Resolutely, she allowed the mental portrait to sink in, but that didn’t mean she let it affect her. No emotion: it was the only way to deal.
“Breisi took pictures of Jessica for a better look later,” Dawn said, “but the visit didn’t tell us much more than we already knew. It looked like an animal tore into the woman, just like with Klara.” The first vampire murder. Lee Tomlinson’s murder. “But there was something interesting: they found one cut on the left side of Jessica’s neck that the bites didn’t cover. A knife cut, they think, and they say her throat could’ve been sliced before the murderer laid chompers to her. That’s something we didn’t see with Klara, unless Lee Tomlinson covered the cuts with his own mutilations. And they found hints of longer…” What did they call those teeth? “…lateral incisors. So maybe we’ve got a weaker vamp—a real one?—who had to subdue the victim before feasting….”
“Valid theory, but…” Kiko raised his eyebrows, obviously knowing something that trumped the morgue stories. “I didn’t get back from Jessica’s crime scene until about an hour ago, and I found something that definitely makes me think we’re not dealing with what we think we are.”
“Spill, please.”
“Well, mostly I got residual readings, memories, from Jessica. Dates she’d brought to her bedroom, upsetting phone calls she’d made to her mom, who was getting her second divorce, things like that. But then…”
Kiko took a dramatic pause. Acting! He was like that Jon Lovitz character from Saturday Night Live, but for real.
“What?” Dawn said. “Tell me before the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse arrive.”
“You have zero patience, you know that?” He angled forward, becoming Serious Kiko. “I kept getting vibes from the closet. I was touching everything inside, and when I came to the carpet, it was obvious. The killer had been waiting there for Jessica to come home from work.”
Oh, damn. Just…damn. Suddenly, Dawn never wanted to be alone in a room again. Shit, shit, shit.
Containing a shiver, she managed to ask, “So you were with the killer? Do you know who it is?”
“No, no, don’t I wish. There weren’t a lot of clues about this…thing. Human, nonhuman, I’m still not sure.”
“You’ve admitted yourself that you’re not very good at reading vamps, like, you’re not sure when they’re going to show up and all that.”
“But it’s always just been a suspicion, not something I entirely believe. Definitely only a theory.” Kiko shifted, then touched his back. Sending a testing glance at Dawn, he quickly looked away. “Vamps aren’t supposed to have souls, or so we think. But what about the human Servants? I’d be able to read one of them. I did it with Lee Tomlinson in Bava.”
Dawn watched him squirm around, not liking the tension on his face at all. Had he worked too hard during the beanbag simulation yesterday? “What did you get from the killer, Kik?”
“Nightmares.” He removed his hand from his back, his eyes going dark. “The images, the feelings were like stabs. I couldn’t hang on for long. But what I saw was…God, you know those old Nine Inch Nails music videos? Flashes of hell?”
Concerned, Dawn put her hand on his knee. She couldn’t imagine having to live with a mind that was a portal to another dimension. Seeing Eva’s grisly murder photos over and over was enough. Maybe too much.
“Any details?” she asked.
He nodded, his gaze straying from hers, as if seeking cover. He came to stare at the coffee table, where a pill bottle was resting on its side. Next to the filled water glass where she’d put Matt’s already-wilting daisies, it made for an inexplicably disturbing picture.
“The killer might’ve been having sex with Lee Tomlinson,” Kiko said. “Rough sex, too. Brutal. That’s what I saw.”
“They knew each other?”
“Either that or the killer fantasizes about him.”
“And that would make sense if this were a copycat. Wouldn’t there be some kind of worship and desire to be him?”
“Right, right.” He moved around again. “You should’ve seen the morning news. They’re all over this story. Jessica’s murder is casting suspicion on Lee’s guilt now—”
Dawn couldn’t stand to watch him anymore. “Man, are you okay?”
His only answer was to look annoyed, which wasn’t a surprise.
Her cell rang and, dragging her gaze away from Injured Kiko, she checked the call screen. “Breisi. She’s probably in front of the apartment complex.”
Kiko stood stiffly.
“Maybe you shouldn’t go,” Dawn said.
“Maybe you shouldn’t worry like a squawking hen. I’ll meet you out there.”
She glanced at the pill bottle, then at him.
He scowled. “I said I’ll meet you there.”
Something leaden weighed in her chest as she went outside.
Happy Kiko, Serious Kiko, Hurting Kiko…
She wasn’t so sure which one would be coming with her and Breisi to their surprise meeting with Milton Crockett.