Detective Tumbler and the Man in Brown (Detective Tumbler Trilogy Book 2)

by Jason Balistreri

  Inside Princeton has his guns drawn, he looks around the cabin for the man in brown, he sees the box on the table on the far side of the cabin, he feels someone to the right and turns to fire, the man in brown swings around with his staff and sweeps his feet, he knocks the guns from Princeton’s hands, Princeton is able to squeeze one shot but it goes wild and ricochets off the left corner of the cabin wall and the bullet lodges into the wood, Princeton jumps up and tries to block the staff but he is hit quickly and forcefully. He pulls out his hunting knife but that is knocked out of his hand too, he can’t get close enough to get a punch in, he is down on his back again. “You men think that you have power with your guns but take them away and what are you?”

  Princeton picks up his hunting knife and lunges at him, the man in brown smacks him on the knuckles to disarm him, then sweeps him again. “You were once one of my followers before we cast you out, did you think me an easy adversary?”

  “This version of Princeton Wright comes strapped with dynamite,” Princeton says as he smiles and opens his black vest to show the man in brown.

  “If I were a lesser man, I might be concerned but you seem like a man that values self-preservation, I don’t believe you are willing to light any of it. So what does the other version of Princeton Wright come with?”

  “Your mother’s cunny on my pecker.”

  Marshall approaches the cabin, he draws his gun and advances towards the front stoop, he kicks the door in and sees the man in brown repeatedly wailing on Princeton with his staff. “Ah, detective, I knew you’d come,” the man in brown says as he looks out the window at the circle of fire. “You’re going to wish you hadn’t lit that fire.”

  “I’ve seen your handiwork but it all ends now. You hit the boy again and I will shoot you, the fire is just to prevent your escape.”

  “So the boy means something to you?”

  “Yes, he does.”

  “Then that will make your choice more painful. I knew he meant something to you, that’s why when I was wailing on him, I felt an outpouring of joy.”

  “That will be the last sense of happiness you feel.”

  “No, see, I have another card to play. You meant to trap me in but you’ve really just hindered yourself. You see I found your Achilles’ heel, at heart you are still a cop just like you were when you came looking for me all those years ago, one with morals no less. So what I’m presenting you with is a choice, this will be our endgame. That steamboat down the river is full of tourists, men, women, children, there is a bomb in their engine room, it is crude for crafting bombs is not my specialty but see, here is the genius of it,” he says as he pulls a detonator out of his brown coat. “I’ve always shunned technology and preached the same to my followers but I did something out of character, because, you see, how I figured it was if I had to use it, my followers would never know because it would be in a situation like this where they are all captured and dispersed. If you try to save the boy or harm me, I will turn the switch and kill them all, everyone on that steamboat dies. The choice you have is save the lives of many or save the life of one, but I think we both know what you’ll choose, you will walk through that fire, I know you, you will choose to save the many though you know none of them and as much as it pains you, you will leave the boy to die at my hands. No matter what choice you make, I win for, whatever you decide will haunt you the rest of your life.”

  “And how am I supposed to know, that if I leave to save them, you won’t press the switch?”

  “I can put it in the hand of the boy if it makes you feel better but you will have to holster that gun. You have my word, if you leave and walk through that fire, I will not kill the people on the boat, I will only kill the boy and then I will leave, but I think we both know at that point, I will be gone, you may chase me but you will not find me, not again.”

  “I hate to be the one to destroy your dream but that bomb was disarmed two days ago.”

  “Aren’t you a clever man? They boy helped you figure it out didn’t he? A hunter and a tracker, and here I wondered why you would bring a cowboy along. It doesn’t matter, see my dream for the world is one that shall be fulfilled, regardless of my fate, and my gift to it is far from here, you saw her pass and you let her go, just as I knew you would, your weakness is your compassion for others, you let an innocent child slip through your web, she’s the legacy I’ll leave behind. The only reason why I’m telling you any of this is because you and your cowboy friend here won’t live to tell about it see, if you in all your observational skill, had noticed that this cabin is sitting on a foundation of explosives, not enough to cause a large blast mind you, I can’t have my followers injured, but enough to blow this cabin up and kill all occupants, for that I have a separate detonator.”

  “If you meant to save your followers, why did you abandon them?”

  “I had to lure you here. See, you meant to trap me, you thought you would be the one to light the fire, but I am the master of my own fate.”

  “Right now, your followers are being introduced to Chester Swanson, at least the ones who are left.”

  “You think that frightens me, they were all just pawns, serviceable to the cause. Your street thug can manhandle them all he wants. I know he won’t kill them, that I won’t allow and because of your code, you would not allow it either. The only piece that mattered in this case was the queen and you let her escape.”

  “Then if we’re going to die, you surely wouldn’t mind telling me why you were ordering human sacrifice, moving from town to town, leaving behind victims in Warrensburg, Joplin, Springfield, and Poplar Bluff, convincing people you could raise the dead and control the leviathan, and having a family eat your victims while you left the heads behind? See to a logical man, what you are doing makes little sense, the only conclusion left to draw is you really do believe that sacrificing those people was making you stronger or it could be that you intended to instill power in somebody else, someone like Jackson Addler for instance.”

