[Draven's Crossing 1] Hidden Diversions (11 page)

Jagger shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense. It does give credence to the whole vampire angle but I’m wondering about these contests. What if they’re legit but someone running them isn’t? What do you know about these contests? They’re a pretty sweet deal, too sweet if you ask me.”

Torger had a thought, although he was hesitant to say it aloud. It sounded insane. Even to his tired brain, he didn’t think it was possible but he said it anyway. “What if it is a vampire? And what if he or she is doing the contests to get a blood supply for themselves?”

He looked over at Jagger and Urban who turned to him, puzzlement on his face.

“Poor Tor, he’s going insane.” Jagger clapped him on the back. “Why would a vampire imitate its race when there is an abundance of people willing to offer up a vein for us and blood banks open twenty-four seven for us to pop in and get something to help keep us going?”

Torger decided to take a shot in the dark.
“Because maybe there’s something wrong with them?”

Urban rubbed his eyes. “Okay, so there’s something wrong with them. Why the clothing change, the death, the clean up and dump? Wanna explain that, Yoda?”

Torger smacked Urban on the back of the head. “Don’t mock
Star Wars
. Anyway, maybe shame? They take too much, they panic and don’t want to be arrested or put to death. Newbies don’t have the control that older vampires have.”

“True.” Jagger nodded. “But, then this person is going overboard. No, doesn’t jive with what we have. It’s just too complex for a newbie to carry out. I barely remember my first few years when I was turned and I was crazed. It was eat, sleep, survive, nothing about trying to hide the bodies of victims that I’d drained of life.”

“Yes, but what if we’re not dealing with a newbie?” Torger threw out the question. It had to be said.

Jagger shook his head. “Okay, I’m going to need more coffee and food. Anyone want to order out for burgers or pizza?”

Urban’s stomach growled. “First you already ate, and we already ordered food. It’s close to the full moon and my metabolism has increased. Maybe we should order burgers as well?”

Jagger ordered some food while Torger headed out to the garage. The information about the victims was bothering him and he needed to see things on the big screen. He got a white wash board and hauled it into the kitchen.

“Urban, can you do a chart of all the victims both past and present, all the information that we know. Let’s start again.” Torger knew that he’d get groans and moans but if they had to start at the beginning to stop whoever it was, they would.

“Fine, fine and what do you want the blood sucker to do?” Urban focused on the laptop screen and tapped away at the keyboard.

“The blood sucker is going to visit the night ME and see if he has something new for me. I’ll be back.
Shouldn’t take too long.
It’s his smoke break.” Jagger left before either of them could say anything.

Urban threw his hands up in the air. “Okay, let’s follow our threads. We know that the first set of victims won a contest with everything paid for. The contests would have to be approved by the Tourist Board. The board is very selective about what contests are allowed to use our town name.”

Something poked at Torger’s thoughts. It took a moment before he realized what had been bothering him. “Muffy Evanson was part of the Tourist Board. So there’s a connection to the first bodies.” He wrote all of that on the board.

Urban typed away on the keyboard. “Okay, added into my notes.
As for the second set of bodies when Jackal came to town?”

Torger reminisced on the time that Jackal had helped him out. “The victims from that case had been tortured.
A total deviation from the MO.”

The doorbell rang. Torger answered it while Urban shouted to answer him. “Since there’s divergence, I’ll posit that the second set was from another possible killer.
Someone who took advantage of what was happening at the time and built on the mythos.”

He carried the food into the kitchen and placed it on the table. The brothers grabbed napkins and ate out of the box. Urban switched his coffee for soda. Torger grabbed a beer before taking a seat. He nodded. “So now we can see that there are two sets of killers, I suppose.
One that’s thought this out carefully and the second who’s using the details of the case to cover-up their crimes.
Although, no evidence of sexual violence to speak of, which is interesting. There’s always something sexual about these cases.”

Urban ran a hand through his hair.
“That you can see.
Remember, if we’re dealing with a vampire, they can heal any evidence of torture. That makes things more difficult. One of the things that
remains
the same is the lack of blood and the puncture marks.”

Torger agreed and took a bite out of his pizza before he gave an answer. “True, so all we have is the contest, redressing the victims, lack of blood and the wounds.
Nothing else.
Okay, what’s new? What did we learn?”

“The connection between the Tourist Board, Muffy Evanson, and the first victims.
Looks like we may have a reason why Muffy was killed. She may have stumbled onto information about the killer or the unapproved contests.” Urban took a sip of soda and reached for another slice.

They were already halfway through one pie.
If Jagger didn’t move his ass, he’d miss out.
Torger grinned in satisfaction. He refocused on the case. “Yes, we have a possible motive for her death. I suppose we can take her out of the victims of the killer category. This is a start. I can tell Draven we’re actually making progress, even though the Council won’t care.”

Urban looked up at his brother. “Who gives a fuck what the Council thinks?
Let Draven deal with them.
We concern ourselves with the cases. Now, as for the victims that Jackal found, they were tortured and then dressed up like the serial killer’s first bodies.
Any information on that end?”
He grabbed two slices, sandwiched them together, and ate them in a few bites.

Torger shook his head.
“Nope, nothing.
The guy we caught isn’t talking, which pisses me off.”

