Reunion Fever Ch. 03

This story is part of an ongoing series. The chronological order of my stories is listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

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This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racism, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

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Part 8 - Saturday Morning

6:30am, Saturday, October 2nd. Lori and Niko wanted to sleep in, which I suspect was normal for them. Laura and I went back to our room. We showered together, but there was very little fooling around; indeed, Laura decided she wanted to get some more sleep after her long, hard night. So I said I'd go to the Apple Grove Diner for an early breakfast.

I dressed 'casually' in a black pullover shirt, khaki pants, and my trenchcoat in case it began raining again. I also was wearing black slip-on sneakers with rubber soles instead of dressier shoes, taking utility and comfort over 'style'. I still looked good, I thought to myself.

The morning was overcast but not raining as I drove to the Apple Grove Diner. When I went inside, I saw Sergeant Steve Stegall and Detective Ben Watson at a table, looking tired. "Can I sit with you guys?" I asked.

"Sure." said Stegall. I sat down and the waitress brought me coffee and water, and I ordered the eggs, grits, and bacon plate.

"No Iron Crowbar Special?" asked Ben Watson with a grin. I suspected he had a wicked sense of humor, and an irreverence in the style of the TCPD's Micah Rudistan.

'It was good yesterday," I said, "but I had a big, heavy meal at Luigi's last night, so I'll keep it light today. Soooo... you guys look tired. Something keep you up all night that you're willing to tell me about?"

"Tell me, too." said a voice behind me. It was Captain Leanne Wisocky. She sat down at the fourth position at the square table.

Watson said "There was an incident at Pennington's Farm last night. Attempted stabbing of one of the couples having sex in the backseat of their car."

Seeing the look of curiosity on my face, Sergeant Stegall said "Pennington's Farm is a parking spot, like the old Taylor-Greene Farm and 'Strawberry Hill' were. The back side of the place now borders on the northwest corner of Lake Troy. There's a field next to a patch of woods that borders Apple Grove Creek, and while it's not today's most popular parking place for current Apple Grove teenagers, the alumni coming in for the Reunion went there. Apparently some of the alumni decided to go as a group and park out there."

Leanne said "I'm surprised you and your wife didn't go out there with them, Don." She was needling me. Well, I hoped she was.

I said "No, we went to Luigi's with Lori Lovlin and her manager, then went back to our Hotel. So what happened at Pennington's Farm?"

Stegall said: "One couple was having sex in the back seat of their convertible when someone in all black came out of the woods with a knife and ran up to the car. The woman of the couple in the car parked behind them saw a flash of moonlight on the knife and screamed out, giving the couple in the car time to react and defend themselves."

Stegall: "The perp ran back into the woods, and the guy in the convertible couldn't pursue, because his pants were down around his knees. Someone called 9-1-1 and Watson and I went out there. I was surprised how many people stayed around to give their statements, but they did."

"So who was attacked?" I asked.

"Craig Reynolds." said Stegall. "He and his wife Jenny are here for the ten year Reunion. He was banging her when they heard the scream. Jenny said she heard the other scream, then looked over her husband's shoulder and saw the perp coming up, and she screamed out. Craig had time to turn around, and the perp turned a fled into the woods."

Stegall: "When we got out there, we took statements, then tried to determine where the perp went into the woods. But it was pretty thick in there, and we didn't see much. We decided we'd come back at first light, but it began raining around one-thirty in the morning, so whatever was there is likely washed away. We left a patrol at the scene to watch over it and make sure no one came out of the woods and no one came up to disturb it, and we're going to go back and see if we can find anything when we finish eating. Maybe he dropped or threw away the knife."

"Who else was at the scene?" Leanne asked.

Stegall gave us the names of the others at the scene. Jeremy and Charlene Johnson, Steve and Becky Spruance, and some other couples from the 10th, 20th, and 30th Reunions, eight couples in all.

"All former football players." I said, remembering who'd gone onto the field before the game the night before. "So did you figure out what happened in the hours leading up to the attack?"

