"So get this…" Sam started as I opened the door. I smirked and tossed a paper bag of food at him.
He paused to catch the bag and check its contents, a chicken caesar wrap with plenty of rabbit food and not so much chicken, "Awesome, thanks."
"Welcome." I passed him a coffee as well, and then sat down and unwrapped my burger, light on the rabbit with extra bacon, before turning the key and pulling back onto the highway. "What did the campus cops have to say?" I prompted, getting him back on track.
We'd originally tried to get information on the case earlier, after finishing talking to Emily, but had wound up with some stick in the mud cop who wouldn't tell us a damn thing until she could verify our identities. Something which was somewhat of a problem when they were fake…
I missed the days of Bobby clearing up such issues in a matter of minutes. We no longer had Bobby, and even Garth was out of action, but, thankfully, we did have Jody. She was even legitimately law enforcement, and always happy to vouch for us, after making us promise to come visit again soon. We told her we'd love to. I just hoped she would skip the sexual health talk this time…
Still, it had been hours before stick-in-the-mud had called us back, right as we were pulling into an all-night diner somewhere in North Dakota for a late dinner on the go.
"Well, for starters she confirmed what the girls told us. Four bodies so far, each one found on campus in the morning by staff. They were also torn apart in a way that looked like wild animals had done it." Sam paused to take a bite of his wrap.
"Ok, so what made them change their mind?" I asked. "From what Taylor said they decided pretty quickly that it was a murder case."
Sam nodded, "That's because when the ME arrived to examine the first body they realised that she'd been strangled, and further examination showed that that's what killed her."
"Yeah, I'm yet to meet an animal that strangles it's victim before it mauls them." I commented.
"What about pythons?" Sam corrected me, ever the nerd. I rolled my eyes at him. "Anyway," he continued, "They still thought that perhaps a wild animal had had a go at the body after it was dumped, but all the subsequent bodies have been found in the exact same state…way to similar to be random animals finding the bodies."
I waited for him to eat some more of his wrap, knowing him well enough to realise that he was working up to something.
"And then when they did the autopsies, guess what they found." There it is.
I raised an eyebrow, waiting for the answer. He shrugged, as if to say 'fine don't guess.'
"All of their hearts were missing." He finished dramatically.
"So, most likely it's our thing." I commented. "Well, at least the hearts significantly reduce the number of possibilities."
Sam nodded, "Yup, that combined with the bodies that look like they've been attacked by animals…I'm thinking werewolf."
"Yeah, although…they don't usually strangle their victims first." I pointed out.
Sam looked thoughtful, "True. But if you look at the timings of the attacks, it'd have to be a purebred. So, maybe it strangles them while it's human and then changes." He shrugged. "It'd hardly be the strangest thing we've seen."
I couldn't argue with that logic.
"There is some good news." He told me.
"What's that?" I asked.
"There was also evidence that they may have been restrained for a period of time before they were killed. They had bruising around their wrists and ankles."
I couldn't help thinking that being restrained before you were murdered would be a pretty small relief to the victims…but I knew what he meant.
"So, if we get there soon enough after someone is taken, we might be able to save them." I said. Sam nodded.
"Have they worked out how it's getting the students?" I asked.
Sam shook his head. "No, their stumped on that one. All four victims have friends who swear they were safely in bed last they saw them, and none of them had any known reasons to go sneaking out again, especially after the first victim was found."
"Well, we might be able to find some evidence that the local PD missed." I said with a shrug.
I hoped so, because they certainly hadn't given us a lot to go on. Knowing what you were hunting was only half the battle. We still had to find the bastard.
We went quiet, lost in our own thoughts as we finished eating our food and drinking our coffees. I'd got the coffee's double strength, knowing we probably wouldn't stop tonight, just take turns napping in the passenger seat.
If it was a regular case we wouldn't be in so much of a hurry. Let's face it, in our line of work we couldn't pull an all-nighter every time someone's life was at risk. We'd never stop.
But when there were people we knew at risk…that was worth the effort.
We'd lost enough friends over the years. Even distant ones were worth protecting with everything we had.
Hi everybody! Yay, an update! I've had a very busy week this week, but I finally got to sit down and write today! I hope you enjoyed!
Thankyou to sensualxstacy and Sallyannerenee for your lovely reviews! I love getting feedback and support!