Detective Tumbler and the Man in Brown (Detective Tumbler Trilogy Book 2)

by Jason Balistreri

  “I tell them to seek therapy, we put them on medication, they need professional help. It’s a dangerous way to go through life.”

  “What if the hallucinations are pleasant things, people that you’ve lost, things that you can’t let go of?” Dr. Charras removes his glasses, he looks up at Marshall.

  “Well, if you need to set up an appointment, I would be willing to help.”

  “I believe the best therapy is alcohol, doctor. It doesn’t charge me in thirty minute sessions or by the hour. Once I have answers concerning the boy, I’ll let you know.”

  “Whatever you’re going to figure out should be done quickly; he won’t be here much longer.”

  Marshall drives out to the cabin again that evening, he searches the grounds for the cave and eventually finds it, there is a large stone rolled over the entrance and dead vines all over the stone itself. He rips the vines off and brushes off the snow, he cuts one of his fingers in the process, it begins to bleed. “God damn it,” he says as he shakes his fingers, he shoves the stone from the side but it is massive and hardly moves. After multiple tries, he is able to move it so it’s only blocking half of the entrance, he finds a large log and drags it over to brace the entrance open, he takes out his flashlight and enters the dark cave, it is cold and the walls are slick, it opens up about twenty feet down, the hollowed out expanse is the size of a large home. Marshall sees the drops of blood long-since dried and follows it into a small alcove, in this small chamber he sees dried blood all over the rocky floor, he crouches down to look for any fragments of bone but there aren’t any, he shines his flashlight along the walls, directly in front of him on the wall he sees a familiar symbol, tied to the symbol that was drawn by Ty, but this is the sigil of Baphomet. Marshall takes a photograph of it, he also photographs the floor, he looks in the cave for any more clues but there was nothing left behind. The next day, Marshall calls Captain Stroud and tells him, “I think I found something you should look at.”

  “Nature boy gave you useful information?”

  “Yeah, he did. Meet me at the cabin.” Marshall drives back out to the cabin and waits for Captain Stroud. He takes him to the cave.

  “I didn’t know we were going spelunking.”

  “Just grab a flashlight and follow me.”

  “I don’t want to go in there.”

  “Don’t be a pussy.”

  “I’m not a pussy, I got lost in a cave when I was a kid, I get panic attacks in them, in any enclosed space, to be exact.”

  “I’ll be with you, you won’t get lost, just follow me.”

  “Wait, let’s talk about what you found,” Captain Stroud says but Marshall has already started down the steep drop, Captain Stroud follows him, Marshall leads him to the blood and then shows him the small alcove.

  “Look at the wall,” Marshall advises.

  “What kind of pagan shit is that?”

  “It’s the Sigil of Baphomet.”

  “It looks like a fucking demon.”

  “Around that circle is Hebrew, translated it reads, ‘leviathan’.”

  “What’s that, a fucking serpent?”

  “It originally came from Hebrew mythology, it was a serpent of the void, some portrayed it as a dragon. They said that even God would not confront it directly.”

  “I’ll need to have the blood analyzed.”

  “I think we can officially say that the murderer we both seek resided in that cabin, and left town before any of you knew what he was doing.”

  “This is the man you told me about?”

  “Yes, he was not alone either.”

  “You told me he had followers.”

  “He had people that would kill for him, the boy knew him. You have to promise me that when you get him out of that place, you get him to a good family and keep your eyes on him. He may prove to be an important asset and he could be in danger if they know that he spoke to us.”

  “Us? He never told me any information of any use.”

  “He divulged quite a bit to me, the kid isn’t crazy, they left him behind.”

  “Why would they leave him if he knew what they were doing?”

  “What he witnessed wasn’t much but he saw them bring a headless body back.”

  “What the hell happened to the body then?”

  “We’ve both searched these woods all ready, there are no bodies out here.”

  “Then what did they do to them?”

  “I think I know but I’m not certain yet. It will require further analysis.”

