The Cannibal Cure

by Jeff D Ellis

  Abby showed Greta the picture of the body on her phone. “I’m sorry to say she won’t be making her appointment.”

  Greta’s eyes turned ice cold and stood. “This interview is over. I have important things I must take care of. I expect you can find your way out. Feel free to come back when you’re not working.”

  David and Abby helped Detective Hammer to his feet and walked out the door. Hammer straightened up. “You! What are you?”

  “Sorry for the surprise, but your world just got a lot bigger and weirder. I’ll tell you more when we get somewhere more private.”

  “You better.”

  They walked back out the way they’d come in. The hidden door closed on its own and reset. When they got back to the room where the body was found, everything had been cleaned up as if it had never happened.

  Hamer grabbed David’s arm. “This is private enough. Start talking.”

  David gave the Hammer a long look. “It's a long story, but I’m a Shapeshifter. I only found out myself last October. Abby and I work for a secret division of the U.S. Marshals that has protected people from the supernatural since the 1800s. From looking at the body, it seems like Ms. Prescott was eaten by a supernatural creature. Also, if you hadn’t guessed by the effect the women at The Second Circle had on you, they’re also supernatural. What we call The Veiled. Abby and I are part Veiled and were natural choices for the Marshals to recruit to help police them.”

  Hammer pointed at Abby. “You can become a dog as well?”

  Abby shook her head. “David is the only Shapeshifter I know. I can do some magic. I’m sorry about the shock we gave you. We weren’t sure how you would take it or had a need to know.”

  “Need to know? I need to know, I’m not sure I want to know. Does my Captain know?”

  “Your Captain and Chief of Police know about what we do. Your Captain says you’re to be our point person for anything supernatural that happens in Seattle. I think your boss would rather be kept in the dark and let us handle things. I’m sorry to say you can’t tell anybody.”

  “You’re right about that. If I was stupid enough to tell people that monsters are real, they would lock me up in the psych ward.”

  “People aren’t ready to know this truth. Detective, you think you can handle working this case with us?”

  “I can as long as you don’t keep me in the dark again, as we go forward.”

  David looked at Abby. “We can agree to that. It goes both ways. Also, you should know if things come to a fight, it’s best leaving it to me. Many supernatural creatures can’t be hurt by normal weapons, so leave it to my claws or our blessed weapons.”

  Hammer looked David over. “Claws?”

  “Yes, I can turn into a number of forms including a jaguar and a Were-jaguar.”

  “How do I know you didn’t eat Prescott?”

  “Good question, but other than saying trust me, I can have our office supply you with our locations during Ms. Prescott’s unaccounted-for time. Since Abby got abducted, the Marshals keep constant track of our locations. Maybe we should go about finding the last person to see Prescott alive and figure out who might want to hurt her.”

  “I’ll trust you for now. I think we are done here. Let’s go back to your office and work out our next steps. We need to be smart about this.”

  David nodded. “We need to find this monster, before it kills again.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Home and Office

  WHEN THEY GOT to the car, David grabbed his cell phone and called in. “Hi, Gwen! We’re on our way back to the office. Detective Frank Hammer will be following us back. The clean-up guys finished here and took the body away. We’ll want a full work-up done on it.”

  “No problem, David. We’re looking forward to a full report when you get here. Anything we can get started on?”

  “We need to build a timeline for the last day or so for Cora Prescott. Also find out what we have on Greta Burke. She is Veiled of some sort. Oh, and one last thing, the Detective now knows about me.”

  “Okay, Perry and I’ll get started on that, and will tell the Chief you’re on your way. See you soon.”

  David ended the call. “What do you think about Hammer?”

  Abby smiled. “He took the news about the supernatural better than I expected, but I’m worried about his reactions when he faced Greta Burke. I don’t think he should come near her again unless we can work out something to protect him.”

  David nodded. “She was putting out some strong magic. I’m happy we’re not affected. Since she has a history with the Marshals, I’m looking forward to reading her files. I think we need to make a point of studying the files on all known Veiled in the area. It was dangerous to run into her not knowing what she is.”

  “Maybe they can give us the files to study newest encounters first. We’re more likely to run across those first. And we need to get the Glynco training over with. I hate the idea of messing up simple procedure. Speaking of messing up, do you think this will mess up our dinner plans with Kat? I know she’s looking forward to seeing you.”

  David looked at his watch. “We can still make it.”

  “Do you think you can handle another Windigo fight so soon?”

  David frowned. “Better now than later. We need to find this thing fast while I can still change.”

  “But you’re sure you feel strong enough for this? We can try and do this without you if you’re not feeling up to it.”

  “Abby, I think I proved today I’m still needed. I can do it.”

  They pulled into the parking structure and parked. David got out of the car and went to talk to Hammer.

  “You can park in any unmarked space. We have a back entrance into the office. Meet us at that door over there.”

  Hammer nodded and went in search of parking.

  David met Abby at the unmarked door and waited for Hammer. David waved him over while Abby unlocked the elevator.

