Chapter 5
Wednesday morning around 7:35 A.M., Kristy got to Treeview Hospital and introduced herself to Dr. Maxwell (Max) Simpson (the doctor who was the head of psychiatry at Treeview Hospital) and to Joni Baker (Max's administrating assistant).
After introducing herself to Max and Joni, Kristy did her orientation, which didn't take that long to complete, and once it was over, Max had Kristy to shadow him.
Max was sixty years old and was looking into early retirement. So unknown to Kristy, Max's plan was to train her (the person he chose out of twenty-five qualified applicants) as his replacement of head of psychiatry; not to work under him.
At David and Megan's house, Olivia had gotten up around 8:30 A.M., and grabbed her dream journal as soon as she got out of bed.
As Olivia wrote in her journal, she wrote about how two more women (one with mouse-like facial features and the other with squirrel-like facial features) were caught by the men with cat-like facial features and sent to the mansion.
After writing all she could about the two women, she wrote about a large Wesen gathering. As she wrote, she wrote about the resentments that many Wesen expressed towards Kehrseites; although, Olivia spelled out Kehrseites as to how she heard it pronounced.
As Olivia continued to write about the Wesen gathering, she wrote about how a man with lion-like facial features had brought up Black Claw and was then told by a man with bear-like facial features (the person leading the gathering) that he wasn't welcome there if he had the same sentiment as Black Claw did.
Olivia wrote as much as she could about the Wesen gathering before moving on and writing about other Wesen-related mundane events that she had also dreamt about.
At the police station, Nick and Erica had arrived around 9:00 A.M., but before they were able to get settled in, they were told that Rachel Galloway was spotted while leaving a diner by a patrolman; however, the patrolman was driving in the opposite direction when he spotted her, and that he had lost track of her while he was making his U-turn.
Nick and Erica obtained the exact time when Rachel was spotted and the location of the diner. There were several traffic cameras within that area, so after getting the message that Rachel was briefly spotted they went to look at footage from the traffic cameras.
After a forty-minute search, Nick and Erica obtained the plate number off the blue Ford Taurus that Rachel was driving.
The plates were registered to Sheryl Westbrook. Sheryl lived in Portland, and after getting the information, Nick and Erica left the police station.
Around 9:50 A.M., at Treeview Hospital Kristy and Max entered Dale Voss's room. Dale was thirty-years old, and was a new patient. He was forcibly brought in during the night after having a violent altercation with Spence Ricker (his neighbor). As he was being brought in while in restraints, he was spouting out that Spence was a shape-shifting demon.
Currently Dale was strapped to the bed at his wrists and ankles, and when he saw Kristy and Max, he said, "Look, I know how I sound. But I swear to you that what I saw is real. Spence Ricker showed me his true face and he's a demon. Why can't you people believe me?"
"Mr. Voss, we do believe that you saw what you did," Max began. "You're the only one who saw it though."
"No one else saw him because he didn't want anyone else to see him," Dale replied. "For everyone else, he wears his human disguise."
"Why did he show you that he was a demon when he wears a disguise for all the world to see?" Max questioned.
"Spence is the jealous type, and he went demonic and came at me when he saw me talking with Cynthia—his girlfriend," Dale replied. "Hey, Cynthia was there when he changed. She must have had seen him turn into a demon as well."
"According to the officers who brought you in, only you saw him change," Max replied.
"Mr. Voss, what exactly did you see when Spence changed into a demon?" Kristy asked.
"A demon," Dale quickly replied in a 'haven't you been listening?' tone. "I saw a demon."
"Yes, I got that, Mr. Voss," Kristy replied, patiently. "But was the demon short? Was he tall? Was he red? Was he black? Did he look like the devil? What did he look like?"
"He maintained his height, which is about 5' 6", but after he shape-shifted, he looked like a gremlin… not the plush toy kind though. He looked like the demonic kind," Dale replied. "And I believe that his skin was gray. Oh, and also he had long needle-like teeth."
"Have you seen any gremlins before or any other demons?" Max asked.
"No, last night was the first time," Dale replied.
"Has anyone else in your family—a blood relative—seen any demons of any type before or anything else that only he or she could see?" Max asked.
