Dark Moonlighting Read Free Page B

wealthy
in the past. My career as a stock broker had lasted for the
equivalent of a normal human lifespan. The Great Crash of ’29 wiped
out both my fortune and my love for gambling on the stock market.
Working three careers did provide me with a substantial income, but
I liked to keep most of that money hidden in untraceable offshore
bank accounts. Past experience had taught me that no matter how
perfectly I executed my killings, there were always unforeseen
variables which I could not control. Being exposed meant having to
abandon my life and start over somewhere new. That was always an
expensive process.
    I was not worried about being discovered as a
creature of the night on that particular day. The trial had been
long and disappointing, and I just wanted to grab a couple of hours
of sleep at home before I had to start my shift at the hospital. I
swore loudly at the sound of my cell phone as I was pulling out of
the courthouse’s parking garage. The personalized ringtone was “The
Bitch is Back” by Elton John. It had amused me a few months earlier
when I programmed it, but now only served to warn me of a call from
the man who I truly hated the most in the world. The phone
conversation I had with Caleb Hass was brief. In fact, it was not
really a conversation at all as it consisted only of him demanding
I come to the office and then hanging up the phone.
    The summons was inconvenient as it forced me
to go in the wrong direction. The investigators were always baffled
about how I could have led three lives in one city, but it was
actually quite easy to keep them separate. The hospital where I
worked and my apartment were on the north side of the city. The
courthouse was in the center and the police department was on the
south side. The law offices of Hass, Furcht & Ruine were also
on the south side of the city, but I was there so rarely that I
never worried about being spotted by one of my police officer
colleagues.
    Starside, Illinois itself was plenty large
enough for a vampire, even one living three lives, to stay
inconspicuous. It had been a beautiful little town when I first
passed through it nearly a century earlier. In 2003 a foolish error
during a hunt left me fleeing New York City with four bullets
lodged in my stomach. After operating in such a large city for
decades, I had the desire to try my luck in a small town. I was
disappointed to find that Starside had bloomed into a bustling
metropolis of 2.5 million people during my absence. The national
media had begun buzzing about “The Urinator” serial killer in New
York, and I decided it would be best to settle down and blend into
a population center as quickly as possible. My reluctant choice
proved to be a happy home for years after I made the decision.
    Starside was nestled about halfway between
Chicago and Springfield. Founded in the middle part of the 19th
century, it served as a Midwestern transportation hub before
expanding into a commercial center in the latter half of the 20th
century. Legend has it that the city was founded and named by a man
who had an intense sibling rivalry with his brother. The brother
had started a magnificent vacation town called Oceanside in
Florida. Since the site of his city had no significant geographic
features and a much less appealing climate, the founder of Starside
decided to focus on the beautiful view of the nighttime sky. As a
vampire, it had been a very appealing name for me. Unfortunately,
modern light pollution blocked most of the majestic stars from
sight during the night.
    Hass, Furcht & Ruine was the biggest law
firm in Starside and would have even been a strong competitor to
its counterparts in Chicago. Caleb Hass and Benjamin Furcht started
out as ambulance chasers and gradually worked their way up to be
the dominate defense attorneys in the city. Franklin Ruine was
allowed to join the partnership because he brought a small number
of clients who had a large amount of money. Rumors persisted that
either Hass