Ripper (32 page)

“They struggled,” Marcus pointed out. His melodic accent seemed even more intimate in the close confines of the car. “It’s only to be expected.”

“But Joanne Taylor’s arms aren’t burned at all,” I finished triumphantly.

The vampire slid me a curious stare. He seemed very interested in my thoughts on the case, and I got the feeling he was endlessly fascinated with what I was going to say next. He seemed to genuinely enjoy arguing points of logic with me. “Joanne was a doe. Perhaps she simply didn’t struggle at all.”

“Not buying it, Vorenus.” I enjoyed arguing with him, too. Since that moment I figured out what I’d been missing, I’d been filled with the most delicious energy. It practically burst out of me and Marcus had been so amused by my pacing and talking to myself and the wild hand gestures I make when talking things through that he hadn’t noticed we were running late until Gray had pointed it out with a sour look on his face. Despite Gray’s wariness, Marcus and I had been arguing back and forth in a thoroughly pleasant manner ever since. “First, even a simple little doe will fight for her life. Second, Jo Taylor had a backbone. No question about it, girlfriend had a pair, if you know what I mean.”

Marcus laughed as his hands expertly steered the big beast of a car. “I have no idea what you mean, but I like the way you say it.”

“Hey, that’s enough of that,” Gray growled from the backseat.

I turned around and rolled my eyes at my grumpy boyfriend. He was completely against me having anything whatsoever to do with Marcus. I needed him to understand that besides friendship, I had zero designs on the vampire. Hell, I could barely handle the man I had. I wasn’t looking to take on another.

 “So why do you think Joanne is different?” Marcus asked blandly.

“There are many reasons she doesn’t fit the pattern, Councilman. For one thing, she’s the only non-wolf.”

“Wolves are much more common than any other wereanimal,” Marcus pointed out.

“Secondly, she’s the only one of the victims who was buried separately.”

“All the wolves were buried in a single grave,” Gray affirmed.

“Jo was buried separately. He took care with her. She was the only one who was buried with her jewelry. All the other girls were completely stripped down with nothing left to help identify them.” Now for my grand finale. “And I believe she was dead before he cut her open.”

“Why do you believe this, Kelsey?” Marcus didn’t argue with me. He merely wanted to know how I had drawn my conclusions.

“Because of the lack of blood,” I explained. “If you look at her pictures, compared to the rest of them, she doesn’t bleed. There’s bruising around her neck and that tells me she was probably strangled to death before she was taken to the warehouse. The bruises are already visible. It also explains why the silver didn’t burn her the way it did the rest.”

“Because dead girls don’t fight back,” Marcus concluded grimly.

Gray shook his head in the back seat. “All this time I was paying more attention to the other pictures for the simple fact that they were more violent. Kelsey comes in and proves that the least violent of all the kills is probably the one that will tell us who the killer is.”

I took enormous pleasure at the pride in his voice. “He knew her. He liked her. He didn’t want to kill her, but he had to.”

If I was right, my list of suspects was somewhat short. I wanted to start with Professor Peter Hamilton.

“Did you have relations with that girl, Councilman?” Gray asked his question in that Western, all-lawman twang he got when he wanted the truth.

It was overkill. It was so weird that I was the soft touch between the two of us. That so rarely happened to me. “Gray, let up on him.”

The vampire waved his hand to silence me. “It’s all right, Kelsey. It’s a legitimate question. The answer is no. I did not have sexual relations with Miss Taylor. I did, however, feed from her. I did so several nights in row, and now I understand why she sought me out.”

“She looked for you?” I wanted to know everything about what she’d done while she was investigating.

“Yes,” Marcus replied. “I thought she seemed out of place. By nature, the girls who choose to work the clubs are harder, tougher than Joanne Taylor was. Perversely, her very softness was alluring to every vampire who walked through the door.”

“See, I don’t get that,” I said as the bright lights of the city flowed by. “That other vampire, Michael, thought I was soft and you agreed with him. You guys must have an entirely different version of soft than me.”

