Evil Stalks the Night

by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

  Ben hadn’t replied to my last comment so I knew about what to expect. “This isn’t going to be a picnic for me, Ben.” When I visibly shuddered, his hand squeezed mine tightly as if he could give me some of his strength. I’d need it. “I don’t want to go, but I will.” He seemed relieved I was going to accept the summons without any problems. We both realized I had no choice.

  In the eyes of the law I was innocent. So far anyway. In my heart, I was as responsible, as if I’d killed the child myself. It was me the creature wanted, I was sure of it now. It was my own selfish fear of dying keeping this nightmare going. I fidgeted and twisted the gold ring on my finger. Had everyone who ever wore this ring been cursed? Had they all been clairvoyants or mediums?

  I should give the thing in the woods what it craved. Me. Then it’d all be over.

  How many more innocents would die if I didn’t?

  “That’s an unusual ring, Sarah. Very pretty. You didn’t have it on when I first met you.” Was the observation a flattering one? Had he taken that much of me in on his first visit, or was this simple detective’s attention to detail?

  “Thank you. It belonged to my great-great-grandmother.” I neglected to mention she had the power of divination, too.

  “You want to meet with Captain Sinclair now? Unless you have something else more important to do?”

  “I don’t. Might as well go now and get it over with.” So the Captain has sent me an escort. A ride. Considerate of him.

  “We’ll take the motorcycle, if you don’t mind. Sorry, I didn’t bring along an extra helmet, but I will next time. We’ll take it slow and easy on the road, though. Afterwards, can I take you to lunch? It’s the least I can do.”

  I hesitated and gave him a weak smile. There was no way I was going to admit to being afraid of motorcycles. “Why not? I’m free. Jeremy’s in school until about four.” The other reason I didn’t admit to myself was that I liked Ben. I felt safe with him. It was a good feeling after all this time of being alone. I’d felt the same way with Jonathan once.

  But Ben wasn’t Jonathan. I needed to treat him as a person in his own right. I’d finally grasped I couldn’t blame Ben for being a cop, or paint him as selfish and arrogant, because Jonathan had been. Ben deserved better, he’d been nothing but nice to Jim, Jeremy and me. The least I could do was be nice back. I needed a friend.

  A friend with a motorcycle.

  “Yes, afterwards you can take me to lunch.”

  Chapter Twenty

  “Detective Raucher here tells me you’re a respected psychic, Miss Towers. Well known.” Captain Sinclair was trying to be pleasant. As a cop, I could tell he’d long ago stopped trusting people.

  I had the suspicion he remembered me and it didn’t help any. The interview was a strain on both of us. Though I didn’t recall his face, something was unpleasantly familiar and I couldn’t place my finger on it. He made me feel uneasy. Partly, no doubt, because he obviously didn’t believe in psychic insights and premonitions and therefore was openly wary of me. I could imagine what was running through his mind.

  Nutty woman. Attention hound. Witch. Suspect?

  “I guess you could say I was, but I didn’t plan it this way. I don’t like publicity.”

  Was it my imagination or did he seem to smile at me condescendingly? I could tell he didn’t believe me.

  “You’re a home town girl, am I right?” he went on.

  “You already know the answer.” I didn’t want games. I was here for a reason, so let’s get on with it. I hated this, it felt too much like an interrogation. What good could it do? If I told them the truth they wouldn’t believe me anyway. One look at Captain Sinclair and I knew it. He wasn’t a bad man, just a nonbeliever.

  Ben was sitting on my left trying not to interfere, but at times, I could see it wasn’t easy. Once in a while our eyes would make contact and he’d smile encouragingly, for what it was worth. It did help, I didn’t feel so alone. I had a friend on my side.

  “Well.” Captain Sinclair was speaking again. His bushy eyebrows lowered over his shrewd, blue eyes. His eyes contained a basic craftiness, belying his otherwise everyman appearance. He was going bald and his face was rough, as if he needed a shave. He wasn’t a small man, by any means, but compared to Ben he was. He had a faint scar down one side of his face. His hair, his person, were perfectly groomed. I thought he must be a vain man.

