by Liz Schulte
Back at the hotel, I spread out the contents of all of the duffel bags, making sure they were completely empty. After I tossed the clothing to the side, all that was left were a few random weapons, a city map, and a completely empty notebook. If they ever had anything worth looking at, it was long gone. And since each of them ended up dead, I was willing to bet they had uncovered something. Why else would it kill them and risk more bounty hunters being sent down?
I shook my head and stuffed everything back in the bags. Next I laid the pictures back out and looked closer at each of them. Something about the body parts left behind in the cemetery had been bugging me, but I couldn’t quite place what it was. Each scene had completely different pieces. Some overlapped, but not that much. The internal organs were always gone, but sometimes an arm or a leg would be left. Other times a finger or ear or hunk of skin. It appeared random…all except one thing. I ran my finger over each of the pictures. Nearly all the pieces left behind were in some way marked. Whether it was a piercing or a tattoo, the piece left had some sort of identifying piece to it.
I looked at the ghoul’s pinkie finger lying on the desk in my room. One of the fingers at the cemetery had a tattoo, and the other one that was missing the tip was also tattooed, but this one appeared normal. There was only one way to find out. I picked up my knife and sliced down the center of the finger, holding my breath as I peeled away the skin. It didn’t take long to spot the metal plate at the base of the finger. I leaned back in my chair. Interesting.
The killer was leaving behind anything man-made.
There was a knock on my door. I grabbed the finger and the pictures and tossed them into the room safe. I never put out the “Do not disturb” sign. At least in the Abyss hotels, they knew better than to disturb you. I cracked open the door. “What do you want?” I growled.
Amos stood on the other side. “You need to work on your door-answering skills,” he said.
I opened the door to let him in, hanging the sign. “I don’t need humans poking around in my business,” I said. “Better to scare them off. Why are you back so soon? What did you find?”
“Nothing yet, but there’s a crime scene,” he said. “It’s just down the road from here. I couldn’t get close enough to see, but I heard people talking. They said it looked like an animal attack. I thought you’d want to know while it’s still fresh and there is something to see.”
Fresh was good. It could still have a scent on it. I took the ID and credit cards Sy had given to me and slipped them into my back pocket. Now was as good as any time to start playing human. “You are absolutely right.” I was out the door and headed down the hall before Amos caught up.
“Want me to come with you?” he asked hopefully.
“Did you work with the other bounty hunters who came down here?”
“Not really,” he said. “I didn’t even know they were here until after the bodies were found.”
I nodded. Chances were the others didn’t look at the humans. No one ever did. “What I really need is for you to find out about the other human killings. That’s the top priority.”
“Why?” he asked.
I breezed through the lobby and stopped outside the door. “Which way?”
He pointed to the left. “Up two blocks then three blocks to the left. Why are the humans so important?”
“I don’t know yet. I just have a feeling that to solve this case I need to see the whole picture. Is it a problem?”
He shrugged. “It won’t be easy. I don’t know how it works where you are from, but we pretty much stay clear of the humans here. They are superstitious enough without us feeding into the fear.”
“Just do the best you can.”
I took off down the sidewalk the way he had directed me. There was a crowd of people bunched around the yellow tape as police officers and a silent ambulance sat off to the side. Never a good sign.
I ducked under the tape without slowing and walked down the alley. No one stopped as I walked up to the body and squatted in front of it, careful not to touch anything as I took it in. More of the body had been left this time, but the wounds definitely appeared to be bite marks. Through a large hole in the skull the brain had been removed, and the chest cavity was fairly torn up. It looked like a much more frenzied attack than the pictures I had. I breathed in deeply. There was something vaguely canine, but there were too many foreign smells to really connect it to the body and not just the area.
“Who is that? What the fuck is she doing in my crime scene?” said a voice from behind me as footsteps quickly approached.
I looked up at the man in a suit with a silver badge connected to his belt. He had intense eyes, with heavy dark circles beneath them, and a sharp nose. He frowned at me.
“Looks to me like you have a problem,” I said, glancing back to the body. “Whatever did this sure as hell wasn’t a dog.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” He hauled me up by the arm. “Now, why don’t you tell me why I shouldn’t arrest you for contaminating my crime scene?”
“Because you have a serial killer on your hands and you don’t even know it,” I said. It was a long shot, especially since I couldn’t prove any of it as far as humans were involved. But it was worth the risk. Working with a human detective could get me information about both sides of the attacks.
His jaw tightened. “It’s a feral animal. That’s all,” he said as he nodded to someone else. “Escort her out of my crime scene.”
I pulled my arm out of the other man’s grip. I walked backward as I spoke. “A feral animal no one has seen or witnessed? One that leaves behind random, chewed-on body parts? Have you wondered why the only pieces left are all marked by something man-made? Look at the crime scenes. You’ll see what I am talking about.”
“Hey, X-Files,” one of the other police officers said. “Tell her your theory.”
People around us laughed as I held his serious eyes for a moment.
Finally, I nodded and ducked back under the tape. My display might have been a waste, but at least I got the human’s attention. If more crime scenes popped up, he might actually seek me out. Mace’s murder scene was the next closest to where I was. I started toward it, though I didn’t expect to find anything at the Abyss spots. The bodies would have been cleared out by now, and countless people would have traveled over the area.
