Past Due (6 page)

Frankie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. A psycho with a grimoire was never good news.

“
What’s his name?”

“
Bradley. Bradley James.”

Frankie paced her living room. She’d been through the income tax records, deed poll, voting register, council tax and census details from the last five years. Bradley James had disappeared from them all three years ago. She didn’t bother checking out his last known address. It had been sold after his parents were brutally slain by a presumed burglar. Bradley collecting the inheritance was the end of his paper trail, he’d converted his assets to cash and poof, disappeared.

Currently she was running his name through the LDB, the List Database. MI5 keeps a record of any lists they can find, membership lists, mailing lists, blogs and websites, any list of names they found. It was a blunt tool but sometimes effective.

Now she had two issues. The first was how much to tell Will. This was probably the easier of the two and she dialled his number.

“
Campbell.”

“
Will, it’s Frankie. I spoke to the witch and have a suspect for you, Bradley James.” She couldn’t risk lying in case he spoke to Clara himself.

“
She only gave you one name?”

“
It’s him, Will, I’d stake my career on it.”

“
Okay, I’ll run him down now.”

“
Not that easy. I’ve already checked and there’s no trace of this guy in the system. Any system.”

“
Did you check tax records?”

“
Yep. He’s a cipher.”

“
I can see why you like him for this. Of course that could mean he’s dead.”

“
Well, I’ve done what I can from my side. I’m sorry I couldn’t find more on him.”

“
Don’t worry about it. If he is the killer, we’ll catch up to him.”

Not too quickly, she hoped. “Good luck with that.”

After she hung up she faced the call that made her insides squirm. The simple fact was that both murder victims were linked to Dante’s which meant the killer likely was too.

Of course it was only healthy to be hesitant of a vampire but Frankie had a feeling there was more to her reticence than simple fear.

She checked her watch, Two hours until sunset. If she was going to call it was better to do so now while he was sleeping soundly. She rehearsed her message a couple of times then dialled his mobile number and waited for his voicemail to pick up.

“
Hello?”

Crap! “Uh, is Alexander McNabb there?”

“
Speaking. Miss Wright?”

Frankie closed her eyes and silently cursed. “The sun is still up, I was expecting to get your voicemail. You’re going to shatter all the vampire myths, aren’t you?”

She could hear the pleasure in is voice. “Only the ridiculous ones. What can I do for you?”

“
I have a suspect and I wanted to know if you keep any records of your customers.”

“
Your suspect, he isn’t named Brad, is he?”

Her shock made her speechless for a moment. “Yes. Well, Bradley.”

“
I’ve been making my own enquiries and one staff member remembers him as standing out.”

“
I’m coming down there.” She hung up and grabbed her coat.

Chapter Four

Alex smiled as he hung up the phone. He hadn't expected to hear from her so quickly. Of course the club didn’t open for another three hours but he could use that time to get to know her.

His home occupied the floor above his office and as well as an external entrance he had stairs that opened into his office, though the entrance was well hidden from prying eyes. It was easier to work during the day if he didn’t have to go outside to get to work. He went down through his office and into the club. While he waited, he phoned Tracey, asking her to come in to work as soon as she could.

He’d had the foresight to put awnings over the front and rear entrances to the club so he could let people into the club during daylight hours without getting burnt by the sun, though it was unnecessary this late in the day because the sun was safely hidden behind the surrounding buildings.

It wasn’t long before he heard her car and he stood in the front doorway waiting for her.

“
I’m afraid you’ve beaten my staff here,” he told her. “But I can fill you in on what I’ve learned in the meantime.”

Frankie approached the doorway slowly. She had rushed here but now felt hesitant. When he told her the staff weren’t there yet she felt foolish. She should have thought of that herself.

Alex held the door open for her and she slipped past him into the club. The overhead lights were on now and she could appreciate the décor in a way she hadn't been able to last night. The whole club was decorated in shades of brown, from mahogany tables, brown leather sofas and chairs and biscuit coloured walls. It seemed a shame that the low lighting hid most of it from his customers.

The club was divided into sections. In the middle was a dance floor, to the right of that were the booths, in various sizes - from two people recesses to tables and booths that could easily sit eight people.

On the left of the dance floor was the bar area. Immediately around the bar were tables and chairs and on the edge were sofas and armchairs.

“
Can I get you a drink?” he asked, heading behind the bar.

“
I’m fine, thank you.”

“
Honestly, if I wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead. I wouldn’t drug you, it’s unnecessary and it taints the blood.”

What was he, psychic? God, she hoped not. “I’m not thirsty, thank you.”

“
As you wish.” Hardly a second later he was at her side, having crossed ten metres in the blink of an eye.

Her heart missed a beat and she swallowed down a frisson of fear. “Very impressive.”

He gestured to the sofas beside them and they both sat down.

“
So who is your suspect?” she asked.

“
Brad is the only name I have right now, her description was rather generic so I can’t put a face to him.”

“
I haven’t been able to find a picture yet either. Who is “her”?”

“
Tracy, she works here. I’ve asked her to come in early so you can speak to her.”

“
Why do you suspect this Brad?”

“
Because he has an interest in witchcraft, stood out from the crowd, told people he was better than they were and that one day everyone would see.”

“
That’s too much of a coincidence, it’s got to be the same guy.” Frankie narrowed her gaze. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“
Ah, well, I did something that’s not exactly legal.”

