“The Loup Garou?”
“A person who can summon the spirit of the wolf and change into the beast at will. Forget all that crap about full moons, this thing will come for you day or night, a living nightmare with one thing on its mind. Killing.”
“I know the legend of the Loup Garou Ed. It’s a fairy tale, nothing more.”
“I wouldn’t be so quick to rule it out if I were you.”
“This is ridiculous. I’ve got better things to do than listen to unfounded superstitions.” Decker could barely keep the anger from his voice. “And you need to keep your mouth shut. The town’s scared enough without you dragging up old myths of werewolves, spreading fear and panic for no reason.”
“It’s no myth sheriff, you’ll see.” Ed shook his head. “You’d better watch your back. It could be anyone.”
“I think I’ve had just about enough crazy talk for one night.” Decker pushed the beer back and dropped a five-dollar bill on the bar. “Keep the change.” He stood and walked to the door, pulled it open and stepped out into the night. Whatever was running around Wolf Haven, it was flesh and blood, not some mythical creature created to frighten children into behaving.
32
BENNY TOWNSEND, OWNER of the Pump and Go gas station, was fast asleep on his sofa, a half empty can of beer fighting gravity to stay upright in his hand. He was dreaming of his high school girlfriend, Janna. They were behind the bleachers fooling around, something that hadn’t happened in real life, much to his chagrin. He was about to slip his hand inside her blouse, to close his palm over her pert, rounded breast, when he was jolted out of the fantasy by a loud crash.
He opened his eyes, suddenly alert, his heart beating fast.
He wondered what had roused him from his slumber. If someone had pulled into the gas station the bell, triggered by a sensor near the pump, would have rang, but whatever had woken him was not a customer wanting to fill up.
He listened for a moment, but heard nothing. Whatever had disturbed him, everything was quiet now. Maybe he’d imagined the noise, dreamed it.
He was about to close his eyes and drift back to sleep when a second crash broke the silence.
This time there was no mistaking it. He jumped up and ran to the window, peering out, but he could see nothing in the darkness beyond the one bedroom trailer.
Damn it, he thought to himself, disappointed that he wouldn’t get to see what happened with Janna. Already the dream was fading away to nothing but vague snatches.
He made his way to the door, his hand resting on the knob. The last thing he wanted to do was go wandering around outside, but there was no choice. He needed to make sure everything was secure. After all, what if it was kids breaking into the workshop or vandalizing the place? Only last month, in the middle of the night, someone had cut two of the rubber hoses that connected the pumps to the nozzles. It had cost him a few hundred bucks to replace them and put the gas pumps out of commission for two days, which cost him a small fortune in lost sales. Not this time.
He reached out and flipped the deadlock, pulled the door open, and stepped out into the humid night.
A motion activated security light snapped on illuminating the space between the battered double wide and the gas station. A tow truck stood idle between the structures, its dull metal hook hanging like a strange medieval torture device. Beyond that, several rusting oil barrels stood stacked one atop the other next to a pile of flattened shipping boxes that once contained candy bars, toilet paper and all manner of other convenience store items.
Benny inched forward, his eyes darting left to right, searching for whatever caused the sound that woke him, but everything seemed to be in place.
He reached the tow truck and skirted it, crossing to the building that housed the convenience store, hugging the wall of the building as he approached the forecourt.
Four gas pumps came into view, sheltered under a steel frame awning that leaned slightly to the left, thanks to a slightly inebriated driver a couple years back. He kept meaning to fix it, but somehow never found the time. Besides, it hadn’t come tumbling down yet, so he figured it was still structurally sound.
Benny took a step toward the pumps. When he saw the reason for the two loud crashes he stopped dead in his tracks.
Next to the front door of the shop stood a cage that housed propane gas bottles for grills and campers. One side held empties ready to be picked up by the distributor, while the other side contained full bottles.
Only neither side contained much of anything anymore.
