Dark Red And Deadly

by Frederick Zackel

Finney said, "Jeremiah came to town that day to buy some land."

  "How much was the land?"

  "Eight hundred thousand dollars," Finney said.

  Hartman said, "Jeremiah Quint had fifteen dollars in his savings account and twenty-seven dollars in his checking. How was he going to pay for this land?"

  "He had cash. I saw it."

  "He had eight hundred thousand dollars in cash on him?"

  "Oh yes," Finney said. "But somehow the signals got crossed. He waited all morning and when the seller didn't show, Jeremiah left in a huff."

  Hartman was puzzled. "And that was the big stink?"

  Finney was smiling. "Jeremiah stopped at a nursery before coming here. He had several sacks of manure in his truck. A pickup truck with wet manure sitting under a hot sun for hours! and of course my neighbors started complaining."

  Hartman said, "What happened to the money?"

  "I don't know," Finney said. "Jeremiah took it with him, and the bank was already closed by the time he left."

  "And that was the last time you heard from him?"

  "Not quite, Sheriff. When I came in yesterday morning, I found this message on my machine." Finney took a cassette from his desk and popped it into his desktop telephone answering machine and hit the PLAY button.

  Jeremiah Quint’s voice came out of the answering machine: "Ed, this is Jeremiah Quint. I've probably been busted. Audrey will be in sometime this morning to help you get started with the paperwork. Aloha!"

  Finney stopped the tape machine.

  * * *

  Sheriff Hartman and Rafferty were driving crosstown in the Sheriff’s car.

  Rafferty said, "Why should I care what Jack Draper thinks?"

  Hartman said, "He thinks you're the legendary Washington Connection. The go-between between the grass growers and Congress. And if you're not the Connection, you're protecting Jimmy Quint, who is."

  "Oh, great. Does he have the entire DEA after me?"

  Hartman shook his head. "Your Senate connection scares him. Maybe you have strings back in Washington that you can pull on and get him jerked around."

  Rafferty grunted. "He needs more evidence."

  * * *

  When Nora Buchanan answered the doorbell of her apartment, Mad Dog and Lester forced their way inside. Nora ran for the gun she had hidden under a sofa pillow. Lester tried to head her off. Nora had the gun in her hand, but Lester caught her wrist and took the gun away from her. He knocked her to the carpet, and she pulled him down with her.

  Nora fought furiously, wanting to kill him. She tried clawing his eyes out, kicking him, smacking him, biting him, and kneeing him. Lester tried strangling her, shoving apart her jaws, punched her head, tried twisting her arm off.

  Mad Dog smacked her head with his gun butt. Nora went semi-conscious. Lester got out his knife and went to stab her. Mad Dog grabbed his son's wrist and pulled Lester off her.

  Lester was crazed, had spittle on his lips. He tried pushing past his father. Mad Dog slammed him back against the wall and took away his son's knife.

  Mad Dog screamed at Lester, "Stop it! It's over!"

  Lester blinking, waking up, looking around. He shivered as if freezing, and the blood frenzy ever-so-slowly left his eyes. But Mad Dog wouldn't release him.

  Lester had slurred speech. "She snitched on us. She's gotta be wasted."

  Mad Dog smacked his son's head hard several times. "The killing stops now!"

  Lester was shocked, dumb-founded. "She snitched, Mad Dog, I know it!"

  Mad Dog said, "Goddam you, Lester, it's over."

  Henry Oteas burst into the living room, then raced to Nora on the floor. She was okay, just stunned and weakened.

  Henry told Mad Dog, "Go away! Take him away!"

  Lester looked borderline at the old man.

  Mad Dog told Lester, "Go wait in the truck."

  Lester was confused. "She tried to kill me!"

  Mad Dog said, "Lester!

  Lester left, while Henry helped Nora into a chair. Her legs were wobbly, her face was bloodied, and she was choking with tears and pain.

  Henry told Mad Dog, "What you come here for?"

  Mad Dog said, "The garden got hit. It's all gone." He threatened Henry. "I gotta know, old man. Did she snitch?"

  "She has not left Tomo's side," Henry said.

  "Why the gun?" Mad Dog asked.

  Henry was outraged. "Lester attacked her at the hospital last night. He tried raping her. She borrowed the gun to kill him because your son is a savage!"

  Mad Dog said, "He's my son, Henry."

