The other two men Crofton had introduced her to included a mage with a membership at the Benning’s country club and a mage with business connections to Johansson. He kept popping up. There were three top-end country clubs in the metro area, and most of the Hundred who lived in the area were members of one of them.
It didn’t necessarily mean anything, since the Hundred tended to socialize and do business with each other. When they weren’t trying to stab each other in the back, of course. I had investigated two murders involving members of the Families, and it was like walking into a snake pit draped in silk.
I rode over to Walker’s house after calling to make sure he was home.
“May I speak to Jordan Walker?” I asked when a girl picked up the phone.
“Just a minute. Dad! Phone!”
I hung up.
But on the way there, I took a slight detour to check the address of Johansson’s mistress. The apartment building wasn’t fancy, but it wasn’t a dump either. Five stories tall, and all the apartments had an outside entrance. I had the apartment number but didn’t know the girl’s name. No problem, I didn’t plan to interrogate her. But I was curious, so I rang the doorbell.
“Yes?” The girl who opened the door looked about fourteen or fifteen and was dressed very nicely. Very pretty, dark hair and eyes. Maybe a touch too much makeup for someone so young.
“Is your mother home?” I asked.
She got a puzzled look on her face. “My mother doesn’t live here.”
“Is this where Norma Thompson lives?” I made up the name on the fly.
“No, you have the wrong address.”
“I’m sorry. What’s your name?”
“Janice. Janice Iranski.”
“Well, I’m so sorry to bother you. You live here alone?”
“Who are you? Why are you being so nosy? It’s none of your business.”
She shut the door in my face. Johansson kept a fifteen-year-old mistress? I hadn’t felt any magik from her, and she was obviously human. Retrieving a miniature magitek camera from one of my bike’s saddle bags, I went back to the apartment and stuck it in a place where it could record any movement both at the door and through the front window. The curtain was currently closed, but if it was open, the camera’s view would include the room inside.
A short ride took me back to Crofton’s neighborhood. The girl who answered the door at Walker’s house was almost the same age as Johansson’s mistress.
“Hi,” I said. “Jordan Walker? I called earlier.”
“Oh, yeah.” She turned and yelled. “Dad! Someone to see you!” She disappeared back into the house, leaving the door open and me standing on the porch.
He came to the door, and I said, “Mr. Walker? Ronald Crofton gave me your name. I’d like to talk to you about Sarah Benning.”
For a moment, I was afraid he might have a stroke. His mouth fell open, and he stared at me, then turned to see if anyone behind him might be listening. Seeing we were alone, he stepped outside, pulling the door shut behind him.
“Who are you?”
“The police detective assigned to find Sarah.” I held up a picture I had printed from one of the vids the vamp gave me. It left no doubt that Walker and Sarah knew each other intimately. “Where were you between nine and ten o’clock on Tuesday night?”
He was practically hyperventilating but managed to gasp, “Picking my daughter up from her concert practice.”
“Oh? She goes to Loretta Academy?” That was Sarah’s school.
“Yes.”
“Your daughter goes to school with Sarah Benning?” One would think I had seen it all in my profession, but I was shocked and blurted, “My, God. Are you doing your daughter, too?”
He turned red in the face, breathing heavily, and slid down to sit on the stoop, staring at me in horror. I figured I’d better get out of there before I was blamed for causing a heart attack.
“Well, have a good day, Mr. Walker.” I turned and walked away. His alibi would be easy enough to check. I hoped he was innocent of my suspicions concerning his daughter. Maybe I was naïve, but I couldn’t imagine that little girl spanking her own father. He probably hadn’t touched her.
Something I hadn’t done yet was drive the route Sarah should have taken between the school and her home. I did that, along with checking several alternate routes that would have taken her by stores that would have been open late in the evening. I checked with dispatch at the Met, and no incidences were reported that night in the entire area. Rich mage territory. Very low crime rate due to burglars and muggers having a low survival rate.
When I got home, I took a long, hot shower and scrubbed myself so hard I was bright red when I finished. I still didn’t feel clean.
Chapter 16
Kirsten’s shop was closed on Sundays, and it was a rare occurrence for me to have the day off, also.
“What do you want to do?” she asked as she dropped a delicious-smelling fruit-and-cream-cheese breakfast tart in front of me. “We could ride out to one of the orchards and get some apples and cider.” I noted a hopeful tone in her voice. There were advantages to rooming with a hearth witch, and then there were additional advantages to rooming with a hearth witch. Just thinking about what she would do with those apples made my mouth water.
“I can’t,” I told her. “I owe Whittaker a report on my search for Benning’s daughter, and I need to put some time into that search. Because so far, I’ve got zilch to report other than his little girl has a thing for perverts. But I’m no closer to figuring out what happened to her.”
“Sounds like she planned to meet someone on her way home.”
“Yeah, but only briefly. Either to get something from them, or to set up something for later. But it didn’t work out the way she
