Taddio- The Case of the Crossbow Killer
Taddio and Blackwell delve into the Supernatural
Thomas was listening to AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’. The morning was frosty and damp from last night’s rain. His Uni mates thought he was bonkers but Thomas knew that more calories were burned running in cold weather than in warm. He was in the zone, he was Superman. He bounded across the track through the forest. He felt alive and free.
Thomas stopped suddenly. A young woman was lying next to the path. He called out to her. He looked down at her frozen face. Her emerald eyes stared sightlessly at the steel sky. Her black tresses fanned out beneath her body. Her blood was in frozen from on the ground. It looked like a raspberry slushy. Her delicate white hands were clenched over the gaping hole in her chest. A crossbow bolt protruded from the her chest, right where her heart was located.
She was gorgeous, tall and she was most definitely dead. Thomas screamed into the empty air, “Help!”
Four Months Later
Detective Armando Taddio was holding up a single green and orange stripped sock on the end of his pencil. He was staring at it quizzically. Constable Constance Blackwell was staring at the same striped sock with fixation. The sock just swung gently to and fro. The overweight Detective said with tired resignation, “It is most disturbing Blackwell. Okay- go over the facts again.”
Constance reluctantly tore her eyes from the sock, “Jenny Graham is a twenty year old University student and a student of Chemistry . Her body was found by one Thomas Snelling, who was jogging on that particular path. She was shot with a crossbow bolt. Ballistics experts believe it was done at close range. She was last sighted at a bar on the outskirts of town. It is believed that this establishment sells alcohol to minors. She left the premises at eleven pm in her red 1998 Ford Accord. "
Suddenly their Cheif came storming in, his face red and his small eyes darting around, "Have you two solved anything yet? I am tired of making excuses to the flaming press. Bloody vultures! You both seem to be working on enlarging your arses but you are doing piss all else. Do something!" He then slammed his door causing the windows to rattle. Taddio, had not even glanced at the Cheif. He gestured for Constance to continue.
Constance cleared her throat and continued to read out loud, "The car was found with the bonnet up, some ten kilometres from the bar. A friend, a Richard Hayes, noted that Jenny’s phone was down on charge when he used her phone to phone his girlfriend. Jenny did not appear to have been interfered with. Beside the actual killing there was no sign of struggle or of bodily assault. She was not reported as missing prior to her body being found. Forensics stated that her time of death occurred six hours prior to the time she was found- meaning she was murdered around midnight.” Armando nodded through all of these details.
The case was getting old. The Chief had been barking at them for months to solve this mystery, however, there was not enough to even find a person of interest. Blackwell had run herself ragged on this crime. She had rung every person she could think of. Even Taddio had run out of leads.
The Constable kept reading from her notes on the case, “All of the people in Jenny’s life have their whereabouts accounted for and I have verified their stories. It is so odd that Jenny was found with car keys next to her and a single stripy sock beside her corpse. She was wearing high heels and the sock did not appear to fit her. I have been through her personal effects and there was no pair for the sock. Nobody had ever seen Jenny wearing a sock of this nature before. I was able to prove that the keys were hers. So far it looks as though Jenny was taken in a crime of opportunity. Hopefully this new case will shed some light on the poor girl’s fate.”
Constance was referring to the fact that just one week ago another body showed up fifty kilometres away from Jenny. This new victim was a female who was wearing the matching sock. Forensics had confirmed that the sock belonged to the second woman.
Taddio picked up the second case file. “Heather Boulders, aged 35. She was a waitress at a pancake house on the highway. She too was killed with a crossbow bolt shot into her heart execution style. She finished work at eight p.m. and was walking home. She too died on the same night. Her body was found much later than Jenny's. She is wearing a single stripy green and orange sock, however, she was missing her other sock. Workers at Harry’s House of Pancakes have confirmed that she was wearing both socks during her shift. Again we have investigated everyone in her life but there are no obvious persons of suspicion. It is, however, safe to say that both women were killed by the same person.“
Blackwell went to the whiteboard. On it was a complex map that showed the lives of both women and the people who they were acquainted with. There was no link between the two women, “Okay, I think Heather was picked up first. She tried to get out of the boot and kicked off her shoes, dislodging a sock. Jenny was later in the same boot and in the process of being dragged out she knocked the sock out on to the ground.” Taddio smiled and put an approving hand on Blackwell’s shoulder. She straightened up and her chin lifted.
Constance explained “I have called every single hunting outlet that would sell crossbows and I called up the Federal Police to check if any crossbows had been delivered to our area. I have come up with nothing. The sock is explainable, the crossbow less so. However, if it was a second hand, it could have come from anywhere and be in the hands of anyone. I swear this case is aging me Taddio.”
Armando stroked his chin stubble and stared at the board. “Most of the time the killer is known to the women, we however, don’t have anyone who is connected to both women. We can't see any relationship between them. They have different interests, different lives and a very varied makeup. This is also not consistent with a serial killer. They usually chooses their victims with care and often there is some ground of commonality with their victims.”
