Blake's Pursuit (12 page)

She reached for the USB stick. It was a little damp, so she dried it. Remembering Adam’s comment that she could use the laptop in the kitchen, she walked to the nook and sat down in front of the computer. She jiggled the mouse, and the screen woke up.

While she inserted the stick into a USB port, all kinds of ideas as to what data she would find coursed through her head. Had Hannah come across some government corruption or witnessed a crime? Had she come into possession of important documents that had inadvertently put her in danger? Was she involved with some kind of organized crime, like the Mafia, Russian or otherwise?

Finally, a window opened, displaying the contents of the memory stick: one single file. A video. She double-clicked it, then extended the picture to full screen.

She recognized the setting immediately. It was Hannah’s apartment. The angle at which the recording was taken suggested that the camera had been sitting on the bookshelf. Almost as if she’d had a baby-cam. Or a dog-cam. Hadn’t Hannah mentioned a few months earlier that she’d wanted to keep an eye on Frankenfurter during the day while she was out working? Had she bought a hidden camera to do just that?

Well, it didn’t matter. What mattered was what the video showed. There was no audio. Nevertheless, it was evident that the two men in Hannah’s living room were arguing. One of them was Ronny—she recognized him from the picture Blake had shown her. The other one stood with his back to the camera, preventing her from seeing his face.

Why had Hannah hidden this USB stick, when all it showed was her boyfriend arguing with another man? Without sound, she couldn’t even make out what they were fighting about. Maybe a lip reader could decipher some of the things Ronny was saying, but the other man’s replies remained unknown.

With a frustrated sigh, she focused on the video again, just as Ronny moved toward the door. The other man grabbed his shoulder, turning toward the camera and jerking him back. Now she could see both men’s faces. And she recognized the other man now: it was the man who’d attacked her in Hannah’s apartment. Ronny and he knew each other!

She had to tell Blake. In her mind, this practically confirmed that Ronny and this stranger had something to do with Hannah’s disappearance.

She was about to jump up, when something on the screen drew her attention back to it. The two men glared at each other, their eyes like red beams.

“What the—” She choked on her next word. What was happening in front of her eyes wasn’t possible. No, she had to be hallucinating. She blinked, trying to clear her vision. What she was seeing was impossible, was against all laws of nature.

Ronny and the assailant were turning into creatures that couldn’t possibly exist: creatures with red glaring eyes and sharp white fangs that they flashed at each other in a show of aggression.

Vampires.

No. It couldn’t be.

She moved the progress bar back a few seconds to the point where the stranger grabbed Ronny’s shoulder and watched the entire sequence again, this time focusing on any inconsistencies in the video that might indicate that it had been manipulated. But it was seamless. These weren’t two videos that had been spliced together, no, this was one continuous recording.

Which could only mean one thing: the two men in the video were vampires. Real vampires.

Her heart beat into her throat, and her hands began to shake. This was what Hannah had been afraid of. She’d found out that her boyfriend was a vampire. And to protect his secret, he had…

“Oh God,” she murmured, slamming her hand over her mouth to stop herself from crying out, when a gasp behind her made her whirl around, sending her heartbeat into the stratosphere.

“Wesley,” she choked out.

But he wasn’t looking at her. He was staring straight past her at the screen. “Where did you get this?”

Automatically, she pointed to the ruined appointment book on the kitchen counter. “Hannah’s appointment book. She hid it in there.”

Tears welled up in her eyes. “This can’t be true.” She looked back at the picture which had frozen on the last frame. The white of the two vampires’ fangs fairly leapt off the screen. “But it must be. Wesley, they are vampires. The man who attacked me. And Ronny, Hannah’s boyfriend.” A tear she couldn’t stop rolled down her cheek. “What are we gonna do now? Hannah found out about them. They must have hurt her to protect their secret.”

The secret that vampires existed. That they weren’t just fictional.

Wesley slid onto the seat next to her. “Let’s look at it rationally.” He pointed to the screen. “This is probably a fake. It has to be. There’s a lot you can do nowadays with video editing software.”

