I laughed flirtatiously as I flipped my hair over my shoulder. “What can I say? When you’ve got it, you’ve got it.”
Of course, to mortals I did look beautiful. It was a way to lure them, although, I never resorted to such measures to feed from them—or hadn’t in a very long time, I should say. I took the blood I needed to survive only from the willing. Always. Which happened to be Chase and he could take it. He loved red meat.
Nick just laughed then glanced over at Mike as he said, “A situation has come up.”
He began handing out the files. “Milwaukee, Wisconsin law enforcement has a serial killer they’ve recently arrested, Chad McKinney.”
I flipped open the file to see a young blonde woman who was obviously dead, if the blue face had anything to say about it. But that was only what struck me first. The longer I looked, the more it became obvious this woman was clearly on display. Everything about the position she was found in was on purpose. Her golden locks lay perfectly around her face. She had freshly applied makeup on her lids and cheeks. Even her cherry red lipstick appeared moist.
“He wanted them found,” I said aloud.
When I looked up, Mike confirmed my thought with a nod. “He left them in very open spaces and didn’t conceal their bodies.”
“Either he is really stupid,” Chase’s eyes burned with the thought of a hunt, “or incredibly smart.”
Nick flipped a page, his nose buried in the file. “Looking at this, I’d say it was the latter.”
I agreed but kept it to myself as I moved to the next photo. The redhead was in the exact same position, right down to the very same shade of lipstick. It didn’t take rocket science to know all the pictures would be the same. I flipped back to the first picture to examine the minute details in the hopes of finding something.
Silence filled the room as I became lost in the picture. I could assume the others had followed suit, since the only sounds in the room were our deep breaths. Not that I needed to breathe, but I liked to. It might scare the mortals to see a person who can hold their breath indefinitely.
There was a reason these men were part of the team. They excelled in homicides, as did I.
Chosen and trained specifically to understand the disturbed mind of serial killers.
Moments passed before Chase broke the silence and shut his file with a loud bang against the table. “How many kills?” he asked Mike.
I glanced up from the file and smiled when I took a good look at Chase. He wore his usual ‘think tank’ expression—brows furrowed, lips pursed and eyes focused. He might be serious, but all I felt like doing was littering his face with kisses. Inappropriate, but I could never ignore just how sexy he looked when he was all focused like.
Mike took a sip of his coffee, then answered, “Seven in a week.”
Chase raised his brows and whistled. “Busy boy.” His gaze turned curious. “If they have the suspect what’s the problem here?”
“Before his capture, he abducted two other women, Kelly Lewis and Sabrina Stopforth. Both women are presumed to be alive. The problem? The suspect won’t give up where they are located. He has indicated enough that he has them hidden.”
“Ahh…I see.” Chase drummed his fingers on the table.
Mike closed his file folder and let out a long deep breath. “We need to get down there and investigate him. Learn more so that when Hadley interrogates him she has enough to go on.”
I sighed quietly to myself, not loud enough for mortal ears to hear it. This was the annoying part of the job. I could just walk right in there and make him spill his guts. But if the team had been called in, it meant the police working the case were at a dead end.
Meaning, if I sauntered in and got the information, I would set off warning bells. That I couldn’t allow.
Vampires had rules. Ones made by our leaders known as Mistress Vampires, each of whom run a region in the United States. The rule above all else was clear cut—keep your identity a secret. It kept vampires safe from being hunted and destroyed. Anyone who broke that rule, paid for it with their life.
I liked living too much to make that mistake. Each and every time there was a case, I followed the same protocol. Gather information and history about the suspect’s past, while the men headed off to do the investigative part. Then, when we all had enough, I took what I had and made it appear that I had gained a one-up on the police force.
Annoying, but rules were rules.
Mike finished off his coffee in a few deep gulps then glanced at the clock. “Flight leaves at nine, which is in an hour.” He nodded to the door. “Go get your shit from your lockers and meet at the airstrip in twenty.”
