VICAP: The Complete Series, Volume Two (VICAP Series Book 2) by Michael Newton

Author:Michael Newton
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781647349202
Publisher: Wolfpack Publishing
Published: 2020-10-28T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

THE STORY BROKE on Wednesday morning, in a supermarket tabloid. Martin Tanner stopped for doughnuts, at the Albertson’s on Wilshire, and the headline met him at the checkout counter.

DR. FRANKENSTEIN IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA!

“SHIT!”

“I beg your pardon?”

Holding up the line in front of him, a blue-haired dragon with Durante’s nose was glaring at him through her spectacles, the little rat’s eyes magnified to twice their normal size.

“Excuse me, ma’am.”

“Such language in a public place is inexcusable!”

She huffed at Tanner, turned away, and watched the checker total up her purchases. Four items, and the total came to $15.95. The dragon’s shriveled lips curled back from yellow dentures that were easily a size too large.

“What kind of goddamn rip-off is this, anyway?” the old woman asked.

No photos with the full-page article, but someone had supplied an “artist’s rendering” of a demented-looking hunchback carrying a woman’s body through the desert, cactus spotted here and there, with lizards scurrying to get out of his way.

Outside, he read the whole piece through before he tossed the rag aside and drove on to the Federal Building. So much for their lid on media disclosures, weeding out the false confessions, and avoiding panic. Something aromatic was about to hit the fan, and Tanner knew that he was standing squarely in its flight path.

“Shit!”

He found Flynn setting up the Mr. Coffee, humming softly to himself, but Tanner could not recognize the tune.

“I hope you got some powdered sugar this time.”

“I got more than that.” He held the tabloid up for Flynn to see.

“The X-Ray?” Flynn was smiling. “Hey, I hate to criticize your taste in reading matter, but—”

Flynn saw the headline and forgot whatever he had meant to say.

“Goddamn it!”

“Right.”

Tanner laid the doughnuts out and waited for the coffee while his partner read the story twice. If looks could kill, Flynn would have been extremely dangerous just then. On second thought, he might be, anyway.

“It has to be Nye County, maybe Vegas,” Flynn said at last. “These ‘sources close to the investigation’.”

“Doesn’t have to be. We’ve got our share of loose lips right here in L.A.”

“MAD DOCTOR ON A RAMPAGE. Jesus Christ, who buys this shit?”

“If you believe their circulation estimates, about two million people, coast to coast.”

“You want to bet that half of them call up by noon tomorrow?”

“Not a chance. I never bet against sure things.”

“We’ll have to find some way to weed them out.”

“Good luck.”

“I don’t see anything about the Pentothal.”

“Not yet. The networks get ahold of this, they’ll run down everything except the victims’ bra size.”

Flynn held the tabloid up and made a sour face. “Nice artwork, though.”

“A classic.”

“Damn. And I was hoping we could kick the day off with some good news, for a change.”

“Such as?”

“The Sewer Slasher.”

“What about him?”

“Dead. The P.D. thinks so, anyway. They’re double-checking as we speak.”

“What happened?”

“Way it reads, they had some kind of power outage last night near the Civic Center. When the crew went down to check it out, they either stumbled on our boy or he found them.

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