Death at Dawn and Macaron (Fangs and Psychics mysteries Book 2) Read online

  “You cared for Arabella? You considered her your friend? Then why did she hide things from you, Alysson? I will tell you why. Because you’re judgmental. You’ve always been. And, you know what? I’ve nothing more to tell you on this matter. As far as I am concerned, you killed Arabella. You killed the person I had come to love. I hope you get the justice you deserve.”

  Wow! He was telling the truth! He did love Arabella!

  Losing his temper made him unlock his undead thoughts and I managed to sneak in his mind. And I was shocked with the findings. Jason loved Arabella!

  ALEXANDRE WAS STANDING at the same place I had left him, only this time chatting up a tall brunette. For some reason I felt annoyed at him chatting like that.

  Even though a dork, there was something about him there that was drawing me closer to him. Every step I took towards him felt light and my walk was akin to a sprint.

  I decided I did not like the brunette. Drawing closer, I recognized her. Her name was Ivy and she used to hang out at tables Arabella served. Maybe she knew Arabella? Maybe she knew what Arabella was up to? The way Alexandre was talking to her seemed like arguing.

  “Ivy... right?” I asked her when I approached them.

  She looked at me with a frown carved on her forehead. “Yes, I’m Ivy. Alysson?”

  I nodded. “What are you doing here? Didn’t know you frequented Mesmer’s Club too!”

  “Oh no, I don’t!” said Ivy. “Alexandre called me here.”

  “Ah!” I raised my head. “And why is that?” I asked Alexandre.

  “I thought she could tell me what happened to Arabella.”

  “Uh... and how do you two know each other?”

  “We used to hang out with each other.” He winked.

  “And we are thinking of getting back together.” Ivy swelled up.

  Alexandre hemmed and hawed a bit before answering. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

  “I thought you said you are not in a mood for a relationship,” I said.

  “I still ain’t...”

  “You will be. Soon!” Ivy stormed away, glaring at me as if I were at fault.

  I rolled my eyes. “Not counting your relationship drama, did you actually find anything?” I enjoyed watching him trying to overcome the difficult situation he had found himself in.

  “Well, she did see Arabella frequenting the Père Lachaise Cemetery,” he finally said, “you know the one where Jim Morrison rests, almost every day.”

  As far as I knew, Arabella had no family anywhere near this place. And she had not spoken of any dead relatives. Maybe, I really did not know Arabella for all the friendship we had.

  “Arabella doesn’t have anyone here. Why would she go to the cemetery?”

  Alexandre cocked up an eyebrow. “Maybe she never told you. Some people like to hold on to their secrets. Maybe the past is a secret she wanted to keep to herself.”

  “We should visit the cemetery,” I declared.

  “Perhaps, but it is quite a huge place. And we wouldn’t know what to find there...”

  “But that’s the only lead we got!”

  “Stuck out with Jason, huh?”

  I did not respond to that.

  “What did he say?” He insisted.

  I bit my lip. “Nothing great... except that he loves her.”

  “Really? Interesting!”

  “Yes, so now the cemetery is our next step, whether we like it or not.”

  Alexandre sighed. “Fine! Let’s go then.”

  The cemetery was located in the 20th arrondissement and was one of the tourist locations in Paris. It was the final resting place for the likes of Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Frédéric Chopin, Molière, and Édith Piaf. Thousands of tourists flocked daily to pay their respects to their graves. Also, it was the first cemetery in the world to issue a code of conduct after fans started taking drugs and having sex on Jim Morrison’s grave.

  “It’s closed. How are we going to get in?” I asked.

  “With the power of our minds. Give me your hands.. Now,” he said as I reluctantly gave him my hands, “close your eyes and focus on the image of the iron gate in your mind. Let the rest on me.”

  I did as I said and I only opened my eyes to the sound of the gate cracking open slowly.

  “What the eff?” I wondered as we entered through the iron gate.

