Dracul's Revenge 01: Dracul's Blood (4 page)

“Yes?”

He smiled at the abrupt tone in her voice. “Hey Cecelia, it’s Bobby.”

“What can I do for you today, Detective Marks?”

Someone must be having a bad day. Of course, she was probably fielding a ton of calls from local and national media. Cecelia didn’t have a lot of patience for reporters.

DRACUL’S BLOOD

Carol Lynne and T.A. Chase

22

“I was wondering if you know someone at New York University who could help me with the case I’m working on.”

Keys clicking filled the air for a moment as she brought up the contact list for NYU.

“What kind of information are you looking for?”

“Someone who can help me with Romanian history.” He poked at the papers on his desk, listening as Cecelia hummed softly in his ear.

“Romanian history, huh? Well, I don’t have anyone listed specifically for that, but there is a Professor Nikolay Radin whose area is Eastern European history. Will that work?”

“If it doesn’t, he should be able to point me in the right direction to find someone who will.” He scribbled down the professor’s number. “Thanks, Cecelia.”

“You’re welcome, Detective Marks. I hope you figure out the motive on this case. I’m tired of the phone calls already.”

“I’m doing my best, sweetheart.” He hung up, paused for a second to collect his thoughts and grabbed an outside line.

Bobby dialled the professor’s number and drummed his fingers on his desk as he waited for someone to answer.

“History Department. How may I help you?”

“I need to speak to Professor Nikolay Radin, please. This is Detective Robert Marks of the New York Police Department.”

A brief moment of surprised silence, then the female voice spoke again. “Professor Radin is in class right now. Can I get your number and have him call you when he gets back to his office?”

“How long will that be?” Bobby didn’t want to wait all day, though he could research the auction where Thompson bought the wine.

“His office hours are from eleven to one, so he should be returning here in about an hour.”

Bobby’s stomach rumbled. “Okay, here’s my cell number. Have him call me as soon as he gets in. It’s about a case I’m working on and very important that I talk to him.” He rattled off his number.

“Okay, Detective Marks. I’ll be sure to give this to Professor Radin myself.”

“Thanks.”

DRACUL’S BLOOD

Carol Lynne and T.A. Chase

23

Hanging up, he exhaled and stood. He made his way to the lieutenant’s office, tapping on her door when he got there.

“Come in.”

Coming to a halt in front of her desk, Bobby clasped his hands behind his back and waited until she looked at him before speaking.

“All the evidence has been catalogued and sent to the crime lab. I’ve got the photos from the scenes. I’ve started looking over them, but I’m focusing on the bottle found in the study. I think that might be our best chance at figuring out how this happened.”

“Good. What’s Jablonsky doing?” She jotted something down on the pad in front of her.

“He’s going back and interviewing some of the witnesses. Wants to see if he gets anything new from them. Then he’ll start on the auction houses in the area. We know Thompson bought some wine a couple of days earlier.”

“It might be the same bottle we found at the site.” The lieutenant pursed her lips and eyed him. “What are you doing now?”

“I’m heading home to grab a shower, change my clothes, and get something to eat. I have a call into Professor Nikolay Radin at NYU. He’s an expert in Eastern European history, and I think the wine bottle, at least, came from Romania, very early Romania.”

Nodding, she let her gaze trail over him, making him want to tug at the bottom of his jacket to get the wrinkles out. “Good idea. You’re looking a little ragged. Let me know what you learn from the professor.”

Bobby knew a dismissal when he heard one. He exited, pausing long enough at his desk to grab the files on the case before heading out of the building. He was looking forward to a hot shower and warm food. Maybe by the time he finished cleaning up, the professor would have called him.

* * * *

Nik gathered his papers and fled towards the safety of his office. One of his students had given him the ‘I’m yours for the asking’ look all through class. The last thing Nik felt like doing was turning down another date from a student. He hated the dejected expressions of the men after he informed them he didn’t date students.

DRACUL’S BLOOD

Carol Lynne and T.A. Chase

24

Entering the department’s inner sanctum, Nik sighed in relief.

“Tough class?” Sheila asked.

