6/6/66

by JN Lenz

  Making no notice of Clyde’s entrance into the room he approached closer before breaking the silence by offering a greeting” good evening Mrs. Worthington, I have brought you a tea and a couple of flowers from this lovely arrangement. How be I place it in this empty glass right here if that is OK” Clyde began to pull a few of the flowers from the arrangement and place them in an empty glass located on a dresser which was also littered with several bottles of perfume and various health and beauty items, Mrs. Worthington would watch Clyde intently as he moved over towards the bureau while he talked. Finally after watching Clyde closely she would reply.

  “I don’t drink tea and everyone here knows that, who did you said you are again young man?” the old lady squinting through her thick glasses as she began squinting for a closer look at her unexpected guest.

  “I’m here on behalf of the Rotary Club of Largo dropping off some flowers for the residents; I noticed the open door so I thought you might enjoy a few flowers and one of the few cups of tea we had brought alone. If you have no interest in the tea I will just leave you with a few fresh flowers and one of the tubes of this beautiful hand cream that I brought along for a few of you lady residents. Here I will place some on your hands you will love how this makes them feel, it’s all natural” Clyde’s voice was soft and not too loud as he continued talking while he had made his way from the dresser to the side of Mrs. Worthington and the wing back chair. Withdrawing the small tube of hand cream from a front pants pocket as he introduced the item to the still intently watching Mrs. Worthington, the cream also contained the same poison which had the ability to kill by being absorbed through the skin.

  This had been Clyde’s plan B should the tea not work, which it had not.” Hold out your hands dear and I will give you a try of this, this will make these sixty six year old hands look like forty six and I will leave the rest of the tube on your dresser alongside your other creams for you to enjoy” Clyde’s flattery of the old lady in his warm calm voice stopped Mrs. Worthington from questioning Clyde’s instructions as she slowly began to raise her two hands from her lap up towards the approaching young man as she.

  “Sixty six was a long time ago for me, I do enjoy a nice cream though” Mrs. Worthington would answer, the sound of her voice relaying some acceptance of her sudden young visitor. Clyde dispensed a generous amount of cream onto each of the raised hands and instructed the old lady to vigorously rub the cream on her hands and even her face and neck.

  Following Clyde’s instructions to the letter she rubbed both her hands together followed by rubbing the remaining amounts liberally along the sides of her nose and neck.” Well it certainly smells nice, I always enjoy a good hand and face cream” Mrs. Worthington replied as her frail looking thin fingers vigorously rubbed the cream across her face neck and hands.

  “That is obvious from your youthful appearance, you have a nice evening mamm ” Clyde continued with the compliments while he turned and walked back towards the dresser and slid the tube of cream back into his front pants pocket, he would play out the actions of placing a tube on Mrs. Worthington’s bureau. He would not turn around again before simply walking straight out her door and back into the hallway.

  “You will leave that tube, I may want to have my daughter buy more of that it smells just lovely, thank you young man” Mrs. Worthington called out after Clyde, her poor vision unable to clearly see all the way across the room to the dresser.

  “Yes certainly, I left the remainder of the tube on the bureau for you, take care now” Clyde answered from beyond the doorway and already in the hallway , holding the handful of flowers that he had removed from the glass in one hand and the floral arrangement in the other. After watching Mrs. Worthington squint through her glasses he was confident the dresser was well out of the visual perception of the old lady as she had no idea what he had left or taken from its top. The poison Clyde estimated would kill Mrs. Worthington within the hour

  The hallway remained empty as Clyde would turn left after exiting Mrs. Worthington’s room to carry the remaining floral arrangement down towards the main common room at the back end of the Nursing Home, he would stuff the few flowers he had removed for Mrs. Worthington back into the arrangement as he walked. Stopping at a washroom along the way Clyde disposed of the contents of the tea cup down the sink, setting the flowers down he quickly washed his hands, Clyde had been sure to move away from the old lady quickly after dispensing the cream onto her hands to avoid her reaching his skin with the poisoned lotion.

  After depositing the floral arrangement on a coffee table in the common room Clyde would retrace his steps down the same hall once again passing Mrs. Worthington’s room. Slowing to take a look past the doorway and into the room Clyde could already see the old lady slumped slightly to her side with her chin resting down towards her shoulder. “Good cream indeed” Clyde muttered softly as he continued down the hall towards the front desk, along the way Clyde would notice a new name tag on old lady Preston’s room, each room had a name tag located on a small holder mounted to the right of each door.

  There would be no sign of me as Clyde rounded the corner leading to the main hall and the front desk.

  “Looks like you may have lost your side kick” the talkative clerk called out the instant she noticed Clyde approaching from around the corner, she had been facing in that direction talking to a pair of nurses at the front desk.

  “Lilly kidnapped Jack and is putting him to work out back with something stacked on the top shelf” the large lady continued talking, she had not lost her gift of gab in the past three weeks, Clyde was thankfully that second of the other two nurses had now both turned to greet and thank Clyde for the coffee and donuts once again.

