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Chapter 13
At 5:15 that afternoon I was on the phone to Richard Zeeman "Hi, Richard, this is Anita Blake"
"Nice to hear your voice" His voice was s over the phone; I could alot a Halloween party to go to Saturday afternoon They started the party during daylight so I could make an appearance I can&039;t not show up"
"I understand," he said His voice was very carefully neutral--neutral cheerful
"Would you like to be ht, of course, but the day could be ours"
"And the caving?"
"A rain check," I said
"Two dates; this could be serious"
"You&039;re laughing at me," I said
"Never"
"Shit, do you want to go or not?"
"If you pro a week from Saturday"
"My solemn word," I said
"It&039;s a deal" He was quiet on the phone for a minute "I don&039;t have to wear a costume for this party, do I?"
"Unfortunately, yes," I said
He sighed
"Backing out?"
"No, but you owe ers"
I grinned and was glad he couldn&039;t see it, I was entirely too pleased "Deal"
"What costuot one yet I told you I forgot the party; Iout costumes should tell a lot about a person, don&039;t you?"
"This close to Halloe&039;ll be lucky to find anything in our size"
He laughed "I ht have an ace up ain "Don&039;t sound so daot a friend who&039;s a Civil War buff He and his wife do re-creations"
"You mean like dress up?"
"Yes"
"Will they have the right sizes?"
"What size dress do you wear?"
That was a personal question for someone who&039;d never even kissed uessed smaller"
"I&039;m too chesty for a six, and they don&039;t make six and a halfs"
"Chesty, oo"
"Stop it"
"Sorry, couldn&039;t resist," he said
My beeper went off "Damn"
"What&039;s that sound?"
"My beeper," I said I pressed the button and it flashed the number--the police "I have to take it Can I call you back in a few minutes, Richard?"
"I&039;ll ith bated breath"
"I&039; at the phone, I hope you know that"
"Thanks for sharing that I&039;ll wait here by the phone Call me when you&039;re done with (sob) work"
"Cut it out, Richard"
"What&039;d I do?"
"Bye, Richard, talk to you soon"
"I&039;ll be waiting," he said
"Bye, Richard" I hung up before he could make any ht it was cute Gag me with a spoon
I called Dolph&039;s nuot another vampire victim Looks the same as the first one, except it&039;s a woman"
"Damn," I said softly
"Yeah, we&039;re over here at DeSoto"
"That&039;s farther south than Arnold," I said
"So?" he said
"Nothing, just give me the directions"
He did
"It&039;ll take et there," I said
"The stiff&039;s not going anywhere, and neither are we" He sounded discouraged
"Cheer up, Dolph, I may have found a clue"
"Talk"
"Veronica Sinized the name Cal Rupert Descriptionto a private detective?" He sounded suspicious
"She&039;s ave us our first clue, I&039;d sound a little rateful, if I were you"
"Yeah, yeah Hurrah for the private sector Now talk"
"A Cal Rupert was a o The description s?" he asked
"Maybe"
"Half of me hopes it&039;s a pattern At least we&039;d have soh and a snort "I&039;ll tell Zerbrowski you found a clue He&039;ll like that"
"All us Dick Tracy Crio," I said
"Police lingo?" I could feel the grin over the phone "You find any eant"
"Can the sarcasm," he said
"Please, I always use fresh sarcaset your butt out here so we can all go ho up
Richard Zee "Hello"
"It&039;s Anita"
"What&039;s up?"
"The e was from the police They need my expertise"
"A preternatural crierous?"
"To the person as killed, yeah"
"You know that&039;s not what I meant," he said
"It&039;s my job, Richard If you can&039;t deal with it, maybe we shouldn&039;t date at all"
"Hey, don&039;t get defensive I just wanted to know if you would be in any personal danger" His voice was indignant
"Fine I&039;ve got to go"
"What about the costumes? Do you want me call my friend?"
