Centuries Ch. 02

"Q'plaa?" he asked in the original Klingon.

"Success indeed, sir." I said as he sat down next to me. "I've sent a couple of emails to the right persons, including Teresa's father's attorney, who helped Teresa claim her father's medals after he died. We'll see if he corroborates my small ideas in that direction."

"And you're not going to tell your ol' Sheriff what those ideas are, are you?" said Griswold. Figured me out, he had.

"Sure, I'll tell you,... on the way back." I said. "The key here is that there are two separate but parallel cases. All that is one of them. The other is something upon which Teresa will need your help, and my help, as Clan Troy family."

"I'll be glad to help in any way I can." said the Sheriff. "What's it about?"

"Avenging the first-degree murder of Teresa's sister Alexis." I said coldly...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

10:30am, Saturday, April 11th. Sheriff Griswold and Cindy came to the office of the town's junkyard, which was on the west side of the fenced-in area.. A middle-aged black man in greasy coveralls was sitting in a rocking chair working on a motor.

"Hi there." said Griswold affably. "This is a long shot, but we were hoping you might have some body parts for an old car... uh, what was the model of that car, girl?"

"O65 Imperial Crown." Cindy called out, looking out the back . She saw a pitbull run up to the gate of the fenced in junkyard and begin barking furiously at her.

"Naw, we ain't got nuthin' like that." said the man.

"Hey, doggy!" Cindy said, training her mental power upon the dog, but to no avail. He was mean and angry.

"That dog don't like people." the man said. "He really don't like nosy people that are not minding their own business, like you two."

"Why do you say that?" asked Griswold.

"Because Harmon Belton has already told me to be on the lookout for you." said the man. "And some other people, too. He said a tall redhead was the worst of the lot of you... I reckon he's talking about the Iron Crowbar, but I didn't ask. I just mind my own business. Like you should be doing."

"You've heard of the Iron Crowbar?" Griswold asked, not needing to pretend to make his voice sound incredulous.

"Harumph." said the man. "Everybody's heard of the Iron Crowbar, whether they admit it or not. We had a man like him around here, twenty to thirty years ago. Used a crowbar on Old Man Belton's truck one time, like that 'Walking Tall' guy. Went insane when his daughter died in that car wreck. That ended all hope for this town. Maybe your Town will do better with your Iron Crowbar."

"It's too bad you don't have any O65 Imperial Crown parts." Cindy said. "I know a man who would pay you top dollar for them, and extra on top as a finders fee. C'mon, Pops, lets go." As she spoke, the dog on the other side of the fence perked his ears up, then began racing into the junkyard.

Once clear of the owner's sight, Cindy got out her cellphone and speed-dialed a number. It rang three times and she hung up.

"He knew us all the way." said Cindy. "But he kept talking."

"He was covering his ass but trying to help us at the same time." said Griswold. "Typical of a town with a Boss like Belton... good people, but scared..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"There it is." Teresa said as we came up to the blue vehicle that was on top of another junked car.

While Cindy and the Sheriff had distracted the old man, and more importantly the dog, as well ask knocked out any videocams with 'Slender Man' efficiency, if you get my drift, Teresa and I had breached the fence at the northeast corner of the property.

"How'd you know it was here?" I asked as I quickly examined the car all over, videotaping with my Police iPhone.

"Remember that my father burned down our house on the night Alexis died." Teresa said. "I had nothing, nothing at all, to remind me of Alexis, until..." Her voice broke, then she regained control and said "... until you found that photo of us and brought it home." (Author's note: 'Teresa's Christmas Story'.)

Teresa: "Right after her death, I came here and asked if I could see if anything of Alexis's was still in the car. Hell, even a bubble gum wrapper would've been something. The owner said he didn't think there was anything, but he let me come here and look. He was right that there was nothing in the car; it had been totally cleaned out and wiped down."

"An interesting observation in its own right." I said.

"So that's how I knew where the car was." Teresa said.

"Cool beans." I said. "Okay, I'm seeing what I expected to see. First, the airbag deployment system was sabotaged. See that cut wire, there?"

"Wow, yeah." said Teresa as we looked under the hood. I make photographs.

"And I think the brakes may have been fucked with, too." I said.

"Hey Don," Teresa said, looking around, "that car over there... does it look like the brown car that crashed into this one?"

"Yeah, it does." I said. "No front end damage, though. Let's take a look." We went over and looked at the car, which had nothing inside it.

"Concrete-reinforced front quarterpanels and bumpers." Teresa said as she made observations. "We've seen that in a couple of our cases back home."

"We sure have." I said. "And it may not hold up in Court, but it proves to me that-------"

*BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!*

It was my iPhone, which was in my hand, recording. I saw that it was Cindy, and then the call dropped. It was a warning, and it was barely in time...

*Grrrrrrrrrr*

We looked down to see a very unhappy pitbull on the ground, looking up at us, and growling in a way to bare his teeth. That was NOT a good thing.

"Hey doggy." I said, trying to project my mental power at him... to no avail. We were trapped.