  Henry was outraged. "My son thought you were something special. A hero. You're shit!"

  Mad Dog said, "I never claimed I was a hero."

  Henry faced up to Mad Dog. "Tell me about Jeremiah Quint. How his house got hit. You killed all those people!"

  Mad Dog said, "Old man, you weren't there. You don't know how it went down. The things that went wrong. Just one thing after another." He jabbed Henry's chest. "Listen, Lester saved your son's life. If not for him, Tomo would've died right then and there."

  Mad Dog left, taking Nora's gun with him.

  Henry, motionless, could not grasp the horrible news.

  * * *

  After lunch Rafferty kponed the tourists and went window-shopping. Occasionally he would stop and chat with the shop owners. He asked a lot of questions in several clothing and gift stores. He happened to look in a store window.

  Rafferty saw DEA Agent Draper following him.

  Rafferty walked into the next shop.

  When Rafferty didn't immediately reappear, Draper approached cautiously and tried to peer in the store.

  Draper jumped when Rafferty came from behind him and spun him around. They were both ready for blood.

  Rafferty said, "You were following me, Draper."

  Draper said, "No, I wasn't."

  Rafferty growled at him. "I'm going to love suing you."

  Draper was as outraged. "Listen, you Washington hotshit, we made a pot bust and there's four people dead!" He jabbed Rafferty. "And you got there ahead of us. If I could, I'd drop on you like a ton of bricks."

  Rafferty laughed in the DEA man’s face and then snarled like a '30s gangster, "You'll never take me alive, copper!"

  Angry that Rafferty mocked him, Jack Draper stalked off.

  * * *

  Rafferty walked into his hotel lobby and was stopped by Paula Grayson.

  The young woman looked exhausted, depleted. "Mister Rafferty? You said if we needed a favor ... ‘

  * * *

  Paula Grayson's car turned onto the side road that lay beyond two red reflectors on a palm tree.

  "I couldn't go up there alone," Paula said.

  They parked in front of the Quint house, then stared up at it.

  "This house is haunted now," Paula said with a haunted voice.

  * * *

  They opened up the house and discovered the house had been searched and vandalized. Every room was a mess. They discovered the refrigerator had been trashed, and vegetables dumped on the floor.

  Rafferty said, "What were they looking for?"

  "Jeremiah's missing money. All the money he made from the harvest."

  * * *

  Paula and Rafferty dumped the kitchen garbage atop Jeremiah's compost pile.

  Rafferty said, "How much is missing?"

  "Almost eight hundred thousand dollars."

  "Do you know where it is?"

  Paula hesitated. "No."

  The smell of the compost pile was rank and overpowering.

  Rafferty asked, "Why does it stink so bad?"

  "Mountain lion shit."

  "Lord, is that what it is?"

  "Mountain lion shit and bat guano and bone meal and steer manure. It keeps away the deer. The deer'll eat anything. Sunflowers, tomato plants - "

  "Marijuana?"

  "I know whole families who went bankrupt because the deer ate their crops."

  * * *

&n
bsp; Henry wandered into Nora's kitchen late at night. Nora sat having coffee. Neither of them have had sleep. Both had desperate eyes. Nora was just barely holding back her hysteria.

  Henry said, "He's sleeping better now."

  Nora said, "Henry -- Henry, he needs blood. He's got to have it. I can't steal any more."

  "If we don't get some blood, is he going to die?"

  "Yes," Nora said.

  "How we gonna get more blood?"

  Nora hesitated, because the words were barbs ripping her throat and wouldn't come easily. "I got an idea. It's a terrible thing, though, Henry."

  Henry without hesitation said, "For my grandson, I will do it."

  Nora faced him, reluctantly. "We're going to need Lester and Mad Dog."

  Henry was horrified. "Oh Nora!"

  * * *

  Rafferty's hotel included a main building and several bungalows scattered around the pool. Rafferty himself was poolside in a public phone booth across from his bungalow.

  Rafferty said, "Senator, I'm not leaving without Jimmy’s statement."

  He looked for and found his hotel room and saw Jack Draper sneaking a peek out of his hotel window.

  Rafferty said, "I'll call you back, Senator." He hung up and redialed. "Is Sheriff Hartman there? This is Terry Rafferty. Sheriff, I'm calling from the phone booth by my bungalow, and I can see Jack Draper's face in my window. He is inside my hotel room. That son of a bitch better have a search warrant, or I want him prosecuted for breaking and entering. As we speak. Good. I will be waiting."

