by Peter Glenn
The other door, however, looked to be in better shape. It was wooden and looked like it had been replaced rather recently. This door was shut firmly, and there was more of the caution tape from before plastered over it. That was our destination, then.
I looked over at Charmaine, who was starting to shiver, and I knew it wasn’t from the cold.
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay with this?” I asked her. “You can wait out here if you want.”
Charmaine let out a shaky breath. “No, it’s okay. I can do this.” She shook out her hands a little and took some slow breaths. “This is important. It’s for Daequan.”
I nodded. “Okay. If you’re sure.”
Off to the side, Viktor rolled his eyes and muttered something, but I didn’t quite catch it. It was probably an insult anyway. The guy was helpful, sure, but he was also kind of a dick.
I pulled on the wooden door, and it came with me, swinging outward with ease. Another sign that the door had been replaced recently.
The stench of dried blood and excrement was the first thing that assaulted my nostrils. I wrinkled my nose and put my hand over my mouth to keep from gagging. I spared another glance at Charmaine. She seemed to be holding up well. Better than last time, at least.
“Ready?” I asked my vampire companions. They both nodded. “All right, then.”
I opened the door the rest of the way and entered the room. This room had no windows, so it was dark, and I couldn’t make out much of anything. I got my mini flashlight out of my fanny pack and clicked it on.
Charmaine shrieked as the main part of the room came into view. Even I paled a little. It was like the previous scene, but a hundred times worse. The blood was everywhere, mixed with something else. Feces, perhaps? I’d heard that people often soiled themselves when they died. Either way, the stench and the mess worked together to assault my senses to the point where I felt faint.
Make no mistake. I’d seen plenty of death in my years. I’d killed dozens, perhaps hundreds of people myself and seen many others die in a variety of ways. But none of it had been anything like this.
“How many people were killed here?” I asked as I continued to take in the entirety of the scene.
“Just one, supposedly,” Viktor said. “Although I suppose there could be other bodies that were unaccounted for.”
“There had to be more than one, right?” I said, my mouth hanging slightly open as the light from the flashlight danced about the room, revealing one grisly marking after another.
“Hmm,” Viktor said, “the human body has a lot more blood in it than you’d think. This all could have come from one body if they used it all and were careful.”
“Really?” I was practically speechless once again, but I figured a vampire would probably be the expert on that type of thing.
“Well, one thing is for certain,” Viktor quipped. “It wasn’t a vampire. No vampire I know of would waste all that precious liquid on decor.”
“Heh. Fair enough.” I set my flashlight down on the floor and set it on its highest setting. “Let’s spread out. If there are any clues here, we want to find them.”
Viktor nodded and got to work. Charmaine just stood there, looking more shocked than I was.
“You okay?” I asked, turning my attention to her. I waved my hand in front of her face but it did nothing. “Hey! Charmaine! You all right?”
Charmaine shook as she sucked in a deep breath and blinked her eyes a few times. Finally, she looked away. “Sorry, I just… I can’t.”
I understood. I’d seen more than my fair share of people shaken up by the brutality of a crime scene. Sure, none of them had been vampires, but feelings were universal.
“Why don’t you wait outside in the hallway,” I told her. “We’ll only be a few minutes, then we can get out of here. Promise.”
She looked up at me. I could see tears forming in her eyes and something else. Disappointment, maybe. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. It’s okay. All I’m going to do is take pictures and send them to Rick.”
“O-okay,” she muttered.
I grabbed her by both shoulders. “Look, it’s all right. I’ve got this. You can help Daequan in other ways. You’re not letting him down.”
Charmaine sniffled a little and nodded. “All right, Damian.”
She turned and shuffled back out the door. I could hear her sobbing gently and wished I could do more to reassure her, but I had a job to finish first.
I returned my attention to the crime scene. I gingerly stepped over a small puddle of blood next to my feet and made my way toward the center of the room, being careful not to disturb anything.
The blood markings were important. I was sure about that. But everything else could be, too, and I didn’t know what was what.
Reaching into my fanny pack, I pulled out a second flashlight. Needless redundancy for the most part, I know, but I liked to be prepared.
Okay, that was a lie. I was probably the least prepared of anyone I knew. My standard playbook was basically just “wing it.” But I’d had one flashlight fail on me often enough that I felt like two was a necessity.
I kept this one in my hands so I could point it at specific items and get better pictures, then trudged onward into the room.
“Ew,” I heard Viktor say off in a corner. He did not seem as hampered by the lack of light as I was.
“What is it? Find the body?”
“Humph. No.” He picked up a piece of corrugated plastic and held it in front of him. “Anti-vampire rhetoric.”
I shined my light on the sign. It reflected off the plastic, obscuring part of the sign, but I could clearly read the words “Vampires Aren’t Human” written on it.
“There’s more where that came from, too,” Viktor said, gingerly placing the sign back against the wall.
He pointed toward that corner, so I turned my flashlight to look at it. There were at least half a dozen signs back there that had messages similar to the first. “Down with Vampires,” “Vampires Don’t Have Rights,” and so on.