  “It comes with the job,” Alexandre joked as he had a look around.

  What was green in the morning looked a dark mix of green and grey. A cold wind was blowing, every pass of it raspy like a ghost. The cemetery was empty. I did not expect anybody to be here. Far away, we could discern the light of the lantern moving. That was probably the caretaker appointed by the Church.

  We closed the gate behind us and moved forward.

  “Now it’s your turn to do what you do best. So, what’s next?” asked Alexandre.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “We search... for a sign... something that Arabella might have been looking for in this of all places.”

  Alexandre sighed. “It’s going to be a long night.”

  “Why? You got somewhere else to be?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “Not really, no, but I’m an impatient person.”

  “And you are a PI... quite the irony, I tell you!”

  “Ok, Ok, I get the joke... now, let’s look around, shall we?”

  I moved down the path and, as I went, I heard voices in my head. More gibberish and ramblings. I got annoyed by them soon. I turned to Alexandre, who was bending down every once in a while, checking out things. I wondered what he was doing, but upon observing him, noticed that he was trying to catch a scent. I had seen Jason do it and remembered that vampires have a strong scent of smell, especially blood auras.

  Blood auras were like footprints. Every living being left behind a print apart from the physical. Some called it the soul print. But vampires were addicted to the smell of human blood and they could identify the human based on the smell. To them, each human was distinct by way of smell. Vampires could track down humans by that print alone. Alexandre was searching for Arabella’s body.

  “Find anything?” I asked.

  Alexandre frowned. “There’s something definitely here... I found Arabella’s scent back at your patisserie, identifying it because I had recognized that smell from back in the day. There’s that scent here as well, although it is fading with time. Soon, it will be gone.”

  “Hmmm... But she was here?”

  Alexandre nodded. “Definitely... a couple of weeks ago, I’d think...”

  “Right before her death then?”

  “Perhaps... maybe... you could be right... I can smell something else too.”

  “What?”

  “Fear!”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She was running from something... from what, I could not tell you. She was in a hurry. She came to this place to find something... don’t know what.”

  Together we scouted the cemetery looking for curious names on the tombstones. Then I noticed it: Venecosta.

  “Venecosta? Isn’t that the...?”

  “The victim from the Glashow Trials, yes!” Alexandre confirmed my suspicion.

  “Darn, this is getting complicated. Are the Trials related to Arabella’s death?”

  “Don’t know... could be. Arabella’s scent is definitely here. The whole place is reeking of it and the fear is definitely greater.”

  “What the hell was she doing mixed up with the Venecostas?”

  “"We must learn more of the Venecostas and ask them if they knew Arabella and what she might be doing searching around the graveyard of their ancestors.”

  I sighed. “Venecostas are a secretive lot. Definitely supernatural, all of them, but I know not the kind. They sometimes work with the vampires, but they can also be at loggerheads with them. A very uneasy relationship for sure.”

  “We need to study the Glashow Trials... maybe if Arabella was involved with the Venecostas, we need to know,�
� said Alexandre.

  “I am not going and asking the cops for it. Especially not to that detective who wants my head on a spike.” I moved my head.

  Alexandre laughed. “But we have no choice, Miss Alysson. He was the lead detective in that case actually.”

  “What the eff!” I grunted.

  “Yes.”

  “If that’s the case, I don’t think he’ll just give me the information about the Trials. And if Arabella were involved, wouldn’t he know what killed her? Why is he after me?”

  “Don’t know... you got to ask him.”

  “Perhaps,” I frowned. “I want to know why this Detective fellow has the heat for me.”

  “While you do that, I am going to the Church tomorrow morning and ask around here if anyone has seen or interacted with Arabella. Now, Miss Alysson, let me escort you out of this dreary place. Coming to a cemetery at night is so unbecoming of you. What would people think?”

  He laughed as I frowned and went away, ignoring him.

