Inanimate (25 page)

“
What are you going to
do?”

Oates ignored
him. Shannahan
yelled after him.

“
You’re done in this town Oates!
When these things are stopped, you’re finished!”

Oates
opened the doors but stopped before
leaving.

“
Don’t you get it Shannahan? If
these are
revenge killings
then that means you and me are on that list. We’re
both finished!”

Oates left the room, leaving Shannahan to
nurse his wounds.

“
I
take it everyone knows then?”

Tony Oates
asked, sitting round a table in
Earl’s with the people involved in the bar fight with Andy
Williams. Nodding or acknowledging quietly, the table sat, all
aware that Tony was talking about Jimmy. Looking down at the table
Tony continued.

“
You don’t even want to
know how he
died.”

“
Who told you?”
asked
Matthew.

“
Brady did, said they
were all gonna be
working double shifts until this thing was over.”

Bartender
Earl came over, dropped off a
round of drinks then stood by the table while they chatted. Brian
and Anne, (the only couple at the table) sat together. Anne glared
across the table, she had only been dating Brian for a short time
and she never liked Tony, she couldn’t believe she got caught up in
the events which unfolded here a few nights earlier. She was a
smart girl.

“
Why couldn’t you
have just left the
guy alone? He wasn’t bothering anyone.”

“
I was trying to protect the
town Anne, that guy was bad news.”

“
Bullshit” Anne
mumbled.

Sandy decided to pipe in at this
point.

“
Don’t act all high and mighty
over there Anne, you were there too, I didn’t
hear you saying
anything.”

“
It’s not like he would have
listened to me!” Anne protested.

“
Maybe I would have, maybe you
should have tried!” snapped Tony.

“
Guys, guys stop, we were all
there!” Matthew chimed in.

Earl joined
in too.

“
He’s right, you were all there,
Christ it was my bar and I never even did anything. We all
have an equal part
in this.”

“
Yeah but only one of us was
doing the punching.”

Anne
mumbled loud enough for all to
hear.

“
Look, what do you want Anne?”
yelled Tony “What do you want? You think I wanted Jimmy to die? You
think I wanted Amanda to die? You think I wanted any of
this?”

Anne stood up, yelling.

“
That’s just it Tony you
don’t think! You just do! And that’s what got Jimmy and Amanda and
Lucy and Kyle killed! And that’s what’s going to kill
us.”

“
Sweetie what are you talking
about?” Brian asked her shyly.

The mood at the table changed as they
listened to Anne’s harrowing words.

“
First Amanda and Kyle, then
Jimmy and Lucy. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they were
killed soon after Andy Williams died, and I’m pretty sure the
Sheriff doesn’t think so either.” She looked straight at Tony “It
doesn’t take a genius to join the dots.”

Tony’s phone vibrated
on the table,
glowing ominously. He looked at the text message he just received.
It was from Officer Brady, it read:

“
BARLOW DEAD, STEPHEN BENCHLEY
DEAD,
TAKE
CARE OF YOURSELF.”

The text
interrupt
ed
Anne and she, along with everyone else were now fervently watching
Tony, waiting for whatever news he was about to release.

“
What is it Tony?” asked
Matthew.

“
Two more bodies.” Tony said,
suddenly summing up his own mortality.

“
Who?” asked Sandy.

“
A cop!
Barlow; and the guy who found Jimmy’s
body.”

The group sat solemn for a long moment
before Anne broke the silence yet again.

“
I’m not waiting around here to
become an obituary. Knowing you is dangerous Tony Oates so I don’t
want to know you anymore!”

Anne pushed her way past Brian who tried
to stop her leaving. Matthew leaned across the table and gently
grabbed Brian’s arm, stopping him from following his soon to be
ex-girlfriend out the door.

“
Let her go man, she just needs
to cool down.”

Brian knew how right he was. The daughter
of Russian immigrants, Anne had a fiery side to her. Very smart but
insanely stubborn, Brian was in love with her because of her
passion, but that’s also what drove them to fight a lot.

“
I tell you guys, this whole
business,
its
bad news” said Earl.

“
What do you mean
exactly?”
asked Tony contemptuously.

He hated the fact Earl always
had a piece of advice on any situation
.

“
I
hear a lot of stuff here, a couple of the
station boys came in for a quick lunch and I overheard them
talking. I’m sure they wouldn’t normally discuss police business so
openly, but as far as I know they’ve never had to deal with
anything like this. Anne’s right, the boys from the station said as
much. The common theory down there was that these murders are
revenge killings for Andy Williams.”

Earl
told them almost the exact same thing
Anne did; only he spelled it out. Anne would have been even angrier
if she had still been here as it turned out most of the group had
been tuning her out when she was talking, including
Brian.

“
So why
hasn’t the Sheriff put us all in
protective custody or something?” Brian asked worried.

Earl shrugged “They haven’t dealt with
anything like this before. But don’t ask me. It’s his
uncle!”

“
Well, I don’t
know, I was
surprised the old bastard helped get us out of this mess at
all.”

Tony
was about to blow. Despite being a
bully he was certainly not stupid and, as Anne had said: “It didn’t
take a genius to join the dots.”

“
Those cops mentioned that they
didn’t even knew who was killing them, but apparently the murders
were really brutal, I’m talking real psycho shit. Like I said…we
all share the blame equally.”

Tony slammed
his fists down on the table
causing everyone in the bar to jump.

