The Scottsville Vampire Invasion

Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Josh, stands over me still holding the stake in his hand. His face is ghostly white. "I had no choice Clark he was going to kill you," he says as I stand up.

I put my hand on his shoulder. "I know Josh. He wasn't himself; he became something else. He was fighting it as much as he could."

Josh looks down at his leg, tries to take a step but falls to the ground. He sits and studies his wound. "I never thought something like this would happen to one of us."

I search my mind to say something profound, but all I can say is, "I know."

Josh stops examining himself and lets out a few sobs. He collects himself and wipes his eyes and nose. "He's my daughter's Godfather. What am I supposed to tell her?"

"I don't know. He's a hero. That's for sure. He tried to save this town. All we can do now is solve these crimes. He died so that we could do that."

"He didn't even get a chance to tell us who did it."

Everything that just happened with Bear went by so fast it was hard to process. "He was trying to but he couldn't get all the way there."

"All we know for sure is that Glen isn't the guy and that the person's been here the whole time," Josh says.

"That only leaves the rest of the town," I say as I try to stretch out my shoulder and back. Bear slammed me hard to the ground.

"He got me good," Josh says as he tries to lift himself off the ground.

"Come on, I'll help you to the car, bring you to the ER and get you stitched up," I say, pulling him to his feet. He puts his arm around me and I assist him to my car. I help him into the backseat and we head to the hospital.

While I'm driving, I run the encounter with Bear over and over again in my head. I look in the rearview mirror and can see Josh holding his leg and looking out the window. "Why did he say the person has been here the whole time? He seemed to specifically want to say that."

Josh keeps his focus out the window. "The person lives in the town. Someone from outside didn't come in and set this off."

"Other than Glen, who would have the motivation to do all this? It just doesn't make sense."

We get to the emergency room and I help Josh into the waiting area. As I'm about to leave Josh says, "Clark, maybe the person who did this doesn't want to die and thought this could make them live forever."

"Who wants to die?" I ask.

He thinks about it for a second and shrugs his shoulders.

I leave Josh, head back into the office and sit at my desk. I suppose I could make myself useful and go through this one more time. Reading Jenn's case, my eyes glaze over. I've reviewed this thing so many times that I can't even focus on what it says.

I lean back in my chair and lift my head to the ceiling. What did Bear say again, something about the person being here the whole time? That could be anyone that hasn't left town yet. I could pull all the people that moved out since this happened and have a narrowed list.

I stand up with the file in my hand. It would take months to cross check that list. Josh said at the hospital maybe it's a person that didn't want to die. Was he on to something? Is that the motivation?

As soon as I say that I drop the files. They fall on the cold linoleum floor and spread out across my office. I'm frozen in disbelief as all of the pieces of the puzzle form in my mind and become a coherent whole.

The five words that I never thought I would ever say about the hell that has been unleashed on this town form together in my head: I know who did it.

Next chapter

I burst through the doors of the Emergency Room and cut in line to get to the front of the admissions desk. "I need to see Officer Josh Freeman. Where is he?"

The African American woman who is sitting behind a desk makes a few clicks on the computer and says, "He's in treatment now. He'll be in out in little while."

"How long is a little while?"

The woman doesn't look up at me. "As long as it takes the doctor to take care of him."

"This is an emergency. I need him right now."

She looks up from the computer. "This is an emergency room; everything is an emergency."

I start to respond but don't bother. Instead I walk around the corner and make my way down the hallway. "Sir, that's for medical personal only. You're not allowed down there."

I yell back, "This is a police matter. It's urgent."

As I make my way, I pass people sitting on chairs in the hall. I stick my head into one of the rooms and see an elderly man lying on a hospital bed. In the next one, a man is standing and talking to a doctor.

The door is closed in the adjoining room. I turn the handle and open it. Josh is on a table with a doctor and a nurse over him. The doctor is looking through magnifying goggles and putting the stiches in.

"We need to wrap this up. I need him to come with me," I say as I enter the room.

The doctor turns to me. He is still wearing his googles which make his eyes enormous. "This patient is under my care and I'm not done performing this procedure."

I ignore him and say to Josh, "I know who did it."

"Did what?" Josh asks me.

"Dragged Jenn Hunter out to Scotts Farm and started all of this."

"Who is it?"

I'm about to say but see the doctor and the nurse. "Let's get out of here and I'll fill it all in for you."

Josh starts to push himself off of the table, but he still has the needle and thread attached to him. "Doc, cut this off. I got to go."

The doctor flips off his googles, "Are both of you crazy? I need to finish this up and disinfect the wound."

Josh scans the immediate area around him, grabs a pair of scissors and cuts the thread that is hanging in the air. "Officer Freeman," the doctor exclaims.

Josh examines the tray that holds the medical supplies and grabs some tape and gauze. He places the bandage over his cut, rips a few pieces of tape off, wraps it around his wound, swings his legs over the bed and stands up.

"Sir, you can't just walk out of here like that," the nurse says as Josh cuts between the doctor and nurse.

"Who is it?" he says as we go down the hallway.

"Who is the last person in the world you think could have done this?"

He stops for a second. "I don't know. You?"

"Very funny. It was a combination of what you and Bear said."

He ponders for a second. "What did we say?"

"Bear said 'the person was here the whole time' and you said maybe it was a person that didn't want to die."

"So it's some elderly person who's been in Scottsville?"

"No, it's a person we didn't know was here, and the person isn't going to die but someone they dearly love is going to."

Josh freezes like he just got a jolt of electricity. "Oh, my God. It all makes sense."

"Yup. I've already checked the mayor's home. He isn't there. We're going out to Scotts Farm. I'm thinking he's out there to finish all of this off where it started. We have to get there before it's too late."