“Who that knocking on my door? Is that you, you old shrew? It better not be you. I told you what I’d do to you, you rotten bitch. If you came ‘round here again.” His breath eminated from his mouth with every word he spoke, creating a cloud of misty funk in the air, smelling like a cross between sour milk and rotting onions.
“Excuse me sir, could we speak to you for a minute?” I timidly said trying to stay clear of his wrath, as well as his breath.
“Who dat?” He said looking around like he could see and batting his hands at the air from side to side.
“My name is Dirk Bogart and my friend’s name is T-Bone. We need your help. We can pay, say twenty dollars.”
A big smile came over the historian’s face as he beared two rotted yellow teeth and gums as black as he was. “Twenty dollars? Well come right on in, gentlemen.”
The interior of his shack didn’t disappoint, it was every bit as filthy and disgusting as the outside of his dwelling, as well as his general appearance. In the middle of the room was one old dirty couch covered with a brown sheet that used to white, many years ago perhaps, and an old wooden rocking chair. On the couch were two ratty looking cats that ruffled their fur and growled as we came into the room. “Shoo, cats, filthy varmints.” The old man yelled as he batted the air in the felines’ general direction. They hurried away into another room, but peeked out around the corner like they were keeping lookout. “Have a seat, gentleman, on this here couch. It’s old, but it’s a sight better than standing up. Go on, have a seat.”
Bone looked at me and I at him, not really wanting to sit down on the dirty old couch, but feeling that it was something we had to do. I sat down first and then Bone joined me reluctantly. The funk engulfed us like an invisible assailant, almost bringing us to tears. We coughed in unison, hoping we weren’t going to deposit the cold beers we had drank earlier on the historian’s couch, making it smell worst that it already did.
Sitting in the old wooden rocking chair, the old man wanted to get right down to business. “Now you said something ‘bout twenty dollars. What can I do for you two gentleman? I don’t tell fortunes or predict the future. I don’t sell healing salves or medicines. I don’t heal folks or deliver children, well not anymore. All I do is tell folks about the past. If’n that’s what you’re here for, then you’ve sure as hell came to right place. ‘Cause there ain’t nuthin’ that’s gone on in the colored side of Orleans in the last fifty years that I don’t know about. I’m the historian. People marvel at the things I know. They’re amazed, let me tell you. Sometimes I even amaze myself.”
Bone spoke for the first time since we’d been in the old man’s shack. “Mr. Historian, like my friend Dirk said they call me T-Bone. I’m a piano player, jazz mostly, and I play at a club in Memphis called the Blue Note. Me and Dirk came down her to Orleans trying to find out about a friend of ours who’s disappeared. We’re frightfully afraid something bad done happened to her.”
“Wait, wait, hold up. Is she from New Orleans?” The old man interrupted to ask. “She born here, right?”
“Yeah, I was getting to that.
I jumped in not having the patience or time for Bone’s rambling long winded story.”Let’s cut to the chase. We’re down here trying to get information on a Michele Dubois and her people, all of whom were born right her in New Orleans. Do you know them?”
“Dubois!” The old man screamed unexpectedly and started to shake. “Oh my God, Heaven help you.”
“What’s wrong? What are you saying?” I yelled, but the historian still continued to shake. His face turned an ashy pale color and his eyes bugged out like they were going to pop on the floor.
“Evil, she’s evil that one. You better stay away from her, she’s a zombie, I tell you, a zombie that one.” The old man fainted dead away and slumped in the old rocking chair, it creaked back and forth. Bone and I just stared in horror and disbelief.
I shook the old man in an attempt to roust him, and finally he came to still shaking. He took a drink from a dirty glass sitting on an old wooden table next to him and tried to steady his nerves.
“I know this Michele Dubois that you speak of. In fact I was the doctor who birthed her some twenty years ago. She is the spawn of Satan, that one. Her mother was an evil but seductive Voodoo Priestess that was pillaged by a white man. He was crazy over her, but she wouldn‘t have anything to do with him. His name was Dennison. Michele was the evil result of that union.”
