CHAPTER FOUR
April
25, 2003
I
feel like such a teenager. I don't know what was more of a buzz, the
town turning into a zombie movie for the night, or the fact that Jess
almost kissed me. I kind of feel bad about that happening while my
family and Marie were out wandering.
I
can't believe I just wrote that. I'm more interested in the thought
that Jess almost kissed me while the town was under some kind of
hypnotic spell? I mean, granted, it's Jess,
but still...
Mom
and dad were back in bed safe and asleep by the time I got home. So
was Ben. I managed to get a few hours too. I figured it was safe to
sleep again, since our quota of insanity was filled for the night.
I
looked over my journals this morning, and its scaring me how often I
can remember waking up with dirt on my socks in the last month. It's
been happening all this time. One mystery solved, but I don't feel
better.
I
started this by looking for answers. All the answers I find just
scare the hell out of me.
~oo00oo~
Deanna
ripped the covers back and shook Jake's leg hard. "Wake up,
Jake. Wake UP!"
Jake
groaned.
"Come
on, you'll miss breakfast." Deanna told her son, already heading
out the door. "Get up; your eggs are getting cold."
Eggs?
Jake sat up painfully. What
day is this?
~oo00oo~
"What
day is this?" Ben asked him in confusion, staring at his plate.
A plate of scrambled eggs and toast. "We have bacon and eggs on
Saturday."
Jake
yawned hard and sat down next to him. "I think we're out of
muesli." He guessed.
"And
bacon too, apparently." David agreed, sitting down. "And
orange juice."
"Where
did we get eggs?" Jake asked quietly. "Because I'm pretty
sure they ran out of that at the market."
"Plenty
of people in town keep chickens." Deanna said. "I went
shopping in the neighborhood."
They
all ate quietly. Jake watched them discreetly, wondering if they
knew. None of them were saying anything, talking about their plans
for the day like they usually did at the breakfast table. Jake
wondered if they were tense about the fact that the week's grocery
shopping had been done by barter... Or half asleep since they had all
been sleepwalking.
"So,
what's on for today?" He said finally.
"School's
been closed." Deanna volunteered. "David?"
David
nodded. "I can handle the Prisoner for a day." He said, and
young Ben made a face at him, before glaring at Jake. 'The Prisoner'
had it pretty easy, but with the TV off, Ben suddenly saw the value
of being outside.
Jake
met his brother's glare head on, trying not to be intimidated by the
wrath of a nine year old boy with a secret, when something dawned on
him. "Wait. When did the school close?"
"Yesterday."
Ben told him. "After the Cafeteria shut down, and they couldn't
call anybody. The teachers figured it was... I don't know, but they
sent everyone home.."
Silence.
They all knew that the school could run independently for a long time
without contacting anyone else in the state. But the teachers had
sent the kids home to their families anyway. It was a silent
admission that their home was under siege, though nobody had said so.
Deanna
rose. "I have to get to the Clinic. Jake?"
Jake
shrugged. "I... guess if the grade school closed, the high
school will too, but I haven't heard anything. So I guess I'm going
to school, then I figured I'd meet up with Zack..."
"If
you're anywhere near your fishing rod, see what you can catch us for
dinner." His father commented, only half joking. He yawned, and
Deanna reacted with a yawn of her own. A moment later, so did both
their boys.
"Well,
this is a perky little group." David chuckled. "We need
coffee."
"We're
running low on coffee too." His mother said quietly, an a tone
that spoke of absolute doom.
~oo00oo~
It's
funny, what matters to people. Ben hit the low point early into the
Blockade, nearly in tears when the TV stopped working. Mom took it
all in stride until the coffee went dry.
The
High School lasted until the end of second period, before the
teachers were all called into an unexpected faculty meeting. The
students were sent home soon after.
Ordinarily
there would have been huge cheering and celebrating, but even in
biology class, the tension was growing palpable. The School was
actually feeling the paranoia stronger than most of the town.
The
reason why didn't hit me until today, but more than half our class
isn't there. A lot of the kids in our school come in from the farm
areas surrounding the town, and everyone who lives further out than
the Bridge has been absent since the Blockade started. It's not
uncommon for dangerous roads and heavy fog to keep them home for a
day or two... but not this long.
I
came out of the school, and I saw all my classmates, looking at each
other awkwardly, or not looking at all, keeping their heads down as
they made their way home.
I
went to Jess' house instead. We agreed to meet up at the Diner after
school, since it was still closed and we'd have privacy, but the last
time I saw either of them was before dawn, and Marie was asleep at
the time.
As
it happened, I almost beat them there. They were just unlocking the
front door of Jess' place when I arrived.
~oo00oo~
Jess
saw him coming up the path and opened the conversation by telling a
story. "You know Mrs Blanchard?" She asked him straight
off.
Jake
nodded. "Yeah. Cat-Lady, right?"
"She
has one cat, so that's not really a fair nickname." Marie told
him. "You know that shed she has out the back of her house?"
"Yeah."
"Turns
out it's full of..." Marie paused and looked at Jess. "Sorry,
Jess; you were telling him this story."
Jess
nodded and looked to Jake. "You're gonna love this. That shed is
full of boxes and boxes and more
boxes of instant cake mix. Chocolate, marble cake, vanilla, banana,
wall to wall, floor to ceiling, shelf after shelf of long-life
instant cake mix."
Jake
snorted back a laugh. "What on earth was she stockpiling it all
for?"
"I
have no idea, but this morning, her next door neighbor commented that
it was her kid's birthday, and the market had none of the ingredients
to make a cake." Jess continued.
Marie
jumped in. "Mrs Blanchard traded a box of instant chocolate cake
mix for a half a tin of coffee. But you know Cat-Lady only drinks
tea, so she traded that to your mom for twenty dollars." She
looked at Jess, who was annoyed at her for taking over the story
again, and she shrugged. "Sorry, Jess. I tell it better."
"Twenty
dollars for half a tin?" Jake repeated in surprise. "There's
taking advantage, and then there's price gouging."
"I
agree, but you know what your mom is like when she's in the third
hour of caffeine withdrawal." Marie nodded.
Jess
jumped in. "By the time the school closed, Mrs Blanchard was out
the front of her house, trading her instant cake mix for food, and
home-brew, and whatever else, and then trading that
stuff for hard cash." She told him, and turned back to Marie. "I
tell it fine." She said pointedly and resumed the story. "So
now she's taking in money hand over fist. I swear, Mrs Gilmore was
there, trading her diamond bracelet and a set of earrings for
blueberry jam and toilet paper."
Jake
snorted back a laugh. The image was too ridiculous.
"Don't
laugh too loud, Jake. Cat-Lady is rapidly becoming the Black Market
Mobster of Curtis Creek." Jess told him solemnly.
Jake
laughed harder.
"The
Sheriff found out that she had two marijuana plants growing in her
backyard, and he wanted to arrest her. Your mom convinced him to let
her take the plants because the Clinic was running low on
painkillers, so Sheriff Tanner yanked the plants out and gave
Blanchard a fine. She paid him with one of the diamond earrings and
went back to hustling canned goods."
By
this time, Jake was giggling helplessly, as the girls led the way
inside long enough to drop off their school things; and Jess took the
opportunity to change clothes.
~oo00oo~
"All
right, I'm going to go tell Pierce that we're meeting up." Jess
said on her way out, tossing Marie the keys. "Meet you at the
Diner in half an hour?"
Marie
and Jake nodded, and Jess made her goodbyes.
"You
want a drink?" Marie offered, and they made their way into the
kitchen.
Jake
collected the glasses, Marie searched through the fridge. "I can
offer you... water."
Jake
chuckled. "You think Jess' parents had coffee? I hear there's a
going market for that sort of thing."
"Tell
me about it. It's starting to get really tight out there." Marie
agreed grimly, and her eyes met his. "Say, Jake..." She
said, overly casual. "I seem to recall you being in my room last
night around four... I think Jess was with you..." She smirked a
little. "And I could swear the two of you were tucking me in. I
thought I was dreaming it, but this morning Jess swears on a stack of
bibles that it wasn't a dream." She took a breath. "She
swears a few other things happened last night, by the way."
Jake
sighed. "It's all true."
Marie
shivered. "I honestly don't remember any of it."
"You
were asleep." He excused. "But yeah, it's the honest
truth."
They
didn't say anything for a while, not knowing what to say about any of
it.
"Are
you sure there's nothing you left out? I'm sure there's probably
other reasons why you'd like to hang around Jess' house in the middle
of the night." Marie chuckled, with a mirth she didn't really
feel.
"Sure,
but if I was here for that, would we come to tuck you in first?"
Jake challenged.
Marie
chuckled, when she noticed Jake wasn't even close to laughing with
her. "What?" She asked, surprised at his look. "Did I
touch a nerve?"
