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I quickly surveyed the scene at Colonial Lake again. The sun was shining brightly and I was forced to shade my eyes. Birds were twittering in several of the trees. The park was wide open to scrutiny. 'They were out in broad daylight. Some vampires,' I muttered. Kyle eyed me.'You're not starting to believe in vampires.' 'I believe that there are people who practice a vampire lifestyle,' I told him.'I know some of them believe the/re vampires. Some of the role-players even sport very sharp teeth. Fangs. They can be very violent. I haven't seen any shape changers yet. Otherwise our witness might have seen a couple of furry bats winging it out of here instead of two men. That's supposed to be funny, Kyle. What else did our witness say about the men he saw?' 'Not a lot. He thought they were young, Alex. Twenties or thirties, which covers a hell of a lot of territory. They were walking quickly, but didn't seem alarmed that he saw them. He's eighty-six, Alex. He seems, shall we say, distracted by all the attention he's getting.' 'Whoever the killers are, they're certainly bold. Or stupid. I wonder if these are the same bastards we chased through California and Nevada.' Kyle lit up a little. He had something to tell me. 'My people in Quantico were up half the night. Again. Alex, the/ve come up with a dozen East Coast cities with unsolved murders that could be connected to the others.' 'What's the time frame of the murders?' I asked. 'That's the really interesting part. This may have been going on for a long time. Nobody seems to have put these cases together before we came along. The time frame is at least eleven years.'
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Alex Cross 7 - Violets Are Blue
Chapter Forty-Three
That night, Kyle and I had dinner with a good friend in Charleston. Actually, Kyle made the arrangements, including reservations at the Capital Grille on North Tyron. Kate McTieman hadn't changed much since we had been thrown together during the Casanova murder spree in Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. When the murderer Casanova had kidnapped Kate in her house outside Chapel Hill he'd believed she was the most beautiful woman in the South. Not only that, Kate was extremely smart. She was a doctor now, a pediatrician, but she was thinking about becoming a surgeon. When she arrived at our table, Kyle and I were deep in conversation. Actually, we were arguing about possible next steps in the investigation. 'Hi, guys.' Lustrous brown hair framed Kate's face. She was wearing it longer these days. Her eyes were dark blue with a nice sparkle. She was still in terrific shape, but I knew she was a softie deep inside. 'Give it up,' Kate said. 'You boys are working way too hard. We're going to have some fun tonight.' Seeing her there got us both up out of our chairs and grinning like idiots. We'd gone through a lot together, and survived to be together again for this unlikely dinner in Charleston. 'This is a great coincidence. I was at a medical conference just outside town,'Kate said as she sat down with us. Alex doesn't believe there are coincidences,' Kyle said.
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'Well, fine. So here we are again, brought together by divine intervention or whatever, praise the Lord,' Kate said, and grinned. 'You seem in excellent spirits, Kate,' Kyle said. He was actually pretty buoyant himself. 'Well Kyle, this is just such a nice, unexpected treat. I get to see the two of you. Plus, I am in excellent spirits. I'm getting married next year in the spring. My Thomas proposed two nights ago.' Kyle fumbled out a congratulation, and I called over our waiter and ordered a bottle of champagne to celebrate. For the next few minutes, Kate told us all about her Thomas, who owned and ran a small, nicely snooty bookstore in North Carolina. He was also a landscape painter, and Kate said he was exceptional at both his jobs. 'Of course I'm hugely biased, but I'm also a picky little bitch, and he really is good. He's a fine person too. How are Nana and the kids? How's Louise, Kyle?' she asked. 'C'mon, tell me everything. I've missed you two.' By the end of dinner, we were all in good spirits. The champagne and the company did the trick. I had noticed before how Kate could raise up everyone around her - even Kyle, who usually isn't the most social person. All through dinner he rarely took his eyes off her. The three of us hugged outside of the restaurant at around eleven. 'You two are coming to my wedding,' Kate said, and stamped her foot. 'Kyle will bring Louise, and Alex, you'll bring the new love of your life. Promise?' We promised Kate. She left us no choice. We then watched her walk away toward her car, an old blue Volvo that she made house calls in. 'I like her a lot.' I couldn't help stating the obvious. 'Yes, I like her too,'said Kyle, who didn't stop watching until Kate's car was gone from sight.'She's a very special girl.'
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Alex Cross 7 - Violets Are Blue
Chapter Forty-Four
We were connecting some of the dots now. Finally. I hoped we would be able to put together the whole vampire puzzle soon. By the following afternoon, the FBI had identified twelve cities on the East Coast where murders involving vampire-like bites had occurred as early as 1989.1 put the names on one of my index cards. Then I stared at the list long and hard. What could possibly link these cities? Atlanta Birmingham Charleston Charlotte Charlottesville Gainesuille Jacksonville New Orleans Orlando Richmond Savannah Washington, DC The breadth of the list was a problem. Scarier and more mystifying was the fact that the murders might have been going on for over a decade. Next I made an even longer list of cities where non-lethal attacks by supposed 'vampires' had been reported and investigated. I stared at the list and got a little depressed. This was starting to look like an impossible conspiracy.
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New York City Boston Philadelphia Pittsburgh Virginia Beach White Plains Newburgh Trenton Atlanta Newark Atlantic City Tom's River Baltimore Santa Cruz Princeton Miami Gainesuille Memphis College Park Charlottesville Rochester Buffalo Albany The Violent Crime unit in Quantico was working round the clock on the murders. Kyle and I were pretty sure that other cities would turn up, and that the pattern might even go back further than eleven years. In Atlanta, Gainesville, New Orleans, and Savannah there appeared to have been murders in at least two different years. So far, Charlotte, North Carolina, was the worst hit: there were three suspicious murders going back to 1989. It was even possible that the killing spree had started in Charlotte. The FBI had moved agents into the twelve cities where the murders had taken place, and special task forces had been set up in Charlotte, Atlanta, and New Orleans. I finished up with my investigation in Charleston. It didn't -------------- 127 --------------
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accomplish too much. At this point, the media didn't have the story about the wide net of murder locations, and we wanted to keep it that way for as long as we could. That night, I visited Spooky Tooth, the only club in the Charleston area that was a hangout for Goths and vampire wannabes. What I found there was a nest of young people, mostly under twenty. They were still in high school or college. I interviewed the owner of the nightclub, and questioned some of the clientele. They were definitely angry and restless, but no one seemed a likely murder suspect. I made sure I was back in Washington the next afternoon. At seven-thirty, Nana, Jannie, little Alex and I went to one of the Boys Choir concerts. The choir sounded better than ever. Damon was one of the featured singers. He had a beautiful solo,'The Ash Grove'. 'See what you've been missing,' Nana leaned in close and said.