Chemical Attraction (13 page)

“I heard NASA research,” Madeline whispered, glancing around.

“And I heard it’s the newest pain reliever. It’s so restricted that our desk cameras can’t observe anything on that floor.”

Madeline sipped the last of her drink. “What’s Kim say? She’s been up there.”

“She’s seen the stuff, but she’s no scientist and doesn’t have a clue.” They stood to leave. “So when’s that hunk of yours coming back for a visit?”

“I’ll see if he’ll meet me for lunch Friday,” she replied. They left the cafeteria in opposite directions.

Pulling up along the side street by Vera Wilson’s house, Matt saw Sylvia talking to Bobby. He had the sinking feeling that she’d found the body. Taking a deep breath and sighing, he walked over to them. “Hi Sylvia, how you doing?”

“Hello, Matthew.”

“Chief, Mrs. Folkert found the dead cats and reported it. We found Mrs. Wilson’s body in a closet,” Bobby said as Sylvia blew her nose.

“Dead cats?” he asked.

“Every one of them,” Sylvia replied. “I thought they were asleep, but when I looked closer, they were all dead. All twenty-five.”

“Sylvia, do you want to sit down?” Matt asked, gently taking her elbow.

“I want to go home. Robert has my statement. I didn’t see Vera, but those dead cats will haunt me for a long while.”

“I’ll have someone drive you.”

“No, Matthew, thank you, but I’ll walk.”

From her cubicle in the back, Eva saw Joe at the Occupational Health counter. He patiently waited for Betty to get off her phone. Before she could greet her brother, Betty moved the glass to the side and stared. “Help you?” she spluttered.

Joe grinned at her. “Hi Betty, I’m looking for my sister.” When she continued to stare, he leaned on the counter. “I’m Joe. I’m looking for Eva.”

In the doorway, Eva laughed. “Jeez, Betty, what’s the matter with you? He’s not speechless cute.”

“Hey,” he said, “Is she a mean grump with you, too?”

Betty just stared at him. Eva rolled her eyes. As Eva and Joe left for the cafeteria, she frowned at her brother. “You need to use your powers for good, not evil. She was a very intelligent receptionist until you came along.”

“Can I help it that women want me?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Your charm and wit are leaking all over the floor.”

“What’d I do?”

“You’re still flirting with every woman around you, which means you’re taking advantage of Madeline, too.”

Walking into the cafeteria, she picked up a tray. Clenching his jaw, Joe sulked and followed her down the line. She turned to Norman Sanderson ahead of them. The skinny geek from the morgue had a coconut cream yogurt, a frosted brownie, and a Hawaiian punch on his tray.

“Norman, what’s new?”

“We’re really busy downstairs. How’s your department?” he asked, paying for his food.

She smiled. “We’re busy, too, but don’t be a stranger.”

He grinned shyly. “Okay.”

While Joe silently pulled out his wallet, she found a booth along the wall. He sat across from her and she picked up where she’d left off. “Don’t deny it, Joe. Every woman here is checking you out. You’ve left Betty speechless and who knows what else you’re doing. Madeline is my friend, you know.” She took a bite of her chicken salad.

“You wait just a damn minute. I smiled and said hi. If that’s flirting then fine, but I am not leading Madeline on,” he said through his teeth.

She glared right back. “Yeah, well, what do you call it?”

“I really do like her.”

“Sure you do. You’re sleeping with her, so she’s the flavor of the month.” She calmly gauged his temper by the tightening of his fists.

He pushed his plate away. “It’s not like that this time. I wasn’t looking for romance. It got mixed in with business.”

“Then answer this one question and don’t lie. You know I can tell.”

He crossed his arms and sat back. “Fine, what?”

She smiled. “What business brings you here, Joey?”

He shook his head. “Damn, you’re good. Does Matt have you on his payroll?” Pulling his plate closer, he dug into his spaghetti. “How’s David today?”

“It’s so easy to fluster you.” She laughed. “You’re changing the subject, but I will find out.”

“God, you’re a pain. You and Matt will know soon enough. For now, keep your mouth shut, especially about my profession. Understand?”

She nodded. “David was excited about working with Matt at the station. What happened last night to make Matt ground him like that?”

He swirled the spaghetti on his fork. “Matt didn’t explain?”

“No.”

“After this little drama-interrogation, you expect me to tell you? Well, forget it.” He stuck the large bite into his mouth.

“Tell me, little brother.”

After swallowing his mouthful, he sipped his coke. “You’re only two months older than me, and no. That’s Matt’s business. Is it unusual for tweakers to get violent like that?”

She sighed. “Over the last few months, ER visits from brawls have increased 30%. Work is extremely busy with physicals and drug screens for employment. Companies want drug-free workers and they aren’t finding them.”

“What’s Matt doing about it?”

“He’s breaking up fights, busting the meth labs, and hauling in dealers. What’s your business here, Joey?”

“I’m here for a little rest and family time,” he replied, picking up their tray. As they walked back to the waiting room, his cell rang.

After giving his sister a quick hug, Joe answered his phone and headed for the door. “Hey Matt, I just got interrogated by your wife during lunch. What’s up?”

“I’m at a crime scene. Sylvia called it in.”

“Shit, is she okay?” He hurried to his car.

“She’s pretty shook up. Check on her, will ya?”

Joe entered the cool house through the front door. He wanted to broach the subject gently. Standing in the kitchen doorway, his mouth immediately watered. “Something smells wonderful in here.” He looked through the glass lid of the crock-pot, but he watched her out of the corner of his eye.

Sylvia had been busy. Next to the pantry in a long closet, she lifted the lid of the washer and placed his clothes in the dryer. Warm clean towels sat in a pile on the table waiting to be folded.

