Read Online Red Tide: The Flavel House Horror / Vampires of the Morgue (The Ian McDermott, Ph.D., Paranormal Investigator Series Book 2) by David Reuben Aslin - Free Book Online Page B

medical emergency?”
    After a few seconds of silence, the woman looked up at Ned, still trembling, as she began murmuring “Murder” over and over but just barely loud enough for him to hear.
    Ned looked over at the female officer. “Maggie. This lady’s in some kind of traumatic shock. Go across the street and see if you can get that shrink. What’s ‘er name?”
    Maggie replied, “You mean Doctor Tate? Doctor Selma Tate, I think’s her name.”
    Ned fired back tersely, “Yeah, right. Good. Whatever. Get her over here if she’s in. Tell her we’ve got a bit of a situation. Tell her … Ah hell, tell her whatever it takes to get her ass over here as soon as possible! Got it? Now … Go!” Maggie turned and in a near jog headed towards the front door of the police station.
    Ned spoke in a kind, calm voice to the large woman. “I’m gonna leave you but only for a few seconds. You’re safe here. Whatever’s happened to you, you’re safe now. I’m going to get you a blanket to help get you warmed up a bit. I’ll get you a cup of hot coffee too if you’d like?” The woman managed to nod her head beyond its trembling, indicating that she understood Ned and that she’d like some coffee. True to his word, Ned was back in moments with a blanket and a cup of steaming hot coffee.
    “Here ya go.” Ned said as he wrapped the blanket around the nearly catatonically-in-shock woman. He then sat himself in a chair by the desk.
    “Can you tell me your name?” Ned asked, speaking slowly and in a calm, soothing voice.
    The lady, hands trembling badly, picked the cup of coffee up and with some difficulty managed to take a sip just before, to Ned’s surprise, she spoke. “S… Sally’s my … My name’s … Sally.”
    After noticing for the first time that the woman had a large, marquise-cut solitaire diamond wedding ring on her finger Ned thought to himself, Any mugger I’ve ever known would have snatched that ring, even if it meant whacking her finger off to get it.
    Ned continued, “Ma’am. Sally. What is it that you keep saying?”
    Sally started trembling more violently and either would not or simply could not answer.
    “Okay. Um … all right. Sally, darlin,’ I know you’re having a hard time finding your words right now. Uh, how ‘bout you just nod or shake your head to answer my questions?”
    That worked. Sally, though her entire body was shaking badly, managed to slowly nod.
    “Sally, honey … Did you say, and I’m just guessing here, murder?” Ned asked softly. Sally nodded her head.
    “Okay. All right, now we’re getting somewhere. Sally, did you … Were you forced to … Sweetheart, did you see someone hurt or have to hurt someone?” Sally didn’t respond. Ned paused to collect his thoughts, then continued his questioning.
    “Sally, did you fear for your life and maybe had to hurt someone ‘cause they were hurting you or were about to hurt you? Or did you witness someone hurt someone else?”
    Still, Sally said nothing. Her eyes were glazed over, and she had a blank, far away expression on her face.
    Normally, it wasn’t in Ned’s makeup to infantilize anyone he questioned. But his instincts told him this would be the only approach right now that might eventually bear fruit. Ned felt sweet talk was the best approach given her present state of near catatonia. His experience told him if she were lying down right now, she’d probably be rocking back and forth in a near fetal-like position.
    After a few minutes of silence, Sally began slowly but very apparently intentionally shaking her tremor-bobbing head as she said, “No-suhr. I didn’t kill nobody! But I seen … I seen …” Sally just couldn’t bring herself to finish telling Ned what she’d witnessed.
    But Ned felt he was on the verge of a communication breakthrough. “Okay. Honey … Sally … did you witness something bad?”
    All at once, Sally’s eyes opened wider than Ned had ever seen anyone’s open … as she