by Nick Younker
Linton fielded questions like this often, so he turned around to find Roman McCallister. Roman always kept him up to date on topics like this, especially if they were talking about Hoosiers college ball. But he was the most knowledgeable about all things basketball on the local and regional level. He found him standing beside a table talking to Burnley and Alice Konicke.
“No, Alby, not yet. But I’m getting ready to go talk to Roman and I will send him over with the info after I’m done.”
Alby gave him a thumbs up, because talking in the Elks club had become impossible due to the noise. When he sat back down, Maggie joined him, and as Linton and his crew were leaving, Lucy turned back to Maggie and gave her an ambush hug. Maggie loved that.
Linton made his way over to Burnley, Roman and Alice, who had saved them a seat. He shook Roman’s hand as he pulled a chair out for Kelly, and then picked Lucy up and put her in a chair beside Burnley and Alice.
“You better get over there to Alby. He’s interrogating everyone about the Class 1A rankings,” Linton told Roman.
Roman was hunched over the table next to Burnley when he shot up in comedic fashion, which always made Lucy laugh. “Well, I better get over there and give him his medicine,” Roman said as he patted Burnley’s back and walked away.
Alice was straightening Lucy’s dress while Kelly struggled to fix her ponytail. “How are you, little Gidget?” Alice asked Lucy.
That always confused Lucy. Alice Konicke was the only one in town who called her Gidget. She called all the little girls her age Gidget. By now, they were all used to it.
“I’m okay,” Lucy said, but it was more of a packed sentence with the words pushed together. Imokay.
This gave the whole table a chuckle.
Derri Emmons walked up to the table with a waitress apron. Even though she was not dressed in such revealing clothes as she was earlier in the day, she still oozed of that budding sexuality, and she gave Linton one of her newly manufactured smiles that said, Look at me and you will have good dreams tonight.
“Hey, Boss. Allen sent me over to see if you want a couple of quick brainers. You heading up to Derbie tonight, Boss?” Derri said.
Linton looked over at Kelly and wanted to know if she wanted to eat, but he only gave her the look so he didn’t have to say anything in front of the crowd.
“It’s up to you, Boss. Your Momma’s cooking and she will want us to be at least a little hungry when we get there,” Kelly said, snickering at her own use of the word Boss. Even Alice chuckled because she knew that Linton disliked being called that.
Linton looked back at Derri. “Just bring us one and we’ll share it.” He hated passing up a brain sandwich because they so rarely got served here in Fogstow. Mostly at special dinners and festivals.
“Ew! You’re gonna eat a brain?” Lucy exclaimed.
Linton smiled at her, pulled out a dinner bib and tucked it below his collar. “Yep,” he answered.
“Hey, Gidget. Will you do me a favor?” Alice asked.
“Yep!” Lucy replied while pulling a dinner bib out and tucking it into her own collar, mimicking Linton.
“Will you make sure you don’t ever go into that river? Don’t even touch it. Can you do that for me?”
Kelly was always uncomfortable with other people telling Lucy what she could and could not do, but she knew Alice Konicke well enough to just leave it alone. Alice was always worried about kids getting into the Ohio, at least ever since her son Randy left town for Seattle to be a roadie for the emerging rock scene there. Randy hadn’t been home to visit Alice in nearly a year, and Kelly knew she was lonely and just wanted to be part of people’s lives.
“How come?” (howcome) Lucy asked while fidgeting with the triangle peg game that was laid out on every table for the younger kids.
“Because, sweetie, that river is polluted with vile chemicals and that can make you really sick.”
Lucy looked up and stared at Alice for a moment. “But what if I want to go swimming or splashing?”
Alice was little taken aback. “Oh, Gidget. Please, sweetie. Only swim and splash down at your Grammy’s lake in Derbie.”
Lucy was still a little confused. “Gammy?”
That was Kelly’s cue, since it implied that she and Linton were married and Carolyn was now her grandmother.
“She means Carolyn’s, sweetie. Down at the Turtle Reservation. Remember her lake out in the back, with all the cabins around it?”
“Yeah, Momma,” Lucy said, and then went back to playing her triangle peg game.
Allen walked up from the kitchen with a styrofoam to-go tray. He had a cook’s bib on that said East Jamison Brainers, which was both the school logo and the Elks Club’s flagship dinner entrée.
He handed the tray to Linton. “Here ya go, Boss. I put an extra one in there for Carolyn. You guys better get going. It looks like a storm’s rolling in.”
Linton stood and took the tray, putting his coat back on. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Kelly and Lucy both got up and put their coats on as well. Allen tickled Lucy on the stomach and said, “Say, little gal. You making sure Burnley’s behaving out here around my girl!”
No one was really sure if he was referring to Lucy or Alice. But they all enjoyed Allen and Burnley’s exchanges in regards to their romance with Alice. They knew it meant a lot to Alice to be treated with such pleasantries.
“Yep! Burny’s been good!” Lucy said.
“Well, all right then!” Allen said and went back to the kitchen to fry up some more brains for the rest of the party.
“We’ll see you guys tomorrow,” Linton said to Alice and Burnley. They made their way out.
