Bound by Blood (Vampire Romance) (6 page)

~*~

Alex met Louis at El Lago. No message was necessary. Since their business with Carlos hadn’t been concluded the other night, he knew Louis would be waiting for him and was not disappointed. They sat at one of the tables at the far end of the room, hidden in the shadows and as far from the music as they could get.

“What was the purpose of dragging her into this?” Louis asked abruptly.

Alex shrugged. He could only be referring to Lisa. “I wanted to know what you thought; if she could be of any use.”

Louis chuckled. “You know my thoughts there, Alessandro. They haven’t changed. Even very beautiful women are best used for feeding of one kind or another.”

Alex gripped his glass of bourbon tighter. He had known Louis’s thinking. It had always been the same over the years. Why had he thought or believed it would be any different with Lisa? Because he saw her differently, he thought to himself. He took a swallow of the liquor.

It was Louis’s turn to shrug. “That bothers you, I see.” He reached out and clasped Alex’s wrist, grabbing the other’s attention. “Watch what you are about. She is beautiful in an earthy way, and I can see you are attracted. Don’t let her see it too.”

Alex shook off the other vampire’s grip. “I merely wanted to know if it helped that she was able to identify Carlos. Do you think he’s capable of this?” He ran a hand down his face. “In the years I have known of him, I have never known him to resort to taking a child.”

“This is different,” Louis agreed. “One has to wonder at the significance.”

“I do wonder -- which is why I came to you. I can hardly ask the people at headquarters what I need to know.

“Why do you persist in going the mortal route, Alessandro? You know we can find him much faster. And we will.”

“I do know it. In this case, I’m counting on it.” Alex gave a shrug and a tight smile. “You play with numbers. I, too, have to do something and this is better than many.”

Louis nodded in understanding. “There is still that justice streak in you, I see.”

“’Fraid so.” Alex took another swallow of his drink and put the glass on the table. “Probably more so now than in the past.”

“What is it about this that bothers you so much? A child harmed is always a waste, but others have disappeared and there has not been this sense of outrage in you before.”

Alex leaned across the table. “She’s mine.” His tone brooked no argument. “I have followed that lineage, Louis. You know that,” he practically hissed the words.

“Then go carefully. It could very well be because of you she was taken.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the other vampire. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Me? Nothing. But be aware no one ever knows everything. I would say let the mortals worry about finding the child  -- for the child and the parents’ sake. The child is nothing. For you, I think you need to look at why someone would want to attack you.”

Alex struggled not to bristle at his friend’s words. “So you do think it’s personal?”

Louis held up his hands, palm outward. “I have no idea at this point, Alessandro. Know that I am on your side, whatever it seems to be. All I am saying is for you to be careful.”

Alex nodded in acknowledgement. “So, my first task is to find where Carlos may be hiding.” He twirled the near empty glass between his hands. “You know, Louis, it must be something important, why else would Carlos come by in the middle of the day and make his appearance known, brief though it was.”

Louis gave him a tight smile. “That does seem to be the question.”

Pushing away from the table, Alex stood. “I’m on duty soon.”

Chapter 6

“Where the hell have you been?” Nick barked at him when he walked into the room. His partner was shrugging into his jacket and in the process of leaving the office. “Hey, slow down. Sorry about that, but I had a lead. Where are you headed?”

Nick stopped, but didn’t drop the scowl. “What lead? I just got a call from Morgan’s.”

“I had all calls re-routed to come through my cell phone, I got no call.”

 “Not a call,” Nick said. “This was a personal delivery.”

If it had been possible, Alex was sure this was the part where he would have felt his blood drain from his body. In all of his years seeking justice, as Louis put it, working for law enforcement as
he
stated it, there had been many such deliveries. If Sandy had been harmed in any way he would tear Carlos’ throat out. Not that he didn’t intend to do so anyway.

“Earth to Alex. Are you in or not?” Nick asked when he had Alex’s attention.

“Oh, I’m definitely in,” he said and followed his partner out the door.

