Code 61 - Donald Harstad [47]
“Hokay, Toby. Look, we'll have Sally grab your hand, and I'll give you an assist from down here. See how she got to the top using that dirt pile?”
“Yeah,” he sighed. “Sure.” His head was moving around like he was going to see something. Fat chance of that in the dark.
“Just don't step in her tracks, or you'll sink down too far.” I shined my flashlight on Sally's path out of the foundation, just to let him know exactly what I meant. I looked up, and Sally indicated she was ready. She held out a hand, and helped Toby up as I pushed.
I went up the same way that Sally had, but sank appreciably farther into the dirt. I had to put my flashlight down, and use both hands to get to the top of the wall, and as I pushed myself upright, one of the blocks I was kneeling on came loose and went thudding back into the foundation.
“You okay?” asked Sally.
“Yeah, just fine.”
“You sure make a racket,” she said.
I assumed the lead, with Toby close behind me, and Sally bringing up the rear. “Just where can I find this Dan the vampire?” I asked.
“I don't know. Hell, anywhere. He could be down in the woods back there,” said Toby, his voice tense. “I don't know.”
Almost as if by magic, Sally was in the lead.
“What's he do?” I asked. “Drink blood?”
“Sometimes.” He sounded out of breath.
“You want to stop for a few seconds?” Even though Sally had said he was all right, I didn't want him fainting from the pain of a possible sprained knee or ankle. It was still too far to carry him.
“No!” he whispered, but with considerable emphasis.
As we got closer to the house, and the trees thinned, the headlights of the cars we'd positioned to help began to interfere with our vision.
“Tell Eighty-one to turn off the car lights, just parking lights will do,” I said. Sally complied.
They went out about five seconds later. Much better. I realized that Toby hadn't really complained about any pain since we got out of the foundation. “You okay, Toby?”
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Just fine. Dead man walkin', that's me.” I thought the sarcasm was appropriate this time.
It was a strange situation, really. I was in possession of a name, purportedly that of a suspect. That was good. The fact that I didn't have the foggiest idea who this Daniel Peel was didn't bother me much, seeing as it was fairly easy to find people in the information age. I was about to set Toby down and have a nice, heart-to-heart chat. Whether or not this Peel was actually a suspect didn't really bother me. Just the additional name would enable us to open more avenues of inquiry, as it were. Sure didn't hurt to have Peel's name, though. Not a bit. The problem, in a nutshell, was Toby's announcement that Peel was a vampire. I mean, it's always better to have your only witness not be delusional. Sanity really does enhance credibility, no matter what they say.
We kept Toby outside in the back of a squad, with Sally standing right by his door, while Hester and I talked.
“Vampire? You're kidding. Carl? You are, aren't you?”
“No. 'Fraid not. That's what he says, anyway.”
“Named Daniel?”
I found myself getting a little defensive. “Well, nobody's really called 'Count' much anymore.”
“And,” Hester asked, struggling, “is there, maybe, a werewolf named Bob?” She lost the battle, and kind of giggled. “Jesus, Houseman. Where do you ffnd these people?”
“Okay, okay.” I sighed. “But, we do have Toby saying that this Daniel Peel dude killed Edie. And he did run out of the house…. ”
“He probably couldn't keep a straight face anymore,” she said. Then a deep breath. “Okay, right. Look, it's just late, and we've all had a long day, and it looks like it's just getting a good start, so, what do we need?”
It was good to get back to business. “We need an interview with Toby, a good one, and real soon. First of all”—I thought for a second—“I don't think we want Toby back in the house with the rest of them, especially not with the vampire business. If we do have something to that, I don't want them to know that we know.”
“Can we keep him isolated?” Hester asked