"I
had a chat with Zack the other day, about you getting a little caught
up in this... whatever-the-hell it is with Jess." Jake said
carefully. "I was debating whether or not to mention it, but
it's bothering Zack, and he's seeing enough divisions between the two
of us and him right now, so if I can fix this one..."
Marie
sighed. "Well, it was inevitable that he'd tell you, I guess."
"So
much so that it's a surprise you didn't warn me." Jake got to
the point. "Marie, what's going on?"
She
didn't answer at first, didn't even look at him. "Look... this
isn't the time for this."
"I
agree, which is why I'd rather we deal with this now rather than
later." Jake pressed. "I thought we were good, Marie. I
thought we were still friends."
Marie
looked at him, horrified. "Of course we are!" She reached
out and held his face between her hands. "We are, I swear."
"Then
what? What is it?" Jake demanded. "Because you've been in
the middle of this... whatever it is with Jess since before it
started."
"I'm
your friend." Marie said. "And we dated before. If anyone
gets to have a valid opinion about your dating life, it's me."
"Zack
is my friend too." Jake said seriously. "And you two are
good together." He paused, watching her reaction. "Right?"
"I
love Zack." Marie confirmed.
"Good,
because he's convinced that the reason you're so concerned with my
relationships, is because you're not at all interested in your own."
Jake said, waiting for her to refute it.
And
she said nothing.
Jake
looked at her carefully. "Marie?"
Marie
shook her head back and forth a little. "I love Zack." She
said again.
"But?"
Marie
sighed thickly. "Jess isn't right for you. She's too... eager to
get out of Curtis Creek."
"And
I'm what? Small town?"
"Jake,
I come from a big city. I can tell when someone doesn't fit, because
I was like that for a long time." Marie was suddenly babbling,
as if trying to find a way to end the sentence. "Jess is small
town, but she doesn't want to be... and you make things fit. When I
first arrived, I hated it here, and then you came over and introduced
yourself, and you became my best friend by the end of the day, and
you showed me around, and after a while I realized that I did
fit here, and it was because of you, and Jess is never going to be
satisfied with Curtis Creek, and she'll..." Marie suddenly ran
out of words. "I'm sorry."
They
were silent for a long time.
Marie
tried again. "Back where I grew up, kids my age lived and died
with whatever was happening in the next ten minutes. We lived and
died with having a new outfit, or the right gadget... You don't, and
after a few days with you, that kind of life seemed like a ridiculous
joke to me too." Marie said. "I like myself more now than I
did then. We may not have worked out, but don't think for a second
that what happened with us was a failure. You brought out good things
in me, Jake. Stuff I didn't even think of... and it won't be that way
with Jess. She's..." Marie hesitated. "I say this with a
lot of love for both of you. She's a flake."
"She
is not.
God, you too?" Jake fumed. "She's blonde and pretty and you
think that makes her a ditz, but... She's bright, she's fun, and
she's sweet."
"So's
a puppy, until something shiny comes along." Marie shot back.
"Jake, if she said she wanted to keep things casual and light,
what would you say?"
Jake
shrugged. "I'd be okay with that."
"No,
you wouldn't." She scorned. "You don't do casual, Jake.
You're just not wired for it. I asked you about that when we were a
couple. Remember what you said?"
Jake
hesitated, and nodded. "I said... that casual dating didn't make
sense to me. I said that if things were good you want more, and if
they're not then what's the point?"
"Exactly.
You're not Pierce, and you're not Jess." Marie sighed, knowing
she was in way too deep and gone way too far, but she didn't stop.
"Jake, you remember when we came over to your place, and she
thanked me for help with 'the other thing'?"
"Yeah."
"The
'other thing' was you." She said tightly. "She spoke to me
the night before the Aurora came, and she said that she screwed up
and told you she wanted to be friends. I didn't get it at first, but
she was asking me for a cheat sheet. She wanted to know the things
you liked, the... she asked me for the right words to say so that you
would be more comfortable with her. I told her that you liked the
rain. She tell you that she did too?"
Jake
didn't answer right away.
Marie
nodded. "I told her what you told me about taking imaginary
vacations with all the space pictures. She try that one out?"
Jake
found his voice. "Marie, everyone does that. If they're
interested, they look for things they have in common, or things the
other person likes. Zack did the same thing before his first date
with you. It's exactly what I would do if any of her friends would
deign to talk to me."
"She
cheated. Jake, she talks as tough as any of us, but she can't..."
Marie waved a hand back and forth, trying to put it into words.
"She's falling apart, Jake. If her family was still around,
she'd be fine. But she's alone, and she's scared, and she's never
been alone for five minutes before in her life. Don't mistake that
for true love."
Jake's
face had turned to stone. "Marie... I care about Jess, and I
don't want to have to choose between my friends and..."
"And
what? Your girlfriend?" Marie challenged. "Because Jess has
been swinging back and forth from your girlfriend to your lab-partner
to your study buddy and back again since this mess started. She
doesn't have a clue what she wants, so how do you know she wants
you?"
Jake
started to say something, changed his mind. He started to say
something else, hesitated... And stood up. "We better get going.
The others are waiting for us. Tell Zack you're sorry about obsessing
over your friends, and that you never would have done it if you knew
he had such a problem with it."
Marie
sighed, and gave him a single nod. "I will."
"Be
nice to Jess. Maybe it's a mistake, but it's mine to make."
"Yes.
It is." Marie agreed, unhappy.
Jake
turned to go. "You've always had my back, Marie. Your opinion
matters, but please don't make this worse."
"I
won't."
Jake
forced a big smile for her. "She breaks my heart, you'll still
be there to help put it back together again?"
He
made his tone light, and she chuckled despite herself. "Won't
even say 'I told you so'." She promised.
"And
if things with Jess work out?"
"I'll
put this conversation into my wedding toast." Marie chuckled.
Jake
relaxed, knowing that they were okay. "Let's go."
"...I
miss you." Marie said behind him.
Jake
froze, halfway out the door, and very slowly took one step back into
the house, turning to face her. "...what?"
Marie
wasn't looking at him, collecting her jacket, staring at her feet as
she pulled it on. "Nothing." She said.
Jake
looked at her carefully. "Nono, you said something."
Marie
walked past him, heading outside. "Nothing important."
"Tell
me?" He pushed gently, needing to be sure of what he heard.
Marie
sighed. "You brought out the best in me, Jake. What does Jess
bring out in you?" But she didn't wait for an answer, pushing
past him quickly, heading outside.
Feeling
very unsettled, Jake went with her to meet the others.
~oo00oo~
Marie
knew where the spare key was. The Diner was empty when we got there.
I
was glad Zack wasn't there at first. He's my oldest and closest
friend, and I have been neglecting him lately. It's happened before,
something big comes up and we have to deal with it, then that
whatever-it-is passes and we tell each other all about it. But I
didn't know how to face him after the conversation with Marie.
Jess
had changed slightly since the night before. She was more charged,
more determined. I guess now it was so much more real. We have seen
strange things over the last week, but none of us knew exactly what
it was we were seeing.
Last
night... there was no mistaking what was happening. I have no idea
what it means, or who was doing it, or why they'd want to, but there
was no doubt about the fact that it happened.
I
just wish Marie saw it that way.
Even
after the conversation with Marie, I was more focused on what I was
going to say to the others about Ben. They had to know, and I
rehearsed it in my head a hundred times, waiting for Pierce to join
us, so I could tell them everything.
Except
Pierce didn't show up...
~oo00oo~
"I
couldn't find Pierce." Jess said as Marie led her and Jake in.
"He wasn't at home, he wasn't at the field. I ran into Zack, he
said he'd keep an eye out. He was doing... something, I don't know,
really. I think he was asking teachers for advice about supplies."
"The
whole town's asking about supplies." Jake nodded. "My guess
is the town has enough growers and livestock to keep everyone fed,
but most of the town is still expecting the 'blockade' to lift any
day now...."
"I
wonder if anyone believes that any more." Jess commented darkly.
"I mean, you ask them, they'll all say they do, but I wonder if
anyone really believes things are fine, deep down in their bones."
"And
that's not even counting the night shift." Marie commented.
Long
silence.
Jess
spoke first. "Actually that raises an interesting question: How
are we supposed to convince the whole town that they were
sleepwalking last night? We can barely convince Marie, and she woke
up with us standing over her."
"Actually,
that's also something worth mentioning." Jake countered. "I
don't think everyone was
out last night. I was doing a tally in my head on the way home, and
only about half my street was walking around."
Marie
leaned forward. "The back door wasn't locked this morning."
She said. "I don't think it was locked last night either. I
might have been sleepwalking, but I wasn't... I don't... Jess, you
were watching, did I have enough sense to unlock a door?"
Jess
chewed her lip a moment. "I don't know. Probably not."
Marie
looked at everyone in turn. "When we first moved here, my dad
said that one of the best things about this town was that people
didn't have to lock their doors at night. And that hasn't changed..."
