Page 37 of Silent Stalker
“Record all questioning sessions with our guests known to be employees of Mr. Francis. Do not feel a need to filter out some of the more painful elements of recovery, including their tendency to attack. He does not understand the difficulties of our work. Make it clear they’re getting proper medical care. Make certain everyone knows not to mention who crafted the stakes or where we got them from. Send segments of video to me before the night ends, so I can forward them along. Make sure you get approval from them to be recorded.”
“A few aren’t quite ready to speak or give consent yet.”
Emerick sighed. “Do your best, and record only asking and stop recording if they are not able to comprehend what you’re asking of them. That will be sufficient for our needs.”
“Understood. Several of them are fairly violent still, especially now they’re recovering enough for bloodlust to be an actual issue.”
“I assumed as much, considering you were after more of Pepper’s stakes. How is the weakest of them doing?”
“He’s improved, but he’s still too weak to enter bloodlust. He has gotten to the point he can drink from a bottle on his own, but it’s difficult for him. He was the first we aged for use with cuffs, and he’s getting the gentlest of the stakes until we can rebuild some of his mass. He is more coherent than the others. He woke in a warehouse on the shore near West Harlem, managed to escape, but was quickly captured and taken to something he describes as an industrial complex. Concrete and steel, sterile.”
“Abandoned hospital?” I guessed. “There’s at least three in the Harlem area, and they’re all standing. Last I checked, my father planned on reopening all three of them once he secured property rights to the structures. The Harlem Hospitals area is going to be the heart of his commerce once he’s finished rebuilding, and he plans on making that a premier New York hospital.”
Ben snorted, and Emerick raised a brow. “That’s quite the ambition.”
“That’s what he wants, to rule over all he sees. How better to rule than to completely control the area’s economy along with the health of those living under his rule?”
“It is a sick logic, but smart. I will go turn on your prized kettle, get you a warm drink, and bring it to you in the conference room. Ben, before you leave, make sure her and her blanket make it in one piece, and perhaps bring along a pillow should she decide to be an absent attendee of the session.”
While Ben sighed, he waited for me to stagger in the direction of the conference room, which was a few doors down from my office. He brought me a pillow and my tea, and his scowl softened to a smile. “Forgive the show there, Pepper. Emerick simply isn’t happy unless he feels I am grumpy with him. He’s feeling poorly enough he needs the assurance all is well, and should I be willing to scowl at him, obviously all is well.” With a smug smile, Ben glanced in the direction of the kitchen. “He also is feeling poorly enough he forgot I had just brought you tea.”
“Maybe he needs some tea, too.”
“A good idea. I’ll send him in here and make a proper pot for both of you, and I will ask Salania to keep an eye on you while you work. Do you need anything from your office? Your tablet?”
“The tablet would be a good idea. Thanks.”
While Ben went to fetch my tablet and make sure Emerick and my kettle both survived the evening, I picked one of the conference room chairs as my nest, made myself comfortable, and situated the blanket so it would stay around me while allowing me to free a single hand for tea-drinking purposes. Ben returned with my tablet and set it on the table in front of me.
“Do you think I’m going to transform into a healthy vampire by tomorrow?” I asked.
“It’s possible. I’m one of the unlucky vampires, and I take longer to get over the cruel abuses of my master.”
“Cruel abuses?” Emerick complained, and he walked in carrying my kettle in one hand and a pitcher of water in the other. “We’re going to need more hot beverages than fits in a single mug to get through this call.”
“I’ll bring the pot and the teas in, along with the sugar, honey, and the lemon. There will be no flirting with dairy during your vaccination adaption period.”
Emerick glared at Ben, and the other vampire ignored my husband and left the conference room.
“You’d pay for it miserably if you had the good cream, and lemon curdles in tea with cream, Emerick. Curdled cream in my tea is never a good thing. We need the lemon, else the mucus wins. We also need the honey, or my throat will get sore, and I’m a beast when I have a sore throat.”
“Consider me to be appropriately warned.” Emerick set up the kettle on the stand at the far end of the room, plugged it in, and turned it on. “Your father seemed concerned about your vaccinations.”
“I’m pretty sure I had some of the basic vaccinations, but he viewed them as potential ways I, his heir, might be poisoned. But he allowed the vaccinations, as losing his heir to a stupid, preventable disease settled even less well than the risk of allowing some strange doctor to pump unknown things into my veins. Me? I am firmly in the camp of ready and willing to accept strange things being pumped into my veins to dodge a nasty illness. I do not appreciate being sick. I enjoy being pampered, but I would rather be pampered when I’m feeling well enough to enjoy it.”
“It did not take you long to decide you like being pampered.”
I grinned at him. “The prior ivory tower, while it had some pampering facilities, focused primarily on making certain I was in prime physical condition to do the required work to prevent eviction from said ivory tower. I much prefer this ivory tower. I misbehave, and I get rewarded for misbehaving.”
“Being assertive and skilled at your work is not misbehavior,” Emerick informed me.
“Can we fight about this when I’m feeling better?”
With a low chuckle, he nodded. Ben returned with a carry tray loaded up with various teas, lemon, and honey, and Salania swept in armed with a laptop and a tablet.
“The real queen of the roost has arrived, Emerick. We better behave.”
My husband snickered, abandoned the kettle, and sat beside me. “This is my cue to sit down before I get smacked with something else tonight.”
