The Queen and I

by Russell Andresen

  If the monster coming for him had known about the cabin in Zion, he would have already shown himself and done God knows what to him. No, he did not know about the cabin, and that, for the moment, gave them the advantage.

  “There is no way I’m going back to that haunted madhouse,” Richard said defiantly. Jeffrey smiled to himself and thought that this was the one person who should be bowing down to and kissing the feet of Jeffrey as his savior, since it was Richard who had sold him the haunted house to begin with, had slept with his girlfriend, and so far was the only person who had the scars to prove the existence of the mysterious man.

  “Feel free to wait here for him to kill you,” Jeffrey answered. “I know Saul was looking forward to seeing you again, but he’ll manage somehow.”

  “That’s the fucking thing’s name? Saul?”

  “I’d watch the way I speak about him, if I were you,” Jeffrey said angrily. “You shouldn’t have even been offered this opportunity, but I thought it would cruel of me to leave you to this thing that is hunting us. Saul disagreed, but he conceded.”

  Rachel looked at Kearney and then Jeffrey; this was very uncomfortable for her, being in the same room as her former lover and her current one. To be honest, she was not even sure she wanted to be with Richard, but she felt obligated to care for him in his time of need. She knew that things were done between her and Jeffrey, and she regretted that, but what her real problem now was that she needed to get to a safe place and away from the man who had left so much destruction in his wake to this point.

  “I don’t think I can do this,” she said.

  “Do what? Save your life?” Jeffrey asked. “This guy is hunting me down, and the only way he can find me is to find you first.” He paused to let the words sink in and continued, “I’m not going to beg you, but I am going to ask that you think long and hard about it. Just don’t take too long; I know that it’s not safe here anymore, and I’m sure the cops would be of no use.”

  He turned and walked toward the door. He had hoped he would be more convincing for her sake, but he had to accept the fact that she was the same person she always was and was not willing to accept defeat in any way. Running from the city to the sanctuary of Jeffrey’s cabin in Zion would be an admission of failure, and she was not willing to do that. She needed time, and he hoped that it would be enough.

  He turned back and smiled at her, and a sudden feeling of guilt washed over him. He was not certain he was making the right decision to leave her here, but his obligation to her only went so far now that the two of them were no longer the two of them anymore.

  He had to go and gather Jacob and get out of town before he was discovered. Knowing that Schultz was the man behind this scared him. It scared him to think that the eyes of the city were on him from places that he could not imagine, and it frightened him to think that no matter how hard he tried to keep himself and his friends safe, he would ultimately fail and their blood would be on his hands.

  It began raining, and he pulled a ball cap from his coat pocket and pulled it down to protect his face from the falling drops. He lifted his collar and made his way to the curb to hail a cab to meet Jacob back at the bar where they had met earlier. A cab pulled up, and he waited for the passenger to pay his fare and exit the vehicle. The man was huge, nearly seven feet tall, and he had the smell of a person who didn’t bathe much. Even in the rain, the back of the cab stunk of sweat and foulness that could only be from being unclean. Jeffrey opened the rear window a crack to let fresh air in and gave the driver instructions on where to go. They pulled out into traffic and disappeared into a sea of yellow taxi cars that dominated the midday traffic of Manhattan.

  Louis Grecko paid no attention to the man who took his cab, and looked up through the rain at the window to the woman’s apartment. Her time was now, and the man who she was with would be the first to be sacrificed. By the end of the day, Louis would have her for himself and Jeffrey would be only a few steps away.

  Chapter Forty: Bounty, Set, Catch

  “We found him, Heinrich,” Mendel Fujikawa announced gleefully. “Our little rat just spotted him getting out of a cab and going into her apartment building.”

  Heinrich Schultz furrowed his brow and thought for a moment. “Did he say whether or not he looked angry?”

  “He only said that he was huge and stared at her window for almost ten minutes.”

  Schultz shook his head and continued, “This is not good. He should not be at her place; he should be checking in with me.” He rubbed his temples and said, “Did you call his mother?”

  Fujikawa smiled and said, “Cloris doesn’t believe me. She said her baby would never deviate from his instructions, and that if I ever slandered him again she would dismember me.” He sat down on the large sofa and added, “Really, Henry, whatever do you see in her?”

  “Try focusing, Mendel!” Schultz snapped. “We have to find a way to warn the girl before it’s too late. I don’t want her dead, and that’s exactly what Louis will do to her.”

  Mendel dismissed his concerns with a wave of his hands and said, “You have nothing to worry about. Our clandestine informant already called her and warned her of the danger. He said he saw her and that Kearney fellow leave the building while Louis walked around her apartment.”

  Heinrich was pleased to hear this. He was not interested in harming Rachel in any way, although he would be appreciative if she would just tell them what she knew. With Louis tracking her without the instruction to do so, it was clearer, now more than ever, that he was unstable.

  Louis was, without a doubt, the most dangerous person he had ever known, and if he was of the mindset to ignore Heinrich and to not even check in with Cloris, this entire enterprise was about to get very bloody and very unpleasant.

