Crimson Falls (The Depravity Chronicles) (16 page)

* * * * * *

4

Anna, David, and
Anish stood quietly in the morgue staring at the body of Alan Brickton, which
was covered by a thin white sheet. Anna was still unclear as to what Anish
would be able to learn from studying the body, but she trusted that he knew was
he was doing. It was rare that Anna had to call someone in from outside of
Crimson Falls to offer assistance on a case. Most of what she dealt with was
vandalism, theft, and your average run of the mill crimes you’d find in small
town America.

The
institutional lighting and smell of formaldehyde made Anna feel slightly
uncomfortable. She didn’t particularly care for hospitals, and being in a
morgue didn’t offer a better experience. David lifted the sheet back, neatly
folding it over Alan’s backside. Anna hadn’t expected him to be lying on his
stomach. David was the first to speak.

“See here,” he
said as he pointed to Alan’s neck wound. “Tell me what you see.”

“Something bit
him,” Anish observed quickly. He leaned closer so that only a few inches
separated his face from Alan’s neck.

“And?” David
asked.

Anish looked up
at David. “And whatever it was that bit him wasn’t human.”

“What?” Anna
said, surprised. Anish took both hands and gestured toward the wound, as if
measuring its length.

“See the length
here? I do not think it is possible for a human to have that kind of vertical
jaw height,” Anish said.

“I don’t think I
would have noticed that,” Anna confessed. “I thought he was struck by something
and then stabbed, or vice versa.”

“Did you measure
the force of the bite?” Anish asked David.

“I’m only in the
preliminary stages,” David said defensively. “He’s only been dead for about
four hours. And we’ve been somewhat busy.”

“Of course,”
Anish said apologetically. “I only ask because as you can tell, there are
imprints of maxillary and mandibular molars. As well as bicuspids, cuspids, and
both lateral and central incisors.”

“Don’t most
animals have teeth like humans?” Anna asked.

“Indeed they
do,” Anish said. “But different animals have different ways, and strengths, of
biting. Some bit in different places, some at different angles. This is remarkably
human, but there are a few differences.”

Anna was amazed
at Anish’s knowledge. “What exactly do you teach at the university?” she asked,
a little embarrassed that she didn’t already know.

“Physical and
sociocultural anthropology,” Anish said. “I also teach Native American studies,
especially those indigenous to the Midwest.”

“I see,” Anna
said. “I’m sorry to interrupt, please continue. You were speaking about the
bite.”

“Yes, there are
a few differences. As I’ve already said, the size of the bite is atypical for
humans. But it is not necessarily impossible. Also, the bite force looks to be
much stronger than a human bite. I would say, by the looks of it, that whatever
bit Alan has the jaw strength of a Rottweiler or a pit bull, perhaps stronger.”

“And what of the
weapon that was in his neck?” Anna asked.

“That is what is
most interesting,” Anish said. “It seems to me that the bite was made while he
was still alive.”

“I concur,”
David agreed, taking over the conversation. “And the weapon was removed as if
it would have been one of the teeth.”

Anish picked up
the bag with the weapon and studied it. “May I?” he asked.

“Certainly,”
David said. He grabbed three pairs of gloves so they could handle the weapon
without contaminating it. Anish required extra large gloves, and even then it
was a bit snug on his large hands. Once he had the gloves on he removed the
weapon and tried to fit it inside one of the gashes in the wound on Alan’s
neck. It was a perfect fit.

“Well, you said
you thought it was a tooth,” Anna recalled. “But I thought we also agreed that
he wasn’t killed by an animal.” Anna reflected for a moment. What she came up
with made her shudder.

“What is it?”
David asked her.

“Do you think
it’s possible that someone created some sort of weapon using sharp animal
teeth?” she asked Anish.

“Anything is
possible,” he mused. “If that were the case, it would have to be attached to
some sort of handles that could be manipulated to increase the force of the
bite. Do you understand what I am saying?”

A grizzly
picture appeared in Anna’s mind of a psychotic man using an ingenious death
device. Again, she shuddered. “Not pretty, is it?” she asked them.

“Do you really
think that is what we’re dealing with here?” David asked Anish.

“No, I do not,”
he replied while still investigating the tooth and Alan’s wound.

