Transylvania's Most Wanted Read online

  “You are the chief inspector of the Flying Squad of detectives here in Transylvania City, is that right?” D.A. Campbell asked as soon as he was sworn in.

  “That is correct.”

  “Did you, while attending the Halloween Ball last night, hear Colonel Popov ask the defendant if he had provided a ticket to the ball to a witch know as Pandora?”

  “I did.”

  “And what was Count Vasili’s answer?”

  “He said that he had not provided her a ticket.”

  A gasp went through the crowd then and Mr. Slang watched as a dozen or so reporters in the benches around him quickly scribbled on their notepads.

  “Did at any time did Count Vasili say to you that he was responsible for personally inviting every person there that night?”

  “He did, but someone may have brought her along as their date. Or the ticket could have been stolen.”

  “I move to strike that comment,” D.A Campbell said to the judge.

  “Overruled.”

  D.A Campbell gathered himself before continuing, “Has anyone, to your knowledge Chief Inspector, claimed to have brought Pandora as their date?”

  “Not to my knowledge.”

  “Has anyone claimed to have lost a ticket?”

  “Not to my knowledge.”

  “Is it possible she snuck in without a ticket?”

  “Not likely,” Red said.

  “Is it possible Krakov snuck in without a ticket?”

  “Not likely either.”

  “Why is that?”

  “At both the top and bottom of the stairs you had to present your ticket before you could gain access to the ball. All other access to the second floor was locked and constables were stationed there to make sure no one could get onto the floor unless they had a ticket.”

  “Later I will have several members of the King’ Guard testify that they remember Pandora, although they did not know who she was at the time, presenting herself to them before entering the ball, as well as did Krakov,” D.A. Campbell announced to the courtroom and again many notes were scribbled. He waited for the crowd to settle down some before he resumed questioning Inspector Meriwether. “How was Krakov able to slip a gun past your men even if he had a ticket? Was not everyone presenting a ticket patted down before they could go up to the second floor?”

  “Not if the constables at the bottom of the staircase believed he was with the U.R.R.K. delegation.”

  “And why did the constables at the bottom of the staircase believe he was a member of the King’s Guard?”

  “He was wearing a special kind of handkerchief in the breast pocket of his tuxedo.”

  “And was it decided, that the King’s Guard would wear these special handkerchiefs – was that decision made at the same time, and with the same people present, as was the decision that your men would wear black arm-bands?”

  “Yes.”

  Again Judge Hopkins banged his gavel trying to silence the crowd.

  “Thank you Chief Inspector, one last question. Did the T.C.P.D., during the autopsy of the Vampire Krakov, put a potion down his throat that would cause him to speak the last five words he spoke before dying?”

  “We did, yes.”

  “And what were those five words?”

  The crowd fell silent waiting for Inspector Meriwether to announce the five words Krakov had spoken. “The deceased said; ‘I’m working for Count Vasili.’”

  “Damn,” Mr. Slang said under his breath as the crowd erupted.

  He thought about getting up and leaving immediately, but then a thought came to him. Maybe he could turn this revelation to his advantage. Mr. Slang watched Inspector Meriwether walk straight out the court room once he was done on the witness stand. He had a good idea where he was headed as he looked at the large painting just above the judge’s stand, of Moses stretching out his arm toward the Pharaoh of Egypt.

  “Remember you are under oath,” The District Attorney told Count Vasili as he stepped into the witness chair after having placed his hand on a bible and had sworn to tell the truth. Count Vasili hand was slightly burned, not from heat, but from cold after having placed his hand on the bible and he was rubbing it now. He looked at his lawyer, a Mr. Underwood, before looking at the D.A. “Please state your name.”

  “I am Count Vasili of the house of Karloff.”

  “And who was your father?”

  “Count Voorhees Karloff.”

  “And what position did he hold in the U.R.R.K.?”

  “King’s Counselor.”

  “King Nikola is that right?”