Marcus had the temerity to chuckle. “You might be prickly on the outside, Kelsey, but on the inside you long. We can feel it. Especially myself, given my talents. You long for someone to take care of you the way your father never did. You long for someone to love you just the way you are, and you’re not even sure of who that is, yet, but you want a man who will be willing to stand by you while you discover it.”

I wasn’t sure I liked being such an open book to anyone, much less a bunch of vampires. “How can you see that much when you barely know me?”

“Two thousand years of interactions with other human beings can refine your ability to see past defenses,” Marcus said. “It’s also one of my talents. Academics aren’t the strongest so we adapted. We can sense what humans need. It makes it easier to feed. You are very resilient,
cara mia
, but there is such softness on the inside.”

Gray frowned from the backseat. “Hey, I don’t know what you called her but don’t. It sounds awfully intimate. She is soft, though, and sweet when she wants to be. She can flay you alive when she thinks you’ve done her wrong.”

I flushed because I really could. It was time to get back to the subject at hand. “So Joanne sought you out?”

The vampire nodded his agreement. “She seemed out of place with the others. She wore the clothes that were provided for her, but she took no pleasure in them. She was always trying to cover more of herself. I thought it odd that she covered a designer dress with a sweater. I asked her why she was there and she told me she needed the money. For three nights she allowed me to feed from her. I felt her distaste so I fed from her wrist. It’s less intimate. On the fourth night, I simply offered to pay for her school. I wouldn’t miss the money and she needed it. It was painful to watch her, but she turned me down and sought out another vampire. I decided it was her game. I was wrong.”

What a dangerous game she’d played. “Did she ever ask you about Britney Miles?”

We were approaching the club and Marcus slowed down the Bentley. “She asked if I’d met her. I said I had. She’s one of the girls I did bed. She was a hard girl, very aggressive. I told Joanne that she had moved on after me. She seemed to be working her way through the vampires. Before me she’d had Michael and several of the visiting vampires. After me she allowed Alexander to make an appointment with her.”

“And he’s seriously Jack the Ripper?” Gray snorted a little, a show of his suspicion. “Don’t all you vampires claim some historical relevance?”

Marcus pulled to the side of the road, putting the car in park. He met Gray’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “Do not doubt it for a moment, Lieutenant. He is everything that history claims him to be and so much more. He’s incredibly clever. He’s been careful for the last ten years. He knows that if he steps out of line even once the king will have him executed. If he’s working again then he’ll do anything to keep it quiet. I believe this is where you leave us, Lieutenant.”

Gray sighed and made sure he had the keys to my Jeep in his hand. He leaned up and pulled me in for a quick, possessive kiss. “You be careful.” His hand cupped the back of my neck. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I said, the words coming more and more easily to me.

He turned to the vampire, his expression turning forbidding in a second. “And you…”

“Will be horribly murdered if I so much as lay a hand on your lovely woman,” Marcus concluded the coming threat with a jaunty wave of his hand. “I will take good care of Kelsey.”

“See that you do.” Gray hopped out of the car with his bag of equipment. He was going to watch the club from the parking garage I previously staked out. He was also going to get my car and pay for any tickets I’d gotten since he was the reason I’d had to leave it behind. I watched him quickly fade into the background as Marcus pulled away from the curb. He drove the last block and stopped in front of the huge row of Victorian townhomes I now knew were all connected.

Anticipation thrummed inside me, a beast who wanted out of its cage.

The valet hustled to open my door.

“Good evening, Ms. Atwood,” he said solicitously. “Welcome to the club. Ms. Sears is looking forward to making your acquaintance.”

I waited for him to take the keys from Marcus, who nodded briefly and joined me, his hand immediately finding the small of my back.

“Did I mention how beautiful you look tonight?”

“I believe you failed to do so,” I replied, not recognizing the teasing vixen coming out tonight. I was enjoying Marcus’s good-natured flirting. Gray had unleashed a monster.

The vampire smiled brightly. “Then let me tell you that you are stunning tonight, Kelsey. You look every inch the lady.”

I wondered if that wouldn’t actually be a problem. “Are you sure I’ll fit in? I saw what Joanne was supposed to wear. I think I’m dangerously overdressed.”

“You’re perfect. As I said, you’re a lady. You look like my mistress tonight. I’m a possessive man, a creature of my time. Anyone who knows me knows I would object to a woman of mine wearing what some of the club girls wear.”