“Then what
do
you think?” Anna asked. She was getting a bit frustrated. Anish was a nice
man, but didn’t seem to want to divulge what he was thinking. “It’s okay if
you’re just guessing,” she urged him. “At this point you’re the only person who
seems to have any idea of what the hell is going on.”

“I remain silent
because I am gathering evidence and following where it leads,” Anish explained.
“If you will just humor me for a little while longer, I will then share with
you what I think is happening.”

Anna nodded,
then turned to David. “Is there anything else interesting you can tell us about
the body?”

“Just that
whatever did this drained a good bit of blood,” David said. “If you recall the
crime scene, there was very little blood. It is almost as if the wound had been
cauterized, but of course there is no sign of that.”

Anish sighed
deeply. Anna could tell he was lost in thought, and his expression unnerved
her. Whatever he was thinking wasn’t good.

“There isn’t
much else I can tell you that will help us right now,” David acknowledged.
“What’s your next move?” he asked Anna.

“Anish?” she
asked, giving him the floor.

“I would like to
go to the Brickton Estate.” Anna knew he was going to say that, and truth be told
she wasn’t really looking forward to it.

“Then let’s go,”
she said. “David, I need you to stay here and try and figure out what you can.
You know how to reach me.”

“Sure thing,
Anna,” he said, already returning to the body.

As Anna and
Anish walked out the door toward her cruiser, her radio came to life.

“Sheriff?
Sheriff, this is Jake. Come in, Sheriff.”

“Hi, Jake. Bring
me up to speed.”

“Sheriff, we
found the priests.”

“Found the
priests?” Anna asked, confused. “I didn’t know they were missing.”

“Well, they
were. And there’s more. We have Michael Mullins with us. He was abducted in the
woods and brought to a secret underground hideout under the Brickton mansion.”

“Copy,” Anna
said, then grew silent. It took a moment for the news to sink in. She looked at
Anish, who seemed unaffected by what he had heard. It was almost like he wasn’t
surprised.

“Sheriff?” Jake
said after Anna remained quiet.

“Bring him to
the hospital,” Anna ordered. “But come around to the back where David’s office
is. We’ll be here waiting for you. I will make sure Michael gets the medical
attention he needs.”

“Copy that,”
Jake said.

“Is he
conscious?” Anna asked.

“Well, yes and
no,” Jake said with uncertainty.

“What do you
mean?”

“He said that
Alan Brickton is the one who attacked him,” Jake said. “So I think he’s a
little delirious.”

“He must be,”
Anna said. “I just left the morgue where his body is lying on a metal slab. Dr.
Styles is working with the body as we speak.”

“Copy that,”
Jake said. Anna could hear Michael in the background, disagreeing with her and
becoming frantic. The radio was silent for a moment. “They’ve taken Michael
into the library and heading toward the cruisers. I’m still here in the
backroom.”

“What’s
happening with Michael?” Anna asked, looking at Anish as she spoke.

“It’s more than
just thinking that Brickton attacked him, Anna. He also said that you were in
the woods beside the Laundromat. He said that was what lured him into the
woods. He keeps insisting that you’re trapped somewhere and need help.”

“Well, I am very
much alive and not in the woods,” she said, wondering why she even had to say
the obvious.

“He is not
delirious because of the attack,” Anish said. “If it were the attack that made
him delirious, then he would not be saying that you were the reason he went
into the woods.”

“You can’t be
sure of that,” Anna said cautiously. “His condition may be affecting what he
remembers before the attack.”

Anish nodded,
but she could tell he was holding fast to what he had said. She wondered if he
knew something they didn’t.
Of course he does
, she thought to herself.

“Sheriff?” Jake
said, again reacting to her radio silence.

“Join the
others,” she ordered. “I will send Geraldine and Aaron, who are at the
Laundromat. When they arrive, you, George, Rick, and John can bring Michael and
the civilians here to the hospital. Tim and Lionel can stay at the house and
keep it secure.”

“Copy, Sheriff.
But I think you should know something.”

“What’s that,
Jake?”

“I don’t think
anyone can secure this house and survive long enough to tell about it.”

