“I’m sure those are just his tools.” Regina said, comforting herself.
“Yeah…his tools,” Nikki agreed still not taking her eyes off of the slovenly man as he marched across the field of death.
The eyes of both girls caught one another and Regina felt an undeniable sense that she, Nikki, and the gravedigger were no longer alone. Maybe she had heard a hard step on the ground nearby or heavy breath close in the air, but she was sure that there was something evil near. Regina looked across the field again and the gravedigger was gone.
Nikki’s shrill screams rang out in the cemetery. Cold, strong hands grabbed both women from behind and Regina looked up over her head to see a dark man standing over her with a sharp metal tool that he had raised high into the dank cemetery air that was now coming down straight toward her head. She closed her eyes and waited for the pain, the inevitable stillness that was to come.
When no immediate pain came, Regina opened her eyes to hear the gruff sounds of attack melt into childish whoops.
“Assholes!” Nikki screamed as she wrenched herself out of what they were sure, just moments ago, were the hands of death. Nikki regained her balance with aggravation firing on all circuits as she dusted dirt off her colorful jogging suit.
Regina stood up on her own rejecting the hand that one of the laughing men extended. It was Barron Forte, Regina’s high school sweetheart and his younger brother Carter. Barron’s boyish good looks had grown into dead-on handsome and she knew that he knew it. He was tall and of medium build, his skin was smooth, but bristled with a goatee that he had been growing; his lips were full and opened every now and then to reveal the smile fit for a game show host.
“Barron.” Regina yelled as she jumped on the refined young man wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. He whirled her around. She was so thrilled to see him that she almost failed to notice how disrespectful such glee seemed in a place like this and immediately released the man from her grips.
Carter Forte held his hands stiffly out in front of him and moved toward Nikki like a zombie and managed to chant, “We’re coming to get you, Barbara.” One good time before breaking into laughter again.
“I second that asshole comment,” Regina said, directing her quip at both men. Barron was holding a long silver screwdriver in his hand.
“What are you doing with that?” she asked, pointing at the weapon.
“We went to get it from my grandmother’s house, we were putting together an entertainment center for my mom, but we needed a screwdriver so we had to walk over to my grandmother’s to get hers,” he explained, directing his head toward his grandmother’s home, which was just on the other side of the cemetery.
“We always cut through the cemetery,” Carter reminded them.
“You guys are too old to be jumping from behind tombstones and scaring people. I almost peed my pants!” Regina scolded them as she punched Barron in the chest playfully.
Barron’s little brother Carter was still bursting with laughter as he held his stomach.
“You two are NOT funny! I’m trying to grieve my mother. Don’t you idiots have any respect for the dead?” Nikki was still pissed and took a girlish swing at Carter, missing.
“Awwwwww, c’mon Nikki. Of course, I respect the dead, but when we saw you two here, we just couldn’t resist. I apologize.” Barron said, bowing at the waist in a charming gesture. Everyone settled down, but they retained slight grins as they were on the edge of crazy laughter, but managed to fight it back so as not to get cursed by Nikki again. The group stood in silence waiting for Nikki’s forgiveness. After a few seconds, she rolled her eyes and spoke in a calm and collected manner.
“Fine, but you guys are still idiots.” Nikki narrowed her animal-like green eyes at the men.
“Awwwwwww, don’t be that way,” the two brothers wailed as each of them covered the girls in bear hugs.
“Since when are you two such handymen anyway?” Nikki asked.
“A man knows his tools,” Barron spoke with an exaggerated arrogance.
“Especially if he is a tool.” Nikki joked. “What are you guys doing here?”
“I told you we had to go to my grandmother’s house,” Barron said. Nikki rolled her eyes deeply.
“… In Black Water, genius?” Regina clarified.
“Lola’s funeral, what do you think? She was our friend too; besides, my mom asked us to come.” Barron explained.
“This is crazy, huh?” Carter intervened. “So Glen DeFrank killed her?” He asked.
“Yes.” Nikki answered his question quickly.
“We don’t know that for sure.” Regina corrected her friend. Regina put her hands on her shoulders and rubbed them to create some heat. She was starting to get a chill and wished that she had listened to her mother and put on a scarf. Barron must have noticed her discomfort.
“You want my jacket?” he offered.
“No, I’m OK. Let’s get out of here,” Regina said to the group.
“You guys want to get some coffee at the OC?” Carter offered. “My treat.”
“You always were a big spender,” Nikki joked.
“Sounds good,” Regina confirmed.
“We just have to drop this screwdriver at home, get the car and we’ll meet you guys there.” Barron outlined the plan. The Forte brothers set out across the cemetery toward their mother’s home, which was just on the other side of the cemetery, opposite their grandmother’s house. Regina picked up her father’s bike and walked alongside it following Nikki down the gravel path; she stopped for a moment and turned and looked one last time for the gravedigger and his bag.
