A Crying Shame (12 page)

Both men forced their attention to the creature lying stiffening, stinking in ugly death. It was not pure animal, but rather a grotesque mixture of human and animal. It had the testicles and ball sac of a human male. Its feet were bare and large, heavily callused on the bottoms, indicating it walked upright, for the palms of the massive clawlike hands were not nearly so callused. The creature weighed probably two hundred pounds, was perhaps five-ten and had huge, heavily muscled arms and legs and shoulders. It was barrel-chested. Its yellow eyes, open in death, were set deep in an almost animal face ... but the nose was pure human. The mouth was large, with long, fanged teeth.

Both lawmen stood staring at the brutish creature, then lifted their eyes to look at one another.
I don't know,” Mike finally stated.
Go get the camera. Call in to the office; tell Ray to close off Despair Road. I don't want
anybody
in here that isn't behind a badge. And that damned sure includes the press. Use double-talk on the air; see if you can fool those damned scanner-listeners. Go on, Mack.”

The sheriff prowled the bottom part of the large mansion. Occasionally, he would glance up at the second floor. He had absolutely no desire whatsoever to climb those elegant curving steps. But he knew he had to do it. What was waiting for him up there? Probably nothing. But ... He walked back outside, grateful for the sunlight and space.

At his car, he opened the trunk and took out his personal riot gun: a twelve-gauge pump loaded to the hilt with three-inch magnums, double-ought buckshot. He chambered a round, put the weapon on safety, and walked to the now-awake but very pale Ms. Breaux.

You get her story?” Mike asked the chief deputy.

Not all of it.”

All right ... when Ray gets here, have him station a man a full mile down the road. Nobody without a badge gets in here with the exception of Dr. Thurman. Have Ray shoot all his film and all he can borrow, inside and out, from every angle. I want it all. You and Ray sweep the area; gather all the evidence you can find.”

What are we looking for?”

Bits of hair. Tufted, probably. I don't know. Anything out of the ordinary. Footprints—paw prints. Blood. Anything alien. You'll know it when you see it. Bet on it, Joe.”

Joe started to tell him he wasn't a betting man but decided this was not the time.
What Mack told me ... is it. . . ?”

Yes,” Mike said shortly.
It
is. Whatever in the hell it is. After you and Ray and Mack have finished ... then, and
only
then, do you call Dr. Thurman.”

He isn't my doctor.” Linda spoke.

He's the coroner, Ms. Breaux,” Mike informed her, then looked once more at Joe.
Tell the boys this: anyone who leaks anything to the press without my O.K. ... gets fired. But only after I kick the shit out of him. This is big, Joe—awfully big. Could start a panic if the public learned of it before we get a good handle on it. We've got to sit on this.”