Bone and I looked at each other in disbelief. All we could think was the beautiful woman that we knew was some kind of monster. No couldn’t be, but the historian went on with his story.
“She’s the undead. They done brung her back to life after she died. Mysterious thing it was. It was voodoo, I tell you. Some kind of spell, but they brought her back. She can cast a spell on every man who see her so they don’t see the evil inside her, only the beauty. I don’t rightly know where she is, but if’n she’s in Memphis, she’s up to no good, that’s for sure, ” the historian took another drink, trying to steady his nerves. “Ya’ll got to go now. If she knew I was telling ya’ll all this, I’ll be a dead man.”
Bone and I headed to the hotel. We had to check out, get to the airport and head back to Memphis on the first flight we could get. I had a bad feeling after what the historian had told us that Michele was in Memphis to do harm to Mayor Dennison. I didn’t know how she was planning on killing him, but was convinced that she had come to Memphis to just that.
Chapter Twenty
Back in Memphis, I headed to my dump for a shower and a change of clothes. “Damn it, I still haven’t done my laundry.” I recalled. Well, at least I could take a shower. After our trip to New Orleans I felt like I needed a shower big time. I wasn’t sure if I would ever get clean from what I had just found out. If it was true, I had to save the Mayor. I hated his guts and thought he was a low life, but I couldn’t sit back and let Michele kill him. God, to think I loved her.
I headed over to Bone’s joint. I was going to need some help stopping her if what the historian said about her was true. I needed a piece, a .38 snub would do. I hoped T-Bone had a connection to where I could get one. I only hoped that a gun would do the trick. If she was undead like the historian said I had my doubts.
“Bone. T-Bone,” I yelled as I beat on his door, hoping he didn’t have some skirt with him in his joint this time.
He opened the door looking like ten miles of bad road. “Come on in Dirk. I knew you’d be stopping by. What we gonna do, man? We thought we needed to save Michele, turns out we need to save the Mayor.”
“Ain’t that a bitch?” I said, shaking my head. “I thought I was in love, Bone. In love with a zombie. Holy crap. How could I be so wrong?”
“We gotta stop her, Dirk. As sleazy as that bastard Dennison is, we can’t just let her kill him.”
“I need a piece man. A .38, a .45, a Tommy gun. A bazooka might be a good idea. I can’t believe I’m talking about killing Michele.”
“Just so happen I know a guy that can help us.”
“Us, huh?”
“Yeah, us. You know you can count me in, Dirk. You need me man.”
I thought for second, but I already knew the answer. I knew I needed some help. “So how do we get in touch with this guy you know?”
“Beale Street. The rough part.”
Yeah, I sure need your help. Let’s go.”
Chapter Twenty One
It was around noon when we got to Beale Street. The sidewalks were crammed with pedestrians, the streets bumper to bumper with cars all honking at the same time. Bone and I looked somewhat peculiar, a big colored man and a white man walking down Beale, but we tried to blend in the best we could.
We walked down the street about a block or two and Bone pointed at an alley. We headed down around the back of two old buildings that looked like they might fall down anytime, and Bone said, "I think this is the place."
"This is it?"
Bone knocked loud
ly and we waited. No answer. He knocked again even louder.
Finally a man with a gruff, pissed off voice hollered from somewhere deep in the back of the joint. "Who the hell is that knocking on my door?"
"It's T-Bone. Henry sent me."
"Henry. Who is Henry?"
Bone just waved at me to be quiet.
Finally a man as big as a house and dark as coal, threw open the door and eyed us suspiciously.
He looked at Bone, but was talking about me. "Who's this white man? You bringing the police around here?'
"No. No! This a friend of mine. Dirk, Dirk Bogart. He ain't the cops"
"Come on in, get off the street before somebody sees you," the big man said, motioning us in.