"No, and I'm not hallucinating," Dale said defensively. "Schizophrenia doesn't run in my family and I don't have it."
"Okay," Max replied in a surrendering manner. "I'm just trying to rule out why you saw something that no one else saw."
"I saw something that no one else saw, because apparently, I'm the only one who the demon wanted to show," Dale spouted out. "Being a demon, most likely he has the ability to do that."
"Mr. Voss, according to your chart, you work at the docks, loading and unloading ships that come in, along with loading and unloading tracker trailers when they arrive to your dock," Kristy began. "Tell me about that."
"Loading and unloading is pretty much all I do," Dale replied. "There's nothing to tell."
"Yes, but what all do you load and unload?" Kristy questioned. "Are some of the items toxic?"
"Huh, you think that I've been exposed to something and my senses are impaired," Dale commented as if to himself.
"As with Dr. Simpson, I'm also trying to rule out things as to why you saw something that no one else did," Kristy replied.
"Yes, well, I don't handle anything toxic," Dale claimed.
"Do you always know what you are handling?" Kristy asked.
"From the manifest, I always know what things are supposed to be," Dale replied. "But if someone would falsify his or her manifest, I wouldn't know the difference."
"So it could be possible that you had come into contact with something yesterday that had altered your perception of what's real," Kristy suggested.
"Yes, well, my perception wasn't altered yesterday," Dale quickly retorted. "I got into a heated disagreement with my boss last Friday, and I've been suspended from work for three days without pay. So Friday was the last day I worked, and since I'm off on the weekends, my suspension days were Monday, Tuesday and today. So tomorrow is when I'm supposed to return to work."
"How often do you get into heated disagreement with your boss or with anyone else?" Max asked.
"Last Friday was the only time that I got into a disagreement of any kind with my boss," Dale replied. "And the only other person I had gotten into a heated disagreement with is my brother, and that was only one time, two years ago."
"So is it safe to say that you normally don't get into a heated disagreement as a rule?" Max asked.
"It is," Dale replied.
"Can I ask what the heated disagreement last Friday was about?" Max asked.
"A skid had gotten loaded onto a wrong truck Monday of last week, and the mistake wasn't discovered until the truck had reached its destination last Friday. I got my ass chewed out for loading it onto the wrong truck, but it wasn't me who loaded that particular load. When I told him that, my ass had gotten chewed out again for not supervising the load being loaded. Hell, there are five of us at the docks, and I'm not the other four's supervisor, and I kind of; sort of impolitely stated to that fact."
"And was it then when you got suspended from your job?" Max asked.
"Well, he shot me a warning to watch my attitude and I shot back with that I wasn't going to stand still and allow him to berate me for no genuine reason, and that was when I was suspended," Dale replied.
Max nodded before asking, "Mr. Voss, on a scale from zero to five; zero being not at all stressful and five being extremely stressful, how stressful has your life been prior to you being suspended?"
Dale puffed out some air before replying, "I would have to say one."
"And how stressful has your life been after being suspended?" Max asked.
"Again, one," Dale replied. When Max shot Dale a skeptical look, Dale continued to say, "Honestly, I don't have that much stress in my life."
"Losing three days' pay could be stressful," Max pointed out. "Especially when you count on that money to pay your bills."
Dale chuckled before saying, "The joke's on my boss. My uncle owns a used appliance store, and I went to work for him Monday and yesterday while I was suspended, and I'm supposed to be working for him today as well. So he's probably calling around looking for me. So as you can see, I wouldn't have been out the money if I hadn't ended up here. And since I am here, how soon can I leave, or at least get these restraints off?"
"Until I'm positive that you are no danger to yourself or to others, you are to remain here and those restraints are to stay on," Max replied.
"I'm definitely not the self-destructive type," Dale began. "And as far as me being a danger to others, I'm not a violent person unless I feel cornered, and last night I did feel cornered with Spence. In fact, with him, I felt as if I had no other choice but to fight him for my very survivor."
"Because he was a demon," Kristy replied in an understanding tone.
"Yes, exactly," Dale replied.
"Mr. Voss, how religious are you?" Kristy asked.
