"Yeah, *nids. That's short for arachnids."
"Oh. Well. That's nice."
"He's in that tank right over there," Harry said, pointing to the terrarium.
Rodney lifted his head and said, "Leave her alone about the scorpion, Harry, she doesn't want to see it. We've seen enough *nid for one night."
Harry went over to the bed and sat down beside Rodney, looked at his drawing.
"It had a long, narrow body," Rodney said. "Longer than any other spider I've seen, almost more like an ant. And like I said, it had a lot of legs. More than eight, I think."
Harry studied the picture a the striped abdomen, the stick legs, the four big black fangs in the mouth. Harry stood and went to one of the shelves of books. He removed a large hardcover, sat on the bed again, and paged through it. It was filled with pictures of arachnids, and he seemed to be looking for one in particular.
Heidi sat down on the other side of Rodney.
The boy found the picture he was looking for. It was a color photo that took up an entire page.
"That's it!" Rodney said.
"Yes, that's it exactly," Heidi said. "What is it?"
"It's a sun spider," Harry said. "It's also known as the wind spider, because it moves like the wind. It's very fast. But it's not really a spider."
"What do you mean, it's not really a spider?"
"It's a *nid, but it's not a true spider, *cause it's got ten legs."
"Well, it may not be a spider," Rodney said, "but that doesn't make it any less dangerous."
"Where is it?" Harry said. "I'd like to see it."
"You don't want to," Heidi said with a small shudder.
"You don't want to go anywhere near this thing, Harry," Rodney said. "It attacked my car. It tore a big hole in the roof, a couple holes in the trunk. This thing is vicious."
"If it's a sun spider, it would be," Harry said. "They're very aggressive. They don't just kill for food, they kill for sport. And they have a mouth like a remember the movie Predator?"
Rodney and Heidi nodded.
"Well, the sun spider has a mouth kinda like the monster in that movie," Harry said.
Rodney's eyes widened a little. "Yeah, you're right, it did have a mouth like that."
Harry took the fang from Heidi and held it up. "It has four fangs, and each one moves independently. It holds its prey with its front legs while the fangs shred it to bits."
Rodney turned to Heidi. "That's what it did to Tiffany Huff."
"She's really dead?" Harry said.
Rodney nodded and said, "At Lovers' Lookout. I saw her a " Rodney took a deep breath and let it out through puffed-up cheeks. "I saw her head. On the ground."
"It cut off her head?" Harry said with wide little-boy eyes. "You're ... you're serious about this, aren't you?"
"Why would I make this shit up, you dork?" Rodney said. "Is this sun spider venomous?"
"No, it doesn't have any venom. But it'll bite your finger to the bone. And it'll do it for no reason other than to bite you. It's as mean and vicious as it looks."
Rodney took the fang back, handed the sketchpad and pen to Harry, then stood. Heidi stood with him.
"Can we take that book?" Rodney said. "Mark the page, I want to show the sheriff."
Harry turned the pages. "There are pictures of the sun spider's face here, too. Close-ups." He tore the page Rodney had drawn on from the sketchpad and used it as a bookmark, closed the book, and handed it to Heidi.
"Thanks, Harry," Rodney said. "We've gotta go."
Harry stood and said, "Dad's gonna kill you when he sees the Mustang."
"Yeah, I know. Don't tell him, okay?"
Harry nodded as Rodney and Heidi left the room.
Thirteen.
Harker held the black spike in his left hand and looked at it closely. He touched a fingertip to the serrated edge. It was like the blade of a steak knife. He looked at the picture of the spider in the open book on his desk, then turned the page and looked at the two close-ups of its face. It was a nightmarish image, like something out of a horror movie. He looked at the fang again, then at the fangs that protruded from the spider's face in the picture.
"You say this is a ... a fang?" Harker said.
He sat at his desk in his office. Rodney and Heidi sat on the other side of the desk facing him.
"Yes," Rodney said. "It was stuck in the trunk of my car. It attacked the car, Sheriff."
"And you saw it clearly," Harker said.
They both nodded and Rodney said, "It was right in front of the car, in the headlights."
Harker looked at the fang again, at the clump of pale, viscous tissue on the round end. He looked out the open door of his office at the group of about eight reporters and cameramen standing in the waiting area in front. They were waiting to ask him questions about the BioGenTech explosion and fire, and about the death of Tiffany Huff.
He said, "And you just happened to have this book handy?"
"It's my little brother's," Rodney said. "He's a spider geek. Well, a *nid geek."
"A *nid geek?"
"Arachnids, *nids for short. He loves *nids."
He looked down at the black spike, then at Rodney again and said, "Do you have any idea what would happen if I told my deputies to be on the lookout for a giant spider? You see those reporters out there? They'd eat me alive. I'd be a laughingstock."
"Not if there's really a giant spider out there, you wouldn't," Rodney said.
"And there is, Sheriff," Heidi said. "Why would we come to you with this if it weren't true? What could we get out of a hoax like this?"
