by K C Norrie
Witnesses gave conflicting accounts when questioned and police were contacted. Some witnesses say the animal was shot, and the body destroyed, while others claim to know nothing about how the bite occurred. The investigation continues. Anyone who encounters unusual behavior in an animal is asked to contact the police.
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Two Dead! Body Stolen from Morgue
The body of the recently deceased crime lord, "Smokey" Ray Kingsley, was reported stolen from the Franklin Valley Hospital's morgue, leaving two dead victims in the wake of the theft. Employees walked into a gruesome crime scene yesterday.
"So much blood," a woman stated. Police are worried this may be the beginning of a power struggle within the organized crime syndicates of the city and have notified the FBI.
Police are still investigating Kingsley's death from a mysterious animal bite and once again urge citizens to report unusual behavior in any animals and also to report any sightings of unusual animals.
****
Killer Tiger Captured
FBI agents caged a Siberian tiger loosed within Franklin Valley Hospital yesterday afternoon. The tiger is believed responsible for three deaths, including the death of its owner alleged crime boss "Smokey" Raymond Kingsley.
Kingsley was reportedly bitten last week but did not report the bite until he became seriously ill two days ago. He was admitted to the hospital at that time, where he later died from complications deriving from the bite wound. It is unconfirmed if the pet tiger got loose at the time of the bite.
Experts have determined that the tiger somehow tracked its owner to the hospital where Kingsley's body rested in the morgue. Two hospital employees were subsequently attacked and killed. Kingsley's missing body, which at first was thought stolen, was discovered by the FBI agents being guarded by the tiger. The tiger has been confirmed euthanized since its capture.
****
Atlanta Georgia
Friday, November 12, 1948
8:00 AM We received the call to come to Atlanta Georgia to contain a Subhuman Event (SE) with witnesses.
10:00 AM We arrived on scene at the Franklin Valley Hospital. We located two victims with identifying bite marks. It was nearly four hours since witnesses first discovered the bodies, so we quickly loaded them into the special "Returned from Death" (RFD) boxes used for such subjects and moved the boxes into the cargo hold on the back of our truck. We explained that the bodies would be returned to the families in closed caskets for burial, but that the agency was required by law to test for certain diseases in bites as severe as these. No incidents occurred during this phase.
FBI agents on the scene, informed us they were contacted by local law enforcement, when the body of known racketeer, "Smokey" Ray Kingsley, was discovered missing from the morgue in addition to the gruesome deaths of the victims. The responding officers assumed that the hospital got caught in a power-struggle between crime organizations.
The FBI investigation revealed that Mr. Kingsley died from complications stemming from an infected bite of an unknown animal. The local paper implied a pet tiger or other large feline. We liked the pet tiger theory. Kevin P. guarded the truck, while Riley S. and I interviewed the seven employees who discovered the crime scene. None of the witnesses were bitten, and no one saw what happened.
11:30 AM Unit director Ronald D. announced to the hospital staff that the wounds on the victims were congruous with a tiger bite. Since witnesses all confirmed the outside doors to the morgue were closed at the time the bodies were discovered; logic implied that the "tiger" was still loose somewhere in the building. He assigned the FBI agents to guard the entrance and exit doors and the local police carried out the evacuation of the hospital staff and patients. During the evacuation, a call was placed to Special Reqs.
1:00 PM Once the evacuation was complete, and the doors secured, we orchestrated a room by room search for Kingsley.
1:20 PM Riley reported hearing noise coming from a closed room located on the same floor as the morgue. Harris B, Eben R., Riley and I, opened the door. We found Kingsley wandering inside alone. No other victims were discovered. Riley and Harris placed the metal helmet created for this purpose, over Kingsley's head for safety and then the four of us contained him inside one of the same R.F.D. boxes used earlier.
2:30 PM Special Reqs 7th Division reported they were enroute to our location. We waited near a loading dock not visible from the street. On arrival we received their package, and they received Kingsley.
3:30 PM We performed a show for the spectators and staff who waited on the hospital lawn. Kevin drove our truck to the front of the building. He got out and opened the back of the truck just as several heavily armed agents stepped out from the hospital's entrance, leading a Siberian tiger wearing a special leash used for transporting tigers. He was docilely led into the open cage in the back of our truck and successfully locked in. Applause burst out and cameras flashed. The tiger was followed out by two more agents carrying a body on a gurney, covered by a sheet which was said to contain the missing body of Kingsley, which in fact was only a practice dummy used for teaching purposes. We stole it. Hopefully, the hospital will not connect us with the theft.
3:45 PM The story we reported to the press was that Kingsley was the tiger's owner. The pet tracked its owner's whereabouts all the way to the hospital morgue and dragged his body to a hiding place, guarding over it until the agents came and took him away. The human interest helped us cover things up.
The crime scene was cleaned of evidence and sterilized before the hospital re-opened.
The tiger was returned to its home at a zoo located sixty miles away.
