When he saw me standing behind the captain, his face morphed into a sneer. Harry and I had grown up together in the Cauldron. He was two years younger, but light years ahead of me in the asshole department. Apparently, he didn’t have much warmer feelings for me because after making a face, he looked away as if the sight of me made him ill. “You Eldritch?”
The captain didn’t rise. “Yes. Where is your father, Mr. Bane?”
Harry looked pleased that the captain knew who he was. “He’s out in the car.”
Eldritch frowned. “Why was I told Ramses was here to see me?”
Harry shrugged. “Figured you’d be more likely to agree if I said I was him.”
“You were correct. Why is he out there while you’re in here?”
“My father doesn’t do well in the sun,” Harry said. I snorted. Ramses Bane had lived down in the Arteries for so long he was basically a mole rat. His addiction to his own blood potions didn’t help things since the side effects included severe anemia and rickets. Personally, as much as I didn’t like Harry I preferred dealing with him to his father, if for no other reason than Harry was the less creepy-looking of the pair.
He removed a smart phone from his pocket and held it up. “But he’d like to speak with you.”
Ramses Bane appeared on the screen, dashing my hopes of avoiding him that day. He was ensconced in a cocoon of black leather from the back of a limo. The dome light overhead glowed dully off his bald scalp and did little to warm up the complexion of his moon-pale skin. But his most distinguishing features were his eyes. Long-lashed, brilliant-blue doll’s eyes. On a woman they’d be beautiful, but on his masculine face they were unsettling. When he looked at you, cold dread coated the skin.
“Captain Eldritch.” His high voice sent frozen nails skittering down my spine.
“Mr. Bane,” Eldritch said, his voice hard. Just like me, he expected this was all bullshit.
“Officer Prospero, it’s been far too long.”
Not long enough, I thought. “Bane,” I said instead.
“What can we do for you?” Eldritch said.
“My son has some footage in his possession I think you’ll be very interested in seeing. Hieronymus?”
Harry retrieved a paper sleeve containing a CD from his pocket. “You just need to put this in your computer to watch it.”
I crossed my arms and laughed. “Sure, and download a virus that allows you to hack into the BPD servers? Not fucking likely, Harry.”
He gritted his teeth at my use of his nickname. “The name’s Hieronymus.” The “bitch” was silent.
“We assumed you would be suspicious,” Bane said. “Harry also brought a laptop.”
Harry turned a tight smile on Eldritch. “May I?”
Eldritch glanced back at me, obviously, like me, he suspected Harry might be trying to get close enough to potion us. I nodded quickly, curious to see what the Banes were up to. Harry placed the laptop on the desk, slipped in the disc, and hit Play.
The video that came up on-screen was grainy, as if it had been taken with a security camera. There was no sound, either. I squinted at the screen, trying to figure out what exactly I was seeing. “What is—”
“Shh,” Harry said. “It’s coming.”
A few tense seconds later, Ferris Harkins ran into the frame. I realized then that we were looking at the entrance to the Arteries. Harkins scrambled up the gate, and a split second later, I appeared and jumped at Harkins.
“What the—”
“Quiet, Prospero,” Eldritch snapped. I realized then this was the first chance he’d had to see a broader view of what happened the night before instead of just the grainy, chaotic footage from my vest cam. I already knew how the scene was going to play out, so I stopped watching and focused instead on figuring out Bane’s angle. Maybe something appeared damning in the footage. Or maybe they’d manipulated the video. I sighed and focused back on the screen. Harkins and I were grappling on the ground now. I was reaching for the gun. The fear and pain on my face made me look away.
I knew the moment the big climax happened on-screen because Eldritch stiffened. Harry stepped in and hit a couple of keys and when I looked back the image was frozen on my bloody face screaming toward the officers who were in the background, running toward the murder scene.
Eldritch’s chair squeaked as he leaned back. He didn’t say anything. Either he was processing or he wanted to force Bane to explain himself.
“I installed cameras at all the tunnel entrances a couple of years back,” Ramses Bane said. “I hoped the added security would help cut down on the crime in the tunnels.”
I rolled my eyes. Bane thrived on the crimes in those tunnels. He’d probably installed the cameras so he could see police raids before they arrived.
“It was hard to miss the crews outside our front door last night so I looked at the tapes to see what had transpired. Once I realized what occurred I thought it best to step forward rather than force the BPD to get a subpoena. Especially since it’s clear from the footage that Officer Prospero was acting in self-defense.”
I squinted at the phone. Why in the hell would Ramses Bane be interested in defending my innocence? Something stunk here and it wasn’t just the aftershave Harry doused all over himself.
Eldritch cleared his throat. “I appreciate you coming forward with this. It will be helpful.”
Harry nodded with an air of false modesty, even though he was nothing more than an errand boy. Bane leaned forward, filling the screen with his round face. “I consider it my civic duty to help the police in protecting the city from this dangerous new potion.”
“We’ll take this footage into consideration, sir,” Eldritch said. “If there’s anything else you think of, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.”
“My son is leaving my personal cell number as well as his own.” He blinked at the camera with what I guess he considered an earnest smile. Instead, he looked awkwardly feral with his lips curled back to reveal white gums too large for his tiny, gray teeth. “We’d be happy to aid this investigation in any way possible.”
“Mr. Bane—”
“Ramses, please,” the bald man purred.
“Yes, sure,” Eldritch said. “Pardon me for being suspicious when you’ve gone out of your way, but why the sudden urge to aid the BPD?”
Bane smiled silkily into the camera. “Let’s just say that it’s in all of our interests to see the responsible party arrested as soon as possible.”