“Busy, as usual. Varied.”
“Ah. I have no doubt that in such a large and complex city the unusual must be usual, if you take my meaning. But what I had in mind was certain specific crimes. I was wondering whether word might have reached you from some of your fellow officers regarding a very unusual series of … ” Talisman, watching Joe’s face carefully, didn’t bother to finish.
Joe now told him, quietly and as completely as possible, of the dead man he had seen in an alley, and of the other dead men who went to make up the pattern seen by Charley Snider. “I guess he came to me with it because—well, we’re friends. And he must be convinced that I have at least one—somewhat unusual source of information.”
“I see.”
“Oh, not that he has any idea who my source is. I mean … ”
Talisman waved two fingers, regally dismissing any ideas that Charley Snider might have regarding him. “Perhaps I shall be able to do something for your friend in Homicide … and he, unknowingly, for me … yourself, you are still attached to the Pawn Shop Detail?”
“Yeah.”
“Therefore you are concerned, sometimes at least, with the location of missing objects?”
“At least I can make a stab at finding out if they’ve been pawned anywhere in the city. What’s missing?”
Talisman appeared to be framing his answer carefully. “Nothing of mine, Joe. And yet something that I believe we must find, or try to find. And somehow I doubt that it is in a pawn shop. Yet we must try every possibility available. I think it is not many miles from where we sit.”
“What is it?”
“An edged weapon. Old. I regret that I do not know much about what it looks like.”
There was a pause. Joe said: “Unless you can tell me more, I don’t see how I can—”
“But you must try. I will tell you what I can.”
“Yeah. Sure.” Joe took another sample of his martini.
“Joe, there are not many people in the world in whom I can confide freely. So while I enjoy your company allow me to ramble on a little. It may help me to think.”
“Sure.”
“You see, Joe, I am compelled by circumstances to temporarily take up your profession. In fact, your friend in Homicide and I are interested in the same murder cases; from different viewpoints, naturally, yet I am as anxious as he to see them solved.”
“That’s good to know,” said Joe sincerely. “Then maybe my first private guess was right. When I first noticed the lack of blood. Whoever is killing these winos is… ”
Talisman was nodding gently. “A member of my community rather than of yours. You may say the word: a vampire. Yes, I have determined that such a one is at least among the guilty.” Talisman made a sound like a sigh, but without full breath behind it. “I have, in my own community, as you probably know, a certain position of leadership. I have it only by default, perhaps, but there it is. I have discussed this case with other honorable members, who agree with me that some action ought to be taken. I have their moral support if probably no other kind. We will not willingly shelter such a guilty one among us.”
Oh? thought Joe. He felt sure that there was more to Talisman’s game here than he was yet telling. He also wondered what the couple at the next occupied table would think if they could overhear this chat.
Talisman went on: “Neither your police force nor your courts are equipped to deal effectively with vampires.”
“That’s for sure.”
“Yet you have information, and certain ways of gathering information, that I lack. Therefore I propose that we informally join forces.”
The waitress arrived with Joe’s steak. When she had accepted Talisman’s insistence that he was not going to order food, and had departed again, Joe said, with a faint smile of his own: “This of course is the point where we always tell people to give us their information and then leave the investigating to the professionals. But naturally in this case—”
“—any such injunction to me would be imbecilic. Naturally. Alas, now that you are ready to help me, I still do not know exactly what aid I may require. There is, as I have said, the weapon to be located. And … ”
An airliner, taking off, drew faint vibrations through the silverware and dishes.
“There is among the guilty, as I have said, at least one man of my own people.”
“How many people in all are there involved?”
Talisman conveyed ignorance.
“This one man who is of your people, as you put it. Do you know his name, what he looks like?”
A headshake, minimal but impatient, dismissed all such commonsensical, methodical questions for the time being. Now we are coming to the real point. “Among those somehow involved, Joseph, there is another man who interests me much more.” Talisman paused, gazing out the window again. On his face was an expression of quiet excitement, a look different from any that Joe had seen him wear before.
The vampire turned back from the unreflecting glass; he spoke softly, but with emphasis. “Compared to myself, Joe … compared to me, I say … this other man is something of an oddity.”
“Huh?”
Talisman’s manner relaxed a trifle. “But never mind the extremely odd man now. He is not a vampire, nor is he, I think, among the guilty. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Unfortunately one of my fellow
nosferatu is killing helpless victims, and I intend to stop him. He is not killing for food; you know that we can obtain all that we really need from the blood of animals. Nor are his crimes of sexual passion. He is engaged in wicked ritual.