* * *
It was already dark out when they left. Even though there was no rain, lightning illuminated the distant clouds. They could hear far-off rumbles of thunder. The three made their way quickly down the steps to the dock and went into the Stow Tavern, where Izzy and her band, Izzy Lives, were playing covers for the older crowd. Izzy would later play her original goth music, but for now, she went with old Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop and Credence Clearwater covers for the sake of the older generation, who were all having a blast.
When Linton walked in, Pete was working behind the bar serving beers to patrons, such as Harry Keethers, who was the county coroner down in Barrelton. Pete always worked behind the bar when Izzy was in town because the crowds came from all around the region. She was becoming a big name these days and locally, she was a celebrity.
Linton approached the bar and sat Lucy down next to him. Kelly sat beside them and dipped her hand in the popcorn bowl and gave some to Lucy.
“Say, little gal. You got your ID on ya?” Pete said to Lucy as she munched on her popcorn. When she smiled back at Pete, she showed the chewed popcorn and kernels in her teeth and Pete could only laugh.
“We just wanted to come down and hear Izzy play a couple of songs before we left for Derbie,” Kelly said.
“She’s only playing covers right now,” Pete said as Izzy rolled out a Mellencamp song. The crowd was on its feet, dancing and having a fantastic time.
“We can’t stay but a few minutes,” Linton said. Pete filled a couple of cups with strawberry soda and served them up to Lucy and Kelly. He handed Linton a beer, which he only took a few sips of before they left.
Kelly waved at Izzy and Izzy waved back. She pointed at Lucy. Lucy was intrigued and started to dance up and down on the bar stool.
They sat through a couple more songs and when 7:30 rolled around, they figured it was time to leave. As they were beginning to walk out, Izzy finished up a song and announced that the covers were over and the magic was about to happen, which meant her loyal fans were about to hear some of her original music that would soon be produced, likely in Nashville. The crowd cheered.
Kelly turned back to her, sad to be leaving when her music was about to start. Izzy flashed her a peace sign and waved goodbye.
They were heading out the door when I
zzy said over the PA, “Welcome to the jungle, people. This is your captain speaking . . .”
This grabbed Linton’s attention. He knew he’d heard that before, sometime when he was really young. But for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out when or where. Eventually, he just gave up trying to remember and walked out.
The rain had already started pouring down, so Linton picked Lucy up and held her under his jacket as they raced up the steep steps to the Highland district and to the Bronco.
***
4
Noah and Joe sat inside Noah’s room. They had already talked about what they had both seen, and they were trying to figure out a way to get the news to Chief Derr without him knowing where it came from. The last thing Joe wanted was for Siders to figure out they had seen him and to come looking for them. They just wanted Linton to know about Siders hauling a body down into the mine shafts and to put him in jail. They were both scared to death and didn’t know what they were going to do.
“We could always sneak back down there and drag the body back out where it would be found,” Noah said.
“Yeah, but then our fingerprints would be on the body and they might think we killed the girl.”
“How do you know it was a girl?”
“Didn’t you see the ring?”
Actually, Noah had seen the ring and he knew it was a girl. He was just a little delirious and clung to denial for the moment. All he knew was that he was scared.
“Well, we could still drag her out and leave her where people would find her. We can use gloves to do it and no one would be any the wiser. No fingerprints on her except . . .”
“Yes! She would still have Siders’ fingerprints on her! That’s the perfect idea! We can drag her out. She would be found. Siders would get busted by fingerprints and our names would stay out of it.”
“Yeah, but what if he comes back while we’re doing it? What if he never left? Maybe he’s down there right now, just camping out.”
“I don’t think so. Remember that smell. I know we smelled that putrid death smell. But there was another smell in there. Like a gas or something. Maybe methane. I think even Siders smelled it when he decided not to light that cigarette.”
“First of all, I don’t think you can smell methane. But why does that mean he’s not down there camping out?”
“Because he wouldn’t want to be down there breathing it in. And he can’t make a campfire or smoke down there because it could blow the entire shaft up. So he probably left.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. But even still, what if he’s close?”
“Siders only shows up on that stupid looking houseboat he sails up and down the Ohio. We’ve seen him dock it down by the clearing just off the channel. That’s probably how he got the body up to the mine shafts to start with, without anyone seeing him. We can just go down and check to see if his rig is docked and if not, he’s nowhere around. Simple as that.”
“Well, yeah. But even still, this is some serious shit we’re about to get ourselves into. I mean, I’m scared shitless right now just thinking about doing it.”
Noah’s mother called them in for supper. She always made them homemade pizzas when Joe spends the night, and then they would sit in his room all night and watch the Sammy Terry late night fright flicks, beamed down through cable television from Indianapolis. Noah’s little 13-inch television was rigged to display through the front of his bottom bunk and they both crowded in with the covers up over their heads.
But that night, they wouldn’t be watching any Sammy Terry fright flicks. They would both lie in their beds all night, unable to sleep. Because the next day, they were going to go and do something frightful and scary enough that no blankets would be able to keep them safe if they got caught.
They had decided they were going to tell Dean about it and see if he wanted to come along. They didn’t want Mark there because they were afraid it would be too much for him to handle.
