The Keeper of the Crows

by Kyle Alexander Romines

  He froze as he peered into the shadows inside his house.

  Something inside was waiting for him.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The figure sitting in the shadowy chair rose and stepped in front of the window.

  Jezebel held her gun in front of her while Thomas flipped on the light switch.

  “You really should learn to lock your door,” said the woman at the opposite end of the room.

  “Eve?” Thomas blurted out. Evelyn Saddler was the last person he expected to turn up in his house. Her appearance caught him off guard. “What are you doing here?”

  “Who is this?” Jezebel demanded. She looked reluctant to lower her weapon.

  “I can guess who you are,” Eve said. “The infamous Jezebel Woods, right?” She returned her attention to Thomas. “You’d think a sheriff would do a better job of telling you to lock your front door. You never had that problem in the city. You were always very good at locking doors, as I recall. Your power’s not working, by the way.”

  Jezebel turned to him. “It’s like meeting you all over again. Please tell me you want to press charges. Just say the word and I’ll arrest her for trespassing,” the sheriff pleaded.

  Thomas was struck by the absurdity of the situation. He didn’t know why the two women had taken an instant dislike to each other, but he didn’t care.

  “You still haven’t answered my question, Eve. What are you doing here?”

  While waiting for her to reply, he picked up a fresh battery from the table next to the cabinet with his camera equipment. When Eve glanced back at him, her expression softened. Thomas detected another emotion. Was it regret? He wasn’t sure.

  “What did you expect? You called me and told me you were almost killed. Then you hung up, and you haven’t returned any of my calls.”

  “You’ve been calling me?” Thomas asked. “That’s odd.” He hadn’t received any of her calls.

  “We might not be together anymore, Thomas, but I still care about you. I got here an hour ago, and my rental car is parked on the curb.”

  “That’s your girlfriend?” Jezebel asked.

  “Ex-girlfriend,” Thomas corrected her. He wished he had never mentioned Eve to Jezebel at all. A strange combination of emotions washed over him. Before he met Jezebel Woods, Thomas would have given anything to reconcile with Eve. Over the last week, things had changed.

  Now his former girlfriend was standing right in front of him. It was the first time they had seen each other since the breakup. The fact that Eve traveled so far just to see him was not lost on him.

  “Whatever she is,” Jezebel said. “You can talk, but please hurry. We don’t have much time.”

  “She’s right,” he said apologetically. He shot fleeting glances at each woman. They were starting to stare more at each other than at him. “This case is dangerous. If we don’t do something soon, more people will die.”

  “You really have changed,” Eve said, as if noting the sincerity in his voice. “Or maybe you were like that all along, and I just didn’t see it.”

  Thomas let out an exasperated sigh. Of all the times for Eve to delve into deeply held feelings, this was possibly the worst.

  “We need to leave,” Jezebel said. “You should get your things.”

  Thomas nodded and stepped into the laundry room for a quick change of clothes.

  “I’m going with you,” Eve said to the sheriff. The two women stared each other down.

  “No offense, but I’ve already got one civilian to look after. I don’t need a second.”

  “Listen, I’m going to follow you either way. I do this for a living. It’s the easy way or the hard way. Your choice.”

  “I don’t respond well to threats—just ask Thomas.”

  “I just want to make sure Thomas is safe,” Eve said. “And to help him with this story.”

  “So you want the credit for yourself? That’s altruistic of you.”

  Thomas walked out of the laundry room wearing a new set of clothes, save for the dirty leather jacket. “Enough with the bickering,” he said. He turned to Jezebel. “We could use her. Eve is a good reporter. Max is going to have a hard enough time managing Hollow Happenings and helping us as well.” He noticed Eve smirk again at the name of the town newspaper. Some things never change, he thought.

  “This isn’t about me,” Eve said before Jezebel could reply. “If Thomas’ story is successful enough, there’s a chance he can go back to his old job. That’s what would make you happy, right?”

  “We don’t have time to debate this,” Jezebel said. “We need to leave now.”

