The Grim Spectre

by Ralph L. Angelo Jr.

  “Really smart guy? An’ just what is your job, in your mind anyway?” Zeus turned with more than a hint of anger in his eyes.

  “Watching your back, and keeping you safe from your own foibles, Phylo.”

  Zeus nodded and said, “An’ you just make sure you keep doin’ just that, Oscar,” he replied with a pointed finger.

  Chapter 15

  “Hey Bobby! Are you in there?” a muffled female voice called from the hallway outside Bobby Terrano’s door.

  Groggily at first, then with almost instantly renewed clarity Bobby’s eyes focused and he sat up quickly, suddenly wide awake.

  ‘Oh no!’ he thought, ‘That’s Tammy, she’s here and I’m in my costume yet. I must’ve slept the whole day away.’

  He looked down at the blood stained costume and quickly felt beneath the shirt. Only a slight scar remained.

  ‘The magic belt, it healed me again, but it took the whole day. I must’ve been hurt worse than I thought.’

  “Bobby do you hear me?” Tammy said, while pounding on the door.

  ‘What do I do? I can’t get changed outta this thing fast enough,’ Bobby thought.

  With a quick thought Bobby turned invisible, and intangible, stepping back into a wall between his apartment and the next. An instant later Tammy entered, using the key Bobby had hidden under his door mat. She looked around, her face screwed up in a combination of surprise and worry.

  “Well I’ll be,” she began, “He’s not in here, but I swear I heard him moving around. So where is he? He never stopped by to drive me nuts at work like he always does. I don’t get it. I hope he’s all right. Then she noticed the sofa, with the dried blood stains on it and her eyes went wide in fear. “Oh Bobby!” she cried, covering her face with both hands, “The hospitals! I have to check the hospitals. Oh no, I hope he’s there and not dead in some alley somewhere, oh Bobby!” she cried and ran out the door of the apartment, pulling it closed behind her.

  An instant later the Grim Spectre emerged from his hiding spot. He had peeked his invisible face through the wall and seen the entire display of Tammy’s concern and worry.

  “Great, how am I going to explain this one?” Bobby said aloud.

  He walked into his bedroom and stripped off the bloody costume, then hid it all in a false bottomed drawer in his dresser. Carefully he held the wide golden belt and thought ‘You need to look like a regular leather belt now.’ Instantly the belt complied and it changed shape into a run of the mill leather belt. Quickly he ran into the shower and washed. A few moments later he was dressing in a fresh pair of slacks and clean shirt.

  ‘I’m going to have to find Tammy and tell her I’m okay,’ he thought to himself. ‘Then I have to find that crazy priest who attacked me, I mean The Grim Spectre last night, and I have to teach him a lesson he’s not gonna forget.’

  He looked toward his dresser one last time then removed the bloody shirt from the hidden drawer.

  ‘Then I have to get this cleaned.’

  He shoved the dirty and bloody shirt into a bag and headed toward the door. Opening it he stepped cautiously outside, and seeing no one around he reached under the door mat and removed the key Tammy had replaced there.

  ‘I’m not leaving this around anymore, that’s for sure.’

  He placed the key in his pocket and hurried down the staircase toward the front door of the apartment building.

  Bursting out onto the street Bobby looked in both directions but he knew Tammy was long gone.

  ‘Dammit, now what do I do?’ he thought.

  Bobby snapped his fingers and said “The Paper, that’s where I can find her.” He hailed a passing cab and quickly jumped in. Fifteen minutes later he exited the cab door and bounded up the staircase toward the door of the old building.

  Once inside the city room he shouted, “George, have you seen Tammy? Just now I mean, has she been back here in the last couple of minutes?”

  George Kowalski looked up from a stack of papers in his hands and focused on the disheveled young man running toward him.

  “Whoa, slow down, Bobby. Yes, Tammy was just here and she was quite upset. She thought you were dead, or something.”

  “Well I ain’t dead, George. Where’d she go? Did she tell you?”

  “She said she was checking the hospitals for you.” the bigger man replied.

  “What’s the closest hospital to here?” Bobby quickly questioned.

