Shadows of Doubt (42 page)

When Max walked into the war room he heard buzzing, beeps and hums coming from all the equipment Rich had brought in. He saw Frank sitting in front of six monitors that had been fastened together with modular piping. He and Rich had headsets on and were talking into cell phones as well. Rich handed Max a headset as soon as he spotted him.

“Dom is on the Comm.” Was all Richelieu said once Max put the headset on.

Max heard the crescendo of voices all at once saying “My Dominor.” Then they were quiet.

Max was not new to this. It was how things worked in a time of action. “Status?” He said, his voice being transmitted to every operative at once.

One by one each team reported in. Relaying their current position or findings as of that moment. Abby was always the one to check in last. After she informed him of the new locations that teams one, two and three were being dispatched to, he heard an unfamiliar voice calling “Team Fourteen reporting...” And smiled despite himself when he realized it was Caroline.

“Five possibles on the toxins. I am running any and all purchases over the past four months with the assistance of Team Thirteen.”

“Basis for four month limitation Fourteen?” Max asked her.

“My Dom...” Caroline answered without pause. “Subject von Massenbach arrived in Los Angeles exactly three months, twenty-six days ago. It is unlikely that he would have entrusted the procurement of such a critical component to his plan to anyone.”

Max nodded in agreement even though she couldn’t see him. “Agreed. Critical thinking Fourteen, keep me posted of your findings.” Under different circumstances he would have laughed at her falling right into line on the operation just like a veteran. Now, he was just grateful to have another good mind at work finding Lou. The sensation of a cold hand on his shoulder blade startled him and he spun around to find Shevaun standing there. He quickly muted his line and gave her all his attention.

“What is it?” He asked her as he took her hand gently. He was certain she hated him. It being all his fault that her daughter was in the clutches of a homicidal madman. “Come sit and talk to me.” He led her to a pair of chairs out of the way.

“Abby explained all of this to us, about Albert and his actions against you.” A tear fell down her cheek and it broke his heart. “She told us about your fiancee and everything.”

Max wiped the tear from her cheek and sighed. “I am so sorry, Shevaun. I should have never allowed my feelings to get away from me. If I had kept things under control, Lou would never...” Shevaun placed her hand over his mouth before he could say another word.

“This is not your fault, Maximilian! You are not responsible for the actions of a lunatic! I don’t ever want to hear you apologize for falling in love with my daughter ever again, do you understand me?” Her eyes were fierce with her demand.

He placed his hand over hers and kissed her palm softly and for the first time in nearly six-hundred years, his own tears fell silently.

“Max, I didn’t come in here to make you sad. Listen to me now, I have been thinking about everything Abby said. Everything that I know trying to make sense of this and it occurred to me that we might be thinking too typically here.”

Max looked at her thoughtfully. “Explain please?”

“Well think of it, think about all the other victims now that you know the who and why. There has to be some commonality that you didn’t see before. Some sort of pattern or story even that this son of a bitch is trying to tell you.” Her eyes were still fierce, but he saw a light of hope that he often saw in Lou’s.

“How would this help?” He wondered aloud.

“Because it would help you think like him. Just as any good detective gets inside the head of their suspect to find the hole they hide in. They are sloppy when they are cocky. They think they are too clever and you haven’t gotten it yet, so why would you now?”

Max stood up and resumed pacing. “So where he takes them may be something obvious that I would have known. Should have known if I understood what he was trying to accomplish by all these killings.”

“Exactly.” Shevaun stood up and placed her hands on his chest. “I think it’s going to be simple now that you know it’s him and why it’s him. I just need you to calmly think it all through. Lou needs you to.”

Max looked at her for a long time and considered. He looked at his watch and took a deep breath. It was just after two in the morning and Lou had been gone for just under two hours. Was it significant that Albert had planned a midnight supper for his guests? Had he planned to take Corinne at midnight just as he had Lou? He bolted into the other bungalow.

“Abby, was there anything off about Lou’s food?” He demanded as he screeched to a halt in front of her.

“How the hell would I know? She never got to eat remember?” She looked at him bewildered.

“Abby!” He shouted at her, making her cower slightly. “You ate Lou’s food! You were sitting in her seat!”

Abby’s eyes grew big as saucers. “Oh shit, that’s right! But our metabolism is entirely different from human. I wouldn’t have reacted to almost anything he put in her food.”

