Beyond the Grave (13 page)

"Who's pushing for it then?"

"That's something he wasn't willing to share, but I intend to find out."

She stepped outside the Rectory and came face-to-face with Britt. Apparently he was taking Chief Brown's word very seriously about sticking close to her. Too close.

He'd been trying to follow her for days, but she'd kept giving him the slip. She felt a little mean about it, but he really shouldn't infringe on her privacy. Not even if it was for the right reasons.

She moved the phone away from her mouth. “Sampson's got the third victim back,” she said to Britt.

"Anything solid to report?” he asked, opening the door of the vehicle for her then grinning absently when her gaze shot daggers at him. She hated that. She'd told him before not to do it.

"Any results yet, Sampson?” She said.

"I haven't had much time to work on her yet, but I did find one thing. Not something we should talk about over a cell phone line, though. Can you come over?"

"Sure can, we're on our way.” Jess snapped the phone shut, and gave Britt a shove for opening her door.

He laughed out loud.

The last thing she needed right now was to share a personal moment with the man she couldn't allow herself to love. Fingernails on a chalk board would be less irritating.

She slammed her door, and gave him a black look when he jumped in beside her. “You're pushing it, Brittain. Let's go. I'm very curious to hear what Sampson has to say."

A short time later they entered the elevator to the lab in the sub-basement. The elevator had never felt as small as it did tonight. Heat from Britt's body and his delicious scent permeated the small enclosure. She loved his fresh-from-the-shower scent to the point where she'd rather be sniffing anything but him at the moment.

Pretending indifference, she inched toward the left wall. At least she'd regained her abilities. Over the last hour she'd noticed her enhanced hearing and sight gradually filtering back. What would cause them to come and go? It didn't make sense.

Right now, she was thankful Britt didn't make small talk. He was the perfect partner on the job. He only spoke if there was something pertinent to say, probably because he was the consummate detective, always had his mind on the job.

The doors opened and she slipped past him. They went to the viewing area above the lab. Sampson wasn't there, nor was the corpse. He'd finished already?

"I thought he'd still be working on her,” Jess said absently.

"Haven't started yet,” a voice echoed through the room. Jess grinned. The speaker system in the room picked up their voices and filtered them into the lab below. Sampson had to be in the anteroom.

"We'll be right down,” Jess said, wondering how he could have something important to tell them if he hadn't done the autopsy yet.

"In here kiddies,” Sampson said, pulling off his mask and gloves and smiling at them as they entered the scrub room.

"You look like you're finishing up after an autopsy, Sampson. What gives, if you haven't started working on our corpse?” Jess asked.

"I've been doing a little blood work. Our corpse has something strange in her blood. I've never seen anything like it before, and I haven't been able to categorize it yet. I've got the blood sample running through all the tests to see what I can come up with."

Jess pushed two fingers to her temple. She didn't get headaches, but she felt a band of tension close enough to a headache.

"There were high doses of an unknown substance in the vic's body. Most vampires I know prefer to stay away from toxic meals,” he added, pursing his lips. “But, since I don't know what this element is, I have no idea if it's toxic."

Britt's eyebrows rose. “What about the hookers taken by vampires? A good many of them are on drugs."

Sampson nodded and rubbed a hand across his shiny, bald head. “True. But those who are actually vamped are clean."

Britt whistled. “Shit! That's a kicker. They stay away from drugs, and end up as some monster's breakfast.” He turned his attention to Jess. “You sensed a vampire that night at the crime scene, didn't you?"

She nodded. “But the scent was very faint. I tried to follow it when I left,” she snapped her fingers. “One minute it was there, the next minute gone."

"There's something else you need to know about our latest victim,” Sampson cut in. “I don't think our big, bad vamp bit this one. She
was
exsanguinated, and she had the holes in her neck, but there was no VNA."

"How is that possible?” Britt asked.

"I haven't figured that out yet, but I'm working on it."

