Black Star Canyon: The Mystery Novel (Black Star Canyon Mystery Novel Series Book 1)

by C. C. Wall

  She was scared. Her face turned white. “Jonathan…” she said quietly.

  “I’m the bloody mayor of Black Star Canyon! I run this show, not you!” Jonathan grabbed Sue by the arm and pushed her down the hallway towards the exit.

  She fell back, tripping over her heels and hit the floor. She was frozen. Tears were falling down her face. Jonathan’s beaten body was heaving up and down from anger. Sue was afraid that he would come closer. She questioned if she should draw her weapon. Should she bring him in? She knew she didn’t have anything on him. Reagan was right. She had thrown her career away on a hunch. Even though Jonathan’s actions solidified her beliefs, she couldn’t touch him with a ten foot pole now. She had blown it and she knew it.

  “First thing tomorrow,” he said, and limped back into the Elizabeth’s room and left Sue there, crying on the floor.

  55 - Hondo

  A week ago, things in Black Star Canyon were much more calm and peaceful. Last week, things were very different. Back then, there hadn’t been a reported murder in Black Star Canyon for years, let alone multiple murders. A week ago, Sheriff Reagan was getting ready to sit in his favorite chair and watch one of his favorite movies starring his all time favorite actor. He was making popcorn the old fashioned way on the stove. “True Grit” starring John Wayne was about to come on the television on the local station’s Western Theater program. He was very happy to find out that the next movie on Western Theater, was going to be “Hondo” and Reagan loved “Hondo”.

  As he stood in the station watching everyone there bringing in evidence from Henry’s Handy Shop, all he could think of was going home, making popcorn, sitting in his favorite chair and watching “Hondo”. He was old. He didn’t want to keep having to look death in the face everyday. Reagan didn’t know if he was cut out for this anymore.

  They were already a man down with Chaney going missing. He knew Lukas was out looking for him or at least looking where he thought he would end up, and was hoping Sue had got it through her thick head to leave Jonathan alone, for the time being. One thing he was sure of, was neither of them were at the station. He had wandered around looking for Sue, since Michael’s murder was her case, but he couldn’t find her anywhere. His wide frame had kept getting in everybody’s way as they politely ran around him, back and forth. That had irritated Reagan to no end. All he wanted to do was go home.

  He went to check in on Deputy Dyer but found out that he and Reed were staking out the concert, looking for Gus. That meant that absolutely no one was doing anything at that moment on Michael’s murder.

  Reagan walked into the evidence room and saw the stack of boxes taken out of Henry’s shop. He figured since there was so much murder going on in town, that maybe he should put on his big boy boots and help out instead of just telling everyone what to do.

  He went through a couple of boxes, almost none of it had been cataloged yet, until he discovered the surveillance tape. There was only one. Henry just had the one tape which he would rewind every morning, and put back in the VCR and hit record. Reagan thought he could at least watch it after “Hondo”. Watching old westerns, would always get him back into wanting to being a “law man”.

  He picked it up and walked out of the room, got in everybody’s way again on the way back to his office and sat there for a few minutes, waiting for the rats and roaches to quit scurrying around and find a place to hide. He felt bad referring to his team as rats and roaches but when he was trying to walk around, they could be considered as pests. At least to him.

  They were taking longer than he thought they should. The clock was ticking. He looked at his watch and saw that he only had an hour and half before “Hondo”. He still needed to go home and make the popcorn. He still had time, but not a lot. He thought it was as good a time as any to have a drink.

  He loved getting bourbon in his mustache. He liked to suck on it after each drink. He also liked the fact that in doing so, it would smell like bourbon all day. He was just about to have a relaxing sigh of satisfaction when he realized that there wasn’t any movement in the station. His time was now.

  He threw back the rest of the drink, grabbed his coat and keys, tucked the VHS tape in his leather case and darted out of the office. Darting for Reagan wasn’t at all like darting, as most people would, but he was moving as fast as he could.

  Reagan’s house looked more like a log cabin out in the middle of nowhere, than a modern home. He lived out in the bottom of the canyon on about five acres of land. His house was the farthest house out in all of Black Star Canyon. In fact, if you got rid of his car and exchanged it with a horse, it would look like you had been transported back in time to the wild west.

  Once inside, the first thing Reagan did was put a big pan on the stove. He threw in butter, salt and garlic and let that melt all together. He poured in some corn kernels and covered the pan. He looked at the clock and knew he still had an hour before the movie was to start. That was more than enough time to watch the tape from Henry’s, on fast-forward, to see if there was any funny business in there. But he wasn’t rushing around to do that.

  His popcorn popped and he put it in a bowl. He took it into the living room and sat in his favorite chair. The tape was on the coffee table. He stared at it while tossing popcorn in his mouth. He exhaled in a way that felt like there was a lot of heaviness in his heart and he was trying to push it all out of his mouth. He put the bowl down and stood up, staring at the tape. But instead of picking it up, he walked by it to his little wet bar and poured himself a bourbon. He took a swig and gave the tape another hard stare.

