Whenhe sat down and saw her through the glass partition, he muttered,“Christ.”
“Hello,”she said, rather pleased at his reaction. “You look terrible, if youdon’t mind me saying.” It wasn’t that he looked terrible; he lookedlike any other con, rough around the edges, tired, and seething. Hehad shadows under his eyes. That was a lot different than he’d lookedthe last time she’d seen him, poised and hunting.
“Whatdo you want?”
“Ihave to be blunt, Mr. Bennett,” she said. “I’m here looking for advice.”
“Notsure I can help you.”
Maybethis had been a mistake. “You mean you’re not sure you will.Maybe you should let me know right now if I’m wasting my time. Save usboth the trouble.”
“DidKitty tell you to talk to me?”
Asa matter of fact, Kitty Norville had suggested it. Kitty the werewolf.Hardin hadn’t believed it either, until she saw it. It was mostlyKitty’s fault Hardin had started down this path. “She said you mightknow things.”
“Kitty’sgot a real big mouth,” Bennett said wryly.
“Howdid you two even end up friends?” Hardin said. “You wanted to killher.”
“Itwasn’t personal.”
“Then,what? It got personal?” Hardin never understood why Kitty had justlet the incident go. She hadn’t wanted to press charges. And now theywere what, best friends?
“Kittyhas a way of growing on you.”
Hardinsmiled, just a little, because she knew what he was talking about.Kitty had a big mouth, and it made her charming rather than annoying.Most of the time.
Shepulled a folder from her attaché case, drew out the eight-by-tencrime-scene photos, and held them up to the glass. “I have a body.Well, half a body. It’s pretty spectacular and it’s not in any of thebooks.”
Bennettstudied the photos a long time, and she waited, watching him carefully.He didn’t seem shocked or disgusted. Of course he didn’t. He wascurious. Maybe even admiring? She tried not to judge. This was likeManuel’s shed; she only saw Bennett as sinister because she knew whathe was capable of.
“Whatthe hell?” he said finally. “How are they even still standing? Arethey attached to something?”
“No,”she said. “I have a set of free-standing legs attached to a pelvis,detached cleanly above the fifth lumbar vertebra. The wound is coveredwith a layer of table salt that appears to have caused the flesh toscorch. Try explaining that one to my captain.”
“Nothanks,” he said. “That’s your job. I’m just the criminal reprobate.”
“Soyou’ve never seen anything like this.” “Hell, no.”
“Haveyou ever heard of anything like this?” She’d set the photos flat on thetable. He was still studying them.
“No.You have any leads at all?”
“No.We’ve ID’d the body. She was Filipina, a recent immigrant. We’re stilltrying to find the other half of the body. There has to be another halfsomewhere, right?”
Hesat back, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t bet on it.”
“You’resure you don’t know anything? You’re not just yanking my chain out ofspite?”
“Iget nothing out of yanking your chain. Not here.”
Scowling,she put the photos back in her case. “Well, this was worth a try. Sorryfor wasting your time.”
“I’vegot nothing but time.”
Hewas yanking her chain, she was sure of it. “If you think of anything,if you get any bright ideas, call me.” As the guard arrived to escorthim back to his cell, she said, “And get some sleep. You look awful.”
Hardinwas at her desk, looking over the latest reports from the crime lab.Nothing. They hadn’t had rain, the ground was hard, so no footprints.No blood. No fibers. No prints on the shed. Someone wearing gloves hadcut off the lock in order to stuff half the body inside—then hadn’tbothered to lock the shed again. The murderer had simply closed thedoor and vanished.
Thephone rang, and she answered, frustrated and surly. “DetectiveHardin.”
“Willyou accept the charges from Cormac Bennett at the ColoradoTerritorial Correctional Facility?”
Ittook her a moment to realize what that meant. She was shocked. “Yes, Iwill. Hello? Bennett?”
“Manananggal,” he said. “Don’t ask me how to spellit.”
Shewrote down the word, sounding it out as best she could. The Internetwould help her find the correct spelling. “Okay, but what is it?”
“Filipinoversion of the vampire.”
Thatmade no sense. But really, did that matter? It made as much sense asanything else. It was a trail to follow. “Hot damn,” she said, suddenlyalmost happy. “The victim was from the Philippines. It fits. So thesuspect was Filipino, too? Do Filipino vampires eat entire torsos, orwhat?”
“No,”he said. “That body is the vampire, the manananggal. You’re looking for a vampire hunter.”
Herbrain stopped at that one. “Excuse me?”
“Thesecreatures, these vampires—they detach the top halves of their bodies tohunt. They’re killed when someone sprinkles salt on the bottom half.They can’t return to reattach to their legs, and they die at sunrise.If they’re anything like European vampires, the top half disintegrates.You’re never going to find the rest of the body.”
Well.She still wouldn’t admit that any of this made sense, but the piecesfit. The bottom half, the salt burns. Never mind—she was still lookingfor a murderer here, right?
“Detective?”Cormac said.
“Yeah,I’m here,” she said. “This fits all the pieces we have. Looks like Ihave some reading to do to figure out what really happened.”
Hemanaged to sound grim. “Detective, you might check to see if there’vebeen a higher than usual number of miscarriages in the neighborhood.”
“Why?”
“Iused the term ‘vampire’ kind of loosely. This thing eats fetuses. Sucksthem through the mother’s navel while she sleeps.”
Shealmost hung up on him because it was too much. What was it Kittysometimes said? Just when you thought you were getting a handle on thesupernatural, just when you thought you’d seen it all, something evenmore unbelievable came along.
“You’rekidding.” She sighed. “So, what—this may have been a revenge killing?Who’s the victim here?”
“You’llhave to figure that one out yourself.”
“Isn’tthat always the way?” she muttered. “Hey—now that we know you reallywere holding out on me, what made you decide to remember?”
“Look,I got my own shit going on and I’m not going to try to explain it toyou.”
Shewas pretty sure she didn’t really want to know. “Fine. Okay. Butthanks for the tip,
