Short Stories and Flash Fiction

by Alice de Sturler

  This short story was inspired by the lyrics from Donna Summer’s single the Hostage. The album “Lady of the Night” was Donna Summer‘s first. It was produced by Pete Bellotte and released in 1974 but only in my home country: The Netherlands.

  ___

  SHORT STORIES

  7: Substitute Lead Singer

  Part 1:

  Rodney was looking through his papers. Absent-mindedly, he sorted them in several piles: to file, to delegate, to shredder, and private. Cleaning up his desk did not turn out to be as easy as he thought it would be. An overwhelming feeling of loss had crept over him ever since he got some boxes from Deb, the secretary.

  “You are the best boss I worked for, Chief. Gonna miss you.” With that she had handed over four folding boxes. When he looked down he saw she had already labelled them: private property of Vance County Police Chief Rodney Luc.

  I swear I can see tears. Silly woman, so sentimental. But I am gonna miss her. The best and most efficient secretary on earth, that she is.

  “Thank you, Ms. Brynn. I will miss you and the entire staff. Just promise me not to throw any last-minute parties, ok? I am not sure I can handle that … I mean, I’m not one for parties. OK?

  “Yes, sir.”

  I just know the guys have something planned. I just hope they will keep the speeches to a minimum.

  Back in his office, the outgoing Chief started to sort his files. All ongoing crimes, administrative papers such as his notes from Town Hall meetings and his monthly reviews with the local Fire Department Chief could stay where they are. The new Chief could reshuffle the content in the drawers if that’s what she wanted.

  I wonder how she’s gonna hold up with all these guys. I’ve seen some pretty bad stuff here. I gotta warn her for Peeter and Zeke.

  The new Chief had been elected a few weeks ago after Luc announced his retirement. Having been the Deputy Chief under Luc did not guarantee her the position. She had faced quite some competition especially from Chiefs from other states who had applied.

  What had secured Athena’s election was her loyalty to her men and women through the worst crimes that had happened while Luc was in command … and had failed to provide leadership. Without once shattering her boss’ image and reputation she had silently stepped in and taken over from behind the scenes. Patrol knew who gave the orders. Investigations and Special Events were all aware who had designed their strategy. Athena had handled the briefings with grace and had instructed public relations. The official for the department was a trustee. Nobody ever knew.

  Needless to say, Luc was grateful and so were the men and women who served under him. Thanks to Athena, the town stood united with their officers when Vance was hit.

  Rodney looked up from his papers and grabbed a photograph from his desk. It was a picture taken backstage. Athena on his right, and the rock band on the left. The picture was unique as it featured the band’s front man. Normally, that would never have raised one eyebrow with anyone. But during one period in this band’s existence, they had a substitute lead singer.

  “Chief?” Rodney looked up and saw Athena in the doorway. A short, strong woman with unruly curls look at him. “Are you ok?” The concern in her voice was obvious. She had agreed to stay in her own office for the first months of her tenure as Chief. No rush, that’s what she told everyone indicating she held Luc in the highest esteem and allowed him to set the pace in the transition.

  “Remember this one, Teena?” Luc was the only one who was allowed to call her Teena. For everyone else especially the Mayor, she was Deputy Chief Hanson.

  “Yes” she said softly walking towards the desk. “I read their last tour was a major success. But they are taking a break now, maybe do some recording.” Her eyes drifted to the spot in the Chief’s neck where he has the puncture wounds. The scars had faded over time but the skin had discoloured where the needles had entered his neck attempting to pump air into his aorta. Luc touched the spots. He knew she was looking but from her, the woman who saved him, he could handle it.

  As his fingers caressed the scar tissue, his thoughts went back to the time the Benedict Brothers’ tour brought them to Vance for three concerts. All sold out within minutes after the ticket office of the Vance Stadium opened.

