by Brian
›
Linus and Mei Yuan, who is near the end of a cigarette, get out of the small car that Linus had rented at the airport. He locks the door.
“You don’t need to lock the car here,” she says as they start walking. “This isn’t exactly New York City.”
“Old habits are hard to break,” he says. “I hope this is no imposition.”
“It’s no problem at all,” she scoffs. “I translate for many people, not just the police department. It’s a side business, since teaching isn’t enough to keep me in Manolo Blahnik shoes – a habit that, for me, is hard to break.”
“They are pretty nice,” says Linus taking note of the woman’s high heels.
As they reach the steps of the police station, she smiles recognizing that the only shoe brands he’s probably aware of are Nike and Adidas. “Thanks.”
›
Detective Chin, Linus, and Mei Yuan are standing at the edge of the forest in Xiongjiawan looking across the farm toward the house where the old woman had recently been killed. The wheat grown here had already been harvested so there was no cover for anyone approaching the house. The sun is low in the sky.
“Was this woods searched after you found the old woman’s body?” Miss Yuan translates Linus’s question for the detective.
Detective Chin answers and Miss Yuan again translates the Chinese into English for Linus. “Not right away. At first we thought her death was only from old age.”
Linus had been looking into the woods but turns to face the house as well. “This creature is known for its stealth. You probably wouldn’t have seen him even if you had looked immediately.”
Detective Chin looks over at Linus and gives him a small smile. “I still have a difficult time accepting this theory of yours.”
“I know I don’t have much right now...”
Detective Chin interrupts him, holding up his hand as he does so. “I am sorry. Don’t worry. With the other similar deaths that I know of in other provinces we can assign some credibility to your story.”
Linus looks surprised. “I hadn’t heard of these.”
“They hadn’t made the news.”
Linus nods. “Can we speak with the daughter?”
“Yes, you can.”
The detective begins to walk toward the house along the dirt tractor path leading from the edge of the woods to the farmhouse. Despite some mild cursing in English from Mei Yuan having to do with walking in the dirt in her expensive pumps, the three of them arrive at the door and the detective knocks.
A woman in her early thirties answers the door. She is dressed more traditionally than Mei Yuan and is a factory worker in nearby Neijiang. She is apparently just home after a long day at work.
“Thank you for seeing us, Miss Sung,” says Detective Chin.
Miss Sung allows them to come inside. She appears still depressed at her grandmother’s passing. “Anything to help, Officer. Please sit down.”
“We won’t stay long,” says the detective.
Chin looks over at Linus indicating that he is ready to listen to his questions to Miss Sung. Linus looks at Miss Sung and when he has her attention he speaks. As usual Miss Yuan translates for him.
“I am pleased to meet you, Miss Sung. I am very sorry about your loss.”
“Xie xie ni,” she says to thank him. “I understand you are an officer from America.”
“Yes,” says Linus. “I work in a prison there. After you found your grandmother, did you notice anything unusual in the house, or out of place?”
She thinks about it for a moment and then answers. “There was one unusual thing and that was that the vegetables and fruits were taken from the refrigerator.”
Detective Chin gets up in surprise. “Why didn’t you say that before?”
“Because you left before I discovered it. I haven’t seen you again until now!”
Detective Chin is somewhat chastised but still wishes she had come to him with this information. “Well, next time call if you have information concerning an investigation. You never know what will turn out to be important.”
Detective Chin sits down again.
“Why would that information be important?” Miss Sung asks Linus.
“The creature that I observed seemed to favor eating fruits and vegetables.”
After the translation, Miss Sung looks somewhat baffled. “What do you mean, ‘creature’?”
Detective Chin is not happy with Linus for bringing up the creature and shows it before he tries to placate Miss Sung.
“Mr. Hather has seen something that may have been responsible for your grandmother’s death. It is an animal. We are investigating the possibility.”
“But I thought her lung was pierced,” says Miss Sung. “How does an animal do that?”
“We haven’t come to a conclusion about who the killer is,” says the detective. “However, Mr. Hather has information that this animal has some sort of retractable lance with which he pierces his victim.”
Miss Sung is absolutely quiet; her mouth hangs open in shock. Mei Yuan looks nearly as incredulous.
Linus decides to keep moving. “Miss Sung, I understand your grandmother died during a nap. Did she nap every day?” Mei Yuan, still in shock, doesn’t translate until Linus bumps her with his elbow.
“Yes,” says Miss Sung.
“Did she nap at the same time every day?”
“Yes.”
Linus looks at the door and thinks of asking her whether the door is always unlocked, but remembering Miss Yuan’s earlier statement, he figures it probably is.
Detective Chin gets up. “Xie xie, Miss Sung for allowing us to speak with you. Please call me if you come across something new.”
“I will, Detective Chin. Please remember the honor of my grandmother.”
The detective looks a little uncomfortable as she says this, as if his investigation into an animal killer might dishonor the woman’s grandmother. “Yes, I will honor her.”
He leads the way to the door and the others follow.
