Chapter 27

Complications

Intro Song: Taking Care of Business, Bachman-Turner Overdrive

Author's note: Happy Kentucky Derby Day, everyone! (I live in Kentucky). Sorry for delays in posting, had a house full of guests because the weeks leading up to the Derby are party central here! I should have another chapter ready to post by Sunday evening as a Mother's Day present to you all. I hope it's a wonderful day.

P.S. You could give me a Mother's Day present by posting a review and letting me know what you think of the story so far…

"Oh hi! You're early, the meeting doesn't start until 2:30."

"Yeah... well... I thought I should check in since I didn't get a chance to get back to you." Mick St. John smiled sheepishly at Jamie Sommers. "Sorry about that."

She dismissed his apology with a shrug of her shoulders. He really is devastatingly handsome... "No big deal, Mick. It's only going to be you, Ben and Carl anyway. Speaking of which..." The administrative assistant glanced around to make sure no one was nearby, then grabbed a manila envelope sitting on top of her inbox and handed it to the private investigator. "Here's a copy of the complete case file; Carl left it here for you." She frowned up at him. "It- well, it isn't for the squeamish."

Mick opened the envelope, pulling out the contents with one swift movement. He silently fingered the pages, the ornate ring on his forefinger flashing as he flipped furiously through the material The advantage of a vampire's rapid visual comprehension allowed him to quickly process the file's text until...When he came to the pictures, he frowned, clenching his jaw so tightly that the muscle pulsed under the skin. Talbot's description of the bodies had not prepared him for the impact of the photographs – and the advance warning did nothing to allay the shock and disgust. He looked up from the file, his eyes boring into Jamie's. "These aren't... tell me... these aren't..."

She nodded slightly, her eyes fixed on him.

"KIDS?! These degenerates are killing kids too?! Oh yeah, just let 'em show up when I'm there - I am gonna mop the desert with as many of these assholes as I can get my hands on!" A low growl escaped his lips. Few things outraged him like the harming of innocents, especially children. He could feel his anger mounting, accompanied by the familiar internal warnings. It wouldn't be a good idea for you to vamp out here in the DA's office, you know. He shut his eyes and, through force of will, restrained himself.

"Are you all right, Mick?" His reaction was a very human one, in Jamie's opinion. She did not blame him in the slightest. Still, what would a vampire really think about the carnage…? There's a lot about all this that I don't know…

"No, I'm fine. Just… I mean, I knew about this already, but to see it -"

"Same here," she broke in. "I almost had a heart attack at the copier." She rested her elbows on the desk top, propping her chin atop her hands while she observed him. "Do you need anything – coffee, water...? I'm sure you'd rather have a stiff drink after those pictures, but I'm afraid I'm fresh out..."

"No, I'm good, thank you though. This is rough. I'm sorry you had to see them." Uncomfortable, he averted his glance to check a nearby wall clock. "Look, I'm gonna go run over to Beth's desk for a minute before the meeting starts-"

"She's not here - left for the day."

Mick frowned, a puzzled expression marring his handsome features. "That's odd. I didn't get a message from her saying that she was leaving early. Was she okay when she left?"

Jamie suppressed her nervousness at the secrets she was keeping from this…vampire. Get used to it.. As casually as she could manage, she explained, "She's fine. Talbot assigned her this new case that could be a real monster… Bad choice of words, Jamie. She caught herself and continued, "She headed out to do some background research. Hasn't been gone that long. She probably got caught up and forgot to charge her phone again –you know Beth."

You're telling me. Beth had a tendency of getting hyper-focused on her work and forgetting to charge her phone, an annoyance when trying to reach her. Still, it had become her habit to give him a quick call during the day, and he hadn't heard from her since she left the apartment that morning. Is she trying to avoid me? He considered calling her, but thought better of it. If anything about his meeting surfaced in the conversation…a sudden thought occurred to him. "Jamie, does Beth know about all this?" He held up the folder for emphasis.

