Page 5

Chapter 4

A dler wanted to turn, shed skin, embrace fur. Seeing Gordon again made his heart race, made him want to be a wolf and run through the night until morning came and he could run no more.

Just be professional. Don’t fantasize about a vampire who clearly changed his mind about starting something with a wolf. Not that you even know he ever wanted that . You had, what, a little more than an hour of conversation with him before you tried to kiss the man, just randomly with not so much as a warning, let alone consent? Adler let out a heavy breath as they walked toward the scene from his car. I’m the worst.

The alley, guarded by police but more ominous now that darkness was falling, still smelled of citrus and vinegar.

“Acid,” Gordon said.

He had changed his hair color once more, had gone a kind of purple with blue and black poking out. Adler wanted to run a hand through the vampire’s hair, wanted to sniff him, wanted to touch the amethyst studs that dotted the vampire’s earlobes. He was so pretty, beautiful, and he moved and acted as if he had no idea.

No. It’s too close to the full moon, clearly, and maybe I should get that drink once this day finally ends. And take a long shower so I can jerk off. Alone.

“It’s become a commonly used werewolf deterrent over the past few decades. Or rather a deterrent to their acute sense of smell,” Maxim said. “Finding it here means nothing in and of itself, but it’s certainly noteworthy.”

Adler swallowed. “Right. It’s a human thing. To use vinegar I mean.”

Gordon and Maxim stopped at the graffito, Maxim bending close before he pulled out his phone and took several pictures.

“Your suspect knew there would be a werewolf on the scene?” Gordon asked.

Adler was distracted by the doctor’s hands. Strong fingers, perfect nails, hmm. And he smells so good. That powdery smell of roses . That smell had popped up in Adler’s dreams on and off ever since that day at Maxim’s bar, and he had dismissed that. But now that the doctor was in front of him, it was plain and perfect and oh so delicious.

“Well, an easy conclusion to jump to, but one not necessarily true,” Maxim said. “Werewolves are found in law enforcement quite a lot because they adapt to the structures of it so easily, so there is always a chance there might be one on the scene or an officer who might be called in to see if they can pick up a scent. All it means is this was premeditated, and the fact they brought spray paint seems to confirm that assumption. Adler, I don’t suppose you were lucky enough to happen upon the can?” The hunter put his phone away. He had taken more photographs than the forensics team.

“No such luck.”

Maxim nodded, pointed to the side entrance guarded by one of the younger officers, maybe one year out of the academy. “I’m assuming we are following the scent of blood?”

“Yeah,” Adler said and let Maxim take the lead, Gordon behind him.

Such a nice back. Hell, and he can pull off skinny jean s.

Bachmann was outside the apartment, waiting for them. She gave a curt nod to Adler while she chatted with the coroner who looked more than ready to bag the body.

The apartment, Adler thought, was a place carefully turned into a home. The shelf in the hallway was just shy of being cluttered: there were cookbooks and knick-knacks ranging from seashells to castanets, paperbacks with bent spines and dog-eared corners. Framed pictures showed Kelsey, the victim, backpacking and enjoying dinner with friends. Maxim’s head swiveled left and right, taking everything in before he went into the bedroom.

Gordon followed, and this time around, it was the doctor who took pictures. Adler watched the two vampires from the door.

“Do you have a timeline?” Gordon asked, pulling a tape measure from his pocket.

Adler shook his head. “In the process of putting one together. The neighbors say she was quiet. She left work at around five last night. She then went to visit her grandfather, who is in a nursing home. She spent about an hour there, which I confirmed with the staff, though not her grandfather. He has Alzheimer’s. There’s a receipt for groceries in the kitchen that’s timestamped 6:43, so we know she got in at around seven.”

Gordon nodded. “From lividity, I’d have guesstimated between midnight and morning, but take the coroner’s word, not mine.”

“And she was found by whom exactly?” Maxim asked.

“Next door neighbor, a Miss…” He looked at Bachmann who had followed them at a distance.

“Elaine Carr,” she provided.

Adler gave her a nod of thanks and went on. “Kelsey did some shopping for her sometimes, and as I said, she came in because the door was ajar, and before you ask, not a suspect. The woman is in her seventies.”

“Too bad,” Maxim said. “Not about the older lady. Age always makes a person’s character shine brighter. About the lack of an easy suspect, I mean.”

Gordon meanwhile had pulled a pair of gloves from his pocket and was giving the body a closer examination. “The abdominal incision was done with something sharp. My best guess is no medical training, but plenty of research. It’s close, but not quite right, you know. The rest of it reminds me more of a slaughterhouse than anything else. I mean, they went for the uterus and related tissues, but there are cut marks here that make me think someone was just…”

“Grabbing what they wanted and cutting through the rest?” Maxim asked. “I certainly agree there is an element to this that was staged. And there are not as many stab wounds as in the cases in London.”

Gordon nodded, his eyes scrutinizing the body. “Right. For what it’s worth, I don’t know the London case well, but I think you’ll find your victim died of strangulation. This”—He got up, pulled his gloves off, and pointed at the mess of red—“is carnage, theatrical carnage. She was likely dead, at least unconscious, when this was done to her. From the bruising on her neck, I’m guessing your murderer wasn’t taller than six-one, no smaller than five-six.”

Adler nodded. “I saw the marks on her neck.” He added the height range to the case file on his tablet. “The height is very helpful. Anything else you can tell me about the person that did it?”

“Well, they’re strong enough to strangle someone. And they are capable of doing this. I mean, it takes strength and determination to cut and gut someone, and time.”

Maxim nodded. “I agree with Gordon. And I think it cannot hurt for us to work together. This has most certainly been planned with care, which is unlike the crimes in London. And obviously, there was more than one murder in the London case, which this perpetrator clearly knows, and that is worrisome.”

“It’s never a good sign when you’re worried, Maxim,” Adler said and mentally resigned himself to more long hours in the days ahead. That he might be spending some of them with Dr. Gordon Morris made his inner wolf take note, stir. The werewolf part of him was always the more hopeful, used to longing for the next full moon as it was.