“You’ve been good to me, Glory. Mom knows that. Say the word, and we’ll have every cat in Travis County out at the Westwood ranch ready to do a little scratch and sniff.” Lacy snarled. “We’ll show that dipstick what happens when he messes with a friend of ours.”
“Appreciate it, but I don’t want to drag anyone else into this. Blade and I are on it. Let me see what we can figure out.” I heard the bedroom door open. “Got to go. Thanks for handling things.” I ended the call, then met Jerry’s gaze. Time to face the music. I just hoped it wasn’t a funeral dirge.
I laid it all out for him, all the little details I’d left out before. Richard’s help to get David out of my shop and how I’d gotten the police involved on his second try. Then my little adventure with Viv as a cockroach.
“You make this sound like a game.” Jerry had practically walked a trench into the hardwood floor, and he looked like he wanted to shake me again.
“I know it’s not. The stakes are too high. A billion has more zeros than I can wrap my brain around.” No kidding. I celebrated when my bank balance hit three digits after all my bills were paid.
“Everything you’ve done so far has just postponed the inevitable. Convince the Westwoods to give up this hunt, or kill them both.” Jerry sat on the bed beside me. “I think you know the only viable option.”
Sometimes I forgot just how ruthless Jerry the warrior had been back in the day. I guess he saw my lack of self-preservation at all costs as a character flaw.
“Sorry, Jer, but I just can’t kill two mortals. Besides, where would their bodyguards be while we’re ripping out Westwood throats? Twiddling their thumbs?” I grabbed his hands. “You see how this could turn into a nightmare?”
“It already has, Gloriana. Wake up and deal with it.” Jerry was itching to do just that. The old-fashioned way. And vampires didn’t take prisoners. The bodyguards would be collateral damage.
“Quit looking like you want to rip out someone’s throat, damn it.” I started my own stomping circuit of the room. “There’s got to be another way. But reasoning with them won’t work. They both want the money and surely deserve to inherit their father’s estate.”
“Maybe, maybe not. We have no idea what their relationship with their father was like.” Jerry stopped me in my tracks. “Let’s go. You have to talk to the police. Look how these people have already complicated your life. Now you’re involved in an investigation.”
“I know. I hate it. I remember when the media thought Vintage Vamp’s stood for vampires. It got worse when Flo painted that mural on the shop wall that looked like a vampire biting a woman’s neck. I had a heck of a time convincing the public that a vamp was nothing but a roaring-twenties hottie.”
“Your Goth customers are still hoping for a fang sighting.” Jerry pulled me down the stairs. “Forget all that. Tell the police that Westwood’s crazy and you’re an innocent victim.”
“That’s true! This vamp hunt is totally unfair. The police should be on my side. I pay taxes. Though pitifully little compared to a billionaire. Damn, Jerry. If it comes to a power play, I’m shit out of luck.”
Jerry frowned and jerked open the kitchen door. “Wait and see what the Westwood boy told them to explain his presence in the alley with an army at his back. That’ll help us.”
The detective who interviewed me was happy to share David Westwood’s story. Seems David had my name as a person of interest, someone who’d been around when his father had disappeared. He’d been watching my shop trying to find his missing dad. Cue the violins. Witnesses claimed Daddy had died in the woods near Lake Travis and I’d been seen there that night. Blood had been found in a clearing that private DNA tests had confirmed belonged to Brent Westwood. No one had reported it to the police because his body hadn’t been found. No body, no proof of a crime.
The detective shook his head. “Beats me why they didn’t even file a missing person’s report. If I disappeared like that, my kids would be all over it.”
“That is strange. Not sure I’d believe a word this guy has to say.” I wondered why David hadn’t mentioned that video I’d heard about, but I sure didn’t bring it up.
Anyway, according to the detective, David had admitted that his father had been hung up on vampires. The whole scenario had freaked out his kids, and maybe David had overreacted to Dad’s notes that claimed I was one of them. So he’d come to my alley fully armed to try to talk to me. The one time he’d come to my shop, I’d refused to meet with him. And my friends had been big dudes who seemed to run with a rough crowd. So Dave had brought his own reinforcements.
“What a fairy tale. First, this guy showed up in my shop with bodyguards built like fire plugs and the IQs to match and asked my clerk some questions about me, made my customers uncomfortable. My friend who asked him to leave was an ex-priest. Sound like a rough type to you?” I waited until the detective wrote that down.
