Still, she couldn’t help but glance around worriedly as she sunk her teeth into her hamburger.
Kenzie had brought the case folder with her, but she felt dubious about studying it at the dinner table in a public restaurant. The images were very disturbing, and there were children running amok. They’d be scarred for life if they saw her scanning such things.
Still, she was very worried about the well-being of those children, as well as the other citizens of Bridgeport. She was surprised anyone even went outside their house with a blood-draining serial killer on the loose.
Speaking of which, she still couldn’t fathom why anyone would kill someone else and take the time to drain their victim of blood. It made no sense. She’d told Carson some possibilities, but even she herself wasn’t that convinced of them.
At last, Kenzie finished her meal, paid, and drove toward the hotel. The hotel was actually more of a skyscraper, and Kenzie was very impressed with the interior lobby. The hotel room itself was pretty extravagant. In fact, it was more of a suite than a hotel room. It was done in blues, purples, and tans, and there was plenty of space. The entrance led into a small storage nook for coats and luggage. Past that was a double bed against the wall with two end tables next to it, both holding lamps. Across from the bed was a round dining table with a chair, as well as a small seating area with a TV. Against the far wall was a desk. A dresser was nestled next to the desk and sleeping area. A bookshelf stood against the wall with a door leading to a luxurious bathroom. Kenzie wasn’t sure how often she’d be in her hotel room, but she knew she’d enjoy the time she was in it.
After setting her luggage down, Kenzie withdrew her laptop from its case and set it on the nearby desk. She plugged it in and prepared to look up any news stories about the recent killings. Perhaps she'd find some clues.
However, Kenzie first saw that she had a message in her inbox from her mother, Constance. Kenzie opened the message and read it.
Dear Kenzie,
Your father and I hope you arrived in Bridgeport safely. We’re missing you already; it’s not the same with you not living right down the street! We’re looking forward to when you come back home. Please do us a favor and be very careful; the city life is bound to be different than what we have here in Riverview, not to mention there’s some crazy killer running around. Makes me shiver just thinking about it!
If you can, please give us a call as soon as you get checked into your hotel. We want to hear from you and make sure you’re all right! I heard that some people think vampires are running around. I hope not, the last thing we need in this world is a bunch of monsters! I strongly suggest you get some sort of weapon for protection against whatever may be waiting for you in that big city.
Anyway, I’m off to cook supper. Having grilled salmon tonight! I’ll bake some cookies for you for when you get back. Stay safe!
Love, Mom
Kenzie smiled. Her parents were a little overprotective of her, but she was the only child they had. And that took five years to happen. She didn’t mind her parents looking out for her; she had always been very close to them. She’d lived with them until she’d graduated high school, then she’d moved out on her own once she’d graduated from college. But luckily for both her and her parents, a house was for sale right down the street of Hidden Grove Lane. Kenzie fell in love with the little one-person cottage and put a down payment on it. She was still paying mortgage but she found it was worth it. Her parents even helped her out too from time to time, sometimes as a gift for a special occasion when they weren’t sure what else to get her. Kenzie’s car had actually been a gift for high school graduation. She loved it and took very good care of it.
The Howells were a very close family. Constance and Russ were high school sweethearts and had married at the ages of eighteen and nineteen. Five years later, Kenzie had come along. Though not exactly the wealthiest family in town, they managed just fine. Russ was a big businessman, hoping to be the CEO of his own company one day. Constance, however, had found her place as a paramedic and hoped to one day even become a nurse.
Kenzie’s career decision wasn’t so easily made. When she was a child, she wanted to be a teacher. In middle school, it was an actress. But that was when she began to grow out instead of up, so she lost hope of that, due to the lack of plus-sized movie stars being depicted on the screen. But then she saw several crime shows on TV, all of them showing people collecting evidence to catch criminals and bring them to justice. Kenzie was fascinated with forensics and the ability to dust for fingerprints and snoop for clues. So she dedicated herself to studying just that.
Now, thinking back, she was glad she spent all her time studying. It had really paid off. She didn’t care to go to her high school’s football games, or any sports for that matter. She preferred to stay home and study, and it had earned her a spot on the honor roll all throughout high school. Her activities were reading, writing, and computer games. She’d had a boyfriend back then too, and she still had her childhood best friend, and that was plenty for her social life. Kenzie wasn’t really shy and introverted, she just preferred the company of those she could trust.
Kenzie checked the clock. It was 8:00, so not too late for a call to Riverview. She pulled out her cell phone and pushed the speed dial for her parents’ house.
The phone on the other end rang three times before she heard her father’s voice say, “Hello?”
“Hi, Dad.”