"You
think the people who weren't wandering around town last night were
the ones who's doors were open." Jake finished the thought for
her. "That explains why not everyone has dirty feet this
morning."
The
door opened, and Zack came running to them quickly. "Here! I'm
here! Sorry I'm late."
Marie
pounced as soon as he walked in. "Zack, were your socks dirty
when you woke up this morning?"
Zack
blinked. "Or, 'hello' as some people would open the
conversation."
Marie
shook her head swiftly. "Right, sorry. Hello. Did you have dirt
on your socks this morning?"
"I
don't wear socks to bed." Zack responded with dignity. "But
no, I keep clean, thank you. Do you mind if I ask why this is a
matter of such interest?"
"Never
mind." Jess waved that off. "Did you find Pierce?"
"I
did, and he was pacing the cage." Zack reported. "His dad
didn't take him home yesterday. The Sheriff locked him up in the
Drunk Tank. That time of day he had the place to himself." He
thought of something else. "Hey, does '44-B' mean anything to
you guys?"
"44-B?"
Jake repeated, thinking for a moment before shaking his head.
"Nothing I can think of off the top of my head. Why?"
"Pierce
said when he woke up the other day, before meeting us at Town Hall,
he had that written on the back of his hand. He says he leaves
himself reminders like that when he's drunk so that he remembers the
important stuff when he's sober. He doesn't have a clue what it
means, but it sounds familiar to me and I can't remember why."
Zack explained, frustration clear on his face. "44-B, it's right
on the tip of my brain, and I just can't quite get there."
"Doesn't
mean anything to me, either." Jess snorted. "But I'm not a
bit surprised he's in jail. Pierce is underage, and The Sheriff knows
that his son is drinking. He's been trying to catch him out for over
a year. He's got everyone who sells booze in town, and most of the
home brewers under watch."
"Then
how'd Pierce manage to get smashed by nine in the morning?"
Marie wondered.
"Oh,
I thought nobody would ever ask." Zack said, pleased with
himself. "Pierce had the sense to keep his supplier a secret.
But he told me once his dad was out of the room." He grinned at
him. "It was Eddie Sisko."
"The
newspaper guy?" Marie blinked. "The editor got an underage
high school football player drunk? He's not that stupid. For that
matter, why did Eddie have the booze? I thought he was dry for the
last ten years."
Jess
and Jake traded a quick look. "He was. But he fell off the wagon
when we rehearsed the Festival. Not sure why." Jake looked at
Zack. "But... he wouldn't go to Pierce for a drinking buddy,
surely?"
"I
agree." Zack said. "It took me a while to get a coherent
answer out of him, but as far as I can tell, Pierce spent most of
yesterday going around town discreetly checking people over with the
metal detector. They way he was describing it, it seemed to me like
Eddie was trying to get answers."
"Answers
to what?" Jess asked him with interest.
"I'm
not sure." Zack said. "But whatever it was, Sisko poured
another shot every time Pierce refused to tell him."
"Come
to think of it, where has Eddie been
this whole time?" Jake asked suddenly. "The whole town is
coming apart, and I haven't seen one newspaper printed and delivered
since everyone went under blockade. He couldn't have run out of paper
that quickly, right?"
"Well,
if he's started drinking again..." Marie volunteered. "He
practically runs the town paper himself. Could be that's all stopped
because he's started getting loaded."
Jake
froze, eyes narrowing.
"I
know that look." Marie said swiftly. "What's on your mind,
Jake?"
"When
did Eddie start
drinking?" Jake asked. "I mean originally, the very first
time?"
"Oh,
long time ago, when we were little kids." Jess said. "It
was the Founders Day party. He threw up in the punch bowl, made his
own front page. That would have been what? Fifteen years ago?"
"Eleven
years and change." Jake corrected.
Marie
snapped her fingers. "That was around the same time Doug Gunn
vanished." She said, looking gamely at Jake. "You think
that Eddie knew more than he was letting on, and now that it's
happening again..."
Zack
put a hand out. "Hold on. We just got done accusing the Mayor,
the Sheriff... That's half the Town Council. We move on to Sisko
next, and we're effectively fighting all of City Hall."
"City
Hall? In Curtis Creek?" Jake couldn't help the smirk. "Zack,
it's Eddie Sisko. We know Eddie. He used to sneak us sweets when our
parents weren't looking. He's not Al Capone, I mean... how long did
we call him 'Uncle Eddie' before we realized he wasn't actually part
of our family?"
"A
long time."
"If
we can't get a straight answer out of Mayor Grady, then we have to
get it out of someone." Jess said firmly, jumping to her feet.
"At the very least, he might have something we don't."
Nobody
moved.
Jess
looked at them all impatiently. "Well?"
"Jess,
when I got home from seeing the Mayor yesterday? My dad was waiting.
Mayor Grady apparently spoke to him."
"Mine
too." Zack volunteered.
"And
mine." Marie added. "I tried to tell them why."
Jake
looked over, curious. "And?"
"I
have to make an appointment with a therapist as soon as we get the
phones back." Marie sighed.
"My
dad was ready to put me in a rubber room as well." Jake sighed.
"He basically told me to stop using Jess' brain and the safety
of her parents as a pick-up line."
Jess
let out a low noise of disgust.
Long
silence. They all looked at each other, then to Jess. "Listen,
Jess..." Marie said gently. "You've got more on the line
than we do right now. If you say go, we will, but just be clear, what
we've done so far is not popular. Go any further, and we might be
keeping Pierce company in jail."
"On
what charge?"
"Well,
you calling off the search for your family is going to get some
attention." Zack pointed out.
Jess
took that in and set her jaw. She tossed her hair over one shoulder
defiantly, and started walking with fire in her eyes. "Well, if
I'm going to jail for this, I'm gonna know more about my family than
I do now." Jess said harshly. "Let's go ask Eddie."
"Ask
him what?" Jake said quietly.
Jess
didn't look back. "For one thing, Pierce spent the day checking
people for Implants. I want to know if he told Eddie how many he
found." By then she was already out the door and the others
scrambled to keep up.
~oo00oo~
Jess
hammered her fist on the door to the Curtis Creek Chronicle. And then
did so again.
"Maybe
he's not in." Jake guessed, coming up behind her. "It's a
one man operation. He runs the place himself. Just him and a few
students..." He sent a look back at Zack. "And the paper's
been shut down when the supplies stopped coming in, so why would he
even be here?"
"Because
he's not at home." Jess said and hammered on the door again,
calling in. "Eddie? Open up!"
There
was no answer. Jess went around the back of the building, and started
peeking in the windows.
"Okay,
this isn't right. What you're doing right now? This is not right."
Marie said quietly, as everyone followed.
"If
Eddie's passed out drunk in there, I want to know it before I go
hiking all over town looking for him." Jess said simply.
Marie
looked through the windows.. "I didn't even know there was an
apartment back here."
Zack
nodded. "Eddie converted two rooms and a bath so that he'd never
have to leave the building. He kept his own place, but having a bed
here let him work odd hours."
Jess
stood on her tiptoes, to get a look further into the building... and
her face changed. "Jake? What does that look like to you? The
floor beside the bathroom door?"
Jake
slid in next to her, suddenly breathing in the smell of her hair.
"Um..."
"Jake,
focus." She said without turning.
"Right."
Jake returned crisply and peered in the window... and he noticed what
had made Jess blanch. Inside the building he could see a dark red
puddle on the hardwood floor, coming from under the bathroom door.
"It looks like... oh God."
Marie
pushed her way beside them to look, and her expression hardened.
"Zack, go get Deanna, hurry!" She snapped, and quickly cast
about, looking for the first thing she could reach, which was a pot
plant beside the back porch. She caught it up in one hand and smashed
out the glass beside the door, reaching around to unlock it.
Jess
was the first one in the door, with Jake and Marie right on her
heels. The three of them ran for the bathroom, where a pool of blood
had spread out from under the closed door. It had spread across the
hardwood floors of the hallway till it reached the carpet of the
office space.
Jess
sprinted to the bathroom door and knocked swiftly, before staring at
her own extended knuckles. "Why the hell am I knocking?"
She asked rhetorically, and shoved the door open.
The
three of them crowded to look, and reared back instantly.
The
bathroom was narrow, with barely enough room for the claw-foot cast
iron bathtub that dominated the room... And in the empty tub, fully
clothed, was Eddie Sisko, head lolled back, and vacant dead eyes
staring up at them. His expression was twisted as though he'd been
scared to death.
But
the real cause of death was more obvious. The shattered remains of
the glass bottle littered the floor, and Eddie's wrists had been
bleeding profusely.
"Oh
God..." Jess choked out and ran from the room, one hand over her
mouth.
"Jake?"
Marie whispered. "What the hell are we in the middle of here?"
