Suspended In Dusk (7 page)

Mabel put a plate of grits and scrambled eggs in front of me. I’d been getting the same thing for breakfast in this diner for over twenty years and had stopped actually looking at a menu or even telling them an order in half that time. Even though I retired two years ago from the paper mill I still came here and eat. Boyette’s Diner is the center of our universe, it would seem. Nothing ever happens without the news starting here. Especially with the big mouth of Chuck.

“Craziest thing I ever did see,” he was saying through a mouthful of egg. “She was opened up.”

“Huh?” I asked, my bent fork dangling over my food. “Did you say opened up?”

“Yep.” Chuck grinned but it wasn’t happy. The man was unnerved and trying to make light of it for his own sake. He’d said it loud enough most everyone in the place had heard him. There was the old adage if you wanted the world to know a secret tell it to a Gill with a badge, because every one of them through the years had been itching to tell everything they could find out. Now that something real was happening Chuck was about bursting at the seams. “She’d been gutted like a fish. From her eyeballs to her privates.”

“Chuck, people are trying to eat,” Mabel admonished.

“Sorry. Anyway, there wasn’t much left of her except some broken bones and a few scraps of clothing. Looked like a pack of wild coyotes had taken her apart.”

“In her trailer?” I asked. “Or in the woods?”

“Right in her living room whiles the Carson show was on.”

“What about her brats?” I didn’t need to mince words because everyone in town and the trailer park knew what monsters they were and they’d all end up in juvie and then jail before long. “Didn’t they see anything, or are they dead, too?”

Chuck shook his head and sat up on the counter now that he had everyone’s attention. He was still smiling but his hands were shaking. “Her kids swear they didn’t hear a thing. The littlest one, the girl, woke early to pee and saw Heffer on the couch. Or what was left of her. Since they didn’t have a phone she ran next door to the Colby’s and used their phone to call me.”

Mabel shook her head. “You mean to tell me a pack of coyotes waltzed into a trailer, ate her but didn’t eat her kids? Was the trailer ripped apart? Any animal hair or droppings? Cabinets emptied and food on the floor?”

Chuck pushed his sheriff hat further up his forehead and squinted his eyes. “Nope. The kids said the door was closed but unlocked and only she had been touched.”

“Coyotes don’t close the door once they leave,” Mabel said and several patrons nodded in agreement. “If it was coyotes or wild animals they would have stayed and tore up the place and definitely eaten them kids.”

“I saw a coyote on my way over,” I blurted without thinking. I guess because I knew who killed Heffer Becky. Maybe Chuck could arrest me for being an accomplice. I was the one who gave her up, after all. I didn’t care for her but it was still no excuse.

As everyone peppered Chuck with questions and made him feel important I finished my breakfast and hurried home.

* * *

Winter was still a few weeks away but there was a chill in the air as the sun began to drop. I told my wife and son to stay inside because of the coyote attack. I fumbled with my pipe, my hands and nerves fighting to keep it steady, and scanned the woods with my bad eyes.

I’d spent the day tinkering around the old John Deere, taking the engine apart and cleaning it up. I wouldn’t need to use it but maybe once or twice all season now but it was good to have it in tiptop shape. Besides, I needed something to keep my mind off of what had happened last night. Maybe it was a dream. Maybe I had fallen asleep on my rocking chair and heard the sirens and pieced it together in my subconscious? The Heffer’s trailer wasn’t too far away and definitely in earshot, even for these bad ears of mine. That made more sense than monsters coming out of the woods and asking for a sacrifice. It did to me right now as I stuffed my pipe.

But there they were, just as plain as day: a slew of them hanging at the edge of the trees. Two of them approached, one I kinda recognized from the night before and the other one fatter than the rest. They were so black it was painful to look at them.

“You are real,” I mumbled and almost dropped my pipe from my mouth. “I want no part in this.”

His voice came to me inside my head, only it wasn’t really a voice… it was just there again. I still didn’t like it, but I could understand him well enough. It was either pick another person or it was my turn. Simple as that.

“The two brats of Heffer. They’ll be raised by wolves at this point. Ain’t no one wants them.”

I felt awful for saying it, especially out loud, but it was not a lie. The kids had been left alone all day, running around the trailer park without a care in the world. My wife wanted to take them in but I told her in no uncertain terms them brats would never set foot on my property. I wanted no part of them, and she should feel the same way. They were nothing but trouble, and if Chuck and his Keystone Cop buddies weren’t so busy gossiping they’d have called Child Services to come collect ‘em.

“Who you talking to, old man?” my wife, Sandra, asked me. I hadn’t noticed her join me outside the trailer.

I nearly jumped out of my skin at her words. “You scared the Dickens outta me,” I yelled, looking around at the woods. If those creatures were still here… but the trees were quiet.

She laughed and patted my back as I sat back down gingerly on the broken rocker. “What’s gotten into you today? You’ve been keeping to yourself and nearly missed dinner. Your boy called to talk with you but you were in a daze today. You barely ate your dinner and now I hear you talking to yourself. You alright?” She put a hand on my forehead. “No fever.”

“I’m fine. Just a little quiet today. A man in my advanced age can be silent for a time if he wants. I earned it.”

“Don’t you go raising your voice with me or I’ll slap it outta you. Mind your manners,” my wife said but she said it sweetly like she’s been doing since I’ve known her. Sandra always had a way with words.

“I’m forgettin’ who I married, dear. My fault, surely.” I held my pipe against my side because my hand was still shaky. “We got any coffee?”

“We got plenty of coffee but you ain’t getting’ any. Not this late in the evening. You’ll be up all night.”

I watched her go back inside. I figured I was going to be up all night anyway.

