Page 51 of Cooper’s Passion

By the time they found a person who had indeed noticed something the night of Janet’s murder, it was already dark outside. The older man invited them into his flat and motioned them to the bedroom from which he’d seen something in the alley.

He opened the window and pointed to the alley. “I heard a vehicle idling out there, so I came to close the window. I didn’t want those fumes in the bedroom, you know.”

“Absolutely,” Cooper said. “Did you look outside?”

“Sure did. It was some van.”

“Did you notice the color?”

“It was already dark out, but I think it was white.”

Anita nodded to herself. A white van—it agreed with what she’d seen in Elko. “You didn’t by chance see the license plates?”

“No, sorry, ma’am.”

“What did you see the man doing?” Cooper asked.

“I saw him lower something to the ground. But I couldn’t see what it was. I figured he was dumping trash, you know, ‘cause he didn’t wanna call the city for a pickup, when they charge you for it. Wouldn’t be the first time that happened here…”

“Did you see the man’s face?”

“Just for a second. Can I see the picture again?” the old man asked.

“Of course.” Cooper turned his phone so the man could see the sketch.

This time, Anita stood next to the old man and saw the sketch too. She sucked in a breath. The face of the suspect was still the same, but the protruding teeth the sketch on Benjamin’s tablet had shown, were gone. Either Benjamin or Cooper had changed the sketch. Why? Why hide the fact that the suspect had pointy canines?

“Yes, that looks like him,” the old man confirmed.

“Thank you very much, sir,” Cooper said politely, put his cellphone back in his pocket, and added, “We appreciate your help.”

They left the apartment building and started walking to where Cooper had parked the SUV. The cool night air made her shiver.

“At least, we know for sure that the man Ginger saw following the female bank employee, is the same one who dumped Janet’s body in the alley,” Cooper said, walking past a large truck.

“Yes, it’s a start.” But the doctored sketch still bothered her. Now was as good a time as any to grab the bull by the horns. “About the sketch of the suspect. Why did you edit out the teeth? Don’t you think that’s a pretty prominent feature by which to identify the killer?”

Cooper was almost at the car and looked over his shoulder. “Benjamin and I figured that it would just confuse people.”

The answer didn’t satisfy her. “Confuse? Confuse how?”

She noticed him hesitate, then suddenly glance in a different direction, remaining silent as if he’d heard something. But there was no sound. Was he stalling to find a suitable answer that she would accept?

“We want people to concentrate on the face, not be distracted by his crooked teeth.” He motioned her to approach. “Come, we’ve got more ground to cover.”

But Anita remained standing where she was. The tiny hairs on her nape prickled, and it felt as if a cold snake slithered down her back. She’d felt like that once before, and she remembered the moment: it had happened when she’d seen a man abducting her mother, and she’d stood by helplessly.

“Anita, get in the car, now!” Cooper suddenly ordered, a dangerous undertone in his voice as he glanced around the parked cars as if looking for something.

Anita didn’t move, because what she saw now sent a shock wave through her body, paralyzing her. Cooper’s eyes were glowing red, and this time it wasn’t a play of the light, because something else had changed at the same time. Two long pointy teeth were protruding from Cooper’s mouth.

Two fangs.

Snippets of the past two days with Cooper flashed before her eyes. Everything fit together now: the blood splatter on his shirt, the golden shimmer in his eyes when they’d made love, the incident where he’d nicked her lip with his teeth and claimed it had been accidental. And other things came back now too. The two puncture wounds on Janet’s neck had been made by fangs. That’s how she’d been drained of her blood. An image of Cooper’s cousin Jacob with his two sharp teeth appeared before her mental eye—he’d bitten her. She was sure of it. Yet Cooper had played it down. Just like he’d glossed over the fact that the sketch of the suspect had shown fangs. He’d removed them—evidently to protect somebody. If not the killer, then at least himself. The secret he and Wesley had whispered about was so obvious now. Vampires existed. They weren’t just myth or lore. They were real.

And Cooper was one of them.

A vampire.

“How could I have been so blind?”