Dying Bites: The Bloodhound Files-1 by DD Barant Page A
Authors: DD Barant
Tags: Fiction, General, Suspense, Romance, Fantasy fiction, Fiction - Fantasy, Fantasy, Fantasy - Contemporary, Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, Occult fiction, Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths, Vampires, American Science Fiction And Fantasy, Horror & Ghost Stories, Werewolves, Serial Murders, Criminal profilers, Serial Murder Investigation
Ads: Link
around and shoot laser beams from our eyes.
“Not just the police. The military, hunters, criminals, ordinary citizens; they’re about as common as staplers. You do have staplers?”
Eisfanger shakes his head. “No—I mean yes, of course we have staplers. It’s just the idea of a weapon so esoteric being so widespread—”
“Esoteric?” I frown. I’ve heard guns described a lot of ways: cheap, expensive, evil, fun, sexy, dangerous, scary, sneaky—but never esoteric. It’s like calling fast food exotic cuisine. Of course, “fast food” here may refer to fresh long-distance runner—
Dizziness surges in my head and gut. It’s like that feeling you get when you visit a foreign country and everything seems new but not that strange, and then some little detail jumps out and you realize, you truly understand, that the people here don’t think the same way you do; that you’re a lot farther away from home than you really knew.
Eisfanger doesn’t notice. He’s already talking about something else, my laptop I think: “.
. . I was very careful, especially with the power supply, but it seems our worlds are compatible technologically, which, when you consider the complexity of machine code, is remarkable, quite remarkable—”
“So I can access your systems?”
Dying Bites – Bloodhound Files 01
Page 52 of 370
“Oh, yes. Your account, e-mail, passcodes, they’re already installed. Tutorial programs will give you a tour of our databases. And of course, you’ll be able to review all the relevant information on the case you’re working on.”
Gretchen steps forward. “We’d like to take a look at the physical evidence, Damon.”
“Where would you like to start?”
“The McMurdo victim,” I say.
Throughout this exchange Charlie’s hung back, not saying a word, but he makes sure he’s right beside me as Eisfanger leads us through the lab and to a refrigerated room behind a large steel door. The corpse of a husky lies on a necropsy table on its back, its legs splayed to either side and held upright with clamps. It’s been split open, the internal organs removed and no doubt analyzed. I’m more interested in the murder weapons—
the teeth.
I take the gloves Eisfanger offers and snap them on. The room is cold, but the excitement I’m getting off Eisfanger is anything but. He’s practically bouncing on the soles of his feet as he slips on gloves of his own—much thicker than mine but still rubberized.
“Take a look at this,” he says, grabbing the jaws and pulling them open. The teeth gleam dully, looking more like aluminum than silver, and I realize why Eisfanger’s gloves are thicker—he can’t handle the teeth directly. “Have you ever seen anything like it?”
“No. So the dogs had to be destroyed?”
“Oh, no. The vic managed to tear this one’s throat out before he went down—the others were anaesthetized and had the paint removed. We have samples.”
Dying Bites – Bloodhound Files 01
Page 53 of 370
More trouble than my superiors probably would have gone to—but then, they wouldn’t have to worry they might be executing a distant cousin. “How were they drugged?
Food?”
“No—tranquilizer darts.”
I lean in, pull back the black lip of the mouth. “Doesn’t look like he was all that gentle in applying the paint, either.” I can see cuts and abrasions on the inside of the mouth and the tongue.
“We think he used some sort of clamps to keep the mouth open while the dog was sedated, but something improvised as opposed to medical.”
I nod. “So not a veterinarian. The paint is precisely applied . . . he takes pride in his work. Control is important to him, that’s obvious.”
I straighten up. “Did we recover anything else from the site? The darts, the rifle that fired them?”
Eisfanger looks at me blankly. “The what?”
Oh. Right. “How were the darts delivered?”
“I presume the usual way—thrown.”
Great. These
“Not just the police. The military, hunters, criminals, ordinary citizens; they’re about as common as staplers. You do have staplers?”
Eisfanger shakes his head. “No—I mean yes, of course we have staplers. It’s just the idea of a weapon so esoteric being so widespread—”
“Esoteric?” I frown. I’ve heard guns described a lot of ways: cheap, expensive, evil, fun, sexy, dangerous, scary, sneaky—but never esoteric. It’s like calling fast food exotic cuisine. Of course, “fast food” here may refer to fresh long-distance runner—
Dizziness surges in my head and gut. It’s like that feeling you get when you visit a foreign country and everything seems new but not that strange, and then some little detail jumps out and you realize, you truly understand, that the people here don’t think the same way you do; that you’re a lot farther away from home than you really knew.
Eisfanger doesn’t notice. He’s already talking about something else, my laptop I think: “.
. . I was very careful, especially with the power supply, but it seems our worlds are compatible technologically, which, when you consider the complexity of machine code, is remarkable, quite remarkable—”
“So I can access your systems?”
Dying Bites – Bloodhound Files 01
Page 52 of 370
“Oh, yes. Your account, e-mail, passcodes, they’re already installed. Tutorial programs will give you a tour of our databases. And of course, you’ll be able to review all the relevant information on the case you’re working on.”
Gretchen steps forward. “We’d like to take a look at the physical evidence, Damon.”
“Where would you like to start?”
“The McMurdo victim,” I say.
Throughout this exchange Charlie’s hung back, not saying a word, but he makes sure he’s right beside me as Eisfanger leads us through the lab and to a refrigerated room behind a large steel door. The corpse of a husky lies on a necropsy table on its back, its legs splayed to either side and held upright with clamps. It’s been split open, the internal organs removed and no doubt analyzed. I’m more interested in the murder weapons—
the teeth.
I take the gloves Eisfanger offers and snap them on. The room is cold, but the excitement I’m getting off Eisfanger is anything but. He’s practically bouncing on the soles of his feet as he slips on gloves of his own—much thicker than mine but still rubberized.
“Take a look at this,” he says, grabbing the jaws and pulling them open. The teeth gleam dully, looking more like aluminum than silver, and I realize why Eisfanger’s gloves are thicker—he can’t handle the teeth directly. “Have you ever seen anything like it?”
“No. So the dogs had to be destroyed?”
“Oh, no. The vic managed to tear this one’s throat out before he went down—the others were anaesthetized and had the paint removed. We have samples.”
Dying Bites – Bloodhound Files 01
Page 53 of 370
More trouble than my superiors probably would have gone to—but then, they wouldn’t have to worry they might be executing a distant cousin. “How were they drugged?
Food?”
“No—tranquilizer darts.”
I lean in, pull back the black lip of the mouth. “Doesn’t look like he was all that gentle in applying the paint, either.” I can see cuts and abrasions on the inside of the mouth and the tongue.
“We think he used some sort of clamps to keep the mouth open while the dog was sedated, but something improvised as opposed to medical.”
I nod. “So not a veterinarian. The paint is precisely applied . . . he takes pride in his work. Control is important to him, that’s obvious.”
I straighten up. “Did we recover anything else from the site? The darts, the rifle that fired them?”
Eisfanger looks at me blankly. “The what?”
Oh. Right. “How were the darts delivered?”
“I presume the usual way—thrown.”
Great. These
Similar Books
