Warm, Yummy, Wet & Salty: Black Star Canyon: Book 2 (Black Star Canyon Mystery Novel)

by C. C. Wall

  “Oh my God,” he said. “He’s here.”

  “Who’s here?” she said.

  “Hoodie,” he answered. He turned for just a second to Sue. When he looked back, he was gone. “Where did he go?” Lukas grabbed his radio out of the inner pocket of his trench coat. “Reed, you there?”

  Reed came in. He whispered to not disturb the funeral. “What’s up?”

  “Hoodie is here,” Lukas said. “He was in the north garden, but I lost him. Spread out.” He nudged Sue, “Check that way, I’m going here.” He pointed to across the way.

  They all spread out like roaches in the light as they combed the funeral, trying to not distract anyone. Lukas thought that if he could catch Hoodie there, that the Roth family would forgive him for sure.

  Lukas made it over to the street and hid behind the cars. He ducked down low as he ran up the street, hoping that no one from the funeral would see him. Lukas stopped when he got to the hearse because he was about to lose his cover. He knew Reagan was there, with the family and friends, so he wasn’t going to be able to help. He just hoped that Sue and Reed would be able to hold their own with him.

  Lukas heard the priest ask for a moment of silence for Michelle. He made a point to stand still and not move at all during it. With the exception of his eyes that were scouring the north garden of the cemetery. He didn’t have to wait long before the silence was broken. It was not broken by the priest or the service, but by a scream. The scream came from the west. It wasn’t too far away. The scream was Reed.

  Lukas jumped up and ran across the cemetery, jumping over flowers and low head stones. The service stopped and now everyone was watching Lukas run through the cemetery. Lukas could see Reed’s feet. He was on the ground, but a tall tombstone blocked his view to see if Reed was okay, or even alone.

  When Lukas got there, the first thing he saw was all the blood. Reed’s face was covered with it. He wasn’t moving. Lukas heard trampling coming up quickly from behind. He reached for his gun and pulled it out. He spun around and immediately knew he was in for it.

  The priest, Donald and Connie Roth, and their family and friends stopped dead in their tracks. They looked terrified.

  Connie was beside herself. “It wasn’t enough for you to take our daughter, was it? You need to ruin her funeral and then point that same thing at us?” she shouted.

  Lukas quickly put his gun away. “You have no idea how horribly sorry I am.” He looked around the small crowd. “We need a doctor! Please.” He looked back at Donald and Connie. “I am so, so sorry. The man that was there that night, he was here. We were chasing him and I think he got to Deputy Reed before I could get here.”

  “Likely story,” Connie said. “I’m sure you accidentally killed him too!”

  Then an otherworldly voice came from what seemed out of nowhere. “Uhhhhh. My head hurts.”

  Lukas turned and saw Reed sitting up. The blood now was dripping down to the front of his shirt.

  “Reed!” Lukas said. “Are you okay? Which way did he go?”

  “Who?” Reed asked.

  “Hoodie? Where is he?” Lukas said.

  “I don’t know,” Reed said. “I never saw him.” He tried to get up but his legs were wobbly. “I just got too close to the trippin’ stone here and the trickster’s spirit must’ve reached out and grabbed me.”

  Lukas rolled his eyes. He was afraid to turn around and feel the wrath of the Roths’. “Take your shirt off, and tie it around your head and keep pressure on it until we can get you to the hospital.” Lukas stood up and knew he had to face the music.

  As soon as he turned around, he was met with Connie’s open hand across his face. “How dare you ruin my little girl’s final day. You will burn for this. Burn in Hell!” Connie went to take another swing at him but Donald stopped her.

  The priest lifted his arms to get everyone’s attention. “Okay everyone, let’s get back to the graveside and finish paying our last respects to Michelle.” Once everyone started walking back he turned to Lukas. “You really shouldn’t be here. You need to leave.”

  “Having a priest kick me out of a funeral. I guess I can cross that off my bucket list now,” Lukas said.

