Stormer’s Pass

by Benjamin Laskin

  The office door burst open. Sheriff Briggs appeared holding the elbows of Dawn White and Regina Brodie. He dragged the girls into the room.

  50

  Arresting Developments

  “Take your scummy paws off of me!” Regina said, yanking her arm free.

  “Yeah, ya meany,” Dawn said, sinking her nails into the sheriff’s grip.

  “Ow!” He kicked the door shut behind him.

  The girls were dressed in jeans, hiking boots, and thick white sweatshirts. Both wore berets and black bandannas around their necks.

  “I found them sneaking around Moonridge,” the sheriff said.

  “We weren’t sneaking,” Regina said, adjusting her beret and pushing her long brown hair out of her face. “If we were sneaking, you wouldn’t have caught us.”

  “What were you doing there?” the mayor demanded. He hopped clumsily off his desk to approach them.

  “Nothing,” Regina said.

  Principal Kohl struggled out of his chair. He gave a tug on the hem of his suit jacket and straightened his tie. “Why weren’t you girls in class? I warned you both—any more tardies or absences and you won’t be graduating this spring.”

  “Dawn White,” the mayor said. “I know your parents would be most displeased to hear this kind of news. Tell us what you were up to and what you know about Max Stormer and I’m sure Principal Kohl will give you another chance.”

  Dawn turned a reproachful scowl on the sheriff. “We wouldn’t have missed school if he didn’t keep us.”

  Regina crossed her arms defiantly on her chest. “We’re not talking until Max Stormer is walking.”

  “Girls,” the mayor said, “this isn’t a game. Max Stormer is in big trouble. We are talking about serious felonies here. The best thing you could do for him is to tell us what you know before he ends up hurting somebody, or himself.”

  The girls exchanged glances, looked at the men, and shook their heads.

  “Come on, Dawn,” Regina said. “They can’t hold us.”

  The two girls turned towards the door, but the sheriff stepped back and held them at bay with outstretched arms.

  “Out of our way, tar teeth,” Regina said. “You don’t have anything on us.”

  The sheriff smirked. “Someone tunneled under Moonridge’s south fence, Mr. Boswell. Two more bulldozers were sabotaged and the tool shed was broken into. We found all the tools cemented to the floor of the shed. In the back of this girl’s truck, we found a shovel with fresh mud on it.”

  “I don’t know anything about any shovel,” Regina said. “It’s my dad’s truck and he’s always carrying this stuff around. Nothing strange about that. Now out of our way, flea brain. We’re late for school.”

  “Just a minute, Regina Brodie,” Fitch ordered.

  “She takes after her old man,” Jack Austin muttered.

  Regina spun angrily around. “Lucky for Katie she doesn’t take after you!”

  “She would be a lot better off if she did,” Gary Webber said. “The sooner she parts with her idiotic friends, the better.”

  Regina said, “You’re just jealous.”

  “Jealous?” Gary Webber scoffed. “Of a bunch of kids running around playing army? Grow up. You think these pranks make you heroic? You look ridiculous. Stormer is just using you. If he can’t grow up, he doesn’t want any of you to either.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Regina retorted.

  Dawn puffed out her chest. “Maxwell Stormer doesn’t use people. But you do. You all do.”

  “He really has you brainwashed, doesn’t he?” Webber said. “He’d have you all throw your lives away, and for what? So he can be a hot shot? What do any of you get out of it? Huh? Have you no self-respect? Wake up girls before it’s too late.”

  “It’s you who have no self-respect,” Regina said contemptuously. “You’re all a bunch of butt-nuzzling cowards.”

  “Oh, Christ,” Jack Austin groaned, “this is pathetic. Can we please get on with business? These twerps aren’t going to tell us anything.”

  “Principal Kohl,” the mayor said. “Call these girls’ parents and inform them of their behavior. I’m sure Miss White’s parents will appreciate our concern.”

  “Yes, Dawn,” Regina chided. “We are such wicked little girls.”

  “You think it’s funny?” Kohl said, stepping up and raising the notorious finger. “You won’t be laughing next year when all your classmates have graduated and you’re still sitting at Pinecrest High.”

