The Hay Fort

by Judith Ann McDowell

  “All right, yes, she did order weed sometimes. Hell, if I looked like her, I’d want to get high, too.”

  Both Roberts and Jenkins tried not to show their amusement at Harry’s straight forward answer.

  Suddenly, a thought hit Jenkins’s mind, and he went with it. “Harry, I noticed you’ve been a little nervous since you’ve been here.”

  “Well shit, if the man picked you up for questioning on a murder, wouldn’t you be a little antsy?”

  “Yeah, I would. But then I didn’t murder anybody, so I would have nothing to fear,” Jenkins said.

  “I didn’t murder anyone either, but sometimes just being at the wrong place at the wrong time can be enough to make you look bad. You know what I mean? Especially when you’re my color.” He pulled out a cigarette and lit up.

  Roberts pushed his chair back to a file cabinet and pulled out an ashtray.

  Finally, Jenkins saw the opening he had been waiting for. “Before the delivery, did you ever pinch some for yourself?

  Harry looked at all those present, and with an embarrassed grin spreading across his handsome face, replied, “Yeah, hell. I needed it, she had it, so I just figured we’d compromise.”

  “But she wasn’t aware of the compromise, right?”

  “If she had been, I wouldn’t have had any weed.” He laughed aloud, shaking his head. “And I’m here to tell you, she had good taste in weed!”

  “Who’s your supplier, Harry?”

  The question caught him off guard, and he dropped the name without thinking. “Spider Monroe. Wait a minute. That ain’t right. Let me have that question again.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Harry. There’s only one more thing I need to know, and then I think we can wrap this up. There was a safe in the house and a written list of the money. We found the list, but the money was missing. Do you have any idea what happened to over $50,000 bucks?”

  “I sure never knew about any safe. She always paid me with the cash she had in her pocket.”

  “Well, don’t worry about it. The safe was in such an obvious place, behind a picture hanging on the wall of a young girl. And too, the safe was unlocked so anyone could have helped themselves at any time.”

  “I’ll tell ya the truth, she could have had a table full of $100 bills and I wouldn’t have touched it. That ole bitch would have put a hex on my ass for sure!”

  “But you didn’t worry about that when you were pinching weed?”

  “I didn’t have to worry. She wasn’t weed savvy.”

  “I think we’re done here as far as questioning is concerned. I’ll have one of the deputies take you down for prints. After that, you’re free to go.”

  Walking down the hall, Roberts turned his attention to the man walking beside him.

  “What the hell was the reasoning behind the missing money? You know there wasn’t any money missing from that safe.”

  “Of course I know. I was trying to find out if Harry could be our man. I know that being a thief doesn’t make him a murderer, but he was straight up. I don’t think they did it.”

  “Yeah, he was pretty straight up. Are we going to send out a deputy to pick up Spider?”

  “No need. Soon as Harry can get his hands on a phone, Spider will be out of business. For awhile anyway.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Bennie Parker, the county coroner, couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The autopsy on the old woman was over and showed no remarkable results. Her organs were in great shape for her age. But what he couldn’t wrap his mind around was what was missing.

  Picking up his cell phone from the counter, he called the number listed on the paper tacked up on the wall.

  “Jenkins.”

  “Yeah, this is Parker. I’m at the morgue and I was wondering if you could spare a few minutes to come down here and look at something.”

  “Sure,” Jenkins told him already getting to his feet. “Does this have anything to do with the Prescott murder?”

  “It sure does.”

  “I’ll be right there.” He clicked off his phone and walked out the door.

  Before coming through the swinging doors of the morgue, he took a deep breath, hoping that would settle the queasiness in his stomach. He had always had a strong dislike of the place and did all he could to get out of having to be there.

  “Hey, Jenkins thanks for coming down right away.”

  “What’s up that you need my expert advice on?” He slapped the man on his well padded shoulder.

  “I need another pair of eyes to see this in case I’m going nuts.”

  “You been working here over what…twenty…twenty-four years? If you ain’t moved into the nut house by now, I doubt you will.”

  “Don’t be so damn sure. You ain’t seen what I’ve seen, yet. Or, I should say haven’t seen.”

  He walked over to the table and whipped off the sheet covering the old lady.

  “Damn, that’s a nasty sight,” Jenkins breathed.

  “I ain’t arguing with you. What I need you to do is take a good look at her starting with her face to her chest, and tell me what you see.”

  “What are you seeing that you didn’t see while you were at the mansion?”

  Without warning, he felt his stomach knot up, and he glanced away. “What the hell…she was strangled.” He looked over at Parker. “There aren’t any marks on her throat. I saw them myself.”

  “You’re seeing the same thing I’m seeing. When a person is strangled, whether with the hands or a ligature, the throat is going to have marks showing what was used.”

  “I would think.”

  “Now here’s another strange thing,” he walked across the room to where an x-ray had already been flipped up to be read. “This is what’s called the hyoid bone.” He pointed to a horseshoe shaped bone situated in the area beneath the chin. “You can see it’s been crushed—a clear sign that this woman’s death was the result of strangulation.” He flipped off the light beneath the x-ray. “Yet the marks that were present earlier on her throat have since disappeared.”

