by Tom Andry
I nodded, glumly.
"Isn't that proof that I still care for you?"
"Just not enough to be in the same room with me."
She cringed, "It's just too... Every time I see you..."
"Yeah, I know."
She didn't have to finish. She may have the power to change the weather, suck the air from a room, or create a tidal wave, but there were some things even she was powerless against.
She turned to leave.
"I'll need the location I was at this afternoon. He used some sort of teleportation device so I don't have the address."
"I figured," Gale replied, "I left it with Khan."
"Good."
Her hand was on the doorknob, "Bob?"
"Yeah?"
"Why don't you call me Wendi anymore?"
I shrugged and poured another drink.
* * *
Chapter 9
As I had guessed, the house I had gone to with Doc Arts was in Leederville. While Hillside had mostly supers and the filthy rich and Avondale had the merely affluent, Leederville was strictly middle class. With the regenerative power I'd seen in the mother, she had all the makings for a high level citizen of the Super State. The only reason she wasn't must have been because she hadn't been around long enough. That fit with the information Gale had given me.
The house was as quaint on the outside as it was inside - white with green shutters, two car garage and well manicured lawn complete with white picket fence. After Gale left, I grabbed my keys, a tracker, and exchanged information with Khan. He had probably listened in on everything but I brought him up to speed anyhow. I rarely had a visit from my ex-wife and my moods after such meetings were universally grim. Khan knew to keep it professional. I confirmed that he hadn't officially pulled anyone off of surveillance yet and all the trackers were still in place. I decided to bring the tracker to Ed and Sue myself as they at least knew my face. Having Khan show up unannounced wasn't exactly going to work.
It was late, after 10 p.m., by the time I rolled up in front of the house. I grabbed a handful of trail mix and chewed it noisily. I wasn't looking forward to this meeting. I could only hope the child was with the mother and I could drop off the tracker with a minimum of fuss. If I thought I could get away with sticking it in an envelope and dropping it in the mail slot, I would. I swallowed the trail mix, hoping it would counteract some of the alcohol I had consumed. Whenever Gale was around, I couldn't help but drink. She ran away; I drank. We all cope in our own ways, I suppose.
I knocked on the door, at first lightly, then more forcefully. I rang the doorbell once…twice. No answer. I stepped back from the door. Lights were on both upstairs and down. There wasn't a car in the driveway, but the garage door was closed. Plus, who would leave home with a new baby only hours old? I tried the doorknob, but the door was locked. Circling around the house, I noticed a few windows ajar. It was a cool evening but had been a warm day. If I had to, I could pull off one of the screens and get in that way, but that was a last resort. I cringed as I thought of the time I had gotten half way through the bedroom window just to meet the owner face to face as he exited the bathroom with only a towel on. I wasn't thrilled at the notion of repeating that experience.
The latch for the gate to the backyard was on the inside so I had to reach over the top of the fence to gain access. I opened the gate slowly, wary of dogs. I let the gate creak a bit; if there was one around, I'd rather be close to an exit. If I had thought I'd be traipsing through the backyard, I'd have grabbed my flashlight out of the trunk. It was a large, nearly two foot metal job that was as good for personal protection as it was for illumination. I considered going back for it. Seemed a bit overkill. Convinced there wasn't a dog about, I entered the backyard proper.
With the homeowners expecting a baby, I found the backyard to look exactly how I'd expected it. While keeping up appearances for the neighbors was motivation enough to keep the front yard in check, the back was a bit overgrown. Not so much that I needed a machete, but I could guess that the next person to cut the lawn was going to have a bad time of it. Typical for the neighborhood, there were tall privacy trees planted around the fence perimeter with flowers and other aesthetically pleasing plants in front. The majority of the property was covered with two week’s worth of overgrown grass. A small wooden deck housed a pergola, which sheltered some teak outdoor furniture. The deck was flanked at the corners with bamboo torches that held mosquito repellant fuel.