"Are we going to have to shoot the dog to get out of here?" Teresa asked, concern in her voice.

"No." I said, as I took a wrapped package out of my windbreaker pocket. "Let's try this." I unwrapped the package and hurled the sleeping pill wrapped in bacon (always a good thing) to the ground in front of the dog. The dog was not distracted.

"He's trained well." I said. "Last resort." I took a small tranquilizer air gun out of my other windbreaker pocket, and fired at the dog, getting him on the left shoulder. The dog began barking angrily, but within a moment he fell asleep.

"Let's make like sheep and get the flock out of here." I said. "The owner may have heard him barking."

"You don't have to ask twice." Teresa said. We scrambled down off the cars and ran pell-mell to the breach in the fence we had made. Once out, we ran into the woods towards the radio tower, which we could see above the trees.

When we got to the road that led to the radio tower, we stopped. I looked north, from where the road was coming, and saw the large, columned house that I knew belonged to the Beltons.

The Escalade came down the road from the other (southerly) direction. Cindy was driving, and the Sheriff was riding shotgun. Teresa and I scrambled into the backseat, and Cindy turned around and went south.

"Did you find it?" Cindy asked.

"Yes." I said. "Both cars, actually." I reported our findings.

"That seals it, then." Sheriff Griswold said. We all nodded, knowing what he meant.

Side note: the dog would be okay after he slept off the tranquilizer. The owner was pissed, but he was also glad his dog was not shot dead...

Part 10 - Calm Before The Storm

"They didn't give us much of anything." said Tim Jenkins as we ate lunch at the Diner. "Eduardo and I questioned them while Jack watched through the one-way glass. The two Federal Marshals said they were told to accompany Agent Black here, act as her bodyguards if need be, and to arrest Teresa Croyle and take her back home to our Town & County. I don't think they know much, and are blindly following orders."

"That's the job description of the U.S. Marshals." Jack Muscone said derisively. He was not a fan of the U.S. Marshals Service.

"As to Lindsey Black," Jenkins said, "she knows more than she's letting on. She knew who I was but not who Eduardo was. She said she was sent to bring Teresa back to the Town & County, that Teresa was a material witness in the FBI OPR's case being built against Jack Muscone. I hit her hard on that, asking what was her proof and where was her warrant to arrest Teresa, and she said she wanted a lawyer and a phone call. We made her use my cellphone, and she called Dr. Robin Isley in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania."

"Hmmm." I said. "Interesting."

"Why is that?" asked Muscone.

"They're playing the optics game." I said. "They want us to see Isley in Pennsylvania, and not Washington. That's... interesting."

"So what did you guys do with them?" Cindy asked.

Tim said "We took them into Federal custody, then took them to the airport. They're being flown to Kansas City, then to Washington in our FBI plane. The pilots have their weapons in a lockbox, and will give them back when they arrive in Washington. Once there, they may or may not be taken into custody by Nate Grimes. But they're out of our hair for now."

"Good." I said. "Nice way of handling that, too."

"We've got a small mystery to report." said Cindy. "We went to the place where the tombstones are cut. They were already working on another one for Teresa's mother. and they said it was paid for. We asked who'd ordered it made, and they said it was someone who said he wanted to remain anonymous." She was looking right at me as she said it.

"It wasn't me." I said. "It probably was a townsperson around here. They can't speak of Teresa's family, or outwardly show support or help, but someone is doing something anonymously."

"So what now?" asked Jack Muscone.

"Well, there's not a whole lot left to do." I said. "I'm hoping to hear from someone tomorrow, but it may be Monday. Some of us will have some work to do tonight, but that's a private party that I'll need 'plausible deniability' on. Soooo, Jack, you can reserve rooms at the BOQ, if you like. Teresa, did you reserve the house for two nights?"

"Yes." said Teresa. "And I imagine I can get it for Sunday night, if we need it."

"Go ahead and make that reservation." I said. "As for right now, I need some sleep."

"Me, too." Teresa said.

"Me, three." said Griswold. "I'm getting old, and that wasn't my own bed I was tossing and turning in last night." No one present was fooled; we knew Our Sheriff had been worrying about us young whippersnappers all night.

"I want to play the disc golf course." said Cindy. "Anyone care to join me?" she asked, looking right at Tim.

"If you have an extra disc, I'll play with you." said Tim Jenkins.

"That leaves us, Eduardo." said Jack Muscone. "Why don't we find a place to start the mountain of paperwork we're going to have." No one was fooled by that, either, but I had no idea what Muscone really wanted to do...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I went into one of the upstairs bedrooms of the rented house and lay down on the bed. I tried to do the breathing exercises and let another of those dreams come to me, but if one did, I didn't remember it.

When I opened my eyes, the shadows were pointing in a different direction, and the quality of light showed me that it was nearly sundown. I got up and did my toilet, then came down to the den room, where Teresa and the Sheriff were. There was also an abundance of Chinese takeout, of which I partook.