The human scene was such a contrast to Gus’s crime scene. The killings had similar aspects, but enough of the body was left that I couldn’t even be sure what I’d said to the detective fit his crime scenes. That body did look like it had been mauled. Obviously not by a feral animal, but a hell of a lot more wolflike than what was left of Gus. Gus’s grave was cold and surgical. Sure, there were bite marks, but there was something that didn’t feel right about the scene. It was just more sterile somehow, and less honest—though I didn’t know how that made sense. Maybe it was two different killers entirely.
“Wait.” The detective’s shoes slapped the street as he jogged. He’d never sneak up on anyone in those things.
I stopped and waited for him to catch up.
“Who are you?” he said as he came to a stop in front of me.
“Femi.” I offered him my hand.
He shook it with a nice, firm grip. “Do you have a last name, Femi?”
I winked at him. “No.”
He shook his head. “Fine. What do you do for a living?”
“I am a bou—” I stopped myself, trying to think of the words on the card Sy had given me. “Private detective.”
He crossed his arms. “How did you know about the body parts?”
Interesting. “You noticed too?” I asked.
“It’s my job to notice. What I want to know is how did you notice? Who are working for? None of that has been released to the press.”
“I’ve done my research,” I said. “And my client wishes to remain anonymous.” I waited a couple beats before continuing. “I heard there was another potential scene, so I thought I would take a look, but I
think this might be a different guy.”
The detective crossed his arms. “Why?”
“The person I am looking for is leaving pieces behind, not whole bodies. That body was mangled, but a lot more than a piece was left.”
“And which bodies were those?” he asked.
I shook my head. “We can work together or separately. That’s up to you.”
“You think the killer is human?” he asked.
I blinked and reassessed the man in front of me. Everything about him appeared to be human. His look, his smell, his movements—he couldn’t be paranormal. But based on the few humans I knew, they didn’t refer to themselves that way. So why would he ask me a question like that? Maybe it was just superstition, like Amos had said. “What else would it be?”
His cognac eyes met mine. “You said earlier there was no witness to the animal. That isn’t exactly true. We have no witnesses this time, but I have seen things out there that you would never believe. Some things are best left alone. It would be safest for everyone involved if you just walk away from this, ma’am,” he said.
I raised an eyebrow. Were his eyes opened to the Abyss? Questions like how and why raced through me, but I struggled to keep a passive face. I couldn’t assume something like that. “Like what? Ghosts? Vampires?”
“You think I’m crazy.” He ran his fingers through his hair and glanced back down the street toward the crime scene. “It doesn’t matter. Just know that you should stay as far away from this as possible before it takes notice of you.” He took a couple steps back. “That’s the most help I can give you.”
“What’s your name?” I called after him.
“Dempsey,” he said. “Have a good day, ma’am. Do yourself a favor and forget this case.” He smiled at me a little. It made him look a little older, sadder, and more tired, but it was a good smile—an honest one.
I probably should have let him go. Confirming the human’s suspicions about the Abyss was possibly the worst thing I could do. He’d never have a normal life if he knew for certain. Some took it better than others, but most of them didn’t. And I wasn’t in any position to babysit him until he became comfortable seeing my world. However, he knew something, and I needed to know what that was. He already suspected something supernatural was happening. Maybe letting him in would ease his mind. That sounded like as good a theory as any other.
“Hey, Dempsey,” I called before he was out of earshot. “What if I told you that other world you were talking about is real? And if you want the killer to be caught, I’m the person who can help with that.”
He stopped and came back toward me, staring at the ground until his eyes, much darker now, rose up to meet mine. They searched mine then narrowed slightly as the corners of his mouth turned down. “Then I’d say we have a lot more to talk about. Wouldn’t you?”
I shrugged one shoulder. There wasn’t a lot I could tell him, especially not out in the open like this. Maybe it was the brief thought of the council that drifted through my mind, but suddenly chills ran down my spine. I was being watched. I glanced around at the unfamiliar faces as they passed. Dempsey was waiting patiently for me to continue, but I couldn’t do it here. “Do you have a piece of paper?”
He handed me a notepad.
I scribbled down my hotel and phone number. “I can’t talk here. Give me a call later. We’ll compare notes, but for what it’s worth, you’re not crazy.”
As soon as I figured out what he knew, I’d ditch him. The less I could expose him to this world, the safer he’d be. I handed him the paper and started back down the street.
“Where are you going?” he called after me. I waved, but didn’t slow down.
I spent the afternoon hitting the rest of the crime scenes in the Abyss. They all had that same sterile feeling as Gus’s. Just after the sun went down, Amos finally called me.
“I think I have what you are looking for, though I don’t think they are connected. The crime scenes look different to me,” he said. “Where are you? I’ll swing by.”
I licked the powdered sugar from my fingers then plucked another beignet from the heaping plate. “I’ll just meet you at my hotel. I’m headed there now.” I hit end and took a bite, closing my eyes at the sugary, doughy goodness.
When I finished the entire plate, I took off across Jackson Square toward my hotel. The area was thick with tourists and sounds, but the crowds were exhilarating. So much life and joy bubbled up around me that I got lost watching people, mostly the humans. The music and laughter and art and life all around me was infectious. A wide smile spread across my face as I watched them. Humans had the right idea. This was how we were supposed to live.
I didn’t notice the fast-approaching footsteps or the fact that they weren’t accompanied by breathing until it was too late and my head was slammed into a brick building hard enough I could hear the stone crack. Everything went black.
Chapter 6