Urban tilted his head to the side. “Maybe there is nothing to get from him because he was just a pawn. But we can rule out those killings as connected to the serial killer. Now we only have four victims.”

Torger felt better about the case now that they had eliminated some things but there was still something that bothered him. Muffy Evanson was possibly killed because of what she discovered. This meant that the killer could be connected to the Tourist Board or worse, Evanson. Draven wasn’t going to be happy about either likely scenario, not in the least. He thought back to his conversation with Isy. She’d mentioned that her interview with Evanson had bothered her. He wanted to see exactly what the Representative had to say and what Isy was talking about, and then talk it over with Jagger and Urban.

“I’m going to go watch Isy’s latest interview. Maybe that will help.” Torger ignored the snort that came from Urban’s direction and headed to the privacy of his room. As he shut the door, Torger hoped he’d spot something in there that could help them. There was a slight throb in the back of his head that he wanted to make stop, but anything he’d take wouldn’t last for long. Instead, he decided to ignore it. The stress was back now that he was alone. He could sense that they were on the right track, but the pressure only increased now that they had a track to follow. He wanted to banish the frustration so he could focus. The only possible release he could have, he didn’t want to do. At least not like this.

Without turning on the light, he used the pale glow from the window as a guide to his armchair and sank down into the plush cushions. Patting around, he found the remote control and turned on the television. He brought up the DVR menu and selected Isadora’s Interview segment and settled in. Normally, he’d have a beer and a sandwich while watching her show but this time he wanted nothing to distract him. If something was off with Representative Evanson, he’d figure it out. Isadora riled him up and yet centered him. He couldn’t figure out why, but she had an effect on him that no other person had.

The opening of the show set his nerves at ease. The strain on his mind began to clear. His muscles relaxed as his body sank into the cushions. Her introduction of the segment continued the process until he was mindless and able to watch the show without being engaged. His thoughts floated as the interview with Representative Evanson progressed. Torger’s eyes took in the scenes without really understanding or processing what it was he was watching. It wasn’t until after it was all over that he understood what had happened. His instincts were screaming that something wasn’t right. The Representative had been too evasive and the questions had been too softball. Isy looked angry and uncomfortable. Her gaze was too hard, and her lips would thin after a particularly light answer. The Representative was hiding something, especially when it came to the murders and Draven’s handling of things. Anger boiled in the pit of his stomach.

There was also something else going on. It was as if the Representative wasn’t his usual calm, effervescent self. There was no calm, no tact. He was off center and irritable. Despite the smiles, he didn’t seem to be listening. The questions had already been run by him, and he was just on autopilot. Torger compared the Representative he’d met and interacted with versus the one during that interview. It was almost as if he wasn’t the same person. That puzzled Torger. Evanson had never acted that way. In fact, he was always a pain in the ass but took pains to be pleasant to everyone. Was he having a Hyde moment? He strode into the kitchen with the wheels of his brain turning over and over. “There’s something wrong here. Evanson is acting out of character, Muffy gets murdered, and we get a new body around the same time. Is there a connection?”

Urban looked up. “Talking to
yourself
, bro? That’s the first sign of insanity, you know? What are the little voices telling you this time? Gotta jerk off again?”

Torger resisted the urge to smack his brother on the back of the head. “Shut it. Anyway, I just watched Isadora Jones’ interview with Representative Evanson. Something was just off with him. He wasn’t acting like himself, like he wasn’t all there. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with what’s going on but still, something to file away. He’s not getting the same pressure that Drav does. I wonder what Jagger’s got, if anything. Have you found anything about the contests?”

Urban sat back and took a sip of soda before answering him. “Nothing concrete, but I’m thinking that these contests weren’t authorized by the Tourist Board. No one I’ve contacted knows anything about these contests.
At least not on the record.
Looks like you’ll need to pull some people out of bed.”

Torger groaned. He could feel another headache coming on. “The Tourist Board is running around putting things in place for the upcoming Ball and making sure that they are in line with the PR department. I’d have to look at the roster and see who I can talk to. I’ll have to move fast though.”

The stress ramped up inside of him. A dull throb started at the front of his head. He let out a sigh. His stomach grumbled as hunger pangs began. “Too bad I can’t stay and wait to see if Jagger brings back the burgers.”

“So all this new info will make a difference.”
Urban’s stomach grumbled as well. It seemed like both siblings were suffering from Full Moon hunger pangs.

Torger shrugged. “Yeah, where the hell is that vampire? Did he eat the damn ME.? Anyway, I’ve been treading on a thin line since the first murders. Nothing will be different. We have to figure out what she found out and why she was killed, but also what the connection is between each of the victims, if there was any besides these contests. The vics have to have the same something to attract the killer.”

Urban opened his mouth to answer when the front door opened and slammed shut. Jagger appeared within a few seconds. “Sorry for the delay.
Had to get the food.”
He held up the bags of burgers and fries.

Urban’s stomach growled again.
“Took you long enough.
You missed the pizza.” He put the pizza boxes into the oven and ignored the last remaining full pie at the bottom of the pile. He doubted Jagger would care. The food was passed around before everyone settled at the table.

“So what have you found?” Torger asked before taking a bite into his bacon cheeseburger. He prayed that Jagger found something, anything to help them along the trail.