Hunger (Winter's Call 2)

Hunger (Winter's Call 2)
Carys Seraphine
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Copyright ©2024 Carys Seraphine

“Did you hear?”

Logan Greer looked up from the mountain of paperwork on his long-suffering desk. “Hear what?”

His friend and fellow detective, Jan Summers, leaned on the side of his desk, arms crossed while she peered at him like he’d missed something. Had he?

“They found another body.”

“Okay…”

“Believed to be connected to your case.”

Now she had his attention. “What? Not that friend of the doc’s, was it?”

“No, but close enough to her to make the higher-ups leery.”

Logan stood and grabbed his coat. “Where?”

Jan handed him a slip of paper with an address on it. “Apparently, it’s a block or so away from Dr. Hill’s office.”

He grabbed his keys and headed out, his mind going in half a million directions at once. Whatever was going on, he didn’t doubt it had something to do with Dr. Adriana Hill.

The drive to her office didn’t take long, even without a siren. He parked in front of the building and noted the metal detector just inside the door. Not many health providers stuck their necks out for vampires, and those who did put themselves at the wrong end of others who would rather the vamps die final deaths. Logan had no qualms with vamps as long as they left him alone.

He spotted a few department vehicles along the busy street and started down the sidewalk in that direction, needing answers before he went inside to break yet more bad news to the doc.

“Ah, there you are,” one of the techs said as Logan approached.

“What’ve you got?”

The tech finished removing his gloves and tossed them into a biowaste bin. “Well, believe it or not, a vamp.” At Logan’s raised eyebrow, the tech just nodded. “Young one, in vamp terms. I’d say about twenty-five, maybe thirty? Female.” He led Logan to a black body bag and unzipped it.

The resemblance to Dr. Hill unnerved Logan more than he cared to admit. “Cause of death?”

“That’s just it,” the tech said, zipping the bag up. “We don’t know. We’re gonna have Tox run some tests, though. She wasn’t drained or burned or decapped.”

Logan sighed. “Keep me updated, especially with whatever Tox finds. I need to go have a chat with Dr. Hill.”

“Dr. Adriana Hill? The vamp doc? Think she’s involved?”

“I think she may be a target,” Logan said. “Gut feeling. I’ll be in touch.”

Logan went back toward Dr. Hill’s office and stepped inside. He placed everything on the scanner table and nodded at the guard. The detector beeped, but given his profession, the guard just waved him by. Logan gathered his things and walked up to the receptionist’s desk.

“Hello, can I help you?”

He handed a business card to the young woman. “I need to speak with Dr. Hill, please.”

“Oh, yes, Detective. Please have a seat, and I’ll let her know.”

Logan sat in a nearby chair before giving the decent-sized waiting room a cursory glance. A few patients sat scattered around the room, most of them on their phones.

“Detective Greer?”

Logan looked up and couldn’t help but be taken aback by those mesmerizing dark emerald eyes. He stood and offered his hand, which she shook. “I apologize for this unannounced visit, Dr. Hill. Do you have a moment?”

Though she seemed a bit apprehensive, Dr. Hill gestured toward the hallway. “Of course, follow me.” Once inside her office, she shut the door and sat behind her desk. “There’s been another murder.”

Logan blinked. “How --”

“Rumors spread like wildfire in the vampire community, Detective. Several of my patients have mentioned it this evening.”

Logan sat down and tugged out a battered notepad and pen. “That makes sense. I imagine losing one of their own would get them talking about it amongst themselves. Did you know her?”

“Not personally. She was one of Edith’s patients, so I never saw her in that capacity. What happened?”

“Her body was found about a block from here, stuffed behind a dumpster like a ragdoll. No blood loss, no burns, no evidence of even attempted decapitation.” He glanced up at her. “Dr. Hill, the fact that she resembled you a great deal is of particular concern.”

Dr. Hill leaned back, her expression pensive. “You think someone mistook her for me?”

“It’s not a guarantee, but the thought crossed my mind. Despite being a patient of Edith Tanner’s, the victim bears an uncanny resemblance to you, and the murder took place within a block of your office. I asked you before if Dr. Tanner had any enemies.”

Dr. Hill nodded.

“Now I’m asking that of you. Is there anyone who would want to harm you?”

She sighed and stood. “What I am about to show you is confidential, you understand. Patient-doctor privilege, HIPAA, you know the drill.” She retrieved a folder from a filing cabinet and set it on the desk in front of him. “The majority of our files are digital now, in an EHR program. Only the oldest are still in paper format.”

He opened the folder. “A patient file?”

“Yes.” She sat down again and leaned back in her chair. “About ten years ago, I had a patient come in who had been bitten. He was angry and quite combative. He seemed to think I could fix him.”

“Fix him?” Logan asked as he studied the black-and-white photo in the top right corner, affixed to the patient information form with a paperclip.

“Stop him from becoming a vampire,” Dr. Hill said.