“Copy that,
Jake. See you soon.” She radioed Geraldine and Aaron, giving them their orders.
She put the radio back on her belt and shrugged at Anish.

“Any thoughts
about that?” she asked, assuming he wouldn’t have anything to say.

Anish had many
thoughts, the foremost of which was it would take all of his expertise and
knowledge to win this battle should the beast be the one he suspected it to
be.  He shivered slightly remembering the old chief’s horrifying legends around
the campfire. He gave voice to the only reply he could at this point.

“I think it is
best to save our thoughts until after we have spoken to Officer Mullins,” Anish
said.

“Michael? But
he’s out of his mind,” she argued.

“Perhaps,
perhaps not,” Anish said.

“Alrighty then,”
Anna sighed. Although she hadn’t smoked since she had first gotten pregnant
nearly seventeen years ago, she really wanted a cigarette. As if reading her
mind, Anish offered her a smoke.

“You smoke?” she
said.

“No, but people
tend to smoke when they’re in my presence,” he said with a grin. Although she
didn’t take the cigarette, she laughed harder than she had in a while.

His grin grew
wider, but it also had a hint of concern. He patted the pack of cigarettes once
he returned it to his flannel shirt’s front pocket. “By the time this night is
over, you may change your mind.”

1

Trevor was
getting insanely bored. He was stuck eating pizza and doing homework while all
the action was outside.

“Story of my
life,” he said to himself.

“What did you
say, dude?” Tommy asked, looking up from his book chronicling the life of
Abraham Lincoln.

“Uh, ‘dude’
isn’t really a word that fits your uptight personality,” Trevor shot back.
Tommy stared at him for a second, then went back to his book.

This f’ing sucks
, he thought to
himself. He never got to do anything fun. His dad had always been the fun one,
taking him to the shooting range, hunting, teaching him woodland survival. He
thought back to the shadow that was running in the woods. Trevor watched as Sam
and Damien left the video room and walked out of the office.

“There goes your
boyfriend,” he said to Trisha, who had a crush on Sam. As usual, Trevor used
that knowledge to his advantage. “Why don’t you go see what you can find out.”

“Whatever,”
Trisha hissed. But, as he expected, she walked out of the office. Whether it
was to talk to Sam or to get away from her brothers he didn’t know. He didn’t
care.

“Dude, I think
it’s a werewolf,” Trevor said to his twin once Trisha was out of earshot.

“Seriously? A
werewolf?” Tommy asked as he leaned over and picked up Trevor’s Stephen King
novel. “I think you read too much of this crap.”

“You didn’t see
it, Tommy. It was large, fast, and picked up half of Sam’s body like it was
nothing.”

“Did it have
hairy feet?” Tommy asked, mocking him.

“I didn’t see
his feet, butt wipe,” he retorted.

“It isn’t a full
moon,” Tommy pointed out.

“Not all
werewolf lore has full moons. Some of them are shifters, and can change
whenever they want.”

“You’ve been
watching HBO too much,” Tommy said, shaking his head.

Trevor leaned
back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head and grinning. “Myths and
legends have to come from somewhere. Who’s to say there aren’t monsters out
there?”

“In Minnesota?
Why not New York, California? Someplace where there are actually people they
can eat?”

“Small towns are
almost always the setting for that kind of stuff,” Trevor insisted. “This would
be the perfect town. It’s remote, but not too far out of the way. There aren’t
too many people, but there aren’t too few people either. It’s where I would go
if I were a werewolf.”

“Okay,” Tommy
laughed.

“I doubt it’s a
vampire,” Trevor mused. “No, no, it’s definitely a werewolf.”

They sat in
silence for a moment.

“Holy shit!”
Trevor cried.

“What? Jesus!
What?”

“Who do you
think the werewolf could be? It’s always a human. We need to figure it out.
Maybe we should look at the cameras.”

“You’re a
freak,” Tommy snapped. “Mom doesn’t need your drama, especially now. Don’t
touch the cameras.”

“Just because
you think you’re my dad doesn’t make it true,” Trevor said loudly.

“Lower your
voice, Trevor,” Tommy demanded.

“No, Daddy, I
won’t.”

“Grow up,
Trevor. God, it’s like all you want to do is stir things up and piss people
off.” Tommy lifted his Lincoln book close to his face, trying to ignore his
brother.