Frankie nodded. “Okay. You don’t strike me as the type to let a little thing like breaking the law get in your way so what’s the problem?”

“
You. I’m not saying you’re police, but you are in law enforcement, right?”

“
You’re good.” She considered how much to tell him. “You’re right, I am in law enforcement, in a manner of speaking, but my… department has been known to cut a few corners itself when necessary.”

“
I’ll make you a deal, Miss Wright. If you will be honest with me, I’ll be honest with you. Sound fair?”

It wasn’t an issue of trust any longer, she
did
trust him. At least she trusted him not to kill her. After all she was here and she hadn't told anyone she would be here so if she went missing she would become just another statistic. The problem now was whether he would trust her if he knew who she worked for.

Before she could come to a decision Alexander held his hand up. “Tracy’s here,” he told her.

“
How do you know?”

“
I can hear the key in the back door.” A few moments later Tracy came into the bar. She was petite, with short black hair cut into a pixie-like style.

“
Tracy, thank you for coming.” He went over to greet her and guided her back to the table with his hand in the small of her back. “This is Miss Wright.” He introduced Frankie.

Frankie had taken her gloves off and held her hand out. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you. Alexander tells me you know Brad.”

An image of Brad came forward from Tracy’s memory. “You know Brad?”

Frankie hadn't released Tracy’s hand and now put her other hand on top, as though she was sharing a confidence. “Yes, I’m worried about him. His friends haven’t seen him in a few weeks. Do you have any idea where he might be?”

Tracy was running over recent memories of Brad, searching for something to help but Frankie could tell there was nothing useful in her memory. She had a feeling Bradley was too smart to have left clues behind.

“
I’m sorry, I haven’t seen him for at least a week and I don’t know where he could be.”

“
That’s okay. It was still worth asking.” She released the girl’s hand.

“
Tracy,” Alex redirected her attention. “I asked you to come in early because there’s a discrepancy in our last stock take. I was wondering if you could check the stock and sales tallies for me? Time and a half for coming in early.”

“
Of course. I’ll let you know when I’m done.” She disappeared into the storeroom.

“
Miss Wright, shall we adjourn to my office?”

Frankie picked up her bag and followed him.

“
Do we have a deal?” he asked, closing the office door behind him.

Frankie headed to his desk and picked up a pad and pencil. “Okay. Where do you want to start?” she took the items back to the sofa and sat down.

“
Let’s start with names. I’m Alexander McNabb.”

Frankie looked up from the pad. “Really?”

Alex smiled. “All right, I was born Alexander Rutherford but McNabb has been my legal name for the last five years. Your turn.”

“
Francis Wright but I only answer to Frankie.”

“
It’s a pleasure to meet you, Frankie,” he held his hand out towards her. “Please call me Alex.”

Frankie realised with a start that she hadn't put her gloves back on. She ignored the hand and turned her attention back to the pad she held. Alex raised his eyebrows but didn’t comment.

“
Who do you work for?” he asked.

“
The Security Service. You could call my department the British equivalent of the X Files, only we don’t chase aliens.”

“
You keep order among the supernatural community.”

“
Not quite. We keep it hidden. If someone or something is killing, like it is here, we stop them but our primary job is to prevent a public panic. So what is your illegal act?”

“
I visited both crime scenes last night.”

“
That was dangerous if you’re trying to stay below the radar.”

“
But necessary.”

“
What did you find?”

“
Probably not much more than you did.”

Frankie looked up at him, wondering how he knew she’d been there.

“
I could smell your perfume there,” he answered without being asked. “What I also noticed was a smell of decay.”

“
From the blood, maybe?”

“
No, I checked. Besides it would have been stronger at the older crime scene if that was the case yet it was the other way around.”

“
So are we talking animal or vegetable?”

“
Animal. certainly.”

“
Any idea how long whatever died had been dead?”

“
I don’t understand.”

Frankie was concentrating on the pad in her hand. Alex wondered what she was doing but decided not to pressure her, yet.

“
I mean can you smell the difference between a little mouldy and putrefaction?”

“
It’s not flawless but whatever died hadn’t been dead very long. Perhaps four weeks maximum.”

Frankie stared at the pad for a moment, her features screwed up in thought. “It doesn’t make any sense. It must be something he brought with him. I would say a spell ingredient except he didn’t perform spells.”

“
My thoughts exactly,” Alex agreed. “So what does a detective do with information like that?”

“
File it away for now under “doesn’t fit” but don’t forget about it. You’d be surprised how many mysteries are solved when the one piece that doesn’t fit finally slots into place.”

“
Then why not continue to work on theories?”

“
Because we’ve covered the most likely ones. You’ve thought about it, I’ll continue to think about it but there’s obviously something we’re missing, something we don’t know yet that will make sense of this.”

“
So what have you learnt about Brad?”

“
Full name Bradley James, 22 years old, only child, parents are dead, probably killed by him and he’s been off the grid since then. He’s about 5’6” tall, his build is on the slight side and he looks like this.” She handed the pad to him.

He looked at the sketch. “You have a good eye. I recognise him; he began coming here a few years ago. Never seemed to have many friends, he’s a secretive, sneaky sort.” He handed the pad back to her. “How did you do that? You said you didn’t know what he looks like.” He had a theory but he wanted to hear her explanation.