The Queen and I

by Russell Andresen

  It was as if he was becoming a different person, a weaker person, and those feelings were foreign to him. He could not imagine them away or push them to the back of his mind. His mind was now a cluttered mess of images from a childhood that was not his own and the meanderings of creatures he had never heard of or even seen. He was haunted by the faces of children he had never met, men he had never encountered, and animals that taunted him with gleeful delight at his failure to understand them.

  The rabbits, or bunnies, were the worst. For some reason, they wanted to hurt Louis’s psyche, and they took devilish pleasure in watching him struggle to understand what it was they wanted. He was being made small to these innocent creatures, and he was defenseless against their wants. The only thing he knew about them was that they were trying to speak to him, and they were blocking out the music and the instructions from the Way.

  He walked to the car he had stolen in New York and proceeded to the hotel in town where he was staying. A part of him told Louis to go to the Rothstein house immediately and finish the job, but the bunnies had promised him something wonderful if he hurried back to the hotel. The bunnies were telling him he was a good boy, and he deserved a present.

  Louis had always hoped to be given presents for being good, and had lived a life of disappointment in that regard. His mother, his father, Heinrich, and even the music had never rewarded him for being a good boy. His rewards always had come from evil, and he was delighted and intrigued by the notion that being good was going to prove to be more prosperous than bad.

  He slammed on his brakes, causing them to screech, to avoid hitting a lone white rabbit running across his path. He watched in muted horror as the small creature turned and smiled at him with teeth not unlike human beings. It waved hello at him and pointed for Louis to look in the opposite direction. Louis turned his head and saw the limousine parked at the same hotel where Louis was currently renting a room. He turned to ask the bunny what it meant, but the critter was gone, vanished into the afternoon sun like the early morning fog.

  Louis pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and walked to the limo. He had seen this car before; he knew it. He had even ridden in this car before. It belonged to Heinrich Schultz. The big man, his former employer and lover to his mother, had followed Louis to this town. Perhaps it was because he had discovered Cloris’s body and wanted to exact some form of revenge, or maybe it was because he too knew where Rothstein was and wanted to watch firsthand what Louis was going to do to him.

  Whatever the reason, he should have never come to this place. Louis would finish off the playwright, whom he had been hunting for so long now, and then turn his attention on Schultz and his little friend. He would introduce them to … to …

  His mind was blank. What was his exact mission here? Why had he traveled all the way to this little hamlet? Was there someone for him to kill? Was he supposed to deliver a message? Did the bunny have the answers he was struggling for?

  He walked to his room and locked the door behind him. He did not turn on the lights, preferring to be in the dark, and thought about that damned bunny. Where had it come from, and what did it want?

  * * *

  Jacob Stone’s face went pale, and Saul paced around the room quickly while Melissa told them about her experience in town. The man who she had spoken to was, without a doubt, the same man who had been hunting Jeffrey for these past months, and now he had somehow found him.

  Jeffrey thought long about what she said and asked her questions about the man’s physical appearance and demeanor. He hoped the stranger had revealed something to her without being aware of it, that perhaps his immediate motives might have been revealed, or where he was planning on ambushing Jeffrey.

  “Looks like it’s time to go back to town,” Saul announced. He magically changed his attire from a nice housedress into that of a biker from an old Brando film. “This man is never going to hurt you, Jeffrey,” he continued.

  “What about the cops?” Jacob asked. He was looking a lot better just in the short time he had been with Jeffrey than when they had met in the city. “The sheriff has to know that there is a madman on the loose in his town.”

  Jeffrey shook his head in disagreement and said, “The sheriff and I don’t exactly see eye-to-eye for some reason. He’ll think I’m screwing around with him, treating him like some kind of bumpkin, who knows nothing about the law.” He walked to Melissa and asked her directly, “Did he say anything to you other than asking for directions?”

  She shook her head and said, “The only thing he wanted was directions to this house. I sent him in the wrong direction.”

  “Maybe that gives us enough time to get out of here?” Jacob asked hopefully.

  “I don’t run from trouble,” Saul boasted. “If he wants to hurt my dear friend, he’ll have to come through me.”

  Jeffrey smiled at the degree of Saul’s loyalty and finally said, “I think our best bet is to wait him out here. We have the upper hand here, we’re safe here.”

  Saul and Jacob exchanged concerned looks, and finally Jacob said, “I hope your hunches are as good as your writing.”

  Jeffrey hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

  * * *

  Sheriff Pitts sat in the hotel room of Heinrich Schultz and watched as the large man poured him a drink of Scotch and soda. Normally, he would never drink while on the job, but he figured this could be a very delicate negotiation, so he should be accommodating to a fault, but still within reason.

  Mendel Fujikawa offered him a cigarette, and the sheriff declined politely. He watched as the strange little man lit one of his own and winked at him. Whatever these two were up to, Pitts was certain it was not something he was used to or experienced in.

  “There is a monster in your town, Sheriff,” Schultz blurted out.

  Pitts froze for a moment, his glass halfway to his lips, and he asked, “Excuse me?”