  Dawn said, “Didn’t your mother teach you it isn’t nice to point?”

  “Yeah,” Regina said. “Where are your manners? Maybe we should call your parents. Maybe we should call all of your parents and let them know what mean, rotten men you’ve all become.”

  “If you were my daughters,” the sheriff said, “I’d have you both over my knee and give you the spanking of your lives.”

  “You’d enjoy that, wouldn’t you?” Regina said. “Creep.” She turned to Gary Webber and cast him a cold, derisive eye. “I see that smug grin on your face. You’re the worst of all. You’re young enough to know better. You think you’re so smart and dapper-looking in your red tie and starchy white shirt and shiny leather shoes, and your fancy briefcase on your lap. But you don’t fool us, does he, Dawn?”

  “Nope. I imagine he needs all that starch in his collar to hold up his spineless head.”

  “Mayor, for Chrissakes,” Jack Austin said, “haven’t we heard enough crap for one morning?”

  “Let them go, Sheriff,” the mayor said. “We know where to find them.” He turned to the girls. “We’ll be keeping a keen eye on you kids. We know who you are.”

  “And we’ll be watching you, Mr. Mayor,” Regina said, turning towards the door. She paused and tossed a mischievous smile over her shoulder. “By the way, how’s that spiffy new car of yours?”

  The mayor, puzzled at first, awoke into a rage and charged at Regina. She turned but didn’t flinch. The mayor, who was shorter than Regina, stood on tiptoe and put the full measure of his wrath to her face.

  “You little punks!” Fitch roared. “Don’t you ever touch anything of mine again. Not my car. Not my office. Not my town. You do and I’ll stuff you so far away that you couldn’t find your way back with a map. Do you understand me?”

  “You don’t scare me,” Regina said, her jaw fixed in defiance.

  “Me neither,” Dawn said, crossing her arms.

  The mayor glared at the girls. “You’re too damn stupid to be scared.”

  Until now, Ed Boswell had said nothing to the girls. He found everything too absurd for comment. He approached the youths in a manner of neutrality and said gently, “Do you know anything of the whereabouts of my niece, Aidos?”

  Dawn shook her head, sorry and sad. “No.”

  “Does Max?”

  “Nobody knows.”

  “Something? Anything at all?”

  “I’m sorry,” Regina said. “We are all as worried about her as you are. She’s our friend.”

  “Didn’t she mention anything to you before she left?”

  Regina shook her head. “Max was the last to hear from her. She returned once after she had been gone about a month and left a message for her dad saying she needed more time and not to worry.”

  “I never knew that,” Boswell said. “Didn’t he try to stop her?”

  “She didn’t tell him in person,” Dawn said. “She delivered it on an arrow.”

  “An arrow?” Mason Kohl scoffed.

  “She’s really good with a bow and arrow,” Dawn said proudly. “She once shot an apple out of one of the boys’ hands at thirty paces.”

  The men groaned and shook their heads in a demonstration of disbelief.

  “It’s true,” Regina said. “We saw her do it with our own eyes.”

  Jack Austin said, “Who would be crazy enough to volunteer for such an idiotic thing?”

  The girls laughed. “Jake Dempster!”
<
br />   “It was his idea,” Dawn added.

  Kohl cleared his throat and shook his head. “I don’t believe you.”

  “And you think we care?” Regina said.

  A knock at the door interrupted the squabble. Hardy Thoreson, dressed in khaki slacks and a black sweater, strolled into the room. “Regina, Dawn,” he greeted, smiling. “What a nice surprise. What brings you to this viper pit?”

  Dawn nodded at the sheriff. “He did.”

  “Have a seat, Mr. Thoreson,” the mayor said. “We’d like to have a chat with you.”

  “I prefer to stand, thanks. I won’t be here long.” He eyed the furniture with amusement. “Did you import this stuff from Japan?” he joked.

  “I didn’t buy it this way,” the mayor snarled. “Your hoodlum friend did this to me last night.”

  “That’s very funny.” Thoreson chuckled. The girls giggled behind him.