  “Something ain’t right here. What the hell killed her? A ghost?”

  “Beginning to wonder. I know we can’t do anything about it, but I wanted you to see it and to tell me I ain’t imagining things.”

  “No, you and I both saw the marks at the mansion, and now we see they’ve disappeared. I will be making a note of this, and I will tell Roberts about it.”

  “I’ll tell you what,” he rubbed a hand across his forehead, “all the stories about that place…and now this…makes me wonder if the stories ain’t true.”

  “I couldn’t agree more, my friend, and the questions keep piling up without any answers.”

  As Jenkins headed to the door, Parker walked back to the table to pull the sheet back up over the body.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  When Willie Coby answered the door and saw who was standing on the porch, he thought he was going to pass out.

  “Hello, Willie,” Father Hannity said, removing his black hat. “Can I come in?”

  All he could do was nod as he stepped back out of the way.

  “I want you to know I’ve had a lot of time to think about our conversation.”

  Butch had just walked into the room and at seeing the priest standing in the living room, he tried to back his way out of the room.

  “Butch, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you aren’t invisible. I can see you.”

  “Would you like to sit down, Father?” Willie indicated his dad’s recliner. “This is the best chair in the house.”

  Butch dropped down on the end of the couch nearest the door.

  “I want you both to know I didn’t come here to get you in trouble or to scold.” He watched as both boys released a pent up breath.

  “I said things I shouldn’t have said, Father Hannity, and I’m sorry.”

  “I’m sorry too, Willie. I should have tried harder to find a solution to your problem. You gave your word to chi
ldren who have been surrounded by evil and are calling out to be taken home. I was remiss in my duties as your parish priest to help you when you came to me.”

  “You believe me about the ghost kids?”

  “I do. There was no reason for you to make up such a story.”

  Spying an ashtray sitting on a stand beside the chair, he pulled out his pipe.

  At the sound of the pet door banging shut in the kitchen, Willie got up off the couch to catch both dogs before they could make a nuisance of themselves.

  “Butch, you grab Sami while I get Rolo before they make a bee line for Father Hannity.”

  They both scrambled for the kitchen to get the dogs and then stopped to slowly retrace their steps back into the living room.

  Father Hannity stood up to tell them he had no problem with having dogs greet him when he saw them quietly backing toward him.

  “What’s going on? Is something wrong with the dogs?”

  “Something’s in the kitchen, Father,” Willie whispered.

  Hannity came forward to walk with them back into the room that they had just vacated to see what they were talking about.

  Both dogs were on the floor in a cowering stance staring up at a corner of the ceiling.

  Holding a hand out for the boys to stay back, he stooped down talking quietly to the dogs that, by now, were shivering in fright.

  “What do you see up there, boys? Is it something that shouldn’t be in your house?” He spoke quietly while reaching into his coat pocket and withdrawing a vial of liquid. “If they don’t belong here, then we better send them on their way.”

  Slowly Hannity stood up and at the same time twisted the lid off the vial. Without a word, he splashed holy water into the corner of the ceiling. “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to leave here! In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to leave this house!”

  “What in the hell is going on here?” Dave Coby demanded, walking into the room closely followed by a surprised Julie, Rita and Bill.

  “Father Hannity is getting rid of something evil, Dad.”

  At that moment, a black mist thickened and shot straight up through the ceiling to disappear.

  “Oh my God,” Rita whispered, going quickly into the outstretched arms of her husband.

  “It’s gone,” Hannity said.

  “What the hell was it?” Dave asked.

  “It was what was at Uncle Bill and Aunt Rita’s house, Dad. It just followed them here.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “If it was sent to haunt Bill and Rita and they left to come here. I would have to agree with Willie that it followed them here,” Hannity said.

  “This is how the haunting at Fran and Eddie’s house started,” Bill explained.

  “The same. I did an exorcism on their house and yes…it was the same demon.”

  “Julie, why don’t you and Rita pour us all some coffee. I think we need to have a talk.”

  Later, as they all sat together in the other room, Father Hannity filled them in on what he had done to rid the Reeshers of the evil in their home.

  “Are you going to have to do an exorcism here too?” Julie asked.

  “I don’t think that will be needed now. The old woman who sent the demon here is dead. I found out she was murdered in her home. Without her, it’s less likely what you had here will return. Especially since it was found and removed.”

  “Thank God you came here this evening, Father. I don’t know how to thank you.”

  “No thanks needed. Our Holy Father blessed me with the ability to remove evil, and that is what I did.”

  Willie and Butch got up from the couch, and without a word, walked across the floor to hold out their hand. “Thank you, Father Hannity.”

  Hannity shook each hand in turn and then got to his feet. “I’ll be taking my leave now. If you have any more problems, you have my number. I feel pretty sure you won’t though.”

  “If you don’t mind, Butch and I would like to come to see you tomorrow and talk about what we need to learn to be altar boys.”

