by Jeff D Ellis
“Zombies are real?”
“There are lots of monsters in the world and thankfully we’ve only met a few of them.”
“Seems like you have more stories to tell.”
“Not as many as a homicide detective would have.”
“At least my monsters were Human.”
“Maybe the Marshals can find you a job working in Black Badge.”
Hammer looked surprised and more than a little uncomfortable. “Why don’t I hit the showers and maybe you can send someone to pack a bag of my things. We can go for that walk or a drive afterwards.”
Abby nodded and ushered him out. “I’ll show you to the showers and make the arrangements.”
***
The feeling of water raining down over his body made Hammer feel almost Human. Was he almost Human or almost a monster? He hoped that if he became the monster he was worried about, that David and Abby would do the right thing and keep him from hurting anybody at all costs.
He decided it was best to talk about his fears about the Marshals some place private away from here. He didn’t think anyone would be listening in, but the fears he felt were too real to take the chance.
After getting dressed, he found Abby waiting in the hall for him.
“Feeling any better?”
“I would say I was feeling Human, but we both know that’s not true.”
Abby laughed. “Join the club. We have cookies.”
If only Abby was ten years older and not engaged. Hammer could see himself going out with her. At least he could hope they could be friends.
“What now?”
“We have some people staking out Ash’s house along with some crows. Our team is looking for more clues of where the Windigo could have escaped to. It’s time for a break. Let me take you back to our place. David will pack a bag of your stuff and meet us there.”
“I know you need to keep an eye on me, but I don’t want to be an imposition.”
“It won’t be for us, but between our housekeeper and Ember, you might feel a little lack of privacy.”
Hammer grunted. “As long as you think they will be safe, I’m good with it.”
***
Hammer was settled in with David and Abby and was finally starting to feel normal again. Not that things could ever go back to normal. The time felt right to open up and trust someone for once in his life.
“Guys, I’m worried.”
Abby took a seat on the couch. “There is a lot going on. Anything special?”
“How do I know I won’t be used as a lab rat by the government?”
“Hammer, you don’t know me as well as Abby, but I felt the same thing when I joined the Marshals. Being a Shapeshifter that can heal from most anything would be really tempting to some evil genius trying to find the cure for cancer or something.”
Hammer nodded solemnly. “You know exactly what I’m feeling. How do you know it wouldn’t happen to us?”
“There is a treaty between the Veiled and Human governments.”
“But I wasn’t born Veiled.”
Abby shot him a look. “David, I agree with Hammer. The Chief had me listen in to his interview with Otis Thorn. I’m concerned about Thorn selling his research to the government, which could mean more Human experimentation and needing a Windigo as part of the process.”
“What? Do you think he never meant to cure his wife?”
“I don’t know. We know he plans ahead. It could be he has enough of the virus in storage to make hundreds of Windigos.”
David looked at Hammer. “That seems like a dangerous process.”
“I guess if the cure didn’t work or they let the person fully transform, there would be a dangerous Windigo on their hands.”
“That does sound risky.”
Abby’s eyes glazed over. “Ash has left her tree. I need to call the Deputy on surveillance duty to collect her from the house and bring her in. We should get back to the office.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Interviews
ABBY KNOCKED AND entered the Chief’s office.
“Chief, I would like to be the one to interview Ash. I think I might be able to get through to her.”
He nodded. “I’m willing to let you try. If that doesn’t work, I will come in and take over.”
“Thanks, Chief.”
This was the first time Abby had done an interrogation (or interview as they called them) and she felt a bit nervous as she approached the door. Taking a deep breath, she entered the room. Ash was sitting across the table.
“I was wondering who would be doing the interrogation.”
“Thank you for coming in.”
“What choice did I have? I know I messed up taking David’s test results.”
“Ash, you did more than that. We’ll get to that. I wanted to say first I’m sorry about your mother. I understand the cure should have worked on her.”
“I was so surprised it didn’t. It worked fine on the Detective.”
“But Detective Hammer started out Human. That wasn’t the case for your mother.”
Ash had tears in her eyes. “She was a Dryad like me and was infected so many years ago. It could be that was part of the reason it didn’t work.”
“It seems like she’s a victim here.”
“She is a victim. It’s not her fault she was attacked by a Windigo.”
“What can we do to help her?”
“Please don’t kill her. I need to do more work on fixing the cure.”
“Do you have more Windigo virus to run more tests on?”
“We always used fresh samples from her for each test run. I needed to be sure the cure would work on her current condition. She was always changing as she fed, and even though it wasn’t much, I wanted the best chance for it to work.”
“Then the current cure is useless unless she infected someone else or you get her back?”