  The awkward trio marched back into the elements outside the reporter’s meager home. Thomas pulled his jacket up as the fierce winds whistled around them. It was colder than ever.

  Thomas was suddenly gripped with remorse for having not discouraged Eve from going with them. Whatever evil they were dealing with was extremely dangerous. Jezebel was armed and capable of handling herself. Eve, on the other hand, probably wouldn’t even believe Thomas if he told her about the scarecrows.

  Even if he said something, it likely wouldn’t have changed anything. He saw the fire in her eyes when Eve announced she was going to stay. If Eve was one thing, it was stubborn. It was a quality she shared with Jezebel.

  She’ll see for herself soon enough, Thomas thought. He hoped he was wrong. He didn’t want to put Eve in danger.

  Thomas was still trying to process the internal conflict presented by his ex’s sudden appearance when his phone rang mere moments after the sheriff started her car. He grabbed the phone and looked outside the car window at the vast gray horizon. This time the static in his phone was more pronounced. He could barely hear the voice on the other end of the line.

  “I said this is Max,” the editor said loudly. “Thomas, is that you?”

  “Yeah, I’m here. What’d you find?” He put the phone on speaker.

  “Where are you two? I just got to the station a few minutes ago, and Deputy Markham is the only one here.”

  “Sorry about that. We’re running a bit behind schedule. I went home to change my clothes. Anyway, we’re en route to the novelty store,” Thomas said. “We’ll drive back to the station after finishing up there.”

  “Fine,” Max said. “It’s too bleak outside for me to do anything useful anyway. Plus, you two can fill me in on all the new developments when you get here.”

  “What did you find, Max?”

  “It took me awhile to track down Dirk Edwards. He and his wife are staying at Morgan’s Motel. Dirk said his wife was coming back from lunch last week when she saw a man with a gun running through the field.”

  “Gary Davis,” Jezebel muttered.

  “That’s who they thought it was, after reading Thomas’ article. They decided to stay in the motel until Gary was caught. I guess they were afraid he’d come back.”

  “Why didn’t they report the breakin?” Jezebel asked. “Surely they can’t expect my department to catch the killer if they don’t call us.”

  There was static on the other end of the line. Thomas shook the phone, and by some miracle Max’s voice roared back to life.

  “Can you repeat that?” Thomas asked.

  “Dirk said his wife did call. Logan Randall answered the call. He even waited for them to leave the house before searching for the suspect. You knew that, right? Don’t you have Deputy Randall searching for Davis, Sheriff Woods?”

  “Gary Davis is dead,” Jezebel muttered. Her eyes grew wide as the realization hit her. “The gun,” she whispered. Before she could say anything else, static took over the phone again.

  “Call him again!” Jezebel said. She wheeled the car around.

  “I’m trying,” Thomas exclaimed. “I’m getting nothing but static!”

  “Give me the number,” Eve said. “I’ll use my cell.” After punching in the number, she frowned. “That’s weird. I’ve got static too.”

  Jezebel tried her own phone. It failed as well, as
did her attempts to radio in to Heavy Markham.

  “We have to get to the station,” Jezebel said. “Something is very wrong.”

  “What is it?” Eve asked curiously. “Gary Davis is dead? I thought he was your suspect.”

  This time, Jezebel answered her. “When they were in high school, Gary was a friend of Logan Randall, one of my deputies. Against my better judgment, I let Logan lead the search for Gary. Yesterday, Logan showed up with lacerations on his face and arms.”

  Thomas finished for her. “Gary Davis died of a bullet wound, unlike the other victims. If Logan received those wounds after going into the forest after Gary . . .”

  “With Rick Pepper, who was also Logan’s friend. Logan must have given him a gun. It all fits together.”

  “Why would they want to kill Gary Davis?” Thomas asked. “If Gary is his friend?”

  “There is only one thing I can think of that would explain that,” Jezebel said. “Gary must have known something that put Logan in danger. Something that had to do with Jeffrey Daniels, and whatever happened to make Jeffrey leave town.”