  “That is correct,” Count Vasili said like he was disinterested in the whole proceeding.

  “He held that position until he was convicted of High Treason and of the murder of Prince Yuri, is that correct?”

  “Convicted, yes.”

  D.A Campbell paused then and looked behind him at the crowd before turning back to Count Vasili. “How’s the leg doing?” he asked feigning interest in the count’s injury.

  “It’s recovering well, thank you.”

  “Glad to hear it,” D.A Campbell said banging a ring on his finger every few seconds on the table next to him so that it sounded like water dripping. “I saw in the paper a few days ago that you were in Londonium. Is that right?”

  “Yes,” Count Vasili answered.

  “Not many vampires get to travel outside of Transylvania City. Why are you allowed to?”

  “The Karloff family has many business interests, extending across realms even. I am allowed to travel to attend to these businesses.”

  “That makes sense,” D.A. Campbell said. “I suppose you can even send cables back to the U.R.R.K.?”

  “I can, yes”

  “Can?” D.A. Campbell said. “More like have. In fact you have sent quite a number of them this past year haven’t you?”

  “Yes,” Count Vasili said reluctantly.

  “You would like to return there, would you not?”

  “I have made no secret of it. Yes I would like to return there.”

  “You have made a lot of connections with members of the Administration?”

  “I occasionally met with them, yes.”

  “There is a bit of turmoil in the U.R.R.K. presently. There are certain factions that would like to see the monarchy there removed from power. Is that true?’

  “Yes.”

  “I suppose if the Administration did decide to become more involved there. Well then they might have need of men who could…let’s say, help calm things down there. Would you agree with that?”

  “I don’t know,” Count Vasili said. “I have no idea why you are asking such questions.”

  “I’m not either,” Judge Hopkins interrupted. “Mr. Campbell why don’t you explain to us the reason for these questions?”

  “I just want to suggest that if say something happened that did throw the U.R.R.K. into even further turmoil. Say like the assignation of Prince Marko. Then I believe the Administration would look to certain prominent citizens of the U.R.R.K. to help them restore the peace there, like Count Vasili. They might even allow him to return there.”

  The crowd began to murmur and whisper.

  “Thank you,” Judge Hopkins said as D.A. Campbell turned back to Count Vasili.

  “Did you provide the witch Pandora with a ticket to the Halloween Ball?”

  Count Vasili looked over the packed courtroom. No one dare stir or speak as the entire room waited for him to deny he had provided Pandora a ticket.

  “I repeat my question,” D.A. Campbell said becoming annoyed with Count Vasili, “Did you provide the witch Pandora a ticket to the Halloween Ball?”

  Count Vasili turned toward the district attorney. “I did.”

  D.A. Campbell pointed accusingly at the count then as the crowd erupted and the judge banged on his gavel. “You confess then to assisting in the plot to assassinate Prince Marko?” he shouted at him.

  “I do not,” Count Vasili answered calmly as his la
wyer protested D.A. Campbell’s attempt to put words in his client’s mouth.

  “Abstained,” Judge Hopkins yelled over the crowd noise.

  D.A. Campbell continued questioning Count Vasili then, asking him if he had every met with the Vampire Krakov.

  “I ran into him a few times over the years. We were both from the U.R.R.K.”

  “Did you provide him a ticket to the ball?”

  The crowd sat on the edge of their seats waiting for the count to answer.

  “No.”

  “That’s a nice suit,” D.A Campbell said unexpectedly, gesturing at the clothes Count Vasili was wearing.

  “Thank you.”

  “Where could I get a suit like that?”

  “I don’t remember where I bought this.” Count Vasili said barely looking down at his suit.

  “Maybe you could take a look at the tag. Would you mind?”

  Count Vasili opened his suit coat and looked at the tag. “Oh yes, this is from Harrah’s of Londonium.”

  “You just came back from Londonium is that right?”

  “Yes.”