Now what, Jamie? Can he tell if I'm hiding something? Her orientation into Auxilium hadn't provided these kinds of details. She decided to tell a variation of the truth. "I- I honestly don't know how much Beth knows, Mick." She tried to derail that conversation. "The meeting is starting in about ten minutes. Let me get you settled in the conference room." She grabbed a stack of papers just to have something in her hands. As the pair started down an adjacent hallway to the back conference rooms, Jamie suddenly stopped and turned to the P.I. "By the way, Carl didn't tell Ben he shared that file with you, so I would appreciate your keeping that to yourself. I'm not sure Ben would approve."

The vampire frowned. He was easily picking up on her uneasiness - it didn't take vampire powers to see that. What was that about? Was she hiding something? He shoved that to the back of his mind for now - there wasn't time to probe her further with this damned meeting about to start. And he didn't want to walk into it with a pile of documents he wasn't supposed to have. "Look, I have a lot of useful skills but magic isn't one of them. I don't have a disappearing act in my repertoire." He handed the file back to the young woman. "Would you hang on to this for me until this meeting is over?"

Jamie didn't like having the confidential information but what choice did she have? "Okay, but be sure to stop by my desk on your way out. I'll stick it in a FedEx envelope. I really can't be seen with this." They continued in silence until they arrived at the room reserved for the meeting. "Right in here," she announced, reaching for the door handle, only to have Mick step in front of her and open it.

"Ladies first," he insisted.

"Why thank you. You would think you were raised in the South, Mr. St. John." Jamie dumped her files unceremoniously on the polished table surface while she considered her next step. Vampire or not, her gut instincts told her that Mick St. John was a good guy. Would you still think that if he weren't so good-looking and polite? Ignoring that pesky inner voice, she made a decision.

"Look, Mick," she began as he took his seat. "Beth was upset earlier today." His intense hazel stare fixed on her. "She- I know I wasn't supposed to, but I told her about the case file," she gestured towards the envelope he'd placed on the conference room table. "I have to confess, I was upset too. I- I don't mind admitting that when I saw those pictures, I lost it a little. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Beth when you first asked, but something like this could get me fired – and I really need this job." She scooped her files up off the table and scurried out of the conference room, closing the door behind her with a soft thud.

Mick shook his head in frustration. That would explain why Beth was out of touch – if she knew about the file and the meeting, then she knew he'd kept it from her. Her quick mind would have easily put all this together and recognized the potential danger him being involved would bring. Not exactly an ideal situation… He took out his phone, his deft fingers bringing it to life and quickly scrolling to Beth's number, smiling to himself as her picture appeared on the screen. His finger hovered over the button for a long moment before he shook his head ruefully. Putting the phone down on the table, he sighed and pushed it away. Probably best to leave her alone for now.

"Hey, Mick thanks for coming," Ben Talbot abruptly strode into the conference room. He glanced discreetly at the table and saw Beth's picture displayed on the P.I.'s phone. He stifled a grin as Mick pressed a button to close the screen. Despite the man's cool demeanor, it was obvious that he had it bad for his investigative assistant. That could be very useful….

"Mick, Ben." Carl Davis greeted the men curtly from the doorway, turning to thank Jamie who had escorted him to the room and whispering a comment to her, before shutting the door.

Talbot was obviously aggravated. "Well, if you two don't mind, let's get down to business, shall we?"

The detective managed to mask his own annoyance as he sat down at the conference table, but he positioned himself as far as possible from Talbot. Mick had to smile to himself at the body language. Carl had clearly chaffed at the unnecessary rudeness.

"I went through the case file over the weekend," Davis began, with no hint of his irritation in his voice. "Ben, the original file is there," he pointed to the manila folder resting in front of the ADA. "I made a copy of it for reference. I know we talked about this last week, but, unfortunately, from what I can tell, it looks like what you mentioned is confirmed. There are multiple images of human remains, many of them decapitated and burned... and some of the victims are children." He spun the pictures around to show them to Mick, as if he were seeing them for the first time, discretely winking at the P.I. as he did.

Mick didn't need vampire abilities to retain the images he'd seen but that didn't make them any less disturbing. He tamped down the rise of anger. Remember where you are… "Damn," he allowed the curse to slip out.

