The Suspect
Detective Don Higgins cursed and crumpled up the sheet of paper he held in his hand. It was a letter from the mayor of Toronto. The letter stated that unless his task force came up with a suspect by tomorrow they would be disbanded. That meant he and all the other people on the task force would have to return to regular duty.
"There's just too much pressure on the mayor Don. Something has to be done and we're just not doing it. I'm as pissed as you are about the whole thing." Said Superintendent Ken Johnson the supervisor in charge of Don's unit.
"They're not even giving us a chance." Higgins complained. "We have less than 24 hours to nail someone for all these murders. Shit I don't know what we're going to do. I guess I'll have to tell my men."
"I'm sorry Don, truly I am. I fought the Chief on this one, but he can't do anything about it he's got the commissioner and the mayor breathing down his neck. People are scared. The downtown area is going to hell; no one is going out anymore. We got ourselves a serial killer."
"So I guess we're flying in the Mounties?" Higgins scoffed and threw the crumpled paper across the room. "We've only been on the case a month. What the hell do they want us to discover in a month?"
The Superintendent shrugged, "well whatever they wanted you haven't done. They feel the Mounties have more resources and men they can dedicate to the case. I did fight to keep the taskforce intact; you won't have to go back to your divisions. Instead now you'll be handing over control to RCMP. You and your guys we'll just be another resource for them to use. Again I'm sorry Don, I got to get back and report to the chief. If you have any questions, or any breaks in the case call me right away." The older man slapped Higgins on the back,
turned and left the hotel room.
Detective Don Higgins stood alone in his Quality Inn hotel room. Since he had been on the downtown murder case, his life had taken a fresh new turn. He was reluctant to give it up, especially to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Higgins didn't have anything against the Mounties; he would just rather handle the downtown murder case himself. It had been his first big case, and now it was gone.
Angry, he picked up the phone. He needed to tell his men the news.
It had been over two months since his sister had died and become a child of the darkness. John had trained hard during this time. He had gotten a clean bill of health from the hospital and had gone to rehab. Rehab had been extremely hard on him, and he had just finished last week. Once he could walk, the lawyer had signed up for kickboxing and had been taking it for over a month. He knew he was just learning all the moves, but felt more confident that he could defend himself. John was training hard, he wanted revenge and he was going to get it.
His mother and Mark had left once he was released from the hospital. John didn't have time for them or their irritation. Mark had offered to train the lawyer, but John didn't want anything Mark was offering. It had only been three years and he still detested his ex-best friend.
He had bought all the training equipment needed and had put it in his living room. When he wasn't at kickboxing class, he was here at home training. John would find the vampire that attacked him and kill the undead beast. The lawyer was confident that he had learned enough about vampires to kill them. He could either drag the vampire out in the sun to burn, or stake him and burn him indoors. John knew one thing; he would hunt vampires during the day when they were at their weakest.
The lawyer stood on his mat and began stretching. His body had healed nicely and soon he would be strong enough to begin hunting. Sarah had not visited since that first night over a month ago. He knew she was still alive, but something was keeping her from coming to see him. John didn't mind; it was enough knowing that she was alive. When he felt confident enough, he would seek her out.
Trinya paced the lounge upstairs. There were a few vampire patrons sitting, talking quietly, and drinking their pints of blood. It was rare that she would venture from the secret chambers to the lounge but she wanted to keep an eye on Sarah.
Lately the young keen had become extremely restless. It was getting harder and harder to keep Sarah inside the building. The girl wanted to go out and explore and learn the ways of the vampire. Trinya also knew Sarah was eager to see her brother to make sure he was okay.
Sarah had been training the past month or so with Hayer and the other elders to learn her powers as a vampire. So far no special powers had
emerged other than she could communicate in her mind. That was very rare for a first year vampire to do. The tiny elder chalked that up to the fact that Garath had a very strong bloodline.
"You're going to wear a hole in the carpet." Hayer said and chuckled. Trinya turned and smiled at the tall elder. Hayer had a knack for sneaking up on her especially when she was deep in thought. "What's troubling you Trinya?"
"Nothing to concern yourself with Hayer. I'm sure you have more pressing matters to attend to. I'm just concerned about Sarah. It's getting harder and harder to keep her indoors. She's young and wants to experience her power for what it really is."
Hayer chuckled, "I remember a young elder feeling exactly the same way. You have gone through what she is, why don't you offer her some
wisdom?"
Trinya watched as Sarah danced alone on the dance floor of the lounge. The elder had also been kept indoors when she had first become a vampire but she did not remember it being such an agony. The keen was different than Trinya. Sometimes the elder felt she could not relate with the girl at all. Like right now Sarah was dancing in the lounge to music only she could hear. The other patrons were paying her no attention, yet Trinya felt afraid for her.
"Hayer I don't know what to do. I know we're smothering her, and soon she won't even listen to me. I sometimes can pick up her thoughts, and I know she's planning on running away. We're so old that we just can't relate to her."
She felt his strong hand touch her shoulder and felt a wave of desire wash through her. "My Trinya." He mumbled softly. Stunned, the petit elder turned around and looked into his large eyes. Hayer was opening up and showing Trinya a vulnerable part of him, a sight that she had never seen. She felt Hayer's strong feelings for her that she had to shudder at the intensity of it. The tall elder blinked and quickly moved his hand off of her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be disrespectful I don't know what came over me." He turned and fled back down to the inner chambers.
