BLACK SKY
A Mystery-Thriller
VICTOR METHOS
What trances of torments does that man endure who is consumed with one unachieved revengeful desire. He sleeps with clenched hands; and wakes with his own bloody nails in his palms.
-Herman Melville, Moby Dick
CHAPTER 1
Don’t recall exactly when the murders began but I do recall when I found out bout em. I was in my bed starin’ up at the ceiling and couldn’t sleep. I was thinkin’ bout my daughter. The sound a wagons was outside, the wheels in the dirt and the hootin’ and hollerin’ a the folks passin’ through town. Them folks kept me up.
That’s a lie. I was up anyway. It’s just easier ta have a reason for things.
I heard a knock at the door and Betty grabbed my arm like she’d been startled.
“It’s okay darlin’, you go on back ta sleep. I’ll see who it is.”
I took out my Colt that I kept under the bed and walked ta the door. I opened it a crack, the pistol held low, and saw the young face a Andy Woodford, my deputy, standin’ there lookin’ pale and scared as a cat in a fire.
“Sheriff, you got to come quick. We got a young girl…Missy. You know Missy?”
“Yeah, I know her.”
“She’s been cut up real bad, Sheriff.”
“All right. Lemme get dressed now.”
I put on my trousers and vest with the holster and took my pistol with me. My badge was on the dresser and I took it and placed it on my chest. It wasn’t that I wanted ta or felt like displayin’ the power of a piece of tin, I just knew folks expected it and they’d be talkin’ if it wasn’t there.
I kissed Betty and told her I’d be back right quick and went downstairs and stepped outside the house ta see Andy standin’ there next ta his horse waitin’ for me. I went out back ta the stables and got my horse, a beautiful black horse named April, and followed him inta town.
Cosgrove, New Mexico wasn’t the type a town drifters came through much. We was high on a plateau and not the easiest ta reach. We didn’t have gold or tobacco or cotton or anythin’ else for that matter. We had simple folks who worked fields, what little there were, and who kept mostly ta themselves. As we trotted the horses through town, I saw everyone, and I mean everyone, outside tryin’ ta look past the crowd that had gathered just outside the general store. They parted as we got near and I saw Doc Stevens bent over the body of a young woman.
I dismounted and walked over. Under the moonlight, the blood coverin’ her body was black. She’d been mutilated somethin’ I’d never seen.
“Lord have mercy,” I said. I bent down next ta the Doc. I didn’t disturb him but I suddenly wished I’d brought my hat so that I could hold it in my hands. I needed somethin’ in my hands just now but there weren’t nothin’ so I just put em together.
“Person that did this is an odd stick, Sheriff. Ain’t never seen anything like it.”
“We sure this was a person?”
“What else would it be?”
“I once saw the remains of a fella after a wolf got ta him. See he got between the mama and her cubs and she just—”
“This ain’t no wolf, Sheriff. Look at the marks right here along the ribs. Those are incisions. Very precise too. This woman was killed by a man.”
“What killed her?”
“Well, aside from the fact that she been stabbed damn near fifty times, she also got marks up on the neck, probably someone strangled her. We can see em better in the light.”
I closed my eyes and said a prayer for poor Missy.
I rose. “I’ll come by in the mornin’. Just get her off my street would ya Doc? There’s children round.”
“Sure thing.”
I turned ta the crowds. “All right folks, anybody see or hear anything you come on over and talk ta me.” I looked out over em and no one stepped forward. “Well that’s all right now. You come on by tomorrow and talk ta me. We need ta find the sumbitch that did this. This ain’t right, her bein’ at the beginnin’ a her life and all. You come on down and talk ta me tomorrow.”
I turned away from em and back ta the Doc. “Anybody see anything?”
“Don’t know. I was just called out by that boy over there,” he said, motioning with his head toward a young man standing near the saloon entrance. I walked over ta him. He wasn’t no older than thirteen or fourteen.