The metal grill that secured the bottles was twisted and bent, hanging free except for one misshapen hinge that was pulled back and buckled. Littered across the pavement in front of the cage were the gas canisters, some standing upright as if carefully placed on the ground, others on their side, rocking gently in the night breeze. Several of the canisters sported dents, but seemed fine otherwise. That did not mean he could sell them though. Even if the valves were still tight no one would want to use a dented tank.
“Shit.” Benny swore. As if money wasn’t tight enough, now he would have to replace all the canisters. Running a gas station was not the lucrative venture it once was, thanks to state and federal taxation and slim profit margins. Being in a small town like Wolf Haven didn’t help either. “Damn kids.”
He picked up a canister and put it back in the storage cage, then lifted another. He was about to pick up a third when he stopped, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. A strange creeping feeling of foreboding came upon him. Even though he had not heard anything, had not seen anything, he knew instinctively that something had changed. The air seemed heavy, oppressive, and the frogs that usually croaked at night had fallen silent.
Benny stood stock still, taking in the forecourt and the empty road beyond.
And then he saw it.
The creature crouched between two pumps. Sitting motionless on its haunches, it watched him with cold yellow eyes. And then, before Benny could turn to run, it lunged forward with impossible speed.
He opened his mouth to scream. He never got the chance.
33
AFTER HE LEFT THE BAR Decker made his way down Main Street toward Cassidy’s Diner. As he walked he did his best to push Ed Johnson’s ramblings from his mind. There were better things to think of, like Nancy, and their suddenly reignited relationship. By the time he reached Cassidy’s, he’d all but forgotten the strange conversation in the County Line.
The Diner was dark and closed, a handwritten sheet of paper taped to the door announcing that the restaurant would reopen the following week. Decker walked past it, up the narrow access road to the house, and rang the doorbell.
It took a few moments, but then Nancy was there at the door. She smiled when she saw him, but behind the gesture Decker sensed a weary sadness.
“I was hoping it was you,” She held the door open for Decker to enter.
“How is she?” He looked past Nancy, an expression of concern on his face, toward the living room, where the sound of a TV could be heard. “Taylor?”
“She’s been better. The doctor came around earlier and prescribed her some sedatives. She’s upstairs sleeping right now.”
“How are you doing?” Decker reached out and took her hand.
“Much as to be expected.” Nancy steered him toward the living room and picked up the remote, then turned off the TV. “Better now that you are here.” She put her arms around Decker, kissed him, and nuzzled into his chest, her head on his shoulder.
Decker held her close, not sure what to say next, but happy to be there with her.
It was while they were standing there in each other’s arms that Decker’s radio squawked.
He went outside before he responded, not wanting to disturb Taylor. Nancy stood in the doorway, watching him with a look of concern on her face.
After he finished talking with the dispatcher he turned to Nancy. “I’m so sorry. I need to deal with this.”
“Go,” she sai
d. “Go and take care of it. I’ll be fine here.”
“Stay inside and lock the door after I leave.” Decker instructed her. “Don’t go anywhere.”
“I won’t.” Nancy reached out and grabbed his arm. “Come back later? Don’t leave me alone tonight.”
“I won’t. I’ll come back as soon as I can.” Decker promised, already half way down the front steps of the house.
He almost ran back along Main Street, ignoring the first drops of rain that started to fall when he was halfway there.
By the time he reached the sheriff’s Office, the rain had turned into a downpour. He made a beeline for his cruiser and jumped in, turned the key in the ignition and flicked on the windshield wipers. Then he pulled out from the small paved lot in front of the building, turned on the sirens, and sped toward the edge of town in the direction of the Pump and Go, a feeling of dread enveloping him. Things were getting out of control, and for the first time he had no idea what to do next, or how to contain something that was wracking up bodies faster than he could bag them.
34
TAYLOR CASSIDY STOOD at her bedroom window and watched the sheriff leave. She was supposed to be sleeping, and for a few hours she had indeed dozed off, thanks to the sedatives the doctor forced her to swallow even though she didn’t want them. The memories of the previous evening’s nightmare were still fresh in her mind and she had no desire to repeat that particular hell.
