In the Still of the Night--The Supernaturals II

by David L. Golemon

  “There are usually no customers; that’s why you don’t normally wait on tables!” Casper spouted from the kitchen.

  Harvey smiled as his eyes went wide and then quickly excused himself to hurriedly beat Casper Worthington to death.

  “Colorful cast of characters you’re gathering, Professor.” She spun the glass of water around with her manicured nails.

  “Did you know about your husband’s affinity for killing during the Vietnam War?” Gabriel asked as they were finally joined by John, who sat down and smiled at the First Lady.

  Catherine slid the water glass around the table and smiled in return. “I believe I told you before, Professor, my husband talked in his sleep—not just about lost loves but also the things he did to people. Not because it was his job but because he was angry at himself and others.”

  Gabriel could see that although he suspected Catherine Hadley hated her husband, she was mad because she couldn’t sway him to love her. It was a need that Gabriel had seen many times before in patients.

  “Explain ‘angry at himself and others’?” John asked, picking up on the same conclusion as Kennedy’s.

  “Gentlemen, may I suggest you dedicate what time you have left to help the president and not try to analyze me? I could never begin to explain a man that is quite unexplainable.” She stood and retrieved her hat and gloves from the table. “Mr. Leach, I’ll have that check brought over to you immediately.” Catherine started for the door as men moved to assist her with her coat.

  “Nah, that won’t be—” Harvey began.

  “If I were you, I would get cash,” George said, stopping Harvey cold.

  “Good luck with your experiment, gentlemen.”

  They watched her leave with her security detail.

  “What now?” John said.

  “I think we need a tour of the town. We’ve seen some of it in its heyday, but perhaps we should get familiar with Moreno’s current state,” Gabriel said as he stood up. “Mr. and Mrs. Culbertson, I ask that you be patient with us. We’re just getting up to speed here. However, I would prefer if no one wanders around town alone for the time being.”

  “I’m beginning to think that anywhere you go inside Moreno, you’re not alone.”

  Kennedy nodded in understanding as the others smiled, knowing exactly where Bob was coming from.

  “Mr. Leach, can you spare yourself for the next half an hour or so? I expect the lunchtime rush won’t start until the chef returns. We would like to know more about where the president grew up.”

  Harvey appeared from the swinging doors of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel. “I’m just surprised you all quit lying about him growing up in Ontario and going to Chaffey High School and finally admitted that he was here in Moreno for the better part of his childhood. Lucky there were no more people in Moreno to make a fuss about where he hung his hat as a kid and then at the White House.”

  “I imagine it cost his father plenty to keep that information in the closet,” John said as he stood and put on his coat. “Gabe, I’m going to skip the tour. I think Jenny, Damian, and I will take a ride up the hill and take a look-see at the ruins up there. The factory also. Get a lay of the land.”

  “You be careful.”

  “Security won’t let you get too far.”

  They looked at Harvey, who was cursing as he slipped into a tattered coat. “Those boys are the only ones who get paid what they’re worth, because they work for the state and county.”

  “We can arrange for all of you to be moved to a hotel in Chino or Ontario,” Kennedy said as he moved toward the double front doors. Several of the security detail stepped inside. “After we get a feel for the town, I can see no reason to keep you here if you wish to leave.”

  “Casper, you have customers out here. You have to pull double duty until I get back,” Harvey said, looking at Gabriel and John, “if I get back.”

  The sky at that time exploded with lightning, and the world shook with the power of the thunder that quickly followed.

  George and Julie got up to follow Gabriel, and Damian went with John and Jennifer. Leonard put a menu down and then placed his hands in front of him. He would stay and set up shop in Newberry’s.

  “Hey, Casper, I’ll have BLT and fries.”

  “I can get the fries, but we’re plumb out of bacon,” Casper said as he leaned into the opening. “I can get you a burger. You want a burger?”

  Leonard turned in his stool and saw Gabriel. “I’ll just be here having—” He gestured at a leering Casper, still looking through the space between the counter and the soda station.