  “Mercy is three blocks that way,” George pointed.

  Bobby nodded his thanks and ran first to the elevator, and then out the door into the street.

  ‘Now where’d she get off to?’ Bobby asked, while starting to lightly run down the street in the direction George had indicated.

  Bobby dodged and weaved his way through slow walking shoppers and people heading home from work.

  He ran past one store after another and past groups of sight seers when he saw something that immediately riveted his attention to an alleyway. It was on the edge of the alleyway and everyone else walked by ignoring it. It was a woman’s shoe lying on the sidewalk near the mouth of the alley. But more importantly it was Tammy’s shoe. One of the same shoes she had on in his apartment.

  Chapter 16

  Tammy awoke and realized immediately she was restrained. She looked down at her arms and torso in a rising panic. She was bound tight in a chair by leather straps, as well as around the neck and head.

  “Wha-what is this? W-why d-did you d-do this to me?” she stammered fearfully.

  Before her was the back of a large man in a lab coat. He was tall, broad shouldered, but hunched over strangely.

  He turned to her and she was startled by his appearance. He was ape-like in his features and countenance. His eyes were beady and deep set, and he was very hairy, like a throwback to some forgotten era. He smiled at her grotesquely and said, “Welcome my dear, I pray that you are not too…uncomfortable.”

  She stared at him, terror gnawing at her tongue, and then finally said, “Who are you? What do you want?” now her reporter’s demeanor had returned, and she was ignoring her restraints, trying to get her story, trying to make the misshapen mockery of a man speak.

  He stared at her a moment and chuckled softly. It was an action made all the more chilling by his misshapen body, then he said, “I am called Dr. Simian. You can imagine why, I’m most certain, my dear.”

  “Why’d you kidnap me? What’s going on here and what’s this all about?”

  “Very simply, Miss. Thomas, I saw you and I liked what I saw. So I took you. You will become my wife before we are done here.”

  Horrified, Tammy leaned back in her seat as the words played over again and again.

  After a moment of stunned silence she said, “You really can’t be serious?”

  He laughed and replied, “How would you like me to respond to that? But of course I am serious, my dear.”

  She began struggling at her bonds and said “Uh-uh. No way, get me out of this now.”

  Simian walked over and patted her head reassuringly, then said, “There, there, my dear. It will be over rather quickly, once I begin the process the pain will be excruciating, but short lived.”

  “Process, you maniac? What process? What are you talking about?”

  “Why I am going to make you perfect. You will become a female variant of myself. I will use the same equipment I used on myself. I will perform the exact same procedure I did on myself, and you will become my perfect mate. The mate of Dr. Simian!”

  Tammy began to struggle with even greater desperation but it was doing her no good. She fearfully watched as Dr. Simian walked toward her carrying a mask that would cover her mouth and nose hooked up to a small canister of gas.

  “There, there, my dear. When we are finished here you will have a new life, a new start. Today will be a day you will never forget.”

  And then, in abject terror as Simian began clamping the mask on her face, Tammy passed out.

  ***

  Officer
Tom Wyatt sighed, “Look, Bobby, A lost shoe is really not that much to go on, you know that right?”

  “Tom,” Bobby began, “I’m telling you she wouldn’t have run off with one shoe on like this is suggesting.”

  He held the shoe up and waved it around in front of Tom’s face.

  “So what, you think she’s been kidnapped?” Wyatt asked.

  “Yeah, I mean I think so. What else could it be? Look I called you before I called her office back. I spoke to George there, again, and she hasn’t returned. Something’s happened to her, I’m tellin’ you Tom. She’s in trouble, definitely in trouble.”

  Tom looked at Bobby and shook his head in disgust, “Look Bobby, I’ll do what I can. I’m not even supposed to put in a missing person’s report for 24 hours.”

  “Yeah, but in 24 hours she’ll be dead, we both know it.”

  “If something really did happen to her,” Tom replied.

  “And what if it really did? Are you willing to leave Tammy to die, just because I might be wrong about this? Look, who do I go to, to make sure this is a priority? She’s gonna be killed Tom, I-I can feel it. Something’s wrong.”