As they slid into Nick’s car, the detective filled him in. “Someone delivered a note, attached to a very large rock, to the Morgan house.”

Alex let out a slight sound that could have been anything, but was his relief. A personal message could have been anything from a body part to the body. It had happened before.

His partner gave him a quick look then focused back on the road. “This case is really getting to you. I have never seen you react to anything like this.”

“There is something different when very innocent children are involved.”

“Damn straight there,” Nick agreed. “But all children are innocent. That was a funny way to say it.”

Alex let the comment slide. Perhaps in his years on the force and as detective, Nick had not seen a truly evil child. Alex knew they existed. They terrified him more than anything on this earth, even more than a rogue vampire, but that was not the case here, he reminded himself.

Once inside the house, they found Barbara Morgan seated on the sofa, crying softly into a tissue. Alex resisted raising his eyebrows. Mrs. Morgan was not the type to do anything softly if it wasn’t to her benefit. Just then, one of the officers came back into the room and stooped down beside the distraught woman, handing her a glass of water and aspirin.

Alex scanned the room for Jason Morgan, and found the man standing by a table, studying something lying there. The letter?

Quickly he made his way to his side. “What does it say?” he asked before leaning in to read the message himself.

Morgan turned to look at him. It took a moment for his eyes to focus; to come back to the present.

“It doesn’t make sense. Look,” he pointed to the missive.

Alex had glanced over the contents. He was right, to the casual observer, it made no sense. To him, it was chilling. Proof, in his opinion, the child was missing because of him. If she had not been of his linage, there would be no reason to abduct her. But to what purpose?

Roses are red, Violets are blue, I have the child, because of you. The child will
complete the circle
.

“What in the hell does that mean? Not exactly a ransom note, is it?”

 “Were the officers able to find any prints? Anything?” He kept his voice even, careful not to betray his suspicion they would find nothing.

“Not a damn thing. I’m beginning to think my wife is right. It has to be the nanny. She’s not here now, but she could have hidden Sandy away and then come back and delivered this message. She would have known not to use the phone because she was here when the tap was set up.”

Alex had to admit it sounded plausible, and damming, but he didn’t believe it. “Does your wife have a reason to suspect anything?”
“Not that I know of,” he admitted, “but she hadn’t been fond of Lisa from the beginning.”

“Have you looked in her room for anything to support her suspicion? Is everything where it should be?”

“No, she was here. I had no reason to look no matter what Barbara said. I can show you the room now, if you like.” He started toward the stairs and Alex followed. He turned to see Nick watching him, so beckoned the man over. He certainly didn’t need his help, didn’t want it, but working as a partner it was necessary to share once in awhile. Quickly he brought the other detective up to date as they headed upstairs.

The room was at the top floor of the house. While the Morgan house was up-to-date, it was one of the older homes in the area and dated to the early 1900s, if not before. The room he led them to would have traditionally been the servants’ quarters, Alex judged. It didn’t sit well with him that Lisa lived here in spite of the fact the room was large, bright and cheery.

“Your daughter sleeps up here too?” Nick asked.

It was possible, Alex acknowledged to himself. Nurseries tended to be on the top floor and nannies were with their charges, but this was above the top floor, it was essentially the attic, no matter how nice it appeared. He tamped down his own thoughts, they were decades, centuries, old and he knew it.

“No, Sandy sleeps downstairs, on the second floor,” Morgan clarified. “We felt it best the nanny have space to herself. Feel free to look around,” he told them. Rather than leaving, he stepped out of the way and leaned against the door frame, watching as they worked.

As Nick checked the space, Alex contemplated any motives Carlos might have.             He stood in the middle of the room taking everything in. Finally, his training, as well as his very nature, demanded he look about. Her scent was everywhere, as it should be. He knew a sense of relief it was hers alone.

“Anyone else ever come up here?” Nick asked.

“No. Not that she couldn’t have invited anyone over for a visit, but Lisa kept to herself all the time. She never talked to friends, never went out. She even spent a great deal of her free time with Sandy.”