Trinya was stunned. She had felt feelings for Hayer for a long time but had just assumed that he would never look at her that way. He was of course the leader of the elders. Hayer was the most powerful elder out there. Trinya had known that he had always thought fondly of
her; she was always getting into trouble, and he was always bailing her out. She just hadn't expected him to feel the way she did. The petit elder wondered why all of a sudden he let his guard down to show her. Why now?
The elder turned back to watch Sarah, who had stopped dancing and was now leaving the lounge. The keen had had enough of the lounge and wanted the shelter of the inner chambers. Trinya slowly followed her down the paths; the elder now had more on her mind than the keen.
Higgins had decided to break the news to his men over beer. The least he could do was buy them a round and then give them the sour news. He waited patiently for them to all get their beers and chat about the day's events. The reports he heard confirmed that there were no new breaks in the case.
"Guys, listen up I have some information." Higgins began. He waited for the chatter and laughter to die down. "I know we all have been busting our balls on this downtown murder case, and I just want to say you've all done a great job, and I'm proud to be working with you."
"What's going on boss?" His partner Alex Fields asked. Alex was always good at reading people's moods and knowing when bad or good news was coming. His partner was a short stocky cop that went beyond the call of duty to bail Higgins out time and time again. Alex was one of his most trusted friends.
"The superintendent came to see me today," Higgins said looking around to make sure all his men were paying attention, "and due to the lack of results we're
losing the case." Immediately the bar was filled with groans and swears from his team. "But," he waited again for their attention, "we won't be resuming regular duty. They're bringing in the Mounties, and we're needed to brief them and help them in any way we can." Again the bar filled up with swears and angry conversation. Higgins let them get it out. When he had heard the news this morning he hadn't been pleased either.
"They can't do that," Alex muttered. "We've been trying, what can they do differently than us?"
"I don't know. But the mayor and commissioner have lost faith in us. At least we're not going back to regular duty." Higgins turned back to the rest of his men, "I want you all to enjoy this night, the
tab's on me, and come in tomorrow like you regularly would." The detective stood up,
"Sorry guys. I tried to fight, but the mayor and the commissioner are under pressure, and they need this perp caught. I guess we're losing money in the Toronto economy because people are scared and won't come downtown."
Detective Don Higgins with a bowed head left the cop hangout. Once outside he leaned against the brick wall. The detective needed a smoke. He knew his men would be discouraged and wouldn't work as hard now on the case. Higgins wasn't sure the kind of damage that would do.
"Don, can I talk to you for a minute?" Alex, his partner was standing beside him.
"Sure what's up?"
"What if this killer we're looking for isn't like a regular guy." Alex said looking at the pavement. "I mean he never slips up, there are never any witnesses, and it's always in alleys. How come no one ever sees this guy running away?"
"He's been lucky, that's all Alex - just lucky." Higgins said, but he was doubtful as well. The lack of evidence at each crime scene was eerie. The detective would love to find some evidence, anything. Having to face victims' family members and
friends time, and time again with no answers or results had been rough.
"Okay, sure luck." Alex said quickly. "But what if it's something else - something other than luck. And what is he doing with all the blood? All the bodies are drained of it, yet there's nothing on the ground? It just doesn't make sense. And what about the woman who was dug up from the cemetery? How does that fit in?"
"What are you getting at Alex?" Higgins said feeling a shiver run down his spin. Anxiously he dug into his pockets for his smoke pack. Finding it he removed his last cigarette and lit it. The detective inhaled deeply, smoking always seemed to calm his nerves and make things appear not as bad. He was trying to cut down and this was the first cigarette he had allowed himself all day.
Alex was looking down at his hands and seemed unsure to go on. "Well I know this sounds extremely crazy, but what if this killer isn't human."
Higgins took another drag and looked at the ground. He had wondered the same thing a few times now. He had never been brave enough to utter the words, but nothing else really made sense.
"So you've thought that too." Alex said watching Don carefully. "You don't seem too surprised or shocked. I think that whatever is killing the women might even be a vampire. I know they're just myths and not suppose to exist, but myths are built on something, aren't they? Besides look at the woman, Sarah who was buried and then her body mysteriously disappears. Who's to say she just didn't crawl out on her own? And all the blood, all the women that are killed are sucked dry. Then we have one eye witness, John something. He's the one whose sister was killed and her body disappeared. John swears he doesn't know anything, but I think he's lying."
Higgins looked at Alex with wide eyes. "John's our break." He whispered. "If we lean on him, he'll tell us what he knows. John knows something, and he's hiding it from us. He knows who the perp is...he must. After all John was attacked by the guy."
"Let's go."
Detective Don Higgins quickly followed Alex to his car. The whole thing seemed a little surreal, but by tomorrow the RCMP would be calling all the shots. Tonight was the last night they could investigate any crazy theories they may have. Besides, when Alex and Higgins had questioned John a month ago, he had seemed jittery,
like he knew something that he wasn't telling them.
Climbing into Alex's squad car, Higgins was determined to get John to talk no matter what it took.
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