“Surgery tomorrow. Dr. Luff promised seven cutaneous pins.”

  “Nice.” Elroy popped his lips.

  I gave Harry a WTF look.

  “I met him when you guys were asleep,” Harry said. “Apparently I’m not the only one here who sleeps through stuff. I told you about him earlier. The janitor with the weird facial tic.”

  “I’m technically a custodian, not a janitor.”

  “There’s a difference?” Harry asked.

  Elroy did the weird facial tic, as McGlade had mentioned. “Custodian works at one location. Janitor goes from place to place. Also I do more maintenance than cleaning.”

  Jack stroked Samantha’s hair. “Tell me what happened, honey.”

  “I wanted to make sure the Goodalls were dead.” Sam sniffled. Seeing her cry tore me up inside.

  “I get what she’s saying,” Harry said. “Death looks weird. Whenever I go to a wake, I bring a pin with me. To make sure they aren’t faking it.”

  “Ignore Uncle Harry and tell your story, Sam.”

  “I went into the mortuary in the basement, and I heard noises, and I—”

  We lost her to sobbing. I gave Elroy a hard look, which was about all I was good for.

  Elroy’s face twitched. “She was walking through the hall by herself. I watched her go into the elevator, down to the basement. I followed her because she shouldn’t be down there, and she came running out of the morgue, yelling her head off.”

  “Did the dead bodies scare you, Sam?” Jack asked.

  “It… it wasn’t the dead bodies.”

  “Was it the stench?” Harry asked. “Dead people smell like rotten ass.”

  Sam shook her head, hard. “It wasn’t the smell.”

  “Did you see a spider?” Harry asked. “Spiders freak me out. Six eyes, eight legs, trap their prey in webs. Those things are nightmare machines.”

  “Let her finish her story,” I told Harry.

  “You betcha. I’ll be quiet. I’ll shut up. No more talking from me. Not a peep. Not a word. Not a—”

  “There was a naked man eating Rita!” Sam shrieked.

  Again I looked at Elroy.

  He shrugged, then popped his lips. “I didn’t go into the morgue. When I found her I brought her here.”

  “I’m telling the truth! And I know who the man is, Mom! It’s the detective who came to see us! Detective Kertis!”

  I met Jack’s eyes.

  Jack knew something.

  “What is it, Jack?”

  Jack tugged out her cell phone, and typed in something with her thumbs. After a moment she said, “Shit.”

  She showed me the phone. An image search for Detective Kertis of the Destiny Police Department.

  It was not a picture of the tall beefy guy who’d visited us twice, dropping off the case files and bringing beer. It was a picture of an older, fatter man with a mustache. A man who, according to the Internet, died last year.

  Harry slapped his forehead. “Jesus, Jackie. We never asked for his ID. He was an imposter. We fell for the fake cop routine. Shit, I use that routine myself. Son of a bitch.”

  “How’d he get the police files?” I asked. “And why would he ask us to investigate?”

  Jack wiped off Sam’s runny nose, and I held my tongue even though we hadn’t gotten Sam’s Covid-19 test results yet. Sam was the only one of us who hadn’t been vaccinated, but I wasn’t entirely sold on the efficacy that the WHO, CDC, and Big Pharma had been crowing about. I filed it away to mention later.

  I rolled over to my daughter. “How sure are you, Sam?”

  “When I close my eyes I keep seeing it, Dad. He had… bits of her in his teeth.”

  That was good enough for me. Sam made stuff up, as much as anyone did. But she didn’t get freaked out too often.

  “Can you take us there, Elroy?” I asked him.

  “I shouldn’t, but yeah. I can.”

  Sam gave her head another violent head shake. “I’m not going back there. And I don’t want you and Mom to go.”

  “We’ll be okay, honey.”

  “No, Mom! He was a monster!”

  “Can you stay awake this time?” I asked Harry.

  “Brother, I’m never sleeping again. From now on I’ll only close my eyes when I’m blackout drunk.”

  I locked eyes with my wife.

