Shadows of the Stone Benders (The Anlon Cully Chronicles Book 1)

by K Patrick Donoghue

  Jennifer had to agree with Anlon. “It is a hole in my theory, no question.”

  Pebbles’ eyes were glued on Pacal. While his edgy countenance had abated, she noticed him twitch during the last exchange between Anlon and Jennifer.

  Turning towards Pacal, Anlon implored, “Won’t you help us Pacal? My uncle trusted you and now that he’s dead I need your help. If we don’t figure this out together, then Devlin and Dobson’s killer gets away with murdering your friends. Is that what you want?”

  Pacal was slow to respond. He absently twisted the gold ring on his finger before saying, “Dr. Anlon, I want justice for my friends, but I don’t want it at the price of more deaths.”

  “That’s noble of you Pacal, but as you can see, I am a grown man, capable of defending myself. And with these two expert detectives at my side, one of them who wears a badge and a gun, I’m not stopping until I get to the root of the matter, whether you help me or not,” Anlon countered with confident resolve.

  Pacal shook his head and said, “You won’t see them coming. You have no idea what they can do. The Detective’s gun will do you no good. I see I’m going to have to show you what I mean.”

  IX

  THE SOUND STONE

  It was dark by now outside and despite the summer sounds of crickets chirping and frogs croaking, it was a rather cool evening.

  The group stood in the driveway in the dim light cast by lantern shaped fixtures aside the garage bays. The diminutive Pacal had removed his jacket and gallantly handed it to Pebbles, as she was underdressed for the evening compared to Anlon and Jennifer. She warmed her hands in the pockets while Pacal turned the Sound Stone over in his hands and asked Anlon, “Did Mr. Matthew talk to you about the Sound Stone?”

  Pebbles and Jennifer paid close attention to Anlon’s answer. Neither had heard him describe the stone in detail. He said, “Dobson said it was a projector of sorts. A stone that created sound waves that could move other objects. Very large objects. He spoke of Tiahuanaco and the Pyramids and said that men used the Sound Stones to lift, carry and place the massive blocks. But he didn’t get a chance to demonstrate it before he died.”

  Pacal nodded in agreement with Anlon’s description, but corrected him on a few points. “A good description but forgive me for pointing out that the stone has more than one potential purpose. Yes, it was used for building and moving, but it was also used for destructive purposes. It can also heal wounds, according to the Master Stone.”

  “Master Stone?” Anlon intervened, “What is the Master Stone?”

  “Oh, I am sorry, Dr. Anlon. I thought I mentioned it earlier. Devlin called the black Story Stone the Master Stone,” Pacal answered.

  “Why did he call it something different? What makes it so special?”

  “I will tell you later. Let us first discuss the Sound Stone. The scientists who crafted it over 10,000 years ago understood that each object, living or inanimate, has a sound frequency that can be agitated. If one taps into an object’s unique frequency and agitates the object with consistent force, it can create movement. Agitate softly and it can speed the healing of broken bones and other wounds through vibration. Agitate it with aggressive force it can produce lethal effects.”

  Anlon was annoyed that Pacal skirted by the Master Stone, but he was fascinated enough by his description of the Sound Stone that he didn’t challenge him.

  The simple elegance of the Sound Stone intrigued Anlon. Small enough to be carried most places, it was a crane, weapon and first aid kit in one. Incredibly imaginative. He knew from his own scan of peer-reviewed journals that a range of researchers believed sound could be used to move objects. And with ultrasound, the medical profession had discovered the use of sound to detect biological anomalies and heal certain kinds of injuries, not to mention clean teeth. So the scientific basis of the Sound Stone was credible. It was mind-blowing that such a device had been around for so long and no one had any idea.

  Pacal told them that, again, Devlin relied on literal translations from Egyptian and Incan oral histories — combined with some rudimentary drawings at several sites — to seek artifacts that fit the description.

  Like the Story Stones, they also found numerous Sound Stones gathering dust in various museum artifact collections. Deemed unremarkable, the museums were more than happy to donate three of them to Devlin.

