by J Scaddon
That evening, Dylan watched over Jake and Joel as Ida made her way back into town to the meeting, which was being held in the town hall. As almost everyone in town filed into the hall, the sheriff stood upon the stage at the front of the main room. He watched everyone taking their seats and remained quiet and solemn looking. His usually jovial spirit was lacking and he was in no mood for small talk. The events within his territory turned serious at the first murder. They were now well beyond desperate. On seeing the sheriff at the front, most of the town’s residents stopped their chatter and took their places in a quick and orderly way. They were used to the sheriff’s big smile and welcoming nature. To see him in this way told them everything they needed to know about what danger they were all in.
The sheriff stood up from his chair on the stage and stepped over to a lectern where he banged a gavel down to get everyone’s attention.
“Good evening, everyone. Please may I have some hush?” Any residual gossip disappeared almost immediately. “Many thanks, folks. Now, it will probably be well known to you all that, sadly, Whelan is no longer with us. This morning, Deputy Jeb and I attended at his shack and found him dead. This was a very serious offence and it really has put the frighteners on me. I know you will all find it hard to imagine that I am worried, but I am. I have asked you all here as I don’t believe in working against your wishes. After all, I am charged with serving you good people, not dictating to you. So there are two options. Either we call in assistance from the FBI or we carry on going it alone.”
“Or we hunt down this son of a bitch!” shouted a voice from the gathered residents.
“Now then, please can we have some order and certainly no cussing? A posse would be part of going it alone. But, I’m not sure that we can handle this investigation alone. I would have to warn you that if we call in the FBI then there would be a good chance that Monroe would be flooded with agents and possibly even press from all around the country. We have a real delicate case going on here and if word got out then we would be overcome. But then, is all that worth taking to rid ourselves of this evil vagrant.”
“How do we know that it’s the vagrant? It could be any one of us!” called out a man.
“We know!” said the sheriff. “At this last scene we have found a bloodied deerstalker hat, which is exactly what was described by Mrs Van de Veld’s boys, who talked to this character. We are confident that he is involved. It is just a matter of getting…..”
“But that could be anyone’s hat,” said an old lady, seated at the front.
“Don’t be daft, May,” said her husband. “Sherlock Holmes don’t live in Monroe. Who else wears a hat like that in the middle of summer? Or anytime round here?”
“That’s right,” said the sheriff, calmly. “It is this hat that gives me the confidence to name this vagrant as the prime suspect in the case. I believe that if we catch him then we will have our killer. Now, although I am pressed to bring in the FBI, I want to know if you all want me to proceed, or do we see if we can pull in this man first?”
The gathered crowd started to discuss the issue between themselves when finally Red stood up. He shyly looked over to Ida and gave her a smile. This got most people’s attention and they all hushed once more.
“Sheriff,” said Red. “How about we organise a posse. Every man with a weapon. We can go down to the pines and the canyon and flood the area. Then we find him and take him in. We all go on mass.”
“Thank you, Red,” said Sheriff Glick. “I think it is well worth a go. If we go up there after this meeting and then again tomorrow. If we see him then we will take him in. I don’t believe he is armed. There is nothing from the crime scenes to suggest he has a firearm. Then when we have him, as I know he is still up there, we can call in the Feds to deal with him then. Get him the chair!”
Ida raised her hand. “Sheriff. I need to tell you that my shotgun was taken last night. Stolen right from my sleeping hands.”
“In that case,” said the sheriff, sternly. “Shoot to kill boys. Any sight of him and take his head off.”
After the meeting had disbanded, every man in the town that owned a firearm went home and armed themselves with it. Some came out with a whole arsenal of weapons. They all gathered on Main Street and clambered aboard various vehicles that had been rounded up. Together, like a rag tag army, they set off for the pine forest next to Ida’s house. The posse searched for the next three days without a sign of the vagrant. No campfires, no left belongings and no sightings of any sort. It had all gone quiet and peaceful again. Before long, the folks headed back to their lives one by one. Four days later, only a small handful of men patrolled the area until they too went back to their normal lives, satisfied that the hobo was gone for good. They all assumed that he had been scared off. Sheriff Glick was disappointed not to have got his man, but he was satisfied that there would be no more killings in Monroe. No doubt the vagrant would turn up in some other town and so the sheriff sent out information to all the counties around.
