Fire Within - By Ally Shields Page 0,55
connected, until it was included in the email. Maybe your PD shrink or the state profilers can use the email for a profile, give us a hand with a possible motive? Even figure out the link to Shale’s agency.”
“But the agency isn’t connected to Andreas.”
Ari frowned. “So maybe he was targeted for a different reason, or someone saw him there the night of our interview. We can’t ignore the fact that two of the victims were clients at the center. Our killer has been there. Maybe using the agency as his stalking grounds, selecting potential victims.” She paused, as a thought occurred to her. “Maybe he’s there now, using the agency for camouflage. Hiding under our noses.”
* * *
Despite Ari’s fears the killer was escalating, the rest of the week was uneventful. The public gradually calmed with nothing new to stir the press’s imagination.
Unfortunately, the investigation didn’t make any big leaps either. Gillian’s report on the second crime scene came in. Similar patterns to the first scene: numerous readings, both human and Otherworld. Since she’d detected the demon trace again, stronger this time, Ari asked her to take the testing to the next level, identification of subtypes. Ari was grabbing at straws, searching less likely avenues now, but even negative information was better than none. She re-interviewed witnesses, family members, and friends, seeking new links between the victims, something they missed the first time. She didn’t find them.
The email was tracked to a computer at the public library. Since the computer was available for general use, stayed busy most of the day, and users weren’t recorded, it was another dead end.
Acting upon the theory the killer held a particular hatred for, or a grudge against, vampires, Ryan’s officers researched anti-vamp organizations and located five groups that had registered members in Riverdale. The only acts of violence by four of the groups were spontaneous confrontations: heated tempers erupting into bar fights and public harassment of individuals. Not cold-blooded executions. Despite this history, Ryan and Ari interviewed local chapter leaders. Due to the obvious animosity his presence would stir, Andreas watched the interviews by hidden camera. None of the four exhibited the necessary level of fanaticism to commit multiple murders. The investigative team crossed them off the suspect list.
The fifth group was a possibility. The international organization of Human Supremacy had a bloody history and a well-earned reputation for outspoken bigotry. Ari took an instant dislike to the local leader. Bob Blair, a short, flabby guy with a bird-size brain, was an ex-con. Two counts of aggravated assault, a half-page of misdemeanors. He wore an armband with the group’s chosen symbol, a swastika with a wooden stake through the middle. So imaginative. Like the Pure Blood vampire gang, these guys didn’t bother with subtle. It occurred to Ari that putting the two groups together in one room might solve a lot of problems.
“You better bet I hate vamps,” Blair told them. “They’re killers. Vicious from the second they’re transformed. Only way to keep humans safe is to kill every bloodsucker—the sooner, the better. We’ve a duty to protect ourselves. ’Course, we keep it legal,” he added, with a surprisingly high-pitched chuckle. “Self-defense.” He showed Ryan his leather belt with five carved X’s. “Them’s my vamp kills.”
Ari thinned her lips in disgust. His blatant bragging rang false. The vampires wouldn’t sit around and allow known vamp killers to go unpunished. The fact he was still alive was evidence of his inflated claims. She wondered what Andreas was thinking in the other room. Whatever else happened, the local vampires would be keeping tabs on Blair’s little group from now on.
When Ryan asked Blair about the specific murders of Jules and Patricia, the suspect grew evasive, raising their suspicions. He shrugged. “Okay, I admit we can’t take credit for those two. Some new player in town. I can only admire his work.”
When they were convinced Blair had no information on the ‘new player,’ he was dismissed. He could be lying, of course, but it seemed unlikely. Blair wasn’t nearly clever enough to be the guy they were looking for.
Andreas and his staff didn’t have any better luck in finding leads on the murders or the drive-by within the vampire community. No one had a strong enough grudge against him or the club, and they didn’t find any indication of recent interference from Toronto. If Sebastian had new spies in town, they were well undercover.
Ari even contacted Rita, her vamp informant. The only theories Rita had