  “This is the private elevator up to our back entrance. It takes a three-factor identification. You need an RFID badge, handprint, and pin number to use this elevator. Let’s grab a conference room and work out our next steps.”

  Gwen was waiting for them when they got off the elevator.

  After some introductions, Gwen gave her status on what they were working on. “The pictures from the crime scene did not show any clothes or personal effects. We have a call in to a judge to get a warrant for Ms. Prescott’s cell phone records, and we’ll see what its last location was. We’re waiting on lab results for the remains. We heard from SPD that her staff has now called in a missing person report. I’ll also get you a warrant to search her home and office. Ms. Prescott seemed to have a lot of people that didn’t like her. Her staff can give you a list. Jeff might have a remote access device to put on her computer when you search her office. That way, we can search the computer from here. She may also have a laptop at home that you should bring back here.”

  David nodded. “Got it. We should hit the home and office next. Maybe that way, we can get her calendar and see what appointments she had. Would be good to know if she’d gotten any death threats.”

  Gwen slid a file folder across to David. “Here’s the file on Greta Burke. The last entries were made by Connor Seymour. She’s the leader of a Vampire clan and has been operating here since the 1890s.”

  David glanced at the file. “Vampire as in bloodsucker?”

  Gwen laughed. “Her clan feeds off lust and sex. She is more of a Succubus really. She has both men and women in her clan working there. It’s possible for a Vampire to feed off someone enough to kill them, but her clan has not been accused of doing that. The people they feed off can become addicted to it. They have lots of repeat customers, so there’s no real need to drain them dry. She’s an old Vampire with strong magic, and with all of the political power she has in this city, you need to be careful of her. No DA or judge in Seattle will shut her down.”

  “When do you think we’ll have the war
rants ready?”

  Chief Knight walked into the conference room. “I have the warrants for Ms. Prescott’s home and office here. They are still working on the one for the cell phone. This should get you going, and by that, I mean get going.”

  David grabbed the warrants. “Yes, Chief. We’ll get right on it. There are three of us, why don’t we split up? I’ll take the home. Abby and Hammer can take the office. Abby is better at sensing the truth than I am, and Hammer being SPD has a better reason than we do for being there investigating a missing person.”

  Hammer took the office warrant from David. “That sounds like a good idea. It’s easier for me to say I’m investigating a fresh missing person than a U.S. Marshal. It would have been easier for an FBI agent than you guys for this. Abby, why don’t we take my car? We can regroup here when we’re done.”

  The Chief nodded his head.

  “Abby, I’ll take the SUV. I’ll meet you back here soon. Chief, can I talk to you for a moment?”

  “You feeling okay, David?”

  David nodded and followed the Chief back to his office. He shut the door. “It’s not about that. It’s about what the Detective said. Is there any way we can get some sort of cover for when we have to talk with Humans during investigations? It’s not needed with Veiled since they know we are the law, but it’s hard to explain why a Marshal wants to talk with Humans. What did my parents do?”

  “Back then, we didn’t have many cases involving Humans. Times are changing and I understand your situation. Let me see what I can do.”

  “Thanks, Chief.”

  ***

  David called Gwen. “I arrived at the house. I’ll make entry soon.”

  “I have contacted the alarm company about our warrant, and they will have the alarm off for the next two hours. Let us know if you need more time than that.”

  “Will do.”

  The house was positioned atop a Madrona hillside at the end of 34th street. It had a somewhat modern look in off-white stucco, which contrasted with the house with the blue wood siding across the street from it. The paper David was looking at said it was a 5,053-square-foot Avant-garde urban town home with three bedrooms and four baths. David had parked in front of the two-car garage. There was a courtyard on the front of house with white painted iron gates. Next to the gate was a speaker box, but the gates were wide open. Inside the courtyard were sculpted trees and bushes. Marble steps led up to white double door. A stone sculpture of a house cat guarded the doorway.

  David wondered if an aerial view might turn something up. He tried to shift to falcon form, but nothing happened. He grabbed his amulet. After taking a deep breath and letting it out, he tried again. This time he shifted into the form of a falcon and flew up to take a look around. The roof had a nice balcony with stairs that led down to the main level. There was a lower level where he could see an indoor pool with another patio area. There wasn’t any noticeable disturbance to the grounds. It was time to investigate inside.

  Landing on the main level patio area, David made a rocky touchdown and stumbled to his feet. His abilities were slipping way too fast for his comfort. A gargoyle guarded the patio, which he patted on the head as he admired the amazing view of Lake Washington. There were four sets of French doors leading into the house here and the doors to the dining room area were unlocked. Everything looked normal. The house was kept in immaculate condition. More like a showroom for a house than a place someone lived in.

  On finding the door to the garage, he peeked in and noticed that no cars were parked inside. It was as tidy as the rest of the house. It was best to keep moving.

  He found the master bedroom. The closet was neatly lined with her clothes, which were sorted by color and length. The shoes were lined up to match the colors above them. It had a very OCD feel to it all. It seemed like she was the only one who had been living in this large house.