* * *

“We got another murder,” Chuck said with more than a hint of fear in his voice. “Both of Becky’s kids last night.” His excitement from yesterday was firmly replaced now that another murder had occurred.

Mabel made the Sign of the Cross. “That is just god-awful. Those poor little babies.”

I looked at her cross-eyed but didn’t say a word. Them brats were anything but poor little babies. Good riddance. But both of them dead was troubling. “They both got ripped apart?” I asked.

Chuck stared at me. “Who said anything about being ripped apart?”

I shrugged and turned back to my coffee, trying to remain calm and act casual. “I just assumed.”

Chuck smiled crookedly and leaned across the counter and into my line of sight. “You know what happens when you assume?” I hated when Chuck thought he had me and I knew he was going to pounce and make me look foolish in front of everyone in the diner this morning.

“I’m sure you’ll tell us all the details of why those two small children were left unattended all night in the trailer their mama had just been killed in,” I said and took another sip, satisfied it would shut him up. It did the trick.

“Hey, yeah… why didn’t you take them to a relative or drop them off with a neighbor? I only live seven double-wides down from them. I woulda taken them for the night,” Mabel said. “Any of us would have.”

I knew that was a lie. I didn’t need to look at anyone else in the place to know they were glancing away from Mabel now. And she was one to talk. She’d be the first to come up with an excuse not to take them brats in. OK, maybe the second here to do it.

Chuck scooped his scrambled eggs into his mouth and shrugged before walking out. We all watched him as he sped away in the police cruiser, lights and sirens blazing as if he had just gotten a call.

But I knew there would be hell to pay soon enough. Chuck was going to hold a grudge like his daddy and his daddy before had, and I decided I might skip the diner tomorrow morning.

* * *

I decided to stay inside tonight and maybe they’d find someone else to do their dirty work. I was done and frankly I was exhausted. After the altercation with Chuck I got nothing done all day except kick around the trailer and watch the woods.

The missus didn’t never miss a thing with me and she glanced at the screen door and frowned. “You feeling alright?”

“Yep.” I sat in my worn armchair in the living room and stared out the window. “I’m fine. You?”

“Why ain’t you on the porch? Your hand is shaking. You forgot to buy tobacco? I can go next door to Clint’s and see if he has a pinch for ya.”

“That won’t be necessary. I’m just not really in the mood tonight is all.” I wasn’t, true enough. I’d barely eaten my supper and she’d made pork chops, which is my favorite. Besides, about two hours ago, I’d already gone over to Clint and bummed some from his stash. Clint and I rarely talked but we did share the common love of pipes.

“Suit yourself. If you’re not going outside to smoke, you can help me with the dishes.”

“Ahh, woman, can’t you see I’m not up to anything tonight?” I asked a bit forcefully, even for me. I knew immediately I’d hurt her feelings. “Now, now, don’t go tearing up on me. I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s gotten into me.”

I stood on my shaky legs and went to her as fast as my old body would take me.

“I was joshing, you know,” Sandra said quietly. I hugged her. Even after all these years I can still manage to say something boneheaded and asinine to my wife. I guess some things will never change. “You going to call your boy?”

“I will when I get time,” I told Sandra. I was trying to keep Junior out of my thoughts as much as possible. I didn’t want to accidentally have a loved one in my head in case them things went looking inside my skull for a name.

“What’s the matter?” she asked, feeling me stiffen as I had my arms wrapped around her.

“Nothing,” I mumbled and pushed away from her. “I… nothing…”

They were right on the porch now. I could feel them. There were at least four of them in my head, asking me for names, asking me to give up my neighbors so they could go about their business.

“No,” I whispered. “I can’t.”

“Are you alright?” my wife asked me, putting a hand on my face.

I couldn’t put her into my head like I’d done them kids or their mama. I wouldn’t let them take her in the night. “Clint,” I said loudly.

“What about him?”

I know my eyes got wide then. “He’s next. He’s going to die tonight.”

But they weren’t done. No. They demanded more.

Last night I’d inadvertently given them those two brats. Now that was the new deal. Now they were expecting two.

“What are you talking about?” my wife asked. “Clint?”

I nodded. “And his wife Susie.”

* * *

“You need to go talk to the sheriff,” she said to me. She’d wanted to warn Clint and Susie but I told her it was too late. These creatures don’t mess around. I knew she didn’t believe me.

“Look what happened to Heffer and her brats,” I said. “And they’re going to ask me for two more names tomorrow night.”

“Not if you stop them. Go to Chuck and tell him.”

“Tell him what? Monsters from the woods are to blame for these murders? Creatures that talk to me without moving their mouths, getting inside my head. He’ll lock me up after he charges me for the killings. No thank you, God. I’ll figure this out on my own. I’m going to stay away from the diner, too.”

“And draw suspicion?” she said, folding her arms. “You just sit right here with me tonight and don’t leave my side. If those two are really dead come morning I’ll know it wasn’t you.”

I felt like I’d been slapped. “What do you mean? You think I’m killing them?”

Sandra shrugged. “Maybe you snapped and are hearing Satan in your head telling you to kill, kill, kill. I’m just saying… have a seat on the couch with me and we’ll get to the bottom of this.” She fixed me with a hard look and stuck her finger in the air. “But, as God is my witness, if you try to kill me in my sleep I’ll be pissed.”

“You’re making a joke out of this?”

“After all these years and all these hardships we’ve been through, why shouldn’t I? It gets you nowhere fast by worrying. If you don’t know me by now…”

“I’m not comfortable joking about this. I’m helping to kill people.”

She led me to the couch, where we snuggled into each other like we’d done more nights than I could remember. The old couch knew our bodies and we slipped right into our grooves. “Shh. No more talking about it. We’ll figure something out in the morning. But you need to go to the diner and act like nothing is out of sorts with you.”