Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
“ I t’s pretty inventive, do we really have to clean it off?”
Demetrius looked up from the cleaning solution bottle in his hand. He had to agree with Cody, the vandals of Parson’s Hollow were becoming more creative with their graffiti. The yellow, diamond-shaped sign warned SPEED HUMP, but someone with a fairly steady hand had used spray paint to alter the message to read SPEEDY HUMPS, and then added $10 underneath.
“Yeah, it is pretty funny. But the council wants everything to be perfect for Halloween next week, since we get so many tourists now.”
“We should get a percentage of the sales at every shop next week for saving the town from all the monsters it’s coughed up,” Cody said. “We never got a parade or a free dinner or even a goddamn thank you.”
“Right.”
“Pay off some of our medical bills earned from a lot of those cases.” Cody’s expression turned slightly sour. “Did you see those werewolf ear headbands they’re selling at Parson’s Pharmacy? What the fuck is that about?”
Demetrius made a face. “I saw them. They’re being sold at Hollow Grounds and The Purple Orchid as well.”
“The Purple Orchid?”
“That new gift shop a few doors down from Margie’s.”
“Stupid name for a store.”
“Anyway, if we don’t clean all the signs on this stretch of road, we’re going to hear about it.” Demetrius watched Cody check the sky and the trees on either side of the road before he went to the truck to get the ladder. The bats the night before had really freaked him out, and Demetrius couldn’t blame him. They’d dealt with bats when they were still operating Critter Catchers, and those had been creepy even when they’d been wearing protective gear. But it had been nothing like what Cody had described.
Cody carried the ladder toward the sign. “Those directions making any sense?”
“Sort of.” Demetrius turned his attention back to the instructions printed in very tiny lettering on the bottle. It didn’t help that greasy fingerprints covered a lot of the words. Working at the DPW was a lot like visiting a house where the people had toddlers: everything was either sticky or slippery and covered with fingerprints.
“I still say we leave it and tell John the Bastard it wasn’t there.”
“Sounds like asking for trouble.”
“Are you suggesting I’m a troublemaker?”
“You were back in school,” Demetrius said. “And you pretty much still are.”
“Excuse me?”
“Still. Are. A. Trouble. Maker.” Then he went back to reading.
“I’ll have you know I am a well-respected member of this community…” Cody sighed and kicked at the gravel shoulder. “Ugh. I can’t even say it with a straight face.”
“Yeah, not even a bisexual face.”
After a moment of silence, Cody said in a very dry voice, “Well, look who’s so funny all of a sudden.”
Demetrius grinned. “I’ve always been funny.”
Cody stepped in closer, his body heat and the smell of his sweat sending sparks all along Demetrius’s nervous system. Dear God, Cody could turn him on in a heartbeat. Sometimes even faster.
“How about me?” Cody said, his voice low, almost a growl. “Am I funny?”
“Right now you’re about to push so many of my buttons it’s not even remotely safe. And we need to get paid tomorrow.”
Cody pouted. “Fine. But I’m picking this up again when we get home.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
“I’ll hold something against you,” Cody rumbled.
“Okay, here.” Demetrius held a rag up in front of the spray bottle and pulled the trigger several times, drenching the material with pungent cleanser. “Take this and see if you can clean off the ten dollar part.”
Cody made a face and held the rag out away from him. “This smells like hippopotamus piss.”
“Should I even bother asking how you know what hippopotamus piss smells like?”
“Probably not.”
Cody was so tall, he didn’t need the ladder to reach that portion of the tag. As Cody scrubbed at the sign, Demetrius watched his muscles move beneath the tight fitting long-sleeved t-shirt. It scared him sometimes just how much Cody’s very presence affected him. But he didn’t have time for that kind of thinking right now. The Parson’s Hollow teenage vandal crowd had been busy over the weekend, and they had a lot of signs to work on.