Taddio laid both case files out and looked at them. Blackwell watched him watching the files. After an hour had passed without her mentor moving, Constable Blackwell gave up and started to eat her smoked salmon sandwich. She finished the sandwich and had moved on to strawberry yoghurt. Suddenly Taddio stood up, so abruptly, that Blackwell almost dropped her yoghurt. Armando suddenly grabbed both of Constance’s shoulders, “What was the weather like on the night of the crime?” Blackwell quickly marched to her computer and tapped on the keys, “It was a freezing cold night only and there was sleet.”
Taddio punched the air with enthusiasm, “I have found it!”
Blackwell went to look at the files, “What, you know who killed them?” The Detective was excited, “No, I mean yes, I mean not exactly. Quick! I need to go to the forensics lab.” Constance grabbed her keys and said ‘Let’s rock then!” They quickly left their office and jumped into Taddio’s Volvo. He refused to drive an unmarked police car. He said that they just were not him. He always drove his 1967 midnight black Volvo. Blackwell waited patiently, however, the old man did not seem ready to offer up information. “Taddio, what do you have?”
“I noticed that both victims had sunblock found under their nails, the forensics reported that traces of thirty plus sunscreen were found on both the bodies. I read the inventory you took of the women’s bathrooms and you noted that you saw zinc and 30+ sunscreen. Both women were wearing identical silver cross necklaces. Neither of the women went to church or were baptised. Nobody had ever seen them with the crosses before. My guess is the killer placed the crosses on their necks post-Morten. Also the killer chose to use a crossbow to the heart rather than the more efficient and easier to obtain, gun.” Taddio sat back and smirked. “Come on Blackwell, put it all together- why were the women killed?”
Constance let the information roll around in her head for a while. Taddio watched her with amusement. Her head snapped around to look at him. “Vampires? The killer believed that they were vampires, that is why they used a crossbow through the heart. I get it, the guy was crazy.”
Taddio shook his head, “No, if I am right then the killer had correctly identified the nature of his targets.The two victims were vampires. I think that our killer is, for want of a better word, a vampire slayer.”
Constance looked at him incredulously, “ You have to be kidding me , there is no such thing as vampires. I mean I have read 'Twilight' too, but come on!”
The Detective crossed his arms and said confidently, “Blackwell, there is such things as vampires. If nothing else, by the end of this case you will know that for sure.”
Constance shook her head with disbelief. For the first time her faith in him was shaken. The old man was the smartest person she had ever met, however, his conviction regarding the existence of mythological creatures felt wrong to her. It was as if she had just heard Jesus Christ say that he believed in fairies. Her world had turned askew.
They pulled up at the forensics lab. The two officers presented their badges and headed into see Dr Cherry Harte. She was the brilliant doctor with the name of a pole dancer. He was breathless by the time he busted in to Harte’s lab. She was shocked at the sudden intrusion by the gorgeous Constable Constance Blackwell and the obese Detective Taddio.
Taddio had his hands on his hips and bent over to try to get his breath back. Blackwell rubbed him on the back. Neither spoke, looked at, or addressed Harte.
Harte was no used to waiting on anybody and her crossed arms and tapping foot indicated her displeasure. Finally Taddio managed to speak, “Dr Harte, I am investigating the case of the two women and the stripy sock. I just wanted to ask you to do something for me. Could you take a blood, urine and stool sample of the women and examine the samples using high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. I want you to look for the distinguishing metabolite for HCP and the presence of protoporphyrin in the plasma and feces of individuals.”
Cherry Harte, eye brows raised, quickly uncrossed her arms, “You want me to test for Hereditary coproporphyria otherwise known as HCP? Do you know how rare that condition is? You are talking about one in a million here.”
He nodded and said “Yes, I am completely aware.”
The two officers left Dr Harte to perform the tests. Taddio said that he had some questions he wanted to ask Jenny’s parents. Blackwell finally gave up, the old man was not going to tell her anything. She could ask, but, frankly, she was sick of Taddio’s cryptic answers. Instead she pulled out her phone. She then told him that she had to use the ladies. Once she had the required privacy she goggled, ‘Hereditary Coproporphyria.' The results stunned her.
The condition was really rare with only two in a million people being diagnosed with it. The patients suffer strong abdominal pain, nausea and extreme sensitivity tothe sun. Some of the patients need to have regular doses of hemin, a blood component, given to them via infusion. The condition is usually not fatal. With regular treatment and preventative measures the people are able to live with the condition. The condition normally strikes in the teenage years and it is a rare genetic disorder. A person suffering HCP would need to stay out of the sun and would need frequent transfusions. In a way they were vampires!
Constance left the ladies and with her phone in hand she went over to her partner who was waiting for her outside the ladies . In shock she exclaimed, “There are such things as vampires!”
Taddio grinned and said, “Well done Blackwell, there are such things as vampires. At least there are people who are allergic to sun and who need blood components regularly given to them. It seems however, that not everyone is accepting of vampires as we are. In fact somebody had a deadly aversion.”
The two police officers were soon outside the Graham residence. The house was a true stone cottage, fire billowed from the chimney and it was fronted with a charming porch. They went and knocked on the door.
