(1.2) A Date with Rose

Chapter 1, Part 2

I was grateful that this club had an open parking lot because the place was packed. After parking I went into my trunk and removed the badge that I’d taken off of one of my meals a few weeks ago. I looked at the name on the badge before pocketing it.

“Thank you Detective Ward.”

I closed my trunk and made my way towards the entrance. I could see the man at the door sizing me up, trying to see if I met the dress code. Apparently I didn’t, as I was a good ten feet from the door when he started shaking his head at me.

“You’re going to need to fix yourself first bud.” He said, stopping me with a Christmas turkey that might have passed off as his hand.

I looked at him like he was insane; checking out my clothes to see what he was talking about. I was wearing a black silk button up shirt and a pair of black pleated dress pants. Over that was a black leather bomber jacket.

Something that I hadn’t noticed before, due to both my inability to use a mirror at night and my short attention span, was that I had splinters of wood in my hair and that my jacket and pants had been covered in a thin layer of white dust.

I ran my hands through my hair, removing the dust and debris. I shook off my jacket and dusted off my pants afterwards, looking at the bouncer and asking his approval. He nodded, beginning to start talking while I fished through my pockets to get my badge.

“All right, cover charge is 15 and can I see some-“ I cut him of by flashing the badge in his face and let myself in.

The club was an interesting place, the music was blaring loudly enough to start causing a headache and the strobe lights were annoying enough to cause me to put on a pair of sunglasses.

The place itself looked a lot larger on the inside, but with the amount of people on the floor it really didn’t help. The dance area was crammed harder than a circus car and it took what felt like an eternity to make my way through it so I could get on a balcony and find out where my target was.

It took a moment or two before I saw him. He was sitting alone on a couch which was up on a dais. I found a bit of irony when I looked at his clothes. He was clad completely in white, the absolute contrast to my own outfit. I didn’t think there’d be a problem making his death discreet until three women climbed up to the dais and crawled into his lap.

I looked at the badge in my hand, hoping that it would be enough to convince him as I headed towards the dais. Remembering not to smile at the guy as it would reveal my fangs, I approached the couch.

“Mr. Rose?” I said

I’d interrupted him during a make out session with one of the women. He turned to look at me with a look of complete and utter contempt. I flashed my badge at him and he began look a little less pissed and a little more nervous.

“I’m Detective Ward. I need to speak with you in private.”

He looked at the women around him and dismissed them with a wave, waiting until they were gone before addressing me.

“What can I help you with Detective?”

“I need to talk to you about an associate of yours,” I said taking a seat on the couch, “A Mr. Anthony Pierce.”

“Tone? Yeah… What about him?” His accent was thick, and I assumed from New England, making it slightly difficult for me to understand him.

“When was the last time you talked to Mr. Pierce?”

“I just talked to him this morning; he said he had an appointment with a client.”

“Do you know what line of work he’s in?

“He’s a bodyguard.” He replied quickly.

I pretended not to notice his seemingly automatic response and continued my charade.

“If it’s not too much of a bother sir, I’m going to need to take you down to the station and ask you a few more questions.”

He stared at me with a rather confused look on his face. “Why?” he asked. “Did something happen to him?”

I put on my best solemn look, acting as if I cared that some Summer Fae-loving human had been killed.

“Anthony Pierce’s body was found this evening and according to his cell phone you were the last person he talked to.”

His expression went to an odd mix of fear and anger and he began muttering to himself. The mixture of his accent and the volume of the club itself made it almost impossible to understand him, the only thing that I actually managed to hear leave his lips was “I’m next.”

A moment later, he stood, motioning me towards the exit. “I’ll do whatever I can to help Detective. Shall we?”

I stood and followed the man outside; making my way to my car once we were in the parking lot. “This is a pretty snazzy ride for a cop’s salary,” he said when we got on the road, running a finger along the dash and leather interior.

“Trust me, it was one of the bigger mistakes I’ve made in my life.” I said, giving him a closed mouth grin. He laughed, seemingly at ease. Now was as good a time as any to do what I needed to do.

I chose now to start deviating from the common roads, turning down darkened streets, moving further away from any potential witnesses.

Had I not known what it felt like to have magic be drawn in and focused, I wouldn’t have known to reach across and elbow the man in the gut. When he fell unconscious, I stopped my car, getting out and opening the passenger door.

Judging by the way he slumped over and simply fell out of the car when the door was open, I assumed he was unconscious.

Well… you know what they say about assumptions right?