8
Regina could hardly wait to wrap her thin fingers around a steaming cup of coffee to melt the frost that had covered her body on the bike ride over. Slumped over the counter was a fiery-headed waitress that Regina instantly recognized as Michelle Sears. In high school, Michelle was well known because her mother and father ran the OC and her uncle was the sheriff but it would have been hardly accurate to call her popular. She had been the editor and number one reporter for the Oakley High School Times. Lusty venetian red hair sat on the top of her head in a tussled bun, her green eyes lacked sparkle and were more matte like brambles of a forest. More than anything she loved to talk and was known to not be able to keep a secret even if her life depended on it, which was just another reason why people liked being around her, but no one really wanted to be friends with her. Getting the secrets from her was one thing, but telling her one was like writing your business on a billboard.
Michelle must have recognized Regina because she fondled her lightly with her eyes, but was much too proud to immediately reveal unfettered recognition of Regina with a wave. Michelle nodded subtly, letting the girls know that it would be a moment until she came over, acknowledging them nonetheless. Regina gave her a slight wave and struggled to muster half of a sincere smile. The girls sat in a booth along the wall of windows so that they could people watch on Main Street, which is something that they had often done as kids, it was something everyone does in places like Black Water. An eighteen-wheeler truck zipped by the popular eatery, sending up a massive wind that ruffled everything on either side of Main Street. Nikki stared out the window for a moment before turning to her friend, leaning forward and piercing Regina with the scintillating green eyes that told of her French Creole heritage.
“It’s Halloween, you know,” she said in a seductive whisper.
“I know.” Regina reeled back in her booth cringing in anticipation of what words were about to spring forth from the lips of the infamous Nikki Valentine.
“Well …” Nikki said as she unlocked the tension in the moment and relaxed back against the booth. “I think you got your seasons mixed up, little girl,” she said.
“Do tell?” Regina tempted, leaning over the table. Nikki hummed to herself in a low bewitching tone before allowing the words to slip off her lips like honey.
“You sure lit up like the Time
s Square Christmas tree when Mr. Forte put his arms around you,” she taunted. Regina pulled napkins from the dispenser and threw them at Nikki, feeling the warm burning sensation of embarrassment fill her cheeks.
“Nooooooo!” She rebutted playfully. Nikki broke into a grossly exaggerated imitation of her friend.
“Oh Barron, what bright eyes you have.” Nikki began.
“The better to see you with.” Regina furthered the joke at her own expense by assisting her friend in the recounting of the fairy tale in a monotone voice.
“Oh Barron, what nice teeth you have.” Nikki began again.
At this point Regina could see exactly where her friend’s sick humor was going. She had not changed; even in high school, her personality encompassed a likable perversion.
“The better to eat you with.” Regina finished the joke before both girls were consumed in an adolescent guffaw.
“You are absolutely sick, you know.” Regina laughed with the back of her hand covering her mouth, as if that would reduce the level of girlish immaturity.
Just as they had in the graveyard, the Forte brothers appeared out of thin air and they were sliding into the booth next to the girls before they had even a moment to quell their snickering.
“What’s so funny?” Carter asked.
“Little Red Riding Hood,” Nikki told them, revealing at least one layer of honesty.
Both girls began giggling again.
“What?” Barron asked before the conversation was interrupted.
“Well, well, well, look at the little crew all together again.” Michelle stood over the table tapping her lower lip with the pen she held in her hand. The tall girl eyed the group enviously.
“I think I remember you kids.” Michelle’s words struck as slightly condescending, considering all four of them were adults.
“Did someone order a redheaded slut?” Nikki spoke first. The entire table burst into simmered laughter. Regina pressed her hand over her face amusingly exasperated by the fact that this petty feud continued into adulthood. Nikki and Michelle had become sworn frenemies when Michelle began dating one of Nikki’s high school boyfriends before Nikki had a chance to break his heart by dumping him when the relationship began to get serious, as was her routine method of operation. The group did their best to sweep up the laughter that was left lingering in the air after a couple of seconds. Michelle eyed a Nikki that appeared very proud of herself for making the group laugh.
“Always a pleasure to see you, Nikki. What can I get you for breakfast? A cup of coffee with a shot of brandy and eggs with a side of lifelong regret?” Michelle fired back as if she had been prepared for the trivial battle before approaching the table. As awkward as Barron, Carter and Regina felt being caught in the cross fire of this conversation, it was undeniable that they were sincerely entertained.
Nikki flashed a captivating smile. “That coffee sounds great, but I will have a shot of Bailey’s in my coffee instead of brandy and hold the food.”
“I would ask to see your ID, but since you look forty, I’ll chance it.”
“Michelle, such a dirty little mouth! I’m starting to believe all of those high school football team rumors about you.”
Michelle gave Nikki the finger in a silent reply.
“Maybe, but I am going to need about twenty cups of coffee with Bailey’s for that.” Nikki sneered sarcastically.
“Ah, yes, now I recall it was Lola who was the nice one.” Michelle stated.
“Oh it’s just playful banter.” Nikki squeezed her face in an embellished smile directed at Michelle. Michelle eyed Nikki carefully before brightly returning her attention to the rest of the group in a complete change of expression that was flawless.
“Looks like you’re only missing Natalie. I’m sorry about Lola. Absolutely sick what happened to that girl. She didn’t deserve that.” Michelle said and everyone nodded in reflective agreement.