A very, very tiny woman answered the door. Behind her was a plump man who was only slightly taller. They looked like a couple from an ancient fairytale. Taddio flashed his badge and asked if he could come in. Blackwell’s attention was captured by a family portrait on the wall. The Graham parents flanked their daughter. Neither of them was over five foot tall but Jenny was clearly five foot ten. While it was possible that this might happen naturally chances were that Jenny was not their blood daughter.
Blackwell sat opposite Mrs Graham on her floral couches. “Mrs Blackwell, I am sorry but we have a question that we must ask you for the investigation of your daughter’s murder. Was she adopted?” Mrs Blackwell became agitated but then breathed in deeply “I suppose it does not matter anymore but, yes she was. I used to work as a receptionist at Dr Grier’s general practice and nineteen years ago a girl came in after hours. She was in labor even though she was barely showing."
Mrs Graham paused and Blackwell grabbed her hand while murmuring support. Mrs Graham relaxed and continued, " The Doctor was out and I told her that I needed to call Dr Grier or get her an ambulance. She was literally giving birth at that moment. All alone, with no training, I delivered the babies. Both babies were healthy but premature by two months. The girl begged me to take them. Mr Graham and I had tried for years to have children and we couldn’t.” Mrs Graham started to cry and Mr Graham left to get her some tissues.
Mrs Graham continued to tell her story with the occasional sniff. “ The truth was that the offer was too good to refuse so I took the baby girl. The other girl, Jenny's twin Beth, was impaired. Beth had a large cleft in her lip. I could hide the healthy baby and pretend that an imaginary relative gave her to me to raise as my own. There was no way I could hide a sick baby, the hospital would ask a million questions and I would lose the healthy baby.” Mr Graham had returned with the tissues.
“I took the cleft lip baby to the hospital and told them that it was left on Dr Grier's surgery steps. I later found out that she was adopted by the town Librarian, Mr Grant, and his wife. The other girl, I mean Beth, lives on the East side of Grover. I made sure Jenny went do a different school and tried to avoid the East side as much as possible. Jenny never ran into her so my deception was complete, she knew she was adopted but about her sister she knew nothing. Baby napping is a very serious crime so I was very vague about telling her details.”
Constance frowned "It is serious Mrs Graham, what would you have done if you thought someone was going to, as it were, rat you out?" The Constable was quite pleased with herself. The case was simple. Mrs Graham or even her husband, worried about her own hide killed Jenny and her birth mother to hide their crime. Mrs Graham's eyes widened, "Well I would have given myself up. I commited a crime of love. I raised that girl, worried about every flu and broken heart. She was my morning sun and midnight moon. If I am to be judged guilty for that- fine. I am old and she was worth it." Blackwell was not so sure she had solved the case after all. Taddio gave a subtle shake of her head and Constance knew she was, as it were, barking up the wrong tree.
She apologised to Mrs Graham and stared at her notebook for a minute then it came to her. The question that needed to be asked at this juncture, “Did the girl, Jenny’s twin, ever see her?” Out of the corner of her eye she saw her mentor nodd ever so slightly and she knew that she was now on the right track and that it felt good to be there.
Mrs Graham thought about it “Well, once maybe. Jenny was at the hospital, she always found that time of the month most painful, the doctor could not figure out why. We were leaving and the lift opened and there was this girl. She had a scar on her lip but she was almost identical to Jenny. My daughter was distracted by a nearby crying child and her head was turned away. She did not see the girl in the lift but I think that Beth saw her.”
Taddio then asked, "Was Jenny sensitive to the sun?" Mrs Graham's head snapped up, she met his eyes with a frown on her face. "Yes she was! She had very, very pale skin. Even in winter she would burn. If her hair was not so black and her eyes green, I would have thought that she was an albino. She avoided going out in the daylight. She was so bad about it that I had to take her out of school when she was thirteen. I then had to home school her. She was able to control her exposure to the sun at college. I think she was glad to rejoin the world. I asked our doctor about it but he thought it was all psychosomatic.
Mr Graham had returned to hear the end of the story, he asked, “Does this have anything to do with the Jenny’s murder? Do you know anything, anything at all?” Mr Graham was an old fashioned gent who was trying not to cry, his eyes were red with restrained tears and his voice was cracking under the strain. Constance felt terrible that she had even considered that this man would hurt a fly.
Detective Taddio shook his head slowly, “We are chasing every lead and the moment we know anything for sure, we will tell you. Expect to see us popping by to ask different questions, not all of them will make sense. Do not make assumptions based on our inquiries, just be patient and we will find out what happened to Jenny. You have my word.” Mr Graham nodded sadly and Blackwell had to admire the effectiveness of the aged Detective's no nonsense approach.
Mrs Graham and he found the Librarian Mr Grant’s number in the phone book. Taddio and Blackwell jumped back into the black Volvo and drove to the address. Blackwell fished out a tissue and patted the side of her eyes. She attempted to hide how much the grief of Jenny's parents had moved her.
Taddio reached over and took her tissue. He then wiped her tears away from her cheeks. "Constance Blackwell, do not be ashamed of your empathy. Without an emotional connection to others you are useless as a detective. If you can't feel with humans you can not put yourself in their frame of mind. Your tears are your badges of honour." Taddio then grabbed a tissue himself and blew his nose loudly.