  “You attended a gala there. A gala held for the U.R.R.K. delegation. Is that right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you buy all your clothes from Harrah’s?”

  “No of course not.”

  “But you do have an account there?”

  Count Vasili hesitated, but then admitted he had an account at that store.

  “Is that because you regularly purchase clothing from there?”

  “That’s the whole point of an account,” Count Vasili said, causing some in the crowd to laugh nervously.

  “Yes, isn’t it? Kind of an exclusive place?”

  “Wouldn’t hurt you to shop there,” Count Vasili said and the crowd laughed again.

  “You may step down,” D.A. Campbell said smiling, taking the dig in stride.

  Count Vasili seemed like he was going to ask something, but then he looked at Mr. Underwood, who gestured for him not to. The count stepped off the witness stand and as he hobbled back toward his chair, he gave D.A. Campbell an odd sort of stare as he went past. The look was caught on camera as many bulbs flashed in the room then.

  Chapter 27

  King Takes Bishop

  Tom stood up, smiled at Rebecca and then started down the aisle when D.A. Campbell called for Inspector Thomas Flynn to take the witness stand. As he did, camera bulbs flashed.

  “Please no pictures while a line of questioning is going on,” Judge Hopkins reminded the photographers in the room.

  Tom was sworn in and then before he could even sit down, the district attorney began questioning him.

  D.A. Campbell was clearly enjoying his time in front of the packed courtroom. He was about sixty, with a head of white hair and he wore a nice, yet conservative suit. He had a habit of tapping the table he was standing nearby with the ring on his finger and when not doing that, he liked to hold onto the lapels of his coat like Abraham Lincoln did. “Inspector Flynn, you are the detective who tried to arrest the suspect Krakov after the attempted assignation and successful kidnapping of the princess last night?”

  “Yes.”

  “You ended up having to shoot and kill Krakov once you approached him in Goblin Park just minutes after the shooting?”

  “Yes.”

  “After he was killed did you go through his pockets?”

  “Inspector Meriwether did.”

  “Did he find a white handkerchief, like the ones the King’s Guard were wearing that night, in his pocket?”

  “He did,” Tom said and the crowd began to stir as this was the first time this information was made public. The district attorney approached a small table in front of the judge’s stand and lifted up the white handkerchief in question, for the crowd to see. It was all white except for a red star on it.

  “Is this it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Could you tell me what is embroidered on the bottom corner of this handkerchief?”

  Tom accepted the handkerchief from D.A. Campbell and read what was there. “It says Farley’s”

  “That’s a department store here in Transylvania City, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Would you mind trying to peel off the red star on that handkerchief?”

  Tom did as D.A. Campbell asked, and peeled off the red star.

  “It was just ironed onto the handkerchief with a little glue, wasn’t it?”

  “It appears so.”

  Next he picked up a black armband.

  “Did you also find on Krakov a black armband, like the ones you and the other TCPD officers in attendance last night were wearing?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is this it?” D.A. Campbell said holding it above his head like he was cheering some sporting team on.

  “Yes.”

  “Did you find a gun on him?”

  “Yes.”

  “This gun?” he said setting the arm-band down and picking up a gun off the table as a number of camera bulbs went off.

  “Yes.”

  “After the attempted assignation, were you instructed to head for the Lost Souls Hospital?”

  “Yes.”

  “And what did you do there?”

  “We arrested Count Vasili for having planned the kidnapping of Princess Alexi, and the attempted assignation of Prince Marko.”

  “Did Count Vasili try and escape when you went to arrest him?”

  “He did. He tried to jump out a window, but we were able to grab him and subdue him.”

  “Put up quite a fight didn’t he?”

  “He did, yes” Tom answered.

  “Despite him having been shot twice?”

  “His wounds were not serious,” Tom said glancing at Count Vasili.

  “Apparently wounds to the thigh and shoulder of a vampire are not too debilitating?” D. A. Campbell asked.

  “No they are not.”

  “I personally did not know that,” D.A Campbell said. “In fact I would propose that information in not widely known.”