  The priest shook his head at him.

  “You’re right,” Lukas agreed. “I need to go.”

  57 - A Beautiful Day

  Eric winced, as Elizabeth helped him put his shirt on. His shoulder still hurt and his collarbone was still fractured. “Thank you.”

  Elizabeth kissed his shoulder. “No problem.” She smiled.

  Nurse Janet was not smiling as she came in the room to find them in a bed together. “What do you think this is? A cheap motel? You think that you would’ve learned your lesson about places like that by now, Elizabeth.”

  Elizabeth looked down at the bed in shame.

  Eric jumped up to his feet. “Don’t you ever talk to her like that again! You don’t deserve to even be in the same building as her. None of us could understand what she has been through, but somehow, she managed to come out the other end alive. Show some compassion.”

  Nurse Janet didn’t know what to say. She had known Eric for years. Seen him grow. She never expected him to yell at her. She nodded. “You’re right. Elizabeth, I spoke out of turn. I apologize.”

  Elizabeth didn’t look at her, but instead just nodded with her head still hanging low.

  “Eric,” Nurse Janet said, “I hope you understand though when I say that you cannot stay here any longer. I am checking you out of the hospital.”

  “I understand,” he said. “Thank you.”

  Nurse Janet left to get his paperwork in order.

  “You all right?” Eric asked her.

  “Thank you for what you said,” she said.

  “It’s all true,” he said. “You are the most amazing girl I have ever met.” He leaned over to her. “I really want to kiss you again but don’t know…”

  Elizabeth leaned in and kissed him. “You can kiss me whenever you want.” She smiled. The look on Eric’s face made her laugh. “Where are you going though?”

  “Michelle’s funeral was this morning,” he said.

  “Are you going?” she asked.

  “I think I missed it,” he said. “It feels weird, but I think it would feel even weirder with her family at the cemetery.”

  “Yeah,” she said. “You’re probably right.”

  “Sheriff Reagan asked, if I could come down to the station and help them work on some computers that are in evidence or something,” he said. “I’ve done it for them before. None of them know how to even turn a computer on I don’t think.”

  “Wow,” she said. “That’s kinda cool. My new boyfriend is on contract with the cops.”

  Eric blushed. “What did you call me?”

  Elizabeth looked worried. “My boyfriend? Is that okay?”

  Eric smiled. “Of course! I mean my dreams just came true. I can never win the lottery now, but I think it’s a very even trade off.”

  She smiled. “You think so?”

  “I actually got the better deal,” he said. “But don’t tell anyone. I don’t want to fight off new millionaires for you all the time.”

  She got out of the bed and still had nothing on. In the daylight, Eric could see how perfect her body was and had to fight from fainting. “Whoa. You’re naked.”

  “Yeah,” she said. “You like?”

  “I do,” he said.

  “Well, you can see it whenever you want to now.” She turned around and bent over in front of him to tease him. She made sure to bump into him as she stood up straight after picking up her gown.

  “What did I have to do again?” Eric said.

  She laughed. “You have to go to the station… Hey! Do you think I could tag along and go visit my dad?”

  “I don’t see why not,” he said, “other than you not being checked out of the hospital yet.”

  “I won’t tell if you won’t,” she said. She threw her arms around his neck and kiss
ed him.

  After having to help Eric back into his shirt for a second time, they found some clothes in her room that her mother had brought in for when she woke up. It was a cute red dress with white dots. It pooled out at the bottom and had a bunch of white ruffles underneath.

  “When I would dream about you,” Eric said, “most of the time, you were in that dress.”

  “Then dreams come true.” She said. “Let’s get out of here though before Nurse Bitchy comes looking for us.”

  They snuck down the hallway and made it out the front doors. They both took a deep breath of that fresh, Black Star Canyon air that they had been removed from.

  The sun was shinning and the birds were singing. Eric did everything he could do to not bring it up and sound like a complete cheese ball.

