Crime Bites (Urban Fantasy Novel)

Part 9

At the station, the Detective left me in the dust, obviously uncomfortable with our conversation. I followed her to remind her about the personal effects of Nadia's girls and she waved her hand at me acknowledging my request. Or maybe she just wanted me to go away. One of the two.

Trying not to take it personally, I left the Detective in her office coordinating personnel to research and analyze the members of the Oakraven coven. Surprisingly, Nadia had already faxed a listing of her students and coven members. Detective Moskaluk took great pains to announce to her staff this was a lead the FBI insisted she follow up on, implying that she thought we were nuts.

I just shrugged. It wouldn't be the first time I was used as a scapegoat. The important thing was to run a complete background check on everyone on that list. In serial cases we know that the killer will have a history of assault, possibly have tortured, maimed, and killed animals in the past. I also liked to look for cases dismissed due to lack of evidence. Too many times I had dealt with a serial killer who had just missed being charged. It seemed that the smart ones made only enough mistakes to be pinned as suspects, but never left enough evidence to make a strong court case.

Looking for Jim, I navigated several twists and turns in the police station and finally found him in a small interrogation room, fatigue stamped on his face. I could understand why. Trapped in an eight-by-eight room as a succession of grieving and angry families cycled through, alternately yelling and crying their grief, would give anyone a run for their money. This was the reason why I liked to let Jim do all the interviewing whenever I could. It sucked me dry to deal with all that emotional energy.

I sat on the edge of the table and faced Jim. "So how did it go?"

Jim pursed his lips and let out a long slow exhale."About as well as can be expected. Half of them are convinced we wouldn't recognize the killer even if he killed us. The other half are so far buried in grief it is almost impossible to get anything coherent out of them. I was able to develop a time line for all the victims, but it doesn't really lead to any useful conclusions and pretty much mirrors what the police have already done." He stopped to take a sip of water from a nearby glass. "None of the victims' lives intersected in terms of timing or location. They didn't shop at the same stores or work the same shifts. So I'm thinking that he's just finding them by chance. What about you? What did you find out?"

"I've got three new female victims. I think the similarities between the victims has nothing to do with their looks or location. The killer has no preference. He doesn't care." I got off the table and went to sit in the chair across from Jim.

Jim leaned forward and propped his elbows up on the table. "So what is the link? I know you too well to think you don't have some idea."

I matched Jim's posture and rested my head in my hands. "Listen we haven't worked this kind of case before so I'm going to ask you to bear with me."

"What? Spit it out, Mel. It's been a long day." Exhaustion made his voice sound gruff.

"Well, I think the common link is that all the victims are psychic. The killer is targeting them because they are psychic." I saw a flash of disbelief in Jim's eyes and continued talking quickly, "Listen, I know this is just first blush, and that we haven't done all the investigative legwork yet, but I think this is the best lead we have right now and I'd like to work it."

"All right then, let's work this angle then. How do you want to do it?" He sounded so tired I think if I had told him it was a bunch of Purple People Eaters he would have bought it. I reached out and touched him lightly on the forearm to allow my aura to touch his and I sent a gentle burst of energy his way.