  “Not a literal monster, mind you,” Fujikawa chimed in, giggling. “More of the type you run into at New Year’s parties without a properly eyed guest list.” He winked again.

  “I’m a little confused,” Pitts replied. “What does this have to do with me? I haven’t seen or heard of anyone strange being in the town.”

  Schultz smiled at him and said, “He’s staying at this very hotel.”

  Pitts coughed as he swallowed his Scotch and asked, “Pardon?”

  “He’s been here since yesterday as far as we know,” Heinrich continued. “His name is Louis Grecko, and he’s a former associate of mine.” Heinrich offered the sheriffa napkin and said, “I regret that I have to tell you this since I feel partly responsible for the madman being here to begin with, but my intentions were good at the time, and I had no idea the search would lead to your beautiful town.”

  Pitts was already certain that Fujikawa had lied to him about the real purpose of their visit to this town, and he now wondered how it was that they had come by the information they were now sharing. Who was this madman they were speaking of? Pitts thought it best to play coy with them and act ignorant to every nugget of information they shared.

  “Now that you mention it,” the sheriff started, “what is he doing in my town?”

  Schultz weighed the question for a moment and said, “He was tracking down a man for me who owes me a lot of money.”

  Pitts knew he was lying to him as soon as he said the words, but opted to play the ignorance card again.

  “What kind of money are we talking about? I mean, a man like you has more than I would ever know what to do with. This fellow must have done you wrong in a big way.”

  “It’s not so much the money as it is the property,” Schultz answered. “The man is a playwright, and he stole one of my projects. I would like to get it back, but he has been very elusive and uncooperative in every sense of the word.”

  Pitts studied the large man for a moment and asked, “Does this man you’re seeking have a name?”

  Schultz smiled and answered, “Jeffrey David Rot
hstein.”

  The sheriff could not control his surprise at hearing the name. He had known there was something about Rothstein that he did not like from the first time they had met, but he had never imagined he could be involved in something like this. “And this is the man who you say stole from you?”

  Schultz smiled at the sheriff’s willingness to believe him. “He did. He also plans on selling it and humiliating me in the process.”

  “I don’t understand. How can he humiliate you with a play?” “The play is peppered with lies about my business dealings.” He waited for the sheriff to continue.

  Pitts stood up and said, “I’m having a problem fitting the pieces together.” He rubbed his chin in thought. “How do this madman and Rothstein pose a problem for me or the town?”

  “The madman is a hired killer, and we’ve lost control of him.” Fujikawa inserted himself into the conversation. “We sent him to find Rothstein to offer him an amicable settlement, but he has gone rogue on us and plans on murdering the fair writer.”

  Pitts took in the words he just heard and watched as the two men in the room with him stayed perfectly still, as if they were afraid of falling over if he gave them an answer they were not expecting.

  “This first guy’s name is Grecko, you say?”

  Schultz and Fujikawa exchanged triumphant smiles. They had the sheriff working for them now, and Louis and Jeffrey would soon pay for their inconvenience with their lives.

  * * *

  Louis Grecko heard every word Heinrich and the odd little man said to the sheriff, and it troubled him. Heinrich had obviously turned his allegiance toward the strange little man who Louis disliked so much. They were now in cahoots with the sheriff, and that posed a slight problem.

  He knew he would have to alter his plans slightly and address the matter of the sheriff first before going after Rothstein, then he would turn his attention to Heinrich and the speck of filth that was with him.

  The bunnies were sitting around the room with him, caressing him, encouraging him. He would soon have whatever he wanted, and it would be the bunnies who gave it to him. He no longer needed the music or the Way; he would do as these small creatures instructed, and he knew they would not fail him.

  He watched as they danced for him. He was amused by them and that made him feel good. They wanted him to be happy, and he was going to see to it that they were always happy as well.

  Chapter Forty-Five: Rounding up the Schmendricks

  Abby Tisch could not believe her luck. The ghost was standing here in her bookstore and was actually schmoozing through her library. He was interested mainly in books about the theater and the old vaudeville era, but he was strangely fascinated with the Kardashians. He had told her it was because he found it amazing that any woman could become so popular by merely putting a man’s penis in her mouth.

  “If that’s the criteria for fame, I should have an entire encyclopedia,” he said to Abby in jest.

  As he continued browsing through the store, she waited patiently with the young Foreman girl, who had accompanied him into town. From what she understood, he did not like coming to town and it was a bit of a rarity for him to do so, so this made Abby all the more intrigued by what he could possibly want from her.

  Ever since that night when he had revealed himself to her and saved Jeffrey from the horrible Sean Wagner, Abby had been mesmerized with everything there was to be known about him. She even did her own research about him and learned much of the same information Jeffrey had learned when he was reconnoitering information. She knew his name was Saul Milick and he was once the toast of the town. What she did not know was the cause of his death, as she did not delve that deeply into his past. She was not concerned with that information, anyway; she wanted to know the ghost, not the way he came to be one.

  “Is there anything in particular I could help you find?” she asked hopefully.

  “Not really, it’s just been so long since I was able to browse without hiding that I wanted to do it again,” Saul answered, lost in his own world.

