Evil Agreement

by Richard L Hatin

  “Okay, let’s get a pitcher of beer,” said Korie.

  “Sure,” echoed Aaron.

  “Well, we’ve got...”

  “Surprise us,” said Aaron.

  “You sure?”

  “Yup.”

  “Okay.”

  They each took a wing and took a bite. Korie chewed slowly. Aaron finished off his first, and licked his fingers.

  “Damn, these are good!”

  “Uh um,” said Korie.

  The pitcher of beer was delivered to their table along with two chilled glasses. Aaron poured the beer for the two of them. He was enjoying himself and so was Korie.

  The music of Junior Parker pounded throughout the place. The club was now filled up. Several people were seated at the bar sipping their drinks.

  Later Aaron and Korie ordered their dinner. They decided to split a deep-dish pizza pie, Chicago style. It exceeded their expectations. They ordered a second pitcher of beer.

  From the stage a small overhead light came on. It lit up a singular microphone. Stepping up to the microphone was the owner Ron.

  “Evening folks. Welcome to Mojo’s,” he said.

  A couple of young men moved about behind him setting up more microphones. One of them pulled the curtain back which revealed the rest of the stage. It was already equipped with a set of drums, a keyboard and several amplifiers.

  “While the boys are setting things up, I just want to thank you all for your support. Tonight’s our ninth anniversary, and we’re damn proud of your helping to make Mojo’s a success.”

  The entire place burst into applause.

  Ron waved the applause down and continued while his staff set up some monitors in the front of the stage.

  “Thanks, thanks. Now let’s have some of you blues men and women wannabees down front. C’mon Slick, get your ass down here.”

  That elicited a loud laugh from the crowd.

  “You, too, Randy and you, Boss Man, C’mon. And where’s the brass police. Are you a Parker-man?”

  “Hold your ass,” shouted a voice from the back of the place.

  This brought another round of laughter. Slowly several people moved to the stage. They carried guitars, basses, trumpets, and trombones. A guy moved to the set of drums and another to the keyboard. The keyboard player hit a few notes before he flicked a couple of switches, and found the sound he was looking for, a Leslie Organ.

  Moments later the assembled began to selectively strike a note or a chord as they each warmed up. Three women joined the people on the stage.

  Ron stood at the center of the stage. Someone handed him a guitar. He slipped the guitar’s strap over his shoulder. He picked out a string and gave it a lick. The guitar was plugged in.

  Ron stepped to the microphone, looked over his shoulders and said, “Are we ready?”

  Several people nodded in the affirmative.

  “Ladies and gentleman, this is a song Elmore James song called, Dust My Blues.

  With that, he launched into a mean gritty blues riff that brought the crowd to their feet in applause.

  Aaron and Korie joined in the applause with enthusiasm.

  Soon the place was rolling with music, as the so-called amateurs played one standard after another. The owner, Ron joined in on the first few, and then he stepped off the stage. He received high five’s from the tables as he passed by. He gestured with his thumb to Aaron to head up to the stage.

  Aaron waved him off.

  ***

  Meanwhile, back at their hotel room, a shadowy figure stood at their door. He took a plastic card from his suit coat and slipped it into the magnetic door lock. There was a single click and the door was unlocked. The intruder stepped inside. He turned on the wall light switch. He had an accomplice in the desk clerk who was slipped fifty dollars to keep a look out for Aaron and Korie, and to call their room if they should return while this man was searching their room. The clerk said he was sure that they had gone to Mojo’s. They had left only an hour before so there should be plenty of time.

  Ed Townsend had received excellent cooperation from his friend at the Burlington Police Department. The Police had located their car at Randy’s Dandeezs. There they had learned that the woman and man had taken a cab into the City, presumably to a hotel. An officer had stopped by this hotel to check the guest list. He found what he was looking for. A woman with the first name of Korie had rented a room. She was traveling with a male companion. A short time later, Ed was given the same information. He quickly drove to Burlington.

