"It was Elvis, and he was dead, and he looked like he did the day he died."
Robert was examining the jade. It was a simple square with some sort of Chinese character carved on it, He handed it back to her. "All right," he said. "We've searched that area of the town, and my men are combing the rest of Rio Verde with Pam's picture. We'll get a posse together and search the surrounding desert if we have to, but we need as much information as you can give us."
"That's it. That's all there is."
Let's go through it step-by-step, from the moment you left the house to take Pam to her lesson." your
An hour later, they were all exhausted, Emily was crying and they still had no new information. Robert dismissed Emily, thanking her, promising they would keep her informed, and dispatched Ted to take her home.
Robert sighed, popping out the tape and carrying it out to Lee Anne
"Type up a transcript and fax it to Rossiter, okay?"
She nodded. "Okay."
Stu walked in, limping.
"What happened to you?"
"Nothing." He moved behind the counter and sat down at his desk, painfully grimacing as he stretched his right leg out in front of him.
"Charley horse."
"Great. People are dying and Elvis has come back to life and my officers are incapacitated by charley horses." "I'm not incapacitated." He frowned. "Elvis?"
Robert waved tiredly. "Have Lee Anne explain it to you while she types. We have a missing person. You're going to be out there searching next shift."
He walked back to his office. Woods was seated at his desk, contorting his face. "My mouth tastes like I've been gargling with sewer water."
"Really? That's nice. Get out of my chair."
The coroner stood. "Medusa Syndrome," he said. "I'd bet money on it.
She saw the vampire kill her daughter, or abduct her daughter, and the shock was too great. Now she thinks she saw Elvis."
"You never heard of the Medusa Syndrome a month ago. Now you're an expert?" "
"Let's call in Jacobson, have him look at her."
"He still hasn't gotten through to Vigil."
Woods took a cigarette out of his pocket, looked at it. "The only thing I can't figure out is how come the vampire didn't take her down, too. Why just the daughter?" "The jade."
"What was all that about? I was wondering why you wanted a peek at that necklace."
"According to the Chinese, jade scares vampires away. Works like a cross is supposed to."
"So we have ourselves a Chinese vampire here?" Robert shrugged. "I don't know. Could be."
Woods put the unlit cigarette in his mouth. "Clifford and the horses were cremated Monday. They won't be coming back."
"Good."
The two of them were silent for a moment. "I think people are missing," Woods said finally.
Robert didn't respond right away. He kicked his shoe against the floor, trying to dislodge a small rock pressing against the sole of his foot. "What people?"
"I don't know. It just seems to me that there are fewer people around town than there's supposed to be. I went into the pharmacy yesterday, and while it's never the most happening place in town, it seemed downright deserted. Even the Basha's parking lot looked kind of empty."
It was true. Robert had not wanted to admit it, might not have even noticed it on a conscious level until Woods had brought it up, but now that he considered it, Rio Verde had seemed unusually quiet since the weekend. With the absence of the recreationers and the coming of the cold weather, it was as if the town had emptied out, leaving only a skeleton crew of citizens.
"Maybe people are scared. Maybe they're leaving." "Maybe," Woods said doubtfully. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means most people around here have a tough time just making their car payments. You think they can slid demy decide to take a few weeks off work and stay at a hotel in Scottsdale because they're scared of a vampire? You think they're packing all their belongings, calling moving vans, and heading off for California?" The coroner shook his head. "That looks great in movies, but real life economics ensures that that won't happen here." "What's your explanation, then?"
"People are staying home, not going out. They're frightened. Many of them might not even know why. But they're scared. It's in the air now, Robert. It's not working behind the scenes anymore. It's out in the open." He took the cigarette out of his mouth. "And I think some people have.. disappeared. Like Pam Frye."
Robert stared at him. "But people would report that.
Wives, husbands, parents, kids. Someone would call that in."
"Maybe."
There was a knock on the door frame, and Robert turned to see Jud and Steve standing in the hallway out side the office. "What is it?"
"We found a girl's shoe in the drainage ditch behind
Basha's," Jud said. "We think it may be Pam Frye's." "Why are you here then? Why aren't you searching?" "We found it an hour ago,"
Steve explained. "We've been searching the ditch and the area behind the store since then and haven't found a thing."
"Where's the shoe?"
"Tagged in an evidence bag. We thought you might want to call in the room, have her look at it before we devote any more time to that area."
Robert nodded. "Good thinking. If it is hers, we'll focus on that sector. If not, we can move on." He looked at Woods, then back at the two officers. He cleared his throat. "I know you may be thinking this already, but I just wanted to make it official: We're dealing with a vampire here. That's what we're looking for now."
Steve nodded. "what does Agent Rossiter say about that"
"Who gives a fuck what he says?" es, sir." haven't told Rossiter yet. But I will."
"It's punishment," Jud said. "Those people who died were punished for their wickedness and their sin. Maybe Pam Frye's been punished, too.
Maybe the whole town's being punished."
Robert turned to face him. "Where did you hear that crap?"
The policeman looked embarrassed. "Pastor Wheeler. He says this is the work of God."