  It had been a bad winter and many were down with the flu. The band was struggling too. The band members were all under treatment. Luc and Hanson had met with the manager. He had impressed on them to have their finest physicians on call. “If Adam catches a cold it will affect his voice and we are ruined!”

  The ruin did not come from the flu. It came from the past where someone had watched Adam and the band. Where someone had made use of the many press releases, Twitter updates, and photography to plot a course while strengthening their muscles and studying the band’s repertoire. Especially Adam’s vocals, mimics, the mike’s position, and his breathing pattern.

  Of course, the band traveled with some musicians who had performed with them before and who were familiar with their repertoire. But replacing Adam meant a radical change. As front man, he was their face, he got the fans going, and his voice … unique. The band had experimented with different singers when Adam took paternity leave. The fans understood but the sound … it just wasn’t the same.

  “Who knew that he was bat-shit-crazy?” Luc shook his head. Athena sighed and sat down. “We missed clues in the beginning, Chief. We disregarded the mother’s warning because she was so obviously spiteful.”

  “A mistake that costs us people.” Luc turned away to study his calendar wall. While he took that moment to compose himself Athena’s hand searched for the pendant Adam gave her after he recovered. The inscription said simply “With Love, Adam” but it meant much more.

  Part 2:

  Vance County is one of those anomalies that make America great. When the recession hit at the end of 2007, the State of New Oniwa was forced to make drastic changes. The budget crisis actually drew people together in this small state and they decided on a radical makeover. In one sweep, the newly elected state government made an end to gerrymandering and redistributed county lines to reflect its population and workforce. For Vance County this meant shrinking within its natural borders.

  Vance County has naturally outlined borders consisting of mountain ranges, a gorge, and two rivers. As a consequence of the redesign, Vance County consisted of the independent City of Vance and rural patches of farmland. The county voted to forego installing a sheriff and accepted the jurisdiction of the Vance City Police Department. It saved money, the farmlands were already patrolled by the city, and it was supported by everyone. Vance City Police became the Vance County Police Department to reflect this change.

  One person was particularly happy about this change. Mayor Storm Richards loved to remind everyone about the role he played in saving them all some hard-earned bucks. To his credit, Richards was responsible for balancing the budget. So when Vintage Studios entered into talks with the county to build a mega stadium that could host both sports events and live performances, Richards was able to negotiate a lucrative deal.

  By joining the investment, Vance County was part of the management. So when the Benedict Brothers announced their tour, Richards immediately had his people get in touch with the band’s management. Unfortunately for all, Vance Stadium was booked solid. A small detail that Richards’ people had overlooked. HGTV was in town with several decorating and real estate projects. The deal they struck was that on none-studio filming days, the stadium could be transformed to accommodate the band and the fans. However, to protect the premium grass a construction needed to be made to cover the grass. A flexible center stage was designed so HGTV’s perimeter constructions did not have to be taken down and only needed to be hidden behind movable walls.

  How the town pulled it off is still hotly debated over beers in the local pubs but the bottom line was this: the Benedict Brothers were performing in Vance County. It meant an influx of tourists, fans, and money. Business would boom.

/>   The mega-constructions meant that additional crews came to town. For a while, Vance County had a cosmopolitan look and feel.

  The Benedict Brothers were in fact no brothers at all. That is, not by blood. They were in the same high school club that researched the facts of the da Vinci Code. While reading about Opus Dei, they stumbled upon the rules of Saint Benedict “how to run a monastery.” They were fascinated and the Benedict Club was born.

  After graduation, four of them received a classical training at the finest musical schools in the country. But in their spare time, rock was what they played to relax. It didn’t take long before the Benedict Brothers were born.

  That Adam Garth would be the band’s front man was clear from the beginning. As lead singer, his tenor voice had a reach that surpassed the others. When he sang, it felt as if his voice could break any moment.

  In 2001, Adam’s pregnant wife was experiencing complications. They decided that Adam would take paternity leave as they called it. The band, booked for a series of live performances, would perform each time with a different lead singer to make sure that the fans would not become attached to a “replacement.” This worked out well until the band was in Europe on September 11.

