LLOYD, PAUL R. (18 page)

“God.”

“Right.” Micah plopped a fork full
of steak into his mouth.

“Do you think Ahlman Brown will
fade away and leave you alone?”

“I don’t know why he even knows I’m
alive. What is it with him anyway? Am I crazy or what? I see him floating
around in the sky with gossamer wings and then he hangs out at your coffeehouse
like nothing happened.”

The wait person returned with two
chocolate desserts. She poured two cups of coffee before leaving.

“He’s evil, Micah. You pointed that
out to me, remember?”

“Yeah.” Micah raised his coffee to
his lips.

“A big, evil demon desires your
death. And that hag didn’t get warm and fuzzy with you because she was horny.
She was up to her neck in cahoots with Ahlman Brown.”

“So where is Barbara?” Micah
checked over his shoulder.

“She’ll show.”

“I’m worried.” Micah twirled his
spoon around the chocolate syrup on top of the chocolate ice cream.

Bob scooped a chunk of dessert onto
his spoon. “Better you should worry about Ahlman Brown.”

“Him I’m worried about.”

“You believe he is evil, but you
don’t believe in evil?”

Micah stared at Bob for several
seconds. “When you put it that way, I guess I believe in evil or at least that
some people can do some pretty wicked stuff.”

“This isn’t about evil people. It’s
about demons. People don’t fly around with gossamer wings.” Bob shoveled more
chocolate into his mouth.

“He’s a faerie, not a demon.”

“He’s evil incarnate from the fires
of hell.”

Micah lifted a spoon of ice cream
dripping syrup to his lips. “Okay, that doesn’t register on my reality meter.
He’s from earth, whatever he is. He’s a freak of nature, a guy with wings.”

Bob gestured with his spoon. “You
believe people are sometimes born who have gossamer wings? What are the odds?
One baby in a million? Let’s see, six billion people on the planet… Hmmmm… no
that would mean a whole bunch of people are flying around. About eight of them
right here in the Chicago area, but we only have one. One in the whole history
of the world, Micah. He ain’t no human being with a birth defect. Get that out
of your head.”

“He’s physical, Bob. You can see
him, touch him. He’s no spirit, whatever he is. Maybe he had a transplant
operation. Had the wings grafted on.”

“We need to pray, Micah.” Bob took
a sip of his coffee.

“Where’s Barbara?”

“She’ll show.”

Micah scrutinized the photos of bar
scenes from the forties that covered the restaurant’s walls. As his eyes
wandered down the aisle in front of the booth, he noticed a blonde approaching.
Peevy’s sister, Janice Gordon, placed her hands on the table and stared Micah
in the eye. “We have to talk.”

“No, we don’t. You lied enough to
last a lifetime.”

Janice snapped her head back. “I
know. It’s why I need to speak with you.”

“Now?” Micah asked.

“Now or whenever you…” Janice’s
voice choked up and she pulled back from the table. “Sorry. I thought I could
do this. Please. Someday. Let’s talk.”

“I don’t think so.” Anger reddened Micah’s
face.

Janice choked back more tears.
“Peevy knows how to reach me.” She sloughed out of the restaurant.

“Think she wants to apologize?” Bob
asked.

“Too late. Where’s Barbara?”

Micah rubbed his face. “Maybe it’s
the lack of caffeine, but your voice hasn’t sounded this sweet since, well, for
a long, long time.”

“You had to go there, didn’t you?”
Peevy’s eyes glistened to match the smile she flashed before Micah’s eyes.

“Sorry. Still waking up. Yes, I’ll
have my usual. Didn’t Bob come in?”

Peevy faced the coffeemaker and filled
a large paper cup with the high test of the day. “Bob’s late this morning. So’s
Barbara.”

“Not sure I’m on speaking terms
with Barbara.”

Peevy placed her hands on her hips.
“Uh-oh, what’d you do to her?”

“Not me. She stood me up last
night. Stood Bob up, too.”

“You both had a date with her?”

Micah leaned on the counter. “The
three of us were supposed to meet for dinner, but she didn’t show. She’s been
staying at my place, but she never arrived there either.”

“Sounds like you’ve got competition,
lover boy.”

“Lover boy. That’s a step up.”
Micah stood up straight.

“Step up from what? Wait, I get it.
You’re still the town perv. But now the town perv is a lover boy. You’re still
a man which makes you hateful. In fact, you’re about as awful as they come.”

