Dark Corner (42 page)

Medical emergency, she thought, with a pang of anxiety.
She didn't like leaving him alone in the house.

"We gonna stay at this meeting one hour, and that's it,"
Emma said to Lillie, coming outside. "I got to get back, I got
things to do ""

"Where's Blood?" Lillie said. "He needs to come, too"

"Aww, he's got a hangover and he's sleeping it off"

"Hmph, I ain't surprised," Lillie said. Emma let her snide
remark pass. Blood's condition was none of her sister's business. Lillie ran her mouth too damn much.

Now she sat beside Lillie in the church (where she hadn't
been since Mama had died, eight years ago), as Chief Jackson
explained what was happening. A virus, passed by a bite
from a dog, or a person. Now that was some upsetting shit.
Emma couldn't stop thinking about Blood.

"... we gonna set up a special area in the hospital, to
keep all the folks that's been bit," the chief said. "Kinda like
a quarantine. We need to put 'em there so we can keep an
eye on them, make sure they're getting the care they need,
make sure the infection don't spread, too. So if anybody's in
your house who's been bit, we want you to fill out the sheet
that we're passing 'round. And if your neighbor or friend's
been bit, we wanna know that, too. Doc Green's crew is
gonna come pick them up and take them to the hospital . . ."

A paper attached to a clipboard was thrust in front of
Emma. At least a half-dozen names were scribbled on the
list. They were all people that she knew. Damn.

But Blood didn't want to stay in a hospital, and she wasn't
going to make him. Hell, how did she know what was really
going on? They might be planning to operate on them folks
that got taken into quarantine, or they might pump some kinda drugs into them. It could be the government running
biological weapons experiments or some shit. She didn't
trust these people. She'd keep Blood at home and take care
of him herself.

Pressing her lips together, she passed the clipboard to
Lillie.

Nia had not seen her mother enter the church. It was not
like Mama to be late, and Mama would never miss something as important as this meeting, if for no other reason
than it would give her some fresh gossip to spread to her
friends.

"I'm going to go outside and call Mama," she whispered
to David. "She still isn't here"

"Are you sure?" he said. "There's a couple hundred people in here, she could've slipped in when you weren't looking"

"I'm positive. I'll be right back."

At the pulpit, Dr. Green had come to stand beside Chief
Jackson and was delivering his jargon-filled theory of the
"virus" He sounded so convincing and knowledgeable that
Nia would have believed him herself if she had not seen the
vampires with her own eyes.

In the lobby, Nia used her cell phone to call her house.
The phone rang five times, then the answering machine
picked up. Nia ended the call, and tried again. Still no answer.

She looked through the lobby's glass doors and at the
parking lot, which was full of cars. She did not see her
mother's green Chrysler.

Maybe Mama was on her way. But the church was only
three minutes away from the house. Mama could've left
home and arrived there in the time that Nia had been standing in the lobby. There was never any traffic to speak of in
Mason's Corner-unless it was a funeral procession.

Her gut spasmed.

As she debated her next move, David pushed through the
wooden sanctuary doors.

"Is everything okay?" he said.

"Mama's not answering the phone. I'm worried."

"You want to swing by the house to check?"

"Yes, but you can't leave, David. Jackson needs you here.
Remember our plan."

"Yeah" David bit his lip.

"It's daylight," she said. "I'll be okay. I'll have my cell,
and you're wearing yours, too. I'll call you if anything happens"

`Be careful." He handed her the keys to the Pathfinder.

"I'll hurry back, promise."

She kissed him quickly, then rushed outside.

Jahlil and Poke sat in a pew at the back of the church.
Jahlil had thought he would be bored by hearing his dad and
the other people discuss what was happening, but he was on
the tip of his seat, listening.

He had never seen Dad address a group of people this
large. Dad spoke with authority, in a no bullshit tone, and
people paid attention.

