, I take it you've just had dinner... from what I reckon, and now, it's my turn...", Fitzroy answered, walking towards Mike and sniffing at him.

Mike took a step back, obviously disgusted. "Yuck! Fitzroy! You can be such a beast!"

"Now, now, Mike... I'm a vampire. That's what vampires do, they feed! I won't be long, don't worry!"

"I'm not worrying about that! I'm worried about the poor girl – I take it you prefer girls, right?" Mike hissed.

"Yes, I much prefer girls: so tender, so glad to be of any help, so willing to be at my beck and call... You should not pity them though – they love what I do to them, they always beg for more! But I was raised a gentleman – I know when to stop, for their own good, and I never, ever hurt them if they're good girls... Men, it's a different story..." Fitzroy winked at him, his eyes getting ink dark, his lips curling on his already long teeth.

"Screw you, Fitzroy! I'm not scared!" Mike said, his right hand instinctively feeling for his handgun.

"Don't be such a child, my dear! If I wanted to bite you, that little thing wouldn't be of any help. I'm faster, stronger and much more wicked than you can even fathom!" Henry boasted before swiftly disappearing through the door.

.Henry returned an hour later, feeling as refreshed as if he'd drunk from the Fountain of Youth. Mike didn't talk to him. He was too disgusted even to look at him. He still had to sit next to him in the car though! Vicki really had the knack for making them do the strangest things, like having her two lovers spending time together so they could find her!

They reached the address around 9:30 and rang the bell. It was Coreen who opened the door. She looked surprised to see them but she hugged them both, clearly happy.

"What are you two doing here?" She first said, then, not letting them time to answer, "What are you two doing together? This is weird! And believe me, I know weird when I see it!" She snorted. "Why didn't you call me?" She went on, excitedly.

Henry took a step closer, cupped her face with his long, elegant fingers, and kissed her hard on her mouth. She almost swooned. He took a step back and then grinned at her. "Shut up, Coreen..." He said in his low, husky voice. "We're here to talk about Vicki. We need to find her. We didn't call for fear you'd know something and would not want to share the information with us. We needed to make sure you wouldn't scamper off."

"Well..." Coreen said, fumbling for words, her mind still hazy from the vampire's kiss. "I guess it's gonna be a long night. Let me get my coat and we'll find some quiet place where we can talk. I don't want my cousins to overhear our conversation, if you see what I mean..." She added.

They headed back to the hotel and stopped at a coffee shop on the way – yes, it was definitely going to be a long night...

On the way back, Coreen told them she hadn't heard from Vicki since she had left and that she had no idea where she could have gone. Yet, she was most willing to help them.

"All right, Coreen", Fitzroy said, sitting next to her, "I know you think you have nothing to give us but you might have noticed something you're not even aware of... Tell us anything you can think of", he said, looking at her expectantly.

"What can I tell you that you don't already know, Henry...?" She glanced at him in embarrassment, folding her hands on her lap, "Other than she thought you had left her behind. She was very bitter about it. I told her she had chosen, that you were not responsible for the situation. She was aware of it, yet she felt you had betrayed her... I'm sorry, Henry", she winced, seeing him breathe in deeply. "You have to understand she was very lonely...", her voice trailed off as she knew Vicki's behavior had been very incoherent.

"I was too, Coreen", he stated, her words hitting a little bit too close to home.

"Forgive her, Henry. She had her reasons."

"We'll bridge that gap when we come to it, ok?" He answered, patting her knee. "What else did she tell you that could be of any help in finding her? We need something to start with if we want to track her down and that would probably be her job. She's becoming blind, she can't possibly be a P.I. any more. What else could she do?"

"She lives for her job, Henry. She's good at it... no, no, let me reformulate, she excels in it. She cannot possibly be thinking about doing something else..."

Henry raised an eyebrow at Mike. "What do you think?"

"I checked with the police department to see if she'd asked for a desk job. I'd told her to do so, that they'd take her back. Yes, she's good and they would have gladly used her as an instructor. They have positions for the disabled and she could have applied for one but she didn't."

"Ok, that's an idea", Coreen cut in. "What if she had decided to do that somewhere else? Fresh start... I know she hated being resented by her former colleagues and most of all, she didn't want people who had known her as "Victory Nelson" to pity her. Why don't we send requests to other police departments to know if she's applied for a position?"

"Very unlikely", Mike replied. "It would be a waste of time. She's not stupid. She knows it'll be too easy to find her. When you fill in that kind of request, they check with your former employer. We'd know right away where she is. But...", he paused, gazing in the distance, then snapped his fingers as if he'd just had an epiphany. "What if she's applied for a similar job at the university?"

"All right. Let's say that's a start", Henry replied, nodding at Mike. "Now, we know she can't drive, so she would need to take the plane and I got a text from Jim. He says she's closed her bank account but had barely a thousand dollars on it, not much to last long." He turned to Coreen and explained. "See, we wondered if she'd try to find me in Vancouver but now I know she's given up on me and she can't afford a long-distance flight, I think we can surmise she's still in Canada."

He took out his smartphone and logged onto the Net. "Let's see which universities offer courses in criminology..."

Mike and Coreen had fallen asleep for a long time but Henry was still browsing the websites, looking for clues, reading all the pages he could find related to teaching criminology in Eastern Canada. Some websites were not well-organized and he wasted a lot of time. When his phone's screen suddenly went blank, he snarled and almost threw it at the wall. Mike lifted his head from the pillow. "What?" He inquired.

"Bloody phone just crashed!"

"Ok, just cool off. Let me see." Mike motioned for the phone. Henry handed it to him with a look of exasperation. "Don't ask me to calm down. She's out there and she's in danger. I can't bear it, Celluci."

"We'll find her." Mike looked up at him and handed him back the phone after replacing the battery and putting the lid back on. "There," he said, "sometimes you just need to reboot the system."

"Thanks," Henry mumbled.

"Wow, a thank you from his royal highness... I'm moved to tears!" Mike teased him, making Henry chuckle. "What did you find?" Celluci said, nodding at the phone.

Fitzroy held up his hand, flipping through the web pages. "Gotcha!" He suddenly muttered.

"Got her?" Mike asked, coming to stand next to him.

Henry held the phone up so Mike could see the screen. Vicki's face was at the top of a page explaining the content of the course she was to teach for the coming semester, a semester that happened to have started the day before.

TBC