“Kenzie! Your mother and I were just wondering if you were going to call. Hold on, I’ll tell her to pick up the other line.”
Kenzie heard her father move the phone away as he yelled, “Constance! Kenzie’s on the phone! Pick up the other line!”
Russ then put the phone back to his ear and said, “It’s great to hear from you, Ken! How are you? Did you arrive okay?”
“Yes Dad, I’m fine. I arrived a couple of hours ago but I just now got to the hotel. I stopped to eat, and I met with the chief too.”
There was a click as Constance picked up the telephone in the living room; Russ had undoubtedly answered from his computer office in the basement, where he worked away from his actual employment office.
“Kenzie?” Constance's voice said.
“Hi, Mom.”
“I’m so glad you called! I was worried you didn’t get to Bridgeport safely.”
“No, everything's fine. I just got to my hotel. I just told Dad that I was talking with the chief and then I got something to eat before I came back here.”
“Well, don’t leave us in the dark! Any leads on the case yet? What exactly happened?”
“Well, like I told you before, bodies have been showing up all over Bridgeport drained of their blood. Carson, that’s the chief, showed me some pictures of the victims and they were pretty gruesome. I could even see the puncture wounds in their necks.”
“Nasty,” Russ said. “Were they those photos that get taken when the body’s cut open?”
“Russ,” Constance said, “that’s not an image I want in my head right now.”
“No,” Kenzie said to her father, “the pictures weren’t during an autopsy. They were from the crime scenes. But there were autopsies, and the coroner confirmed that the victims died from blood loss. But there are a lot of tools that could make puncture wounds like in those bodies, so I highly doubt there’s anything to this speculation about a vampire.”
“Well, you be careful!” Constance warned. “This is your most dangerous case yet, and I don’t want to see my daughter brought back in a coffin.”
“Poor choice of words, considering this case has vampire references,” Russ said.
Kenzie chuckled, then she heard her cell phone beep. She held it away from her head to see that its battery was dying. She put it back to her ear and said, “I’m sorry, this darn cell phone is dying. I have to charge it.”
“Well, you should probably get some rest too,” Constance said. “You’ve had a big day.”
“I’ll do that, Mom,” Kenzie said, although she knew she wasn’t. She still had notes to type out, and a shower to take. And unpacking to do.
“Well it was good talking to you,” Russ said. “Give us a call or email us whenever you can. Let us know you’re doing okay.”
“I will, I promise. I’ll talk to you guys later.”
“Good night,” both her parents said.
“Good night,” Kenzie said before hitting the End button.
She then dug into her smallest suitcase, where she kept her makeup and hygienic products as well as electronic things, withdrew her cell phone charger, and plugged it into the wall. She then plugged her cell phone into the charger. After that, she began unpacking her clothes and putting them in the dresser.
Kenzie pushed her glasses back up on her nose and opened up a text file on her laptop. She began typing up various notes about her current case, starting with things she knew and then adding things she needed to know.
“I need to find out when exactly the victims died,” she said aloud, and then caught herself, laughing. Her father liked to tease her about thinking out loud, much like her mother, though she was trying to break that habit.
After typing up her list, Kenzie walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Most people she knew preferred to shower in the morning, but she preferred to do so at night. There was something about crawling into clean sheets after bathing that made her sleep better.
The water was nice and warm, slightly on the hot side, just the way Kenzie liked it. Her pajamas were on the counter with her hair dryer. Also on the counter were some perfumes and a few makeup products.
Kenzie didn’t wear too much makeup, because she believed a woman should show her natural beauty. What if some woman met a man who saw her in makeup, and freaked out seeing her without it? If someone couldn’t like someone else for who they were, they weren’t worth it. Kenzie’s mother always thought this was a little strange, so to keep the peace and make her natural beauty stand out a little bit, Kenzie wore a little blush, eye shadow, and lip gloss. But she'd only go near eyeliner for Halloween, and even that was a rare occurrence; she hated the thought of things getting so close to her eyes. That's why she refused to wear contact lenses, for fear they'd get stuck in her eyes.
After her shower, Kenzie stepped out and toweled off. Wrapping the towel around herself, she began to dry her hair. After her hair was dry and she was dressed in her pajamas, Kenzie sat on the sofa and turned on the TV. There was a late night news report on about the continuous pileup of bodies being drained of blood. No pictures were shown but the reporter was saying it was clearly the work of a serial killer.
“A vampire serial killer,” Kenzie thought to herself, remembering the speculations of some people. “Just what the world needs.”
Sighing, she turned off the TV, but before turning off the light, she double-checked to make sure her door was locked. Then she crawled into bed and went to sleep, but she left one of the bedside lamps on all night.
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