  “Human sacrifice has been practiced by countless civilizations; it has been around since the dawn of man. It’s not like any of those people were really living anyways, detective. They might as well have served a larger goal.”

  “Killing children, killing women, they were acceptable losses for you?”

  “Would you prefer I only killed men? Then would it be acceptable to you?”

  “No, it wouldn’t but you still didn’t answer my questions. What was the purpose and what do you know about Jackson?”

  “What Jackson does is his own game; he doesn’t need me to make him powerful. If you could live through this, you would see a similar pattern, what I have done in this state, he is doing across the country, he means to destroy cities, my focus was rural, we each have our domains. Some mysteries, detective, as you know, there are no simple answers to. I think it fitting that you have unanswered questions that you’ll take to your grave. What gives me solace is knowing that at your funeral, I could count the attendees on my two hands because you’ve lived your whole life not trusting anyone. See, I know you very well. You brought a thug and an outlaw because no one else would join you, you sought to end all I have worked for, but you are not capable of doing that, my work will live on in perpetuity. While Jackson will elude your grasp, if you were ever going to catch him, you would need to step up your game, I laid a trap and you fell right into it, he would have done the same to you, instead you’ll die at my hands, do you think your street thug will carry on your work for you, oh wait, you had someone to do that, you had Gina and Parnassus took here from you, yet you never had the time to find a replacement did you? You are so absorbed in your work, you forgot about any chance at a legacy, the game passed you by, it changed and you failed to adapt.”

  “See, that’s where you’re mistaken and that’s why you’ve failed.”

  “I’m holding all the cards, detective, this is my moment of triumph and I’ll take the two of you with me. See, I am an old man, but I’m taking the two
of you in your prime.”

  “If you want to turn that switch, go ahead and do it.”

  “I’m not bluffing.”

  “I don’t believe that you are, the problem is you’re not the only one with foresight. Your signal is jammed; it has been the whole time. I just let you keep talking because I’ve been recording the whole thing. You probably didn’t even notice the camera did you? Small enough to be undetected, but it records in HD and the audio is crystal clear.”

  “Then I’ll just take the boy with me, you don’t have it in you to kill me,” he says as he lifts his staff to bring it down on Princeton’s unconscious bloody head. Marshall fires his gun and the bullet hits the man in brown in the shoulder, he staggers back.

  “I told you not to hit the boy again and while I won’t kill you, I will wound you repeatedly if necessary. Don’t get up or I’ll shoot you in the leg next.”

  “Wait, I’ll surrender, there’s just one last thing,” he says as he throws his staff like a spear at the box, it falls open on the floor.

  “What was that supposed to accomplish?”

  “I know you don’t believe in such things but that box there is truly cursed and opening it, well, it curses all three of us. I am equipped to handle it mentally but I don’t believe that you are detective.”

  “Enjoy prison, old man.”

  “A man like you who keeps courting death, it’s only a matter of time before you get your wish fulfilled. Your prisons cannot hold me, my cause is what matters.”

  “You’re just a sick old man, your only hope is they institutionalize you,” Marshall says as he advances, he takes his handcuffs off his belt, the man in brown struggles mightily, he hits Marshall with a palm to his solar plexus, he punches him in the ear, but Marshall starts swinging and hits him until his knuckles are busted and bloody, the man in brown slips out of Marshall’s arm lock, he pulls a knife out of his boot, he slashes but Marshall hops back, the knife still slashes Marshall’s shirt, he sees the blood.

  “Even with one arm, I’m still too much for you to handle.”

  “If you want to have it out, let’s have a go at it,” Marshall says, the man in brown hangs his arm with the knife low, he smiles broadly. Marshall holsters his gun, he lets the man in brown lunge at him, he sidesteps him and brings his elbow down on his arm, the knife clangs to the ground, Marshall punches him in the throat, the man in brown staggers, Marshall gets one of the handcuffs on him, then the other. “You might have training and skills but I can handle my own in a fight, I wouldn’t be alive if I couldn’t.” Marshall goes to Princeton, he puts his hand on his head, the boy’s face is bruised and bloody but he’s just unconscious, Marshall picks him up and carries him out of the cabin.

  “Wh… What is you doin’?” Princeton asks as he regains consciousness.

  “I’m saving you, that what I’m doing,” Marshall says, he looks at the fire still enclosed in a circle.

  “How’d we do?” Princeton asks.

  “We got him,” Marshall says. “Now I’m going to set you down for a second, I have to create a path.” Marshall turns and he sees Gina in the doorway of the cabin as he removes his coat. “No, I can’t,” he tells her. “I’ve gotta let you go.”

  “Who’s you talkin’ to?” Princeton asks as he looks back at the cabin.

  “No one, just give me a second, I need to make a path through the fire,” he says but a large coat is placed over one patch of it and Chester comes rolling through. “What the hell happened? You’re bleeding in the back.”

  “The cannibal lady cut me. You’re bleeding too. What the hell happened to Princeton?” Chester asks as he looks at the kid.

