Evil Stalks the Night

by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

  I threw a slab of bacon in the pan and clicked the fire on underneath. The pungent aroma tantalized my nose. “I wanted to get up. Enjoy the morning. It’s so beautiful outside and besides, I have a lot to do today. You’re leaving and I wanted to send you off with a full stomach. I’m also going to enroll Jeremy in school.”

  It was only half of it. If Jim knew what else I had planned for today, he’d never leave. I had to be careful what I said. Jim was sensitive to my moods and I had a hard time hiding anything from him. “I need an early start.”

  “Well, it’s time the kid went back to school, especially after his escapade last night. He’s got too much restless energy. School, social activities, and homework is what he needs. You think he’ll go to our old school? DeHart, wasn’t it?”

  “I guess so. I haven’t seen any other school around here.”

  Jim ran out of words. We were probably both thinking about our childhood grade school. I could still see the flaking green walls and smell the antiseptic cleanliness of the place. I found myself remembering the one conference night when it’d been unseasonably warm and we’d been innocent children.

  I could smell those night perfumes and hear the June bugs flinging themselves against the windows. We’d bounced through the empty hallways waiting for our parents to come out from our classrooms and take us to the cookies and punch. I could see the drab rooms with the childish pictures tacked up along the walls and the dark tile squares with the tiny white flecks that covered the long hallway.

  It’d been a huge, rambling brick building with a towering flag pole out front, a perfect lawn and a gravel circle-drive enclosing the grounds. In my memory I also spied the seven of us traipsing off to school on a crisp fall morning. We lugged our books and wasted time, not anxious to be trapped within four walls too quickly. Charlie would always be left behind, resentful with tears because we wouldn’t wait for him. We walked too fast and taunted him, the straggler, calling him a slowpoke and playing childish pranks on him.

  Reminiscing, I felt shame at the way we’d treated him.

  One rainy morning we’d hid in the apple orchard, and ambushed Charlie with rotten apples we’d found on the ground. I’d always regretted it. I could have stopped it, I was usually the one who did. But this time I’d been carried away with the naughtiness of the moment. I envisioned Charlie’s sad face and a lump rose in my throat. Even after all these years. Yes, Charlie had been a mischievous and sometimes cruel child, but we’d been cruel to him in kind. No wonder he’d been the way he was.

  The bacon was sizzling and I broke the eggs into the pan. When they were done, I flipped them onto a plate and placed them in front of my brother. The only brother left, the only family I had now except Jeremy. “I hope it’s the way you like them.” I’d usually overcooked Jonathan’s eggs and he’d be so angry at me. As if I was some sort of short order cook gone wrong. Good riddance to him.

  “They’re great.” He started to eat.

  “You’d eat anything,” I bantered back, sitting down beside him with another cup of coffee. He’d filled out some since he’d been here, no doubt, my cooking. It made me sad to think once he was gone, he’d grow thin and hollow-eyed again. He’d never learned how to take care of himself. He looked tired, but no longer starving.

  “I might eat anything, Sis, but you sure are a fantastic cook. Don’t let anybody tell you different.” It was a direct cut at Jonathan and I knew it. Bless you, Jim, I thought. Still trying to mend my wounded pride any way he could. “The good home cooked food, that’s why I’ll be returning, for sure.”

  “I bet.”

  “I mean it. I love fine food, you know. I’d do anything for one of those juicy breaded pork chops grandma used to make. Remember?”

  “Yeah. Her pork chops were legendary. I’ve never been able to duplicate them. Ever. Wish I could. Are you leaving this morning?”

  “I’d better. It’ll take me a couple of days to get there in my truck. I don’t want to push the beast too hard. It’s on its last legs, er...wheels, and the band needs me by Monday.”

  “You want to borrow my car, since you’re coming back anyway? As little as I use it, I could put up with yours for a while. The truck might not make the trip again and I don’t want you stranded God knows where. I want you home in one piece.” I was worried he wouldn’t. There was no inner premonition or anything to warn me, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

  He shook his head. “Thanks, but no thanks. She’ll make it one more time. Then she can come home and retire. You need your car.”