Stegall said "Some of it. I'll wind it back a little bit. Next to the Chop House is a bar, called 'Molinari's'. It's separate from the Chop House, but I understand that it's under the same ownership. It's a pretty good bar, usually doesn't get too rowdy. Last night a bunch of alumni that could get into the Chop House ate there, while others that didn't have reservations to the Chop House went to the bar. The Chop House diners then joined the others at the bar for drinks and sharing memories, I guess."

Stegall: "Craig and Jenny and another couple were at one table, having drinks. At the next table were some other football players from their Class, including Roddy Baker---"

"Ohhh, him!" exclaimed Leanne. "We have a suspect already!"

I said, "We-ellll, let's hear the full story first. Did something happen at Molinari's?"

Stegall said "Nothing like a fight or altercation, or anything like that. What did happen is that one of the guys at Roddy's table said hello to Craig, and they started talking. They took out their cellphones and were showing each other pictures of their kids, which started all of them and even some people from other tables doing the same thing."

Stegall: "Roddy and Craig aren't close; they were competitors on the football team for the quarterback position. But when Jenny was showing the pics of her kids, Roddy asked to see them. She showed him, and everyone there said Roddy reacted like he'd been punched in the face; his head literally snapped back. Jenny said that Roddy had been clearly buzzed, and was suddenly shocked sober."

I said "Was he belligerent? Loud?"

"Not according to everyone there." said Stegall. "When he looked at the pictures, he reacted, but he didn't get upset or anything. He just said they were cute kids, and was quiet for several minutes. Then he said he had to leave."

Stegall: "One of the guys at his table, Kitzi Taylor's ex-husband Steve Greene, went with Roddy; Roddy had been drinking a lot and was not fit to drive, so Steve either drove him home or made sure he got an Uber. After that, some of the other people, especially the couples, started talking about parking, and decided on a 'road trip' to Pennington's Farm."

"So Roddy didn't go with that group?" said Leanne. When Stegall shook his head, she said "He's absolutely the first guy we need to interview about this. I want to know when he got home, what he did when he got home, the whole nine yards. Talk to his wife Lisa, and get a statement from Steve Greene, also."

I said "Let me ask this: have y'all had past incidents of attacks on people parking and necking? Or even things like pranks that weren't really harmful?"

"Nothing serious." Leanne said. "The only thing that comes to my mind right now was a while back... in fact, come to think of it, it was when the 10-year Reunion Class were Seniors. We had sightings of someone we called the Ghost. There's a patch of woods on the road north towards Springer, and a curve in the road there. People began reporting a floating, glowing sheet coming out of the woods towards the road as people came around the curve."

Leanne: "And then a truck full of high school boys went down the road. When the Ghost showed up, they stopped the truck and came out firing shotguns and pistols at it. The sheet dropped to the ground. My partner at the time and I came up in our patrol car and pulled the boys over. Roddy Baker was driving, and that was his first DUI; all the boys were liquored up."

Leanne: "We recovered the sheet. It had been soaked in some kind of glow-in-the-dark liquid, and there were some shotgun shell holes in it. We didn't find any blood anywhere, much less a wounded or dead human, so whoever was wearing it was lucky as hell he didn't get killed. We never figured out who it was, and the Ghost never appeared again."

Sergeant Stegall said "And about two and a half years ago, we had the Slender Man sightings."

"The what?" I gasped.

Misinterpreting my surprise, Sergeant Stegall said "Have you ever heard of the Slender Man? He was popular on the Internet several years ago. Very tall, thin, wears a suit and tie and no facial features, or wearing a solid white mask."

"I've heard of the legend, yes." I said. And yes, that was the mother of all understatements on my part. (Author's note: 'Slender Man'; 'Return of the Slender Man'.)

"Well," Stegall said, "we began getting reports of Slender Man sightings, and in the same area where Captain Wisocky found the Ghost sheet. So we began patrolling that road hard."

Stegall: "A few weeks later, we were patrolling when we came up on a truck full of high school kids. They were stopped, and shooting at something in the woods. I looked, and I saw the Slender Man myself, just inside the woodline. He was just standing there, arms pressed to his sides, and he looked like he was eight feet tall. That was the scaredest I ever felt in my life."

