Blood on the Moon - serialised EXCLUSIVE for Steemit! - 63
Blood On The Moon Cover
My third novel was finished and published in time for Halloween 2016 and I had a launch at Waterstone's at Sheffield.
The full book cover, done by the wonderful, talented, brilliant Paul Mudie
Other Images from Pixabay or Google (Free Usage)
Red waited until Victoria looked at her again before she continued. “I think Darius is back.”
Victoria put down her pen and clasped her hands together. “What on earth makes you think that?”
Red recounted the evening when she was visited by Ryan Colwick and Victoria listened. When she had finished, Red waited for Victoria’s opinion.
“I don’t have time for this, Red. Darius is dead, David Rosscourt had him shot. The body was cremated in front of witnesses.”
“That’s just the point, Victoria. What witnesses? Why weren’t you asked to attend, why wasn’t Anton asked?”
“What you really want to know is why you weren’t asked to view the body to verify that it was Darius and then why weren’t you invited to witness the disposal of the body. Is that correct?”
“Yes, I suppose I do mean that. But why wasn’t Anton given the body to experiment on and find out the effects of those narcotics on an Ancient’s internal organs.”
“One of the reasons would be that no-one on the outside of my closest confidantes knows that Anton is still alive to perform his experiments. Another reason is that I was satisfied that the report and the video evidence was extensive enough to prove that they did indeed burn the body and that it was Darius.”
“I wonder if I could see the video?”
“I’ll get it sent over to you today.”
“I’ll wait for it and take it with me if you don’t mind.”
Victoria glowered at what she perceived as Red’s impertinence but she didn’t say anything else, she buzzed through to reception and asked that the video be brought to the front desk and then she made a gesture that Red had seen at the end of Victoria’s interviews with others, Wolf and Hume alike but she had never used it when dismissing her before.
Victoria waved her hand as though warding off an insect and Red became angry.
“Thank you for your time, Lycaeon, I’ll be sure to get this matter in hand and organised immediately.”
“Red,” Victoria didn’t respond in kind and use her official title. “Your paranoia will get you into trouble one day. Darius is dead; I saw it with my own eyes. See for yourself on the video. Then you can concentrate on the other matter, the important matter.”
“Lycaeon, with all due respect, my paranoia, as you call it, has saved my life and yours on more than one occasion and I shall continue to utilise it as I see fit. Just as a point of clarity, if you saw a Wolf being cremated on a recording, you didn’t see it with your own eyes at all. You saw just what Darius wanted and expected you to see, nothing more and nothing less. I bid you good day, Lycaeon.”
Red turned and walked out of the bustling office and sat in the reception area again, to await the promised video recording.
Anton arrived at Red’s small and modest house in one of the nicer areas of town and his disdainful expression amused her when she opened the door to allow him in. He glanced back at his car, the Mercedes didn’t seem out of place in the street but he was worried, he wasn’t used to leaving it out in the open.
“Your car will be fine, Anton, come in.”
With the curtains drawn against the approaching evening, Anton and Red made themselves comfortable.
“What is it that you want me to see? Anton asked when Red had made sure he had everything that he may want during the viewing.
“The cremation of Darius’s body.”
“What? Why?”
“Why are you here or why am I watching ancient history? Excuse the pun.”
“A bit of both, I think. Darius is dead. He was executed. You have to let this go my dear.” Anton wasn’t annoyed as his granddaughter had been, he seemed patient and sympathetic. “You really do need to allow yourself to get past this.”
“And I will, as soon as I know that the bastard is really dead and gone but while there’s the remotest chance that he’s still alive, I’m afraid I’m listening to Ryan Colwick.”
Anton didn’t say anything else and she clicked the remote to start the recorded evidence.
The scientist that had taken the role of narrator in the piece was someone that Red didn’t recognise.
She turned to Anton and he shrugged his shoulders in silent response to her unasked question.
If Anton hadn’t recognised the overseer of the proceedings, it begged the question:
Had Victoria had time to watch or had she accepted the recording as proof of the cremation and planned to watch it at some time in the future?
Darius is a devious creature. Not to be trusted. Why was Victoria so lackadaisical with regards with the proof of Darious' death? I am sure we will find out. Hope the shoulder is feeling better. Some times it takes time to heal, longer than we wish.
He really is!
I think Victoria wanted it to be true so didn't go looking too deeply for evidence she didn't want to be there.
The shoulder - can take up to 9 months to heal - with or without treatment... so thank you for the kind wishes :)
Ouch! 9 months to heal? That's horrible. I hope it doesn't effect your work or your driving too much.
It doesn't affect my driving (thankfully), but it does affect the everyday things, such as getting dressed/undressed - fastening my bra is almost impossible and really painful.
Writing is another thing it doesn't affect (thankfully) - basically, every action to the front is ok, movement to the side and back has all-but ceased because of the pain.
Also, the nagging pain is a constant and wears me down, I'm tired a lot of the day and can get cranky - it's a good job I work from home and don't have to 'people' lol
Thank you for your concern xxx
"“Your car will be fine, Anton, come in.”
I laughed at this bit. I could totally see the look on his face. :)
A great read, as always. Thank you for sharing!
@flashfiction
Everything tells a story.
I have to admit, I enjoy putting in bits of reality... that was one - I don't like leaving my car anywhere for long... ;)
Same here. My car and I are in a kinda toxic relationship. :)
Ah, that's a shame. I adore my car ;)
Darn little lucky vehicle... ;)
Haha... 'My Little Pony' isn't 'little' ;)
Red knows that something is not quite right. Right off the bat of the video she see an issue. Sometimes we just do not want to see what is staring us in the face, I think Victoria wanted Darius dead and when supposed video evidence showed his death, she did not watch it, just accepted it as fact.
That's how we can all be, I think... ostrich-like behaviour.
The story is very nice together with the character and the setting of the story. Nice to read. You are a good writer my friend. Keep it up and Congratulations for a job well done.
Thank you so much.