"Trial by fire," I said and looked around the dozen agents, most of whom certainly weren't that interested in knowing what I'd found. "Fair enough, but are you sure you want the audience?"
"I've explained to my agents that you will be helping with the investigation. And I'd rather you ask questions here than trying to find people at a later time."
"I do have a few questions, first," I said and Olivia motioned for me to continue. "The woman's car."
"It's the blue piece of shit in the corner," Greaves said.
I turned to follow his directions and spotted the small blue Chevrolet something or other, their version of the Mini. I ignored Greaves' glare which followed me as I walked over to the car and examined it, checking the interior and doors. The keys were still in the ignition, the driver's side door was open and her purse visible under the seat. "Well, it wasn't a robbery," I said as I rejoined the group.
"Good one," Greaves said. "How long do we have to listen to this idiot?"
Olivia shot him a glare and he shut up, but maintained his unhappy expression.
"She drove here herself," I said.
"Fucking idiot," Greaves whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.
My patience was wearing thin. "She was murdered where you found her, and once she was finally caught, she fought like crazy."
Greaves slow clapped.
"Look at the footprints in the soil here, the toe indentation is deeper than the heel. She was running. But the footprints from the passenger side are flat, normal. He stepped out of the car and then stalked after her. He was in no hurry. He knew she'd never get away."
"Anything else?" Olivia said.
"He wasn't alone. As I said before, there are at least two people doing this. One is getting the victim here, and one is killing them. That's probably why he was in no hurry to chase after her - he knew someone was waiting inside the woods. All the other victims were the same, apart from Amber. Her heart wasn't torn out.
"Also, it would have taken two people to tie her to that tree. She was fighting as they did it, the arm wounds show that. It's far too much hard work to do it alone, you might as well knock her out and do it then, but there's no head wound that I saw. You’re looking for at least two men, not including Neil, who are working together. Amber is the only victim not eviscerated, and she didn’t have any organs removed. This all goes back to Vicki.”
“That’s nothing we couldn’t have gotten for ourselves,” Greaves said. “We’re not fuck-ups.”
“Well that’s great,” I snapped. “Because you have five dead women and a missing agent. Most people in your position would want every bit of help they could get, and right now you’re more interested in point scoring. I’d say fuck-up sums you up quite nicely, wouldn’t you?”
Chapter 13
While agent Greaves shouted at Olivia about wanting to punch me, I'd taken the few moments alone to read more of the files that Olivia had presented me with back at my house. Each murder scene had the same details. The victims had driven themselves to the crime in their car, and any footprints around the scene showed one person running and another walking slowly.
"Don't care,” I said as Olivia came toward me. “Greaves is a fucking idiot."
“He’s also a good cop and you pissed him off.”
We had more important things to discuss. "We're dealing with some highly dangerous people here. Stroking egos can wait."
Olivia sat on the bonnet of a Ford Focus RS, a bright orange car owned by one of the agents, and motioned for me to continue.
"People don't like you sitting on their cars like that," I said.
"It's Agent Greaves' car; he deserves it for being a dick."
I sat next to her.
"And you're right," Olivia said. "We need to stop these people before they kill again."
"We know that Neil is involved. He took the photos of those women, but like I said, he's not killing them. They're too different from his frenzy of violence. These are well planned and executed."
"We got an I.D on this latest victim," Olivia said.
"That was fast."
She passed me a tatty passport. "We found it in her glove box."
The name on the drivers' license said Hilary Bingham. Her picture was one of smiles and beauty, and it was a face I recognised. "Fuck," I said softly and passed the license back. "She's in the photos on Neil's wall. He's taking pictures of these women for someone else to kill."
"It certainly appears that way, yes. But why go to the trouble of freeing Neil, giving him the money to buy a penthouse and letting him live like a king, just so he can take a few photos for serial killers? And another thing. Why call the human authorities for the first few murders, before changing over to calling Agent Greaves? They must have been aware of our involvement, so why not start with the LOA?"
