by Amy Cross
"Killed or exhumed, yes," Marlowe said. "These superstitious beliefs were flexible, so they could adapt to fit changing circumstances. Obviously there was no specific science involved in the various practices, so there tended to be a lot of variation in terms of how suspected vampires were treated. One thing remained constant, however. The main aim was to dismember the dead body in a manner that would prevent the dead from coming back to life. That's what people were scared of. They believed that the undead were the cause of mankind's suffering. In reality, of course, it was actually all caused by rats and their disease-infested fleas."
The pair of them stopped next to a table that held a complete human skeleton. The bones were laid out fairly conventionally, with one notable exception: a large brick had been rammed into the mouth, evidently with enough force to break the jawbone in several places.
"It seems crazy now," Marlowe continued, "but the idea here was that if the corpse's mouth was kept open, the vampire wouldn't be able to rise and claim new victims. As you can imagine, logic was in short supply. Bodies with bricks in their mouths have been found all across Europe. Based on initial observations of the way in which the bricks were inserted, it seems that some were introduced after death, but some might have been..." He paused for a moment, wondering how much graphic detail he should provide. He usually hated explaining his work to people, but for some reason he was enjoying this little late-night chat with Kate.
"Some of them were killed by having the brick rammed into their mouth?" Kate asked, clearly more fascinated than bothered by such a gruesome idea.
"Possibly," Marlowe said. "As I explained earlier -"
"What about this one?" she continued, walking over to a nearby table where a skull was resting between a pair of skeletal legs. "Tell me about this one."
"This was another common way of dealing with a supposed vampire," Marlowe explained. "The head would be removed, and then it would be placed between the legs. Sometimes the arms would be removed as well, possibly to ensure that the head couldn't be re-attached in the grave. The idea here seems to have been to make sure that when the creature inevitably woke up in the coffin, it'd have no way of escaping. Again, they were trying to ensure that the vampire couldn't put itself back together after it had been killed."
"Quaint," Kate said with a smile. Like a kid in a candy store, she was rushing from table to table, examining each body in turn. She was being careful not to touch the specimens, of course, but her enthusiasm was infectious and Marlowe found himself enjoying her questions. "And this one?" she asked eventually, stopping next to another table.
"Another ingenious attempt to prevent a vampire from returning," Marlowe said. "The body would be sliced in half lengthways, and one of the halves would then be placed upside down in the coffin. There are a few different variations of this approach. In some cases, the two halves were even buried in separate coffins. Again, the idea was to provide a physical barrier to the body's reconstitution. In the narrow space afforded to the corpse, there'd simply be no way for the vampire to fix itself. I mean, it's a ludicrous concept, but in the absence of clear and rational thought, people believed this kind of crap." He paused, looking down at the nearest body. "These were just innocent people who probably aroused curiosity simply by virtue of looking a little weird or behaving strangely, or happening to arrive in strange lands at a time when paranoia was running particularly high. They were scapegoats."
"And people really believed that this kind of thing happened?" Kate continued. "They really thought these vampires were gonna wake up down there?"
Marlowe nodded. "It wasn't entirely uncommon for people to be buried alive. Medical capabilities were somewhat primitive, so people could quite easily slip into a coma and be pronounced dead, only to wake up after they'd been placed in their graves. Imagine walking through a cemetery and hearing a faint banging sound from deep beneath the ground. Doctors often didn't want to admit that they'd made mistakes, so they were happy to encourage more lurid explanations."
"It's freezing in here," Kate said, her eyes fixed on one of the corpses. "They must be so cold."
