Night Of The Living Dandelion Part 20

Marco found the icon to magnify the image. "Sure, I remember her," Caryn said. "She's the one who was murdered, right?"

"Right. Her name is Lori Willis," I said.

"Creepy how she was killed, wasn't it?" Caryn said to me. "Like a vampire attack."

A muscle in Marco's jaw twitched, but he didn't comment. Instead, he directed Caryn's attention back to the video at the point where Lori was speaking to her. "Do you remember what she said to you?"

"She wanted to know if anyone had asked for her. I said no, then asked if she had a reservation. She said she had one but not under her name. Then she said she'd be back later."

"Did she tell you the name of the other party?"

Caryn shook her head. "Not then, but she did the second time she checked. She said the reservation was under Vlad Serban."

I glanced at Marco and saw that jaw muscle working hard, but he let Caryn continue without interrupting.

"So I said to her, 'Are you talking about the vampire?' And she just smiled like it was supposed to be a secret." Caryn rubbed her arms, as though shivering in delight. "I wish he'd shown up! How exciting would that be?" She turned toward me. "Are you into vampires?"

"No, I like normal, red-blooded men, not men who drink red blood."

"Whatever floats your boat," Caryn said, and giggled. "We say that a lot here."

I noticed Marco giving me a look that said, Can we get on with this? So I said, "I think my partner has a question for you."

"Oh, sorry," Caryn said, turning her attention back to Marco.

"How many times did Lori check with you?" Marco asked.

"Just twice. Then she sat down at a slot machine where she could see the front of the restaurant."

"Did her date ever show up?" Marco asked.

"Not that I was aware of."

"Did anyone ask for Lori at any time during the evening?"

"No. Sad, isn't it? First the woman gets stood up, then killed. Talk about bad karma."

Marco thanked Caryn for her time, and Van Cleef escorted her out.

"Someone wanted Lori at the boat that night," Marco said. "But why use Vlad as the lure? I'm not seeing the connection."

"Did you see Caryn's reaction when you mentioned Vlad? A lot of women are into the vampire craze, Marco, and therefore highly attracted to Vlad. Lori must have been one of them. Maybe a coworker or someone at the bar overheard her talking about Vlad."

He pointed to the screen. "Let's see if Lori leaves with anyone."

We started the video again, skimming through as much as we could, stopping so I could write: 1 a.m. Lori left boat alone. Still no sign of Vlad.

We ran through another hour's worth of the video; then Marco turned to Van Cleef, who was working at a desk nearby. "Can we see the surveillance video of the parking lot for the same Tuesday evening?"

"If you give me about thirty minutes," he replied.

I glanced at my watch. "I've got to get back, Marco. The orders are probably piling up. Why don't you take me home and then come back?"

"Let's make it in one hour then," Marco told Van Cleef.

I asked Marco to call me as soon as he'd viewed the video; then Team Bloomers swept me into the shop and off the crutches so Grace could take her lunch break. Because of my limited mobility, Lottie took parlor duty while I helped customers in the shop. We weren't as busy as the week before, primarily, I thought, because of a police presence on the block to keep away the vigilantes.

Once we were fully staffed again, I headed toward the purple curtain, then noticed that the dieffenbachia was standing several feet away from the corner, with nothing behind it.

"Lottie, what happened to the bat mobile?"

"It sold. Can you believe it? Two college kids were in here for coffee and scones at lunch and happened to spot the bright colors swaying behind the dieffenbachia leaves. They bought it for their dorm room."

"Fantastic! Mom will be thrilled."

Smiling happily, I rolled into the workroom to whittle down the stack of orders, only to discover a measly two waiting for me. I pulled the first, then wheeled over to the giant coolers to gather my stems. I heard a scratching noise coming from somewhere near the back of the room, so I went to investigate. By the time I got there, however, it had stopped.

I started to move away, then heard it again, but this time it seemed to be coming from the kitchen, so I wheeled through the doorway and paused to listen. Now it sounded like it was coming from the back door.

I maneuvered the wheelchair through the narrow galley kitchen to the landing. To my left was the thick fire door that exited onto the alley. To my right was the steep wooden staircase that led to the bas.e.m.e.nt, a chilly old dungeon of a place that I visited as infrequently as possible. In my current condition, that meant not at all.

There it was again.

I wheeled to the back door and put my ear against the metal. It was coming from the other side, as if an animal in the alley was scratching to be let in.

"Lottie, would you come here a minute, please?" I called.

"What is it, sweetie?" she asked, huffing as she hurried toward me.

"It sounds like something is scratching at the back door. Do you think we should open it?"

"I'm game. But you'd better move back. No telling what's out there." She gave the big handle a hard turn, put her shoulder against the door, and pushed until she could peer outside.

"Oh, Lordy!" she exclaimed.

"What is it?"

"Not what. Who." She opened the door wider and said to the unknown who, "You'd better come in."

A wraithlike figure in a hooded black cloak slipped inside. In the dim light of the overhead bulb, I saw white eyeb.a.l.l.s with dark circles beneath them and only a partial outline of a face, the rest hidden in shadows. A puffy red hand reached out of the cloak and pushed back the hood, revealing shimmering copper hair.

