\u201cGraham called me.\u201d I looked up from my phone. She removed her gloves and added them to the evidence bags. Paul handed her the clipboard and pen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d She scowled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m working the Regan case. I\u2019m guessing he half expected her to be in the dumpster. You\u2019d have to verify that with him, though. \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDoes she look familiar to you?\u201d Kris asked, holding Lauren\u2019s driver\u2019s license about an inch from my nose. My eyes crossed, the stench wafted up my nose. I coughed and pushed his hand away. I wanted to punch him, but I took a minute to look closer at the image. Someone laughed at my expense. I shrugged it off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn fact, she does. Why would I know that face?\u201d I examined her face more, but a one-inch picture isn\u2019t very telling. Luckily I\u2019ve already seen several photos thanks to her parents. She had shoulder-length brown hair with hazel brown eyes with intense flecks of green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Val stood beside Kris and he held her I.D so she could see. \u201cShe looks like Natalie Maguire. Give her long blond hair and they could be twins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Natalie Maguire\u2019s disappearance and death were headline news for months three years ago. Gamble assigned me her case when she was first reported missing. Violent Crimes, aka homicide etc, took over when a grounds keeper found her corpse in Central Park. What was his name? I used to be obsessed with her case like millions of other people, but I don\u2019t have the time anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Val, Lauren and Natalie could be doppelg\u00e4nger<\/mark> twins, but I had doubts. I had to see for myself. I pulled out my phone and did a search. I copied both pictures into the document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s amazing,\u201d I exclaimed once Natalie\u2019s picture came up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt sure is,\u201d Val smiled. She was still scribbling notes on her clipboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou should be a detective, Val,\u201d Kris said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo, thank you,\u201d she chuckled. \u201cI prefer dead people to the living.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And I avoid the dead at all costs. You\u2019d think I wouldn\u2019t want a career investigating murders, and you\u2019d be right. That\u2019s why I stick with missing persons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou don\u2019t mind the smell?\u201d Kris asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLuckily, I was born with Congenital Anosmia<\/mark>, without a sense of smell. What I wouldn\u2019t give to smell a cinnamon roll.\u201d One of the younger officers at the entrance to the alley started gagging. I suppressed a laugh. It wasn\u2019t funny for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think you just ruined cinnamon rolls for Doyle,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEh,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019ll get over it or he can find a new job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou were on the Maguire<\/mark> case, right?\u201d I asked Kris. Val\u2019s head whipped around to glare at Kris. Val smelled of anger. What was she angry about? Who knew anger was a more potent smell than decomposition?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes,\u201d he said. \u201cCommissioner Cane, was sweating bullets when he passed it on to us. A groundskeeper found her in Central Park cleaning litter from the Loch<\/mark>. Two days later, Logan, my partner, and I were assigned the case. You remember, April. You were there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, I rem. I rem her fiance, Owen Griffith, should have been the primary suspect, but wasn\u2019t. I rem her father telling me that she\u2019d told him she was afraid of Owen and he father believed Owen killed her. I remember trying to help after homicide took over, but nobody would talk to me. I remember finding something important, but for the life of me I can\u2019t rem what it was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kris, Paul and Val stood there, dumbfounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I sighed and leaned against the wall, jotting more questions into my phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are Lauren, Eden and Natalie connected? Are they connected by something more significant than a wallet, a phone and a resemblance?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n I tried to turn on her phone but the battery was dead. \u201cHey Val, I\u2019m plugging her phone into the charger in the van.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s fine. Just keep it in the evidence bag.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the phone charged, I searched the alley floor for anything else that might be evidence. Every scrap of paper, disposable cup, and cigarette butt would be gathered up and taken to the lab. There wasn\u2019t much debris making me certain the cleaning crew swept out the alley recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She was probably placed here sometime after dark. I sighed in exasperation as a freezing drizzle began falling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDo you have a canopy in the van?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes.\u201d Val snapped her fingers and one of the younger officers jumped up to fetch it. I scanned the scene again. Brown suit leaned against the brick wall of the building next door. The dingy gray brick mortar showed through his suit. I leaned against the wall beside him. An icy shiver raced up my spine. I hated dealing with the dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cExcuse me, sir. Is there something I can help you with?\u201d I held my phone to my ears so I wouldn\u2019t look insane talking to myself. I tried to ignore my heart, but the sound of it hammering in my chest was so loud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul looked in my direction. I swear his eyes became a black pool, then returned to his normal green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo, ma\u2019am.\u201d He pulled out a pipe, stuffed some tobacco in it, and lit it. I\u2019ve never seen a ghost do that before. My dad smoked a pipe when I was a kid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCan I ask your name and why you\u2019re here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDoes anyone smell pipe tobacco?\u201d asked the detective mapping the scene. How does he smell the pipe tobacco? I can\u2019t smell it. Could he be another member of my distant family? He looked Latino, but that shouldn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo, ma\u2019am.\u201d He blew out a puff of smoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDid you see who killed her?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes ma\u2019am.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat did he look like? Or was it a woman?\u201d Please, give me something I can work with.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe was a vampire. If you don\u2019t mind me saying. Women shouldn\u2019t be allowed to do this kind of work.\u201d He grumbled, tapped the ashes out on his boot heel, and vanished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThank you. You\u2019ve been very helpful. Have a nice night.\u201d I said. I wasn\u2019t sure if he\u2019d heard me or not, but it doesn\u2019t hurt to be polite even if he gave me very little to work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKris, April.\u201d Val motioned us to the alley entrance. \u201cHere are my preliminary findings. She had defensive wounds on her hands and arms, a broken jaw, nose and femur. Her left eye is collapsed. I\u2019ll know more once I open her up. Did either of you notice this?\u201d She pointed at her neck. Just under her jawline were two tiny red marks . Kris and I, our eyes connected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAre those what I think they are? Could this be another vampire murder?\u201d I whispered. Vampire murders are still not announced publicly, even though vampires came out of the shadows ten years ago. If the humans knew how many people are killed by vampires every year, they would freak out. It really bothers me how these cases are swept under the rug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are laws they have to abide by but the punishments aren\u2019t strict enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt could be incidental. She could be a frequent customer of Fade,\u201d Kris mused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fade was an underground vampire nightclub that wasn\u2019t under the radar. Fade was illegal because they allow vampires to bite uneducated and stupid people. Whoever owns Fade doesn\u2019t have a liquor license and distributes other illicit drugs. I wouldn\u2019t know why people think it\u2019s fun to feed a vampire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy haven\u2019t they closed it down?\u201d Val asked. \u201cThat place disgusts me. People should have enough sense to avoid predators, not be willing victims.\u201d I\u2019ve been in this career long enough to know that humans can be predators, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey have, several times,\u201d I said. \u201cThey just keep relocating it. We think that they have a mole in the PD.\u201d I looked at the sky, my eyes trailing up the side of the building. The security camera hung limply from the wall with scorch marks from the power cord. \u201cDamn,\u201d I whispered. That explains the burnt plastic smell I caught earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat?\u201d Kris asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBusted security camera.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMaybe the people who dumped her also broke the camera,\u201d Val suggested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s wishful thinking,\u201d I smirked. If we were back in Nebraska, I\u2019d think lightning would have killed the camera. Can mages shoot lightning like the emperor in Star Wars?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I heard a car door open and close. Gamble leaned against the door to the sedan and rubbed his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHey, Gamble. Why is your lily-white ass here in East Harlem?\u201d I heard from the mouth of the alley. Sergeant Hayden Graham strolled over and punched his shoulder. Gamble reached into the car, pulled out his big green Thermos, and poured himself some coffee. Graham was a tall, imposing black man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can opt in to be a beta reader. I’ll also send out advanced reader copies<\/strong> for those who ask for them for free, in exchange for an honest review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cGraham called me.\u201d I looked up from my phone. She removed her gloves and added them to the evidence bags. Paul handed her the clipboard…<\/p>\n\n