"Have you heard of Mercy Brown?" Marlowe asked after a moment. "True story. Rhode Island, 1892. Mercy was a nineteen-year-old girl who died of tuberculosis. When multiple members of the same family were also struck down over the next few years, the locals decided a vampire must be responsible. The bodies of the victims were dug up, and all but one of them showed signs of decomposition. Mercy's body was apparently fresh and clean, as if it hadn't decayed at all. Naturally, this set tongues wagging, so the locals acted on their superstitions." He paused for a moment, enjoying the look of rapt attention on Kate's face. "They cut out Mercy's heart, burned it, and mixed the remains into a potion that they believed could cure people of various conditions. In their rush to defeat the monster, they acted like barbarians. In their rush to protect the innocent, they became savages."
"The Mercy Brown case was over a hundred years ago," Kate pointed out. "People don't change, though, do they? Not really." Walking across the room, she stopped next to another of the bodies. "What about this one?" she asked eventually. "The head's still attached. No brick in the mouth. It barely looks to have been touched."
"That's an interesting one," Marlowe replied, heading over to join her. "Look at the neck. Don't you see something?"
Peering more closely, Kate saw that there was a jagged line running around the circumference of the corpse's neck. This was one of the few bodies that retained some of its skin and hair.
"The head was removed at one point," Kate said eventually, "and then reattached. Do you know why they'd have done that?"
Marlowe shrugged. "These were panicked, superstitious people. They might well have exhumed each body several times, doing different things on each occasion as they desperately tried to prevent the curse from spreading. But you're right, it is odd that they seem to have reversed track with this body. Look at the jaw, too. Signs of fracture around the edges. The only logical conclusion is that a brick was inserted into the mouth and later removed."
"But if it healed," Kate said, examining the clear signs of trauma around the body's mouth, "that suggests..." She turned to look at Marlowe. "This one was alive when it was... for want of a better term, bricked."
"Apparently," Marlowe continued. "They inserted the brick, then later, for whatever reason, they removed it and the poor bastard began to heal. At a later date, they also seem to have tried staking him." Grabbing a pair of latex gloves from a nearby counter, he made sure to cover his hands before pointing at a contusion on the ribcage. "See here? We've already done some scans of this body, and most of the heart seems to be missing, so I'm guessing they staked him and then opened him up to take the heart away. As for why they didn't take the whole heart, that's something of a mystery. Blind panic, I guess. The procedure was probably carried out by someone who lacked medical training."
"Death by mob," Kate replied. "I doubt it's a very pleasant way to go."
"Excruciatingly painful, I'd have thought," Marlowe said. "And probably quite terrifying. At least we have a name for this one, or at least a possible name. Edgar LeCompte. I can't help wondering what poor Edgar did to deserve such a horrific death. Whatever it was, it's almost as if the locals remained scared of him. The evidence suggests that he was dug up and re-buried half a dozen times. They must have been particularly scared of him."
"The dangerous Edgar LeCompte," Kate said, staring down at the bones. "A man to be feared, huh?"
"You want to know something crazy?" Marlowe asked with a half-smile. "When this specimen arrived, the jaw was closed, but last night I noticed it seemed to be open just a fraction of a millimeter. And tonight, it's open a little more. It's almost as if he's slowly opening his mouth. It's undoubtedly the result of structural pressures, and possibly a change in the gases deep within the bone, but nonetheless, it's a fascinating phenomenon."
They stood in silence for a moment.
"Do you ever..." Kate start
ed to say, before pausing.
"Do I ever what?" Marlowe asked.
"Well," she continued, looking around at all the bodies. "I know these were all normal humans who fell victim to superstition, but when you're working here alone, late at night, don't you ever feel..." She smiled nervously. "You know what I mean, right? None of us can truly say that we don't think about things like that."
"Do I ever wonder if they were actual vampires?" He paused. "No. Never. I've studied this kind of thing for too long to let it affect me. It's all about knowledge. If you can explain something, there's no need to be scared of it. If you can't explain something, put aside the fear and keep going until you have an answer."
"You really believe that?"