Dale chuckled without humor before saying, "Before yesterday, I wasn't religious or a believer, but what happened last night has certainly turned me into a believer. Next time when I get approached by someone talking about Beast-free Haven I'm going to look into joining."
"Beast-free Haven?" Kristy echoed curiously. "What is that?"
"It's some kind of organization that was founded about seven years ago," Dale replied. "I don't know too much about them, however, every member who I have spoken with swears that he or she has seen someone shape-shift from a person to a beast of some sort at least once."
"Dr. Cain, can I see you in the hallway?" Max quickly requested.
"Sure," Kristy replied before she and Max turned away from Dale and left the room. The door to the room was closed behind them.
Once Kristy and Max were out of earshot of others, Max faced Kristy and said, "Dr. Cain, I know about Beast-free Haven. They used to be a support group that got started about thirty years ago and it grew exponentially seven years ago for some inexplicable reason; however, within the past seven years, they grew from a support group and into a cult-like group. Anyway, that group does more harm than good, regardless if they are a cult or a support group."
"Okay, well, today is the first time I'm hearing about Beast-free Haven," Kristy began. "What exactly were they a support group for and how do they do more harm than good?"
"Have you ever heard of UFO support groups for people who claim to have been abducted by space aliens, Dr. Cain?" Max asked.
"I have," Kristy replied.
"Yes, well, substitute space aliens for human-to-beast shape-shifters, and that is the type of support groups that Beast-free Haven used to be," Max replied. "And they do more harm than good because they feed into each other's delusion."
Kristy pursed her lips for a moment before asking, "Dr. Simpson, how often do you get a patient who claims to see a human-to-beast shape-shifter or a human-to-demon shape-shifter?"
"Not often enough," Max replied. "Unless the patients get dragged in as Mr. Voss had been, they usually seek out Beast-free Haven instead of going to a psychiatrist for proper help. But to answer your question, I would treat four to five patients a year. Anyway, I brought you out away from the patient to warn you about the cult group that he mentioned."
Kristy nodded before saying, "I kind of figured."
"Anyway, before I diagnose Mr. Voss, I want to see how he scores on the standard psychiatric test," Max informed.
"I can test him immediately," Kristy replied.
"Normally, I send in a nurse to do it," Max countered.
"My former colleagues in Twin Falls would too, but I prefer to test my patients myself," Kristy replied. "And I know that Mr. Voss is your patient; not mine. So with your permission, I would like to be the one who tests him."
Max gestured towards the door to Dale's room while saying, "Have at it."
Max then told Kristy where to find the test forms.
Kristy nodded with a polite grin to acknowledge the information before she and Max went their respective ways.
Around 10:30 A.M., Nick and Erica stepped up to Sheryl Westbrook's front door. As Erica scanned the area as if looking for what was hidden, Nick rang the doorbell.
Sheryl's blue Ford Taurus wasn't in the driveway, but an adult bicycle was. It was on its kickstand near the two car garage.
Within a short time, Sheryl (a forty-two-year-old woman who stood 5' 2" opened the door, and when she saw Nick and Erica, she asked, "Yes, may I help you two?"
Nick showed her his badge while saying, "I'm Detective Burthardt and she's my partner Detective Espinosa. Are you Sheryl Westbrook?"
"Yes, I'm her, but I haven't done anything wrong that I'm aware of," she replied.
"We are actually looking for Rachel Galloway and she was last spotted while driving a vehicle that is registered to you," Nick informed. "Did you lend her your vehicle?"
"I did," Sheryl replied. "Why are you looking for Rachel?"
"I have reason to believe that she's a witness to a homicide last Saturday," Nick replied.
"You're kidding," Sheryl uttered.
"I'm not," Nick replied and sounding convincing. "It's important that we talk with her. Do you have a number to where I can reach her?"
"I do have her cellphone number, but she ran off without her phone this morning," Sheryl replied before gesturing behind her. "It's on the end-table in the living room, so giving you her number won't help."
Nick nodded to acknowledge what was said before asking, "Do you know where she has gone?"
"I don't know with whom, but she went to her therapy appointment," Sheryl replied.