  “As you like.”

  The look he sent me was thoughtful.

  “Do you want me to stay? I don’t have to go. If you have any doubts at all I can call them and tell them to find another guy.” I knew he meant what he said, but I couldn’t make that decision for him.

  “What about Rich and Beth’s baby? What about the drummer and your responsibility?”

  He hung his head. “If you’re sure it’s okay for me to go. I know,” he groaned, “I have to go. On the phone, Kyle was begging me. He’s a proud guy, Kyle, so I know they’re desperate. He even said if there was any other way out for them, they wouldn’t have bothered me.”

  “They don’t know what’s been going on here,” I supplied.

  “No, they don’t. To them, the biggest crisis in the world is the job they’re going to lose next week if I’m not there to bail them out. I felt trapped into helping and I’m sorry now I said I would. I should stay here with you and Jeremy. To protect you.”

  His face was gloomy as he nervously folded and refolded his napkin. There was conflict raging in his eyes and I fancied there was more going on inside him than I knew. Jim had a secret and like Jeremy he wasn’t going to tell me. Yet I’d be here when he was ready to confess. I’d be here, waiting.

  “You don’t need to protect me.” I cleared off the table. “You go. I’ll be safe. Jeremy will be safe. Trust me.”

  He gazed into the distance and we drank another cup of coffee together. Then he tapped me under the chin in the old familiar way and went upstairs to pack. When he came back downstairs, lugging his suitcase, Jeremy was trailing along in his footsteps.

  I could tell right away, Jeremy didn’t want his uncle to go. They were discussing the issue loudly as they meandered into the kitchen. I had to laugh at them.

  “Jeremy, stop bothering your uncle and sit down. I’m making you breakfast. Be done in a minute.”

  Jeremy’s eyes never left Jim’s face. They’d grown close since Jim’s arrival. There was already a strong bond between them.

  “He won’t be gone forever, sweetheart.” I planted a kiss on Jeremy’s head. “You’ll see he’ll be back before you know it.”

  Jeremy mumbled something I couldn’t hear, his face annoyed. I asked him what was wrong and he’d only shake his head, refusing to answer.

  Jim shrugged his shoulders, his gesture saying, to leave the boy alone. He’ll be fine.

  When I walked Jim to his truck, Jeremy didn’t tag out after us.

  “He’s pouting,” I told Jim, confused at the strange way my usually happy-go-lucky kid was behaving. Maybe I’d spared the rod too much and spoiled the child. Not that I believed in spankings, but sometimes a child needed some sort of discipline. It didn’t come to me until later, Jeremy must see Jim’s leaving as abandonment, as his father had done, and he was angry about it.

  “Goodbye, Jim.” I waved as the truck drove out of sight. Hurry back.

  I trudged inside and considered the dejected child sitting at the kitchen table and thought he looked the way I felt. Now Jim was gone, I wasn’t as brave as when I’d cheerfully told him to go.

  I took note of the time. “Hurry up, kiddo. I want to get you to your new school early.” It’d be easier on my son if he could start with the other kids. It’d be hard enoug
h to be the new kid without having to walk into the class in the middle and be gawked at. Jeremy was shy around strangers. I remembered how I’d been as a child. Just as shy.

  Jeremy went and got dressed. When he came downstairs again he seemed resigned to it all.

  “Ready, Mom.” He grinned. Out of his right pocket something silver and shiny peeked out, the Slinky I’d gotten him before we’d left the apartment.

  “I imagine the other pocket’s full of Matchbox cars, huh?” I threw my hands up in a gesture of mock exaggeration.

  “Mom, don’t you want me to have friends?”

  “Oh, is that how you get friends these days…bribe them?” I teased, as I put on my jacket and tugged my long hair free of the collar.

