by M Ennenbach
“Has anyone spoken to Tracey today?” he asked with concern in his voice.
A chorus of no’s answered him. And he looked at Karl, “You haven’t spoken to her today?”
Karl shook his head. “I just woke up. What’s going on?”
Mikhail walked over and took a piece of bacon off of his plate. “Jia wanted me to get her some canned peaches this morning.”
Karl raised an eyebrow.
“She woke me up before the sun had risen by banging a pot in the kitchen.”
“She seemed less than enthusiastic about our antics last night.”
“She never mentioned it this morning. But she suddenly had chores for me that needed done immediately. She is very beautiful, loving and whip smart. But she does not tolerate fools. Apparently, I made a fool of myself last night.”
“Hard labor works the stupid out,” Marie said with a smile. Then she looked at Bradley, “Most of the time, at least.”
Karl sat staring at his food and played with his eggs with his fork as everyone laughed. The mood was light, but he had a sinking feeling in his guts. “What about Tracey?”
“She never answered when I went to get the peaches. I banged on the door pretty loudly. Rob said he saw her coming toward the bar last night as he was headed on his evening stroll.”
All eyes turned toward Marie who blushed. Everyone knew she found an excuse to sneak out with him on his evening strolls. “We did see her headed toward the bar last night. But I was . . . otherwise preoccupied.”
Tara snorted. “Too polite to talk with your mouth full, Marie?” Amber nearly fell from her seat laughing. And Marie’s mouth moved up and down soundlessly for a moment. “Looks about right,” she added with a second snort.
“What time was this?” Karl asked with an intensity that silenced the banter.
“Not sure. An hour after we all came down. After, you know . . . ” Marie said.
Karl’s stomach dropped. Mikhail saw his expression and looked at Amber. He made the same face. Karl stood up and put on his jacket. And the two of them left the bar without a word.
“Oh no,” Amber muttered. “You don’t think she saw me . . . ”
Kenzie didn’t say a word. No one did. Everyone knew of Tracey’s troubled past. Not the specifics. It was the big gossip around town when she was seen walking with Karl.
Bella patted her on the shoulder. “Surely it is a coincidence. That is all.”
***
Karl practically ran to the shop. Mikhail was right behind him. Karl began banging on the door while Mikhail went around back and did the same. There was no sign of movement inside at all.
“I’m going to break out the window!” Karl yelled.
“Wait a minute! I noticed the window upstairs is open earlier. She could be sleeping heavily. Or out for a walk. No need destroying a perfectly good window if we don’t have to.” He walked back around and pointed at the open window.
Karl and he pushed a couple barrels next to the building. Then they stacked crates on top of them. Then he nodded and climbed onto the barrels. “Hold these crates steady for me.”
“You sure you want to do this, old timer?”
“Hellfire and damnation, I’ve been exploring crypts since before you were off your Mama’s teat. Just hold them steady.”
He scampered up and onto the covered porch and made his way to the open window. The stench of death attacked his nose immediately. “Tracey! Can you hear me?”
He covered his mouth with a bandana and felt the previous evening rolling about in his stomach. He climbed into the window and froze as he saw the large patch of crimson pooled. He leaned down and dipped his finger into it. Cold and thick, not fresh. By the shade and consistency, he placed it at last night. He carefully got down onto his knees and looked under the bed. His heart stopped as he saw the shredded remains of Tracey staring back at him. Her body was in tatters, but her face had been left alone. He got to his feet and staggered down the stairs. He felt tears leaking down his cheeks, but years of horrible scenes had numbed his brain. Something had done this to her. He could focus on sadness later. Now he had a goal. A creature that needed put down.
He unlocked the front door and opened it. Mikhail saw his expression and his face fell into misery. He opened his mouth to speak but Karl shook his head and walked to the side of the porch. The entire contents of last night, mostly bile and stomach acid, rained down onto the ground. He retched until he was empty and then for a few more moments for good measure.
“She’s dead.” It was all he could manage. Her sad eyes, now empty of light, filled his mind.
