The two-month training had gone just as Daphne had said. There had been a lot of shouting, shooting, and running. By the end, they could all hit the target. Albeit not in the center. Erin had been given a driver’s license after he passed a test, and Andrew had been entered in the classes.
But, he got motion sickness in cars, even when he drove. He was pronounced a lost cause after two weeks, much to Daphne’s amusement. They had been given a car. A Honda Ridgeline. And they were sent after the first killer on the list.
Fort Pierce, Florida, was picturesque, Andrew decided. But they were not here for the beach. The Office of Supernatural affairs had nicknamed this particular killer the Wanderer. They had no idea what the Wanderer was. They only knew it was him because he moved from place to place and left the same clues each and every time.
There would be rose petals in the pockets of the victims. And, their eyes would be gauged out. The agency was leaning towards the Wanderer being a ghoul. A scavenger corpse eater thing that could only eat human flesh. But, the victims were also with far less blood in them than they should have, so a vampire wasn’t ruled out.
They checked in the Day’s Inn in Midtown Fort Pierce. One good thing about being a part of a government agency was, that the hotels were paid for. The three sat on the beds in their room. They had gotten a room with a king-sized bed and a normal one, normally for children.
Daphne had tried to call dips on the bigger bed, but Erin had put a stop to that. By threatening to bite her and then point her to the nearest sex worker. Daphne, thereafter, had pouted, but had placed her things around the smaller bed.
Now, they were all sitting on the big bed, trying to come up with a game plan.
“The Wanderer is a romantic soul. We might find him in a romantic place,” said Daphne. Both Andrew and Erin send her a questioning look.
“He gauges out people’s eyes, Daphne,” deadpanned Erin.
“The eyes are the window to the soul,” supplied Daphne with a shrug. “And, there are the rose petals. Besides, all the victims have one thing in common.”
“They are all high-class people. Young women,” added Andrew. Erin looked thoughtful at that.
“We will need to go to posh places, then. Like theaters or operas or an art gallery,” said Erin.
“Fort Pierce has an old theater with historic value. The Sunrise theater,” said Andrew as he was looking at the tourist information site for the town. “They are showing Macbeth this Saturday.”
“Shakespeare is as high-class as one gets,” said Erin with a shrug.
“Probably the only play writer that you have heard of, eh, fangs?” Asked Daphne snidely. Erin sent her a glare, but didn’t comment.
“We have a month to find him. If we fail, it is prison and the lab for us,” said Andrew, reminding the other two that now was not the time to bicker. They nodded, determined.
“Well, boys, I’ll take a nap,” said Daphne and she went to her bed.
“You do that, we will go around town,” said Andrew. “But first, I need to check on my online store and the auction.”
Andrew still worked for Karl, who had been ecstatic that someone in his employee was working for the government. More than that, Andrew now had an assistant that did all the sending of the goods. Abigail was a nice, always serious, girl. Fresh out of high school, just like Andrew, and eager to prove herself. Andrew knew to cherish her.
After checking on the store and loading some new things after calling Abigail for a report on what they had, Andrew went to search for another antique store on liquidation.
He didn’t find one, but found a British manufacturer that made all kinds of things. The site was in English, luckily, and he placed a couple of orders. Then, he texted Abigail that she should be expecting them by the end of the week, and he looked out the window.
It was dark out and the breeze from the ocean was pleasant. He almost didn’t want to out, but he needed. It was December and yet, it was warm in here. He looked at Erin, who was tinkering in his laptop on the desk.
“I am done. Do you want to go now?” Asked Andrew and Erin let his laptop down.
“Yes. I have been done for a couple of hours now. We might need to find a herbal shop. All my things sold already,” Andrew nodded. Andrew spent some time looking at shops and finally, he stopped at one.
“How does George England Pdq Sales sounds, Erin? I can load the address on my phone,” suggested Andrew, and Erin nodded.
“If they have sales in the name, the prices must be right. Come on, my auction page looks too lonely,” they grabbed their coats and got out. They walked and found the shop after three hours. The shop was still opened and they walked in.
It was small and cozy and clean. And, it had numerous things to offer. All looking cheap. Erin took out a note from his pocket and went to the counter.
“Do you have something for all of these?” He asked, and the cashier began filling bags automatically without asking questions. When she was done, she gave Erin the receipt and his eyes widened.
“Are you certain that everything is just a hundred dollars?” Erin had gotten many boxes from everything. He had four bags on him.
“Yes, sir. Now, can you be faster? I should have closed five minutes ago,” she said, looking annoyed. Erin handed the money and then two of the bags to Andrew.
“Well, I suppose that now it is time to go back to the hotel,” said Erin.
“We are all the way here. It will be a shame if we don’t see the beach. But I agree. We have to drop off the bags,” said Andrew. Erin grinned, already planning for how they could spend some time on the beach.
