"Yes, sometimes."
"Sometimes? What does that mean?"
"It means that sometimes she disappears for a few days and nights."
"Days and nights?"
"Yes.
"Where does she go?" I asked, and already I was dreading the answer. My feelings of dread weren't unfounded.
"Hunting vampires," said Gladys. She said the words so calmly, so conversationally, so pleasantly, that I nearly burst out laughing. Hearing the words "hunting vampires" come out of this sweet, elderly lady nearly made me question my own sanity.
Maybe I'm the one going insane.
"That's what I get for asking," I said, mostly to myself. Gladys looked at me curiously.
"Excuse me?" she said.
I waved off my comment. "Never mind. So when she's not out hunting vampires, where do you think she really goes? A boyfriend's house? Parties? Weekend drinking binges in Vegas?"
Gladys shook her head to all of the above. "No," she said. "I believe she really hunts vampires."
"Of course you do." I took in some air. I nearly asked her to leave my office. Nearly. "And she's been missing a week?"
"Yes."
"How long does it usually take to hunt a vampire?"
"Three days, tops."
"Of course," I said. "So this latest vampire hunt is lasting longer than usual."
She nodded and reached a shaking hand into her purse, removing a badly wrinkled and very used tissue. Crazy or not, Gladys was a woman in need, and my heart went out to her. It always did. To everyone. I may not always be able to voice my concerns or sympathies, but I did the next best thing. I helped people with my actions. I knew in my heart I would help her. One way or another, I would give this crazy old woman peace of mind.
"Mr. Spinoza," she said. "Veronica was a gift from God. An angel, if you want to know the truth. What she's involved in, I don't know. How she became involved with it, I don't know, but I love that girl, and I need someone to help me find her."
I sat back and steepled my fingers in front of me. I had two pending cases sitting on my desk. Both were cheating spouse cases. Oh, joy.
I had, of course, already made my decision.
"I will do all I can to help you, Gladys."
She nodded and smiled and cried, and finally I was able to force myself to stand and walk around the desk, and give the old woman a deep hug.
Chapter Two
I was sitting with Detective Hammer inside a donut shop on Glendale Avenue. Hammer seemed right at home in a donut shop, and I told him as much.
"Very funny, asshole," he said.
Hammer and I had been working missing cases together for the past few years, ever since I got into the business and had made finding missing children my specialty. Hammer was a lead detective at the LAPD Missing Persons Unit, and he was damned good at what he did. I happened to have a knack for it, too, and we made a good team.
We had also become friends, which is a rarity in the private business. Mostly, cops looked at us private dicks as irritants. Not to mention, I rarely, if ever, went out of my way to make friends, which was partly due to extreme shyness, and partly due to my desire to just be left the hell alone. The fewer the people who knew me, the fewer the people who could remind me about what a fuck-up I was.
Anyway, Detective Hammer and I were sitting in the far corner booth, which gave the detective a good view of the glass door, and the donut case behind me.
"How come I never get to watch the door?" I asked.