Nick shook his head. “Some people have all the luck. I’ve seen when the nannies want to run off as much as possible. They either want more free time, or more money, or more something. Sounds like you had the ideal person, Morgan.”

“She was very good. At least I thought so.” His voice hardened on the last of the sentence. “It could have been an act. You know, once she saw how well off we were, she –“

“What was her background?” Alex stopped that train of thought from the other man, but was afraid his own questions was more personal interest on his part, even if he did need the information. He felt reassured when he Nick started taking notes.

Morgan shrugged. “She came highly recommended. Best agency and all that”

“What about her family,” Nick asked.

“Can’t say she ever talked much about them. Parents, obviously, somewhere.” He shrugged again. “I really couldn’t say.”

“She worked for you for what, a year?”

“Two,” Morgan said.

“Two years, and you don’t know anything about her?” Nick’s voice was incredulous.

Alex understood where he was coming from, but the information didn’t surprise him. People who wanted to hide didn’t talk about themselves. Obviously, she wanted to hide. He wanted to know why.

Still, why hadn’t this family found out anything more about her? What if she needed someone? They would never have known. He had to stop that line of thinking. Had he been any different when he was in Morgan’s position? He would have liked to think he had been, but in reality knew it had not been the case. It didn’t matter his had been a different world. Humane humans existed in all time and places. He was afraid he had missed out on both counts. Yet, he found himself curious about Lisa, and unreasonably angered that his family she worked for and lived with, knew nothing about her.

He prowled about the room as Nick continued talking and asking questions. He didn’t open any of the drawers, though he longed to do so, to see what she had hidden. If he had been by himself, he knew he would have. Instead, he confined his search to the exposed items; a few knickknacks, a small clay statue.

 When Morgan noticed his gaze straying there, he said, “That was from Sandy. She gave it to Nanny on her birthday.”

“Which was when?”

Morgan’s gaze swept back to Nick and he shrugged. “I really don’t know. Some time in the fall. Does it really matter?”

“No,” Nick assured him, and then continued on.

Alex spotted a picture frame, the only one in the room that he could see. It was on her dressing table. So she could see it every day, he wondered. Why not on her nightstand where she would see it each night and each morning? In spite of himself, he picked it up to study it. It was a much younger Lisa, with her bright hair reflecting the sun; her smile was just as bright. She was standing close to a youthful man who looked like he spent a lot of time out of doors. They were standing on a boat dock. Abruptly, he replaced the picture and looked around the room again. There really wasn’t anything else to see.

Nodding that he was finished, Alex waited for Nick to finish his questions, then they headed down the stairs. He wanted to be done here. To go home and see if Lisa was still there. He could hardly say any of it. He didn’t like that Morgan or the police considered her a suspect, but he had no desire to tell them of her whereabouts just yet.

“Did you find anything to explain why she would do such a thing?” Barbara Morgan greeted them when they entered the room. She stood and walked toward her husband, looking as if she would collapse at any moment. Alex wondered how much of it was authentic.

“We don’t think she did anything,” Nick told her in a firm voice. “But we thought it was a good opportunity to check.”

“Of course she did something. She took my Sandy. She had to. Otherwise she would be here, not running away after she posted some note.”

One of the officers came up to the group as Barbara’s voice grew louder. He looked at her, then over to Nick and Alex. “Did you find anything?” he asked them.

“There was nothing to find,” Alex told him. “Mrs. Morgan is overwrought, and rightly so. But I don’t think the young lady has anything to do with the abduction.”

“Perhaps we should bring her in for questioning.”

Alex drew his lips together. That was the last thing he wanted. What he needed to do was be out there looking for Carlos or why the other vampire would want a child; this child. The message could have been directed to him more than Morgan. Did Carlos know he was already involved? Alex was sure he had been counting on it.

“When she comes in, have her go down to the station,” Nick told the Morgans before the detectives took their leave. Now all Alex had to do was find a way to ditch his partner.