  CHAPTER THREE: CHESTER SWANSON BECOMES SOMEBODY

  “This wasn’t what I wanted,” Chester explains to his mother.

  “Chester, we have no control over these things. You’ve been a good son,” she replies.

  “But I haven’t. I did terrible things.”

  “You were just trying to survive. You didn’t have a father figure around. You were just looking for a place to belong and they provided that.”

  “Do you forgive me for what I did?”

  “I do but I don’t know a lot of the details. I could imagine but you don’t have to tell me.”

  “They weigh on a person, I’m no snitch though.”

  “You put all that behind you; you’re in a position of authority.”

  “I just get the feeling that I’m meant for bigger things.”

  “You work for the district attorney.”

  “I mean something that will last; I want to be remembered for something other than the wreckage I’ve left. That’s enough talk about me though. How are you feeling today?”

  “Today, I’m fine. But when I’m on the chemo, you know what I get like. I can’t remember things; I can’t concentrate long enough to read a book. Reading always used to be my only escape, now I read a few pages and I forget what I just read, it frustrates me.”

  “I’m here for you, to help you. Whatever you need, I’ll do.”

  “I know you will, I just don’t know how much longer I can keep on it. This isn’t living, it’s just prolonging the inevitable and I’m suffering the whole way through.”

  “You have to be the one to make the call. If you can’t do it anymore, then that’s your decision.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “I want you to fight through it.”

  “I don’t think I have it in me anymore.”

  Chester knows it’s over for her and he knows that he can’t do anything to change her mind. He hugs her, she is now just bones, he remembers back to when he was ten, he was hugging her then and she was her normal weight, she was always a bigger woman. She told him to be safe and to be home by five for dinner, he agreed and took off on his bike, he met up with two of his friends from the neighborhood. They rode down to the basketball court where there were no nets on the rims, the court itself was just painted concrete and had cracks in it. It was located in a park where few people walked at night. They were playing for about half an hour when a car showed up, it was a black Mercedes-Benz with tinted windows. “That’s Damon, let’s go,” Chester’s friend said.

  “We just got here,” Chester said.

  “We’re leaving man, bring my ball back,” his other friend said as they both got on their bikes and rode away. Chester looked up at the car as another Mercedes pulled in behind it. Ten men got out of the cars; a few looked like they could be teenagers.

  “What you doin’ kid?” Damon asked Chester.

  “I was playing basketball with my friends.”

  “How old are you?”

  “I’m ten.”

  “You’re a big kid for your age. Your friends ran away. Is that what they always do when trouble comes?”

  “What trouble?”

  “Me, kid, I’m the trouble around here. You don’t know who I am, do you?”

  “I’ve seen you around but I mind my own business.”

  “That’s the philosophy I like to hear. See my friends and I, we play basketball here every day at four, except on the weekends.”


  “I just wanted to shoot around.”

  “You don’t back down, do you?”

  “No sir, I don’t.”

  “I like that, it’s dangerous and insane but I like it. I’ll be keeping an eye out for you. Now get the fuck out of here.”

  Chester rode home one-handed so he could hold on to the basketball with the other. The next day he went back to the courts, this time without a basketball. Damon saw him sitting in the stands; he approached the boy and put his foot on the stand Chester was sitting on. “You came back,” Damon said.

  “My friends, I can’t respect them for leaving me like that.”

  “You could do better, those two were soft, it’s better that you know it now. Friends like that can get you killed. If you want to be somebody, you watch what we do, you don’t snitch, ever, don’t even tell your mama. When the time is right, I’ll find you.” Chester wasn’t sure what Damon wanted from him but he went to the courts for almost a full year, he watched Damon and his crew deal, he saw the money they would make, the cars they would drive, and he never told anyone. He would go to the courts off and on until he was fourteen, he had just finished his freshman year in high school, he didn’t talk much and he was bigger than the other kids, he became that shy kid that no one noticed except when he was towering over them in the hallways and even then they only looked at him fleetingly.

