The Master Calls

Chapter 10

They made their way to Corwin's office and he immediately handed them his findings. His eyes were lit up in excitement. "It seems you might be on to something, Harold. There was been at least ten deaths or missing people, and each of them have a loose link with Rebecca."

"Loose link doesn't help us much," Rose replied.

"It looks loose on paper, but each person that either died or went missing was either a classmate of Rebecca or a neighbor or had some form of contact with her. And here's the interesting thing. Each one was highly intelligent."

"Each of these are an exact year apart," The Master stated, poring through the pages.

"Glad you noticed that. Thought I was going to have to point it out," Corwin replied sarcastically.

The Master ignored the jibe. He was focused entirely on what he was reading. "According to this, the first dead body turned up when she was about thirteen years old."

"That's about the time puberty hits in humans," Rose offered.

"Hmm. I think we need to get that DNA diagnostics from Susie. If I'm right, which I usually am, I may know what she is and why she's doing it." He turned to leave and then stopped, turning to Corwin. "Good job. I'm surprised." And he turned and left.

"For him, that was a compliment," Rose muttered to Corwin, before she left to follow the Master.

They went down to Susie. "Care to tell me what you think is going on?"

"I will when I have proof," he said, drumming his fingers impatiently against his thigh.

They went to Susie's office. She looked up from the microscope in surprise. "You have those DNA results?" he asked brusquely.

She pushed her glasses higher up on the bridge of her nose. "I do. She's human."

Rose frowned in disappointment, but the Master looked surprisingly pleased with this diagnosis. "Is that her strand of hair you're looking at through the microscope?"

"Part of it. I had to use the other part to mix in with the chemicals to run through the DNA Diagnostic machine."

"Move over. Let me have a look," he ordered.

"You can ask nicer than that," Rose chided.

He looked up at her as he sat down in the chair Susie had just vacated. "Yes, I could. But that would be nice." He peered down into the lens of the microscope. Two minutes ticked by and Rose was starting to wonder if this was all a wild goose chase. Then he looked up at her, a slow grin spreading over his face. His brown eyes held triumph. "Come take a look at this, Rose. You may have to wait two minutes."

She went over to him and peered in the microscope. She saw the strand of hair, a golden yellow in color. Under the microscope it looked like a rope fibre. "What exactly am I looking for," she asked, her back starting to ache from bending over.

She felt his lips against her ear as he replied in a low voice. "Wait for it. Should happen soon."

She tried to concentrate, but his close proximity was distracting. Then she felt his hand on the back of her thigh, slowing inching up. "Wait for it," he whispered.

She shivered, but kept her eyes resolutely on the hair strand. She gasped as the strand shimmered and then solidified. It happened so quickly that if she hadn't been looking for it, she would have missed it. She straightened up and looked down at the Master who was grinning at her with a salacious grin, his hand still on the back of her thigh, his thumb idly stroking.

"What just happened?" she asked. She was determined to stay focused on the job and this mystery.

"That, dear Rose, is metamorphosis."