Puzzle Pieces


Deputy Commissioner Terri Smith walked out of the lifts and headed down the mall with a sick feeling in her stomach. She ducked her head under the yellow tape and cast her eyes around the vicinity of the crime scene. It never sat well in her stomach when one of her officers fell.

She turned and advanced on the small group of officers conferring away from the forensics team. Three ducks of different sizes looked to her. "Report."
"It were a vampire bite, chief. Sir."
"You were Polo's partner, Roeland." She stated, looking up to the sizeable duck. "Where were you while all of this was happening?"
"I was ... off gettin' us food." He mumbled.
She noted the portly state of the officer. "So you don't know how this happened?"
"I hurried back quick enough to find out who were aroun', sir." He gritted angrily. "It were Bushmonster an' Brideula. An' there was this 'ere vampire guy larkin' about all full'o' himself an' all. Ya can bet he's the guy what took Polo down. Ya should'a heard dis guy, chief. He was crowing like he was alladat. What'sit? Er ... 'I'm the poltergeist ya brought on yerself' or some such rot. He had a cape and a big floppy hat, he did. Weren't a stitch o' colour on him; he was all in black like he were fresh from his own funeral."
"You'll need to book yourself in with the sketch cartoonists when you get back to the station." Terri nodded to him.
"Gee wizz, chief, my shift's near over. I was wannin' to go to bed." He whined.
"Don't you agree that the death of your comrade should take higher priority?"
"Er, yes, sir."

"Meanwhile, I will have to put you on report for this incident, Roeland."
Roeland's feathery features flushed in an incredulous fury. "Look 'ere, chief; it ain't my fault Polo was stupid enough to take a potshot at Brideula! Gimme a break. I've already had the forensic guys chew me out. Sir."
"Officer Roeland!" Terri reprimanded him. "The point is that if you had been by his side where you were supposed to be ..."

"Polo still'd done it! I reckon we should be countin' our lucky stars that the goon missed rather than goin' aroun', pickin' on people who knew what were good fer 'em by stayin' outta the mess he made fer himself!"

Terri blinked at him and pulled out her notebook and pen. "I'm sorry; I didn't quite catch that, officer Roeland. Did you say you ... didn't ... want your paycheck for the next two months?"
Roeland blushed. "No, sir, I meant yes, sir, I'll consider myself under report, sir."
"Much better."

Terri turned back to the crime scene. Somehow, this black garbed vampire could be in cahoots with Reginald Bushroot. On the other hand, he might have just been protecting Belladonna Bushroot in an act of community service for another vampire. The thing Terri needed to discover was the intention behind this 'poltergeist' posturing actor. Terri approached the head of forensics as he closed up his toolkit.

"He is properly dead, Eddyson?"
"Oh most definitely, Deputy. Drained dry courtesy of a standard set of vampire fangs. On a side topic, two bullets have recently been fired from his gun. May I ask what you'll do with Roeland?"
"No, you may not!" Terri responded curtly, then she sighed. "Just to confirm; there is only one set of bite marks?"
"Yes."
"So ... Which vampire was it that bit him?" She turned from Eddyson and headed back to Roeland. Had he seen which one it had been? Odds were the chicken-liver duck had seen everything from his hiding place.


"Deputy, report?"

Terri twisted on her heel on hearing the commissioner's thickly accented voice and headed over to him. He stood there before the line of yellow tape with a stranger in a tweed outfit. The newcomer was quite old. His facial feathers were crinkled and untidily kept, making him look as though he were permanently angry.

"We've got ourselves a new hostile vampire, sir." She reported to Grizlykoff, glancing back at Roeland. "Apparently he likes to crow."

"That's quite unusual for a demonic vampire, but not unheard of." The elder duck's voice cracked as he spoke.

Terri frowned. She had an instinctive concern about the nature of this new person, but that went for most of her officers so she just added him to the list. "...Are you some kind of expert on the subject?"

"Deputy, this is Juan Ducker, Vampire Slayer. He'll be heading this investigation from here on."
"I ... beg your pardon, commissioner?" Terri's jaw dropped. "B-but this is my mission-er, my investigation, sir! My command ... What ... I've-been-doing-the-best-job-I-can! It's not as if-."
"You are relieved, Deputy Terri Smith."
Terri snapped her mouth shut to stop herself from babbling.