  Once inside their room, Ed turned on the light switch which turned on the floor lamp next to the credenza. Ed began a systematic search of their room looking for anything he could find that would help him to know these people better. With such knowledge, he was sure he could find a weakness he could exploit. The coven couldn’t just snatch Aaron Powell and force him to join in their evil plan. That could backfire, just as it did for the first coven, back in 1843. This time they needed to willingly draw him into joining their coven. Failing this approach, Ed wanted to have a backup plan. One such plan he had already begun formulating. He was prepared to kidnap Korie and use her as bait.

  Ed looked in the drawers and carefully examined their clothes. He opened their empty suitcases and searched them for false compartments. He lifted the mattresses, to see if there was anything hidden under them. He examined the bathroom. He looked through their assorted toiletries. He even stood on the toilet seat and pushed up the ceiling panels searching for anything they may have hidden.

  Returning to the bedroom area, he stood in the center of the room. He could sense these two had access to information of some kind. This morning, they knew they were being followed and yet, they hadn’t run away. They had chosen to come to Vermont. That indicated Aaron Powell was interested in the Powell property. When they ran from the other hotel this morning, they had to have picked up on the fact they were being watched.

  What’s their plan? thought Ed. Something here can tell me, I can feel it.

  He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked slowly around the room. His eyes passed slowly over the pastoral designs of the floor length drapes. He stood up from the bed and went to the curtains and pulled them open. He looked behind them from the ceiling to the floor.

  Nothing.

  He was about to let go of the drapes, when his hands felt something moving along the drape’s surface.

  He was startled by this sensation and let go of the drapes. Standing back from the drapes he looked at them with renewed interest. He carefully examined the tableau of several human figures woven into the brightly patterned drapes. Some of these figures were walking, carrying baskets of vegetables or flowers. Others stood next to picket fences, seemingly engaged in conversation with passing figures. Others still worked in gardens or orchards. There were several children in these scenes as well. There was no mistaking the movement he had felt, but he couldn’t locate the cause. The pastoral scenes were repeated many times across the fabric, as the pattern seemed to repeat itself every three feet.

  Ed reached out and touched the edge of one of the drapes and waited for the sensation, to repeat itself. Several moments passed with no repeat of what he had experienced before.

  He examined the fabric up close. It seemed to be normal, machine stitched, drapery material.

  Maybe he had imagined it.

  He dropped the drape and returned to his systematic search of the room. He began removing the bureau drawers and checking their undersides for anything hidden.

  Still nothing.

  Lastly he removed a Swiss army knife from his coat side pocket and pried open the screw head. He knelt down next to the room’s combination heater and air conditioner and unscrewed the front panel. Nothing was hidden inside. He replaced the panel. He stood up, and again scanned the room for clues. He spotted the tour guide magazine on the coffee table. He picked it up and leafed through it.

  Nothing.

  He put the magazine down on the bed. He
had searched everything and had come up empty handed. Unless something else turned up, it was looking more likely that snatching Korie was going to become the priority plan to leverage Aaron’s cooperation.

  Ed left and locked the room. Moments later he passed through the hotel’s lobby. He nodded to the front desk clerk who nodded back. Ed headed out to take in some music at Mojo’s.

  ***

  Kelley Porter had headed to bed early tonight. She had announced to her parents that she felt really tired.

  “That’s okay, dear. You’re a big girl now and you should know when you need some rest,” said her mother.

  “Remember when the kids were younger, we had to fight with them to get them to go to bed,” said her father.

  Her parents had a good laugh at her expense. It didn’t matter. She just wanted to get away from them. Forcing a half smile, she kissed her mother and father and then headed upstairs to her bedroom.

  Her brother had been picked up earlier in the evening by Walter. They were going to a meeting at the Reverend’s house. She hoped they would be gone all night.