The cleaner worked with some effort, and they made their way along the road, trading off scrubbing signs clean. By the end of the day, Demetrius’s shoulders and upper back burned from the work. Shadows were long when they finally pulled the city pickup truck back into the lot. Demetrius followed Cody inside the garage and looked around the big open space. It was empty, and even John the Bastard’s elevated office was dark.
“Everyone else must have finished early,” Cody said, bouncing the keys on his palm. “I’m going to hang these up. Punch me out, will you?”
“I’ll need a step stool.”
Cody smirked and turned, bending over and holding his chin out in a prominent manner. “Care to give it your best shot?”
Demetrius moved fast, grabbing Cody’s chin with a tight grip then giving him a long, hard kiss. When he leaned back, Cody’s eyes were open, his pupils wide and expression stunned.
“That’s some right hook you’ve got there,” Cody said.
Demetrius patted his cheek then brushed past him. When he reached the cracked and grease-smeared time clock, the metal door to the left of it opened, startling him. He had never seen anyone use that door, but now John the Bastard stepped through it. John looked surprised to see him standing so close, and quickly closed the door. But not before Demetrius caught a glimpse of a metal stair rail descending into darkness behind him.
“Hi, John,” Demetrius said, intentionally loud enough for Cody to hear, and hopefully prevent him from saying anything derogatory about their boss in front of their boss.
“Finish cleaning those signs?” John asked in a gruff and grumpy tone. He pulled a ring loaded with keys from his pocket and used one to secure the deadbolt in the door.
“Yep, all set.” Demetrius pushed his time card into the clock and waited for the acknowledging clunk. “Cody and I were just saying the vandals in town are getting more creative.”
John’s only response was a deep, dismissive grunt before turning away.
Feeling the need to try and get an inroad with their boss, Demetrius asked the first thing that came to mind. “How’s your wife doing?”
John stopped dead in his tracks. Demetrius’s heart pounded, and he had the sudden urge to pee as he watched John slowly turn his head to look at him over his shoulder. His eyes were flat and cold, his expression very still.
“She’s fine.” He turned away and climbed the metal stairs to his office where he flicked on the light and closed the door.
So much for trying to make inroads with their boss.
“Good try,” Cody said quietly as he came up beside Demetrius. “But risky. You know she’s in the hospital?”
“I know that. It’s why I asked about her.”
“I see. So asking about his wife sick with cancer was your attempt at…?”
Demetrius gave him a cool look. “I was trying to make some kind of connection.”
“By asking about his hospitalized wife?”
“You know what? Never mind. Let’s get out of here.”
Cody grinned. “Probably a good idea.”
The sun was just above the tree line by the time they left the garage and climbed into Cody’s truck. He pulled out of the lot, and Demetrius could practically feel the words building inside of him, so he wasn’t surprised when Cody spoke.
“It was a good try, you know. Just kind of awkward to witness.” He glanced over. “Painfully so.”
“All right, I get it.” Demetrius waved a hand. “Let’s forget it happened.”
A little more silence. “I hope John can forget you asked it.”
“Oh, my God. I was trying to show that I cared about what was going on in his personal life, okay?”
“By asking him about something personal he hasn’t told us about himself?”
“Ugh.” Demetrius put his head back and covered his face with his hands. “I made it worse, didn’t I?”
“Maybe not. Maybe just more awkward for you for the rest of our time there.”
Demetrius glared. “You’re not helping.”
Cody tried to look innocent. “I’m not?” He drove a little farther in silence, then said, “Margie’s?”
“You read my mind.”
“Care to give mine a try?”
Demetrius tapped his finger on his chin. “I’m going to venture something sexual.”
“Why does no one ever guess that I’m debating whether our lives are governed by fate or free will?”
“Is that what you were thinking?”
“No.” Cody pouted, and, dammit, looked completely adorable doing it. “But some days it would be nice for someone to guess that.”
“I love you,” Demetrius said.