Before today, Jahlil had been quick to downplay his dad's
job. He was a police chief in a tiny town where nothing ever
happened. So what? Anyone could've done his job. Or so
he'd thought. To see Dad up there, leading these people-it
made something kick inside Jahlil. A long-forgotten piece of
him stirred. It was something like admiration-awe, evenof his dad. He remembered a time, as a young kid, when he
used to think Dad was the most amazing man in the world,
stronger than any superhero, smarter than any scientist. Can
you lift a car, Dad? Jahlil had asked him once, and Dad had
said, Reckon I could, son, if doing it meant saving you and
your mother

Jahlil's eyes grew watery. He quickly rubbed them dry.
But Poke didn't notice. The boy was sucking his thumb. He
had been sucking his thumb like a lollipop since T-Bone had
vanished last night.

"Like Doc Green said," Dad said, "we've been on the line
with some top people in Memphis; they're sending a crew of
experts our way soon. Meantime, we've got to handle things
properly. After we open up for some questions, we're gonna
ask for volunteers for our citizen patrol teams. Got to have
able-bodied men and women to help us here .. ."

After Chief Jackson finished explaining that they would
be soliciting volunteers for the citizen patrol teams the
teams David would command-at the end of the meeting,
the mayor, Cleotis Davis, came forward. He spoke briefly
about the townspeople pulling together to help one another
out, and how "we're all one big family," and tossed in a couple other newsworthy sound bites. The county sheriff, Johnny
Chaser, talked a minute about how he'd use the county's resources to help them out. Then Reverend Brown arrived at
the pulpit and talked about what God might have planned for
Mason's Corner, and how in times of distress, one could
reach a profound understanding of God's grace, and so on
and so forth.

David tapped his leg. It was already a quarter after five,
and they had a lot of work ahead of them. This meeting was
supposed to be as focused and brief as possible and last no
longer than an hour, but it was nearing the hour-long point
and they had not opened the floor for questions yet, which
David anticipated would be the lengthiest part of the discussion.

And where was Nia? She had left almost fifteen minutes
ago, and had not called him. He hadn't liked letting her leave
alone-he felt that they were at risk at all hours of the day,
not only at night-but she had been determined. Besides, she was right. The chief needed him there to round up the
citizen patrol teams.

He blew out a tight breath. He would wait a few more
minutes, then call Nia if she did not contact him.

At the pulpit, the reverend concluded his speech, and
Jackson came forward again.

"All right, now," Jackson said. "We're ready to take questions. We've got some microphones at the end of the aisles,
all 'round the church, so please step to the mic when you talk
so everyone can hear you .. ."

The afternoon sky was gunmetal gray as Nia zoomed
down Main Street.

Please, let Mama be all right, she prayed.

She practically stood on the brake as she screeched to a
stop in front of her house.

Her mother's Chrysler was parked in its usual place under
the carport. But an unfamiliar car was parked behind it: a
blue Ford Thunderbird with Texas plates.

Mr. Morgan. Her former teacher colleague. Her stalker.

It couldn't be him.

But he'd called her a couple of days ago, hadn't he? And
her number was unlisted.

Somehow, he'd shattered her shell of security.

Don't freak out, it could be someone else, and Mama
could've been outdoors and not heard the phone ring...

Nia carried her own gun, a Beretta .32, in her purse. She
unzipped her purse, for quick access.

As she walked down the path to the front door, she expected to see her dog, Princess, appear in the window and
start barking excitedly. But the curtains remained still.
Perhaps the dog was asleep.

Nia inserted her key in the lock of the front door, turned
it. She slid her hand inside the bag, curled her fingers around the cool gun handle. With her other hand, she twisted the
doorknob and nudged the door. It creaked open.

Mama was in the living room. She was bound to a dining
room chair with several lengths of duct tape. Tape covered
her mouth, too. A purple-black bruise marked her eye, and
her hair was in disarray.

Mr. Morgan reclined on the sofa. He looked much like he
had when she had last seen him. Tall, lean, brown-skinned,
with intense eyes. The only difference was that he had grown
a thick beard.

A large, sharp knife rested beside his leg.

"It's about time that you came home," Mr. Morgan said.
"I've been here chatting with my future mother-in-law for a
while and wondered when you would decide to show your
pretty face, Miss James"

Nia's throat was dry. She could not summon sufficient
saliva to speak.