“This isn’t edited. This is one continuous recording. Wesley, they’re transforming into vampires right in front of my eyes. Don’t you see that?” As hard as acknowledging this fact was, she couldn’t deny what she saw with her own eyes.

Wesley sighed. “I know it looks like it, but we have to weigh up all the possibilities first, before we jump to conclusions.”

She shook her head, slamming her fist on the table. “But I’m looking at it. It all makes sense now. That guy—” She pointed to the stranger in the video. “—when he attacked me, I thought I saw his eyes glare red. At first I thought it was just some light reflecting off his irises. But that’s not what it was. He was about to show his vampire side. If Blake hadn’t shown up when he did, he would have bitten me!”

“Lilo, calm down. You can’t know that!”

“I’m not crazy, Wesley!”

“I’m not saying you’re crazy.”

“You’re implying it.” She huffed. “Damn it, why don’t you look at it?” She pointed to the screen once more. “Ronny and his friend are vampires. And this is how Hannah found out. She accidentally recorded them. She was afraid for her life. That’s why she hid this in her appointment book, so if something happened to her, we would find it and figure out who hurt her.” She closed the window and ripped the stick from the port. “I’m going to take this to the police.”

“No,” Wesley protested.

She shot him a glare.

“I mean, they’re just gonna look at you like you’re crazy. They’ll never believe that this is real and not just some video some kid put together for Halloween. Think about it for a moment, before you do anything.”

“The police need to see this.” She jumped up.

“At least wait until Blake is back. Maybe he can make sense of this.”

“There’s no time. I can’t wait. Every second counts. If Hannah is still alive, and I pray she is, then I could never forgive myself if I waited even one minute when this information could help us find her.” She shoved the USB drive into her pants pocket.

She took a few steps toward the door, and Wesley followed her. He grabbed her arm, making her look over her shoulder.

“Some random policeman isn’t gonna believe you. It’s a waste of time.”

Lilo shook her head. “Call Blake and tell him I’m on my way to the police station. Tell him what we found. But I’ve got to go. Officer Donnelly already has a report about Hannah’s disappearance. He’s already working on this. When he sees this video, he’ll know what to do.”

At least she hoped so, because she didn’t know what else to do. She’d never had to deal with anything like this in her life.

Vampires!

Not only was their existence a shock she couldn’t begin to grasp, the horror of knowing that Hannah was in their hands filled her with pain to the point of paralyzing her. She needed help. She couldn’t wait for Blake. Who knew when he would be back? Besides, he was following up on other leads about Hannah’s whereabouts. No, the police would have to help her with this. They would have to use all their resources now to get Hannah back and protect the rest of the city from these monsters.

17

It had taken her nearly a quarter of an hour to hail a taxi. She’d had to walk two blocks to get to a busier area where more cars were circulating. Only now, in the late afternoon light, did she realize what an exclusive area Blake’s house was located in, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. But right now she couldn’t feel any appreciation for her surroundings, because her entire belief system had just collapsed.

Vampires! How could they possibly exist?

Guilt blasted through her once more. She’d failed Hannah. She hadn’t been there when her friend needed her most. How much her friend had needed help was only now becoming evident. And what had she done? She’d been concerned about the deadline for her book! As if that mattered now.

The video flashed in front of her eyes again. How would she ever forget what she’d seen? Monsters. Vile creatures, out to kill. The thought sent a chill through her bones. What if it was already too late for Hannah? What if they’d sucked her dry and killed her?

Lilo pushed the tears back. No, she couldn’t allow herself to cry. She had to keep up the hope that Hannah was alive.

“This is it,” the taxi driver announced, coming to a stop in front of the police station she’d visited only last night.

She paid the driver and got out. Her knees were shaking when she walked up the stairs to the front doors. For a brief moment she stopped there, taking a deep breath.

Inside the police station, she looked around. Several people were waiting, one female officer was talking to one person, and several others were crowding around them, talking excitedly. Behind the counter, several policemen in uniform and in plain clothes were milling about.

She craned her neck to look over the people in front of her to see if Officer Donnelly was sitting in one of the cubicles.

“Officer Donnelly?” she called out.