As I approached the deck, I noticed that there was a wisp of smoke escaping the chimney. More evidence that someone was home. While I wasn't sure how Sue was reacting, I know that Gale had been a mess during her pregnancy. If it wasn't strange foods, it was the temperature. The weather didn't justify a fire, but if a new father (or father-to-be in my case) learns one thing, it's to not argue with his wife. Since Gale could control the temperature, I hadn't had much choice in the matter anyhow.
Through the sliding glass back door I could see the kitchen clearly illuminated. I slowly approached, reminded by the lights that I was technically trespassing, and held my breath. If there was a new baby inside, it was either asleep or being very quiet. There was no sound of a TV, music, or people talking. Maybe they weren't home? I tried the handle on the back door. The glass slid quietly to the side. I laughed silently to myself. No one locked the back door any more. Still, I couldn't deny that my gut wasn't happy. Something seemed off.
Entering, I called out, "Ed? Sue?" I stepped in.
The table was set for two. One dinner was still covered with aluminum foil, the other half eaten. Spaghetti. On the counter, a freshly opened can of pre-made sauce, the remainder still simmering in a pot on the stove. It didn't smell burnt so they could just be upstairs checking on the baby.
"Ed? Sue?" I called out again, "It's Bob Moore. I was here earlier with Doc Arts? Just need to drop this off with you." I reached back to my pocket, "Damn," I said to myself. I called out again, "I just left it in the car. I'll be right back, okay?"
From the back door, the kitchen was to my right, with a door and the breakfast nook I had identified earlier to the left. The door probably led to a laundry room or pantry. The dinner was set on the small table in the breakfast nook. As I walked forward, on the left, past the laundry door and breakfast nook, separated by a half wall, was a formal dining room with a large, elaborate table, probably rarely used. Past that there was a hallway under the stairs with a couple of additional doors, one of which surely led to the garage. I headed past the dining room towards the front door, which faced the stairway to the upstairs area. To the right of the front door there was a sitting room with similar furnishings. There was an alarming amount of wallpaper, wood trim, and wainscoting in every room. It was as if Sue and Ed had gotten hold of an old magazine and decorated their house accordingly. Given the current style, it wasn't so much out of style as just a little dated. Get rid of the wallpaper and the place would be pretty nice. I looked down at the thick, blue carpet in the hall wondering if there was hardwood underneath when it hit me.
Where's the fire?
I didn't smell or hear anything. I called out again, "Ed? Sue? Are you here?" I quickened my pace through the house, my gut screaming at me.
Where was the chimney? I glanced into the sitting room; there was a fireplace but no fire. Could there be more than one? I couldn't remember any additional chimneys and I was way too distracted during my last visit to have paid much attention to the walls. I started to run, randomly calling out to the residents. I made a U-turn to the left at the front door and headed up the stairs. I made it halfway up the stairs before I saw him. Ed. He was lying on his back in the hallway upstairs. I could see his head and a bit of his neck. I took a quick step, wanting to help and then stopped short. Those blank eyes.
"Ed?" I said as much to myself as to him.
He didn't move. My eyes started to water as I realized I was waiting for him to blink. He didn't.
"Goddamn it, the doctor was right," I muttered
, taking the rest of the stairs two at a time. I stopped two stairs from the top, bending down to take a closer look. I reached over and felt his neck, confirming no pulse. My hand jerked back as I felt a movement, but it wasn't rhythmic like it should be, "Holy...!" I exclaimed. It was as if something were crawling inside of his skin. I practically jumped up the last stairs and over Ed's head. "Ed, are you..."
What I saw at the top of the stairs defied description. At first I thought Ed had been cut in half. From Ed's navel on down, his body was completely gone. His left arm was extended above his head as if he were waving to someone on the ceiling. His right arm, however, was at his side. Just below the elbow, directly in line with the missing part of his torso, the lower arm and hand were also gone. Horrified, I froze, mouth agape. He wasn't just dead, he was defiled. Who would do this? Who could do this?
