Petrified by Graham Masterton

Author:Graham Masterton [Masterton, Graham]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Speculative Fiction Suspense
Publisher: Severn House
Published: 2011-11-01T04:00:00+00:00

TWENTY

Friday, 6:17 a.m.

By the time a wan gray dawn began to smear itself across the sky, Jenna had been at the crime scene for over two hours. She was wearing her thick brown quilted parka and her Ugg boots, but she was still feeling the cold, and she shuffled her feet as she waited for Dan to bring her a cup of hot coffee.

As it grew lighter, the halogen lamps around the parking lot were switched off, one by one, and the crime scene looked less like a movie set and more like the back yard of a South Street slaughterhouse. The remains of the hospital orderly were still strewn across the asphalt, but the forensic team had finished photographing them and marking the location of whatever entrails they could identify.

Dan came out of the rear entrance of the hospital carrying three cups of coffee. He was wearing a droopy khaki anorak and baggy black sweat pants, and his eyes were puffy from lack of sleep.

‘Ed!’ called Jenna. ‘Coffee’s up!’

Ed Freiburg came over, tugging off his latex gloves. ‘What?’ he said. ‘No donuts?’

Dan handed him and Jenna a cup of coffee each and then rummaged in the pocket of his anorak and produced a paper bag. ‘You think I’d forget donuts? That’s the first thing they teach you at detective school. Buy coffee. Then buy donuts. When you’ve finished drinking the coffee and eating the donuts, then – and only then – examine the evidence and interview witnesses.’

Jenna popped the lid off her cappuccino and sucked at the froth. ‘This is the exact same scenario as the last three fatalities, yes?’

Ed sniffed, and nodded. ‘Pretty much. He was struck at a steeper angle than the others, but I don’t think there’s any doubt. I’d say that the back of his shoulders took all of the initial impact. His head flew forward, into the angle between the two buildings, where it was fielded by one of the bicycle racks. The rest of his body was compressed into the ground with such force that he literally exploded.’

‘What about his heart? Did you find that yet?’

‘Not yet. But it’s still too early to say for sure. The other vics were hit at such a shallow angle that their internal organs were all strung out in a long line. This guy was squished. You know, like hitting a tomato with your fist.

He looked up at the surrounding buildings. ‘I’d say that whatever did this, it came down almost vertical from a considerable height. It would have had to, to build up so much momentum.’

‘So – any preliminary opinions?’ asked Jenna. ‘Another one of your homely angels, maybe?’

‘Not saying it was, not saying it wasn’t. But it weighed a heck of a lot, and it must have been traveling at close to terminal velocity. Two things for sure, though. A, it was alive, and b, it could fly. If it had been an inanimate object, like a grand piano, or a statue, it would still be here.

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