"The work of God? And you believe that shit?"
"I believe in God more than I believe in vampires."
Robert shook his head disgustedly. "I can't believe you're stupid enough to fall for that."
Jud's face reddened again, but this time from anger. "We have freedom of religion in this country, sir, and I can go to whatever church I want without having to get my boss's permission. You can tell me what to do on the job, but no one tells me what to do in my real life."
"You're right," Robert said. "Sorry." He glanced again at Woods, who raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Call Mrs. Frye," he told the policemen. "Have her come down and identify the shoe. Have Lee Anne ring me when she's here."
Steve nodded. "Yes, sir." Both he andJud headed back down the hall.
Robert closed the door. "What do you make of that?" "Is that officer a religious man?" "Didn't used to be."
Woods put the unlit cigarette in his mouth. "Wrath of
God. That scares me."
"You buy it?"
"No. But it scares me that other people do." He examined the map of Rio Verde on the wall opposite the window. "It scares me a lot."
Sue stood uncomfortably in the middle ofiJanine's living room, waiting for her friend to get out of the bath room, acutely conscious of Janine's mother lying passed out on the couch.
"One more minute!" Janine called.
Sue did not answer, not wanting to wake the snoring woman. She glanced slowly around the room. The interior of Janine's house looked like the office of a cut-rate travel agency, the paneled walls decorated with posters advertising the sightseeing attributes of various countries, the posters tacked up at off-center angles that were supposed to be artistic but instead looked sad. "Early white trash," Shelly called the decor. Sue could not bring herself to be quite that harsh, but she had to agree thatJanine's mother would not win any awards for interior decorating.
Ja
nine walked in from the hallway, adjusting her tasseled cowgirl jacket. "Thanks for coming. I don't know what I'd do without you.
"That's what friends are for," Sue whispered.
"So says the song." Janine nodded toward her mother. "And you don't have to whisper. She's out like a light."
"We'd better get going. I have a busy day ahead of me. I have to drop the car off for my father. I work at the newspaper in the morning and the restaurant in the afternoon. What time do you want me to pick you up to night?"
"I'll get a ride." Janine straightened her hat. "God, I hate car problems."
"Who doesn't? "They're talking about laying people off at the ranch, you knows. That's why I'm filling in today, to earn some brownie points."
"Laying people off?
"They said it's because of the stories in your paper."
Sue bristled. "That's stupid. The paper printed an article about a murder, and now the Rocking D's immediately going to start firing people because the bad publicity might scare some people away next summer? That doesn't make sense."
"No," Janine admitted. "But it sounded logical when Hollis talked to us. I mean, he has a point. Why does the paper always focus on bad and negative things? Why doesn't it ever show some of the positive aspects of our town?"
"The paper focuses on bad things? Since when? All the Gazette's ever had in it are ads and fluff stories about old people. You've said so yourself. Now people are being murdered, the paper's reporting it, and you think the coverage is too negative?"
"You're getting awfully fired up about the responsibilities of the newspaper lately."
"Yeah, well." Sue felt her face flush. She looked at her watch. "We'd better get going. Or else we'll both be late."
Janine followed Sue out the door, closing it and locking it behind her.
She put the keys in her right front pocket, and there was a clanking rattle as they fell through a hole in the pocket and down her pants leg onto the ground. She picked the keys up, putting them into her other pocket. "So what are you going, to do with the extra money you're making at the paper?" "I'm saving it for college." "Still?"
"It's expensive." /" "Why don't you break down and do something fun for a change? Celebrate. All you have is that old record player. Why don't you buy a new stereo? Put a CD player on layaway at Radio Shack."
"Radio Shack? You expect me to trust that place? It's an electronics store, and they don't even know how to use a cash register. They still write everything out by hand."
"I'm just saying do something fun for once. At least with your first paycheck."
Sue shook her head. "I'm not getting any younger."
Janine nodded slowly as they walked out to the car. "That's true.
Neither of us are."
There was a resigned sadness in her friend's voice that made Sue think of the unborn baby, and she found herself surreptitiously glancing at the other girl's abdomen. Had she made a decision yet? Had she told her mother?
Maybe that's why her mother had gotten drunk last night and passed out on the couch.
Sue unlocked the passenger door; walked around the front of the station wagon. From down the street came the sound of a souped-up engine, roaring, growing louder. A red Mustang sped by.
"Go back to China" a male voice yelled.
There were hoots of encouraging laughter, and then the Mustang squealed around the curve of the road and was gone.
"Assholes," Janine said.
"Who was that.
It looked like Bryant Taylor's car."
"God, he's twenty years old, and he's still cruising around yelling insults at people?" Sue shook her head. "When's he going to grow up?"
"He and his buddies are probably looking for a high school couple walking to school now, so they can yell, "Fuck her! I did!" "
Sue laughed. "I remember that one."
The two of them got in the car, and Sue started the engine, put the car into gear, and made a U-turn in the middle of the street.
Janine pulled down the sun visor to examine her face in the small makeup mirror. "Have you talked to Shelly lately?"
