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Chapter Eighteen

Lee Ann arrived at city hall where the mayor and council had agreed to meet with them. Although she still had her hair was still dyed purple she dressed as a scientist would and even Joseph was impressed. She struggled as she walked up carrying files and charts and had a box with handles covered in a towel. Joseph ran up to her and grabbed some of the items to help her carry it.

"Thanks." she replied.

"My pleasure."

"Thanks to Dr. Ami research, I know I can convince the council that parasites are involved. Plus I got a little surprise for them." she said as she looked at the wrapped container.

"You mean you actually caught one?" Joseph said as he looked at the box in a mix of surprise and horror then lowered his voice.

"Absolutely! I wrapped it up because I fear the exposure to light may be painful if not deadly to them. I haven't had time to dissect one yet so most of my findings are on Dr. Ami's conclusions and my own speculation." she said and they carried her equipment inside the building and she began to set up while they waited for the council to arrive. A couple of people were waiting in the room examining their cell phones and ignoring them as they set up.

"Have you found a cure for them, possibly or theoretically?" Joseph asked, keeping his voice hushed.

"No, but I did find something interesting! When I brought the specimen I caught into my lab one of my research assistants caused a violent reaction by the parasite."

"Violent reaction?"

"Yes the parasite looked like it tried to attack my assistant. It had been lying dormant eating on the brain I took from a cadaver. My assistant got close to examine it and the parasite suddenly tried to throw itself at my assistant. I'd swear if it was a snake it would have tried to bite her. Luckily the cage blocked it from reaching her." Lee Ann said.

"Only that one research person?" Joseph asked.

"Yes, strange isn't it?"

"Anything different about her? Something that might make the parasites attack?" Joseph asked as he thought about the security guard that the infected activist had killed. He tried remembering their names but after everything that happened he could not.

"Nothing I can think of... She's a lesbian, diabetic, and not even 21 years old yet."

"Wait a minute, did you say diabetic? Is she on one of those diabetic pumps?" Joseph asked as he suddenly remembered tat they security guard was on an insulin pump to treat his diabetes!

"No she takes shots."

"So she takes injections then to treat her diabetes..." Joseph said as he now saw a connection. He wondered if the parasites were repulsed by diabetics in some way. The killer killed the security guard because he was a diabetic and now the assistant was almost attacked by a parasite. Since they can control their hosts maybe that was why what's- his-name murdered the security guard.

"Why does it matter?" Lee Ann asked.

"I first got started when a security guard was murdered presumably by a guy affected by the parasites. The guy was a diabetic," Joseph said.

"Oh," Lee Ann interrupted. "So something about their condition upsets the parasites."

"I got a phone call to make, will you be alright by yourself for a few minutes?" Joseph asked as he removed his cell phone from a holder on his belt.

"Please, what do you think I am a kid?" she countered sarcastically. Joseph ignored the comment because he was too focused on the idea he had. He stepped outside and called George hoping he could answer some questions.

"Hey Joseph, what's going on?" George asked as he answered the call.

"Got a question and hope you can answer it."

"Shoot." George replied.

"Do you know if any of the people the CDC rounded up were diabetics?" Josephed asked.

"Aaaaaah I have no idea. You really have to ask them about it if you're curious. I mean why does it matter?"

"Just some new evidence that came my way. It'll take too ,long to explain but if it works out we may have a way to fight the parasites." Joseph said and he could hear the excitement George was feeling although he was suppressing his emotions.

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Get me the CDC numbers so I can ask them a few questions. Hopefully they can lead me in the right direction." Joseph asked and George agreed, ending the call and a couple of minutes later he received a text message with the number to call.

"Thank you for calling the Center For Disease Control and Prevention. My name is Hailey I am a medical doctor, are you sick or are you calling for someone that is sick?" she asked as she answered the phone.

"Hello my name is Detective Joseph Namer, Fallen Rivers Police Department. I'm calling because I'm working on the case where the CDC is trying to control the spread of a new form of Mad Cow Disease."

"How can I help you, detective?" Hailey replied trying to be as friendly and cheerful as possible although Joseph detected a hint of an edge to her words. He had the impression that he was bothering her.

"I'm looking for a missing person and I'm curious if they are part of the quarantine you are conducting here? The name is... Joseph... Greenberg." He said as he tried to come up with a name that they would not have on file but would be probable that they could have had him.

