The Hay Fort

by Judith Ann McDowell

Jenkins got to his feet to hold out his hand to both Willie and Butch, giving Donna a slight nod. “I want you to know that you have nothing to fear about talking with me today. I have a signed paper stating that anything you tell me will not be held against you in a court of law.” At their look of confusion, he added, “That means you will not be charged with stealing or trespassing if you admit to finding the jar on the Prescott Estate.”

  Willie glanced over at his dad, then to Butch. “I guess it’s okay to talk about it then?”

  Dave nodded and Butch only shuffled from foot to foot, trying to stay calm.

  “Willie, Butch, why don’t you come sit with me over here on the couch,” Donna suggested. The brief glance she gave the detective dared him to harm either of the boys in her presence.

  “Okay,” he sat a small tape recorder on the coffee table, flipped the on button. “Today is September 28, 2011 at 4:05 P.M., in the home of Dave and Julie Coby, in the presence of Willie and Donna Coby, minors, and Bill and Rita Coby, and Butch Coby—also a minor. Willie Coby, is the statement you are going to give given of your own free will?”

  “Yes,” Willie answered.

  “Butch Coby, is the statement you are going to give given of your own free will?”

  “Yes,” Butch answered.

  “All right, now, Willie I will start with you. Tell me where you were at the time you found the jar.”

  “Butch and I were gonna go and check out the Prescott Mansion when Butch said he had to go to the bathroom. So we went into an old school bus parked some-ways from the house.”

  “Wait a minute. If Butch had to go to the bathroom why would the two of you go in the bus? If you had planned to go in the house, why didn’t you just wait and go in one of the bathrooms there?”

  “Because we thought it would be safer to go in the bus.”

  “I see. I don’t, but… let’s continue. And, we are still on the Prescott property. Is this correct?”

  “Yes.

  “What did you do once you were in the bus?”

  “We saw that all the seats had been removed and a row of jars were lined up on a shelf behind some bars to keep them from falling off the shelf.”

  “Then what?”

  “We wanted to see what was in the jars so Butch unscrewed the cap on one, and it smelled so bad he put the cap back on. So he grabbed another jar, and since there wasn’t anything for Butch to wipe with, we left taking the jar with us.”

  “Did you go into the house?”

  “No. It was almost dark, so we just left and went to the barbeque at the Downey house.”

  “What did you do with the jar?”

  “We hid it, and then the next day we took it to school and gave it to Mr. Simmons.”

  “Is this what you say happened too, Butch?”

  “Yes, but while we were at the barbeque and filling up the cooler Uncle Dave had brought for beer, I held up the jar in the porch light and I could see something inside.”

  “When did you find out what was in the jar?”

  “After we gave the jar to Mr. Simmons. When he dumped what was inside out in the sink, Willie and me thought it was a deformed rat. But later, Willie overheard Mr. Simmons tell someone on the phone that two of his students had brought him a deformed fetus in a jar.”

  “Would you say the other jars in the bus looked just like the one that you took with you?”

  “Yes they all looked like what Grandma put her jelly in.”

  “When did the two of you go into the Prescott Mansion, and when you did, what did you find? I want you to describe what was inside the house.”

  Willie took up the conversation. “The house was filled with a lot of furniture all covered up with sheets. Really nice paintings on the wall and statues sitting on the end-tables. Everything was really beautiful, and we could tell it cost a lotta money. I was afraid to touch anything, really. I was afraid I might drop it. I did pick up a statue of a Japanese man. I sure wish I could have taken it with us, it was beautiful.” He shook his head at the memory.

  “Why didn’t you just take it? No one would know.”

  “We didn’t take it because we ain’t thieves!” Butch could feel his anger rising.

  “I know you’re not, Butch, and neither is Willie. I was just testing you.”

  Butch looked over at his dad, surprised to see pride showing on his face. He then grinned as he saw him give a thumbs up.

  “Then what happened?”

  “We went in the kitchen and stole again,” Butch told him.

  “And what was it you stole this time, Butch?”

  “Two sodas from the fridge.”

  “Okay, just so we have it all down at one time, was there anything else that either of you stole while on the property?”

  “No, just the jar and the sodas. In fact, we didn’t even take the soda off the property. After we got the shit scared outta us, I threw both the cans away!”

  “What happened to scare you? Do you mean you were scared by something that happened while you were in the house?”

  “Yes,” Willie said. “We’d been upstairs and were looking at all the baby furniture and toys when we passed another room that had a roll top desk in it. And there was something odd about it.”

  “Wait a moment, back up. Did you say you saw rooms filled with baby furniture and toys?”

  “Yeah and in other rooms there were rows of twin beds and also bassinets for babies. And yeah, there were a lotta toys.”

  “Okay, now what was it that struck you odd about the roll top desk?”

  “The desk was very shiny as if someone had polished it real good.”

  “So what’s odd about that? If the house was filled with beautiful furniture and art, then whoever took care of the house obviously took pride in their work.”

  “That ain’t what was odd. The floor was all hard wood and dusty, but there were no footprints leading up to the desk.”

