Page 11 of Face

“How can you tell from here?” I asked, feeling like such a rookie.

Phoenix snorted. “No human can lift three-hundred-pound barrels that easily.”

“Oh,” I said. “How do you know they weigh that much?”

“Because I used to work here, remember? Those are for whiskey and gin, and they’re full, probably heading to Europe.”

“Good to know.”

Gabe grabbed my arm. “Follow me.”

We approached the workers. “Excuse me, can we talk to you for a second?” Phoenix asked.

About ten men stopped what they were doing and looked at us.

“Just you two,” Phoenix said to the vampires, giving them a knowing look.

“Boss, a quick break?” one asked. He was a big guy with a handlebar mustache and wore a sweater cap over his black hair. The other was shorter and stockier with large hands and a shaved head.

“Go ahead,” the ‘boss’ replied.

We led them toward the street where nobody could hear us.

“What’s up?” the bald one asked.

Now that they were standing close and I could see their mannerisms, I could tell they were vampires.

“I’m Gabe, this is Parker,” he introduced us. “We’re private investigators. We got a tip that two underage girls were kidnapped earlier tonight and taken out on a boat. Happened about fifty yards down the shore.” Phoenix pointed down the beach. “Did you see or hear anything?”

“Vampire PIs. Now I’ve seen it all,” the guy with the cap said. “I’m Rick, this is Tom.”

I chuckled a little.

“What’s so funny?” Rick asked.

“Vampire PIs, guess that’s funny,” I lied, not admitting that I was immaturely laughing that his name really was Tom.

“Hey, don’t I know you?” Tom asked. “You look familiar.”

I faked a charming smile. “Nah, I just have one of those… faces.” I cringed internally. I hated that question. I got it all the damn time.

“Well?” Phoenix asked, giving me a look before putting his attention back on the duo.

“Do you know what time it happened?” Rick asked.

I looked at the timestamp on the text. “We got the tip at 2:48 a.m., so sometime around then, I assume.”

The guys looked at each other. “I don’t think I heard anything out of the ordinary, but these docks are so damn loud, it’s hard to hear anything past it, even with our hearing,” Tom said.

“No screams? No sounds of a speedboat?” I asked.

Tom snapped his fingers. “Now that you say that, yes. A couple hours ago, I saw one speed off down the river while I was on my break. I thought it was odd, this time of night.”

“I saw it too,” Rick added.

“Great,” Phoenix replied excitedly. “Can you describe the people in the boat?”

“Well, I couldn’t see them too good, but it looked like five or so people maybe?” Tom said.

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