“How you doin’ son?”
“Fine, sir.”
“My understandin’ is you saw what happened here ta that young woman?”
“I ain’t seen it happen.”
“Now I don’t want no scuttlebutt. You just tell me what you saw.”
“I came around the corner and she was just lyin’ there like she is now. I thought maybe she was on a bender and so I went up ta see if she was all right and I saw the blood.”
“Did you see anybody round?”
“No, sir.”
“Nobody running off?”
“No, sir.”
I could see the fear in his eyes and knew he weren’t ever goin’ ta be the same. I bent down so I was eye-level with him. “Son, people die. That’s just a cold hard fact a life that it ain’t easy ta find out and ain’t any easier ta accept. Even at my age. But the good Lord has a plan for all a us and he don’t let nothin’ happen for no reason. You understand me? Everythin’ has a purpose.”
The boy shrugged.
“Now go on and get home before your papa come out lookin’ for ya.”
I put my hands on my hips and exhaled as the young boy ran off. I wasn’t no older than him when my father died and I wondered if my eyes had that look too.
“Sheriff Smith?”
I turned ta see a woman by the name a Suzie Compton come up next ta me. She had a shawl wrapped tightly round her shoulders and was glancin’ round ta make sure no one was lookin’.
“We’ve known each other damn near six years, Suzie. You can call me Jesse.”
“You a law man, ain’t ya? Lawmen need to be shown some respect. On account a that you keep us safe and all.”
I looked over ta Missy’s body that was bein’ covered up and lifted by the Doc and his assistant. “I ain’t seem ta be doin’ a great job of late.”
“Sheriff…Missy was involved in some things ya may not know about.”
“Like what?”
“I’ll come by and talk ta ya tomorrow.”
“You do that.”
I leaned ’gainst a post and watched as the body was lifted up and carried ta the back of a wagon. The Doc climbed in and spurred the horses and the wagon began ta rattle away. People stuck round a bit and mumbled ta themselves and then went back ta what they was doin’ before. They’d talk bout Missy for a time, but not too long, and then they’d forget bout her. People dyin’ was common out here.
But I couldn’t forget bout her. I’d taken an oath ta keep these people safe and I’d failed Missy. I wasn’t bout ta fail her again and let the sumbitch that did this off. Though people dyin’ was common, cold blooded murder of a young woman wasn’t.
I went back home and undressed and lay in bed. If sleep was hesitatin’ ta come ta me fore, it damn well ran off ta Europe now. I lay in bed and stared at the ceilin’, the moonlight comin’ in through the windows, a breeze blowin’ the curtains open like ghosts.
CHAPTER 2
When I woke in the morning my head hurt and I figured I’d slept maybe four hours, maybe less. I got up and washed my face in the bin and stared inta the mirror. I took a soft cloth and put some salt on it and then rubbed that over my teeth and tongue before takin’ a sip a water and spittin’ it out the winda.
I dressed and went downstairs. Betty was in the kitchen and I could sm
ell the burnin’ grease from the bacon and the warm bread.
“You want a cup?” she said.
“Yes, ma’am.”
I sat down at the table and she brought over pipin’ hot coffee and I put in a little sugar and drank. It woke up my senses and kicked the sleep outta my head. She fixed me a plate a bacon and bread with two eggs and I waited for her ta sit down. We said a blessin’ on the food and began ta eat. The bacon was salty and crisp.
“Mm, that is good.”
“They killed a pig over at the Stauffer’s ranch. Mary brought me several pounds a fresh pork. We’re having ham tonight.”
“That do give me somethin’ ta look forward too, Mrs. Smith. That and layin’ next ta you in a warm bed. Or maybe a cold bed that we can warm up ourselves.”
She smiled. “You always know just what ta say ta make me blush, Jesse.”
“One a my few talents, I suppose.”
“When I picked the pork up this mornin’ they was talkin’ about Missy Henderson.”
“They will do that.”
