Black Bird

by Greg Enslen

  David‘s blood was boiling, and it felt like it was a hundred degrees in the gym. In the heat of the moment, his imagination took over – it almost looked like the very windows were beginning to sweat moisture. He realized something very important that he had forgotten. “And with me is Norma Jenkins, one of my father’s deputies, and Julie Nolan, an agent with the FBI. They agree with me, and Agent Nolan came all the way down here from D.C. to investigate the connections.”

  Bethany had been right - it all sounded crazy.

  “Right, I understand, son,” the sheriff answered in a very caring, understanding voice, a voice that might’ve sounded caring and understanding if it had come from someone else’s mouth. Here it just sounded condescending. “You lost a father and an Aunt, and it makes sense to you that they somehow be connected. But I’m sorry to say that it’s just not possible - the man that killed your father is probably long dead by now, and your Aunt killed herself, possibly after seeing the accident that had befallen her lover, Abe Foreman. And we have already discussed these wild theories with Miss Jenkins and Miss Nolan, and I dare say that the FBI needs to be a little more selective about who they send out to investigate things. Perhaps one needs to be an FBI agent for more than a week before they let you out to play. One way or another, you need to leave this to the experts. Now, why don’t you go home and play Nintendo or something? We’re having this meeting to calm people down, not to stir them up. Please leave, and take your ‘friends’ with you.”

  It was deadly silent, and David knew that it was lost. There was no way he could argue his case in front of all of these ‘understanding’ eyes, eyes that only saw his pain and wouldn’t listen to his reasoning. He reached down and grabbed his coat and the files and started down the creaky wooden steps of the bleachers. After a moment, he heard creaking behind him as Bethany and the others followed. There were no other sounds in the room accept for the heavy rumbling of machinery beneath the floor, and in the silence, it sounded impossibly loud.

  He got to the bottom of the wooden steps and hopped down onto the parquet floor of the gym, weaved between the rows of folding chairs with their people full of ‘understanding’, and made his way out into the hallway, Bethany only steps behind. He walked across the hallway and leaned against the brick wall of the hallway, sinking slowly to the floor, his heart pounding. Bethany kneeled beside him and held him, but it didn’t help a lot - he was just too humiliated, too stunned by the sheer embarrassment of the moment to even feel her warm arms around him. The hot blood raced through his veins, but it was all for nothing. No one would listen, no one cared. They didn’t see, or didn’t want to see, that the Killer was back, and this time there was no legendary sheriff to save them, to protect them. This town was in serious trouble, with a pandering, politicking sheriff at the helm and a brainless group of half-witted deputies following his every word - and no one with an ounce of leadership in his body except for that Blake guy, and he wasn’t standing up to the fat man.

  Bethany leaned over him. “Don’t worry, Dave. It’s okay...”

  “No, it’s not okay. Don’t you see?” David asked her, looking up into her eyes. “This bastard could be back here, right now, and no one cares - no one is listening to me. I feel like I’m going crazy!”

  A low rumble issued from beneath the floor of the school, a low rattle of pipes and hoses.

  Julie and Norma came out and over to where David was leaning up against the wall. They seemed to want to say something, but didn’t know what there was to say.

  A man came out of the gym from the doors behind Norma and walked over to the main doors leading outside, pulling one open and standing in the doorway for a moment. His face was very red and he seemed to be cooling off, and David noticed how nice the cool blast of rainy air felt. Julie noticed too, turning around to look at the man as he stood in the doorway for a long moment before letting the door close and heading back inside the gym. She was quiet as Norma and Bethany talked to David, asking him what they were going to do now. Norma was suggesting that they check out the local hotels. When Julie turned around, David was looking at her seriously.

  “You know,” he started, talking to the group but looking at Julie, “before the meeting started, I thought I saw him, standing out here and staring at me from this doorway. The more I think about it, the more I think it could’ve been him.”

  The others fell silent.

  He hadn’t told Bethany about the man, only pointed him out but he hadn’t been there when she’d looked. Julie and Norma looked at each other, Norma running a hand through her hair. David noticed that her forehead was dotted with drops of sweat.

  “But why?” Norma asked. “Why would he come here tonight? Beaumont is gone, his wife and sister-in-law are gone, and you’re supposed to be out of town, on your way to California. Everyone connected to your family is gone - who else is there to hate? Or did he come back for some other reason? Maybe he left something here, or followed someone, or was planning to abduct someone from here. There are a lot of people here, and somebody might not be missed, especially on a night like this.”

  David glanced at Julie again, but she was looking at the front doors still, a curious look on her face. He looked at Bethany, who had seen his look at Julie and now wore a disapproving scowl on her face - sure, Julie was pretty, but how could he be thinking of that at a time like this? It seemed almost funny to him, but he dare not laugh - it would only make her madder at him. “I don’t know. Maybe he’s back for some other reason - or maybe it’s not even him!”

