Manning's Meats

Manning's Meats is the fifth story in The Yellow Butterflies. It details the case of Inspector Wren Candle investigating a strange phenomenon - a butcher's shop that's been out of business for decades, but still has apparently fresh meat in the window.
A PDF of the story's current draft can be found here.
The following sections contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.
== Plot Synopsis ==
Wren Candle and Penny Gaines of the Couresbury Paranormal Investigation Bureau discuss a case in the newspaper: a meat shop that has fresh meat in the window despite being closed for many years. After theorising, Candle goes to investigate, while Penny waits behind, doing homework and crosswords.
Candle arrives at the shop, and after finding the front door locked, enters through the back, and tries to confront the shop's owner - Mrs Manning - but she flees. A chase ensues, leading Candle into the cold storage, but due to their health issues, Candle passes out, waking up in a chair in the front of the shop. Candle snoops around, realising that much of the meat is shaped like other objects, such as golf bags and cats - even a counter seems to be made of meat.
Manning reappears, and Candle grills her, removing one of her gloves - her hand is skinless and covered in yellow boils. They throw a bell at her, which turns into meat in her grasp, and after some discussion, she admits her story. Her son, Elijah, was kidnapped, tortured and murdered, with the assailant escaping. Distraught, she tracked him down, which caused her husband to file for divorce. Upon finding Elijah's killer, she killed him, and the burst of yellow butterflies that erupted from his body upon death gnawed the flesh from her hands, giving her the meaty midas touch.
Candle elaborates briefly on the yellow butterflies, incorporating the previous stories - they mention the suicide of Michael Shelterfield, the boy who avoided death by Sharp Jack in The Hunting of Sharp Jack; the collapse of the Salt Hill windmill and disappearance of the subarctic Membra cult, and the disappearance of Doctor Clarence Gabriel. After some scuffling and emotional outbursts, Candle takes up a cleaver, reassures Mrs Manning, and vows to help her.
Later, Candle arrives back at 'headquarters'. Penny inquires to the details of the case, and is disgusted by the answer. Awkwardness develops, and the two part, Penny heading home by taxi. Candle makes a veggie burger in order to empty an almost-empty pickle jar, and unwraps a meaty package - Manning's severed hands. They preserve the hands in the pickling solution. In an afterword, Manning, mutilated but happy to be free of the curse, longingly wanders a maternity ward.
== Characters ==
* Wren Candle - The protagonist. A sickly but determined paranormal enthusiast.
* Penny Gaines - Candle's deputy. Implied to be Earl Gaines' daughter.
* Mrs Manning - A grieving mother with a 'meat midas touch'.
== Trivia ==
* Julian Asker, protagonist of Windmill on Sin Hill, is mentioned frequently - a story in the newspaper says he's resigned, he is revealed to have been Candle's law teacher (only for Candle to have broken his nose, leading to their expulsion from the school), and he is fleetingly mentioned in a pun as the detective who helped find Elijah's killer.
* This is the story that begins to bring the instances of the titular yellow butterflies together, due to the introduction of Wren Candle, who specialises in these cases.
Category:Written Pieces
Category:Rhiannon H works
Category:Stories in The Yellow Butterflies