Avet motions carelessly to the journal. “Then all we have here is a collection of useless nothings. Back to square one, kids.”
But I am not convinced. Perhaps I want Zagiri to be right because I want Bel’s curses to be able to come undone. I want the world to see true redemption, instead of always performing harrowing feats that only amount to damage control.
I feel a kinship with this girl, if only because we both foolishly believe that the world could be better than the mess it currently is.
Zagiri was on to something, I just know it. And I’m not about to stop just because it doesn’t make perfect sense to me yet.
19
SEARCHING FOR THE BLOODY TRUTH
I click out of the picture that chills my spine and take a deep breath. I open a new window and do a search for Zagiri’s name using a browser that normal civilians are not supposed to be able to access. Sargis’ computer is faster and can tap into places that have higher government restrictions, but my browser can at least get us into police files easily enough without detection if the case isn’t being currently worked on.
It takes me several minutes to track down reports with Zagiri’s name.
I start with her birth certificate, cataloging her parents’ names.
“On it!” Avet chimes, pulling out his tablet. “I’ll dig into her parents’ deaths so you can scratch whatever itch is bothering you.”
I exhale but don’t lose an ounce of my focus. “Thanks, Avet.” I love that he knows me and understands my brain better than I do at times. It’s the perks of working with your best friend.
I skip to the missing person’s reports from last year, scouring the pages for clues that Sargis didn’t deem relevant, given he didn’t know what he needed to be looking for.
“Whoa,” Avet remarks quietly, then apologizes, because he knows I need to have zero distractions when my brain gets itchy like this. “Sorry. I’ll tell you when you’re done.”
Sevan studies the two of us equally as much as she glances over my shoulder to stare at my screen. Her brows knit as she studies both the case and our easy partnership, seeming similarly intrigued by both.
The missing person’s report has the standard info we see all the time when tracking a vampire, with a few tidbits that pique my curiosity. Zagiri’s friends said she mostly kept to herself and did schoolwork, but it is reported also that she was on academic probation near the time of her disappearance. Odd, being that she got a full ride to the school based on her academic merit.
Her roommate reported that she started spending late nights in the lab, which is congruent with Anna’s account.
I study the photos of her bedroom, which indicate no signs of a struggle.
The abduction must not have happened in the bedroom. Avet still has the compass, which will aim us toward Zagiri’s body. I know Avet is itching to go there and burn the body so Zagiri can be put to rest, but he is putting off the job so I can wrap my head around the facts first.
Plus, burning a body in broad daylight tends to draw the eye of the public, so it’s best to do it under cover of darkness.
We’re missing something. Or the police missed a lot of somethings.
The last place Zagiri was seen was the lab at the school.
“Labs have security in place, right? Locks and cameras and such.” I frown when there doesn’t seem to be any mention of looking into that. “Where is the security footage from the night she went missing? It should be in her file here.”
My upper lip curls when I see a note from an officer, stating that there weren’t security cameras for the undergrad student lab.
“In Cher’s journal, she mentioned wanting to work in the graduate lab,” I tell the two. “She wished she could sneak in because they have the good supplies, but the graduate lab has security cameras.”
Avet holds my gaze while I work out my hypothesis as it comes to me.
“The security cameras are for the restricted lab, which is reserved for graduate students only. Zagiri was still an undergrad when she went missing, so the police assumed she was in the undergrad lab, where there are no cameras. But what if Zagiri wanted to get her hands on the more useful tools?”
Avet nods. “She would have sneaked into the graduate lab, where there are security cameras.”
I grumble at the policework that would be sufficient if they weren’t dealing with a trapper, which Zagiri clearly fancied herself to be. Getting into a restricted anything is standard training for us, so the graduate lab is the location on which I aim my focus.
I take out my phone and call Sargis, speaking in as few sentences as possible, so as not to lose my focus on the task at hand. I direct him to the address of the graduate lab, along with the last day Zagiri was seen alive. “Give me anything you find. I’m sending you a picture of Zagiri now that matches what she looked like on the day of her death. Wearing baggy jeans and a tank top.” I hate that I know this, but I vividly recall the details of Zagiri’s translucent form from just an hour ago when she appeared to me in the study. “Look for her or a vampire.”
“Not a problem,” Sargis replies. “You called at a good time. I was restocking the top shelves, going up and down the ladder. I was hoping for a break.”