  “It’s not the least bit funny,” the mayor said. “And I’m quickly getting a good picture of the kind of fellow you are, and the influence you must be having on the kids in this town.”

  “You flatter but overrate me, Mayor. I’m neither as bold or clever as they are. Your town is blessed with some remarkable young men and women.”

  “Cursed, you mean,” Kohl corrected. “And there is nothing remarkable about these kids but their insolence.”

  “Ah,” Thoreson said. “You must be the infamous Principal Kohl. Your imputation precedes you.” He smiled. “I’ve been looking askance at our meeting for some time. Ever since I entered this office, in fact.”

  Kohl snorted.

  “Thoreson,” Boswell said, “why didn’t you tell me Aidos contacted you? I’m seeing to it that this is filed along with the rest of the charges against you. This is a criminal case and you are withholding evidence.”

  “That’s right,” Fitch said. “You’ve also been in contact with Max Stormer. We know you helped him sell the restaurant.”

  “I haven’t seen Max since that night the sheriff came looking for him.”

  “Liar,” Jack Austin said.

  “Who are you?”

  “Jack Austin,” he answered imperially.

  “Katie’s father! A lovely girl—bright, charming, a real pleasure to be around. My daughter is very fond of her. Where did you go wrong?”

  “You’re a sick man, Thoreson,” Austin retorted. “Have you no shame? What you did was murder!”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “The hell I don’t, you deranged—”

  “Jack,” Ed Boswell interrupted, holding up his hand in caution. “I’ll handle this.”

  “Someone ought to kick his wise ass,” Austin added through clenched teeth.

  “Someone will,” Ed said. “In court.” He patted his briefcase. “I have enough against him that he’ll see nothing but bars for twenty years. But first I want that interview with the hermit.”

  “You mean that crazy old fool in the woods?” the sheriff said.

  “That’s right, Roger. You’re going to copter me up there as soon as possible.”

  “Why? He doesn’t know anything. We checked him out. We couldn’t verify he saw the girl.”

  Hardy Thoreson perked up. “What old man?”

  “Nothing,” Ed said.

  “Sheriff? Did someone see my daughter?”

  “No one saw nobody. Just some crazy old codger we found.”

  “Well, what did he say?” Hardy pressed.

  Ed said, “Roger, don’t tell this man anything.”

  The sheriff shrugged. “Nothing to tell.”

  “Okay, then.”

  “If it’s okay, then why do I have to fly you up there?”

  “Yeah, Ed,” Hardy said. “If you go, I go.”

  “No way, screw you.”

  “Sheriff,” Hardy said, “how far in there is this hermit? I’ll go myself.”

  “Hell, in the summer, it would be a two-day hike. In this snow and cold, it would take you five, if you didn’t die of exposure first. Look, I’m telling you there ain’t no way that girl could be up there. Not alive, anyway.”

  “The hermit was alive, wasn’t he?”

  “Well, yeah…”

  “Then so is my daughter.”

  “But he’s got himself a cave and a bunch of provisions,” said the sheriff.

  “There are a lot of caves,” Hardy said.

  “A few, but we checked them all. We didn’t find anything.”

  Ed said, “Why are you suddenly so interested in finding her?”

  “I just don’t want you to find her.”

  The office door burst open and a heavy set, bearded man in a down vest charged into the room.

  “Carl,” the sheriff said. “What are you doing busting in like this?”

  “We got him, Roger,” he said, puffing hard.

  “Stormer?”

  “Yeah.”

  “In jail?” the mayor said excitedly. “Have you got him in jail?”

  “Not yet, but he will be soon.”

  “Well, why not?” shouted the mayor. “Lock the bastard up.”

  “Where is he, Carl?” the sheriff asked.

  “Hospital. His mom was rushed there last night. He’s in her room with her now. She’s dying.”

  Fitch said, “Arrest him!”

  “He ain’t goin’ nowhere,” the deputy said. “She ain’t expected to make it through the night, and he won’t ever get to see—”

  “Arrest him. Now!”

  “Yes, sir,” the deputy said.