  “Don’t you see?” Thomas asked. “All of them bullied Salem Alistair. Jeffrey Daniels moved out of Gray Hollow only a few months after Salem’s disappearance.”

  “Salem Alistair?” Eve asked. “The boy who went missing?”

  “The very same,” Thomas replied.

  “They know what happened to Salem Alistair,” Jezebel said. “They might have done it themselves.”

  “And now Logan Randall is the only one left,” Thomas said. “The scarecrows started the murders, and Logan thought the others might talk, so he finished their work.”

  “Wait a second,” Eve finally said. “I’ve tried to keep silent here so far about things I don’t yet understand, but what’s this about scarecrows?”

  “The question is,” Jezebel asked, ignoring Eve. “What will these things do after Logan is gone?”

  “I have a feeling that’s what we are about to find out,” Thomas said.

  “Would one of you mind filling me in on what’s going on?” Eve asked. “This wasn’t exactly in your last article, Thomas.”

  Thomas hesitated a moment and looked at her sheepishly. There was no way Eve was going to believe him.

  “It’s kind of a long story,” he said.

  ***

  Logan knew the sheriff was onto him. If she weren’t, she would be soon. It was all Thomas Brooks’ fault, of course. The second the reporter grew suspicious of the bruises on his face, Logan realized it was only a matter of time before he put it all together. Logan should have put a bullet in Thomas’ head long ago. Luckily, it wasn’t too late to rectify that mistake.

  He also knew he needed to act quickly. Logan was not stupid enough to overlook all of his own flaws. He realized his obsession with cleanliness, as well as his paranoia, were often shortcomings. There were times, however, when the paranoia ensured that he checked and double-checked everything so that his actions always met with success. This allowed him to tie up several loose ends regarding Salem Alistair. It was fitting, since his unnatural aversion to muck and grime began the day they buried Salem Alistair under the earth.

  Unfortunately, Logan had committed one big mistake, and it was going to cost him dearly. There was still a way out, to be sure. He had friends in high places, which was partially why he made a call to the final member of the group that killed Salem Alistair before coming to work. His friend would make sure he’d escape this mess.

  The one thing that still troubled Logan was why the killings had started in the first place. After finishing Gary, he now believed him to have been incapable of killing his family or Jeffrey Daniels. So who started the killings? His money was on Rick Pepper. Rick was now dead as well, so they would never know. Logan heard the news of Rick’s death when he slipped into the station after Jezebel left with Thomas.

  That was when he realized the critical error he had committed. Logan thought the gun he used to kill Gary Davis was his own service revolver. In the heat of the murder, and his subsequent panic to remove the mud covering him, Logan had not removed his weapon from its holster until after the killing two days ago. That’s when he discovered that the weapon in the holster was not his service revolver at all, but the duplicate weapon given to him by his friend. Logan had mixed the weapons up. He knew what he had to do now; retrieving his own gun from the river was a must. Logan took a flashlight down to the stream below the waterfall before daybreak. There was no trace of it. He’d been forced to leave early when he heard voices in the woods.

  Logan walked casually in through the back of the station, keeping out of sight. He needed time to think things through. He was glad Jezebel Woods was gone.

  “Good morning, Heavy,” he said when he passed him in the hallway. “Any news?” He noticed another man sitting across from Heavy; Logan recognized the man as Max Harper, Thomas Brooks’ editor. Why is he here? Logan thought suspiciously.

  “Not much,” Heavy replied.

  Logan frowned and backed away. He walked toward the printer in the corner. He turned around as if to speak then walked into the lounge.

  “Thanks for letting me in earlier,” Max Harper said to Heavy. “You don’t mind answering a question for me, do you?”

  “What is it, Mr. Harper?”

  “Before I got cut off, Sheriff Woods asked me why the Edwards family didn’t report the crime at their farmhouse. You know the one I’m talking about?”

  Heavy nodded.

  “Dirk Edwards told me Logan Randall answered the call. Didn’t he give a report on it?”

  “I’m not sure,” Heavy replied. “I can check when the sheriff returns if you’d like.”