Summary: The police were not contacted when Kingsley was first bitten. He arrived at the hospital four days later presenting flu-like symptoms. No mention of a bite was made at that time. Dr. Andrew Johnson discovered the wound during his initial exam, hidden under a large bandage spanning Kingsley's entire forearm. He became suspicious when Mr. Kingsley explained that he accidentally cut himself. Dr. Johnson questioned the three men in the waiting room, who had accompanied Kingsley, then called the police to report an obvious animal bite that required investigation. He told police the three men who accompanied Kingsley, gave wildly fantastical explanations.
The man who identified himself as John Smith, stated a man with rabies bit Mr. Kingsley.
A second man named Robert White, reported, a rabid dog somehow got into the office and bit Kingsley.
The last man, a Pete Brown, reported that an unknown animal jumped out of a barrel of pickles and bit Kingsley.
None of the men could explain what happened to the man with rabies, or the rabid dog, or the unknown animal from the pickle barrel; but all three swear that no one else was bitten.
Death occurred within forty-eight hours of admission and Mr. Kingsley attacked and killed his two victims approximately eight hours after his death. We successfully contained the situation with the believable explanation of a pet tiger turned deadly.
Raymond Kingsley, AKA "Smokey" Ray Kingsley, is no stranger to the Bureau. He is described as a thug; a known racketeer, extortionist, kidnapper, and murderer. He is presumed the kingpin behind over a hundred unsolved murders and disappearances. Many of the bodies have never been found. His nickname "Smokey" stems from a legendary incinerator, hidden somewhere within his Fortress of Clubs, speculated to be the final resting place of many of those missing bodies.
Our follow-up investigation began late, six days after the occurrence of the original bite. We were unable to locate John Smith, Robert White, or Pete Brown for statements. Addresses listed for the men were fictional.
We found Kingsley's infamous Fortress of Clubs had been ransacked of valuables. Discarded items and debris trashed the floors. We found the incinerator cold and silent; its threat now dead like its owner.
Raymond Kingsley's empire exists no more.
Addendum
One note of interest. We just received the phone record from Raymond Kingsley's private
office phone. The record shows a call received last month, all the way from Jai` Doro, Brazil. For the rest of the world it is said that all roads lead to Rome.
It seems all our roads lead to Jai' Doro or Settlers Way or Saint Ange.
Afterward
Paul was on top of the mountain with his two sons. It was a beautiful night, with a clear sky and bright full moon.
Linde had always talked about coming up here on a full moon night, but they never did. He was busy, or the weather interfered, or the boys were too small.
Wishes made beneath the Jai` Doro moon have a way of coming true. Tonight, he made a wish.
He didn't believe in such things, but tonight he wanted to. Jonesy said signs were everywhere if you looked for them. Tonight, he wanted a sign from Linde; he needed the comfort, but he didn't know what to look for. A shooting star maybe?
The little white flowers glowed like little drops of moon. Moon drops. The boys were playing. Other families were up here gathering vines for tea and flowers for syrup. Paul looked up at the stars.
As he looked Paco looked up beside him. "Is mama up there?" Paul didn't answer. He didn't know.
"I think she is there," Paco pointed. "Right behind the dark where the stars shine through." He squeezed Paul's hand.
"You are right. I think so too," said Paul. "She is most certainly in the light behind the dark."
As they made their way to the path that would take them home, they stopped beside an old tree with a trunk so wide Paul and the two boys together could not reach around its girth and have their hands touch. The moon drop flowers grew in abundance around the trunk and up into the branches, glowing magically beneath fluttering leaves. They stopped to admire the tree, when something caught Paul's eye. He stepped closer and stopped at the carving in the tree.
"Linde" was carved within a heart into the trunk of the tree.
"See here? It's a note from mama," Paul told his boys. "She sends us her love."
They all touched it and looked at the message a little longer before they turned to walk home, still thinking about the heart. So it was, that Paul didn't notice that there was no breeze, or that the tree was dead and had no leaves to flutter. What he missed in the darkness were the hundreds of bats, feeding on the nectar of the vine that had taken over the dead tree.
Settlers Way, California
1941
Chapter 33
Time marched on. Other small towns dotted the east side of the mountain; but most of the population preferred to go over or around the mountains to live on the west side of California.
Technology exploded into trains, automobiles, airplanes, high-rise buildings, and movie theaters in cities all around; but changes happened more slowly in Settlers Way.
There were wars. There was a depression. Settlers Way noticed little. Only when their own boys went to war and came back filled with modern ideas, did they catch up with the rest of the United States.
Their closest and only neighbor Middleton lay ten miles away with a single road between them. From Middleton there were two roads out. One led to Newton and the other to Garysfield City, fifty miles away, too far to be considered a true neighbor. Newton and Garysfield City led to everywhere else in California.
Newton, which had five times the population was first to get electricity. Garysfield City was close behind, and Middleton followed. It was as if the power companies didn't realize there was a Settlers Way. Eventually they were connected to the rest of the world. Soon every home had a radio, then a telephone. Slowly, automobiles replaced the horses and the carts.