As it had done many times over the past twenty-four hours, her mind wandered to Jake, and the beast in the woods. It was still out there, roaming around, and it was not done yet. She didn’t really understand how she knew this, but she did. Maybe it was the way the beast looked at her through the car window as she frantically tried to start the engine and pull away, as though it actually recognized her, wanted her in particular. That was a crazy thought. It was an animal, nothing more. At least, that’s what she kept telling herself.
It started to rain, huge globs of water dropped from the dark, angry storm clouds gathering over Wolf Haven. The rain pelted her window, the downpour creating a rhythmic rapping sound that seemed almost artificial in its cadence. It was somehow fitting that the weather suddenly turned so bad, that dark clouds had blanketed Wolf Haven and stolen away the bright summer sun. It was as if the skies were reflecting the mood of the town. Or maybe it was a harbinger of something worse yet to come. She hoped not, but she could not shake the nagging feeling that the town had not seen the end of the bloodshed.
She turned from the window and retrieved her cell phone from the nightstand by the bed. She tapped the unlock code and opened up the text messages, browsed to the last conversation with Jake. As she read the words, a sob caught in her throat.
If only she had not suggested going up to that stupid swimming hole, if they had gone bowling like he suggested, or went to a movie, then he would still be alive. It was her fault that Jake was dead, and all because she wanted to fool around. She was going to ask him to make love to her, to take her virginity, but instead he was gone forever.
She wished she could send him one last message, send it back in time to yesterday and tell him to stay at home where it was safe. Her fingers hovered over the message, over the keyboard, and then she started to type, picking out a final message to Jake. She paused for a moment, and then hit send. The message appeared in a blue box under the other ones.
‘I love you.’
She dropped the phone into her lap and started to cry.
35
WHEN DECKER ARRIVED at the Pump and Go it was already a hive of activity. Two cruisers sat in the road, their light bars casting an intermittent blue hue across the rain soaked road. One of them Decker recognized as belonging to Chad, the other was a white Chevy Tahoe with State Police emblazoned along the side. An ambulance idled nearby, its back doors open. The gas station itself was ringed with heavy yellow crime scene tape. Silhouetted figures moved around the forecourt, lit occasionally by the pop of a camera flash unit.
Decker pulled his car in behind the State Police vehicle and climbed out, ducking under the tape and making his way toward the cluster of uniforms standing under the canopy, near the pumps.
Chad turned to him, a grim look upon his face. “We have another one. Just like the others.”
As Decker approached, one of the State officers, a sergeant according to the three chevrons on his arm, edged sideways to let him through. Despite mentally preparing himself, Decker flinched when he saw the body.
Benny Townsend had been eviscerated, sliced open and splayed across the concrete. A slick film of rain coated his skin and drenched what was left of his clothing. A halo of thick dark blood spread around him and ran off toward the storm drain grate a few feet away. He lay with his arms and legs spread wide, as if he’d just decided to lie down and take a nap right there amid the gas pumps, except that he was missing a fair proportion of his stomach and groin area. Something had made quick work of dispatching him with a ferociousness that left Decker feeling queasy. He looked away and took several deep breaths, trying to ignore the stench of death that wafted from the corpse. Finally his composure returned. “Who found the victim?”
“Over there.” Chad pointed to a young woman sitting on the rear platform of the ambulance. She was wrapped in a light grey blanket, her arms pulled around herself as if she was cold, despite the oppressive heat that clung to the air. “She pulled in for gas and found the body.”
The State Police officer with the stripes on his arm spoke up. “We heard the call go out on the radio. We were close by and responded.”
“Has anyone spoken with her yet?” Decker asked.
“Only briefly. She was hysterical so we had the medic give her something to calm her down.” Chad said.
“I want a statement from her as soon as she is up to it.”
Chad nodded.