  “No,” he remarked sullenly heading for the car. “You share things, like toys, you know?” He climbed into the front seat and waited for me to get in.

  I knew, but as I looked at him I felt pr0ud he was mine, and he was as smart and generous as he was. He was a good boy, my son.

  * * * *

  The school resurrected so many memories of my childhood, I had a difficult time keeping my eyes dry. The ivy still climbed up the front walls and they still hung the children’s first attempts at art in the wide windows, for everyone to see.

  Taking Jeremy by the hand, I led him down the echoing halls to the principal’s office. Despite my trying to get there early, classes had already begun. I must have had the wrong starting time. The secretary asked polite questions about Jeremy’s birth date and recent shots. She didn’t blink an eye when I mentioned my name. I was relieved. It’d been so long could be everyone in town had forgotten my family and what had happened to us. Well, I could hope.

  When I left Jeremy in his classroom, in the corner of my vision, I saw a small girl loitering outside the doorway watching me in the weirdest way. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it except she seemed out of place. Why wasn’t she in class and why was she staring at me, and there were her clothes. Even from a distance I could tell her dress was torn and dirty. She had the biggest broodingly dark eyes. A small white face was framed by the longest raven-black braids I’d ever seen on a child. They hung past her waist.

  I was uneasy at her scrutinizing me, so I stopped the car with a lurch, and stole a last look at her. Maybe she was in trouble and I could help. I was feeling peculiar and suddenly she was gone. At first I couldn’t believe it and my eyes searched for her. She was nowhere.

  I worried about it as I drove away from the school and shrugged. I should have spoken to her, but she’d run away. There was nothing I could do. On the way home, though, something darted across my thoughts. Her pathetic image haunted me.

  This had happened before and I was afraid it might be another warning. Was the child in danger, or would be, and it was why I couldn’t get her out of my mind? I hoped not. I didn’t want anything else bad to happen to another child. I waited anxiously, but no vision came.

  Ben’s motorcycle was parked out front when I maneuvered the car into the driveway. And Ben was lounging nonchalantly on the front porch as if he owned the place.

  I got out of the car and strode up to him. He looked better than the day before, rested and clean-shaven. He gave me a genuine smile.

  “Good morning, Sarah.”

  I was on guard. There had to be a reason for his visit. “Good morning, Ben.”

  “You called me Ben.”

  “Well, it’s your name, right?”

  “It is. But you usually call me Detective or Detective Raucher.”

  “We weren’t friends yet.”

  “Ah, so we’re friends now?” His eyebrow lifted slightly and his smile returned.

  “After I revealed all my darkest secrets, I’d hope so.” I walked past him and unlocked the door. He’d get around to telling me what he wanted in good time. It felt funny because we were alone and I’d never been totally alone with him before. I hadn’t been alone with another man, come to think of it, since Jonathan had left me. Unbelievable, at my age I could be nervous about it, but I was. “Can I help you?”

  “I needed to talk to you. I’m sorry I didn’t call first but I happened to be riding by and I thought I might as well stop.”

  “Oh, you happened to be riding by, but you had to see me anyway, so you stopped even though I wasn’t home and you chose to wait?”

  “You’ve got me.” He admitted. His face was redder than usual. Oh, he was blushing. Never saw a man blush before. He was standing very close to me. So close I could smell his after shave. “I was sent here. Not that I needed an excuse to come and see you. I would have sooner or later anyway. I love your coffee. Best in town.” He grinned down at me as I carefully shoved the battered door open. It was barely hanging on its hinges. Have to get that fixed, I thought.

  “I’m supposed to believe that line, huh?” I grinned, too, and he followed me inside. “Come into the kitchen and I’ll make you some coffee.”

  He sat down while I fussed around at the sink.

  “I noticed,” he said, “your brother’s truck isn’t here.”

  “No. He rejoined his band in Michigan. They telephoned last night after you’d left. Jim’s replacement fell ill and they needed Jim back right away. He left this morning.”

