“Try to eat her so we don’t have to take her home,” I hear Marcus whisper to Artie.
Artie walks up like a little gentleman as his long tail wags back and forth. The woman holds the small dog back in case things go south, but Artie is just interested in meeting her. The small dog, who should be terrified meeting a creature the size of a house, is thrashing and wiggling in excitement to reach Artie. After a bit, the woman lets the two dogs meet and the little one jumps at Artie and begins playfully gnawing on his ear every time he lowers his head.
Artie just looks at the creature in wonder.
I look up at Marcus who shrugs. “Fine.”
A grin explodes over my face. “You like her, don’t you? Here, hold her.”
“I don’t want to hold her. If I want to hold a dog, I can hold Artemus,” he says as he picks the hundred-and-sixty-some-pound dog up. “See? Lap dog. It’s not my fault you can’t hold him.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Really? I’m positive most people couldn’t carry that dog around and pretend like it’s normal to be able to pick him up.”
“Are you sure? Or are you jealous?” he asks as he sets him down. I reach over and pick up Artie’s front end.
“Ooh, who’s special now? Look, I can pick him up too,” I say.
He snorts. “Fine. Go fill out the application and see if you’re even worthy.”
“I know I’m worthy,” I say, too excited to care about his harassment.
I play with her a little longer, but I don’t even know why I bother because our hearts are attached. And nothing is coming between them.
The woman takes us inside and gets us an application, which I force Marcus to fill out since he has vet records and stuff on Artie and will more likely be approved than me. I think he assumes that if he gets the “menacing” look out while filling the application, they’ll fail it. He even snaps the pen in half at one point, but I just merrily grab him another.
Since he put Artie back in the car, it’s just us and the tiny dog that’s trying her hardest to get Marcus’s attention. She’s dancing at his feet and pawing at his shins as he just stares at her like he’s trying to figure out what it is. The menacing look doesn’t work on her; she already loves him.
“Make it stop looking at me like that,” he grumbles.
“Like what? Like it loves you?” I ask.
She lets out a pitiful whine that draws everyone’s attention to us. Marcus bends over and picks her up before trying to shove her into my arms.
“I can’t hold her right now, I’m going to hand this in,” I say as the young dog wiggles and licks Marcus’s hand.
He stares at her, now that she’s in his hands, like he doesn’t know what to do with her. Then he tucks her under his arm like a football, but she doesn’t care. He’s holding her and that’s all she wanted.
“Are you sure you want something this small? What if we squish it?”
“Why would we squish her?”
“Ah, I forgot. It probably looks really big to you, doesn’t it?”
I glare at him. “I’m not that small.”
He holds her in front of my face, her huge bat ears perked. “Look at it.”
“I am. She’s adorable.”
He sighs and turns her around so he can look her in the eyes. “Its brain is probably the size of a pea.”
“You’re saying my brain’s not very big because I’m small too?” I ask.
He glances over at me. “You’re the smartest person I know… besides myself.”
I snort. “It started off nice.”
“It’s still nice! I’ve had hundreds of years to learn more than you! And I know that this thing is not a dog, it’s a rat, right?”
“Sure, she can be whatever you want as long as I get to take her home with me.”
I sign the application and pass it off.
The shelter worker smiles at us. “Perfect. We’ll give you a call after your application is processed.”
“Can you tell me how long that’ll take? Like maybe five minutes? Ten at the most?”
She smiles at me like I’m crazy. “Give us two to four days.”
I eye her like she’s batshit insane. “I… have to leave this precious thing in a cage for days? I’m a homicide detective. Like… people trust me with human lives. I think that should give me a free pass.”
She continues to smile. “Two to four days.”
I’m convinced she’s joking. Did Marcus put her up to this? “Like… I took training courses. I know basic medical knowledge that will keep a human alive that could be suffering from bullet wounds, trauma—”
“Two to four days.”
You have to be shitting me.
“Yes, yes, continue to harass the lady who makes the decision whether or not you get the dog,” Marcus says with an evil look.
I glare at him before taking the dog and giving her a gentle hug. She responds by trying to chew off my glove. “Why do you like my glove so much? Watson would be really mad if he knew I was letting you chew on my fingers. I’ll be back for you, I promise.”
Marcus basically has to drag me away from her, which breaks my heart, but he doesn’t seem too concerned about it as he coldheartedly forces me into the car.
“Now look into Artemus’s eyes and tell him you’re trying to replace him with a yappy, ugly pocket pet.”
I turn in my seat and grab Artie’s face between my hands. “Daddy’s going to get you a baby sissy,” I coo.
He seems excited, much to Marcus’s annoyance.
Chapter Four
FINN
We walk into the morgue where the body of the drowned victim has been taken. The medical examiner greets us with a head nod as we walk in. I know him far too well from my work as a homicide detective, but I haven’t seen him much since transferring to VRC.
“Morning, detectives,” Eric says. “I heard you two found the body?”