"I think humans are humans," Marlowe replied. "Any place, any time, humans have certain basic fears. Other animals do, too. Superstition is part of being alive. Until the day when we understand everything around us, every phenomenon and every event, we as a species are going to be prone to this kind of fear." He looked back down at one of the skulls. "Given the right circumstances, this kind of thing could easily happen again. This kind of paranoia and superstition. It's still inside us all, waiting until the next time we're scared."
"Edgar LeCompte," Kate said, staring down at the nearest body. "What a way to die. Poor Edgar, huh?"
Chapter Three
"You're in a good mood," said Wade as he carried a set of beakers over to his desk, early the following morning.
"Am I?" Marlowe replied, not looking up from his examination of some scar tissue on one of the bodies. "Sorry. I didn't mean to worry you."
"Quite the reverse," Wade continued, pausing for a moment to watch his supervisor. "I might be out of line here, but I can't help noticing that every time I look over at you today, you have this weird little smile on your face. Don't get me wrong, it's a good thing, but you're normally less..." His voice trailed off as he realized there was no appropriate way to finish that sentence.
"Less?"
"Less... happy?" He watched Marlowe for a few seconds. "Did you talk to that woman again?"
"What woman?"
"That one you keep bumping into. The kinda hot one from down the hall."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Marlowe said gruffly, focusing on his work.
"Yeah, you do. Kinda medium tall, good figure, dark hair, dresses plain but has a smile like maybe there's a bit more to her when you get under the bonnet."
Marlowe turned to stare at him.
"You know who I mean, right?"
"I'm just getting on with the task at hand," Marlowe replied as he turned back to look at the scar tissue. He was determined to avoid all mention of his conversation with Kate the previous night, not only because it was of no consequence, but also because it was none of Wade's business. He'd never felt a desire to 'bond' with Wade, viewing the man as nothing more than an annoyance. The pair of them had no relationship away from the museum, and Marlowe was more than happy to keep things that way. "I'm just a little tired. How are you getting on with those samples? Can you have the first results ready by one?"
"I can try," Wade said, with an annoyingly cheery tone to his voice.
"Does the process involve sitting around and making idle smalltalk?" Marlowe continued, unable to hide his annoyance at the slow pace of work. "We've only got these bodies until the end of the month, so maybe we should push ahead a little faster. I still want to get some more imaging of each specimen before we're done."
The two men worked in silence for a few more minutes, with Marlowe finally managing to drift into the 'zone' that allowed him to really get on with things. More than anything, he hated distractions and unnecessary complications; he was convinced that he'd get more work done if he didn't have to deal with an assistant, and he viewed Wade as little more than an annoyance. Still, his departmental heads insisted on supplying someone to 'help out', and that someone was Wade. It was tiring, having to come up with jobs for Wade to do each day, and having to answer inane questions. Sure, the guy was fully trained, but his personality type was a major problem. He just couldn't seem to stay silent while working.
"Boss, did you change the markers?" Wade called out eventually, as if to prove Marlowe's point.
"The markers?"
"The little cone things on each table."
"I know what the markers are," Marlowe replied tersely. "Why are you asking if I've changed them? Why would I do that? It'd defeat the whole point."
Wade paused for a moment. "I thought specimen 1A was supposed to have a 5mm fracture around the lower left side of the face, but..." He turned to one of the other bodies. "I don't know, but I swear to God there's been a numbering mistake. This one's labeled as 1A, but it has..." He paused again, before grabbing a clipboard and double-checking the numbers. "Okay, 2B's causing problems. According to our original manifest and inspection, 2B is supposed to have minimal scarring and skin, but I'm looking at 2B right now, and I'm seeing both scarring and skin around the cheekbones."
"No," Marlowe said, trying to hide his annoyance as he walked over to join Wade. "That's not right, 2B is..." He paused as he saw that Wade was right: specimen 2B definitely had some large patches of skin on the cheekbones and, upon closer inspection, also around the lower neck area. After double-checking the clipboard, Marlowe turned to look over at 1A.