Something resembling a snarl crossed Carl's handsome features. "I know what you mean." He returned his attention to Talbot. "I'm not aware of any other M.O.s like this – are you?"

"The only similar cases have all involved drug runners. The Mexican drug cartels, as you well know, are notorious for beheading people - for retaliation as well as to send a message." Talbot placed his elbows on the graphite table top, interlacing his fingers. " I've never seen this level of brutality with children, though. That was always seen as crossing an inviolate line, even for them. Then, there's the ash on scene... no idea what that's about. I talked to the county coroner and she told me that a human body takes a lot of heat to reduce them to ash. The forms we would typically see are relatively intact, even if badly burned."

Mick considered his next question carefully. This was dangerous territory. "I'm guessing you have some theories on this…? It isn't exactly my area of expertise."

"The M.O.? Other than the escalated brutality, sadly, it's what you can expect from these drug gangs. They're known for leaving their victims in the open as a warning. The ash? No idea yet, although our coroner thought a flame thrower might do that if kept on long enough. If we pursue this further, she'll check with the FBI." He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "What I really don't understand is the location. Most of the drug busts are at the San Ysidro crossing, not way out in the desert. Dumping the bodies that far out would defeat the whole purpose of sending a message." Ben looked intently at the two men on the other side of the table. "Unless, I'm mistaken about who this is meant for."

"Well, if this is a drug war, how do we know who was involved?" Carl interjected. "For all we know, they did get the message."

"At this point, we really don't know," Talbot admitted. "We're speculating, based on information from other cases and profiling of cartels. Given that HEM was bold enough to put a hit on Josh Lindsey's girlfriend, and then kill the man himself..."

Ben purposely let the sentence trail off, genuinely interested in St. John's reaction to this topic.

Mick knew Talbot was baiting him, but he didn't care. He seethed at the memory of Tejada and the attempt made on Beth's life... and the loss of Josh, murdered in front of her. "They deserve whatever they get," he growled with a malevolence that only partially expressed his rage.

"No one wants to catch those bastards worse than we do," Carl added vehemently. He, too, was still raw from the loss of Lindsey, and one of the young officers guarding Beth, killed in that same attack at the hands of Tejada and his brand of scum. "Have you talked to the detectives down in San Diego? They would know the gangs down there."

Talbot leaned back in his chair, fingers drumming the heavy table. "That's where you two come in. I got a call from David McDowell; he's been a detective in San Diego for five or six years. We've know each other for a long time and he's a good man. He's never asked for help before, but he was practically begging me to send someone down. Frankly, they're as perplexed and worried as we are. And to be honest, between border wars, illegal aliens, and just the general crime in that area, they are stretched so thin, they would be thankful for whatever help we can give." The ADA leaned forward over his desk. "These ass wipes killed one of our own. I want them. I'm sure your help will be welcomed."

Mick snorted. "That'll be the day when they welcome a private investigator."

Talbot frowned. "Well, they'll have to if they want our help – at least, if you're ready to get involved."

The vampire kept his face carefully impassive as he turned to Davis. "So, Carl, are we going to take a road trip then?"

Davis nodded. "Looks like it to me. What does your dance card look like tomorrow?"

Mick could not afford to put himself at the mercy of their schedules - especially considering the time of day and destination involved. "Look, if we are going to go down there, I've got some things to take care of earlier in the day with a couple of cases I'm working on. So, it would have to be late afternoon. As close to the end of the day as possible"

"Yeah, I have case work of my own, so later in the afternoon would work best for me as well," Carl agreed. "Ben, can you set this up for us?" He looked across at the ADA, who nodded. "We'll need to get into the morgue too," the detective added, with a glance toward the private investigator, who nodded.

Talbot made a note on the legal pad in front of him "You should be able to. I'll need to talk to some people to make it official, but I don't see why not."

"I didn't find autopsy reports either - just the description of the bodies at the scene, so we'll need copies of those too."

