A Flash of Fang
**This story immediately follows "Unmarked but
Not Forgotten"**.
"I'm not afraid of werewolves or vampires or haunted hotels,
I'm afraid of what real human beings to do other real human
beings." Walter Jon Williams
CHAPTER 1
"Sure hold on a second, he just came in." CJ punched the hold button on the phone as her husband walked through the door of her office. "Michael's on line one."
"Alright." Matt leaned over and gave her a kiss as he reached for the phone. "Hey bud, what's up?"
"Nothing good, I can assure you. I know we were going to work on those cold cases today but I've just been sent out to a scene by the chief and he wanted me to call you as well. The media is all over this thing." Lt. Michael Hoyt was a sixteen year veteran of the LAPD and one of Houston's best friends.
"Not the vampire thing?" The private eye had seen a little bit of it on the news the night before.
"Yep, we've got another one. This makes the second one – which is two too many according to the chief – and the media." Hoyt pulled a roll of antacids out of his pocket and popped one into his mouth. "I'm on the southwest side of Franklin Canyon Reservoir."
"I'll be there quick as I can." He hung up.
"Be careful, hon. Love you." She gave him a kiss.
"Love you, too. I'll call you." He started for the elevator. "Tell you what; why don't you – "
CJ finished it for him. "See what I can find out about the first one?" She gave him one of the dazzling smiles that he loved.
"Yep. 'Bye." He hit the button for the elevator and headed down to the parking garage.
Arriving at the scene about twenty minutes later, Matt was forced to park a half-mile away from the perimeter that had been cordoned off with crime scene tape. He reached into the console, pulled out a ball cap and put it on as he exited the truck. The narrow one way road was crowded with vehicles from the LAPD, an ambulance, and numerous vans and trucks from news agencies. Bet he's going through the antacids this morning. He sighed as he walked up the road.
As he approached the tape Matt recognized one of the officers who was doing her best to keep the reporters at bay. Sgt. Gabriella Giovanni was a transplant from New York and came complete with the accent and attitude. The private eye grinned when she looked up at him and waved him through, causing a large growl of objection from the reporters, many of them shouting, "So who is he? Why did you let him through?"
The private investigator headed down the trail that lead toward the water's edge and was soon walking up to his friend. "So, what've you got?"
"Pretty much the same as the first one. According to Greg here, there appears to be very little blood pooling in the body." Hoyt gestured to the Coroner's assistant who was kneeling next to the body of a young woman who appeared to be in her late teens or early twenties with unnaturally red hair, wearing black jeans, a black t-shirt with a bright green skull on it, and skull earrings. On her neck were four small punctures. There were some marks where it appeared that something smooth had been dragged within inches of the body.
Matt removed his sunglasses, putting them in the pocket of his denim shirt, and looked around the area. "I don't see any blood on the ground here. But it does look like someone came through here fairly recently." The PI walked about ten feet away to the edge of the tree line. "Must have been in a hurry. See how the branches are snapped?" He pointed out the small lower branches of a pine tree that had been broken. "And the pine scent is still pretty strong." Charlie Mason, one of the CSI techs moved next to him and began snapping pictures after placing a ruler down next to the prints. Matt knelt down and looked at the ground next to the tree. "Looks like a size 7 or so – ladies. And there's another one here – looks like a boot of some type. Probably a guy's…" He squinted and spread his hand out over the boot print. "…About a size 12 or so. They were definitely in a hurry; see how the tracks are? There's more pressure on the toes than anywhere else. People tend to put more weight on the front of the foot when they run; you don't usually see someone running flat-footed. Can you see the size on the bottom of her shoe?"
Hoyt nodded and looked at the sole of the young woman's sneaker. "It's a 7."
"Has anybody been back this way yet?" The PI continued to look back towards the woods.
"No, Charlie just got here a couple of minutes before you did."
"I thought so – I'm parked right behind him." Matt stood back up. "How in the heck did the media get on this so quick – the scanner?"
"Yep. That's what I'm guessing. Berkley was the first one on the scene." Michael had a disgusted look on his face. Sgt. Andrew Berkley was not one of Michael Hoyt's favorite officers or people. The cocky sergeant loved to showboat – he was a publicity hound. Once the sergeant had uttered the word "vampire" over the radio, almost every television station news team in the area had sent a reporter and cameraman to the small park.
"Are you ready to see what's down this way?" Matt jerked his head in the direction that the shoe prints were coming from.