“Okay, let me drink some of this
brew before I become totally confused.”

Micah sat at his table by the
window and stared at the cup, occasionally taking a sip. Peevy worked behind
the counter handling the morning crowd. About a half hour into the rush, he caught
her checking him out. Sweat ran down her tussled hair and the side of her face,
yet she smiled. Micah returned her grin with a stunned “huh.”
How can this
be happening to me?
On the other hand, why should I care?

Micah had worked his way down to
the bottom of the cup by the time the morning rush subsided. Peevy trudged over
to his table and placed a refill in front of him. She sat down with her own cup.

Micah lifted his refill. “Didn’t
order a refill.”

“On the house.” Peevy raised her
coffee in a toast.

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

“I’ve always hated my stepfather,
but I never guessed he was so perverted. I thought he was just the biggest jerk
I ever met.” Peevy sipped her coffee.

“I’m sorry, Peevy. He attacked us.
I had to call the police. Barbara was with me, and it wasn’t safe.”

“Not your fault. The police believe
he killed those girls.” Peevy turned to the door and then looked back at Micah.

Micah folded his arms. “Yeah, that may
have been one of the reasons he attacked us. He may have thought we saw him in
the woods.”

Peevy met Micah’s eyes. “He was a
phony, but hey, a girl doesn’t have to like her stepdad. It’s not like he’s her
real dad or anything.”

“Why are you telling me this,
Peevy?”

“Makes me wonder about, you know…”

“About the little incident with
your sister I’ve been denying since forever?”

Peevy rubbed her hand in front of
her mouth. “Yeah. I don’t know. I was thinking if my creepy old man was hiding
his extracurricular activities all these years, then Janice might be hiding
something, too.”

“Like she’s a liar?”

“I don’t know anymore. I want to
talk to her about it. We never talked, you know.”

Micah slapped both hands on the
table. “Peevy, it’s history. You believed her, not me. You had to make a
choice. I’m not sure I would have chosen any differently if I had been in your
shoes. Family always comes first.”

“I know. This isn’t about you. It’s
about my stepfather and my sister and telling the truth. It’s about me hating
men half my life only to find out I could be wrong. If he’s been lying all
these years, then maybe she lied, too.”

“Ya think?” Micah took a sip of his
refill.

“But why would she lie?”

Micah pointed at Peevy with his
cup. “I’ve been wondering about that for twenty years. Let me know if you come
up with an answer.”

“Excuse me, I have customers.”
Peevy drifted away.

Micah played mental “what if” for a
moment before realizing he was about to rip open old wounds.

He couldn’t miss Ahlman Brown among
the customers. The gossamer faerie held his copy of Mark Twain’s
Letters
from the Earth
.

Micah headed
for the door. As he passed the line of customers, he heard Ahlman’s voice going
“flap, flap, flap, flap, flap.” When the flapping stopped, Ahlman roared with
laughter.

***

While poking through the rubble of
burned and charred wood and other wreckage scattered on the lot where his
Naperville house once stood, Micah found what appeared to be a child’s shoe
sticking out from under a large piece of blackened wallboard. The aroma of wet
wood and damp wallboard stung his nostrils. He touched the shoe with a stick but
it resisted like something was stuffed inside it.

His stomach tightened and filled
with acid. He reached down and lifted the wallboard covering part of the shoe.
Sticking out of the top was an ankle that disappeared into a pair of dirty blue
jeans.

Micah removed more rubble until he
revealed the entire body. It was short and on its shoulders sat the head of Bob
Wolonsky. Micah looked up. The ghost of the pioneer woman shook her head at
him. Next door on Denise Appleby’s porch, Fritz smiled.

The fire hadn’t touched Denise’s
home. It appeared to be spotless and fresh painted. He hadn’t noticed before.
If
I call them, they’ll put me back in prison. If I don’t, they’ll discover Bob
sooner or later. Where’s Barbara?

He pulled his cell phone from his
pocket and punched in the Naperville Police.

Denise Appleby’s house caught
Micah’s attention. When he finished the call, he climbed the steps to the front
porch of her home. She answered when he rang the bell.

“Hello, neighbor. It appears you
have some restoration work ahead of you.” Denise’s short skirt and
midriff-revealing top snagged Micah’s attention against his will.