  “I’m coming with you, Carl,” the sheriff said.

  Dawn and Regina were already rushing out onto the street.

  51

  Leaping Lizard

  Sitting beside a hospital bed inside a small, pink room, Max Stormer gazed down at his mother. In one hand he held his black beret, and in the other his mother’s cold, thin hand. Tubes ran from her nose and arm, and a white sheet was pulled up to her chin. Although only fifty years old, her hair was mostly gray. Her pale-blue eyes flickered with what little life remained in her.

  Max kissed his mother on the cheek and caressed her head. “I’m sorry, Mama. I should have gotten you out of this town a long time ago. I should have sold the restaurant and moved us all. But you were always hoping that Pa or Whitney would one day show up again, weren’t you?” He stroked her head and kissed her hand.

  “Max,” she rasped, “…you’re in trouble again.”

  “I’m okay, Mama.” He glanced over his shoulder and saw two hulking shadows through the door’s frosted glass window.

  “You’re a troublemaker, Max.” Her eyes closed when she spoke.

  Max nodded.

  “Always were,” she said.

  Max nodded again.

  “Always will be…”

  She reopened her eyes and saw Max shake his head. “Will too,” she said.

  Max thought he detected the hint of a smile in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Mama. I wish I could have made you proud of me. I wish I could have made you happy.”

  His mother closed her eyes and swallowed hard. He felt a slight squeeze of her hand.

  “You stick up for people, Max… There’s always trouble in that… It’s not easy… But it’s right… Make your life stick—”

  “Shh, Mama. Rest.”

  “The girls…”

  “I’ll take care of the girls. Don’t you worry.”

  Max glanced over his shoulder again at the two ominous shadows. Behind him stood two folding bridge chairs, and beside the door was a small sink. A television hung in the opposite corner of the room window and a vacant bed across from him. He felt for the buck knife that hung from his belt.

  “What’s it like to die?” he asked softly.

  She closed her eyes, and after a moment said, “Recess.”

  Max chuckled. “You never had much fun, did you?”

  “You were my fun…”

  “Me?” he said with incredulity. Max waved his
hand in front of her eyes. “Yoo-hoo. It’s me, Mama, your son—Tyrannis-Max, remember?”

  He saw a twinkle in his mother’s eye, and he knew that somewhere inside of her laughter had rippled.

  “I’m going to miss you, Mama.”

  With a dimming whisper, she replied, “I hope so.”

  Max heard a commotion down the hall, followed by the clopping of running boots and commanding shouts. The two figures at the door stirred in deliberation. The doorknob turned…

  Max swept up one of the folding chairs and crammed it underneath the knob. He sprinted to the television and ripped away the cord. He darted back to the door and tied one end of the cord around the handle and the other to the pipe underneath the sink. Max ran to the window and threw it open. The window had no ledge and it was a three-floor drop to the sidewalk below. He saw nothing to break his fall but a few meandering pedestrians. The deputies hollered and banged at the door.

  “Break it down!”

  Max yanked up the mattress from the empty bed, and then crammed it through the window and stood it on end. He climbed onto the sill and crouched like a swimmer at the start.

  Max glanced back at his mother and saw her watching him. He winked. “Having some fun now, eh, Mama?”

  The deputies banged at the door. The folding chair crashed to the floor. The butt of a rifle smashed through the door window. Shattered glass, shattered life, shattered body if this didn’t work…

  Max clutched the flimsy mattress to his chest, and in a leap of faith, he launched his adrenaline-fueled self into the void. “Geronimo!”

  Down below, Max’s war cry awoke an unsuspecting pedestrian from his brooding meditation. He glanced skywards and dove for cover.

  Captain Max Stormer came in for landing. The mattress smacked onto the sidewalk, split its seams, and went skidding into the street where it was instantly mowed into smithereens by a cement mixer on the way to the Moonridge Luxury Resort and Condominiums.

  The crash sent Max bucking and rolling down the sidewalk until he ended wrapped around an expired parking meter. Dazed, but still conscious; groaning, but miraculously intact; stunned, but not all that surprised that he was still alive, Max staggered to his feet.