Free Murder in Vein (2010) by Sue Ann Jaffarian Page B

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her hand. "I'm a vampire attorney. I know, go ahead and say itit's redundant." Her words came at Madison fast and aggressive,
like the beat of a hard metal rock song but without the harshness. "I've heard it all before," Stacie continued with a smirk. "`Bloodsucking should come easy to me. It's a natural career step. I want
to bite your wallet' In the forty-two years since I was turned, I've
heard it all."

    "Turned?" Madison ventured.
    "Turned," Dodie answered her, "means when Stacie became a
vampire. It's the term we use to denote the event of going from
living to undead."
    Stacie studied Madison, making a frank and speedy assessment. "Bet you're learning a lot in a short time. Bet it's more than
you want to learn, too."
    Madison looked directly into Stacie's brown eyes. Attorney
or not, vampire or not, Madison's gut was telling her to like and
trust the woman. She could see that Dodie did. "When it's TMI,
I'll let you know."
    "TMI?" asked Dodie.
    "Too much information," Madison and Stacie answered in
quick unison.
    The attorney smiled at Madison. "I think I'm going to like
you, Madison Rose." Before Madison could answer, Stacie shifted
her brain into a higher gear. "So tell me what happened Saturday
night. What do you remember? Did you see anyone besides the
creep who grabbed you?"
    "I've already told Detective Notchey everything," Madison
answered.
    "So now tell me," Stacie pressed. "Everything"
    Madison looked over at Dodie. The older woman smiled and
gave her an assuring nod.
    "Like I told Notchey, I came out of the diner where I work.
I was alone and it was late, after one in the morning. We stay open late on Saturday nights to feed the club crowd. It was very
dark in the parking lot." Madison scrunched her eyes in thought.
"Now that I think of it, it was darker than usual, like the light
back there was burned out or something."

    "See," Stacie said, "sometimes new details crop up in the
retelling. Things you might have forgotten before."
    Before continuing, Madison took a drink from her coffee,
which was now cool. "I was about to get into my car when I felt
someone come up from behind and hit me hard. It happened
fast, too fast for me to react. I must have blacked out, because
when I came to, I was tied and gagged and in the trunk of a car.
Turned out to be my own car." Madison focused on the tabletop
to keep her concentration. "When the car stopped, he dragged
me out of the trunk and into a small clearing. He smacked me
around a bit, then threw me to the ground. Then ... nothing."
    "Nothing?" Stacie asked. She frowned, causing her bangs to
fall farther over her eyebrows.
    "Nothing," Madison repeated. "After dumping me on the
ground, he grabbed a beer and sat down against a tree, like he
was waiting for someone. When I started to struggle, he moved
over to me. That's when ... that's when..." Madison looked over
at Dodie.
    "That's when," Dodie finished for her, "Doug and I arrived.
We were taking a moonlight stroll through the woods when we
saw that Bobby person crouched over her and thought he was
going to kill her."
    Stacie aimed her frown at Dodie. "Too bad you two didn't
take this guy alive. We could have gotten some answers out of
him."
    Dodie straightened her shoulders. "I'm afraid Douglas got a
little carried away," she said in defense of her husband. "But his heart was in the right place. Our only thought at the time was to
save the girl, not to capture her assailant."

    "Then I hope the creep was at least tasty." Stacie delivered the
line in a well-timed one-two sarcastic punch.
    "I can assure you, Stacie," Dodie told her, her lips pursed in
displeasure at being chastised, "Samuel gave us a thorough and
well-deserved tongue lashing last night."
    Turning back to Madison, Stacie prodded further. "You saw
no one else?"
    "No one, except for Doug and Dodie. But Bobby did seem to
be nervous, and whoever it was he was waiting for seemed to be
late."
    "You knew this