Blue Macabre Page 10

  Chapter Ten

  Dave sat and waited in the parking lot of Pete’s, an all-night convenience stop adjacent to the freeway. As Andy pulled up they got out of their vehicles together and went in, Dave purchasing coffee and fresh doughnuts while Andy tried to find a comfortable spot on a molded plastic bench seat. Dave joined him and said, “You’ve been gone all day?”

  “Yeah, we’d just gotten back when I got your note. What’s so important?” He helped himself to a pastry.

  Dave leaned toward him and lowered his voice. “Sally Todd’s body was found today at the bottom of the Johnson Creek Bridge.”

  Andy choked, reaching for his coffee. “You gotta be shitting me.”

  “Not. She was murdered somewhere else and literally dropped off there – from the top of the bridge. A tourist was unlucky enough to find her by looking over the side of the bridge while taking pics. Not a pretty sight.”

  Andy stared out the window a few moments and then blinked several times. “The Coroner came?”

  “Yeah, but he’s holding out for the autopsy. We had to take that old logging road back in there to the abandoned construction site. Nasty, too. She was sexually abused, neck broken, and had these funny red marks all over her skin. I think the autopsy is tomorrow morning, and I’m gonna try to drop in so I can find out early what happened and not wait for the report. We didn’t find shit around the scene. The whole thing rattled my cage, let me tell you.” He toyed with a chocolate-covered doughnut. “I didn’t call you because I didn’t want to ruin your day too.”

  Andy sat dazed. “Can’t fucking believe it. I saw her nearly every day.” He scrutinized the blue laminate of the table top. “Questioned anyone?”

  “No, just some guesses from locals. We’re looking for Jim Beisner right now. He’s prime. He was in there arguing with her yesterday afternoon. Cook told me Beisner was super pissed. You know Sally, though. She could have been stringing most anyone along. It’d be great if she kept notes, or maybe a diary. No telling who or how many she was actually seeing on a regular basis. I think she’d fucked quite a few of her customers.”

  “No doubt. If it was halfway human and acted interested, she’d do it.”

  “Yeah. Oh – one other thing – one of the checkers at the grocery told me that Sally was seen in there with Chris Rawlins last night.”

  Andy straightened up in his seat. “He and Jenny and Karin and I all had dinner at Jen’s last night. We all also drank a lot, but I could have sworn he was there with us all evening. We were with him all night tonight, too – in fact we practically had to carry him home – he let his wife’s ashes go on the beach and I think it shook him up. Jen thinks he’s coming down with something now – he got a nice case of hypothermia, for sure.”

  “Well, let’s not be too hasty. I really want to go over Beisner first. Let Chris get over whatever.”

  The house was silent and dark in the early hours of the morning. Chris had been tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable. He lay on his right side, uncomfortably; tried his back and found that totally wrong. He finally compromised and settled for his left side, snuggling deep into the pillow. He faced Jenny’s computer, and soon teetered on the edge of slumber. He welcomed the feeling of coming relaxation and sleep. But just before the fall, his mind jerked him back from the precipice of sleep with the sensation of being watched. Without moving he opened his eyes and saw the screen was bright blue. Startled, he bolted upright in the bed. As he watched, the screen stated

  [survive]

  in brilliant white letters, stark against a field of azure neon. A singular, nauseous feeling adhered to the pit of his stomach. As if pulled by unseen hands he slowly crawled from beneath the covers and inched his way toward the computer desk. His eyes never left the screen. Without looking down he pulled out the desk chair and cringed as his naked skin connected with the cold seat. He watched the screen blankly; the display changed to

  [survive]Donna

  and gooseflesh covered him as a chill traversed his spine. Out of his mastery, both hands raised and placed themselves on the keyboard. Tiny rays of blue light gleamed from the cracks between the keys. Once again the foreign warmth began to invade his body. Instinctively he knew it had entered him previously, unable to remember when or how.

