Chapter 4 - Investigation
In the middle of the deep, dense darkness, Bo saw a bright blob.
That must be the exit. She firmly believed.
She was trapped in a dark tunnel, or a dungeon maybe, and she needed to get out. That bright blob was the light coming from the outside, to where she needed to go.
She stared into it, despite her dizziness, her numbness and her pounding heart.
She kept drifting in and out of consciousness. She kept blinking whenever she could to soothe her sore, burning eyes.
Then, she started to see silhouettes. She started to see shapes and vague colors.
The straight, vertical and horizontal lines, and gray surfaces…they were the buildings beside her.
Then, there was a dark thing with straight and curved edges. And, it turned out to be the trash can in the corner of the parking lot.
She was surrounded by clusters of irregular shaped things. She was surrounded by different shades of green. When they rubbed against her, they would make a slight rustling sound. Those were bushes.
It was then that Bo figured out what the deep darkness and the bright blob were - the night sky and the moon.
She was lying in the row of bushes behind Dr. Olivia Smith's clinic while gazing into the night sky.
Right…I came to the clinic and then I was attacked by this giant scorpion. I got injured and passed out….
Although extremely weak, she propped herself on her elbows and scanned the surroundings. To her relief, neither the scorpion nor the girl with spiteful eyes were around.
She was thrilled that she was able to move again, and she spent a good two minutes there just watching her own fingers wiggling and flexing.
Slowly, she stood up despite her legs shaking. Spitting the dirt out of her mouth, she examined herself quickly and was relieved that she did not have any broken bones or major injuries. All she had were some minor cuts and bruises, and the graze on her arm made by the scorpion's stinger.
She gasped slightly as she examined the graze. It now had turned into a cluster of red, swollen blisters, where the smaller ones were about the size of a pinhead and the bigger ones were about the size of the tip of her pinky finger.
She gently pressed down on them, and almost burst into tears because the pain was so sharp and intense.
Taking a few deep breaths, she thought, didn't I pass out near that tree?
She remembered dodging the scorpion's sting near the exit of the side parking lot, where a maple tree stood. It was over twenty feet away from the bush row.
How the hell did I get here from there? She wondered, but she couldn't remember anything.
She shook her head and headed to the front parking lot. Her car was the only car that was still there.
She got into her car and let out a deep breath. Then, she reached into her bra and pulled her cell phone out.
It was a miracle that she was still alive, and another that her phone only had a small chipped crack in the corner.
She saw several missed calls and a couple of texts from Kenzi. She texted her to let her know that she was okay and that she was heading home.
Then, she placed her phone into the cup holder and leaned back. She closed her eyes and lolled there for a long time.
She thought she should just go home, hug Kenzi, inhale a pepperoni pizza with extra cheese, take a hot bath and bury herself into her silk sheets and fleece blankets. However, as she turned to the clinic, she remembered seeing the teenage girl looking through things in the clinic. She remembered her partial tattoo and her venomous glare.
What would she be looking for in a clinic like this? Was there a connection between her and that dead woman on the news? What about that scorpion? She must have something to do with that scorpion, right?
Bo made sure that no one was inside the clinic this time, before she picked the lock and went in.
She checked the front desk office first. There, she found scattered patient files all over the shelf. There were a few pages on the floor as well.
She picked them up and stacked them, before she set them aside casually.
She remembered seeing that girl on the computer, so she checked the computer next, but it was locked.
After opening every drawer, checking every notebook and fumbling through every small item on the desk, she found a blue sticky note under the keyboard. The login ID and password were written on there.
Yes! Bo cheered and logged in.
Whatever files the teenage girl had been looking at on the computer were still open. Bo briefly looked through them and realized that they were nothing but Dr. Smith's patient files.
Why would she look at patient files? Was she looking for something, or…someone?
Bo pondered while letting her eyes wander. Then, she absentmindedly laid her eyes on the stack of paper she had just picked up from the floor.
The page on the very top was a personal info form filled out by a patient.
Name: Sonia Mendez. Age: 27. Gender: Female….
