Read Online Skull Creek Stakeout (Caden Chronicles, The) by Eddie Jones - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Eddie Jones
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pretty strange discussions in our home. But I’ve never seen anything like what’s going on today. You a believer?”
“Believer in what, vampires?”
“God. I’m asking because it seems to me a boy your age coming in here asking all these questions about vampires might be looking for something other than information about one man’s death.”
All this God business made me uncomfortable, so I steered the conversation back to the case. “Mind if I read you something?”
“You know it’s okay, right? To believe? Most everyone does.”
I held up the vampire mythology book I’d found in myroom. “Found this by my bed last night. Mind if I read you something?”
“Why not? All we’re doing is wasting time.”
“ ‘Although Europe experienced an outbreak of the Black Plague in the sixth century, the disease lay dormant until 1320, when a pandemic developed in the Gobi Desert. It spread and decimated populations across the globe. The Black Death reached Europe in the mid — fourteenth century and resurfaced regularly throughout the next couple hundred years. The sheer number of deaths meant communal graves had to be reopened regularly. At the time, little was known about the process of human decomposition. The grotesque appearance of decomposing corpses led some to believe that the bodies were being reanimated. Meanwhile, symptoms of the Black Plague often appeared as tumors on the neck that burst open and bled. Later, victims would often vomit blood.’ ”
“What are you driving at, son?”
“What we’re seeing today with vampires isn’t all that new. People have been freaking out over this stuff for decades.”
“Only proves people today who believe in vampires aren’t any smarter than they were back then.”
“By chance do you have a list of players who might have participated in the vampire slayer game? I’m sure that’s a lead you’re looking into.”
“We’re holding off on that until we see what the autopsy report says.”
“But that could take days.”
“Time is the one thing I have lots of. What I don’t have is enough resources to track down every harebrained idea.”
It seemed to me that McAlhany wasn’t nearly as anxious to catch the killer as I was.
“Who discovered the body?”
“Groundskeeper.”
“Which hole?”
“Thirteen. If you think that bit of information will be of interest to your readers, you might want to mention that it’s a dogleg par four. Plays longer than the yardage due to the narrow fairway and the sharp drop-off next to the out-of-bounds area.”
“Any thoughts on the victim’s strange dental work?”
“You mean the fangs? Glued on, obviously. But I can’t say conclusively because …”
“I know. It’s an ongoing investigation.”
“I was going to say, until the oral surgeon arrives and delivers her findings. Leave me your number and I’ll call you once I know something definitive. How’s that for helping a struggling reporter?”
I forced a smile, mumbling, “Thanks.”
I imagined myself in the lieutenant’s position, trying to do a job and working out of a boys’ locker room with some fourteen-year-old kid asking lame questions about a dead man dressed up like a vampire.
I said, “Ever seen the movie
Rampage
?”
“Can’t say I have.”
“Released in the late eighties. It’s based on the case ofRichard Chase, the so-called Vampire of Sacramento. Chase was a deeply disturbed young man who injected rabbit’s blood into his veins. They had him committed to a mental institution. He’d only been in the facility a few days when they found him with blood all over his face and in his mouth. Turns out he’d built a bird feeder and was catching sparrows and drinking their blood. Staff began referring to him as Dracula. Hospital doctors diagnosed him as a paranoid schizophrenic and treated him with psychotropic drugs. After a few months they pronounced him cured and released him into the care of his mother, but she didn’t
“Believer in what, vampires?”
“God. I’m asking because it seems to me a boy your age coming in here asking all these questions about vampires might be looking for something other than information about one man’s death.”
All this God business made me uncomfortable, so I steered the conversation back to the case. “Mind if I read you something?”
“You know it’s okay, right? To believe? Most everyone does.”
I held up the vampire mythology book I’d found in myroom. “Found this by my bed last night. Mind if I read you something?”
“Why not? All we’re doing is wasting time.”
“ ‘Although Europe experienced an outbreak of the Black Plague in the sixth century, the disease lay dormant until 1320, when a pandemic developed in the Gobi Desert. It spread and decimated populations across the globe. The Black Death reached Europe in the mid — fourteenth century and resurfaced regularly throughout the next couple hundred years. The sheer number of deaths meant communal graves had to be reopened regularly. At the time, little was known about the process of human decomposition. The grotesque appearance of decomposing corpses led some to believe that the bodies were being reanimated. Meanwhile, symptoms of the Black Plague often appeared as tumors on the neck that burst open and bled. Later, victims would often vomit blood.’ ”
“What are you driving at, son?”
“What we’re seeing today with vampires isn’t all that new. People have been freaking out over this stuff for decades.”
“Only proves people today who believe in vampires aren’t any smarter than they were back then.”
“By chance do you have a list of players who might have participated in the vampire slayer game? I’m sure that’s a lead you’re looking into.”
“We’re holding off on that until we see what the autopsy report says.”
“But that could take days.”
“Time is the one thing I have lots of. What I don’t have is enough resources to track down every harebrained idea.”
It seemed to me that McAlhany wasn’t nearly as anxious to catch the killer as I was.
“Who discovered the body?”
“Groundskeeper.”
“Which hole?”
“Thirteen. If you think that bit of information will be of interest to your readers, you might want to mention that it’s a dogleg par four. Plays longer than the yardage due to the narrow fairway and the sharp drop-off next to the out-of-bounds area.”
“Any thoughts on the victim’s strange dental work?”
“You mean the fangs? Glued on, obviously. But I can’t say conclusively because …”
“I know. It’s an ongoing investigation.”
“I was going to say, until the oral surgeon arrives and delivers her findings. Leave me your number and I’ll call you once I know something definitive. How’s that for helping a struggling reporter?”
I forced a smile, mumbling, “Thanks.”
I imagined myself in the lieutenant’s position, trying to do a job and working out of a boys’ locker room with some fourteen-year-old kid asking lame questions about a dead man dressed up like a vampire.
I said, “Ever seen the movie
Rampage
?”
“Can’t say I have.”
“Released in the late eighties. It’s based on the case ofRichard Chase, the so-called Vampire of Sacramento. Chase was a deeply disturbed young man who injected rabbit’s blood into his veins. They had him committed to a mental institution. He’d only been in the facility a few days when they found him with blood all over his face and in his mouth. Turns out he’d built a bird feeder and was catching sparrows and drinking their blood. Staff began referring to him as Dracula. Hospital doctors diagnosed him as a paranoid schizophrenic and treated him with psychotropic drugs. After a few months they pronounced him cured and released him into the care of his mother, but she didn’t
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