Page 98 of Death is Familiar

“Stop, what?”

“Looking at me like you’re trying to solve my problems.” He squared his shoulders. “I told you so you would understand. I don’t expect you to do anything with it.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The world outside passed by with large swathes of manicured grass and stately marble. We would be at the office soon, and I had one last question before we got there. “Knowing how it all played out, where you are now, would you change any of it?”

He looked at me, smiled, then returned his eyes to the road. “No.”

†

The agents were gathered in the briefing room. Same table formation. Same screen at the front of the room. Same chilled look from all but Jack, Todd, and Fawzy. Which, when I thought about it, was half of the room. I could work with that.

Todd and I took our seats next to Fawzy, while Thruppy and Jack conversed near the screen which currently showed a map, with dozens of pins highlighting locations in and around Huntington.

I tried to play it cool and ignore the flush that crept up my neck, and the tightening in my belly, when I made eye contact with Jack. I’d done something out of character, and both of us knew it. I’d invited him to dinner at a restaurant. The Jackalope. Just the two of us. Tonight.

Because I was going to tell him about my passenger.

“Well, that’s not good.” I swallowed the knot of nerves in my throat, noting the marks on the screen. “That’s where the epinephrine was stolen?”

Fawzy nodded. “The average grab took enough to restart a horse.”

“Which means⁠—”

Jack’s glance roamed over me, followed by a smile, and a raised brow. “Thruppy, unless you’d like someone to steal your thunder, I’d suggest you get a move on.”

Thruppy’s shoulders sagged, but he still handed me the floor, palms up. What a gentleman. “Care to finish your sentence, Delilah?”

Even though I was mid-sentence, I wasn’t in the mood to steal the spotlight so I changed the direction of my words, “The presentation looks lovely.”

“Well.” Thruppy didn’t know what to do with that. He blinked twice, three times. Scratched at his nose, then straightened his posture. Proud, maybe? “Yeah. Okay. Good. I’m glad.” He did a double-take before continuing, “I will accept more compliments after the presentation. Especially, if they’re from Zhou.”

To which Zhou promptly rolled her eyes, Fawzy stifled a laugh, and Kaatz flexed her bulging biceps over her chest.

“Or, not, anyway.” Thruppy pointed at the screen. “All the epinephrine was stolen from ambulances in the Huntington area in the last two years. Nothing from Cincinnati or Lexington, besides a missing auto-injector or two. Which means…” He got excited, pausing for effect, like he was waiting for a drum roll. Instead, he got silence. “One, the intent to kill familiars was pre-meditated, and whoever was responsible, stocked up for almost a full year before use. Two, our suspects very likely know the location of vamp headquarters. And three, there’s a very high likelihood they’re locals to Huntington.”

Thruppy smiled, proceeded to the next slide which showed a crypt in what I could only assume was the Lexington cemetery.

“Thanks to Fawzy and Zhou’s trips to Lexington, we were able to identify the crypt where the first two victims were held before they died. Circumstances were similar to that of the Dexter Mausoleum in Cincinnati. For whatever reason, our perpetrators, must be scoping out cemeteries ahead of time.”

“Ahead of time?” Kaatz said. “What would be the point of scoping after?”

“You know,” Thruppy sounded more resigned, than upset, “I put a lot of work into these presentations, and everyone’s always jumping ahead. Would it kill you, any of you, to let me make the big reveal, without interruption, for once?”

All of the attention in the room was squarely on Thruppy, which despite being what he asked for, caught him entirely off-guard. His mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out.

Even though I was most definitely in a position where I could have ruined his day, I decided to set him up instead. “If we work under the assumption the people responsible for the murders are local to Huntington, they would’ve had to scope out the crypts, and be confident they’d be able hold people against their will, without getting caught. Which…leads-to-the-big-reveal-I-know-Thruppy-is-dying-to-tell-us-so-I-won’t-say-anything-else.” Unless he got it wrong. At which point I’d have no trouble correcting him.

“Thank you, yes, the big reveal is…”

“Oh, hurry it up man,” Kaatz grumbled.

“…The perpetrators know the location of the fang ceremonies ahead of time.” He was right, but he also neglected to highlight the significance of what that meant.

“Of course, they’ve got to know the location ahead of time, Thruppy.” Zhou’s voice gave away her real meaning which was, ‘this is why we shouldn’t let him run the show’. “Crosses are nothing new. They started showing up at fang ceremonies five years ago. Garlic is dropped off at that vampire warehouse on the regular. Knowing where the fang ceremony is beforehand doesn’t give us anything new to work with.”

“But I’m saying they know before anyone else.” Thruppy looked to Fawzy and me for support. “Even the vamps.”

Fawzy agreed, and added the detail necessary to make the finding relevant. “We followed up with Lenore, and she confirmed that her members only get clues about the fang ceremony location. Leading up to the event, details are revealed at pre-determined intervals. It is fair to say the people who attend know the approximate direction and distance from Huntington, so that they can plan their travel to some extent, but the exact location is announced only twelve hours in advance. The only exceptions to this are Lenore, her familiar, and her events team.”