“Up yours, douche
bag,” Trevor yelled. He stood up and stomped out of the office. He realized he
was being a bit overdramatic, but Tommy knew exactly how to piss him off.
Before their father left they used to be as close as two brothers could be. But
the last year had been bad, and he felt like he didn’t even know Tommy anymore.

Trevor walked
past Janet’s desk and started to head out the door.

“Trevor, honey,
where are you going?” Janet shouted after him.

“Nowhere, of
course,” he spat back. “I’m just standing outside, Janet. You don’t need to
call the police.”

Pleased with his
sarcasm, he went outside and walked to the side of the building. From the
police station he could see the lights of the high school football stadium. He
could hear the band playing the fight song in the stands, and the distant
cheers of students, parents, and spectators. He longed to be normal again, but
after his father dumped them, he felt like everyone stared at him. After
tonight, seeing the werewolf, he knew he would never be accepted in this small
town.

I wonder who the
werewolf is
,
he thought to himself. Was it too weird or stupid to think something like that?
Then again, he felt confident that whatever was chasing him and Sam definitely
couldn’t have been human. He wondered what Sam thought about it. Just as he
began pondering Sam’s thoughts, Sam showed up beside him.

“Hey, Trevor,”
Sam said, startling him. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t
scare me,” Trevor said defensively. He eased a little, believing that if anyone
had his back or would believe him, it would be Sam. “Sorry, guess it’s been
kinda crazy tonight.”

“You can say
that again,” Sam sighed. “There’s a game tonight?”

“Yeah.”

“Didn’t you play
last year?”

“Yeah, but my
‘attitude’ went to shit and Mom wouldn’t let me play this year.” He added the
air quotes for emphasis.

“That happened
to me when I was your age.”

“So, you must
have seen some insane stuff when you were in the FBI,” Trevor said, trying to
broach the topic of the werewolf.

“I did, Trevor.”

“Anything like
tonight?”

“Honestly, no.
This is new to me,” Sam said, shaking his head. “It’s, how should I say it,
unique.”

“So, what do you
think that was?” Trevor was feeling nervous, not sure if he should say out loud
what he had been thinking.

“I don’t know,”
Sam said, patting Trevor on the back. “But whoever it was, we’ll get him.”

“So you think it
was human?” He could tell his question took Sam off guard. Sam tried to act as
normally as possible.

“What do you
mean?”

Trevor knew Sam
was fishing, probably trying to see if he had lost his mind. He had to present
his theory as rationally as possible, but werewolves kind of defied logic.
Trevor wasn’t sure what to say.

“Okay, then tell
me this,” Sam said. “What do you think it was?”

Trevor kept
quiet.

“Trevor, you
can’t tell me anything that I haven’t heard before. Believe it or not, you
probably won’t say anything that I haven’t already thought of in the last few
hours.”

“Okay,” Trevor
said. “But before I say anything, you have to promise that you won’t tell my
mom.”

That made Sam
chuckle. “I won’t say anything, Trevor. Hell, I might even agree with you. If I
do, and I have to talk to your mom about it, I will tell her it was my idea.”

Trevor’s eyes
brightened at the prospect of having someone else who might believe in the
supernatural. “Well, I don’t think it was a person while it was chasing us.”

Sam looked
confused. “What do you mean, ‘while it was chasing us?’ Are you saying that
whatever it was is only human sometimes?”

“Yeah. I’m
saying I think it’s a werewolf.” Trevor almost closed his eyes, unable to
handle the anticipation growing in his chest. He didn’t want to be laughed at,
or for Sam to think that he was just another stupid kid living in a fantasy
world.

“A werewolf,”
Sam repeated.

“Yeah.”

Sam seemed like
he was actually thinking about it. “Well, I can tell you that I actually hadn’t
thought of that one.”

“Of course not,”
Trevor groaned. “You’re not a freak like me.”

“Did I say you were
a freak?” Sam asked, somehow not sounding like a smartass. They both were quiet
for a moment.

“So you think
it’s possible?” Trevor asked.

“I wouldn’t have
thought it possible yesterday,” Sam said, his voice trailing away.

“And today?”
Trevor nudged.

