After a furtive glance around to make sure no one else was watching her, Tracy slipped the stereo headphones back on and closed her eyes. The problem was she had to concentrate to hear what Kim was saying. The general din inside the plant had forced her to turn the volume down quite low.
Kim had moved all the way around the eviscerating area and now had a view of the whole slaughtering process. He could see the cows being killed, hoisted up, and their throats being slit. Next they were skinned and decapitated with the heads going off on a separate overhead conveyer system. After the evisceration the carcasses were sawed in half lengthwise by a frightful saw far beyond the gruesome conceptions of Hollywood horror movie producers.
Kim glanced at his watch to time the rapidity with which the wretched animals were killed. He was astonished. With his chin down on his chest he spoke into his microphone.
“Let’s hope Lee Cook can come up with an appropriate video system,” he said. “It’s going to be a snap to document Marsha’s major point. She said the problem concerning contamination in the meat industry was in the slaughterhouse. She said it was simply profit over safety. I just timed the activity here. They’re slaughtering the cattle at the unbelievable rate of one every twelve seconds. At that speed, there’s no way to avoid gross contamination.
“And talk about collusion between the USDA and the industry; it’s even evident on this operational level. Up on the catwalks there are a few inspectors. They stand out like black sheep. They wear red hard hats instead of yellow and their white coats are comparatively clean. But they’re doing more laughing and joking with the workers than inspecting. I mean the inspecting is pure sham. Not only is the line moving too fast; these guys are hardly even looking at the carcasses as they whip by.”
Kim suddenly caught sight of Jed Street nosing around the eviscerating tables and sinks. Kim recommenced his sweeping with his push broom. He moved away from Jed in a counterclockwise direction and soon found himself in the decapitation area. The beheading was done by another saw only slightly less appalling than the saw used to cut the carcasses in two. Just before the spine was completely severed by the man wielding the saw, another man caught the hundred-plus-pound head with a hook dangling from the head conveyer rail. It was a process that required coordination and teamwork.
Continuing his cleaning efforts, Kim followed the line of the skinned heads. With their lids gone the lifeless eyes gave the heads a curiously surprised look as they clanked along.
Kim followed the head conveyer to a point where it disappeared through an aperture into an adjoining room. Kim immediately recognized the room as the place where he’d been attacked Saturday night.
Glancing over his shoulder, he looked for Jed. When he didn’t see him in the pandemonium, Kim took a chance that Jed wouldn’t miss him and walked through the doorless opening into the head-boning room.
“I’ve come into the room where the heads go,” Kim said into his microphone. “This is potentially important in how Becky happened to get sick. Marsha had found something in the paperwork about the head of the last animal on the day the meat for Becky’s hamburger might have been slaughtered. She said it was ‘revolting,’ which I now find curious, since I find the whole process revolting.”
Kim watched for a moment as the head conveyer dumped a head every twelve seconds onto a table where it was attacked by a team of butchers. Knives similar to the ones used to slit the animals’ throats quickly cut out the huge cheek muscles and the tongues. The workers took this meat and tossed it into a two-thousand-pound combo bin similar to those Kim had seen at Mercer Meats.
“I’m learning something every minute,” Kim said. “There must be a lot of cow cheeks in hamburger.”
Kim noticed that after the cheeks and tongues were removed, the cow heads were pushed onto a flat conveyer belt that dumped them ignominiously into a black hole that presumably led to the basement.
“I think I might have to visit the basement,” Kim said reluctantly. He had the sense that his childhood fear of basements would be put to the test.
So far it had been a good day as far as Jed Street was concerned, despite its being Monday. He’d had a great breakfast that morning, had gotten to work early enough to sit and have a second cup of coffee with several of the other supervisors, and had had to face fewer absenteeisms than usual. Finding and keeping decent help was Jed’s biggest headache.