“Abby have you peed since you ate?” Caroline asked as she made a dash for the kitchen.

“Well no, there hasn’t been time!” Abby blinked with confusion.

“Go pee Abby!” Max ordered as Caroline returned from the kitchen with a small glass and handed it to her. “Pee in the glass! What do you need Caroline?”

“I got it, it will be on its way.” She was dialing frantically on her cell phone. “Carpesh?” She nearly screamed into the phone then headed back into the kitchen as she barked orders at the skittish man.

“You tell him I said move!” Max shouted loud enough so that he knew Carpesh would hear him.

Shevaun had been right. Calming and thinking about events had led him to the probability that Albert had done something to Lou’s food that would have lured her away from the crowd. It was just a stroke of luck that she had gone to the restroom on her own and not because of something she ingested.

“You’re not going to like what I am about to say.” Caroline said to him when she returned, holding a piece of cellophane in one hand.

Max grimaced at her. “Just say it, I think I am already going there in my own head anyway.”

“If he drugged her food, then he’s just smart enough to have calculated that into whatever dose he gave her when she came out of the bathroom.” Abby returned from the restroom and handed the filled glass to Caroline, which she promptly covered with the cellophane. “Since she didn’t ingest anything, she will be coming to sooner than that calculation.”

“How much sooner?” both Max and Abby asked her at the same time.

After setting the glass in the small refrigerator, she came back and looked at both of them. “If it was one of the five possibles, at most, half the time. Maybe three hours down?”

Max looked at his watch and noted the time. She had been gone for approximately two hours and seventeen minutes. He had under forty-five minutes to put the pieces together as Shevaun suggested and get to Lou.

Albert knew she wouldn’t be conscious yet but he was so giddy, he just
had to peek in to make sure. As he headed down the hall to his workroom, he reflected on how everything had gone like clockwork. Well, almost. Considering he had an entirely different fly in mind just days ago, he couldn’t complain too much about one or two minor hiccups. His little minion had taken care of the tedious work for him while he waited patiently hidden in the hall. He had to admit that she took a lot longer to come out of the restroom than he expected. He even thought perhaps he had put too much of the sedative in her salad and she fell asleep in there, or worse. Too much of the root and she would have gotten violently ill rather than just nauseated. The point was to get her to go into the restroom, but she had taken forever to come out. When she finally did, all the fretting was for naught. He had snuck up on her with the pressure syringe so fast she never knew what hit her. It was almost disheartening that she went down so fast and without a struggle. However, considering the fact that all of his other guests were just several yards away, faster was better in this instance.

He opened the door quietly, looked in and was disappointed but not surprised that she wasn’t stirring. Checking his watch then going over his calculations in his head on the half-life of the drugs in her system, he was certain she would be out cold for at least a few more hours. It was just as well. He had a few things he needed to tend to so that he could be completely focused on his fly. Besides, they were simply no fun when they were loopy from the drugs so there was absolutely no rush at all. He closed the door, not bothering to be quiet about it, and headed back to take care of his loose ends.

Lou couldn’t move, couldn’t see and something was in her mouth that made it difficult for her to breathe. At first she thought it was the typical disorientation she’d have when she first woke up. Hell, she had given herself a black eye just the other day. But this was different and somehow she knew it, even in her groggy state. It was silent as a tomb, which is why for a moment she thought perhaps she was still asleep, having a bad dream. She forced herself to stop and think. Focus rather than fuss. She began remembering. First she remembered leaving the bathroom, then digging in her purse for her perfume, then the stinging sensation on the back of her neck and everything fading to black after that. Lou remained perfectly still as she thought it all out and did a check of all her extremities. Each arm felt slightly numb but she could feel her forearms and wrists being held to the arms of a chair with wide straps. Her legs felt the same numbness and they too were strapped at her ankles. She could feel the belt-like strap across her waist and another across her upper chest. It was starting to sink in and she reminded herself to stay calm, still and quiet. Lou realized she was blindfolded because she could feel her eyelashes rubbing against the cloth when she blinked and more than likely it was a ball-gag stuffed in her mouth. Her head wouldn’t move at all because it too was strapped to the chair but it was when Lou realized she was naked that she knew she was in trouble.