  “No, it’s him,” Julie said, still looking away from the group, still looking at the doors. “But what is his motivation? He killed your Aunt, and presumably he thought you were gone. Maybe he thought killing her would draw you back. But that was Monday night - if he asked her before she died, he would’ve known Monday night that you were gone. So why is he still here unless he’s waiting for you? Have there been other murders here in town that we don’t know about yet? And if he wanted to wipe out your family, he’s almost done - you’re all that’s left, and you’re not even supposed to be here. So, if he can’t kill all of the Beaumont's, what’s the next best thing? And then he looks through the doorway and sees you here?”

  Norma shook her head, and Bethany wore a look of confusion on her face, but David knew where Julie was going. “There has to be some other target.”

  “Right,” Julie said, nodding. “More victims.”

  Bethany stepped back, pulling off her thin jacket and slung it over her shoulder with her heavier coat. “Can we get a breath of fresh air? I’m sweating bullets over here.”

  Something clicked in David‘s head and he hopped to his feet. “He couldn’t get to Beaumont or his family, so what’s the thing that my dad loved the most, after his family? This town. He loved this town, gave his life to protect it, to drive the Killer off.”

  “Right,” Julie repeated. “And how could Jasper Fines hurt this town?”

  "That’s easy. Kill as many people as he can before he gets caught,” Bethany answered.

  Another low groan issued from beneath the wooden floor, this time sounding louder and lasting longer, like an angry beast trapped beneath the floorboards. Julie stopped the question she had started and listened, trying to localize the sound. She stepped to the doorway leading into the gym and listened as the sound died away.

  David watched her. “And the best way to kill a lot of people and not get caught is to do it all at once,” he said, feeling a shiver race through his body as he understood the look on Julie’s face.

  Julie nodded. “Right. And he was here tonight, and it feels like a hundred degrees in here. And half the town is in that gym right now.”

  “Shit.” Bethany said.

  “Yeah.” David agreed.

  He looked at Julie. “The boiler?”

  Julie nodded again. “It would explain the sounds. He could have been here to mess with the boiler, and looked in to get an idea of how many people were here. He’s a collec
tor, so he couldn’t help but look at his victims, maybe even try to get a quick count. He saw you and was pleasantly surprised - you are his last Beaumont. Both his goals would be achieved at the same time.”

  Norma shivered and pulled her coat on, even though it was very warm in the hallway outside the gym. “So, what do we do?” she asked, her voice high and nervous. “Get everyone out of there? Is there time?”

  “I don’t know,” Julie said, shaking her head. “There’s no way to tell when it will go unless someone goes down there and checks out the boiler itself.”

  Norma nodded. “I’ll go – I’ve been down there. I’ve work at this school, remember. Use your badge and clear everyone out. Tell them there’s a bomb or something - and even if we’re wrong, at least the sheriff’s ‘touchy-feely’ session will be canceled.”

  “I’ll go down with you, Norma.” David said. “I’ve been down there before, once.”

  “Okay,” Julie said, walking towards the gym and checking to make sure her phone and gun were still on her. She wasn’t sure how she was going to do this, but it had to be done, and fast.

  David turned to walk away, but Bethany stopped him, turning him back around. “Be careful - I’m not losing you again,” she said, kissing him. He nodded to her and turned, following Norma down the hall to the maintenance room.

  Julie walked back into the gym, ignoring the murmurs that grew as she walked right up to the podium and began talking to the sheriff, who had been speaking to the crowd over the microphone. They heard a muffled “What the hell...” and nothing more as the Sheriff and this strange woman talked, one of his beefy hands covering the microphone, but her voice was powerful and carried to the first few rows. Listeners heard words like “explosion” and “responsibility” and “catastrophe”, but the Sheriff continued to shake his head and finally she simply pushed her way around him and took the microphone. Another woman, a younger girl that some of the townsfolk recognized as Bethany King, stepped up to the podium and stood next to the new woman, as if lending her credibility.

  “Your attention, everyone. My name is Julie Noble, and I am with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I am afraid I must ask everyone to please exit these premises immediately.”

  Her words were forceful and full of menace, even delivered as calmly as they were, and after only a moment or two, most of the audience stood and began climbing down from the wooden bleachers. After a few moments, a small traffic jam appeared at the main doors out of the gym, and she stepped up again, preparing to say something else.

  Sheriff Brown stepped up and pushed her away from the microphone. He’d listened to her stern words about the possibility of an explosion and the need to quickly and quietly evacuate the townsfolk, but he didn’t have to stand by and watch her make a fool of him. He pushed her aside and began speaking.

  “Now everyone, please be assured that nothing is wrong. Anyone who wants to leave may feel free to do so, but I can assure you that nothing is wrong. My deputies have inspected this entire building for any kinds of problems, so you may rest assured.”

  At this, some of the people by the doors stopped and turned back around, filing back toward their seats. Julie was horrified to see that many of them were families, men and women and children, and could not understand why the sheriff of this town would want to put them in such danger. Didn’t he care about their safety?

  Julie looked at Bethany, but she only shrugged her shoulders, unsure, but her eyes were nervously eyeing the doors. It was obvious that Bethany wanted nothing more than to leave, and NOW.

