Chapter 77

Vampires²? Is that what these twisted creeps were?
Assassins? Murderers?
Their names were Anne Elo and John ‘Jack’ Masterson and they had attended Catholic high school in Baton³ Rouge⁴ until about four months ago, when they had dropped out and run away from home.  Each was seventeen years old. They were just kids.  I spent three hours attempting to question the suspects that night, then another four hours the following morning. Elo and Masterson wouldn’t talk to me or anyone else - not a word. They wouldn’t say what they were doing inside the mansion⁵ in the Garden District.  Why they had attacked me. Whether or not they had placed the sinister⁶ effigies⁷ in the closet of the dead men.  The teens simply glared across the plain wooden table in one or another of the interrogation rooms at police headquarters. The parents were notified and brought in, but Elo and Masterson wouldn’t speak to them either. At one point, Anne Elo finally addressed her father with two words - ‘blow me.’ I wondered how the cult⁸ of the vampire¹ had satisfied her needs, her incredible anger.  In the meantime, there were still lots of others to talk to from the Fetish Ball. The commonality among most of them was that they held ‘straight jobs’ in New Orleans: they were bartenders and waitresses, hotel desk clerks, computer analysts⁹, actors, and even teachers.  Most were afraid to have their alternative lifestyles come out at work, so they eventually talked to us. Unfortunately, no one told us anything revealing about Daniel and Charles, or their murderers.
It was an extraordinarily¹⁰ busy night at the precinct house. More than two dozen homicide detectives and FBI agents conducted reinterviews. We exchanged notes and bios of the suspects with highlighted inconsistencies. We went hard at the most obvious liars¹¹ in the group. We also kept a list of the witnesses who seemed the most likely to break under pressure. We switched interviewers on them, sent them to the cells, then summoned them back before they could sleep; we doubled up on them.
‘All we need is a few rubber hoses,’ one of the New Orleans detectives said while we were waiting for Anne Elo to be fetched from her cell for the sixth time that night. His name was Mitchell Sams, and he was around fifty, a black man, hugely overweight, tough, effective, cynical¹² as hell.
When Anne Elo was brought back into the interrogation room, she looked like a sleepwalker. Or a zombie. Her eye sockets¹³ were incredibly deep and dark. Her lips were chapped and caked with dried blood.
Sams went at her. ‘Good morning, glory. It’s nice to see your pasty-white face again. You look like total shit, babe. I’m being kind.  Several of your friends, including your pathetic boyfriend, have broken down already tonight.’
The girl turned her vacant eyes toward a brick wall. ‘You must be mistaking me for somebody who gives a shit,’ she said.  I decided¹⁴ to try an idea that had been weaving through my mind for the past hour or so. I had used it on a few of the others.’We know about the new Sire,’I told Anne Elo.’He’s gone back to California. He isn’t here for you. He can’t help you, or hurt you.’ Her face remained blank and unresponsive, but she folded her arms. She sagged¹⁵ a few inches in her chair. Her lips were bleeding again, possibly because she’d bitten into them. ‘Who gives a shit.  Not me.’
Just then, a bleary-eyed NOPD detective opened the door to the interrogation room where Mitchell Sams and I were working on Elo, and beckoned¹⁶ us out. The detective had dark sweat stains under both arms of his pale blue sport shirt. Heavy stubble covered his chin and cheeks. He looked about as exhausted¹⁷ as I felt.
 ‘There’s been another murder,’ he told Sams. ‘Another hanging murder.’
Anne Elo appeared at the open door, and slowly, rhythmically¹⁸ clapped her hands. ‘That’s great,’ she said.

1 vampire   

n.吸血鬼

参考例句：

• It wasn't a wife waiting there for him but a blood sucking vampire!家里的不是个老婆，而是个吸人血的妖精！
• Children were afraid to go to sleep at night because of the many legends of vampire.由于听过许多有关吸血鬼的传说，孩子们晚上不敢去睡觉。

2 vampires   

n.吸血鬼( vampire的名词复数 )；吸血蝠；高利贷者；（舞台上的）活板门

参考例句：

• The most effective weapon against the vampires is avampire itself. 对付吸血鬼最有效的武器就是吸血鬼自己。 来自电影对白
• If vampires existed, don`t you think we would`ve found them by now? 如果真有吸血鬼，那我们怎么还没有找到他们呢？ 来自电影对白

3 baton   

n.乐队用指挥杖

参考例句：

• With the baton the conductor was beating time.乐队指挥用指挥棒打拍子。
• The conductor waved his baton,and the band started up.指挥挥动指挥棒，乐队开始演奏起来。

4 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

5 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

6 sinister   

adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的

参考例句：

• There is something sinister at the back of that series of crimes.在这一系列罪行背后有险恶的阴谋。
• Their proposals are all worthless and designed out of sinister motives.他们的建议不仅一钱不值，而且包藏祸心。

7 effigies   

n.（人的）雕像，模拟像，肖像( effigy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• stone effigies in the church 教堂里的石雕像
• On 5 November British children burn effigies of Guy Fawkes. 每逢11月5日英国儿童都焚烧盖伊．福克斯的模拟像。 来自辞典例句

8 cult   

n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜

参考例句：

• Her books aren't bestsellers,but they have a certain cult following.她的书算不上畅销书，但有一定的崇拜者。
• The cult of sun worship is probably the most primitive one.太阳崇拜仪式或许是最为原始的一种。

9 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

10 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

11 liars   

说谎者( liar的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The greatest liars talk most of themselves. 最爱自吹自擂的人是最大的说谎者。
• Honest boys despise lies and liars. 诚实的孩子鄙视谎言和说谎者。

12 cynical   

adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的

参考例句：

• The enormous difficulty makes him cynical about the feasibility of the idea.由于困难很大，他对这个主意是否可行持怀疑态度。
• He was cynical that any good could come of democracy.他不相信民主会带来什么好处。

13 sockets   

n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴

参考例句：

• All new PCs now have USB sockets. 新的个人计算机现在都有通用串行总线插孔。
• Make sure the sockets in your house are fingerproof. 确保你房中的插座是防触电的。 来自超越目标英语 第4册

14 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

15 sagged   

下垂的

参考例句：

• The black reticule sagged under the weight of shapeless objects. 黑色的拎包由于装了各种形状的东西而中间下陷。
• He sagged wearily back in his chair. 他疲倦地瘫坐到椅子上。

16 beckoned   

v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He beckoned to the waiter to bring the bill. 他招手示意服务生把账单送过来。
• The seated figure in the corner beckoned me over. 那个坐在角落里的人向我招手让我过去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

18 rhythmically   

adv.有节奏地

参考例句：

• A pigeon strutted along the roof, cooing rhythmically. 一只鸽子沿着屋顶大摇大摆地走，有节奏地咕咕叫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Exposures of rhythmically banded protore are common in the workings. 在工作面中常见有韵律条带“原矿石”。 来自辞典例句