“You want to go see a doctor?”
“No. I don’t think so. I just had a complete physical a few weeks back. One of those two-day things, CAT scans and all. It could be sinus; I have those attacks.”
“Well . . . if you don’t mind, I’ll just sit here with you for a time.”
“That’d be fine.”
The cop walked to his car, radioed in, and returned to the porch.
“I’m Jim Klein.” He extended his hand.
“Jay Clute.” The men shook hands. “Sit down, officer. Can I get you a glass of tea?”
“Thank you, no.” He smiled; very pleasant young man. “I like to meet the new folks in town. Since I’m a new guy in town myself.”
“I didn’t recognize the name. But I’ve been gone a long time.”
“Yes, I know. Small-town P.D.s keep a pretty close eye out, Mr. Clute. And Victory is a nice quiet, peaceful little town. Did you know that it has the lowest crime rate in the state?”
“No, I didn’t. But that’s good, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir. But boring.”
A car drove past and Jim turned his head, watching it. Jay took that time to study him. Twenty-three or twenty-four years old, maybe. Nice-looking young man.
He swung his head back to look at Jay. “I mean, that nothing goes on in Victory. Well, just that one incident, and that was sort of puzzling.”
Jay waited, but the young officer did not elaborate.
Jay studied the cop. At least, he thought, here is one person who doesn’t look at all familiar to me.
Jim looked up and caught Jay studying him. The cop smiled disarmingly. “I believe I will have that glass of tea, Mr. Clute. If the offer still holds.”
“Sure. Hang on just a sec. You drink it sweet?”
“No, sir. I like it plain.”
“Good. That’s the way I like it.”
Out back, Kelly laid down her book. She felt like someone was staring at her.
She looked around her, but could see nothing. But she knew someone was behind her, staring.
Jenny and Andy and the rest of those little shits, she concluded. Playing more crappy tricks on the new kid in town. Well, she’d just wait them out.
She picked up her book and tried to concentrate. She heard a slight rustling behind her. She forced herself not to look up and around.
She thought she could just make out the whispering. It was coming from behind her.
She turned, very quickly, and almost fell out of the swing.
But there was no one behind her.
“Little shits!” she said.
Jim and Jay sat on the porch and chatted. Jay soon discovered that Jim was a very skilled conversationalist. And he had that knack of being a great listener; made a person want to talk to him. Careful, Jay cautioned. This Jim Klein is one sharp guy.
Then Jay learned that not many new people come to town. And those who do don’t seem to stay long.
“Why is that, Jim?”
The cop shrugged very muscular shoulders. “Beats me, Mr. Clute.”
“Jay. Call me Jay. How many families have moved in and out since you’re been here?”
“Well, I’ve been here about ten months. Been... oh, six families come and go, I guess. No, seven. But the seventh doesn’t count.”
“Oh? Why?”
“Well, they just up and disappeared one afternoon.”
“One . . . afternoon? You’re sure it was afternoon?” Jay blurted that out before he thought.
The cop gave Jay an odd look. “Yeah. One afternoon. Both the man and his wife worked out at the toy factory. They went home for lunch and never came back to work. Never seen again. Chief just figured they took off and said to hell with everything.”
“Is that what you think, Jim?”
The officer smiled. “I’m the new kid on the block, so to speak. Nobody ever asks me what I think.”
“Did they have any kids?”
“Nope. Just the two of them.”
One afternoon, Jay thought. Just like my family. He wanted to keep the cop talking about it. “That’s odd, isn’t it?”
“Well, maybe. Lots of folks just take off and are never heard from again. But . . .” He scratched his head. “Well, maybe I should just keep my mouth shut.”
“If you want to talk, Jim, you picked the right person. I’m practically a stranger myself. And if you tell me to keep it to myself, I will.”
Jim met his eyes. “Things not going too well for you the first day back in town.”
Careful, Jay cautioned. “Let’s just say, for starters, that the town has changed.”
