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“Okay, ask for my supervisor, Captain Helms. I work nights.”
“Will do.”
I ended the call and dialed Wizard. “That was the cops,” I said after he answered. “Not surprisingly since they have my car. We’re going to pick it up in the morning and you’re coming with me.”
“Sounds good. Here’s what I got from the phone. It’s either still inside the SUV or at the police station as of now. Facebook Messenger app was accessed about 4:40 p.m. today. Sorry, but I hacked into her account and found an exchange of her with the vampires through Poppy’s account. I’m sending you screenshot.”
I waited a second and a few popped in. I read them and because furious.
“Why the fuck would she take off alone? We could have easily taken them down.”
“I’m sure it was the threats,” he replied. “She was scared they’d hurt the girl if she didn’t show up alone.”
“And now she’s in the goddamn wind again!”
“We’ll find her,” Wizard said. “I’m going to try a few more things. I’ll get back to you.”
I wanted to throw the phone across the room but I didn’t. There was no way I was sleeping tonight. I wanted to hop on my bike and drive around until I found her, but that would be nothing but a waste of time. She could be anywhere.
She might not even be in Louisiana anymore. I could only assume the cops asked Poppy the location of where they were being held and already checked it out. Or maybe she didn’t know, maybe she was blindfolded. Or drugged as they left.
Too many questions with no answers.
It was after 10 p.m. Should I call church and let everyone know what was going on? No, I’d wait until Wizard had worked more magic.
I’d somehow managed to crash on my couch for a few hours last night. Now, with coffee in hand, I stood in Rumble, waiting for the rest of the guys to show up. It was barely 9 a.m., so they weren’t very happy about the early hour, but they’d get over it.
Once everyone was there, and I had just poured my second cup of black, tarry coffee from behind the bar, I set it on the podium and pounded the gavel.
“Not sure if anyone had seen the news, but Nera is missing. She apparently got a message online from one of the victims she had been held captive with. It was really the bloodsuckers messaging her, telling her to meet them. They had vaguely promised to release the captive, whose name is Poppy. When she arrived, Poppy escaped, but they got Nera.”
I nodded at Wizard, who had hooked up his tablet to the multiple screens around the bar that usually showed sports games.
Wizard pointed the remote at the tablet. “I was up most of the night trying to hack into the cameras at the mall and the traffic cams. Here’s what I’ve put together.”
I watched the clips that I’d already watched ten times since they were sent to me at 6 a.m. and still felt sick. It showed Nera pulling up in the Audi, getting out, apparently delivering brain freezes or stings or whatever to the vamps, knocking two of them out cold with some kind of magic dust, and then dragging Poppy to the car. One got up and tried to take Nera, but she fought. She fought hard, but the vamp was too strong and too quick. She screamed something and the vamp dragged her to the black van they’d pulled up in. Poppy quickly slid over and put the car in drive and took off.
The video cut to the black van driving down the main road past the mall, where it turned onto a small street. That was where we’d head to next, not expecting to find them, but to see if we could find anything at all. Maybe a direction they were headed that would lead to a residential area. Anything to track that black van.
“The good news is,” Wizard started, “that this is exactly what the police are doing. We’re positive they would have pulled the cameras, got the license plate, and put out an APB on it. I was also able to—after hours of sharpening the image—get the plate from one of the traffic cams. I ran it and it belongs to an Adam Smith who lives in Metairie. Adam is ninety-one and lives in an elder home. I doubt this guy is a relative of these vamps, or even knows him, but I’m sure the police will be questioning him soon. So the van’s either stolen and he just doesn’t realize it, or the plates are. In the meantime, I’m going to be watching the traffic cams for the van.”
“We need a team of guys posted up around the city, ready to act on a moment’s notice if the van is spotted,” I added. “But of course it’ll have to be tonight when the vamps come back out.
“In the meantime, I need Trigger, Cutter, and Chaos to go with me to the witch’s shop in the Quarter where Nera got her supplies. I’m gonna offer her an obscene amount of money to do a locator spell.”
“Great idea,” Cutter said. “I wish I could help, but I was never trained.”
“I know, but it’s about time you learned. That’s why I’m bringing you.”
“I do know you need something personal of hers,” he said, nodding.
“That’s right. Go to her room and grab a hairbrush or anything else you think she’ll need,” I instructed.
“On it,” he replied.
“Menace, once it gets dark tonight, you and Charlie take a cager and go post up near the intersection we spotted the van on the camera, near the mall.”
“You got it, boss,” he replied.
