Chapter 4

(To the crime scene)

It seemed like such a natural thing to do. Just reach out and take Beth's hand, but the moment he did her heart started to race. He started to let her hand go but she squeezed his fingers, not letting them go.

After getting in the car he decided now was as good a time as any to ask about PDA.

"Beth, there is something I wanted to ask you about." He didn't really know how to bring it up.

"Sure, what's on your mind?" She knew he had heard how fast her heart had been beating. It wasn't what he was thinking. It didn't bother her to hold hands or kiss him with others watching. It was the fact that they were doing all of those things. Finally. She had loved him for so long and now they were getting closer. She loved all the little things that went with it.

"Well, I was wondering how you felt about holding hands in public, kissing, that sort of thing." Was he blushing? Well, as much as any vamp could.

"Mick, I enjoy any kind of contact I have with you. Don't worry so much about it. Just do whatever feels natural."

"Well, this feels pretty natural to me." He reached over and took Beth's hand again. They both smiled at each other. When they stopped at the next traffic light Beth slid closer to Mick and whispered in his ear.

"This feels pretty natural to me." She gently turned his face toward hers and then kissed him. It was slow and passionate but it wasn't long until Beth's tongue was demanding entrance and Mick grated it. The next thing they knew cars behind them were beeping at them. As Mick drove on Beth let out a little giggle.

It wasn't long until they had reached there destination. It was in an alley behind a club that had been closed for awhile. There were two officers still there, making sure nobody messed with the crime scene. Mick and Beth both showed there badges and were let in.

The first thing Mick did was take a sniff of the air. He could smell blood. They checked out the dumpster. It was empty, but Mick could still smell blood. He started to follow the smell.

Beth didn't say anything. She just waited. She knew Mick would tell her when he found something.

It didn't take long. With his vamp skills he could find the things the police missed. He could smell the blood on the ground where the body had been dragged. It lead to the back door of the club. Mick tried the handle and the door opened for him. He looked back at the two officers to make sure they weren't watching, then he and Beth slipped inside.

It was dark and Beth couldn't see anything. She took Mick's hand and he led her down a hall. The smell of blood was getting stronger. He stopped outside of another door. He didn't hear any movement on the other side so he opened it. He reached over an flipped a light switch and could not believe what he was seeing. There was a table in the middle of the room. It was cover by a sheet that at one time might have been white but was now red with blood.

"What happened here?" Beth's eyes were darting all about the room.

"I don't know." Mick saw some clothes in a pile in the corner and went to check them out. It looked to be the girls clothes and her purse. "Here look inside for some kind of ID." He handed it to Beth and then continued to search the room. There was nothing else there.

"Mick, look." There wasn't much in the purse, but there was a drivers license. "It's her, the Jane Doe."

It said her name was Ashley Moore. Well, now at least they knew who she was.

"Come on, lets go before the officers see we are gone and try to find us. I don't want them to see this." As they headed back to the alley Mick made a quick call to the cleaner.

"Should we let the DA know who the girl is? Beth asked him on their way back to the car.

"Not yet. Lets go check out the address on her ID first. I want to stay a few steps ahead of them."

………………………………...

They pulled up to a nice apartment building. They door to the front was being propped open and they went on inside without having to be buzzed in by a resident. As they made their way to the second floor Mick could hear someone crying. It was coming from the apartment they were headed too. He knocked on the door and waited.

"Why did you knock?" Beth asked him. She thought they were going to have to do some more breaking and entering but at that moment the door flew open and they were standing face to face with a young women that looked just like the Jane Doe.

"Who are you?" She asked. They could tell she had been crying.

"My name is Mick St. John, I'm a private investigator. This is Beth Turner she is with the DA's office. We are looking for Ashley Moore."

"I'm Ashley. What is this about?" The young women looked terrified. Mick was wondering what was going on but had a pretty good idea why the two girls looked alike.

"May we come in? We want to ask you a few questions." They girl look at them nervously. Mick could tell she didn't wan tot let them in so he quickly added. "We also want to ask about your sister."

That was it. The tears started to flow from her again. "Do you know where she is?" The girl asked desperately.

"Lets get inside and talk about this." The girl moved aside and let Mick and Beth in then closed the door. They sat in the small living room and Mick started to asks Ashley some questions.

"What's your sisters name?"

"Megan, she didn't come home last night and I can't reach her on here phone. Please do you know where she is?"

"Dose she normally stay out all night?" Mick knew that the body in the morgue was Megan, but he couldn't tell Ashley just yet. Not in the state she was in. He was glad Beth was with him. She was very comforting. She sat by Ashley and put her arm around her shoulders. It seemed to help clam her a bit.

"No, she never does this."

"Do you know where she was going last night?" Ashley shifted on the couch. She didn't look at Mick when she answered this time.

"No, she didn't tell me."

"Ashley, if you don't tell me what's going on I can't help you. Please."

Ashley ran her hands through her hair and took a deep breath. It was then that Beth noticed the marks on her wrists. She slowly took Ashley's hand and turned it over.

"Stop, it's nothing." Ashley said as she took her arm back.

"Oh, I know all about nothing." Beth showed Ashley her own wrist. It matched Ashley's perfectly, only Ashley had more than one bite mark.

Mick didn't really like the idea of Beth showing anyone the mark where he had bitten her, but it seemed to do the trick of getting Ashley to be honest with them.

"So, then you know about…." Ashley trailed off looking from Mick to Beth.

"About Vampires." Beth finished for her.

"Please, I think something bad has happened to my sister."

"Who do you work for? Who feeds from you?" Mick asked.

"Her name is Elizabeth Bradley. We were room mates in college. We became really close and she ended up telling me about what she was. She started inviting me to parties with her. After going a few times I finally let someone feed from me. When I told Elizabeth that I liked the feeling of it, she told me I could work for her. I would attend parties and be the "refreshment". They next day there would always be an envelope with money in it left for me."

"Did Megan work for her too?"

"No, I only just told Megan what I had been doing. She wanted to know how I had money and no job. I didn't think she would get upset but she did. She wanted me to stop but I wouldn't. Then last night I got a call about a party. She begged me not to go. Finally I said I wouldn't, just this once. I went to bed early. When I got up this morning she was gone and a note was on the table that said she went to find out why I liked my "job" so much. I have been trying to call her and Elizabeth all day, but I can't get an answer."

"Where was this party?" Mick could only guess what had happened. Megan went to the party pretending to be Ashley and got caught.

"It was at a house just outside of town. I have the address here."

When Mick looked at the address he couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was a house owned by Josef. He would have to call him as soon as possible. He knew Josef couldn't have had anything to do with this, but something was going on.

Mick knew it was time to tell Ashley about her sister.

"Ashley, your sister was found this morning."

"Found? What do you mean found?" Then it hit her what Mick had said. "No, it can't be her."

"It is, I'm so sorry. We found her ID, well, your ID with her belongings. I thought it was you until we came here and you told us about Megan."

"This is all my fault." That was all she could say before the tears and sobs started.

Mick leaned closer to her. "I will find out what happened to her. I promise you."

Ashley could only nod her head. After several minuets she started to clam a little.

"I wan to see her for myself, I need to know it's really her."

"Of course."

Beth stayed with her the entire time. Comforting her and being the shoulder for her to cry on. This wasn't going to be easy. Mick needed to talk to Josef and find out what he knew about the parties going on at one of his houses.

First, he made a call to Logan. He wanted to know everything there was about Elizabeth Bradley.