Mama's eyes were wild, and she was trying to talk, but
the tape held back her frantic words.

Mr. Morgan smiled. "You're looking mighty fine, Miss
James. Sure were worth the drive from Houston" He patted
the seat cushion. "Come sit over here, so we can get reacquainted."

Nia did not move. She finally said, "You hurt Mama"

Mr. Morgan picked up the knife. "I told you to come sit
over here, Miss James. You know I don't like to repeat myself. Don't act like one of my hard-headed students"

The Nia whom Mr. Morgan had known prior to his incarceration would have lowered her head in defeat, and shuffled
to sit beside him while desperately trying to connive a way
out of her bind. But that Nia was gone. The events of the past
several days had turned her nerves to iron.

She drew the gun and gripped it with both hands, as she
had learned.

"Put down the knife, asshole," she said.

Morgan's mouth dropped open like a trap door. The blade
slipped out of his hand.

Behind the tape, Mama sounded like she was squealing in
shock.

"You won't ... you won't shoot me," Morgan said, his
voice shaky. Then, more confidently: "I know you don't have
what it takes to look in my eyes and pull the trigger."

"Don't test me" Nia's finger tightened on the trigger.
"You don't know what I've been dealing with lately. I
promise you-I will shoot you"

Morgan's hand fidgeted near the knife, but he did not pick
it up. He appeared uncertain, cocky machismo wavering.

"Get on the floor, on your knees," Nia said. "Put your
hands in the air."

Instead of kneeling, as she ordered, he stood, hands
raised.

"I'm going to leave, Miss James," he said. "We're going
to resume this discussion later. Unless you prefer to kill me
in cold blood." He smirked.

She itched to shoot him, she really did. But as Morgan
walked past her and toward the door, keeping a distance of
several feet between them, she did not fire. She ground her
teeth.

Morgan pushed through the door and went outside.

Nia lowered the gun.

Outside, Morgan backed his car out of the driveway and
roared down the road.

Nia locked the door, stuffed the gun in her purse, and
went to Mama.

"Oh, Mama, I'm so sorry," Nia said. Tears streamed down
her cheeks. She gently pulled away the duct tape from her
mother's mouth.

"I'm all right." Mama's voice was raspy. "Are you okay,
baby?"

Nia hugged Mama tightly.

"I'm going to cut you loose and put something on that eye," Nia said. She paused. "Did Morgan ... do anything
else to you?"

"No, that asshole was saving his energy for you," Mama
said. "Pardon my French. He's an evil man. I wish you'd shot
him, God help me ""

"The police will get him," Nia said, though she doubted
that capturing Morgan would be a priority, in light of everything else going on.

Nia found a knife in the kitchen-she did not want to
touch the blade Morgan had handled-and sliced through
the tape that bound her mother.

"Mama, where's Princess? I would've expected her to
protect you"

"Princess ran off when I let her out to pee. Some mangylooking mutt walked by, and Princess chased after it. Matter
of fact, I was out front calling for her when that evil man
pulled up ""

"Oh, no" Princess had never run away before. She was an
obedient, sweet-tempered dog.

Nia wanted to look for Princess, but time was short.
Night was coming. She hoped her dog would turn up, but
she had her doubts. The streets weren't safe for dogs anymore. The streets weren't safe for anyone, anymore

Her face must have given away her troubled emotions,
because Mama said, "Nia, what's going on in our town?"

"Mama, I want you to stay with Aunt Loretta for a few
days," Nia said. Her aunt lived in Southaven, a safe distance
from Dark Corner. "I promise I'll tell you what's going on,
soon, but you have to leave right away. Will you please do
that for me?"

"Okay." Fear brightened Mama's eyes. "Are you coming
with me?"

"I have to stay here and help David and some other people. I'll be okay, don't worry."

"David ... I'm sorry I was mean to that boy. You seem so
happy since you've met him."

"He's a good man, Mama, and he has to do something
very important. He needs my help."

Mama hugged herself. "I'm scared, baby. I don't know
what's going on, but I'm scared"

Nia wrapped her mother in her arms.

"So am I"