Father Gunter Demon Hunter Box Set Page 4

  He took the pen and notepad out of his pocket and began to question the two doctors.

  "So, tell me, Dr. Silverstein," he said, "How many infants expired during your rounds and in what time span?"

  "Fate was kinder to me than my colleague here," said Silverstein. "Only two infants passed in my presence." The well-spoken doctor impressed the demon hunter.

  "Only two?" Johann asked as he gazed at the doctor.

  "Yes, only two. Both happened about a week ago; a day apart from each other."

  "Can you tell me the cause of death?"

  "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. They already passed by the time they reached the hospital. All I could to do at that point was confirm the death and sign the death certificate."

  "So, there was nothing more you could do?"

  "Other than console the grieving parents no. Nothing else I, or anyone, could do."

  "I see."

  Johann shifted his gaze to Dr. Zou who appeared to almost glare at her colleague. "So I assume you to be the attending physician for the rest, Doctor?" he asked.

  "Yes," Zou answered; she tried her hardest to sound pleasant, "You are correct." Sylvia rolled her eyes at the way Zou overacted.

  "Would you please tell me how many cases you've seen and the time span?"

  "I attended to twenty-three. All in the last two weeks."

  "What did these infants pass from?"

  "The same as the two with my esteemed colleague. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome." Johann raised an eyebrow at the tone of her voice. She made it quite obvious about her apparent animosity toward the other doctor. She almost sounded like she mocked him for his use of the full name of the syndrome.

  "I see," said Johann. He glanced at the two doctors. "Tell me about miscarriages. How many, and in what time frame?"

  "I believe only about six," Doctor Silverstein said.

  "Fifteen." Dr. Zou said as she corrected her colleague. The older physician turned to face her, surprised. "Fifteen," he said. He dropped his gaze to the floor and murmured. "My God, it's worse than I thought."

  "In the last two weeks?" Johann asked.

  "Yes," Zou answered. Johann cast his eyes at the administrator, who made a small facial gesture, then back to the two he was questioning.

  "The women who had these miscarriages, were they all healthy?" he asked. The doctors gazed at each other for a moment. Silverstein looked up at Johann.

  "Healthy?" the doctor asked. "I'm not sure what you are asking."

  "I'm asking about their health. Meaning, could you detect a clear reason why these women would have a miscarriage?" Johann said. He was almost stunned he had to clarify for the physician. It seemed like a straightforward question to him. Silverstein gave his colleague a brief glance then back to Johann.

  "Yes. They all seemed healthy. There was no reason I was aware of why they should have miscarried," Silverstein said.

  "Neither do I," said Dr. Zou. Johann glanced at the two doctors. He wanted to see if their body language would tell him anything. After several seconds and with no clues, at least none he picked up on, Johann continued with his questions.

  "I visited the morgue downstairs. The coroner is performing autopsies on all the deceased infants. I assume this has been done all the while?" Johann asked.

  "Yes," Sylvia replied, "Our policy is to perform an autopsy so that we can know with the fullest of confidence the cause of death. It also helps to bring the family closure."

  "I'm sure you agree how unusual it is for a hospital to perform autopsies themselves, instead of sending them to the medical examiner. Is there any reason the deceased are not sent to the ME's office?" Sylvia looked up at him; her lips curled into a small, confident smile.

  "Robert is the medical examiner for the county. So, we are well within regulations, Mr. Berman." Johann held her gaze a few seconds.

  "Yes, you are," he said. He broke his eye contact with the administrator and peered down at his notepad.

  "How about non-infants? Did any children, adolescents, or adults come to the hospital with any unexplained symptoms during the two weeks in question? Perhaps, beginning a little while before this?" Johann asked.

  The three remained silent as they tried to recollect if they had experienced that. Dr. Silverstein was the first to speak up. "No. I haven't seen anything like that. Have you Doctor?" he asked Dr. Zou. She shook her head.

  "No. The only cases brought to me were all infants," Dr. Zou answered.