The first surprising thing about the Librarian’s house was that there were cars everywhere. There seemed to be a party on of some kind. Constance knocked on the door and was invited in. A wake was in progress. Mr and Mrs Grant were in mourning for their only daughter Beth. She had committed suicide. Some discreet questioning of guests revealed that Beth had committed suicide by stabbing herself in the heart.
Nobody seemed to know why, one minute Beth was watching the news with her parents and then she calmly went upstairs and fell on a knife, using a wall to push it in. Just then Taddio’s phone rang, he found a discrete quiet corner. Blackwell could see him nodding and talking quietly.
He hung up and walked over to Constance, he whispered, “That was Dr Harte, I was right both of the victims had HCP and further tests revealed that they were indeed mother and daughter- genetically. We need to get to Beth’s room.” The pair made their way upstairs and found Beth’s bedroom. They looked around and were careful not to touch anything in the room.
Beth’s room was painted deep purple. Every inch of the walls was covered in Vampire pictures from shows such as 'Buffy', 'Angel', 'Twilight', 'The Vampire Diaries', 'True Blood' and 'Interview with a Vampire.' The books on the bookshelf were loaded with vamp fiction. There were various pieces of Gothic inspired jewelry strewn about.
Photographs indicated that Beth was pale, with dyed magenta hair and her face was covered in black make-up. Taddio checked the bathroom and sure enough there was a large tube of thirty plus sunscreen. Constance flicked through Beth’s diary. Jenny's twin had created a manifesto of self-hatred. A silver rosary hung over the bed. Blackwell suddenly noticed something poking out of under the bed.
It was a crossbow.
Later that week
Blackwell went for dinner at the Taddio’s house. The detective's house was much like him, a sprawling salute to Seventies architecture. The dwelling even had lime green shag carpeting that clashed with the burnt orange tweed furniture.
The two partners were sitting on his back porch that looked over the lake. Both of them were full thanks to generous servings of Taddio’s wife’s lasagna. Armando, stroked his chin and pulled out a cigar, “Blackwell, begin the summation of the case.”
Constance cleared her throat and began.
“Nineteen years ago one Heather Boulder’s gave birth to twins. Jenny never knew of her twin or her mother or her adopted status. She contracted HCP which is a genetic disease that has some symptoms akin to a vampirism such as dependence on blood product infusion, extreme sensitivity to sun and pale skin. Heather Boulders also suffered from the condition as did her other daughter Beth. Beth became obsessed with the idea that she was born an evil demonic vampire and she should be destroyed.”
Constance, stopped to glare at Taddio who had blown cigar smoke down wind and it now enveloped her like a cloud. The older man apologized profusely and began to fan the smoke away.
Blackwell continued her summation, “ Somehow she found out the identity of her Mother and identical Sister. She came to believe that she had to kill all of the evil vampires in an act of redemption. She bought a second hand crossbow and followed Heather and Jenny, waiting for her opportunity. On June the fifth she obtained the opportunity she had sought. Her birth mother, Heather, was walking home. Beth killed Heather and weighed her body down. Finally the murderess dropped Heather in the river from a bridge.”
Constance grabed a glass of water and checked her notebook then continued, “Beth then received a call from an associate of Jenny's, Richard Hayes. He was Beth's boyfriend and in the course of the converstation he informed Beth that Jenny was driving home. Beth seemed to have believed that the call was a sign that she was supposed to kill her Sister that very night. While we can't prove it at the moment, I am fairly sure that Beth dated Richard as a way of spying on Jenny's movements”
Taddio stopped her by raising his hand in the air, “By the way Blackwell, well done on tracking Beth’s number off of Jenny’s phone. I was most impressed that you remembered that Richard- Jenny’s friend, used her phone that night to call his girlfriend. Richard never picked that the two women were related due to Beth dying her hair and the scar.”
Blackwell blushed and carried on with her summary, “Beth killed both the women by shooting a crossbow bolt in their heart. At some point during the process of her ‘vampire slayings’, she placed identical silver crucifixes on both bodies. When we found Heather’s body it was reported on the News. This coverage tipped Beth over the edge and she killed herself.”
Armando poured himself, his wife and his guest another glass of Chianti. “It was an awful case Blackwell but, what you must learn from this is that a detective never knows what they need to know. You must become a student of many fields, you should know as much as you can about as many subjects as possible. In this case, you needed to know that vampires exist. You also needed to believe in the impossible- if that is where the train of logic is taking you.”
The young woman lifted her glass. She stood up and dramatically waived her arms about, “To all vampires, where ever you may be hiding I offer you this admission. I, Constable Constance Blackwell acknowledge your existence and that Detective Armando Taddio was right.”
Samantha Taddio laughed at Blackwell’s overly dramatic toast. “I am the only one who proved that my husband was wrong and it took me over a decade to do that. He said that he was too old to marry but I wore him down.”
Armando Taddio put his arm around his plump blonde wife he then noisly kissed her on the cheek. He lifted his glass to toast, “Here is to being wrong about the right things.” All three of them drank the blood red liquid deeply.