"I'm sorry but I'm not showing anyone here by that name."

"He's a diabetic! Do you have any diabetics under quarantine? I'd search under that list for him." he said.

"Well we have over a dozen people that are diabetics but his name is still not on the list." Haily retorted.

"He's insulin dependent. Are any of those diabetics insulin dependent? Maybe he's listed as a John Doe."

"The records just say diabetics but no mention of the type."

"Is there someone you can transfer me to? I just really want to make sure so I'll have a little something to tell his family." Joseph pleaded hoping she would buy his story.

"I'm sorry but we cannot help you with that."

"Would you like me to give you my badge number in case you want to check that I am a detective for the police department? I don't mind giving it to you."

"One moment please." she said and he was put on hold to listen to some elevator music. Every minute or so a recording about how to report and avoid Mad Cow Disease played. He was getting tired of the safety tips they kept repeating about the disease.

"Detective Namer?" Hailey said after he was finally taken off of hold. "I've verified your position in the police department and have been authorized to assist you in any way."

"So the diabetics, you have on file, can you tell me if any of them are insulin dependent?"

"No sir, the ones we have listed are type 2 diabetics, which means they can still produce some insulin on their own but they take pills to help the body absorb it better." Hailey replied.

"OK that verifies that the person I'm looking for is not with you. I thank you for your time and answering my questions." Joseph said trying to sound depressed as a way to hide the fact he found a vital clue about the parasites. For some reason they do not like type 1 diabetics!

"...And that ladies and gentlemen concludes my presentation. Are there any questions?" Lee Ann said as Joseph reentered the room. Judging by what she was saying he guessed he had missed her presentation. He felt fine with it because he knew what he needed to know and hopefully the new facts he learned might help them defeat the parasites.

"Well while your presentation is very impressive Miss Parker, Our medical experts have concluded that it is Mad Cow Disease. Why create a new panic about parasites when the situation is under control?" The mayor asked.

"With all due respect, Mr. Mayor, the situation is far from being under control. Reports still have the infected attacking other innocent victims and the ones you manage to round up die by head wound trauma that the so called experts, that we cannot verify are real, can't even explain why." Lee Ann retorted.

"Then why has no one else found evidence of these parasites?" the mayor asked and the council stared at her waiting to see how she would respond. Lee Ann never hesitated but immediately responded and several members of the council flinched once they heard her.

"Because someone propagated the rumor to the media that it was Mad Cow Disease and no one has bothered to fact check it but just ran with the story. Despite the fact that the so called doctors in question cannot be found, nor are they named, so that we cannot verify their research proving that bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or Mad Cow Disease, is the true source of the trouble."

"Well thank you we will consider your proposal." the mayor replied.

"Take your time Mr. Mayor because I have a meeting to meet with the governor next week... you will probably be part of that meeting so if you were not paying attention during my presentation today , don't worry because you will probably get to see it again." Lee Ann said smugly and the mayor forced a smile then dismissed the meeting.

"Subtle." Joseph said as Lee Ann approached him.

"I'm not gonna let him blow me off because he doesn't want to act. Enough people have died and he wants to ignore it? I don't think so."

"I did some checking and I found out none of the diabetics the CDC has are type 1 diabetics." Joseph said.

"Really... then it's not diabetes that the parasites don't like, it must be the insulin, but why would that bother them?" Lee Ann said and Joseph shrugged but she seemed not to notice. Joseph helped her pack up her presentation and helped carry it back outside. Lee Ann was talking to herself about breeding the parasites then injecting insulin into them to see how it might affect them.

"Pie, pie, everyone loves pie. Everything's better with pie! Apple, blueberry, cherry pie, everything's better with pie... yeeeaaah!" Joseph stopped as he heard a commercial play from a radio inside of a small office for a security guard. No one was in it at the moment so Joseph figured he must be on his rounds. The commercial suddenly reminded him of a woman that sang that song to him at the nursing home.

He was trying to remember her name and he found that Lee Ann was talking to him but he was ignoring her trying to remember what it was. He remembered that it began with an 's' but not what it was. Susan? Sammy or Samantha? No... Silvia! He suddenly remembered that attractive nurse called her Silvia. He was terrible at remembering names but he almost never forgot a face.