Bo's eyes shot wide open, for she recognized that name. Sonia Mendez, she was that high school teacher who died in the classroom while the classroom was locked from the inside.
Bo let out a light gasp. An idea came to her like a bright flash.
She clicked on the "search patient by name" bar on the computer, and typed in "Amanda Parsons", the gas station cashier who died in the gas station's back parking lot.
The search result disappointed her. Amanda Parson was not in the system.
She then searched for "Leah Becker" and "Laura Davis". Neither of them were in the system.
Bo let out a sigh as she stared at Sonia Mendez's personal info page for a while, before she decided to search for "Sonia Mendez" in the system.
Somehow, she wasn't at all surprised to see that it returned no results.
Interesting. She thought as she started to go through the paper records on the shelf. As she expected, she found the three other women's patient files.
Four women in their late twenties. Four mysterious deaths. Four patients of the same doctor. Four patients whose records weren't even in the electronic system….
Bo closed her eyes briefly as she tried to connect all the dots that seemed completely unrelated: the presence of invisible spiders at Laura's lab, Laura's death, the other three women's deaths….
Shaking her head slightly, Bo studied the other four women's records, as she wondered if they had anything else in common.
She almost jumped out of the chair when she noticed something: the four women had similar symptoms: dizziness, tinnitus, focus issues….
The exact symptoms she had when she would have her episodes. They were even prescribed the exact same medication as she was.
Thrilled and a little scared by the finding, Bo sat back down to calm her pounding heart.
Now, she had one more dot to connect: the spider attack at her home, and the connection started to become more obvious.
What if. She thought. What if those spiders killed Laura and the other three women? They were invisible, so of course there had been no witness. Not even the surveillance camera could see them. What if…I was a target too? That monster spider could have totally killed me, if it had not suddenly left the shack that night….
Bo took a deep breath and clenched her cold sweat covered hands. Then, she tried to search her own name in the computer system. Just as she had suspected, she wasn't in there either.
She stared at the blinking cursor for a while, before she thought of something else: could there be more victims, or potential targets?
Maybe that was why that teenage girl was here? Maybe she was looking for those who were similar to them? But, how…did that spider know who to target? Did someone order it to go after those women and herself?
Bo pondered those questions for a while, before she decided to focus on the more important task: to find those who might be potential targets.
She quickly went through all the paper records on the shelf and picked out those who were women in their late twenties, had similar symptoms and medication, and also weren't in the computer system.
Besides herself and the four dead women, there were five others.
Bo made a copy of those five files and left the clinic.
After Bo got home, she immediately told Kenzi everything.
"Oh boy…" Kenzi hugged her, then she hugged herself and downed a glass of vodka. "An eight foot scorpion?"
"Ya!" Bo nodded. "The stinger is like the size of a biopsy needle!"
Kenzi grimaced. Then, she checked Bo's wound. A barely there touch on Bo's blisters sent Bo brimming.
"Do you think maybe you should…go to the doctor's or something?" Kenzi asked.
"I think I'm fine…besides…what am I gonna tell them? Hey, can someone please take a look at this…thing on my arm which was made by a scorpion that's larger than my car?"
"Ok, well…maybe leave out the larger-than-your-car part?"
"I think some ice packs should just do, Kenz."
As Kenzi fetched Bo a ziploc bag filled with ice cubes, she asked, "so…if you passed out there…why didn't the…monster scorpion just…you know…kill you?"
"I don't know. Maybe it was too proud to pounce on a half dead prey or something?"
"I'm pretty sure that scorpions would eat both living and dead prey. You might be thinking about praying mantis..." Kenzi murmured as she poured Bo a glass of vodka. "And this…young girl there, you think she's…like…she somehow has something to do with the scorpion?"
"Mhm," Bo nodded. "I don't know how but…I think she had everything to do with that scorpion. The way she stared at me, it was just…like the way the scorpion was staring at me."
"And you think the scorpion…and those spiders were…connected?"
"Ya, I mean, what are the odds that two giant, nasty monster insect attacks were two unrelated incidents? Besides…."