Ash nodded. “Right. It can’t work unless the subject to be cured was infected with the virus. It can’t be done with the Detective’s current condition.”
“And he is fully cured, right?”
“Correct. He seems completely stable now.”
“Then why tell him your research was for the good of mankind when nobody else could be evolved to the state he’s in?”
“Dad said it was important to sell the process to him to get his cooperation and not fight us until we knew if the cure worked or not.”
“Did you know that your dad is trying to sell the cure to the government?”
“I guess if we were given enough time and resources, we could put in years of work to change it from a Windigo cure to something that was standalone. It would be like trying to bottle a limited version of David’s Shapeshifting combined with the condition the Detective is in. David was the key to making the Detective what he has become.”
“Back to your mother. How can we find her and bring her in safely? There was no way the Windigo that infected David could be calmed down enough to be helped.”
Ash wiped her eyes. “You have to understand that Windigo was new, starving, and in an animal state of rage. After many years of being a Windigo, mother is able to control her impulses better and fit in with Humans.”
“Does that make her a better hunter?”
“Yes, but again it’s not her fault. She is the victim.” Ash thought for a moment. “Maybe if I was there, I could calm her down.”
“But she almost killed you.”
“She wasn’t herself. The faulty cure must have induced a panic, causing her to lose control. I’m sure she’s better now. Her name is Willow.”
“Can Willow still join with her tree?”
“The virus prevented her from joining with her tree and kept her from healing when she originally got infected.”
“Doesn’t that put you at a higher risk being around her or the Detective pre-cure?”
“The Detective wasn’t an issue. He was never allowed to advance far enough to give others the virus.”
“What about Willow or the other Windigos, like the one that attacked David and me?”
“It was a risk we had to take to cure my mother.”
“Where do you think we could find her?”
“Even though she can’t join with it, she will be drawn to her tree back at Dad’s house.”
Abby pushed paper and a pen to Ash. “Give me the address.”
“But I can show you where.”
“That will be great, but we’ll still need the address so that we can look at maps of the area before we go. For a situation like this, we can’t go in blind.”
Ash wrote an address down and pushed it back to Abby. “Here it is.”
“Thank you, Ash. That is all for now.”
“Can you tell David I’m really grateful to him for saving my life?”
Abby stood and nodded. “I will let him know.”
***
The Chief met Abby outside of the interview room.
“Do you think she was telling the truth?”
“I’m not sure since she was able to lie to me in the past. It also seemed too easy to get her help.”
“Get the team to research the address and we can go from there.”
Abby took the address to the bullpen and gave it to Perry.
“We need to look into this address. It might be the house of Otis Thorn and our Windigo might have gone there.”
“We’ll get right on it. I’m sure it’s not in Otis Thorn’s name since we couldn’t find anything connected to him other than the business.”
“Thanks, Perry.”
David and Hammer were hanging out at David’s desk nearby.
David laughed. “Abby, Hammer was just telling me stories about some of his first cases in homicide.”
“Already at old war stories, are we? What next, comparing times you almost died?”
Hammer smiled. “You know most cops never draw their weapon and don’t have brushes with death, so you have many of them beat.”
Abby nodded. “I don’t need to be in danger to be happy and would rather work smart than be forced to cheat death.”
“We can’t always prepare to face anything when we don’t even know things like Windigos are real. Learn from your mistakes and by the time you’ve been on the job as long as I’ve have, you won’t make so many mistakes.”
David frowned. “That is, if we live that long.”
“Something tells me that won’t be a problem.”
Perry called over, “I have some information about the address.”
Abby waved. “I’ll be right over.”
“The property is owned by Otis Blackthorn. I’m assuming that is a name he went by before Otis Thorn. It’s been in the Blackthorn family since the early 1900s. You can see in the satellite map of the property there are a lot of trees on the property and it’s somewhat secluded.”
“Is there any way to verify it’s Otis Thorn’s property?”
“You could ask him.”
“I’m not sure he’d be helpful about it. He wants to make a deal related to his so-called cure.”
“Unless we have proof it’s his property, I’m not sure you can search it. Just getting the address from Ash isn’t good enough. It’s not in his or her name.”
“And you would have found it before if Otis Thorn had been using it as his legal residence.”
“We have no legal residence for Thorn other than the company as a mailing address.”
“What does he use for his driver’s license or other ID?”
“He doesn’t have one under the name of Otis Thorn. It seems that he couldn’t risk anyone being able to find his picture in the database.”
“I better talk to Thorn.”
***
Abby entered the interview room where Thorn was waiting.
Abby slid a paper across the table. “Dr. Thorn, is this your address?”
