Part 14 (1/2)
”Oh. Yeah. Well, I'd better talk with him, because it's my a.s.s on the line-excuse me, ma'am-if that thing dissolves any more men. We've got to get rid of it, then maybe we can patch over what's happened.”
”I don't know where he is,” Geode said. ”May Flowers asked for him, and Mid sent him.”
”Then maybe I better talk to Flowers.”
”Yes.”
”Will do.” Tishner nodded to each and departed.
none turned and walked up the stairs. She would not approach Geode until she knew the sheriff's deputy was well clear.
* 17 - FRANK SHOOK HIS head slowly as he drove away from the house. Neither the man nor the woman seemed to appreciate just how awkward his position was! That monster-a firefly?-was killing folk right and left, and he had to keep a lid on it, and when the s.h.i.+t finally hit the fan, as seemed inevitable, he was the one standing square behind it.
He was, incidentally, surprised at the change in the woman. She had been such a homely mouse; now she was pet.i.te and not unattractive. It had to be the clothing; the Flowers woman had bought it for her, and evidently had known what she was doing. And that man Demerit didn't even notice! He had been off taking a shower while Jade Brown was turning pretty. Well, it was really none of Frank's business. He had his own job to do, and as long as the Brown woman stayed hidden so she couldn't be interrogated, his job was that much easier. What a mess this thing was becoming!
First, he'd have to get the Brown alibi straight. That disappearance could blow the thing wide open.
He returned to the office. Some quick research on the phone got him the ident.i.ty of Jade Brown's brother, George Faulk. He lived in Georgia, which was just far enough away to make any direct contact unfeasible. Good. Frank didn't know what Jade Brown had on him to make him cover for her; maybe he was just a loyal family man.
He called the number. He got a woman. ”This is Deputy Sheriff Frank Tishner calling from Citrus County, Florida,” he said. ”I have a question relating to Jade Brown, who I understand is George Faulk's sister. Is Mr. Faulk in?”
It turned out he was. A gruff masculine voice came on the line. ”What do you want?”
”Mrs. Brown and her husband are missing,” Frank said. ”We are trying to determine whether there has been foul play. We understand their son is staying with you.”
There was a pause. ”That's right.”
”Are the Browns joining you too?”
”Not exactly. Something came up.”
”Something like what, Mr. Faulk?”
”A family situation. Frankly, sheriff, I don't think it's any of your business.”
Frank was momentarily set back by the use of a word so similar to his name. ”Only if there has been foul play, Mr. Faulk. Are you telling me that the Browns have gone elsewhere? That there has been no foul play?”
”Yeah. Satisfied?”
”I'll have to be. Thank you, Mr. Faulk.” He broke the connection-and looked up to see the sheriff.
”That Brown disappearance?” the sheriff inquired.
Frank grimaced. ”Yes. I located the woman's brother in Georgia. Man has a bad att.i.tude. He says their boy is staying with him, but won't say where the Browns have gone. It seems to be some family thing.”
”Not our concern, then. Probably some skeleton fell out of a closet, and they had to hotfoot it over to hide it.”
Skeleton... ”Maybe so,” Frank agreed. ”Want me to investigate further?”
”No, as long as there's no evidence. Just keep an eye on their house until they get back. We've got enough to do without looking for trouble.”
Which was exactly the answer Frank wanted. He had made a token investigation, been balked, and for the time being had no further responsibility.
”Anything more on those shrunken animals?” the sheriff asked.
Frank shook his head. ”There seems to have been a number of them. Just skin and bones, nothing else except maybe a bit of fur. I'd really like to make a more organized search for-”
”No way! We don't want to stir up a big commotion about what's probably some kind of anthill eating out wild animals.”
”No commotion,” Frank agreed, having received the second answer he wanted. He was following the spirit of that directive far more faithfully than the sheriff realized. The lab report on the racc.o.o.n had been inconclusive; they admitted that they couldn't determine the cause of death, and asked for a fresher specimen next time. Ha-ha!
He watched the sheriff amble off. The man was quite a character. He was a rancher and a hunter, but he enforced the laws relating to both. There had been the case of repeated vandalism on an isolated property; kids were breaking down the gate to a lot and partying there, stealing the lock and leaving the gate hanging open. Almost impossible to catch them in the act. But it happened that some of the sheriffs steer were grazing in an adjacent property. Periodically they would find a way through or around the restraining fence and graze on the vandalized lot. So the sheriff had simply let it be known whose cattle would be let out on the street if that gate wasn't tight... and the vandalism had abruptly stopped. No unpleasantness, no threats-but the kids in question knew exactly who would be on their tails if a steer got killed because of a certain open gate. The sheriff got his fence patched, of course, but he didn't bruit that about. Law enforcement of the indirect persuasion-and it worked.
Then there had been the matter of the deer. That one had happened near the Middle Kingdom Ranch, actually, where the sheriff had a few horses. A wild deer had befriended the horses, and took to grazing with them out in the open, visible from a nearby highway. The sheriff saw that and acted immediately. He went to the neighborhood tavern where the hunters hung out, and made an announcement: ”Now, I'm a hunter myself, and I've bagged my share of deer, in season. There's a deer grazing in plain sight beside the highway, with several horses. Those horses just happen to belong to me. I want folks to know that any friend of my horse is a friend of mine, and if anything should happen to that deer I'd be a mite perturbed.” Then he departed. Thereafter the deer led a charmed life. People came with cameras to take pictures of it, and hunters rode by with rifles in their cars, but nothing happened to that deer. Hunters understood indirect persuasion just about as well as teenagers did. Not one of them wanted a perturbed sheriff on his tail.
Frank smiled, remembering. The sheriff had told him to let the Brown case slide until something else developed, and to do the same for the animal bones. The sheriff didn't like a commotion. There would be no commotion if Frank could possibly help it. He had more than his job on the line now.
In due course he was back in his car, on other business. In the course of that business he stopped to make a call at a pay phone. He was in luck; he caught the Flowers woman in her hotel room. ”Got your man's report?”
”Preliminary,” she said. ”Can you talk now?”
”Yes.”
”He has confirmed my suspicion of pheromones, but he believes they serve as a pacifier, not as an attractant. In open air they dissipate and break down rapidly.”
”Pacifier? You mean those victims think they're having one big f.u.c.k?” He was trying to jostle her, because despite their deal he didn't much like her, but it didn't work.
”That is his conjecture. The bones have been partially dissolved by some type of acid he hasn't been able to place, probably the same that dissolved the soft tissues. He is sending samples off to our employer's laboratory, but it will be a few days before those reports return.”
”Our lab threw up its hands on the racc.o.o.n.”
”Mid's lab will be more competent,” she said coldly. ”The exterminator doesn't want to move until he knows what he's up against; he never botches a job. But he says that as far as he can tell, this monster is something alien to his experience.”
”You mean a monster from outer s.p.a.ce?”
”More likely from under the sea. A true alien would find our flesh poisonous, I think, and this one obviously likes it very well and knows how to get it. So it is bound to be a creature of our planet, but one we have not before encountered.”
”I'd like to see that monster!” Frank exclaimed.
”I suspect that if you did, you would shortly be dead. There is no evidence that any of its victims had any power against it.”
”I'd like to see it dead,” Frank amended. ”And if it looks like a gigantic firefly-”
She made one of her cold laughs. ”To be sure. At any rate, he thinks there should not be any more people taken for two days. He believes that the monster requires three days to properly digest a meal the size of a man, based on the frequency of past episodes, unless it is feeding on large animals like cattle in the interim. You had better check on that, just in case.”
”Right. Missing cows.”
”What is the status of Jade Brown?”