"Everyone else has gone back to the military installation." said Sheriff Griswold. "Jack Muscone got a phone call, and he needed to go there to obtain a secure means of communication, and they told us to drive up and join them when we were done; they'll have rooms for us."

I nodded. "Good." I said. After eating, I checked for bugs, finding none. I still used the bug-killer as we gathered in a close circle and talked in quiet voices.

"Here's the deal." I said. "Teresa, you may or may not remember some of this, and there's some stuff we've found out that you neglected to tell us."

"Like what?" Teresa asked.

"Like who your father really was." Sheriff Griswold said. As Teresa's eyes widened, he patted her shoulder and said "It's okay, we understand. But nothing gets past this man here," he pointed at me as he spoke, "and he's solved a twenty-year-old murder."

"Teresa," I said, "your sister Alexis was murdered. And you were supposed to be. I believe the man in the video that ran into her car was Kenny. His height and build are similar to Jack Muscone's half-brother, who was arrested for it. And it was upon his father's orders, to get back at your father. And it worked... your father was mentally never the same again, as you know." Teresa nodded.

"And as you know," I said, "the Clan of the Crowbar does not excuse actions that harm our family... and your family is my family; they might as well have done this to my sister and father."

Teresa was nearly in tears as I continued: "What happens tonight, will ultimately be up to you. It's your call to make. But I will say this: we will not be making arrests tonight." Both Teresa and the Sheriff nodded.

Part 11 - Ambushed

We packed our belongings and cleaned up the house; it was possible that we would not return to it, at all.

At 11:00pm, Saturday, April 11th, Sheriff Griswold took the wheel of the black Escalade. Teresa and I were in the back seat. We were all dressed in our black ninja wear, with the Clan Troy icon in barely visible dark gray outline.

We also were wearing black cloth full-head masks, with goggles on the inside, one of BOW Enterprises's more secret creations. One of the eyes could be turned on for night vision; the other for infrared detection. We also had our swords, and small packs with items we might need. And, of course, I was carrying my red crowbar.

Griswold drove without lights down Belton Hill Road. At the spot where the road dammed the lake, he stopped and let Teresa and me out. We put our masks over our heads and started out on foot towards the Belton 'mansion'.

The landscape was eerie: it was illuminated by the strong moonlight, but was drained of color, and the shadows seemed to conspire with the wind to create rustles and other noises that reminded me of the sounds of the Damned at Point Hollow.

The house was dark save for one light in the middle upstairs window. We went around the left side, where the attached garage was... and the alarm system box, which was commingled with the cable TV and telephone connections. I saw that I was able to shunt the alarm system in a way that would not set off the alarm, and I did so, thinking that it was a good thing for this world that I was not a professional criminal...

A small window to the garage was open. I peered inside, first using the night vision, then using the infrared. Then I turned to Teresa and whispered into her ear from just an inch away: ""It's empty. No motion detectors. Let's try it."

Teresa nodded and I cupped my hands for her to use as a step. I pushed her up into the window, then followed myself. My back let me know it did not like that, but the adrenaline rush I was experiencing combatted the pain.

We went to the door to the house. I tried the handle, finding the door unlocked. I slowly opened it, halfway expecting an alarm to go off at any moment. But there was no sound. We went into the kitchen, then to the stairs and up, and came to a doorway that was cracked open.

The lighted room was a den or sitting room, not unlike the upstairs sitting room at the Point Hollow house; indeed, the two abodes had similar floor plans, though the Point Hollow house was much older... and haunted. I thought to myself that after tonight, this house might become haunted, as well... well, no...

There was a fire in the large fireplace in the back of the room, which gave the room plenty of light and probably too much warmth. Sitting on a sofa halfway between the fireplace and the door through which I was looking was Harmon Belton, in a button-down shirt, slacks, and a 'smoking jacket', which looked like a housecoat.

In a chair, his back to us, was Kenny. He didn't seem to be moving. And to his left and right, facing each other, were two empty hardback chairs, like those I'd expect to find at a dining room table.

Teresa was looking through the crack at the level of my abdomen. I backed up, and pulled on her shoulder to get her to step back into the hallway, which was eerily lit by moonlight coming through the windows.

I whispered "I'll go in first. I suspect a trap. If Kenny makes a move, come in after him." Teresa nodded. I opened the door and stepped inside.

"Ahhh, the Iron Crowbar." said Harmon Belton as he looked up and saw me. Though I was masked, it was pretty obvious who the broad-shouldered 6'4" man with a red crowbar in his hand was. Kenny had turned his head to look.

"We've been expecting you." said Harmon, his voice connoting easiness... and a drunken buzz. "I thought you'd bring that little cunt with you, but that's okay. Help yourself to a drink. Have a seat, there." He meant one the two hardback chairs.

"I'm not here to drink with you." I growled, my voice connoting purpose, and menace.

"That's what I figured." said Harmon. "Boys!..."

From a concealed side door to my right, the two Deputies burst into the room, bringing their shotguns to bear on me!

To be continued.