Page 7 of Their Haunted Hearts
“Yeah, I’m afraid so.” Kane rubbed his chin and his dark blue gaze moved across her face. “We don’t need to be dealing with a twisted vampirophile. I guess we’ll know if this is a one-off, it’s likely a cult or a disgusting prank.”
Unsettled, Jenna swallowed hard. “Define vampirophile.”
“The last type is more sinister and caught my interest when I read about a case way back eighty years ago about a serial killer who believed they were ridding the world of creatures disguised as humans.” Kane eyed her over the rim of his cup and then sighed. “This guy convinced himself that if people had very pale skin or moved around at night, they’d turn into a vampire or other mythical creature at Halloween. So, he’d hunt them down, drain the blood, and then stake the heart to ensure the victim wouldn’t rise the following night.”
Horrified, Jenna blinked a few times. “From the things you’ve read, I wonder how you can sleep at night.” She shook her head. “That’s not how a vampire is born, is it? If we’re considering the folklore of a vampire, isn’t it a vampire that does the draining of the blood? They bite their victims and turn them, and then the next night they rise as vampires?”
“That’s what I’ve been led to believe in fiction.” Kane shrugged, stood, and gathered the cups. He took them to the counter, rinsed them, and set them to dry. “In the case I mentioned, we are talking about a serial killer. What they choose to believe depends on how deeply they’re involved in their delusion.”
Stretching and biting back a yawn, Jenna leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling, thinking. “So, if we have another murder, we can assume this is a serial killer who is triggered by the Halloween displays?”
“Yeah, and they’re an out-of-towner or we would have seen his activity before now.” Kane headed for his own desk. “This murder looks clean to me. It wasn’t rushed and it was well planned. So, from our past cases, I can only imagine that this killer is living in a fantasy world at the moment. He is surrounded by his obsession and the only way he can get through another day is to prevent the monsters from overrunning the town on Halloween night. If this is correct, more things will happen this week we don’t expect. He might have started with a vampire but there are other mythological ghouls that could be in his wheelhouse as well.”
Concerned for the safety of her townsfolk, Jenna frowned. “So, if it’s worst-case scenario, it’s likely he’ll escalate fast over the next few days?”
“I believe so.” Kane twirled a pen in his fingertips. “The other problem I can envisage, is that he could be targeting people of different sex and ages. Anyone who appears unusual to him would become a threat.”
Horrified, Jenna stared out of the window. The wind had blown the fall leaves from the forest and they littered the sidewalk and blacktop. The decorations bounced in the wind, and the smiling jack-o’-lanterns gave the town a festive feeling. Their adopted son, Tauri, had been talking nonstop about Halloween. Being a Native American, with solid ties to his people, he had both sides to the story but really enjoyed the costumes and trick-or-treating. This year they’d planned on allowing their fifteen-month-old, Jackson, a peek at some of the nonviolent displays. Kane had already purchased a few pumpkins to carve and now someone was going to spoil it. She turned back to Kane. “We’ve got five days to catch whoever did this. We start with hunting down any missing corpses. I’ll take the hospital and undertakers; you check out the graveyards.”
Seven
It was five after four when the receptionist, Maggie, called Jenna to inform her that two women were waiting at the front desk with information about the murder. She headed downstairs with Kane on her heels and led the women into the interview room. They introduced themselves as Claudia Klipr and Kayla LeBlanc. “Please take a seat. Can I get you anything? Water, coffee?” When the women both shook their heads, Jenna sat down with Kane beside her. “I’ll record our interview, just in case I forget something important.” She turned on the camera and recorder. “Okay, Maggie said you both saw a vehicle outside Aunt Betty’s Café this morning.”
“We both work at the bakery and arrive around four each morning.” Ms. Klipr glanced at her friend. “I rarely see any vehicles alongside the road at that time of the morning. Sometimes a few are passing through, is all.”
Jenna nodded. “Can you describe the make and model of the vehicle?”
“It was a pickup, blue or silver maybe.” Ms. LaBlanc leaned forward in her chair. “I saw a man in the shadows, tall and broad-shouldered near the display.”
“I saw the same truck and someone bending down near Aunt Betty’s front door.” Ms. Klipr frowned. “I figure it was blue or silver too. I saw someone hunched over. It was only for a few seconds as I drove past. I didn’t stop to take a better look. I assumed it was a delivery. We got to talking, after hearing about the body found outside the café, and figured we should come in and tell you what we saw.”
“You did the right thing.” Kane smiled at them and held up his phone with images of popular trucks. “Do you recognize the truck from any of these images?” He looked from one to the other. “Why don’t you close your eyes and try and picture the truck in your head. How was it parked?”
“It was parked at an angle with the back into the curb.” Ms. LaBlanc opened her eyes. “Can I see the pictures again?” She took Kane’s phone, scrolled through the images. “I think it was this one.” She pointed to a logo on the front of the truck. “This looks the same but I only got a glimpse.”
Jenna smiled at them. Information like this was gold. “Is there anything else at all you can remember?”
When the women shook their heads, Jenna turned off the recording and stood. She handed them her card. “Thank you so much for coming in. If you think of anything else, please give me a call. We may be in touch later if we find the truck in question to see if you can identify it.” She waited for Kane to open the door and waved them outside.
As they headed through the glass doors, Jenna turned to Kane. “I wasn’t expecting to get a sighting of the killer. Now we know it’s a tall man with broad shoulders driving a pickup—one person and not our shooter.”
“The problem is that description and vehicle cover about forty percent of the men in town.” Kane raised both eyebrows. “Maybe Kalo will have more luck with the CCTV footage? He hasn’t called yet, so I assume he’s still searching.” He checked his watch. “It’s a little after five. We couldn’t find any missing women, so we might just as well head home. There’s nothing else we can do here now.”
Nodding in agreement, Jenna headed up the stairs to her office. “That sounds like a plan. I’ll grab my coat. Where’s Duke?”
“Raven took him for a walk with Ben.” Kane stretched. “He figured he could canvas the stores and ask if anyone has seen anything unusual in the last twenty-four hours. He should be back soon.”
By the time Jenna had tidied her desk, Raven walked in the door with the dogs. She glanced up at him. “Did you discover anything interesting?”
“Most people I spoke to said the only thing they saw were people putting up displays.” Raven shrugged. “Everything seemed perfectly normal until that guy started shooting up the place. That and finding the body, which people seem to believe is a vampire, is just about all the talk in town at the moment.” He looked from one to the other. “Are you heading home now?”
Jenna picked up her things. “That’s the plan. Will you be able to come in tomorrow? I need you to assist us with this case. I’m going to be tied up with the shooting perp first up, and Rio will be heading home to get some sleep after pulling an all-nighter.”
“Sure.” Raven handed Kane Duke’s leash. “I’ll check the server later and see if any information has been uploaded.” He turned to Kane. “I did what you suggested and called Emily to ask her to the Halloween Ball. She accepted.” He grinned.
“I figured she might.” Kane slapped him on the back. “You did the right thing waiting until she became a certified medical examiner.”
“I hope so.” Raven gave Jenna a wave and headed down the stairs.