Cody gave him a surprised half-smile. “Yeah? I love you, too.”
“Good.”
Margie’s was busy for a Monday, but she stopped by their table long enough to give both their shoulders a squeeze. When they left the diner, the sun had gone down, and a lopsided, waning moon was peering sleepily over the tops of the trees. They paused to admire the twinkle lights in the garland they’d wrapped around the lamp posts.
“Nice night,” Demetrius said, pausing to breathe in the crisp air scented with the smells of autumn and maybe a tang of Antonio’s marinara.
“Yeah, as long as we’re not swarmed by bats,” Cody said, squinting up into the sky.
“That must have been pretty scary.”
“Scary and gross.” Cody gave him a quick side-eye. “And I don’t really want to know why.”
Demetrius shrugged. “Okay. Maybe they were attracted to your smell or something.”
“My smell?”
“I mean, you put out a heavy dose of pheromones.”
“Heavy?”
Demetrius linked his arm through Cody’s and leaned into him, resting his head on Cody’s shoulder. “I know sometimes all those pheromones make me do crazy things.”
“Sometimes?”
“All right.” Demetrius smacked him on the chest and pulled his arm free as they reached the truck.
Cody checked the sky once more as he unlocked the doors, and they both got inside. “Ready to go home? Anywhere we need to stop?”
“Nowhere I can think of,” Demetrius said, then added casually, “Oh, right,” as if the thought hadn’t been trading places between front and back of his mind all day. “You wanted to continue some conversation we were having earlier out by that first road sign. What was that about again?”
Cody put his elbow on the console between them and leaned in closer. Lowering his voice, he said, “Are my pheromones getting to you? You feeling a little drunk on Bower-love?”
Demetrius laughed even as his stomach tightened with anticipation. “Don’t ruin the mood.” He closed the distance between them to deliver a slow, soft kiss. “And, yes, I think I’ve been overserved on Bower-love pheromones.”
Cody’s expression was serious in the glow of the streetlights. “I hope Lucia’s not on patrol, because I’m running all the stop signs.”
“But they’re so clean and shiny,” Demetrius said. “They’re hard to miss.”
They were a block from home when Demetrius’s phone buzzed.
“Ignore it,” Cody said.
Demetrius grinned as he shifted to pull it from his pocket. “It’s Otis.” A shiver of fear went through him. His aunt’s boyfriend rarely called him. “I need to answer it.”
Cody blew out a breath. “Yeah, I know.”
Accepting the call, Demetrius held the phone to his ear. He tried for casual and friendly, hoping if he put that kind of energy out into the universe, the universe would respond in kind. “Hi Otis. What’s up?”
But apparently the universe had other ideas about how things worked.
“Demetrius?” Otis’s voice shook. “Amelia’s in the hospital.”
The emergency care unit at Parson’s Hollow Memorial Hospital sounded like a TB ward. People slouched in clumps around the waiting area, coughing, sniffling, and looking miserable. Demetrius hadn’t been able to get much information out of Otis over the phone other than the fact that Amelia had been in a car accident and was in the emergency room.
Cody had immediately pulled a U-turn and sped toward the hospital, saying reassuring things Demetrius didn’t even hear. His brain was too busy imagining the worst. As Demetrius approached the check-in desk, Cody hung back, staying close but still giving Demetrius space as he inquired about Amelia. The nurse gave him a tired look, her eyes shifting to take in Cody behind him before coming back to Demetrius.
“Family only.”
“He’s my husband,” Demetrius said, hating that he still felt the nervous flutter when he said that to a stranger. Lifelong trauma and guilt, anyone?
“Someone’s already back there. Only two visitors at a time.”
“That’s Otis,” Cody said. His hand felt big and warm and grounding on Demetrius’s shoulder. “It’s okay, I’ll wait out here.”
Demetrius wanted Cody with him when he saw Amelia for the first time. He wanted to feel that familiar hand touching him, holding him in place, giving him strength. But that wasn’t to be, apparently. More updates from the universe, it seemed.
