The Relic

By: Krediet, Jennifer

Dr. John Whitney, an anthropologist for the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, studies a tribe in South America and drinks a soup made by the tribesmen. Shortly after, Whitney accosts a merchant ship captain, asking him to remove the cargo he had intended to send to Chicago off the ship. Unwilling to delay the ship's departure, the captain refuses and Whitney sneaks aboard. Not finding his cargo, he cries out. Six weeks later, the ship arrives on Lake Michigan with its crew missing. Chicago PD homicide detective Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta and his partner, Sgt. Hollingsworth, investigate the ship and find dozens of bodies and severed heads in the bilge.

Dr. Margo Green, an evolutionary biologist, arrives at work at the museum and discovered that co-worker Dr. Greg Lee is applying for the same research grant she is. Dr. Green and her mentor, Dr. Frock, examine Whitney's crates after their arrival and find the crates empty, except for a bed of leaves and a stone statue of the "Kothoga", a mythical forest monster. Margo notices a fungus on the leaves and sends it to be analyzed. That night, security guard Frederick Ford is murdered like the ship's crew. D'Agosta suspects a connection. Believing the killer is still inside the museum, he orders it closed until the police have finished searching. Dr. Ann Cuthbert, the museum director, protests and mentions an important upcoming exhibition.

Margo discovers the fungus contains concentrated hormones found in several animal species. In the container of leaves, she finds a mutated beetle that possesses both insect and reptilian DNA. Ford's autopsy reveals that his hypothalamus was extracted from his brain, like the bodies from the ship. In the museum's basement, the police are startled by a mentally-ill, homeless ex-convict and kill him. Finding Ford's wallet on him, everyone except D'Agosta considers the case closed, though Mayor Robert Owen and the museum�s head of security Tom Parkinson forces D'Agosta to let the exhibition proceed.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B087L2ZM9V
• ISBN13: 9798639696930
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 108 Pages
• Weight: 0.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 8.5" x 11.0"