Seed of Evil by Greig Beck (smart books to read TXT) 📗

Mitch sat, sipped, and put his glass down. He saw the boy sipping something red as well.

“What’s your poison, buddy?”

Benji grinned and held it up. “Blackcurrant juice. Mom doesn’t let me drink soda, as she says this has more vitamin C and doesn’t make your teeth fall out.” He hiked slim shoulders. “It’s okay.”

“It certainly is.” Mitch made small talk with Benji about school, his friends, favorite holidays, and anything else he could think of. In turn, Benji wanted to know about the grossest things he had ever seen as a doctor.

In another moment, the aroma of chicken filled the air and Karen called them to the table.

“I warn you, cooking is not my forte,” she said with a crooked smile.

He looked at the table and the huge pot in the center, still bubbling with something red and hearty inside. Small, crusty rolls were on each of their plates and the silverware was laid out.

“Chicken and bacon pasta, with spinach and tomatoes.”

Mitch inhaled; it smelled as good as it looked. “Fantastic.” Mitch inhaled again, feeling his stomach rumble.

“Is it your favorite?” Mitch turned to Benji.

“I don’t know, I’ve never had it before.” Benji’s eyes traveled over the pot. “Smells real good though.”

Karen laughed softly. “Yeah, okay, cats out of the bag—we’re road testing a new recipe tonight.”

The meal proved as good as it looked, and Mitch was delighted to only end up with a few spots of tomato on his tie. Dessert was hazelnut chocolate pie and ice cream, which was even more to Benji’s liking.

In between mouthfuls, he kept up his conversation. “Mom, Mitch was telling me about the grossest things he’s seen as a doctor.”

“Probably not great dinner table conversation,” Karen replied.

Benji was undaunted. “Tell her about the old man with the giant wart on his nose.” He looked from Mitch to Karen, his eyes wide. “It was as big as his nose. And when it was cut off…”

Karen sighed. “Gross, stop, no thank you.”

“Comes with the territory, I guess,” Mitch said. “At least it wasn’t as bad as the stuff that came out of the Angel mine.”

Benji frowned. “What?”

Mitch nodded. “Finally got to read old Ben Wainright’s notes. About 50 years ago, seems there was some sort of contamination outbreak that came from kids swimming in the flooded mine.”

“They got sick?” Benji’s eyes were wide.

“Yeah, real sick,” Mitch said. “Not good. He kept the details in a locked filing cabinet and burned them. But luckily, we found copies. It was really horrible.”

“Just from swimming in it?” Benji’s voice had risen.

“Doctor Wainright thought they were swimming in or drinking it.” The boy looked pale and Mitch started to regret bringing it up.

Karen stared for a moment. “I never knew. I guess it’s a good thing that it’s dry now. And has been for decades,” she added.

Benji slowly put his dessert spoon down and stared straight ahead.

CHAPTER 19

The next morning, Mitch arrived at Hank Ball’s place at five past eight after receiving a call from the mayor himself. He’d been told to bring his medical bag—not a good sign.

As well as the mayor’s car, he also noticed Sheriff Kehoe’s cruiser pulled up out front—an even worse sign.

He looked up at the two-story house; it needed a bit of work with peeling paint, some wood root in the windowsills, cracked roof tiles, and way too many leaves in the gutters.

He’d met Hank and his son Alfie, and they were nice people, and as Hank’s wife had passed away a few years back, the big guy was managing to raise his son on his own and doing a faultless job.

The front door was open, and Mitch stood just inside. “Hello?”

“That you, Mitch?”

“Yo.” Mitch headed in toward the sound of the voice.

Along the front hallway, he came to a set of steep steps leading up to the attic with both the sheriff and mayor standing at the bottom, waiting.

Kehoe nodded. “Doc.”

Keith Melnick’s normal, gregarious good humor was missing from his expression. Mitch also noticed that the sheriff held a large and powerful flashlight like the ones you usually take camping.

“Thank you for coming out, Mitch.” The mayor exhaled. “Need your professional opinion on something.” He turned. “Sheriff.”

Kehoe started up the steps, followed by Mitch and then the mayor. It was dark in the void above the house and Kehoe turned on the light before they reached the top of the stairs.

“Bulb was out; I replaced it,” he said over his shoulder. “And I mean removed, on purpose.”

As soon as Mitch arrived up in the warmer air of the attic, he smelled the blood and offal—he recognized it immediately, as he’d been on enough battlefields to know the odor of death when he smelled it.

“Over here,” Kehoe said.

Mitch’s shoes made a tacky sound on the sticky floor and Kehoe lifted his light to a mound of ragged clothing in the corner. As they approached, Mitch saw it was more than just clothing with the protruding ribs, pelvic girdle, and the tufts of blood-matted hair that were still attached to a lacerated skull.

“That’s Hank. Or was,” Kehoe said. He pointed his light beam at an object a little further in. “And that was their cat.”

Mitch glanced at the tiny, separated head and flaps of drying skin with fur attached, and then back to the ruined corpse of Hank.

“What happened?” Mitch asked.

“You tell us,” Kehoe said, sounding like he was breathing just through his mouth. “Got a call from the school wondering where the kid was, so I came out to their property. Didn’t find him.” He nodded toward Hank. “Found this instead.”

Mitch crouched. “Jesus, what a mess.” He looked up. “When?”

“About an hour ago, give or take.”

Mitch nodded and turned back to the corpse. He reached into his bag, pulled out a pair of disposable gloves, and put them on. Then he gently took hold of the exposed ribcage.

“Little more light here.”

Kehoe obliged.

Mitch saw then that the internal organs were all gone, which was fairly indicative of a large carnivore