Evelyn West

Chapter Thirteen

After the event in New Andalusia, which in the end turned out to be true, Mitchel decided to return to São Paulo to talk (and if possible detain) with Dr. Evelyn West. He said goodbye to his family and friends and hit the road, along with Detective Sánchez. Felipe was promoted to municipal delegate until further notice.

However, before leaving, they insisted on following the process of execution of the headless mule. The body was taken in pieces to the crematorium, where it was burned and its ashes locked in a funerary urn and kept in a safe, in the warehouse at the city's police station. They decided not to bury it so as not to have any contact with the ground, even inside the urn.

As the mare's remains were cremated, Mitchel looked up at the sky, afraid the reagent would contaminate the air. He was reminded of the movie Something Of The Living Dead, where a corpse is burned and the smoke turns into an acidic rain cloud and resurrects the dead in the local cemetery. Of course, it's just a movie, but after what he saw, anything was possible.

Right after the "funeral", they hit the road...

During the return trip, they wondered how they would go about questioning the scientist about her work. Of course she won't, especially to strangers, so they needed a plan.

_ Well, I found out in the veterinarian's file that she works at the Scientific Research Center of São Paulo. I'll do what every journalist does: I'll say it's an interview for the newspaper where I work and hope she'll believe it!

_ If possible, also try to find out if she works alone or if she has an accomplice. I very much doubt anyone wants to get involved in this madness, but you never know.

It was exactly what Mitchel was thinking. Even though the doctor recreated the reagent serum herself, she must have gotten at least one of the ingredients in her formula from someone... of course they weren't compounding pharmacies... He just needed to find out who that someone was.

_ Will the mad scientist that she claims to be her master who supplies the ingredients for her or are there more people involved in this story?

_ It could be... But it could even be that she has an accomplice, an assistant or someone who knows her work... and I'm not referring only to the serum, but also to the bodies used for her experiments.

Mitchel agreed with Detective Sánchez's reasoning. Newly deceased bodies are not found there, so she must store them in a specific location... The Forensic Medical Institute.

In the newspaper where she works, on the page dedicated to news of deaths, there is a space to inform about the deceased of unknown identity, the homeless.

"Nico commented on a test performed on a person, but who knows if she was the only one? This Dr. West may very well have gone to the IML and done one of her gruesome experiments on one of those bodies that are left lying around. she didn't kill or have her killed. In addition to being a mad scientist, she's also a murderer."

"And she just didn't go in there and pick a corpse. Some local official must have helped to infiltrate the place."

_ Have you thought about looking for the Director of the Center? Maybe he knows something... _ she asked the detective.

_ In fact, I had already sought him out to talk about the disappearance of Anne Morita. That's when I found out that she was Dr. Evelyn's assistant and her reagent, but I didn't quite believe that story. I thought it was the Director's conversation just to deceive me... and coincidentally, at the same time, I learned of Sheriff Mathias's death and was called up to take over. Then I found out that she came to New Andaluzia and I took the opportunity to go after her, but I arrived late... the damage was already done.

_ I wouldn't say that... _ Mitchel tried to console the detective: _ You arrived here and found out more about this mad scientist and what she is capable of doing. It's enough to trap you, isn't it?

_ You're right ... but I have to admit that it was you who discovered everything. It was no accident that Sheriff Mathias insisted on her presence in the investigation of the case. And I apologize for not having heard you before...

Mitchel was impressed by the detective's apology. It was very rare to hear that. Until he's not that arrogant.

On the trip back to São Paulo, he asked himself what were the reasons that led this girl to create (or recreate, he still doesn't know) a special solution so powerful, to the point of making an inert body come back to life.

"What the hell is in this serum? Was there a special ingredient or was it a combination of several?" he asked himself. The answers must be in that instruction manual he found at the vet's office...

And just out of curiosity, he wanted to know how this reagent worked in the body. Was the procedure the same for everyone or, depending on the type of organism, does it work differently for everyone? Can the newly revived person remember all the life he had before he died, or is he reborn to a new life? The serum revives the whole body or just the vital functions, as with zombies and as in the case of the mare, in which the head was torn off by itself and the body galloped off alone in the dead of night, as told by the foreman who saw all the scene.

"Poor man! And the poor animal too!"

There were still more questions to be clarified... one of them was how Dr. Evelyn chose the corpses used for the tests. She must not choose anyone, she must follow certain criteria.

"The mare died of some unspecified illness and still received the serum to come back to life... did it fuse with the reagent, which resulted in that monster?"

Another question that throbbed incessantly in his mind... was the Re-Animator so powerful as to revive the dead weeks, months, or even years ago? Bodies in an advanced state of putrefaction, walking around or would it be possible to regenerate the dead tissue to its normal state?

There were too many questions to few answers. And there was only one way to find out... talking to the mad scientist herself!