"Oh, come on." Leanne said.

"I'm telling ya, ma'am, that thing was real." Stegall persisted. "And the others there saw the same thing, made sworn statements to it."

I said "The Slender Man is real. Do not doubt his existence. So what happened next?"

Stegall: "The Slender Man disappeared just as we pulled up behind the truck and turned on the blue lights. The boys surrendered peacefully and quickly, and we disarmed them and cuffed them---"

I said "Roddy Baker was not one of those guys, was he?"

Leanne said "No, and it's too bad, because that would've been his third strike and he'd be serving life in prison right now."

Stegall said "No, they were standard issue Fillmore County redneck white boys still in high school. One of the boys thought he'd hit the Slender Man, then they all said they thought they'd shot him, as he just seemed to disappear and they thought they'd dropped him. So we searched that whole area, to see if anyone was wounded or killed."

Stegall: "We called out the Fire Department and the Volunteer Fire Brigade and the EMTs, and swept the entire area. We never found a thing, not a drop of blood nor scrap of cloth nor even a footprint. And the Slender Man has not been sighted in this county again."

Leanne said "I still think it was like the Ghost, that someone was dressing up like Hallowe'en. And we never saw him again because he nearly got his Slender ass shot off." Stegall and Watson laughed. Me, not so much.

"Interesting." I said thoughtfully. "So what was the description of the perp last night?"

Detective Watson said "Relatively short but very broad shouldered, wearing all black and a full black mask, like some kind of ninja. The knife was described as a 'Rambo' knife, a large hunting knife."

After we finished eating, Leanne said "Don, want to go with me and Watson to search the Baker house? We don't need a warrant with him on parole."

"I'm out of jurisdiction, so you go ahead." I replied. "I'd appreciate it if you let me know what you find. And if you don't mind, I'd like to take a quick look at the crime scene. I'm all curious now..."

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

Leanne and Detective Watson left to pay the Baker home a visit. Deputy Tyrone Biggs had come in for breakfast, so Sergeant Stegall and I had more coffee while Biggs ate. He was still a big, athletic man, and he put away an 'Iron Crowbar Unlimited' three-egg omelette and nine pancakes in a short amount of time. As Tyrone ate, Stegall filled him in on the previous night's incident. Afterwards, I insisted on paying the bill, then we all drove over to Pennington's Farm.

The road was a two-lane dirt strip that led over a rise then downhill into the grassy field, which sloped downwards towards the lake in a southeasterly direction. Neither cattle nor horses came into this area, so there were only some tire tracks, in the area where the cars had parked. The line of woods was to our left as we faced downhill with Lake Troy in front of us. The woodline extended from the lake up to the top of the hill and over it.

Sergeant Stegall spoke to the two Officers that were in their patrol car at the top of the hill, then came up to us and said "These guys said that they didn't see anyone at all up here. No cars came in after the people parking left, and no one came in on foot."

We parked at the top of the hill and walked down towards the crime scene. Sergeant Stegall said "Those pink flags are the area we think the perp came out of the woods and ran back into the woods. The Reynolds car was parked right where the blue flag is." The flags were tiny little plastic flags that CSIs everywhere used to mark evidence or paths.

"What about the other cars?" I asked.

Stegall said: "Five of them were aligned generally side-by-side, with about ten yards between then. Three others were behind them in a second row. Not aligned perfectly, by any means."

"Not a very great distance from the woods to the Reynolds car." observed Deputy Biggs. "Craig Reynolds was lucky he didn't get that knife in his back... or up his ass." Sergeant Stegall laughed at that.

"And who was behind the Reynolds car?" I asked. "Who saw the perp come out of the woods with the knife, and screamed?"

"That would be... Jeremy and Charlene Johnson." said Stegall as he consulted his notes. "Charlene was the one that saw the perp and screamed out."

"Thanks." I said. I began walking along the grass between the flags, then I peered into the woods. It was full of trees (yeah, duh!), and by that I meant it was thickly wooded hardwoods, lots of branches intersecting, and I saw no discernible trails through the area.