  “Could the district attorney please state what point he is trying to make by informing us of Count Vasili wounds?” Mr. Underwood asked.

  “Nothing really… but…,” D. A Campbell said tapping his ring on the table again. He did this twice more and the sound of him doing it was nearly the only sound in the courtroom and then finally he said, “I’m sure this is common knowledge among vampires, especially those who have a history of gun violence as did the Vampire Krakov.”

  The crowd erupted again and the judge banged on his gavel until they fell silent. “I see where you going with this,” Judge Hopkins told D.A. Campbell, “but for the sake of the record and for the newspapermen who might not have gotten your meaning, will you please state what point you are trying to make.”

  “Certainly. I’m merely suggesting that the Vampire Krakov shot Count Vasili not intending to harm him, but instead wounded him with the sole purpose of wanting to alleviate any suspicion of him as having been part of the conspiracy to assassinate the prince,” D.A. Campbell said. “Did you find anything else of interest on Krakov’s body?” he asked Tom then.

  “Yes.”

  “What exactly?”

  “A coat check claim ticket.”

  “Did you present the ticket at the Hotel Triumph?”

  “I did.”

  “What did you collect?”

  “A hat and overcoat.”

  D.A. Campbell went to the evidence table then and took out, from a brown bag, an overcoat. “Is this that coat?”

  “Yes.”

  “Would you mind reading from the tag sewn onto it?”

  Tom took the coat from the district attorney and read the tag. “It says Harrah’s of Londonium.”

  Again the crowd murmured, and they grew even louder as D.A. Campbell approached the table, picked up a top hat and announced that it too had been purchased from Harrah’s of Londonium.

  Judge Hopkins banged his gavel
until the courtroom settled down and then he asked for a short break so he could scribble some notes down on a pad of paper. Tom noticed, Lou Mitchell, the newspaper photographer, entering the courtroom carrying a large camera then. When Judge Hopkins gestured that he was ready again, D.A. Campbell thanked Tom and excused him from the witness stand. As Tom made his way down the aisle, Lou Mitchell took his picture from where he was standing up against the side wall of the courtroom. Tom went and sat next to Rebecca again, wondering where Red had gone.

  Chapter 28

  Mr. Slang left the courtroom not long after the young detective, Inspector Flynn, finished giving his testimony. He seemed to be Chief Inspector Meriwether’s main confidante.

  As he went down the steps of the court building there was no question in Mr. Slang’s mind that he was being watched. He just wanted to know by how many pairs of eyes. A short side trip should do the trick. There was also no question in his mind that his opponent knew the game was afoot then, but he wondered just how much Inspector Meriwether really knew.

  Mr. Slang hailed a carriage and asked the driver to take him to St. Paul’s Cathedral of the Damned, the most visited tourist spot in Transylvania City. As the carriage pulled away from the curb, he took a quick glance around and spotted a man coming out the court building. The man wore a black bowler and gray raincoat. He looked to be about five-foot nine and maybe a hundred and sixty pounds, a few years past fifty.

  Sitting in the back of the carriage on the way to the cathedral, Mr. Slang planned Princess Alexi’s demise. It is simple enough to kill a person, at least when you know where to find them. Right then Mr. Slang did not know where she was, and his task was further complicated by the fact that he needed to frame certain enemies of his employer for her death. That had been made more difficult now.

  When he arrived at the steps of the cathedral, Mr. Slang immediately joined a tour group headed inside. The nun leading their group began telling them their first stop would be a number of beautiful paintings just along the side wall of the cathedral. She mentioned some of the names of the artists brought here, during various lifetimes, and commissioned to produce a work of art to hang on the walls of the cathedral; Renoir (his third life) Michelangelo (his fourth life) and other impressive names. Mr. Slang would have liked to spend some time looking over their works, but instead he immediately headed upstairs to the balcony. He went and stood by the stain-glass window and looked back outside.