“Not that there’s any doubt about what did this.” Decker glanced back toward the corpse, and instantly regretted it. The bile rose in his throat and he fought to keep himself from throwing up. The last thing he wanted to do was contaminate the scene with the remains of his lunch. He stepped away and took a deep breath. To his relief the nausea subsided.
“You alright boss?” Chad was watching him with a look of concern on his face.
“I’m fine,” Decker said. “Just a little tired.”
Chad nodded and turned back to the crime scene.
Decker rubbed his temples. A dull ache throbbed behind his eyes. He would take an Aspirin as soon as he got back to the car. Christ, this was turning into a really shitty week.
36
ANNIE DOUCET LEANED BACK on the small cot in the corner of her one-room shack and rested her head on the pillow. She was worn out and weary to the bone.
The cabin was dark and quiet, save for the flickering red light cast by the fire within the potbelly stove, and the occasional crackle of burning wood as the flames devoured it. The room was humid and hot, but Annie, as usual, was cold. Not even the warmth from the stove did much to take the edge off her chill.
She closed her eyes, her thoughts turning, as they had so many times over the past few weeks, to the new road the town wanted to put in. It seemed like a futile effort to her. Wolf Haven had survived for more than a hundred years without the road, and it would survive just fine without it in the future. No, it was pure greed that motivated the Mayor and his lap dogs to build that infernal highway and steal her land. So what if the road would bring more business to the town? There were more important things than money. Not that Nancy Cassidy, Ed Johnson, and the other members of the local Chamber of Commerce saw it that way. All they wanted to do was line their pockets with gold. Just like that bastard Floyd Benson, agreeing to hand over his land like that, taking their dirty money. Not that it would do him much good now, lying on some mortician’s table. Same thing went for the Barlow’s. With their son Jake in so many pieces they wouldn’t be attending any Chamber meetings for a while. It seemed only fair that they lose something they loved. After
all, they were taking everything from Annie without even a second thought. That Cassidy kid, Taylor, was still around though. It seemed she had a lucky escape, and that was a shame. Spoiled bitch. Still, her time would come. How did the saying go? You reap what you sow? Pretty soon Mayor Beau Thornton and all the other folk who conspired to take her home would get theirs. Of that she was sure.
A flash of lightning lit the room up for a moment, throwing everything into stark relief, casting long shadows across the floor. Behind this came a low rumble of thunder, deep and angry. The weather was getting worse by the hour. Soon a mighty maelstrom would descend upon the small town of Wolf Haven, but that didn’t matter to Annie, there were worse things than a storm, as certain people would find out soon enough.
She opened her eyes and looked toward the window, to the lashing rain that hammered upon it. Maybe in a little while she would go out, enjoy the night, but first she needed rest for an hour or two.
37
IT WAS GETTING LATE by the time Decker pulled away from the Pump and Go gas station. In his rear view mirror the scene shrank away until all he could see were faint pulses of blue light in the darkness, the strobes atop the emergency vehicles still present. Soon these too faded into the inky blackness. He felt dog-tired and more than a little disturbed.
He drove through the night back to Nancy’s house in a slight daze. The rain, which fell in a downpour so hard his wipers could barely clear it from his windshield, did little to improve his mood. A few days ago this had been a peaceful place, a great place to live, a great place to heal.
It still seemed strange, sometimes, that he was back here, in Wolf Haven. A long time ago he’d run away, ran far from this place, from his father’s obsessions and bouts of temper, but trouble followed like a constant companion. It hid at first, lurked in the background, and then one day he found out that his partner, a man he’d worked with for ten years and considered a friend, was on the payroll of the most notorious drug lord in the city. Turning his friend in had been hard, almost dying at the hands of that same friend, even harder. And so he came back to Wolf Haven, a place where nothing ever happened, where the jail went weeks at a time with no one in it. This was a place from another time when people still left their doors unlocked at night and neighbors looked out for one other. He could not imagine anyone leaving the door unlocked on this night though.
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