Linton, Kelly and Lucy got to Carolyn’s in Derbie at just before eight that evening.
***
5
The Bucky Cole had just arrived at the Cape Sandy quarry after a tumultuous journey from the Cannelton Locks and Dam. The river had turned into a screaming child’s tantrum since the storm started on the south side of the locks, and everyone was watching for rotation in the clouds. But it was dark out and hard to see. They were relying on the readouts from their on-board units to give them warnings.
Cam Wright had learned earlier in the day that the barometric pressure was dropping and the storm that night had the potential for disastrous fallout. He was taught to read a barometer as soon as he started working on the barges.. The trick to it was not just being able to read it, but to interpret it, as well. The last thing they should have been doing was lugging empty barges up the Ohio River for loading at the Cape Sandy quarry.
But there they were, docked and processing all the stone the mines could push out. The quarry kept operating no matter the weather. Most of the work took place below ground, but if the weather started to turn deadly, they pulled their surface people below for safety until the threat passed. The barge crew did not always have that opportunity, though, especially if they were in the middle of their tour. Cam had heard that tornadoes had been known to hop across rivers, and if they were in the belly of the beast, the only place for them to go would be up.
It wasn’t usually the tornadoes that had him and the crew shaken. It was the lightning. Although the Bucky Cole had preventative measures in place, extreme injuries could still happen. On the journey from Cannelton to Cape Sandy, the crew was remanded inside the cabin. The fierce storm they were trudging through could have been more disastrous if they had been working the barge lines. The Bucky kept them safe through the trip and they had made it another day on the deadly Ohio River.
Deadly in more ways than one.
As the barges were being loaded, Cam stayed on the Bucky and cooked up steaks for himself and the rest of the crew. The belts were loading the stone, and they only needed two people working the tugger and barge lines.
It was his normal six-hour “off” shift, but he couldn’t usually sleep when the weather was bad. His “on” shift would be starting in about 40 minutes, so he decided it would be best to stay awake and work his six hours, and then try to get some sleep later, in the early morning hours.
Cam had grilled eight steaks for the crew by the time they got the barges loaded. The captain decided everyone would sit down and eat while the rain was still going. But the rain stopped abruptly, so he got them en route shortly after, around 11:30 p.m.
By the time they had made their way onto the river, Cam had already gone on shift. There was very little to do while you were on shift at night except sit on the deck and watch the stars. When situations arose, he had to deal with them, but other than that, he would just sit there and roll down the river with the tide.
The sky was overcast that night, even though the rain had already stopped. The air had cooled, so he bundled his jacket around himself and took the occasional drink of coffee from his thermos. He was glad he had worn his long underwear. He could still see cloud-to-cloud lightning and even hear the occasional rumble. The cover wasn’t enough to keep the bright shine of moonlight out, though. And the sound of the restless river was loud enough to keep him alert.
The river had undergone a sudden conversion when the rain fell. The warm river water had mixed with cold falling rain and the currents were at odds with each other.
They were within a half a mile of the river bend that fed into the Fogstow Channel. The river became more restless, and he could see fish, likely carp, jumping at an alarming rate. Something was changing below the surface and the fish were reacting to it. A few even landed on the deck of the Bucky, and he tossed them back in the river. But there was something frantic and desperate about them. They were fighting him with violent spasms, as if they wanted him to let them stay aboard. He would lose his grip and drop them. He’d try again, b
ut they fluttered violently on the deck and flopped away from him. More and more were jumping aboard and he did not know what to do with them.
Then he noticed something he had never seen in all his life. A fog was lifting from the river. Not across the entire river, just in a section that stretched its width. He had seen fogs lift on the river before, but this fog seemed to be coming in straight, from the Indiana line to the Kentucky line, just as the Bucky was passing over it. Hundreds of fish were jumping out of the river and the fog kept coming. More and more of it kept rising, and after the Bucky passed over the line of lifting fog, Cam could see that it was forming into a cloud over the river behind them, growing bigger and bigger.
It wasn’t just a fog on top of the river now. It was a full-mass cloud . . . and it was mobile. It was now moving toward the Bucky, as if it were chasing them, and it was quickly catching up. Cam’s heart started to pound and for the life of him, he could not figure out why he was so scared of this fog catching up to them. Like it rose out of this polluted river, from the pits of hell and now it was after them. It was going to devour them and all Cam could do was watch as it approached. He looked ahead and saw the river bend approaching and he knew that once they got around that bend, the fog would keep rolling straight ahead and stop chasing them. It would get swallowed up by the warmth of the land ahead and dissipate.
The river curved left and as they approached it, the Bucky navigated around the bend and sure enough, the cloud of fog did not follow them. It did the exact opposite: it veered to the right of the bend and entered the channel.
Holy shit! This fog just changed directions and it’s now heading into the Fogstow channel. Cam knew he couldn’t let this fog touch him, for reasons unknown. Even the fish were trying to escape it from under the water!
The Bucky Cole was out of the way of the cloud, but Fogstow was directly in its path. Cam could not imagine what might happen when it covered the town, but he knew it wasn’t good.