  Rafferty hung up the telephone.

  As Rafferty left the public phone booth, Mad Dog and Lester caught him and sandwiched him between them. Lester gave Rafferty a bear hug, while Mad Dog covered Rafferty's mouth and nose with a gauze of ether.

  Rafferty fought as hard as he could, but his mouth and nose were covered by ethered gauze, and his strength faded quickly.

  From Rafferty's window Special Agent Jack Draper saw Rafferty being shanghaied. He yanked open Rafferty's sliding door and ran to Rafferty’s rescue, his gun out and ready.

  Mad Dog used his .357 Magnum to shoot Jack Draper.

  Jack Draper was killed instantly by a bullet in his face.

  Lester had the ether now. Rafferty struggled, but the ether in the gauze knocked him out. As Rafferty dropped to the ground, Lester kicked him.

  * * *

  Dr. Deanna Wu found Sheriff Hartman getting into his patrol car outside his office. She was pleased. "Honolulu says the ejection scratches on the shotgun shell found at Jeremiah Quint's place match the shotgun found in Lester Rahler's truck."

  Hartman was very pleased, too. "Mahalo, Deanna, from the bottom of my heart. When I finish with that son of a bitch, he'll never bother anyone ever again."

  A deputy came running and caught up to the Sheriff's car.

  The deputy was excited. "Sheriff Hartman -- "

  * * *

  Up in the foothills Mad Dog's truck was parked outside the Rahlers' drying house, which was just a rundown chicken coop under the trees. A portajohn was off to one side.

  Mad Dog got a plastic fungo bat from his truck, then joined his son. Mad Dog said, "Gimme your guns."

  Lester reluctantly passed them over.

  Mad Dog gave him the fungo bat.

  Mad Dog said, "In case you get pissed at him."

  "I have to make do hitting him with this?"

  "Lester, listen to me. We need his blood. Don't kill him."

  Lester was dubious about the entire affair.

  Mad Dog opened the rear door of the truck. Inside was Rafferty, unconscious, tied with ropes, blinded by gauze bandages while his mouth was taped with adhesive tape. Mad Dog hauled Rafferty out, then dragged him inside the drying house.

  The chicken coop looked like a tobacconist’s shed. Marijuana stalks hung down from make-shift drying racks and from the rafters, with newspapers spread out below to catch scraps. Mad Dog dumped Rafferty on a bunk bed, then tied him down with more ropes. Nora Buchanan sat off to one side and unpacked her medical supplies.

  Then she inserted a needle into Rafferty’s arm.

  As Rafferty woke, Mad Dog watched Nora taking a pint of blood from Rafferty. "How much are you going to take?"

  Nora put a finger to her lips.

  The blood bag was filling.

  Rafferty realized his blood was being taken. He struggled against his bonds. Mad Dog reached over and smacked Rafferty’s head as hard as he could. Mad Dog was pissed; he didn’t have room for a real good swing. When he readied for another whack at Rafferty’s head, Nora intervened and stopped him. She used the gauze and more ether on Rafferty.

  Rafferty lost consciousness as the blood bag filled.

  After one pint was filled, Nora took another pint from Rafferty. Mad Dog was fascinated and wouldn’t leave her side. Lester came and looked over his father's shoulder. But Lester didn’t like watching. He was spooked by blood thievery. When the second pint was filled, Nora took another pint from Rafferty.

  When Nora had three pints of blood, she disconnected Rafferty, swabbed his arm with rubbing alcohol, and gathered up her gear.

  Rafferty started coming around. Already feeling the loss of blood, Rafferty has never been this weak or helpless before. He could barely moan.

  * * *

  Mad Dog walked Nora to her car, while Lester stayed behind.

  Nora said, "Call me if there's any problem."

  Mad Dog said, "How much do you think you can get from him?"

  Nora had no idea. "I don't want to kill him." Then, remembering, she said, "Oh, feed him. Give him orange juice."

  "We didn't plan on him eating."

  "He can't give blood if he's dead." Nora indicated Lester. "And don't let Lester bother him."

  Mad Dog said, "I won't."

  Nora was dubious, but still she drove off in her car.