  “Okay, yeah,” Jenkins nodded, wishing he could step outside and light up. “I admit that would seem a little odd.”

  “No it was a lot odd. If you can get to something when the floor’s all dusty, and not leave any prints, then how’d you get there?”

  “And that is what scared you?”

  “That was one of the things that scared us. There were about three things that really scared us. One was the roll top desk with the dusty floor and no prints, and another was a really loud bang while we were upstairs. It was so loud it felt like the whole house shook. Then there was another loud bang just as loud as the first.”

  “What did you do then?”

  “We ran out of the house as fast as we could, hoping no one was gonna come chasing after us.”

  “Did something come after you?”

  “No! Thank God!” Willie breathed, leaning into the comforting arm Donna had about his shoulder.

  “I have to admit that would scare the bejesus out of me too, boys.” He started to reach for the off button on the recorder. “Wait a minute, you said there were three things that scared you. What was the third thing?”

  “When we looked at the upstairs window and saw the face of a woman staring out at us!” Butch said.

  ***

  The children looked around, trying to think what they should do. They knew they wanted to go home to the beautiful light, but they also knew they couldn’t trade their souls for the chance to do so. Some of the women who had taken care of them had told them how important it was to be good and always say their prayers each night so that someday Jesus would come and take their souls home to the Holy Light of Heaven.

  “We can’t trade our souls for the chance to go home. If we do that, when Jesus comes to take us home, we won’t have a soul for him to take to the light.”

  “You filthy little bastard!” she screeched. “Who told you such a silly story?”

  “The women who took care of us after the bad man would hurt us and cause us so much pain.”

  The face of her lover flashed into her mind, and
she looked away.

  “You need not worry about him hurting you anymore. He isn’t here.”

  “No, he isn’t, and the master was only too glad to welcome him home.”

  Her head spun around at those chilling words, and she stared at the man who had voiced them. Suddenly, it was as though all the pain and heartache she had endured at the hands of the man who had spurned her was washed away and she laughed into the silence.

  “Burn in hell, you evil son of a bitch!” she called out and floated gladly into the waiting arms of the man dressed in black, smiling at her.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “I sure wish I could be there when you serve the search warrant and inspect that house,” Simmons said.

  “If you’re really serious, all you have to do is bring your ass down to the department and let me deputize you. That way no one can bitch when you’re there for the big unveiling.”

  “Get my badge ready. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.” He hung up the phone, grabbed his jacket and headed out the door.

  Jenkins laughed, knowing how badly his old buddy wanted to be present when they served the warrant and went through the house they had both been wanting to see since they were teenagers.

  “I hope you don’t get a speeding ticket on the way here and screw yourself out of a badge,” he laughed into the silence.

  Glancing at the clock, he saw it was a lot later than he had thought. Pulling the door to his office closed, he stopped by the desk to inform the dispatcher he was going to have someone coming in a few minutes and to tell him to go ahead and wait in his office.

  “I shouldn’t be more than ten minutes,” he called back over his shoulder as he walked out the door of the station.

  Dressed in a long sleeved white shirt and dark slacks, Judge Roister was just settling behind his desk with an unwrapped sandwich and a cup of coffee.

  “I was about to give up on you.” He rolled up his sleeves. “Said you’d be here at noon. It’s now 12:15.” His voice was deep and cigarette raspy.

  “Yeah, I got tied up and lost track of time. Anyway, here’s the warrant.”

  Roister took the paper and scrawled his name across the bottom of each page.

  As he pushed the paper across the desk, Jenkins shook his head. “You don’t even want to read it?”

  “If you don’t know by now what you need to cover in a warrant, you never will,” he talked around his mouthful of food.

  “I swear to Christ, I could get anything in this county okayed the way you and Bragg ship shod shit.” He laughed aloud as Roister chewed and then quickly swallowed.

  “If you’re not satisfied with the way I do things, you can hand all those papers right back here.”

  “No, I’ll hold on to them. This has been needed for too many years for me to mess up now.”

  “That case, you might want to shut the fuck up and be glad I signed them.” He waved the detective away to go back to enjoying his lunch.

  Jenkins walked down the hall a whistled tune following him out the door.

  As Jenkins and Simmons pulled out of the parking lot, they were followed by Sheriff Roberts and four other cars carrying two deputies each.

  Simmons tried to contain his excitement.

  “You know that badge is only temporary?” He tried not to laugh as he saw Simmons lift the badge to his mouth, blow, then briskly rub it with the tail of his shirt.

  “Don’t remind me. Right now I feel like Martin Riggs and I don’t want to lose the feelin’.”

  “Police work isn’t all excitement like you see in the movies. Sometimes it’s boring as hell.”

  “But this ain’t one of those times. Today we’re going to put a woman away who has caused this county and everyone in it a lot of grief.”

  “We can always hope that’s the way it will go down.”

  “So what’s the plan? I mean, we can’t just drive up to the front door and walk inside.”

  “What do you suggest we do?”

  “If it were up to me, I’d do a surprise attack. Swoop in on her before she knows what’s coming down.”