Dylan started to spend a bit more time at his own shack and only came round to his sister’s house a couple of times a week. Usually when he was hungry and his shirts needed washing and pressing. Overall, life went back to how it was before. Until one night, a few weeks after the last member of the posse had given up and gone home.
“Come on now, boys,” called out Ida. “Time for bed. I know there aint no school tomorrow, but I want you fresh faced so we can go into town and do a little shopping.” Ida was cleaning the dishes after their supper. She had polished every knife and fork and placed all the glasses on the drainer to dry. Everything, as per usual, was neatly in its place. Once the kitchen was in order, she made her way through to the boys’ bedroom. As she came in, the boys both quickly stepped back from their window. They were dressed in their bed shirts and had washed, but they were acting strangely.
“What is going on with you two this evening? You both look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Nothing, Mam,” said Jake as he climbed into his bed. They were both quiet, which was unlike them. Jake and Joel were normally two very talkative young men. They almost produced white noise with the gabble that often spewed from them.
“What is going on?” pressed Ida. “You two rarely shut up, so I know something is off.”
“I’m tired, Momma.” said Joel.
Ida started over towards the window to try and see what they had been looking at. As she did, Jake called her back. He was suddenly very talkative. Ida could tell that they were acting strange, but it didn’t occur to her why and she soon forgot about checking out of the window. She wished them good night and turned the light out as she left the room. As soon as she was gone, the two boys climbed back out of bed and headed back over to watch out of their window again.
Ida had removed the shotgun from its place by the back door. She had put it back down in the basement where it was safe and she had also donated what was left of the cartridges to the sheriff’s department. She didn’t like the thought of having a loaded gun around and saw it as a greater source of trouble than anything else. She made herself a hot drink and whilst it cooled a little off boiling she tidied the kitchen up after herself. A spotless kitchen and home was a reflection of how her children were brought up. Or so her mother had always taught her. She took her drink to bed with her and settled down under her duvet and finished reading her book. It was a trashy romance novel that she had to keep hidden within her bedroom. The thought of the rest of the town knowing was more shame than she could bear. The town’s folk were very prudish and liked to show a respectable front. Ida knew better than to air her secrets in public. Even relatively small ones like enjoying romance novels.
She grew tired and turned out the light to her room. She too left her curtains open as she loved to watch the stars on a clear night. Her bed was placed right by the window so she could gaze up from under the comfort of her own duvet. That night was another clear and beautiful night. All the stars were out and the mo
on glow made everything seem surreal and ghostly. Ida watched and listened to the nocturnal world until she drifted off into sleep.
Something clattered. It was only slight, but enough to wake Ida. She took a few seconds to adjust to her surroundings, but was soon sat up and listening hard. She could hear both of her boys snoring gently. Their rhythms offset slightly. She tried her best to hear past it and try and figure out what had made the other noise. In her mind, she had visions that it was the screen door shutting. She recognised the sound, but as it had woken her from her sleep she couldn’t be sure. Ida pulled the duvet back and perched herself on the edge of her bed. Straining to hear something, she got up and crossed her room to the door. It was always open slightly. A habit saved from when her children were young and would wake in the night. She took hold of the door handle and pulled the door open a little more, enough for her to be able to spy down the passageway.
Something softly tapped at the end of the corridor. It came from around the front door, but the door appeared shut. She stepped out into the passage way. The floorboards below her squeaked. She placed her feet at the edges so that she wouldn’t be heard. Ida pushed the boy’s door. They were both fast asleep. She noticed a slight slip of moonlight ebbing through the edge of the front door. It was open. The door was making the tapping noise on the frame as it wavered in the breeze. Ida edged her way down the passage. Her heart raced and her nerves were nauseating. As she reached the kitchen door, she looked in and could see that it was empty. Unless someone was ducking down in the shadows. Moving on towards the front door she stepped in something wet. Something wet and cold. Not wishing to go any further, Ida took hold of the kitchen door frame and leant over to reach the front door. She pushed it and it locked with a click. She had either locked someone out, or shut them in.
