Before Frank could answer, Molly Connelly appeared in the doorway. “It would only take a minute, you said,” she told Frank in an accusatory tone. “Patrick, your food is getting cold.”
“I’m sorry, my dear,” Connelly said. “Our visitor…By the way, what
“Morgan. Frank Morgan.”
“Mr. Morgan has brought me a very intriguing artifact.”
Molly snorted. “That? That’s just an old bone.”
“Indeed. And Mr. Morgan was about to tell me where he got it.”
Molly shook her head and left the room again. Frank smiled and said, “Reckon I’ve caused some trouble in your household.”
Connelly waved a hand. “Don’t let it worry you. Molly is quick to anger, but even quicker to forgive.
Frank gave him the bone. As Connelly brought it close to his face and studied it intently, Frank said, “I found it in a cabin out in the woods.”
“It was by itself?” Connelly murmured. “No other remains?”
“Nope. Just the one bone. And it was stuck almost out of sight, where it would be easy to overlook.”
Connelly glanced up. “Then someone took the rest of the skeleton and left this bone by accident.”
“That’s what I’m wondering about,” Frank said with a nod.
“One thing we can be certain of…The other bones didn’t get up and walk away by themselves.” The doctor’s manner became more brisk. “What is it you want from me, Mr. Morgan? A simple confirmation that this bone came from a human skeleton? The answer is yes.”
“It doesn’t look like it’s been…damaged.”
“Gnawed on, you mean?” Connelly looked at the bone again. “I agree. I don’t see any teeth marks. I’d say it was picked clean by insects, not cannibals.” Connelly smiled. “That thought
Frank shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Wait a minute,” Connelly said with a sudden frown. “Morgan, Morgan…You’re the man Rutherford Chamberlain hired to go after the Terror. The gunfighter. You’re the talk of the town…along with the Terror itself, of course.” He waved the bone in the air. “Does
“I don’t know yet,” Frank replied honestly. Even though he instinctively liked and trusted the doctor, he wasn’t ready to reveal all his secrets and theories to the man. “I’d like to ask you, though, as a man of science…do you believe all the stories that have been told about the Terror?”
For a long moment, Connelly didn’t reply. Then he said, “There have been reports of strange, unknown animals from around the world for years, Mr. Morgan, perhaps even for centuries. Did you know that in Africa, there are creatures called gorillas, who are supposed to be half-man, half-ape? I’d love to see one someday.”
Connelly was straying from the subject at hand. “What about the Terror?” Frank prodded. “Could it really be some sort of monster, instead of, say, a man?”
The doctor frowned. “I’ve seen some of the damage done by the Terror, Mr. Morgan.”
“So have I.”
“Do
It was a fair question, but to be honest, Frank couldn’t be sure. He was about to say as much when someone pounded violently on the front door of the doctor’s house.
“Doc! Doc! Come quick!” a man yelled. “There’s trouble!”
Molly appeared in the doorway to the kitchen again. “Now what’s all this disturbance?” she asked hotly. “At this rate, you’ll never finish your dinner, Patrick!”
“Occupational hazard, my dear, occupational hazard.” Connelly strode over to the front door and pulled it open. A red-faced townie stood there, breathing hard. “What’s all the excitement about, Bert?”
“You got to come downtown, Doc,” the man said. “A couple of Chamberlain’s loggers just brought in a wagon, and it’s plumb full of men who are all tore up!”
Chapter 16
Frank wasn’t surprised by that breathless announcement. If anything, he had sort of expected some of Chamberlain’s men to discover the massacre at the logging camp and bring the grisly news to town before now.
Evidently, they had brought more than the news. They had brought the gruesome evidence of the killings as well.
“Settle down, Bert,” Connelly said. “These men are all dead?”
“Yeah. They’re all tore up!”
“Yes, you said that. It seems that they’d be more in need of the undertaker’s attention than mine.”
“All I know, Doc, is that Marshal Price told me to fetch you.”
