Detective...
He sighed, look at me again, looked deep into my eyes, and thought, Yes, Sam. They’ve changed recently. Darker, perhaps.
Evil?
I wouldn’t go that far.
“You guys are doing it again, aren’t you?” asked Sanchez. “That whole teleport thing.”
“Telepathy,” I said, winking. “Get it straight.”
He gave me a crooked smile. A handsome smile.
A married smile, added Sherbet. His wife is a bit nuts. She would take you on, vampire or not. And she just might win.
I almost grinned. Yes, someone wanted the world to know that Detective Sanchez was married. I was guessing the psycho wife. After all, he sported a thick, gold band that could have been seen from the Russian Space Station.
Sanchez said, “So, you’re really a vampire?”
“That’s what it says on the tombstone over my grave.”
“You’re joking.”
“Let’s hope.”
Sanchez might have smiled. Mostly, he kept his considerable stare on me. I was noticing more and more how he was making the small office even smaller. Either that, or Sherbet was bigger than I thought.
Hey, Sherbet thought.
I grinned, and said to Sanchez, “Tell me about your case.”
He said, “Better I show you.”
Chapter Three
We were driving.
While we drove, I looked through Detective Sanchez’s police file. In particular, I studied photos of the bodies. Two women. Both with grisly wounds to their necks. Not so much bitten as torn.
“Who found the bodies?” I asked.
“Hikers.”
“The same hikers?”
“No. Two different hikers. Two different days. But the bodies were left on the same trail.”
“Or killed on the same trail.”
“That, too,” said Sanchez.
We were winding our way through heavy traffic along the I-5. It was past seven p.m. and the sun had set and I was feeling damn good.
Sanchez glanced at me. “You look a little different.”
I was intrigued. “Different how?”
He studied me for a heartbeat longer, then looked forward again like a good boy—or a good cop—keeping his eyes on the road. “I dunno. You have more color in your face. You seem...”