She felt around for the light switch. Her mind was racing and so she went for the wrong area of the wall. She ran her hand up and down, searching for the switch. In desperation she started to run her other hand on a different wall and quickly found the light. When it came on, she was stood looking into her kitchen. Her first instinct was to look at her foot. It was still wet. Water. A small trail of water drops went from the kitchen sink to the front door. Ida was confused. How had water drops appeared like that? In a moment of misunderstanding, she looked up to the ceiling, expecting to see a leak. It hadn’t been raining and there were no water pipes or tank in the roof. She crossed over to the sink and found that it was wet in the basin. There were bread crumbs on the side. Ida would never leave crumbs around. She always left the kitchen spotless. He had been in her house, she thought. He was back.
In a state of panic, Ida hastily climbed down into the basement and retrieved the shotgun. It was unloaded and of little use. That being said, she hoped that the sight of it would keep the vagrant away. She turned on all of the lights in the property and barricaded the doors. She would have to keep guard until the morning. After securing her home as best as she could, Ida took a stool and propped open the boy’s room. There she sat, watching over them, until the sun rose the next day. She didn’t fall asleep and she didn’t lower the gun once.
Exhausted from her nights work, Ida quickly dressed Jake and Joel as soon as they woke up. She had them ready to leave the house and promised them a breakfast at Dana’s. She wanted to get out as soon as she could. When they were ready, Ida stepped out onto the porch and searched around, checking for any danger. Leaving her boys for a few moments, she crossed the yard and opened the barn door to let the horses out for the day. She ran back over to the house and took her two boys by the hand. She marched them all the way into town, barely breaking stride for the whole journey. As she passed the body repair shop, Red popped up from behind a Mustang and wished her a good morning. Ida didn’t even look at him. With both her boys holding her hand, she carried on without hesitance.
With just a nod of her head, she acknowledged those that tried to talk to her and then she carried on. She was on her way to the sheriff’s office at the far end of town. She only stopped briefly to inform Dylan of the previous night’s events. Before she had finished her story he had offered to come and stay. It was a weight off her mind that he would be there. His shack was too small for her, Jake and Joel to stay, so having Dylan at home would mean that she didn’t have to flee her property.
When she got to the sheriff’s office, she gave the boys some money to go and get a soda and then went in alone.
“Sheriff!” she said, with authority.
“Ida? What can I do for you on such a glorious morning?”
“He’s back.”
“Whose back?”
“Who do you think? Christmas aint for another five months, so I aint talking about jolly old Saint Nick. The vagrant. Or the killer hobo as you prefer to call him.”
“How do you know?” said the sheriff, his expression growing in concern.
“Cause he came into my house….” Ida had to pause as emotion overcame her. She steadied herself. “I have two boys in the house and some maniac comes in during the night and fixes himself a God damned sandwich and a glass of water.”
“Please Ida, no blasphemy.”
“Oh fuck off, James. I don’t give a shit what the good Lord thinks at the moment. I had a murderer in my house last night when I was asleep.”
“Okay, Ida. Look…Uhmmm….Okay, I’ll come by this afternoon. No wait, it will have to be later this evening. But I’ll send Jeb along to patrol the area. He should be able to have a look around. If we see signs of the hobo then we can send out a posse to catch him. If there are no signs, then I will still come round tonight and see you about it.”
“Thank you, Sheriff,” said Ida, as she started to calm a little.
“I understand your panic and so I aim to give you all the attention I can muster. Even if we have to look at putting you up in the hotel for a few nights. They always have a few rooms free.”
“They always have all their rooms free,” retorted Ida. The sheriff produced a broad grin. “Look James, I’m sorry for blaspheming and cussing in your office.”
“It’s okay, Ida. I totally understand. Now you carry on your day and I will see you tonight. As early as I can make it, okay? And don’t forget that Jeb will be in the area too, so try not to concern yourself too much. Honestly, you’re completely safe with us about.”