  His dove gray three-piece suit was impeccably cut and spotless. A silver chain glittered above the dark curly hair that peeked out from under his white shirt. His dapper dress was in contrast to the gravelly voice which bellowed out around him. As he talked, his gaze shifted nervously about the room as if he were continually looking for something he’d forgotten.

  I’d been in many offices like this one. Sitting there discussing my painful childhood, I had a strong feeling of dejà vu. The smoke from the Captain’s cigar, the desk loaded with forgotten reports, empty candy wrappers, stale smelling paper coffee cups and the bare gray walls, almost matching the captain’s suit were all familiar. Everything here reminded me of Jonathan. It seemed ironic, when even after Jonathan was long out of my life, I would still be part of his. Jonathan’s world. Ben’s world. My world since Charlie’s untimely death.

  How many bizarre cases had I helped solve? I had journals packed away somewhere detailing every one of them. At one time I’d entertained the morbid idea of putting them into book form. It was something else the divorce had put off for a while.

  “Well,” the captain began. It seemed he was having a hard time remembering what he wanted to say to me. “We usually don’t go about investigating our homicides like this, Miss Towers. But I’m a modern man and I won’t turn away any help in any form. Now, this case has us pulling our hair out. There are no apparent motives and no real clues. Whoever did it is extremely clever and vicious. Unbalanced, too, I’d say.”

  “I know.” I lowered my eyes. I felt uneasy. “It’s frightening. I have a young son. I can imagine what the parents are going through. I have deep sympathy for them.”

  The captain nodded, as if accepting their sympathy. “Yes, frightening.

  “I suspect there’s a connection between this recent murder and those of your brother and his friends seventeen years ago. Too strong a connection to be completely ignored. Your psychic, er, skill is only one reason why I asked you to join us today. Though anything you can offer in the way of aid, will be appreciated and taken into consideration. The town’s in an uproar over this brutal killing and they expect us to do something about it. A lot of people remember your brother’s murder, plus the other murders surrounding it, and let me tell you, they’re afraid.

  “Why, I have mothers who want to keep their children home from school, for Pete’s sake. A homicide like this one in a small town can ruin everyone’s peace of mind, Miss Towers. You know that?” He’d thrust himself up from his chair and walked heavily to the window that faced the street below. He’d called me by my maiden name. I wondered if he knew, or had he done it on purpose.

  “I’ll help you as much as I can, Captain.” I sighed. I meant it, too. Any way I could, except for telling him the absolute truth.

  If Ben couldn’t accept it, then I was pretty sure the Captain wouldn’t.

  “I’m glad you feel that way.” The Captain smiled a toothy grin and walked back around the side of the desk. “Tell me about your brother’s death. Tell me anything you might know about any of this.” His eyes were alert. He was in his own element when it came to facts. That was the world he understood.

  So we talked about Charlie and his death. We talked about what had happened since and the reasons I was living on Suncrest again. I answered his questions politely.

  “Then you think these murders are being done by the same person even after all this time?” he finally asked, aghast at my last statement.

  �
��I’m sure of it.” I looked over towards Ben and caught him frowning.

  “One of your intuitions?” the Captain asked.

  Yep, definitely a skeptic. I nodded and he got up and took something out of one of his drawers. I wasn’t sure what it was until he stood in front of me and dropped it into my hands. It was a piece of someone’s shirt.

  “The victim’s?” I breathed in, my hands shaking as I caressed the bloodied fabric.

  “Yes. Can you see anything? This is usually the way you psychics find things out, isn’t it?” He’d done his homework.

  “I don’t know…” Unexpectedly the images came, stark and ferocious. When it was over, I was weeping, and shivering, in Ben’s arms.