“Xie xie ni, Miss Sung,” says Linus, trying out his heartfelt thanks in Mandarin.
The three walk outside. When they get near the car the detective speaks. “I wish you hadn’t mentioned the creature. She thinks I dishonor her grandmother.”
“I am sorry, Detective,” says Linus. “But listen. This animal has an MO and I’m beginning to discern it. For one thing it appears to watch for routine.”
Detective Chin nods thoughtfully and climbs into the driver’s seat of the police car. Miss Yuan and Linus do the same.
“I wish I had more to give you about this creature than I have,” says Linus regretfully. “I’m on my way to Argentina where another of these deaths has occurred. I’ll let you know what I find there.”
Detective Chin looks very serious. “People eat fruits and vegetables as well, you know. I will appreciate hearing from you about what you find. In the meantime, I will follow any important leads.”
Linus smiles and reaches across the car to shake the man’s hand. It is a gesture of promise and comradeship. The car leaves the farm as night begins to fall on the “middle country.”
›
After a refreshing nap on the two and a half hour train ride to Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, Linus is on a pay phone in the airport waiting for his flight to Argentina. He is hoping to get more sleep on that flight and lucky for him he sleeps well in moving vehicles.
“Hey, Jay, hope you didn’t mind me using you as a reference,” says Linus into the phone. “I had to find a way to get these detectives to believe me without involving the government.”
“They told us not to tell anyone about the creature,” says Jay, “not just that the government had one.”
“The hell with that! People are dying. Maybe I should mention the government.... Anyway, listen, the creature appears to have taken a bunch of fruits and vegetables from the old woman victim in China’s house. Went into the refrigerator took them. Do you
believe that?”
“Well,” says Jay, unimpressed. “He’s smart enough. I think we suspected that. And I don’t see what’s so important about him taking veggies.”
“It puts the focus on the creature. Like, what human would walk into the house, kill someone and then make off with the vegetables?”
“A hungry one?”
“It’s not likely, Jay. What about the DNA? They get any results back yet?”
“No.”
“And the hunt?”
“That’s a negative, too,” says Jay.
“Whole lotta nothing goin’ on.”
“I took a lot of data that night,” says Jay, “and I’ve been extrapolating from it. You want to hear?”
“Sure,” says Linus, his mood improving. “What kind of extrapolating?”
“Well, I assume we share a common history with this creature. A few hundred thousand years ago there was perhaps a fierce competition between Homo sapiens and them. After a while this creature’s ancestors evolved this lance as a way to get the upper hand. It evolved into a man killer to reduce the competition for food.”
“Nice theory, Jay. I bet it turns out to be something like that. Keep up the analysis.”
“Where are you going now?” asks Jay.
“Argentina,” says Linus. “I’m going to follow up on another killing there.”
“Argentina!” exclaims Jay. “I hope you have a frequent flyer card!”
“I’ll look into it. I’ve got to catch my plane.”
“Call collect next time,” says Jay.
“Thanks. Keep on them about the DNA results will you?”
“Okay. Adios.”
“Tsai jian.”
Chapter 9
Linus lays sprawled on a queen-sized bed in a darkened hotel room. The quilt he is under is reminiscent of the American Southwest and is matched by the window’s drapes, which are closed. The carpet is a light rust color and a lamp sits unlit on each nightstand. A scenic picture of the Argentine Pampas hangs on the wall over the bed. Linus’ clothes are tossed on the easy chair in front of the window.
At the room’s closed door, light leaks into the room through a space at the bottom of the door. A shadow moves in that light. The doorknob slowly begins to move. Linus remains undisturbed in his bed. Soon the knob stops turning and is followed immediately by a hard knock. Slowly, Linus wakes, not recognizing where he is. The knock comes again.
He throws off the covers and shuffles to the door in just his boxers. He stands next to it. There is no peek hole.
“Who is it?”
There is silence for a moment and then an answer. “Pizza delivery.”
“I didn’t order pizza.”
“Government agent,” says the female voice. Now he recognizes the voice and opens the door.
He is just as surprised as he can be when he sees June Dituro standing in the hallway. Sitting next to her in the hallway is a small overnight bag. She notices his disarray and lack of clothes with wide brown eyes, quickly looking away.
“I’m sorry to wake you. I had to knock five times before you heard.”
“You’ve come a long way to deliver me your government pizza, Agent Dituro. I hope it’s still warm.”
“I couldn’t help myself and ate it hours ago.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
June bends over and picks up her bag and then squeezes past Linus to enter the room. Linus follows her in and grabs his pants off the nearby chair, putting them on.
“I’m here to help you on your self-appointed quest,” says June. “I didn’t check in cause I wasn’t sure you’d be staying another night.”
“What about the DNA test?” queries a still groggy Linus. “Any results?”
“It’s done. Ninety-eight percent of his DNA is the same as ours. He’s a close cousin of Homo sapiens.”
“Not a cousin I want to be close to,” scoffs Linus. “At least you can go public now.”
