Faith Hunter - Black Arts

He sat in the desk chair and motioned us to the guest chairs, all three with low arms and narrow seats that made my knees stick up in the air. The chairs had been made for short, thin people, not tall, long-legged people. “I’m Scott Scaggins, general manager of Guilbeau’s, and I had no idea anyone had gone missing. Give me the times you’re interested in, and about ten minutes, and I can have the digital footage up, copied for you, and a list of employees who were on last night.” He pulled a pair of spectacles out of his breast pocket, perched them on his nose, and punched keys on the keyboard. “We’re in. Time?”

“We appreciate your assistance in this, uh, delicate matter. We’d like to see from two twenty through two thirty a.m.,” Eli said, leaning back in his chair as if he owned the joint. “We’ve been told it was a private party. We only need to talk to employees who served for the party.”

Scott didn’t look from his fingers as he typed. “Which party?”

Which left me stymied, but Eli didn’t even hesitate. “The governor’s daughter and her friend didn’t say, but from her recent interest in vampires, we’d assume the one hosted by the local vamps.”

The manager snorted, again without looking up, which was a good thing because my eyes were bugging out of my head. The governor’s daughter? Did he just imply that we are looking for the governor’s daughter? I looked at Eli, thinking, Are you insane? He just smiled, if you can call that little twitch of lips a smile.

“I would hate to be raising a girl in this vampire climate,” Scott said. “Everyone thinks the vamps are all sparkly and pretty, and forget that they drink blood. Human blood. The vamps throw a party and every teenager within miles is all over the place. We have to hire security to keep them out.”

“Who did you hire last night?” I asked.

“Lewis Aycock’s company. He’s a Vietnam War vet. The owner likes to give vets jobs anytime he can. A boost back up, you know, and all Lewis’ personnel are vets.” He looked up under his eyebrows and back to his screen. “The client knew of him and was agreeable.”

I didn’t know him, and so let it pass. “And the client?” I asked.

“Not saying that without a court order,” Scott said. “Bring me a piece of paper signed by a judge and I’ll tell you everything—names, dates, alcohol consumed, hors d’ oeuvres served, numbers of guests, cost totals, tips, and credit cards used. Not until then. And the waiters don’t know who the host was, so don’t bother asking.”

“The governor prefers to keep this under wraps for now,” Eli lied smoothly. “If it becomes a criminal matter, you’ll get a warrant.” I just shook my head.

“And it’s up,” Scott said. He flipped the flat-screen around and we watched for ten minutes as humans, blood-servants, and vamps left the restaurant, getting into cabs and limos, and a few walking. No one entered the restaurant during the ten minutes, not after two in the morning.

I leaned in when a pale-skinned, black-haired female appeared on the screen, showing only the top of her head and her hands holding the wrap she wore. Bliss . The woman beside her had scarlet hair and was wearing rings on every finger. She tilted her head and I recognized Rachael by the shape of her nose and the multiple rings through her earlobes. And the tattoo on her left wrist. It was a dragon, the body and tail wrapped around the wrist, the fire-breathing head on the top of her hand. It was new, and I’d seen it only a week past, when she complained about the pain and itching. Once upon a time, Katie had not allowed her working girls to get tattoos, but now things were different. Katie was different. She didn’t seem to care about body adornment or other things that she used to. She was, on the other hand, way more territorial than she used to be. With them was a man who stood to one side, only the top of his head and shoulders visible in the camera—slender and muscular with spiked hair and dark clothes.

“That’s them,” I said.

Eli covered for me. “And the people with her ?” he asked.

I hesitated only a moment, feeling my way, before saying, “The boss will be ticked off about the whole thing.”

“So we shouldn’t tell the governor everything. In fact, we shouldn’t tell him anything,” Eli suggested.

“And we’ve agreed to differ,” I said, as if we had a long-standing argument about how to protect the interests of our employer—who was the freaking governor. Eli was insane.

On the screen, the man, possibly a waiter, handed the girls into a black cab limo and it drove off as he stepped back again.

Some humans left, one female wearing a hat and trailing a long scarf. The arm of a man was around her as if to support her, her gait that of someone ill or unsteady after too much liquor, their faces never in view. Three other men left just behind them, the small group moving like vamps, breaking up at the door. One wore a tuxedo and seemed to move off fast, maybe in pursuit of the woman with the scarf and the other man, though all we could see from the angle of his head was dark hair and jacket and a satin stripe on the outside of his pants leg as he strode off. The other two, both in dark slacks and suit coats, stood for a moment, body movements suggestive of discussion, and then they too left, heading in different directions.

A scant two minutes later, a similar black car pulled up and waited, the driver a fuzzy form making a cell call. It was Troll. He waited. And waited. He made three more cell calls before eventually giving the valet the keys and entering the restaurant. And leaving moments later, tension showing in the set of his shoulders. He was on the cell, talking as he drove away.

To Scott, Eli said, “That’s all we need, those twenty minutes of footage. And you have the governor’s thanks.”

“Yeah, well, tell him he has my sympathy. He has his hands full if his daughter’s fallen in with that redheaded chick. She works for a vamp who runs a whorehouse. Seriously, he needs to consider chaining her up in the attic or something. If I’d known she was underage, I’d never have let her in, but everyone had an invitation.” He opened a desk drawer and handed Eli a heavy, engraved invitation, the kind old vamps used, the paper made of mostly cloth, the words printed in gilt.

Eli handed the invite to me and I nodded my thanks, studying the card. The message was innocuous and uninformative. “The pleasure of your presence is requested at ten o’clock tonight at Guilbeau’s for a coming-out soiree. Black tie.” The party started late, like any vamp party. No names, and no RSVP. Not much help here.

The manager hit a button and his PC whirred. Behind him, a printer chattered. He handed Eli the printed paper first and again Eli passed it to me. It was a list of the waitstaff. Six names, with addresses and phone numbers. While I was studying it, he handed Eli a CD and stood, offering his hand.

“Thank you for your time,” Eli said, standing and taking the proffered hand. I followed a moment later, out of sync with the bonhomie of the good old boys.

“I thank you for keeping the restaurant’s name out of the press. Letting the governor’s underage daughter into a vampire party would not be good for our reputation or good standing,” Scott said.

I just shook my head and headed down the stairs. Back outside, the wet night had become a downpour, which totally matched my mood. The valet brought our SUV around and we drove away. I lasted a whole block before I busted out with “The governor’s daughter ? Are you nuts ?”

Eli gave that twitchy smile and said, “We got what we needed, didn’t we?”

“Yes, we did. And if he takes it any further, our faces are on the security footage now. You are insane. Totally insane.”