"Sure"
"Will you trust ht about that for a few heartbeats Did I trust hiet me a costume? No Did I have time to hunt up a costuars can&039;t be choosers"
"We&039;ll survive the party and then next e&039;ll go crawl in the mud"
"I can&039;t wait," I said
He laughed "Neither can I"
"I&039;ve got to go, Richard"
"I&039;ll have the costumes at your apartment for inspection I&039;ll need directions"
I gave him directions
"I hope you like your costu the receiver on the pay phone&039;s cradle and stared at it That had been too easy Too smooth He&039;d probably pick out a terrible costume for me We&039;d both have a miserable time and be trapped into a second date with each other Eek!
Ronnie handed me a can of fruit juice and took a sip of her own She had cranberry and I had ruby red grapefruit I couldn&039;t stand cranberry
"What&039;d cutesie pie say?"
"Please don&039;t call hied "Sorry, it just sort of slipped out" She had the grace to look eive you, this once"
She grinned, and I knew she wasn&039;t repentant But I&039;d ribbed her often enough about her dates Turnabout is fair play Payback is a bitch
Chapter 14
The sun was sinking in a slash of cri up to the west The as strong and sravel road Barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other The reddish gravel crunched underfoot Wind rustled the tall, dry weeds in the ditch The road disappeared over the rise of a hill Police cars,one side of the road as far as I could see The road disappeared over the rise of a hill There were a lot of hills in Jefferson County
I was already dressed in a clean pair of overalls, black Nikes, and surgical gloves whenthe daht I didn&039;t have to see the number I kneas Bert It was only a half hour until full dark, if that My boss ondering where I was, and why I wasn&039;t at work I wondered if Bert would really fire me I stared down at the corpse and wasn&039;t sure I cared
The wo her naked breasts, as if even in death she was modest Violent death is the ultiraphed, videotaped, measured, cut open, sewn back up No part of her, inside or out, would be left untouched It rong We should have been able to toss a blanket over her and leave her in peace, but that wouldn&039;t help us prevent the next killing And there would be a next one; the second body was proof of that
I glanced around at the police and the a to take the body away Except for the body, I was the only woht, for soth hair spilled out into the weeds in a pale flood Another blonde Was that coincidence? Or not? Tas a pretty small sample If the next victim was blond, then we&039;d have a trend
If all the victiainst Vampires, we&039;d have our pattern Patterns helped solve the criht in my mouth and measured the bite marks There were no bite marks on the wrists this time There were rope burns instead They&039;d tied her up,like a side of beef There is no such thing as a good vampire who feeds off humans Never believe that a vampire will only take a little That it won&039;t hurt That&039;s like believing your date will pull out in tiht
There was a neat puncture wound on either side of the neck There was a bit of fleshhad taken a bite out of her just above the heart The bend of her right arm was torn apart The ball joint was naked in the thin beaether
The last serial murderer that I&039;d worked on had torn the victims into pieces I had walked on carpet so drenched with blood that it squelched underfoot I had held pieces of intestine in -I&039;d-ever-seen
I stared down at the dead wolad she hadn&039;t been torn apart And it wasn&039;t because I figured it had been an easier death, though I hoped it had And it wasn&039;t because there were more clues, because there weren&039;t It was just that I didn&039;t want to see any htered people I&039;d hada penlight in youron yourself I ht froht shone on her thighs I wanted to see if she had a groin wound like the man I wanted to be sure this was the work of the same killers It would be a hell of a coincidence if there were two va separately, but it was possible I needed to be as sure as I could that we had just one rogue pack One was plenty, tas a screahtmare Surely, God would not be that unkind, but just in case I wanted to see if she had a groin wound The man&039;s hands had shown no rope anized, or it was a different group
Her aror s, not until final rigor went ahich would be forty-eight hours or so I couldn&039;t wait two days, but I didn&039;t want to chop the body into pieces either
I got down on all fours in front of the corpse I apologized for what I was about to do, but couldn&039;t think of anything better
The flashlight&039;s thin beaht I touched the line that separated her legs and pushed ertip if there was a wound there
Itthe corpse, but I couldn&039;t think of anot to feel the solid rubberiness of her skin The sun was just a splash of cri coals True darkness slipped over the sky like a flood of ink And the wosthe flashlight Nervous, me? The woo The woman&039;s lips were halfparted Hadn&039;t they been closed before?