“Where are you?” More silence. “Jameson, where are you?”
I heard a low breath inhale, followed by the kind of laughter that sends chills into every corner of your body. A voice, neither male nor female, barely human, clucked into the phone. “Jameson can’t come out to play,” it said. “But if you’d like to join him…” It let the open invitation linger.
Son of a bitch. My mind was arranging fractured memories of a vampire who had twice very nearly been the death of me. The voice on the other end of the phone did not belong to Alexandre Peyton, but the coldness of the laugh and the demonic pleasure it took in evoking terror was the same.
Vampires like this were the reason I had a job. Demented nutjobs who were so scarily confident in themselves they believed they were really unkillable.
“I’d rather play with you,” I said, my hand reaching instinctively to my back to make sure my gun was still there.
The vampire didn’t know what to do with that. There was a pause filled with nothing but the eerie clucking and the sound of an oft-unused tongue sucking air at the back of a throat, learning how
to work again. Finally it spoke. “Play with us. ”
“I will. ”
“We are where the fun has gone to die. ”
I shivered. “Care to vague that up a bit for me?”
It clucked loudly, annoyed. “Where the midway lights no longer shine and the carnival games are no longer played. ”
That narrowed things down for me. I had a pretty solid idea of where the voice meant. The abandoned amusement park near Rhinebeck, about two hours north of the city. I’d been reading about the plans to convert it into a garden park or any number of other ridiculous things, but much like all abandoned property, no conclusions were easy to reach.
I, for one, wished every abandoned property would be torn the hell down. They create perfect dwellings for vampires, and I was not too fond of walking into dark, spooky places with lots of good hiding spots.
I sighed. “Leave the good prizes until I get there. ”
In the living room, I was a little surprised to find they hadn’t sat in silence waiting for my return. Desmond was leaning forward on the sofa, talking animatedly about Roman architecture, and Ingrid was defending him to the death about the merits of the Gothic style.
Capturing Desmond’s attention, I nodded towards the door. “I’m sorry to leave so soon, Ingrid, but something has come up. Please see that Sig gets Holden’s journal. ”
Desmond met me at the entrance and politely shook Ingrid’s hand a second time. “Pleasure to meet you, Ingrid. ”
“You as well. ” She smiled at him, then turned her focus to me. “Holden won’t be safe until we can prove someone else was responsible. Sig will believe the evidence, but in order to have the council respect his annulment of the warrant, someone else will need to stand accused. ”
“So, even though I found you evidence to clear him…”
“You still need to find out who actually did it. ”
I had been worried about that since she’d taken the book. “Can’t I blame Juan Carlos and call it a day?”
“Would that you could, Secret. ” She held the door open and let us out. Before she closed the door, she offered me a business card made of the same stiff material as the warrants Sig issued me. On it was her first name and a 212 area code number.
Leave it to Ingrid to score a 212. She’d probably had it since seven-digit dialing still existed in Manhattan. In the living room, Mozart played on. Ingrid existed simultaneously in several centuries and seemed to feel comfortable that way.
“What’s this for?” I asked.
“For whatever you need. ” She rested her head against the half-open door. “I’ve been told I am responsible for ensuring your needs are met. ” She didn’t explain any further, but she didn’t need to.
Sig had told her she had to do anything I asked.
“Just get him the book,” I said, and slipped the card into my pocket, along with my phone. I hoped I wouldn’t ever have cause to use it.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“I’m dropping you off at the apartment,” I told Desmond once the valet had returned with my car. He began to protest, which I knew he would. “There’s something I need you to do for me, and I don’t have time to argue about it. Please. ”
Mollified, he climbed into the passenger seat, and while we drove he waited patiently for me to give him his assignment. I chose to stay silent until we were almost back at the apartment before I continued.