“Second, yes, I met his father once. He was creepy, talking about vampires. Who believes in that stuff? I threw him out of my shop. I mean, do I look like a vampire to you?” I tossed my hair, batted my eyelashes and gave the detective my “Glory is an innocent victim” look.
“Nutcase, pure and simple. The whole family obviously has a screw loose. Had him pegged as soon as I saw that crossbow. Sorry to bother you, Ms. St. Clair, just had to follow up.” The detective shut his notebook and stuck it in his pocket. “The firepower those guys were carrying was way out of line, permits or not. Looked like an ambush, not a guy wanting to talk.”
“Exactly! You see why I’m so freaked out? One of my employees had a car parked back there and saw the whole thing. She said they had my picture, like I was a target or something.” Jerry, who’d stayed silent and watchful, was right beside me. “I’m afraid to go out my own back door now. Surely Westwood will face some kind of charges.”
“That’s up to the DA. I’ll turn over my notes, suggest they step up patrols in this area.” The detective laid a business card on the counter. “Call me if Westwood bothers you again. Ask for Danny Oleto.”
“Why, thank you, Detective. I feel safer already.” I walked him toward the door. “If Westwood gets released, will you let me know? I want to be aware . . .” I pulled a face. “In case he’s stupid enough to come around again. And he’s got a sister. Do you think she might bother me too?”
“I’ll talk to her. Warn her off. But it was obvious to me that Westwood realized he’d made a mistake when he got to the station. His lawyer sure reamed him out.” Danny smiled. “I think you’re okay for now.”
“Thank you so much.” I smiled and held out my hand.
“No problem, I’ll stay in touch.” Danny shook my hand, then headed out. Once outside, he walked over to a patrol car parked at the curb. He leaned in and spoke to the officer inside as I shut the shop door.
“Interesting.” Jerry spoke from behind me.
I looked around and saw that we had no customers. The patrol car pulled away, and the detective got into an unmarked car. That should help.
A lot of my regular customers were leery of law enforcement. Paranormals enjoyed my shop because they liked helping out a fellow freak. Other customers sometimes had an illegal substance stashed in their pockets while they enjoyed my reasonable prices on vintage clothes. Then there were some who avoided establishment types on general principle. Sure enough, the door jangled as a couple dressed in black with multiple piercings came in from the coffee shop next door.
Erin waved me off and went to help them, steering them to the cape section. Lacy’s shift had ended, and she’d taken off.
“Let’s go to the back room.” I led the way, Jerry silent behind me.
I turned to Jerry once the door was closed. “If the Westwoods aren’t believing in vampires now, I wonder what they think happened to their dad? That video, and the two bodyguards, made it look like I killed him. Which I did, of course.”
“You’ll certainly never admit to that. Unless you can convince them that it was self-defense.”
“It was! The video is bound to prove that. And everyone knows he was treating me like an animal, hunting me down.” I paced the small room. “I bet that estate can’t be settled until they declare Westwood legally dead. Both kids are dependent on old Brent’s money. I’m sure they’d do anything to get it settled quickly.”
Jerry watched me pace. “So what do you have in mind?”
“We need to find Westwood’s body for them. They’ll be so grateful, they’ll be more than willing to forget I ever existed. Even better, they might even spring for a reward.” I stopped in front of him. “Of course I know exactly where he died. Then you asked your daughter and her friends to clean up the site. Drac should know where they dumped the body.” Lily’s boyfriend had renamed himself Dracula this century.
“You’re right. Let’s see what they know.” Jerry pulled out his phone and hit speed dial. “Lily, where are you? Is Dracula with you?”
I could see Jerry getting frustrated but didn’t use my vamp hearing to eavesdrop. I knew he’d give me the highlights.
“We’ll meet you there in ten minutes. Don’t move.” Jerry ended the call. “Those half-wits are at Damian’s trying out a new synthetic blood that’s supposed to give you a buzz. We’ll be lucky if they’re coherent by the time we get there.”
“Let’s go now, then.” I stuck my head out to tell Erin we were leaving and came face-to-face with Vivien Westwood and her bodyguard. She gasped and grabbed Sean’s arm.
“Ms. St. Clair? C-can we talk?” Viv didn’t look as confident as usual. Maybe because Jerry was glaring at her like he was about to rip out her throat. Oh, yeah.
“Love to. Come into my back room.” I threw open the door.