Friday, November 4th, 12 p.m.
The handmade wooden stool Michelle found herself sitting on was going to bruise her tailbone, she was sure of it. A bed of nails would've been comfier. She and Ron had been sitting at the dimly lit bar of O'Connell's, the local pub, for well over an hour with nothing to show for it.
The patrons consisted of Ron and herself, a white haired drunk that had been in a state of near coma since they'd walked in, the owner of the bar, and a basset hound lying by the jukebox Its droopy face sagged to floor. If Michelle had to watch Pat O'Connell clean one more spotless glass, there was going to be another killer on the loose.
The slow, plodding pace that seemed to be Lancet Falls' normal rhythm was driving Michelle crazy. Ever since she could remember, Michelle thrived on always being on the go, and being forced to wait was giving her stress ulcers.
Perry better come back with something good.
◈
At Jordan's house, Michelle made two phone calls. The first call she made was to Ron to tell him to wake his ass up and have some coffee ready for her. The second call was to Officer Durant.
She hadn't consciously noticed it in her mad dash out of the drive-in, but as the adrenaline wore off, something unusual stuck out in the field kitty corner to the theater. Forlorn wooden posts dotted the boundary between Jordan's house and the field separating it from the drive-in.
Michelle could never claim to be a country girl, but it seemed fishy for somebody to plant random wooden stakes into the ground for no good reason. It was as if something used to be connecting them.
Like barbed wire.
Michelle informed the officer of her observation in exchange for first shot at a scoop if anything came of it. Off-handedly, she added that she flipped her van in the middle of the night. He tried to press her for details, but she shrugged off his advances and promised to catch him up to speed at O'Connell's when all was said and done. She hung up the phone and sighed, unable to vocalize her suspicions quite yet.
The sound of screeching metal as Michelle ripped it from the top of the van still haunted her mind. Someone that could do that to a car, could just as easily tear apart a human body and sew it back together with barbed wire. Something deeper was occurring in Lancet Falls, something darker, beyond the scope of human understanding. The tingle in her spine was going crazy; this was going to be one hell of a story.
The little girl supplied Michelle with a worn-down bike, so that she could make the ride back into town. Michelle tried to protest; the last thing she wanted to do was take some kid's bike. Jordan insisted saying that she really didn't mind, it wasn't her bike anyways. Somebody had just left it on her yard one day.
Michelle started her trek back into town, whatever energy or power that had been coursing through her had long since departed. The cold was her constant companion, but Michelle had only a passing awareness for it. In some recess of her mind, she knew heat was being leached from her body at a dangerous pace, but Michelle's main focus was on the puzzle of Lancet Falls. There wasn't a problem that Michelle couldn't face head on and beat into submission, and this wasn't going to be any different. Afterwards, she would finally be able to get a good night's sleep.
A faded red and blue sign that stood emblazoned on the horizon like a worn out American flag signaled her journey was almost at its end. The Motel Six. Michelle's sigh of relief plumed into the cool, morning air. Although Ron's lackadaisical nature differed from Michelle's unwavering drive, the two had become an inseparable pair. Michelle had grown accustomed to sharing her triumphs and failures with the main, and somehow it felt wrong that he hadn't been there with her this morning.
Michelle rapped on the door to their room and noted she'd lost all sensation in her hand. At some point in her journey, her body had started shivering again, and Michelle found the effort of standing up to be exhausting. She knocked on the door again this time with more force. At times like this, Ron's complete lack of urgency was infuriating.
"Hold your horses out there, life's not a sprint, it's a nature hike," Ron called from within.
Michelle tried to muster up a scalding retort, but didn't have the energy. The door swung open and the scarecrow that was Ron Bender towered over her brandishing a ceramic mug with steam drifting up into the air. His eyes widened at the state Michelle was in.
"Jesus Jumping Christ, I thought Lindsey Lohan looks bad, but she's got nothing on you Meesh."
Michelle pushed past him and snatched the coffee from his hand. She started up a scalding bath as she downed her coffee in a matter of moments. The bitter, burnt liquid ran down her throat. She could feel its path down her esophagus and into her stomach, and nothing in life felt that good.
She turned to Ron, "Someone who looks like a body double for The Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz has no room to talk."
"There's that belligerent reporter we all know and love," he replied, "Now I believe I speak for everyone when I say, what in the world happened to you last night?"