He had her, the son of a bitch. Stay calm and think, she told herself as she tried to remember everything she could about the previous murders and the victims. Knowledge was power and that was the only form of power she was going to get at the moment. When she thought about what she and Caroline went over on the victims, she remembered they had come to the agreement that their suspect waited and took his time inflicting pain. He wanted them to suffer, so they wouldn’t have been unconscious when he started. Buy time and play coma girl, she thought. They will notice she’s gone from the gala. Someone will look for her and they will figure it out. Her mother, Max, the two of them would notice. But Max thought she was angry and might not go looking for her. He may even think that she had left because she was too upset. No, he had arranged for security. No way in hell he would let her take off without keeping tabs on her. He would send security to the house, see that she hadn’t gone home. Right, that takes time so back to coma girl to buy that time for them to get a clue. Whoever this was that had her, he wasn’t in the room now or he was far enough away she couldn’t hear any breathing but her own. She thought about trying to rock the chair to get a feel for how sturdy it was. Perhaps try and crack it sideways by tipping over. No, he could be watching on a video camera or other surveillance, waiting for her to stir so he could come in and get started. Stay calm, play possum and pay attention to every little thing to try and gain an advantage somehow. And start praying.

The instant Carpesh
arrived with cases of equipment, Caroline started transforming the bungalow kitchen into a mini-lab. They hoped they wouldn’t have to waste time sending samples to the big lab and could narrow things down from where they were.

Abby spun around in her chair after clicking off from a call. “Okay I have two new bits of info. First, since we locked the party down tight, the caterers didn’t have a chance to clear all the salad plates so they were able to get mine, or rather Lou’s. You want it brought here?” She looked to Max and Caroline.

“Do we have anyone at the lab right now?” Caroline looked at Carpesh.

“Yes, we have Duke there. I’ll have him wait at the entrance to meet the delivery.” Carpesh started dialing the tech in question to have him standing by.

Abby’s fingers flew as she sent the instructions out via text to her guys. “Okay now for the bad news...” Max looked at her with a good bit of panic in his eyes. “We found the limo in a back alley off Flower, downtown. Slimy dead guy in the driver’s seat who was not dressed as a proper driver, according to Polis, and all the stolen plates were in the back save for the one he mounted on the car as a diversion.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Max sat on the edge of the table scowling at her. “He didn’t take her out in the limo?!”

“I am already running all surveillance to identify any vehicle that took off within our time frame.” Abby tried to look hopeful.

Max grumbled and started pacing again. “Alright, we need to think about this carefully using all the bits we know and I need to go back and think about everything like Shevaun said.” He looked over at Lou’s mother who was staring at nothing while nursing a cup of tea. “I know she’s right, I just can’t clear my head enough to get a hold on it.”

“You need to go back in your head, now that you know it’s him and why.” Shevaun said as she came out of her fog. “Think about him back then and factor in what you know now about him. Like he’s a sadistic, cruel and devious bastard that’s hell bent on making you hurt and look bad for his own personal satisfaction.”

“Christ, it’s so hard to see him that way.” Max rubbed the back of his neck as he thought about it all. “He was a noble warrior and a good Aegis, or so I always thought!”

“Yes and he counted on that all this time.” Lou’s mother got up and stood in his face now. “Now you have to rethink him. Pull in anything that stands out in your memory knowing what you know of him now. It could be something innocuous or seemingly frivolous that you overlooked before. He knows you so he has been boring under your skin for decades. He knows how. Only you know those buttons he’s pushed, so only you can figure it out.”

Max nodded at Shevaun and sat down in a chair to go over his memories. Thinking all of it over in his head, with all of the data he had just found out. It did put a completely different complexion on the past.

“Abby...” Caroline called out to her from the mini-lab. “Did you feel nauseous at all?”

Abby considered a moment. “Well yeah, but that’s to be expected given what’s going on, right? Why?”

“Because I’m finding some metabolized trace in your urine but I’ll need to confirm as soon as the samples are identified from the salad. It might not be entirely nerves or stress induced.” Caroline peered into the microscope that Carpesh had brought. “Look at this and tell me if you’re seeing what I’m seeing?” She asked Carpesh.

“What is it?” Max asked as Carpesh looked at the sample.