She had thought he was someone else when she was shouting at an imaginary cat in a tree. He remembered she was in a wheelchair but tried to dance for him as she was singing the tune to this commercial. She reminded him of his grandmother and he struggled to push her memory away because he did not want to start crying as he recalled when she could no longer remember who he was. He was a stranger to her and it alway broke his heart when he thought of those moments.

"Hello!!! Earth to Joseph." Lee Ann said and she waved her hand in front of his face and he stopped daydreaming.

"Huh? Oh sorry. I was just remembering something from another case." he lied not wanting to get into the whole story with her.

"Whatever, I just want to get this stuff to my car because I still have lots to do." Joseph grunted and they carried the remaining equipment to her car.

"But that was scary because you really zoned out there for a sec." she continued.

"Say Lee Ann, what is insulin made of by the way? Animal cells right? I think I heard that a long time ago." he replied hoping to change the subject.

"You know that's a good question. Let me search it," she dumped what she was carrying into his arms, which were already full, as she searched her cell phone.

"Oh my gawd, I never knew this before." she exclaimed and he sighed because he could tell he was going to have to ask what it was she was talking about rather than just telling him.

"Modern insulin is made of Escherichia coli, can you believe it?" she said.

"I have no idea what that is?" he replied blankly surprised she would think he ever had a clue what that was.

"Escherichia coli is basically the long name for E coli." she said as her voice became giddy for some reason.

"Like the virus that the cleaning product Lifehall says kills 97% E coli?" Joseph asked incredulously.

"Kinda, there are different forms of E coli and some are harmless to humans and actually beneficial. However yes it is a bacteria and E coli is very aggressive to reptiles so," she said smiling.

"If the parasites have reptile DNA as part of them," he interrupted her as she took a slight pause for him to do so.

"Then the synthetic insulin would be deadly to them. Since worms and snakes use scents to help them see they can probably smell the insulin and realize it's like a poison to them." she concluded. Joseph dropped what he was carrying and grabbed her hands and they both jumped up and down in excitement.

"Insulin, that's the key to killing them. We can use that to cure the infected." Joseph said as they separated and he began to pick up the items dropped.

"Well treat is the more operable word because any damage done by the parasites may not be repairable but given enough time.... Maybe." she said and she began to help him by piling up the remaining items on top of what he was carrying. He groaned but ignored it and tried to be a gentleman even though all this equipment was getting heavy.

He was relieved when they finally loaded everything into her car and he waved as she drove off. He was relieved that they finally had a way to kill the parasites but the sense of pride in finally getting the answers was short lived as she received a text message confirming their date that evening.

Tracey seemed to be looking forward to their date and she wanted to confirm he was keeping his end of the agreement. He responded in the affirmative but the dread he had been bottling up while trying to ignore the date was coming to the surface again. He felt sorry he had ever made the promise in the first place but it had been a necessary evil.

Joseph rushed home and started to get everything ready but Marms was not a happy little kitty. He was feeling betrayed that the-human-he-lets-live-with-him was ignoring him as he ran around Marms' kingdom. Marms tried to get close and help direct him but the-human-he-lets-live-with-him nearly tripped over him a couple of times then he yelled at Marms saying something in the unintelligent hooman speak he uses. Marms could understand a couple of words here and there but for the most part it seemed as if hoomans were not very intelligent pets.

So far he had been allowed to live with Marms but if he truly wanted to be Marms' pet, then Marms was going to have to work harder to train him properly. You just could not have a hooman running around aimlessly causing kitties trouble in the long run.

Joseph finally finished his preparations for the evening. He had his clothes picked out and double checked to make sure the reservations were secure. He searched her address to make sure he knew the location. He finally sat down to watch some television to kill off some time before he had to shower and shave then get dressed and picked Tracey up.

Marms jumped on his lap and as he began to pet him Marms bit his hand playfully but in the eyes of the kitten he was teaching Joseph a lesson. Joseph just ignored the attack because it really did not hurt at all. He just continued to try and pet him and finally succeeded. Marms began to lick the hand he bit to show his hooman pet that he did still love him even though he had to punish him for being bad.

Marms slept on his lap until he was moved when it was time for the final preparations before he left. Joseph placed some food down and Marms never even noticed he left because the food was much more interesting at the moment.