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Chapter Thirteen

"Parasites? You have my attention... um what do I call you?" Dr. Ami said.

"Detective, Detective Namer. I'm trying to solve a murder investagation where the killer may have been affected by parasites that were effecting his judgement. Let me go back to the beginning." Joseph said and he recounted the facts as he knew them of the case. He started with the murder of Peter Bassetti and what led up to the psychics dog dying. The doctor listened with interest and made several notes on a notepad he took from his desk as the details were revealed.

"That is all I know at the moment." Joseph said concluding.

"Very interesting story, I must say but I am unaware of parasites that do what you are suggesting. Do you happen to have any samples that can be tested?" Dr. Ami asked skeptically.

"I don't have any. I'm not even sure how I would get some so I was hoping you might have a better idea."

"They could be hiding anywhere in the body but if the heads are exploding as you say they might be infecting the cranial region. You mentioned a high white blood cell count so the body is trying to fight them off but unsuccessfully it would seem. The aggressive behavior would make sense if they are affecting the brain in some way. Maybe a hormone or pheromone to stimulate aggressive behaviors might cause the victim to bite a target and transfer the parasites by saliva into the new host." Dr. Ami said.

"Could a regular doctor find them?"

"Yes if they knew what they were looking for, an MRI could detect them. Toxicology could also if the lab was searching for them specifically. Parasites are usually overlooked in the United States because the symptoms they produce tend to be the same as other common illnesses. Places of poverty also go untreated due to lack of insurance and such. If we can find someone that is infected we have a better chance of isolating the parasites and we can begin study."

"There is the psychic that was nearly attacked by her client. We could try her if you come with me, maybe we could convince her to get tested." Joseph said.

"It is worth a shot if we can convince her. I am glad you brought this to my attention because I was very skeptical of the Mad Cow Disease the news was saying. Even the other doctors and scientists have not spoken of a new strain. I even made a few calls to my colleagues and none of them knew about it either. If we can confirm the parasites it will prove that the news is fake news."

"That has been bothering me also because no one in the department leaked any story about it to the news so we've been wondering where this information came from." Joseph replied and Dr. Ami was gathering his belongings as he prepared to close and lock his office.

Just before they left a student entered asking if everything was alright as he observed Joseph cynically. The doctor assured him that everything was fine and called Joseph an old friend to help alleviate the rumors that must be spreading about them.

Outside Dr. Ami gave a confused look as he observed Joseph's car.

"I thought you would have a police cruiser."

"Well, technically I'm not here so if I brought the cruiser my movements would be tracked. I'm supposed to be working but that does not allow me to attend a lecture." Joseph said as he unlocked the car and climbed inside.He moved some files he had on the passenger seat to the back so the doctor had a place to sit.

"Ah so you are cheating then?"

"Kinda." he said then the doctor climbed inside the vehicle and they drove off.

"I think I remember where she lives so we can try there first or at her job at the fortunetelling store."

"Whichever one is closer then lets start there." Dr. Ami said and Joseph sped off towards Rachael's house.

"Beautiful place." Dr. Ami remarked as they pulled up and got out of the car. Joseph knocked on the door and Rachael opened it a few minutes later.

Her appearance had taken a drastic change and she squinted as if she were hung over and the light was hurting her eyes. Her blond hair was unkempt looking as if it had not been washed in days. The normal beautiful strands were twisted and clumped together. Dark patches appeared under her eyes and she quickly raised her hand to shield then from the light.

"Ma'am, Detective," Joseph started but Rachael grabbed him and hugged him, catching him by surprise.

"I'm so glad you're here. I missed you so much." She said as she buried her face into his chest. He heard a chuckle from Dr. Ami and felt his face flush then tried to push her away.

"Ma'am I'm here on official business." Joseph tried to talk but was literally fighting to separate her from him.

"May I introduce myself?" Dr. Ami said, trying to get her attention. She absently looked at him and suddenly realized he was there.

"Oh, Oh my... you didn't tell me you brought a guest." Rachael said as she tried to fix her appearance by wiping her face then used her hands to straighten out her hair.

"I am Doctor Rick Ami and,"

"Doctor who?" Rachael interrupted.

"No ma'am I work for the WHO."

"What do you want?"