  During the aftermath of 911, they could not get back to the USA and no new replacement singer could reach them there either. As a result, the last replacement singer became Adam’s substitute for several performance to fulfill the band’s contracts. The sub performed well. Miles H. Guard earned the respect from the band members and the fans.

  When air traffic returned to normal, the band returned to the USA with Guard who went back to his normal life as an engineer. By that time, Adam was a proud father of a healthy little girl, Jessie. Maggie Garth was recovering well and everything seemed to go back to normal.

  That is, until the first roadie was found dead. It was a small announcement in the papers. A man known to work as roadie for a string of different rock bands was found murdered. Everyone assumed he was drunk, got mugged, and lost the battle. But then another roadie, an old-timer, was found murdered. Both roadies had worked for the Benedict Brothers at one time or another. But still, these things happened.

  It wasn’t until some journalists started to post on social media about these two roadies that Luc’s curiosity was peeked. Granted, neither murder had taken place in his jurisdiction but he followed the news in the counties surrounding Vance. Actually, Luc followed crime everywhere. And social media had turned out to be a steady source for “heads-ups” as he called it.

  Not only had these two roadies at one point worked for the same bands, there were other similarities. These similarities were not noticed at first as everyone considered the first death a mugging gone bad.

  Both roadies were murdered with hex keys. With the second murder, the hex key was clearly the murder weapon. It was left in the roadie’s temple. But in the case of the first roadie, no hex key was found. Not until Luc suggested to the investigating authorities that they search all the evidence that was gathered from the crime scene again. They found the hex key not on or in the roadie’s body but with the trash recovered from some garbage bags near the body.

  Both hex keys or Allen wrenches were 16 inches long. Both were from the brand Pro. Both had an ergonomic handle.

  Part 3:

  “He wasn’t born that way. You know, either life fucks you up or somewhere deep down we all have that bat-shit-crazy switch.” Luc dumped another set of folders on the Town Hall meetings pile. “You’re gonna have your hands full with Stormy.”

  Athena tried to suppress a smirk but failed miserably. She gave up and presented Luc with a broad smile. “I look forward to it.”

  She got up and was about to leave the room when her eye fell on a plastic evidence bag. She picked it up and looked at the store-bought 16-inch hex key they had shown on TV when they announced the manhunt. Instinctively her hand wrapped itself around the ergonomic handle.

  “Still freaks me out.” That was all she allowed but her facial expressions told Luc so much more.

  Miles H. Guard had returned to the United States with the band after air traffic had returned to normal. September 11 had left them stranded in Europe. Getting some band members back was not an option. They wanted to come home with crew and all.

  The six live performances Miles had done with the Benedict Brothers were well received even by the critics. His voice didn’t match Adam’s but he had a great sound of his own. In fact, Kirk Tobias, the band’s manager, had asked him why he didn’t perform as a professional. He disagreed with Miles that his voice was not good or unique enough or that his mild lisping was noticeable. Truth was, it wasn’t. Not until he got extremely tired would you hear a faint lisp coming from Miles’ lips.

  Despite encouragement, Miles went back home and back to his drawing board. Literally, as he was an architect for Flynn & Foster, the world’s leading specialists in transforming residential homes into retail and office spaces.

  Miles could look back at almost two months of leading a rocker’s life. He got to know the band members and the crew. He learned their routines, got security instructions from the local agencies, lunched with the roadies, and even chatted with the groupies who always hung around the back doors trying to get in. After just a few days, he had picked up the walk and the talk and he fell into pace seamlessly.

  The band had been comfortable with Miles. He was quiet and reserved but not distant. They had told him he could send some free tickets to family and friends if he wanted. Miles had laughed and said that he couldn’t imagine his old folks crossing the Atlantic to see a rock concert.