  “Oh. How long will he be gone?” Was it idle curiosity on his part or intentional interest because of me, I mused, watching his handsome face.

  “Long enough to help them out of their problem and find another replacement, then he’s coming home for good. He claims his traveling days are over. He wants a home and hearth.”

  “He’s giving his music up?” Ben sounded surprised and I wondered how much Jim had talked to him about it.

  “Not really. He wants to concentrate on writing music. Get off the road. He mentioned something about playing around here for money and spending more of his time on the composing part. If he settles down in one place, he can. Besides,” I leveled with him, “he’s worried about Jeremy and me being here alone.” I didn’t need to say anything more, Ben seemed to understand. “Jeremy’s in school right now.”

  “I don’t blame your brother for being worried. I’m worried for both of you, too.” There was something in his gaze I caught. Concern? Or something more? I wasn’t sure.

  “So, he’ll be back soon?”

  “Soon as he can.” I sipped my coffee and waited for Ben to say what else he had to say.

  He didn’t waste much time. “The reason I’m here, really, is that Captain Sinclair has asked me to talk to you about coming in officially on this case.”

  “You told him about me!” I snapped, ready to condemn his indiscretion.

  “No.” Ben was quick to defend himself. “Captain Sinclair’s been a police officer here a long time. He connected this killing with your brother’s murder seventeen years ago right off, and he knows you, Sarah. ‘Home town girl with tragic background makes it big as psychic.’ He’s followed your career through the years. I didn’t say a thing to him or anyone. He’s the one who insisted I come over and talk to you, since he found out I’d met you and your brother.”

  “Aha! I’d forgotten what a small town can be like. I guess the entire town knows you know us, then? There are spies everywhere.” I wasn’t actually mad when I said it, because in a small town everybody always did seem to know everyone and everything. Of course, the captain would know we’d moved back into town. He might even be curious as to why I’d returned after all these years, and why another murder had occurred so soon afterwards. It’d probably raised a few eyebrows, and for a cop, a red flag. I shivered at the thought I was no longer anonymous.

  My reputation had caught up with me.

  “I’m sorry, Ben. I know it isn’t your fault. I hate the thought of setting off the whole circus again. I wanted this to be a fresh start.” I lifted my chin and looked aro
und the kitchen. There were still things I wanted to do. The house was so old but could be so beautiful.

  “He wants to see you in his office this morning, if possible.” Ben laid a strong hand comfortingly over mine. I almost pulled it away and then I saw the look in his eyes. He was sorry. He no more wanted my sordid past splashed across the front page than I did and was merely doing his job. He wanted to make sure there were no more murders. That we were doing all we could under the circumstances. He wanted to believe any further killings could be prevented or stopped.

  “So, is this an official or unofficial visit?” It’d crossed my mind they wanted more from me than my psychic abilities. They had already established connections between Charlie’s murder and this latest one. “I’m not under suspicion, am I, Ben?” The implications scared me more than a little. Could they detain or arrest me for it? “They don’t think we had anything to do with the murder itself?” Terror had crept into my voice and I knew Ben tried to set my mind at ease with his next words.

  “No, I’m sure Captain Sinclair simply wants to talk to you. See if you can shed any light on what’s happening or what might happen. But I’ll tell you this, I don’t think he holds much stock in this psychic stuff. He’s a pretty level headed guy. A tough cop, so don’t let him scare you.”

  “You think it’s my past he wants to know about?”

  “Some of it. He’s one of the officers who talked to you after Charlie was killed. He remembers you very well.”

  “So that’s the story, huh? He remembers me.” What had he thought years ago, confronted by a hysterical child who thought she knew more than all the grown-ups put together? He must have thought I was touched in the head, or a drama queen trying to get attention.

  Which cop had he been? There were a series of them after the first murder and, as the years went by, after the continuous murders, there’d been more. All their faces and questions blurred in my memory like those horrible times had begun to. There was a lot I didn’t want to remember and my mind had locked it away so I wouldn’t have to.