Falls the Shadow (Sparrow Falls Book 2)

by Justine Sebastian

  Speaking of Dawn Marie.

  Tobias looked up from his work on Mr. Andre Jackson, aged thirty-four at the time of his death, to check the big old Coca-Cola clock on the wall at the far end of the room. He was so used to Dawn Marie being late that he often went straight to work with a “she’ll be here when she gets here” attitude. She was never late by hours or anything like that, but always by at least fifteen to thirty minutes. Mr. Greene didn’t mind it, he said as long as she showed up and did her job when she got there then it was fine with him. Barring she didn’t do that whole “hours late” thing, of course.

  “She’s two and a half hours late. She’s never this late,” Tobias said to Gary after he removed the respirator. Gary had been sitting on the table opposite the one Mr. Jackson was on, quietly watching Tobias work. He turned without really moving, looking like he pushed his front half through his back to switch positions. His lively brown eyes sparkled as he bobbed his head in agreement with Tobias.

  “No, she sure isn’t. Maybe she was abducted by aliens,” Gary offered. He seemed to find the possibility cheering. “I was almost abducted many times. Did I tell you?”

  “Yes,” Tobias said. Gary’s near-abduction stories were legion. It had been one of his delusional fixations when he was alive. That and the old schizophrenic standby: Jesus. According to Gary, Jesus was an alien himself. He was very insistent about it. “I also doubt she’s been abducted. I don’t think they would find her a very cooperative test subject.”

  “You never know,” Gary said. “They might like ‘em feisty.”

  “Why?” Tobias asked even as he told himself not to engage in any of Gary’s lunacy. He found his logic to be as fascinating as it was flawed though.

  “Because Jesus was a pimp,” Gary said with a nod. “Mary Magdalene? I mean, come on. It’s great. I miss cheese.”

  Tobias blinked and tried to wrap his mind around that one. “Mary Magdalene was not a whore and neither is Dawn Marie,” he said. “I don’t see what cheese has to do with any of it either.”

  “I didn’t mean Dawn Marie is a whore-whore or anything, I was just— Look, never mind, you don’t get it,” Gary said. “I was just thinking about cheese. Do you have some? Will you eat in front of me so I can smell it? I can smell things really well. Dead guy sniffing. I think Jesus gave me that power. I can smell the aliens, you know. And crickets. I can smell crickets. Those fuckers stink. Hey! Did you know that—”

  Tobias waved for him to hush, which Gary did though he fidgeted and seemed to be having trouble doing it. Gary’s speech wasn’t quite disorganized that particular evening, but he was all over the place. It didn’t bother Tobias, though it did sometimes exhaust him to listen to Gary topic-hop from one thing to another. Just the other day he had been keen to own himself a pair of cowboy boots. Like the ones Jesus had.

  Unlike a lot of people though, Gary had taken to being a ghost with much more aplomb. He was a content spirit, still crazier than a hat full of monkeys, but happy about it. Tobias found his optimism to be nice, even if it was elevated even higher thanks to Gary’s mental illness.

  “I’m going to check outside,” Tobias said. “Maybe she fell asleep in her car, she had a late night last night with Mike.”

  “Oooh,” Gary said. “Hanky-panky, right? Right? I never had hanky-panky. I was ‘off-putting’ people said. Me. Off-putting. I’m great. I know things. I know so many things and if those silly bitches had just listened to me then they would have known. I could’ve told them how to protect themselves from the aliens. They’re all doomed now though. Serves ‘em right.”

  “Yes, alien experiment subjects are just what the doctor ordered for all of those women,” Tobias said.

  “Probe the hell out of ‘em!” Gary whooped from the table. “I’d have been much more gentle in my probing. They’ll never know that though. Nope. Nope.”

  Tobias coughed out a laugh and shook his head. Gary had died a forty-three year old virgin and the afterlife found him more than a touch sexually frustrated. He was talking out of his head though. Tobias had known Gary long enough to know that despite his mental illness, he had been (and was) a nice man. Certainly not the kind to forcibly probe some unsuspecting woman, gently or otherwise.