~oo00oo~
I
don't know what was worse, seeing the body, or that there was
a body at all. Curtis Creek was the safest place anyone knew. There
hadn't been a crime more dangerous than cow-tipping in this town for
as long as I've been alive. One or two bits of vandalism maybe. Grant
and Lockett made town history by sticking firecrackers into twenty
nine mailboxes in one night.
Usually,
the only crime in this town was rowdy farmhands getting profoundly
drunk and being a little silly.
There
hadn't been a murder in this town since... I don't know, but I know I
wasn't born yet. Suicide happened sometimes. Rarely, but now and then
the banks would go on a crusade and march a few farmers off the land
they've lived for five generations. One or two can't handle that, but
the town sees it coming, we rally around those people and hold them
together.
I
almost hope it was a suicide. Because if it wasn't, then someone just
crossed the line. We've gone past just being scared and hungry, and
now there are killers in my town.
~oo00oo~
Jake
wanted to shrink under Sheriff Tanner's gaze. Even with the
reflective lenses, the Lawman's eyes blazed.
"Jake,
Jess, Zack and Marie..." Tanner counted their names off like he
has taking attendance. "All week I've been showing up to the
weird ones and there you are." He looked to Jess. "Why were
you coming to see him?"
"We
wanted..." Jess' mouth shut with an audible click.
Marie
swatted her hard. "Jess, not the time." She stepped up. "We
learned that Eddie was the one that gave Pierce the booze."
Tanner
took that in, and turned to the only one in the group that he knew
his son had spoken to that day. "Zack?"
Zack
nodded, hating this. "Pierce told me this morning. Eddie was
trying to get him drunk, because he wanted information."
"About
what?" The Sheriff demanded.
"We
don't know." Jake jumped in. "That's what we came here to
ask him."
Jess
altered the direction of the conversation before Tanner could press
them further. "Sheriff, why would Eddie kill himself?"
And
just like that, The Law fell away from him, and he took the glasses
off. There was a deep painful sadness in his eyes as he faced them.
"I don't know, Jess. I wish I did. I wish I knew why... because
the alternative is just too... terrible to bring into this town.
Deanna said that the time of death was midnight, day before
yesterday. Nobody has come to town all week, and nobody has left in
that time either..."
Nobody
said it, because they all knew it. This was unexpected, which meant
there had to be a reason. There were no newcomers to town, and nobody
had fled town unexpectedly. The Sheriff had yet to say it out loud,
but everyone in the conversation knew that the town was sealed up.
"Sheriff,
you know what we spoke to the Mayor about the other day?" Jake
asked finally.
Tanner
rose to his full height, suddenly 'The Law' again. "Yes. Yes I
do."
"Was
Eddie working on anything similar?"
Sheriff
Tanner glared so furiously that Jake actually stepped back. "Dammit,
Jake; the man is dead, and the first thing that comes to your mind is
aliens?"
Jake
flushed bright red, very aware of the Sheriff, and everyone else
looking at him like he'd grown two heads. "I didn't mean it like
that."
"Sure
sounded like you meant it like that." Tanner growled.
"I
meant it..." Jake floundered helplessly. "It came out
wrong."
"Make
it come out right."
Tanner drilled into him.
Jake
tried again. "We decided to look into what was going on, and
this is what we came up with. So I figure that Eddie's been a part of
the town longer than all of us put together have been alive. And he's
the local newspaper-man. He did jumping jacks when the school
Football team went to play an exhibition match interstate, so
maybe..." He ducked his head again. "I don't know. He was a
journalist. If he was looking for answers, maybe he found some."
"To
what?" Sheriff demanded. "The trucks stopped coming,
they're all from out of town. The radio is off the air, which is a
weather phenomenon. Exactly who would he be investigating? Who on
earth had anything to lose from the town paper writing about it?"
Nobody
on earth.
Jake flushed just at having the thought, wondering if Tanner could
read his mind.
"Now
if you'll excuse me, I have a crime scene to investigate."
Tanner told the group, and stalked off.
"Can't
help but feel for him." Marie said softly. "First time
there's been an actual crime in this town for as long as I can
remember."
Zack
leaned in closer and lowered his voice. "Jake, did your mom say
the time of death was midnight day before yesterday?"
"Yup."
"Then
we got a real problem here." Zack said weakly. "That means
the last person to see him alive was Pierce."
~oo00oo~
"Eddie's
dead?" Pierce said in shock. "I was just talking to him
yesterday."
"No,
you were talking to him the day before yesterday, around midnight."
Jess pressed like she was playing bad cop. "Now what the hell
went on between you two?"
Pierce
rubbed his head. "Well, it was like I told Zack, he was trying
to interview me. I was on my way home, when Eddie waved me down... He
asked me for a ride, and I gave him one. The next thing I know he's
got this bottle out, and he's asking if I want a shot. I tell him I'm
driving, so he offers to drive for me. He says he wanted to ask me
something anyway... The bottle's new, still sealed, so I figure he's
sober enough, and I let him drive. He starts with the plane... Then
Doug Gunn. He tells me Dougie's discovered English again."
"He
has?" Zack asked in surprise. "You didn't tell me that.
What did he... I mean, is Dougie answering questions?"
"No;
he's asking them. The only thing Eddie knew was that Dougie had asked
his aunt, and then my dad, and then Jake's mom the same question:
'How long was I in the dark?'"
The
question was left for a moment, before Jess spoke again. "What
happened next?"
"I
got drunk." Pierce said plainly, glaring at his ex-girlfriend.
"Eddie told me it was a drinking game they played back when he
was a 'cub reporter'. Answer a question, take a shot. I took a bunch
of them, and..." He shrugged, waving around the jail cell he was
in. "Next clear memory is here."
"Where
were you two doing this?" Jess asked.
"Um..."
Pierce rubbed his head. "Just in the Jeep. My Jeep, I mean. I
was... Eddie kept us driving around in circles while we spoke. He
didn't let me drive because I had the bottle, and he wouldn't take
any because he had the wheel."
"That's
how he did it." Marie nodded. "Eddie's been on the wagon
for years, he got you drunk enough to talk, and stayed sober himself
by driving."
"It
also made sure that nobody overheard them." Jake nodded.
"Pierce, when you woke up, what time was it?"
"Early.
I remember waking up in the tray of the Jeep, and I knew we were
going to see Grady that morning... I guess I hadn't sobered up yet."
"Can
you remember anything else?" Jess demanded.
"I
told all this to Zack." Pierce snapped at her.
Jess
reached
through the cell door, got a fistful of his shirt and pulled him
right up against the bars, getting in his face. "Get used to it,
you idiot." She snapped right back. "You're gonna have to
tell it a few more
times, because unless something unexpected comes up, your father is
gonna charge you with murder."
That
hung in the air for several seconds.
"Look,
he was asking about all the things we'd found out." Pierce said,
his voice getting thin and scared now. "I only remember half the
conversation, he was..." His voice cracked suddenly. "Jess,
are you serious?"
"You
were the last one to see him alive, you were so plastered you can't
remember anything, and you don't have an alibi." Jess listed the
damning facts on her fingers. "What the hell do you think
happens next? Now what the hell was he so interested in, that he'd
fall off the wagon, get a minor drunk, all while behind the wheel of
a moving vehicle, just so he could ask you questions?"
Pierce
shivered violently, and just kept shivering. "We... we were
talking. I just... I don't remember. He was asking about what we
knew, and how we knew it."
"Did
he say anything else? Did he... I don't know, fill in any of the
blanks we have, ask any questions that didn't make sense?"
"Not
that I remember." Pierce insisted. "But there's a lot that
I don't remember. Jake... There was blood under my fingernails when I
woke up."
Everyone
froze.
"Did...
Did I do it?" Pierce demanded.
"I
don't know." Jake said finally. "But we'll find out."
Pierce
nodded. "Am I gonna need a lawyer?"
"Not
until you get charged with something." Zack interrupted. "But
if-"
The
sound of gravel crunching under wheels rang through the room, and
they all jumped.
"Dad's
back." Pierce said. "You better run."
"Don't
tell him you know about Eddie." Jess told him seriously. "He
doesn't like us being in the middle of this, and if you volunteer
that you know about Eddie, it's gonna make you look guilty."
"I
might be
guilty!" Pierce hissed.
"Yeah.
Don't say that either!" Jess called back as the four of them ran
for it, leaving Pierce alone in his cell.
~oo00oo~
"We
shouldn't be doing this." Marie said awkwardly. "I mean,
isn't this illegal?"
The
four of them were at the parking lot, going through Pierce's Jeep.
They were all wearing gloves. As far as they knew, nobody cared about
the Jeep, and their fingerprints were already all over the thing,
inside and out. Even so, the fear was getting to all of them.
"Someone's
going to see us." Marie said again.
"Who?"
Zack asked logically.