  He couldn’t find a laptop or computer on the main level of the house, so he headed downstairs to see if maybe her home office was there. The first area contained a large wine cellar stocked full of bottles.

  Next was an indoor swimming pool, which was well taken care of. She must have a service to keep it clean and ready to go at a moment’s notice. Beyond the pool, there was a home theater room with a big screen TV mounted to the wall. It had some over-stuffed blue leather chairs arranged for watching the TV. There was a second smaller TV room connected to a home office.

  The desk was a modern style glass and chrome unit. It seemed strange that there were no file cabinets, just a high-backed desk chair and one guest chair. In the center of the desk was a laptop computer with the lid closed. Like most of the house, the room as well as the glass work surface was spotless. David gathered up the laptop and power cord. He made sure all of the doors were locked and left by the front door. When he got back in the car, he called Gwen again to give a status.

  “I’m done at the home and have a laptop computer I’m bringing back to the office. You can have the alarm turned back on again. The house was spotless, and the bed didn’t seem to have been slept in.”

  “Copy that. Come back to the office.”

  ***

  Abby and Hammer went to Jeff’s office to get the USB remote access device.

  “Jeff, I would like you to meet SPD Detective Frank Hammer. He will be working with us on the Prescott case. We’re about to head over to Prescott’s office and were told you have a device you want us to put on her computer for remote access?”

  Jeff shook hands with Hammer. “Pleased to meet you, Detective. I’ve something here in my desk. I’ve been waiting for a good time to give it a try. Plug this into a USB port and boot from the device. After a couple of minutes, the computer will reboot itself and you can then remove the device. It will install some special software the NSA has been working on along with a few additions of my own.”

  Abby put the device in her pocket. “What does it do?”

  “It will give me remote control and will log any keystrokes that are done from that point on.”

  “Does it matter what type of computer it is?”

  “It’s smart enough to work on both PC, Mac, and Linux systems. The main requirement is needing physical access to the computer.”

  “What if she has virus software or something?”

  “Trust me, this software is very hard to detect.”

  “Anything else we should know?”

  “The software is linked to the warrant. After a week it’ll deactivate itself. Give me a call when you get there. Nice to meet you, Detective.”

  They headed down to the parking structure to get his car.

  “How do you guys get such nice toys? It’s hard to think this is actually legal.”

  Abby nodded. “I’ve been told everything is legal, but when you have a shadow government with no public oversight, who knows. All I can do is what I think is right and protect the innocent.”

  Hammer shook his head. “I was like you, before. Now I’m not so sure anybody is innocent. This job makes you jaded. You must be fresh to the job.”

  “A few months ago, I was doing video game development.”

  Hammer frowned. “Now you are investigating murder scenes? I’m not here to babysit.”

  “When you’re dealing with the supernatural, it takes special people to handle it. Having the right bloodline trumps time on the job. You could never have found the entrance to The Second Circle; that took being able to see magic. You also were unable to keep Greta Burke from turning you into jelly. Remember, we had to carry you out. We may have much to learn, but we make up for it in other ways.”

  Hammer nodded. “Sorry for the babysitting crack. Thanks for your help with Greta Burke. It’s not every day you find out there are Vampires and people that can change into dogs. Let me handle things at the office.”

  “You handled it better than could be expected. Don’t worry, I’ll follow your lead.”

  It was a fifteen-minute drive from the Marshals office to City Hall wher
e the council members have their offices. Hammer was able to find some street parking. They quickly found the offices on the second floor.

  The office was split into two rooms. One large room where the four assistants had desks and a separate room for Ms. Prescott. Only three people were in today.

  The woman closest to the door stood. “Hello, I’m Legislative Assistant Anna Petrov. How can I help you?”

  “I’m SPD Detective Frank Hammer and this is Deputy Abby Brooks. We are here about the report of Councilmember Prescott going missing. Are you the one that reported her missing?”

  “Now that was fast. I only reported her missing a few hours ago, when she missed her first meeting and couldn’t be reached. It was very unusual that she didn’t have a hundred things for us to work on when we got here. She hounded us with work even when she took a vacation.”

  “Normally we wouldn’t do anything unless someone was missing for forty-eight hours, but she has friends in high places, and we were told to make it a priority. Has there been anything unusual in her routine the last few days?”

  “Everything was normal for this place. You would think it’d be quiet, or people would be taking time off during the council recess until January 2nd, but not here. She has us working hard straight through the holiday season.”

  “Did she make all of her appointments yesterday? When was the last time anybody heard from her?”

  “As far as I know, she did. Her last meeting was off-site, and she let everybody leave at 4:00 p.m. yesterday. She does that every so often, so I didn’t think anything of it.”

  “Do you know who that last meeting was with?”

  “You would have to check her calendar. She didn’t tell me who it was, but that’s normal for her to have meetings with people not on our main calendar. For example, she had two hours blocked out after lunch with no name associated with it for an off-site meeting.”

  “We need see her full calendar.”

  “It's only on her office computer or her phone and we don’t have the passwords for them.”