Nik shook his head. “Student.” He reached up and removed the curls that had managed to flop their way into his eyes.
I really need a haircut.

Sheila held out several pink slips of paper. “Here are your messages. I’d look at the top one first. It’s from a detective.”

Confused, Nik took the papers. “Did he say what he wanted?”

“Nope.”

Nik shuffled into his office and kicked the door shut without taking his gaze from the phone message. He dropped his class papers onto the corner of his desk and sat down. What on earth would a detective want to speak with him about?

Perhaps one of the many students he’d turned down had filed some kind of bogus claim against him? No, that couldn’t be it. If that were the case, the Dean of Students would’ve contacted him first.

Nik knew he could either continue to worry about it, or he could just make the damn call and find out.

He started to lift the handset on his desk, but quickly replaced it. Maybe it would be better to call from his cell? At least he could be assured there would be no one listening in.

Shaking his head, Nik snorted his amusement at himself. One message from a detective and he was acting paranoid. He hadn’t done anything wrong. Hell, he’d never done anything wrong. It was the main reason he was alone every night.

He picked the desk phone back up and punched in the number the detective had left.

“Marks,” a deep, gravelly voice answered.

Nik readjusted his glasses as the effects of the voice travelled up and down his spine.

“Yes, this is Professor Nikolay Radin. I had a message to call you?”

“Professor Radin, thanks for calling me back. I was wondering if you’d have time this afternoon to take a look at a few pictures? I’ve got a wine bottle I’m trying to find out some more information on.”

“Ummm, I’d love to help you, Detective Marks, but I know very little about wine.”

“It’s not the wine I need help with, it’s the bottle I have questions about. There’s a dark red blob of wax on the bottle. From the little I’ve managed to dig up online, I’d guess the bottle comes from the Romanian region. It’s old, real old. There’s one word on the label, DRACUL’S BLOOD

Carol Lynne and T.A. Chase

25

Havasalföld.”

Nik’s heart skipped a beat. “You say it’s a bottle?” he asked, trying to pin down a timeframe.

“I guess, although it’s not made of glass.”

“Clay,” Nik added for the detective.

“Yes.”

“Can you bring it to me?”

“Not right now. It’s at the lab being analyzed. I’ve got pretty detailed photographs, though. I can bring them by your office if you’d like?”

Nik almost jumped for joy. “Yes. I’d like that very much. I’m free the rest of the afternoon.”

“I’m only about thirty minutes away, so I’ll see ya in a few.”

Nik hung up and swivelled his chair to stare at the bookshelf behind his desk. His first instincts were the bottle wasn’t a bottle at all, but rather a cask. That didn’t make sense though. Clay casks were large. There would be no way the detective would mistakenly call a cask a bottle. What the hell were they dealing with?

He rubbed his hands together, scanning the titles of his reference books, before pulling a particularly old one from the shelf. The pages smelled musty, the scent tickling his nose, but he knew the information was accurate.

By the time the knock on his door came, Nik had found what he’d been looking for.

“Come in,” he called, setting the book on the desk.

He wasn’t expecting the large man that walked into his office. He should’ve suspected as much by the sound of the detective’s voice, but the man who stood in front of his desk seemed to fill the entire office.

Nik wiped his hands on his Dockers and stood. He held out a hand and smiled.

“Detective Marks?”

Marks nodded and shook Nik’s hand. “You must be Professor Radin.”

“That’s what it says on the door.” As soon as the words had left his mouth, Nik wanted to pull them back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Please, call me Nik.”

“Okay, Nik, you can call me Bobby.”

Nik gestured to a chair. “Please, have a seat.”

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Carol Lynne and T.A. Chase

26

Bobby sat and tossed a folder in front of Nik. “Those are the close-ups of the bottle and label. Any information you could give me would be appreciated.”

Before opening the file, Nik took off his glasses and cleaned them on the bottom of his untucked, light-blue dress shirt. He settled them back onto his nose and opened the manila folder.

He studied the picture for a few moments before addressing the detective. “Before I begin, I’d like you to do something for me. Would you please call your lab and ask them to be extremely careful with this object. It should be in a museum, not a lab.”