Michelle debated on whether or not to keep the explicit details from her friend. Cade's body had really shaken him up, and Michelle worried that tales of super strength and earth rumbling monsters would just make things worse.
Ron was born a trust fund baby to parents that made damn sure he saw as little of the real world as humanly possible, to the extent he'd been homeschooled his entire life. Nature documentaries were his only escape, and he leapt at the first chance to escape and enjoy life to its fullest extent. He'd chosen to be a photographer for a half-rate news website, to eventually gain enough recognition where he could go cool places and take pictures of things only a select few had ever seen.
While it had been admirable of him to escape from under the tyranny of his parents, Ron Bender was fragile and naive in a lot of ways. Michelle loved him like a baby brother that she had to shield from the harsher realities of life, but this time, she wasn't sure that she'd be doing him any favors. Under Michelle's umbrella of protection, Ron would never have the opportunity to grow.
In a snap decision, She decided to tell him everything without holding back any punches, and he could decide for himself if he was ready to throw in the towel with no hard feelings. As Michelle's story progressed, Ron's face ran through the full spectrum of emotion before settling on wide-eyed wonder. Michelle should've known, his steady diet of farcical science fiction novels and the X-Files made Ron more receptive to the more fantastical qualities of life and giving him something to latch onto was just what the man needed, a distraction from the horrors of the previous day.
"You're just a bloodhound for trouble aren't you?" He asked with a smile, the first genuine smile since they'd seen the body.
Michelle winked at the photographer, "You say trouble, I say excitement."
"You're going to try to turn this into a story aren't you?" He asked.
"Is the Pope Catholic?" Michelle responded with a devilish smile, "I'll be sure to leave out all the supernatural bits."
He shook his head unable to hide his grin, "I had a feeling that the most horrific first degree murder in Idaho's history wouldn't be enough to keep you down."
Michelle cringed at the thought of Cade Jahn's mutilated body accompanied by the naked, eyeless boy she saw whenever she closed her eyes. Michelle's psyche always painted the boy's chest with a purple bruise the shade of a rotted plum, but now it pulsed with a sickly violet light; the same violet light she'd imagined before she'd flipped the van. Michelle didn't believe in coincidences.
The dual principles of intuition and action had always been guiding forces in Michelle's life, and she didn't make a habit of ignoring what her mind tried to tell her. Michelle didn't have the foggiest idea how she knew it, but she knew with unwavering certainty that the violet light and Jordan were linked to the death of Cade Jahns in some way. After they rendezvoused with Perry, Michelle knew they'd need to go back to that drive-in. It was the key to everything, and with it, Michelle would be able to put the visions of Cade Jahns to rest.
She felt a twinge of guilt for capitalizing on the death of another human, but she quickly buried it deep down.
Guilt is never useful.
Ron and Michelle exchanged quips in order to keep her mind off the searing pain of warmth seeping back into her bones. When cold gets its grip, it holds on like grim death. Its passing is marked by an excruciating pain as its dragged out of the body kicking and screaming.
A full thirty minutes passed before Michelle felt like herself again. No trace of the mornings misadventures stuck around. As far as her body was concerned, Michelle was good as new. She wish it was that easy for her soul. Lancet Falls had left its own set of scars on Michelle underneath the surface, but she knew they would fade into distant memory once she solved the case.
The rest of the morning passed by without event. Neither she nor Ron felt like dwelling on the heavier topics of life; small talk would suit them just fine. The pair bundled up and hopped on the bike Jordan had given her. Ron pedaled them all the way to O'Connell's without complaint, but Michelle didn't enjoy cramming two full grown adults onto a bike that barely carried one. Michelle prayed that Lancet Falls had some sort of rental car service, she had a sneaking suspicion the news van was done for good.
Ten minutes of Ron huffing and puffing brought them to the town's only drinking hole. She and Ron took refuge from the cold at 10:30, and waited for Officer Durant to deliver some good news.
◈
When Perry walked through the door, Michelle didn't know whether or not she wanted to strangle him or hug him. On the one hand, what had taken him so damn long? On the other, the sight of the officer was a relief. His smile offered a confidence and warmth that extended past the physical into her core. Perry Durant was a good man, and good men were as scarce as rain in the Sahara Desert as far as Michelle was concerned.
Michelle decided to do neither, and cut to the chase.
"Officer Durant, tell me you have some good news."