"Beside?"
"Remember that charred body they found under the collapsed power tower? She had a spider tattoo on her. Spiders, get it? I think she had something to do with those spiders that attacked us ..."
Kenzi stared at Bo, and suddenly she opened her mouth wide. She covered it with her hand and exclaimed, "wait…you don't think they are like…shapeshifters, do you?"
Bo pondered that idea. Could they be shapeshifters who were able to shapeshift into gigantic invisible insects? It would make a lot of sense, but at the same time, she found it beyond ridiculous.
"Anyway…I have a list of five women who…might be potential targets. I don't know why those monster insects would be after them. Hell I don't even know if they would in fact be after them, but…I figure we can first check if any of them were already…you know, dead."
"I'm on it," Kenzi nodded while logging into the police database using Hale's credentials. She confirmed that none of those five had been found dead yet.
"We should warn them," Bo suggested.
Kenzi agreed. Before she dialed any of their numbers, though, she asked, "what are we gonna tell them exactly? Like…hey, sister, you don't know me at all but listen, giant spiders and monster scorpions are coming for you. Please be aware! Oh and almost forgot, you can't really see them! Have a nice day!"
Bo giggled as she rubbed the side of her phone with her thumb. "Hmmm…they won't believe us if we phrase it like that but…what if we show them a picture of that teenage girl and tell them to…watch out for her or something?"
"That might work…" Kenzi nodded. "Have you taken a picture of her?"
"No, I was too busy running away from that damn scorpion, but…the clinic has a surveillance system that runs 24/7. Do you think you can figure out a way to access the recordings of it or something?"
"I can make a few phone calls."
Kenzi went to make calls and eventually reached someone who was able to hack into the cloud system that the system would upload its recordings to. He sent Kenzi the recordings of the last 24 hours.
They watched the recordings immediately and saw the teenage girl getting into the clinic. A while later, she came out from the side parking lot in a hurry and left. The camera did not capture any giant scorpions at all.
"I don't think it had a clear shot of her face…" Kenzi complained after having watched the part of the footage that had the girl in it several times. "I mean, we can still print these out. Better than nothing, right?"
"I guess…" Bo sighed. Instead of giving up, though, she kept watching the recordings as she hoped that maybe, on the slightest chance, the girl might have returned to the clinic later.
The girl had never returned. However, she discovered something else: shortly after the girl had left the clinic, a black SUV pulled into the parking lot.
Walking out the black SUV was a tall, blonde woman. She went into the clinic briefly, before she left.
"I know her!" Bo exclaimed as she paused the video. "Kenz! I know this blonde! I saw her at the chemistry building where Laura died!"
"Wait…this is that blonde? The one with that raven or something?"
"Yes! This is definitely her!"
"So…she was at the chemistry building, right around the time Laura died. She visited the clinic…pretty much right after you were attacked by that monster scorpion. This blondie must know something! Who the hell is she?!"
"I wish I knew, Kenz," Bo grunted.
Kenzi zoomed in on the video. "Maybe I could run her license plate number in the system or something. Maybe even run her face through their new, next gen facial recognition system…but it'll take like forever before the system would return anything."
"I think we should go warn those women first," Bo suggested. "At least let them know that they might be in danger."
Out of the five potential targets, two of them lived on the northern east side of the city, while the other three lived on the south side. Kenzi suggested that she'd head south while Bo should head north, and Bo agreed.
Bo paid a visit to the first woman on her list, Carla Chapman, who, according to her patient file, lived in the suburbs with her spouse and had given birth to three children. However, none of them were home.
Bo talked to the neighbors and learned that Carla and her family took a trip to Spain and wouldn't be returning until next month.
Somehow, Bo was a little relieved. Though, she couldn't help but wonder if those monster insects were capable of traveling overseas.
She ended up giving Carla a call and leaving her a voice message.
She then texted Kenzi, letting her know that Carla was not in town.
Kenzi replied saying that she also had talked to her first potential victim. That woman was completely baffled, and at one time attempted to call the police, but eventually thanked her and politely asked her to leave.