“Laudanum?”
Karl shook his head. “No. She looked half eaten.”
“Eaten? Ain’t no predator except a bobcat that could get up there.”
“Wrong kind of predator.”
Mikhail walked inside as Karl leaned on the railing. Karl took in several gulps of air and wiped his cheeks and mouth with his handkerchief. He looked down the street and saw Kenzie and Bradley standing in the dirt staring at him. Kenzie turned to Bradley and seemed to be sobbing as he wrapped his arms around her and gently patted her back. Karl felt ice in his guts and went back inside.
Mikhail had flipped the mattress of the bed and the remains of Tracey showed through the slats of wood. He looked a little green around the edges as his mind tried to process what he was seeing. Her breasts had been clawed to shreds. Her stomach was torn open and there were clear bite marks where the flesh had been ripped off with teeth. Her left leg was gnawed so that splinted ivory bone was exposed. Her ribs cracked off and the marrow seemed to have been sucked out of the discarded bone.
“She was meant to be found. That’s why it left her face untouched.” Karl heard the ice in his own voice. He half expected to see frost leave his mouth and dance upon the stale air.
“What could have done this?”
Karl stared. “No ghoul or zombie, the head would have been crushed and the brains devoured. Whatever this was enjoyed itself. It’s consumed by hunger and driven to violence.”
“A man?”
“No. Look, her genitals aren’t touched at all. She wasn’t raped. Wasn’t desecrated. This was pure vehement rage and need.”
“A monster? Did you bring a monster to my quiet town?” Mikhail spoke softly, disbelief in the face of what he was seeing at war with an understanding that his world was suddenly darker. Anger seemed to bubble over his words.
“I don’t bring monsters, Mikhail. I kill them.”
“That stranger, Dee, he looked capable of this.”
“Dee kills monsters as well. And has been gone near a week. No man did this.”
“What do we do?”
“We find it. We kill it. We burn whatever remains.”
“I need to check on Jia-Li. And the rest of the town, as well.”
Karl nodded. “Gather up the men. We need to search every inch of town. Get as many people to the bar as possible. It’s central. They can keep an eye on one another.”
Mikhail didn’t move. He just stared at what used to be his friend. Karl could guess at the war in his mind. His mind went back to Vermont. He saw his family slaughtered. Heard the otherworldly laughter as the thing with tentacles and claws disemboweled his brother as he lay under the bed. Old scars flared with burning along his thigh.
“Now, Sheriff. Move.”
Mikhail snapped out of thought and turned toward the stairs. “Meet you at the jail in an hour.”
“I will see if I can figure out what did this. We need to check on the Natives as well. They are far enough outside of town that they could be in danger.”
Mikhail nodded and hurried down the stairs. He’d head straight home, Karl figured. Make sure Jia-Li was okay before heading around town. He didn’t blame him. His first stop would have been . . . here. To make sure Tracey was okay. Instead he had been getting soused at the bar. Instead he had been kissed by Amber. Did she see that? Is that why she never came in?
He s
hook his head. Banished all thought. He pulled at the slats and the nails holding them popped from the frame. He felt splinters enter his hands but he didn’t care, didn’t stop until she was free of the wooden bars. Then he took the comforter off the floor where Mikhail had flipped the mattress and gently set it over her.
“I truly wish we had gotten our date, ma’am. Like you wouldn’t believe. I had taken a shine to you, one I haven’t felt in many a year. I will get this son of a bitch. And I will make it pay. I promise you.”
He reached down and closed her eyes. Her skin was cold but felt soft beneath his callused hands. Then he turned and walked down the stairs without a glance back. Hell seemed to tremble beneath his boots as he walked down the stairs and into the sunlight.
***
The front door slammed open and Jia-Li stood with her hands on her hips and a serious expression on her face. “How far did you have to go for those peaches? Georgia?”
Then she saw the look on her puppy’s face. Her stern look melted away and she rushed to him. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed for all he was worth. The breath in her chest fled at the force of it. She felt him tremble as he held her and she melted into him. All other emotion fled as her concern grew.
