Fang and Claw

by Markie Madden

  She, too, turned her attention to the man in the window. “I agree.” Her voice was almost a whisper.

  “Friends?”

  “Don’t push it, buster.” She smiled into her cup of tea.

  They spent the next ten minutes drinking in companionable silence before returning to the interrogation room. Lacey noticed that Jason’s face, what wasn’t covered by hair, was drenched with sweat.

  “It’s a little warm in here, isn’t it?” She commented in a casual way, going to the thermostat by the wall. “These things are never working right!” She pretended to fiddle with the control before lowering the temperature setting a scant few degrees. “Sorry about that.” She returned her full attention to the suspect.

  After she and Colton settled themselves into their seats, she pulled out her tablet again, turning it on and sliding it across the table so Jason could see the sketch on the screen. His eyes went from the drawing to Lacey’s and back again several times before he slid the tablet as far away as his cuffed hands would allow. “What’s this all about?”

  “We’re investigating three cases that seem to have one thing in common.” Colton spoke up for the first time since they had re-entered the room, and pushed the tablet back toward the suspect.

  “And you think this guy had something to do with it?” Jason’s voice seemed to quiver. “And that I somehow know him? What, does he live in my neighborhood or something?”

  “I think you do know this guy.” Colton’s low growl caused all the hair on Lacey’s neck to stand on end. “I think you’ve seen him. Hell, I think you see him every time you look in a mirror!”

  “Look, I told you, I have a job! I was at work for sure on Wednesday. Hell, call my boss, he’ll tell you!” Jason fidgeted in agitation, causing his handcuffs to rattle on the table’s ring. His chair’s legs creaked against the bolts in the smooth concrete floor with a sound like fingernails on a chalkboard.

  “You have to admit, there’s a resemblance.” Lacey took up the interview while Colton panted in obvious fury.

  Blyge’s eyes bored into hers even as he bowed his head and tried to give her an expression of indifference. “I don’t know, maybe. But a lot of people probably look like that sketch, as vague as it is!” His protest was a high-pitched whine.

  Colton snatched up the tablet, punching the screen hard enough to make Lacey wince. After a few muttered curses, he slammed it back on the metal table. “Have anything to say about that?” His voice was thunderous.

  Jason shivered once, then glanced down at the screen and paled. “You think I did this?” He quickly averted his eyes.

  Lacey saw that Colton had pulled up a photo from the PERK evidence in their first case. It was a close up shot of Angelica’s torn and bloody shoulder. The skin was peeled back in a gruesome way and muscle could clearly be seen. Lacey thought she had seen bone when she was looking at the wound through the camera.

  “She gave us a pretty decent description,” Lacey’s voice was quiet.

  “I could never hurt someone like that!” Jason cried out, his nasal-toned voice rising in pitch. “I would never do that!”

  Colton slammed his palms on the table again with a loud, hollow sound. “What’s going to happen when we talk to your girlfriend, Jason?” Sarcasm oozed from him like sap from a tree. “Is she going to tell us you’re a biter?” His furious face was just inches from the suspect’s.

  “Of course not!”

  “Not even in play?” Lacey kept her voice quiet and ignored the redness of Colton’s face, taking it as a sign that he was no longer pretending to be angry for the sake of the interview. She knew she had to end the interrogation, and soon. Colton stood and started pacing the floor behind her, his body causing a rush of air to waft over her each time he passed.

  “Well, I—” He stammered in response. “I don’t know, so maybe I’ve left a hickey on her neck once in while! Who doesn’t? But that don’t mean I’m gonna do something like this! Besides, I’ve never been in trouble before. I don’t even have a parking ticket. You can check.”

  Lacey held up a hand when Colton opened his mouth. She stood, taking a metal key from her pocket. Rather than walking around behind the subject, she leaned over the table to unlock the man’s handcuffs. Once freed, he rubbed his wrists with both hands. “You’re free to go, Mr. Blyge. We’re sorry for the inconvenience. But I have to remind you that this is an ongoing investigation, so don’t make any sudden plans to leave town. And you’re not to tell Miss Stiles anything about this conversation until after we’ve spoken with her.”

