Fredericksburg Police Department
11:50 A.M.
After arriving at the police station and stating their business at the main desk, William and Agent Kelley had settled on a bench to wait for Chief Zamora. "Brings back memories of waiting outside the principal's office," William observed wryly. "You ever get called in, Agent Kelley?"
"It's like déjà vu."
"Only now, for me usually, it's meeting with the dean. It's funny, though. I feel like I'm an unruly student again."
"How often did you get in trouble?"
"Never for the stupid stuff. Pranks. Skipping. It was always asking questions that the teachers couldn't answer. They thought I was just trying to show off, and I'd get kicked out."
"You know what I think, Dr. Van de Kamp?"
"What, Agent Kelley?"
"You were too smart for them. If you were asking the questions you shouldn't, by which I mean the ones you should, that's bound to cause problems."
"You ever get that?"
Agent Kelley sighed. "I was a good girl. Good Catholic girl. Still am. Catholic, anyway."
William nodded.
"But it didn't start until I met my mentor at the Bureau. He broke a number of rules, made many assumptions that went beyond conventional explanations. I will say, he drove me to the brink of reason. And yet, many times, the simplest and most logical explanation defied conventional logic. In that sense, I guess I ended up breaking the rules."
"In what sense?"
A figure emerged from the back of the station, walking up to William and Agent Kelley. "Hi. Steven Zamora. Chief of Police."
Zamora shook hands with William and Kelley, who formally introduced themselves. "If you'll just walk this way, we can talk about what's been happenin'."
"Walk this way?" William asked and he and Agent Kelley followed Zamora to his office.
"Don't even think about it," Kelley said.
"What's that?" Zamora asked. "You talkin' about Aerosmith or Mel Brooks?"
"That's before his time," Kelley said.
"Before all our times, I'd say," Zamora commented, walking through the doorway of his office before settled behind his desk. "If you can get the door, and have a seat" he added.
After closing the door, William sat next to Agent Kelley. "Oh, and thanks for offering to pick up Agent Kelley for us, Dr. Van de Kamp."
"My pleasure," he replied.
"Saved all of us some trouble. Plus, we can get your expertise on all this as well. Try to come up with a rational explanation for all this."
"So, what's your understanding of what happened?" Agent Kelley asked.
"Well, we've had all these contradictory reports for the past month or so. People claiming to see something."
"What?" William asked.
"It's all over the map." Zamora handed a folder to Agent Kelley. Upon opening it, she inched over towards William so that he could look over the contents. "Bigfoots. Chupacabras. Werewolves. The last one's funny, because that sighting didn't even happen during the full moon."
Rubbing his chin slowly, William took the folder as he looked over the reports. "So, we're talking folkloric creatures. But chupacabra descriptions can vary. I know that the word can signify a creature that looks like a conventional grey alien, or a medium-sized canid. And they have, in fact, usually turned out to be dogs with mange."
"Yes," Zamora said apprehensively.
"And it's interesting, because if you think about the werewolf reports, wolves are canids as well. And they're furry, kind of like Bigfoot."
"That makes some sense, I suppose."
"So there's some kind of continuum that seems to make sense. It may even be mass hysteria, but people are reporting different creatures."
"Like a contagion, maybe," Kelley added.
"That's a good metaphor," William said.
"Not really. I was thinking of something more literal."
"What?" Zamora asked. He pulled out another folder and handed it to Agent Kelley. "How could a contagion make marks like the ones here on a man's body?"
Kelley opened the new folder. At the top, she saw a photograph of marks on a man's torso. "That's unusual," she said. "It looks like oversized insect bites."
"Funny you should say that. The guy claims he was attacked by what he called the Wasp Man."
With a look of surprise, Kelley asked, "What?"
"Wasp Man. Doesn't sound like a furry creature at all. What's stranger is that the guy's a retired cop from L.A. I don't see him making up something like that."
Kelley flipped quickly past the photographs to the report, glancing intently at the first page.
"It makes sense," William suggested. "Someone who'd generally be considered reliable, probably in such a state of shock, that he thought whatever attacked him looked like a wasp."
"It makes as much sense as anything else, though," Kelley said, her voice sounding somewhat flat.
"About what time did it happen?" William asked.
"Around midnight. There's more in the report."
"So, he might not have been able to see what attacked him, too."
"It's possible," Zamora surmised. "But I haven't heard any reports of large animals in the area. No bears or anything."
"Maybe someone's keeping large wild animals illegally, and one of them escaped."
"That's speculation," Agent Kelley mumbled.
"I'm just trying to consider all possibilities," William stated.
"We should investigate before jumping to any conclusions." Kelley sighed. "I guess we'll have to speak with the patient, too."
"He's actually at Hill Country Memorial right now," Zamora said. "Just down the road on route 16. We've already spoken with him, so I guess you and Dr. Van de Kamp can go there."
"Okay," Kelley said. Turning to William, she said, "Dr. Van de Kamp, I can meet you at the car. I'd like to speak about something with Chief Zamora first, however."
After looking blankly at Agent Kelley for a moment, he said, "Okay." Getting up from his chair, he left the office and walked towards his car.
Leaning against the car, William pondered what he had seen and heard in Zamora's office. His mind wandered to other reports of humanoid creatures. The Jersey Devil. Mothman. So many mundane explanations seemed plausible, including the likelihood that some very clever people wanted to create some kind of stir in the area. Mothman seemed a particularly compelling analog, with its near similarity to the so-called "Wasp Man" explanation. After all, both names refer to humanoid creatures with insect-like attributes. In the case of Mothman, however, it was possible that people kept seeing owls, and that misjudgments in depth perception and darkness accounted for those sightings.
As his mind spun, William started to look around. Counting and making a conscious effort to breathe steadily, he thought about past visits to Fredericksburg. William enjoyed many of the activities and events that Austin had to offer, but Fredericksburg provided a more relaxed getaway from the large city. Whether alone, or more recently with Maddie, he enjoyed trying various bed and breakfasts, whether in town or outside. He wasn't sure what he would do that night, but he pondered the possibility of finding a place where he could put up his feet. William also wasn't keen on being peppered with questions by Maddie, especially after likely driving back later in the evening, or possibly at night.
"Dr. Van de Kamp. You up for some lunch?"
William turned around to find Agent Kelley walking towards the car. "Lunch?" he asked. "What about the case?"
"Chief Zamora checked with the hospital. They said that the patient is having lunch and undergoing some tests, but that we could meet with him in a few hours."
As Agent Kelley approached the front passenger side door of the car, William sprinted around. "Let me get that for you."
As William opened the door for her, Kelley said. "Oh. That's not necessary."
"Hey. No problem." William said as Kelley got into the car.
"I appreciate the courtesy," Kelley said.
William shrugged. "You're welcome," he said, closing the door, and thinking of places where they could eat.