“They say she was stabbed so bad you couldn’t tell who she was.”
“Now if that were true how would we know who she is?”
“They said her face had been cut off.”
“They say a lotta things.”
“Do you not want to talk about this, Jesse?”
“It wouldn’t be my first choice for topic of conversation, no.”
“She was a nice young thing. She would always say hello to me when I walked down to the general store. Very polite.”
“I reckon she was.”
“Why do you reckon that?”
“Pretty young girl in a nowhere town filled with old men.”
“What’re you sayin’, Jesse?”
“I’m sayin’ there’s more ta her than we know bout at this juncture.”
“Well I think she was a very nice girl.”
“I don’t doubt it.” I finished my bacon and gulped down the rest a the coffee. “Better head on out.” I kissed her and took my straightbrim hat and left the house.
The sun was bright in the sky and the dirt roads looked flat and clear. Horse manure, a blight on the roads a other towns, wasn’t as much a problem for us. The mayor had the foresight ta set aside a small amount a funds for the cleanin’ a the roads once ever’ other day and no one in the town mind payin’ a little extra bit for that.
I walked ta the road and headed downtown. People said hello and I said hello back but I didn’t stop ta talk. Weren’t nothin’ ta talk bout right now cept Missy and I didn’t want ta talk bout her just yet.
I walked by Gunner’s saloon and peeked inside. Three men were still there drinkin’ from the night fore, or maybe they came in this mornin’, but other than that the place was quiet. Gunner was sittin’ behind the bar readin’ a book and I didn’t wanna disturb him so I let him be.
The Sheriff’s Office weren’t but a short distance away and I went inside and saw my deputy Andy Woodford already there, sippin’ coffee and jokin’ with the drunks he’d picked up last night. Two of em were in the cell as I came and sat down at my desk and looked at the letters and newspaper placed there.
“Where ya pick em up?” I asked.
“Gunner’s. They got into a fight and Gunner threw their asses out into the road and they was layin’ there like hogs so I thought it be best to bring em here to sober up.”
“You boys sober?” I said loudly.
“Yes, sir,” they both said.
“Why you get inta a fight?”
“We brothers, Sheriff,” one of em said, “brothers fight.”
“I don’t surely doubt that.”
I picked up the newspaper and put my feet up on the desk. The paper was delivered once ever’ Monday and was a week behind. But I didn’t mind, nothing that happened back East affected us anyhow.
“You boys eat breakfast?”
“No, sir,” the one said, “we ain’t got a copper cent left.”
“Where you headin’?”
“Down ta Salt Lake City.”
“Salt Lake? What ya doin’ down there?”
“They say the Mormons got a nice little town built up. Plenty a work for young men like ourselves. And they say the women there get married right quick.”
“Lookin’ for wives are ya? Well, that’d seem ta be the place ta find em. On account a multiple marriages and all. Is that why you boys headed down? Cause you can take as many wives as your heart desires?”
“No, sir. I had a wife and I think one’s just about all I can handle.”
“Spoken like a man who knows.” I reached inta my trousers and came up with some change and put it on the desk. “Andy, go buy these gentlemen some breakfast and send em on their way.”
“You got it, Sheriff.”
“Thank you, Sheriff,” they both said.
“No bother. Now you boys be nice ta them Mormons cause they good folk.”
As they was walkin’ out I lowered my newspaper. “Wait a second, boys you said you was over at Gunner’s, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You know a girl named Missy Henderson? Pretty young thing, yella hair?”
“No, sir. We was just here the evenin’. Ain’t met no girls.”
I nodded. “Um hm. So you don’t know she was killed right outside the merchant store there cross the street from Gunner’s?”
“No, sir. We ain’t heard.”
“And you was at Gunner’s all night? Never left?”
“Not at all, Sheriff.”
“Andy, go check with Gunner when you get breakfast.”
“Yes, Sheriff.”
