Page 43 of Tin God

“Henri Paulson,” Frannie said. “He’s the rich vampire that went missing along with his crew.” She reached over and patted the young man’s hand. “Christy’s a smart girl. Don’t you worry.”

Christy was likely dead, and the young man knew it from the look in his eyes. He was already using the past tense when he mentioned her.

“She’s not a vampire though.” He glanced at Ben. “Is she?”

“We don’t know if we’re going to find any survivors,” Ben said. “I don’t want to give you any kind of false hope here. The chances that any of these crews are still alive after this many months is slim. I know Katya had people out looking, but…”

“It’s a big-ass ocean,” a voice rumbled from the galley.

“Yeah.” Ben glanced toward the galley. “It’s a big-ass ocean.”

Everyone went silent for a long moment.

Frannie finally said, “Hell, accidents happen. Anyone who works on the water knows that. People get lost. A lot of uswantto get lost when we come up here—that’s why we don’t take an office job in Spokane. But having three vessels go missing that close together is no accident.”

“No,” Carwyn said. “It’s not. Have any of you seen the redheaded vampire named Zasha? Not as good-looking as me, sadly. Fire vampire. Tall, very noticeable. They don’t try to keep a low profile.”

All of them shook their heads.

“Rumors and whispers,” Frannie said. “Humans up here try not to pay attention to most of that stuff. It’s a quiet place. The whole coast is laid-back. Nobody goes there to cause trouble.”

“Katya can lay the hammer down when she needs to,” Brick said. “No one wants that to happen. The Russians, the Chinese. Everyone stays cool.”

“Zasha didn’t though,” the greenhorn said. “I know who you’re talking about. Christy said he…” The young man cocked his head. “They?”

“They,” Carwyn and Ben said together.

“Yeah, well, I never met them, but Christy said this vampire visited theDolphinone night at the end of the summer. Made her real nervous. She said his—their vibe was real jumpy. Gave her the creeps and made Paulson—her boss—she said he seemed kinda serious. I mean, he’s from Sweden or something, so he’s not mister jokey or anything, but he’s usually real relaxed.”

Paulson.

Henri Paulson. Something was tickling the back of Carwyn’s brain. It was a familiar name, but he couldn’t picture a face. But there were many Scandinavian water vampires who lived on boats. It was one of the more common places to find them.

“How close was this visit to when theDolphinwent missing?” Ben asked.

The greenhorn shook his head. “Maybe three, four weeks?”

Ben and Carwyn exchanged a look. Was Zasha visiting marks before they attacked, or was there another explanation for the visit to Paulson? Could the Scandinavian vampire be one of Zasha’s allies?

“What kind of boat was theDolphin?” Carwyn asked.

“Beautiful, mate.” Brick pulled out his phone. “I have a picture of it. The boss wanted a word with Paulson last summer, and Jeb and us took her to where he was anchored, up around Admiralty Island.” He pointed the phone at Ben, then at Carwyn.

The yacht on the screen was a beautifully equipped ship painted gleaming white and navy blue. It had modern electronic equipment and stunning woodwork on the deck.

“Got there in the middle of the day, so we got to hang out with the crew all day and enjoy the boat until sundown.” Brick smiled a little. “That was a fun day. Hate to think of anything happening to that lot.”

“Was Paulson one of Katya’s people?”

“Don’t know,” Frannie said. “But he was a regular in the area. I’ve heard his name for a lot of years. Mostly he hired from her people.”

“So that’s theDolphinmissing first? Then the two fishing boats?”

Frannie looked at Brick, and he nodded.

“Yeah,” the man said. “That sounds right.”

Carwyn’s mind kept circling back to his original question: Was Paulson a victim of Zasha or an ally? He needed to speak to someone who knew Paulson, but that probably wouldn’t happen until they reached Ketchikan.

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