  Adrenalin flooded him, heart pounding, as he saw the skin of his hands grow translucent. His veins appeared to have been replaced by tiny threads of blue light. Finally able to look away from the screen, he saw with mounting terror that his hands were now bright blue, his forearms slowly becoming the same. He caught a whiff of smoke and saw the terminal smoldering from its rear vents. Stricken, he watched helplessly as a single spark crept from the desktop to the monitor along the cord. The rear of the monitor sputtered sparks and the screen went completely black. He tried to free his hands from the keyboard, but they remained stubbornly affixed. The skin on the back of his neck began to crawl as the insidious warmth flowed into his chest, down through his torso, and into his genitals. Abruptly he looked down at himself; he was swelling, faintly blue. He wrenched his hands away from the keyboard and grabbed himself, falling out of the chair to the floor in pain and fear. Writhing on the wood, his forehead banged into the iron bedpost. The pain brought him around and he managed to get up on his knees and tried to stand. Stumbling to the bed, he fell onto it, single-mindedly massaging his assaulted manhood. The swelling persisted and desire became unbearable.

  He grasped his dick. With every movement he felt charged. He masturbated wildly, roughly. With his climax he immersed himself in complete pain and pleasure. As the sensation faded he succumbed to a deep sleep.

  In his dream, Karin lay beneath him in the crystal bed. He was rising and falling within her; he pushed away the gossamer sheets that lay across her breasts and began to kiss her nipples. She moaned softly, grasping his arms and pulling him so that she could kiss his lips. He bent to her but continued his rhythm.

  She excited him. His dick grew painfully hard and he began to pound her. He saw her eyes open wide and her face contort with pain. Her lips formed a silent ‘no’. The curtains hanging from the canopy around the bed billowed with an unfelt breeze.

  Her large breasts jolted wildly with his thrusts. She struggled to free herself from him as he neared his orgasm and she cried out. As he began to pulsate, he opened his eyes – and screamed as he came.

  Donna had parted the curtains. She stood with her arm raised, her hand clutching the hideous knife. He froze as Karin wriggled out from beneath him. Donna pushed Karin away from the bed.

  He screamed again as she sprang for him.

  In the early morning he awoke, disoriented. He tried to regroup and simply lay on the bed for a few minutes, eyes shut. When he finally sat up and opened his eyes he froze as he saw the faint blue tint of the seminal fluid clinging to his belly and thighs.

  Jenny awoke soon as well. Early morning light filtered through the wooden blinds on her bedroom window. She rose and pulled on her robe. After a visit to the bathroom she went to Chris’s door and pressed her ear against it, listening for signs of life. Hearing nothing she opened it and poked her head in, finding him sleeping peacefully in a curled fetal position beneath the covers. She eased the door closed.

  With the nearly inaudible click of the doorknob Chris’s eyes flew open wide, his irises brilliant blue.

  The spring day dawned sunny and bright in Longview as in Silver Lake. Dave pulled up in front of the gray building housing the county morgue. He glanced at himself in the rear view mirror and adjusted his sunglasses. As he got out of the patrol car he looked at all the signs of new life around him – greening grass, budding flowers, flotillas of tiny insects. Locking the door of his car, he dragged his feet toward the rear entrance. He sighed as he entered the elevator and pushed the button for the basement.

  He wrinkled his nose as he passed through the deodorized corridor and pushed open the heavy steel door of the Coroner’s office. Doctor Clyde Powell greeted him. They declined s
haking hands due to the fact that Clyde was already gloved in preparation for the post mortem. He led Dave into the autopsy room; the smell was overpowering and Dave clapped his hand to his nose and mouth. He spied a nearby tissue box and reached for it. Powell had already been working, and Sally’s body was neatly laid on the stainless steel table. As the doctor removed the shroud Dave gritted his teeth. Her skin was a delicate shade of blue. Dave inched toward the table as the Coroner reached to turn on his recorder.

