"We need more to go on than a physical description and the type of car he was driving," he explained. "Bridgeport is a big city, so it could have been anyone."
"What about fingerprints?" Kenzie replied. "I've got this note here, and he handed it to me himself."
"It's worth a shot, but there's a possibility that he isn't in the database."
Kenzie nodded understandingly. She knew this routine. A fingerprint had to be on file for a match to be found. That meant that the stranger would've had to have had his fingerprints taken sometime in the past, or he'd have to be in a career that required fingerprints to be taken.
Unfortunately, in the case of this guy, there were no matches to anyone in the database. No wonder he'd been so unconcerned about Kenzie taking the note straight to Carson. He had no fear of getting caught.
Carson suggested that Kenzie have a police escort back to the hotel, and even some police protection, but she refused. For all she knew, the guy was just playing a joke on her. He hadn't physically harmed her, and leaving her a note wasn't a crime. So she bravely went back to the hotel alone and walked to the desk.
Kenzie dug out her camera, hooked it up to her laptop, and downloaded the crime scene photos. She then attached them in an email to Carson.
After that, she opened up her notes and added to them. She always found that typing notes was much faster and easier than hand-writing them. Besides, as fast as she typed, if the notes were written by hand, they'd be indecipherable.
After finishing up the notes, Kenzie glanced at the clock and saw that school would be out in roughly an hour. She decided to have a quick lunch before heading to the school.
While driving, Kenzie couldn't help glancing in the rearview mirror, looking for signs of the La Matea car belonging to the mysterious stranger from earlier. She didn't see it this time, but she couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief when she pulled up to the school at last.
When Kenzie arrived at the school, she saw several kids accumulating at the bus stop outside. Based on Valerie's description, she shouldn't be hard to spot.
But as the congregation of students began to disappear, it became apparent that Valerie wasn't among them. So much for questioning her.
Kenzie leaned back in her seat, disgruntled. This case was going nowhere. Evidence that made no sense, a sketchy coroner and her daughter, and now a stranger telling her to leave "for her own good." What next?
********************
Kenzie went back to the hotel and tried to make sense of some of the evidence. She researched other weapons that could have made the puncture marks in the victims' necks as well as any other possible motive for draining a body of its blood.
But unfortunately, all she came up with was vampires, thanks to the media's hype about the fictional species.
By the time she was finished with her research, it was nearly 7 p.m. Kenzie realized belatedly that her stomach was rumbling, but that was typical - once she got started on work, she usually didn't stop.
This time, however, she felt slightly disheartened that her research had come up empty. It was very frustrating for her when she couldn't catch any breaks on a case.
She thought about researching the stranger who'd left her that note, but hacking into the criminal or police database would do no good since his prints didn't match anyone. Plus, she'd need a name to go on rather than just his physical appearance. She couldn't even add tattoos to her description of the guy because she hadn't seen any on him.
At last, famished and irritated, Kenzie called for room service, which arrived within 20 minutes. She dug into her grilled cheese sandwich and tried to focus her mind.
Her mind was spinning with suspects and possibilities. Margo's firm belief in vampires was suspicious, even if Bridgeport did have a rumored history of housing the creatures several years ago. And by several years, that meant centuries ago.
Still, Margo's belief could be reason enough to believe that she herself was behind the murders, and it would explain the victims' puncture wounds and blood loss. Still, what would her motive be? To persuade her daughter to stop being obsessed with vampires because of what they were supposedly capable of? To prove to Bridgeport that vampires existed at one time, and might still?
None of these scenarios seemed likely, but Kenzie had to examine the case from all angles. She hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Valerie yet, but she was also a potential suspect. Her intrigue with vampires, not to mention her described goth lifestyle, indicated that she might also be responsible. If she was that fascinated with vampires, though it sounded very unappealing, she'd have a reason to drain victims of all their blood. Still, a teenager drinking blood wasn't something that Kenzie wanted to think about. Surely there was a more rational explanation than that.
Finally, Kenzie resigned and took a shower before climbing into bed. This case had several twists and turns, and they just seemed to be growing. She hoped she'd be able to solve this case before it was too late and someone else was killed.
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