By A.Sims
Did you enjoy the case of 'The Crossbow Killer" if so please check out "The Case of the Bare Fist Boxer" Taddio and Blackwell enter into a world of blood, sweat and desperation. I really hope you read on!
HOME
The CASE OF THE BARE FIST BOXER
Thomas stopped suddenly. A young woman was lying next to the path. He called out to her. He looked down at her frozen face. Her emerald eyes stared sightlessly at the steel sky. Her black tresses fanned out beneath her body. Her blood was in frozen from on the ground. It looked like a raspberry slushy. Her delicate white hands were clenched over the gaping hole in her chest. A crossbow bolt protruded from the her chest, right where her heart was located.
She was gorgeous, tall and she was most definitely dead. Thomas screamed into the empty air, “Help!”
Four Months Later
Detective Armando Taddio was holding up a single green and orange stripped sock on the end of his pencil. He was staring at it quizzically. Constable Constance Blackwell was staring at the same striped sock with fixation. The sock just swung gently to and fro. The overweight Detective said with tired resignation, “It is most disturbing Blackwell. Okay- go over the facts again.”
Constance reluctantly tore her eyes from the sock, “Jenny Graham is a twenty year old University student and a student of Chemistry . Her body was found by one Thomas Snelling, who was jogging on that particular path. She was shot with a crossbow bolt. Ballistics experts believe it was done at close range. She was last sighted at a bar on the outskirts of town. It is believed that this establishment sells alcohol to minors. She left the premises at eleven pm in her red 1998 Ford Accord. "
Suddenly their Cheif came storming in, his face red and his small eyes darting around, "Have you two solved anything yet? I am tired of making excuses to the flaming press. Bloody vultures! You both seem to be working on enlarging your arses but you are doing piss all else. Do something!" He then slammed his door causing the windows to rattle. Taddio, had not even glanced at the Cheif. He gestured for Constance to continue.
Constance cleared her throat and continued to read out loud, "The car was found with the bonnet up, some ten kilometres from the bar. A friend, a Richard Hayes, noted that Jenny’s phone was down on charge when he used her phone to phone his girlfriend. Jenny did not appear to have been interfered with. Beside the actual killing there was no sign of struggle or of bodily assault. She was not reported as missing prior to her body being found. Forensics stated that her time of death occurred six hours prior to the time she was found- meaning she was murdered around midnight.” Armando nodded through all of these details.
The case was getting old. The Chief had been barking at them for months to solve this mystery, however, there was not enough to even find a person of interest. Blackwell had run herself ragged on this crime. She had rung every person she could think of. Even Taddio had run out of leads.
The Constable kept reading from her notes on the case, “All of the people in Jenny’s life have their whereabouts accounted for and I have verified their stories. It is so odd that Jenny was found with car keys next to her and a single stripy sock beside her corpse. She was wearing high heels and the sock did not appear to fit her. I have been through her personal effects and there was no pair for the sock. Nobody had ever seen Jenny wearing a sock of this nature before. I was able to prove that the keys were hers. So far it looks as though Jenny was taken in a crime of opportunity. Hopefully this new case will shed some light on the poor girl’s fate.”
Constance was referring to the fact that just one week ago another body showed up fifty kilometres away from Jenny. This new victim was a female who was wearing the matching sock. Forensics had confirmed that the sock belonged to the second woman.
Taddio picked up the second case file. “Heather Boulders, aged 35. She was a waitress at a pancake house on the highway. She too was killed with a crossbow bolt shot into her heart execution style. She finished work at eight p.m. and was walking home. She too died on the same night. Her body was found much later than Jenny's. She is wearing a single stripy green and orange sock, however, she was missing her other sock. Workers at Harry’s House of Pancakes have confirmed that she was wearing both socks during her shift. Again we have investigated everyone in her life but there are no obvious persons of suspicion. It is, however, safe to say that both women were killed by the same person.“
Blackwell went to the whiteboard. On it was a complex map that showed the lives of both women and the people who they were acquainted with. There was no link between the two women, “Okay, I think Heather was picked up first. She tried to get out of the boot and kicked off her shoes, dislodging a sock. Jenny was later in the same boot and in the process of being dragged out she knocked the sock out on to the ground.” Taddio smiled and put an approving hand on Blackwell’s shoulder. She straightened up and her chin lifted.
Constance explained “I have called every single hunting outlet that would sell crossbows and I called up the Federal Police to check if any crossbows had been delivered to our area. I have come up with nothing. The sock is explainable, the crossbow less so. However, if it was a second hand, it could have come from anywhere and be in the hands of anyone. I swear this case is aging me Taddio.”
Armando stroked his chin stubble and stared at the board. “Most of the time the killer is known to the women, we however, don’t have anyone who is connected to both women. We can't see any relationship between them. They have different interests, different lives and a very varied makeup. This is also not consistent with a serial killer. They usually chooses their victims with care and often there is some ground of commonality with their victims.”
Taddio laid both case files out and looked at them. Blackwell watched him watching the files. After an hour had passed without her mentor moving, Constable Blackwell gave up and started to eat her smoked salmon sandwich. She finished the sandwich and had moved on to strawberry yoghurt. Suddenly Taddio stood up, so abruptly, that Blackwell almost dropped her yoghurt. Armando suddenly grabbed both of Constance’s shoulders, “What was the weather like on the night of the crime?” Blackwell quickly marched to her computer and tapped on the keys, “It was a freezing cold night only and there was sleet.”