"I'm sure you've heard on the news that the governor has declared a state of emergency. With all the animal bites we are now required to do full examinations, at no cost, to ensure your safety." Dr. Ami lied as he was testing her comprehension to see if the parasites had affected it.

"But I feel fine." she lied.

"Trust me ma'am, I'm a doctor."

"I'm sorry I'm in no position to entertain guests today." Rachael said absentmindedly as she turned and tried to retreat into her house.

"Are you sure I cannot convince you? I know a certain someone here who would be delighted to know you are ok," he said hinting at Joseph who suddenly caught on to what he was saying.

"It would make me very happy." Joseph said he then noticed a look from Dr. Ami that he was not very convincing.

"I... I... I'm not... entertaining guests... today." Rachael stammered as she tried to close the front door but Joseph fought to keep it open.

"I am very sorry to hear that but will respect your wishes. Let us go." he said and Joseph released the door letting Rachael close it quickly and they heard it being locked.

"You're just gonna let her go?" Joseph asked as they walked back to the car.

"What would you have me do? I cannot go against her wishes."

"Look at her! Can't you say she is crazy and needs medical attention?" Joseph asked.

"It's not so easy. First I'd need to petition the courts then they would have to rule in our favor. That could take months and if she is infected, how long before it becomes too late to help her? We are better off finding someone more willing to help us."

Rachael stood by the door and listened to the car drive off. She wanted to scream because once again fatwe had stopped them from getting back together. She was ready to bare her heart out to him and tell him everything. How much she loved him and needed him and wanted to get back together.

Then this guy shows up pretending to be a doctor and tries meddling in their affairs. He must be a Shrink trying to council Joseph but she was not going to allow him to meddle. Her cousin Samatha was going to one to help her marriage and the psychologist ended up causing the marriage to end. She was not going to allow that to happen with her!

Her phone began to ring and she stood listening for the answering machine to pick up. She was probably the only person that still had one because all the phones just went to voicemail. She still has a cordless phone and answering machine and refused to change. She vaguely recalled someone had given those to her, someone who was very special to her, and she was not going to dishonor the memory by getting rid of them even if old fashioned.

"Hi Rachael, it's Martha, are you alright? You haven't been to work in days and everyone is asking for you. Could you call us and let us know what's going on?" Martha's voice was projected as the answering call was recording her message. Rachael heard the message but it seemed as if it was directed at someone other than herself.

She suddenly felt the urge to go for a walk but she had no destination in mind; she would just walk until she was tired. She wondered if she was hungry because she couldn't remember the last time she ate but it seemed so trivial to her. She would eat later once she was hungry.

Her stomach was making noises again and she reached into her pocket and ate two aspirins. She hoped the noises of her stomach were warnings of the headaches returning.

The desire to go walking suddenly left her and she felt tired again and decided to lay down. Her eyes were hurting because of the light anyways.

The phone rang again but she just could not be bothered. Why were people calling it and asking for some strange person she had never met.

"Hello this is Tom Leblanc at Happy Paws Veterinary Hospital. I just want to remind you your dog Cosma has been cremated per your request and awaiting you to pick them up. Our hours are: Monday to Friday eight AM until seven PM and on Saturdays we are open ten AM unto four PM. Thank you." he said and hung up.

Rachael laid down on the bed and her mind kept showing her images of Joseph. It was not until a few hours later that she finally fell asleep with her headache just starting again.

"In today's news another 21 cases of Mad Cow Disease were reported when infected individuals attacked and bit other individuals. Even more bizarre at least five of those cases had a person bite an animal they owned." A man's voice was saying over the radio as Joseph was going home for the day. He wanted to hear his favorite radio station but all they were playing was breaking news on the latest attacks.

"Sounds like a case of a man bites dog." a female voice responded with a very dry humor. Joseph guessed it was supposed to be a joke but whoever wrote it was not very funny.

"Find out if you are in danger tonight at six." the newscator said before the commercial ended. Joseph was beginning to hate the news because they were making it harder for the truth to be known as they capitalized on spreading fear to get the viewers hooked on watching them.

Luckily the radio station started playing one of his favorite songs so he felt a little better. He also needed to talk to George to see if they could get some names of people recently bitten so they could test them. Dr. Ami thought it best to get a hold of someone that had been exposed for about a day or two to give the parasites a chance to start to grow. It would make it easier to find them that way.

