Many Bloody Returns Part 49

far in dress shoes.

Finally they found the spot Stella was sure matched the description in the police report, just past a decrepit wooden fence. The neon of Benny's was visible as a glow above the tree line.

"Now I know why you reeked when you came to bed today," she said.

Mark inhaled deeply and regretted it. "I see what you mean about chicken farms. They're foul. Or fowl, if you'd rather."

"It's not the chicken," Stella said. "Yes, I smell them, and yes, they are foul, but there's something else."

He started to ask what she meant, but she was leaning over, sniffing at the ground. Mark decided further bloodhound references would not go over well, so concentrated on staying out of her way as she wandered this way and that, sometimes breaking into a run so fast that he'd have lost her if he weren't a vampire, too.

Finally, after he'd chased her over what seemed like half the state, Stella came to a dead stop. "Here."

"You actually tracked her?" he said incredulously.

"No, you were right. It's been too long. I caught a trace of Jane's scent back where the body was, but that's it."

"Then what are you talking about?"

"I smelled somebody else. There's another body here, Mark-we're standing on the grave."

"Are you sure?"

"Can't you smell it?"

"You know I'm new at this," he grumbled, but leaned over and tried again. She was right. The stench of death was there, though

masked by the chickens' stink and several feet of earth between them and the corpse. "It's not fresh."

"No, but I think the one over there is." She pointed a little bit away.

"There's another?"

"More than that, I think."

"Jesus, Stella, what have we gotten ourselves into?"

Between their sense of self-preservation and the realization that dawn was coming, they made their way back to the car and drove

back to the hotel, arguing as they went. Mark was in favor of an anonymous call to Norcomb about the bodies, along with

another bout of be-spelling him if necessary, but Stella wasn't willing to risk their involvement coming to light.

Or so she said, but Mark suspected that she just didn't want to give up their investigation, and when he said so, she pulled rank on him. He objected, and by the time they got back to the hotel, they were no longer speaking.

Mark was still angry when he woke the next day, and both ignored Stella and pretended he'd never heard of Jane Doe. It was only when he'd gone out for lunch, defiantly eating a large bowl of chili with onions on top, that his resolve weakened, as it always did with Stella. She was older, richer, stronger, and faster than he was, and had other vampiric abilities he was just beginning to discover, and he still felt protective of her. He had no idea if it was a man-woman thing, a vampire-sire thing, or just a Mark-Stella thing. Whatever it was, he went to buy something they were going to need, and nearly had it set up when Stella woke.

Her nose wrinkled, so he knew she smelled his lunch despite his using a whole bottle of mouthwash, but she refrained from comment. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I got a VCR so we can watch the security tape." He made the last connection, turned on the TV and VCR, and reached for the tape.

Stella got to it first. "We don't have to do this," she said. "You don't have to do this."

"I know."

"All that 'I'm your sire and I say so!' stuff is bulls.h.i.t!"

Mark blinked at that-Stella rarely swore-and repeated, "I know."

"Then why did you get the VCR?"

"Consider it a belated birthday gift."

She smiled. "Only if you come here and let me give you an early birthday gift."

He started to join her on the bed but then stopped. "My lunch was kind of smelly."

"So I won't kiss you. Not on the lips, anyway."

An hour later, they got around to watching the video. Norcomb had put together a greatest hits tape, with snippets from various camera views that showed Jane. The film quality was mediocre, but they got the general idea.

Jane arrived dressed in urban Goth glory-black cargo pants, a black T-shirt ripped at the neckline, scuffed black boots. Her hair was, of course, black with the flat look of a cheap dye job. It was short, but Mark couldn't tell if it had been styled to look asymmetrical or just hadn't been brushed recently. She must have used half a tube of mascara to ring her eyes so thoroughly, and she was wearing a fine selection of heavy-looking Goth adornments: a skull ring, a bat wing necklace, and other less visible chains and rings.

"She doesn't exactly blend in, does she?" Mark said.