  CHAPTER SIX

  *

  PRECINCT ELEVEN HAD the jurisdiction of Paris southern suburbs. It oversaw patrolling and handling crime in this district. Like other police stations, it was headed by a Captain who oversaw other officers of the ranks Lieutenants, Detectives, Officers, and Constables. The Captains of all precincts often reported to the Police Headquarters that houses the offices of the Commissioner and the Assistant Commissioner, not to mention the offices of the District Attorney and the Assistant District Attorneys.

  Precinct Eleven was the closest to the headquarters and was a small three-story building, poshly decorated, with busy cubicles and cube offices in it. The ground floor was for the clerks and the officers, the first floor was for the detectives, the second floor is for the Captain and the lieutenants, and the third floor houses a state-of-the-art laboratory that belonged to the forensics. There’s also a basement that houses the morgue and the Medical examiner’s office. Detective Lucien Fournier worked on the first floor and he had his own office with a section of the cubicles dedicated to assisting him.

  I walked towards Lucien’s office, hoping for my mission’s success. I wanted to help Lucien see that I was not who killed Arabella and hoped that he would help me with the case. But I knew too much to expect anything of him. He had a weird personality, and I had come to the conclusion that he did not like me very much, from the way he talked to me at the patisserie. That was quite a disappointment as when we forst met I thought he actually liked me.

  Lucien was sitting behind his desk, going through the paperwork, deeply engrossed in it. I approached the cube and knocked on the door – three sharp taps.

  Lucien looked up and frowned at me.

  “What do you want?”

  Snap!

  “Help, if you must ask.”

  “You want my help? Really, that’s just”

  “Awkward?”

  “I wouldn’t say that, but for now, the word escapes me. What help? Just know beforehand I won’t be helping you with anything. But I’m curious.”

  I sat on the chair in front of his desk, making the detective squirm.

  “Look,” I looked him in the eyes, “I haven’t killed Arabella, no matter what you think. Arabella was my friend. I have come to know that she worked pretty much with the Venecostas. I want to tell you that she was very much involved with the Glashow Trials. So, I need help with the Trials. I need to know what you know. This is it.”

  Lucien fell back on his chair and sighed. “Well, the eye-witness turned out to be a dud.” A cunning smile was formed on his face. “But I still have my doubts. Jason thinks you killed Arabella. Someone did go to extreme lengths to make it look like you killed your friend if indeed you didn’t kill her yourself.”

  “I did not kill her.” My heart started racing.

  “How can I trust you?”

  “What harm would it do? You still haven’t delivered justice to my friend and you keep on barking up the wrong tree. Your eye-witness turned out to be a dud, like you said, and you don’t have any other evidence that condemns me.” I fell back on my chair emotionally exhausted. “So, think over it.”

  I had to convince Lucien to hand over the files for the Glashow Trials. I had to find out who wanted to frame me for it. For that I had to speak into his mind and convince him to hand the files over. And I did. As much unethical that was, I did. I convinced myself that my life was depended on it, and I did it.

  The Trials involved the Venecostas, a rich family involved in the Planning department of the city and quite influential. Those vampires were mostly Mob who were legitimizing their businesses; Venecostas did not want that as they saw them as their competitors.

  One thing led to another and the Venecostas got sued by the vampires under the Competition Act; the vampires believed that the Venecostas were thriving on monopoly.

  However, the Venecostas had the justice system in its pockets. Hence, Miss Venecosta, the victim, who was also the matriarch of the family, was released. They won the case. How Arabella figured in all of this, that I did not know. And why had someone gone to such a length to make it look like Allison had killed Arabella, I could not figure out.

  I needed to meet the Venecostas and see where the leads went.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  *

  THE VENECOSTAS MANSION was located on the sea front. With its three floors stretched out across huge acres of land, the mansion was more like a palace.

  Actually, it was a palace. An ancient palace with lot of statues and a huge garden surrounding it.