“So what does sheriff think?” Regina abandoned all subtlety in her quest for information. Michelle took a long and calculated look over both of her shoulders. In a flash of expression, Regina thought she recognized what could only be described as genuine terror in Michelle’s eyes. After deciding that no one outside of the chosen group inside the booth was listening, Michelle leaned into the table so that she could whisper. The booth of enthused listeners leaned forward; all sets of eyes were close and upon Michelle as if she was telling the most intriguing ghost story in a tent at a childhood camp-out.
“I am only telling you guys this because you were her friends,” Michelle informed them. Regina listened intently. There was an isolated silence at the table, with the noise of the diner far away, smothered under the pounding of their hearts.
“Well, as you know …” Michelle turned her head to one side in a downward tilt, her gossiping position. “Her body was found buried on the outskirts of the DeFrank estate. From the initial review of the remains it appears that she was stabbed, among other things.”
“Stabbed?” Both Regina and Nikki interrupted at the same time with the same inquiry.
“Yeah, stabbed …” Michelle answered, frustrated at the interruption.
Barron raised an eyebrow. “How can they tell that she was stabbed after all of this time? Wouldn’t she just be bones?”
Michelle became more peeved at their lack of forensic knowledge.
“There were cuts on her bones. It is possible that some of the cuts were caused during the dismemberment, but it’s possible that she was stabbed before she was mutilated. Whoever did this was pissed. Whoever did this hated Lola. Some of the stabs that pierced her body hit bones and the marks are still there. Blunt force trauma to the head, and then placed into two black garbage bags. Someone really did a number on her. Because of all the trauma to her body I even heard some talk of a ritual killing, but that’s just a theory.”
“How did the Madsen boys find her?” Regina had already heard one version of the story, but wanted to know everything that Michelle knew.
Michelle took a deep breath and peered over both of her shoulders once again before revealing more secrets.
“Jonathan Madsen and his two brothers were out there playing around. If you remember, the Madsen farm borders the DeFrank land. While they were playing they crossed over onto Glen DeFrank’s land as they have many times before, I’m sure. Jonathan Madsen spotted the top of the plastic bag sticking up out of the ground. They thought that they found a buried treasure so they went back to their house, got a shovel and dug up the bag. You can imagine their surprise when they opened that bag expecting to find rubies and gold or whatever it is that ten-year-old boys expect to find in treasure, maybe a library of dirty magazines or something, but you get what I am saying. They found bones and shoddy scraps of her clothing. They told Old Man Madsen and he called my uncle.” She finished as she observed the scowls of awe and disgust that were creased into the faces of every member of her audience, which gave the storyteller in Michelle a sick delight.
Several seconds, which registered as minutes on the consciences of every member of this country diner horror group, passed before anyone could say a word.
“What about suspects?” Nikki asked.
Michelle shrugged quickly as if that were a silly question to ask. “Well, right now they are thinking Glen DeFrank, unless it is some great coincidence that she was buried there.”
“It doesn’t have to be a great coincidence. With all of that land that they had anyone could have buried her there.” Carter reasoned.
“Sure, but you know that before he died he had become very strange. If you ask me, that’s one heck of a coincidence.” They all looked to Carter for his rebuttal and, though it was hardly a slam dunk case, he had to relent that it did seem strange. He tangled his mouth in an arch of begrudging defeat.
“Michelle! Unless you’re interviewing the queen over there can I get you to deliver some of these sausages?” Michelle’s younger brother yelled out of the food window from the kitchen.
&nbs
p; “Sausages; her specialty.” Nikki cracked unable to bear the intensity of the situation any longer.
“Hold your horses!” Michelle yelled to him. “Christ!” she bellowed, turning back to the table. “Lemme get orders.” In a rush, Michelle took the orders of the table, three coffees and one with a shot of Bailey’s.
Nikki wasn’t kidding, Regina thought to herself as she listened to Nikki’s order.
“Got it!” Michelle left the bunch and hurried into the kitchen. Regina could not wait for her to get back with her coffee; the details of her friend’s murder had filled her from the inside out with ice. Everyone at the table studied everyone else, wondering how to feel, what to say, but nothing would change what was and what had been. Longingly, Regina gazed out the window and watched the families stroll up and down Main Street. Everyone else was happy and Regina spotted the twinkles of carefree joy that glinted in the eyes of the children, heightened by the coming of one of the town’s most favored holidays.
Barron invaded Regina’s thoughts, “So do you guys think Glen did it?” he asked in what was almost a whisper.
“Yes,” Nikki answered without hesitation, barely allowing Barron to finish his question, then sitting back and folding her arms against her chest in a satisfied manner.
Michelle appeared with four cups of coffee.
“This one is yours.” She placed one of the coffee cups in front of Nikki. Also, on her tray was an enormous slice of chocolate cake with four forks.
Barron wasted no time, snatching up a fork, gormandizing the layers of chocolate.
“The cake is on me.” Michelle winked. “Thank you” Regina said before taking a long sip of the coffee. It ran down her chest warming her whole body and she reluctantly returned to the conversation and the reality that she now wanted only to escape.
Black Water Tales: The Secret Keepers Page 9
