“Hi,” I said.
“What can we do for you?” asked Hester.
Tatiana didn't appear at all nervous, just in a hurry.
“Okay, look, I don't have a lot of time, and there's a couple of things you should know about what's going on.”
“You've got our complete attention,” I said.
“Let's take a little walk,” suggested Tatiana. We did, she and I walking together down a winding walk that crossed the big lawn, Hester and Harry following about a step behind. “Okay, first… well, you should know that we picked up Dan Peale on our way home, and gave him a ride.”
“You and Jessica? When you left Freiberg?” Always make sure.
“Yes.”
“Where did he spend the night?” asked Hester.
“Here,” said Tatiana. “In Lake Geneva.”
We stayed on the sidewalk, and meandered through a stand of trees.
“Wait just a second,” I said. “Your attorney told us that you two left early that morning. How could he have spent the night here, and then you gave him a ride?”
Tatiana snickered. “Early that morning? You might say that, I guess, and still be truthful. We left about ten after midnight.”
Ah. Attorneys. Always the most deceptive when they tell the truth.
“And where did you pick Dan up?”
“Right at the mine entrance, where we knew he'd be,” she said. “Just pulled over, and Jessica honked the horn. He came over the fence in a few minutes, and we were on our way.”
“How did you know that?” I asked. “Where to find him, I mean?”
“Cell phones,” said Tatiana, with eyebrows raised and an unspoken “duh” dangling from the end of the sentence.
Ah, again. I was going to have to buy one of those damned things, just so I wouldn't keep forgetting they existed.
“Where is he now?” I asked.
“I don't know. I think Jessica does, but I don't.”
“When did you last see him?” Hester asked.
“About seven-thirty this morning,” was the reply. “That's what I want to talk to you about. He's got one of Jessica's cars, and I'm afraid he's going to drag her down with him.”
She wasn't about to break down or anything, but she did seem to be getting toward an edge.
“Why do you say that?”
“He wants her to stay with him forever,” said Tatiana. “She's really mad at him right now, and that's good, but she let him have the car, and that's just because they spent last night together, and he's working on her emotions.” She took a deep breath. “Jessica's such a wonderful person, and he's going to get her in trouble because she cares.”
“How do you know she's mad at him?” I asked, leaving out any reference to them spending the night together. Their sleeping together really didn't strike me as an anger reaction. That, plus an image of a caring Jessica Hunley was hard to achieve.
“Oh,” said Tatiana, “you should have seen her when he got in the car down at the mine. She slapped him. Really. Three times, and called him an idiot and a fool.” Her eyes widened as she spoke. “I've never seen her mad like that. She was just furious.”
“And he didn't stop her?” asked Hester.
“He just sat there. Really. I was driving, and he got in the car, and there wasn't really room, and she just started slapping him, and he just sat there and let her.”
“Really?” Hester didn't look convinced.
“Really, I'm telling you. You'd have to see her that way. I'm not kidding. He just got this stony look on his face, and never even said a word.”
Interesting. She'd established Jessica as the dominant personality, without a doubt.
“Well, since she's already been harboring a felon,” said Hester, “how much more damage can he do to her?”
“He wants to go to London,” said Tatiana. “See?”
“No,” I said, “I guess I don't. Why London?”
“You know. He says that's where he's from, originally. Anyway, to go all that distance, he needs more energy,” said the dancer. “Lots of it.”
“Yes?” She was losing me, and fast.
“We're afraid he has to kill again, to gain energy, before he can go on such a long trip.”
“Wouldn't killing somebody like that just drain more energy?” I asked. Thinking to myself, Jesus, what kind of nuts are these people?
“You know what he is. Huck said she told you what he is.”
“You mean a vampire?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah,” I said, “she and Toby and I guess everybody at least thought that's what he might be, to varying degrees.” I shrugged. “I don't think Huck believes that, really. Do you?”
“He is.” She said it very simply, and very convincingly. “He's a vampire. He gets energy from drinking blood. I know that.”
This was no time to bring up the subtle differences between actually being a vampire, and just being very delusional. She believed it, and that was going to have to do. The important thing was, if he really thought he was a vampire, there was a good chance he'd be tending to act as if he were. The downside was that if he was playing an elaborate game, he was only going into vampire mode to impress or frighten certain people. If that were the case, we were then dealing with somebody who was going to act normally outside their view. The latter scenario had my vote.
“So,” said Harry, “where do you think he's headed?”
Tatiana was silent for a second, organizing her response. She was genuinely worried, no doubt about that. She glanced at her watch. “Okay. Okay, look, Toby contacted us on e-mail, and said that he had some stuff to tell Dan. We just said to send it to us, and we'd try to find Dan.” She looked seriously at me. “Toby's not all that reliable, you know?”
“Yeah,” I said. “We know.” I made a mental note to obtain a search warrant for Toby's computer. I knew Harry was thinking the same about Jessica at this end.
“So Toby told us that Edie was talking to the cops. That'd be you, I suppose,” she said, almost as an afterthought. “So Dan called him, and told him to stop Edie by… by putting the stake in her heart, and other stuff.” Another deep breath. “So, you guys told us today that he really did that. Right?”
“Right. Or, at least, some of it. He did the stake thing,” I said, “but he couldn't do the other stuff.” She opened her mouth to talk, and I held up my hand. “Just so there's no misunderstanding, I really didn't say that Edie was actually talking to us. I indicated that her body could tell the pathologist things. Toby just put his own spin on it.”
“Oh.” She considered that, and I got the impression she didn't believe me. “Well, whatever. Anyway, Toby also said that Huck was talking to you, and that he thought Melissa was about ready to give up everything.”
“Well,” I said, “that's not been the case.”
“He thinks it is,” said Tatiana, “I can tell you that. Toby told him, and he's just furious.”
“So?”
“I'm afraid that he's going to go back to the Mansion and hurt somebody.”
“Why would he go back there? The cops know all about the Mansion,” Hester said.
“Because they've been cultivated by him, just for that,” said Tatiana. “They're his, well, his disciples, you know? And his livestock, kind of, at the same time.”
“Look,” I said, “why don't you come with us to some place where we can get all this down, and you can-”
“Jesus Christ, you guys! I gotta get back,” she said. “If Jessica finds out I'm gone… ” Her eyes darted to her watch, again. “Maybe later? Maybe tonight sometime? You do believe me, don't you? God, Huck said you were pretty real people.”
“I believe you about everything that counts, that's for sure,” I said. “I believe that Dan's pissed, and I believe Toby's an idiot. And I believe we better get some people to that house.”
She started walking away very fast, almost skipping as she turned back to us. “I'll call you,” she said. “Later,” and she was gone.
We decided that we'd better get word to the people at the Mansion, just in case he was really headed back there. I sort of doubted it, frankly. Delusional doesn't necessarily equate with dumb.