  “We should call the police,” she said.

  “Shouldn’t we verify it first?”

  Jack didn’t answer. I could practically see the gears spinning in her head.

  She didn’t trust us in case things went bad.

  I heaved myself out of the wheelchair, feeling some scabs tear open. Which really didn’t matter much, considering I was getting skin grafts tomorrow.

  “We can do this, Jack.”

  Jack stayed quiet.

  “Well, I’m going. You can stay here with Sam and Harry.”

  “I’d go but I was told to watch Sam,” Harry said. “Also I’m high as balls. And my leg is broken. And I’m high as balls. Did I say that already?”

  Sam grabbed my hand. “Don’t go, Dad. He’s bigger that you.”

  That settled it. I had to go, or else my man card would be revoked. And I’d be the one revoking it.

  Jack touched my other hand. “Can I speak to you for a sec? Alone?”

  I disentangled myself from my precious ladies and did my best to walk out of the room without limping. Even on pain meds, some of the bites were missing flesh and hurt worse than third-degree burns.

  Once in the hallway, Jack leaned in to whisper.

  “We’re not in top shape.”

  “I know. But we’ve been through worse.”

  “Have we?”

  I could feel myself wince. “If we can’t rely on each other, who can we rely on?”

  “Phin… I can’t even rely on myself. I did those two interviews. I talked to that guy claiming to be Kertis. I had enough information to figure out he wasn’t a real cop.”

  “You’re doubting yourself.”

  “And you’re doubting yourself, too. I can see it.”

  I nodded. “You’re right. I am. And that’s why we have to do this.”

  “And what if something happens to us? What about Sam?”

  “She’s eight,” I said. “She’s old enough to live on her own.”

  Jack laughed at that.

  “It’s true what they say about falling off a horse, Jack. If you don’t get back on right away, you psych yourself out. Fear takes hold and won’t let go. We don’t want to live that way.”

  “We also don’t want to keep dealing with killers. We came to Colorado to get away from that.”

  My turn to laugh. “And how is that working out for us?”

  “Fine. Okay. We’ll go.”

  Jack hugged me tight, and I tried not to flinch.

  “You just tensed up,” she said.

  “I think I’m bleeding.”

  “Where?”

  “Everywhere. Can I get back in the wheelchair without you having second thoughts?”

  “Yeah. Okay.”

  We went back into the room. I sat down, and Jack made a face at Harry.

  “I’m still pissed at you, McGlade. Don’t screw this up again.”

  “We’re in a busy hospital ward,” he said. “If anything happens, I’ll start screaming.”

  Sam seemed as scared as I’d ever seen her. “Mom… Dad… please don’t do this.”

  Harry seemed to have enough confidence for the entire room. “They’ll be fine, little stinkpants. Your parents are practically unkillable.”

  I hoped Harry was right.

  But I knew deep down he wasn’t.

  I’d been lucky in the past, managing to barely avoid death.

  But death always won in the end. And luck always runs out.

  BLOOD

  I stared at the text.

  KID SAW ME. NEED HELP IN MORGUE.

  This was bad. This was really bad.

  I knew Flesh shouldn’t have met with those people. Jack Daniels and Harry McGlade were former cops, and they were good ones. I did some research. They caught a lot of serial killers, and had books and TV shows made about them. Flesh was tempting fate trying to trick them. Goofing off with fire. Standing in the middle of the tracks and playing chicken with an oncoming freight train.

  This wouldn’t end well.

  Sure, we both wanted to know what they knew. And to keep them preoccupied until we dealt with them.

  But this all went to hell, fast.

  My disease was real. Serious. Potentially fatal.

  Flesh didn’t have the same physical dependence/addiction that I had.

  He just liked eating people. It wasn’t a necessity. It was more like a kink.

  The man should have been able to exercise some self-control.

  I know he was grieving. So was I.

  But I didn’t poke the bear and dare it to catch me.

  We needed to clean up this mess and hide the evidence before the cops were called.