“In what way?”
He always turns it back to me. Then Jenny’s word returned to him. “How about weird?”
“Interesting word. Your family never did show up, did they, Jay?”
He’s done some checking on me. Why? “No, they didn’t. Disappeared without a trace and stayed that way.”
“Yeah.” The cop smiled, but the smile did not touch his eyes. “Just a nice, normal, peaceful, little midwestern town. That’s Victory.”
“Bullshit!”
Then Kelly’s screaming reached them.
4
The hot summer winds blew across the unattended fields on all sides of the great old house. The winds rattled the dry and dead stalks, the sound similar to a death rattle in the purple depths of night.
Those who lived in the huge old house heard the sighing of the hot winds and moved to the windows. Eyes stared out through the dirty, stained old windows. They knew someone was coming.
They could sense death in the winds.
“Places!” The command was shouted. “And do not move. Hurry.”
The fat man from the toy store struggled out of his car and walked slowly up the steps to the front porch. He carried a sack in one hand. The bottom of the cloth sack was stained with blood. He opened the front door and tossed the sack inside.
“Silly little creatures,” he said, his voice full of scorn. “I know you’re listening. You can’t fool me. I created you. Well, here’s more just like you.”
Laughing, he closed the door, climbed down the steps, and got into his car. He drove off without looking back.
Had he done so, he would have seen a tiny man standing in a window, both middle fingers extended, moving them up and down at the car.
“Quickly.” The command was given. “Perhaps we can save them.”
They moved toward the bloody sack; all knew what they would find.
* * *
The men reached the girl at the same time. Kelly was sitting in the swing, both feet up off the ground. One ankle was bloody.
Jay grabbed her up and carried her into the house. Jim stayed outside, walking around and around the swing. He seemed to know what he was looking for.
Jay washed Kelly’s ankle and inspected it. There were about a half dozen tiny cuts on the ankle, just enough to break the skin. Jay found some iodine in the medicine cabinet and covered the cuts, then kissed her. Already, she was calm.
Kelly stiffened as a shadow fell across the open back door. Jay cut his eyes. “That’s Officer Jim Klein, baby. We were talking out front.”
“I remember him. Did you find that little man who cut me?”
“Little man?” her father asked.
Jim did not appear at all shocked by the girl’s statement. “I’m sorry, honey, but I didn’t find a thing. Did you see what cut you?”
“I just told you. It was a little-bitty man with a real tiny knife.”
“Kelly? ...”
“I’m not kidding, Dad,” she persisted, meeting Jay’s eyes. “I know what I saw.”
“When was her last tetanus shot, Jay?”
“Last month, when she hurt herself at school. She’s got a pretty active imagination, Jim.”
When the child spoke, there was ice in her voice. “I was not imagining anything, Father. I know exactly what I saw.”
“All right, Kelly.” Jay stood up. “I’ll
go along with what you think you saw.”
“I saw it! And I’ll tell you something else. I didn’t find those dolls in my bedroom. I heard voices while you were gone and went into the doll rooms. The doll and soldier were back on the shelves. Now what do you think about that?”
“I think that you had better watch your tone of voice when talking to me, young lady. That’s what I think. Now, do you want to go back outside, or to your room to rest?”
Kelly rose from the kitchen chair and stalked down the hall to her room. She slammed the door.
“What dolls, Jay?” Jim asked.
“Come on. I’ll show you.”
“That’s the doll, right there,” Jay said, pointing. “And the soldier is easy to find because I couldn’t figure out how to fit the musket back into its . . .”
Jay stared at the soldier. He knew it was the right one because he remembered the scarlet tunic.
But the musket was back in the soldier’s hands. Jay ran his hand on the shelf, just to make sure he hadn’t missed seeing the rifle.
“What’s the matter, Jay?”
Jay told him.
“Kelly may have put it back in place.”