Bo went to warn the second woman named Ho-Sook Park. The man who answered the door introduced himself as Ho-Sook's father. He informed Bo that his daughter was involved in a bad car crash just a few weeks ago and was still in coma.
On her way out, Bo couldn't help but wonder if Ho-Sook's death might not just be as simple as a car crash.
She exchanged a few texts with Kenzi, before she headed home.
She got herself some food first. Then, she went to take a quick shower. The blisters on her arm burnt under the hot water as if she was bathing in acid.
Exhausted, Bo took a nap, and woke up to Kenzi's text telling her that she was heading to the third potential victim's apartment.
Bo yawned and went downstairs to check if Kenzi's search had yielded anything.
The facial recognition returned nothing, but the license plate search did.
Bo was excited at first, but after a few phone calls, she was disappointed to find out that the SUV belonged to a car rental company.
She managed to get the information of the person that rented the SUV. It turned out to be not a person at all, but an organization linked to a shell corporation registered at one of those tax haven islands overseas.
Bo lolled on the couch in defeat.
It was then that she realized that she had not heard from Kenzi for a while, and Kenzi still had not come home.
She called Kenzi immediately, but her best friend wasn't picking up.
Thirty minutes later, Bo thought it would be a good time for her to start panicking. She grabbed her jacket and her car keys and stormed out.
A little over half an hour later, Bo arrived at the third potential victim's apartment. The woman, named Heidi Vaughn, lived alone in a one bedroom apartment in a large apartment complex.
Bo headed straight to Heidi apartment unit, and noticed that the door was cracked open.
Bo knocked on the door, but no one answered her, so she decided to go inside.
The cozy living room was empty, and the TV was on with its screen saver on. The dryer beside the kitchen was rotating.
Bo could smell the burning scented candle, a blend of citrus and rose with a hint of wax candle smoke. She heard soft music playing as well. Both the music and the candle scent were coming from the bathroom.
"Anyone home?" Bo asked as she slowly approached the bathroom.
No response.
Bo stood in front of the half closed bathroom door briefly, before she pushed it open and walked in.
She stepped into a puddle of bubbly bath water on the floor and saw a dead woman in the bathtub.
The woman had her face above the water, a face ridden with fear and shock. Her hair spreaded and floated on the water like lifeless sea grass. Her eyes were wide open, so was her mouth. Her limbs were hanging on the edge of the bathtub.
Bo found a jar of bath salt which had been knocked over onto the floor. Beside the cracked jar, there was also a broken wine glass and red wine spill.
The bath water had splashed all over the floor. Bo also saw a cell phone at the bottom of the tub.
Swallowing hard with her hands fisted and trembling, Bo briefly examined the woman to confirm that she was indeed dead. She also confirmed that she was Heidi Vaughn, whom Kenzi was supposed to meet.
"Kenzi?!" Bo yelled as she searched for her best friend inside the apartment, but there was no one else there.
She checked the closest, the balcony, and everywhere else, but Kenzi was nowhere to be found.
In panic, she went to knock on the neighbor's door. She asked them if they had seen a petite brunette earlier, but they either had not seen anyone that matched that description or simply could not remember.
Bo went back to Heidi's apartment. After a second round of search, she tried Kenzi's phone again, but it went straight to voicemail.
She immediately called Hale, but Hale wasn't picking up either. The only thing she could do was leave him a message telling him to look for Kenzi.
In fear, anger and frustration, she dropped down on her knees in Heidi's living room and started to sob.
She couldn't bring herself to consider the possibility that one of those monsters might have hurt Kenzi, or taken her, or worse….
Bo jolted when the apartment door swung open. She gaped at the person entering the apartment.
It was that blonde woman she had seen at the college chemistry building. The woman with the black raven.
The blonde woman appeared to be just as surprised, and a little intrigued, to see Bo here. She pulled one side of her lips up slightly and raised her eyebrows at Bo.