The nurse gave him quick directions as she wrote Amelia’s name and a bed number on a sticky-backed name tag. She handed it to him over the desk, and Cody gently tugged him aside. He took the sticker from him and pressed it to his shirt, over his heart.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“I’ll be right here.” Someone nearby let out a thick, wet cough. “Or maybe waiting out in the truck. Either way, I’m close by. Text or call me with any information.”
“I will.”
“Tell Amelia I love her.”
“I will.”
Demetrius started away, but Cody grabbed his hand and held him back. “I love you.”
He couldn’t help the smile, which he was sure was what Cody was going for. “You said that.”
“People don’t say it enough, I think.”
“You’re right.” He slowly pulled his hand free. “Let’s discuss that later.”
“I’m right here.” He gestured over his shoulder toward the exit. “Or not far.”
Demetrius took a few steps back from him. “I know.” Someone coughed heavily off in a corner, and they both winced. “Yeah, wait in the truck.”
“I’m already there.”
Turning away, Demetrius nodded to the check-in desk nurse, and she triggered the pneumatic doors to triage. He pumped some hand sanitizer into his palm and rubbed his hands together as he tried to remember the directions the nurse had rattled off. Had that only been a few minutes ago? It felt like something that had happened last month.
People in all manner of distress lay in beds curtained off from each other. He’d been in this triage section of the hospital more times than he cared to remember, but it was always stressful being a visitor. The beeps from monitoring equipment picked at his nerves, as did the medical terms stated through overhead speakers, codes for what were most likely grave situations.
He really hoped Amelia wasn’t one of them.
She was a very safe driver. What could have caused her to have an accident? Would it affect her independence going forward? Was this the start of a downward slide in her physical abilities?
After a couple of wrong turns, Demetrius found them. Amelia lay on a stretcher, glasses off, a bandage covering her left eye, and an uncomfortable-looking plastic brace around her neck. Her right eye was closed, but her fingers tightened and released in an anxious rhythm against the sheet. Blood stained the collar of her blouse, an orange one she always favored in autumn, and that, more than her condition, sent a sliver of loss into his heart. It was ridiculous, he knew, but she loved that blouse, and he loved seeing her wear it, and now it was lost.
Life changes in a second.
Copious amounts of medical tape held an IV needle steady in the back of her left hand. The back of her hair stuck up in places, static from the pillow no doubt. The white of the bandage looked shockingly out of place on her usually open and friendly face, and the neck brace sent a queasy rush of adrenaline through him. What the hell had happened?
Demetrius paused outside the curtains to rein in his emotions before he stepped through and said in a quiet voice, “Hi.”
Otis had been looking at his phone in a chair in the corner, and he stood up and pulled him into a hug. “Demetrius!”
When he was finally able to extricate himself from Otis’s hug, Demetrius found Amelia smiling at him. A tear trickled from her uncovered eye.
“Hello, Demetrius.” Her voice shook slightly. The crack in his heart that had opened at the sight of her ruined blouse widened a little more at the uncertainty in her voice.
“Hey, Aunt Amelia.” Demetrius took her right hand and gave it a gentle squeeze as he leaned in to place a soft kiss on her forehead. He smoothed down a few strands of hair and smiled. “How do you feel?”
“Oh, I feel great,” Amelia said, rolling her eye. “I’d like to get up and walk out of here.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you would. But how about we let the doctors decide when you get to do that, okay?”
“Is Cody here?” Otis said.
“He’s out in the truck. The waiting room was full of people coughing.”
“Oh, apple trees. You two don’t need to be here. I don’t want you catching anything. Go on home.”
“Nope. I’m here, just like you would be for me,” Demetrius said.
“I need to make a bathroom run.” Otis stood and offered his chair, the only one available. “I’ll send Cody a text and have him meet me in the cafeteria for coffee and get him caught up.”
