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“I’m not sure what to tell you.” Her shrug made something squeak under her suit. I wondered if she had on some sort of crazy latex contraption under there. “But why would I admit to making the glove if I’d murdered this mage?”
“She makes a good point, Sabina,” Adam said. I made a mental note to exclude him from interrogations with hot dominatrixes in the future.
“Fine. I still need to know who purchased the glove.”
“Again, I protect my clients. If word got out that I opened my books to you, my credibility would be shot.” She smiled smugly.
“Not as shot as it would be if Slade revoked your feeding rights.”
Her smile faltered. “He wouldn’t do that.”
“Oh, I assure you that he would. The murder happened in his club. I’m sure you’re aware how seriously The Shade takes his position in the vampire community. And even if he didn’t, I’m fairly certain the Despina and the High Councilman would have an opinion. Your persistence in obstructing this investigation will not go without consequences.”
She sat still for a few moments, thinking it over. The truth was I hoped she didn’t call my bluff and get Slade on the phone. I had no idea if he’d agree to revoke her feeding rights over this. For all I knew, they were lovers and he’d be pissed I threatened her.
Mistress Bianca rose with as much dignity as she could muster. She walked stiffly to a filing cabinet and unlocked it with a key hanging from a chain around her neck. She pulled out a ledger and flipped through it. After a moment, she said, “According to my records, that item was sold four nights ago here in the store. The purchaser paid cash.”
“Were you here? Do you remember the buyer?” Adam asked.
She shook her head. “No, I would have remembered selling that pair. Whoever bought it must have come in during daylight hours. I have human employees who run the shop while I’m sleeping.”
“Who was working that day?” I asked.
She pursed her lips. “Let me check the time sheets.”
Bianca rifled through some more file folders. When she found what she was looking for, she ran a black nail down the paper. The finger stopped on something and her face changed. “Shit,” she whispered.
I rose and went to her. “What is it?”
She held up the sheet. “Liam worked that day.” Her voice sounded different, strained.
“Can we talk to him?”
She shook her head. “I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
What the hell was this chick’s problem? “Do we really need to go through this again? It’s imperative we speak to Liam to find out who bought the gloves.”
“You don’t understand,” she said, her voice cracking. “You can’t talk to Liam because he’s dead.”
My stomach did a triple backflip. I glanced at Adam, who looked as shocked as I felt. “What?”
Mistress Bianca’s eyes sparkled wetly. “It was horrible. They found his body in Central Park just last night.”
A chill crawled down my spine. “Holy shit.”
“After I found out, I called Slade and he said he’d take care of it.” Her eyes widened then. “Wait, does this mean Liam’s death is related to the mage’s murder?”
I swallowed the bad feeling rising in my throat. This shit just got a whole lot more complicated. Especially since our only witness to the glove’s owner was in the morgue, which meant our one clue, like Liam, had just met a dead end.
“It’s possible,” Adam said. “As far as we know, Liam was the only one who could identify the owner of the gloves.”
“Which means we’re back to square one,” Giguhl said.
“Maybe,” I said. “Have you heard any talk lately of someone wanting to unseat Slade’s power?” Ever since Slade asked me to help him, I’d wondered if a rival might be behind the murders. A male like Slade didn’t run a dark-races underworld without collecting a few enemies. And now that he was working for the Despina, it stood to reason the rivals might resent his broadening influence.
Bianca frowned at the seemingly random question. “There are always vamps who talk big about wanting to be the one in power.”
“But have you noticed any changes? Anyone talking bigger than the rest of late? Especially since Slade made his deal with the Despina?”
The domme’s lips wrinkled in distaste. “Oh, sure. Lots of local vamps consider themselves enemies of the Dominae. When Slade agreed to work with the new bitch in charge, a lot of vampires said he couldn’t be trusted anymore.” She paused, as if remembering something. “You know, now that I think about it, I did hear that this one guy had a major hard-on for getting Slade out of the picture.”
“Who?”
“I don’t remember the name. The last name started with an ‘M’ maybe. But I do remember he owns a strip club in Alphabet City.”
I closed my eyes and cursed. “Tiny Malone?” Before she confirmed it, I already knew I was right. I’d had a run-in with Tiny months earlier, the last time I worked for Slade. That slimeball triggered my gag reflex.
She snapped and smiled. “That’s it. Apparently he’s trying to unite some of the local vamp business owners against Slade.”
Adam looked at me. I’d told him about my run-in with Tiny months ago so he recognized the name, too. “Did Tiny approach you?”
She grimaced. “He sent his goons to threaten me. I told them to go f**k themselves. Slade isn’t an angel but he’s always been fair. Plus, I think it’s a good thing he’s trying to mend fences between the exiled vamps of New York and the new leadership out West.”
I grabbed a pen and paper from her desk. “This is my phone number. If you think of anything else that might help us, please call me.”
She folded the sheet and stuck it in her cle**age. “Sure. Anything I can do to help find Liam’s killer.”
We turned to go, but I paused when something caught my eye. I pointed to a flag over the door. I hadn’t seen it when we first walked in. It was a red triskelion set against a black background. “What’s that?”
Mistress Bianca smiled. “That’s the symbol for vampire S&M community. The mortal version is all black, but we vamps modified it with red for obvious reasons.”
Those reasons being a vampire’s preternatural bloodlust as well as the telltale red hair that marked every vampire in existence.