  “The pleasure is all mine ladies”

  Clyde responded continuing with the charm he had been using only minutes earlier with Mrs. Worthington , the guy surprisingly always presented himself in such a calm confident manner around women even though his conversations with them would never evolve into a personal relationship. If the conversation was light the words and humor flowed easily from Clyde provided the talk was not directed at him personally at that Clyde would often shut himself off from the inquiring female, terrified of what the end result might be. Judging by Clyde’s reaction and demeanor when I arrived back at the front desk moments later with Lilly at my side I knew by Clyde’s actions and the way we was talking freely to the girls at the front desk that all had went according to plan.

  The time I had spent with Lilly helping to lower the towels from the top shelf of the storage room went past so quickly that I barely had a thought of what Clyde and my true intensions were that evening. So taken was I with this beautiful woman that I had left the rest of the world behind at the front desk, including the murder that was taking place at the same time. The conversation between Lilly and I soon turned to food and cooking, which it turned out both of us loved to do.

  All the talk of food soon developed into talk of the new café in town, and our arrangement to meet each other there to try the place out. I can’t remember which one of us had actually asked the other one out on that first date, it was as if we both asked and answered ourselves. It was as if that conversation had been rehearsed together, the conversation jumped from topic to topic in an endless and seamless flow. I had never met anyone like her, could she be the girl?

  Could I know this soon that I was falling in love with this girl even before I gave her a simple kiss? Before returning to the front desk we agreed on diner together on the following Saturday evening and she had written down her phone number on a small slip of blue paper which she slipped into the left side breast pocket of my dress shirt.

  Clyde having already returned to the front desk and was leaning against the front counter when the pair of us returned from the back storage room, Clyde was talking casually to the three ladies who still remained at the front desk finishing the last of their coffees. There would be a slight grin on Clyde’s face while he talked as he turned slight
ly to acknowledge Lilly and my presence.

  “I thought you had left without me, not that I could blame you” Clyde’s voice trailed off as he raised his eyebrows as he looked towards Lilly, fucking idiot I thought before replying in a less vulgar response.

  “Leave without you? I forgot you were even here! It wouldn’t have been the first time I ditched you anyway. Let’s go my friend we still have work to be done for the Monday service, the two of us are going to be just like your husbands at home tonight vacuuming and cleaning all night. It was a pleasure as always ladies, see you soon” I replied, the house work reference got me a cheap laugh and a perfect exit opportunity for Clyde and I.

  Not that I would mind spending more time with Lilly but I had already made arrangements for that to happen anyway and we needed to get the hell out of there. The pair of us would make our way from behind the counter and out towards the front door, I would turn after punching the four digit code into the keypad of the electronically monitored front door, I needed one last look as I threw out a “take care” along with a short wave and my last look to the front desk, she certainly was a sight.

  “I think I’m getting fucked on our little arrangement here” Clyde’s face remained completely stolid as he spoke looking over at me in that same dead pan stare” I get the dirty work of whacking these old geezers while your following your dick around like the retarded fuck that you are, you are so weak” Clyde says instantly punching the top of my arm no longer able to hold his straight face any longer. The shot pushed me back nearly off my feet, it actually really fucking hurt but I didn’t care, the adrenaline was just rushing through me and I knew that Clyde had been successful even before I replied.

  “You’re the fucker that kills and yes I have date with that slice of sunshine in there sucker, so how did you make out?” I prodded for an answer that I already knew.

  “I also left a lasting impression on one of the ladies in there, get in the car and drive you gay pussy”.

  Clyde continued to sport the broad smile he developed after punching me as he explained the details of the murder on the drive back to the Funeral Home; he sure was in a jovial mood that night. Returning to the Funeral Home Clyde was quick to pour the first pair of drinks as the two of us drank and smoked for several hours as we rehashed the past twenty six days that would forever change our lives. I think I mentioned more than a few times my up and coming date with Lilly, in six days, on the following Saturday night.

  Meanwhile Clyde walked me through the events around the death of Mrs. Worthington for a second time which according to Clyde had transpired without a hitch “as long as we get a call in the morning, maybe she is poison repellant” he laughed. That plan that Clyde had come to me with twenty six days earlier would be the beginnings of vast earnings for both Clyde and I, his killings would ultimately turn the pair of us into millionaires and change our lives forever. For me I always looked at that night like it was the closing of a door never to be opened again and the excitement of all those doors I had yet to open, Clyde was as happy as I had ever seen him that night as we partied well into the early Monday morning.

  The call for Mrs. Worthington came into the Funeral Home shortly after nine the following morning; the Nursing Home call would request the pick-up of Mrs. Worthington who had passed away watching television late last night. The administrator at the Nursing Home called into the Funeral Home shortly after nine the following morning, Fred was already in the downstairs office and answered the call. Having spent the better part of the night and early morning drinking, Clyde and I both slept through the call.