I never carried a gun or any other sort of weapon other than my flashlight, which was noticeably absent at the moment. There never was really much of a point. With supers running around with the power to melt the planet if they coughed wrong, a gun really wasn't going to do much more than piss them off. My mind started to race. Was whoever did this still there? Could they be finished? Should I look around or should I run? Every instinct in my body was telling me to run, but my gut disagreed. I had been calling out multiple times. If someone was here, they knew I was here. I'd been completely unaware of them until now. If they had wanted to kill me, they could have, many times over. And where the hell was the rest of Ed? Who steals half a body?
I took a calming breath. I must have fallen back when I saw Ed. I got up to a crouch and tried to think straight. Ed was dead. Somewhere in the house there may be a mother and new child. The killer could still be here. Half of Ed was missing and I finally realized there was no blood. I moved forward slowly. I wasn't thinking so much of contamination of evidence as that I didn't want to step on Ed. Weird how my thoughts were that I didn't want to hurt him.
Getting a closer look in the dim light, the wound didn't look cut. It looked - like a piece of meat at the butchers. Sort of red and glistening. I grimaced and stood slowly. There were three doors beyond Ed and two behind me. One of the two behind me was certainly some sort of linen closet. It was a double bifold number covering a large portion of the wall and faced out to a wooden railing that overlooked the foyer from above. Past that was the master bedroom where I'd seen the baby born. Past Ed two of the doors were open and one was closed. Of the open ones, the closest was on the right and looked to be a bathroom, but the light wasn't on so I couldn't be sure. The second open door was on the left and the light was on. The walls were painted a mixture of blue and pink - probably the baby's room. At the end of the hall facing me, the door was closed.
Where to go first? With supers I never knew. One could be invisible two inches from my face and I wouldn't have a clue. Do I put my back to the wall? To the railing? Do I check the linen closest? The bathroom, which seemed to be the easiest place for a killer to quickly hide if I startled him in the middle of doing whatever he was doing to Ed?
There was no point in agonizing over it. I walked backwards slowly, keeping my back to the railing. I glanced over and confirmed that there was no one on the stairs or downstairs. When I reached the linen closet, I opened it quickly. A washer and dryer with ample storage on the sides and above for linens, supplies and more. Apparently that was a pantry downstairs. There was what looked to be a year's worth of diapers in the laundry closet. I winced. Where the hell was the baby? I glanced back to Ed. Man, this sucked.
I closed the laundry doors and continued quickly to the master bedroom. For some reason, I decided to open this one slowly. The lights were off inside. I groped around for a switch, finding it after a moment. The disarray from the birth was still in full effect. The bed had been stripped, but that was about it. Ed and Sue had abandoned this room soon after we'd left. I closed the door behind me and did a quick search. The closet and master bath were all empty. Okay, this part of the house was clear.
I moved toward the door and stopped. "Ed, just how stereotypical are you?" I asked out loud. I hit the floor and looked under the bed. Nothing. Back in the closet I quickly rifled through the myriad of shoe and other boxes in there. Nothing. Given the furnishings of the house I'd half expected to find a gun or...
"Ah, there it is!"
Inside the closet, leaned up against the back corner behind the clothes was an aluminum bat. I knew I could count on Ed. With a kid on the way, he'd feel the need to have some sort of protection nearby. Even if it was as ineffectual as a baseball bat. I grabbed it and exited the master bedroom as quietly as possible. I closed the door behind me and scanned my surroundings. I leaned over the railing: still nothing. The laundry closet was still closed, the bathroom and kid's room open, and the door at the other end of the hall still closed. Ed was still in the middle of the hall near the stairs, still dead, still missing his lower half. I moved cautiously down the hall, stepping gingerly around Ed.
I glanced in the bathroom as I passed. Nothing. I closed the door. I pushed the door to the kid's room fully open. There was a crib and a rocking chair, both empty. The decorations were decidedly neutral with a good mix of blues and pinks. On the walls were images of flying elephants, strangely shaped trees, and happy suns. It was the kind of cute only new parents would appreciate. Again, I shut the door as I left. I didn't bother checking the closet or under the bed. I was starting to relax. Whoever did this must have exited. They probably took the baby and Sue and headed out to some safe house. Some sort of ransom? Maybe she has powerful parents? With that regenerative power, I wouldn't have been surprised. I opened the door at the end of the hall. It was a guest bedroom that had been transformed into half an office, half a workout room. It, too, was empty. If anyone were downstairs, they wouldn't have stuck around after I started searching upstairs. I exhaled slowly and thought about what to do.