Nick jumped up, eager as he always was before we were knee deep in a mystery.
And the shit-eating grin on his face only confirmed his enthusiasm. “And let the games begin.”
Chapter Two
An hour and half later, the plane touched down and we were immediately en route to the Milwaukee Police Department, District Seven. Now, as we proceeded to step through the front doors of headquarters we weren’t given a very warm welcome. Every police officer that greeted us appeared less than happy of our arrival, as most of them scowled as we walked by.
“Tough crowd,” Chase grumbled.
I wasn’t surprised to receive this kind of reaction. It was understandable, so I tried not to let it affect me. First off, it was close to eleven now. All the cops here were running on empty and probably had been for days since they were in the deep of the investigation.
Second, the crimes happened in their city. They weren’t looking for help in finding these missing women. They wanted to be the heroes and I respected that.
However, the choice wasn’t theirs any longer. Seven young women had lost their lives and two more remained missing—the need for pride within this police force had left. I could handle the grumpy men if it meant these two women were found alive.
It wasn’t often we were brought in on a case where the victims were still missing.
Usually, they were already dead and we were hunting a killer. To say this was a unusual situation would be very accurate.
Just as the door slammed behind me, a kind voice called out, “Mike.”
I glanced toward the voice on my right. The man’s tone matched his look with equal softness.
His sandy hair with hints of grey around his face was cut almost to his scalp.
His brown eyes squinted from the smile that crossed his lips. I could only assume that this was the the Chief of Police since he was the one greeting us. Standard protocol for this sort of thing and the man had an air of authority around.
“Nice to see you again, Ralph.” Mike extended his hand and confirmed my assumption that this was the man in charge since he knew him by name. “A nasty one you’ve got on your hands.”
“Nasty as it comes.” Ralph gave Mike’s hand a firm shake. “Glad to have you aboard on this one.
The entire city is in a panic.”
I laughed softly. “Wonder why? Some psycho offed seven young women and made them look like Barbie. Now, two more are hidden somewhere with no answers as to where they are.”
Mike shot an annoyed glance my way. Ralph squinted his eyes at me, a move that nearly made them vanish from sight. The warmness I’d witnessed before was now gone.
Yikes! Then as if I said nothing at all, they completely ignored me, swiftly heading off down the hall.
“Not funny then, I take it?” I whispered to Chase.
He just laughed and shook his head.
“No one has a sense of humor anymore.” This was how I dealt with the bad. It might seem cruel at times but if I took it all too serious, getting through the emotional part of this would devour me. I may be a vampire, but it wasn’t how fantasy declared—I did have a soul.
Only a few steps down the hall, we stepped into a meeting room. I cringed the second I cleared the doors and saw the photos that hung on the walls. Seeing what the woman looked like before and what remained of them after was a bit much to take.
Pushing away the unhappiness that rose within me, I took a seat at the table beside Nick and placed my briefcase on the floor as Ralph said, “We’ve given up this workspace for you and your team.”
He pointed down the hall. “We’ve set up our group over there.”
Mike nodded respectfully. “You keep going at the investigation and we’ll start fresh.
Having both teams working independently can only help here.”
That statement almost made me laugh, yet I restrained myself to not get any more stare downs.
Mike was only saying that to keep the peace. He’d never let any other officer into our investigation, nor would he listen to what any of them had to say. He always made it appear as if he cared. I never knew why he bothered with such niceties.
Ralph grabbed the door handle and swung it open wider. “If we find anything new I’ll let you know.”
“Much appreciated,” Mike responded.
The moment Ralph closed the door behind him, Nick laughed. “Why do you placate them?”
Mike grinned with no shame. “Keeps them out of our hair.” We all laughed at the truth in that statement as Mike took a seat at the table. Once he sat, he hushed us with a wave of his hand. “All right, team. Let’s get to work.”