Marie
looked around and realized he was right. The street was empty. It was
the middle of the day, and the street should have been buzzing, or at
least had a few people making their way somewhere, but the street was
deserted. Now and then, they could make out the curtains in the
windows twitching...
There
was a kid playing further up the street in his front lawn, rolling a
toy truck around quietly. His mother came running out of the house,
and hurried him back inside. She gave the street a suspicious look as
she shut the door behind her.
"How
did this happen so fast?" Jake whispered. "It was two weeks
ago everything was normal. Less than that!"
"I
don't know, but can we figure it out soon, please? Because this is
really freaking me out." Jess demanded from the passenger seat,
as though it was just a matter of hurrying things along. "What
exactly are we looking for?"
"Anything
that might explain what Eddie was looking for. Or died for."
"Y'know
Jake, it could be suicide. Or even an accident." Zack offered.
"I worked for the man three summers. There's a reason he stayed
on the wagon for eleven years. He told me about this one time he got
so loaded that he walked through a glass door, woke up two hours
later and it took him another hour to realize how cut up he was."
"I
really hope so." Jake nodded. "But even if his death was an
accident, he was willing to question Pierce using methods that are
devious and... well, illegal. Getting the Sheriff's kid smashed is
not a smart way to spend an evening, and if Eddie was driving, he had
to know that."
"He
was after something, no question. I'm just saying, this might not
be-Aha!" Zack interrupted himself, and lifted a spiral notepad
with all the pages torn out. "It's Eddie's. He uses notebooks
like this all the time."
"Why
are the pages torn out?"
"That's
just how he is." Zack told her. "He keeps the notes in
different piles for different topics. He did it when I was working
for him, and I'll bet you all a can of chicken soup that he's still
doing it now."
"Where
did you get a can of chicken soup?"
"Doesn't
help." Jake interrupted. "The pages are all torn out. All
this tells us was that Eddie was in this Jeep and writing something
in a pad. These are all facts we already have. We got nothing."
"Maybe
not." Marie took the pad. "Someone pass me a pencil?"
Jess,
Jake and Zack all looked at each other helplessly, then back to her.
None of them had one.
Marie
rolled her eyes and searched her pockets for a moment, before coming
up with a pencil herself. "How do any of you manage to leave the
house?"
"Well
if you had one, why'd you ask?" Jess snarked back.
Marie
flipped the notepad open to the cardboard base, and started shading
lightly over the cardboard. Quickly, the imprint of the last,
torn-out page became visible.
Jake
grinned. "I taught Ben how to do that when we were younger. He
started shading over everything. The notepads, the post-it notes, the
walls..."
Zack
smirked. "What does it say?"
Marie
tilted the cardboard, trying to make out the words. "It says,
'add to sketches, 44-B'."
"44-B
again." Jake mused, trying to think. "That's what Pierce
had written on his arm. He wrote it there to remind himself of
something."
"44-B!"
Zack suddenly shouted, throwing his hands in the air. "I do
know what that means." He led the way out of the Jeep. "Eddie
had to be the only newspaper man left in America that still kept his
notes on paper..."
~oo00oo~
It
took me almost fifteen minutes to convince my mom to let us through
the door to the Chronicle. Thank God the Sheriff wasn't there any
more. The others went in ahead of me while I kept mom talking. It's
easier to get her permission for something that's already happened.
Zack
worked here for a summer, and I know he enjoyed it, but I've never
actually been in the Archives room before today. Every wall of the
room was dominated by filing cabinets, with a desk under a lamp in
the middle. It felt like something out of the 1920's.
It
was so amazingly normal that I almost forgot there was a dead body in
the next room. That was why mom had to stick around, until someone
could get the Clinic to provide a body bag. They're the only place in
town that does, since they do Hospice care.
It's
one of those things you don't like to think about in a small town,
organizing the funerals. The community is too tight knit. There's an
undertaker in the next town over, he sends someone out to check the
medical side of it and deliver a coffin, the town holds the funeral.
Since the Town Hall used to be the church, there's a graveyard out
behind it.
I
never noticed it until now, but the Town Hall really is the heart of
the town. People go there to talk about things. They get put there
when arrested, it's where we organize all the things we love about
our lives here, and where we meet to speak for those who's lives have
ended here.
I'm
almost afraid to find out where this leads now.
~oo00oo~
Zack
led the way into the Archives and began scanning the filing cabinets,
until he found the one he wanted. "Files 41-49!" He read,
and slid the drawer open, flipping through the file folders within,
until he found the file marked '44-B'. "Yeah, here it is."
Marie
switched on the lamp above the desk as Zack brought the file over. It
was an A4 sized folder, thick as a phone directory, filled with
papers.
"He
didn't get a file this big when the whole town was up for sale to
that big agricultural corporation..." Jess commented. "What
the hell was Eddie investigating?"
Jake
flipped to the bottom of the pile. "I don't know, but some of
these notes are thirty years old."
Zack
bit his lip. "Eddie was... organized. Really organized. There's
got to be some kind of order to it. Split them up."
"Jeez,
if I'd known there was homework involved I never would have started
this." Jess complained lightly, sending Jake a look. "Should
have just taken the money, huh Stargazer?"
Jake
chuckled and started putting all the notes and papers into stacks.
Marie
put a hand out. "Not here. Your mom won't look the other way for
long." She was the only one with her backpack, and she quickly
put the whole folder away.
"The
Diner?" Jess suggested.
"The
Diner." Zack sighed. "Dad's going to wonder what I'm doing
there all the time now it's closed."
~oo00oo~
Dear
Sir
Several
editions and clippings from back issues of the Chronicle have been
included, which will give you that facts, but to help you understand
my meaning in what has happened here, I wanted to add this note.
The
Curtis Creek Chronicle wasn't exactly the biggest newspaper in the
state, but it kept up on local events. The weekly issue was only ten
pages long, and was mostly about things that the extended town needed
to know. Schedules, prices, market times...
Zack
told me that while he worked there, Eddie had one rule only:
Discretion. As Marie has said more than once, everyone in a small
town knew what not
to talk about. And nobody knew more than the Editor, owner and top
reporter of the local paper.
Truthfully,
if Eddie told half of what he knew, the townsfolk would almost
certainly never have spoken to each other again. Every bad date,
indiscretion and blood feud that a tight knit community can have had
been blabbed to him at one time or another. But he always keeps
kept his nose out of business that didn't affect him or other people,
and he was really easy to talk to. He kept the town history.
In
a lot of ways, he
was the Chronicle of the town. He told our stories, and all the ones
he didn't tell, he kept to himself.
I
hear that a few people still in town want to rebuild and restart the
paper. I doubt it'll go anywhere.
~oo00oo~
"What
were you hiding, Eddie?" Jake wondered aloud, looking over the
endless notes. Everyone had their own stack of papers, and were
trying to decipher the secrets within. "Anyone?"
Zack
sighed. "Eddie had a good memory. The notes he took were to sort
out structure for future stories. It was how he decided what to keep
and throw away. It's like reading a book with half the words missing.
I understand all the notes but I don't know what he's talking about."
Jake
flipped through his stack. "This one is an interview with the
manager of KPOY."
"The
radio station?" Jess looked over his shoulder. "Why?"
"I
don't know, but it looks..." Jake turned the page sideways, as
though that made it understandable in some way. "I think he was
asking about coverage."
"He
wanted to trade in newspaper for radio?"
"No,
not media coverage, I mean radio coverage. Actual range.
He was trying to figure out how far the local radio stations could
transmit."
Zack
raised a page. "Huh, that's interesting, cause this page? It's a
list of dates and places, and he's got newspaper clippings from each
one. The story is the same in every clipping. Atmospheric
disruption of electronic signals. Storms knocking TV Stations off the
air, that kind of thing."
Jess
head tilted. "Like we've got now."
"Yeah,
but these clippings? Some of them are thirty years old. And they're
not from this town, they're from all across the planet." Zack
turned the page. "And this one is... There are notes here
about... sightings."
The
word hung in the air. It wasn't the first time that a single word had
brought all of them to silence.
"Sightings."
Jess repeated. "Like UFO sightings?"
"Jess,
with all the things we've been trying to convince people of lately, I
think that if we, of
all people,
can't even say the
words
'Flying Saucer' we're in real trouble." Marie pointed out,
somehow managing to sound perfectly reasonable.
Pause.
Everyone
cracked up into mirthless, hysterical laughter.
"God,
the month started out so normal."
Zack giggled helplessly.
The
four of them were completely useless for another few minutes before
managing to get back to work. Marie looked over the notes in front of
her and she froze. "What the hell?"
Zack
looked over at her. "What is it?"
Marie
held up the page. "Nothing, just... this page sort of jumped out
at me. It's an interview he did with some woman in Colorado."
"There
are dozens of interviews in here." Jake pointed out.