  The captain apologized, but asked for any feedback I could give him from what I’d seen. So, in a cold voice, I told him about the dead child they’d found recently. I saw doubt fighting with acceptance in his beady eyes. He couldn’t deny my gift, but he couldn’t believe it one-hundred-percent, either. Nothing ever changes, I mused sadly.

  “That’s amazing. Some of those things were strictly classified.” He was writing something down in a note pad and staring at me in a confused manner. “Some of them I have to check up on.” He moved nervously in his chair.

  “I think she’s gone through enough for now.” Ben came to my rescue. He’d handed me a handkerchief to clean my smeary face and had turned to his captain. “This isn’t easy on her. She has a son of her own.” He got up and stood behind me, his hands warm on my shoulders. “This whole thing has been hard on her, dredging up those past tragedies.”

  “Okay, Detective.” Captain Sinclair sent a meaningful look from one to the other of us as if he were looking for something. “I need to check out some things.” He closed his notebook with a loud swoosh, and came over to me. He studied me with a serious expression.

  “There’s one last thing I need to ask you, Miss Towers.”

  “If I have the answer, Captain.”

  “Do you believe there’ll be another murder?”

  I covered my eyes with my hands, as if I could hide from the truth, and spoke through clenched lips. “I’m afraid there may be more.” I’d remembered something. I looked up at him.

  “What?” His face was drained. He seemed preoccupied, twirling his wedding band tightly around his finger.

  I related the strange incident of the girl with the long braids I’d had at the school. “I don’t know if it means anything. I thought I should mention it.”

  He cleared his throat, his lips a stern line, as he ushered us to his office door. “My officers will try to find her. It can’t hurt to check into it.” In his own way, he was dismissing me. I’d given him a lot to chew on.

  “Miss Towers, if there is anything else that comes to you later, or if you need anything, don’t hesitate to contact us. The problem with your door yesterday, Ben filed a report on—you could have more trouble.” He handed me a card with his telephone number on it. I dropped it into my purse.

  I hadn’t been much help and knew it. But what could I have told him? The monster in the woods wants me, and it’ll keep killing until it gets me. Yeah, sure.

  It was a hopeless situation and the police couldn’t help me and I couldn’t do much for them, as long as I couldn’t reveal the real truth.

  As we left the station, I knew Captain Sinclair was still not a believer. I had the impression he was one determined police officer, who only wanted to stop the child murders, and I pitied him. I’d done what Ben had asked of me, no more and no less.

  I was exhausted. Hiding the truth, lying, took everything out of me.

  “Lunch sounds good about now,” I said to Ben as we climbed on his motorcycle. Sitting behind him, I held on for dear life, the wind in my face. It gave me time to think. In fact, I found it restful. The fresh air cleared my thoughts and the sun felt good on my face. My tensions slipped away with the miles. We rode for a long time.

  “Where are we going?” I finally yelled above the wind at him. My hair was lashing wildly about my face. Next time I’d tie it back when I rode. This was the first time I’d been on a motorcycle. When Ben had first suggested it, I’d been unsure but thought, what the heck? I trusted Ben to drive cautiously. Why not enjoy life, my new freedom as a single woman, as much as I could?

  My life might be a short one.

  “To a special place I know,” Ben yelled. His hair was hidden beneath his helmet and he was grinning like a little boy. For a while we’d both forgotten our worries. “We’re almost there.”

  Content, I leaned my head against his broad back and tried not to think of what I’d seen at the station when I’d held that swatch of shirt. I tried to think about Ben, Jeremy in school, and about my lovely home waiting for me.

  Yet I kept seeing the little girl with the torn dress and the braids. I’d close my eyes and she’d be there. I couldn’t escape her.

  We ate at a small cottage restaurant called Jenny’s by a lake. When Ben told me the name as we stood out front, I had the funniest sensation. The name meant something or it would. I tried to recall if I’d been there before, or if I’d known someone by that name which would account for it, I couldn’t.

