Page 100 of Death is Familiar

“To what do we owe the pleasure, Assistant Director?”

Pulling out the free seat beside mine, Rochan sat, and with her attentions pinned on me she said, “Observation.” Then to Jack, “Go on, pay me no mind. Proceed.”

Having Rochan spontaneously inject herself into a meeting must not have been a regular occurrence, as silence ensued.

Guess I’d have to be the one to break it.

“So, we know the suspects are local to Huntington, and have access to sensitive vamp information. Any updates on the woman with the false confession?”

The strange tension broke, and the room picked up its rhythm.

“Selena Belle.” Thruppy clicked through a couple slides. On the screen flashed the image of the elfish woman. “Born Abigaile Johns. Changed her name three years ago. Still holding out that she alone is responsible for the murders.”

Damn it. I was hoping that some jail time would make her come to her senses, make her realize the consequences of her actions were real. “There is no way she did it.”

“We are aware of your reservations.” Zhou still sat pin-straight, her gaze flickering towards Rochan, then Jack. “Hess made that quite clear.”

“So, you know about her love of vamps? Her adoration for everything vamp culture?” But it was more, it went beyond that. “A legal name change takes commitment, and Selena Belle is exactly the kind of name a vamp wannabe would pick for themselves.”

“But why would she confess?” Fawzy flipped the errant hair from her eye line. I really had to remember to offer her a bobby pin. “We can understand duress, but what force is being applied so that she maintains her story?”

“I looked into it. She has no record.” Thruppy went on, “Under either of her names. No close family, beyond a step-brother in the area she sees once a year. No outstanding debts. No history of drug use. She came back clean, with none of the usual extortion flags. She doesn’t even have a parking ticket. Her only recorded interaction with the police was when her wallet was stolen.”

“We’re thinking about this wrong.” I was tempted to stand, it would feel a whole lot better to discuss this on my feet. “She took on a vamp name. Her whole life is about vamps. It’s more than an obsession its…”

“A compulsion.” Jack could see where this was going.

“Part of her identity.”

Jointly, we said, “Shit.”

We were onto something, and paid little attention to the sounds and muttering around the room. Swearing in front of the assistant director was likely not on the approved behavior list.

“Someone would have had to approach her,” he said.

“And made it sound like a dream come true. She just had to prove her worth.”

“She confessed to killing them because…”

“She thought it was…”

“An initiation.” Good, Todd was following along. I wouldn’t have expected anything less.

Jack, Todd, and I traded knowing glances. “She still does.”

“Fawzy, Zhou, we’re going to need you to head back to Huntington.” Jack’s tone was matter-of-fact and left no room for argument. “We need you to speak with Selena, get her to confirm whether she was approached to take blame as part of an initiation with the vamps. She needs to know real people died. Take her into your custody, bring her to the morgue in Cincinnati, if you have to. Anything that would make her escape the bubble of reality she’s crafted for herself.”

“Why wouldn’t she think that people died?” Zhou asked with genuine curiosity, none of the rebuttal she’d demonstrated before.

“Lenore’s work is themed entertainment.” That was the easiest way I could explain it. Everything fabricated for an experience. “She spends a lot of money to make her world believable. And exclusive. Without having real access to the vamps, the woman, Selena, probably thinks the police are in on it. Just as she probably doesn’t realize real lives are on the line.” It would explain her cocky behavior when she was held for questioning, how she looked almost proud—she thought she was excelling at the initiation. But in reality, she had been made the fall guy.

“She thinks the vamps have sway over the police?” Another question from Zhou.

“Not everything makes sense, especially if you believe your sense of reality is being manipulated.” And didn’t I know it… Mads’ revelations really did a number on me. Had me questioning what was real and what had been fabricated. “Maybe she assumed Lenore’s reach was all powerful. Or if she saw police, and Lenore—” A thought struck me hard and fast. “Thruppy, anything in her file about a mugging?”

“Yes, there was something...” Thruppy flipped through a couple papers in a folder before him, landing on a section of page to confirm his thought. “Ah, here. When her wallet was stolen, she was, in fact, mugged. About a year ago.”

All the attention in the room snapped to me. Didn’t I— I thought I’d shared some detail about the muggings, at least the general weirdness from Officer Ellis. I was certain I mentioned it, at least in passing, to Jack and Todd before I made them take the trek out to Eureka with me.