  Then, with Dobson’s and Pacal’s help, Devlin had to figure out how to use the stone. After watching a demonstration of its use on the red Story Stone — where they learned of the existence of the Sound Stone in the first place — they each tried various experiments with their own Sound Stone to make it work.

  “It turned out that I was the best at utilizing the device,” Pacal proudly announced.

  Turning to Pebbles, he asked, “Do you trust me, Miss Eleanor?”

  “Um,” she answered, “depends. Why?”

  “Please stand still for a moment,” Pacal requested. “Dr. Anlon and Detective, please take a few steps back.”

  “Anlon?” Pebbles cried, unsure and frightened about what was about to happen.

  Pacal stood before Pebbles and placed his mouth to the back of the stone, pointing it at Pebbles and crouching his body so that his aim was focused on her center of gravity near her hips. Then he began to hum against the stone. At first, Pebbles felt nothing, but then she felt a tickling, vibrating sensation start to flow through her body. Again, she cried, “Anlon, what’s happening?!”

  Pacal stood erect, still maintaining his hum, and Pebbles’ feet lifted about two feet off the ground. She screamed, waving her arms and legs wildly as if trying to balance as she floated, suspended in mid-air. Pacal held her aloft for a few more seconds before gently lowering her back to the ground. Pebbles stumbled when her feet touched the ground and she fell over onto the driveway’s surface.

  Anlon rushed to her aid, but she pushed him away as she regained her feet. Blowing strands of her disheveled bob from her face, she panted, “I’m okay. That was kind of cool, even though I freaked out a little. Do it again, Pacal! Sit me on top of the Land Rover.”

  There was the scrappy Pebbles McCarver he knew, Anlon thought.

  Pacal lowered his torso again and raised Pebbles 10 feet in the air effortlessly. Turning with her held by the sound waves generated by the stone, he guided her through the air until he positioned her over the luggage rack of the Land Rover. Pebbles, more confident in his skill this time, raised her legs so that when she descended under his power she was in a sitting position. He ceased humming about an inch above the SUV and Pebbles plopped on top of the car with a small thud.

  “Ouch,” she yelped before laughing, “your landings need work Pacal.”

  He laughed too, a deep booming laugh that was disproportionate to his small body. In answer he shouted, “I’m learning, I’m learning!”

  She started to crawl down when Pacal shouted again, “Stay there, Miss Eleanor. I have another demonstration for you all.”

  Pebbles nodded eagerly. This was fun! She awaited Pacal to resume humming, expecting him to lift her and return her to the driveway. She closed her eyes and held out her arms as if waiting to be carried. Her ears detected the sound of Pacal’s hum but it was a different pitch this time. She felt vibration again but this time it wasn’t in her body. All of a sudden she realized what was happening and flung her hands around the bars of the luggage rack just as Pacal lifted the Land Rover off the driveway surface. Up, up, up she and the vehicle went until she was treetop level. Petrified, Pebbles wanted to scream but no sound emitted from her mouth.

  Anlon watched in stunned silence as Pacal lowered them both back to the driveway, this time placing the auto on the macadam surface as gently as a mother lying a baby in a manger.

  Jennifer Stevens staggered backwards and blinked repeatedly, cursing the mix of wine and scotch coursing through her blood vessels and brain.

  When the SUV landed, Pebbles jumped off and announced, “Okay, I’m done being the guinea pig here. I
think I wet myself.”

  Anlon roared with laughter and said, “Now I believe the story about how you earned your nickname! Wow, that was amazing! What technology!”

  Jennifer, still not trusting her eyes, asked of no one in particular, “Did I just see that? Did he pick Pebbles and the car up to the top of the house like they were a kite?”

  All of them burst into laughter, and Jennifer ran to exchange high fives with Pebbles, bellowing, “You’re fearless!”

  Pebbles, in a giddy, wine-influenced mood herself, retorted, “Not me. I had zippo idea he was going to do that. Seriously, I wet myself a little!”

  When their hooting subsided, they noticed Pacal standing solemn-faced looking at them. Anlon, standing apart from where Jennifer and Pebbles met to slap hands, inquired, “What’s wrong Pacal?”

  “I’m terribly sorry, Dr. Anlon,” the regal research assistant earnestly replied.

