Page 50 of Secrets in the Dark
Hudson smiled, gleeful that it seemed he had them on something at last.
“You don’t know his name, do you?” Della asked him. “Because your great leader, your Vampire King, taught you all not to use your real names. I believe that he might have taught you, too, that the reason was so that if one was arrested, he couldn’t give away the others. And, of course, he was able to bring you all into the fold because you just couldn’t get a real relationship going. Maybe your mom beat you, too, when you were a child—before she killed your father, of course, and wound up in prison.” She leaned forward, smiling. “She made you feel like a speck of dirt, and maybe you dated someone who did the same. And you couldn’t even fight like a man so you had to resort to drugs and that—”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Hudson told her. “I never had to drug anyone for sex, and, baby, you really blew it, because you... Well, you’ll just die. Slowly and painfully. Vampires! We needed our women drugged so that we could draw the blood, drink the blood, savor the life and strength it sent into our systems!”
“You saidwe. I’m guessing that Dante helped you, either through instruction or by being there,” Della said. “And without Dante, you were powerless! You killed two innocent young women who did want to give you a chance as a man, as a human being, but now that Dante has been arrested in the United States, you’re powerless and pathetic. Of course, if you’d tell us the name—”
“You are an idiot-bitch!” Hudson told her, angry and then laughing. “Did you hear? Oh, man,” he said, looking at Mason. “You really saddled yourself with an idiot-bitch. She just said that Dante would have taught us not to use real names so that we didn’t give each other away and we cleared the world of scum, and now she’s asking me for a name!”
He laughed as if he had managed a one-upmanship that was truly amusing.
“Sorry, idiot-bitch here just testing you,” Della said sweetly.
“I’m going to be with you again!” he said, eyes narrowing. “And next time—”
“I’ll kick you again if you attack me,” Della assured him with a shrug.
“Hmm. I don’t think so,” Edmund said, saving Mason the trouble. “I don’t think you’ll be anywhere with a chance to hurt anyone for a long, long time.”
He glanced at Mason and Della, and she shrugged and said, “He doesn’t have a name. Once he’s been charged with premeditated murder—”
“You have nothing on me!” Hudson roared suddenly. “Nothing—”
“Other than your confession,” Edmund informed him.
“No. No. You tortured and coerced me and—” Hudson began.
But Edmund quickly corrected him. “I offered you legal counsel when I first came in to question you. Mr. Hudson, you refused that offer. And that was all recorded, too.”
“No, I don’t remember you offering me anything!”
Edmund smiled. “Again, I don’t know how I can make it any clearer. It’s on video, sir, along with your confession. So, if you’ll excuse us now...”
“What?” Hudson said, annoyed. Then he laughed. “There is no excuse for you—any of you. All of you are just so sadly inexcusable!”
“Yeah, well, late night,” Edmund said. “I believe that, well, it’s just time to move on, sir. You have nothing else to give us.”
“No, seriously! That’s it. You think that you’re done with me?” Hudson demanded
“You have said that you have no names of anyone who was with you when you were studying—or whatever it was that you were doing—beneath Dante. You killed two women. You didn’t kill three, and you aren’t the new Ripper. And you have said that you can’t help us.”
“I want legal counsel!” Hudson raged.
“I am sure that can be arranged,” Mason said, glancing at Edmund.
“Of course,” Edmund said.
“It will all be thrown out!” Hudson roared. “All. What you’ve done to me will be plastered all over the papers. London police with the help of American FBI idiots try to railroad the innocent so that they don’t get their bloody arses fired! You don’t have half of what you need from me.”
“Okay,” Della said. “What can you give us?”
“What can you give me?” he asked. He started to laugh, then. “Oh, you idiots! You always think you have the upper hand. And you are just going to have to dig, dig, dig to get anything else.” He burst into laughter as if his words were hilarious. “Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig!”
Della shrugged. “Okay. We’ll dig, dig, dig, and we’ll see that you get that legal counsel. In a civilized society, you are entitled. I don’t understand English law—I don’t always understand every little nuance of American law—but I know that you have rights, too. But, of course, you did waive those rights when you came in, and for us... Wow. It has been a long day.”
“And we are going home,” Mason said quietly.
“She needs to get you alone to beat you up, too?” Hudson taunted.