Bobby pulled out his phone and placed the call. “Wilmont. Yeah, I know, but I’ve got another favour. Tell the techs to be careful with the bottle. It sounds like it’s pretty valuable.

Yeah, I know. Okay, I’ll catch you at the end of the week.”

Bobby hung up and grinned. “I owe him another drink.”

Nik had no idea what the detective was talking about, so he returned his attention back to the photographs. “Did you actually see this for yourself?”

Bobby nodded. “Yeah. Why?”

“I need to know how big it is. I can’t tell from the photographs.” Nik’s fingernail found its way to the tortured skin of his thumb. He began picking at the self-inflicted sore as he waited for Bobby to describe the cask. He hadn’t lied when he told the detective it belonged in a museum.

Bobby held his large, square hands about fourteen inches apart. “It’s about this long, thin. I didn’t actually hold it, but I’m sure I could’ve easily wrapped my hands around it.

Nik couldn’t help but smile. He had no doubt the bigger man could wrap his fingers around just about anything he tried. Nik held up his much smaller hands. “What about mine? Could I wrap mine around the thickest part?”

Bobby took Nik’s hands and moved them into an approximate position. “Yeah, I’d say so.”

The feel of the detective’s rough hands on Nik’s was electrifying. Afraid of making a fool of himself, Nik pulled away and returned his attention to the book in front of him. He spun it around to face Bobby. “It sounds like you’ve found a smaller version of the cask in the picture. It was used to hold wine and other liquids until glass bottles began to take their place in the late fifteenth, early sixteenth century.”

He glanced up and met the dark hazel eyes of the detective. Nik licked his lips, DRACUL’S BLOOD

Carol Lynne and T.A. Chase

27

suddenly feeling parched. “Your cask was almost certainly custom made. For what reason, I’m not sure. It wouldn’t have been cost effective for the wine producer.”

Bobby’s eyes broke contact and his attention went once again to the book in front of him. “So this cask, or whatever it’s called, is really, really old.”

Nik couldn’t help but chuckle. “You could say that. I would probably date it mid fifteenth century, but it’s hard to tell without actually examining it in person.”

Please, please ask me to examine it.

“Is that something you know how to do? Date things like that?”

“Yes. Well, I could at least give you a much clearer picture of the date. Do you mind my asking where you found this particular cask?”

“It’s from a case I’m working. I really can’t go into details.” Bobby tapped a blunt fingertip to the photograph of the wax seal. “What about that?”

Nik opened his desk drawer and pulled out a magnifying glass his dad had given him for his tenth birthday. He examined the image of the label and shook his head. “Well, you already know what the word Havasalföld refers to, but it looks like there’s something else under the seal.

Nik set the magnifying glass on the desk and regarded Bobby. “Is there any way I can inspect this cask in person?”

The detective readjusted his position in the chair. “I guess I could ask. But first you have to tell me what you’re hoping to find.”

“The actual label is hidden under the seal. It won’t be in a language your technical personnel are likely to know. I’ve handled artefacts; I know the proper way to remove the seal to keep intact what’s hidden underneath,
and
I can translate the label itself.”

Bobby scratched at his square jaw line for several moments. “I’ll see what I can do.”

With the weekend a heartbeat away, Nik quickly scribbled his home phone number on the manila folder before handing it back to the detective. “Just in case I get lucky, and you have something for me before Monday.”

Bobby made a gruff sound in his throat and stood. He tapped the file against his thigh and stared at Nik for a moment before turning and walking out the door.

It wasn’t until Nik thought about what he’d said, that he became embarrassed.
Shit.

He was always doing things like that. His foot seemed to have a permanent place in his mouth when it came to talking to good-looking men.

DRACUL’S BLOOD

Carol Lynne and T.A. Chase

28

After the embarrassment passed, Nik grinned. Although he hadn’t meant the statement the way he knew it sounded, he had to admit he wouldn’t be disappointed if the detective called him for reasons other than the cask.

He reached for his book and carefully put it back on the shelf before gathering the papers he needed to grade over the weekend. If he hurried, he’d have time to run by the university library and still make his bus.