Twisting his handcuffs, he stuck his fingers up his sleeve, and drew out the shiv an inch at a time. The skinhead’s face became a thundercloud.
“You gonna make a run for it?” the skinhead whispered.
“Yes. Care to join me?”
“Yeah. I’m doing life.”
“How about the others?”
The skinhead made eye contact with the other inmates on the bus. Silent communication, honed by years behind bars, far more efficient than words.
“We’re in,” the skinhead told him.
“All of you?”
“Yeah. What’s the plan?”
Crutch directed his attention to the front of the bus. The two armed guards stood in the aisle, pretending to be watching them. In reality, they were both day-dreaming, their thoughts light years away. The driver was not much better, whistling under his breath as he handled the wheel, a cup of coffee splashing in a cup holder. Crutch imagined biting each one of them in the neck, their warm blood racing down his throat.
Kill them all, said the voice inside his head.
“Kill them all,” Crutch whispered.
“Then what?” asked the skinhead.
Author’s note:
John Brennan Crutchley was a real-life human vampire who has been linked to over thirty murders in the eastern United States. He died in a Florida prison in 2002.
Acknowledgment:
The following work proved invaluable in the research and writing of this novel. Whoever Fights Monsters by Robert Kessler, Mind Hunter by John Douglas, Linkage analysis: modus operandi, ritual, and signature in serial sexual crime by Robert R. Hazelwood & Janet I. Warren, Serial Murder, Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators published by the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, Robert J. Morton, Editor, Mark J. Hilts, Co-Editor, plus a number of unpublished works on serial killers presented at the 2009 International Homicide Investigators Association. Above all, a special thanks to Andrew Vita, Team Adam Consultant for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and former Associate Director/Enforcement for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, whose help made this book possible.
