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Chapter 14: Changes
“Sorry to interrupt but Meg Shyne’s here to see you.”
Dr Thawn pushed the intercom button on his desk phone. “Good. Send her in.” He eagerly stopped the tedious job he was doing and gestured for the geneticist to sit down. “What have you found?”
“A puzzle. I found a puzzle.”
“What?” Stephen was irritated.
“I recovered some trace DNA from the saliva on the tear in your trousers and …”
“And?”
“Well, as you might expect the sample revealed the presence of multiple species.”
Thawn nodded impatiently.
“What surprised me was, after I’d removed yours and your dog’s DNA, what was left was unexpected. You said you were bitten by a wolf?”
“Yes. Well, I wasn’t bitten exactly, but the trousers were grabbed by the wolf and torn.”
“Must have been terrifying. How did a wolf get into your house? Do you still have it? If we could get it in here and dissect -“
“No, I don’t still have it – it ran away. What was unexpected? Was it wolf DNA that was left after you excluded me and Barney?”
“There was wolf DNA, yes, but -“
“Good. I want you to duplicate it, do a poly-whatsit -“
“Polymerase Chain Reaction.”
“Yes, PCR it and get plenty of copies so that -“
“Of course I’ve already done that. That’s how I know what species. But I don’t have it anymore.”
“You don’t have what anymore?”
“The wolf DNA.”
Thawn was exasperated. “Will you just tell me -!”
“I’m trying to but you keep interrupting! It’s hard to explain. We went through all the usual stages and identified human male, canine male and canine female. Your wolf was female.”
“Okay, so where’s the puzzle?”
“The wolf’s DNA changed.”
“What? You must be looking at the wrong -“
“I didn’t mix up the samples, I didn’t go to the wrong fridge, I didn’t lose it down the back of the sofa! I was looking at the same sample after lunch as before lunch and it had changed.”
“To what?”
“A female bat. It became bat DNA.”
Thawn wasn’t expecting that. “Okay, so you need to analyse the bat DNA, determine-“
“I don’t have it anymore.”
Dr Thawn, wide-eyed, pushed his fingers through his hair. “You’re killing me!”
“It changed again. When I looked at it this morning it had become human. Human female DNA.” Dr Shyne was surprised to see Stephen’s eyes light up.
“Time to get the police involved, they can use it to catch her,” he said excitedly.
“Who?”
“My attacker!”
“The wolf?”
“No, yes. Yes, the wolf. Share that DNA with the forensic -“
Meg shook her head. “It’s gone Stephen. That’s why I came up here. It evaporated into a mist and then it was gone. There’s nothing left. Nothing.”
Stephen sat down slowly. “But you’ve got the data.”
“Of course.” She frowned at him. “Stephen – what was it that attacked you? Because it wasn’t an ordinary wolf, I can tell you that. I mean, what I’m thinking is so crazy I’m almost scared to say it out loud.”
“What?”
“If I didn’t know it was impossible I would say,” she emitted a nervous laugh, “it’s some kind of shapeshifter.” She hesitated again. “Did you see anything like that? Did the wolf change? Into another animal? A bat?” She reduced her voice to a whisper, afraid to say out loud “or a woman?” She shook her head. “It’s crazy I know,” she admitted, “but DNA doesn’t lie and I know what I saw. I’ve never seen or read about anything like this before. If we could catch it Stephen, study it.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Stephen responded wearily, “as soon as you tell someone you’re trying to catch a shapeshifter, your career will be over. Good luck with that.”
“You’re not going to do anything?” Dr Shyne asked.
Stephen thought about it for a moment. “Actually I am going to do something. I’m going to resign. And I’m going to go vegan,” he said. “Close the door on your way out.”
***
Come back tomorrow as chapter 14 continues, unless you’d rather read it now 😀
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