Recluse Island

Chapter 54

May 2014

By the dim light of his office/bedroom Dr. Augustus Moss meticulously read through the Trinity Clinic's check-in log for the month of April. The log only contained patient names and the reason for their visit but that was all Moss (he hated to be called Augustus which always made him feel like a roman emperor and insisted everyone refer to him by his last name) really needed to know anyway.

When he first began this undertaking, he had been looking for a connection between those recently seen and those recently deceased. Oddly, though Moss searched for years he never could find any correlation between the two. Then quite unexpectedly a piece of the puzzle was revealed to Moss. It wasn't any one ailment, gender or section that was targeted, it was those who were thought not able to physically perform their duties any longer.

This epiphany occurred to Moss when one of his good friends Patrick Reed, a member of the Workshop, turned seventy. Moss joined his family for a small gathering to celebrate. Three days after Patrick's birthday, he died. Yet, Moss still doesn't know how. Patrick was perfectly healthy, and he had voiced no concerns or symptoms to Moss leading up to his death. Moss had requested permission to perform an autopsy, what if Patrick had an undiagnosed hereditary disease? If this was the case, his family should know. But Rafanoli would not give consent to proceed.

Then there was that business with Lloyd Ziesemer, a troubling matter if there ever was one. Moss knew Lloyd wasn't the most intelligent man, but the story told leading up to his death just didn't add up. From then on Moss began keeping tabs on those he thought might "suddenly," turn up dead. It was apparent to him the elderly and disabled were the prime targets.

He hoped by checking the clinic's log he might be able to starve off any more unexplained deaths. But the problem was, Moss still didn't know what was killing them. He had ruled out any kind of epidemic or infectious disease. It didn't match up with the number of people dying. Yet it was peculiar they would not let him examine the deceased bodies. This led Moss to believe, they and by they; Moss means Rafanoli and those that work closely with him do not want him to find out the truth.

What Moss did know and was able to determine after much speculation and investigation is that for some reason Rafanoli did not want those of less than "able" means working in the compound. Of course, the productivity of someone in their sixties would not be as great as someone in their twenties but was that a good enough reason to end their life. Moss did not know for how long exactly this had been going on for, but it didn't appear it would be ending anytime soon.

It was Moss's belief that Rafanoli kept tabs on those that visited the clinic and used these visits to determine who was physically able to handle their responsibilities and duties and who was not living up to the required standards of someone in their job. Each month Moss took guesses as to who would still be around in another thirty days and who would be dead.

Now as the hour had gotten so late, Moss checked his pocket watch, he knew it was a bit old fashioned to be carrying one, but it had been a gift from Greta Swoboda the woman Moss had thought he would one day marry and though things had ended badly between them he couldn't bring himself to give it back or keep it hidden somewhere unused and collecting dust. The watch revealed it was just after four in the morning. Moss hadn't realized so much time had gone by, though it would explain why his eyes were beginning to droop and he kept having to re-read the same sentence.

Dr. Augustus Moss was born in Stormy Shore, an only child he spent much of his time with his father who worked at Crankton Barber. One day a man came in for his usual haircut, Moss's father Charles noticed an unusual bald spot where the skin underneath was very thickened and hard. Charles asked the patron if he had noticed it as well and was having any pain or problems associated with it. The customer was in his forties and worked for Fisherman Catch, he said it was a bit sore, but he just thought it was from too much sun. Charles encouraged the man to stop by Heyer Medical Clinic in case it was something more serious than sunburn.