  Tom Wyatt sighed and shook his head again and then said, “Okay I’ll do this for you, I’ll look for leads, I’ll do what I can without precinct interference if need be. You go down to the station house and fill out a missing person’s report right now. We’ll get the ball rolling. Tell them you spoke to me already and I’m looking into it.”

  Bobby smiled and clapped his friend on the shoulder, “You’re the best, Tom, thanks.”

  Tom nodded and said, “Go on, get outta here. The sooner you get that paperwork filled out, the sooner we can find Tammy.”

  “I’m leaving,” Bobby said and hurried down the street flagging down Lou’s cab who was passing by.

  The cab stopped, Bobby pulled the door open and said, “Lou, take me to the precinct house and don’t spare the ponies!”

  The old cabbie nodded with a grin and sped off.

  ***

  An hour later Bobby exited the precinct house feeling frustrated and angry. He was surprised to see Lou still waiting for him.

  “What are you still doing here?” Bobby asked. Frustration was showing all over his face as he slid into the backseat of the cab.

  “What do you think, Bobby? I was waiting for you.”

  Before Bobby said anything Lou pulled away from the curb.

  “Back to your place?” Lou asked.

  “Y-yeah,” Bobby answered dejectedly, while staring out the window.

  “Go get some rest, Kid,” Lou said after Bobby had stepped from the cab and then the cabbie added, “This ride’s on me.”

  Before Bobby could argue, Lou pulled away from the curb and shot the hulking cab back into traffic.

  Bobby watched the cab disappear and then he bounded up the stairs toward his apartment building. Disappearing inside, he opened his apartment door and stepped inside, quickly locking it behind him. Bobby Terrano entered his bedroom but sixty seconds later The Grim Spectre emerged.

  ‘The first stop is DeLuca,’ Bobby thought. He stepped forward and through the wall, then quickly out the other side.

  ‘Invisible,’ he thought. He immediately disappeared and then he began to fly invisibly toward DeLuca’s apartment.

  A few minutes later he flew invisibly through the wall and stood facing DeLuca.

  Slowly, as to not startle the small time thug unnecessarily, he faded back into view, “DeLuca,” he said, a sense of urgency coloring his voice.

  “Spectre, what is it?” DeLuca asked in surprise.

  “A woman was kidnapped this afternoon; I need your aid in finding her. Someone in your contacts must have heard something.”

  DeLuca stamped out a cigarette in an already overflowing ashtray and said, “All right ghost guy, I’ll start talking to some people I know right away. If any o’ them had heard anything I’ll let ya know ASAP, but how am I gonna get in touch with you?”

  “I shall return here in two hours. Have something for me, DeLuca. This woman could be dead already for all I know.”

  “What will you do if she is?” DeLuca asked.

  “I will have vengeance if she is harmed in any way.” His voice trailed off.

  DeLuca nodded solemnly, “Okay ghost guy, I’ll do what I can for ya.”

  Then as an afterthought asked, “Where are you goin’ now?”

  “I am returning to the last known spot this woman was seen at, to inspect it for myself.”

  “Good idea, Boss. But look for someone who might have seen somethin an’ was afraid to talk to the cops. Somebody musta seen somethin’. Who is this dame anyway?”

  Beneath his mask Bobby grimaced at the word ‘dame’ but still replied unhesitatingly, “It is Tammy Thomas.”

  Joey DeLuca stopped in his tracks and slowly turned back toward The Grim Spectre, and then said, “The reporter? Are you kiddin’ me?”

  “No DeLuca, I am not. Go and find what you can for me, I shall return to the alley she was seemingly kidnapped from.”

  Silently The Grim Spectre turned and walked through the wall once again, fading from sight as soon as he touched the wall itself.

  Minutes later he descended invisibly into the alleyway he believed Tammy was abducted from.

  ‘There is no one here, save for the underprivileged who sleep here in this alley.’

  He faded into view and several of the winos who had been passed out there awoke with a start, stumbled to their feet screaming and ran out.

  One man remained, staring fearfully at The Grim Spectre’s approach.

