Kenzie hadn't actually witnessed an autopsy before; she'd always talked to coroners on the phone after the disconcerting process was finished.
This time, she didn't want to wait. She wanted to talk to Margo quickly while the events at the beach were still fresh in her mind.
After being cleared for entry, Kenzie walked into the morgue and saw Margo typing notes on a computer. Both of the new bodies were lying on stretchers, their figures covered with a dark green tarp.
"Mrs. Kingston?" Kenzie asked hesitantly.
Margo spun around in her chair and asked, "Yes?"
"I hope you don't mind my coming here like this, but I need to talk to you."
"The autopsies haven't even started. I can't tell you anything yet."
"That's not why I came. Well, I do need to know about the bodies, but I mostly wanted to ask you some questions."
"Now? I have work to do."
"So do I. That's why I'm here. And I can't do much else until you're done with the autopsies, so maybe if I got some answers from you now, I'd have something to work with while you did that."
"What could you possibly have to ask me that has to be done right now?"
"Let's start with the fact that you're a firm believer in vampires, and all the bodies so far have had puncture wounds in their necks."
Margo's eyes narrowed as she stood up and approached Kenzie.
"I see Carson has been very generous with the information he's supplied you," she said.
"He didn't do it voluntarily. I asked him what you meant about someone leaving bodies out in the open to send a message, and he explained how you believe in vampires. He also explained that your daughter is obsessed with them."
"What teenage girl isn't these days?"
"She's also gone goth and is trying to get out of going to school. She wants to be a vampire."
Margo sucked in her breath, and when she spoke at last, her eyes were filled with fury. Kenzie took a few involuntary steps back when she saw Margo's face, and found herself very close to the cabinets that held dead bodies. She couldn't help but wonder how many were in there as Margo's temper exploded in front of her.
"Listen here, I don't know how they do things in Riverview, but here in Bridgeport, people mind their own business and don't snoop."
"Does that include detectives who are trying to solve murders?"
"My daughter and I have nothing to do with these deaths!"
"I never implied that. You're the one that said it. But now that you mention it, I don't know...a teenage girl who wants to be a vampire, even if they don't exist...she'd know how to make puncture wounds in victims' necks and she'd have a use for all their blood. And since her mother believes in vampires, she'd know even more about them thanks to the history of this city."
"Get out! How dare you accuse my daughter of such a thing! And I'm not telling you anything about these autopsies!"
"You have to. It's the law."
"I'll send the information to Carson, and he can deal with you. I want you out of here right now!"
Kenzie took another tentative step back before leaving the morgue altogether, and decided that maybe a direct confrontation hadn't been the best approach. For all she knew, Margo wouldn't tell Carson everything about the autopsies, so she wouldn't have all the information needed to solve the case. And if her daughter was guilty, which it was possible she was considering her alleged lifestyle, Margo would do anything to hide the facts.
Maybe talking to Valerie herself would work out better. Kenzie glanced at her watch and saw that it was nearly noon. The school kids would be going to lunch, but they wouldn't be allowed to leave the premises. She had a few hours to kill.
With no other tactic for the time being, Kenzie decided to return to the hotel and email Carson the crime scene photos she'd taken. She'd also mention that Margo would be sending him all the autopsy information, but she wouldn't go into details why. She didn't want to be a tattletale.
As she descended the steps outside, Kenzie saw someone hovering over her car, as though putting something under one of her windshield wipers. She yelled, "Hey!" at the stranger, who rapidly turned around and stared daggers at her.
At first, Kenzie thought the young man would run away. He was probably trying to steal something in her car, like the built-in GPS that came with it, or perhaps the stereo.
But if he were a thief, he would have fled when she'd confronted him, right? And surely he wouldn't be such an imbecile as to steal something in broad daylight.
So when the man climbed the stairs and approached Kenzie instead, his expression cold, she was almost afraid.
"I was hoping to just leave this on your windshield anonymously," he said in a slightly deep voice tinted with a hint of smugness. "But now I'll have to resort to telling you myself."
The man held a note out to Kenzie, who took it with a perplexed look on her face. She quickly scanned it and saw that it was a warning.
Save yourself. Go back home and don't investigate this case. Leave Bridgeport now, while you still can.
Kenzie glanced back up at the stranger and her bewilderment turned to anger.
"Who do you think you are?" she demanded. "What is this? Some ploy to get me to leave so people can keep dying?"
"Trust me. It's for the best."
"Trust you? I don't even know you! You were standing over my car, putting threatening notes on my windshield, and now you want me to trust you? Were you hit in the head with a rock?"
"Not recently."
"Very funny. You're lucky we're right outside a police station. I'm going to take this to Chief Tobias right now."
"It won't do you any good. I just don't want you to get hurt."
"You don't even know me! What are you talking about?"
The young man just shook his head and walked away. Kenzie was fuming, and she was about to turn around and go back inside when something caught her eye. And that something was the stranger getting into a fancy black sports car and driving away.
The exact same car she'd seen following her from the beach earlier.
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