  As Chester was leaving the courts one night, Damon called him over; his crew was heading to their cars. “Yes, sir,” Chester said.

  “Can you quit with the ‘sir’ shit?”

  “All right.”

  “Do you want to be a part of this? It’s not easy and I only offer it once. I let you hang out here; I know you haven’t told anyone about what we do. This was a test and you passed. But this isn’t like school where being smart gets your ass kicked, out here being smart keeps you alive. The question is do you want to be somebody? Or are you content to be that quiet kid that nobody fucks with?”

  “My mom works two jobs; I’d like to help her out.”

  “I can make that happen. But before you take this path, if you choose to, you need to know a few things.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “With us, you’ll be protected, we’re family. You might not think you need it but a black man, in this country, can get arrested just walking down the street. If that happens, you don’t know any of us, you tell them you’re in this on your own, you do your time like a man, we’ll protect you on the inside and we’ll look out for your mama on the outside, understand?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “You won’t need other friends, we’ll be the only friends you’ll have, we’ll be the only ones you’ll need. Any problems we handle internally and anything I tell you to do, you do it. We take care of teach other but I always make the commands, you will always follow them. If you’re interested, you be here tomorrow night alone at ten. No knives and no guns if you have any.”

  “I don’t.”

  “The last thing is, no matter what happens, once you’re in, you don’t ever get out. It’s permanent; just make sure it’s what you want. If it’s not, you’ll just be that big kid who doesn’t talk much. I won’t think any less of you.” Chester went home and thought about it, his mom made him dinner, then she went to her second job, she wouldn’t get back home until midnight, then she’d be up at six to start it all over again. He didn’t need the flashy cars or the jewelry, he just wanted a way to help her, he knew she would ask questions about where he got the money but he figured Damon could give him a lie to cover up where it was coming from. He also knew, deep down, that he was tired of being alone, he was tired of being a nobody and what Damon offered him was a way out of anonymity.

  “I see you’ve made your decision,” Damon said as he stood on the grass lawn of the park overseeing the basketball courts, two cars emptied out, Chester recognized them all from watching them at the court. “Chester Swanson, this is your new family but like all families, it starts with a birth, that birth is painful. Are you ready?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Just take it like a man and, against your better instincts, don’t fight back.”

  A throng of ten men, some of them teenagers, surround Chester. “Welcome him to our family boys,” Damon orders as they all begin wailing on Chester, he feels the punches crunching off of his head and his ribs, he thinks about grabbing one of the fists and crushing it but Damon hollers, “You better not think about fighting back!” A hard punch to the stomach doubles him over, he feels the shoes kicking him and he staggers, a hard blow across the back of his neck and he’s on all fours while they continue kicking him, he sees his own blood dripping onto the darkened grass and tastes the copper of it, again he thinks of grabbing one of their legs and rolling over to injure one of them, the biggest one, he knows that he could but he doesn’t, he takes the beating, he never crouches into a fetal position, he just lays on the ground while they continue to stomp on him and kick him, his face is throbbing and he is out of breath, he isn’t sure how long they beat on him, he had never been beaten up before, he had gotten into fights but he always won, this was the first time that he was truly beaten. Damon’s crew walks off and leaves him there, Chester sees black shoes approaching him and knows it’s Damon, Chester rolls over and tries to get up but every part of him aches and throbs. “They all had to go through the same thing. I have to break you down before I can build you up. It’s the way we do things; it’s the way things have always been done. The key is no hospitals, if your mom asks, you fell off your bike or you were clipped by a car and took a dive, that’s what you tell her, you understand?”

  “Yes,” Chester answers, he can now breathe normally though he feels pain in his right side every time he takes a breath.

  “Once you’ve recovered, you meet me down here, I’ll be looking for you, I’ll tell you what to do next.”