"Hide me!" Jillian whispered.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

"Jillian!" I cried in alarm, only to have her put a trembling finger to her blue-tinged lips.

"Sh-h! I might have been followed."

"Jillian, sweetie," Lottie said, "you don't look good. Let me see if you have a fever."

Jillian cringed and moved away from her. "I'm fine! I just need to talk to my cousin for a moment." She faked a smile.

Lottie raised her eyebrows at me, so I nodded that it was okay.

"If you need anything," Lottie said to me, "just call."

Jillian waited until she was gone, then knelt in front of me. "I think she's in on it."

"Jillian, no one's in on anything. You've got a bad infection that's affecting your thinking."

She rose and paced the length of the kitchen, arms folded, and said in a brittle voice, "Or so Claymore wants everyone to believe!" She opened the old refrigerator, scanned the contents, found the egg carton, and pulled out one of two remaining eggs, cracking it and emptying it directly into her mouth. Good thing they were organic.

Giving a shudder, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, disposed of the sh.e.l.l, then sighed, as if she felt better. "Got any raw beef?"

"No! Come on, Jill, you're not a vampire."

She pointed to one of her eyeteeth. "Look at this! Do you need more proof?"

"What am I looking at?"

"Fangs, Abby! I'm growing fangs!"

"Your tooth is the same length it's always been."

She shook her head sadly. "You're going to have to face facts, Abs. Your gorgeous, talented cousin-the Knights' own bright light-has become a night fright."

An endowment that included a penchant for verse, obviously.

"If you're a vampire, what are you doing out during the day?"

"Why do you think I wore this cape? I had no choice if I wanted to escape."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Are you rhyming on purpose?"

She fanned her face. "Why is it so hot in here?"

"Abby?" Lottie called from the workroom. "Marco is on line one, and Claymore is on line two."

"One minute." I glanced at Jillian. "What do you want me to tell your husband?"

"You haven't seen me." She glanced around like a desperate animal, saw the doorway to the bas.e.m.e.nt, and scurried toward it.

"Jillian, no! Don't go down there. It's cold."

"Good. I need to cool off." She descended a few steps, then called back, "You don't happen to have a coffin down here, do you?"

"What do you think?"

I heard footsteps going down, then from the bowels of the bas.e.m.e.nt, "How about a pullout sofa? I think I might camp out here for a while."

I picked up the receiver from the wall phone in the kitchen and hit the b.u.t.ton for line one. "Marco, I've got a minor situation with Jillian on my hands. Can I call you in a few minutes?"

"Sure. I'm on my way back from the boat."

"Okay, I'll call you in a few minutes." I punched line two. "Claymore?"

"Abby, Jillian's missing again."

I heard a clatter of clay pots coming from below. "Actually, she's in my bas.e.m.e.nt."

"What is she doing down there?"

"From the sound of it, making a mess. She wants to camp there."

"I'll be right over."

"Hey, Claymore, bring her antibiotics."

I hung up, then called Marco back. "Sorry. Jillian showed up. Despite your heart-to-heart with her, she's certain that her eyeteeth have grown longer and that Claymore is trying to do away with her. She just went down to the bas.e.m.e.nt to hide."

Marco groaned.

"Hey, your relatives are nothing to brag about," I said. "Tell me about the video."

"How about some good news first? My computer-savvy friend was able to track down the HOW TO KILL A VAMPIRE Web site owner. I contacted him and explained the situation, and he promised to take it down. He said he was hired to design and manage the site and was sent the materials for it by a John Smith, who paid in cash through the mail. John Smith is an alias, so we don't know who was actually behind it, but at least it's down."

"John Smith? That's original. So what was on the security video?"

"Let me get my notes. Okay, here we go. At twelve forty a.m., a male in a black trench coat, with black hair and light skin, can be seen moving among the parked cars in the lot. It's obvious the person is dressed to look like Vlad."

"Just like the photo I saw on the HOW TO KILL A VAMPIRE Web site."

"The figure heads in the direction of Willis's vehicle, then steps behind a large gray van that's parked beside her car and isn't seen again. At one a.m., Willis leaves the casino, enters her vehicle, and drives away alone. So whether the person in the trench coat had anything to do with her disappearance is not proven by that video, but he sure as heck wanted it recorded that Vlad was in the parking lot that evening."

"The trench coat man could have broken into Lori's car and hidden in the backseat."

"It's possible. It's also possible that the person in the trench coat had nothing to do with Willis's abduction. The driver of the gray van is seen leaving the casino ten minutes after Willis and driving out of the lot. There's no way to tell if he has company or is alone. But I did get a license plate number and will have that run down.

"The bad news is that the video seems to implicate Vlad, and the police will be looking for just such evidence to prove their case. They already have digital copies, so it's just a matter of time until they view that particular video and spot the figure in the black coat. That may be all it takes for the chief prosecutor to file a murder charge against Vlad."