Chapter 48
Chapter Forty-Eight
ORPHEUS
The world was broken and tangled, but for reasons Ingrid couldn’t name, she believed it was her burden to mend it.
Perhaps a quiet fault line in her mind, carved long ago by the silence of an only child’s loneliness.
Or something like that, she solemnly mused as Ingrid made her way to face her boss’s inquisition in his office.
She answered question after question about why their only suspect had been released.
Her first warning had been given. One more bad decision, and she would be suspended.
Though she believed mitigating circumstances had led to the confusion, she was reluctant to relay such information.
She took full responsibility for the error that she promised to put right.
She had her colleagues back, after all, the ones who had made that dreadful decision.
Ingrid left his office deeply troubled. It was now 0645, and she was exhausted.
She had been unable to fathom why the second murdered girl would have been replaced at Stonehenge.
With most cases, she had been able to at least grasp some reason, some underlying influence that made a criminal act in such a way—hate, anger, self-defense, or just plain evil.
However, this case left her bewildered. She could see no motivation or sense how the criminal’s mind worked.
She would have to completely rely on the forensic psychologists.
A text pinged on her phone and pulled her out of her harried state.
The forensic scientists working on her case were requesting her presence.
She drifted in that direction, pausing only to cradle a cup of coffee between her hands. This time, she finished it off to appease the staff.
Ingrid entered the laboratory, struck immediately by that old familiar sterility. She was directed toward the lab’s darkroom where she found Andrew, the department’s senior technician, peering through a microscope, engrossed. Ingrid tapped him on the shoulder and he looked up.
“What have you got for me?” Ingrid said. “Fingerprints?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Footprints?”
“Err . . . no.”
“Andrew! A strand of hair? Blood?”
“Nope.”
“And why are you working in here?” she asked him.
“Look at this.” Andrew directed Ingrid’s attention to two slides, one placed under the microscope, the other by its side.
“These are some of the cells taken from both the girls’ neck areas, the wound or puncture sites where we believe their blood was drained from their bodies.
They are like nothing we have ever seen.
They’re human but they’ve mutated in some way. Take a look yourself.”
“So, Andrew, what have you found?” Ingrid closed her left eye, peering down the long microscope with her right. She could make out what appeared to be cells. She watched in amazement their frantic movement upon the slide. “They’re still alive! That’s not possible, is it?”
“Yes, ma’am. I mean, no. I’ve never seen anything like this before.
We’ll give you a demonstration. That’s the only way we can explain it.
Now, with no support system—i.e., the human body—cells die within minutes.
But these cells, which have an abnormal molecular structure, are still alive without a support system.
You’re not going to believe what kills them,” Andrew said, his two colleagues gathering around, waiting for Ingrid’s reaction.
“Okay, give it to me. What kills them?” Ingrid attempted to look enthusiastic for his sake. Andrew had obviously been working hard all night.
“Well, Laura and I used everything. We isolated a few and tried anything and everything that would kill cells instantly, or at least change their structure. Then—and this is the spooky bit—when daylight flooded the lab, all of the cells on the slide died.”
“What are you saying?” she asked. “Light?”
“We believe so.”
“Ultraviolet?” she asked.
“Yep.”
“You’re saying daylight alone killed these cells?”
“Yes, the only thing,” he replied, looking excited.
“Hence you’re working in here.”
He nodded.
“So what you’re saying is that whatever these cells came from can only live at night? The moment daylight comes around they have to avoid the light or they’ll die. Oh, bloody hell, you complete bastards! You know this is a vampire-style murder. I am too exhausted for such crap.”
“Ma’am, we know how this looks. That’s why we called you here.
Now these are the same cells but taken from the second girl.
Again they were found in the wound on the neck.
The cells are an exact match to the first ones gathered the night before from the first victim.
They haven’t been exposed to the light yet. ”
“If you’re pissing with me, I’ll be so mad.” Ingrid studied his expression.
“There is a condition,” Andrew said. “A genetic disease. Those who suffer with this condition are extra-sensitive to light. If the sunlight touches them, their skin blisters terribly. They usually are anemic. Therefore, their bodies crave iron, even blood. In fact, theorists believe it’s what the vampire myth is based on.
“Perhaps this is somehow related to that, maybe it’s a more serious strain. There may even be some evidence of cerebral damage, leading to delirium. Who knows? Of course, we’ll know more when you catch the murderer.”
“But Andrew, surely if our guy was delirious, he wouldn’t have the sense not to leave evidence. I mean, no fingerprints, footprints, or any other forensic evidence other than this?”
“It’s not within the norm.”
“Do these cells react in the same way until struck by light?”
“Um, no. In fact, they’re a lot more fragile.”
“Back to square one.”
“Maybe it’s a similar condition,” he said.
“Okay. I suppose we could contact doctors in the Salisbury area to find out if any of them have ever treated anyone with this disease or another similar one. Perhaps it’s a mutant strain or something. Now show me the cells’ reaction to light.”
“Take a seat and keep your eye on the screen up there,” Andrew said.
Ingrid sat on the stool positioned at the workbench, watching as Andrew worked around her.
He extracted the cells from the small glass tube and with detailed precision placed them upon the slide.
Ingrid stared up at the screen watching the perfectly formed oscillating cells.
They quivered on the glass slide. Andrew opened the door and light flooded in.
Ingrid watched the screen carefully. The cells, which had first appeared so vibrant, now withered. One by one, their matter became almost invisible under the microscopic lens.
Ingrid was astonished. “What the. . . ?”
“Something out there is an anomaly. We are wary of professional ridicule as much as the next person, but off the record,” Andrew pointed to the specimen, “if you told me those blood cells came from a vampire, I would believe you.”