Micah looked down. “A bit.”

“You look terrible. Want to come
in? No, wait. The place is a mess. How about a coffee down at Bob’s?

“Have to wait for the police.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. It’s … I don’t know… about
your house…”

“My abode? Let’s head out for
coffee.”

From deep in the house, Micah heard
what he took to be an electric saw at first, but then he realized it was
Ahlman’s buzzing wings. “You have company.”

“Don’t mind him. He won’t complain
if we duck out for coffee. We won’t be gone long. I’d like to catch up on what
you’re doing, where you’re living, that sort of thing.”

Another alarm sounded louder than
the one drawing him towards this house. He raised his head and stared into
Denise’s eyes. “I’m sorry, but would you mind if we stepped inside?”

“Aha, my old friend Micah Probert.”
Ahlman’s wings were tucked away and he wore his red shirt.

Micah stared at Ahlman attempting
to penetrate his eyes, but found a dull nothing behind the surface glaze.

“Groovy. Come in then.” Denise
backed away from the door to allow Micah to enter.

A force pressed against Micah’s
chest, preventing him from moving forward
. I must go in
. The pressure
left his chest, and a powerful force pushed him from behind making him stumble
over the threshold.

“We’re talking in the kitchen.”
Denise sauntered down a dark hallway. Micah eyeballed Ahlman, expecting him to
go first, but he gestured for Micah to lead. Micah followed Denise into the
kitchen.

“Coffee?” Denise pulled a cup from the
cabinet above the sink.

“Yes. No.”

“Make up your mind, friend Micah.”
Ahlman smiled with lips together to form a red line across the bottom of his
face.

“Basement!” Micah shouted.

Denise stared question marks at
Micah. Ahlman stood by with a stone expression.

Micah shook his head to clear his
mind. “Sorry. I don’t know why I said that.”

“You want to see my basement?”
Denise asked. She let her hand slide up her leg pulling her skirt up several
inches.

Ahlman’s smile ran from ear to ear.
“Yes, by all means, dear friend. Go to the basement. If you feel called, you
must follow.”

“I will then, if you don’t mind.”

“We don’t mind, do we, Denise?”
Ahlman asked.

“Of course not. We’ve nothing to
hide from you, Micah.” Denise pointed the way to the basement.

“We like to think of you as one of
us, friend Micah.” Ahlman placed an arm around Denise Appleby’s shoulders.

Micah glared at the two of them. “I’m
not a hag, and I’m not a faerie, so how do I fit in?”

“Dear, dear Micah, don’t believe
every rumor floating about a small town like Naperville. We’re regular folk,
aren’t we Denise?”

“Micah, you don’t have to stay if
you don’t want to be here.” Denise touched Micah on the arm.

“Basement!” The voice was loud
inside Micah’s head.

“I’d like to … you know… if you
don’t mind… visit the basement. Can’t explain why…”

“Dear old Micah we’ve already given
you permission. The door is by that cabinet.” Ahlman pointed with a lengthy,
boney finger.

Micah lumbered over to the door.
The pressure returned to his chest stopping him in front of the closed door.
Where’s
Barbara? Why did I think that? Basement! Yes, the basement. I must go.

The pressure left his chest and
returned to his back. Micah opened the door and stepped onto the small landing
at the top of the steps before he found himself tumbling toward the basement
floor.

Stay conscious. Stay conscious.
In the blackness at the bottom of the steps Micah rolled and crawled until he
was under the open steps.

“Pray, Micah. Now. There’s no
time.” The voice sounded familiar. Micah glanced behind and spotted Glory holding
his sword.

“God, help me!” Micah called out. He
took the sword. At the crash of footsteps on the stairs, he stormed out from
his hiding place and thrust the sword upwards into Ahlman’s chest.

Ahlman screamed as lightning
flashed out of his midsection. He clutched his wound as he backed up the steps.

“Excellent,” Glory said. “But we’re
out of time.”

Micah followed as Glory gave off a
glow that lit the basement. Ahead of her, Micah could see a door in a wall.

“In there. Hurry, Micah.” Glory
faded away. With her went the light. Micah tried to turn the doorknob, but it
was locked. He struck the door with his sword. The door crumbled to dust. The
sword began to glow so Micah could see into the room. He spotted Barbara on the
floor. She did not respond when Micah nudged her.