  Elizabeth grabbed his hand and they walked up Helo Road towards Fifth Street. As they were walking, they saw a house that had been burnt down.

  “How sad,” she said. “I wonder who lived there?”

  “I think that’s Chaney’s house!” he said. “That really sucks. I would hate to have my house burn down. I hope he’s okay.”

  “Just think of all the memories lost,” she said.

  “That’s not where memories are though,” he said. “Memories are in your heart and in your mind.”

  “You think so?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” he said. “If the hospital burned down tomorrow, I would always know that the best night of my life took place there last night. I will always have that.”

  Elizabeth melted inside. She didn’t want him to know it, but knew she was wearing it on her face.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m perfect,” she said.

  As they walked, they passed the cemetery and noticed that most of the cars were driving away. The funeral must have just ended.

  “Do you want to stop by there?” she asked.

  “No,” he said. “I’m okay. Really.”

  They turned right onto Fifth Street and didn’t take more than a few steps before they heard a dog barking.

  “That sounds like little Harry,” she said.

  Off ahead in the distance, came a little bolt of fur, hurdling at them at great speed. Once it got closer, she knew.

  “It is Harry!” she said. “Harry! Come here, boy!”

  Harry jumped up into her arms. He started licking her face repeatedly.

  “What are you doing out here?” She said. “You are so far from home.” The joyous reunion faded quickly once she noticed how filthy and matted his fur was, how awful he smelled and how gross his breath was. “Ewww Harry. You are gross right now.”

  “You know,” Eric said, “there is a hose behind the station. We could go to the back as soon as we get there and give him a bath if you want.”

  “That would be great,” she said. “I really do want to snuggle my little snuggle bug, but he’s making me gag right now.”

  “Do you want me to hold him?” Eric asked.

  “He is really picky,” she said. “He hates almost everyone.”

  “Let’s see and if so, you can carry your stinky dog the rest of the way,” he said. He took Harry out of her arms and held him. Harry didn’t growl or try to bite him. Harry just licked his face.

  She smiled. “You passed the first step of acceptance into my family.”

  “That’s good,” he said, “because something tells me that getting your dad to like me, might be a little harder.”

  They went straight to the back of the station before going inside. Harry smelled so awful, they couldn’t imagine what everyone would say if they brought him into closed quarters. Through the garage, Eric found some soap and a bucket that he would use on weekends to wash the sheriff vehicles sometimes for some extra money. They took Harry out to the hose and started to wash him. At first, Harry wasn’t very happy, but soon began to really enjoy it.

  Harry felt great seeing Elizabeth again after all that time. He loved being pampered. Even though Harry didn’t like baths very much, this was a welcomed evil since he had been out in the woods alone the last few days.

  After they were done, Harry shook all the excess water off of himself and ran around in big circles in the grass and every once in a while fell down to roll around in the grass. He sneezed a lot, mainly to get all the water out of his nose. Harry was happy. He ran over and jumped back into Elizabeth’s arms.

  “He still stinks, I think,” she said.

  “Nope,” Eric said. “That’s us.”

  They laughed.

  Then Harry started to growl.

  “Is he growling at me?” Eric asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Elizabeth said.

  Harry was trying to climb over Elizabeth’s shoulder.

  Footsteps were coming from behind them.

  Then, a voice was heard. “Hello, you two.”

  58 - Strength In Numbers

  Chaney walked through the front door of the station. He noticed eyes on him. He knew what it was. “Morning, Reagan,” he said.

  “Hey there, Chaney,” Reagan said. “What is that around your neck?”

  “This is Sara,” he said. “It is her ashes.”

  Reagan didn’t know what to say. “Oh, that’s really nice.”

  “Thank you for letting me go deal with that this morning,” he said. “It was something that I really needed to do.”

  “I understand,” Reagan said.

  “I am going to grab one of the trucks from out back to go follow up on the Colt lead,” he said. “Is there anything else you need from me at the moment?”

