the results were valid. He hung up the phone with a sigh.
“Everything alright , Detective?”
“Oh y eah, Fiona. New hire . I’ve also hired two more serology techs; one is starting on Monday and the other, a week from that. Both of them have loads of experience so I will have that section running smoothly in no time. I’m over budget, but the Chief is working with me on that. ”
Detective Chase was a tremendously effective leader. I hoped that one day; I would be able to handle running a forensic lab as efficiently as he did.
“ Back to Dimitri LeMorte. His story is that he was running late for the mid dle of the W itching H our meeting with the cult. He normally preferred to arrive twenty minutes early to start the candles and such. Dimitri stated he entered an empty cave, saw the body , and left immediately . Emily Vance said she saw the teens leave, discovered the body, and ran to the pay phone at the marina to call the police . As she was returning to the cave , she spotted Dimitri exiting — seconds before the police arrived. However, he could have been hiding out in the cave as nobody witnessed him arrive. We can only place the time he left the cave.”
A succession of obnoxious thunder rolls created a mandatory pause in our conversation. The rain kicked back up with a passion.
“Good point. Wow. Well, this case is getting more interesting by the minute, huh?”
“It gets better. Well, worse, Fiona. We ran a criminal history check on Dimitri LeMorte.”
“And was it a million pages long?”
“No, it was clean other than the traffic tickets.”
“Hmm,” I said air ily, staring out his window at sheets of rain . I slumped in my chair.
“ There’s something even more peculiar ,” he said with a sly smile .
“Let’s hear it, ” I said, snapping out of my rain-watching trance.
“Well, it seems he only recently changed his name to Dimitri LeMorte. His real name is Charlie Bing.”
I stifled a laugh at the name of a threatening-looking horned man named Mr. Bing.
“Well, Charlie Bing doesn’t sound very scary or vampire - like, so I can see why he’d want to go by Dimitri LeMorte ,” I smirked.
“ Fiona, Dimitri LeMorte is related to Gerald Smith — the fugitive who is after your father.”
7 JADE PALACE
I woke up the next morning with a monster headache and an aching sensation in the back of my throat. I figured it was because I had cried myself to sleep . I had an empty fe eling as if I had lost a family member, a best friend. Luminal wasn’t there , but the mold of his body was still imprinted on his dog bed in the corner of my room . I had never experienced sadness like this . It was sorrow I needed J anice to help me deal with — yet she was in the hospital battling a deadly infection . My door creaked open.
“Fiona, I have some good news for once,” my mother said as she popped her head in my bedroom.
I threw my legs on the side of my be d and spun around to face her. N ewspaper in hand, she was undeniably cute wearing her red-rimmed reading glasses.
“Please, let’s hear it. They caught Gerald Smith? Janice is coming home ? Haley’s in New Zealand?”
She shook her head playfully.
“Fiona, be nice. Janice is out of ICU and is doing much better today. The doctor said it’s a miraculous recovery , but she’ll be there under close observation for at least five more days,” she reported.
I jumped off the side of my bed and rushed over to give her a quick hug. I let out a sigh of relief — this day was going to be a better one . My head was hot, maybe a fever, I shortened the hug for fear of her noticing —it didn’t take much to set off her worrywart trigger.
“Thanks for letting me know, M om . That’s wonderful news. What about Haley? She’s just here, stuck in the house? How long is she suspended from school — or is she expelled? When is she going to New Zealand?”
T he questions flooded in to my mind faster than I could process. She scowled at me,
“Everything alright , Detective?”
“Oh y eah, Fiona. New hire . I’ve also hired two more serology techs; one is starting on Monday and the other, a week from that. Both of them have loads of experience so I will have that section running smoothly in no time. I’m over budget, but the Chief is working with me on that. ”
Detective Chase was a tremendously effective leader. I hoped that one day; I would be able to handle running a forensic lab as efficiently as he did.
“ Back to Dimitri LeMorte. His story is that he was running late for the mid dle of the W itching H our meeting with the cult. He normally preferred to arrive twenty minutes early to start the candles and such. Dimitri stated he entered an empty cave, saw the body , and left immediately . Emily Vance said she saw the teens leave, discovered the body, and ran to the pay phone at the marina to call the police . As she was returning to the cave , she spotted Dimitri exiting — seconds before the police arrived. However, he could have been hiding out in the cave as nobody witnessed him arrive. We can only place the time he left the cave.”
A succession of obnoxious thunder rolls created a mandatory pause in our conversation. The rain kicked back up with a passion.
“Good point. Wow. Well, this case is getting more interesting by the minute, huh?”
“It gets better. Well, worse, Fiona. We ran a criminal history check on Dimitri LeMorte.”
“And was it a million pages long?”
“No, it was clean other than the traffic tickets.”
“Hmm,” I said air ily, staring out his window at sheets of rain . I slumped in my chair.
“ There’s something even more peculiar ,” he said with a sly smile .
“Let’s hear it, ” I said, snapping out of my rain-watching trance.
“Well, it seems he only recently changed his name to Dimitri LeMorte. His real name is Charlie Bing.”
I stifled a laugh at the name of a threatening-looking horned man named Mr. Bing.
“Well, Charlie Bing doesn’t sound very scary or vampire - like, so I can see why he’d want to go by Dimitri LeMorte ,” I smirked.
“ Fiona, Dimitri LeMorte is related to Gerald Smith — the fugitive who is after your father.”
7 JADE PALACE
I woke up the next morning with a monster headache and an aching sensation in the back of my throat. I figured it was because I had cried myself to sleep . I had an empty fe eling as if I had lost a family member, a best friend. Luminal wasn’t there , but the mold of his body was still imprinted on his dog bed in the corner of my room . I had never experienced sadness like this . It was sorrow I needed J anice to help me deal with — yet she was in the hospital battling a deadly infection . My door creaked open.
“Fiona, I have some good news for once,” my mother said as she popped her head in my bedroom.
I threw my legs on the side of my be d and spun around to face her. N ewspaper in hand, she was undeniably cute wearing her red-rimmed reading glasses.
“Please, let’s hear it. They caught Gerald Smith? Janice is coming home ? Haley’s in New Zealand?”
She shook her head playfully.
“Fiona, be nice. Janice is out of ICU and is doing much better today. The doctor said it’s a miraculous recovery , but she’ll be there under close observation for at least five more days,” she reported.
I jumped off the side of my bed and rushed over to give her a quick hug. I let out a sigh of relief — this day was going to be a better one . My head was hot, maybe a fever, I shortened the hug for fear of her noticing —it didn’t take much to set off her worrywart trigger.
“Thanks for letting me know, M om . That’s wonderful news. What about Haley? She’s just here, stuck in the house? How long is she suspended from school — or is she expelled? When is she going to New Zealand?”
T he questions flooded in to my mind faster than I could process. She scowled at me,
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