"But she doesn't seem to mind being stared at," Stella commented.

Even though nearly everybody who saw her did a double-take, Jane strode through the store confidently, not seeming to notice

them. She headed out of range of that camera, and the view switched to the juniors department. Jane went through the racks to pick out a pair of jeans and a light blue pullover sweater. After a trip to the dressing room, which was not doc.u.mented, she went to the shoe department to try on sneakers in blinding white. She got socks, too-the ones she was wearing had holes in both big toes. Next she got panties and a bra.

"Granny panties," Stella said thoughtfully.

"Beg pardon," Mark said.

"The female equivalent of tighty whities. Waist-high briefs, instead of a bikini or a thong."

The next scene was of her standing next to a rack of hats, and she settled on a light blue sun hat, the kind of modified ball cap

Mark saw girls wearing in the summer. She went to the register with her gleanings, still ignoring the curious looks she was getting, and once it was all paid for, headed toward the bathroom. There was a break in the film, and it started up again with her coming out again. Now Jane was dressed in her new outfit, and with her face scrubbed clean, her hair hidden under the hat, and the jewelry gone, she looked like a new person. The people walking past her didn't give her a second glance, except a high school boy who flashed a grin.

Jane walked toward the front of the store, carrying the Wal-Mart bag that presumably carried her old things. But just before she stepped out, she looked at the bag, then stuffed it into a trash can by the door. She walked out the door, and after ten seconds more, the tape ended.

"Kudos to your cousin for spotting her," Mark said. "I wouldn't have known it was the same girl."

"I don't know that I would have, either," Stella said. "Not by sight anyway. So how did her killer recognize her?"

"He must have known her well."

"What about the other bodies?"

"Norcomb thinks drugs were involved," Mark said, "and drug dealers make lots of enemies. Though I have to say that Allenville

doesn't seem like the place for that kind of activity, even with the big city nearby."

Stella rewound to the part where Jane emerged from the bathroom. "She looks a lot younger like that. Even her body language changed. Before she was so sure of herself-now she looks almost timid."

"Part of the disguise?"

"Maybe." Stella watched to the end again, shut it off, and announced, "I'm getting hungry."

They decided not to risk returning to the lakeside park from the previous night and instead went to the North Carolina State Fair,

which was in full swing. After Mark won a stuffed version of Seasame Street's Count from the milk bottle throw, they started

looking for a likely target.

"There," Stella said, nudging Mark in the side. A group of women who looked like college students was discussing what ride to go on next, and when they decided on the Ferris wheel, one of them begged off, saying she wanted to get something to drink. The others kidded her for being afraid of heights and joined the long line for the ride.

"Perfect," Mark said. They followed the acrophobic girl for a few minutes, then flanked her, and Stella made eye contact to bespell her instantly. It took only a few minutes to find a secluded spot between trailers, and Stella fed while Mark kept watch.

Then they escorted the girl back, Mark bought her a c.o.ke, and Stella implanted the idea that a very attractive man had flirted with her.

They were halfway back to the hotel when Stella said, "That's it!"

"That's what?"

"Why did we pick that girl to feed on?"

"Because she was temporarily alone."

"Because she was vulnerable. Now think about how Jane looked. Before she changed clothes, she looked tough and streetwise.

People stared at her but n.o.body messed with her. Afterward, she looked vulnerable."

"Okay."

"Norcomb thought she changed clothes as a disguise, and that may be it, but maybe that's not why she was killed. What if she

was killed because she was vulnerable? What if somebody saw that and marked her as his prey?"

"Another vampire?"

"No-the autopsy report had nothing about her being drained. But we're not the only predators around."

"Meaning what?" Mark said, thinking uncomfortably of those other things Stella had referred to before. "Werewolves? Zombies?

Ghouls?"

"I'd have smelled any of them at the graves we found," Stella said matter-of-factly, and Mark didn't know if she was kidding or not. "I'm talking about a human monster."

"A serial killer," Mark said, momentarily relieved, "with a penchant for young girls."