They walked out and I watched em go. I hated this being suspicious a ever’ one. Hospitality was important. Out here towns were few and far between and the only way some people survive passin’ through is if folks is kind ta em. But I had ta know that the boys was tellin’ the truth. Gunner had a memory like nothin’ I ever saw and he’d remember if em boys ever left the saloon or not.
I suddenly stood up and ran outside. I saw the three men walkin’ up ta Gunner’s and I shouted for Andy ta come back.
“Yeah, Sheriff?”
“Check em for knives too. If they got some, check for blood on the knife. Blood on their clothin’, anything like that. Boots, whatever.”
“You think them boys is responsible for Missy?”
“No, I don’t. But we don’t know em from Adam so just check em out.”
“You got it.”
I watched the boys go inta the saloon and then looked over the streets. The men were out in the fields—about the only natural asset found out here—and the women was busy in the homes. Most a the homes were surroundin’ the town but the families that had two incomes liked ta buy up the houses in town. They was all over the place cept for one section a town that was reserved for booths or shacks a them fellas doin’ odd jobs ta get by. They would mend boots or fix rifles or sell salves. All sorts a things. And they was a mix a free Negro, Mexican and Indian and poor white folk that was comin’ through Cosgrove and never left.
I glanced down ta just where Missy’s body had been found. It was right in front a Bob’s Mercantile, one a several stores we had. I walked down there and went ta the doors and opened em up ta see Bob gettin’ ready for the day. He was wearin’ a white shirt with a black vest and had a gold pocket watch. His mustache was nicely groomed and he looked up at me with em big ole eyes and smiled.
“What’s it be, Sheriff?”
“It be nothin’ but nother Monday. How you doin’ Bob?”
“Can’t complain.”
“You heard bout poor Missy?”
“That I did. Carrie was tellin’ me bout it this mornin’. Heard it happened right out yonder in front of the saloon.”
“Well, that ain’t exactly right. She was right out front a your store just right over there when they found her.”
“You don’t say?”
“Yes I do. And she was a sight, lemme tell you.
Ain’t seen nothin’ like it and neither has the Doc. Tore her up like an old rag.”
Bob shook his head as he took a box and began unloading the contents onta some shelves. “Damn shame. She was a nice girl. You talked ta her family yet?”
To my shame, I had completely forgotten bout Missy’s family. I figured the worst thing that could happen is that they found out bout this secondhand from town gossip. It was my obligation ta tell em.
“You seen anybody round talkin’ ta Missy? Anybody at all?”
“Nope. I seen her walk down the street some couple days back but weren’t nobody with her. And I didn’t see her yesterday at all.”
I nodded. “Thank you much,” I said.
“Sure thing, Sheriff.”
I left and looked down the road some. The Henderson’s lived outside a town in a ramshackle home that was built by some miners way back before the War. I went and got April and saddled her up and we headed out that way.
The wind was blowin’ but the day was so hot it didn’t cool you at all. It just kicked up dust and sand inta your mouth and down your shirt and inta your eyes. I didn’t mind none, I was used ta it by now, but I could see why I always saw them folks passin’ through coverin’ their eyes with handkerchiefs and scarves and all manner a things when the wind picked up.
I passed the booths with the workers and smiled down at em and nodded. They nodded back and I kept goin’. They was always real friendly and it surprised me. A couple a em I knew were slaves once fore the War and as soon as they was freed after came out west and settled here. I can’t imagine bein’ no slave for em evil plantation owners and I figured it would give em a sour disposition, but they was always friendly.
I came up ta the home and hitched the reins ta a post on the porch. The home looked rundown, like it was bout ta fall over and I had ta check the porch steps before takin’ em. I went up ta the door and it was open a crack but I knocked anyhow.
A woman answered. Middle aged with wrinkles bout the face and hands from a lifetime a hard work. I heard several youngsters in the background and I felt sorry for her that I had ta tell her what I was goin’ ta tell her.
Black Sky (A Mystery-Thriller) Page 1