"What kind of therapy is she being treated for?" Nick asked.
"She's from Chicago and a few weeks ago as she was walking home from a party, she was mugged and beaten up real bad," Sheryl replied. "She almost died from a brain hemorrhage, but she didn't and the incident left her scatterbrained. She was an actual genius before being attacked, and now I can see it in her eyes how frustrating it is for her not to be able think as clearly as she used to. Anyway, a week ago, she found a therapist here in Portland and last Friday she flew here from Chicago. And now, not only had she survived an attack, but she might be a witness to another one."
"She definitely had her share of bad luck," Nick replied. "Anyway, do you know what time she had arrived last Friday?"
"I do. It was around 1:30 P.M.," Sheryl replied. "Although I wasn't the one who picked her up from the airport."
"Who was?" Nick asked.
Sheryl thought for a moment before saying, "I believe that his name is either Jeremy Knight or Jimmy Knight. The two were tight buds growing up. Anyway, Knight is the one who found her a therapist. Locate him, and you could most likely locate Rachel's therapist."
"I think it would be easier if my partner and I return when Rachel returns," Nick replied. "What time will you be expecting her home?"
"Actually, I won't be expecting her back until tomorrow morning," Sheryl replied. "When she asked to borrow my car, she told me that she will be staying the night at Knight's place. So you might need to locate him anyway, and if I remember what Rachel had told me correctly, Knight is a college teacher somewhere."
"Besides Knight and you, does Rachel know anyone else in Portland?" Nick questioned.
"Not that I'm aware of," Sheryl replied.
"Out of curiosity, Ms. Westbrook, how is it that you and Rachel know each other?" Nick asked.
"Rachel and I were college roommates," Sheryl replied. "We became good friends during our time at college, and after college, when we went out respective ways, we remained in touch."
Nick nodded to acknowledge what was said before saying, "Okay, well, thanks for your time, Ms. Westbrook. Have a good day."
"Good day," Sheryl replied before Nick and Erica could turn and walk back towards their vehicle.
After Sheryl backed up and shut the door behind her, Erica told Nick, "We have a BOLO out on Sheryl's car, so hopefully a patrol officer will spot it before Rachel kills again."
"Let's hope," Nick replied.
"Meanwhile, I think we need to go and check out Eureka Labs' parking lot," Erica requested.
"Why?" Nick asked.
"Since there are geniuses working there, I think Rachel would go there," Erica replied.
Nick thought for a second before saying, "I have no better suggestions, so let's go."
At Treeview Hospital Kristy had turned in Dale's test form and was now Googling Beast-free Haven.
After searching for a few minutes and clicking on several links, Kristy found an address for the organization. She then wrote down the address.
Nick and Erica got to Eureka Labs around 11:25 A.M., and slowly drove around the parking lot once. When they didn't see Sheryl's car, Nick parked near the entrance.
As Nick and Erica were getting out of the vehicle, they were approached by a Eureka Labs' security officer.
"May I help you, two?" the officer asked as he approached.
Nick and Erica both showed their badges as Nick replied, "I'm looking for a woman who you might have seen around here today or yesterday."
"An employee?" the officer asked.
"She's not an employee, but she has a thing for geniuses," Nick replied. "Anyway, I would like to show you a picture of the woman."
"Okay, sure. I'll take a look," the officer replied.
As Nick and Erica were stepping up to the security officer, Nick was pulling up Rachel's photo on his phone.
Once the photo was up, he showed the officer while asking, "Have you seen this woman?"
The officer stared at the photo for a moment before shaking his head and saying, "Sorry, I haven't, but if you think that she will show up here, I'll keep an eye out for her."
"She showing up here was just a hunch that my partner and I had," Nick replied.
"Well, if you send me a copy of that photo, I can show it to the other officers, so they can keep an eye out for her as well," the officer replied. "Just in case your hunch pans out."
Nick thought for a moment before saying, "Okay, sure. What's your number?"
After the security officer told Nick his number, Nick sent him the photo.
At Treeview Hospital, Kristy clocked out for lunch at 12:00 P.M., and left the hospital. She then—while using her GPS tracker—drove to the address belonging to Beast-free Haven, and once she got there, she saw that the address was to a nice size mansion.