"Yeah,
but the keywords sort of got my attention." Marie handed the
page in question over to Jake. "Eddie underlined all the words
like 'insomnia' 'headaches' 'vanished' and 'nightmares'."
"Here's
another Interview, this one with Mayor Grady." Zack held it up.
"Eddie circled words on this one too. Did you guys know the
Mayor was a pilot?"
"Yeah,
during Vietnam." Jake nodded, not looking up from his notes.
"Well,
according to this, he was missing for seven minutes during a routine
patrol." Zack read out from the clipping. "Seven minutes.
The same as your
plane."
Sudden
silence.
Jake
chewed his lip and looked at both pages. "Both these interviews
are over twenty years old." He said in jaded awe. "We
thought this started with Doug Gunn."
"No.
It doesn't start with Doug, it ends
with him." Jess said suddenly. "I got the bottom quarter of
the pile. That's the most recent stuff. The dates on this file end
with the official press story that Eddie Sisko wrote about Dougie
vanishing into thin air, and then he starts making notes again when
he reappeared."
Silence.
"Why'd
he suddenly stop searching ten years ago?" Jake demanded. "What
changed? He was running all over the country talking to people who
have been going through what we're going through, and when it happens
suddenly in our backyard he stops looking."
"How
many places has this been happening?" Zack demanded. "All
the places with service disruption, all the places with people
reporting abductions, all the places where people are reporting UFO
sightings..."
"More
important, if Eddie knew something was up... Why wasn't he telling
anyone?"
"Maybe
he did." Jess offered. "He was
murdered."
Long
silence.
"Why
did he start looking?" Marie asked after a moment. "These
notes go back way before anything started happening in town. At
least... anything we know about. What tipped him off?"
With
a fresh purpose, everyone went digging again.
"What
is this?" Zack asked suddenly, holding up a thick envelope of
stapled papers, thick with small text.
Jake
took a look. "I think... Is this the Town Census?"
"I
think so. Looks like he's been going through the whole town... Whoa.
Our names are here too. Jake, Jess and Marie all have ticks next to
their names. Me and Pierce have crosses." Zack looked up
seriously at Jake. "There's only one thing I can think of."
Jake
nodded, having the same thought. "Eddie was checking for
Implants?"
"Can't
think what else it would be..." Zack flicked through the pages
of the Town Census. "But these numbers can't be right."
"Why
not?"
"Well,
assuming I'm reading this right..." Zack flipped the pages back
again. "And it's not that cryptic... It looks like more than
three quarters of the town has been Implanted. Maybe more than that."
"Hang
on." Jess piped up, waving a small notebook that came with her
section. "This isn't Eddie's handwriting. This notebook isn't
Sisko's... it's Pierce's."
Jake
reacted. "Are you sure?"
"I'm
positive. It's his handwriting all through this notebook..." She
flipped a few pages. "In fact, I think this is all from the last
week and a half."
"Since
the Plane?" Jake came over to check, looking over her shoulder.
She glanced back at him and tucked her hair behind her ear, the smell
of her skin wafting over him briefly.
"Jake,
focus." She murmured warmly, leaning into him enough that her
hair brushed past his cheek.
"Right."
Jake snapped out of it while Zack and Marie struggled not to show
expression. "Pierce was investigating the plane on his own. I
know, because he showed me some of the stuff he found over at the
Creek."
Jess
snapped her fingers. "This is what Eddie was after! He wanted
this book full of all the things The Sheriff's son has seen and found
out!"
"And
it wasn't just Pierce." Marie commented, nose buried in her
pages. "I'm seeing new stuff here from lots of people in town.
Interviews, sketches..." She held up a smaller page with a
drawing on it, done in colored kids pencils. "What do you think
this is?"
Jake
looked over. It looked like a drawing of a fishing rod handle, with
sliding switches. "I have no idea. It's clearly a Gizmo."
Jake confessed. "Maybe a Lightsaber?"
"Let's
call it a Gizmo, we won't get sued."
"Hey
guys?" Jess said, her voice low. "Murray's official
statement about what happened to the plane is in here... and there's
another one that he didn't show anyone..."
There
was a sudden crackle of static, and everyone jumped. There hadn't
been static in town for days. Every eye spun to look at the radio,
sat on top of the kitchen bench, left switched on and long forgotten.
Another
burst of static, and then a voice. "Testing... Testing..."
Another wave of static drowned out the words and the radio went
silent again.
Long
silence.
"Wow."
Zack commented. "Radio."
"Yeah."
Jake agreed. The sound of it had come so unexpectedly that it left
them all in near-shock.
"It's
magic!" Zack continued. "A talking box, it's like magic!"
"Black
magic!' Jake put in dramatically. "The magic talking box is the
tool of the devil himself!"
"It's
these kids there days with their rock and roll!" Zack returned
with equal drama.
The
static came back, then settled as a voice came over the speaker,
clear and strong. "Hello citizens of Curtis Creek. This is Mayor
Grady. Unfortunately, we do not have the regular signal back yet, but
the Audio Visual class at CC-High have put their heads together and
been able to rig a transmitter through the Town Hall Clocktower. I'm
told that the antennae has enough power to reach everyone in town,
but not much further, given the static charge in the air. I'm
speaking to you now with a special announcement: There is to be an
emergency Town Meeting, tonight at seven. Please make every effort to
attend, and to make sure that everyone knows about the meeting time.
Once again, there is to be an emergency Town Meeting tonight at
seven."
The
radio faded out, and a few moments later, the same message repeated,
clearly on a loop. Jake turned the radio down, looking livid.
Long
silence.
Marie
got them back on track. "Eddie was following the same story we
are, and it looks like he got closer? Maybe we can take all this back
to Mayor Grady, tell him this time we've got proof?"
Jake
snorted. "Proof. Right." The expression on his face was
close to raw hatred. "We tell him nothing. In fact, that's what
we tell everyone."
"What?"
Zack looked over sharply. His best friend had been making jokes not
thirty seconds before, and now looked ready to strangle someone.
"Jake? This is what we've been looking for! What's wrong?"
"What's
wrong?" Jake repeated flatly. "Everything."
"Jake?"
Jess said suddenly, before he could explain that. She was looking at
the drawing of the Gizmo. "Does Ben draw?"
"All
kids that age draw." Jake nodded. "Ben's just barely done
using crayons. Why?"
Jess
turned the drawing of the Gizmo over, and showed him the back of it.
Jake saw the writing, and his heart stopped. Written in Eddie Sisko's
crisp hand was the notation. 44-B
And
in the corner of the page, in a much younger scrawl, was the name of
the artist.
Ben
Colbert.
~oo00oo~
David
Colbert was in the kitchen chopping potatoes when the back door
slammed back on its hinges, and Jake came in at a run. "Is Ben
here?"
David
nodded, a little surprised. "I think he's in the bath, but...
Jake?"
Jake
was already moving, running up the stairs at full speed. He skidded
to a halt outside Ben's door and almost tackled it open. Ben's room
hadn't changed since the day before. The posters, the mess, the
unmade bed...
Ben
was a nine year old boy, and nobody knew how to hide things better,
but Ben was his younger brother. Jake had taught him about half the
hiding places in his room.
Air
vents... screwed shut. Books... nothing. Pillowcases... nothing.
Under
the mattress was a notebook. Jake took a deep breath and flipped
through it.
The
first few pages were ordinary things. Trees, cars, houses...
Some
of the drawings were more obscure. Things that Ben had probably seen
on TV. Islands, mountains...
And
at the back of the pad, was one drawing that raised the hair on
Jake's neck. It was the inside of a room, all gleaming silver walls,
and Little Grey Men. It was very clearly not a drawing of humans. The
figure in the colored pencil sketch was a near match for Jake's half
forgotten nightmares.
It
could have been something out of a sci-fi movie, but Jake wasn't
going to put money on that. He stared at the picture for a long
time... before he suddenly heard the gurgling sound of the bathtub
draining out. It meant his brother was done in the bathroom.
Jake
was suddenly afraid, terrified of his own little brother. He didn't
know what would happen if Ben caught him looking at the notepad.
Easy,
Jake. You're just a teenager snooping in your little brother's room.
Nothing else, it's okay... you're okay.
He
put the notebook back carefully, looking around for any traces he
might have left. He swept the room with his gaze as he heard the
bathroom door open. His eyes passed over the window, and outside, he
saw a familiar shape leaning against his mailbox.
Marie.
No
time to double check, he could hear his brothers feet slapping
against the hardwood floors of the hallway and quickly slipped out of
the room.
His
brother came around the corner of the hallway just as Jake left the
bedroom door behind him, and they passed each other in the hall
without blinking.
~oo00oo~
Marie
was still waiting for him when he came out of the house. She didn't
look at him as he came up the path, her gaze on the street. "I
still remember the first time I came up this street." She said
without turning. "I thought the place was so small. So... flat,
compared with Manhattan."
Jake
nodded.