"Okay, given what we know now, what's the correlation between our victims? I'd swear these women were killed and left on the path by the same perp. Everything is the same except the method of their murders. And we know for sure that victims one and two were vamped. You got VNA from victim one, and we watched victim two turn,” Jess said.

"So far I haven't had time to match the VNA we found in victim one to our collection of VNA samples. By the way, that victim is still a Jane Doe. I'm beginning to think I might need an assistant."

Jess frowned. “You do have a lot of work to accomplish for one man. Why don't you look into hiring someone to help?"

"I'd like to. I'm just not sure I'll find someone trustworthy who's got the expertise we need.” Sampson rubbed his hands together. “All that aside, when do I get to work on Beverley Kellerman? I'm interested in finding out if these two women have the same VNA in their system."

"Now that you've got the third victim's body back from the police, I'll see that Beverley Kellerman is returned too."

"Do we know who the third victim is yet?” Sampson asked.

Britt cleared his throat. “I think her name is Sally Marshall. She's on the missing persons list, and I have a photo of her.” He dug into his breast pocket and handed it to Jess. “This photo is ten years old but it looks enough like her that I'm sure you'll be able to verify her identity through the information we've been given by the family members who reported her missing."

Jess paced back and forth. “What are we missing, here? All three women looked alike. Slim, tall, dark hair. Not to mention their bodies were left in the same place in the park. Why?” Jess asked.

Sampson ran his stubby fingers across his shiny head and stared hard into space. “Maybe once I've completed my autopsies and lab work on the three women, I'll be able to help with that question."

"I'll keep my cell phone charged,” Jess said.

"There's something else,” Sampson's expression darkened.

"What is it?"

"I've got the results on your blood work, Jess."

"Oh?” Judging by the look on Sampson's face, she wished Britt wasn't here.

"If you want me to, I'll wait outside,” Britt said, as if he could read her mind.

As much as she'd like to agree, he needed to know what the hell was going on, too. Especially since he was her only option as protector—when, and if, she ever asked him.

"What is it?” Jess asked Sampson.

"There were trace amounts of that same unknown substance in your system.” Sampson's brow furrowed and he looked more worried than she'd ever seen him.

"What did you say?” Britt eyebrows turned murderous. “How the hell did that happen?"

Sampson shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. I couldn't find any point of entry on Jane Doe, but that doesn't mean there wasn't any.” He turned a weary gaze to Jess. “Since you passed out and lost track of time, the drug could have been administered then."

Shock registered. “That was the very last thing I expected to hear."

"Me, too,” said Britt.

"You think someone injected me with a drug?” She planted her hands on her hips.

It was true, she had no recollection of the time she'd lost during her blackout. Anything could have happened to her.
Anything!

A quick look proved Britt must be thinking the same thing. Her blood pressure rose and she bit back her fangs. Whoever had injected her with drugs was going to be very, very sorry they ever touched her.

"We'll find out who did this to you, Jess.” Britt promised.

She wanted to say something, anything, but her insides tightened as she worked at controlling those never-ending inner demons. She made for the exit.

"Wait,” Sampson called out. “You can't leave now. First you have to tell me how you got Beverley Kellerman out of the morgue without being caught. Don't forget I'm stuck here in the basement most of the time. I need to hear a bit of the exciting stuff. What happened when Beverley turned into a vampire? Did it happen at the police lab? Did she bite anyone?"

Jess and Britt exchanged glances. Britt flushed at how it must've looked when Jess caught him standing over the naked corpse. Not his finest moment. Damn it.

She looked at her watch. “Okay, but I still have a full night's work ahead of me and I'm on a time limit before sunrise. We had to fight off a couple of low-level vampires who didn't have a clue how to handle a transitioning vampire. They didn't make it. Britt killed Ms. Kellerman for real, and we stashed her in the cemetery."

"Good place for a dead person.” Sampson leaned against the scrub sink in a relaxed position, obviously hoping for more.

"Now we have to get back there before someone else finds Ms. Kellerman."

As much as Britt hated that damned cemetery, he'd go back for Jess. Even if chills crawled up his spine at the thought.