  "So, you had no occasion to treat anyone other than infants?" Gunter asked. Zou glared up at him. The question was ridiculous, and he knew it.

  "No," she said with a sneer. "I mean infants happen to have been the only ones who arrived dead."

  "Dr. Zou," Sylvia said. She was astonished at the physician's apparent lack of respect. Johann put his hand up to keep the peace.

  "It's okay, Miss Olson. I should have rephrased the question," he said. He had to admit to himself he did get a thrill out of pushing the doctor's buttons.

  "So," Johann continued, "whatever is happening is only affecting infants, correct? What is the age of these babies?" He turned his gaze to Dr. Zou. "You attended to most of them. What would you say the average age is?"

  "About three months," she answered.

  "I concur," Silverstein said.

  Another moment of uncomfortable silence fell upon the room. Johann made it a point not to say or do anything. He used this time to study the people he had assembled in this small office. Dr. Silverstein, he concluded, was the most nervous of the group. He fidgeted and kept eyeing his watch. Johann decided the pause was long enough, so he continued with his questioning.

  "I assume all the hospital equipment is kept properly sterilized?" He glanced at the administrator.

  "Absolutely," she said. She almost sounded as though personally insulted by the question. "Besides," she added, "please remember the infants didn't die here in our emergency room. They all expired at home and were then brought here. All we did was confirm the deaths, as Dr. Silverstein already made clear."

  "Yes, Miss Olson, I'm aware of that. I have to make sure I check all the boxes."

  "I understand."

  Johann directed his interrogation back to the two doctors. "How long have you been on staff?" he asked Dr. Silverstein.

  "Ten years," the doctor answered. He wiped some sweat from his brow with a handkerchief. This action was not lost on Johann. It was not overly warm in the office, so the good doctor should have no logical reason to perspire as he did. Gunter could feel his adrenaline flow as Silverstein appeared to squirm in his chair.

  "Are you uncomfortable, Doctor?" he asked. He hoped he uncovered a clue as to who the demon was.

  "Well, yes," the sweat glistened physician said as he huffed nervously. "If it hasn't become glaringly obvious to you, I'm a little overweight and being so would naturally make me warmer than the three of you. And frankly, I'm not used to being grilled by the CDC. So, of course, I'm going to be nervous."

  Johann held his gaze on the frustrated physician. "Relax, Doctor. No one is accusing you of anything. I'm only here to investigate and find out if there is a disease going around that we need to prepare for, or if this is some horrible coincidence." He turned his attention to Silverstein's arrogant colleague.

  "Dr. Zou. How long have you been on staff here?"

  "Three weeks," she answered. She struggled to retain her cool, but her dislike for Johann began to wear on her.

  Johann allowed this to sink in for a moment and managed a polite smile.

  "So, you're new here?"

  "That's damned obvious, isn't it," she said. She glared at Johann.

  "Yes, it is damned obvious," he answered just as sarcastically. The physician looked away then back to him.

  "I'm sorry," she said. "I've just been under a lot of stress. I didn't mean—"

  "No apology necessary Doctor," Gunter said. He directed his gaze to Sylvia then back to the doctors as he placed his notepad back in his pocket.

  "Thank you both for your time," he said. "Unless Administrator Olson wishes to ask any questions, you are free to go."

  "No questions," Sylvia said.

  The two doctors stood to leave. Dr. Zou walked out the door. As he exited the room, Silverstein stopped at the door and turned to face Gunter.

  "Mr. Berman," he said, "I certainly hope you can help us here. I place all my faith you can find the reason this is happening."

  "I assure you, Dr. Silverstein; I will."

  After the physicians were well away from the office, Johann turned his attention to the administrator.

  "I appreciate your arranging this meeting," he said.

  "As I said, Inspector, we'll do anything we can to assist."

  "Glad to hear it," he said. He returned to the side of the desk opposite Sylvia, so he now faced her. "I'll need the records of both of those doctors please, and any other hospital personnel who were in attendance with the infants at the time of their demise."

