Really. Three times, and called him an idiot and a fool.” Her eyes widened as she spoke. “I've never seen her mad like that. She was just furious.”
“And he didn't stop her?” asked Hester.
“He just sat there. Really. I was driving, and he got in the car, and there wasn't really room, and she just started slapping him, and he just sat there and let her.”
“Really?” Hester didn't look convinced.
“Really, I'm telling you. You'd have to see her that way. I'm not kidding. He just got this stony look on his face, and never even said a word.”
Interesting. She'd established Jessica as the dominant personality, without a doubt.
“Well, since she's already been harboring a felon,” said Hester, “how much more damage can he do to her?”
“He wants to go to London,” said Tatiana. “See?”
“No,” I said, “I guess I don't. Why London?”
“You know. He says that's where he's from, originally. Anyway, to go all that distance, he needs more energy,” said the dancer. “Lots of it.”
“Yes?” She was losing me, and fast.
“We're afraid he has to kill again, to gain energy, before he can go on such a long trip.”
“Wouldn't killing somebody like that just drain more energy?” I asked. Thinking to myself, Jesus, what kind of nuts are these people?
“You know what he is. Huck said she told you what he is.”
“You mean a vampire?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah,” I said, “she and Toby and I guess everybody at least thought that's what he might be, to varying degrees.” I shrugged. “I don't think Huck believes that, really. Do you?”
“He is.” She said it very simply, and very convincingly. “He's a vampire. He gets energy from drinking blood. I know that.”
This was no time to bring up the subtle differences between actually being a vampire, and just being very delusional. She believed it, and that was going to have to do. The important thing was, if he really thought he was a vampire, there was a good chance he'd be tending to act as if he were. The downside was that if he was playing an elaborate game, he was only going into vampire mode to impress or frighten certain people. If that were the case, we were then dealing with somebody who was going to act normally outside their view. The latter scenario had my vote.
“So,” said Harry, “where do you think he's headed?”
Tatiana was silent for a second, organizing her response. She was genuinely worried, no doubt about that. She glanced at her watch. “Okay. Okay, look, Toby contacted us on e-mail, and said that he had some stuff to tell Dan. We just said to send it to us, and we'd try to find Dan.” She looked seriously at me. “Toby's not all that reliable, you know?”
“Yeah,” I said. “We know.” I made a mental note to obtain a search warrant for Toby's computer. I knew Harry was thinking the same about Jessica at this end.
“So Toby told us that Edie was talking to the cops. That'd be you, I suppose,” she said, almost as an afterthought. “So Dan called him, and told him to stop Edie by… by putting the stake in her heart, and other stuff.” Another deep breath. “So, you guys told us today that he really did that. Right?”
“Right. Or, at least, some of it. He did the stake thing,” I said, “but he couldn't do the other stuff.” She opened her mouth to talk, and I held up my hand. “Just so there's no misunderstanding, I really didn't say that Edie was actually talking to us. I indicated that her body could tell the pathologist things. Toby just put his own spin on it.”
“Oh.” She considered that, and I got the impression she didn't believe me. “Well, whatever. Anyway, Toby also said that Huck was talking to you, and that he thought Melissa was about ready to give up everything.”
“Well,” I said, “that's not been the case.”
“He thinks it is,” said Tatiana, “I can tell you that. Toby told him, and he's just furious.”
“So?”
“I'm afraid that he's going to go back to the Mansion and hurt somebody.”
“Why would he go back there? The cops know all about the Mansion,” Hester said.
“Because they've been cultivated by him, just for that,” said Tatiana. “They're his, well, his disciples, you know? And his livestock, kind of, at the same time.”
“Look,” I said, “why don't you come with us to some place where we can get all this down, and you can-”
“Jesus Christ, you guys! I gotta get back,” she said. “If Jessica finds out I'm gone… ” Her eyes darted to her watch, again. “Maybe later? Maybe tonight sometime? You do believe me, don't you? God, Huck said you were pretty real people.”
“I believe you about everything that counts, that's for sure,” I said. “I believe that Dan's pissed, and I believe Toby's an idiot. And I believe we better get some people to that house.”
She started walking away very fast, almost skipping as she turned back to us. “I'll call you,” she said. “Later,” and she was gone.
We decided that we'd better get word to the people at the Mansion, just in case he was really headed back there. I sort of doubted it, frankly. Delusional doesn't necessarily equate with dumb.
I called the Nation County Sheriff's Department on Hester's phone. I asked Sally to get a message to Borman.
“Just a sec, I'll let you talk to him.”
“What?” I didn't want to do that, not until I could reach him, anyway. But I had no choice. “He's right in the back room,” she said. “Writing his reports.”
Borman came on the line a second later. “Hi.”
“I thought you were up around the Mansion?”
“No, we went up there, and everything's fine. I thought I better come back down and get writing on these reports.”
I could see why he'd want to do that, but I wasn't all too happy about it. I thought he was trying to avoid working overtime, as opposed to being eiffcient.
“Look, go back up and talk to them again, will you? We have indications that Peale was in Lake Geneva this morning, early. He left. He's driving one of Jessica Hunley's cars, but we don't know which one for sure. There's a good chance he may be on his way back to the Mansion. Tell them that. All of them.” I really tried for a friendly voice. Well, a normal one, anyway. He didn't know that I was aware he'd filed a grievance, and he'd figure out Lamar had told me if I mentioned it.
“Oh, okay. Sure. So, like, you're over in Lake Geneva, then?”
Well, it was a good guess, and there really wasn't a reason to keep it secret anymore, since we'd already talked to Jessica.
“Yeah, we're in Lake Geneva. We got a few interviews to do yet, and should be on the way back tomorrow sometime.”
“Oh. Rank has its privileges, huh?”
I couldn't tell from his voice whether he was kidding or being sarcastic. “It sure does. You might want to remember that.” I took a breath, and lightened back up.
“Keep all this to yourself, though. Just you and Lamar. No point in the whole world knowing just yet.”
“Okay, I'll get right on it. Nothing much going on here, at all.” He sounded fairly earnest, and sincere.
“Okay. You might want to pick up some OT, and hang around up there this evening. Maybe a good idea to have a couple of reserves up there tonight, all right?”
“You got it.”
“Give me back to Sally, will you?”
“Yo!” Sally always managed to sound cheerful.
“Yeah, hey, keep me posted on anything that comes up, okay?”
“Always, Houseman. Hey,” she said, “I hear I'm a witness.”