With none of his key day employees having called in sick, Jed was confident that his team would have processed close to two thousand head by the lunch break. That made Jed happy because he knew it would make his immediate boss, Lenny Striker, happy.
Jed slipped out of his white coat and hung it up. Wanting to catch up on his paperwork, he’d retreated to his office with his third cup of coffee of the day. He walked around his desk and sat down. Pen in hand, he went to work. He had a considerable number of forms that had to be filled out each and every day.
Jed hadn’t been working long when his phone rang. He reached for his coffee before picking up the receiver. He was relatively unconcerned about getting a call so late in the morning and could not imagine it would be particularly serious. At the same time he knew there was always a chance. Being in charge of something as potentially dangerous as a kill floor, he knew that disaster was never far away.
“Hello,” Jed said, overemphasizing the first syllable. He took a sip of coffee.
“Jed Street, this is Daryl Webster. Do you have a moment to speak with me?”
Jed spat out his coffee, then scrambled to wipe the brew off his forms. “Of course, Mr. Webster,” Jed sputtered. He’d worked for Higgins and Hancock for fourteen years, and during that time the real boss had never called him.
“I got a call from one of Bobby Bo’s people,” Daryl explained. “He told me that we’ve employed a new slop boy just today.”
“That’s correct,” Jed said. He felt his face heat up. Hiring illegal aliens was tacitly condoned while the official policy was that it was forbidden. Jed hoped to God he wasn’t going to end up being a scapegoat.
“What’s this man’s name?” Daryl asked.
Jed frantically searched through the papers on his desk. He’d written the name down, although not on any employment forms. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found it.
“José Ramerez, sir!” Jed said.
“Did he show you any identification?” Daryl asked.
“Not that I recall,” Jed said evasively.
“What did he look like?”
“He is a little strange-looking,” Jed said. Jed was confused. He couldn’t fathom what difference it made what the man looked like.
“Could you give me an idea?” Daryl asked.
“Kind of punk,” Jed said, trying to think how his fourteen-year-old son would describe the man. “Bleached hair, earring, tattoos, leather pants.”
“Is he a fairly big guy?” Daryl asked.
“Yeah, over six feet for sure.”
“And he has some stitches on his face?”
“Yeah, he did,” Jed said. “How did you know that, sir?”
“Did he say where he was living?” Daryl asked.
“No, and I didn’t ask,” Jed said. “I have to say he’s been quite appreciative of getting the work. He’s even agreed to work a shift and a half.”
“You mean he’s working tonight?” Daryl asked. “As part of the cleanup crew?”
“Yup,” Jed said. “We had someone call in sick just this morning.”
“That’s good,” Daryl said. “That’s very good. Good job, Jed.”
“Thank you, sir,” Jed said. “Is there something you’d like me to do or to say to Mr. Ramerez?”
“No, nothing at all,” Daryl said. “In fact, keep this conversation of ours confidential. Can I count on you for that?”
“Absolutely, sir,” Jed said.
Jed recoiled when he heard the line disconnected. It had been so precipitous. He looked quizzically at the phone for a second before hanging up.
/>
Not wanting to be caught in the head-boning room where there was nothing to sweep, Kim had retreated back to the main kill floor. He still had no clue as to what Marsha was talking about when she mentioned that last head now that he’d followed the trail through most of the plant. The only unknown was what happened to the heads after disappearing down the black hole.
Kim went back to the evisceration area and reswept parts of the floor he’d already cleaned several times. The frustrating part was that in certain areas, it only took about fifteen minutes to look like he’d never been there.
Despite his earplugs, he suddenly could hear a sustained raucous buzz. He straightened up from his work and looked around. He immediately saw that the cattle had been halted in the chute. No more animals were being killed. The pitiable cows close to the executioner had been given a momentary reprieve. The executioner had put aside his tool and was in the process of coiling the high-pressure hose.
The animals that had already been killed advanced through the line until the final one had been eviscerated. At that point the line was stopped, and the tremendous din was replaced by an eerie silence.