  The hospital administrator was almost surprised by this request. "Surely you don't suspect—" she said. She thought it hard to believe anyone on her staff would be even accused of negligence, let alone something far worse.

  "We suspect everything until the answer is found, Miss Olson," he said. "For me to determine what is happening here, I must know everything about everyone."

  "I'll let Personnel know to prepare the files you asked for," she said, almost with a tone of surrender in her voice.

  "Thank you," he said. He handed her his card. "Please ask them to call me on my cell phone when everything is ready, and I will pick them up. Oh—one more thing," he added. "Driving here, I passed only one church. I didn't see any others. The people of this town aren't very religious, are they?"

  Bewi
ldered by this strange question, Sylvia gave Johann a quizzical look. "To be honest, no. It wouldn't surprise me at all if most of them were practicing atheists. Why do you ask?" she said as she took his card.

  He held his gaze on her before he answered. "Nothing really. I was just curious," he said with a smile. He turned and walked out the door.

  Sylvia eyed him as he retreated down the hall to the bank of elevators. Once he boarded she placed the call to the personnel office to prepare the paperwork for him then returned to her normal daily activities. "Don't know what the hell religion would have to do with it," she mumbled to herself.

  As soon as the door opened, Johann smelled a slight death odor. Under the vile fragrance was another subtler and more sinister aroma: the waft of sulfur. The demon hunter knew the two doctors were in the elevator together. He wasn't sure if this meant one of them was the vile creature he hunted, or if the beast was in here by itself at some point. He examined the elevator car and searched for clues. Unsuccessful in his search he again vowed to himself, and his missing sister Teresa, he would find the monster and destroy it.

  Johann's ride ended on the ground floor, and he exited the car. He found his way back to the ER. He took in everything he could on the way. Once he was back in the emergency room, he decided to stay a while and monitor the goings-on. He studied everyone who came in and went out, and he tried to find out if any infants were being attended to.

  He walked over to the nurses' station and got the attention of the head nurse.

  "Excuse me. Have any more infants come in tonight? Specifically, any others with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome?" Johann asked.

  Nurse Hensley checked the night’s received patients on her computer and turned back to Father Gunter

  "No, sir. None yet."

  "'Yet'?" asked the faux inspector paraphrasing what she said, "You almost sound like you're expecting some."

  "Unfortunately, there's been so many lately, that if a night goes by without a SIDS infant, we consider it a blessing," the nurse said.

  "I'm curious," said Johann, "the mothers of all these infants. How many of them would you say this was their first child?"

  "I believe that may have been the case with all of them," Hensley answered after she thought. Johann gazed at her as he thought.

  "Thank you for your help," he said. "I appreciate it."

  He went back to watching everything that happened in the emergency room. Most of the cases which came in were adults. There were a few children, but no infants. The injuries ranged from illness to farming accidents. At one point, the doctors and nurses in the ER went on full alert. Johann thought it was another infant they expected, but it was the victims of a vicious car accident. A semi collided with a small car carrying a young family. Gunter was saddened when he heard the mother, who was driving, was killed on impact.

  After he watched the activity for an hour or two, it was time to leave and head back to his room at the motel. He again went back to the nurses’ station and handed his card to Hensley. He asked her to call him if any other infants were brought to the hospital tonight. She agreed that she would.

  Johann stepped through the door to the outside. The crispness of the air felt cool on his skin, and the late afternoon light bathed the town in an almost golden-orange color. Time passed so fast today.

  He spent a good part of the day in the infirmary—almost seven hours—and it was now quarter past six. He felt a pang of disappointment; however, since he was not as close as he thought he would be, by this time, to knowing the identity of the demon. His one consolation was that now he was positive beyond the shadow of any doubt that he was, in fact, dealing with a monster. He decided a talk with Father Tuttle might be in order.