  He walked over to the television and turned it on. He turned the sound off because there wasn’t anything he really wanted to hear, at least, not for an hour anyway. He sat back down looking at the tape.

  “Nope,” he said. “I have had enough real life. Maybe, after Hondo.”

  He felt better that he spoke that out loud. It was almost as if, in doing so, he wouldn’t feel any guilt for choosing John Wayne over Michael.

  That wasn’t enough though. He took out his cell phone and turned it off and then took his phone off the hook.

  “For the next couple hours,” he said, “I am just a guy, watching TV.”

  56 - Hometown Support

  The crowd in front of Cook’s was huge for Black Star Canyon. Most of the town was there to show their support for a “hometown” band catching a big break. Lukas had a hard time trying to find a place to park to observe the event. He decided that he would park in a fire lane. It gave him the best view of the venue that he could get. He noticed through the crowd that he could see Eric, Jen and Michelle talking with friends. He saw Bekka looking very impatient, looking up and down the street. He thought that she must be waiting for someone. Anyone she should be waiting for was someone that he would need to talk to.

  Lukas grabbed his phone and held it up to his ear. “Hey there, Sue. Just wanted to let you know that I’m at Cook’s.”

  On the other end of the phone, Sue was mortified about what had happened. She was sitting in her car, still in the hospital parking lot. She couldn’t bear the thought of going home or back to the station. She was still in shock, still frozen.

  Lukas continued, “Have you been to the hospital yet?”

  She didn’t know what to say but words came out anyway. “No,” she said. Tears ran down her face.

  “Good,” Lukas said. “I just wanted to remind you to really be careful about how you talk to Jonathan. Maybe I should be there when you do it.”

  “No. It’s fine. I have it under control.” Sue couldn’t believe that she even said that. She smacked herself quietly on the forehead right after she said it.

  “All right. Let’s just put a pin in that,” Lukas said. “Reed and Dyer are inside so I think we got this covered but come down if you want.”

  Sue took the phone away from her face and snorted back all the tears and wiped her eyes. “I think I’m just going to run by the station to drop some papers off and cal
l it a night.”

  “Okay,” he said. “I’ll call you if I need you.” He trailed off at the end there and Sue knew it. She thought that maybe he was on to her. But that wasn’t the reason at all. Across the street, standing next to Bekka, was the man in the black, hooded sweatshirt, staring right at Lukas. “There is someone here I want to question. Talk soon.” Lukas said and hung up the phone.

  Jen walked into his line of sight, blocking his view of “Hoodie”. Lukas leaned over to try get a better look at him and it seemed that Hoodie was still looking right him.

  On the other side of the street, Jen was trying to get Bekka’s attention. “Hey, come on,” Jen said.

  “No,” Bekka answered. She looked up and down the street more frantically than before.

  “I bet he is already inside,” Jen insisted.

  “No!” Bekka’s voice raised. “He told me he would meet me here. I said I’d wait.”

  “Whatever, we’re going inside,” Jen said. She put her arm around Eric. “Let’s go.”

  People started heading inside as the band started tuning up their instruments. Through the shifting of the crowd, Lukas could still see Hoodie looking right at him. It seemed that his face was grinning but it was hard to tell with his beard and long greasy hair covering his face. Lukas did notice something else about him that made him stand out in his mind. Hoodie’s eyes were completely gray. Lukas felt like he was looking right at him, but was unsure how because he couldn’t make eye contact.

  Lukas got out of the car and this seemed to make Hoodie’s smile’s grow. He felt strange about it. He had a strong feeling that Hoodie had something to do with all of this but had no idea how. He wanted those questions answered.

  Lukas crossed the street and headed right for Hoodie, not taking his eyes off of him remembering when he did that before, Hoodie vanished. Hoodie seemed to be bouncing in place with glee that Lukas was coming to him. His grin turned into an open-mouth smile. Lukas could see his teeth and even his tongue.

  Lukas got within about ten feet from him before Hoodie turned and ran inside the club. Lukas chased after him.

  57 - The End of Deputy Sue Callahan

  The printer seemed louder than usual when Sue stood in front of it, waiting for the paper to come out of the other end of it. She picked it up to read what it said.

  As of today, I, Sue Callahan, resign from duty as

  a deputy in Black Star Canyon. I’m sorry for letting

  you down. I just can’t do this anymore.

  Sue Callahan

  She signed it and took it back into Sheriff Reagan’s office and placed it on his desk. She knew she was supposed to give it to Jonathan, but knew that it would be good enough. She wiped another tear from her cheek, placed her badge and her gun next to the letter. At her desk, she picked up the box of her belongings that she had packed before writing her letter.

  At the door, she stopped and had one last look at the place that she had called home the last few years. She said goodbye inside her head and left.

  Driving home felt weird too that night. Normally she would be rushing to pick up dinner or trying to get home before Eric went to sleep. That night however, she knew Eric was out and she couldn’t even think about eating. In fact, all Sue wanted to do was to throw up. She knew she would have plenty of time for that once she got home.

  A horn honked at her loudly. She heard tires screech as brakes were applied. It was hard for her to see through the tears so much so, that she even ran a red light. She couldn’t believe that she had been so careless. She cried out. She just wanted to get home. She just wanted to be safe.

