“What hallucinations?” Sean asked.
Timothy chuckled. “You kept talking about a monster with long claws and a red-haired girl with a sword. It would have been pretty funny if we hadn’t been so frightened for you.”
“Yeah, pretty funny,” Sean agreed half-heartedly, glancing over to his grandmother who met his eyes and shook her head quickly.
Taking a deep breath, Sean nodded to her and turned to his dad. “Good thing the doctor knew what he was talking about,” he said. “Or else the rest of you might have thought I was crazy.”
“Yeah, I’d hate to have to lock up my own son,” Timothy teased.
Sean picked up the sandwich and took a bite. “Yeah, me too,” he murmured, “me too.”
Chapter Six
(present day)
The Grant Park Garage was nearly deserted, except for a few vagrants who were looking for a place to shelter from the cold Chicago spring rain. Sean hitched up the collar of his jacket as the wind blew rain down from the sidewalk above. Watching water run in rivulets down the stairs and across the cement into the drainpipes as he walked down the stairs, he wondered if the rain was ever going to stop. This was the sixth day of rain and he was wondering if he’d grow webs between his toes.
The crime rate had dropped during the first few days. What self-respecting criminal would want to break in weather like this, leaving muddy tracks and footprints all over the place? But after a few days, cabin fever set in and the domestic disturbances calls had tripled. People were just tired of being stuck indoors with each other. Besides, neither the Bears nor the Bulls had made it into the playoffs, and both the Cubs and the Sox were already being beaten in the Cactus League games. There was not a lot to be happy about in the Windy City.
But Sean O’Reilly wasn’t interested in sports or weather. He was only interested in one thing, a serial killer loose in his city who had brutally slaughtered seven people in the past seven days. What little remained of the victims had to be identified by either dental records or, in two even more disturbing cases, DNA. This guy was an animal and the sooner they caught him and tossed him in some dark, lonely place for the rest of his life, the better, as far as Sean was concerned.
His walked silently, years on the force had taught him that the element of surprise was often his best weapon. And now, moving stealthily was second nature.
The air was cold and damp and smelled of mold and rotting garbage with an underlying hint of urine. Despite that, he’d always liked the feeling of the garage, like an ancient castle, solid and unyielding. There were only a few cars down here. Sean paid a monthly fee and liked being down in the bowels of the city. He thought it was an appropriate place for a cop to park. Kind of like his own personal Batcave.
Walking down the center of the garage, he passed from one section to another, the thick concrete walls and faded black paint on the floor the only thing that distinguished one area from another. Then he noticed the vapor hovering above the garage floor, like a thin barely perceptible mist, it was moving towards him from the far end of the garage. Must have something to do with all this moisture, he thought.
The concrete wall in the next section was surrounded by another dark puddle. He started to bypass it, turning and walking around, when he realized it wasn’t rain water. It was blood.
Pulling out his radio he swore softly when he realized there was no connection this far down in the garage. Now he had to make a choice, turn around and get back up or continue on and finally get a chance to catch the bastard. The choice was easy.
Sean slapped the radio back into its holster and pulled out his gun. He was going to catch the killer.
He slipped past the wall and he stomach turned as he spied the remains of the latest victim. There was a sparkling gold high heel shoe in the middle of puddle. The victim had been a woman. There was nothing he could do for her now, but her blood was still putting off steam in the cold spring air. She hadn’t been dead for long and that meant the killer couldn’t be too far away.
He saw what looked like a partial footprint in the puddle and turned to see the track led further into the garage. He flicked off the safety. He was going hunting.
He noiselessly jogged in the direction the killer’s path led. Moving through each new section, he stayed close to the vehicles for cover, listening for any noise that might convey the killer’s whereabouts.
Finally, as he moved to the last section, he heard the slow shuffling footsteps of the killer. He must have been wounded, Sean thought, to be moving so slowly. He crouched low, his gun drawn and darted alongside a panel van parked in the far corner of the garage. He inched his way alongside and peered through the driver’s window into the shadowed section ahead. He saw a shadow. The guy was a freaking hulk!
That’s okay, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
He sprinted forward. “Police! Freeze!” he screamed, his voice echoing throughout the garage.
Then he saw it and his blood ran cold. There it was; the creature from his nightmares. The bear-like creature with the long claws that had haunted his dreams since he’d been a boy. The scars on his arm started to burn and for a moment he was twelve again and terrified that