  * * *

  Inside the drying house, drained of strength, Rafferty was very tightly bound to the cot. His eyes were taped with gauze. He heard a truck driving off.

  A moment later, with his plastic baseball bat, Lester came and sat on the bunk beside Rafferty. He ripped the adhesive tape from Rafferty's mouth, then leaned over and made a slurping sound in Rafferty's ear.

  "You're gonna die here, dickhead," he whispered.

  Rafferty said, "Eat shit and die!"

  Angered, Lester punched Rafferty's head with the bat.

  "We want Jeremiah Quint's money." He punched Rafferty again, even angrier. "Where is it?"

  Rafferty said hoarsely, "I don't have it!"

  Lester started beating Rafferty about the head and shoulders with the plastic bat. But soon Lester had lost control and was viciously attacking Rafferty with the fungo bat.

  Rafferty, his nose bleeding, the blood streaming over his face, reeling from the pain, was desperate. His guts churned with hatred and disgust.

  "I don't have it!"

  Lester was outraged. He smacked Rafferty's head with the bat's butt end. Rafferty couldn't speak. Lester smacked Rafferty again and again.

  "Where's the fucking money!"

  Lester went berserk with the plastic bat. Rafferty gasped from the shock. His face was badly beaten. Blood from his nose smeared even the mattress.

  "Eat shit and die!" Lester cried.

  Lester threw away the plastic bat, grabbed Rafferty's throat with one hand and held his knife's blade against Rafferty's throat with the other hand. He whispered now with deadly passion.

  "I'm gonna cut your throat, because I want to."

  Mad Dog grabbed his son's knife hand and took the knife away.

  "Mad Dog!" Lester threatened.

  Mad Dog said, "No! I said no more!

  Once Lester backed down, Mad Dog yanked his son outside.

  * * *

  Lester started his truck, while Mad Dog stood beside it.

  Mad Dog said, "You're going down to get some more food. He's gotta eat."

  Lester said, "Why bother?"


  "Because we need his blood."

  "Why should we help Nora? What do we get outa it?"

  "Tomo’s father saved my life in prison. He carried me outa that stinking laundry room. I owe him."

  Frustrated, Lester drove away.

  Mad Dog watched his son drive off.

  * * *

  Once again inside Mad Dog approached Rafferty.

  Gasping, Rafferty said, "I have to use the bathroom. Please! Let me use the bathroom.

  Mad Dog said absently, "Yeah, yeah -- "

  Rafferty was in agony. "Diarrhea."

  Mad Dog said, "Goddam!

  "I got diarrhea -- " Rafferty whispered.

  Mad Dog was disgusted. "Not on my bunk!"

  Mad Dog untied Rafferty’s legs, then pulled him erect. He took Rafferty by the collar and pushed him outside.

  Holding his knife at Rafferty's throat, Mad Dog pushed him towards the portajohn. Rafferty stumbled, in great agony, bleeding and beaten, suffering from his great loss of blood. At the portajohn, Mad Dog untied Rafferty's hands and shoved Rafferty inside and slammed the door after him.

  Inside the portajohn Rafferty ripped the gauze off his eyes. Looking around for a weapon, he spotted the toilet paper holder. It was just a coathanger wire twisted to hold a roll of toilet paper. Rafferty unwound it, then wrapped it around his hand until both pointed ends became prongs. These ends he twisted into a single sharp prong with a sturdy hilt.

  Mad Dog said, "Aren't you finished yet?"

  Rafferty took several deep breaths, stood poised, ready to lunge when the door opened. He gripped the wire prong tightly and waited.

  When Mad Dog yanked open the door, Rafferty came out with the wire in his fist. First Rafferty jabbed Mad Dog's eye to blind him.

  Mad Dog's reflexes saved him, but the wire caught a fold of skin in the web of his eye, and blood spurted everywhere. Rafferty jabbed Mad Dog again, the wire broke through skin and went into the soft fleshy hollow of Mad Dog's throat just above the breastbone, puncturing his jugular.

  Blood started shooting out of Mad Dog's mouth and from the hole in his throat. He started gagging loudly on his own blood. He fell back, then down. He died slowly, painfully.

  Rafferty watched him die. Too weak to move, he collapsed on the ground, where he passed out.

  * * *

  Alice Taylor walked in Sheriff Hartman’s private office.