  He pushed open the heavy steel door between the preparation room and the outside world to take a peek outside. All he found was a crow sitting on the standing ashtray they kept back there. It cawed at him and cocked its head, watching him with its bead-bright eyes.

  “Hello,” Tobias said. It was the same crow that had landed on his shoulder a few days ago and exchanged one of its feathers for a strand of his hair. He knew because the crow was larger, plumper even, than the other crows. It stood out amid the typical uniform sameness of crows. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen Dawn Marie, have you?”

  The crow flapped its wings and Tobias could have sworn it shook its head in the negative. It really wouldn’t have surprised him.

  “Okay, well, if you do then please let me know,” he said with a smile. “Good evening.” He shut the door and walked back into the room.

  Gary was standing over Mr. Jackson’s corpse, peering into his still face. “Where did his right eye go?” he asked.

  “He lost it in an accident with a BB gun when he was a little boy.” Inwardly, Tobias winced. That was one of those things no one had told him, but he knew anyway.

  “Huh,” Gary said. He prodded the empty socket curiously, finger pressing against the lower lash line.

  Tobias made a sharp sound in the back of his throat at the sight. “Do not,” he said. “We’ve talked about this, Gary. Poking, prodding or otherwise touching the deceased is unacceptable behavior. Would you have liked someone to do that to you?”

  “I wasn’t missing an eye,” Gary said, but he desisted with poking Mr. Jackson.

  “That is not the point and I know you know that,” Tobias said.

  He had Mr. Jackson’s eye and that was next on his list of things to do in preparing him for burial. The eye was actually made of glass and heavy in Tobias’s hand as he picked it up off his little table.

  “Ew,” Gary said, crowding close to Tobias for a better look. He blinked then looked at him. “Wait. Did you find Dawn Marie? Was she abducted?”

  “She’s not out there, no,” Tobias said as he lifted Mr. Jackson’s right eyelid. “But she has not been abducted. Let it go, Gary.”

  “I don’t know…” Gary trailed off with a shrug then forgot all about it as Tobias began to insert the artificial eye in Mr. Jackson’s empty socket. “That is so freaky. What do you think that eye can see? I bet it can see all kinds of things.”

  “I doesn’t see anything; it’s glass.”

  “That does not matter. You see things without even looking at them. So why couldn’t he see things with his glass eye?”

  “Because he probably couldn’t,” Tobias said.

  “You don’t know that.”

  “You’re right, I don’t,” Tobias said. “Maybe he could see all the way to Valhalla.”

  “Where’s that?”

  “Next parish over.”

  “Really?”

  “No.”

  “It’s not nice to lie.” Gary shook his finger at him.

  “I am terribly sorry,” Tobias said.

  “No you’re not,” Gary said.

  “No, I’m not,” Tobias said with a little smile.

  Gary snorted at him then went back to the table he’d been sitting on.

  “You forgot to stab his belly,” Gary said.

  It was Gary’s way of reminding Tobias that he hadn’t yet inserted the trocar in Mr. Jackson’s abdomen to withdraw gas and bodily fluids from his organs before he injected the cavity fluid, a stronger embalming mix.

  “I didn’t,” Tobias said. “I just wanted to get the eye in before it slipped my mind.”

  “Nothing ever slips your mind,” Gary said. “Sometimes, I think you’ve got a recorder in your head that films everything. Maybe you’re a r
obot. Do you think you’re a robot?”

  “If I am a robot I was made to not be aware of that fact,” Tobias said. “Therefore, I cannot think I am a robot if it’s not a part of my programming to do so.”

  Gary fell silent after that, mulling over what Tobias said with a deep, thoughtful frown on his face. Tobias considered it a triumph and left him to his musings on whether or not Tobias was an android who might or might not dream of electric sheep. Usually, he was happy to engage in conversation with Gary; Tobias genuinely liked him, but he was preoccupied and beginning to worry about Dawn Marie. She was never this late and if for some reason she couldn’t come in, she would call.

  Tobias typically knew whether or not she was coming to work anyway since they lived together in the same house. He hadn’t seen her since the night before and things with Mike had gotten rather rocky of late since he started talking about leaving his wife and Dawn Marie kept telling him not to do that. With her track record of bad relationships and shitty boyfriend hall of fame ranging from the basic unemployed losers to drug addict beaters, Tobias was well within his rights to be concerned.