  “I’m glad to hear that, Willie, but you’re going to have to wait a few days.” He placed his hat on his head and slipped his arms into his coat. “You see, the other day, a friend of mine asked me if I’d lend a hand in helping some children. Seems they’ve been trying to get home for a long time, and today I cleared my appointment book so that first thing tomorrow I can go and help them to have a safe passage. I’m sure you both will agree that it’s their turn.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Father Hannity, along with two other priests, pulled up in front of the Prescott Mansion. Glancing in the rear view mirror, he was glad to see a police car pull up behind them.

  The young priest in the backseat grabbed a black bag filled with all that would be needed to perform an exorcism should one be necessary, and opened the car door.

  The three priests waited beside the car for the officers to join them.

  “I have to say, of all my years on the Sheriff’s Department, this is my first exorcism.” Roberts tried to sound nonchalant about what they were there to do and failed.

  Jenkins shook hands all around and then waited, wishing he was just about anywhere but here.

  Father Hannity looked around the yard and shook his head. “I don’t see any birds. That’s a bad sign.”

  “Why’s that?” Jenkins said.

  “Birds won’t come around a place of evil. If you ever go to buy or rent a house, look to see if there are any birds. If there aren’t, pass on the house.”

  “Hmm, I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “I invite the children who have been kept against their will in this filthy place of evil to come forth. I have been sent here to help, to protect you, and to send you home to the Holy Light of Home by your friend Willie.” Hannity spoke into the quiet. “You have no reason to fear me.”

  “Did you hear that?” one of the young priests breathed. “It was a very faint whisper.”

  The others shook their heads.

  “There it is again. It’s the soft voices of many children.”

  “You’re more receptive to spirit, Father Daniel. That is a good thing as it is a gift from the Holy Father.”

  “I can’t really make out what they’re saying, but I can hear their murmurs.”

  “I want you to look around you until you see a beautiful bright light. When you see the light I want you to walk into it until it covers you completely. You have nothing to fear from the light. The Holy Angles are in the light and will take you home to God and Jesus.”

  To the wonder of everyone standing in the yard, a white light so bright it hurt the eyes to look into its brilliance, covered the entire space around them. Suddenly, the laughter of many children rang out for all to hear, then grew quiet as the bright light dimmed and disappeared all together.

  “They’re on their way; Home to God and all who are holy.” Father Hannity smiled then turned to look at the house. “That was the easy part; now comes the real challenge.”

  As soon as they walked through the door, Hannity could feel the presence of a dark entity.

  “It’s here.”

  “Oh fuck,” Jenkins said, earning a sour look from Hannity.

  “Detective Jenkins, we are here to combat evil. I would appreciate your not feeding into it with your utterance of profanity.”

  “Consider me warned, Father,” Jenkins said, shooting Roberts a why-the-hell-did-I-let-you-talk-me-into-this look.

  After candles were lit and everything laid out in readiness, Father Hannity picked up a crucifix and proceeded to begin a blessing of the house.

  The Man in Black stood ready to do battle, surrounded by his legion of demons.

  “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to tell me your name, demon,” Father Hannity spoke into the silence. “In the name of Jesus Christ who shed his blood on the cross for our sins, I command you to tell me your name, demon!”

  Deep diabolical laughter filled
the room, raising the hair on the back of their necks.

  “You cannot hide, evil one! Show yourself and speak aloud your name, slave of Satan!”

  “So we meet again, Jon Hannity.”

  Hannity’s heart jumped in his chest at hearing his name spoken by the demon he was calling forth. Breathing deeply, he called on God to lend him His strength.

  “I see you know my name, spawn of Satan. Then you must also know I am an ordained priest here to send you back to hell where you and your minions belong.”

  “You are not in control here, Jon Hannity. There is only one master of this universe. His name is Satan, Ruler of all. If you wish to save yourself and all you hold dear then renounce your God and turn to a real ruler. Call on the master of all that’s true in this world.”

  “I spit on the name of your master! I denounce Satan and all he stands for. In the name of Jesus Christ the Holy Son of God, I command you to tell me your name!”

  Hannity was screaming out his demands.

  “I don’t know about you, but this is scaring the hell out of me,” Jenkins whispered.

  “Scaring the hell out of you? I’m about to piss my pants, I’m so tense,” Roberts told him.

  “Your name, demon!” Hannity threw holy water in the direction the voice was coming from. “In the name of Jesus Christ and all the saints in Heaven, I demand to know your name!”

  A figure began to take shape, and at the same time, both officers drew their guns.

  “Your weapons are worthless against me!” He taunted as he began walking forward. Roberts and Jenkins fired off six shots each into the evil standing in front of them.

  “My name is The Man in Black. I am the one who will see to your death and the destruction of your soul.”

  “We’re fucked…” Jenkins said aloud.

  “Yes, you are,” the evil demon agreed.

  “What the hell! I smell smoke! He’s lit the damn place on fire!”

  They ran to the door, but it was locked and no amount of pulling would get it to open.