“
Everyone just stop fucking
talking about it, don’t you think I haven’t thought about it
too?
As Anne
so
bluntly
pointed out, I was the one fighting the guy! How can you
all just sit there chatting, as if you don’t care Jimmy’s
dead!”

Sandy whipped
round to face him,
her mouth moving faster than her brain.

“
Of course we care Tony! Don’t
forget my friend is dead too ok.”

“
Yeah, plus there
are four other
bodies! Trust me we care!” said Brian, agreeing with
Sandy.

Matt
hew chimed in.

“
What did Officer Barlow’s or
Stephen Benchley’s death have to do with anything?”

“
What?” Tony asked flippantly as
Matthew seemed to be moving off topic.

“
Well think about it, the only
people who had anything to do with Andy Williams directly would
have been Amanda and Jimmy, the other four didn’t. So how can
anyone be sure the deaths were related?”

“
Well of course they are!”
snapped Tony.

“
No, hold on a second Tony,
Matthew might be on to something here.” Brian
added. “I mean, I could pick
Office Barlow out a lineup…
maybe
…and would
maybe
recognize Kyle and Lucy from high school but
that’s it. Those two ran in different circles and Jimmy never
brought Lucy out with him. I never even heard of Stephen Benchley.
Did you know any of them?”

Tony calmed down.

“
I guess I met Lucy once, don’t
think I ever spoke to Kyle before. Yeah, I never even heard of this
Benchley guy either.”

“
I knew Kyle through
Amanda;
spoke
to that pretty cheerleading bitch Lucy maybe twice in high school.
Never met the cop or the other guy.”

“
I met him” said Earl, “A couple
of years younger than you guys. Came in here a few times. Decent
enough kid; bad tipper.”

Matthew paused a moment before attempting
to sum up what he had said originally.

“
So, they could all be
unrelated then.”

The
group had been showing little remorse
for their friends due to fears of their own safety taking selfish
precedence over anything else. Matthew’s possible revelation put
them at ease though, unfortunately, on the flip side it caused them
to feel more remorse for their friends again.

“
I’d like to catch whoever’s
doing
this”
said Tony “I’d kill them.”

“
Well guys and gal, this
conversation’s a little heavy for me, I’m going to
take a leak, anyone
else need a drink before I go?”

The group
looked at their drinks, each
shaking their heads; they were ok for the time being.

CHAPTER 25

The last of the paramedics had long since
left the station but Deputy Lynch was still sitting alone in the
main room. Having been out on patrol when the shootings took place
he arrived just in time to aid in the effort to save the lives of
his colleague and Stephen Benchley. The efforts were in vain and
the fact that he had tried to help was little consolation. As soon
as Barlow was pronounced dead, Oates had left the building. He left
before Benchley could be given an equal attribute but everyone knew
it was going to happen. Looking around at the confused and scared
faces around him Lynch made a snap decision, one he could only have
made once the Sheriff had left. He excused all the men for one
hour. One hour to go out for some R and R which he felt they
desperately needed. His hands were covered in a pink tinge from the
blood of his colleague. A quick wipe was not enough to get rid of
it and now his hands served as an unwelcome reminder of the day’s
events. Heading into the station bathroom he looked at his
reflection in the mirror. His face was pale, the day’s events
seemed to have drained all color from his cheeks; even the light
tan he normally kept all year round. As he gently washed his hands
he quietly prayed for a quick end to the nightmare unfolding before
him.

In front of the urinal
Tony
was
thinking more than he was peeing. He was a little drunk but Tony
was normally always a little drunk. He leaned his forehead on the
cracked tile wall above the trough, unconcerned with hygiene
issues. Closing his eyes, he focused on the relatively simple act
of peeing. The blight on Staunton had provided enough of a mental
distraction to give him a terrible bout of stage fright. While
whispering out loud, he counted down from three, hoping that when
he did so he would be able to flow freely. No such luck. Counting
down from three again he quickly opened his eyes hoping for a
release but instead his eyes caught the mirror, just off to his
right, reflecting the stalls opposite him. His frustration was loud
as if to joke about the potentially embarrassing situation of being
unable to pee. He squinted at the mirror, trying to figure out who
was in the stall before it occurred to him who it was. Earl’s
shoes; complete with a light covering of pants and underwear sat in
squat formation.

“
Hey Earl! You having problems
too? Feels like I’ve been standing here forever, but not quite as
long as you I guess.”

Tony laughed to himself obnoxiously as if
to reinforce his mild insult. After a pause, Tony continued
heckling Earl.

“
What’s wrong old man? Did your
sense of
humor run off with your sex life?”

Earl didn’t respond, which was rare for
the old man.

“
Come on Earl that was funny!
Wait wait, I got another one, you’re sitting like your wife was
when she told you she was leaving you!”

As Tony held himself, he was finally able
to pee. Ribbing Earl gave him a little bit of a distraction from
what was rolling around in his mind. Apart from Tony, the only
sound in the bathroom was the automatic flush of the urinal trough.
Water from the automatic system splashed Tony’s jeans and he
stepped back annoyed, putting his manhood back in his zipper and
closing it up.

“
Aww, nasty!
”

Tony
exclaimed as the sound gently echoed
around the tiled, banana colored walls.

“
Hey come on Earl, where’s that
sharp wit of yours?”
asked Tony as he slowly made his way to the cubicle door,
well aware that the unofficial male washroom code prohibited him
from getting too close to another man’s toilet time.