Succubus Tear (Triune promise) (23 page)

Stella nodded. “I will be glad to keep an eye on him.” The smirk that replaced the exasperated look on the district attorney’s face immediately made her regret saying that.

Videos of Cain following his arrest showed off all of his finer points of physical attributes. From his tall, tall frame, his sharp and cutting eyes, to his musculature that was typically only seen in Olympian athletes.

Fullson’s skin was so white, it was nearly translucent, and she struggled to keep it from blushing, and won. She kept her stare between the DA and the chief and tapped the phone that the DA was on only moments ago. ”We have seven minutes.”

Her words seemed to catapult the men back into action, and she smirked inwardly on how she won again. She returned back to the file and found it contained the contents of Cain Lamentson’s wallet.

Hmmm, might be something there.

She unfolded an old church program from 1999, from the Light of Heaven Baptists in Joelston, North Dakota. A business card from the lawyer that met with Cain. Strange, it was blank, save for Walter Stratton’s contact information. A concealed-carry permit, hmm, set to expire in a month. A few Japanese ideograms written on a heavy paper. She thumbed through the file. Ah, the translation was “come, and be ready.” A fortune from a fortune cookie: “
If the devil loves you, kiss her.” And a picture which showed four people sitting in a booth: Cain, his friend that came to the city with him, a brunette sitting with Cain, and…

Stella gasped and dropped the file. She hurriedly picked it up and stared at the photo.
Oh my God! Who is she?

Answering to the Law

“I am alone.”

—
Stella Fullson

“Wake up, dumbass,” a gruff voice barked.

Cain groggily shuffled his feet over the bunk and to the floor. He stared for a moment at three pairs of shoes: his, the shiny leather of an officer’s, and a pair of expensive café leather Italian heels. He passed a hand over his face and through his hair. “What now? Is it time for court?” He groaned to the shoes. “I really don’t think I have the energy since you guys thought that I needed to lose weight and neglected to feed me, or perhaps your fat ass ate it all.”

“Why you fucking—”

The café heels turned to the other pair of shoes that took a step back. “Corporal Rogers, is this true?”

“As far as I was told, the dumbass was fed.”

As Cain fought off a wave of dizziness, he heard an impatient sigh as the leather heels spoke again. “I believe the prisoner has a name. Corporal Rogers, please order a meal for Mister Lamentson. One more discourteous comment and you can expect an official warning.”

“But—”

“But nothing. You are a professional; act like one.”

Cain looked up to see the officer who had arrested him and a young woman dressed in a no-nonsense suit.

What the hell?
Cain’s eyes opened wide in shock. “Holly?”

The woman looked confused. “Holly? My name is Stella. Detective Fullson, to you.”

“Oh,” Cain said as he stretched and yawned. “For a moment there, I thought you were someone I knew.”

Stella shrugged. “Mister Lamentson, please follow me. I have a great deal to ask you.”

The next half hour was yet another uneventful ordeal that thankfully included a meager breakfast. Apparently Cain was arrested “for his protection” so they could deal with the real drug dealers. Considering that Cain himself might be in danger, they “assigned” Detective Fullson to watch over him as a “precaution.”

Yeah, sure,
Cain thought to himself. “I don’t understand. If I was arrested for my protection, then why was I questioned and starved?”

“We had suspicions—not absolute proof of your innocence, Mister Lamentson. Even though the charges are suspended, you remain a person of interest for us.” Stella eyed how ravenously Cain ate. “And, uh, had I been in charge of your case, you would have been fed.”

“Gonna eat that?”

“Oh, by all means. I lost my appetite,” Stella said and pushed her milk and pancakes to Cain.

Cain eyed the detective and spoke around a full mouth. “So, the law no longer provides protective custody?”

“Considering that you have maintained your innocence, why would you need protective custody? My assignment to protect you should be enough,” Stella said evenly.

Cain swallowed and looked Stella in the eye; he finished most of Stella’s food, but he was still extremely hungry. “Wait a second. You’re not saying that you—”

“Corporal Rogers, I need a moment alone with Mister Lamentson.” The officer left with a puzzled expression.

As soon as the door closed, Stella spoke again while pacing the room. “I do not know why some of these officers have their jobs. Most can’t even process evidence that is right before them.” She stopped and looked sideways at Cain. “But I think I’ll be grateful in this instance. Cain, your girlfriend presents something that I just can’t quite get over. Despite my best efforts, I cannot find where she is or who she is, for that matter.”

Cain wondered what this woman would say if she knew that he had a Demon as a girlfriend. “How do you know that I—”

“A recent girlfriend—less than three days, I’d say,” she said, her face deep in thought.

“And how do you know
that?
”

“A
desperate
girlfriend, no less. Very desperate, I’d say, and she must be one hell of a cook.”

“What the hell, how do you know this?”

Stella looked up. “Are you kidding? None of your neighbors ever recall you having female company over. Your bedroom is full of women’s clothing that was purchased just recently. Most of the articles still have the tags on them. Your trash bin is filled with food that is still within expiration, and your fridge and cupboard are full of organic and raw foods.”

“That is none of your business.”

“Perhaps you are right,” Stella said, nodding as she fished out something from a leather briefcase. “But what is my business is that my superiors saw fit for me to watch you.” Stella tossed him an envelope that showed pictures definitely taken from a camera phone. The pictures showed four men unloading packages off a truck and into his apartment.

“I suspect that there is a reason why your apartment was singled out. There is a reason why you were singled out, and I am willing to bet it is the same reason why your girlfriend is missing. So until we find out the details of this mess and connect all these loose ends, you are stuck with me watching you all the time.”