“I think I have identified traces of Midazolam as well as Psychotria Ipecacuanha but toxicology is not my thing so we will confirm it with the guy at the lab.” Caroline looked over at Carpesh and waited for his input.

“Yes, it appears to be the same to me, which would have been very clever indeed.” Carpesh looked up from the microscope and nodded at Caroline. “I concur with your findings.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Max demanded.

“Well from what I gather of you guys, I mean turned Sanguinostri, you really metabolize things differently since your mainstay is from blood. I mean, am I correct in assuming that’s where your systems get their main sustenance?” She looked from Max to Abby then back again.

“Sort of, but for the most part, yes.” Abby answered. “A lot of the normal food we eat kinda just goes through us which is why we can eat like pigs and drink like fish. But given we can’t actually study our own bodily fluids other than pee, like you have there, we can’t say for certain even now, how we process things.”

“Drugs, alcohol, poisons and such basically have no effect on our systems.” Max spoke now, filling in some blanks. “Its impossible for us to get drunk or high as something in our system blocks absorption. Same goes for fats and what not. Only what our bodies absolutely need for proper function, based on the individual metabolism, is allowed to actually get into the system. The rest is passed through, so to speak. But we haven’t found a way to successfully analyze anything beyond that since our blood, saliva and the like degrades before we can get a handle on things. It’s some form of self preservation reaction that we haven’t been able to crack yet.”

Caroline was fascinated to learn all of this. “You say basically have no effect? That’s not saying that some things can have an effect?”

“There are some herbs, fruits, plants and the like that can affect us temporarily.” Max thought for a minute about what she was asking. “But nothing that could inflict real harm or damage.”

“What about Ipecac syrup?” She asked.

Max furrowed his brow. “The emetic?”

“The road-sick plant!” Abby shouted as she jumped out of her seat. “The syrup is pretty innocuous to us but the actual root can make us queasy. I know because I used it on Frank once after he pulled a nasty practical joke on me.” Abby looked at Caroline. “Yeah my nausea could be classified as a result of eating the root.”

“Then I am certain the lab will confirm that there was Ipecacuanha in the salad, and traces of Midazolam.” Caroline didn’t have a doubt. “He must have added the Midazolam when he switched from Corinne to Lou. Just enough of both to make her have to get up to use the restroom and a little loopy so she wouldn’t see him coming.”

“But she never ate the salad.” Abby reminded them all. “I did.”

“Right but he doesn’t know that!” Max spun around to look at Shevaun. “It was just luck that she got angry with me right around the same time she was supposed to eat the tainted salad, and went into the bathroom anyway!”

“He’s going to want to wait until everything burns out of her system before he starts playing with her.” Caroline knew there was really no soft way of putting it. “And he would have dosed her in the hall with something strong and long lasting so he would feel safe getting her out of there without a fight. Probably Rohypnol if I were to guess.”

“Assuming you’re right, how long until she would come to?” Max prayed for a big number from Caroline.

“Well he’s smart. I’m assuming he’s done his homework on these drugs but he will probably err on the side of caution with a little more rather than a little less since he didn’t want to get caught getting her out of the party.” Caroline dashed over to one of he computers and began typing furiously. “Hell, it’s a long half-life on Flunitrazepam, I would say at least six hours, but it could be upwards of ten even depending upon the dosage he gave her. He thinks she ate the salad, though, so he would factor that in.”

“Caroline!” Max shouted at her but caught himself immediately after. “I’m sorry but I need the best guess you can give me.”

Caroline nodded in understanding. “He probably knows there can be respiratory complications mixing the Flunitrazepam and Midazolam regardless of quantities so I would say five, splitting the last hour to be safe.”

Max looked at his watch and did the math. “She’s been gone just over three hours now so we have two hours to find her before he starts. Abby, do you have anything on the other vehicles leaving the museum yet?”

“Three possibles that I am just starting to run down now.” She answered him without hesitation.

“Check the traffic cams around where the limo was found. Cross-reference those three possibles. It will more than likely be some innocuous mini-van or something like that and he will hang on to it until he’s done so he can transport her out of where ever he has her now.” Max saw the panic in Shevaun’s eyes when he said it. “But we are going to get to her long, long before he does that, I promise.” Max laid a hand on her arm in a reassuring gesture. “I am going next door to do a status, then I need to think for a minute. I’ll be in the garden if I am not in the war room.”