  Alexandre and I made our entrance at the Venecosta mansion. I looked wide-eyed at the building’s architecture, as Alexandre was constantly muttering things about it and giving me some little known information on the background of the statues and artifacts.

  A maid escorted us inside after having received us at the door. The interior was even more impressive; gold and sparkles everywhere.

  “Everything here is so expensive,” Alexandre whispered close to my ear. “If sold, they could feed an entire country.”

  Just then, Miss Venecosta arrived and smiled politely at us.

  “Well, it is rare that anyone interested in the artifacts comes to this house,” she said. “Are you a collector, Mister...?”

  “Alexandre LeBlanc, Miss Venecosta.”

  Miss Venecosta smiled and said, “Alexandre LeBlanc, of course, the PI?”

  “At your service.” Alexandre gave her his best smile.

  Miss Venecosta beckoned us to the royal sofa set in the living room.

  “You’re looking for Arabella’s killer, I believe?”

  I was surprised that Miss Venecosta knew about why we had come here.

  “How... h... how?” I stammered.

  “Oh, I’m like you and Arabella, dear... a psychic!”

  Shock and surprise greeted me. I never knew that there existed anybody like me in Paris.

  “Yes, Miss Venecosta, we’re investigating Arabella’s death. We have reason to believe that she worked with you."

  “Yes, and I do think that’s what got her killed. Apart from waitressing at your patisserie, Miss Alysson, Arabella worked for me as well. Nobody knew of course, apart from my close relatives. Last time we saw each other... well... it was fifteen days ago, I believe. The evening before her death.”

  “We tracked her to the Père Lachaise cemetery, Miss Venecosta.”

  “Yes, that’s where my ancestors are buried. I had sent her there to fetch me a scroll.”

  “A scroll?” Alexandre raised an eyebrow.

  “She never returned. The next thing I know, a detective is at my house and he is telling me that Arabella is dead. It was a great blow.”

  “What’s the scroll, Miss Venecosta?” Alexandre insisted.

  “I needed it to win the Glashow Trials. It had a writ granting me the ownership of this entire city. One of my ancestors had it buried with him, assuming that the Venecostas should never rule the city. I only found out about it r
ecently and I asked Arabella to fetch it.”

  “So, the scroll might have had everything to do with her death,” I noted.

  “Possibly. It could be a factor. But before I took her under my employ, she was working for the vampires. She told me the vampires had blackmailed her into using her psychic powers to find somebody.”

  “Find whom?” asked Alexandre.

  “Well, the vampire Queen.”

  Well, I did not see that coming.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  *

  ALEXANDRE AND I RETURNED to the Patisserie. I did not know who the vampire Queen was, neither I had ever heard of the legend.

  “The Vampire Queen, who is that?” I asked Alexandre. He might know.

  “It is a legend even among the vampires,” Alexandre explained. “For a long time, the vampires haven’t had a Queen. The last Queen we know of lived ages ago as the wife to Count Dracula. Once the hunters working under the Van Helsing family took care of the Count, the Queen was seen no more. Many believed she died, but some still believe that she exists and is lying low because the hunters have a spell crafted by a witch to detect her existence should she come out into the world. However, the section that believes in her existence constantly looks for her. Nobody has found her yet. So, it is quite probable that someone might have tasked Arabella, with finding the vampire Queen. He knows that Jason and his crew are of the belief that the Queen exists. So, that might be why she hung out with the crew. Not because she loved Jason or anything or because Jason was in love with her, but because they wanted her to find the vampire Queen.”

  I was confused. “But the vampires might not want to kill Arabella. They wanted her to find the Queen, yes!”

  “Yes, but if they found out that Arabella worked for the Venecostas as well, that would not be good for her. Some believe that the Venecostas were the ones who hunted down the Queen during the time the hunters executed Count Dracula, but it couldn’t be proven.”

  “This case is getting complicated with every step we take.”