  Heinrich looked down at Herman, who was sleeping on his cat bed, and found he regretted ever going to Louis Grecko with this to begin with. He should have just left well enough alone and watched with satisfaction the destruction of Jeffrey’s professional and personal lives.

  He turned to Mendel and said, “Call our informant and have him follow Louis wherever he’s going. I want to know where Rothstein is before Louis has a chance to find him.”

  * * *

  Louis was furious at the situation. How dare she and the Kearney fellow, who he had already disfigured, leave the apartment before he had the chance to interrogate them together? He had been sent there by the music, with the Way guiding him, but he had found no sign of Rothstein, who he was sure would be here, and he had no idea where the woman and her delicate little boy toy had gotten off to. He knew they could not be far off, since he had seen her through the window. They must have left via the stairs and eluded him. Perhaps the music was correct in sending him there for Rothstein and that it was Rothstein who had told her of the danger. This only made him grow hotter with anger and motivated him to resume the search for the man who he increasingly wanted to destroy.

  He turned to leave the apartment to continue his hunt when he saw the Post-it on the coffee table: “16 Heron Drive, Zion, New York – Jeffrey this weekend.”

  Louis smiled in spite of himself at this very useful piece of information. This address had to be where Rothstein was hiding, and he obviously was offering sanctuary to the woman and the man who he had just met only a few days prior. The hunt was getting to its apex, and Louis knew he was on the right track. She had made a mistake by leaving the note, but Louis knew it was the Way controlling the course of events, and now it was telling Louis where he needed to go.

  He would return home and tell his mother where he was going and inform her of his plans to ignore Heinrich and the strange little man who was with him. He would leave for upstate New York immediately and corner all of his victims at the same time. There would be no escape; he would devour them together and make the appropriate sacrifices to the Way.

  Louis took the piece of paper with the address on it and ate it.

  * * *

  Richard looked at
her angrily and said, “You know Jeffrey is a dead man if you don’t warn him, right?”

  She nodded her head and felt tears forming in her eyes. She did not want any harm to come to her former lover, but for all she knew the monster was tracking her phone. Rachel looked at Richard slowly with pain in her eyes and said, “We’ll just have to pray that Jeffrey is smarter than the monster is.”

  Richard silently agreed, and their cab continued on toward the midtown train stations where they would make their getaway from New York and the monster who was hunting them. Richard actually felt bad for Jeffrey, but was unwilling to risk his own life to help the poor schmuck out, especially if she wasn’t. He closed his eyes and thought of the cabin.

  For the first time, Richard Kearney accepted the fact that there actually was a ghost in the house and that it was somehow friends with Rothstein. He found himself hoping that being a ghost granted the being certain powers that could come in handy to spare Rothstein the painful, terrifying death that was stalking him.

  He decided he needed to do something to spare the man who he had wronged in so many ways and that a simple phone call couldn’t hurt him in any way. He pulled out his cell phone and called the cabin; his plan was to leave a message. His face turned pale when the receiver was picked up and a deep, raspy voice answered, “Rothstein residence, may I help you?”

  Chapter Forty-One: Hate Crimes

  The drive from New York to Zion felt like it went a lot quicker this time for Jeffrey than when he had originally traveled to his new home. Perhaps it was that he had company in Jacob to talk to, or more likely it was because the small town had become his home and he missed it.

  He smiled at the notion and wondered when that had happened. When did he stop thinking about Zion as a place of exile and, instead, a home? When did he come to the realization that this was where he belonged and would probably spend much of his time in the future? The answers were hard to find, and Jeffrey found himself coming to the conclusion that it was Saul who was responsible for the feeling of hominess overtaking him now. The ghost had gone out of his way to ingratiate himself to the playwright and had succeeded in making him feel completely at home in his new surroundings. It was Saul who had lit the fire under Jeffrey to start writing again, and Saul had also unintentionally given Jeffrey the idea for what he was going to write.

  He just hoped Saul would not become jealous or feel threatened at the appearance of his former apprentice. Time would tell, and Jeffrey thought it best not to surprise his ghostly friend, but to tell him outright before they arrived so he could have some time to let it sink in.

  Jeffrey pulled into a rest stop and called the cabin while Jacob made his way to the restrooms and the vending machines. He had given Saul permission to answer the phone when he was not home, provided he did not divulge to anyone that they were speaking to a ghost. Saul was all too delighted at the responsibility and the show of friendship and promised that he would not blow his cover.

  He waited as the phone rang, but no one answered. Perhaps Saul is in town with Melissa, he thought. It didn’t really matter; he was planning on taking Jacob out to dinner before they went to the cabin so he could get used to the fact that he was no longer in the city and that he was safe from the reach of Schultz and Fujikawa. There was the monster to think about, of course, but Jeffrey was certain that whoever or whatever this thing was that stalked him, it had no idea where Jeffrey was, and that only helped to insure the anonymity Jeffrey had promised.

  “Hey Saul, it’s me; just wanted to let you know that I’m on my way back to town, but I’m with Jacob. I’m going to take him out to eat at the Country Home, and then we’ll be home.” He paused for a second and continued, “Try to be civil when you meet Jacob; he’s been through a lot. Talk to you soon.” He hung up and watched as Jacob returned, looking tired and a little gaunt. The man was in desperate need of a hot meal, and Jeffrey was going to see to it that he started taking better care of himself.

