Runner Ch. 02

"It's just too bad she can't talk to us and tell us who took her," Chang said as he assisted Wendy.

"That's what the evidence that we collected is for. It'll tell us just as much as she could." Wendy bagged a brown colored bead that she pulled from the body. Then she took anal, vaginal and oral swabs, swabbing her nostrils and ears as well. Lifting her hands, one at a time, she scraped deposits from under the girl's nails. "She got some of her attacker."

"Good, I hope she popped his eyes out." Chang took the envelope she handed him, writing the girl's name and the case number on the front before setting it with the others. "Nobody should be treated the way this girl was."

An hour later, when Wendy was through with her post, she couldn't help but agree. She was reciting her findings into a recorder to be transcribed when Trip pushed through the double doors. She clicked off the recorder. "Hey you," she said in way of greeting. "Haven't you even been home yet?" He was wearing the same clothes she'd seen him in this morning. "You're well on your way to a triple, aren't you?"

"Well, if some Dr. Hottie would come home with me and wear me out so I don't see dead girl's faces in front of my eyes every time I close them, I would. What did you find?"

"It's the same guy. She was raped and killed like the others. The only difference in this one, she was a virgin. The guy's also got the same creepy sperm. It's almost as if they were frozen before he ejaculated them into her. Also, what day did you say she was reported missing?"

"Wednesday, a week ago. Why?"

"My findings say that she was dead since Wednesday sometime. These sperm and those injuries to her body happened late Thursday to early Friday morning."

"Baby, dead girls don't bruise."

"You know that, I know that but I think someone should have told Maggie that. Her hymen was torn and she bled, not just a little, while she was being raped. She also has one nail that was torn off, the blood was smeared on her finger, as if someone had tried to lick it off. I took a swab of the area and sent it to your crime lab. This girl is a mass of contradictions."

"Do you at least have a cause of death?"

"Massive blood loss, there was perhaps a half of a pint of her blood left in her body when she was dumped. I had enough to get samples and send them to the lab as well. Tyler, somehow your girl over there was killed on Wednesday and was still walking, talking and bleeding on late Thursday to early Friday morning."

"How is that possible?" Trip asked, running his hands through his hair.

"It isn't, not logically. Illogically? I think you're looking for a vampire."