  “Yeah, sure, no problem.” Jason, obviously fearful of Colton, stood still as a statue.

  “Do you know where we can find your girlfriend, Jason?”

  “She’s at work. She works the E.R. desk at Medical City.”

  Lacey exchanged glances with Colton. I wonder if that’s a coincidence? Both injured victims had gone to Medical City after the attacks. “Thank you for your time.” She held open the door and let Jason leave the interview room. Taking a deep breath, she turned to face Colton. She hadn’t thought it possible, but his face was even redder than before.

  “Why did you just let him go like that?” He demanded in a loud voice.

  “We’ve got nothing to hold him on yet.”

  “Nothing to hold him on? We haven’t even checked his alibis or shown his picture to the vics! We could have held him for the standard 72 without charging him!”

  “I checked his work alibi when you went to get coffee. They verify that he was there at work, on the scaffold, just like he said. Our first vic said she couldn’t be positive but she thought that the I.D. photo closely resembled her attacker, but she stressed again how it was dark and she never really saw his face.”

  “What about Dennis Colby or the old lady?”

  “I couldn’t get them on the phone.”

  “Shit!” Colton slapped his palm on the bullet-proof, mirrored glass window.

  “They’re probably at work or school. We’ll try to catch either of them later. We can show the sketch and the picture to the bartender, too. Maybe he’ll identify him, save us the trouble of waiting around the others’ schedule.”

  “But now he knows we’re onto him. I bet a week’s pay he skips town!”

  “Don’t be so sure.” Lacey tried to placate him. “He seemed awful terrified of you! If he is our suspect, he might think twice about going to ground, knowing he’d have you sniffing at his trail.”

  She knew he was still furious, so she suggested, “Why don’t you take a break?”

  “What, now?”

  “Sure. Go on down to the gym, do the stair stepper or beat the crap out of a heavy bag. Whatever you like to do. Work off some of that anger. Then go to lunch.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  Lacey glanced at her watch. “I’ll try to call our friendly bartender. Then I’ll probably grab a bite to eat myself.” There were a couple restaurants in town that catered exclusively to Vampires, and she hadn’t dined out in a long time. She had a thirst for something different.

  His eyes narrowed as if he didn’t quite believe her. But all he said was, “Sure, you’re the boss. See you in an hour.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  Colton knew he should have taken Lacey’s advice and gone down to the gym to use up some of his fury in physical exertion. Instead, he found himself making the drive home. He needed his wife, needed to see his kids, and there was nothing like a lunch at home, away from the pressures of the job, to calm him down. Before starting the truck, he sent Becca a quick text message to let her know he was on his way home. That way, if his wife was napping with the kids, she wouldn’t think he was an intruder trying to get into the apartment and possibly attack him.

  He drove with the windows rolled down, hard rock music blaring as loud as the stock speakers in his pickup would allow. His eardrums throbbed with the beat; he could feel the bass reverberating through his insides. He threaded his way through the midday rush-ho
ur traffic, his slow start-and-stop progress angering him even more. Absently, he pounded the steering wheel in time with the beat, ignoring the pain that turned the skin of his hand a red and livid color. Colton snarled at every traffic light, and chafed at every delay.

  The moment the smells of home hit his nose, Colton’s anger seemed to evaporate like a soap bubble floating too long on the air. Deeply inhaling the scents of his family, he realized that something was off. He found Becca sitting in the living room, watching the TV and the children playing quietly on the floor.

  “What’s wrong?” He asked immediately, giving Becca a quick kiss.

  “Oh, it’s Ashley. She has a touch of fever.”

  “Should I be worried?”