  Quickly, he ducked, pointed the stone at Anlon, raised the stone to his lips and blasted a sharp toned hum against it.

  Anlon had no warning, he never sensed it coming. The sound collided with him in a violent burst and he flew 10 feet past the driveway and tumbled several times on the grass before coming to a sudden, painful halt. Gasping for breath, his lungs devoid of air, Anlon could barely see through hazy eyes. His ears rang and his head throbbed where he struck the grass-covered ground.

  Jennifer shouted at Pacal, “What in the hell was that for?! Anlon, are you okay?”

  Jennifer and Pebbles both rushed to Anlon’s side, gently lifting him into a sitting position while he moaned and tried to clear his head.

  Pebbles, angry and shocked, spat at Pacal, “You could have killed him!”

  Pacal absorbed the abuse as he walked towards Anlon. “Yes, I could have killed him. Easily. And he never would have seen it coming. As I said. The same way Dr. Devlin and Mr. Matthew never saw it coming.”

  “What do you mean?” a flustered Jennifer demanded. “Stop speaking in riddles!”

  Pacal held the stone out in his hand and quietly said, “I mean, Detective, that you are most likely looking at the type of weapon used to kill Dr. Devlin.”

  Anlon laid on the sofa soaking in the bathing heat from the fireplace in Devlin’s study while holding a freezer bag of ice cubes against his left shoulder. Pebbles sat on the coffee table next to him and ministered some liquid ibuprofen she had just purchased on a quick trip into town.

  By now, it was after 10:00 p.m., and both Jennifer and Pacal were gone. Before they left, Pacal again apologized to Anlon and said, “The makers the stones, Dr. Anlon, they bent their will into these special rocks by means we don’t understand yet. But the people chasing their secrets are not like you and I or Dr. Devlin. They care not for the wonder of discovery and breakthrough technologies. From their actions, it is clear they are ruthless and single-minded. I fear they will find the other four objects and use them for evil purposes.”

  Anlon, wincing as he spoke, asked, “What are the other four stones Pacal?”

  Pacal waved him off and replied, “Not tonight, Dr. Anlon. It’s been an eventful evening and I think we all would benefit from clear heads before discussing anymore.”

  “Careful,” Anlon smirked in return, “the last guy to say those words to me was dead before sunrise!”

  Pacal nodded understanding, shook Anlon’s hand, bowed to the two women and stepped out the front door.

  As he descended the stairs, Jennifer called after him, “Mr. Flores, please remember to stop by the Stockbridge Police Department tomorrow morning, and please don’t leave the area without my permission until I say otherwise.”

  He waved his understanding and disappeared down the driveway. Until that moment, none of them realized Pacal did not arrive in a car.

  Pebbles rubbed Anlon’s forearm holding the ice bag and caringly inquired, “For real, how bad is it, AC? Do we need to get you to a hospital?”

  The tender look from her eyes was healing in its own way. Anlon said, “Nah, I’ll be fine. I’m sure it’s just a pulled muscle. Thank you for the medicine, it tasted nasty by the way.”

  She giggled and stuck her tongue out at him. No tongue stud either, Anlon observed.

  Now that they were alone, he asked the question he’d been dying to put to Pebbles all day. “Seriously, thank you. Not just for the pain reliever, for everything. I know it’s been a very long day for you, with travel and all, but I gotta know, what’s going on with you? Eleanor? The new look? Mind you, I’m not complaining, you look hotter than you did before, if that’s possible.”

  Pebbles blushed and displayed an over-dramatic open-mouthed stare before answering, “Why Dr. Cully, that’s the first time you’ve ever said you think I’m hot. I was beginning to believe you didn’t think about me in that way.”

  Anlon, sheepishly bit his lip and replied, “Oops, guess my secret is out now.”

  “Ha ha. I think the medicine, Cabernet and Sound Stone attack have loosened your tongue Anlon. What else would you like to tell me?” She winked at him seductively.

  “Pebbles, are you purposely avoiding answering my question?” he posited, winking in return.

  Leaning forward, Pebbles hovered her sleek body inches above his outstretched figure on the sofa. She was a bit tipsy too, and whispered, “I like it when you’re loopy.”