"You!" Bo hissed as she pounced at the woman. She grabbed her collar and shoved her to the wall. She pinned her there in rage and growled, "did you do this?!"
"Whoa, easy there, sweetheart," the blonde woman raised both of her hands teasingly. "At least tell me what crime I have committed?"
"Heidi Vaughn is dead!" Bo pointed at the bathroom door.
"Dead?" the blonde woman repeated that word with a sigh. "Shit…guess I was too late…."
She pried Bo's fingers off her collar and went into the bathroom.
Bo followed her immediately, and watched the other woman examining Heidi's body.
The blonde woman briefly checked the front, before she flipped Heidi's body to check her back. Then, she paused there, staring at the spot that was between Heidi's shoulder blades.
"Guess she was jabbed from behind. She probably managed to turn around to look at the killer, but soon fell into the bathtub…" the blonde woman concluded.
"How do you know she was…jabbed?" Bo frowned hard as she looked closely on Heidi's back. She didn't see anything there.
The blonde raised to look at Bo. "You can't see it?"
She pointed at the spot she had been staring at. "There's a pencil size hole here."
"No…" Bo shook her head.
The blonde furrowed her eyebrows a little. "Do you see my raven then?"
"Like right now?" Bo murmured as she searched for the black bird in the room, but didn't see him anywhere.
"He's standing on top of your head," the other woman explained.
Bo immediately reached her hands out and touched the top of her hair, but to her there was nothing there.
The blonde shrugged, before she let go of Heidi's body and stood up. "Well…she's very dead, and I'm outta here. You might want to call the police, or something."
"Wait!" Bo grabbed her by her arm. "You can't leave! You have to tell me what's going on! I mean, you do know what's going on, right?"
"Maybe, but why should I tell you?" The blonde woman leaned in and scrunched her nose at Bo.
Bo shot her an angry glare. "I need to find Kenzi! She's gone and I have to find her. Do you know where she is?"
The other woman seemed quite confused. "Who the hell is Kenzi?"
"She's my friend!"
The blonde woman frowned at Bo for a while, before she murmured,"ahhhh…the goth shortstack?"
Bo narrowed her eyes at her, and the blonde woman shrugged. "Saw the two of you at the college campus, ya know, where that Laura chick plopped. Aaaaand no, I've no idea where she is."
"Well, she was here! She came here to warn Heidi and she never came home! "
"To warn her, you say?"
"Yes! To warn her! We knew that she might be in danger, so Kenzi came here to warn her! Now Heidi's dead and Kenzi's gone!"
"How did you know that she might be in danger?" The blonde woman was really intrigued.
"You answer my question first! Where is she?"
"Why are you so convinced that I know the whereabouts of this...Kenzi?"
"You have to know something! You were there when Laura Davis died," Bo accused. "You were at the clinic earlier, right after I was attacked! Now…Heidi Vaughn is dead and there you are!"
"So? You were there when that Laura chick died. Now this Heidi Vaughn is dead and there you are…." the blonde woman mimicked Bo's tone.
Bo wanted to retort but instead was biting back her anger, fear and tears. For a moment, she wasn't sure if she should beg the other woman to tell her where Kenzi might be or to punch her in the face first for her attitude.
The blonde woman rolled her eyes. She pulled her arm out of Bo's grip and said, "calm your tits, okay? They won't bother taking her."
Bo stared at her with a frown. "Who's they?"
The other woman casually waved her hand in the air while rolling her eyes slightly. "Oh, you know, those who are after Heidi and…other dead chicks."
"How do you know they won't take her?"
The blonde woman huffed. "Because she's only human and she's no use for them."
Bo's jaw dropped at that explanation. She gaped at the other woman for a long time, before she murmured, "what…what do you mean she's only human? Are there people that are…not human?"
She noticed the teasing smile in the other woman's light blue eyes. She swallowed hard as she asked the question she had never thought she'd ask anyone.
"You-are you…not human?"
The blonde grinned. "No, and neither are you, hotpants."
A/N: Just found out that I now have to manually turn on the notification on FF to get email notifications again...