They reached the Starr crypt at ten p.m. just about the time it got truly dark. He shivered involuntarily, even though the cemetery was blessedly quiet when they arrived. Not a vampire in sight. No one waiting to jump them. At least not yet. He wouldn't let his guard down, just in case.

Jess got out of the vehicle and opened the crypt door. When the door squeaked on rusty hinges, he said, “Remind me to bring some oil for those hinges next time we come."

Jess laughed. “What makes you think we'll be here again?"

"I don't know, we just always seem to end up here."

"Not your favorite place, is it, John?"

She never called him that. Why'd she use his first name? Oh hell, he was over-thinking everything about her.

He prepared for the worst while Jess looked inside. “She still dead?” Not knowing what state of decomposition she might be in also irked him. Made him edgy. He hated showing Jess what a wimp he was when it came to skeletal remains.

"Don't know. She's gone."

"Gone? What do you mean? How could she be gone? Did she turn into a vampire after all?"

"Nope. You staked her good. A newly transitioning vampire won't be coming back after that.” Jess left him standing outside the crypt door and walked back to the truck. Waited for him. “C'mon, get in. We need to leave."

"Why? What's going on?"

"The body's gone. No sense staying, is there?"

He frowned. Didn't understand her calm and sudden urgent need to leave the cemetery. “You're doing some strange things these days, Captain Vandermire, but since I can deny you nothing...” He paused and grinned. “And, because you're the boss, I'll do what you tell me to."

Jess pulled her door shut and waited for him to get in the passenger side. “Smart man."

"Why aren't you upset about the stolen body?"

She turned the key in the ignition and stepped on the gas pedal, causing the tires to kick up pine needles and gravel.

He thought about the cemetery's security guard. After all of the weird events and vandalism that taken place here over the past few months, he wouldn't blame the guy if he quit.

The speed limit was supposed to be fifteen and she was traveling at least fifty through the cemetery grounds. “What's the hurry?"

"I'll tell you when we get out on the highway."

"Okie dokie.” He crossed his arms and leaned his head back against the headrest, faking a relaxed pose when in actuality her erratic driving made him nervous.

He chanced a glance at her profile. Her face was set, and her luscious lips were slightly pursed and totally kissable. She wore her leathers tonight, and her milky white skin drove him to the point of distraction—until they hit the highway and she sped up to 100 miles per hour. At that point he grabbed the dash and gritted his teeth.

"Reach into the glove compartment and take out the GPS monitor, will you?"

"Why?"

"I planted a tracking chip into our corpse. A very tiny capsule imbedded into the back of dear Beverley's brain stem, just above her hairline. We should be able to track her quite easily and find out who sent those two idiots to get her."

"Holy shit! No wonder you weren't upset about her being taken. You were excited. They took your bait."

When she smiled he watched those rose-petal-soft lips light up her face. Any time she looked at him with an exulted expression, his bones went weak.

"Stop gawking and get the GPS working,” she demanded.

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"Did you get a signal yet?” Jess asked.

"Still haven't found the switch,” he said, wondering if this was one of Sampson's new mechanical wonders.

"On the side."

"The thing that looks like a rivet?” He clicked the rivet and the GPS began to ping. Within seconds a map illuminated the screen and a yellow dot pulsed in the center. “Got it. There's a marker showing. Looks like it's in the center of the city."

"We're on our way,” Jess stepped down on the gas pedal even harder.

Britt gripped the dash. “Why don't we go the speed limit and get there in one piece? We don't have to attract attention. Especially not with this device."

"Sometimes you're no fun,” she teased, but let off on the gas and allowed Britt to relax a little.

"It's a wonder Regent ever lets you borrow his vehicle. Turn right then take the next left at the intersection,” Britt said staring at the tiny illuminated map.

"Oh, oh. I don't think I'm going to like where Ms. Kellerman is leading us,” Jess said.

They pulled in front of a building, and the GPS dot changed from a ping to one long beep. Britt looked out his window and stared at the familiar brick façade. “The Dragon's Lair Club."