It took Kim a few moments to realize that part of the silence was due to his earplugs. When he took them out, he heard the noises of the power tools being stowed and a buzz of animated conversation. Workers started swinging down from the catwalks, while others used stairs and ladders.
Kim stopped one of the workers and asked him what was going on.
“No speak English,” the worker said, before hurrying off.
Kim stopped another. “Do you speak English?” he asked.
“A little,” the man said.
“What’s happening?” Kim asked.
“Lunch break,” the man said, before hurrying after the first.
Kim watched as the hundred or so workers streamed from the catwalks and lined up to pass through the fire door. They were en route to the lunchroom and the locker area. An equal number of employees came from the main boning room via the head-boning room. Despite the pall of death and the stench, the camaraderie was evident. There was much laughter and friendly jostling.
“How anyone could eat is beyond me,” Kim said into his microphone.
Kim saw the man who’d attacked him, along with his partner. They walked by without a glance to join the ever-lengthening queue. Kim felt even more confident about his disguise.
Kim stopped one of the eviscerators whose damp white coat had become variegated with shades of pink and red. He asked the man how to get to the basement. In return, Kim got a look that suggested he was crazy.
“Do you speak English?” Kim inquired.
“Sure, man, I speak English,” the eviscerator said.
“I want to go below,” Kim said. “How do I get there?”
“You don’t want to go downstairs,” the man said. “But if you did, you’d go through that door.” He pointed to an unmarked door with an automatic closer mounted on its upper edge.
Kim continued sweeping until the last worker had passed through the fire door. After all the noise and chaotic activity when the line was in operation, it was strange for Kim to be alone with forty or fifty suspended, steaming carcasses. For the first time since Kim had arrived, the floor around the evisceration area was free of gore.
Putting his broom aside, Kim walked over to the unmarked door the man had pointed out. After a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t being observed, he pulled the door open and stepped inside. The door closed quickly behind him.
The first thing that Kim was aware of was the smell. It was ten times worse than the kill floor, which had sickened him so quickly earlier. What made it so awful was the added stench of putrefaction. Although he retched a few times, he didn’t vomit. He assumed it was because his stomach was empty.
Kim was standing on a landing above a flight of cement stairs that descended into utter blackness. Over his head was a single, bare lightbulb. On the wall behind him was a fire extinguisher and an industrial-sized, emergency flashlight.
Kim yanked the flashlight from its brackets and turned it on. He aimed the concentrated beam down the stairs, revealing a long flight descending to a deep cellar. The walls were stained with large, Rorschach-like blotches in brown. The distant floor looked smooth and black like a pool of crude oil.
Kim got one hand free from his rubber glove and located his earphone. After removing his earplug, he slipped it into his ear.
“Can you hear me, Trace?” Kim said. “If you can, say something. I just put in my earphone.”
“It’s about time!” Tracy said irritably. Her voice was loud and clear despite Kim’s being surrounded by reinforced concrete walls. “I want you to come out here immediately.”
“Whoa,” Kim said. “What are you all wound up about?”
“You’re in this slaughterhouse with someone who has tried to kill you twice,” Tracy said. “This is ridiculous. I want you to give up this madness.”
“I’ve got a little more investigating to do,” Kim said. “Besides, the knife guy hasn’t recognized me, so calm down!”
“Where are you?” Tracy asked. “Why haven’t you put your earphone in until now? It’s been driving me crazy not to be able to talk to you.”
Kim started down the stairs. “I can’t risk the earphones except when I’m alone,” he said. “As to where I am at the moment, I’m heading down into the basement, which I have to admit is no picnic. It’s like descending into the lower circles of hell. There’s no way I could describe the smell.”
“I don’t think you should go into the basement,” Tracy said. “I like being able to talk with you, but it’s safer if you stay in a group. Besides, you’re probably not supposed to be in there, and if someone catches you, there’ll surely be trouble.”