“I would probably spend the entire night worried something was going to fall out, so it’s best I stay covered,” I admitted as we walked up the steps.

The entrance to the club opened and a tall, statuesque blonde stood in the doorway. She didn’t have my modesty problems. She was dressed to kill in a bright-red skintight gown with a plunging neckline. Her face should have been on a magazine cover and her chic platinum hair was cut short. I studied Stacy Sears and understood why Marcus thought I was soft. Anyone would look soft compared to her. She was beautiful and undeniably hard.

“Good evening, Councilman,” she said with a deferential nod.

Marcus returned her nod, but I got the feeling he didn’t particularly like this woman. “This is my new mistress. Her name is Kelsey Atwood. I expect her to be treated with respect.”

“Well considering the calls I’ve gotten about her, how could I not?” The blonde put a hand on her hip. She was slender and her hands were elegant and obviously well taken care of. I wanted to hide mine. I didn’t go to a manicurist. I bit my nails often when I was thinking through a problem. As though he knew what I was thinking, Marcus tangled his fingers in mine and gave me a reassuring squeeze.

Stacy continued her speech as she ushered us inside. “I got a call from Zack Owens threatening all manner of horrors should I allow anything bad to befall you. I’ve never heard him so concerned about anyone except his wife. Are you his long lost sister or something?”

“Nope.” I took in the surroundings. I gawked pretty openly. The entire place was plush and very old world. The carpet beneath my feet was Oriental and the entire place looked like it was lit with faux gas lamps. It was easy to think I was walking into Victorian England. Alexander Sharpe must feel at home here.

“Then I get a call from Dev telling me to answer whatever questions you have,” Stacy said. “And trust me, Dev Quinn doesn’t call unless it’s really important. So tell me, what does Marcus’s mistress want with me?”

“I’m a private investigator,” I explained. “I think you’re missing some girls.”

Her eyes got wide. “You mean those girls aren’t slacking off? They’re in serious trouble?”

Yeah, there was no soft way to say it. “They’re dead.”

The blonde sagged a little. “Shit. I’m sorry. I was being rude. Please come into my private dining room. Marcus, Henri asked me to tell you he’s looking for you.”

Marcus sighed. “I know what it is about and I need to speak with him.
Cara mia
, do you mind?”

“Not at all.” I actually thought the blonde would talk more without Marcus around.

“Stacy, you will take care of her.” It wasn’t really a question, more like an imperial command.

“I’m not a monster, Councilman,” the blonde said. “I don’t leave humans to their own devices here.”

Marcus’s eyes narrowed. “I know one woman who would disagree with you. Understand, this is my woman. I will not deal with you in the same way the king did. You will find I have less compassion and I will not listen to my woman’s advice when it comes to such a thing.”

With that said, he turned and walked down the corridor.

“That sounded like a threat.” I wondered what had set off the normally even-tempered vampire.

“That’s because it was,” Stacy returned, looking me over. “You’re human, right? You’re not one of those glowy companions, are you?”

I shook my head. “I make it a habit to never glow.”

The blonde smiled, her first real emotion of the evening. “Good, I can’t stand those bitches. Come on in and tell me what the hell is going on with my girls. Let me buy you a drink.”

Yes, it was good Marcus was gone. She’d relaxed the moment he left. Now we could get down to business. “A woman after my own heart.”

Ten minutes later, I was enjoying a margarita on the rocks as I filled in Stacy Sears. She seemed genuinely upset and I was beginning to understand that her emotions were reserved for a select few, her “girls” being in that small circle.

She sighed as she thought about it. “I doubt it was a vampire.”

“I do, too.”

“They wouldn’t waste the blood and they would never bring anyone else into it. They’re secretive. Even the ones who hate the king respect the law concerning keeping their presence hidden. I know that everyone’s going to point a finger at Alexander, but why would he start up again after more than a hundred years?”

“You think he’s a model citizen?” If Alexander Sharpe had an accomplice, it could be a woman. I doubted it, but I wouldn’t refuse to consider it. He would likely have a lot of exposure to this woman.