  Dawn Marie should have broken off her relationship with Mike months ago, though Tobias was of the mind she never should have started it to begin with. Mike was married and Dawn Marie knew that; it bothered her a lot. She had met Mike’s wife, Becca and even worse, she liked Becca. But that hadn’t stopped her from making the decision to keep seeing Mike on the side. Mike who was shady by right of his disloyalty to his wife alone. Thinking about it that way, Tobias saw how he was exactly the kind of guy Dawn Marie always fell for: a total dick. With a resigned sigh, Tobias inserted the trocar into Mr. Jackson’s abdomen.

  A little while later, Tobias removed the trocar while Gary sang “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” with far more enthusiasm than was necessary though he had an excellent singing voice for a dead guy. His rendition of the old Rolling Stones song was not that great, however. Gary was entertaining himself and by proxy, Tobias as well, but he sounded like he was doing an a capella punk rock cover of the song.

  “Sing ‘Liquor Store Blues’,” Tobias said. Gary was a walking jukebox, nearly any song you named, he knew at least part of it. He’d spent a large deal of his time after his first psychotic break listening to music. He would walk all over town with a Walkman and pockets full of cassette tapes that later became a large book containing that particular day’s selection of CDs. Tobias left the radio on for him at night and since Gary’s spirit was a very strong one, he could change the station on his own.

  “Sleepy John,” Gary said. “Oh yeah, all right. I can do that. You want me to do that?”

  “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t,” Tobias said.

  Gary nodded, hopped off his table and went to grab the cordless phone handset to use as a microphone.

  “No antics though,” Tobias said. “Just sing, please.”

  “Sure, fine, whatever,” Gary said with a roll of his eyes. “Spoilsport.”

  “Thank you, Gary,” Tobias said as he went to put on his respirator and suit again. He shouldn’t have taken it off to begin with, should have just carried on with his work, but he had been distracted. He was reaching to take his protective suit off the rack when the heavy outside door yanked open with a groan of hinges.

  “Fuck you, Mike,” Dawn Marie snarled. “I’m done.”

  “Well, I ain’t!”

  The door slammed shut again and Tobias heard Dawn Marie’s muffled curse of outrage. Presumably, Mike had shoved the door shut for her because as he said, he wasn’t done talking. Tobias left the suit where it was because this would not do.

  “Uh-oh,” Gary said, eyes saucer-big as he glanced from the door to Tobias and back again. “What are you going to do?”

  “I have no idea,” Tobias said.

  He didn’t either; all he knew was that he could tolerate Dawn Marie’s asshole boyfriends with no more charity than he could stand Stevie Buttons harassing Hylas. Aside from his brother, Dawn Marie was the only real friend Tobias had ever had. On the first day of second grade, she had sat down next to him, dolled up with braided pigtails frizzing in the heat, skinny legs tanned from a summer of sun and knobby knees scabbed over from scrapes. She’d smiled at him and said, Hi, I’m Dawn Marie. Who’re you?

  Tobias pushed the door open just in time to see Dawn Marie shove Mike, who returned the favor by back-handing her across the face so hard she fell down on the concrete. The argument and the presence of an unfamiliar person had stirred the crows from their nighttime roost and they cawed angrily. The sound was so loud that Tobias almost didn’t hear Dawn Marie’s pained cry, not that it mattered anyway. What mattered was that Mike had just slapped his best friend in the face. What mattered was that Tobias had spent a great deal of his time cleaning up the messes these horrible men left behind. They caused the damage and he put her back together again every single time.

  Mike was trying to help her up from the ground, apologizing, sounding like he wanted to cry. Dawn Marie cursed him, spat a mouthful of blood at his face and when he swung back to strike her again, Tobias grabbed his wrist.

  “No,” he said. “You will not hurt her again.”

  “Get your damned hands off me!” Mike snapped, whirling on Tobias.

  Tobias released him and stepped back. He was furious, but outwardly, he appeared calm. He straightened his shoulders and folded his hands in front of him

  “Or what?” Tobias asked.

