Page 7 of Isabelle’s Forbidden Love

“We’ll leave you all to get started on this,” Samson said with a nod. Then he smiled at her. “You’ve got this, Isa.”

The three men left, and the door closed behind them.

Strengthened by her father’s confidence in her, Isabelle took a deep breath and looked at Nelson and the two hybrids.

“Well then,” Isabelle started. “How early can you get Hong’s body transferred to us so we can examine him?”

“Nothing’s gonna happen tonight, I’m afraid. The coroner needs to sign off. But I can get the transfer scheduled for mid-morning tomorrow. Does that work for you?” Nelson asked.

“That’s fine. Benjamin, can you make sure that Maya will come in during the day to look at the body as soon as it’s here?”

“Not a problem,” Benjamin confirmed. “Do you want me or Cooper to assist?”

“Only if you’re not busy with other things. I wanna see the body myself.” She made a note on the pad of paper in front of her. “I’d like you, Benjamin to go to the post office and find out about Hong’s mail route, and the timeline from when he finished work that day until his sister found him dead.”

“Do you want me to interrogate his co-workers?” Benjamin offered.

“Might as well. Though I doubt that the killer is one of his colleagues, if we’re really looking at a vampire.”

“We are,” Nelson interrupted. “I saw the body.” He pointed to the pictures. “For me, there’s no doubt that this is the work of a vampire. Bloodlust is my guess.”

“You’re probably right, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“What do you want me to do?” Cooper asked.

“You and I will talk to the neighbors.” Isabelle looked at her watch. “It’s a little too late for tonight. Most people will be asleep by now. We’ll do that tomorrow, catch them early in the morning, before they go to work.”

“Seven o’clock?” Cooper asked.

“Yeah, let’s do that. And whomever we can’t talk to in the morning, we’ll try again late afternoon early evening. That gives me time to look at the body once it’s here. And by then, Benjamin should have a timeline for us too, right?”

Benjamin nodded. “Yep. What about the crime scene itself?”

“We could do that right now,” Isabelle suggested, not wanting to waste any time. “Can you get us in, Nelson?”

“I could, yeah, sure,” he said, hesitating. “But why don’t we do that after you and your people have examined the body? I think it’ll give you a better picture when going through Hong’s house. You’ll know what you’re looking for.”

“Hmm.” Isabelle contemplated his words.

“Just saying.” He gave a one-shouldered shrug. “It’s just my experience that after seeing the body the crime scene makes a lot more sense. At least that’s what I’ve been doing the last ten years. But if you want to go now, that’s fine too.”

Isabelle knew she didn’t have as much experience investigating murders as Nelson, and she’d learned long ago that there was no harm in being guided by someone with more experience. “Have the police done a thorough search of the home yet?”

“Apart from the officer who was first at the scene and the coroner who picked up the body, only Donnelly and I have been to Hong’s house. We figured immediately that this was a vampire kill, so we made sure to keep everybody else out. I did a cursory search, but I figured I’d wait with a more thorough one until your team can join me.” He looked at his watch. “We could do it tonight, but I doubt we’d finish our search before dawn.”

She understood his concern. He was a pureblooded vampire who couldn’t be out in the sun. And there was no rush to look at the crime scene tonight. The photos Nelson had brought gave her a very good indication of what had taken place.

“All right, let’s do it tomorrow night,” Isabelle agreed. “We’ll start just after sunset. Shall we meet at the house?”

“Works for me,” Nelson agreed with a nod. He closed the file and slid it over the table. “This is all we have so far. It should help you guys with getting a feel for the victim. Contacts for his sister and his work are in there, as well as the address of Hong’s house. My cell number is in there too.” He rose. “I’ve got a few things to organize so we can get you the body tomorrow morning.”

Isabelle reached into her handbag and pulled out a card. She handed it to him. “That’s my cell. Keep me posted.”

“Sure thing.”

Nelson sauntered out of the conference room, leaving her alone with Benjamin and Cooper.

Benjamin sighed and pointed to the photos. “That really looks grisly. I hope we get that bastard soon.”