Marie
still didn't look at him, reaching out without looking to squeeze his
hand. "He's in on it, isn't he?"
Jake
couldn't answer her.
"How
long have you known?"
"Since
last night." Jake sighed. "I've been trying to work up the
nerve to tell you all."
Jake
looked up at his house. From the mailbox he could see his bedroom
window, and his brother's room right next to his. He couldn't be
sure, but he thought he saw his brother's shadow in the window,
looking down at them.
"The
answer was right here in my house the whole time, Marie." Jake
admitted quietly.
Marie
nodded. "The others are waiting for us."
"Don't
tell them." Jake said suddenly. He looked down. "No. That's
not..." His face twisted miserably. "Hell." He ran a
hand through his hair. "Just... Marie, he's my brother."
Marie
nodded. "I know." She said softly. "But the Sheriff is
Pierce's dad, and he was honest with us."
Jake
let out a low whine. "Yeah. Yeah, he was."
~oo00oo~
Marie
was good about it. They were all good about it. Marie almost took me
by the hand and dragged me to the Diner. The Town Hall and the Jail
Cells were within sight out the window. Jess and Zack were still
going over Eddie's notebook. I don't know half of what they found in
it.
I
was lost to most of it. I had no idea what what they were talking
about. Marie took over most of my half of the conversation, answering
questions directed at me.
But
I was busy replaying my entire life in my head, wondering when it had
happened. When had I lost my own brother to... them?
We
were closer as kids, back when we had a common goal of hiding things
from our parents and our biggest concern was getting junk food. I was
the one that taught him basketball. I was the one that hid his bad
report cards. I was the one that tutored him in math and beat up the
bullies when they gave him trouble.
When
did I lose that? When did he decide that something from another
planet was a better big brother than me?
And
if he had to choose, who would he want to go with?
~oo00oo~
"You're
sure it's the real thing?" Zack asked.
Jake
sighed. "You know how you were saying we should have had proof
before we tried to tell anybody anything?"
"Yup."
Jake
bit his lip. "I think I might have a way. Ben said something the
other night..." Jake took in a deep shuddering breath. "I
think my kid brother is in this up to his neck, Zack."
Zack
took that in and squeezed his best friends shoulder, giving him
silent support. "You have to take care of your family, Jake."
"Yeah,
but my folks are convinced that I'm halfway off the edge." Jake
told him. "If I go to them, not only will they go straight to
Ben, but they'll destroy any chance of him trusting me ever again, or
worse, they won't believe me, and it won't change anything."
Zack
saw the look on Jake's face and froze. "Jake? What are you
thinking?"
Jake
met his best friend's eyes. "The sky is falling, Zack. I don't
know when it's gonna hit, but it's gonna be bad when it does. I have
a hunch, and to follow it, I have to take a risk."
"I'm
going with you." Zack said immediately.
"No."
Jake and Jess said in the same breath.
"Town's
getting scared of the dark." Jess told Zack. "Your family
will wonder where you are if they find out you're gone. I'm the only
one without a family at home right now. I've got cover."
"Guys,
neither of you are coming." Jake said seriously. "I know
where Ben's going, and if there's more than one person following him,
he's almost certainly going to see us. I'm his brother, I know how to
sneak up on him. Plus, Jess is right, a person out after dark is not
going to be ignored." Jake looked Zack in the eye. "It has
to be me. Because he's my brother."
Zack
leaned forward. "Then what can we do?"
Jake
considered. "I need a camera. I only have two, the large film
one that I hook up to the telescope, and the Polaroid. I need
something portable and with good definition in low light."
Jess
raised a hand. "I've got one."
Jake
nodded his thanks to her. "Beyond that, stay inside."
Marie
leaned in. "Jake, I want to be absolutely sure. We've tried
being honest, and the result was our families want us committed and
Pierce is in jail." She tapped the drawing on the table. "It's
a week later, and all we've gotten is a week older. The X-Ray's are
still the only hard evidence we've got, and they don't convince
anyone. The only new evidence is your nine year old brother's
doodles, bought by a nice guy who may have killed himself. We can't
even ask Eddie about it."
Long
silence.
"So
what do we do now?" Marie asked.
Jake
checked his watch. "Let's go home... and then to the Town Hall
Meeting."
"You
think they'll talk about Eddie?"
"God,
I hope so."
~oo00oo~
Me
and the family took the car to the Town Hall. The entire community is
within walking distance of itself, and the last petrol station closed
the day before yesterday; officially run dry. Even so, dad insisted
on taking the car.
I
didn't get why, until I saw everyone else was driving too. Nobody
wants to walk. Five minutes walking under the glowing green and
yellow sky above. There's no fuel left, our cars will stop dead in
the middle of the streets soon. But still, nobody wants to walk
anywhere in the dark.
Marie
was right. Small Town Secrets. Even when you don't know what they
are, you still know not to say anything directly. Not even for this.
There's
a feeling that every crop farmer knows, right when lightning is about
to strike. It happens out on the flats, you can smell it building in
the air. It's strange, but the whole town is moving with their
shoulders hunched, like there's something in the wind that says
disaster is coming.
~oo00oo~
Jess
was leaning against the wall beside the main steps. It was a good
position to observe everyone coming in, but made it easy to slip back
two feet into the shadow of the building. Jake only noticed her
because she tried to get his attention as his family came up the
stairs.
Jake's
father saw her, and gave him a warning look. "Don't stay outside
too long." He warned. "It's not safe."
Jake
nodded and went over to Jess. "That's the first time in my life
that dad's warned me about being out after dark." He said to
Jess by way of greeting. "The wheels have completely come off
this town."
Jess
nodded. "Mrs Blanchard managed to trade up enough that she's got
two shotguns and a bolt action rifle. She's now the richest woman in
town and if anyone tries anything, she's loaded for bear."
Jake
gestured at her hiding spot. "You in hiding for a reason?"
Jess
stepped forward and Jake fought down a smirk at her outfit. She was
wearing a camouflage tank-top, khaki pants, a pair of heavy boots and
a cute French beret. She looked like a teen model for jungle combat.
"What's with the look?"
She
posed a little automatically. "I'm into survival." She
demurred. "But I'm hiding because everyone's asking questions
about Pierce, about my parents; and I don't have any answers...
though the questions were interesting."
"What
do you mean?" Jake asked.
"I
learned a few things. For example, Pierce has been charged."
"Charged
with murdering Eddie?" Jake blinked. "They basing that on
anything?"
"Fingerprints."
Jess reported. "I heard from Mrs Orville, who heard from Mr
Haggan who heard from your mom that Pierce's fingerprints are all
over Eddie's bathroom."
"CNN's
got nothing on this town." Jake sighed.
"Hey
there." Zack said quietly from behind them, and they both turned
to find Zack and Marie coming up the steps. They were holding hands,
and Jake was relieved to see it, glad that the two of them were
sorting things out.
"Not
here." Jess said before any of them could say anything. "Town
Hall is full, the Sheriff's Office right next door, including the
Jail Cells... The entire town is here. Whatever's going to happen,
lets figure it out in private." Jess said. "Later at my
place?"
"Where
else?" Marie said blandly, and Jake noticed Zack squeeze her
hand tightly for a moment.
Everyone
nodded, and made their way back inside, where Mayor Grady was
gathering the attention of the room, taking the stage.
"Sounds
like it's starting." Zack said. "See you after?"
Jake
nodded, and found a seat with his family.
The
mood in the room was ugly. It felt like everyone was trying to
restrain a scream, and it was only a question of who would break
first. The Town Council was at their usual position on stage... but
two seats were conspicuously empty. Jake could probably guess where
the Sheriff was, and he suspected by now the whole town knew about
Eddie.
Sure
enough, Mayor Grady, who looked a hundred years older, opened the
Meeting by indicating grandly to the empty seat. "I know this
town pretty well, so I'm almost certain that by now you'll have all
heard the news. For those of you who haven't, you've probably heard
the rumors." He sighed darkly. "The rumors are true. Edward
Sisko, our town Editor..." His voice cracked slightly. "...and
my friend, has indeed been killed. At first we suspected suicide, but
Sheriff Tanner has classified it as a murder."
Everyone
reacted, though they weren't taken by surprise.
Grady
spoke briefly, his eyes filled with unshed tears, but he pulled
through with strong, calm dignity. "He was a great member of
this town in many ways, and if he were here right now, he would hate
that there's nobody covering the story."
A
polite murmur went through the room. It would have been a chuckle at
anyone else's eulogy.
Grady
gestured to the town Chaplin sitting at the other end of the row, and
led into his next topic. "I would like to spend the next hour
listing all the ways Eddie contributed to this community... and to my
life personally, but I'll save that for his memorial. The date hasn't
been set, as the investigation into his death is still ongoing."
"It
was Pierce!" Someone shouted, and a rumble picked up from the
audience. "Sheriff can't arrest his own kid!"