  “How did you find out that he was adopted?” Athena said still studying her grip on the handle.

  “Social media. Someone texted he didn’t look anything like his folks. A former classmate said he knew Miles was adopted” Luc said.

  “We never met the adoptive father, did we?

  “No, Teena. He was far too fragile for travel. God, can you imagine how they must have felt? What’s going through their minds even now?”

  Athena put the hex key back on Luc’s desk and looked him in the eyes. “They should have told us the truth!” It came out a little too loud with a bit of spittle.

  She turned away to the window and pretended to like the African Violets in the window sill. “You hate those hairy flowers!” Luc laughed as he watched his successor trying to control her anger. That was the beauty of their relationship. The level of trust, to be able to have a weaker moment and to recover from it. It would be hard to find that again.

  “If you know that your son has issues? Then…”

  “Teena, let me stop you right there. They are my generation. If anything was out of the ordinary people feared institutionalization. Things were left unspoken or hidden. It was lying your ass off to safe face.”

  Part 4:

  The Chief was right. Nobody had seen this coming especially not the parents. Or Adam. The world he knew and believed in came crashing down hard. He blamed himself for the slaughter of roadies and ended up needing much help.

  There was a reason Adam and Miles looked alike. They were siblings. Not from the same mother though. Adam’s mom died at birth. His father, Hank Garth, was a drunk and the town’s fool who was too far gone to even make it to the funeral. What his second wife Tammy Hunter ever saw in him remains a mystery. But, she gave him Miles.

  Tammy had been a rebel all her life. She never made a secret of her drug dependency. Hank dumped her right after Miles was born. To Tammy’s credit, she tried to care for two boys doing odd jobs and yard work however, her need to get high was stronger than her maternal instincts.

  One day, she was found trying to sell her sons on the street corner. She got arrested, and Child Protection Services left with the two boys. A few weeks later, Tammy’s sentencing and Hank’s disappearance left the judge no other option but to strip both of their parental rights. He placed Adam and Miles in the local orphanage in hopes that they would get adopted soon.r />
  One day, Miles ran away after yet another family decided to adopt baby girls instead of boys. Adam tried to run after him to get him back but Miles outran him. Adam kept screaming for his brother to come back but alas. By night fall there were still no signs of Miles. The next day disaster happened. A family stopped by. They picked Adam. He told them that he had a little brother and begged them to wait to adopt him too. They did wait a few days but then the decision was made: they adopted just Adam.

  One of the reasons Adam later gave his therapist for his breakdown was that he never looked for Miles again after he was adopted. He went with his new family and led a good life. They were a tight family, there were other children, and Adam felt at home. In the back of his mind was always the image of Miles running off. He could still see Miles’ shirt flapping behind him, the white soles of his feet as he ran off, and the sound that had come from his throat when he realized that Miles would not come back.

  He was angry with Miles. Not for running. For not returning. And in his young mind, the change from “I wish you hadn’t” to “you shouldn’t have” came gradually. And then it stuck.

  Miles did come back a few months later though. Caught by State Police trying to ride trains! Back at the orphanage, they explained to young Miles what happened to Adam and how he made the family wait. There was no reaction on Miles’ face when they told him. He just asked whether Adam had left him a note. He hadn’t. No note ever arrived during the time Miles was gone and none ever did after he returned. He took it as a sign.

  He remained in the orphanage and refused to be in the visiting room when families came by. None of the social workers could get through to him on those days. Miles just wanted to be left alone.

  He started to learn how to use a computer and when he saw clips of Adam competing in talent shows, he downloaded those and studied them. He watched his older brother grow up on the computer screen. He watched his facial hair come in. He watched his voice change, his moves, his characteristic hand movements, and how he would close his eyes when he sang the lower notes. Yes, Miles was angry. He tried to sing too and discovered that he had a pretty good volume. He asked and got permission for voice lessons. Anything to distract the mind and reduce the anger, management had said.