The place smelled like stale cigarettes, body odor, and machine oil. Dirty clothes and newspapers were piled on a dirty chair which along with an even dirtier couch were the only furniture in the room. The couch looked like it doubled as a bed as well, judging from the dirty pillow and sheet that was stuffed into one corner of it.
"Have a seat," the big man said. You guys want a beer, whiskey?"
We had a seat and said we would pass on the drink.
"So, what you got for us, Blue?" Bone said.
"I got what you need, baby. .45 Army issue and double barrel sawed off. I'll throw in a box of shells for each for free."
"What you want for both of 'em?" Bone said.
"Fifty dollars, and don't try and Jew me down Bone, I know you," Blue said with a look of take it or leave it on his face.
Bone gave me the look, I shook my head.
I tossed Blue a fifty, and stuck the .45 down in my pants. Bone grabbed the sawed-off Blue had put in a box with the shells and we headed out the door.
We had the guns, but we still had one problem. Where was Michele?
Chapter Twenty Two
"Boss, we got a problem with this dame down at the warehouse," Rudy stammered.
"What are you talking about? I thought you offed that broad yesterday. What do you mean a problem?" Dennison said on the other end.
"Me and Pete unloaded two .38 pistols on this bitch and she ain't dead yet. "She put a curse on us, for Christ's sake."
"A curse. Are you kidding me. Don't make me have to come down there or even worst, call Pauli. If I do, it's your ass. Now, take care of that bimbo and now."
"Okay, boss,"Rudy said hanging up the phone and shaking his head at Pete.
"What'd he say Rudy?"
"He said we better go back in there and whack that broad or he was gonna call Pauli and you know what that means."
"Yeah, that would be our ass," Pete said.
They loaded their .38 pistols up again and headed for the door, scared of what they might find. but more afraid of what Pauli would do to them.
Easing the door open they peeked into the room, expecting to see Michele on the bed but the room was empty. "What the hell?" Pete said looking at Rudy in disbelief. "Where did she go?"
"I don't know, but we better find her."
As the two hoods turned to leave the room they came face to face with an unexpected horror. A creature blocked the door. They tried to run but it was too late. Before they could take a step the thing grabbed them, its mouth a large gaping wound, biting Rudy on the neck, blood gushed out, he fell to the floor like a rag doll. Pete managed to break loose and ran like hell.
The creature pursued, but Pete was so scared he ran like a jack rabbit out to his car, jumped in and peeled out.
Michele returned to her prey, feasting on his flesh until she was full. She sat on the floor satisfied. The one she wanted would come and then it would be his turn.
Chapter Twenty Three
"We just lay our cards on the table, Bone," I said, but wasn't sure what the hell we should do.
"And what does that mean?" Bone replied, looking confused.
"We just go over to the mayor's joint, tell him what we found out. Tell him we're there to help."
"Just like that."
Yeah, just like that."
"What if he don't believe us Dirk. It does sound pretty crazy."
"We'll figure that out when we get there, let's go"
We jumped in Bone's ride and headed to Chickasaw Gardens. I still couldn't believe what the historian had said. Michele was a zombie,the undead. She was so beautiful. I was in love, or I thought I was., and now we were on the way to kill her. It was so surreal, it seemed like a nightmare I couldn't wake up from.
By the time we got to the mayor's place, all hell had broken loose. Pete had just arrived and was beating on the mayor's door and screaming like a school girl. We could hear enough of what he was yelling to know something really bad had happened at the warehouse and Michele was the cause of it.
Bailing out of the car on a run, Bone and I headed for the porch to join Pete, all of us yelling for Mayor Dennison to answer his door.
Finally opening the door the mayor looked pissed,"What the hell are you doing here Pete, I told you to never come to my house. And who are these two guys?"
Pete looked at me and Bone curiously," I don't know boss."
I stepped up to make the introductions. "I'm Dirk Bogart and this is T-Bone. We need to talk to you mayor."
After a little more arm twisting we finally convinced Dennison to let us in. We told him our story and Pete told his story. The mayor was convinced there was a big problem at the warehouse and we were part of the solution.