Finally, he let go. Not completely, but enough that she felt her chest fill with air. She looked up and saw tears. “Pup, what happened?”
“It’s Tracey.”
“What about her? Is she back on that poison?”
“No, my love. She is dead.”
“I knew that garbage would kill her one day. I had such hope that Karl would be the one to pull her away from it.”
“It wasn’t the Laudanum. She was murdered. Eaten.”
“Wolfs?”
“No. Not wolves. Something else. Karl thinks it is a monster come to Duncan.”
She pulled away and grabbed the rifle from over the mantle and sighted down the barrel. “Then we must find it. Someone else could be in jeopardy.”
He pushed the barrel of the rifle toward the ground and took her gently by the wrist. “We will. I need you to go to Kenzie’s. Safety in numbers. I’ll gather some of the men. Bradley, Robert, Karl, maybe River and Hasse Ola too. We’ll find it.”
She looked at him stubbornly. “I am a better shot than all of you. You need me.”
“I need you to protect the others.”
She squinted her eyes and gave him a long look. Then she nodded. “It makes sense. Take your extra revolver. I cleaned it two days ago and oiled it. You take such bad care of it.”
He smiled. “I have you to take care of it.”
She returned his smile and then rushed to him and kissed him long and deep. “You take care of you. We go to California soon. Don’t make me save your life. I love you, Pup.”
He lifted her chin and stared into those perfect brown eyes. “You already did, my love. Now get to the bar. Tell Kenzie what is happening. Have Bradley meet Karl at the jail. I love you too.”
She nodded and grabbed a box of ammunition from the shelf and left as he went to the bedroom and got his spare revolver. He smiled at it as it gleamed. She really had recently cleaned it and wrapped it in an oilskin.
***
Karl sat pouring over the books he had stored in his worn saddlebags. He searched for cannibalistic creatures that exuded the smell of death. He made notes on the back of a wanted poster as he went. Then he cross referenced in a few grimoires and mythology journals he had gathered. Nothing made sense. There was malevolence to the act as well as a hunger. Her turned face staring out from under the bed burnt into his mind as he tried to focus.
Bradley walked into the jail and cringed at the expression Karl shot at him. “We are all just gutted by this, Mr. Beck. Truly. “
“We will be gutted if I don’t figure out what it is.” He looked angrily at the books scattered around him. “I have nothing. Not a damned thing that helps.”
Bradley took off his hat and clutched it nervously. “You think it was the same thing that got the cattleman?”
Karl laughed bitterly. “Most likely.”
“So the Devil himself has come to Duncan.” Bradley made the sign of the cross.
“The Devil himself rarely has a need to go anywhere. There is enough evil on the planet without him. This is not the Devil. This is a vermin that needs to be eradicated.”
Bradley nodded, but his eyes showed doubt. He walked over and sat in an empty chair and watched as Karl flipped through pages and scribbled notes. The fear he felt was dwarfed in the magnitude of resolve he felt pouring off of Karl Beck. He suddenly felt as if not even the Devil could stand up to this man.
***
Mikhail walked with purpose down the main street. There was no need to saddle a horse for the trip. In fact it would make it take longer, he decided, as he nearly jogged down the street with his hand clutching the handle of his revolver.
He saw Cody sitting in his office. He stopped his frantic pace and stared at him in confusion. He sat in a chair and was just staring at his hand in wonder with a dazed expression. He walked up to the door and opened it slowly.
“I take it word has not gotten to you yet?”
He blinked at Mikhail for a second. “What happened?”
“Tracey is dead. Murdered in the night. Karl is at the jail and I’m gathering a group to search town for the killer.”
“Tracey is what?”
“Dead, Cody. We found her this morning. Half eaten and stuffed under her bed.”
Cody began laughing hysterically. “I very nearly believed you!”
Mikhail stared at him in shock before he slapped him in the mouth. “It is not a laughing matter. Pull yourself together, man!”