"They might have wanted more time before they had to deal with Avalon searching for them. The longer they had to content with only the human police, the better for them."
A dark blue Honda pulled up beside us, and Doctor Grayson stepped out. He appeared tired and haggard, his weariness etched into every line of his face.
"Good-evening," he said with as much enthusiasm as one could muster when having to examine murdered women.
"You two need to talk," Olivia said, pushing herself away from the car. "Tell him what's missing from the report, Doctor."
"Now, what could she be talking about, Doc?" I asked. Olivia had joined Tommy in whatever discussion was taking place out of earshot. I didn't have the time or effort to use magic so I could listen in. If it was anything important, Tommy would tell me later.
"Come with me," he said, putting on a pair of medical gloves. "You're going to want to see this."
There were a huge number of things I'd rather be doing then trudging back across an increasingly muddy pathway to watch a doctor examine a corpse, but I did it without complaining. No one wanted to be here, no one ever
wanted
to be at a murder scene.
Thankfully, since Tommy and I had examined Hilary, her body had been untied from the tree and placed inside a body bag and left on a gurney. Grayson unzipped the bag and began his examination in methodical, but solemn, earnest.
Her arms were covered in deep scratches and Grayson spotted me looking at one of them. "She was standing when she died," he said. "Those scratches are from the tree bark cutting into her as she slid to the ground with her arms still tied around the trunk."
"I noticed. I assume the cut across her abdomen was the killing strike."
Grayson shook his head. "With any other case, yes. It was certainly something that would have killed her. But in this instance, she was already dead when it happened."
"What makes you say that?"
"All four previous victims were the same, one slice across the stomach, the liver and kidneys removed. But each of them had another wound, something I kept out of the reports at Director Green's request."
He gestured for me to examine five small puncture marks, just below Hilary's breast. "Needles?" I suggested.
Grayson removed a marker pen from his lab pocket, and drew a ring around each mark, joining them together with an image of a hand.
"Someone's hand did this?" I asked.
"I've not looked at Amber yet, but the other victims had five marks like these. Each one stretched up slightly toward the heart, which also showed five puncture marks. The inside of the heart was black, decaying, as if infested with something. It didn’t touch any of the other organs, except for the brain.”
"So, why take the liver and kidneys?”
"Sustenance, I imagine. They're both good for you, full of vitamins and the like. Whoever did this probably needed the energy."
"So, we're looking for someone who can kill in that way,
and who then eats
parts of the victim to regain energy?"
"You understand why Director Green wanted this kept silent. Better people think we have a crazy cannibal on our hands, than someone who can kill in such a way."
I studied the puncture marks as my brain tried to figure out what could possibly have caused them. And why. It was a hard way to commit murder. It certainly wasn't a quick or quiet way to end someone's life.
"Anything else, Doc?" I asked.
"It's hard to give an exact time of death, but I would say about four to five hours ago."
I thanked him and, with a head full of information, went off to find Tommy and Sara. Instead I found one of the agents who had been the contact for the killer. "Agent Reid," I said and offered my hand, which he took.
"Are you taking over the investigation?" He asked.
"Just a fresh set of eyes; I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes."
He raised an eyebrow. "You pissed off some people earlier. That would be akin to jumping up and down on people's toes."
"I get that a lot," I assured him. "Do you mind if I ask you a few things?"
"Go nuts."
"The killer, Olivia says he calls you."
"He calls Greaves," he corrected. "Usually a few hours after he's killed them. Greaves got the call just over an hour ago. We came here first, and then contacted Director Green."
"Greaves is a werewolf, yes?"
"Yes, I am," a rough voice snapped from behind me. "Is there a problem with that?"
I turned toward the surly man with a smile on my face. "No problems. I just wanted to know if you caught any scent."
"And I should tell you why?" He jabbed a finger at me. I glanced down at the digit and wondered if I should break it.