  “A burger,” Casper finished for him. Peckerwood barked in agreement somewhere in the kitchen.

  “A burger,” he repeated. “I think we’re going to have a lot of burgers here.”

  * * *

  Damian, John, and Jennifer had the FBI give them a lift up Drunk Monk’s Road, the dirt track that led to the ruins, while the others—with Harvey Leach in tow—started their tour of the ghost town.

  “So, Mr. Leach, you’ve been in Moreno most of your life,” Gabe said as they fought the umbrellas that the wind pushed around handily.

  “Before you get too far, Professor, yes, my daddy served with old man Hadley.” He looked up from trying to keep dry under the umbrella, “I mean, the colonel.” He laughed. “Ain’t no big deal; anyone who owned a business in town served with him during the war. The loans from the colonel were cheap, and his men were beholden to him. Even Hadley’s main partner in all of this”—he waved his hand around Moreno—“Mr. Perry, paid the colonel due respect. Even after their falling out.”

  “When was that?” George asked, getting the vibe that Leach was telling the truth about everything thus far.

  “Oh, right before that night, I suppose. Maybe a year or two, I don’t know. You get to be my age and things tend to blur together.” He was silent as they walked through the ankle-high water cresting the edge of the sidewalk. He stopped at an alcove and stepped under it. The rain still came down through large holes in the wooden awning. Gabe saw the display windows on both sides, but the entire front of the store was missing. “Take this place—it was once a shoe store owned by Staff Sergeant Jerry Jenks.”

  “Red Goose Shoes,” George said as he and Julie stared into an empty display window lining the outside entrance. “There used to be a big plastic goose, and kids would pull down on its neck until an egg rolled out. It was full of penny candy.”

  Harvey looked flabbergasted. “Now how in the hell did you know that?” He looked at Cordero more closely as lightning flashed across the dark skies.

  “He’s a good guesser,” Julie said.

  With a lingering look at the small Mexican man, a distrustful Harvey continued. “Anyway, as I was saying, if you served with the colonel, you had more breaks come your way than problems than you would normally. Hadley even owned the bank. Bought out the old Moreno Savings and Loan and opened the brand-new Moreno First National Bank right across the street there.” He pointed across the river that was Main Street at an abandoned building that had some fire damage. “Hell, I even remember the day they moved the old bank vault from the Savings and Loan to the basement of the theater when they installed the new one at the First National. In those days, anything that shut down traffic like that was an event, let me tell you. Big to-do with a giant crane moving that damn heavy vault.”

  “Mr. Leach—”

  “Look, stop calling me that. Every time you do, I look around for my old man.”

  “Harvey, did you know President Hadley back then?” Gabriel asked as the wind blew in rain from the street.

  “Well, who in the hell didn’t know him? If you didn’t know he was the richest kid in town, give him enough of your time, he would explain it to you. In action or in words. He was arrogant either way. But yeah, we hung out together, mostly through circumstance. You see, Moreno wasn’t big enough to have a high school, so us older kids were bused into Chino.”

  “
Yes, I think we were told that. How was Dean there?” Julie asked as she stepped up to Harvey.

  “You wouldn’t have to ask if you knew how bad Chino’s football team was. You see, Hadley was a star. Chino protected its only star. So yes, young lady, the bastard was in total control there too.”

  “He had to have some redeeming qualities,” George stated, remaining fixed on the display window and the dreamwalk he had shared with the others. It seemed he was totally intrigued by that damn red goose that previously called the display window home.

  Harvey thought a long time. “Yeah, toward the end. Maybe the last week or so before the fire. Yeah, I would say so. That was when he had dealings with—”

  “Gloria Perry?” Gabriel asked, surprising Leach with his knowledge.

  “Yeah, Gloria. Little blind girl that did something to Dean that no one had ever done before. Hell, it was all over town those last few days.”

  “What did she do?” Julie asked.