"Nice to see you too Ms. Kim. You too Mr. Bender," he said with a smirk, "Good news? Depends on what you call good news."
"Anything I can spin into a story," she replied while Ron said, "You can call me Ron," over the top of her.
She cast Ron a withering glare.
"Sorry Meesh," he said, "Do your thing. I'm just the lowly picture monkey."
Perry cleared his throat to get their attention, "I'll just tell you what I saw, and I'll let the two of you decide what to make of it. I went to check out that supposed that car crash of yours. First thing I wanted to do was get a hulking piece of metal off the road, but someone or something already beat me to it. I say something, because of the massive hole on the side of the road. We've got a bit of a rockchuck problem out here, and if I didn't know any better, I'd swear it was one of their tunnels, but jumbo sized. Either way, your van is a goner. Thanks for the tip on the barbed wire. Sure enough, all the fencing out there got picked clean by someone, but that's all we got so far."
"Did you at least ask the neighbors?" Michelle asked, her tone thick with condescension.
Perry chuckled and playfully hit himself on the forehead with the palm of his hand, "Gee I wish I woulda thought of that. I better go on back there."
"Alright, alright, I get your point. I'll butt out and let you finish."
"Brains and beauty, you got the whole package," he said, the word beauty made her involuntarily blush, "Yeah, I asked the neighbors. The only house within a mile of that place is that lone duplex. One side is just a mother and her daughter that just moved in, and something tells me murder isn't their forte."
"What about the other house?" Michelle asked. The tingling in her spine had been a steady thrumming all morning, but now it was buzzing angrily.
"The other side is a fella named Paul Neiman, I would've liked him for it. I could see him killing somebody in cold blood without so much as batting an eye, but he's even less likely than the mother, daughter killers," said Perry shaking his head.
"No, that's not possible, anybody can be a killer," Michelle insisted, "You wouldn't believe what some people are capable of."
Even the ones you love.
"I should've been more clear. Even if Cade Jahns was pissing on his face while slaughtering the man's family. Ol' Paul couldn't do a damn thing about it," Perry replied.
"Will we be getting to a point sometime soon, or am I good to go to the bathroom?" Michelle asked impatiently.
"The guy's paralyzed Michelle, and if he isn't the most unpleasant cripple on God's Green Earth, I'll turn in my gun and badge. I swear the guy's arrogant smile was saying 'Just do something buddy and see what happens. You're not going to pick on a fat, cripple are ya?' I wanted to arrest him right then and there disability aside, but anything I tried to pin on him wouldn't stick, and the guy knew it. We're back to square one," Perry clenched his fist so tightly Michelle could hear his knuckles pop.
No, I refuse to believe this is a coincidence. The blackened patch of Earth I found Jordan in, my super strength. That drive-in changes people, and the fact that Paul lives so close is no exception.
"He's our guy Perry, don't ask me how I know. I just do," Michelle said not realizing until after the fact she'd used the officer's first name. It scared her how comfortable he made her feel.
Comfort leads to complacency, and complacency leads to death.
At that moment, the doors of the pub flew open. A man flanked by a tiny woman with purple hair and a miniature schnauzer strode into the pub. The man was of average height and intermediate build. Judging by his clothes, he used to be much skinnier, but now muscle corded bulged underneath his clothes stretching them too tight. Shoulder length, sandy blonde hair that looked to have been grown out from neglect rather than any conscious style choice framed a prematurely aged face with prominent frown lines. The man might have been good looking in other circumstances, but it looked like he disregarded even the most basic tenants of personal care.
"Which one of you stole my bike?" He asked pointing towards the bar.
"Who is this guy Perry?" Michelle asked.
"His name's Vergil Wilson, he was the town's homeless millionaire up until recently," Perry replied, "Now he's just a millionaire."
"Homeless millionaire? Why isn't anyone covering that story?" Ron chimed in.
"Are you going to just sit there and ignore me or answer my question?" Vergil asked advancing on them.
In the lull, Vergil looked at the dog on his left as if he were looking for guidance. He turned back to the three of them with an Aww Shucks smile on his face. The smile looked unnatural on his face, but it was a marked improvement from before.
"I may owe you an apology. I just remembered I lost my bike a month ago at the Nueva Vista. Actually, I should be thanking you for finding it," he said extending his hand, "Vergil Wilson."
Michelle's mind perked up at the mention of the drive-in, but she tried not to let it show.
