Doc Holiday

By Peter Koonz

In the small town of St. Lukas, Dr. June Holiday, also known as 'Doc Holiday' to the locals, is the only doctor for miles around. 

While the local populace is grateful for her services, they know next to nothing about her. The only thing they know about her is that the attractive doctor appeared out of nowhere three years ago and started her practice. 

 

St Lukas is a quiet town, miles away from the nearest city. Nothing ever happens here, which is exactly the way the doctor likes it. But when a local fisherman drags a body out of a river, Doc Holiday senses that it is the beginning of something ominous.

 

Something that has to do with her dark past ...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peter Koonz
• Release date: Jun 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201043049

Book preview

Chapter 1

The boy looked at her blankly. His face was expressionless. She took out her penlight and shone it on his eyes. His pupils contracted and he blinked.

His temperature was normal and so was his pulse rate.

She turned to his mother sitting beside him.

How long has he been like this? she asked his mother.

This morning. I woke him up to go to school but I found him like this. He just lay on the bed, staring at me, she said, her face a mask of worry and fear. I don’t think he can even hear me.

How was he yesterday? Did you notice anything unusual?

No! the mother said. He came back from playing basketball with his friends and he was all excited about the coming match between ... between ...

Yes?

Well, there is a match this morning between two of his favorite basketball teams broadcast live on TV – I can’t recall what the teams were – he was telling me about how he was going to sneak off during classes and watch the match on his cell in the toilet –

Dr. June Halliday rubbed her cheek with her right hand. She turned and faced the boy, who was about ten years old.

This is extremely serious, she said, taking hold of his right wrists with both of her hands.  He’s suffering from a very rare disorder, Mrs. Cromley. I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do.

What? Mrs. Cromley stood up.

I’m sorry, June said. In an hour’s time, his eyeballs will pop out and his teeth will start falling off one by one –

No-oo! cried the boy, covering his face with both hands. Mommy, I don’t wanna die!

Mrs. Cromley clutched her chest, taken aback by her son’s outburst. Then she saw the smile on June’s face. She pinched the boy by his ear and pulled him off the chair he was sitting on.  She smiled sheepishly at the doctor.

He’s up to his tricks again doctor, she said. Sorry to bother you. Dragging the boy with her, she exited the consultation room and closed the door behind her.

When the mother and son had gone, June Halliday leaned back against her chair and laughed.

Kids.

Dr. June Halliday had opened her private medical clinic three years ago. At thirty five years of age, with long blond hair, she had the looks and figure that men would find extremely attractive. She was still single but unlike many beautiful girls of her age, she did not go out or date much. Besides being the only doctor in the small town of St. Lukas, she was also its only medical examiner. So, her patients included both the living and the dead.

She didn’t have to do very much where the dead were concerned though. She only had to do autopsies whenever there were suspected unnatural deaths.

The residents of the town appreciated the fact that she’d agreed to be the town’s doctor but they always had trouble saying her name, calling her Doc Holiday instead.

Since moving to St Lukas, June stayed in a rented apartment on the fourth floor of a five story residential block. It was located a stone’s throw away from her clinic so she didn’t have to drive on most days unless there was an urgent call by her patients living far away from the town.

Chapter 2

It was old Sam Nell , the fisherman who discovered the body.

Late one evening, old Sam was in his boat as usual, smoking his pipe, waiting for a fish to snag his line when it did. The way the rod was bending, it had to be something big, he thought.

So, grabbing the rod with both hands, he started reeling the line in. When the line came in, Sam saw something big on the other end. He whistled.

It’ll be fish for dinner tonight and tomorrow night and the day after and the day after that as well.

When the object was beside his boat, he pulled it with his hands into the vessel. It was covered with mud and seaweed. Only when the object was in his boat did Sam realize that it wasn’t going to be his supper.

It was the body of a man.

June’s cellphone rang just as she was packing up to go home.

In less than five minutes, she jumped into her car and drove to the mortuary.

The body lay on the metal slab.

Dressed in protective plastic clothing, she grabbed a hose and washed away the mud and dirt covering the body. Then, using a pair of scissors, she cut and pulled away the clothes from it until it was naked. She hosed the body with more water until she couldn’t see any more mud on it.

It was the body of a man. She moved closer and looked over it. He was about six feet tall and appeared to be in good shape – his bulging muscles indicated that the man, when he was alive, engaged in regular workouts. She looked closely at his upper body. His six pack wasn’t visible but his chest and his arms were muscular. He had thick forearms and fingers which indicated that his muscles came more from hard physical work rather than from the gym. The cold seawater had made his skin blue but she could see from his facial features that he was white Caucasian in his late twenties or early thirties.

She noticed some dried blood in his hair and going over to his head, she parted his hair with her gloved fingers. There was a groove of broken skin and burnt hair on the left side of his skull. Something had scraped off the scalp, exposing the bone. She’d seen this before.

A bullet had grazed the side of his head.

Not enough to kill him, she thought but maybe enough to knock him unconscious. Whoever shot this man then must have pushed him in the water. It must have been quite recent as there was no decomposition and rigor mortis had not set in.

She suddenly felt dizzy. For a few seconds, she held on to the sides of the metal slab, trying to steady herself, as memories of another life played out in her mind. Memories of a bullet passing right through a body, sending sprays of blood ...

No! she told herself. Don’t go there.

Reaching out to the metal tray at the side of the slab, she took a scalpel.

She was just about to make an incision on the chest of the body when its hand reached out and grabbed her wrist.

June screamed.

Chapter 3

They were all gathered in the mortuary that night. After her initial shock at discovering that the body was after all alive, June had covered it with blankets to keep it warm. She cleaned the wound on his head, bandaged it and then she called the sheriff and within ten minutes, he and four of his deputies arrived to help carry the body to the only sofa in the staff lounge of the mortuary. The man was barely conscious and June did whatever she could to make him comfortable.

So, said Sheriff Jenkins. Who the hell is this guy?

June, who was holding a cup of hot coffee, shrugged. I don’t know sheriff. He is still not strong enough to speak.

How is it possible that he’s still alive? the sheriff wanted to know. Old Sam told me it was cold and hard.

June said, I don’t know sheriff. I didn’t feel any pulse and it was completely covered in mud and seaweed. I thought he was dead too.

"What are we going to do