By 1940, Settlers Way had a school, a grocery, a pharmacy, a tiny hospital, and a police station.
There were also towns and villages growing on the other side of the Settlers Way Mountain. One such town was named Highview, and it was built up high on the rise of the mountain, rather than the flat plains at the bottom. Its beginnings were blurry.
Jakery Delancey grew up there. From the time he was seven years old, he could melt hearts with his smile. Adults and girls loved him. His parents were proud. But he had a darker side he kept hidden.
At first only "things" came up missing, Watches, jewelry, money, little keepsakes; but no one suspected Jakery. He had that smile. He had impeccable manners. He was always polite and helpful.
Jakery like to take things. He kept them hidden in his room in a place where his mother never looked. He would only take them out if she was taking a bath or not home. His father never came into his room. His father was too busy for that.
Today, his mother was out with other ladies. His father was in his study either working on his sermons or reading his bible. Seven-year-old Jakery was in his room "being good" as he was told. He had all of his treasures lined up on the rug in front of him. His door was open and if his father should peek in, which he probably wouldn't, his bed would hide the treasures from view.
Mrs. Felton's cameo brooch lay in his hand. As he held it, he thought of her and felt as if she were here in the room with him. Other people's things held power. These things had been places that Jakery had never been. He had taken the brooch from Mrs. Felton's jewelry drawer while his family was there for dinner and Jakery was supposed to be using the bathroom. At the table the conversation had been about the travels of Mr. and Mrs. Felton. Mrs. Felton said something funny and Jakery's father laughed. That's when Jakery asked to be excused to use the bathroom. He asked Mrs. Felton.
She smiled at him and said, "Of course you may."
He went into their bedroom, opened the drawer of a jewelry box and took the brooch he saw, putting it into his pocket. He remembered to flush the toilet, wash his hands and dried them on his pants without touching the pretty guest towels before returning to the table.
Now as he held the brooch, he felt that if his father came to his bedroom door, he could make him laugh. But his father never came. When he heard his mother coming up the walk to the front door, he put all his treasures away and went to bed.
When Jakery turned seventeen, he no longer took things from other people. The year he turned seventeen, it was girls that went missing; girls that were never seen again.
****
Celeste was barely sixteen years old when she disappeared forever. She brushed her blond hair carefully before leaving her home on that Saturday morning. Her parents were still asleep. So was her younger sister. They would never again sleep late on a Saturday morning. They never got to say goodbye. There was no last hug and kiss at the front door to remember. Forever, they would remember hearing the front door click shut, and regret not getting up to investigate.
She walked up the path that led to Fielder's Meadow up higher in the mountain. There was a romantic story about that place. Jakery was meeting her there secretly. That was for the best. Her parents would ask too many questions. Her sister would tease.
Jakery. She loved saying his name. Jakery. She wasn't dressed for climbing up the mountain. She climbed and stepped carefully. She didn't want to ruin her church shoes, and she'd worn her best dress. She didn't want to tear the skirt or get the hem dirty, so she held it up a little as she climbed. Just when she spotted him, she reached up to her neck to feel for the heart-shaped locket on the necklace he had given her just a few days ago. Her mother had asked about the necklace last night, and Celeste had given a vague answer about borrowing it from her friend, Theresa. The locket and their romance were to be kept secret; a world for just the two of them, Jakery has told her. But she wanted to show it off and wear it all the time. She needed to ask him about that.
She arrived late. Jakery, who should have been stunned breathless by the sight of her beauty, was irritable instead. It ruined her mood.
"You're late!" he told her accusingly.
He did not take her hand. Instead, he turned and walked alone through the mountain meadow. She had to struggle to keep up. Celeste got a little angry. There was another boy Anthony who liked her too. Just as she decided to turn back around and give Anthony a chance, Jakery grabbed her
and kissed her roughly. She struggled to catch her breath, and he pushed her to the ground. She tried to talk to him to cool things down as her mother had told her was her responsibility to do. He slapped her across the face and told her to shut up. She felt something sting her ankle. Jakery pulled up her skirt. Celeste struggled harder. She got out a scream before Jakery clamped his hand hard over her mouth. She both heard and felt her under garments ripped away; and then felt pain. What was he doing? She screamed beneath his clamped hand.
Suddenly, Jakery stopped and rolled off of her. He was smiling.
"Are you okay?" he asked gently. But she was not. She was not okay. She got unsteadily to her feet.
"Where are you going?" Jakery asked suspiciously.
Celeste was crying. She tried to stop but she couldn't. She started back toward the path that led home. She shouldn't have come.
Jakery got angry again.
"I thought this was what you wanted!" he yelled.
Celeste kept going.
"Don't walk away when I'm talking to you!"
He was so angry. Why hadn't she noticed this about him before? He followed her. He called her names, horrible names as she walked. She was frightened. She was close to the path home when suddenly he caught up with her.
"What are you going to do?" he asked her. "Are you going to tell?"
She didn't answer. She couldn't. She didn't know what to do. Celeste wondered what she looked like now. What would her mother say? Her father?
