VENGEANCE

Chapter Five

The following morning Michelle met Gavin at the station and they started going over what they already knew. Michelle was willing to bet anything that the second victim, Colleen Town, had her blood drained as well though not in the same way Samantha had. When they laid the girls folders out in front of them everything looked the same. The hair was just past shoulder length and a dark chestnut brown. Their eyes were big, beautiful and an exotic deep green. If the detectives didn't know better they would say the two girls were long lost sisters.

About an hour into their think tank session, Michelle's phone started to ring. Swiveling in her chair she picked up the receiver and put it to her ear. She listened for a few seconds and then put it back in its cradle.

"Jordan has our information," she said standing from her chair and heading for the door. "I'll be right back," she said to Gavin just as he was about to follow her.

Michelle walked down the hall and into the last door on the right and there sat Jordan Peoples behind his computer desk with his arm stretched out holding two files each about half an inch thick. "To think, your whole life before the age of thirty fits into an average manila folder," she said to him as she took them from before turning and leaving.

"You're welcome Michelle. If you need anything else you know where to find me," he called after her, making sure to apply a heavy layer of sarcasm.

"Thanks Jordan," she said as she turned back into the hall.

Michelle walked back into her office where Gavin waited patiently. She dropped the files on her desk on her way around to her chair. Gavin took the top file which was marked with Samantha's initials and Michelle took the other which was marked in the same way for Colleen. As they thumbed through the files, looking first at the schools they went to and then the jobs they had held, they came to the realization that the girls only had three things in common. Both were in their mid-twenties, they lived in the same town, and they looked almost identical.

"We need to call the boyfriend again Michelle. Our guy has to have seen the girls somewhere more than just where they work. He has to have some way of choosing them," Gavin said standing up and walking around the room to stretch his legs.

"Yeah, and we need to talk to Town's boss too. See how much he knew about her and if there was anyone that she didn't like that came in," Michelle said getting her jacket from the back of her chair and slipping it on.

"Okay I'll call Becker and you call Town's boss. Get him to meet us at his bar. I'll get Becker to meet us there too," he said copying down the phone numbers for both and handing the one for Colleen's boss to Michelle.

They got their cell phones out of their pockets and started dialing as they walked down the hall to the parking lot exit. Michelle nodded to Gavin to let him know they were taking his car this time and began walking around to the passenger side door. Gavin walked around behind her and unlocked it and opened it letting her climb in while she wrapped up her conversation with the owner of the bar Colleen had been working at. Gavin was in the same point of his conversation with Jeff Becker, Samantha's would have been fiancee, when he sat down in the driver's seat. They both said thank you to the party on the other line and closed their phones at the same time.

"He's going to be waiting for us at the bar and let us in when we get there," Michelle said to Gavin as he started the car.

"Jeff is going to meet us there in ten minutes. I reached him on his cell. He was with Mr. Walker going over funeral details before Samantha's mother gets into town," he said backing out of his parking spot and making his way into the main stream of traffic.

"I'll talk to Jeff when we get in there. He'll need a more delicate hand if he is in the same state he was when we talked to him yesterday," Michelle said as they were pulling into the parking lot of the bar.