10. Chapter 8 #2
Caroline frowned. This was the most difficult part of her job.
Not the incomplete answers, but witnessing their pain and knowing there wasn’t anything she could do.
At some point, nurses would come by with a small dose of laudanum, but they were very careful not to give too much.
Caroline thought they could be a little more liberal with the medicine, but they stated that the doctor doesn’t want any of the patients to become dependent on it for pain relief.
“Any detail can help; no matter how small.”
She had been interviewing patients for hours, but hadn’t gotten much useful information. Sunset rapidly approached, and she didn’t want to have to return to the doctor without anything to show for her work.
“It hurt. Oh lord, it hurt.” The man whimpered. She didn’t care what the nurses said; it was inhumane to keep people in pain. She would make sure he got a dose of laudanum no matter what.
“What hurt?” Caroline looked up from her notes. The man had fallen unconscious again, not even babbling anymore. The tension on his brow loosened. Carefully, she placed her hand on his forehead. He was sweating, but his skin was cool.
A sharp cry sounded from the next cot and her eyes flicked over to see the poor man’s face contorted in pain.
A ray of late afternoon sunshine shone over his face, highlighting another spasm of pain.
Caroline frowned. It was as if the sunlight was hurting him.
Her hand only trembled a little as she pulled the rough brown curtains shut.
The loss of light was sudden, but she could almost feel the relief of the sick men she stood between.
They were suffering from sun sickness. Perhaps if she waited around until after sunset, they would be perfectly fine. Just like Valeria.
The man in the other cot was sleeping soundly, but beads of sweat dotted his brow.
Horror spread within her as she realized she knew him.
It was Tommy Palmer, the son of her family’s old groundskeeper.
Mr. Palmer retired a few years before to live with Tommy’s sister in Darbyshire once the arthritis in his hands made it too painful for him to keep working.
Caroline hadn’t seen Tommy much since then, but she attended his wedding a few months ago.
Edgar had sat beside her, and she allowed him the liberty to place his leg against hers during the ceremony.
“How are you feeling?” She asked in a low voice. “When did your symptoms begin?”
It felt silly to keep up her questioning when she hadn’t had any success, but she needed to do something, and she didn’t know any other way to help other than discovering the root of this illness plaguing their village. She couldn’t let Tommy Palmer befall the same sad fate as Nelly.
Tommy’s lips moved as if he was trying to speak, but no words came out.
“What are you trying to tell me?” Her own voice was barely over a whisper as she leaned over him.
“Latch the window.”
Caroline frowned as she stood up. The window was latched; she noticed that when she closed the curtains. Likely his babbling was from an illness-based delusion, but it was also the most coherent sentence she had gotten from anyone.
“I swore I latched it, but it opened.” His breath rattled, but his voice was stronger as he continued. “That’s how she’s getting in.”
Caroline felt her breath rush from her as if she had been hit in the stomach.
“Who?”
Tommy didn’t respond, but his breath evened out, and he fell back asleep.
She wanted to scream and shake him until he woke up so he could give her the answers she so desperately searched for.
She. He couldn’t just say that and then fall asleep.
Not when this was the closest she had been to an answer in days.
Caroline looked around the ward. The only nurse was busy administering laudanum to a patient on the other end of the floor. Caroline hadn’t been instructed not to touch the patients, but she felt like they wouldn’t take too kindly to it if she did. Though they would have to catch her first.
Her fingers shook as she pulled down the collar of his sweat-soaked shirt.
She needed to see if he had the same marks she had seen on her father and Nelly to be sure they were all suffering from the same illness.
That whatever Tommy Palmer had—what she had done—was different.
On the top of his chest beneath his clavicle were the same two puncture wounds in the exact spot.
Leaning down, she examined the wound. They were two perfect circles.
The smooth edges were pink, like the scars had been healing for days, but the middle of the wound was scabbed over.
This close, she was able to see what she couldn’t see when she had examined her father and Nelly.
Between the two perfect circles were four indents that looked like little slashes.
Teeth marks.
Her fingers shook as she measured the distance between the puncture wounds with her fingers before holding them up to her own teeth.
It wasn’t a perfect match, but it was close.
So close it had to be a bite mark, even though she had never seen human teeth that shape.
It was closer to the sharp teeth of a canine, but a dog—or wolf’s—bite wouldn’t be nearly as clean.
“What are you doing?”
Caroline looked up to see Dr. Murnau frowning down at her.
“I was, um, examining the patient,” she said, her cheeks tinged red with embarrassment.
His frown deepened. “What for?”
“I tried interviewing the patients, but that wasn’t really getting me anywhere, so I thought to look to see if he had the same puncture wounds my father and Nelly had—”
“Did you find the puncture wounds on any of the other patients?”
“He’s the only one I checked.”
“Let me take a look before we check the others.”
Caroline moved aside so the doctor could take her place.
He bent down low against the man’s sleeping form.
His fingers investigated the wounds, and he searched the rest of his chest, undoubtedly looking to see if they repeated at all.
Caroline held her breath for the entirety of the long examination before the doctor stood up.
“I believe you are correct, Miss Blythe. Those do appear to be teeth marks.”
Caroline rocked back. Dr. Murnau only confirmed her findings, but hearing him say it made it all feel real. “Are you sure they’re human teeth because I’ve never seen anyone with teeth like that before?”
“The distance between the canines is consistent with human mouths. Even though there aren’t any marks from the lower teeth, I still think it’s most likely a human that created those marks.”
“Do you think this bite has caused the illness?”
Caroline’s heart raced as her question hung in the air.
She squeezed her pencil tight to her palm and did her best to control her face so the doctor wouldn’t see how close she was to falling apart.
Because if someone was out there biting people to infect them with whatever illness, she had a sinking suspicion about who it could be.
Dr Muranu sighed, removing his glasses before taking a handkerchief from his pocket and cleaning the lenses. “I’m not entirely sure, Miss Blythe. I must do some research before I can provide the answers you’re looking for. I can only pray I find the answer before we are too late.”