Cody held his cheek. “Wha . . . why? Tracey is really dead? Eaten? By what? Bobcat?” His words sounded thick and syrupy. Almost dreamlike.
“What’s gotten into you, sawbones?”
“Nothing. I’m fine. Just tired.” His mind raced in odd directions. The mushrooms he had eaten dragged him along. Opened him to new paths of thought. But made it hard to concentrate on the here and now. “What do you need me to do?”
“Head to the jail. We need to search every inch of Duncan.”
“Where is Tracey’s body now? I’d like to examine her if possible. For science.”
“There will be time for that after we know the city is safe.”
“Yes, yes. You’re right. I’ll head to the jail immediately.”
Mikhail still eyed him with concern but patted him on the shoulder. “I am sorry for the slap. It was too far.”
Cody just shook his head. “Think nothing of it, Sheriff. Better than a cup of coffee for shaking the cobwebs loose. You ever stare at a web? The intricate design is unique to each spider. Did you know that?”
“I didn’t. Perhaps after this is all over you can join Jia-Li and I for dinner. She enjoys talking with you.”
“That would be wonderful. Thank you.”
Mikhail nodded and walked out as Cody gathered his things. He had always found Cody to be strange, but Jia-Li said it was a sign of genius. He just thought he was strange. But he knew his business of healing, even if his methods seemed weird.
He kept walking down the street. Josiah and Teddy were outside the church. Josiah gave him a curt nod and Teddy spat in the dirt.
“We were just discussing tragedy, sheriff. May God shelter her soul in his loving embrace. We, of course, will do whatever we can to help. Your lovely wife mentioned meeting at the jail and we were just conversing about heading down there.” Josiah almost sounded convincing. Teddy looked like he might bolt at any second.
“I appreciate that. I’m going to get Robert, then check on River and Hasse Ola. If you have any weapons, bring them.”
“Them savages most likely did it.” Teddy looked to Josiah, who nodded sagely. “Or some of them from the council. They ain’t big on us palefaces. We should ride out there and get our payback for them killing her.”
“Already drinking, Te
ddy? It wasn’t a human that did what was done to her. Just keep your opinion to yourself and get to the jail.”
“You’ll see. They ain’t like us.”
“That will do, Teddy. The sheriff is busy.”
“I’m just sayin’ is all. It was you that done brought me to the light. Opened my eyes to the evils of the red skinned devils. I bet it was them that did in Chris, too. Damned savages.”
“You need to put a leash on your dog there, Josiah. We got enough to deal with as it is.” Mikhail glared at the two of them. No one cared for either of them. But Josiah swa the preacher, and that carried a certain weight. Teddy was just scum that clung to him for free drinks and the occasional pew to sleep on.
“Apologies, sheriff. Let us gather our things and we will be there shortly. This evil will be purged as the Lord commands.”
Mikhail didn’t respond. He passed Kenzie’s and saw Jia-Li taking control inside. Even Kenzie herself was doing as she motioned. He smiled for the briefest moment. She was literally the most competent leader he had ever known. She carried herself with severity when there was a job to be done. But she laughed and joked like one of the guys when they were alone. He was constantly amazed at the pure joy of her, the light she brought into his life. He wasn’t good with words or emotions, but he did everything he could to show her his deep affection. Even if he wasn’t always sure he deserved her. She was his everything. His rock in the midst of turmoil.
He nearly walked past the post office in his reverie, but caught himself at the last moment. The door to the post office was open. Robert sat stoically at his desk like he always did but smiled as he saw the sheriff enter the small building. He stood and reached his hand. Mikhail took it.
“Morning, Sheriff. What brings you to my little office?”
“Trouble, Robert.”
“I heard about the cattle driver. Damn shame. Didn’t know the man myself but Marie said he was good man.” He flushed as he mentioned Marie.
“Tracey is dead, as well.”
Robert’s face went pale. “No. How?”
“Killed in her sleep. We are gathering up at the jail to search the town for the killer.”