“And stand on what to do it? The shelf is as tall as my head. Besides, I would have heard her had she reentered the house.”
Jay looked on the bottom shelf as a bright spot caught his attention. “What is that? Right there on the carpet.”
Jim knelt down and touched the spot with a fingertip. He looked at it. “Blood.”
“Blood!”
“Fresh blood. It hasn’t been here long.”
Jim looked at the savage little warrior, staring at him, about five inches high. The little warrior had a knife in his tiny hand, the miniature blade slick and shiny with blood.
He pointed that out to Jay.
“Jim, that’s impossible!”
“What type blood is Kelly?”
“O negative.”
Jim reached for the little warrior. The blade slashed downward. Jim yelped and jerked his hand away. A tiny cut was on one knuckle. The tiny warrior waved the knife back and forth menacingly.
“Kelly!” Jay called. “Come here, baby – quick.”
Kelly ran through the house, sliding to a stop by her father. Jay pointed. The girl’s eyes followed his finger.
“That’s him, Daddy!”
But neither Jay nor Jim said anything. Both men appeared to be in shock.
Kelly squatted down and reached for the little man before either one could stop her.
“Neil” the tiny warrior yelled. “Forbudt!”
Jay pulled Kelly back.
“What language is that?” Jim asked.
“Hell, don’t ask me! I think we’re all dreaming this.”
“Not likely. It’s almost German. But not quite. What’s he dressed like?”
Kelly said, “A Viking.”
“I can speak German, but not Norwegian. Verstehen Sie?”
The savage-looking little man cocked his tiny head to one side. “Hava sa De?”
Kelly pulled from her father and stepped in front of Jay, inches away from the little man. She pointed to her ankle, red with iodine. “You see what you did to me, you little shit!”
“Her favorite word,” Jay said. “What am I saying? None of this is happening.”
“The blood on my knuckle is real,” Jay told him.
“And so is my ankle!” Kelly said hotly. She shook her finger at the little man.
He laughed at her and stepped back into his place on the shelf.
The little Viking warrior raised his knife hand, and the room seemed to tilt for a split second. It was so subtle that had not the senses of all three in the room been working overtime, they would not have noticed it.
The little man was once more a toy. None of the three had to touch him to know that. Somehow, they knew.
Jim put a finger on the Viking’s face. “It isn’t flesh. It’s . . .” He looked at Jay. “What are dolls made of?”
“Beats the hell outta me. Kelly, go into the pantry and get me that ring of keys.”
She was back in a moment. Jay looked at the tags on the keys, finding the ones that locked the doors to the doll rooms.
This time, he gave orders to the cop. “Everybody out of this room.”
He locked the doors and checked them. Then the three went outside to the porch.
No one had anything to say. They sat down and stared in silence at the street.
From the front porch of Old Man Milton, they could hear him laughing.
“What’s he find so funny?” Kelly called from the swing.
“Maybe he knows something we don’t?” Jay suggested.
“This is a strange town,” Jim said. “I get the feeling I’m being watched all the time. And, Jay, if you’ll just cut your eyes to your right, you’ll see what I mean.”
Jay shifted his eyes. A grim, sour-faced man was standing in a picture window, ground level, glaring at them.
“Yeah, I see what you mean.” He blinked and the man was gone, the curtains pulled tightly closed.
“Shoot him the bird!” Kelly suggested, and both men had to struggle to hide their smiles.
“I’m gonna ride the bike, Dad.” Kelly rose from the swing. “Don’t worry. I won’t go far, I promise.”
As she pedaled away, Jay shook his head. “Is this a dream?”
“If it is, it’s a nightmare! But little pieces are beginning to fall in place.”
“Meaning?”
“This house. Do you know exactly what happened to your aunt?”
“No. What did happen?”
The cop nodded his head. “Yeah. How could you have known.” He looked behind him and then under the chair. He looked up and blushed. “I can’t help it, Jay. I keep thinking about that little man in there!” He jerked his thumb at the house.