Grady
shouted over them all. "I cannot comment until the investigation
is over. Any suspects would be held in custody, until a full forensic
team can make a determination. Of course, they won't get here until
we can summon them. That's one of the reasons we've worked to rig our
own transmitter, trying to break through the interference in the
atmosphere."
"You
don't buy that any more than we do!" Someone shouted, and this
time the yelling started quickly, picking up in intensity. Jake
noticed his mother reach a hand over to pull Ben a little closer,
like she was expecting a riot to break out any second.
Grady
put his fingers in his mouth a let out a shrill 'Hey Taxi!' whistle.
It was enough to get them to start listening again. "I know
you're scared. You have every right to be. Scary things are going on
in our town. That's why we've been trying to work the problem. That's
why we sent our Co-Op Reps Mr and Mrs Connolly out to resume contact
with our supply depot. Not only are they missing, but I've been
informed that Janice Mitchell and her son are missing too..."
"So
are the Newkirks! All of them!" Someone yelled. "And the
DeWitts!"
Another
panicked rumble started growing, and over them, Jake was fairly sure
more people were being named as missing. The Mayor let out another
shrill whistle to get their attention back.
"The
Sheriff is investigating other people who haven't been seen for a
while, but he's only one man, and everyone in town has been free to
come and go as they like." Mayor Grady said. "Nevertheless,
we have three unsolved mysteries, at least, and it's only prudent
that we strongly consider the possibility that these cases are
connected. Which is why, on the advice of Sheriff Tanner, and after a
lot of hard conversations... I am hereby declaring a curfew."
A
rumble went through the room.
Grady
held up his hands swiftly. "And before you all start shouting,
let me make one thing clear. The Sheriff's office doesn't have the
manpower to enforce such a curfew, so for the most part, this will be
a personal matter. But there are bad things happening in this town,
and I aim to make sure it doesn't spread to anyone else. I strongly
urge you all to keep your children close, to keep your doors and
windows locked at night."
"Where
is The Sheriff?" Someone shouted.
Grady
took that one somberly. "At his post. So far, all we know is
that a charge has been laid. More than that, we don't know, and laws
require that we can't talk about it until the trial."
"How
do we get to the courthouse?!" Someone called. "The town is
sealed off from the world! I can't be the only one seeing the animals
vanishing at the Bridge!"
A
loud roar picked up at that one instantly, everyone shouting,
snapping at each other, yelling theories, yelling arguments...
Jake
said nothing, scanning the row of people at the back of the room
until he met Jess' eyes. She gave him a single tiny nod, and Jake
rose from his seat.
~oo00oo~
They
returned to the same place they had met, outside the Town Hall, in
the shadow of the stairs.
"You
hear them in there?" Jake said quietly. "Jeez, I thought a
riot was going to break out."
"Lot
of scared people in this town." Jess sighed. She reached into
her duffel and pulled out a digital camera. "Best camera we've
got for night work. Digital, great resolution, works in all different
light levels, zoom is on the side. Be careful with it; it's
expensive. Takes about thirty shots, then you need a new disk. Takes
floppy discs, and I know you've got enough of those at home."
Jake
took it and slid it into his inside jacket pocket. "Thanks."
He looked up at the sky for a moment, and she slipped her hand into
his. "You know... It could turn out to be exactly as advertised.
The sun could come up tomorrow and the radios will work, and we'll
find your parents in some office at the courthouse, and they'll tell
us about how the highways are shut down due to heavy fog, and the
phones were off the air because of a solar storm."
Jess
nodded. "Sure." She said softly, though she didn't believe
it either. She slid an arm around his waist, leaning into him a
little. "Jake?" She said softly. "You know I don't
want anything bad to happen to you, right?"
"I
know." Jake said honestly.
"And
you know that I don't want anything bad to happen to Ben, right? I
mean, I don't know him real well, but he's your brother, so you know
I'm on your side about this?"
"I
know." Jake confirmed.
Jess
nodded, seeming to have made a decision. "Jake, if your brother
knows where my family is, I swear I'll turn him upside down and beat
it out of him if I have to."
Jake
laughed. She didn't. After a moment he settled, and rubbed her
shoulder. "I get it, but we're not there yet." He noticed
that she seemed unconvinced, and gestured for her to sit down. She
did so. "Jess, when I was younger, Ben was a little kid. He was
just old enough to understand the concept of secrets, and asked if I
had secrets from him. I said no, and he wasn't sure if he believed
me."
Jess
nodded following the story.
"So
that night I waited till our parents fell asleep, and I snuck out my
window, and knocked on his. We went night fishing at the creek,
caught nothing, ate junk food half the night and barely made it home
before dawn." Jake took a breath. "I told him that we both
a secret now, because if mom found out where he'd been all night, he
was dead. And if dad knew that I'd snuck him out the window, I was
dead too. I told him I was his big brother, and my secrets were with
him, not from
him."
Jess
snorted. "So you were the one that taught him all about keeping
secrets and sneaking away in the middle of the night, huh?"
Jake
rolled his eyes. "Never thought of it like that." He rubbed
his face hard with his hands. "He wasn't supposed to be keeping
these things from me." He checked the camera over slowly, though
he already knew how to work it. "Jess, what if I just go to my
parents and tell them that he's still been sneaking out at night?"
Jess
sighed. "They could chain him to the bed for a week, but what
happens after that? It's starting to come apart, Jake. Once the town
was blockaded, we were all on borrowed time. You heard them in there.
The curfew's the final straw."
Jake
shivered. Jess was right. Nobody knew why, but they could all feel it
in their bones. It was like the storm was about to break, and they
were all boarding up the windows, waiting for it to hit.
They
started hearing voices and the sounds of footsteps on the floorboards
inside. The meeting was breaking up and everyone heading home. The
two of them inched further back into the dark corner, unconsciously
staying away from them. Usually after a Town Meeting there was a
gathering on the front lawn. The townsfolk would stay out for another
hour, talking to each other, chatting about things. Usually the kids
would slip off to play hide and seek in the dark gardens, or Jake
would head off with Marie and Zack to hang out at the Diner for a
while.
But
tonight, everyone broke up instantly, almost without a word.
"I
don't know what's coming Jake, but you were talking about it the
other day." She whispered in his ear. "Remember? About
escalation?"
Jake
nodded. "They don't let you see anything, until it doesn't
matter what you see."
Jess
nodded thickly. "Whatever's going to happen? It's going to
happen soon." She leaned forward and put a soft warm kiss on his
cheek, staying close to speak softly into his ear. "Good luck
tonight, and in case we don't get a chance to talk about it later,
thank you for taking such good care of me."
"Are
you going to be okay?" Jake asked as they gave each other a
little space. "Marie still staying at your place?"
"Her
family has apparently run out of patience with me." Jess
admitted. "They want to keep her at home."
"Jake?"
David called to his son from the street, standing next to the car.
"Let's go."
Jake
waved. "Go on ahead, I'll catch up."
David
shook his head. "Now,
Jake."
Jess
slid her arms around Jake's waist and pulled him in for a quick kiss
on the cheek. To anyone else it would look like a kiss goodbye. "Come
see me after, whichever way it goes." She whispered. "Kiss
my cheek. Your family is watching, including Ben."
Jake
shivered hard, and not from the cold, as he did so. She was giving
him secret instructions, and making it look like a romantic embrace
so that his nine year old brother wouldn't figure out they were
talking about him. Jake suddenly realized that somewhere along the
way, Jess had come to view his brother as the enemy.
"Good
luck tonight." She said quietly. "Be safe."
And
with that, she pulled away from him, melting back into the dark
corners. She had nobody to drive her home, and nobody waiting for her
anyway.
Jake
headed toward his family car, trying not to stare at Ben. Marie and
Zack slipped over to him, speaking soft and quick before he got
within earshot, and he suddenly realized that they didn't want Ben to
hear their conversation either.
Zack
spoke first, softly and quickly. "I couldn't get the notebook
into Pierce's cell. Sheriff Tanner isn't letting anyone within twenty
feet of his son."
Marie
spoke up in the same hushed tone. "I had the idea that maybe-"
"Guys."
Jake cut them off gently. "There's only so much we can do until
we know for sure. If I'm right about Ben, then we're right about all
of it. One way or another, the stalemate ends tonight."
~oo00oo~
The entire town headed home, with their shoulders
hunched and their eyes moving like they were expecting to be struck
by lightning any second.
There was an incredible feeling of the world being
balanced on the edge of a blade, destined to fall any second. The
five of them looked awkwardly at each other from across the Town
Square. Jess was right; it was ending, everything was ending. It was
not going to last much longer, and it was only a matter of time,
maybe hours or less until the stalemate ended.
But none of the townsfolk would have thought the
tipping point would be reached by the two Colbert brothers that very
night.
~~/*\~~~~/*\~~~~/*\~~