  From the lounge, Logan heard every word said between the two men in the isolated station. Other than the sounds of the impending storm, the town was perfectly quiet. It was deathly quiet, in fact.

  “That’s odd,” Heavy said. “I can’t even get the sheriff on the radio. There’s nothing but static.” Heavy sighed. “Logan, is your cell phone working?” Heavy called out.

  Logan walked slowly into the office space. “No,” he said, toying with the bottle of sanitizer in his hand. He could see Max Harper watching him carefully. As soon as he looked the editor’s way, Harper avoided his gaze. Logan knew something was up. “Sorry I came in late,” he said. “This weather is perfect for fishing. I went out early this morning and lost track of time.”

  “Funny,” the old man lazily replied. “I didn’t know you liked to fish.”

  Logan realized his lie was indeed a poor one and returned the sanitizer to his pocket. That was when he noticed the evidence bag on Markham’s desk. His gun was inside it. Jezebel Woods hadn’t noticed its significance when she picked up the weapon.

  Heavy belatedly realized Logan was staring at the revolver, and he followed the man’s eyes down to the gun. He looked at the weapon for a few moments, a strange expression lingering on his face. “Where is your service weapon, Logan?” the old man asked. His face was almost white with seriousness.

  “Right here at my belt,” Logan replied calmly. “Why do you ask?”

  “May I see it, please?”

  “Of course,” Logan replied. The two men stared at each other for what felt like a minute without blinking. Logan saw Heavy inconspicuously sneaking a glance back at his holster draped across the desk.

  Logan Randall moved swiftly. He pulled his gun out and fired into Heavy Markham’s chest. The old man choked blood and tumbled from his chair, gasping for air. Logan shot him again. The second shot silenced the older deputy’s cries.

  Max Harper broke for the door as fast as he could. Logan Randall was faster. A single well-placed bullet in the editor’s back dropped Max to the ground. Logan fired another shot into the man’s skull. He wiped the weapon clean before switching it with his service revolver. The echo of the gunshots melded with echo of the growing thunder rippling across the sky. Logan heard the same sound when he killed Gary Davis.

>   This time there was no Rick Pepper to pin his crime on. Even though Logan was sure he had taken care of the problem with the gun, it was still possible for Jezebel Woods to link him to the crime, especially if she suspected him already. He would have to kill her as well, and the reporter with her.

  Everything was snowballing out of control. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. After making his way to the bathroom, Logan cursed loudly. His uniform was splattered with the blood of his victims. He splashed water over his face. The desperate craving for a shower consumed him. He felt filthy.

  Logan forced himself to press on, although the irritation of dirtiness dug in his mind like a burr. It will all be fine, he told himself. He just needed time to plan everything out.

  Outside, the screeching of tires sounded above the storm. Logan moved to the window. As impossibly bad as the timing was, the sheriff had just arrived. He saw her run from the cruiser, holding her own weapon out in the air. She looked fierce in the sweeping winds. Thomas Brooks followed closely behind her, followed by a third woman Logan had never seen before. Fleeing, Logan made his way outside through the back. He needed to get away while he still could.

  ***

  When Jezebel stepped into the shadow-covered station, the pale light above fizzled and then went out.

  “Heavy!” she called. “Are you there?”

  There was no answer. They were alone in the station.

  “Oh God,” Thomas cried out. “Max!” He ran over to a body on the floor.

  “We’re too late,” Jezebel said. She looked at the corpse of Heavy Markham. Anger boiled within her. She knew who did this, and he was going to pay.

  She glanced over at Thomas, who looked numb, likely a reaction to all they’d witnessed recently. In contrast, Eve seemed palpably shocked. She paced back and forth, muttering to herself. Jezebel fought back her own rage toward Logan and started to say a word of comfort on Eve’s behalf, but Thomas interrupted her.

  “You might want to look at this,” he said. He stood at Heavy’s bloodied desk. “These are the phone records for your Deputy Randall. It looks like someone put in a phone call to Gary Davis on the night his family was killed. If that’s not suspicious, I don’t know what is.”