Kiss of the Vampire(54)
“He thinks it’s male. But he won’t know for sure—”
“Until he gets the body on the table.” Nix finished the often-repeated phrase. She started a slow circuit of the crime scene, very aware of Tobias walking next to her. Pools of blood indicated the various places pieces of the body had been found.
She ground her teeth together. They’d already started collecting evidence, which meant that bastard werebear dispatcher had once again delayed the call to her. Damn it. She couldn’t worry about that now, it would only distract her from the case. When she got a chance, she was going to show Merle just what the consequences were of messing with her. For now, though, she pushed aside her irritation.
One of the techs photographed some small piece of evidence, then he picked it up with a pair of tweezers and deposited it into a paper bag. As he taped the bag closed, she asked Tobias, “Was this just rage? Or is there some significance to the scattering of body parts? And why kill him here? Why not dump the body like they did with Amarinda?”
A muscle twitched in his jaw. “I don’t know.” He glanced around the scene. “This could have some significance to the people who did this, but none that I can see at the moment.”
“Hey!” The tech motioned them over. “You two need to see this.”
Nix and Tobias made their way over to him. He held a scrap of paper about the size of a credit card between the ends of his tweezers. He held it out so they could see it.
“Dimensions…radio…” Tobias read. He shook his head. “The writing’s too distorted. Those are the only two words I can make out.” He glanced at Nix. “What about you? Can you see anything more?”
The paper was yellowed, ragged around the edges. The writing appeared to be in pencil, written lightly, faded with age. She pointed toward a word taking care not to touch the paper. “This looks like it could be trans…something. T-r-a-n-s… That’s an m I think…” She pondered a second. “Maybe transmit? Because of the word radio.”
Tobias raised his eyebrows. “You could be right.” He looked at the tech. “Thanks. Let us know if you find more of this.”
The tech nodded and got back to work.
They moved toward the edge of the scene. Nix paused and watched the body snatchers secure the body in its crimson bag onto a stretcher. “I wonder who he is,” she mused aloud.
“No idea. Yet.” Tobias’s voice turned hard. Deadly. Even if Amarinda hadn’t been one of the victims, she knew he’d still be taking this personally. Someone was targeting vampires, and Nix and Tobias were no closer to finding out why. The council would not be pleased, and no doubt they’d find a way to lay the blame at her feet.
Tobias blew out a sigh. Lifting a hand, he scrubbed the back of his neck. In a low voice he said, “Look, I know I said I wouldn’t tell the council about the demon scent, but you know we can’t rule out demons.” He shot her a glance. “I wasn’t completely joking when I suggested you talk to your mom.”
“I know.” She pursed her lips. She really had no desire to talk to her mother. At best their conversations were awkward and stilted, at worst they bordered on hostile. It was something she’d be glad to put off as long as she could.
His mouth firmed. “This is the third killing in three days. All the victims are vampires, which on the surface at least leads to the conclusion that someone is targeting us. There appears to be no connection between the first two victims, and until we know who this third one is, we can’t tell if there’s anything different or new that might connect him to the other two. Go see Sheena.” He ignored her glare. “Find out what she knows.”
“And you’ll go to the council and tell them that we both smell burned paper at the scenes.”
“Would that be a lie?” Tobias peeled off his latex gloves and walked to the perimeter of the site. When she followed, he reached out and lifted the yellow tape for her to pass under, then he did the same. They removed the rest of their protective gear and dropped them in the bin. He tipped his chin at the uniformed officer standing guard and walked with Nix to her car half a block down the street.
“It wouldn’t be a lie, no. But there wasn’t any demon at the first crime scene, just the second two.” She glanced at him and brushed her hands together to remove the powder the gloves always left behind. “That has to mean something.” Staring up at him Nix saw the anguish he couldn’t hide in the way his pupils were still dilated, leaving just a thin line of gray circling them. She was glad to see the crimson had faded, but she knew this crime scene dredged up thoughts of Amarinda’s murder. Without thinking she put her hand on his forearm.