  Kelley closed and locked her bedroom door. She turned on the night light on her bureau. Next she went to her closet, and pulled a backpack from out of the corner. She began to pack it with things she would need. Her plan was to get her friend Paul to run away with her. They would steal his father’s car and drive south on the highway to White River Junction. From there, they could catch a bus to Boston. She had studied a highway map of New England she had slipped out of the glove compartment of the family car before supper. Her plan was simple. They had to get away, far away, before anyone knew they were gone.

  She pulled the covers back on her bed and propped the pillows to form the rough shape of someone lying down. She pulled the covers over these pillows and was satisfied with the level of deception they offered. She turned on the small radio on her nightstand. The radio was dialed in to WGMT. The station was playing requests tonight. The DJ was Charles “Chucky” Trainor.

  “All right now. It’s your close and personal friend, Chuck waiting here for you to call in your requests for a song for someone special. It’s hot and humid tonight in the Winooski River valley. It’s a night made for lovers and loving so give me a call at 45...”

  Kelley was very nearly done packing. She picked up a stuffed bear from the deacon’s bench at the foot of her bed and placed it at the head of the pillow shape on her bed.

  She took one last look around her room. She would miss her room but she knew she had to get away. Deep down inside, she felt her very life depended on her getting away.

  “Hello, Chucky, this is Beverly.”

  “Well, Hello...Beverly,” dripped Chucky.

  Kelley unlocked the bedroom door. She knew if it were locked, it would arouse suspicion. Her parents might discover her plan before she had time to fully implement it.

  She turned out the nightlight and crawled out the window.

  From the radio came the sexy voice of Beverly, “Chucky, may I call you, Chuck?” she said with emphasis.

  “Sure. Now Beverly, it sure is hot out there tonight, isn’t it?”

  “Chuck, you don’t know how hot it is honey,” she purred.

  “Oh, I think I know, yes I do. So Beverly do you have someone special on your mind tonight?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Is there a song you want us to play for you two lovers tonight?”

  “Chuck, can you play...?”

  The sound from the radio had now faded away as Kelley made her way along the porch roof, which was just under her bedroom window. She was now at the other end of the house. She put the backpack on and pushed herself off the edge of the roof. Her dangling legs felt the post of the porch and she wrapped her legs around it. Slowly, she slid off the roof and made her way down the post to the porch rail. She quietly jumped down onto the porch. She went down the side stairs and quickly broke into a half run. She took a moment to glance down at her watch. It was twenty minutes until eleven. She didn’t want to be late, so she quickened her pace, to a jog. She would be at the back of the library in less than fifteen minutes.

  Several streets away, Paul Lacosse, Kelley’s boyfriend, slid out of his own first floor bedroom window. He quietly pulled his bicycle out of the garage. He walked it down the driveway before hoping aboard and pedaling off to the library to meet Kelley.

  Paul arrived first. He laid his bicycle down onto the damp grass.

  The night was turning cooler. The air was filled with the night sounds of crickets, frogs and the occasional flutter of bats that were scooping up summer insects, as they feasted in the dark.

  Paul could her someone coming. He heard the slapping of someone’s sneakers on the paved sidewalk. Then he heard the crunch sound of someone running down the gravel driveway of the library.

  It was Kelley. She was nearly out of breath.

  “Paul ...Paul...Thank you, for...coming,” panted Kelley.

  “Hey, you knew I would. I would do anything for you, Kelley.”

  He tried to put his arms around her but immediately noticed her backpack.

  “What’s this, Kelley? What’s going on?”

  “Listen, Paul. I need your help, like, in a big way.”

  “Help to do what, exactly?”

  “I need to run away, Paul, and I want you to come with me.”

  “What?” he exclaimed, as he put his hands to his head in disbelief.

  “I need to get away...tonight...or something bad is going to happen to me, I just know it.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Listen, I’ll tell you everything. But you’ve got to promise me that either you’ll run away with me tonight, or at least, you’ll help me get away, tonight! Do you promise?”