She reached for a towel. “The roast will be done at six. Will you and Madeline be joining me?”

“Sure, I’m picking her up at five. How about an apple pie from the diner for dessert?”

“That sounds good,” she replied, keeping her eyes on the table.

“I got a call from Matt,” he said, leaning back on the counter. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

She stopped mid-fold. “I went to check on my friend, Vera. All her cats were dead, so I called the police. Joseph, I found all twenty-five cats dead, just lying there like they were sleeping.” She looked at her shaking hands. “They found her body scratched up and bloody in a closet. They think she died of a stroke. Joseph, why would those cats attack her?”

Shaking his head, he walked around the table and hugged her as she cried. “I’m so sorry.”

“I don’t want to become that. I don’t want to be a lonely old woman whose dead body is found by her neighbor. It’s frightening, and I can’t get it out of my head.”

“Sylvia,” he said, looking into her eyes, “you have too much life to live to be thinking about those things. We’ll talk about this again when you start getting a bunch of cats.”

“Okay,” she replied, smiling through her tears.

He helped fold the towels and chatted with her until he left to pick up Madeline.

“David, have you had lunch yet?” Matt asked, standing beside his desk.

“No, the phones haven’t stopped ringing. Word has gotten out already about the animal attacks. Everyone’s freaked out about their pets. I thought this would be fun.”

“And we’ll have to follow up on every one of them until we figure out what’s going on.” He pulled ten dollars from his wallet. “Go get something to eat. You have exactly thirty minutes.”

David snatched the ten and headed for the door. “Thanks, Chief.”

Sighing, Matt returned to his office to see the pile of messages on the desk. The first stated that the blood on the emu’s beak matched the victims. He’d send that to the sheriff. After taking care of the rest of the messages, he dialed the vet.

A harried female voice answered. “Dr. Adams’ office.”

“This is Chief Connor. I’d like to speak with Dr. Adams, please.”

“He’s with a patient right now. May I take a message?”

“No, please tell him I’m on the line.” The ‘chief’ title didn’t get him as far as it used to, he thought as he waited.

A few minutes later, Jack came to the phone, out of breath. “Matt, sorry about the wait. What can I do for you?”

“Sounds like you’re busy, so I’ll be brief. We’ve had two more animal incidences.”

“With the emus?”

“No. A pig attacked Pete Adamczyk, and cats attacked Vera Wilson. Both are dead.”

“Oh my God, which pig was it?”

“His sow. She also killed her litter.”

David walked into his office carrying a cold can of Coke and a wrapped sandwich. He set them on his desk and popped the tab for him. Matt mouthed a thank you as David returned to the phones.

“Hey Jack, you still there?”

“Uh, yeah, let me see if I have a chart on those animals and I’ll get back to you.”

“Thanks. I could use the help.” He took a deep gulp of the Coke and pushed the sandwich aside.

Jack Adams hung up his desk phone. He stared through his assistant standing in front of him. His mind was reeling from Matt’s news. “What was that about?” Tricia demanded. “You should have let me take a message. You’re too busy to chat.”

“He just wanted to thank me for the samples. Go ahead and get started on our next patient. I’ll be with you in a second.”

After she shut his door, he leaned his elbows on his desk and rubbed his temples. He thought about his connection to the emus, pig, and cats. He had recently seen all of them.

“Tacos will be ready in fifteen minutes,” Eva said from the kitchen as Matt and David trudged through the garage door.

Having a chance to leave work early, she wanted to be home when her men returned. Rumor had it that their department had had a rough day. After showering, they sat at the kitchen table. While David grabbed three tacos and added shredded cheese, Matt added tomatoes to only one taco.

“David was a big help today. Bobby said he was very professional taking calls.”

“Most of them were petty complaints,” David said between bites.

“Welcome to my world, David. Honey, how was lunch with Joe?”

“He’s up to something.”

“Let it go, honey. Trust him to keep us informed.”

“I don’t like secrets.”

David finished his second taco. “I heard the officers talking about how Madeline took down two tweakers last night after we left. I didn’t know she could do that. They have classes to teach that stuff?”

“Yeah, but not around here,” Eva replied, looking at Matt.

“Joe better rein her in a bit.”

“Is she his business?” she asked.

“What business? I thought Uncle Joe was here on vacation.”

“As far as I know, he is,” Matt replied, standing to dismiss the discussion. Leaving the kitchen, he stretched out on their bed. With his hands behind his head, he stared at the ceiling.

Eva climbed up next to him and lay on her side. “You didn’t eat much. Was work that bad?”

“Pete Adamczyk died today.”

“Oh honey, what happened?”

“His pig attacked him. It was a gruesome scene. I may never get that image out of my head,” he whispered as she hugged him. “I’ve known Pete since kindergarten. Jennifer’s a mess. But that’s not even the half of it. We found Mrs. Wilson’s body in a closet after her cats attacked her. And to make that worse, Sylvia found all of her cats dead and called it in.”

“My God, how horrifying. Are they connected?”

Matt held her tighter. “I don’t know.”

All afternoon, Madeline worked side by side with her assistant, Jessica Fillion, who was dressed in a low cut white blouse and black capris. As a recent graduate, Jessica brought a sense of wonder and newness to work each day. It was a nice complement to the monotonous work. Jessica documented while Madeline read off the data from their high-powered nanoscope.

“Are you going to make me present our research at Monday’s meeting?” Jessica asked, setting the notebook on her lap.

“Do you want to?”

“Hell no.”

“That’s fine. I’ll do it. I’m not intimidated by those blowhards.”

“That’s a relief. Dr. Russell called a few times wanting to meet with me about our project. He’s on the board that directly affects our funding.”

“I know that. What did he want to talk to you about?”

“I think he wants to ease my mind.”