The policewoman at the counter cast her an annoyed look. “You’ll have to wait your turn, Ma’am. Take a seat.”

“But I just need to talk to Officer Donnelly. He knows me.”

“Be that as it may, as you can see, we’re busy here.”

“Donnelly isn’t on shift till tonight,” a policeman from behind the counter said, as he walked by.

“Oh, no!” She caught the policeman’s eye. “This is urgent. I filed a missing person’s case with him last night. And I have a lead on who might have kidnapped my friend.”

The policeman stopped and looked back at her. “Listen, Ma’am, just wait your turn, and somebody will be with you shortly.”

She squeezed through to the counter. “Please, Officer, I can’t wait. Every minute counts. The longer my friend is missing, the less likely it is that we find her alive. Please!” This time, she allowed the tears to well up in her eyes.

The police officer sighed. “Fine.” He waved to the door on the other side.

As she made her way there, several of the people in the waiting area grumbled about her jumping the line. But she ignored them. If only they knew what she’d found out.

The policeman opened the door for her and let her in. “I’m Officer Carter. What’s your name, Ma’am?”

“I’m Lilo Schroeder. I was here last night.”

He motioned to one of the cubicles. While he took the chair behind the desk, Lilo slunk into the one next to it.

“So, what can I help you with?”

Lilo leaned forward. “I think I know who took my friend.”

“So we’re talking about a kidnapping?” His gaze was steady and almost disinterested.

“Yes, well, I filed a missing person’s report last night, but now I’m pretty sure she was taken.”

“How’s that, Miss Schroeder?”

“I saw the man who attacked me in her apartment.”

“You were attacked in your friend’s apartment?”

She nodded eagerly. “Yes, yes, I told Officer Donnelly all about it last night. He’s got it in his report.” She pointed to the computer. “It’s all in there.”

“Hmm, well, let’s check then.” He put his fingers on the keyboard. “You don’t happen to have the case number?”

She shook her head.

“No worries. How about the name of the missing person?”

“Hannah Bergdorf.”

He started typing, then glanced at the screen. “Hmm.” He looked back at her. “Hanna with an
h
or no
h
at the end?”

“An h.”

He typed again, pressing his lips together. “Hmm. That’s odd. There’s nothing in here. Maybe it was entered under your name.”

“Lieselotte Schroeder.”

He entered her name, then shook his head. “Nothing. You said you were here last night and you filed a report?”

“Yes.” She leaned forward to look at the monitor. “There must be something. I also reported the break-in.”

“A break-in?”

“Yes, in my friend’s apartment. By the guy who attacked me.”

The policeman tossed her a skeptical look. Did he not believe her?

“Please, you need to help me. I think I know who took my friend.” She dug into her pants pocket and pulled out the USB stick, showing it to him. “It’s all on here. It’s on video. It’s horrible.” She looked toward the counter, where civilians were getting impatient. “But you have to look at it somewhere in private. If people see what’s on there, there’ll be panic.”

He reached out his hand, taking the memory stick from her. “Mm-hmm.” His voice was a little softer than before, as if he was trying to calm her down.

Suddenly a hand swooped in and snatched the USB stick. “Why don’t I take it from here?”

She whirled her head to the man, who’d spoken and sighed with relief. “Officer Donnelly.”

“Miss Schroeder.”

“Donnelly, what are you doing here?”

Donnelly shrugged. “Thought I’d come in early. Heard it was busy.”

“Yeah, you can say that again.” The police officer paused for a moment, then pointed to the screen. “Couldn’t find the missing person’s report Miss Schroeder here was talking about.”

Donnelly cleared his throat. “Yeah, my system crashed after I entered it. Gotta reenter all the data.” Then he turned away from his colleague. “Now, Miss Schroeder, why don’t we go to my office. It’s way too loud out here to have a proper conversation.”

Relieved, she dropped her shoulders, relaxing a little. Donnelly would help her.

When Donnelly closed the door to his office behind them, shutting out the voices from the waiting area, it felt soothing.

“So, what’s going on, Miss Schroeder? Has something happened since last night?”