Thorn didn’t look away from her eyes. “I take it there’s no word on my proposal yet?”
What proposal? His wanting to go back to his research?
“That’s my understanding. Please answer my question.”
“Why do you want to know?”
Abby decided to be straight with him.
“Ash gave us this address for your house as a place your wife might have gone. We are looking to bring her in. You still want to cure her, right?”
Thorn looked at the paper and slid it back. “Yes, that’s my property.”
“Your name has been Otis Blackthorn? That property has been in the Blackthorn family since the 1900s.”
“That is a name I’ve been known by, but I’m Dr. Otis Thorn now.”
“Do we have your permission to look for her there?”
“Sure, but you won’t find her. Your only chance is by bringing me with you and I’m not going anywhere until the powers that be agree to my deal.”
“Funny, Ash said almost the same thing.”
“She can’t help you and if you don’t get me my deal soon, you will have to deal with the exposure that a Windigo on the loose can cause, leaving bodies and other Windigos in her wake.”
“I will make sure the Chief knows of your concerns.”
***
After getting the Chief’s approval, Abby approached the guys.
“We are cleared to search the address Ash gave us. Thorn has confirmed that it is his address. His name was Otis Blackthorn, not that it changes anything.”
David nodded. “What are our rules of engagement?”
“If we find the Windigo, we are to try and bring her in, but if she poses a threat to our safety, we are approved to defend ourselves.”
Hammer stepped up. “What about me?”
Abby handed Hammer his SPD badge. “You are coming along as an observer, but aren’t authorized to carry a weapon or be part of any fight with a Windigo.”
“The Chief doesn’t actually trust me yet?”
“Do you fully trust yourself?”
“Good point. I’ll help however I can and stay out of the line of fire. What is the plan?”
“We are to treat this as a fugitive recovery, not like we did at Thorn Industries. We go to the door and announce ourselves and give a cover story if anyone is there. Then we search the grounds and finally the house if unoccupied.”
“We’re leaving our mad scientists here at the office?”
“They stay here under guard. The Chief doesn’t want to risk them getting away. As far as we are concerned, they are already convicted of crimes against Humans as well as Ash’s crimes against the Marshals. Their punishment remains to be decided.”
Hammer shook his head. “Don’t they get a trial?”
“Hammer, they are not suspects. They have already confessed their guilt and a judge remotely ruled it was not forced. All that is left is for a judge to pass sentence. They aren’t Human and the rules you’re used to don’t apply.”
“Why aren’t you both upset about this?”
David turned a little pale. “We’ve never been in this situation before. During our one big case, the guilty party died trying to kill us. His victims, once they were no longer under his control, were given counseling and returned to their families.”
Abby came over closer. “Hammer, I don’t understand. You were the victim of these two Dryads. Are you saying they should be given the opportunity to get off on a technicality and do this again to other Humans?”
“I understand what you are saying, but things can’t always be this cut and dry. What if they were being controlled somehow and forced to do this? It should be innocent until proven guilty.”
“Some Veiled groups are like that and handle acts against their laws internally by their rules, but our government has decided crimes by The Veiled against Humanity are to be treated this way. Having a jury of the accused peers doesn’t work in this world. A Vampire jury isn’t likely to side with Humanity against another Vampire and good luck finding a jury for a Windigo. I’m not saying I agree with the idea of n
ot having the same rights and due process, but it’s the system that has been in place since the 1800s and nothing we say will change it.”
Hammer looked down at his hands. “I’m just the new guy; losing my Human rights due to being the victim of a forced transformation doesn’t go over very well to me.”
David nodded and touched Hammer’s shoulder. “I understand Hammer, really I do. It wasn’t any easier for me learning I was born Veiled and was never told until after my parents had died. Maybe we should get you a vest and get on with our field trip.”
Hammer smiled. “I sure would be happy to get away from here for a little while.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
House in the woods
THE WOODS FELT quiet and strangely still, as if the trees blocked hope as well as the late afternoon light. The house was a Seattle box style made from brick. A square two-story building with massive bay windows on the second floor. David knocked on the front door. Then he knocked again.
“Looks like nobody’s home. Thorn did give us permission to look around. Let’s check things outside and work our way in.”
“David, other than a Windigo, what should we be looking for?”
“We should look for anything out of place. Her name was Willow, so we should take notice of any willow trees. Why don’t you check the outside of the house? Hammer, you take deeper into the tree line, and I’ll split the difference and look at the closer part of the yard.”
David checked for magic as he went. At a point opposite the back door to the house, he found a tree that showed residue of old magic. David couldn’t tell what kind of tree it was, but he did know it wasn’t a willow. The tree didn’t look very healthy. He continued on with his search.