“Fia,” Peigi said, settling her gaze on her. “There’re plenty of rumors bouncing around Clare Point. Why don’t you tell us exactly what we know and what we don’t know and give us your assessment of the situation. Not just from an FBI standpoint, but as a member of this sept.”
Fia debated whether to sit or stand but decided to stand, thinking it would give her more authority. “This is what we know. Shannon worked until nine at the Hill, and was out until sometime between 11:15 and 11:20 P.M. Liz Lilk, across the street, saw her walking up her driveway. Where she was between clocking out from work and arriving at home, I haven’t been able to find out yet. Shannon placed a personal phone call to me at 11:25 and sometime between then and midnight, she was murdered.”
Fia heard whispers, but no one spoke up. All gazes were fixed on her.
“The killer could have followed her in, but it’s more likely he was waiting for her. Probably hiding in the bedroom. He decapitated her…” Fia kept her voice steady. “He placed her on the bed, he removed her breasts, put garlic in her mouth, and set the bed on fire.”
“Her breasts,” someone whispered. “Bobby’s feet, Mahon’s hands. Now Shannon’s breasts.”
Fia looked in the direction the voice had come from and the room was silent again.
“I don’t yet know why the killer is taking body parts, but all of us in this room understand the beheading and the burning. The head is separated from the body, the body is burned, to prevent the body from regenerating and the soul reentering the body. What’s different about Shannon is the garlic in her mouth. A few weeks ago we were looking at each other, wondering if one of our neighbors, our family members, could have been committing these heinous crimes. Now we know it’s not one of us.”
“How do we know?” Jim Hill piped up.
She turned to him. “Because only humans believe in the repelling quality of garlic among vampires. You put garlic in your marinara sauce, Uncle Jim.”
He lowered his head, nodding in agreement.
Fia took the moment to look at each member of the council, slowly turning so that she could look into each of their faces. “So, the good news is that it’s not one of us.” She hesitated. “The bad news is that it’s one of them, which means we’ve been found.”
“What does the FBI think about all this? Beheadings. Now the garlic.” Peigi asked.
“Fortunately for us, the FBI doesn’t believe in vampires. The assumption is being made that the killer is just another one of the crazies we’re all trying to rid the world of. The FBI is serious about this investigation and we believe we’re getting closer to the killer.” The words sounded hollow in Fia’s ears. “What the FBI is doing right now, what I and my partner are doing, is trying to put all the evidence we have from the three murders together and figure out what it means.”
“I can tell you what it means. It means one of us ran our mouths,” Mary Hill blurted out, staring at Mary McCathal. “Means one of us got too friendly with the tourists. Too friendly with the Federal Express man.”
“I never told anyone about us,” Mary McCathal hissed at Mary Hill. “You’re the one always gossipin’, Mary Hill. You’re the one runnin’ around with people’s husbands.”
Mary Hill’s mouth popped wide open, but before she could say another word, Peigi stood. “Ladies! This is just what I’m talkin’ about. What I won’t have.” She glared at the two Marys. “Go on, Fia.” She sat down again.
Fia opened her arms, then brought her hands together. “The good news is, as I said before, we’re closer to the killer, closer to finding out who did this and protecting each other. The bad news is that now we have to decide how to figure out what the humans know about us.”
“How we supposed to do that?” someone asked. “If I told the checker at the grocery store in Dover about me being a vampire, I certainly wouldn’t admit it to anyone else!”
Everyone started to talk at once and the noise rose until it reached a crescendo. Fia let them talk for a moment or two more and then raised both hands. “Ladies, gentlemen, please.”
Everyone quieted.
“Before we start accusing each other, thinking the worst of each other, let’s consider this. Maybe no one told anyone anything. Maybe a human has learned of our existence by accident. Maybe someone saw something, heard something he shouldn’t have. Think about all the humans that come and go in this town every day, especially in the summer—tourists, delivery men, college kids seeking employment.”
“I don’t understand.” Rob Hail rubbed his balding head. “Why would someone seek us out and murder us? We’ve been living peaceably here for three centuries.”
Fia shrugged. “Why have we been persecuted for fourteen hundred years? It’s all part of the mallachd, Rob. We’ve just forgotten because we have lived so peacefully on these shores for so long.”
Again, there were whispers, but people were listening now. They wanted to hear what she had to say.
“So what are you proposing?” Peigi asked.
“I think I should interview everyone in this town, find out what humans we each have contact with and try to cross-reference the names. See which humans are coming in and out of town regularly.” As time-consuming as the idea seemed to her, Fia really thought that this was the best way to tackle it. It would be