  “It’s not that high. I gave her some medicine and she’s resting now. Probably just a cold or something. What about you? Rough day?”

  She followed him into the kitchen, where he rummaged about in the refrigerator, and emerged with the makings for a rare roast beef sandwich, leftovers from the night before. “We had a suspect in interview today.” He set the food on the counter and got a plate from the cupboard. “I’m sure he did it, but Anderson’s being wishy-washy. But let’s not talk about that now. I came home so I could stop thinking about it.” Catching her up in a fierce hug, inhaling her unique scent, his whole body seemed to relax. “It’s good to be home.”

  7

  “Time is precious, but truth is more precious than time.” ~~Benjamin Disraeli

  Lacey had no intention of staying in the office for lunch. Like Colton, she needed a moment to herself, though the interview hadn’t angered her as it had her partner. Nevertheless, something was nagging at her about their suspect. He’s dirty as hell, she thought as she walked to her car. But she also knew that the district attorney’s office demanded a certain amount of proof before they could secure an arrest warrant, and without a positive I.D. of Jason from any of their victims, they didn’t have enough to even get permission to search the man’s home and vehicle, much less an arrest warrant. Shaun Keller had been out of reach as well, and she’d left an urgent message for him to get back in touch with her. So, for the moment, there was nothing left to do.

  Platelets wasn’t very far from the police department, though the drive took twice as long during rush hour as it would any other time. It was a very classy establishment that catered to Vampires’ tastes, though they served human food as well. They specialized in offering their clientele rare or exotic blood types, from those who still hunted game animals for meat or sport, and ran specials on blood acquired from large mammals who might perish in one of the city’s zoos. The small, intimate dining room boasted round tables with tablecloths made from real fabric, aromatic candles in squat holders resembling old-fashioned lanterns, and dim lighting.

  Lacey had no trouble finding her favorite corner. She’d been a cop for a great many years, first as a beat drone and later as detective and supervisor, before her promotion to lieutenant. Old habits die hard, even when one was Immortal; the years of training had ingrained her to choose a table facing the door, with a wall at its back. It was now so automatic that she no longer realized she was doing it. The cozy, dimly-lit atmosphere always helped her to relax, and she just gazed at the flickering flame of the candle, drinking in the coppery scents of many different kinds of blood. Her nose, so finely-attuned to hunt the smell of blood, was discerning enough that she could decipher the smell of different animal blood even through the scents of human food and blood coursing through veins.

  A young waitress she’d never seen before came to take her order. It wasn’t the girl’s newness that surprised Lacey, but the fact that the woman was human. She didn’t think she’d ever seen a human working in Platelets before, and she assumed they couldn’t tolerate the smell. After she’d ordered the chef salad along with a glass of lamb’s blood, she pulled out her tablet. She logged in to the police department’s remote server, and looked through the case files yet again.

  She’d been hoping that the lab reports would be in, but she found nothing new to add to the files. As she waited for her meal to be prepared, she combed through every bit of information they had, even slipping a tiny ear bud out of a slot in the tablet so she could listen to the oral interviews again and again.

  Her lunch was served quickly, the salad a bowl of succulent lettuce and greens, piled high with carrots, radishes, onions, chopped hard-boiled egg, thinly-sliced chicken breast, and topped with a thin, spicy Italian dressing and crunchy croutons. Her order of rare blood was served in an expensive crystal goblet. Somehow, the chefs always managed to get the temperature just right.

  The first sip was pure heaven. Each animal had its own distinct flavor, as she remembered meat did when she had been a young human. She’d once heard a human officer complaining about the instant coffee in the department’s break room, arguing with another coworker that instant coffee just didn’t hold a candle to rich, freshly-ground premium coffee. She compared the difference in the taste of blood to what the man had meant when talking about coffee. Any type of animal blood would sustain her, but there was sustenance and there was enjoyment. Lacey sometimes wanted to enjoy her repast as much as she remembered enjoying human food. The human food was good, too, but her taste buds had changed over the years from the vampirococcus virus that coursed through her body, changing and adapting her into the most dangerous of predators.