“Today,” Sam
repeated. “I don’t want to say that I agree with you or that I believe in
werewolves,” he said carefully. “But I also know from experience that there are
many things in this world that defy scientific explanation.”

As much as
Trevor wanted to hear Sam’s words as supportive, he still felt like an idiot.
He knew from all his books that no one ever believed until it was too late.
Maybe his belief would save his life, and everyone else’s as well.

“You okay?” Sam
asked, watching Trevor carefully.

“I’m good.
Thanks for listening,” Trevor said. “You can go inside now. I just need a
minute.” Sam patted him on the back and left Trevor with his thoughts.

Trevor began
wishing that his best friend, Simon, was with him. If anyone would believe his
story it would be Simon. The music from the football field sang through the
wind, and Trevor made a decision. He was going to go the game to get Simon and
bring him into the fold.

It was time to
go hunting for a werewolf.

* * * * * *

2

Jason Styles
decided to leave Anish to his father. Deep down he knew everyone expected him
to follow in his father’s footsteps, but he didn’t want to deal with it. Who
wants to work with dead bodies all the time? Christ, corpses were always in
their basement, in the small chapel that was added to their house when he was a
kid. Death was everywhere and he was sick of it. So tonight he decided to do
what came naturally to him. Women.

He needed a shot
of something strong. On his drive back to Crimson Falls he didn’t see the old
Native American professor anywhere on the road. He had been smoked by a piece
of shit, beat up truck. How does that happen? He pulled into Perry’s Pub and
Grill, right at the edge of town. It was the first restaurant off the
interstate on the way into Crimson Falls.

Jason stepped
out of his mustang, checking the floor again to make sure there weren’t any
residual McDonald’s stains. He used the cuff of his sleeve to rub the top of
the window, then smiled as he admired his ride. It had gotten him more tail in
the last six months than all of last year. It could only get better from here.

He managed to
push the night’s events out of his mind. “I’ll deal with that freaky nonsense
tomorrow,” he said to himself. He definitely didn’t want to deal with another
lecture from his father, but having great sex tonight would provide the
necessary memories to focus on when his father chewed him out in the morning.

“Jason!” many
people cheered as he entered the pub. It was almost like he was Norm from
Cheers
,
just skinnier, younger, and much hotter. He took a few minutes to greet his
friends, scanning the room for any new women he hadn’t yet met or screwed. As
he was talking with Jed, another EMT, he noticed a middle-aged woman standing
near the jukebox.

“Damn!” Jason
said loudly to Jed. “Who’s that fine, mature lady?”

Jed laughed. “Dude,
that’s Jake O’Reilly’s sister. How did you not know that?”

“Shit! That’s Mary
O’Reilly? Wow.”

“Yeah, man.
You’re an idiot. Her son, our
friend
, is in Afghanistan.”

“Jesus!” Jason
yelled. “I know who she is, dumbass.”

“You have that
look in your eye,” Jed warned.

“What look?”
Jason smiled innocently, still staring at Mary.

“That ‘I’m gonna
bang you tonight’ look. She’s married, dude. And her brother is Jake O’Reilly.
You know him, right? The huge, arrogant
police officer
?”

“Yeah, yeah,”
Jason said as he waved a hand of indifference at Jed.

“This gives a
whole new meaning to the word ‘cougar,” Jed joked.

“Watch and
learn, son.”

Jason walked
over to Mary, noticing the women that watched him as he passed them by.

“You’re looking
good tonight, Ms. O’Reilly.”

Mary turned
around and smiled, almost dazzling him out of his pants.

“Hi there,
Jason,” she said seductively. Jason was shocked at how hot she was. Even though
he had grown up with her son, he had never really noticed. And now, with a
short skirt and a tank top that barely covered her large breasts, he was having
a difficult time remembering that she was twice his age.

“How’s Jim doing
over there in Afghanistan?” Jason asked, not sure what to say. He wasn’t used
to being nervous around women.

“Let’s not talk
about that,” she said with a wry smile. “Did you drive here?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.
I drove.” Jason was dumbfounded. Was
she
hitting on
him
?

“Then let’s get
out of here, shall we?” she said, using her finger to twist the small tuft of
hair sticking out of his t-shirt.