She was right. They seemed like smart enough kids, and they had to know they'd be in big trouble if they tried to pull a prank on the Sheriff's Department. As crazy as the story sounded, it made a little sense a Brandon Carr had said the creature that carried Tiffany Huff away had a lot of long legs, like a spider.
But how could it be possible? Where would a giant spider come from?
"You can come outside and see the damage it did to my car," Rodney said.
"You know what?" Harker said. "I'd like to do that." He opened a drawer in his desk and put the black fang into it, closed it, then stood. "Let's go."
He led them out of his office. The reporters started shouting questions as soon as they saw him heading their way. He smiled at them as he approached the gate in the counter.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "I have to step outside for just a minute, and I promise I'll answer all your questions to the best of my ability as soon as I come back in, okay? Will you wait here for me for just a couple of minutes?"
They agreed as Harker led Rodney and Heidi outside to the front parking lot.
Rodney moved ahead of Harker and led him to the white convertible Mustang parked beneath one of the two sodium vapor lights that illuminated the parking lot.
"See these two holes in the trunk?" Rodney said. "I pulled that fang from this hole. Then the spider came around here."
Harker followed him around to the right side of the car. He looked at the hole in the door.
"Then it got on top of the car and tore a big hole in the vinyl top," Rodney said. "Believe me, Sheriff, there's no way I'd damage my own car to pull some kind of hoax on you."
Harker reached across the roof of the car to the hole in the center.
"Where did you say this happened?" he asked.
"On Cutter Way," Rodney said. "I was taking Heidi home."
He hunkered down and stared at the hole in the door for a long moment, then stuck a finger into it. Frowning, he stood and said, "Let's go back inside. I've got reporters to talk to."
Rodney and Heidi followed.
The second Harker stepped back in the door, the reporters started asking their questions. He held up his hands in a calming gesture as he made his way through the group of reporters and cameramen and went through the gate, behind the counter. He turned to Rodney and Heidi and said, "Go on back to my office and I'll be with you in a minute or two." He turned to the reporters and said, "Now, if you'll just ask one at a time, I'll take your questions." He pointed to one of the reporters and said, "Yes?"
"Sheriff, do you have any idea yet what caused the explosion at BioGenTech?"
"We don't know yet. We've got an arson investigator working on it, we're trying to contact the BioGenTech people, and the BATF in Eureka is sending some people over. As soon as I know what caused the explosion, you'll know." He pointed to another reporter.
"Any idea what kind of animal killed Tiffany Huff?"
"We don't know yet."
"Could it have been a bear? Say, a grizzly bear?"
"It's possible, but not likely. There hasn't been a grizzly bear sighted in this area in about a hundred and fifty years. And so far, we've found no bear prints in the area of the attack."
"What do you think it was?"
Would you believe a giant spider? Harker thought as he said, "I don't guess." He pointed again.
"Is it possible that the explosion at BioGenTech could be toxic?"
"I'm not aware of a " He stopped abruptly when two thoughts fell together in his mind.
What if the spider came from BioGenTech? He thought.
"Sheriff?" the reporter said.
"Uh, I'm not aware of . . . of any . . . " He was distracted now, preoccupied with the possibility that the bloody mess he'd seen at Lovers' Lookout had been made by something that had come out of the explosion at BioGenTech. "Uh . . . not that I'm aware of, no."
"Something wrong, Sheriff?" another reporter asked.
"I'm just very busy, that's all. And I'm afraid I can't answer your questions any better than I already have. I've got a lot to do, so I'm going to ask that you clear out of here. As soon as I have some solid information, I'll hold a press conference. Thank you."
They continued to shout questions, but Harker turned and walked away. He went back into his office, where Rodney and Heidi were seated in front of his desk. He closed the door behind him and dropped heavily into the chair at his desk. When he spoke, he sounded tired.
"You seem like two bright young people. Where does something like a giant spider come from?"
Rodney and Heidi exchanged a look, then Rodney shrugged and said to the sheriff, "One of those old horror movies my little brother watches over and over?"
Harker gave him a small, weary smile.
"From a laboratory?" Heidi said. "Maybe some kind of ... mistake?"
Harker nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly. "That was my thought."
"What are you going to do?" Rodney said.
"I'm not sure. This is new territory for me. What I'd like you to do now is go home. Stay inside. Tell your families and friends to stay inside, too."
"Shouldn't you announce this?" Rodney said. "I mean, that thing is out there, and people don't know about it."
Harker sighed. "It might make this my last term as sheriff, but I suppose I'm going to have to do something like that."
"Why do you think it might be your last term?" Heidi asked.
"Telling people there's a giant man-eating spider on the loose isn't exactly the way to win votes. Can I hang on to this book?" He opened the drawer and took out the black fang. "And this?"
"Sure," Rodney said. "The book is my little brother's, but once he finally realizes there really is a giant spider running around out there, he'll be so preoccupied, he won't miss it. In fact, he'll be excited that he had some part in it. He'll love the idea that you've borrowed his book."
"I'll take good care of it and get it back to you."