Elysium Dreams

Twenty-Four

Lucas and I were ushered into another room. Someone was trying to decontaminate us. We both smelled of death.

"Well, he's been dead for a while," Xavier said. "Nice scar."

"Thanks," I said.

"I'll know more when I get him to the morgue. He was tasered, probably multiple times. There are burn marks on his chest. They are taking Grace Ericson to the hospital to let her wake up there. A psychologist is waiting and we've called Dr. Ericson's brother," Xavier continued. "She was drugged, but we don't know what with."

"Not triazolam?" Lucas asked.

"She'd be awake by now. This was something stronger," Xavier answered.

"As soon as the HAZMAT folks get done with us, I say we go to where his son's body was found," I hooked my finger at someone who had a scrub brush and a hose. They were encased in a white suit that covered everything from head to toe. I didn't even know if the person scrubbing me was male or female. They kept pouring a chemical on me. It didn't burn, but it smelled almost as bad.

"Consider yourselves lucky, he could have found something predatory to shove in there," Xavier said.

"Rats are predatory, but in this case, I think it was just scavenging a meal. We might want to change hotels, considering Lucas' phobia," I said.

"Nothing makes sense at the moment," Xavier shrugged. "We will be checking Arons for pathogens and toxins during the autopsy. Ericson could have put anything on the body. I'd like to get the rat, but I'd say it is long gone. To answer your question about when he put Arons in your room, it took over an hour for a uniformed officer to stop by Ericson's house after he made the call. Sheriff Rybolt showed up maybe half an hour later.

"I am starting to feel like Alice after she entered the looking glass," I said.

"Good news, we can get a warrant. Him leaving Grace in Lucas' room convinced Judge Penelope Rybolt to give us carte blanche to search his house," Gabriel was holding up a piece of paper.

"This is not a peep show," Lucas said. I looked over at him. "I would hate for them to become insecure over sizes."

Until that moment, I don't think any of us had thought about the nudity of myself or Lucas. We all looked down, including the white-suited scrubber working to make me smell better.

"You smell good enough, let's get a move on," Gabriel grabbed a robe and tossed it to me.

"It isn't for the smell," Xavier said. "It's for the exposure to unknown chemical agents. Decomposition has been sped up by something, hence the black blood clots everywhere."

"What?" I frowned.

"His skin is starting to fall off too. That's not normal. I don't know what it is, so you are being decontaminated so that it doesn't happen to you," Xavier said.

"Ugh," I groaned.

"My thoughts exactly," Gabriel said. "How much longer?"

"Almost done," the scrubber went back to work. It was female judging by the voice.

"Did you touch anything?" Xavier asked.

"I am not really in the habit of touching things I know to be dead," I told him.

"Me either," Lucas said.

"Then you should be good. If you feel any tightness in the chest or start wheezing, let me know," Xavier left.

"My mother would abhor the person I have become, if she knew," I said.

"What?" Lucas asked.

"You can never tell her that I lack modesty and stood in a room with three men and two unknowns being scrubbed down while talking about dead bodies," I told him.