Something Bad (45 page)

Thibideaux uttered a “Ha” and the chair whirred around to face the suited man. It held its position, whirring slowly, its back-and-forth movement barely perceptible. It reminded Gabe of a cobra, ready to strike. With the chair homed in on the suited man, the fireball started to move in his direction. Thibideaux was winning.

Gabe raised his right foot to the floor, like he was preparing to run the 100-yard dash. His mind floated. He was back on the Boyston High football team, and he had the Calhoun quarterback in his sights. He pushed off with his right leg and flung his body forward, arms outstretched. He made contact with the chair, and it gave with his weight, toppling to the floor. The pain of the hardwood tore into his ribs, and he careened across the floor and into the opposite wall. His head hit again and his vision faded. On the way to black, he thought he heard the beep of cell phone buttons.

P
AIN, LIGHT, COLD
. Gabe rolled on the hardwood floor and tried to recognize his surroundings. Not dead. He wondered why he expected death. He rolled onto his left side. The pain in his ribs squeezed a groan through his closed lips, again when he raised his head and looked around. A large room. Empty. “The rectory,” he said out loud and tried to get up, but the pain from all corners of his body wouldn’t let him. He rolled to his other side. The chair. Where is the chair? The room was empty. There was no chair. He tried to rise up to his right elbow, and succeeded, although it cost him pain-wise. The room was empty.

He inched across the floor toward the front doors but a shiny glint in front of the fireplace caught his attention. He turned and saw several reflecting sparks. Part of him said, crawl away fast, but from somewhere in the deep recesses of his memory, a voice told him to look closer. The latter won—he crawled to the fireplace and found two piles of what appeared to be ashes. The bright spots came from the far pile. He pulled himself over to it.

In the ash were several shiny metal blobs. He reached in his pocket and withdrew his Swiss Army knife, opened the large blade, and stirred the ashes. By his count, there were about twenty of the metal pieces—each was irregular in shape, but rounded. He stirred again, and one piece caught his attention. It was more squared than the others, but with the same rounded edges. Turning it over with the knife blade, the air left his lungs. It was the cap for a tooth.

Gabe collapsed onto his back and fought for breath, but it took a while to stabilize. His heart beat was fast, but regular. He rolled over and turned toward the door. As he pulled himself along the floor toward the front doors, he spoke to the room.

“Something bad.”

C
ATHERINE, THE RECEPTIONIST
, entered the day room and walked over to the statue-like figure of Father Costello, who was seated in front of the window.

“I got some mail today from that man who came to visit you,” she said. “It was addressed to me. He told me to hold this picture in front of your eyes and you would know what to do.” She paused but there was no change in the father’s expression. “Okay … here goes.”

Catherine held the tattered piece of paper against the window, as instructed, in the direct sight line of Father Costello’s blank stare. The letter said to hold it there for as long as necessary, whatever that meant. The picture was a freehand sketch of a strange looking face that Catherine didn’t recognize. There was a large red “X” drawn through the face, and the word “DEAD” was scrawled in red ink just below the face.

Catherine held the picture in place for a little over a minute, until her arms tired. She was just about to take it down when she noticed a change in the pupils of Father Costello’s eyes. He didn’t move or change his expression, but his eyes welled with tears. Fluid released and spilled down his cheeks.

“Father Costello. Are you here? Are you all right?”

A tear fell from the priest’s jaw and landed on his left hand, which was folded with the right one on his lap. His eyes defocused again.

T
EDDY SHUFFLED THE
cards, put them down, and filled his glass with Jack. “Glad to have you back, Billy. How’s it going up in Rother, you traitor?” He chuckled as he picked up the cards and resumed shuffling.

“The shop’s doing good. I hardly have time to myself. May have to hire somebody.”

“I heard the women are pretty nice in Rother,” Gabe said. “Anything on the line?”

“Strange thing. Misty showed up a few weeks ago. Said she wanted to go out.”

Teddy leaned forward, his elbows on the table. “How was she?”

“She seemed fine. Same as always.”

“No. I mean how was she?”

“Oh, that.” Billy looked at Doc, then back at Teddy. “I didn’t go with her. I’ve got my eye on a cutie. She’s the mail lady. Always brings my mail at lunchtime, so we have a bite together.”

“A bite?” Teddy said.

“Does your mind go anywhere else?” Gabe said. He flicked a popcorn kernel at Teddy.

Teddy let loose a belly laugh. “Billy’s the only one left without it. We got to live the moment through him.”

Gabe leaned toward Teddy. “I think those are shuffled enough. And it’s my turn to deal.” He reached across the table and his shirtsleeve rose up his arm.

“Whoa. Where’d you get that?” Doc said, touching a finger to Gabe’s bruised bicep. “You run into some more kids from Rother?”

“Wanna got me.”

“What’d you do, tell her she couldn’t see Doc anymore?” Teddy said.

Doc laughed. And blushed.

Gabe bit his lip. “Naw. I played a trick on her and she just found out. She didn’t think it was funny. I’m lucky this is all I have to show for it.”

All three men leaned in.

“What’d you do?” Billy said.

“If I tell, she’ll make this look like a love tap. So get off it. I ain’t telling.”

“Does it have anything to do with the new pickup?” Billy said.

Teddy grabbed a fist of popcorn. “That’s a nice one. You rob a bank?” He stuffed the popcorn into his mouth.

“It was time,” Gabe said. “Four doors and a back seat are good for the family.”

“And plenty timely,” Doc said. “Tell Deena Lee the test came back positive. She’s definitely pregnant.”

Gabe dropped the cards. “What?”

“You don’t know?”

“Deena Lee’s pregnant?” Gabe said. His rounded mouth twisted into a grin.

“Oh, hell,” Doc said. “I thought you knew about it. God. Don’t tell Deena Lee that I told you. She’ll give me an arm to match yours.”

Gabe settled back in his chair and put his hand over his mouth. His eyes couldn’t hide his smile. “I won’t tell her. I’ll let her surprise me.” His mind went to his recent dream and the vague being off in the distance.

“Looks like we have something to celebrate tonight,” Teddy said. “Here’s to the newest Petersen.”

Gabe touched his bottle of Pepsi to the three glasses of Jack.

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