Talbot was blunt. "To be realistic with you, Carl, they're so backlogged with drug cases, smugglers, mules, coyotes... it's like the wild west out in those parts. Don't be surprised if they don't have their act together or seem as eager as we do about all this. Truthfully, if it weren't for Lindsey's murder, we probably wouldn't be involved at all and they would just chalk this up to drug cartels going at each other."

'Eager' isn't exactly the word I'd use... but I AM eager to find Beth. "Okay," Mick interjected, impatient to end this meeting, "we've got a plan then."

"One more thing," Talbot added "You two need to go together. I don't want there to be any confusion about what either of you are doing there or who is attached to my office. One official vehicle is better since you are going to be near a foreign border."

Mick jumped in before Carl could speak up. "I'll drive myself down there." He wanted to be able to stash some supplies in his trunk... definitely not police issue.

"It's not that simple, Mick." Ben enjoyed lecturing the P.I. and it showed in his voice. "I want you together and both in an official vehicle to make it clear who you are with. We need to keep... complications... down to a minimum. Only employees can drive city vehicles – which means that Carl is your designated driver for your little trip. Sorry."

The vampire's internal alarms began ringing. To put himself in that situation, essentially at the mercy of human law enforcement, was not prudent. He had no intention of being at their beck and call.

"Look, I'm not sure this is such a good idea then, Ben. I'm used to being on my own, coming and going as I please. I can just set something up with the SD detectives separately - assuming I'm even needed after Carl checks this out. If I know anything about Carl, I doubt if my presence will be needed"

The ADA shrugged nonchalantly. "No problem, Mick. Davis and I both respect your abilities but you aren't a cop, or judicial employee, so you are free to make that choice. Besides," he added casually, "I do have a civilian investigator, and she is certainly authorized to handle this for our department."

He means Beth! Mick frowned darkly. There was no way she should be allowed to go into such a potentially dangerous situation like this - but, he knew her well enough to be sure that, if asked, she would be there. He was also not about to subject her to discussions about HEM Brotherhood, and Tejada specifically, stirring the trauma she'd undergone with Josh's murder. He was astonished that Talbot would even suggest it after what had happened to her.

The vampire knew full well that the ADA had suggested this on purpose - Beth was his weakness, and the attorney was expertly exploiting it. "I'd have to respectfully disagree with you on that one, Talbot. We all know Beth had to watch Josh die, courtesy of Tejada. I can't believe you would even consider sending her there. And what if they're watching and decide to target her again? Look, I know you aren't fond of me, but don't take it out on her." He stared the ADA down, his gaze full of steel and wrath, barely keeping himself under control.

Carl chimed in, "I agree with Mick on this, Ben. It wouldn't be fair to Beth to put her through that. And it could be dangerous." He tried to catch Mick's eye, but the outraged vampire wouldn't take his glare off Talbot.

Ben shrugged. "Look, you two, it's her job, same as the rest of us. And she's good at it. I'm not talking about sending her on a raid, this is just interviewing people and looking through the evidence and we can all agree she is excellent at that. We don't have the luxury of turning down cases, Carl. St. John, here, is the only one who has the option to walk away, so…" he glanced back at the P.I. before continuing, "it's really up to you, Mick."

The tension in the room grew along with the silence, becoming almost palpable as the two men confronted each other. The stalemate was finally broken by Mick St. John. "I'll work out the arrangements with Carl." He really had no other choice and fucking Talbot knew it! He'd been played.

"Well, if that's it, then, gentlemen, this meeting is over... Carl, we still need to talk." Ben smiled, as if oblivious to the angry man before him and the not-so-subtle blackmail he had just applied. He watched with interest as St. John stormed out of the conference room. His intuition had been correct - Beth was the best way to keep the man in check. He could not help feeling that, while he had technically won, he now had a very dangerous tiger on an extremely short leash – a leash he'd damn well better keep nice and taut... or else.

Talbot turned his attention back to the detective, who opened his mouth to speak. He held up his hand to stop him. "This discussion is over, Carl! I don't want to hear anymore. It's a tricky situation. Mick goes or Beth does – period. And it appears he's made his decision. Now, I have a few things I need to go over with you before tomorrow..."

End Song: Complicated Life, The Kinks