  “That would be a good way to go about it, but we can’t. She has to be served. The papers tell her we’re coming in and there ain’t a damn thing she can do to stop us.”

  “But,” he turned in his seat, “what if she isn’t home?”

  “Then we have the right to break down the door if it’s locked and go in.”

  “And if she tries to stop us from being there… if she shows up later, we have the right to shoot her!”

  “You don’t have the right to do anything. You are only here as a bystander.”

  “But you can shoot her, right?”

  “The only way I would shoot her is if she attacked me and there was no other way to stop her. But to be realistic, I think I could handle a hundred-and-something-year-old woman for Christ’s sake!”

  “I hope you get to shoot her. The old hag deserves it.”

  “You keep talking like that I might just have to take that badge back.”

  “Oh hell ,you know I’m only fucking your leg!” He turned away a wide grin spreading across his face.

  As they turned onto the long lane leading up to the Prescott Mansion, Jenkins stubbed out his cigarette. “Here we go.”

  “Oh man! I’m so excited I think I’m going to need to stop for a minute.”

  Jenkins slowed the car. “Are you serious? You need to take a piss before we go in?”

  “I can’t help it, man. It’s been happening of late.”

  “Might want to get that checked,” he told him before keying the mike. “We’re going to be making a pit stop. Nothing to worry about.” He turned in the seat. “Make it fast, I don’t want her looking out the window and get tipped off we’re coming.”

  ***

  Now that she no longer had to contend with her aged and frail body, she could move about more freely. She looked at her body slumped over the kitchen chair and she was appalled at how old and bent it was. And, although her spirit looked just like her body, she realized the pain she had endured day in and day out was all gone.

  “How come my spirit still looks old and rotting? I always heard that after you died the spirit returned to looking like it did when you were young and pretty.”

  “That only happens when you go to the light. Your spirit will stay as it is forever because you will never go to the light. Like me you will remain in darkness.”

  She drew back at his words, not sure she liked what he was telling her.

  “But if I did want to go to the light I still could?”

  “Are you saying you wish to turn against the master and go to God?” He moved steadily towards her, making her back up to keep away from him.

  “No…I didn’t say that. I would never wish to anger the master.”

  He stopped. “Do you promise to stay on this plane to serve the one who can make your wildest dreams come true?”

  “Yes…of course…but I would like to be young and beautiful again.”

  “I have the power to make you young and beautiful, but only if you give your soul to the master and promise to do his work.”

  Something in his tone did not ring true. “I don’t believe you. You said I could only be young and beautiful if I go to God.”

  “Why do you think I am lying to you?”

  “Because you want to hurt me. You say you will change me, but as soon as I give up my soul, you will leave me as I am.”

  “Stupid fool!” His anger raged out of control at having his word questioned. “You are too stupid to worship the master. You are not worthy of being one of his children!” He moved steadily toward her, and she began to scream out her fear.

  The children covered their ears, watching in terror as the evil one grabbed the old woman up in his arms and slammed her into a pulsating ring of fire covering the ground. The smell of sulfur accompanied by screams and tortured moans filled the silence.

  The Man in Black gazed at them for a mom
ent and walked into the house to await the arrival of the strangers coming up the lane.

  ***

  Jenkins stood by his car, waiting as Sheriff Roberts and the deputies left their vehicles and walked up to where he and Simmons waited.

  “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” Roberts told them. “We’ll go to the door, and if she’s here, I’ll serve her the papers and we go in. If she isn’t here, I’ll try the door and it’s unlocked, we’ll go in. If the door’s locked, I’ll give it a good kick and we’ll go forward. Since we have no way of knowing what we’re dealing with here, or who might be inside, I want you to have your weapons drawn at all times.”

  “Did you happen to bring an extra gun? I don’t have one,” Simmons said.

  “And you don’t need one,” Jenkins told him.

  “Here we go,” Roberts said.

  He took hold of the knob, and as he turned it, he motioned them to follow.

  They all walked into the house, weapons drawn as Jenkins called out asking if anyone was in the house.

  “We don’t even know what the hell her name is. I had the search warrant sworn out on the Prescott Mansion,” Jenkins told them.

  Simmons cupped his hands to his mouth. “Is there an evil old bitch in here anywhere?”

  Jenkins tried to stop the grin he felt spreading across his face and finally gave up. “Oh fuck…” he breathed as he stared straight ahead into a spacious dining room.

  Roberts walked forward until he stood over the body of an elderly woman lying on the floor beside one of the wooden chairs. Stooping down, he felt for a pulse and shook his head.

  “I can’t believe she did this. Of all the damn times for her to have a fucking heart attack why today?”

  Roberts moved closer to the body, and pulling back the collar of her dress, he could see the discoloration around her throat.

  “She didn’t die of a heart attack, Jenkins. Somebody strangled her.”

  “No shit?” Simmons moved forward and reaching out his hand started to touch her throat.

  “Don’t touch her, Simmons,” Jenkins warned him. “And get away from the table. This is a crime scene, and I don’t want you contaminating it.”

  Simmons could feel a warm flush creeping up his face. “Sorry.”