Night Shift
Page 53

Bobo went out the side door to the landing and downstairs. He heard a little stirring in Olivia’s apartment, so he knocked softly. She opened the door so swiftly he was startled and stepped back.
“What’s up?” she said. She’d just showered, and was wrapped in a towel. Her auburn hair trickled drops of water on her shoulders.
“Is Lem okay? The sheriff is upstairs asking. What happened?” Bobo whispered.
“Lemuel’s fine. Tell Arthur I’ll be up in just a minute,” she said. “I can explain then.” Her voice was at a normal level. “You could shout and Lem wouldn’t wake up, you know.”
“Right,” Bobo said, a little embarrassed. Up the stairs he went to relay Olivia’s message. He and Arthur had a calm exchange of pleasantries until she came in. She looked pale to Bobo, but he noticed she had put on makeup and an outfit that was nicer than her usual Midnight wear.
“Arthur, thanks for coming in person about my car. Did you find it?” Olivia was all hopefulness.
“We did find your car, but I’m afraid I have bad news,” Arthur said. “There was a small amount of ash that was a different color in the front seat. We think it was a dead vampire. And the car was wrecked. It had evidently bounced around like a pinball between the cars in the parking lot at the Cartoon Saloon in Marthasville.”
“A dead vampire?” Olivia seemed genuinely startled. “I didn’t think there was enough left of them after they died. I mean, to tell a vampire was there.”
“There was a pile of flaky stuff left,” Arthur said. “I’d never seen anything like it, but I’ve read about it in law enforcement journals. It matched the pictures I’ve seen of vampire remains.” He paused. “Were you were out last night?”
“Briefly,” she said. “But most of the night, I was helping Lemuel. He had the night shift here in the pawnshop, as usual.”
“And by ‘helping’, you mean . . . ?”
“Keeping him company,” she said promptly. “He’s my sweetie.”
The idea of Lemuel as a “sweetie” made Bobo turn away with a grin.
“And when you say you were out?” Arthur was persistent. It was his job.
Olivia turned to Bobo. “Don’t get mad, but Lem and I took a walk. It was such a pretty night we couldn’t resist. And we were only gone thirty minutes. But during that time, my car went missing! Or at least, that was when I noticed it was gone.”
“I don’t suppose you left your key fob in it?”
“No,” she said. It had actually been in Lemuel’s pocket.
“Can you narrow down how long it might have been missing?”
“I used the Civic yesterday afternoon,” she said, looking thoughtful. “I drove to Davy and back. After that, I didn’t take it out. I can’t remember looking behind the store for any reason. So I guess it was stolen between five p.m. and one a.m. I hardly see how it could have been taken in the daytime, so I’d imagine it was taken after dark.”
Arthur didn’t respond to that. “Could I see your key fob?”
She pulled a key ring out of her pocket and showed it to him. “Here it is,” she said. “Plus side door key and apartment key.”
“These haven’t left your possession?”
“No,” she said.
“What about your extra key fob?”
“I checked last night, and it’s in a drawer in my apartment.”
“That was some talented vampire,” Bobo said. “Knew how to boost a car without keys. Hey, how is that possible?”
“Usually, your fob has to be within a couple of feet to open your car,” Arthur said. “But there’s a device called a power amplifier. If the fob is within a certain radius, it can open the car and a thief can start it.”
“Damn,” Bobo said, truly amazed. “I had no idea. And you say Olivia’s car is totaled?”
“Looks totaled to me,” Arthur said. “And not only did a vampire die, and the car get totaled, along with a lot of damage to others, but the Civic hit a pickup truck so hard that the woman inside snapped her neck, and the man who was with her is in intensive care. At least, that what we’re assuming happened to them.”
“That’s awful,” Bobo said. “Do you think he’ll make it?”
“Maybe,” Arthur said.
“But surely Olivia can’t be held liable for the woman’s death and the man’s injuries?” Bobo was indignant. “I mean, after all! Her car got stolen!”
“I’m really sorry for all of this,” Olivia said. “But at least the dead vampire isn’t Lemuel, and the man in the hospital may recover. I’ll try to focus on that.” She looked determined and brave. “Oh, by the way, and far down on the list, I called my insurance agent first thing this morning. Matt Wrigley. To alert him about the theft. Did he contact you?”
Arthur nodded. “One of my deputies talked to him. When he described the situation, Matt said he’d call you later today, after he’d seen your car.”
“I’ve only had the Civic for three years, and I got a great deal on it secondhand. Now I’ll have to go through the process again.” Olivia’s expression was sour.
She’s genuinely chagrined about that, at least, Bobo thought. Abruptly, he longed to simply walk out of the pawnshop and across the road to Fiji’s place. He wanted to sit on her back porch and drink any beverage she cared to offer him. He wanted to have an ordinary conversation with her. Maybe he could hold her hand while they talked. That would be so nice. He missed her so much. She’d called him when Teacher had searched her house, but since then she’d reverted to keeping her distance.
“Bobo!” From her tone, Bobo understood Olivia had said his name several times.
“Sorry, I was daydreaming,” he said.
“If the insurance guy comes in here, can you call me to come up?” she said. “I’m going to be doing some research on another vehicle, on my laptop.”
“Sure.” That unnecessary instruction had been worth interrupting his thoughts?
“Olivia, at least you know what happened to your car,” Arthur said. He, too, did not sound pleased. “I guess it’s just an amazing coincidence that you happen to date the only vampire in a large radius, and then a vampire stole your car out of all the cars within that radius, and then that vampire died in that car after wrecking it for no reason.”