Beta: As usual, much thanks goes to the ever-awesome Barb, Bank1115. She’s so awesome.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
What Are You, Mick St. John?—Chapter 10
Carl got into his car and was on the phone before he’d even left the Kostan Industries lot.
“Josh. Whatever’s up with Mick, Kostan’s in on it.”
“Kostan? Are you absolutely sure?!”
“Yeah. And I think he threatened me, too.”
“Okay, Carl, slow down—you’d better come over and tell me everything.”
Carl agreed and hung up. Something was bothering him about Josef’s statement. He was a little puzzled by the passivity of, ‘Friends don’t let friends drive when someone that just tried to kill them is killed.’ Why wouldn’t he say, ‘…when they kill someone that just tried to kill them’? He essentially admitted previous to that that Mick killed Lee Jay in self-defence…didn’t he? So why the linguistic acrobatics not directly naming Mick as the killer?
“I’m just reading way too much into this now…” he muttered to himself and tried to concentrate on the road. Fifteen minutes later, he was seated on Josh’s couch. Josh placed a beer in front of him on the coffee table.
“Got anything stronger?” Carl gazed at the drink wistfully.
Josh smirked and took back the beer. A few moments later, he replaced it with a scotch and sat down on the loveseat on the other side of the coffee table.
“Thanks, man. I needed that—you won’t tell my superiors, will you?” Carl grinned.
Josh shook his head. “Nah, I think you’re justified under the circumstances.” He leaned forward. “So…what happened with Kostan?”
“He’s got that same intense, creepy stare as Mick—only he made me even more nervous. He knew about the glass I took from Mick’s apartment! Made a big show of saying it was obtained illegally and that it wasn’t even necessarily Mick’s DNA on the glass, and insulting my intelligence. Then he very pointedly told me testing the glass would be a waste of time and said, ‘Got it?’”
Josh whistled. “Which probably means it wasn’t a waste of time—as we already know, though much good it’s done us so far. But okay—why don’t you start from the beginning?”
“Arrogant little prick,” Carl growled. “But it’s no wonder—dude can’t be more than his mid-to-late twenties and he already has a multi-million dollar enterprise. He mouthed off for a while, talked in circles, then finally admitted he’s friends with St. John and went down there to help him—though he claims he got down there after all the fun had happened.”
“Did he mention Beth?”
Carl looked at his notes. “He confessed to taking Mick home, and leaving the Benz for Beth.”
“So she knew how Mick got home all along!” Josh slammed his fist on the coffee table.
Carl grabbed for his scotch too late; some of it had already jumped out of the glass. He shrugged and replaced the glass on the table—he had to go back to work soon anyway. “Well, why don’t you ask her if she knows him? See what she says. Then we can talk about what to do next.”
Josh rubbed his forehead with his hand. “It’s late—I’ll call her and have her come by sometime tomorrow evening before she heads to work.”
Carl nodded. “Let me know what she says. I’d better get back to work—thanks for the drink.” He stood and looked down at Josh, who still had a hand covering his face.
“…I’ll let myself out.”
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“Beth.” Josh shut the door behind her. “Thanks for coming over. I just wanted to see you—we’ve both been so busy lately.” He leaned in to kiss her. She accepted the kiss with pleasure, smiling slightly at him, then walked over to the couch, throwing her purse and then herself down on it.
“So, how was your day?” she asked brightly.
“It was…interesting. I’m working on a new case that I think should be pretty big.”
Beth sat up straight. “Anything you can talk about?”
“No, not yet.” Josh smiled slightly at her enthusiasm. If only she knew what the case was… That thought sobered him.
“Beth, can I ask you something?”
Her smile faded a little, and she regarded him with cautious eyes. “Of course.” She looked down and started tracing the swirly pattern on the couch with her finger.
Josh regarded her carefully. “Beth, have you ever met Josef Kostan?” he asked suddenly.
Beth’s hand stilled. “Um, who?” she said before looking up to meet his eyes.
“Josef Kostan.” Josh searched her face. She’s definitely uncomfortable.
“He’s that big hedge fund trader, isn’t he?”
Now she’s stalling. “Yeah, that’s him. Have you met him?” Josh asked again.
