Page 20 of Dead & Breakfast
“The culprit wanted George Roth dead, but they also wanted Salvatore to go down for it. There are only so many people in this town who dislike them both.” Arthur shrugged. “Or maybe he just wolfed out.”
Nora tapped away on her phone for a moment, then said, “Moon is waxing gibbous, so if he murdered anyone, it was a deliberate choice. Besides, the evidence points to a vampire or someone imitating one.”
“Sal and I are the only two in town—that I know of, anyway.”
“There might be others, right? Perhaps living less openly, or a visitor?” Nora clicked her manicured nails against her mug. “What can you tell me about vampire powers?”
“What do you mean?” Arthur made the mistake of drinking more of his coffee. It was delicious, which only turned his mood sour.
“Well, if a vampire is to blame, we’ll need to take their abilities into consideration when looking at the evidence.” Nora surveyed him carefully. “There are a lot of stories. Not just about sunlight and sparkles. So, which of them are true? Can you fly or turn to mist? Do you have a reflection?”
“I can’t fly, personally, and no vampires have reflections,” Arthur replied, shifting uncomfortably at the sudden pressure in his chest. This was a little embarrassing to talk about, but there was no way for Nora to know that. “All vampires are faster, stronger, andmore agile than the average human, but I don’t actually have any special powers yet. I’m too young. Vampire abilities develop as we age, so the longer we’ve been undead, the more powerful we become.”
“Oh. I didn’t realize—not that you look old or anything.” She waved her hands before her, expression stricken.
“It’s quite all right. I don’t have much of an attachment to the illusion of youth.”
“I suppose that makes sense. Immortality must simplify that quite a bit.”
A broken laugh escaped Arthur’s chest. “I saidIdon’t care about youth. Vampires on the whole are a different matter. Salvatore once had an entire tantrum after falling asleep on some corduroys—thought he had wrinkles for a full day. You’d think after some six hundred–odd years he’d know that would be impossible, but there’s no reasoning with him sometimes.”
“So what about Salvatore? If he’s older, can he fly? Control animals? Hypnotize people?”
“Sal can…fly.” Arthur winced slightly, uncertain ifflywas really the right word for Sal’s particular power.
Nora must’ve sensed he was holding a lot back, because she leaned forward again and pressed. “Okay, so vampires can fly. Are the other powers possible? We need to know what we’re dealing with, if a vampire killed George Roth.”
She was right, and Arthur was being ridiculous. It wasn’t as though Nora was likely to make fun of him and Salvatore. “Well, not all vampires can.”
“Right, just the older ones.”
Arthur wrinkled his brow. “Not exactly. Vampires grow in strength as they age, but it also depends on how powerful their sirewas when they were turned. Salvatore’s sire was young and of a weaker line than my sire.”
“Huh,” Nora said with a little huff of surprise. “I assumed Salvatore turned you.”
“Why would you assume that?” Arthur asked, so distracted he drank more of his Grandma’s House Special.
She paused, thinking. “Vampire media, I guess? Like he fell in love with a dashing human and offered you immortality so you could stay together forever.”
“He offered; I declined.” Arthur let that particular subject drop. This was no time to go telling a near stranger the story of how he and Salvatore had fallen in love. Sal preferred to be the one to dramatically spin that yarn, anyway, and Arthur wasn’t going to deny him the pleasure just because he was currently behind bars. “Most vampires fall somewhere in the middle range as far as powers go. Flight, turning to mist, and controlling animals are all possible, but only the most powerful vampires can sustain them over long periods of time. And, of course, only at night.”
Nora exhaled, her shoulders rounding. “That’s not encouraging. A vampire could’ve scooped up George Roth, bitten him mid-flight, then dropped him into what happened to be your flower garden without realizing.”
“No,” Arthur said, thinking it through. “There was no sign the mayor fell from any real height, and…well, it takes a fair bit of concentration to actually use any of our powers. It would be dangerous to drink and fly.”
“Okay…” Nora sighed and scratched behind Rumble’s ears. They were keeping a low profile with regard to the cat. There was no sign on the door prohibiting pets inside, but Arthur wouldn’t put it past Ted to have an irrational hatred of cats because of hisdog-adjacent affliction. Arthur’s dislike of cats, of course, was completely rational and based in fact.
“We’ll have to be on the lookout for any vampires, then,” Nora continued.
“Leave that to me, please. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt.” Arthur wroteunknown vampire elementon his list of suspects. “Can you think of anyone else who might have had a grudge against the mayor, or who would’ve benefited from his death?”
“I imagine his wife will be getting a life insurance payout,” Nora said. “And most of those policies pay double for accidental or wrongful deaths. Paranormal clauses are common, too, which would increase the payout.”
Arthur didn’t know anything about life insurance, having not qualified for so many decades, but he did know it wasn’t a factor in this case. “The mayor was a widower, actually. And he didn’t have any children as far as I know.”
“Hmm, well, maybe we should look into the losing candidates for mayor.”
Arthur recalled the many political signs, some of which were still up from the recent election, but it wasn’t much comfort. “The last city manager was his opponent, actually. I suspect that’s why he left the job. But you’re right, we should look into his political ties. I’m sure that will uncover something of interest. Perhaps Quinn—”