  “No, no.” Reagan said. After he thought about it a moment, he changed his mind. “On second thought, are you by any chance heading up towards Black Star Falls?”

  “In fact I am,” Chaney said. “That is precisely where I’m headed.”

  “Do you think you could drop Moe Eastman off at his cabin?” Reagan asked. “I was going to have Reed do it, but the knucklehead had an accident and probably shouldn’t be driving.”

  “Yeah, no problem,” Chaney said. “Did all that Black Star Bear stuff get sorted?”

  “Yep,” Reagan said. “Reed took him up there yesterday. They loaded it up in the truck and dropped it off with Zoe. It was at the funeral that Reed had a mishap.”

  “Is he all right?” Chaney asked.

  “As much as he can be,” Reagan said. “He’s up at the ER with Dyer getting his head checked.”

  “I see,” Chaney said. “Is Moe in a cell?”

  “Not anymore,” Reagan said. “I have him in the conference room. Just go grab him.”

  “You got it,” he replied.

  “Just keep me informed on what you’re dong out there, Chaney,” Reagan asked. “We are very much under public scrutiny. Especially after what happened this morning.”

  “No problem,” Chaney said.

  After Chaney let Moe out of the conference room, they walked through the back to get to the garage. When he opened the door, he ran into Chuck coming in.

  “Whoa!” Chuck said. “Excuse me.”

  “No problem,” Chaney said. “We are just getting one of the Broncos. I’m taking him back to his cabin on my way out to the falls.”

  “Well you two have a lovely trip,” Chuck said. He walked past them and into the morgue.

  “That guy isn’t all there, is he?” Moe said.

  “No, I don’t believe he is,” Chaney said. “And that statement coming from you, speaks volumes.”

  They found a Bronco to take and Chaney helped Moe into the back seat. Chaney got behind the wheel. “It seems like years since I’ve driven one of these.”

  “How long has it been?” Moe asked.

  “I really don’t know,” Chaney said.

  As they drove around to the front of the building, someone was standing in the street waving his arms for them to stop. It was Tom Harker.

  Tom ran up to Chaney’s window. “Do you have Moe Eastman in there?”

  “Yeah,”
Moe said. “I’m back here.”

  “I’m taking him back to his cabin,” Chaney said.

  “Do you mind if I tag along?” Tom asked. “I have some questions for Moe.”

  Chaney thought about it and was hesitant.

  “Moe,” Tom said. “I just want to ask you about the monster you saw.”

  Moe didn’t know what to say. He hardly knew Tom and didn’t know why Tom cared all of the sudden.

  “Moe, I own the paper. I can help. Make your voice heard.” Tom pleaded.

  “Let him in the truck,” Moe said. “Is that all right?”

  “Why not,” Chaney said. He rolled his eyes as he gave in.

  The three men drove away from the station and headed to the outskirts of town.

  “So, Moe,” Tom said, “tell me about this monster. When was the first time you saw it?”

  Moe thought about it. “It was last Friday night. It was really late, more like Saturday morning.”

  “That was the night of the shooting at Cook’s!” Tom said excitedly.

  “That’s also the night that Colt went missing,” Chaney said.

  Tom continued with his questions. “Could you describe him? What did this monster look like?”

  “It was tall,” Moe said.

  “Did it have clothes on?” Tom asked.

  “What kind of question is that?” Chaney asked.

  “If it had clothes on,” Tom said, “I’m pretty sure we could rule out Bigfoot.” He turned to Moe. “You thought it was Bigfoot, right? Wasn’t that what you originally reported?”

  “Yes,” Moe said. “That’s what I thought…originally.”

  “So,” Tom said, “was it wearing clothes?”

  “Yes it was,” Moe said.

  “What was it wearing?” Tom asked.

  “All black I think,” Moe said. “It has been dark every time I saw it. Dark clothes for sure, but I think it was all black.”

  “That’s what Jason was wearing,” Tom said. “He wears all black when he performs.” He pulled up a picture of Jason on his phone. “Does this look like the monster?”