  “The man in brown beat the holy hell out of him, I’ve gotta get him out of here. Here, throw my coat over that clearing you made, we need to get on the other side. I would ask you to grab the man in brown but he opened that box in there.”

  “I ain’t goin’ near there then.”

  Chester throws Marshall’s coat over his and Marshall picks Princeton up again, he covers Princeton’s face and his own as he leaps through the gap in the fire, Chester follows behind them, rolling through again. Marshall looks out at all of the followers unconscious on the ground.

  “I take it this was your doing?” Marshall asks.

  “I got angry,” Chester admits.

  “What are you?” Marshall asks.

  “You knew what I was before we started this journey together. I show no mercy to my enemies, I’m a man that has lost everything. Being with you, on this case, is the only thing that gives me purpose. Everyone I’ve ever cared about is dead, you’re my only tether to this world.”

  “That’s unsettling, but flattering in a way.”

  “It’s the truth.”

  “They’re all still breathing, I’m impressed and I’m proud of you.”

  “What do we do now?” Chester asks.

  “I’ll call the sheriff in, I’ll put the fire out, we’ll get Princeton to a hospital. Can you grab the fire extinguisher out of the car?”

  “We parked that thing so damn far away.”

  “Is your back all right?”

  “Yeah, I’ll just need them to stitch me up,” Chester says.

  “I’ll call the sheriff,” Marshall says as Chester goes to get the fire extinguisher. When he returns, Marshall is done explaining what happened. “They’re on their way, which means thirty to forty minutes,” Marshall says as he puts the fire out. “Princeton, are you all right?”

  “I’ve had better days detective, that man came out of nowhere just like a ninja, I’s just bruised all over my body. I don’t need no damn hospital unless if they’s gonna give me a hot little nurse that I can charm the pants off of.”

  “We’re taking you to a hospital; they at least need to make sure nothing’s broken.”

  “I is fine, I’ll just roll in the dirt for awhile.”

  “No, just stay still, we’ve got help on the way,” Marshall says.

  “You’re not thinking about going back in there, are you?” Chester asks.

  “I’m just going to grab that box.”

  “You are crazy; I take back what I said earlier.”

  “We’re going to have to bury it; I don’t want the sheriff and his men to have to deal with it.”

  “You’re just making excuses now. Let them deal with him and with it,” Chester advises.

  “I’m a curious man, I can’t fight my nature,” Marshall says.

  “You’ve spent this whole journey telling both of us to fight ours and we did, the case is over.”

  “You both did better than I could have ever hoped, there’s just one more thing I want to know, besides I have to retrieve a camera,” Marshall says as he approaches the cabin, Chester shakes his head.

  Marshall has his gun drawn as he looks at the man in brown handcuffed in the corner. “Did you come back to hit me some more, you find my presence so scintillating, or perhaps you came to gloat?”

  “That’s not my way. This business about bringing the dead back, why did they all believe in that?”

  “Take a drink from that cup and you’ll see.”

  “I won’t be doing that,” Marshall says. “The cup is poisoned.”

  “Not exactly, just a natural hallucinogen, people see what they want. You are looking for a way to bring your partner back.”

  “I saw her in the doorway when I looked back.”

  “As much as I would like to take credit for it, I cannot, it was just in your head. Perhaps your rational mind is starting to crack?” Marshall approaches the open box on the floor, he looks into it before he shuts its cabinet, his face turns pale, he puts the box under his arm and begins to leave. “I have something for you, I planned on us dying here but perhaps this was how it was supposed to end,” he pulls an envelope out of his brown suit pocket, he removes his brown fedora with his shackled hands, he takes out a small package wrapped in brown paper. “Consider it a parting gift, if the storm awaiting you at home doesn’t ki
ll you then, make no mistake, he will.”

  “I’m not an easy man to kill, to borrow a phrase from a friend.”

  “Then your words will be tested, you have taken me out of the game but there are other players just waiting for you to make a mistake.”

  “If I was really the bastard you think I am, we would have stopped the girl, I knew what you were doing, or we would chase her now, but I’m not the asshole that you believe me to be.”

  “Then why did you choose not to chase her?”

  “Because of Gina, you and I are on opposite sides of the law, but I had trained a replacement too, I saw her in the girl and I couldn’t do it.”

  “You were a worthy adversary, I won’t lie to you. Your nobility is rather endearing, foolish, but you’ve kept the dream of an old man alive, I know I lost my way but you really only have the world to blame, this world created me.”

  “If she starts killing, I will stop her too. I won’t have a choice.”

  “I trained her but the path she follows will be her own.”

  “I suppose that’s how it should be,” Marshall says, he retrieves his camera from the tiny crack in the wall of the cabin.

  “What would you have done if I had found it?”

  “I have two,” Marshall says as he takes the second recorder out of his pocket.

  “It’s a shame all that cleverness will go to waste. All you have to do is let me go. You could join us, you could see your girl again all you want. I can change my ways, no more killing. You’ll never catch Jackson and in the city, your city, she tried to kill you once, nearly did, what makes you think she won’t do it again?”