  Fred would climb the back stairs to our apartment after the call but when he saw the number of empty beer and whiskey bottles in our apartment decided against trying to wake us and instead drove the service car over to the Nursing Home himself to pick up the body. There was usually someone on site that would be able to help him; after all he had run the business on his own for some time so Fred was accustomed to performing disposals and pickups on his own. The coroner had already signed off on the death certificate by the time Fred arrived at the Nursing Home, doc Burrows true to form had decided an autopsy would not be required as Ms. Worthington was after all in her late eighties and had been suffering from dementia for some years.

  The both of us would sleep well into the afternoon hours on that Monday, it would be the first and only complete day of school Clyde would miss on his way to becoming a Funeral Director. While we slept in the upstairs apartment Fred would bring the body of Mrs. Worthington back to the Funeral Home and down into the basement for embalming. The Nursing Home had provide Fred with a dress that Mrs. Worthington had dry cleaned and hung in her room closet, she had informed the staff to provide the dress to Shackles once she passed away.

  Mrs. Worthington’s dark blue dress stood out in stark contrast to the paleness of her skin and the white silk liner of her casket that Fred would place her in after completing the embalming and placing Mrs. Worthington’s freshly pressed dress on. Even an aging Fred had little difficulty in lifting the ninety six pound body of Mrs. Worthington off the embalming table and into the casket, in reviewing her pre arrangements Fred realized the model of casket she had requested was in stock back in the garage.

  After placing Mrs. Worthington into the casket Fred would wheel the casket riding on one of the chrome dolly’s purpose made for the caskets onto the lift and up to the front room of the Funeral Home.

  The visiting would be on Tuesday morning and afternoon for Mrs. Worthington, after aligned the casket into place and lifting the viewing half door which displayed the top of her torso and head. The entire room would be set up by Fred ready for the next day’s visitation; the casket would be clearly visible as I made my way downstairs well after six that evening. Having had a shower after waking up shortly after four alleviated some of the pain in my pounding head, after a couple cups of coffee I would make my way down to the main floor of the Funeral Home using the back stairs. Clyde would be out of bed by the time I was out of the shower but he still remained planted on the couch in the living room of the apartment.

  With my head still a little fuzzy I rounded the wall at the base of the stairs and instantly saw the set up coffin in the front room of the funeral home. This view of the cadavers face from far back in the hallway was little more than the outline of the nose and some of the for head, approaching the casket I would see a diminutive and frail old woman in a blue dress fully displayed with the room set up for a visitation

  “Hey Fred, we got another service today” I called out from the doorway of the front room as I faced back down the hall waiting for a reply

  “Hey Fed” I called out once more but still no reply, he must have gone back out to the coach house for diner I thought before walking over to the base of the back staircase and calling out to Clyde

  “Excuse me Clyde there is a Mrs. Worthington here to see you” waiting for the reply which like Fred’s reply was not to be heard.

  “No shit man I think the body Fred has displayed out in the front room had your spa treatment last night, get down here” this time Clyde replied as I could hear him approaching the staircase.

  “Where the hell is Fred now?” he appeared at the top of the stairs just as he finished with the short question.

  “ Fred must be out back I called for him twice but just keep the chatter to a minimum until we are sure he is back there, check this out, is it her?” I asked Clyde quietly as I quickly walked with Clyde only a few feet behind me to the front room and the half open casket.

  “Holly shit, that’s her. Fed’s got her embalmed so the old doc is up to his old habits and no autopsy” Clyde whispered quietly as the pair of us hunched over the casket of Mrs. Worthington, turning to exit the front room Clyde would high five me before walking out the doorway on his way back upstairs to puke the remaining alcohol from last night out of his stomach.

  Return to Table of Contents

  Chapter 10

  Before reading these files
, I just never knew how close I came to spending the majority of my adult life behind bars, the pot thing was bible camp shit compared to all this. How easily it had been for me to dismiss those first murders from my mind, a necessity of business I had somehow assured myself, they all would have died soon anyway I reasoned. Everything worked out so carry on, and I did, without looking back once.

  Funny, there was no master plan for Clyde and I wanting to be intentionally evil and corrupt, that’s just how we ended up. The circumstances allowed us to be bad, our desire exploited those circumstances. We had searched out and accepted evil, accepting it with open arms, wise enough to manage it in the darkness, keep it in the shadows from reality. Clyde would murder repeatedly, keeping the secret brilliantly from the entire world.

  After reading those first six files, of the seven murders I allowed myself to forget, it was from a time in my past, I had done well to forget. For Lilly and Sid’s sake, I intended to keep it forgotten, forever.

  I needed to read on, all these files, dozens of them, the thought of more murders started to sicken me. I knew they all contained the detailed facts of dozens of more murders, oh how my stomach started to churn, the more I thought about the remaining files.

  There was eleven more file boxes, each box with six or more files. After reading that first file, I tried not to admit it to myself that all these files would be about murder, but I knew they all would be.