Sue shook her head. "Not since last week. She never seems to be home when I call. Why?"
"She's never home when I call either, but I saw her yesterday at Circle I'm worried about her. She's... I don't know. I think she's losing it."
"Losing it?"
"I went over to talk to her, and she started giving me all this church talk, all this stuff about blood and death and Jesus and I don't know what all. It was creepy."
"Shelly?" Sue said, surprised.
Janine nodded. "Shelly. And, I don't know how to put this delicately, but she smelled. Bad. Like she hadn't bathed for a long time, you know? It's hard to describe, but you'd understand if you were there.
It was weird. Scary. The way she looked and the way she was talking, I kept thinking--I know this is cold, but I kept imagining her morn, dead, in the kitchen or something, stabbed.
Shelly hates her morn, you know."
"I don't think she hates her."
"I think she does, and the way she was acting yesterday .. ." Janine shivered. "I don't even want to think about it."
"A lot of strange things have been going on lately." "You can say that again."
Sue drove for a moment in silence. "What would you say," she said finally, "if I told you there was a vampire in Rio Verde?"
"I'd say I've heard that one before."
Sue did not take her eyes off the road, but she reached into the open purse next to her. Her fingers found what she was looking for---one of the small jade stones that her grandmother had given her--and she offered it to Janine, opening her palm. "Here. This is for you."
What is it? This is a stone!
"What is it?
Jade. It will protect you from vampires. '
"I thought crosses did that."
"Not according to my culture."
Janine said nothing, looked at the jade. "You're serious about this, aren't you?"
Sue nodded, feeling a little embarrassed but not as much as she'd expected. "These people who were killed, the man at the Rocking DID, they were killed by a vampire, or what we call a cup hu #rngsi."
Janine licked her lips. "One of the maids said she saw a vampire," she admitted.
"What did she say he looked like?"
"A she."
"The vampire was a woman?"
"Yeah. La Verona."
The flesh prickled on Sue's arms. La Verona, the wailing woman of the canals, was an Arizona legend that had been used by more than one mother to ensure that her child did not venture too close to open waterways. In the version Sue had heard, La Verona had been tall and wraith-thin, with white skin and long black hair. In Sue's mind, La Verona had always had vaguely Asian features, and it was that image that chilled her now, made her feel so frightened.
"Where did she see the vampire. Sue asked.
"By the river."
She pulled onto the dirt road that led to the Rocking DID. "Keep that jade with you, okay? No matter what hap pens. And tell other people, anyone you can. Get one for your mother." "
"A jade rock?
"Anything made out of jade. White jade's the best, the most powerful."
Janine looked at her suspiciously. "How come you're such an expert in all of this?"
"It's a long story. Remind me to tell you sometime. After it's all over."
"After what's all over?"
"After the cup hugirngsi is dead."
Rich was pasting up the paper in the back room, his tape player cranked up, playing an old Yes cassette. Jim Fredricks was with him, cutting halftones to size and running them through the waxer before slapping them down on the sports page.
Rich glanced at Sue as she entered the room. "Hey," he said, "what's up?"
"I was going to ask you." She nodded to Fredricks. "Hi."
The sports reporter nodded back.
"So," she said, "any new developments?
Rich crit
ically eyed the column of type he'd just pressed down on the page dummy. He pulled up the wax paper and repositioned it. "Woman claims Elvis stole her daughter."
Sue sucked in her breath. "The cup hugirngsi." "What?" Fredricks said, turning around to look at her. "Vampire," Rich explained.
The sportswriter looked from Sue to the editor and back again, trying to determine if they were pulling his leg. Apparently deciding that they were serious, he quickly turned his back and returned to his sports photos.
Sue stared at Rich. "why are you here, then? Why aren't you helping your brother?"
"Help him do what." The editor shook his head. "I can't spend all my time rUnning around. I have a paper to put out."
"But--" ' "No huts. I can't do anything by following my brother around. What I can do is make sure that the paper comes out on time, like it always does. We can reach more people that way than any other."
She nodded. "Are you going to run my feature?" "Did you write it?"
"Sort of."
Sort of?
"It's not typed yet, but I've written it." She reached into her notebook and withdrew several folded pages, unfolding them and handing them to him. "Here."
Rich scanned the first page, the second, the third. He looked up at her. "There's no attribution here."
"I didn't have time to talk to anyone."
"This isn't an article. It's a report. And it's only about Chinese vampires."
"That's what we have here, a cup hug/rngs/." "We don't know that. "I know it."
He looked at her, met her eyes, then turned away, nodding. "All right.
Type it up. Bring me your disk when you're through. I need it within the hour."
"I will." She took the pages from him and hurried off to her desk, where she grabbed her floppy disk from the middle drawer. She pulled her chair up to his VDT, turned on the machine, and after loading her disk began to type.
She was nearly finished with the article when she heard voices from behind the dividers in the front of the office. Male voices. Two of them. She heard Carole tell them that Rich was in the back, pasting up, and then the men-Rich's brother Robert and what had to be the tallest man she'd ever seen--were rounding the corner into the newsroom.
The Summoning Page 32