“So it’s true, then,” I said. “Donald Thurgood was anti-vampire.”
Viktor nodded. “Shame. He seemed like such a good friend, too.” I heard him tsk as he went back to scanning the room for anything useful.
I did the same. There wasn’t much else in the room. A dozen or so standard issue metal chairs, a small plastic table, and what I believe used to be an old water pitcher rounded out the interior. Nothing really interesting or noteworthy.
Certainly nothing that you’d kill someone over.
Still, as gloomy as the outlook for this case was looking, if there was a clue somewhere, I was determined to find it. I spent several minutes crawling over every inch of the walls, looking for any blood smears that were even just a little off or identifiable as something other than mindless spatter.
These I photographed with my phone, noting down where in the room I’d taken each one. It wasn’t much, but it was the least I could do for Daequan. I knew his story was on the level. He was innocent for sure.
I just had to figure out how to prove it.
Right about at that moment, my phone buzzed. I peeked at the screen and saw that it was Rick giving me a call.
I slid up on the little phone icon and placed it on speaker. “Rick! Buddy! What you got for me?”
“Not much, I’m afraid,” Rick’s voice boomed over the speaker. “I’m still looking into those blood spatters from earlier. It’s all like I said before, a bunch of ancient words about death and demons and the like. Nothing too original.”
“Well, would more blood spatter pictures help you out?” I asked, grinning slightly as Viktor gave me a sour look. Anything to set that guy off was a win in my book.
“More blood spatters? Damian, what have you done exactly?” There was a slight pause. “You’re not in trouble with the law again, are you?”
Again? I frowned a bit. He should know me better than that by now.
; “Come on, Rick. You know I stay on the right side of the law.”
Rick snorted. “Yeah. And I’m the pope.”
“Fine,” I blurted. “But no, I’m not in trouble. I just found another murder scene that’s a lot like the first one. Well, technically Charmaine found it, but I’m the one investigating.”
“Another murder?” I could hear the disapproval in Rick’s tone. “What have you gotten yourself into this time, exactly? I’m not going to be able to bail you out of this one!”
“Oh, Rick, you can be so overprotective.”
“I mean it, Damian.”
Viktor shot me a knowing glare like he was taking Rick’s side. Whatever, they were both a little stuffy for my tastes. It’s why we didn’t hang out all that often outside of casework. But at least Rick loosened up after a few martinis. I had the feeling Vick over there would be just as stuffy no matter how many drinks I poured into him.
Which begged the question, could vampires get drunk? I’d have to add that to my list of things to ask Charmaine when all this was over. It seemed a little crass to ask her now, but once Daequan was safe and sound, well…
“Don’t you worry your little head about me, Rick,” I insisted. “I’ve got it all under control.”
Rick snorted again, and I felt my cheeks grow hot at the implication.
“It’s the same case as before. Apparently, we’ve got ourselves a serial killer.” I spoke fast to keep Rick on track.
“Okay, so what you got for me?”
“More of the same,” I said with a shrug. “Here, I’ll forward you some attachments of the better pics I got. Just a second.”
I fumbled with the buttons on the phone for a minute, selecting pictures, and texted them to Rick.
“There. You should get them in a second.”
“Hang on.” There was another pause. “Okay. Got it. Oy. You sure this was all from one guy?”
“Best as we can figure. The news only reported one body.”
“Gotcha. Well, I see some similar markings, but it’s kind of sloppy and hard to make out. I think your guy did a better job on the earlier crime scene.”
“That’d make sense. This poor fellow was murdered first.”
“Ah, that explains things.” Rick muttered a few things that I didn’t quite catch. “I don’t suppose you found the body this time, did you?”
I shook my head, then remembered I was on the phone. “Sorry, no can do. We weren’t that lucky.”
Viktor pulled out his phone and whispered something into it, then gave me a thumb’s up. It must be nice to have friends in the police like that. Maybe I’d have to try and make some one of these days, just in case.
Nah, too much work.
“Okay, so maybe we’ll have pics of the body soon. Would that help?”
“The markings on the body were the most readable from the first scene. It stands to reason it’d be the same thing here,” Rick told me.
“Fair enough. I’ll send them to you as soon as I get them.”
“Sounds good. In the meantime, I’ll keep looking into this. Oh, and Damian?”
“Yeah?”
“Be careful out there. If this guy is a serial killer, he’s probably going to escalate soon. You could be in danger already.” Rick’s tone was as serious as I’d ever heard it.
“Got it,” I said, gulping down a small knot in my throat. “We’ll chat later.”
“I mean it, Damian. Don’t get yourself killed in all this.”
“Oh, but what’s the fun in that?”
I hung up the phone before he could say anything else and put it back in my pocket. In the corner, Viktor was glaring at me something fierce with his hands folded in front of his chest.
“Who was that?” he demanded.
“Just an old friend.” I flashed him a wide grin. “Come on, let’s get out of here already.”