"Is there any way the markers could have been switched?" Wade asked. "Has anyone else been in here? A janitor, maybe? Anyone who didn't have authorization?"
"Of course not," Marlowe snapped, before thinking back to his conversation with Kate. It was an insane idea, but the only logical explanation for the confusion was that somehow Kate had ended up moving a few of the markers. She'd probably done it by accident and then felt too embarrassed to admit to her mistake. Having relied on each marker to help keep track of the different bodies, Marlowe suddenly found himself uncertain as to which body was which. Apart from the visual clues, some of the sets of bones were very similar, and he wasn't yet sufficiently familiar with each body to be able to recognize them without referring to the paperwork.
"Something's definitely gone wrong," Wade said. "I swear, I didn't touch the markers. I looked at them last night, right before I left, and I know I'd have noticed if there was anything wrong."
"We'll have to check the photos again," Marlowe said with a sigh, realizing that a whole morning's work was now on the verge of being wiped out. "Get the images, hopefully they've got the markers in all of them and we can set things right."
"Sure," Wade said, "but don't you think we also need to work out what went wrong? If it happened once, it could happen again."
"I'll deal with that," Marlowe replied tersely. "Just do what I asked. Please. We're supposed to be good at our job, but apparently we can't even keep a fucking numbering system in order."
"But if -"
"Just do it!" Marlowe said firmly, momentarily allowing his annoyance to spill over. "Jesus, can't you just follow a simple order for once? Get the photos and match the original markers to the images, and make sure everything's back in place. I can't work if I'm not able to keep a clear indication of which body is which!" He looked down at the specimen that was currently labeled as 2B, and for a moment he was filled with doubt; he was certain that none of the bodies had displayed that particular formation of skin, but at the same time he also knew that mistakes could creep into even the most tightly-controlled situation.
"Sorry," Wade muttered, heading over to the desk in the far corner. It was clear that he'd taken offense.
Marlowe opened his mouth to apologize for the outburst, but the words didn't come. He didn't feel bad for what he'd said or how he'd said it, but he was worried that Wade might be a less effective worker if he felt under-appreciated.
"Let's get this mess sorted by lunchtime," Marlowe said eventually, hoping to calm things down without necessarily having to resort to a full apology. "It's not a big problem. At least we caught it early, before it fucked everything up. Let
's just get it fixed and make sure it doesn't happen again, okay?"
Wade nodded cautiously.
For the rest of the morning, the two men worked in silence. It was the kind of environment that Marlowe had been craving since the project started, except that he was coming to realize that it was the wrong kind of silence. Occasionally glancing over at Wade, he could tell that he'd caused offense with his outburst, which meant that Wade was probably pissed off. Sighing, Marlowe realized that Wade was just as annoying when he was silent, as he was when he was talking. Dead people, even five-hundred-year-old corpses, were infinitely better company.
Chapter Four
"I'm sorry to have called you down here," said Jerry, the museum's head of security, as he led Marlowe along a corridor, "but he's making a bit of a fuss. I've tried dealing with him, but he insists on speaking to you in person. I figured it might be best to just let him have his moment and then send him on his way. Frankly, he's been ranting at everyone in sight for the past half hour."
"So I hear," Marlowe replied. Even before they reached the front hall, he could hear the man shouting angrily. Although he'd known that a protest like this was possible, Marlowe was still disappointed to find that it had materialized in such a vocal and uncivilized fashion. Besides, he thought that men like Jerry were paid specifically to deal with this kind of problem, so he didn't really see why he'd been dragged away from his work in order to speak to some idiotic member of the public. He made a mental note to speak to someone about Jerry's performance.
"Mr. Varvel," Jerry said as he and Marlowe reached the main reception desk, where a short, angry-looking bald man was berating a startled member of staff, while banging the handle of his umbrella on the desk. Unfortunately, the little man was so busy shouting, he didn't seem to have noticed that anyone else was trying to talk to him.