Taddio punched the air with enthusiasm, “I have found it!”
Blackwell went to look at the files, “What, you know who killed them?” The Detective was excited, “No, I mean yes, I mean not exactly. Quick! I need to go to the forensics lab.” Constance grabbed her keys and said ‘Let’s rock then!” They quickly left their office and jumped into Taddio’s Volvo. He refused to drive an unmarked police car. He said that they just were not him. He always drove his 1967 midnight black Volvo. Blackwell waited patiently, however, the old man did not seem ready to offer up information. “Taddio, what do you have?”
“I noticed that both victims had sunblock found under their nails, the forensics reported that traces of thirty plus sunscreen were found on both the bodies. I read the inventory you took of the women’s bathrooms and you noted that you saw zinc and 30+ sunscreen. Both women were wearing identical silver cross necklaces. Neither of the women went to church or were baptised. Nobody had ever seen them with the crosses before. My guess is the killer placed the crosses on their necks post-Morten. Also the killer chose to use a crossbow to the heart rather than the more efficient and easier to obtain, gun.” Taddio sat back and smirked. “Come on Blackwell, put it all together- why were the women killed?”
Constance let the information roll around in her head for a while. Taddio watched her with amusement. Her head snapped around to look at him. “Vampires? The killer believed that they were vampires, that is why they used a crossbow through the heart. I get it, the guy was crazy.”
Taddio shook his head, “No, if I am right then the killer had correctly identified the nature of his targets.The two victims were vampires. I think that our killer is, for want of a better word, a vampire slayer.”
Constance looked at him incredulously, “ You have to be kidding me , there is no such thing as vampires. I mean I have read 'Twilight' too, but come on!”
The Detective crossed his arms and said confidently, “Blackwell, there is such things as vampires. If nothing else, by the end of this case you will know that for sure.”
Constance shook her head with disbelief. For the first time her faith in him was shaken. The old man was the smartest person she had ever met, however, his conviction regarding the existence of mythological creatures felt wrong to her. It was as if she had just heard Jesus Christ say that he believed in fairies. Her world had turned askew.
They pulled up at the forensics lab. The two officers presented their badges and headed into see Dr Cherry Harte. She was the brilliant doctor with the name of a pole dancer. He was breathless by the time he busted in to Harte’s lab. She was shocked at the sudden intrusion by the gorgeous Constable Constance Blackwell and the obese Detective Taddio.
Taddio had his hands on his hips and bent over to try to get his breath back. Blackwell rubbed him on the back. Neither spoke, looked at, or addressed Harte.
Harte was no used to waiting on anybody and her crossed arms and tapping foot indicated her displeasure. Finally Taddio managed to speak, “Dr Harte, I am investigating the case of the two women and the stripy sock. I just wanted to ask you to do something for me. Could you take a blood, urine and stool sample of the women and examine the samples using high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. I want you to look for the distinguishing metabolite for HCP and the presence of protoporphyrin in the plasma and feces of individuals.”
Cherry Harte, eye brows raised, quickly uncrossed her arms, “You want me to test for Hereditary coproporphyria otherwise known as HCP? Do you know how rare that condition is? You are talking about one in a million here.”
He nodded and said “Yes, I am completely aware.”
The two officers left Dr Harte to perform the tests. Taddio said that he had some questions he wanted to ask Jenny’s parents. Blackwell finally gave up, the old man was not going to tell her anything. She could ask, but, frankly, she was sick of Taddio’s cryptic answers. Instead she pulled out her phone. She then told him that she had to use the ladies. Once she had the required privacy she goggled, ‘Hereditary Coproporphyria.' The results stunned her.
The condition was really rare with only two in a million people being diagnosed with it. The patients suffer strong abdominal pain, nausea and extreme sensitivity tothe sun. Some of the patients need to have regular doses of hemin, a blood component, given to them via infusion. The condition is usually not fatal. With regular treatment and preventative measures the people are able to live with the condition. The condition normally strikes in the teenage years and it is a rare genetic disorder. A person suffering HCP would need to stay out of the sun and would need frequent transfusions. In a way they were vampires!
Constance left the ladies and with her phone in hand she went over to her partner who was waiting for her outside the ladies . In shock she exclaimed, “There are such things as vampires!”
Taddio grinned and said, “Well done Blackwell, there are such things as vampires. At least there are people who are allergic to sun and who need blood components regularly given to them. It seems however, that not everyone is accepting of vampires as we are. In fact somebody had a deadly aversion.”
The two police officers were soon outside the Graham residence. The house was a true stone cottage, fire billowed from the chimney and it was fronted with a charming porch. They went and knocked on the door.
A very, very tiny woman answered the door. Behind her was a plump man who was only slightly taller. They looked like a couple from an ancient fairytale. Taddio flashed his badge and asked if he could come in. Blackwell’s attention was captured by a family portrait on the wall. The Graham parents flanked their daughter. Neither of them was over five foot tall but Jenny was clearly five foot ten. While it was possible that this might happen naturally chances were that Jenny was not their blood daughter.