"Is there a road on the other end of this clump of woods?" I asked.

Tyrone Biggs replied "Down towards the lake there's a couple of creeks flowing into the lake. No roads for a mile, at least. Back towards the top of the hill, northwest as the crow flies, there a dirt road strip that goes into the woods that hunters use for hunting deer. This is a good area for funneling deer. That path comes out on the main road near where the road the cars use to get down here comes out."

I said "What do you guys notice about this patch of woods?"

Sergeant Stegall said "It's pretty thick. It'd have been a good hiding place for the perp, hard for the Police to get him out of there. He could have hidden in there for hours."

"True." I said. "But I'm thinking more in terms of..." I paused, then said "If you were the perp, would you want to try to walk through those woods in the dead of night, and a cloudy night with no moonlight, at that?"

"I see what you're saying." said Sergeant Stegall. "I'd sure want a flashlight, or night vision binoculars or something."

I said "And no matter how carefully he treads, the perp is going to make some noise trying to walk or run in those woods. Sooo... let's carefully walk along the edge of the woodline back up the hill."

I proceeded to do so, peering at the meadow and the edge of the woods. The stampede of Police footprints ended about ten yards past where the second row of cars would've been parked. About ten more yards uphill I pointed out to the others some faint impressions in the dirt just inside the woods, which had been somewhat protected from the previous night's rain. Another faint impression near the top of the hill was the only other clue I could find.

Going over the top of the hill, I looked around. I said "I'm looking to see if a car was parked up here, or turned to the side in order to turn around and leave. Unfortunately, the ground was firm before the rain, so impressions would be faint, and then the rain washed those out. Those tracks there are from the patrol car that just left."

"So what do you think happened, Commander?" Tyrone Biggs asked.

"I don't think the perp came out of the woods." I said. "I think he drove up behind the others some time after they'd gotten here; after all, Craig and Jenny had gotten far enough along to be having intercourse, and some of the others had, too, maybe?"

Stegall nodded, and I continued: "So the perp hugged the woodline as he came down, then when he got near enough to the Reynold's car, he made for it. But not perpendicular to the woodline; he came at an angle, and close enough to the Johnson's car behind the Reynolds that Charlene Johnson saw something and screamed out."

Me: "That gave Jenny Reynolds time to look up and see the perp coming, and she screamed out. The perp then did run perpendicular to the woodline, making a beeline in the shortest distance possible to the concealment of the trees. It looked like he ran on into the woods, but in their confusion they couldn't see that he turned and went uphill, staying on the edge of the trees, and he wasn't seen."

Me: "He got to his parked car and hightailed it out of the area. And probably just in time; 9-1-1 was called, and you guys got out here pretty fast... before people had time to decide to leave."

"That makes sense." Sergeant Stegall said, almost begrudgingly. "So this is pretty serious, isn't it?"

"Looks like it." I said, worry in my voice. "And I'm making two observations, here. First, the perp knows the terrain, and apparently pretty well."

"Locals." Stegall said. I nodded vigorously in agreement.

"And maybe more." said Tyrone Biggs. "Roddy Baker is a deer hunter, and so is Steve Spruance and his family... including his brother-in-law Jeremy Johnson. They'd know this area very well."

I said "That's a point. And my second observation is that the perp knew where Craig and Jenny Reynolds were. Of course the others parked here with them knew, but getting out of their cars, attacking Craig, and getting back to their cars without being seen? That'd be a hella neat trick. No, that won't do; it has to be a loner, and not one of them. But who else knew they were coming out here? Ah, now that is something to ask around about."

*CHIME!*

It was my cellphone. I read it, then said "My wife is texting me. I've got to go. Thanks for letting me look around."

As I turned to go, I heard Tyrone say: "Lousy football player. Best Detective ever."

"Aw hell, we could've figured that out." I heard Stegall reply witheringly...

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

10:30am, Saturday, October 2nd. I went back to the Hilton Hotel. Laura, Lori Lovlin, my mother Phyllis, and old Sheriff Greenwood were setting up the ballroom for the dinner that evening. Niko was sitting at a table, talking on his cellphone.