Next morning, Sheyenne hand-delivered the chemical samples for analysis to her friend at the lab, asking for results as soon as possible.
After the uproar of the previous night, a divorce settlement—however bitter—seemed less important than zombies falling apart in the middle of their daily activities. What if the horrific affliction spread across the Unnatural Quarter? It could turn into a real zombie apocalypse.
Nevertheless, I had a responsibility to our clients. I checked to make sure that Jekyll’s Grand Wizard ring remained locked in the office safe. I needed to figure out how to deliver an ultimatum to Harvey Jekyll, let him know the leverage we had, and convince the man it was in his best interests to reach a settlement with Miranda. Robin was far too innocent for that type of work.
My overture (I considered it negotiation rather than blackmail) had to come from an unexpected quarter. Maybe I could recruit Tiffany from the All-Day/All-Nite Fitness Center. Considering how much the tough vamp despised the Straight Edgers, she might do the job just to watch the Grand Wizard squirm.
I spent the morning trying to work out details in my head. Shortly before lunch, the telephone rang, and Sheyenne called for me. “It’s Officer McGoohan. He sounds upset.”
I took the phone. “What is it, McGoo?”
On the other end of the line I could hear his quick breathing, the rasp in his voice. “Shamble … that client of yours—Sheldon Fennerman, the vampire?”
“Yes, I was about to close the case.” The vampire’s problems should be over now that the Wannovich sisters had cast their gruesome protection spell … and since the Straight Edge kids had all been torn limb from limb, they weren’t going to harass him anymore.
“Don’t close it yet.” I heard him swallow hard. “You’d better get down here right away.”
By the time I reached the vampire’s brownstone, two other police units had arrived and uniformed officers were keeping the crowd back. I saw the trollish landlord chatting with the people on the street. “He complained that his neighbors had been killed, but I didn’t believe him. Now how am I ever going to rent to vampires again?” He lifted his pumpkinlike head, stared around with beady eyes at the people. “I do have apartments for rent, if anybody’s interested? Some of them zoned for dual use, daytime and nighttime. There’s a move-in special this month. I—”
I went directly to the troll landlord. “Where’s Sheldon?”
He flinched back. “I’m just trying to make a living here!”
One of the cops who worked with McGoo called me over. “Dan Chambeaux? Right this way—Officer McGoohan told us to expect you.”
He led me around the corner to the alley behind Sheldon’s brownstone. McGoo was standing there, his face drawn, expression gray. “Shamble,” he said, and shook his head. “Sorry I told you to hurry—not much point. I was just upset. There’s nothing you can do.”
Sheldon Fennerman hung dead, suspended three feet off the ground. A long wooden stake the size of a laundry pole had been shoved through the center of his chest and directly into the crumbling brick wall of the alley. The nervous vampire had been pinned there like a piece of meat stuck on a fondue fork.
I reeled. “Oh, Sheldon … I let you down.”
McGoo took off his cap and wiped his forehead, then replaced it. “What could have the strength to do that?”
My throat was as dry as grave dust. “We both know what has the strength.”
“But why go after a nervous little vampire who wasn’t hurting anyone?”
“Why smash Mrs. Saldana’s mission either? Why slaughter a bunch of Straight Edgers? What’s the connection?”
I saw genuine fear in McGoo’s eyes. “Unless it’s just running amok. I’ve got to get that monster off the streets, Shamble—but I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley unless I’m carrying a bazooka.”
I wondered if they made silver-jacketed heavy ordnance against unnaturals. Probably a special order.
I looked down at the ground again. Among the garbage strewn in the alley, I saw dozens of large cockroaches curled up on their backs, legs waving weakly in the air. They were bigger than any roaches I’d ever seen.
McGoo ground one under his heel. “Now, what’s all that about?”
Remembering the special incantation that Mavis Wannovich had cast, I realized that her threat had been literal, not just a scare tactic. “Sheldon Fennerman was shielded by a protection spell: Anyone who harmed him or his apartment would get a stomach full of living cockroaches.”
“Some protection spell,” McGoo said.
“Well, it worked.” I nudged one of the writhing, dying insects with the toe of my shoe. “It just wasn’t strong enough to stop this brute.”
At the other end of the alley, the morgue truck rolled up and the three ghouls bounded out again, ready for a new customer, but I didn’t let them near Sheldon. Once the crime scene techs took all the photos and gathered the evidence they needed, they set about removing Sheldon’s body with all the finesse of baggage handlers testing the durability of various brands of luggage. I shooed them away. Sometimes, you just have to do what’s right. I wrapped my hands around the shaft that pinned the vampire to the wall. “McGoo, help me get him down.”
We had to wiggle the pole up and down until it broke free from the bricks. As gently as possible, we eased Sheldon down to the ground and worked the stake out of his chest.
I bent down next to him. His face had a startled look, more fear and surprise than pain. He probably hadn’t known what was happening when he bumped into the monster in the alley.
It couldn’t have been a random attack. Why would the brute have carried a long wooden pole with him? He must have been coming for the vampire.
“I’m so sorry, Sheldon,” I whispered, and closed his eyes. My heart felt more leaden than usual. I swore that one way or another I was going to get that hulking bastard—not just for Sheldon, but for myself as well.