The front portion of the mansion had a circle drive with parking spaces. The front door was accessible for anyone to walk up, but the remaining three sides of the mansion were gated off.
Kristy found a parking space among the fifteen vehicles that were already parked in front and then she made her way to the front door.
Inside, Wyatt Keener (while in his office) and the four-man security staff (while in the surveillance room) watched Kristy on the surveillance cameras as she walked away from her SUV while heading towards the door.
Wyatt was the leader of the group and the owner of the mansion. He was a fifty-year-old Caucasian man who stood 6' 2", and his chosen profession was a chemist.
After reaching the door, Kristy was immediately greeted by Ronny (one of the security men) before she could knock or ring the doorbell.
Ronny was about the same height as Kristy and was dressed in every day clothes.
As he stared into Kristy's face as if looking for something in particular on her face, he told her, "Welcome to Beast-free Haven. How can I help you?"
Inside, Wyatt was able to see and hear Kristy as she replied, "Yes, I'm Dr. Kristy Cain. I'm a psychiatrist at Treeview Hospital. One of my patients had mentioned Beast-free Haven support group to me. I never heard of this support group before and I felt the need to check it out. Are you the support group leader?"
"I'm not the leader, and we have evolved beyond being a support group," Ronny replied.
"Okay, what exactly did this group evolve into?" Kristy asked.
"I'm sorry, unless you are here to join, and meet the criterion to join, I can't answer any of your questions about this group," Ronny replied.
"Okay, but if you won't answer my questions how do I know if I meet your criterion to join?" Kristy questioned.
"You must have heard something about us before you came here," Ronny replied. "So what did you hear?"
"I heard that Beast-free Haven was a support group for people who have witnessed a person shapeshifting from a human to a beast," Kristy replied.
"Have you?" Ronny asked.
"For clarification, have I what?" Kristy questioned.
Ronny slightly grinned before questioning, "Have you ever seen a person shapeshift into a beast?"
"No; I have never encountered anyone shapeshifting before," Kristy replied.
"Then I'm afraid that you don't meet the criterion to join," Ronny replied.
"Okay," Kristy replied in an accepting tone. "But before I leave, could you give me a rough number about how many people have sought help from your group?"
"I won't answer that," Ronny replied as his phone rang. As he pulled his phone away from his belt holder, he told Kristy, "So it's now time for you to leave."
Kristy pursed her lips for a moment before nodding and turning towards her SUV.
Ronny answered his phone, and after listening to the caller, he respectfully acknowledged what was said before hanging up.
Kristy was twelve steps from Ronny when he called out, "Dr. Cain, wait." Kristy turned and as she was rejoining Ronny, he continued to say, "Wyatt would like to see you."
"Wyatt?" Kristy questioned curiously.
"Wyatt is our group leader," Ronny replied.
"I'm assuming that it was Wyatt who had called you a moment ago, but how did he know that I was out here?" Kristy asked.
"There are three surveillance cameras covering the front entrance to the house and apparently, he had been watching and listening to us," Ronny replied before pulling out a small bottle of liquid with a dropper from his front pocket and showing it to Kristy. "Anyway, after you put two drops of this on your tongue, I'll take you to Wyatt."
Kristy shot Ronny a curious look before asking, "And why would I put two drops of that on my tongue?"
"I'll let Wyatt explain why," Ronny replied. "Anyway, I assure you that this liquid is safe, and it's not a drug of any sort, and everyone who enters this house for the first time has to do this; no exception."
"Fine," Kristy replied before sticking out her tongue. Without hesitating, Ronny placed two drops of liquid on Kristy's tongue. Kristy immediately reacted to it by covering her mouth with her hand and muffling a scream. Once the sensation had lessened, after several seconds, she uncovered her mouth and uttered, "Oh my God. What the hell?"
"Since you passed the test, I'll let Wyatt explain," Ronny replied. "So follow me."
While pursing her lips as if to keep from screaming, Kristy nodded and gestured for him to go.
Ronny led Kristy to Wyatt's office and once they reached Wyatt's closed door, Kristy entered alone.
To Be Continued.