“I was almost a teenager when Prohibition ended. It was now legal to sell alcohol, though that didn’t stop bootleggers. A lot of individuals, many of them gangsters, had built lucrative businesses during the alcohol ban. Several speakeasies were still operating out of the city.”
What did any of this have to do with the price of tea in China? I was starting to regret my decision to hear them out. I hoped they weren’t intending to stay for hours, which they would, if he didn’t speed things along.
“Around that time my father had fallen ill, and his business was suffering. My parents were having a difficult time putting food on the table. As the eldest child, it was my job to step in. A friend from the neighborhood was running rum for a small crime syndicate, and he got me a night job delivering barrels to a few of the more exclusive speakeasies. My father wasn’t pleasedwith what I was doing, but I was bringing in money that we desperately needed, so he turned a blind eye.”
Well, well, my great-grandfather was a criminal.
“I’d been a delivery boy for about two months when I ran into trouble,” Richard continued. “Running rum was dangerous, not only because it was illegal but also because rival gangs would attack during deliveries. When I was ambushed, I assumed that was what had happened. I was with just one other boy that night, Sampson, my friend from the neighborhood. I was lucky to be working with someone who cared about my life, or else I probably would have been killed.”
“Sampson fought back?” I deduced.
“He did, indeed. But it wasn’t a gang who’d attacked.”
“The attacker bit into his neck,” Maxine piped in with a knowing look. She’d obviously heard this story before.
“He was a cannibal?” I asked innocently.
“Please don’t insult our intelligence. We know that you know,” Richard said.
“About?”
He gave me a look that bordered on disgust. “Vampires.”
My long-lost great-grandparents could have shown up and said many things after being absent my whole life, but this was the last thing I would have expected. I was getting a bad feeling about the timing of their arrival, with it happening so close to Robert’s disappearance. With the amount of money the Nolans had, they could have hired a legion of private investigators and found me years ago. Why now?
With nonchalance I found strange, Richard took a sip of tea. “My attacker came from behind, which is why I hadn’t seen him. I screamed as he latched on to my neck. Sampson acted quickly, stabbing my attacker through the heart. We carried knives with us, you see, because of the threat from rival bootleggers.”
“Did he die? The vampire?” I could see no point in continuing to play dumb.
“He did eventually. Sampson and I panicked. We ran into the speakeasy and told our story. We were dismissed as two youngsters telling tall tales, despite our clothes being covered in blood. The owner, a malicious crime boss you didnotwant to antagonize, thought we’d drank his rum. The only way we were able to save our hides was by taking the group onto the street where the vampire had attacked.” Richard chuckled. “Of course, if you’ve ever seen a vampire die, you’ll know why this didn’t help our cause.”
“Because he’d already begun to decompose?”
“Exactly. Had it not been for the fangs, I doubt anyone would have believed us. But there they were, glinting on the street. I kept them.”
He lifted his arms, showing me his cufflinks. They weren’t opals after all, but fangs. He was flaunting them like trophies.
“As it turned out, the crime boss was an occult aficionado. So were a few of his customers. He ushered us into his office along with the other men, and we were treated like two tribesmen who’d put down a lion that had been terrorizing a village. They told us to describe the attack.” Richard smiled sheepishly. “We may have embellished slightly, but the crux of the story was true. We’d killed a vampire where they had failed.”
“What do you mean, where they had failed? Did they know about the existence of vampires?”
“They did. As I would come to learn, they were exotic hunters.”
“You mean . . . vampire hunters?”
Richard took another sip of tea and then gingerly set down the cup. “Vampire hunters, sure, but also hunters of other lethal creatures: cobras, crocodiles, polar bears, sharks, hippos. Vampires, however, were the ultimate score.”
Score? I felt sick.
“Impressed by our bravery, the crime boss asked us to work for him exclusively. Of course, when a mobster ‘asks’ you to work for him, it’s not really an invitation. Sampson and I couldn’t refuse.”
I was still unsure how any of this related to why they were there, and I was growing impatient.
He continued, “I started to make a lot of money, which both frightened and pleased my parents. As I grew older, I became trusted by the mobster, who treated me more like a son than an employee. My family had grown distant with me because of my crime affiliations, so I was closer to my boss than my own father.” Richard didn’t seem too unsettled by this, not being close with his family, which explained a lot about how Tilly was treated.
“When I turned eighteen, my boss inducted me into a hunting society he belonged to. It was a gentleman’s club, of sorts. It had been running for a very long time, since the days of George Washington. It was a worldwide organization, with members as far away as South Africa, Australia, Russia, and all over Europe . . .” He trailed off and provided me a bland look. “I assume you know whatworldwidemeans. It was not only comprised of criminals, understand. There were many legitimate members in the group who were prominent public figures: politicians, small business owners, and even a few tycoons. We’d get together, drink, gamble, and discuss politics, etcetera. We’d also discuss something else. Can you guess what that is, Olivia?”
I shook my head, not because I didn’t know, but because I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know.