"Then I am relieved, sir." She replied, blinking in shock. "Let's just see your new boy try to keep a lid on this!" She heard the growl in her voice. "And when it all goes pear shaped don't forget my pay rise, police commissioner Grizlykoff, or else you certainly won't see me back in my office." She finished her ultimatum in a stilted voice and ducked under the yellow tape.

A miserable Terri walked back up the mall to the lifts that would take her underground to her car.


Terri crossed the mostly empty concrete underground car park, fumbling amidst the bunch of junk in her bag for the car key.

"You won't need that, Deputy Terri Smith."

Terri turned around, looking for the owner of the dark female voice. "Who's there?" She drew out her firearm and held it close to her side.

"You won't need that, either."

"I'm hearing a dark menacing voice in a ghostly car park. Forgive me if I don't take your word."
"I never gave you my word; I merely said your gun won't be of any use to you. You see; I'll have you before you can even sit down in the driver's seat."
Terri swallowed. "So you're a vampire?"
"Yes."
"What d'you want with me; a light snack?" Terri quipped at her diminished height and AAA size waistline in the face of doom.

"Do you want to continue to do your job, Terri?"
"Come on, now, what sort of a question is that?" Terri looked around. She still had nowhere to aim.

"Why are you investigating vampires?"

"For your information I'm not anymore; I just got booted off the case in favour of some crusty foreigner in a tatty tweed suit." She recounted bitterly. "Old Grizzlepuff's got another thing coming if he thinks he'll see me in on Monday. This job seems to go from bad to worse every day. I'm sick of the lack of respect I'm given."
"I don't take you for granted, Terri Smith. As a matter of fact I think you're very important."

"Talking about important people, it's you vampires' fault that I lost another officer tonight."
"I nearly lost Belladonna Bushroot tonight. As I recall, she supposedly has your state protection. If your officer hadn't shot her she wouldn't have had to kill him. The situation is now equal again."
"So Belladonna was the one that killed Polo?"
"That's what usually happens when a gun goes off, Terri. A wooden bullet can still do damage to a vampire. It does not need to strike the heart."

Terri's mind fritzed for a moment. "A ... w-what? Wooden bullet? You're lying."
"Oh, I have no need for lies, Terri. Are you saying that your gun isn't loaded with wooden bullets like Polo's was?"

"I didn't even get the brief." Terri sobbed, realising only Grizlykoff could've authorised this, meaning he'd sidestepped her. Meaning he had disregarded and undermined her authority. Meaning she couldn't trust him anymore either. "Forget the stupid pay rise." She swallowed the lump in her throat. "I quit."

"I will help you, Terri."

"Really, vampire?" Terri growled, blinking back unshed tears. "The way I see it, you're a part of the problem."
"I am the master. I am interested only in solutions."
"Oh! I'm sure you are!" Terri exclaimed contemptuously. "Crowing all lord and high; you think you're really something, don't you?"

"Put down your weapon, Terri."
Terri flinched at the order. "So you can get me?"
"The outcome is inevitable either way. I will have you."

Terri looked around at the silent, nearly-empty car park. If someone did come in here, what use would they be? She put her weapon on top of her car. "Now what?"

Terri felt a presence behind her and she grabbed her gun.
Fierce fingers snatched her hand away. "I love the taste of a fighter." The vampire stated behind her ear.
"Oh, so happy to accommodate!" Terri yipped. Her heart was pounding and the vampire surrounded her, holding her so completely that she couldn't even squirm.

"You will make an excellent vampire, Terri."
Terri gasped as the needle-sharp teeth jabbed into her and the vampire drank.

Her mind grew fuzzy as Terri felt her strength quickly fading from her. She fixed her blurring sight on the fire hose reel attached to the side of the cement pillar in front of her.

'I did ... my duty.'

The sounds of quiet swallowing continued and the car park faded into blackness.


A/N: You can always tell when I've been recently re-listening to Leonard Nimoy's audio reading on Ray Bradbury's House of Usher II. And the Doctor Who reference needs no introduction, of course. Oh, don't forget police detective stories from TV and novels from the dawn of Sherlock Holmes. Brilliant.