  “Feel better?” he asked.

  Jacob smiled and stretched a stretch that looked as if the tension was falling off like so many dead leaves. “I’d forgotten how beautiful it is up here.” He looked at the mountains and the changing colors of the foliage and said, “I really appreciate what you’re doing for me, Jeffrey. This is too much.”

  Jeffrey smiled at his old friend and said, “I owe it to you.”

  He thought about his answer and realized that it came out without thinking, and was instantly aware that he was right. He had not been the greatest mentor in the world, or friend for that matter, and a lot of what was happening was probably a direct result of the way Jeffrey had never appreciated the hard work Jacob had done all of those years they’d worked together. The blame lay with Jeffrey as much, if not more, than it did with Jacob.

  The two of them got back into the car and headed on toward Zion. Whoever was following them had no idea where they were or where they were going, and that gave Jeffrey a triumphant feeling, knowing he had outsmarted a hired professional.

  * * *

  Saul and Melissa stood in stunned silence as they listened to the message Jeffrey had left. How dare he bring back the man who had directly caused all of this mishegas to begin with? Had Jeffrey been drugged? Was he abducted by aliens? Did he have bad gefilte fish when he was in New York?

  This move he was making made no sense, and try as they may, Saul and Melissa could not understand why he would do such a thing. Their afternoon had been a very pleasant one, working on her acting abilities, picking the last of the fall flowers, and collecting apples from a nearby orchard. They never would have suspected that Jeffrey would leave this kind of message, and it was distressing to say the least.

  Saul felt somewhat betrayed and a little threatened by the prospect of the man with whom Jeffrey had worked with for so many years now being welcomed into the cabin. Was this Jeffrey’s way of telling Saul that his services were no longer required? Was their friendship over and Jeffrey was breaking up with him over the phone? Why was he taking Jacob out to dinner when it was Saul who had been helping him for these past months?

  He looked at Melissa, who could offer nothing but a consoling smile, and came to the conclusion that he was not about to let Jeffrey dictate the terms of their separation. If Jeffrey wanted to be done with Saul, it would be the ghost who did the breaking up, and not the neurotic, writers-blocked playwright. Jeffrey did not hold all of the cards in this relationship, and it was time he realized that Saul had feelings too, and they were just as important to him as if he were dealing with a human and not a specter from the afterlife.

  Melissa asked, “What are you going to do?” She walked closer to him and continued, “Are you going to talk to him? Tell him that you don’t want Jacob here?”

  Saul looked into her innocent eyes and said, “I’m going out to dinner. Care to join me?”

  * * *

  “I just saw him and some other guy walk into the Country Home,” Carl Thomas told Sean Wagner emphatically. “Just the two of them.”

  Sean listened and replied, “Anything else with them? You see a ghost or anything like that?”

  “I just told you that it was just the two of them; you deaf or something?”

  Sean looked off into the distance and smiled to himself. This was the break he had been waiting for, hoping for, and he knew that this was his chance to get his revenge on the man who had made him look stupid on several occasions. There was no ghost to save him this time, there was no Abby around to dictate the terms of what they were going to do, and there certainly was no way that he was going to let Rothstein get away from him without the proper beating he had coming to him.

  He reached into the cab of his pickup and pulled out a small length of chain and wrapped it around his knuckles tightly. He put his armored hand in his pocket and motioned for Carl to follow. As the two of them walked, Sean had the feeling he was being watched, and he immediately thought it might be the ghost lurking around trying to get him before he could com
plete the deed. He thought it could possibly be his foster father, Sheriff Pitts, or even worse, Abby Tisch come to ruin everything.

  Sean came to this conclusion when he saw the woman approaching from across the street, coming directly toward him. She had a stern expression on her face and seemed to be picking up her pace the more they tried to ignore her.

  “Where the hell are you going with the chain?” she demanded.

  He ignored her and kept walking.

  “I asked you a question, dammit! Where the hell are you going?”

  Sean turned on her briskly and stood in front of her, their faces almost touching. She could smell the foulness of his breath, and he answered, “Your little city boy ghost lover brought a friend into town, and I’m gonna see to it that he goes to the hospital next.”

  Carl laughed behind him, and the two of them continued on toward the restaurant. Abby tried to gain the lead on them, but their pace was too quick.

  “You can’t do this, Sean!” she snapped. “We were all wrong about what was happening at that house. Whatever it was, it was only trying to protect its home. If it wanted to hurt us, it could have.”

  Wagner spit and answered, “You do things your way, I’ll do them mine.”

  “That city boy’s got an ass whooping coming his way,” Carl added.

  She ran and took position directly in front of them, causing them to stop their progress, and said, “I won’t let you do this, Sean. It’s wrong.”

  Sean pulled the chain-wrapped fist from his pocket and held it to her face and said, “I could send you to the hospital too.”

  She swallowed deep and replied, “I can tell your father.”

  Carl’s eyes went wide with fear as he heard her say what she just did to Sean, while Sean’s face turned red with rage. “He’s not my father! Now get out of my way, bitch!”