  “Come on, Sarah.” Ben took my arm, then led me inside to a dim quiet corner. Perhaps he thought I was still disoriented by what had happened at the police station. I guess he was right. I didn’t feel all that hot.

  He ordered the specialty of the house, shrimp Creole, for both of us and it was delicious. At first, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to eat but Ben entertained me with humorous anecdotes of being a small town cop, until I couldn’t stop laughing and afterwards the rest was easy. He had an offbeat, but interesting sense of humor.

  Over lunch I discovered the true Ben. He was sweet, sensitive and witty. By the time we got back on the bike and I wrapped my arms around his waist, I was happy again.

  “I’m going to take the long way home.” He laughed as we bumped along the country road. “There’s some scenery out this way you won’t believe. An old farm house that’s been empty for God knows how long. I want you to see it.” When we stopped, he took my hand and we climbed a steep hill. At the top we peered down on a sort of valley protected from the rest of the world. A huge crumbling structure squatted in the middle between three towering trees.

  “Come on,” he said and began walking briskly towards it. I kept up as best I could, his legs were so long, until we stood panting before it.

  “What’s this?” I gasped, holding my side. “It looks like it’s ready to collapse.”

  “Very funny.” His eyes had a dreamy look as he ran his fingers over the worn boards of the structure. “This is my dream house.” His smile was something to behold.

  I wanted to laugh. It was only a shell. Not even my grandmother’s timeworn house had been this far gone. I tried to see it through his eyes and smiled up at him. “The land around it is beautiful, Ben.” It was, with its rolling hills and lush trees. There was a creek bubbling away through one corner.

  He was staring into the distance. “Someday I want to own all of this.” He spread his hands around him. “Think what it could look like with a little bit of work.”

  “You mean a lot of work.”

  His intense eyes came back to me. “The barn you live in wasn’t much better than this before you moved in. Look at what you’ve done with it in such a short time. It’s looking better every day.”

  I stared at Ben. He was so like me. How long had he had his eye on this place?

  “Why don’t you buy it? It looks as if it’s been empty for a long time. Probably get it real cheap. They might even give it away.” I laughed at the hungry look on his face.

  “I’d take it in a minute. If I had the money. I figure the land itself will be what’ll cost me the most.”

  “Have you ever asked about t
he price?” I asked as we walked to his bike.

  “No. It’s only a dream, that’s all. I come here and wish I had it all, but I know I can’t. Not right now. I don’t want to. Not until I have someone to share it with. My ex-wife would have hated it. It’s so far away from everything. Stores. People. Civilization.”

  “Your ex-wife?” I hadn’t known he’d been married before.

  “Yeah. She couldn’t take being a cop’s wife. She divorced me.”

  He spun around and I almost thought he was going to kiss me, but instead he smiled and put the helmet, his helmet, on my head. He tucked my long hair up under it and waited until I was settled securely on the bike’s seat before he swung his long leg over and started the engine.

  Something about the way he’d looked at me there for a moment made me feel good. He was strong and I liked that. “Why not buy it now and then find somebody to share your dream?” I asked. I was aware of his body so close to mine.

  “Not the right time, I suppose,” his voice carried above the roar of the engine as we took off. There was something in his manner which made me think he didn’t want to talk about it. I knew when to take a hint so I shut up. I’d found out more about him than I’d wanted. A divorced cop. A lonely man, a good man, with a dream. Dangerous.

  I thought about it on the ride home. I’d come too close to the secret person inside of him and he’d pulled back, as I’d been doing. I could understand elusiveness better than he knew. We have many faces in our life and a few sides of ourselves we only show to those we care about, or love. Ben had many sides, I was learning. There was more to Detective Ben Raucher than I’d at first thought. I wondered what side he would show me next.

  * * * *

  “Ben, thank you for lunch and the ride. I loved both.” It was a sincere compliment. We were standing on my porch without any more words between us. He’d talked a mile a minute half the afternoon and suddenly he had nothing else to say, neither did I. But it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, rather a silence of contentment.