Read Online Sweet Dreams by William W. Johnstone - Free Book Online

automobiles. Then they were lost around a bend in the road.
    â€œSomething amusing you, Doctor?” the lieutenant asked.
    â€œThose kids back there. I know them.”
    â€œI see.”
    â€œI doubt it.” Jerry was thoughtful for a moment. He said, “I’d like you to radio the Mississippi County Sheriffs Department; ask them if their county coroner will meet us at the site. I’ll want a second opinion, and, I suspect, so will you.”
    â€œGood thinking, sir.”
    Jerry looked at him to see if the cop was putting him on. He wasn’t. “Thanks.”
    The officer was busy with his radio and did not pick up on the dryness of tone.
    The scene that greeted Jerry was not a pleasant one. He had steeled himself for what he felt would be the worst; but he had not counted on anything like this.
    After one look, Jerry walked away from the group of cops and vomited.
    None of the officers had ever seen anything to match the sight lying before them.
    Lisa’s head looked as though it had been cooked. All the hair was burned away. Her eyes were white sightless orbs. Their color had been destroyed. Her face was unrecognizable. Charred meat. Jerry could not imagine what could have done that – or why. Her head was grotesquely swollen. Again, Jerry could not imagine what could have caused the horrible swelling. Lisa’s genital area was caked with flecks of dried blood. The body itself was an unnatural white.
    â€œI never seen a body like that,” the young deputy said. “How come she’s so white?”
    Jerry looked at the lieutenant of highway patrol. “Have someone take pictures of what I’m doing,” he said.
    A 35 mm camera was readied.
    Jerry took a syringe from his bag and inserted the needle into Lisa’s arm, probing for the radial. He could not find it. The vein had collapsed. Using a scalpel, he cut the arm where the radial was supposed to be. There was no blood in the artery of the right or left arm. He inserted the needle behind her knee, probing for the popliteal. He got the same results. He changed needles and plunged the long needle into her chest, striking the arch of the aorta just above the heart. His eyes were filled with disbelief as he looked at the empty syringe. He put his equipment aside and rose to his feet.
    â€œWhat is it, Doc?” a young highway cop asked.
    â€œThere is no blood in her body,” Jerry told the group of lawmen. “She has been drained dry.”

6
    â€œHoly crap!” Marc whispered. He and Heather lay on the crest of a small bluff overlooking the dig site.
    â€œI think I’m gonna be sick,” Heather announced.
    â€œYou’d better not barf on me,” Marc warned.
    She shushed him. “Be quiet. They’ll hear us and we’ll get into trouble.”
    â€œWe’re looking at something really important here.” Marc ignored her warning.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œRecognize that car over there?”
    â€œGod!” Heather whispered hoarsely. “That’s Doctor Baldwin’s wife’s car.”
    â€œYeah. So that means that’s his wife dead on the ground.”
    â€œGod! You think he killed her?”
    â€œI don’t know. Look! Here comes another car. Listen.”
    The Mississippi County coroner and Doctor Baldwin knew each other slightly. They shook hands and Doctor Everett expressed his condolences.
    Jerry told him of the body being drained of blood.
    â€œVampires!” Heather said, her voice carrying the short distance to the men below the bluff.
    The men looked up.
    â€œShit!” Marc said. “Now you’ve done it.”
    â€œHey!” the chief deputy called. “You kids get on out of here. Now you go right home or I’ll give you both a good lickin.’ ”
    Heather and Marc took off like they were shot from a cannon. They mounted their bikes and rode off down the road. Out of sight of the men, they hid their