  A rash thought went though Julie’s mind, and she quickly slipped the gun from her shoulder holster and stepped up next to the sheriff, jamming it between his thick ribs but shielding it in a way that no one else could see. He let out a little grunt of surprise, glancing down at the hard hunk of metal in his side, and then up into her eyes.

  “Tell them all to leave. Now.”

  He smiled, shaking his head. “Little lady, you’ve just gotten yourself into a world of hurt. I don’t care if you’re from the FBI, the N.R.A., or the NFL, you’re gonna wish you hadn’t done that.”

  He slowly stepped toward the microphone, leaning over to say the words she wanted to hear, when a huge, moaning sound issued from beneath the floor, directed underneath the painted Fighting Bobcat in the center of the basketball court’s floor, now covered with chairs and people.

  Norma knew her way around the basement, David could see. How she knew her way around she didn’t say, but he could tell she’d been down here before. She’d worked for the school system for a lot of years, and somewhere along the line, she must’ve found herself down here.

  There was a narrow staircase that led down from the janitor’s locker room into the basement and boiler room, and they hurried down the stairs, feeling the air temperature skyrocket as they approached the boiler.

  “Damn, it’s running hot.” Norma said, wiping sweat from her forehead as they walked into the boiler room.

  Steam cloaked most of the machinery in the room, but the noise was terrific, and David wondered how much longer it would hold. He didn’t know anything about boilers but the concept was pretty straightforward - water was heated in the big tank and piped out to the school to heat things. Too much boiling water would overtax the whole massive tank and cause an explosion.

  A big one.

  “Now what?” David asked, leaning against one big pipe and yelping as the searing metal burned his hand. He shouted a long string of curses and shook his hand, already seeing the skin on his right palm starting to redden and pucker from the burn. “Dammit!” he shouted, shaking his hand and looking around for something to wrap his hand in. The last thing he needed was a big scar on his palm.

  Norma ignored him. She was having trouble seeing in the steam, but from her previous visits down here (one of the school’s janitor’s had been trying to impress her with a tour of the basement and had probably been looking for a way to get her alone down here) she knew that the boiler controls were off to her right. “This way,” she said, heading off into the steam.

  David followed her, mad at himself for being so clumsy.

  Norma finally found the boiler controls and studied them. The boiler pressure gauge was reading a normal 250PSI, well beneath the red zone of 600PSI, but the roaring pipes and steam around her told her that the gauge was wrong. She tapped it hard on the faceplate, but the needle didn’t move - it seemed stuck.

  David had found a rag stuffed into a crevice near the boiler gauge. The rag was oily and dirty, but it would have to do. He wrapped his hand tightly and made a fist, and it felt a little better.

  Norma looked for the controls to shut off the boiler. There was one large circular area in the middle of the control panel marked “Pressure control”, but instead of there being a knob to twist or turn, there was just a little metal pole sticking up about an inch and a half.

  There had been a knob, but it was gone now.

  “He’s taken the knob that controls the boiler pressure, and he screwed with the gauge to make it look like the boiler was just running a little too hot, not working its way up to explode,” Norma told David, who simply nodded. Jasper Fines wouldn’t want anybody messing up his plans, and making sure that no one was alerted too soon was smart. David was starting to wonder if this guy was going to win in the end. Maybe his dad was dead because this guy had been smarter.

  Norma grabbed his shoulder. “Look around for pliers or a toolbox. Maybe we can still shut this thing off.”

  Julie’s attention was momentarily drawn to the rumbling sound, a moan that shook the floor and sounded like it had come straight up from hell.

  The sheriff made his move – surprisingly fast for such an overweight man, he turned and grabbed at Julie’s gun, trying to yank it from her hand. He only succeeded in grabbing her wrist and squeezing hard, and involuntarily, the muscles in her hand clenched, squeezing the trigger.

  A shot rang out, whizzing across the gym and shattering
a small glass window high above the wooden bleachers on the south side of the gym. The small window burst outward, and rain and wind began coming in the ragged hole.

  The crowd erupted in panic, screaming. Chairs fell over and people screamed as they ran for the exit, and others pushed from behind them. People pushed and shoved and clawed their way toward the exits, streaming down the wooden bleachers and knocking over chairs to try and make it to the only two doors, already jammed with people trying to leave.

  Julie wrestled with the sheriff, desperate to keep it from going off again - it wouldn’t do her any good to shoot the very people she was trying to save! This sheriff was a maniac, and she had just about gotten a handle on him when she was rudely grabbed from behind by two deputies, one pulling her gun from her hands and the other throwing her down off of the podium. She crashed into several newly vacant folding chairs, landing badly on her back and side.

  Most of the deputies raced towards the exits, whether to try and control the riot or evacuate themselves, Julie did not know, but two remained, their guns leveled at her. The sheriff was down off of the podium now, talking to the mayor and some of the city council members, all of whom were visibly upset, and he was using his best ass-kissing voice to soothe them, telling them that there was nothing wrong, nothing to be concerned about. All the council members looked like they wanted to run, but they also trusted this portly man - he’d looked out for them before, just as they had looked out for him.