  Harvey smiled at the memory. “Bewitched the son of a bitch, that’s what.” Leach shook his head. “It was a sight to see. That boy fell in love so hard, so fast, that we didn’t recognize him in the last few days. Why, do you know he fought three of his best friends that morning over her? They said the wrong thing at the wrong time. It was bad enough that Chief Thomas tried to throw his ass in jail for two hours until his daddy would be able to come to get him.”

  “What did his father say?” Gabriel asked.

  “Didn’t say anything. The arrogant bastard broke out of jail before he could get there.” Harvey shook his head as he remembered the last days. “That boy was transformed by Gloria. And if you knew Dean Hadley, you wouldn’t have thought it possible. With the way he ran around that night trying his best to save people. Then when he heard … he heard that he had lost Gloria at the Grenada when the fire broke out and the balcony collapsed, he just went crazy. We never saw much of him after that. Heard a few things here and there, but until he became the president, we lost contact. When I was overseas, I heard rumors about Dean, but they were so outrageous, I didn’t believe them.”

  George turned away from the display window and nodded at Gabe when he knew Leach was telling the truth.

  “His father?” Julie continued as Harvey stepped away and into the driving rain.

  Leach turned back as the others brought their umbrellas up and followed him.

  “The colonel was as persona non grata as his boy after 1962. We heard he took over several large firms with insurance money from the factory, but other than that, we didn’t hear anything until we saw the news reports that he had died in ’78. As much as most of us owed Hadley for the lives we had in Moreno, not many people shed a tear that day. A lot of good folks around here blamed the tragedy of that night on those two men.”

  “Two?” Gabe said.

  “Sure. As much as everyone liked Frank Perry, he was also responsible for things. It didn’t matter if the colonel and the captain were no longer partners, he was still blamed, just not to the point of Hadley. Even my old man, a part of the original investors and a member of Hadley’s unit, was ridiculed. Ah, hell, it didn’t matter anyway. Frank killed himself after learning about Gloria’s death.” Lightning flashed over their heads, and thunder shook the world. “Blew his brains out right up there in the old ruins. Just sat down in the basement and put a gun to his temple and blew his brains out.”

  “Damn, this town has a short but violent history,” Julie commented as they turned into a wreck of a building.

  “Some idiots say it was a penance for what our fathers did during the war. My daddy never said a thing, but he would wake up nights in a cold sweat. He didn’t think me and Mom knew, but he did it most nights. He would cry too. Scared the hell out of me and Mom.”

  Gabe reached out and stopped Julie from tangling her feet in a large pile of debris near the sidewalk. “Be careful; it looks like something fell down.”

  “Yeah, it was so fire damaged that night that it finally gave way to weather and the other elements,” Harvey said as Julie leaped over the pile of glass and plastic. “The damn thing finally gave up the ghost, so to speak, about this time fifteen years ago, when a Santa Ana wind blew through.”

  The group of four started walking again, avoiding the larger lakes that had formed in the damaged sidewalk as best as they could. As lightning flashed and thunder clapped its mighty hands together, the hidden sun began to sink into the western sky.

  They were slowly approaching October 31 … Halloween night and the anniversary of the murder of Moreno.

  * * *

  The Chevy Blazer powered its way up the dirt road toward the mission and winery. The rain was so dense that the wipers on high speed couldn’t push the water away fast enough. The FBI driver had to slow to fifteen miles per hour. Finally, they crested the hill and there it was. John swallowed when he recognized the Santa Maria Delarosa mission. He adjusted his line of sight as they passed the last small curve and then he saw the winery.

  “Hey, you hanging in there, big guy?” Jennifer asked, squeezing Lonetree’s hand.

  Damian saw the unease that made John clench and unclench his jaw. Even the driver risked a look in his mirror.

  “Something’s not right,” he said as the guard shack stood before them and the vehicle slowed.