Jay had to laugh. Had to, because his mind had not yet accepted what his eyes had seen and registered in the doll room. “Known . . . what, Jim? I know only that my aunt died. By the time I was tracked down, somebody tracked me down, but I don’t know who sent the wire. She’d been dead for several weeks.”
“Who contacted you, Jay? And you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s all right.” He watched as Kelly made another ride up the sidewalk. “I don’t know who sent the wire. It wasn’t signed. I did call Zucker’s Funeral Home and they corroborated the message. That’s when I made arrangements to return here.”
“And you went straight to Fletcher Real Estate.”
“Been keeping an eye on me, Jim? It’s all right. Yes. Fletcher Real Estate handled much of my aunt’s business, so I called them from New York. I assume it was Amy who answered the phone.”
“Cute girl, that Amy.”
“Ah ... yeah. She sure is. Jim, if there is anything I need to know concerning my aunt’s death, please level with me.”
Jim nodded his head. “Well ... okay. I mean, it’s going to get out that I was over here today. And that’s going to get me in dutch. The second visit, that is. You see – ”
Jim’s radio began squawking its tiny messages. The cop stood up. “Some other time, Jay. That’s my call. I gotta go. Thanks for the tea and the . . .” he looked at his cut knuckle. “Experiences.”
“Come back as soon as possible. I want to know about my Aunt Cary. And Jim?”
The cop turned around.
“Don’t say anything about what happened in the house, okay?”
“Are you kidding, man? Who in the name of anything holy would believe it. I’m not sure that I do.”
Jay watched him answer the radio and then drive off. He looked at the ring of keys lying on the small wicker table. One thing for sure, he thought. Until some of this deepening mystery was cleared up, those damn doors were going to stay locked.
Then he smiled at the absurdity of that. If a doll or a toy could come to life, a locked door would mean nothing if it wanted to get out.
5
Jay was rinsing out the tea glasses when the phone rang. It scared him. Obviously, somebody had forgotten to have the thing turned off after Cary died. He picked up the receiver.
“Yes?”
“You better know what side you’re on, Clute.” It was a girl’s voice; a young girl, probably about Kelly’s age. And he’d make a bet it was Jenny. Or one of her friends.
“Who is this?”
“You should have stayed away, Clute. Now it’s too late for you.”
“Oh, come on, kid! Get off the dime, will you?”
The line went dead. Shaking his head, Jay replaced the phone in its cradle. “And Jim said it was boring around here, did he?”
He glanced out the window. Kelly was still pedaling up and down the sidewalk. Probably, he thought, she is as confused as I am; trying to make her young mind accept what had happened – if it did happen, that is.
He began to wonder what they were going to have for dinner. Standing in the kitchen, he heard the doorbell sound. With a sigh, hoping it was not Amy, he walked through the house and jerked the door open.
He stood for a moment, smiling at the visitor. “Hello, Deva,” he finally said. He extended both hands to her.
She took his outstretched hands and let herself be pulled into the foyer. She was smiling at him, just the faintest hint of tears in her black eyes. But they were tears of joy.
“You look super, Jay.” She closed the door behind her.
“And you’re beautiful,” Jay told her, because she was.
With Deva, Jay did not experience that odd feeling he’d been having all day; that sensation he’d felt when looking at other people – that feeling that he’d just seen them.
With Deva, it was the normal sensation of once more meeting an old and dear friend after many years. It was a very comfortable sensation.
“Well . . .” Her black eyes shone, and her blond hair showed no signs of gray. “Thank you for that. Even if you’re fibbing, thank you.”
“I’m not lying. You look just like you did the last time I saw you. Beautiful. Remember that time?”
“Yes.” Her reply was soft. “A long time ago.”
“That’s when you told me you were going to marry Lawson.” Jay remembered only too well. “You did marry him, didn’t you?”
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