  “Thursday, April 9th, eight-o-seven AM, Cowlitz County Morgue, Doctor Clyde Powell, County Coroner. In attendance is Washington State Trooper Dave Jefferson. Subject of autopsy is Sally R. Todd, white Caucasian female, approximately thirty-nine years of age, exact time and date of death unknown but speculated to be April 7th, between the hours of eleven PM and three AM. Cause of death unspecified at this time but is thought to have been caused by asphyxiation, method of occurrence unknown.” He left the microphone on as he worked, beginning the outward examination of the body.

  Dave swallowed repeatedly as he watched the Coroner poke and prod, scrape and slice. He gagged as the doctor examined what was left of her genitals. He signaled with hand motions for Clyde to turn off the mike. “I know about the rape and strangulation, obviously. What I really was interested in knowing is what those marks, or blisters, were all over her torso.” He swallowed in rapid succession, several times.

  The doc pursed his lips and scrutinized a few of the whelps. “I really can’t say for sure at this point. If I were a betting man I’d say they resemble little burns of some kind – maybe from an electrical source – but I can’t be sure. Besides, that wouldn’t make much sense, would it?”

  “I wouldn’t think so. How would she have gotten burned with electricity while someone was raping her? I guess anything’s possible, though. Some people are into some pretty sick stuff.” He averted his gaze to the ceiling as Clyde sliced one of the blisters from the corpse and placed it on a glass slide.

  Powell looked over the top of his glasses. “I really won’t have any answers for a while on this. Why don’t you go on back to work before you lose your breakfast? This one’s just too close to you.”

  Dave sighed. “Thanks. I’m just anxious to get a few new ideas – let me know when you get something, okay?” He backed out the door as the doc reached for his circular saw.

  Sunshine sparkled across the lake as Jenny sat at her table among breakfast remnants. As she watched the water she absently chewed a crust of toast. She rose to get a second cup of coffee and another slice. She’d just sat back down when someone knocked on the kitchen door.

  Expecting Andy, her ready smile faded slightly when she saw Delbert James waiting on the doorstep. “Mornin’, Jenny,” he said as he twisted his worn ball cap over and around between his hands. “I hope I’m not comin’ too early – I had some time and was wonderin’ if I could check out them appliances.”

  “Not at all,” she smiled as she reclaimed her composure. “Coffee?”

  “Oh – thanks, but no. Doc Harper says I’m drinkin’ too much of the stuff. I had a checkup jes’ yesterday – he says I got to start watchin’ the old ticker, ‘specially with the excitement of my retirement getting’ so close and all.” He grinned, and she waited for him to continue. “I checked your meter as I came up. Seems to be NOS.”

  “NOS?”

  “Oh – normal operative speed. It’s the way I describe a meter that’s runnin’ like it oughta. If I were you, though, I’d look into them baseboard heaters and that water tank. You just never know about them crazy things.” He leaned toward her and winked knowingly.

  The sudden appearance of Chris interrupted their conversation. He wandered into the kitchen, hair in disarray, dressed only in sweatpants. As he headed for the coffee maker, oblivious to their presence, Jenny remarked, “Glad to see you’re up and around this morning.”

  He turned to her voice and was startled to see her with a stranger. Who the fuck are you? In a low voice he said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize we had company.” He excused himself and went back to his room, added a tee shirt and moccasins, rifled his hair to even it out, and returned.

  His sister introduced the intruder. “Delbert, this is my brother Chris Rawlins. He’s come to stay with me for a while. Chris, this is Delbert James, our local rep from the Cowlitz County PUD.”

  Chris offered his hand. “Glad to meet you, Delbert. What brings you out our way?” He squinted as rays of sunshine reflected off the water, producing a glare on the table.

  “Actually, I just came out to see if I could help Jenny figure out what’s wrong with her electricity.”

  A white spark winked on and off in Chris’s vision. He blinked a couple of times and then looked at his sister. “What’s this all about?”