Marcus nods. “With help, of course. We’re lucky we’ve already been able to identify her. Her name has matched up with a missing person report sent in just this morning by a roommate who said she never made it home from class the night before.”
After confirmation, we learned that her name was Tonya Everest and she was a college student attending the nearby university. Her fingerprints had already been in the system because she’d been apprehended by the police when she was caught breaking and entering a home with friends back when she was fifteen. She was eventually let off with some light community service, but her fingerprints stayed in the system.
“It’s a good thing her roommate reported her missing this morning so we didn’t have to wait long for confirmation,” Marcus says. “We’ll be meeting with the roommate after we’re done here.”
“Perfect. Come on over, I wanted to show you some details that stand out.”
Eric leads us over to the body before pulling on some gloves. “As the report said, she died from exsanguination, most likely from the vampire draining her.” He pushes her hair back to emphasize the bite mark on her throat. “We can see that there was no water in her lungs, so she wasn’t thrown into the water until after death. She lost her finger before death but the holes in her hands were postmortem. Whatever was used to sever the finger was sharp and left a clean cut.”
“At this point, we can only speculate why the finger was lost,” Marcus says.
My eyes drop to the cut on her hand. “It could be a memento to remember his victims or even a ‘trademark.’ We’ll have Karsyn run it through the system and see if we have any matches,” I suggest.
Marcus nods. “There could be other reasons such as religious or gang-related as well. There’s no telling at this point. Do you believe someone else removed it?”
“From the angle of the cut, I do, but what’s strange is that it either happened quickly or she wasn’t coherent for it. Why I say that is because there is no scraping of the skin like she pulled away. Even if someone did something like this to themselves, their immediate reaction would be
to pull away from the pain, creating a tear or scrape from the knife.”
“What if he’d already drained her or bitten her? Sometimes bites can make a human’s mind dull or unresponsive for a few moments. It could have happened at that point,” I say.
No one and that means no one needs to know that I let Marcus bite me whenever he wants. Thankfully, the marks heal pretty quickly and aren’t horribly noticeable with my collar. But if he knows we’re going somewhere that day, he’ll generally bite my thigh to help hide it from straying eyes.
Eric nods. “That could be a good reason behind it because she showed no drugs or alcohol in her system.”
“What about the holes in her hands?” I ask.
“They look comparable to holes caused by nails. The skin where the holes are has been torn, maybe from excessive weight, but all after death.”
“You think she was hung by them?” Marcus asks.
“It’s a very likely possibility.”
“Maybe that’s how she fell into the river?” I say. “If that was the case and the nails didn’t hold, her body could have dropped into the water and been washed away with the quick current. But if we’re thinking something like that, would it be more of a religious thing? Like crucifixion or something along those lines? I’m not sure that’s the right direction to head.”
Marcus shrugs. “We won’t be able to tell until we find more information. For now, we’ll keep that in mind and send a team out to do another sweep to look for anything she might have been hung from. This information might help us narrow it down.”
Eric nods. “I think we have two things here that really stand out. Her hands and her finger.”
“And you got nothing from the bite?” Marcus asks.
“There was no DNA to pull from it. The area could have been disinfected after, or the time in the river could have ruined the sample.”
“Thank you for your work,” Marcus says.
After we’re done, we head back to the department where the roommate is supposed to meet us to answer some questions. She’s early, so as soon as we walk inside, we’re informed that she’s ready.
When we step into the room, she looks up at us, clearly already nervous.
Marcus generally has me greet them to help calm them down so they’ll be comfortable enough to talk to us. “Good morning, I’m Detective Hayes and this is Detective Church,” I say as I hold a hand out.
“Hannah Parker,” she says as she shakes our hands.
“Thank you for coming in,” I say as I have a seat. “I’m really sorry for your loss.”
She nods. “Thank you. I didn’t know her extremely well, we just started living together a month ago, but it was really weird for her not to come home without saying something. I was scared I was being rash by reporting her missing, but… sadly, I wasn’t.”
“No, you’re helping us out a lot by coming here,” I assure her.
Hannah gives a quavering smile. “Okay, good.”
We spend a little time talking with her to get her to relax before jumping into things that will be more stressful to talk about. We ask her when the last time she saw Tonya was and if she’d been in contact with her. We also ask if she’d been acting strangely or if Tonya had been seeing anyone at the time. The answers are all normal or vague, just because Hannah isn’t entirely sure herself.
“She didn’t have a boyfriend?” Marcus asks.
Hannah shakes her head as she seems to think about it. “Not that I know of. She’d broken up with a guy about a month before I met her, but he still came around and hung out. But it was very civil.”
“Can you give us his name?” Marcus asks.
“Johnny Davis, but… he couldn’t have done it. They got along great and were like best friends.”
“But he might have more information for us,” Marcus explains.
She nods as she wrings her hands. “Do you… do you think I should be worried? Like… would they come back to this area?”
“There are no signs that anyone broke into the house, right?” Marcus asks.