11
Viktor called for another car to come pick us up, and I went and collected Charmaine. She was still a little shaken from the whole experience, but she looked to be doing a bit better. I tried to talk to her about the whole affair, but she kept pushing me off, so I let it drop. I’d never been the best at consoling people, anyway.
When the car showed up, we piled into it like nothing had happened, and I poured myself another scotch. Hey, that crime scene had been nerve-racking. I needed something to take the edge off.
Plus, free booze is free booze.
“So, what’s next?” Charmaine asked after a moment.
I was so surprised to hear her finally say something that I almost jumped out of my own skin. “What do you mean?”
“What’s next?” she repeated. “Where do we go now, what do we do? How do we help Daequan and avert another murder?”
I grimaced. “You know, another murder might actually help Daequan’s case…”
She shot me an icy glare, and I put my hands up in a defensive position.
“Sorry. Yeah, I agree. That’d still be bad.”
“I don’t know about you two, but I could use a quick bite after all that,” Viktor said.
“Mm, some food would be good right now.” I rubbed my hands together greedily. “Burgers, everyone?”
I glanced from Viktor to Charmaine and back and they both gave me stoic expressions. “Oh yeah,” I said, remembering. “You meant blood.”
“Yes, I meant blood, you moron,” Viktor fired back. He knocked on the barrier between the front and back of the car. “Driver! Take me home!”
“You got it boss,” a tinny voice said in response.
I felt the car shift a little as it rounded a corner and started to peel off at high speed. Apparently, Viktor’s drivers meant business.
“Where can I drop the two of you?” Viktor asked. He had an impatient look in his eyes.
“So that’s it?” Charmaine asked incredulously. “You’re just going to go get some food and zone out?”
She started to get out of her seat, but I put a hand in front of her to keep her down. “It’s okay, Charmaine. We can’t expect him to–”
“My husband is in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. A crime you know he didn’t commit. And you’re just going to go pop one off? Just like that?” She shot Viktor an icy glare but he didn’t even flinch. “I can’t believe you.”
“I’m sorry, miss Charmaine, if my natural instincts offend you,” Viktor replied with a hint of scorn. He totally wasn’t sorry. “But what would you have me do, exactly?”
Charmaine huffed. “I don’t know. Something! Anything other than run off!”
“Believe me, miss, I am doing everything I can to bring this killer to justice,” Viktor insisted. “It just so happens that at this minute, there’s nothing I can do. I’ve got a call in to the police department to obtain pics of the dead body to send to your friend, and there were no clues to follow at the crime scene. So, at this point, our only real course of action is to wait.”
“I–” Charmaine started. I could see heat rise up to her face, then leave as the tension in her body eased and she slumped against her seat. “I guess you’re right. It’s just… he’s my everything, you know?”
Viktor let out a sigh, then nodded. “Quite.”
I could tell he really had no idea how she felt. I wondered if he’d ever loved anyone at all. Not that I was all that experienced in the love department, either…
“Now, would you care to join me for a meal, or can I drop you somewhere on the way?” Viktor finished after a moment’s silence.
Charmaine wiped away a tear that had formed in the corner of her eye. “Take us to my home, I guess. It’s as good a place as any.”
“Very good.” Viktor knocked on the barrier again. “Driver, take us by… Where do you live?”
“Actually, take us back to the police station,” Charmaine said. “I want to update Daequan on what we know.”
Viktor let out another small sigh. He seemed upset by the very notion, though why, I couldn’t tell. “Very well. Take us to the
east police precinct, then head home.” He turned his attention back to Charmaine. “There. It’s the least I can do.”
“Thank you,” Charmaine said, nodding her head.
We rode along in silence then. I finished my scotch in a few gulps and set the cup down. I thought about grabbing another, but truth be told, the old vintage burned a little and it didn’t sit well on an otherwise empty stomach, so I left it at that.
The rest of the ride passed quickly and smoothly enough, and before I knew it, we were at the police precinct.
“I promise I will let you know as soon as I find out anything further,” Viktor said as he pushed the door open and ushered us out of the car.
“Thanks again,” Charmaine said. She ducked her head and got out.
“Yeah, thanks,” I added. “It was… not terrible.”
Viktor rolled his eyes at me, so I flashed him another grin and got out of the car. Darkness had descended at last and the night air was cold against my largely unprotected skin. I rubbed my arms a little to ward off the breeze and looked up at the precinct looming before us.
“Shall we?” I asked Charmaine, offering her my hand.
“Yes.”
Charmaine took my hand, and we started up the steps to the precinct, but before we could get too far, something strange caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. It looked like there was a throng of maybe eight or ten people standing on the corner holding signs in their hands. Though what they said, I couldn’t quite make out.
“Hang on,” I told Charmaine. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
She wrinkled her nose. “About what?”
I pointed toward what I assumed was a group of protesters. “That.”
As I continued to stare at them, the group started to move in our direction. Their movements were slow, but methodical. And I was positive they were headed right for us, and not something behind us. There wasn’t really anyone else around, anyway.
The lights from the precinct shined down onto their signs, and I scanned them as my heart lurched. They were just like the ones we’d found at the warehouse.