The doctor, damn him, was obviously right. Something was going on with his patients. While it was possible this was coincidence, I doubted it. Now, what to do? This crime scene had opened the proverbial can of worms. Where were Sue and the baby? If they were being held for ransom, why hadn't others been ransomed if they were all connected to the doctor? It just didn't make sense. I tended to walk as I thought and I ended up with Ed at my feet. I didn't really see him anymore as I contemplated whether I should call the cops or The Bulwark. Either way The Bulwark was going to be involved. I decided to call the cops and let them take the credit. Might do me well in the long run. I stepped over the head and shoulders of Ed and paced quickly down the stairs looking for a phone. I suppose I could have used the one in the master bedroom, but that seemed like an invasion of privacy.
Wait, the head and shoulders of Ed?
I stopped so abruptly that I slid down the last few carpeted stairs, hitting my butt hard enough to make me bite my tongue and sending the bat clattering down to the tile foyer below. I turned and ran back up the stairs. Sure enough, what was once half of Ed was now less than a third. Ed wasn't cut in half, he was…being dissolved? I located a light switch and turned it on. In the glaring light I could now clearly see that what I had thought was a glistening of moisture on the severed part of Ed was, in fact, some sort of creature. Small, almost too small to see, they were like tiny, flying confetti. They shimmered in the light as they seemed to drift onto Ed, land for a moment and then drift away again. Afraid to inhale the tiny creatures, I covered my mouth with my hand, wishing for some sort of handkerchief. I watched for a few long minutes as the creatures consumed Ed slowly from the bottom up.
Consume is the wrong word. It was like they were carrying him off bit by bit. Little sparkly specks that seemed to float on the wind. As one glided by, I exhaled. The speck flashed and spun in the turbulence of my breath careening away from Ed. Others caught in the path did the same. After a moment, they slowed. While I had lost track of the original speck, it was clear they resumed their course toward Ed.
Now that I knew what
to look for, I could follow the line of them. In shadow they were practically invisible if you weren't looking. Even in bright light, they were hard to see. They seemed to have a bit of internal illumination but mostly it was reflected. They floated over the railing and down to the first floor. I descended the stairs slowly, trying to keep an eye on them. As I moved farther away from their flight line, however, I lost them. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I turned on the lights in the entryway, but I couldn't find them. I moved forward, slowly, trying to spot them in the weak light. Above, the lamp had two out of four bulbs burned out with the rest burning at a fairly low wattage. With all four, the two-story foyer probably would have been well lit. Just two wasn't cutting it.
I kept to the wall, hand still over my mouth. While the floating specks hadn't shown any aggression toward me yet, I'd seen what they had done to Ed. I wasn't about to take any chances. I reached down to my belt. Why I hadn't thought to turn on my Inertial Dampener until then was probably more a function of how little I used it than an actual feeling of safety. I looked down as I reached the switch, horrified to see one of the specks resting on my hand. I slowly brought my hand up to my face to examine the creature. If I had a magnifying glass like that famous detective from literature, I might have been able to make something out. As it was, it was like trying to focus on a star. It seemed to twinkle different colors and I guessed it to be vaguely square, but I couldn't make out any details. I didn't feel any pain where the creature rested, but I certainly didn't want it on me any longer than necessary. I blew and it bobbed away. I examined my hand: no visible damage. Whatever the creatures wanted, I wasn't it. At least not yet.
Now that I had one of the specks in my sights, I followed it. It met up with others and meandered across the hall and into the sitting room opposite the stairway near the front of the house. I flicked on the lights as I went, trying to keep my eyes on at least one of the sparkling creatures as they floated along their path. Occasionally, I'd see one traveling in the opposite direction. It made little sense. How could they drift along in the breeze in opposite directions in such close proximity? If I had any doubts that there was purpose behind the movements of the creatures, their consistency in direction would have dispelled them.