Page 64

Nick followed Morley back downstairs.Out of the playroom where the kids’ bodies had been found. Past another of the blue outlines on the stairs, which showed the exact position of the children’s paternal grandmother.

They were back in the living room now.

Nick was ready to get the fuck out of here, frankly.

Then, thinking, he frowned, shaking his head.

“Wait.” He heard the reluctance in his own voice. “They have bio-samples? The squints? Of all of them, I mean.”

Morley blinked, staring at him. “Of course. They have the bodies, Nick. They took everything with them. They’ve started the autopsies already––”

Nick was already shaking his head.

He shoved his hands into his coat pockets.

His eyes returned to the glowing outline of the grandmother’s body on the stairs, a grim look on his face.

“Not the victims,” he clarified. “The vampire.”

Nick glanced around the modern living room with its see-through, virtual-capable furniture. He fought another wave of déjà vu as his eyes paused on the low couch and the glass-looking table, and the wall-length, curved monitors.

“In the images they sent, including the autopsies, I didn’t see any of the bite marks cut out.” He projected one of those photos into a hologram, using his headset, and pointed at the little girl’s visible marks. “They should take something off each of the victims. As soon as possible. Before the samples become contaminated.”

Morley stared.

“In the bite marks,” Nick repeated. “There should be some bio-matter. It won’t last. It’ll decay into the human sample and become impossible to distinguish. It might already be too late to ID the specific vamp, but if there are any biological tell-tales at all, it might help us track him. We could at least narrow down a few things. His age, for one. Possibly even where he’s from. If they have anything on file for him in one of the other Protected Areas. We might be able to ID him if they’ve got a profile for him somewhere else.”

At Morley’s blank stare, Nick sharpened his voice.

“If he’s this unstable, he’s probably done this before. Anyway, he’ll have to feed, right? Maybe not for the next few days, but he doesn’t seem like the type to be feeding off blood bags. If any more bodies show up, we’ll want to know if it’s him.” Nick frowned, glancing around at the empty room. “Is there any way we can talk to the squints?”

Morley held up a hand.

Nick’s words must have penetrated.

Nick realized Morley had already reached someone via his headset. He appeared to be using the sub-vocals, not the regular voice settings, but being a vampire, Nick caught most of it.

“I just had my Midnight point it out,” Morley was saying now. “No. He’s not an Einstein. He’s a Midnight. Did you hear me? He said you should have taken a sample off each of the victims. That it might already be too late to ID the specific vamp…”

Morley fell silent when the human tech on the other end spoke.

His headset must have picked up emotions, even using the sub-vocal setting, because the next time Nick heard the electronic voice, it sounded angry.

“…Eachone, goddamn it.Everyvictim. I would think your people would know how to work a vamp scene by now. My Midnight shouldn’t have to school you on how to do your job. And what do you mean,why?This is a goddamned murder investigation. We need to know if there’s more than one vamp is behind this. We need to know if the vamp’s ever been processed by the I.S.F. or the H.R.A. for any other blood crimes––”

Nick stopped listening around then.

He’d seen something.

Something caught his eye on the transparent bookshelves in front of him.

He still heard Morley in the background as he moved closer.

He was only half-listening to him, though.

“What do you think I want? I want you to send someone back down there to run the samples you missed in the regular autopsy.” Another pause. “Well, pass the message on to the next team. But make sure they do it immediately. This can’t wait. My Midnight said––”

Nick picked up the glass and gold statue in his fingers, staring at the silver shape.