"Yeah, let's go." Michael followed Charlie who was following Matt. They entered the trees just to the left of where the shoe prints were found. Charlie stopped and put down rulers next to each set of prints and snapped pictures as he went, with Matt moving several feet ahead of them. He stopped and waited for them to catch up, inwardly smiling as Michael began cursing under his breath about the thorns on the underbrush that they were traveling through. A few feet further down, the lieutenant let out a loud "OUCH!" Matt stopped and turned back to look at his friend, who had managed to get a thorny vine caught on the seat of his pants. "I can't move!"
As hard as he tried, the cowboy couldn't help but snicker at his friend's predicament. He stepped back to where the unfortunate cop was hung up, pulling out his multi-tool as he went and snapping it open one-handed, revealing a pair of pliers. Matt clipped off the vine a couple of inches from Hoyt's leg and carefully removed the thorn from the cop's pants. "Now I know what to get you for Christmas." He turned and started back up through the trees, coming out into another clearing about twenty five yards further on, hearing more mumbles from Michael.
"Looks like maybe they spent a little time here – there's a depression in the grass. It's square. Maybe they had a blanket." He stayed several feet from the depression as Charlie continued to take photos of the spot. "I didn't see any prints headed in this direction from the spot where she's laying…so I don't believe they came in that way." The PI continued to look around and then down toward the water. "Here we go." He walked on down toward the water's edge. It was early August, and the heat of the summer coupled with the lack of rain had caused the water level to drop in the reservoir. It was down a good four feet from its usual level and there was bare dirt with a few scattered weeds where the water had been earlier in the year. "We've got more tracks down here. Looks like the boots and sneakers again." Carefully avoiding the prints, he took off following where they had come from and ended up at an unpaved parking area.
The three men looked around. Charlie pointed. "Tire tracks." He began snapping pictures again. "Looks like they left in a hurry, too."
Matt walked up beside him and knelt down next to the tracks. "These are from Rattlesnakes."
"What?" Hoyt and Charlie exchanged a puzzled look.
"The tires – they're for four wheelin' – ya know, muddin'." He stood back up.
"How could you possib-…never mind." Hoyt was thoroughly disgusted.
"I had a set of 'em on the first Dream Truck. But when CJ ordered the replacement, they weren't making them anymore so she had to get another kind." He turned and followed the tracks to the pavement. "That's all we're going to get out of those. It ends at the pavement." Walking back he surveyed the area. "It looks like they were parked over here…" He moved over toward the grass. "Uh huh - got a roach." He pointed down at the remnants of the joint and Charlie came over to photograph and collect the evidence.
"Well, guess I get to make some casts now." The CSI tech turned and headed back the way they had come and Matt followed suit. He heard a groan from behind him and stopped, turning to look at Hoyt.
"Pard, you look flat out miserable." The cowboy felt sorry for the cop.
"I'm just picturing how bad the lecture is going to be when I get home tonight. Anne's going to be griping about the suit." He walked on past Matt and headed back down into the grass. The PI started snickering. "So you think it's funny, huh?"
"Not the fact that Anne will be fussing, no." Matt couldn't help but chuckle.
"Then what is so damn funny?" Hoyt stopped and turned to face his friend.
"When did you start wearing baby blue underwear?" The chuckle turned into full-blown laughter.
"No…" The lieutenant tried to look at the seat of his pants which sent Matt into even louder laughter. "Shut up, PI. Just shut the hell up." He took off through the woods, swatting at vines and cursing as he went.
When the three made it back to the location of the body, Matt looked around some more but didn't see anything else that would point them in the direction of the girl's killer. Greg, the Coroner's assistant stood up and showed Hoyt what he had found in the back pocket of the victim's jeans.
"Well at least we know who she is now." He waved Matt over and showed him the driver's license. "Sarah Marie Hagar, good Lord…she's just eighteen." The cop shook his head.
"Are you going to do the notification?" Matt knelt down and looked at the girl again before Greg zipped up the body bag.
"With a hole in my pants? I don't think so." He pulled out his phone and called Lee Jenkins, one of the detectives in his office, gave him the information and asked him to find out if the girl had family in the area and if so, to make the notification. After disconnecting the call he started up the hill.
"Hey Michael, pull your jacket down in the back a little." The PI snickered.
"Bite me." The cop went up the hill, pulling the back of jacket as far down as possible.