The Blood Detail (Vigil) by Arvin Loudermilk Read Free Book Online Page A

the report, the remainder of the pages blacked out. I was fine with it, though. I’d read enough.
    In the third folder I found the Danny Ray Jessup file, up to date enough to include a few rough notes on his failed attempt to break in through my garage door. The initial tip-off about Jessup also sprang from the informant FANCYPANTS. He called in the same manner, but from an alternative Pasadena location. This time out, he came off as extremely concerned about Jessup, whom he described as the most “ancient” resident of the Underground and a giant man with one hell of a temper. Sometimes Jessup responded to young women, FANCYPANTS said, as a way to help subdue him. He liked blondes in particular. Despite what the informant calls a gentle southern drawl, no one in this Underground wanted anything to do with Jessup, primarily because of the way he took care of himself—which was not at all. The informant was convinced that the constant isolation is what pushed the guy over the edge, and that is something he had been warning Douglass and Racine about it. He said one more thing: “Sooner or later, we all lose it.” The statement struck me as important, although I couldn’t have explained why. The rest of the information pertained to searches, all of which were useless until Angie and I stumbled across the murder of Kara Tia Manning. Reading her name felt like a blow from a sledgehammer. All the time I had spent thinking about her, this was the first time I had read or been given her actual name. I had been isolated from the case right off, so there is no way I could have known. According to the file, her identity still hadn’t been released to the public.
    I closed everything up. I knew what I was going to do. I’d known before I had asked to be allowed into the loop. But when you had the kind of leverage I had, it’d be stupid not to do some due diligence first.
    I pushed my chair back and exited the conference room, leaving the files where they were. A middle-aged receptionist was positioned nearby, a pleasant woman who had escorted me in. I told her I was done with the files and she could retrieve them. I then asked her if Captain Castellano was in his office. She said that he was, so I thanked her and tromped my way over to his door. When I got there, I could see him through the glass. His head was buried in his computer screen, which meant I needed to knock first. He looked up when I did, and motioned me in.
    “Not exactly light reading, was it?” he said as I made my way toward him.
    I brought myself to a stop a few inches from the lip of his desk, clicking my heels and locking my hands behind my back. “Let me say this, sir. I’m still unconvinced that these people are vampires, not in any mythological sense. But they are dangerous, that’s indisputable. And they need to be brought down. In the two cases I was privy to, I have to say, you people did a decent job doing that.”
    “Thank you,” he said.
    “I don’t give praise easily.”
    “I wouldn’t imagine that you would.” His eyes squinted. “Do you have any other questions?”
    “Several. Let’s start with how long the Detail has been in operation?”
    “Five years. I have been in command the entire time.”
    “And how long have the Feds been involved?”
    “Sixteen months. They came to us and provided this building. Before that, we had a couple of smallish offices in Santa Monica.” I was suspicious about any and all Federal involvement, and I think Castellano could tell because he attempted to cover right away. “I’ve been told they assist us only because we have a mutual interest. But that said, I don’t hear much from Washington most of the time. We only have one liaison officer on site. His name is Special Agent Jerome Parker. If you stick around and help us out, I’m sure you’ll be meeting him. He’s pleasant enough.” Castellano held out his hands and did a little half-shrug. “He hasn’t pissed me off so far.”
    He was