  “All right,” Chester mutters as he picks himself up. Damon heads back to his car and they all leave, Chester watches their headlights turn on as they back up and leave the park, he slowly limps his way back towards his bike, he begins the ride back home; every bump makes his ribs ache and he feels his face pulsing with pain, he wonders how his mother will react. He wonders if this will be worth it, he knows that if he can help her out then it will be, there was a point on that lonely painful ride back to his mom that he realized being a man meant making choices and he felt like, for the first time in his life whether he was making the right choice or not, he was one.

  She didn’t get home from her second job until midnight and he pretended to be asleep, he also tried to sleep in while she was getting ready for work the next morning but she woke him up for breakfast like he knew that she would. “Sweet Jesus, Chester, what happened? We need to get you to a hospital,” she said as she looked at her bruised and battered son, his face was swollen around his eyes, his lip was busted, she saw the bruises on his arms.

  “No hospital, I’ll be fine.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything last night?”

  “I didn’t want you to worry.”

  “Well, I’m worried, who did this to you?”

  “I was riding my bike last night; I took a tumble down a hill, landed on the concrete.”

  “You expect me to believe that? I might be more inclined if there were cliffs around and you rode off of one. I’m not stupid.”

  “I know you’re not.”

  “Then don’t treat me like I am, tell me the truth. What are you afraid of?”

  “I’m not afraid of anything. Well, I’m afraid of losing you and I’m afraid of poverty but that’s it.”

  “What have you gotten yourself involved in?”

  “You’ve got to let me work through it on my own. You shouldn’t worry; I’m going to be fine.”

  “My job is to protect you, even if that involves protection from yourself.”

  “I’m the only one that can hurt me.”

  “I wish that was true, Chester, I wish it was true.”<
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  Once the swelling had gone down, Chester went back to the basketball courts at the park; Damon saw him and came over to talk to him. “There’s hardly a mark on you,” Damon says.

  “I heal pretty quickly.”

  “That could come in handy. Well I can’t just put you in the rotation, there’s a lot you need to learn before you’re ready for that. But I do have a task for you, a way for you to prove your loyalty.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “I’ve got a man that owes me money. His name is Saul Hitchins; he hangs out around 31st and Prospect. You shake him down, whatever money he has, you bring it back to me. He won’t know you or that you work for me, how you choose to handle it is up to you, just make sure it’s painful. Here’s a picture of the broke bastard.”

  “I’ve been looking for a reason to hit somebody.”

  “Yes, I suppose you have. Take out all that aggression on him, if he’s not alone, well, do whatever you have to do.”

  “I’ll take care of him,” Chester assures Damon. He rides down to 31st and Prospect and waits for two hours before Saul shows up but he’s not alone, he has two friends with him. Chester follows the three of them to a convenience store, a half hour later one of Saul’s friends takes off, Chester follows Saul down a side street and figures that this will be his best chance to corner him, he wanted to wait until Saul was completely alone but he figures that might not happen. Chester rides up to them on the sidewalk, he lets his bike fall onto a lawn. “You Saul Hitchins?” Chester asks.

  “Who the fuck are you?” Saul asks.

  “Damon sent me.”

  “He made a mistake sending you. I saw you eyeballin’ me for the last hour. If you’re going to be an enforcer, you need to learn some stealth. But maybe you’re just his bitch.” Chester takes his right fist and plants it firmly on Saul’s ear, he keeps an eye on Saul’s friend, he sees the metal in his hand and grabs the man by the wrist, he turns his arm over and yanks the man to the ground, Chester stomps on his chest and grabs the gun, he sticks it in his waistband. He had never handled a gun before and wasn’t sure what to do with it but he knew he couldn’t let either one of them get to it, he was just hoping it didn’t accidentally fire and blow his dick off. He turned his attention to Saul; he kept clubbing Saul’s head until his knuckles were bleeding, once Saul went down, Chester sat on his chest and kept hitting him until Saul was unconscious. Chester turned to Saul’s friend who was still on the ground.