  Anlon quivered from the vibration of her whisper in his ear. As she sat back on the table with an evil grin, Anlon remarked, “Yep, definitely avoiding the question.”

  “Okay, okay,” she said with a feigned pout. “I suppose we’re going to discuss this sooner or later, so we might as well do it now since you’re drowsy and there’s a strong possibility you won’t remember my answer in the morning.”

  Pebbles lowered herself to kneel on the floor next to him so that her face was close to Anlon’s. She looked down anxiously at her unpainted fingernails, her raven bob shrouding much of her face. She spoke in a soft, uncertain voice. “You’ve been so good to me Anlon. When you asked me to come and help you, it made me feel so good. I don’t want you to think of me as just a happy hour buddy. I want to make a difference for you. I didn’t think you needed a freak show right now, a distraction. You need someone focused and, well, professional. So I thought I should put aside Pebbles and reconnect with Eleanor, because Eleanor kicks ass…demurely.”

  At this last statement, Anlon burst out laughing until his shoulder and ribs reminded him of his injuries. He peered up at the soft radiance of the fire shimmering on her face and raised his hand to stroke her cheek. Pebbles was truly a sweet soul, Anlon had always known it. That she cared so much about how he viewed her surprised him, and her words touched his heart. He said, “I don’t care what you look like or what you call yourself so long as you stick around. You are a treasure.”

  Small tears welled in her eyes and she leaned forward to kiss him. Their first, real, this-is-more-than-friendship kiss.

  When they separated, she wriggled her nose and said, “That was wonderful…and weird! Let’s do it again!”

  They kissed again, and again, and again. Coming up for air, Pebbles said with sudden surprise as she rose and ran back into the kitchen, “Oh, I forgot something important.”

  Anlon, his shoulder and rib pain now lower in the pecking order of physical sensations pulsing through his body, sat up a little and called, “Hey come back here! I liked where that was going!”

  He could hear her laugh echo from the kitchen. She returned dangling a white cloth by its corner with two fingers. She extended it for his observation and proudly said, “Look!”

  Anlon, puzzled by the cloth and by her sudden shift from the spark of romance between them, questioned, “Um, okay. A white cloth. Are you surrendering?”

  She giggled and placed both hands on her hips and said, “No silly. If I were surrendering to you, I would be waving the cloth not holding it still… and I’d be naked. Duh.”

  “True,” he chuckled, lying his head back on the sofa’s throw pillow. “T
ell me about the cloth.”

  “It’s Pacal’s handkerchief. I stole it from his jacket when he let me wear it,” she beamed.

  “Now why would you do that?”

  “Because there’s no way he’s coming back Anlon. And he’s 100 percent not stopping by the Stockbridge Police Department to give samples tomorrow,” she said with a mocking “how could you be so naïve” expression.

  Anlon was confused. He did wonder if maybe he was suffering from a concussion and experiencing a hallucination. He questioned, “Oh really, and how, Sherlock, do you know that?”

  “Jane Marple, not Sherlock, if you please,” she teased. “Call it a woman’s intuition. I have here his fingerprints and DNA from his sweat. Remember when he wiped his face with it? Oh, and what did you make of the etching on his ring?”

  Anlon screwed up his face in a “what on God’s green Earth are you talking about” look, and said, “Ring?”

  “Yes, the one on his right index finger. You know, the one he was tapping on the whisky glass. I got a couple good looks at it when I poured his drinks,” she prodded.

  “Sad to say I didn’t notice his ring. Did you steal that too?” Anlon cracked.

  She uttered a playful laugh in response, shaking her bob cut in the negative, and sat back down on the coffee table facing Anlon, carefully placing the handkerchief next to the three stones. She gingerly picked up the black Master Stone and held the face so Anlon could view it. Pointing at one of the carved objects, she exclaimed, “His ring had an etching just like this one right here.”

  Anlon sat up to face her, his sore ribs resuming top sensation priority, and stared intently at the object, saying, “Really? Wow, good observation Pebbles. I’m not sure what to make of it until we know what the object is.”

  “I know what to make of it, even though I don’t know what the object is. It’s confirmation that Pacal’s going to disappear,” Pebbles confidently stated.