  “Where are those county boys?” the agent in the passenger’s seat asked, his eyes narrowing as he peered through the windshield. The steady thump of the wipers was unnerving. It reminded Damian of that old Hitchcock film Psycho with Janet Leigh. The view through the slashing windshield wipers was not that different from the terrifying sight of the Bates Motel.

  The gate was standing open, and they could see a San Bernardino County truck in the parking area by the security shack. The two guards were nowhere to be seen. The agent driving eased up to the building with a wary eye on the monstrosity of the ruins before them.

  “If those guys make us go searching for them in this rain, they’d better expect to hear an ass chewing from yours truly.” The FBI field agent opened the door, and without an umbrella, he sprinted for the guard shack. He opened the door, and bright light escaped into the mounting darkness of the late afternoon. He reappeared a moment later, sliding the nine-millimeter handgun back into its holster. He shook his head toward the car and pointed at the mission only a few yards away. The driver nodded as the man held his coat up over his head to act as a shield and then ran toward the large mission and its stone steps.

  “Damn amateurs, if you ask me,” the second agent said.

  “Something is wrong,” John repeated, his gaze fixed on the winery. It was hard to see through the downpour, but he could tell that the front doors were both open. Lonetree opened the car door, and without regard to getting wet, he ran across the gravel drive until he was under the partially collapsed portico. He shook the water from his soaked head and then examined the place he had only seen in a dream. It was hard to say for sure, but if he remembered right, there hadn’t been this much damage to the structure back when he ventured inside the dream state with Gloria. He anxiously watched the open doors and the blackness beyond.

  “Don’t do that again,” warned Damian, replacing his own pistol in its shoulder holster as he too gained the near safety of the overhang.

  “I agree,” said Jennifer, making her way to the relative dryness of the winery.

  As Lonetree stood considering the open doorway, the song that Gloria was singing in the pickup truck that morning started running through his head. Tommy Edwards singing “It’s All in the Game” was loud enough in his memory that he closed his eyes. Then he again surprised everyone by hurriedly entering the winery.

  “Damn it!” Jackson said as he and Jenny followed. They saw the agile Lonetree as he dodged the fallen beams and adobe brick that had fallen inside and the swimming pool–sized lakes of water, eventually vanishing beyond their line of sight.

  “John!” Jenny called out as lightning illuminated the inside of the winery. She s
aw him tugging at a doorway against the far back corner of the main floor, and she bumped her knees and shins repeatedly as she made her way to him. Damian was having the same trouble in the near-dark conditions and swore that someone was going to get shot if he fell through the rotting floor to his death.

  As the two caught up, John finally managed to pull the old and rusty steel door open, which then fell immediately to the floor with a crash. Lonetree dodged it and looked back at his friends.

  “Whatever was in there before is gone,” he said as he produced a flashlight and headed down rusty steel steps. Damian shook his head.

  “I don’t suppose I can convince you not to go down there?”

  Jenny didn’t answer as she started down. Damian, cursing both of them, also descended into darkness.

  Jennifer stumbled into John’s backside when she hit the bottom step. Lonetree was just staring at the wall of mud that greeted him. The steel door leading to the strange laboratory-type basement was gone, buried by the torrent of mud and debris that had smashed into the old winery the night before. John reached out and took a handful of mud and saw that it was relatively fresh. He tossed it away and then shook his head.

  “You two maniacs had better start looking before you leap!” Damian said as he made it to the bottom in one piece, bringing with him the benefit of light. “Did you guys see the condition of those damn stairs?” He moved the light toward the steel steps, and Jenny felt her blood go colder than it already was.

  “They’re gone,” John said as he turned away from the slide that blocked their path. Then he saw what Damian was pointing out on the stairs.

  “Yeah, and I think they went thataway,” Damian said, inching the flashlight beam up one step at a time.

  “Oh, shit,” Jennifer said in her mousy and very scared voice.

  Each of the steel grated steps was bent in the middle and looked as if someone weighing at least several tons had used them last. John and Jennifer could not believe they made it down without breaking their legs or worse. As the light moved up, so did their anxiety.