Cain looked at the pictures, hoping to see any trace of where they might have come from, or for any sign of Al’bah. “Are there any other options?”

Stella nodded and sat back down. “You can cooperate with us, give us some information that results in a significant break in this case. A break that will result in some real arrests, some real convictions.”

“Meaning to say, you still think I am guilty of all this, or at least connected to it all?”

Stella shrugged, never breaking her eye contact with Cain. “Would you expect anything less of any law enforcement entity? You have been in custody for twenty hours, and during that time you have spoken a total of one hundred words. That is not including your time spent with the only lawyer you met with.” She sighed and put her elbow on the table, cupping her chin in her right palm, slowly curling her fingers. “Add that up to the fact that your ‘girlfriend’ of, what, three days disappears right when all this happens? What was her name? Oh, yes. Al’bah.”

“How do you know her name?”

“Corporal Rogers has much to be desired when it comes to manners, but his hearing is excellent. He remembers running into you at the local mall with this Al’bah. Funny thing about her name, though, is that there is no one in the city that was around your area at the time of all this.” Stella pulled out a notepad and shook her head. “Nope, no one by that name, regardless of the variation of spelling, that lives even
close
to where you are.”

“What are you saying?”

“Cain, most drug dealers wouldn’t bother to kidnap anyone. It’s too messy. In most situations, people that deal with drugs would have just killed her,” Stella said patiently. “So you can imagine how it looks with all these funny details piling up around you and her.”

Cain swallowed hard; he knew what was next, and he used every bit of adrenaline and fear running through his body like a whip, lashing out to his brain as a frantic carriage driver to his horse to move faster! Faster!

“Where did you meet Al’bah?”

Cain licked his lips. “Strip club.” He kept his eyes locked with Stella, and fought against a supreme urge to laugh.

“Uh, ah…I see.” Stella muttered and wrote a few notes on a pad. “Which one, might I ask?”

“Dunno. I was drunk and half asleep. The lights were a purple and blue motif.”

“Okay, and, uh, did she introduce herself as Al’bah? Do you think it was her stage name?”

Cain shook his head, feeling a little more comfortable as he slipped from outright lies to half-truths. “Actually, I first knew her as Succubus.”

“Do you have her phone number?”

Cain started to relax a little. “Honestly, I never asked her for her number. I never even saw her with a phone.”

“Where did she come from? Is she a citizen of the city?”

Cain shrugged. “Actually, she was in some kind of trouble when I first met her. She asked me to take her as my own, and I…well, I…” He paused, hoping Stella would help him finish the sentence, but she kept her quiet, piercing stare.

“I just had to help her. She came with me without even a change of clothes. I just wanted…” Cain’s voice trailed off. Now that was something to ponder. What did he want? With himself, his life, and even Al’bah?

“Look, begin all and end all, I’m sure she isn’t in league with this mess. Maybe it was the people she’s running away from that took her, I dunno. But I am certain that Al’bah is alive.”

“You sound so certain, Mister Lamentson,” Stella said, her voice becoming friendlier. “You have that much faith in her? Or in people in general?”

At the word “faith,” Cain’s body tensed slightly. “I wouldn’t call it faith, Detective Fullson. I have a feeling, that’s all.”

“Feelings are fickle,” Stella said with a shrug as she dug through her leather briefcase. “I have some other questions to ask you.”

“Go ahead.”

“What is the nature of your relationship with Charlie Tsukada?”

“We’ve been friends since high school. I’ve known him for over ten years now.”

Stella flipped through a few more notes and nodded. “What can you tell me about Mark Green, John Tremmel, and David Hoelston?”

Cain flexed his hands so quickly, most of his joints popped. “They were elders in the church my father attended.”

“Go on.”

Cain shook his head. “No. That happened sixteen years ago. I was twelve, and it has
nothing
to do with today!”

Stella seemed like she was about to press the issue, but flipped to another page. “Fair enough. What can you tell me about Holly Archer?”

Cain was stunned; Stella knew her last name
before
she changed it. “How do you know about Holly?”

Stella rested her face in her palm for a moment and took a deep breath. “Cain, the time has come for me to remind you that
I
am asking
you
the questions,” she said with a voice that was still friendly but at the same time made him feel uneasy.

Cain shrugged. “I can just keep quiet. I know I’m gonna walk once I am in court. Your attempts for me to confess to something I’m not guilty of, or to twist my words, won’t work.”

“I agree—that is, if you had a court date coming.”

“What?”

“Have you forgotten already? All charges on you have been suspended for the time being. Funny thing about that is, you are now classified as a person of interest. I am sure you know what that means.” Stella folded her hands to her mouth and stared at Cain with her ice-blue eyes.

“I don’t know what kind of games people think they can play once they are in an examination room, and I don’t care. But I will respond to your disrespect for the law with the assessment I have made about you. Once I am done, you
will
reply to my questions with
answers,
not more questions. If you don’t, believe me, I have enough on you to hold you for questioning and protection until we find the
real
drug dealers.”

Stella resumed digging through her briefcase and plucked a digital recorder from its depths and clicked the “play” button.

“Cain Lamentson, male. Age: twenty-eight. As far as I can tell, Mister Lamentson has only held construction jobs, and only in temp agencies.

“In addition, Mister Lamentson has never opened a banking account, never held a credit card, never financed any major purchases, never had a phone number for longer than a year, and has never held an address longer than twenty months.