propped his nerves back into place and motioned for her to sit. She did, in the chair next to him. He could smell her perfume and feel her body heat. He felt got a whiff of her minty breath. He knew she could twist him around her little finger and never have to say a word.
“I’ve probably learned more than I ever wanted to know about computer viruses,” he whispered. “How ’bout you, come up with anything new?”
“Yes.” Her blue eyes sparkled like fire. “We’ve got six victims, two John Does and Soto, Feller, Van Cline, and Klaus. After analyzing all the test results, we’re pretty sure all six men have the same type of virus. No one’s ever seen anything just like this before, but it seems there may have been a chemical reaction in each man’s brain caused from some external stimuli, the virus.”
“How’d they get it? Does anyone know where it comes from?” Shelby asked.
“No, not yet. But these suggestions that somehow they are infected by phone is ludicrous. I can promise you they aren’t getting a virus over the phone.”
“Don’t be too sure. We got the phone records on Soto and Klaus. They were both talking to the same phone number when they went insane.”
“Come on, Captain, get real,” she scoffed.
“I’m not saying that’s how the virus is transmitted. All I’m saying is that at least two of the victims were on the phone at the apparent time of the disease attack, and that at least those two were talking to the same phone number.”
“Whose?”
“The Johnson Space Center,” he answered.
“Who were they talking to?”
“Don’t know. All we have is the main number. The way it’s set up out there, most of the phones can dial out directly or use one of the main numbers. If the victims had called the Space Center instead of being called, then maybe we could trace what number or department they called.” He paused, thinking, before continuing. “If the person they were talking to had dialed out directly, then we’d know what phone he or she called from. But the way it happened, we don’t know jack, except that the calls came from the Space Center. And that four of the six victims work at the Space Center.”
“What? I didn’t know that. Four of the men worked at the same place?”
“Yes, ma’am, and for all we know, all six may have. Until we get IDs on the two John Does, we just don’t know.”
“They all work at the same place and it’s a space center. Now, that puts a heck of a wrinkle into things. Boy, does that open up a can of worms. Could this be some kind of terrorist attack? Do they work in the same building or same office? Where do they eat?”
“Whoa, hold on. We’re just getting started. One step at a time, please. Look, I’m still trying to put the basics together. I’ve got my best investigator, Lieutenant Esquivel, working overtime on this. I’m supposed to meet him in about an hour to get his update. Why don’t you and I meet at the hospital, say at six-thirty, exchange info, and then call it a day? I don’t know about you, but I’m beat, okay?”
“Okay, it’s just that when you find a common link like this you jump on it,” she answered. “I’ve found that there are no coincidences in medical investigation, at least until you prove there is.”
Kendrick paused and waited for Shelby’s reaction. When he nodded, she continued. “Having four men out of six work at the same place tells me that’s where we start. Food, water, or air, and there’s no telling what they may have out there to contaminate. Shelby, this may be some space virus. We’ve got to get on this.”
“Ms. Kendrick, you may be right…I just don’t know. Somehow there’s something very ominous about all of this, something sinister and evil. I can feel it in my bones.”
“I think your bones have the flu, Captain, that’s all. All my instincts tell me that we either have a case of some type of food-…or perhaps, water-transmitted virus or, God help us, let’s hope it’s not an air-transmitted virus. I’ll see you at six-thirty.”
Quickly, she was up and gone. Shelby thought, That woman can disappear faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. He decided he’d better check his messages and he, too, left the library.
Shelby opened the door to the unmarked Crown Vic and waited for the blast of Texas heat to escape. He slid in and reached for his cell phone. As his hand touched the phone it rang, startling him a little. His nerves were on edge.
Quickly, he picked up the phone and simply said, “Shelby.”
The voice he heard was cold and mechanical. “Jimmy Dick, how are you?”
No one had called him by that name since his mother died eight years ago. An unexplainable feeling of panic coursed through his body.
“Who is this?”
“Well, Jimmy Dick, I thought it was about time you and I talked. It’s time the world knows about me. You may call me Michelangelo, Mr. Michelangelo.” There was a slight pause; Shelby could hear the man suck a breath before he continued. “Now listen. Pay attention to what I have to say. I want you to tell the papers…and the TV people this…Tell them the six HBV men were evil and they deserved to die. Did you hear me?”
Shelby didn’t know if the man was on the level or not, but he was willing to listen. There was no doubt, he wanted to hear the rest of the story when he told the caller, “I hear you.”
“Tell them there are three others who are going to die and that’s all. Do you understand? If you don’t tell them exactly what I’ve just told you to say, you and Ms. Kendrick will be the next victims to hear Michelangelo’s song.”
There was a slight pause and then, “I know all about you, Shelby, everything. Computer records.” The voice seemed to hiss. “You understand, don’t you, Jimmy Dick?” The laugh was a sinister rumble that sent an icy chill through Shelby as Michelangelo continued to taunt him. “I know everything, Captain. I know where you went to high school, your teachers, your grades, and, as you can see, Captain James Richard, 444-35-2727, Shelby, I know everything there is to know about you.”
Shelby felt cold all the way to the marrow. For the first time in his eighteen years as a policeman, he felt totally vulnerable and he was scared. If this guy is on the level…God help us all.
“Now do it, or I’ll have no reservation about using you and Kendrick as examples…You do understand, don’t you, Jimmy Dick?” Without another word, the phone suddenly went dead. Michelangelo was gone. What’s going to happen next? Shelby wondered.
Chapter 4
Shelby was noticeably shaken as he eased back into his chair in the homicide office. His was the corner office. Sometimes he looked around and thought, Eighteen years and this is about all I have to show for it. But today his mind was totally focused on Michelangelo and the call he had received thirty minutes earlier.
“Esquivel, come in here for a minute and give me an update. What’s new in the Michelangelo case?”
Esquivel looked ragged and tired as he closed the door and slid into a side chair. “Here’s where we’re at, Captain. We just got an ID on the first victim, the one
