Page 17 of The Mermaid's Bubble Lounge
“The images are coming through now. Get me a picture of his hands.”
I did and sent them. Vlad was quiet, looking through all the images, I assumed.
“What’s the matter with his neck? Is that a trick of the light or was his neck cleaned?”
Crouching down, I studied the area and then took a video. “This man hasn’t had access to a bar of soap in a long time. His face and hands are coated in a kind of oily grime. The side of his neck where he was bitten, though, is in a patch of clean.”
“Interesting.”
Sirens wailed in the distance.
“Send me everything,” Vlad instructed, “and then delete all the images and the record of this phone call. Stow your phone out of sight and look frightened when they arrive. You have a legal address now. Give them that, tell them you’re feeling sick, and then ask if you can leave. You’re an innocent witness who found a scary thing. Remember that.”
Car doors slammed and boots pounded on the pavement.
“Gotta go,” I whispered and did as he said before sliding my phone back into my hip pocket. Shit. If they patted me down, they were going to find the axe on my back. Shitshitshit.
Fergus and I moved back to where it felt like an innocent human might stand. When the cops came around the corner, I jumped and held up the hand not clutching Fergus’ leash. A cop stared at me, so I pointed a shaking finger toward the body to the side of the dumpster.
Another cop waved me to the side of the building and asked to see my ID. I explained I was running and not carrying one. I gave him all my info and explained what I saw.
The older cop from yesterday came around the corner and squinted at me and Fergus. “You were here yesterday too.” His voice dripped with suspicion.
I nodded, my eyes wide and hopefully projecting fear. “We run down here a lot. Fergus likes visiting the sea lions.” Right on cue, the sea lions began barking and Fergus gave a quiet woof in response. “We were cutting through the back because I didn’t want to run past where that poor woman was.” I scratched behind Fergus’ ear. “He smelled it first and pulled me over. I’ve never seen a dead person in my life. And then two in two days.”
I leaned over and kissed the top of my pup’s head. “Sorry. We’re not running down here ever again.”
“Big dog,” the first cop said. The older one had already dismissed us and was headed back to the dumpster.
“Irish Wolfhound. He’s eight months old, though, so he still has some growing to do.”
The cop held out a hand. “Is he friendly?”
“Oh, sure.” I gave Fergus some slack so he could say hi to the cop. “I wouldn’t have a giant dog I couldn’t control.”
He asked me a few more questions and then let us go. Fergus and I ran back to the parking garage and headed home. I’d lied to the cop about a few things. One of which was I did have ID on me; I just didn’t want to have to give him any more information than was necessary. As I didn’t want to be pulled over leaving the scene of a crime in a car after I’d told officers I was running, I was overly careful on the drive home.
Once I parked, I sat in my car, trying to shake off the nerves. A hand rapped on the window, causing me to yip in fright and Fergus to bark and growl.
Vlad’s face appeared in the window, rolling his eyes. I threw open the door, hoping to hit him, but he was unsurprisingly fast. Fergus scrambled over the seats so he could get out right beside me. Now that he knew it was Vlad, he was squirming, looking for pets.
Vlad waited for us at the elevator. “Are you coming?”
The door opened and Vlad went in, with Fergus dancing around him. I followed, hitting the button for the first floor. The door slid to the side and Fergus raced to his food bowl, even though I hadn’t filled it yet. He clearly just wanted to make sure I knew where my priorities should be, helpful dog that he was.
Vlad flew to the darkest corner of the room, behind a bookcase.
“Dude, are you moving my furniture?” I scooped kibble from the food bin and dropped it into Fergus’ bowl. He began inhaling it at once.
“Were you concerned about your guests’ comfort, you would have done this yourself, instead of forcing me to erect a lightless place for myself.”
Shaking my head, I refilled the water bowl. “We gave you a comfortable, lightless place to stay. It’s my underground apartment. No one told you to come into our house during the day.”
Unlike yesterday, it was bright and sunny today. I opened the back door so Fergus could go out when he was done eating. The window in the dining room was across from the den, so I closed those curtains, making the den darker. Once Fergus came back in, I drew the curtains around the back door as well.
“The video is helpful,” Vlad said from his fortress of inky blackness.
Oh, that reminded me. I pulled up my texts and tapped the video Nerissa had sent me this morning of the killer. The cameras were good, but it was dark, the only light coming from distant streetlights. The man I saw this morning hoisted himself up on the side of the dumpster and was pulling open bags. Something flashed in front of the camera and then a man was standing behind the victim. I could only see his shoulder, the back of his head, an ear, and a bit of his jaw. He waited while the man ate something. The killer was completely still. Was he breathing?