  The virus was still a bit of a mystery to modern-day science. Unlike most viruses, this one seemed to have evolved more like a symbiotic parasite. It would keep its host alive, and maintained at the peak of health, indefinitely. Scientists had yet to discover how the virus could keep its host alive, or how it reproduced itself, especially since Vampires were no longer allowed by law to bite or to ‘Turn’ humans. There was ongoing research, doctors and medical types studying it, trying to determine if the virus could be modified or otherwise used to prolong human life

  She was pushing the last remains of her salad around the bowl when her phone rang. Recognizing Colton’s number, she answered the call on hands-free mode. His wide face framed by thick hair appeared on the small display screen of her phone. “Anderson.”

  “Hey, sorry to bother you. Still at lunch?”

  “I was just finishing up. Got something?”

  “I got back a little early so I tried calling the vics again. Mrs. Smith was at home, and she said the guy who busted in her door looked a little like the sketch.” His voice sounded tinny through the device’s speaker.

  She pushed her bowl to the opposite side of the table. “What about the others?”

  “Still no answer.”

  “Hmm.” Her flat voice conveyed none of her thoughts. “Give me 10 minutes,” she decided finally. “We’ll contact the DA. Maybe we’ll have enough for a DNA warrant at least.”

  He didn’t answer, just hung up the phone. Lacey drained the last bit of liquid from her glass, laid enough money on the table to cover her food as well as a tip, and slid out of the chair. Something was bothering her about Jason Blyge, and she was eager to get to the bottom of it. Though she wasn’t sure what a search warrant might unearth, since none of the victims had reported any theft during the attacks, often evidence would come to light in an investigation that had no obvious connection, until all the pieces were fitted into the right place.

  When Lacey returned to the department, she consulted her computer to find that one of the lab tests had been posted. The tissue swabs from Angelica’s assault had been analyzed, and while it contained human cells, it was also made up of cells that the lab had never seen before. The human DNA had been run through CODIS, the FBI database of DNA samples made up of federal, state, and local individuals who’d ever had cause to be entered into it; this included those applying for or working within certain government or privately-owned employers, anyone who’d ever been arrested or charged with a crime, military personnel, and of course, the Undead. However, CODIS had been unable to find a match.

  Linus had appe
nded a note to the report, stating that if they were to find a suspect, an analysis of the subject’s DNA could be compared to see if it was a match. He also let her know that he was still working on the unusual blood evidence she had brought him, still certain that the sample was old. He wasn’t sure how identifying it could help the case if that were true. Lacey thought she might have just enough to take to the DA’s office, at least to get a search warrant and request for Jason Blyge’s DNA for comparison.

  With a sigh, she remembered days gone by when she could have gone right to the judge with the data she had, and request a warrant to compel a DNA sample from her suspect without involving the DA’s office. In recent years, however, judicial restructuring had complicated matters from a cop’s perspective, and forced them to filter any warrant requests through the DA’s office before they ever reached the judge for a final decision.

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  Twenty minutes later, she was striding purposefully through the police department, Colton struggling to keep up with her long, smooth gait. The District Attorney’s office was housed on a different level of the large building, but kept convenient to the officers sworn to protect and serve the city. Lacey could have simply called on the phone, but she preferred to give her report in person, and she would be prepared to argue the case if need be.

  Lacey walked through the doors and greeted the young man sitting at the reception desk. “Hey Kyle, who’s available?”

  He turned to his computer and tapped the keys in rapid succession. “Joe’s schedule is clear all week. Want me to call him for you?”

  Joseph Pratt was a young assistant district attorney who’d already earned his J.D. and passed the bar exam, but was continuing his education in appellate courts classes at Texas A&M school of law in Fort Worth. His ultimate goal was to be an elected district attorney.