Lance sifted through the cracked, dirty sheafs of parchment. Ransom and Chester looked around the dark and dirty New York apartment. Chester felt different objects in his tentacles, and Ransom scrutinized technical diagrams and bits of machinery. Lance looked up at the pale, emaciated body lying on the table. Hawke walked over and looked at the corpse.
"It looks like a vampire attack." He said, pointing at the two marks on the body's neck. Lance shook his head.
"There's no venom in his bloodstream and the distance and angle of the marks aren't right for a vampire. Whoever murdered him wanted it to look like a vampire, or he stuck him with a needle twice for whatever reason. Besides, the landlord found ol' Corpsey in the building, a vampire can't enter human dwellings."
Hawke was silent for a moment, then he snapped his dusty fingers.
"Alison and I were investigating a murder in Philadelphia, same two marks in his neck and emaciated look, and he was an old master mechanic." Hawke dug around in the dead man's pockets, and withdrew his wallet. He took out his ID.
"Maxwell Keys." He said. Lance stood up and looked at Keys' passport and license.
"And an electrician." Lance said.
"So... the murderer is a Luddite?" Ransom chuckled.
"Or maybe Mister Murder likes taking out his contacts?" Said Lance, "All the big bad mysterious bad guys do that; it's typical."
Chester floated over to them; the Dweller's tattoos glowed slightly.
"Magic has been worked here, it lingers still in the air." Chester said in his factual, squeaky voice.
"So, Keys is, or was, in on something. You know like," Lance raised his eyebrows, "Something."
Ransom tapped his nose with a finger, "I get you."
Lance's cell phone started ringing, he looked at the caller ID.
"Ah, it's Evey."
He answered the cell phone, "I knew you'd finally call me!"
"No, Lance, no. Anyway, Sirius and I are in DC, it's a murder, exactly like the one Hawke and Alison investigated early this month; two puncture wounds in the neck, and-"
"And a shriveled up corpse, oh and some master technician or something. Exactly like what were looking at."
"Our stiff was some crusty plumber, very experienced though." Evelyn said over the phone.
"A mechanic, electrician, and plumber. Someone wanted something examined or fixed, and something magic too. But also something secret. Bad guys are so predictable." Lance said.
"Kain van Hompt wasn't predictable." Ransom said, smiling. Lance's face flushed red.
"That was because he could mess with your brain and stuff, just, like, be quiet Ransom."
"DC, Philadelphia, and New York, all three cities sit on the same ley line, now we should expect a similar murder in Boston." Chester said.
"So," Lance said as he walked over to look out the smudged window onto the bustling Queens avenue, "a murdering Luddite magician wants a magic machine built or repaired; some infernal mix of sorcery and technology."
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