  She felt like she had let everyone down; her son, her friends, the station, Elizabeth, Michael, everyone. She just wanted to get home.

  She pulled into the parking garage of her complex. She headed to the stairway to get out of the garage and made it to the second floor with her box of belongings and then couldn’t remember if she locked the car or not. She stood there for a moment, cussing herself out, before she figured that it didn’t matter either way.

  She walked down the hallway to her apartment. Once she had made it to her door, she pushed the box against the wall and held it up with her leg while she fumbled with her keys to unlock her door. She couldn’t see through her tear filled eyes as to which key was which, but eventually thought she figure it out. It didn’t matter though because the door was unlocked anyway. She was upset because she knew Eric must’ve left in such a hurry that he probably forgot to lock up and he knew how upset that made her, but really, at the end of the day, of that day, what did it really matter?

  She got through the door and placed the box on the small dining room table before finally having a good cry. She didn’t know what to do or what to think. She needed a job and knew that she had maybe a month’s worth of money saved for bills, but things were going to be tight. She went to the fridge for a beer and cracked it open. She sat at the table crying into her beer until she took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. She chugged half the beer and then burped. She chuckled at how ridiculous and pathetic she was at that moment. All the tears were finally wiped away. Her breathing slowed down. That was until she looked straight ahead.

  She screamed and jumped back out of the chair, knocking it over and dropping her beer bottle and so it shatter on the floor. She went to draw her weapon but realized that she just turned it in when she resigned. She stretched her arm out onto the counter and grabbed a butcher knife and fell backwards over the chair that was lying sideways on the floor. She crawled as far back as she could and sat in the corner of the room, screaming “No!” and waving the knife into the darkness of the open red door.

  58 - Smile

  “Fuck this,” Bekka said. She was tired of waiting outside. She looked up and down the street one last time, spat on the ground and stormed inside.

  Lukas, meanwhile, got inside, but had run into a solid sea of people. He couldn’t believe how many people were there. It was almost as if the entire population of Black Star Canyon had turned out for the show. He couldn’t see Hoodie anywhere.

  Bekka jumped over the bar, poured herself a drink and gulped it down fast. She looked up at the stage and was happy to see the band setting up. She knew the show would be good. At least there was that, she thought.

  Jason saw her from the stage and waved. She didn’t see him so he jumped down off the stage and swam through the crowd, “Bekka!” Jason shouted from the other end of the bar.

  She smiled and walked over to him. “Break a leg tonight,” she said.

  He leaned over the bar and gave her a hug. “Thank you so much for putting this together for us. You rock!” he said, then kissed her on the cheek.

  Bekka blushed as Jason ran back to the stage.

  Suddenly, the band started up and the crowd turned from a sea of random people to controlled, organized chaos. Lukas hadn’t seen anything like it since he was younger. He still couldn’t see Hoodie anywhere. He headed over to the far side of the venue. He didn’t want to leave the front door open in case Hoodie made a break for it. He couldn’t see Dyer or Reed anywhere. He grabbed his radio and tried to get them on it but it was too loud inside for them to hear it.

  The song that the band was playing caught his attention even though he was trying to fight it. It was very catchy. As he focused on the lyrics, time seemed to slow down. He could feel it. He knew it wasn’t right. He looked at Jason who was singing and read his lips as the words came out.

  And they all come out to hear me,

  The Black Star confession conspiracy.

  And I tell them what to believe,

  The Black Star confession conspiracy.

  Lukas shook his head to break the so-called “trance” but everything still felt like it was in slow-motion. That’s when he saw him. About fifty feet away from him, through the sea of people bouncing up and down, was Hoodie. His grin was ear to ear. He was looking right into Lukas’s eyes. Lukas took a step towards him. Hoodie slowly pulled o
ut a gun. Lukas froze for a second as the barrel of the gun passed Lukas and stopped at Jason.

  “Freeze!” Lukas yelled. No one could hear him. Lukas could barely even hear himself. “Drop it!”

  Hoodie never once took his eyes off of Lukas. His grin seemed to intensify the more Lukas felt control slipping from his grasp. Lukas pulled his gun out and aimed right Hoodie.

  “I said drop it!” Lukas shouted.

  Hoodie turned his head towards Jason and took aim.

  A shot rang out in the club. The band stopped playing and screams from the crowd filled the venue, in the music’s place. Everyone ran for the exits. Hoodie was nowhere to be seen. Lukas was standing on what looked like his own frozen island while madness flowed all around him. He grabbed his radio.

  “Dyer, Reed. Suspect down, we need medics here stat. These people are trampling each other to get out of here,” Lukas said.

  Lukas tried to get over to where he saw Hoodie go down.

  Meanwhile on the stage, Jason was holding his ears and was screaming in excruciating pain. Bekka saw this and had a clear path to the stage. She ran up onto the stage and grabbed him.

  “Are you okay?” Bekka yelled.

  Jason didn’t answer, he just continued to scream and hold his ears. Blood was running from his hands down his arms. Bekka helped him up and they ran out through the back exit.