La Vida Vampire

“Oh, come on, you’ve never met your closest vampire neighbors.”


“And I never want to. I told you that.” I tapped the pen on the pad. “Let’s get back to our suspects. Etienne. What have you found out about him? Does he have an alibi? Is he really grieving? Has he demanded Yolette’s remains yet?”

“Whoa,” he said, leaning back in the chair. “Slow down before you hang the guy. First, he does have an alibi.”

“What, pray tell?”

“He was fishing.”

I blinked. “With a nor’easter coming in? I don’t think so.”

“He went inland, over around Gainesville. Lake fishing.”

I wondered how far inland the lake wind warnings went. Since I watch more HGTV than the Weather Channel, I had no clue.

“He has witnesses, I suppose?”

“Yep. He arranged in advance to rent a boat, and the guy working the marina signed it out to him at six fifteen. The only wrinkle in his story is that he was supposed to have been at the marina by five in the morning. He was over an hour late.”

“Time enough to kill Yolette?”

“Technically, but he says he took a wrong turn, and that is possible. He showed us on a map where he went the wrong way.”

I stared at him. “Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”

“What? That he knew where he made the wrong turn?”

“That he consulted a map at all. Maggie says men are notorious for not following maps or asking for directions.”

His lips quirked. “In a foreign country, even men use maps.”

“What about the body? Is he having her cremated?”

“To destroy some other evidence, you mean?” He shook his head. “He’s been patient, but that may not last long. He says he wants to take her home, and so far there’s no other physical evidence in the house or car—or on her body—other than what there should be.”

“No handy blood-soaked clothing or fibers under her fingernails, huh?” I said, disappointed.

“Nada. As for background, we don’t know as much about Etienne as we’d like to. He’s thirty-five, born in Paris, married Yolette a little over a month ago.”

“Is he well off?”

“He’s comfortable enough.” He cocked his head. “You think he killed Yolette for her money?”

I chewed the tip of my thumbnail. “I don’t know. Etienne could’ve killed Yolette for her money, but I don’t know why he’d kill Rachelle.”

Saber frowned and ran a hand through his hair. “Maybe she was a threat of some kind. Maybe she’d been blackmailing Yolette because Yolette really did kill James Peters.”

“So Yolette and Etienne kill Rachelle to get rid of the loose end. It could’ve been planned, or they could’ve run into her in Daytona and jumped at the opportunity to kill her.”

“That only works if they could get Rachelle alone and get the drop on her.”

“Do the Daytona vampires travel in packs?”

“Not necessarily.”

“Then it wouldn’t be that hard to get her alone. Maybe they promised her a big payoff to lure her somewhere. Where was her body found?”

“On the beach about two hours before dawn. Some spring breakers stumbled over her.”

“Had she been in the water? I mean Yolette washed up, but she didn’t look like she’d been in the water long.”

“More mystery novel trivia?”

“Will you just answer me?”

“Rachelle wasn’t in the water at all, except for the waves washing over her.”

“So we’re down to Etienne, but there’s no evidence.”

“That’s the size of it.”

“It stinks.”

“Yeah, but we can’t charge him without evidence.”

I looked at the notes spread on the table. “There has to be a piece we’re missing.” I tapped my pen on one name and circled it. “We need to talk to Eugene. He’s been reporting to Millie since before James died. He has to know more than we do.”

Three things happened at once. The timer dinged, the house phone rang, and Saber ’s cell vibrated across the table. I grabbed the cordless, eyed the caller ID, and greeted Maggie as I dashed to the kitchen to turn off the noisy timer.

“You sound out of breath,” Maggie said as Saber disappeared down the hall, the cell to his ear.

“Just a little. How’s Tallahassee?”

“Fun, actually. I found the most marvelous salvage yard and junk store. How about you? Is Saber still there? What happened with Stony?”

“His name is Victor Gorman, and it turned out he had an alibi, so Saber’s still here.”

“And you’re good with that?” Maggie sounded half suspicious, half incredulous. “I mean, do you feel safe?”

I thought back to this afternoon when he’d seen me in my sleepwear. There was safe, then there was safe from myself.

“Cesca, you’re not answering me.”

“Oh, sorry, I just realized I didn’t get the mail yet. Yes, it’s fine. I’m safe and sound.”

“Really?”