Blackwell sat opposite Mrs Graham on her floral couches. “Mrs Blackwell, I am sorry but we have a question that we must ask you for the investigation of your daughter’s murder. Was she adopted?” Mrs Blackwell became agitated but then breathed in deeply “I suppose it does not matter anymore but, yes she was. I used to work as a receptionist at Dr Grier’s general practice and nineteen years ago a girl came in after hours. She was in labor even though she was barely showing."
Mrs Graham paused and Blackwell grabbed her hand while murmuring support. Mrs Graham relaxed and continued, " The Doctor was out and I told her that I needed to call Dr Grier or get her an ambulance. She was literally giving birth at that moment. All alone, with no training, I delivered the babies. Both babies were healthy but premature by two months. The girl begged me to take them. Mr Graham and I had tried for years to have children and we couldn’t.” Mrs Graham started to cry and Mr Graham left to get her some tissues.
Mrs Graham continued to tell her story with the occasional sniff. “ The truth was that the offer was too good to refuse so I took the baby girl. The other girl, Jenny's twin Beth, was impaired. Beth had a large cleft in her lip. I could hide the healthy baby and pretend that an imaginary relative gave her to me to raise as my own. There was no way I could hide a sick baby, the hospital would ask a million questions and I would lose the healthy baby.” Mr Graham had returned with the tissues.
“I took the cleft lip baby to the hospital and told them that it was left on Dr Grier's surgery steps. I later found out that she was adopted by the town Librarian, Mr Grant, and his wife. The other girl, I mean Beth, lives on the East side of Grover. I made sure Jenny went do a different school and tried to avoid the East side as much as possible. Jenny never ran into her so my deception was complete, she knew she was adopted but about her sister she knew nothing. Baby napping is a very serious crime so I was very vague about telling her details.”
Constance frowned "It is serious Mrs Graham, what would you have done if you thought someone was going to, as it were, rat you out?" The Constable was quite pleased with herself. The case was simple. Mrs Graham or even her husband, worried about her own hide killed Jenny and her birth mother to hide their crime. Mrs Graham's eyes widened, "Well I would have given myself up. I commited a crime of love. I raised that girl, worried about every flu and broken heart. She was my morning sun and midnight moon. If I am to be judged guilty for that- fine. I am old and she was worth it." Blackwell was not so sure she had solved the case after all. Taddio gave a subtle shake of her head and Constance knew she was, as it were, barking up the wrong tree.
She apologised to Mrs Graham and stared at her notebook for a minute then it came to her. The question that needed to be asked at this juncture, “Did the girl, Jenny’s twin, ever see her?” Out of the corner of her eye she saw her mentor nodd ever so slightly and she knew that she was now on the right track and that it felt good to be there.
Mrs Graham thought about it “Well, once maybe. Jenny was at the hospital, she always found that time of the month most painful, the doctor could not figure out why. We were leaving and the lift opened and there was this girl. She had a scar on her lip but she was almost identical to Jenny. My daughter was distracted by a nearby crying child and her head was turned away. She did not see the girl in the lift but I think that Beth saw her.”
Taddio then asked, "Was Jenny sensitive to the sun?" Mrs Graham's head snapped up, she met his eyes with a frown on her face. "Yes she was! She had very, very pale skin. Even in winter she would burn. If her hair was not so black and her eyes green, I would have thought that she was an albino. She avoided going out in the daylight. She was so bad about it that I had to take her out of school when she was thirteen. I then had to home school her. She was able to control her exposure to the sun at college. I think she was glad to rejoin the world. I asked our doctor about it but he thought it was all psychosomatic.
Mr Graham had returned to hear the end of the story, he asked, “Does this have anything to do with the Jenny’s murder? Do you know anything, anything at all?” Mr Graham was an old fashioned gent who was trying not to cry, his eyes were red with restrained tears and his voice was cracking under the strain. Constance felt terrible that she had even considered that this man would hurt a fly.
Detective Taddio shook his head slowly, “We are chasing every lead and the moment we know anything for sure, we will tell you. Expect to see us popping by to ask different questions, not all of them will make sense. Do not make assumptions based on our inquiries, just be patient and we will find out what happened to Jenny. You have my word.” Mr Graham nodded sadly and Blackwell had to admire the effectiveness of the aged Detective's no nonsense approach.
Mrs Graham and he found the Librarian Mr Grant’s number in the phone book. Taddio and Blackwell jumped back into the black Volvo and drove to the address. Blackwell fished out a tissue and patted the side of her eyes. She attempted to hide how much the grief of Jenny's parents had moved her.
Taddio reached over and took her tissue. He then wiped her tears away from her cheeks. "Constance Blackwell, do not be ashamed of your empathy. Without an emotional connection to others you are useless as a detective. If you can't feel with humans you can not put yourself in their frame of mind. Your tears are your badges of honour." Taddio then grabbed a tissue himself and blew his nose loudly.