  Paul was troubled by this sudden and unexpected situation. His love for Kelley was strong, but running away was another thing. His father could be mean, and violent, when he was pissed off, and Paul running away was sure to set his father off.

  After a brief hesitation, Paul jumped in with two feet.

  “Okay, I’m in. Now tell me what’s happening here, and why you have to run away tonight? If I’m going to set off my old man, it had better be good.”

  Kelley proceeded to tell him about the menacing spirit that had threatened her in the bathroom and in her bedroom. She told Paul all about her brother and the coven, at least as much as she dared. She didn’t want to tell Paul too much and then scare him off.

  “Shit, that’s incredible,” was all he could say.

  “So, you can see, that’s why I’ve got to get away.”

  “Yeah, so what’s your plan?”

  She told him about their taking Paul’s family car and trying to get to Boston.

  “They’ll follow us and try and catch us, and then my ass will belong to my old man,” said Paul.

  “Paul, I don’t care. I’m not coming back!”

  “But what if they find us?”

  “I’m not coming back!” she said defiantly.

  Somehow, he knew, just what she meant. She’d rather die than return to Sutton.

  “Okay, but we’re going to need some money,” said Paul. “My mom’s got an old cookie jar filled with money that she puts aside for school clothes. I think I can get it.”

  “Good, now let’s...”

  Suddenly, Paul put a finger to her lips, signaling her to be quiet. He gestured to the front of the library. He quickly picked up his bicycle and pointed towards the woods at the back of the library property. They moved as quickly and quietly as they could. When they were near the edge of the woods, they both looked back at the library. A car slowly came down the library’s driveway with only the parking lights on. The silhouette outlined by the street light gave it away as a police car. Suddenly, the window mounted spotlight shown along the back of the library, and then began to sweep out to the grass and woods where Kelley and Paul were standing. They both dropped down into the tall grass and watched as the spotlight passed over the
m. After a moment, the car could be heard pulling out of the driveway, back towards the street. Paul stood up first and then gave a hand to Kelley. Paul picked up his bicycle and the two headed into the woods. After just a short distance they came to the railroad line that ran through the town along the eastside of the Winooski River. They turned left and walked along the tracks. The moon was out, it was three quarters full.

  They walked perhaps a quarter of a mile, and then stopped at the back edge of the Town’s graveyard.

  “Let’s cut through here,” said Paul, “it’ll bring us right out to my street.”

  “Why not ditch the bicycle here?” said Kelley, “since we can’t bring it with us.”

  “I guess you’re right,” Paul said with a sigh. He was going to miss his bike. He was actually looking forward to running away by driving his family’s car. His father had been giving him driving lessons. How ironic it would be, to run away, in the same car he was taking his driving lessons in.

  They began to make their way through the cemetery.

  “Hey, hold up, I’ve caught my foot on something,” said Paul.

  He pulled and pulled but couldn’t free himself.

  “Wait, I’ve got a flashlight,” said Kelley as she dropped her backpack and fished around inside. In a moment she had found the flashlight, it on and pointed it down at Paul’s trapped foot.

  “Eieeeee,” she shrieked as she dropped the flashlight.

  “What is it?” asked Paul as he reached down for the flashlight. He picked it up and pointed it at his own foot. What he saw caused him to freeze with fear.

  It was a bony hand gripping his sneaker, like some sort of rotted twisted root. He yanked his foot with all his might. The hand was incredibly strong. Paul’s yanking had now pulled the hand further out of the ground. Its arm was now protruding out of the ground. It was heavily soiled with black earth. The arm jerked his foot back so that Paul fell to the ground and the flashlight rolled away from him, its light slapping at the darkness.

  “Kelley, help me!” pleaded Paul.

  She picked up the flashlight and pointed it again at the dark gray bones of the hand, which had her boyfriend’s leg firmly in its grasp. To her horror, another hand broke through the grass in front of the tombstone, and grabbed Paul’s other leg.