Deficiency by Andrew Neiderman Read Free Book Online Page B

People don't develop something like that overnight, even if they neglect vitamin C for days."
    "Maybe drugs caused it," he suggested.
    "Haven't you seen a copy of the autopsy report?" she asked.
    "Oh yes, but I just wondered. Maybe they missed something," he said quickly.
    "There are many drugs that deplete vitamins, but nothing would work this fast and everything I know would show up in an analysis. I'm not going to pass myself off as any world-renowned expert on the subject, however. I'm just a family physician, you understand."
    "Of course," he said smiling, "but I can appreciate your frustration."
    "I mean her parents told me that she was an exercise fanatic. What can I say? It's a real medical mystery. You don't have any other situations like this, do you?" she asked.
    "I don't know yet. I'll have to contact the FBI. I hope not," he said.
    "Oh, I would have thought you would have done that already," she said.
    "Not enough time. This is my first case on a new position and I get this," he said smirking.
    "Oh?"
    "I moved out of New York City because my wife wanted a quieter, safer environment for our children."
    "How old are they?"
    "We don't have any yet," he replied, "but my wife's pregnant."
    "Do you live here?"
    "No. We moved to the Albany area, a small community just outside the city. It's actually more rural than I had expected, but we like the stressless life, a world without all this urban turmoil."
    "Normally this is a safe place to live," Terri said. "I grew up here."
    "Really? And you returned to practice medicine here. I guess you do like it."
    She smiled.
    "My fianc� lives here. He has a successful law practice."
    "Oh." He looked impressed.
    She thought a moment.
    "You're absolutely sure no one noticed anything unusual about her at the club?" Terri asked, still struggling with the effort to understand and free herself of this terrible frustration.
    "The bartender claims she was dancing up a storm."
    Terri shook her head.
    "That would just seem to be impossible. I wish I could tell you something that would clear it all up, but I'm more confused than anyone right now."
    "I understand. Well, Doctor, thank you," Kent said rising. "I'm certain we'll reach some satisfactory conclusion."
    "Well," she said, "nothing is for certain in this world, but people don't die like this."
    "No," he said, "they don't."
    He said it as if he knew just as much about medicine as she did. He nodded, thanked her again, and left.
    She turned slowly and saw Elaine Wolf seated behind the counter. Of course, she had been listening in. Only now she looked sorry about her curiosity. Her eyes were filled with terror.
    It gave Terri a chill that she knew she wouldn't shake off until she had made herself a cocktail at home.
     
THREE
     
    He hadn't slept late this morning because he was fully energized and his every sense was heightened, sharp and clear. Maybe he imagined it, but he thought he had been able to hear the movement of the birds on the branches, their tiny steps on the thin twigs of the birch trees just outside the motel window. All he had to do was concentrate and he homed in so quickly and completely, it was as if he were right beside the birds, his ear against the twig.
    When he had opened his eyes and focused on the opening in the window curtains, he had caught sight of a small cloud in the distance, and like a telephoto lens, his eyes had brought the cloud closer, so much closer in fact, that he had felt himself drifting into it the way an airplane drifted through clouds.
    Then he had thrown back his covers, inhaled deeply, and recognized that he still carried the scent of the woman he had fed upon the night before. Everything about her stuck to him, was in his very skin: the perfume she wore and the scent in her shampoo, especially, and when he had combined that with the memory of how she had tasted, how delicious had been the inside of her mouth, her juices, he sighed and stretched like a newborn baby.
    How wonderful it had