Page 44 of The Silver Fox Vampire

Clare felt her heart tighten. She knew all too well what that felt like.

“Then about a year ago, he started to go out in the evenings, said he was attending some social group thing in Be-Tween. Of course, his father disapproved—to my husband, going into that satellite town was tantamount to mixing with monsters. But I was glad, you know, that Eddie was making friends finally.”

“Did he ever bring any of them home?”

“Oh no, we never encouraged that.” Mrs. Bradshaw sipped her tea.

“Did he talk about any of them?”

“Not really. Edward wasn’t the talking type. But he did mention a woman once to me who came to talk about working in Motham… maybe he was preparing us for the bad news.” She gave a hollow little laugh. “Cookie?”

Clare picked up her cup and took a cookie. Now it was hard to take notes. She nibbled the cookie, took a sip of her tea, then put her cup back down. She’d never been good at the niceties.

“Was that the first you knew that Edward was interested in working with monsters, Mrs. Bradshaw?”

The older woman shifted uncomfortably. “Look, I knew he was inclined to be sympathetic to monsters. He was always very chatty with our staff as a child.” She gazed out the window to where a minotaur and a goblin in overalls were working on the garden. “He used to talk to the er, contractors out there.” She sighed. “He clashed with his father on the issue quite often, it was the only time I ever saw Eddie get angry. In the end, weagreed we wouldn’t talk aboutthemin the home, to maintain harmony.”

“Is he your only son, Mrs. Bradshaw?”

“I have two sons, Edward is the youngest. Brian, my eldest, works for the Council of Towns, and is much more like his father in temperament.”

Chauvinist bullies then, knowing what human officials were like,Clare thought, but she smiled politely.

The older woman sighed. “I just wish we could get Eddie home safe.”

“Of course, Mrs. Bradshaw. Is there anything else I should know about him, his health or wellbeing, that might help? We have been refused access to his medical records by the Tween clinic, so I guess I’m relying on you as his mother…” She trailed off, smiling sweetly, appealing to Mrs. Bradshaw’s maternal instincts.

“His health was good. Excellent, in fact. He never got sick like other kids. The health clinic wanted to study why he never picked up viruses, and healed so quickly, especially the time he broke his arm. It was quite remarkable.” She puffed up a little with pride. “When they took his blood, they found that he has a rare blood type, AOx positive, which is now recognized as having remarkable healing properties. He got offered good money to give blood, and I think maybe that’s how he was able to move away. Because we certainly weren’t going to fund his apartment in Motham.”

“Who paid him money?” Clare made a note of this, her senses sharpened to a knife point.

“Tween Clinic, owned by the Jordaks. I think the youngest family member, Quentin, runs it.”

“Thank you.” Clare jotted the details down. “Anything else at all, Mrs. Bradshaw, any contacts in Motham your son may have had?”

“Oh no, we wouldn’t know about any contacts in Motham.” She looked aghast. Then she frowned. “Except… I did find a card for the woman who ran the seminar he attended about working in Motham. After he disappeared, I tried to call her, to see if she could, quietly, throw some light on his time there, but she never returned my calls. Wait a moment, I’ll get her card.”

“That would be great.”

While she waited for the older woman to return, Clare stared out the window at the two monsters working in the garden. Their heads bowed submissively, eyes never raised above the garden beds, and her lip curled with disgust at the double standard. Use monsters to tend your beautiful gardens and make your flowers bloom, but treat them as lesser beings.

She managed to hide her disgust behind a smile when Mary Bradshaw returned and handed her a small card. “This is their business card. The recruitment firm he dealt with.”

She took it, and hairs spiked on the back of Clare’s neck.

It had the same distinctive gilt lettering as the invitation she’d picked up at Natalie’s.

Emmaline Shaw

Director

Humans4Monsters

Vocational recruitment agency

“May I keep this?” she asked Mary.

“Yes of course. Like I said, I have tried to phone this woman several times. Maybe you’ll have more luck contacting her from Motham.”