She shakes her head. “No, I was there when she left for class. She just… never came back.”
I always hate leaving people to feel nervous about these situations. Rarely does a killer come back to the same spot, but it’s still always a fear for them and for us. She’s relying on us because we’re experts, but if we give her the wrong information, her life could be at stake. “It’s always best to be cautious. Make sure you’re with someone when you’re walking to and from class, especially at night. Keep your doors and windows locked at all times. If you feel like something is wrong or off, call the police immediately, alright?” I ask. “And it won’t hurt you to stay with a friend or a family member for a few days.”
Hannah nods.
“From your report, you stated that the last time you saw her, she was wearing a university hoodie and jeans, right?”
“Yeah, I remember the hoodie for sure because she came back for it. Said it was cooler out than she thought and grabbed it. I think she was wearing jeans, but I’m not positive.”
“Would you mind taking a look at the clothes she was found in and telling us if you recognize them?” Marcus asks.
She looks nervous again. “It’s just… clothes, right?”
“The only thing in the picture is her clothes,” he assures her.
“Okay… I was… worried it was like in the movies where you have to… go to the morgue and…”
I set my hand on hers. “That’s a very old style of doing it. Right now, we’re just wondering why she was found in different clothes.”
She nods. “Okay. Yeah. I’ll look.”
Marcus passes her the photo and she takes it. I can already tell from her facial expression that she doesn’t recognize them.
“They almost look like a little girl’s clothes, don’t they? Like with the lacy and frilly stuff? She’d never wear this. She was always just in jeans or sweats. I mean, there’s a possibility they’re hers, but I’ve never seen them or seen her wear anything like this.”
“One last thing,” I say. “Did she have anything on her right index finger?”
She passes the photograph back. “Yeah, a tattoo of a heart.”
Interesting.
“Any other tattoos?”
“I don’t think so, but I’m not positive.”
We finish up before sending her out. Then I turn to Marcus. “Interesting how she only has one tattoo and it’s on the finger that’s missing.”
“Maybe a better way to identify what they’re keeping of her?” Marcus suggests.
“Could be.”
We’re left with nothing but more questions as we head back to work.
Chapter Five
MARCUS
My phone rings just as I’m getting into the car. Finn had driven to work separately because he was meeting his sister for dinner, so it was just Artemus and me tonight.
I don’t recognize the number, telling me it probably relates to work, so I answer it. At least I’m still in the parking lot if they need me to head back in.
“This is Church.”
“Is this Marcus?” a woman asks.
“It is.”
“Hi! I’m calling from the Barkview Animal Shelter, and we’d like to let you know that your application has been approved!”
“Fantastic,” I growl. I should have written down that I could eat the dog for a snack so they’d decline it.
“We’re open for another hour if you’d like to pick her up today?”
Finn won’t be back by then, so I’ll just send him off to get her tomorrow. Oh, but then he’d cry about how heartless I am to leave her at the shelter another night. And his face will show so much happiness when he comes home to that ugly little thing.
“Dammit,” I growl.
“Um… oh… if that doesn’t work, we’re open tomorrow too!” she says. “I know you guys are very eager to come get her.”
“Ah, no, sorry. Something el
se. Yes, I’ll be there in five minutes. Thank you.”
“Of course!” she says, and we hang up.
Finn’s been weirdly anxious about this stupid thing, checking my phone every five minutes to make sure I didn’t purposely ignore their call or block their number. Why doesn’t he want like a German shepherd or a Belgian Malinois? At least they could protect him. What could this thing do? Trip them?
I drive to the shelter and head inside where the woman from the other day smiles at me.
“Hey! You are so lucky that you get to take this cutie pie home!” she says in this singsongy voice filled with positivity. “Let me go get her while they finalize everything!”
“Great,” I say as I turn to the lady behind the counter.
“The adoption fee will be four hundred.”
My ears have finally failed me. “Four… four hundred. Four hundred dollars weighs more than that thing! This is a shelter, right? Or have I been fooled into buying some designer purse mutt?”
She points at the pricing that ridiculously goes up the smaller the dog is. “Puppies under one year are four hundred.”
“You have her at eleven months. Actually… her birthday is tomorrow. If I come back tomorrow, it looks like she’s two hundred.”
“I’m sorry, you’ll lose your spot!”
I stare her right in the eye as I pull out my card and wonder why she isn’t terrified of me. Instead, she just smiles and smiles and I’m starting to get terrified of her.
I grudgingly pay the adoption fee and wait. The other lady pushes open the door and out she comes leading the seven-pound beast. The dog starts dancing the moment she sees me as realization dawns on me that I’m taking this… thing home with me. What if I squish it? What if I just like set my hand on it and crush its weak little body?
She hits my leg and starts pawing at it as she looks up at me. The woman picks the dog up and stuffs her into my arms, although I was more than prepared to never hold the monster again.
How to Elude a Vampire (VRC: Vampire Related Crimes Book 2) Page 4