Code 61 - Donald Harstad [145]
“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,