  At the same moment that Johann was making his way to his car, upstairs in the administrator's office, Sylvia Olson's phone rang. She stopped what she was doing and answered the call.

  "Bucktown Regional. Administrator Olson speaking," she said. She cradled the receiver with her shoulder and cheek so she could continue her work on her computer.

  "Miss Olson, this is Director Johnson with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia," the voice on the telephone said with a distinct southern drawl.

  "Oh yes," she said. "We've all met Inspector Berman." At once there was an expression on her face which reflected both confusion and concern. "I'm sorry? I didn't quite understand what you just said. Would you mind repeating that, please?" she said. Mr. Johnson repeated what he had said to her.

  "Bill Berman. The gentleman you sent," she said. "He's been here all day investigating." She listened while the other person spoke. Her facial expression now changed to concern and anger.

  "I see." She almost sounded like she growled. "Yes, of course, we would welcome an inspector from your organization."

  She hung up the phone and gazed out the window as Johann's car exited the parking lot.

  -5-

  Johann exited the hospital parking lot and turned onto the main road. Relieved to be finished at the infirmary for the day he looked forward to an evening of relaxation in his hotel room. He thought he would catch up on the news, and perhaps relax with a good movie. It began to get dark, so he turned on his headlights.

  Johann found the drive pleasant at the moment. The horizon glowed bright orange where the sun had recently set. It faded into yellow, then blue, then dark purple. Not a single cloud appeared in the sky. The brightest of the stars had just begun to peek through the twilight; like flecks of diamonds on deep purple velvet. The air was still and crisp. The evening started out to be almost perfect. It was the kind of evening that could cause a person to forget their troubles.

  Johann became so lost in his thoughts; he didn't realize he drove right past his motel. By the time he realized this, he had already traveled outside the town limits. The two-lane road was almost empty of traffic. He spotted a place that would allow him to turn around safely and head back to the motel. He quickly did his about-face.

  Father Gunter became aware of a car which approached at high speed. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel as the car came near. A glance in his rearview mirror revealed another vehicle behind him. He returned his gaze out the front windshield to find the oncoming car had entered his lane.

  The black automobile appeared familiar to him. Johann braced himself for another encounter with the Dodge Challenger. He gritted his teeth as the two bright circles of the LED headlights closed the distance on him. Gunter was well aware this was in all likelihood the same car that hunted him since his arrival in town last night.

  "Come on, you bastard," he said. He held the wheel so tight his knuckles almost turned white. "Gonna shove my 'Stang down your throat, you fucker."

  The ominous black machine drew closer and closer. Unwavering in its track, the Challenger headed straight for its target. Johann could tell his adversary had increased his speed. The auto honed in on him like a heat-seeking missile.

  The roar of the Challenger's motor mixed with the sound of Johann's heart, which pounded in his rib cage. He was sure the muscle would inevitably burst in his chest. The vehicle was so close now Gunter could almost count the openings in the honeycomb of the grille. Johann jerked his wheel to the right, as the guided road missile screamed past. Johann's car lost traction and fishtailed wildly. He struggled to retain control of the powerful machine as it came to a stop on the shoulder, just short of a ditch.

  As Johann sat stunned in the relative quiet of his car, his thoughts went to the automobile that was behind him. He realized the squeal of tires, and the explosion of metal and shattered glass he expected did not occur; or if it did, he missed it.

  That idiot must have creamed that poor bastard behind me, he thought. Reluctantly, he turned around to view what he imagined would be monumental carnage.

  Before he could turn to examine the scene, Johann became aware of blue and red strobe lights that surrounded him. He sat for a moment, confused, while he tried to compose himself. He made a sudden twitch as most people do when startled. Someone was at his window. Johann turned and realized a police officer stood outside his vehicle. He glanced up at the young officer of the law.

  "Sir, are you alright?" the officer asked, as his eyes locked with Johann’s. Gunter gazed at him, confused. The sound of the police radio came from the cruiser parked behind him. Father Gunter pulled himself together enough to answer the lawman.