We all headed to the warehouse, Pete leading the way, not knowing what kind of monster we were going to face. I felt like I had swallowed a basketball. I was shaking so bad I thought I would pass out. I hadn't been that scared since Vinnie the pick and his boys were chasing me in LaLa land. I checked my .45, it was loaded and ready for action. I didn't know how you could kill something that was already dead, but I guess we were going to soon find out.
The warehouse was in downtown Memphis down a dead end street between two condemned buildings. The sun had gone behind some dark clouds which gave the whole scene an eerie feel. We pulled up in front of the joint, not really wanting to get out, but knowing we had to.
We opened the door slowly, the place was dark, quiet and foreboding. Bone was beside me with the sawed-off, Rudy and the mayor both had .38 snub noses. We were armed though maybe not dangerous, to the undead at least. We all hoped Michele had left town, but had a bad feeling she hadn't. The quiet was deafening, the air heavy and putrid like a slaughterhouse. I felt the presence of someone behind me. whirling around, there was nothing.
From out of a dark corner came an inhuman scream, followed by the sudden appearance of a hideous monster, the like of which I'd never seen. Who ever it was or what ever it was, it wasn't Michele. It screamed again, and started toward us. We should have ran, but we didn''t. Instead we opened fire with everything we had. We knocked the monster on his ass, we thought he was dead, until he got up and started after us again. We blasted it again, but he didn't stop, grabbing Rudy by the throat and ripping a big hole, the blood squirted out, he fell on a floor like a sack of potatoes. The monster started after the mayor, Bone and I.
"Shoot him in the head, Bone," I yelled, seeing the body shots were ineffective.
Bone loaded two more shells into the chamber and closed the breach. Firing the first round, he missed the mark, the thing kept coming. He fired again, hitting the mark. its head exploded, brain matter blew out in all directions, his body writhed and fell to the floor twitching, finally going still.
Rudy suddenly rose from the floor reanimated. I yelled, "Look out, that son of a bitch is alive. Shoot him Bone!"
Bone slid in two more shells, took aim and hit the reanimated Rudy in the head, blowing his brains everywhere, he twitched and fell to the floor.
We looked up and Michele had appeared from nowhere. She had her hands on the mayor's throat. She was the sweet, beautiful Michele I knew at the club. She smiled, my heart melted. I was once again under her spell.
"Dirk, you love me, yes? Sh
oot him! If you love me, shoot him. Then kill T-Bone and we will be together forever."
I was mesmerized, not in my right mind. All I could see was Michele, all I felt was mind numbing, blinding love that was so powerful I was helpless.
"Don't do it, Dirk," Bone yelled. "She's not real. She don't love you, man!"
The mayor was so scared he couldn't speak, he just trembled.
I raised my gun, my hand shook, my finger on the trigger. Something way down inside me, a voice said to me,"Don't do it. Don't do it." Somehow I reached way down and gained some inner strength. I dove at Michele, knocked her on the floor, loosing her grip on the mayor's neck.
She rose again, now the monster she really was, heading again towards the mayor.
"Shoot her Bone, shoot her for God's sake."
I heard the blast from Bone's shotgun. Her head exploded, she screamed a loud inhuman scream, falling on the floor, she twitched a few moments and was dead, really dead this time.
Chapter Twenty Four
Mayor Dennison was so appreciative for us saving his life he said,"What can I do for you guys, just name it."
I didn't know what to say so I just said the first thing that came to mind. I said I wanted to be a private investigator again, with my own office, secretary and of course the most important thing, a license to practice.
T-Bone said he wanted to own a jazz joint, so the mayor bought the Blue Note and made him the new proprietor.
Turns out the mayor was indeed Michele's daddy and she had came to town to shake him down. When he wouldn't play ball, she decided she would kill him. She had staged the whole disappearance and had set me up to kill the mayor and take the fall.
The Blue Note Page 7