  “Sweet mother o’ God, I knew I should have told that cop what I saw!” the man exclaimed. He laid there amidst the trash cans shaking visibly in fear at the sight of The Grim Spectre.

  “I mean you no harm, mortal,” The Grim Spectre began, “But I need to know if you have seen a young woman abducted from this alley. If you have, what can you tell me about it? And be quick about it, her life may depend upon it.”

  The Grim Spectre stood over the shaking wino. The man swallowed hard and replied, “I-I, I saw somethin’ but the cops, they ain’t gonna believe me, no one will. You ain’t gonna believe me either and you’re a friggin’ ghost.”

  “What did you see, mortal, and be quick about it!” The Grim Spectre roared.

  The wino gulped hard in fear then looked up at The Grim Spectre and said, “I saw somethin’ crazy, i-it was a guy who looked like an ape. He was hairy, an’ he swung down from the fire escape on his long ape arms an’ snatched up this pretty red haired girl who was walkin’ past, like he was waitin’ for her.”

  “Indeed he might have been,” the Spectre replied, “what else can you tell me about this creature?”

  “H-he clamped a hand over her mouth with a rag in it. She struggled a few seconds and then finally stopped. Then she just hung there like a rag doll.”

  “Where did this ape-man go?” The Grim Spectre asked, obviously intrigued

  “Up the fire escape an’ onto the roof,” the wino replied.

  “And the girl you saw? What became of her?”

  “He had her under one arm like sack o’ potatoes; they both disappeared over the roof.”

  “You have been helpful,” The Grim Spectre said, and then flew upward toward the rooftop.

  He floated there surveying the roof and cursing inwardly, ‘I should have never let her get that far ahead of me. Dammit, I should have told her all about this crazy Grim Spectre stuff before now. If she dies it’s going to be my own fault.’

  The Grim Spectre surveyed the roof tops all about him for some sign of struggle; for some sign of Tammy.

  ‘Nothing. I don’t see a thing. What happened to her? Where’d this ape-man take her? Who knows if he even exists? That old man may have just been hallucinating from alcohol poisoning or whatever.’

  Slowly, invisibly The Grim Spectre hovered above the roof top and poured over every section of it, looking for something, but fi
nding nothing.

  ‘I-I don’t know what to do now. This magic belt gives me all this power to fight evil, but it’s not doing anything to find Tammy. What do I do now?’

  He continued to look over the cities rooftops in every direction, then he floated back to the fire escape the ape-man had purportedly climbed up.

  ‘I’ll examine every inch of this city until I find Tammy, only then, it may be too late, God help me, I hope not, but if this creature harmed her, I’ll kill him, with my bare hands!’

  The Grim Spectre turned and looked for the wino again, he found him still where he had been, huddled in the alleyway hugging his bottle of cheap liquor. He descended from above and landed next to the man, still invisible. Then he slowly turned visible as to not stun the man unduly.

  The wino’s eyes went wide at The Grim Spectre’s reappearance but he did not run, or worse, pass out from terror, “Oh, you’re back,” the man slurred.

  “I have more questions for you. First, you spoke of a policeman who had asked you about her disappearance?”

  The wino nodded, “Yeah, a buncha cops were here a few hours ago, but we can’t trust ‘em here in the community. So I didn’t tell ‘em nothin’”

  “I see, was there anything you left out that you should have told me?” The Grim Spectre pressed.

  “N-not that I can r-remember,” The man stuttered.

  “Think man, think!” The Spectre insisted.

  “T-there was one thing, he smelled funny.”

  Intrigued, The Grim Spectre asked, “How so?”

  “H-he smelled like flowers. I remember him stinkin’ o’ flowers. T-that’s all I can remember, I s-swear!”

  The Grim Spectre nodded solemnly, then replied, “You have nothing to fear from me. I am here to aid the helpless and to fight evil. I…thank you for your aid.”

  Fading from sight, The Grim Spectre floated over to the fire escape again and this time he slowly, meticulously looked it over. For many minutes he hovered around it inspecting every nook and cranny of it until finally he had to contain a shout of enthusiasm.