  The odd tone of his voice caught her off guard, and she looked at him sideways in surprise. “I guess that with everything else that went on yesterday I forgot to tell you. Delbert brought me my electric bill before we went off to the beach. He was concerned because it took not just a jump, but an absolute leap.” She hopped up and went to the disorganized spot on her kitchen counter where she stuffed bills and pending items. Rifling through the stack, she selected the paper in question and handed it to Chris. She sat back down and toyed with a strand of hair, watching his face.

  He turned his gaze back to Delbert. “Are you sure this is right?”

  “Yessir, Mr. Rawlins, I checked and double-checked. I told Jenny here yesterday mornin’ that I thought maybe you might have an old appliance or somethin’ around here on its way out, and might be pullin’ a lot of juice. That’s why I stopped by this mornin’, to check things out for her.” He fidgeted with his hat.

  A frown creased Chris’s forehead. He looked at the bill in his hand, then his sister, then Delbert, and finally smiled. Jenny let go the breath she’d been holding. “Well, that was very thoughtful of you. Maybe I can help? Naturally we are very grateful for your assistance.” As he laid the bill on the table, he looked at his sister. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of that for you.” She shifted her weight in her chair as Rebecca appeared and brushed against her legs. The cat sat at Jenny’s feet, tail curled around her paws.

  “Where shall we begin?”

  Delbert cleared his throat. “Well, if it’s okay with you then we might as well start in the kitchen. Say, I’m not keepin’ you from breakfast, am I?”

  Chris’s eyes narrowed, imperceptibly. “Not at all. No problem.” He rose from his chair. “After you.”

  Delbert unstrapped his voltage meter from its carrying case. He first tested the electric range and then progressed in an orderly manner through the microwave, refrigerator, freezer, and dishwasher. Nothing out of the ordinary presented itself as Chris shadowed him. When they’d finished in the kitchen, they gravitated to the living room to examine its two large baseboard heaters. “Maybe it’s one of these babies,” Delbert suggested hopefully. “They always pull a lot of power.”

  He removed the cover of one electrical housing, but it was soon apparent that there was nothing wrong as he shook his head and closed it up. Chris leaned against the top of the recliner. “No dark secrets?”

  Shaking his head, Delbert raised his eyebrows. “No, nuthin’ here.”

  “Well, let’s test the washer and dryer and the water heater,” Chris offered as he steered the older man away.

  The utility worker spent several careful minutes on the water heater. The washer and dryer had checked out. Chris watched as Delbert stood and put his voltage meter back in its case. “There doesn’t seem to be anythin’ wrong with any of it,” he said quietly. “I still think somethin’s hidin’ somewhere, though.”

  Chris ushered him back to the living room, where Jenny was curled up on the couch working on a sweater she was knitting. Rebecca had nestled next to her. The cat raised her head and stared at Chris as Jenny said “Find anything?”

  Chris flopped into the recliner, as Delbert shook his head. “I can’t find
nothin’ wrong. I do still think your bet bet’s that old water heater – it did look sorta rusty around the edges. There’s not anything else I mighta missed?”

  “The only other appliance I have, if you want to call it that, is my old computer.”

  Zap! A tiny group of white flashes caused Chris to shut his eyes tightly and then rub them with his fingertips. “Do you really think it’s necessary? You keep it turned off all the time and you haven’t even used it lately.” He drummed the fingers of his left hand on the arm of the chair. The cat studied him, her eyes unblinking.

  “I know that, but as long as he’s here, he might as well check it.”

  A gnawing feeling fluttered in Chris’s stomach. He fought the queasiness as he rose from the chair. “I’ll show him where it is.” Rebecca closed her eyes and tucked her head next to Jenny’s thigh.

  Delbert saw nothing unusual in the well-used computer and its components. As he reached for the desktop and scooted it forward, he accidentally knocked over the wedding photograph and frame. It fell to the floor and Chris was instantly smitten with a dreadful itchy sensation beneath his scalp. He grabbed his hair with both hands and massaged the skin for relief. He picked up the frame and scowled as Delbert did his tests; the itchy sensation abated only when the computer was returned to its accustomed niche. He held the photo in his hand without looking at it.