He answered on the second ring. "Anita?"
"Yeah, Dolph, it's me. What's up?"
"Three dead bodies."
"Three? Shit," I said.
"Yeah," he said.
"I can't be there soon, Dolph."
"Yes, you can," he said.
There was something in his voice. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"The victims are right near you."
"Near Branson?"
"Twenty-five minutes east of Branson," he said.
"I'm already forty miles from Branson in the middle of freaking nowhere."
"The middle of nowhere is where this one is," Dolph said.
"Are you guys flying up?" I asked.
"No, we got a vampire victim in town."
"Jesus, are the other three vamp victims?"
"I don't think so," he said.
"What do you mean, you don't think so?" I asked.
"Missouri State Highway Patrol has this one. Sergeant Freemont is the investigator in charge. She doesn't think it was a vampire because the bodies are cut up. Pieces of the bodies are missing. I had to do a lot of tap dancing to get that much information out of her. Sergeant Freemont seems convinced that RPIT is going to come in and steal all the glory. She was particularly worried about our headline-stealing pet zombie queen."
"It's the pet part that I mind the most," I said. "But she sounds charming."
"I'll bet she's even more charming in person," Dolph said.
"And I get to meet her?"
"Given the choice between a large chunk of the squad coming down later and just you right now, she chose you. I think she sees you alone, without us to back you up, as the lesser evil."
"Nice to be the lesser evil for a change," I said.
"You might get upgraded," Dolph said. "She doesn't know you too well yet."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence. Let me test my understanding here. None of you are coming up to the scene?"
"Not right away. You know we're shorthanded until Zerbrowski gets back on duty."
"What does the Missouri State Highway Patrol think about a civilian helping them in a murder investigation?"
"I made it clear that you are a valuable member of my squad."
"Thanks for the compliment, but I still don't have a badge to flash."
"You may if that new federal law goes into effect," Dolph said.
"Don't remind me."
"Don't you want to be a federal marshal?" His voice was very mild. Nah, amused.
"I agreed they should license us, but giving us what amounts to federal marshal status is ridiculous."
"You could handle it."
"But who else? John Burke with the power of the law behind him? Give me a break."
"It won't get passed, Anita. The pro-vampire lobby is too strong."
"From your lips to God's ear. Unless they revoke the need for court orders of execution, it won't make killing them any easier, and they won't do that. I've already gone out of state to execute vamps. I don't need no stinking badge."
Dolph laughed. "If you run into trouble, give a yell."
"I really don't like this, Dolph. I'm out here investigating a murder without any official status."
"See, you do need a badge." I heard him sigh over the phone. "Look, Anita, I wouldn't leave you solo if we didn't have problems of our own. I've got a body on the ground here. When I can, I'll send somebody. Hell, I'd like you to come take a look at our corpse. You're our resident monster expert."
"Give me some details and I'll try to play Kreskin."
"Male, early twenties, rigor hasn't set in."
"Where's the body?"
"His apartment."
"How'd you get there so soon?"
"Neighbor heard a fight, called 911. They called us."
"Give me his name."
"Fredrick Michael Summers, Freddy Summers."
"He got any old vampire bites on his body? Healed bites?"
"Yeah, quite a few. Looks like a damn pincushion. How'd you know?"
"What's the first rule of a homicide?" I said. "You check the nearest and dearest. If he had a vamp lover, there'd be healed bite marks. The more of them, the longer the relationship has gone on. No vamp can bite a victim three times within a month without running the risk of killing them and raising them as a vamp. You can have different vamps bite somebody, but that would make Freddy a vampire junkie. Ask the neighbors if there were a lot of different guys or girls going in and out at night."
"It never occurred to me that a vampire could be someone's nearest and dearest," Dolph said.
"Legally, they're people. Means they get to have sweethearts, too."
"I'll check the bite radiuses," Dolph said, "If they match one vamp, a lover; different ones, and our boy was doing groups."