  Melissa smiled at Abby and whispered, “He’ll let you know why he is here on his own terms. He’s a bit of a diva.”

  Abby chuckled softly at that and replied, “He can take as long as he likes. I’m just thrilled to have him here so that I can actually talk to him.” She looked at Saul and then continued, “Did he give you any hint as to what it was that he wanted to ask me?”

  Melissa shrugged her shoulders and answered, “I think it would be best if he told you what he wanted. We’re not even supposed to be here right now.”

  Abby found that last statement to be interesting. Did the ghost have some kind of curfew? Was he restricted about his comings and goings? Was he about to ask her to do something illegal or dangerous? All of these questions would be answered, of that she was certain. She just had to keep telling herself that it had to be on his terms.

  “Found it!” Saul exclaimed and grabbed a volume from the shelf. He walked to the counter and dropped the book in front of the two women and said, “This is what I’ve been looking for. We need to make copies of this book.”

  Abby and Melissa turned their heads askew to read the title and saw that the book was called A Broch to Zolst Lign In Drerd: A Novice’s Approach to Yiddish.

  Melissa sounded out the foreign words and asked, “What does it mean?”

  “Literally ‘Oh hell’ and ‘Drop dead.’”

  “What are we going to do with it?” Melissa pried.

  “And why do we need to make copies?” Abby chimed in.

  Saul smiled at the two of them and said, “We are going to give the town a crash course in Yiddish.”

  The two women looked at each other and then back at the ghost, who was beaming with mischievous pride.

  * * *

  “He’s not up here,” Jacob Stone said while descending the stairs. “Did you check out back?”

  “He’s not there either, and Melissa isn’t answering her phone.”

  Jacob smiled and said, “Of course not, it’s Saturday, she wouldn’t answer her phone on the Sabbath.”

  Jeffrey nodded his head in agreement and realized that Jacob’s statement brought up new questions. Why did Saul not tell him where he was going? Why had he brought Melissa with him? And was he being careful to avoid this Louis Grecko character?

  He knew Saul was not a possession to be controlled, but he also knew the ghost was a little naïve to the way things were in this decade, as opposed to the one he used to live in. Saul’s innocence was sometimes his greatest weakness, and Jeffrey feared it might cause problems for Jeffrey as well as the young Foreman girl.

  Saul could not be hurt, of that Jeffrey was certain, but there was nothing to convince him that she was immune to harm just because she was with the ghost. He wanted to be angry at his friend, but found he was concerned about their safety more than anything else. He would never forgive himself if something happened to Melissa or Jacob, for that matter, because someone was targeting Jeffrey in a vindictive plot.

  “I think I should go into town and look for them,” Jeffrey said. “If nothing else, I can at least try to get Melissa out of harm’s way.”

  “Let me go,” Jacob volunteered. “Grecko isn’t looking for me. He won’t have any idea who I am if he sees me.”

  Jeffrey furrowed his brow and answered, “I don’t know. I would think a man who does what he does for a living would take the due diligence to find out everything about his mark. Odds are you showed up somewhere in his research.”

  “All the same, I would like to try.” Jacob extended his open palm. “Keys?”

  Jeffrey nodded over toward the table by the door and told him to be careful and not to try anything risky, to stay away from anyone who looked dangerous and to get the hell out of town if it looked like the madman was coming for him.

  Jacob stopped by the door and said, “I just realized something. If I leave, you’ll be here all alone.”

  “Not to worry,” Jeffrey
tried to calm his friend. “This place has an old-fashioned root cellar under a trap door; Saul showed it to me. If anyone shows up, I’ll hide down there.”

  Stone thought about what he had just heard for a second and continued out the door, yelling to Jeffrey to lock up immediately.

  In the quiet of the house that was now completely empty for the first time since he had bought the place, Jeffrey felt very alone and even more vulnerable. He hoped he had made the right decision by staying behind, and hoped even more that Saul would soon return with Melissa. Despite what Jeffrey wanted to believe, he felt safer when the ghost was around, since he knew Saul would stop at nothing to protect him.

  He looked out the back window toward the lake and wondered when the monster that hunted him would strike.

  * * *

  “It looks like most of the town is here,” Melissa said hopefully to Saul. “Looks like only the sheriff and a few of the vineyard owners aren’t here.”

  “Impressive work, Abby. How did you get everyone gathered so quickly?” Saul asked.

  Abby smiled and said, “It helps to be friends with the local gossip columnist. I swear, it’s like the woman can speak to people through telepathy.” She shook her head and chuckled. “This really must be the most boring town on earth, for everyone to stop what they’re doing in hopes of being in the local paper.”

  “Stardom is an alluring mistress,” Saul replied.

  What the townsfolk were doing here at the temple was the creation of Saul’s plan to weed out Jeffrey’s hunter and protect his friend at the same time. He knew the residents of Zion were enamored with the idea of him living in their town, and he was betting that they would rise to the occasion to protect one of their own. It was the small town way, love thy neighbor, and Saul knew that in Zion the term took on an entirely new meaning.