“Everybody’s at lunch,” Kim said. “Being caught down here is not my worry.”
Breathing through his mouth to help avoid the stench, Kim reached the bottom of the stairs. He shined the flashlight beam around the vast, pitch-black space. It was a warren of vats and Dumpster-like containers. Each was connected with a duct that led upward through the ceiling to catch the blood, unwanted guts, and discarded bones and skulls.
“This is where they store everything until it gets trucked to the rendering plant,” Kim said. “Obviously from the odor it’s all in various stages of decay. There’s no refrigeration down here. Although it’s hard to imagine as bad as it smells now, it must be worse in the summertime.”
“It sounds disgusting,” Tracy said. “It’s hard to believe that waste like that would have any use.”
“The renderer turns it into fertilizer,” Kim said. “And, disgustingly enough, cattle feed. The industry has forced our unwitting cattle into becoming cannibals.”
“Uh-oh!” Kim mumbled as he felt a shiver descend his spine.
“What’s the matter?” Tracy demanded anxiously.
“I just heard a noise,” Kim said.
“Then get yourself out of there,” Tracy said anxiously.
Kim shined his light in the direction of the noise. In a fashion strikingly similar to the episode in his own basement the night before, a number of pairs of diabolically ruby eyes stared back at him. A second later the eyes disappeared, and Kim caught sight of a group of animals the size of house cats scampering off. Unlike the night before, they weren’t mice.
“It’s okay,” Kim said. “It’s just some monster rats.”
“Oh, that’s all,” Tracy said sarcastically. “Just a group of friendly monster rats.”
Kim stepped out onto the cellar floor and discovered that not only did the floor surface look like crude oil, it had approximately the same consistency. His boots made a rude sucking sound each time he picked up his feet.
“This is certainly a nightmare image of post-industrialization,” Kim commented.
“Cut the philosophizing,” Tracy snapped. “Come on, Kim! Get out of there! What on earth are you doing down there anyway?”
/> “I want to find the chute for the heads,” Kim said.
He slogged forward among the tanks and vats, trying to estimate where the head-boning room lay above. He came to a concrete block wall which he assumed was contiguous with the wall above. That meant the chute he was looking for would be on the other side.
Kim shined his light along the wall until he located an opening. Walking down to it, he ducked through. He shined his light around this second space. It was smaller than the first and cleaner. It also had what he’d guessed. To his immediate right was a chute connected to a particularly large Dumpster.
“This looks promising,” Kim said. “I think I found it. It’s about the size of a construction Dumpster.” With the flashlight beam, he followed the chute up to where it penetrated the ceiling. He estimated the diameter of the chute to be about the same as the aperture he’d remembered above.
“Okay, wonderful!” Tracy said. “Now come out of there.”
“In a second,” Kim said. “I’m going to see if I can look inside.”
Kim stepped over to the rusted, filthy Dumpster-like container. In this area of the basement there was no sucking sound as he walked. Around the side of the container near where the chute was attached was a small metal platform accessible by four steps. Kim climbed up. He could now see the top of the Dumpster. Right in front of him was a hatch secured with a metal latch. He moved the latch to the side but then couldn’t open the hatch. At least not with one hand.
Putting the flashlight between his knees, he got both hands under the edge of the hatch. With a squeak, it lifted. Holding it with his left hand, he raised the flashlight with his right and shined it inside. It was not a pretty image.
The container was almost brimming with rotting, skinned cattle heads. In contrast with the newly slaughtered, bloody heads upstairs, here the eyes were shriveled and the attached shards of gristle were black. In many of the heads the gaping hole made by the air gun was plainly visible.
Disgusted by the view as well as the smell, Kim was about to lower the hatch into place, when an involuntary cry of horror escaped from his lips. The flashlight beam had found a particularly gruesome sight. Partially buried by a subsequent avalanche of fresh cow skulls was Marsha’s severed head!