Wednesday Snippet - Define weird

Another snippet from Pale Queen today, since that's where most of my focus was over the weekend. Dawn's solo adventure is coming along nicely!

"So what's the story?" he asked, picking at the slice of cake. "Gang warfare? Poisoned Halloween candy? That's a real thing, you know."

"I believe it, but no, not today. This is maybe a little outside of your normal area, but I think you can still help." She toyed with the plastic roses in the middle of the table, bending the waxy petals back and forth. "You heard about the Bathory Body case, right?"

"Sure," he said. "Freaky shit."

"Freakier than you know." 

Yvette hadn't – to Dawn's knowledge – killed again since that first murder, but given that she was up to three murders now, Dawn didn't think she'd stop, either. Three murders officially made Yvette a serial killer by the FBI's standards, and in Dawn's experience, serial killers didn't stop. They might cool off for a while, but they never stopped completely. 

"So," Dawn said, forcing herself back to the here and now. "We have reason to believe the killer will strike again, but that they may change their targets. I need you to keep an ear to the ground for me among the city's homeless and low-level criminals. Hookers, dealers, maybe even gang members, if they're not high up the food chain. If you hear of any disappearances, I want you to let me know."
 

Pecan snorted, spraying cake crumbs across the table. "Hookers go missing all the time. How am I supposed to know the difference between a girl heading out of town and a girl getting stolen by some Satanic cult?"

"Is that what people are saying?" she asked, darkly amused. Jonah would be ecstatic.

He shrugged. "That or aliens. You know, like cattle mutilations in Arizona, but with people. I read it on Fort Rosser Fortean."

"Well, if a conspiracy theorist Twitter account says it, it must be true." She pressed her fingers to her temples. "Just keep an ear out," she repeated. "Anything that looks or sounds off, I want to know. I don't care how small it is. I need every possible lead."

He nodded amiably. "Sure. I take it it's not aliens or Satanists, then?"

"Ask Fort Rosser Fortean." She tugged at the flowers again, accidentally yanking a petal off. "Keep an eye out for general weird rumours too, okay?"

"I'm a drug dealer, Hardy. I've seen people try to start Nazi salute conga lines in night clubs. Define weird."