The first surprising thing about the Librarian’s house was that there were cars everywhere. There seemed to be a party on of some kind. Constance knocked on the door and was invited in. A wake was in progress. Mr and Mrs Grant were in mourning for their only daughter Beth. She had committed suicide. Some discreet questioning of guests revealed that Beth had committed suicide by stabbing herself in the heart.
Nobody seemed to know why, one minute Beth was watching the news with her parents and then she calmly went upstairs and fell on a knife, using a wall to push it in. Just then Taddio’s phone rang, he found a discrete quiet corner. Blackwell could see him nodding and talking quietly.
He hung up and walked over to Constance, he whispered, “That was Dr Harte, I was right both of the victims had HCP and further tests revealed that they were indeed mother and daughter- genetically. We need to get to Beth’s room.” The pair made their way upstairs and found Beth’s bedroom. They looked around and were careful not to touch anything in the room.
Beth’s room was painted deep purple. Every inch of the walls was covered in Vampire pictures from shows such as 'Buffy', 'Angel', 'Twilight', 'The Vampire Diaries', 'True Blood' and 'Interview with a Vampire.' The books on the bookshelf were loaded with vamp fiction. There were various pieces of Gothic inspired jewelry strewn about.
Photographs indicated that Beth was pale, with dyed magenta hair and her face was covered in black make-up. Taddio checked the bathroom and sure enough there was a large tube of thirty plus sunscreen. Constance flicked through Beth’s diary. Jenny's twin had created a manifesto of self-hatred. A silver rosary hung over the bed. Blackwell suddenly noticed something poking out of under the bed.
It was a crossbow.
Later that week
Blackwell went for dinner at the Taddio’s house. The detective's house was much like him, a sprawling salute to Seventies architecture. The dwelling even had lime green shag carpeting that clashed with the burnt orange tweed furniture.
The two partners were sitting on his back porch that looked over the lake. Both of them were full thanks to generous servings of Taddio’s wife’s lasagna. Armando, stroked his chin and pulled out a cigar, “Blackwell, begin the summation of the case.”
Constance cleared her throat and began.
“Nineteen years ago one Heather Boulder’s gave birth to twins. Jenny never knew of her twin or her mother or her adopted status. She contracted HCP which is a genetic disease that has some symptoms akin to a vampirism such as dependence on blood product infusion, extreme sensitivity to sun and pale skin. Heather Boulders also suffered from the condition as did her other daughter Beth. Beth became obsessed with the idea that she was born an evil demonic vampire and she should be destroyed.”
Constance, stopped to glare at Taddio who had blown cigar smoke down wind and it now enveloped her like a cloud. The older man apologized profusely and began to fan the smoke away.
Blackwell continued her summation, “ Somehow she found out the identity of her Mother and identical Sister. She came to believe that she had to kill all of the evil vampires in an act of redemption. She bought a second hand crossbow and followed Heather and Jenny, waiting for her opportunity. On June the fifth she obtained the opportunity she had sought. Her birth mother, Heather, was walking home. Beth killed Heather and weighed her body down. Finally the murderess dropped Heather in the river from a bridge.”
Constance grabed a glass of water and checked her notebook then continued, “Beth then received a call from an associate of Jenny's, Richard Hayes. He was Beth's boyfriend and in the course of the converstation he informed Beth that Jenny was driving home. Beth seemed to have believed that the call was a sign that she was supposed to kill her Sister that very night. While we can't prove it at the moment, I am fairly sure that Beth dated Richard as a way of spying on Jenny's movements”
Taddio stopped her by raising his hand in the air, “By the way Blackwell, well done on tracking Beth’s number off of Jenny’s phone. I was most impressed that you remembered that Richard- Jenny’s friend, used her phone that night to call his girlfriend. Richard never picked that the two women were related due to Beth dying her hair and the scar.”
Blackwell blushed and carried on with her summary, “Beth killed both the women by shooting a crossbow bolt in their heart. At some point during the process of her ‘vampire slayings’, she placed identical silver crucifixes on both bodies. When we found Heather’s body it was reported on the News. This coverage tipped Beth over the edge and she killed herself.”
Armando poured himself, his wife and his guest another glass of Chianti. “It was an awful case Blackwell but, what you must learn from this is that a detective never knows what they need to know. You must become a student of many fields, you should know as much as you can about as many subjects as possible. In this case, you needed to know that vampires exist. You also needed to believe in the impossible- if that is where the train of logic is taking you.”
The young woman lifted her glass. She stood up and dramatically waived her arms about, “To all vampires, where ever you may be hiding I offer you this admission. I, Constable Constance Blackwell acknowledge your existence and that Detective Armando Taddio was right.”
Samantha Taddio laughed at Blackwell’s overly dramatic toast. “I am the only one who proved that my husband was wrong and it took me over a decade to do that. He said that he was too old to marry but I wore him down.”
Armando Taddio put his arm around his plump blonde wife he then noisly kissed her on the cheek. He lifted his glass to toast, “Here is to being wrong about the right things.” All three of them drank the blood red liquid deeply.
By A.Sims
Did you enjoy the case of 'The Crossbow Killer" if so please check out "The Case of the Bare Fist Boxer" Taddio and Blackwell enter into a world of blood, sweat and desperation. I really hope you read on!
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The CASE OF THE BARE FIST BOXER