His pants are on and he grabs a shirt, putting it on, though not buttoning it. “Speaking of which, now that you’re here, can you send a couple of e-mails? Detective Chin in China and Hanson in Canada need some official corroboration so they can start hunts for these creatures. They’d get more support if a U.S. government agency could back up my claims.”
“Where am I going to find a computer to send e-mails?”
“Don’t you government ‘agents’ ever go out prepared? I have a laptop over there.”
June sets down her bag and first walks over to the window to throw open the heavy drapes letting the bright sunshine into the guest house’s dark room. The view is out the rear of the guest house and a heavily treed backyard, though not so heavy as to block the sun. She then walks over to the desk on which sits Linus’ laptop computer.
“What about other governments?” asks Linus. “What about the public?”
She stops at the desk, removing her orange cardigan sweater. She is wearing a long sleeve white blouse and khaki pants.
“I’m not in charge of letting other governments know about this issue or any issue, though I am sure that the lab is going to get calls in about 100 languages this weekend. Same with the public. There are people in the government who take care of these things.”
Linus looks doubtful.
“The wheels are turning full speed now, Linus. I promise.”
He seems somewhat mollified by her sincerity. She sits down and opens the laptop, pressing the On button.
“How about the hunt for ‘our’ creature?” Linus asks. “The wheels turning on that too?”
“The police were brought on board, fully, yesterday. Detective Maas got his all-points bulletin and I imagine the press is all over the issue about now.”
Linus smiles as he digs in his duffle bag for the phone cord for the computer’s modem.
“That’s good news, June. Let’s hope there’s more good news to be found in Argentina.”
›
Fairmount Park is a large outpost of nature in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with lots of trees, grass, and ponds and streams. As with most parks, there are plenty of park benches, more than a few of which are occupied by homeless men and women at night. Some areas of the park are well lit, while others are not.
In a more crowded area of the park, some people are sitting, drinking from brown sacks or smoking, but most are sleeping since it is 3:00 a.m. In a quieter section of this area that has fewer benches, there is a bench on which a man sleeps. A couple more trees separate another bench from this one and someone sleeps on this one too. These are the last two benches along a path that then runs into a densely wooded area.
From the darker, densely wooded area, something watches the two men as they sleep and then creeps forward toward the bench that’s nearer to the woods. The lurker moves stealthily and confidently. As he gets closer, he suddenly steps on an unseen plastic water bottle making an incredibly loud noise in the quiet park. He keeps advancing on his target, however, because he’s close enough to be in control of the situation and because even after the loud noise his target is still deep in sleep.
A second man sleeping on the bench near the lurker’s target is wakened by the noise of the water bottle being stepped on and opens his eyes to see a hairy humanoid heading for the man on the other bench. His right arm goes for his metal cane, which is always on hand for protection when sleeping outdoors, as well as helping him walk. He calls out as he reaches for it.
“Crap, look out. Get up!”
The original targeted man hears the cry from the other man, but is slow to respond. For the moment it doesn’t matter. The creature has turned around to face the man with the cane. That man stands waving his cane as the short creature approaches. The man is nervous but filled with adrenaline. He’d hoped the creature would flee, but he tries to show confidence.
“You want some of this, monkey? Keep coming and you’ll lose your teeth.”
The creature confidently continues toward the man. When he is in striking di
stance of the cane, the homeless man shouts and takes a powerful swing at the head of the creature. The creature deftly puts his arm up near his head and leans away so that the swing is deflected. The man’s immediate backswing comes down at the lower leg of the creature. This move surprises and hobbles the creature. But as the creature grunts, bending down in pain, he uses that bend to somersault forward toward the man. As he comes out of the roll, the lance is coming out and he is bouncing up to the man’s chest. He lances him quickly and the brave man goes down in a heap.
Meanwhile, the other homeless man, who had been the first target has been watching this horror unfold, and though he is still tired from drink, his adrenaline starts flowing at the sight of his brave acquaintance’s killing.
“You bastard!” he shouts running at the beast, intent on tackling him and choking the life out of him.
The creature decides that with all the noise and the proximity of so many other people that killing off one more weak human isn’t worth the chance that he’ll get caught, so he makes a strategic escape into the woods. The man discontinues his chase at the woods’ edge, sober enough to realize his disadvantage were he to continue on.
The noise that the two men had made while fighting the creature has woken other people in the park, many of whom saw what had been happening and had come over to investigate or try to help. But it is too late for the man who fought the creature and died saving another man. There was nothing for the crowd to do now except get the attention of the police.
›
A Toyota four-wheel drive is heading west on a highway from Buenos Aires through the pampas. Argentine music is playing as a beautiful panoramic view of the Argentine plains passes by. Linus is driving, and June is sleeping in the passenger seat. Linus turns the music down a little to keep from disturbing her. She looks peaceful, even angelic to him as she sleeps. She stirs after he adjusts the volume.
“You don’t have to do that,” she says sleepily.
Linus smiles. “You haven’t been much company the last couple hours.”
“I had a long night on the red-eye. How much longer before we get to Villa Huidobro?”