What I’ve been trying to do is pull out repetitions. We have more than one case of glowing eyes and Finn can confirm that one himself. Most have that he’s taller, but taller back then could have been five foot ten.”
I think about it and try to push past the glowing eyes to something concrete about him. “I think he’s close to six feet.”
“Finn, what if I compile a list of descriptions of him and you go through and look at them and see if anything jogs a memory or something about him that we might have missed?” Claude asks.
“Sure, I’ll look over them.”
Marcus pushes all his papers into a pile. “While you guys do that, I’m going to head to the prison and question Adler. I want to see why he confessed to killing Tonya Everest when it’s clear now he was just a pawn. While we do know he was likely the one who killed Perez, I don’t think he killed the girl.”
“I’ll go with you if Hayes is staying here,” DeGray says.
“I’ll run through these documents with Finn,” Karsyn says. “I’ll cross-analyze them with current data I have.”
Once everyone parts ways, I send a text to Marcus.
Me: I want to go on a date or something tonight. Something to distract me.
Marcus: Of course. Where do you want to go? And don’t say roller skating because that will never happen again.
I grin at the thought of Marcus flailing around. How many nights have I used that memory to put him back in his place?
Me: How about you pick then?
Marcus: Perfect. I’ll pick something you’ve never done so I can look manly and you can flounder around.
Me: Sounds lovely. I can’t wait.
Marcus: Me too. Be prepared to be embarrassed.
I can’t fathom why he wouldn’t want to go roller skating again when we had so much fun last time.
“Don’t look at me,” Karsyn growls.
Now that I’m alone with Claude and Karsyn, the two seem to be back at it. But this time, all Claude did was smile and Karsyn’s ready to eat him.
“Children, settle down,” I say.
“He looked at me,” Karsyn says, as though that’s a good excuse.
“You’re like the sun, I can’t look away,” Claude says which is the stupidest pickup line I’ve ever heard.
“Can I tear his eyes out?” Karsyn asks me like I’m suddenly in control here. He’s at least a century older than me and he’s wanting my permission?
I pat his shoulder. “Not yet. Remember how you wanted to eat me? Maybe you’ll even grow to like Claude,” I say as we both look at Claude who is beaming at us. “Never mind. Let’s get back to work.”
Claude nods and starts pushing papers in front of us. Clearly, when he’s working, he’s less obnoxious. He’s actually intelligent when he uses his brain for something other than flirting.
“Karsyn, can I see what you have while Finnigan works on that?” he asks.
So as I read through the transcribed notes, Karsyn runs through the data with Claude.
“The victims so far resemble Finnigan, do they not?” Claude asks.
“Brown hair and blue eyes aren’t a lot to go on, but yes, they have similarities,” Karsyn says.
I glance up as I watch Claude lean in. “No, no, look at the shapes and structures of their features. The man has an eye,” Claude says as he reaches across the table and runs a finger over my cheek. “Look at the way Finnigan’s cheeks run down to his chin and compare it to the women. He has a type.”
“Let me run these features through the database and see if I can find any other murders that match,” Karsyn says. “Hayes, can you get me pictures of yourself when you were sixteen?”
“Yeah… probably.”
“According to the police report, your leg was pinned in the car, right?” Karsyn asks.
“Yeah, the car accident broke it.”
“Why would he put Finn in danger?” Claude asks.
“I don’t… I don’t think he did,” I say as I think back on the dream. “I think I made a mistake. I thought something pushed us into the railing, but I think my mom jerked the wheel because she saw him. I don’t know. It’s hard for me to remember everything clearly. So much happened during those days.”
“It’s not uncommon to forget things surrounding a trauma,” Karsyn says. “Why was the vampire attack not in your files?”
“Orin pulled a lot of strings and had it removed because, unknown to me, my mother had put in a claim that I was in unnecessary danger being raised