  I hurried down to the morgue, happy to find it empty of live people, unhappy to see the mess Flesh had made.

  I quickly stripped naked so I didn’t get blood on my work clothes.

  “Sexy.”

  I spun, seeing an equally nude Flesh smiling at me. He was spattered with gore.

  “You idiot. You want us to get caught?”

  He snorted. “We’re not going to get caught. We’re Flesh and Blood. We’re invincible.”

  I hated it when he got like this. It always happened around a full moon. He became irrational. Unpredictable. Insane.

  “Help me move them before they call the cops.”

  “You sure you don’t want to come over here, lick all this blood off me? Blood?”

  Part of me did. But the part that feared a long prison sentence was able to resist.

  I’d been careful with my crimes. Flesh had helped me, quite a lot. But he was getting reckless. If he went down, I knew for sure he’d drag me down with him.

  “Later. We need to get their bodies out of here. Right now.”

  Flesh shrugged, then padded over to a gurney and wheeled it next to Rita’s drawer.

  She looked… awful. Rita wasn’t a beauty queen in the first place, but Flesh had mutilated her body to the point where she barely looked human.

  Which, quite honestly, she probably would have approved of.

  I quickly dressed in a disposable plastic coroner apron, which tied in back like a hospital gown. I also snapped on some latex gloves, and put on a clear face shield.

  Flesh registered his disapproval. “I thought you loved blood.”

  “I still have to finish my shift. I can’t get all gooey. Unlike some people.”

  “But don’t I look good?”

  Flesh flexed, his biceps popping, his blood-soaked abs forming a six pack.

  He did look good.

  So much bigger and stronger than when we were kids…

  BEGIN FLASHBACK

  I got to the library early and watched the main entrance from behind a tree across the street, waiting for Fritz to show up.

  I knew he would. I had pictures of him breaking glass bottles and placing the shards where they were sure to hurt kids. If he didn’t want me to go to the police and expose him, he’d do what I told him to.

  Thinking about that made me tingly. In the same way that eating leeches made me tingly.

  But the two o’clock deadline came, and went.

  Five long, slow minutes passed, and still no Fritz.

  What was my recourse? Should I actually tell the authorities? I expected this to work. I didn’t have any plan in place if Fritz didn’t comply.

  “I knew it was you.”

  I whirled around, startled, maybe even yelping a little. Fritz had snuck up behind me. And though he was younger, and shorter, for some reason I was afraid of him.

  I immediately decided to lie.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You know about the broken bottles. You sent me a picture.”

  “No, I didn’t. You’re crazy.”

  Fritz smiled, and I’ll never forget how it made me shiver. “Maybe we’re both crazy.”

  I turned to walk away, but the boy grabbed my arm. His grip was surprisingly strong.

  “Hey! Lemme go!”

  “What do you want?” he demanded. “Money?”

  I tried to pull my arm free, but couldn’t.

  “I can tell the cops,” I blurted out.

  Fritz sneered. “I’m not afraid of cops. I’ve got a monster that visits me in my bedroom at night. Nothing scares me. Now answer my question.”

  Fritz squeezed harder.

  “You’re hurting me.”

  As soon as I said it, I knew he wouldn’t let go. Anyone who put broken glass under playground equipment and on sled paths liked hurting people.

  “I’ll repeat it. Do. You. Want. Money.”

  “No.”

  He squeezed harder, and I started to cry.

  “Tell me what you want.”

  “Lemme alone.”

  “Tell me!”

  “I want to drink your blood, okay? There! I told you! Let me go!”

  Fritz released me. I considered running away, but something about the way he stared into my eyes made me realize I had nothing to be afraid of.

  It was kinda like looking into a mirror.

  “I knew you were like me,” Fritz said after a long silence. “I knew it from the moment I saw you cut your hand under the monkey bars.”

  “You put the glass there.”

  He nodded. “I put glass lots of places. You really want to drink my blood?”

  “My insides are drying up,” I said. “I need blood to live.”

  “So… you’ve drank human blood before?”