Beth shook her head slowly. “Nope. Never.”
“Hmm.”
Beth furrowed her brow. “Why would you think I had?”
Josh shrugged. “No reason.”
“Oh, come on, Josh,” Beth sputtered, glaring at him. “You can’t expect me to believe you asked me a question like that out of the blue for no reason!”
“Why are you so angry? It was just a question!”
Beth narrowed her eyes at him. “Was it?”
“Why are you getting so defensive?” Josh crossed his arms.
“Why are you being so secretive?” Beth shot back.
“I’m the one being secretive!”
They stood there, arms crossed, glaring at each other for a full minute before Josh finally relented.
“Sometimes you cover big society events—against your will, I know,” he flashed her as much of a grin as he was able under the circumstances. “I thought maybe you might’ve run into him at one of those. I wanted to know more about him. He may be able to provide some information in the case I’m working on.”
Beth frowned, but relaxed her posture slightly. “Okay. Well, I’ve never met him,” she maintained.
“Okay.”
They looked at each other awkwardly for a moment. Then Beth spoke.
“I’d better get going. Buzzwire will be looking for me.”
Yeah, I’m sure work is the first thing on your mind. Or is it perhaps calling a certain PI to let him know I was asking about Kostan? “Sure. Yeah. We can talk tomorrow after we’ve both had a chance to rest up. I’ll make you dinner at your place?”
Beth nodded.
“I came across a new chicken recipe I think you’re really gonna love.”
“Sure, sounds good,” she smiled, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before she grabbed her purse and left.
As soon as the door shut, Josh’s shoulders sank. He pulled out his phone.
“She denied having met him, Carl—but it was obvious she was lying. Kostan admitted he was there that night. I don’t know why she’d be trying to hide the fact that he was.”
“She said before she didn’t know how Mick got home. If she admitted now that she’d met Kostan, she’d be caught in a lie.”
Josh ran his hand through his hair. “She is caught in a lie.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry, man. I don’t know what to tell you.”
Josh heard Carl’s radio going off in the background.
“Hey, sorry, man, I gotta go deal with a 1-8-7. We’ll talk later.”
Josh snapped his phone shut and tapped it thoughtfully against his leg. His eyes narrowed as he thought of Beth conspiring with Mick St. John. “There’s gotta be something I can do…”
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Carl was forced to put Mick St. John—and Josef Kostan—on the backburner for the time being. A convenience store clerk was found mauled in the midst of a bunch of torn-up chip bags. At first, it seemed like someone had just sicced a vicious dog on some poor, random bastard for kicks. But that didn’t quite explain why all his blood was missing. Then they found another guy. Initially they thought it a suicide—but then decided it was unlikely that he’d torn his own throat out before leaping off the roof of a parking garage. His blood was gone, too. What the hell is this thing? Don’t tell me Maizie wasn’t joking when she said she’d create a werewolf to prove me wrong!
Later, he’d been called to Sacred Angels Hospital to check out a potential—and still living—victim of the Thing—for there really was no other name for it—but it didn’t pan out. It was just some crazy dude who’d taken a hacksaw to himself for reasons Carl still didn’t even begin to understand.
He took the employee’s exit and ducked into the alley behind the hospital to take a shortcut back to his car. Noticing his shoelace had come undone, he cursed and bent down, but he suddenly heard quick footsteps coming down the alley towards him. He immediately stood and turned to assess the newcomer.
“Excuse me, sir?” The man started saying, still walking toward him. “Are you a cop? I saw you—can you help me?”
Carl whistled as the man stepped under the beams of one of the few lights illuminating the alley. He was dressed in dark pants and a blue shirt, torn open to reveal his undershirt, covered in blood.
“Buddy…what happened to you?!” Carl gaped. Could this man be an actual almost-victim of the thing running around tearing people’s throats out? His heart pounded at the thought of a survivor and a lead.
The man was suddenly right in front of him.
“Everything’s going to be okay...I’m a doctor.”
To be continued...
Something tells me Carl is not going to be around much longer, unless he gets extremely lucky!!! Then it would be left all in Josh's hands to get to the bottom of everything!! Love this story!!!! 
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