  He smiled at Mike as it began to filter through his rage that Tobias scared him. Sometimes, if they were really angry, it took a few seconds for that to click. Mike had never laid eyes on Tobias before that day; he never came to the house unless it was to pick Dawn Marie up for one of their trysts and then he didn’t get out of his truck.

  “Or I’ll… I’ll…” Mike took a step backward, eyes never leaving Tobias’s face. He was trying to hold his ground though he didn’t want to and Tobias could see it in every quivering line of his body.

  “What you will do is leave,” Tobias said. “Your presence is not desired here any longer and it will not be tolerated.”

  “Oh yeah, what’re you gonna do about it?”

  “I’m an undertaker,” Tobias said as he closed the distance between himself and Mike. “I know how to deal with dead bodies.”

  “What the hell… Did you just… What?”

  “You know what I’m saying, Mike. Please don’t pretend you don’t. That’s absurd,” Tobias said as he tipped his head to the side, still smiling. The crows screamed from the trees and flapped their wings. The fluttering grew louder, closer and the crow Tobias had made friends with landed on his shoulder. It screeched at Mike, rasping voice deafening.

  “You—” Mike’s attention jerked between Tobias and the crow.

  “Go. Away.” Tobias’s voice was its usual pleasant, low bass rumble, but he said the words slowly and through his teeth. He leaned closer to Mike, their faces almost touching. “Now,” Tobias whispered against Mike’s trembling lips.

  Mike was shaking all over and his next step backward, his knees came close to buckling. He didn’t say another word, just turned himself around and stumbled away as quickly as he could.

  “Don’t come back,” Tobias said as he walked after Mike and clamped one hand down on his shoulder.

  “Oh, Jesus,” Mike said. He had been fumbling with his keys to unlock his truck door and they clattered to the ground.

  “And forget you know Dawn Marie Schuler,” Tobias said. He gave Mike’s shoulder a friendly squeeze.

  “All right!” Mike wailed. “All right, all right! Fuckin’ leave me alone, man. Please.”

  “Very well.” Tobias took his hand off Mike and stepped away. “Goodnight to you, Michael Raymond Butler.”

  He walked away and left Mike scrambling around on his hands and knees, searching for his keys. Several of the crows had left the tree by then to perch on his truck and berate him while he did so. The crow on Tobias’s shoulder preened his hair and n
uzzled him with its beak.

  Dawn Marie had stood back, hidden in the shadow of the alcove the entrance door was in and watched it all. She had the back of her hand pressed to her bleeding mouth as Tobias approached, but lowered it to smile at him. The smile did not reach her eyes and Tobias grimaced at the sight of her blood-smeared mouth.

  “Toby… Toby, I’m so sorry,” Dawn Marie said when he was close enough for her to speak without raising her voice. “I didn’t mean to drag you into this fucked up shit, I swear to God. I tried to leave and come to work, but he followed me. I’ve been fighting with him all day and he wouldn’t go away. I thought though if I—”

  “Stop,” Tobias said. It made him feel tired to even hear it right then. He leaned against the wall and pulled his cigarettes out of his trouser pocket. “I don’t care, Dawn Marie. It’s done now.”

  “I care,” she said. “I did not mean for this to happen. Fuck, Toby, please don’t be mad at me.”

  He looked at her and raised his eyebrows, blowing smoke out of his nostrils in a plume. The crow was still on his shoulder, too busy grooming him to pay Dawn Marie any attention. Or maybe the crows had well and truly gotten used to her at last.

  “When have I ever been mad at you?” Tobias asked.

  “Never,” she said after a minute spent staring at him. Her lower lip trembled and she bit it to hold it still. Dawn Marie was not a crier and never had been. “Even with all the dumb, stupid motherfucking crap I do, you don’t get mad at me.”

  “Correct,” Tobias said. He’d tried to be angry with her more than once over the years, but he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t get mad at Hylas either. He might get annoyed, but he never got angry and the annoyance never lasted for very long.

  “Why don’t you get mad at me?”

  “It’s not for lack of trying, I assure you.”

  “Jesus.” Dawn Marie leaned against the wall with a heavy thump. She rubbed the side of her face and winced. “I’m still so sorry.”