Once they could identify them it would be easier to see if a treatment was available, as long as they were a known parasite. Unfortunately as Dr. Ami said during his lecture there is no way to know the total number of parasites. between 75,000 and 300,000 helminth species parasitizing the vertebrates. They have no credible way of estimating how many parasitic protozoa, fungi, bacteria, and viruses exist.

His cellphone started to ring and vibrate then was instantly projected to the monitor of his dashboard. Extremely convenient feature thanks to the bluetooth connection on his phone. The contact name was George Burrows and he quickly answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey Joe, how did things turn out?" George asked.

"The doctor isd willing to help out on the case but we need to do a full medical examination on an infected person. I was hoping you could share a few names from the recent attacks."

"Normally I would have no problem doing that but the CDC was called in and they have all the records. Seems the attacks have spread from our city to our neighbors. The CDC plans on quarantining the area." George said.

"Did they mention the parasites?"

"No they think it's Mad Cow Disease. I'm figuring once they start testing people they'll find out it's parasites. We might not even need the doctor now." George replied.

"Not necessarily. If they think it's Mad Cow Disease they may just try treating it and forego any other tests. Since MCD is not curable they won't bother with the patients other than keeping them isolated." Joseph said, remembering a few things Dr. Ami had mentioned to him.

"Won't that end the parasites?"

"I dunno. The patients may try and pass the parasites onto the doctors and it could cause another outbreak because who knows how the doctors will react." Joseph replied.

"I see what you're saying."

"Plus if there are still animals that are infected they are still spreading the parasites around. If we are not careful this will blow up!"

"Alright I'll get you the records, somehow, and try to get your friend to talk to the CDC. Maybe together they can work out a way to end this." George said. A flicker of motion caught his eyes and he turned his head to see a big black SUV run a red light. He tried to step on the breaks but he did not have enough time before his car crashed into it. Joseph's head hit the steering wheel and that was all he could remember before everything went black.

"Joseph? Joseph!!!" George screamed into his cell phone. He heard screeching tires then the line went dead. It took him a second to realize that Joseph had been in an accident.

He was still at work and he jumped up from his desk and went to dispatch waiting for someone to call in with a report on the accident. Sure enough within a few minutes a call came in and the person identified Joseph's car. Word was immediately spread word to be looking for a black SUV when it was reported the driver sped off after hitting Joseph. It was now a manhunt to find the person who attacked an officer.

Dispatch was notified and would turn over the footage to the detective division to see if they could track the vehicle and possibly get the license plate. It would take some time to go over the footage to see if they can pinpoint where the vehicle drove off to. George tried to remain neutral but he wanted to catch the person and make them pay.

Joseph was unconscious when the ambulance arrived and was rushed off to the nearest hospital. He appeared fine except for a few bumps and bruises but the main concern was that he might be in a coma from how unresponsive he was. This was later confirmed by the doctors and he was sent to a room and placed under observation. George had an officer posted to keep guard for fear the attacker might return and try to finish the job he started.

Later that night George opened the door to Joseph's apartment and Marms came running up. He greeted him with a welcoming meow but as soon as he saw it was George and not his owner Marms ran and hid under the sofa. Marms hated strangers and even though he knew who George was,, he still acted skittish.

"Hello to you too Marms," George said and he went into the kitchen and set out some food. He tried calling to Marms and telling him it was time to eat but the little kitty remained in his hiding place. He felt a touch of fear that Joseph might not make it and it would be up to him to clean the place out and become Marms' new owner.

He was the closest family that Joseph had after a fallout between Joseph and his father. His father was very controlling and decided son's future for him, but his son had other plans. He wanted to protect and serve while his father wanted him to take over the family business.

His father owned a chain of convenience stores and that was where he had learned to be controlling. To properly run the business he needed to be in charge and that carried over into his personal life. Joseph saw what running the business had done to his father and was dead set against it. He refused to become like his dad but rather wanted to live his life his own way.

Angry about his son's decision he cut him off and the whole family followed the father out of fear of being cut off from the fortune too. Since that day George had never heard of his friend talking about his family. He shared a few intimate moments but even if George wanted to there was no way in which he could tell them about the accident or their son's condition.

George swore that if anything happened he would take care of things for him. Somehow the impact of his promise never hit him the way it did now. He never imagined that the day would come when he would need to step in and take charge.

For the first time in his life, George Burrows was feeling mortal!