Code 61 - Donald Harstad [51]
When asked if he had a key for the third floor, Toby had said “no.” When asked if he'd ever been to the third floor, he'd replied, emphatically, “No way.” Hester had asked him what he thought Edie and this Peel did up there. “Really private stuff,” he'd answered, but said he couldn't elaborate. She'd pressed, and all she'd been able to elicit was “Well, you know, intimate stuff, sex stuff and things.” Hester asked if Edie and Peel had done that sort of thing elsewhere in the house, and Toby had said that they hadn't.
That made sense, at least to me. Edie was, or had been, the building super, more or less. There was every reason to believe she'd had access to the third floor. That would mean she had her own key. With the prohibition on visiting the third floor, it would guarantee privacy for her and her lover. We had to get to the third floor, where I fully expected we'd find the murder scene. But we had to do it methodically, so unlocking it could wait until the full lab crew was ready some time tomorrow.
What Toby failed to do, or refused to do, was give Hester anything on the subject of vampires. Hester said she asked him, and he just wouldn't say anything. He just looked away and wouldn't say anything about it.
“Why?” I wondered aloud. “I mean, the little shit brought it up in the first place…. ”
“The fact he seems to wish he hadn't brought that up makes me think he gave something up he shouldn't have. And that's big,” she grinned, “because Toby tends to run on just about everything.”
“You don't actually think … ” I said.
“Oh, hell no, Houseman. Not for a second. But I think we might have some blood games in the bedroom going on. That's my take, for what it's worth. So don't be surprised if we find something like that, that's all.”
“Close enough to a vampire for my tastes,” I said. “Don't they read about blood-borne pathogens?”
Hester grinned. “When you smoked, Houseman, did you read any of the literature about lung cancer and heart disease?”
“None of your business,” I said. I smiled. “Yeah. I didn't read much of it, anyway.”
“Can't run, can't hide, Houseman.”
We got to the nitty-gritty. “Speaking of running,” I asked her, “why do you think he was really running out in the woods tonight?”
Hester smiled. “ 'Sa matter, you don't believe that he was running to warn a vampire that there were cops on his trail?”
“Nope. I don't, you don't, and he doesn't.”
“I can't tell, yet,” said Hester slowly. “He wasn't just running to get away. To avoid the entire event, I mean.”
“Yeah. You're right.” I looked at her. “Distraction? Are these people that good?”
She tilted her chair back on its rear legs and stared at the ceiling. “What would you say Toby's main character trait was?”
I thought for a second. “Know-it-all?”
She chuckled. “No, deeper than that, though you're right, that's a big chunk of it. I'd say 'eager to please' summed him up. Wouldn't you?”
“Well, sure,” I said. “Now that you mention it. The know-it-all comes from him just sort of falling all over himself to let you know he'd like another dog biscuit.”
“Exactly,” said Hester. “Exactly. So, he was running to please somebody. To do what somebody wanted him to do … or what he thought they'd want him to do.” Her chair came back level, and she pursed her lips. “Who would benefit from his running like that? Huck? I don't think so. We gotta find out who, Houseman. 'Who' would make the 'why' a lot easier.”
“Easy in theory,” I said. “It's in the finding out that we get to the hard part, here.”
“I'll keep at him,” she smiled. “I'll find out.”
There was no doubt in my mind.
“I hate to get all legal,” I said, “but can you think of any reason not to let Toby take off? I mean, he's talked, and there's no pending action.”
“No, not really. I think he'll stick now, and he's probably over being so scared. Especially when he can stay away from that house tonight.”
We called Magistrate Benson, who sleepily agreed to release Toby on his own recognizance. The night shift could let him out, and give him a ride to Freiberg. I walked back to