Grayson glowered at him, his bushy gray eyebrows drawing low over his eyes. “I’m telling you, this is our year. You may have a few hotshots, but experience will win out. Look at our pitching game!”
I rolled my eyes. “Men and baseball. That’s one thing I won’t mind not keeping up with for my clients.”
Landry unknowingly agreed with me. She interrupted so smoothly it seemed she didn’t interrupt at all. I admired that. “Okay gentlemen, let’s talk about your girl.”
A strong hand tugged me around hard, and I found myself suddenly facing Tristan and Dan. Tristan spoke first. “Don’t look, Brandilynn.”
Dan added, “Hearing this will be hard enough.”
Soft rumpling sounds behind me let me know someone pulled back the cover over my evacuated body. Quiet sighs exhaled from the living, and I wondered if they hadn’t
seen many dead bodies. Or had the Ripper done something so violent to me that even hardened law enforcement agents hadn’t faced it before?
The harsh antiseptic scent of the autopsy room couldn’t mask the sweetish-sour odor of rotting flesh. Thank God I didn’t have a real stomach to empty out on the floor. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw tiny dots of color. Maraschino cherry red. Toenails freshly painted for a date with a client. A date with harsh destiny.
Landry’s voice was all business, soothing in its detachment. “Death by vampire draining. See the fang marks?”
“That’s a vicious bite. It looks like he gnawed on her.” Heany’s voice carried no emotion, as if he’d locked his feelings up in a box and thrown it into a river to never be found again. “Three days before the saliva tests come back, right?”
“Maybe two. We put a rush on it.” Landry continued her report. “She was dead a week before she was found. The semen we discovered was found here and here. She may have been violated in any of these other gouges you see, but with the amount of damage she took, it’s hard to tell.”
The room around me lurched, and both Tristan and Dan grabbed me on either side to keep me from falling. Apparently ghosts can faint. I shook off my horrified reaction with tremendous effort.
The other agent, Neuhaus, had a deep voice. The tall, lanky man didn’t bother to disguise his anger. “He’s all about the blood and brutality. Was she alive for any of it?”
“Some.” Emotion crept into Landry’s voice for a moment, and I had a flash of sympathy for her. Her job totally sucked. “Most of the damage occurred post mortem, just like the rest. The mutilations are getting worse though, as you can see.”
Still fighting for control, I asked the men, “What’s this about mutilations? I haven’t heard anything about that before.”
“They’ve kept it quiet,” Dan answered. He kept his eyes on my face, refusing to look at my remains. Tristan looked at his feet, blinking shining eyes hard to keep tears from falling. Good God, how bad was it? My head started to turn.
Dan’s hand gripped my jaw hard, forcing me to look at him. “No Brandilynn, you can’t see what he did to you. I won’t allow it.”
Grayson’s voice behind me sounded more gravelly than ever. Big chunks of concrete gravelly. “So it’s definitely Fulton Falls’ Ripper again.”
“The saliva tests will confirm that,” Landry said.
“If it is, we’ll be no closer to catching him.” Neuhaus suddenly sounded ancient. “Unregistered vampires are nearly impossible to track down.”
Heany’s spoke over the sound of my body being covered again. “He’s moving up from prostitutes to escorts.”
Landry snorted. “Is there a difference?”
I suddenly didn’t like her anymore.
Heany answered. “Maybe for the case. Brandilynn Payson didn’t work the streets. She was employed for a company that provides dates for exclusive clientele. They don’t offer sexual services, but they admit the ladies might have understandings with their customers.”
Neuhaus stepped into my field of vision, stretching his long, thin frame and staring into space. “Miss Payson had some very big names on her regular roster. The scandal is going to be huge for your sleepy little town.”
Grayson sounded worried. “Speaking of big names, we still haven’t tracked down Todd Spaulding to find out if she made her date with him. No one knows where he is. His business partner has reported him missing, and we’re trying to reach his next-of-kin so we can search his house.”
That got my undivided attention. I turned to look at the sheriff. Since they’d covered my body again, Tristan and Dan didn’t restrain me this time. “Todd?” I wondered out loud. He was an architect, something of a local celebrity for his innovative home designs. The rich loved his one-of-a-kind structures. He was a neat, dapper man with a fondness for being called ‘Daddy’ during sex.