  “No. Just animal blood. Bugs. Hamsters. Cats and dogs.”

  “But now you want my blood.”

  I nodded.

  “Why not stick with animals?”

  I stared at my shoes, embarrassed. “They keep dying.”

  “I’ve killed lots of animals,” Fritz said. He didn’t sound ashamed at all. He sounded like he owned it.

  “I wasn’t going to go to the police,” I said. “I was mad at you, at first. But that day, when I got cut, that’s when I realized I was was sick. In a way, you saved my life.”

  “How’d you know it was me?” he asked.

  “I saw the beer bottles in your recycle bin on your driveway. All green.”

  Fritz nodded. “Smart. You’re smart.”

  “So now what?” I asked.

  “I’ll let you drink my blood,” Fritz said.

  I couldn’t believe it. My whole body began to buzz at the thought of it. “You will?”

  “Sure. But I want something in return.”

  “What? The negatives of the pictures?”

  “No. I want to kiss your scar.”

  I blinked, not sure what to say.

  “Your scar. On your hand. I see you sometimes in the hallway at school, but I’ve never seen your scar up close. I want to touch it. Kiss it.” This time he looked at his shoes. “Taste it.”

  That seemed weird.

  But it was also kind of exciting.

  I spoke before thinking about it too hard. “Deal.”

  “Me first.”

  I didn’t see any problem with that, and I gave him my hand.

  Fritz took it without hesitation and held it to his face, scrutinizing the scar. It was ragged, with an upward curve, about two inches long, and the tissue was raised up in a noticeable ridge. If you squinted, it looked like I was holding a white caterpillar or grub.

  Fritz ran his finger over it, which sort of tickled. Then he moved my hand to his mouth to kiss it.

  After kissing, he began to lick and suck.

  It felt strange, but also kind of good, and I got a tingle between my legs. But when he began to nibble I pulled my hand away.

  “No biting,” I warned him.

  Fritz smiled sleepily. “But I like to bite.”

  “It’s my turn. I want some of your blood.”

  “Okay. How do we do it?”

  I reached into my jeans pocket, tugged out an IV needle and tube.

  “Where’d you get that?”

  “I ordered it in a catalog. It’s a blood draw kit.”

  “So how did you learn? Did it come with instructions?”

  “Books. I read books.”

  “Is it clean?” Fritz asked.

  “After every use I clean it with isopropyl alcohol.”

  “How long will this take?”

  I shrugged. I’d never fed on a person before. I had no idea how long it would take.

  “I know a private place,” Fritz said. “Follow me.”

  Destiny, Colorado wasn’t a big town, and it only took a few minutes to walk from the library to the playground where I’d gotten hurt. I hadn’t been there since the glass incident because I didn’t like to be reminded of it, but nothing had changed. Same swingset. Same monkey bars. Same softball field. Same equipment shed next to the bleachers.

  No one was currently at the playground; it had rained earlier, and everything was still wet. Fritz led me to the shed, which had a padlock on the door. He surprised me by opening it with two wires.

  “You picked the lock. How did you do that?”

  “Like you. Books.”

  He held the door open for me, and I hesitated. Did I really want to go into the shed with this kid? How could I be sure he wouldn’t try to hurt me because I took those pictures of him?

  Fritz seemed to sense my concern. “You want me to go in alone, and you can sit outside next to the door?”

  I considered it. Then I declined.

  “We can both go in. But if you try anything, I’ll poke you in the eye with my needle.”

  “I won’t try anything,” he said. “I want to see what it’s like to get my blood sucked.”

  Fritz seemed sincere, so I went into the shed with him. Inside was humid and smelled like mildew. There was a bunch of baseball equipment on shelves and hanging on the walls. No electricity, but daylight came in through a security window with wire mesh in the glass.

  Fritz closed the door and said, “Okay, now what?”

  “Sit on the floor and give me your arm.”

  He obeyed, keeping his eyes on mine. I pulled the blood kit out of my pocket again, and noticed that my hands were trembling.