"Michelle Kim, reporter for The Chronicle," she replied taking his hand.
At the touch, Vergil's eyes seemed to widen, as if he'd just figured something out. The rest of the crew exchanged greetings. Apparently, the girl with the pixie cut was named Lisa Baker and was currently a med student at UC Davis.
Why isn't she still in school?
The two newcomers felt it prudent to introduce the dog as well. Apparently its name was Albert. The dog sat on its haunches and watched the proceedings with a studious expression. If Michelle didn't know any better, she would've thought the dog was sizing them up.
After they'd finished exchanging pleasantries, Lisa turned to Perry, "Oh Perry, we're lucky we ran into you. Do you know how we can get in touch with Rachel? She wasn't at the house."
"Did you check the library? She's been volunteering over there when she feels up to it. It keeps her mind off things," he said. His tone sounded conversational, but his brow was furrowed in confusion or worry; Michelle couldn't tell which.
"Yeah, we swung by the library. Your mom told us we might find her there, but Ms. Higley said she hadn't seen her at all today."
"That's not like her. Tell you what, I've got some business that needs taken care of right now, but hows about I give her a call and tell her you're looking for her?" Perry asked.
Lisa looked like she knew something was off, but didn't push, "Yeah that works. Tell her she can find us over at the Wilson Manor."
"I'll be sure to do that."
At the conclusion of the conversation, an awkward silence hung over the air. Both sides seemed to have things they wanted to say but couldn't. They all sat there waiting for someone to clear the air. Vergil broke the standstill by turning on his heels and walking towards the door, "Thanks again for finding my bike."
For some reason she couldn't quite quantify, Michelle called after him, "Mr. Wilson! Before you go, do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?"
I don't know how, but he is another piece of the puzzle in all of this.
"Rain check!" He called back to her without turning around, "I'm off to save the world."
The dog trotted after him, and Michelle could've sworn it was shaking its head as it left. Lisa offered them a quick apology before exiting the pub, "Sorry, Vergil is a little out of touch interacting with people."
"Homeless millionaire?" Ron asked after they left.
"Long story short, his mom died a few years back, left her fortune and mansion to him. Far as I know, he hasn't spent a dime of it though. Instead, he used to work at the old drive-in before it shut down. Folks around here feel sorry for the kid. He's harmless, so we just let him do his thing and help out when we can. He's stubborn as a mule though. If he cottons to the fact people feel sorry for him, he clams up, " Perry said. The officer looked like he was done talking, but he responded to something he'd seen in Michelle's eyes, "Don't push the kid too hard Michelle, he's fragile."
"I wouldn't dream of it Officer Durant," she replied with mock innocence, "I just want to ask him a few questions about that old drive-in. Research for a back up story."
Perry's eyebrows raised at that statement, but he didn't take the bait, "Listen, I'm going to have to meet back up with you guys in a bit. I gotta go check up on my sister. Her illness has been getting worse lately. If she's not home or at the library, she's at the hospital, and if she hasn't told me, it must be pretty bad. Sit tight until I get back."
"10-4 Officer, we'll hang tight and wait for orders sir," Michelle replied with a mock salute.
"I mean it. Don't go off doing anything reckless," he said with a force that Michelle hadn't known he possessed. She loved it.
"I wouldn't dream of it Officer. Besides, where would I go anyways? I don't have a mode of transportation."
Perry seemed satisfied with that answer and turned to Ron, "Keep her out of trouble."
The officer departed the bar, and Michelle didn't like to watch him leave.
"Shot of tequila," Michelle told the bartender.
"We're not staying out of trouble are we?" Ron asked.
"Of course not," Michelle replied, "We're going to go check out that tunnel."
"So why do you need tequila?"
"Liquid courage."
"Bartender, make that two shots of tequila," Ron groaned.
Hey Everyone! It's me again. I just finished editing this one of Christmas Day. It was a nice reminder for how dedicated I am. Thank you guys for all the motivation!
So, I'm happy Michelle is starting to put things together. I'm excited for you guys to see where she goes with it. It's really fun for me to write such a smart and driven character. Ron turned out to be a lot more special to me as well.
Hey guys, now is the time to click that little star that makes me smile! XD
Finally, what did you guys think about all the character interactions? What about Vergil's reaction to shaking Michelle's hand? Any theories on what is going on with Perry's sister?