"Agent," Olivia said ending my pondering. "Tell us what you found."
Greaves stared a hole through me but did as he was asked. "I searched the woods in a few hundred meters circumference, and for the most part it's the same as always, a mixture of dozens of scents. It's impossible to distinguish between them."
"But?" Olivia asked.
"But, there's a stand-out scent from the north. It's faint, but definitely there."
"Can you tell what made it?" I asked.
"Usually no," he said. "I can pick out if something is human or rotting or some such, but not the exactly details of what carried out the crime. This time was different."
"In what way?" Olivia asked.
Greaves glanced at a newly arrived Tommy.
"Werewolf," Tommy whispered.
"It's faint,” Greaves said,” but a wolf was here."
"Neil," I said. "Someone's getting sloppy."
"Any idea on where a werewolf running from the LOA might go to hide?" Olivia asked.
"The local pack," Tommy said. "And if he hasn't already gone to them for help, they'll have more information on where he's likely to hide."
"Then Greaves and Reid, head over to the local wolf pack, see what you can find out."
"That could be an issue," Greaves said.
"Why?" Olivia asked, in no mood for any stupidity.
"It's personal," Greaves said.
"Make it public," Olivia said, very near the end of her patience.
Greaves sighed deeply. "Their Alpha has made it clear that I'm not welcome at the pack. If I go it would jeopardise the investigation, and in a worst case scenario he might have me killed."
"I'm failing to see what the problem is," Olivia snapped. "Fine, you finish here, and then you'll go tell this poor girl's family that their daughter is dead. After that you and Agent Reid will look into her past. I want anything linking her to any other victims. I don't care if it's only that they went to the same pub for a drink one time. I want to know about it, clear?"
'"Ma'am," the two agents said in unison before walking away.
"He really is a good agent," Olivia said to no one in particular. "He's just an arrogant ass."
"That leaves us with the werewolf pack, I assume," I said.
"I can't risk one of my agents turning up there and creating a war zone,” Olivia said. “And anyone else with contacts within the pack is busy. Besides, Tommy knows the Alpha well, so he should be co-operative."
"We'll get going, then," Tommy said. "You need a lift back?" he asked Olivia.
"I'm going to help out here, and then go back to your place to see Kasey. Have you called her yet?"
He checked his watch. "It's a little after eight; I'll do it in the truck."
"Good. Now go, all of you. And please do your best to get something from this lead."
I sat on my bike and started the engine as Tommy waited idly next to me. "Is there something on your mind?" I asked.
"Olivia was right. The Alpha and I are on good terms."
"But?"
"But, that might not be enough. This might get to be a really complicated evening for all of us."
I sighed and put my helmet on, lifting up the visor so I could speak. "Well, if I wanted an easy life, I'd have said no. Is the Alpha likely to try and kill us?"
Tommy shook his head.
"Then we're good?"
Tommy's expression did not fill me with confidence.
After a few minutes on the road, the Bluetooth headset inside my helmet beeped with an incoming call, which I answered by pushing the button on my bike handlebars. "Tommy," I said.
"How's you know it was me?" he asked.
"Good guess, so what's wrong?"
"Nothing, Kasey wanted me to tell you she's thought of some questions for the next time you meet."
I chuckled. "Excellent, I look forward to my inquisition meeting. I haven't had one of those for a few hundred years."
There was silence for longer than I would have expected. I was about to ask if everything was alright when Tommy came back on the phone. "Nate, I have a bad feeling about this."
"Me, too," I said, as I switched lanes to overtake a caravan and catch up with Tommy, who had managed to get through some red lights before me, leaving me behind. "I saw Hilary's body. Whatever is doing this has a reason for picking the women he's killing. No one goes to that much trouble for random murders. But I'm suspicious that suddenly there's a distinct scent at a crime scene when all of the kill sites before were completely muddled. It shows sloppiness where none previously existed."