“Okay, thank you, Otis. I’m sure he’d appreciate that.”
Otis walked up the opposite side of the bed from Demetrius. He smiled at Amelia, gently touched her shoulder, and leaned down for a very soft, chaste kiss on the lips. “I’ll be back soon, love.”
“Take your time. Demetrius will keep me company.”
Otis smiled, nodded to Demetrius, then stepped into the hallway and was gone. Demetrius pulled the chair up alongside the bed where he could reach her hand before sitting and holding it between his palms. Her skin felt cool, and he gently rubbed her hand as he met her uncovered eye.
“What happened?”
She looked away and her free hand went to the neck brace. “I hate this thing.”
“I’m sure it’s uncomfortable, but leave it alone, okay?” He squeezed her hand. “Tell me what happened.”
She pulled her hand free and sighed. “You’re going to think I’m crazy.”
“Aunt Amelia,” he said in a stern but quiet voice. “After everything we’ve been through together, how could you say that?”
Amelia fixed her eye on a spot high up in a corner of the curtained area. “It happened so fast.” Although her expression hardened with determination, she continued to avoid looking at him. “But I know what I saw.”
“Tell me. Start at the beginning.”
“All right.” She hesitated, gathering her thoughts. “I left the condo to go pick up Ruby for our book club. I was running a little late because I’d lost track of time, so I was rushing a bit. I’d just turned onto 118, not too far from home. I didn’t see her until she was right in front of me. It was like she just appeared in the road out of nowhere. Like she wasn’t there one second, then the next she was right in front of me. I swerved to miss her and went into the ditch. The airbag went off, and I know I’ve totaled my car. But I was so scared. I thought I was going to hit her.”
“A woman?”
She tried to turn her head to look at him, but the neck brace prevented it. “Damn this thing.”
Demetrius stood and leaned in to look down at her, repeating, “It was a woman?”
“Yes. It was a woman. But…” She darted a look at the part in the curtain, then back at him. She shifted a bit closer to him, and Demetrius leaned down even more. Finally, she said in a quiet voice, “I would swear it was Edie Hopkins.”
Demetrius shook his head. “I don’t know who that is.”
“She lived in the condo behind us. Lived. As in used to be alive.”
“Oh. You’re sure?”
“I wish I was. I only caught a quick look before I swerved, but it looked so much like Edie.” She scooted even closer to the edge of the stretcher and checked the part in the curtain again. When she spoke, she’d lowered her voice, but Demetrius could detect the undercurrent of fear. “Is it zombies again?”
Guilt zinged through him. Like an injection of acid, it burned as it traveled through his system. It gnawed at the wall of contentment and complacency he’d stubbornly built and maintained since they’d lost the business, weakening the foundation of his denial. He’d taken the judge’s decision as a sign he and Cody needed to focus on their relationship and their life together and ignore anything unusual that might happen in their town. So, he’d put all his energy toward appreciating their day by day routine and regular paychecks. He’d created a budget and focused on paying down their bills. And he’d made a point of connecting even more with Cody, emotionally and physically.
But this was, after all, Parson’s Hollow. And even though they’d lost their animal control business, it hadn’t meant strange things couldn’t happen there any longer. And it didn’t mean they should turn away from acknowledging them when they might pop up. They should have been paying closer attention. But both of them had fallen into the schedule of a steady and physically demanding job that wasn’t regularly sideswiped by something from a horror movie. And now something terrible was happening, had already been happening, apparently, and he had no idea if anyone else realized it. He also had no idea how long it had been going on, and how bad it had gotten. Cody being swarmed by bats had just been the first sign for them.
“I don’t know if it’s zombies.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “But I’m going to find out.”
She smiled as another tear fell from her eye. “The Spooky Sleuths are back in business?”
Demetrius smiled, then made a face. “That name makes us sound like we’re spooky. Like we’re ghosts investigating supernatural creatures.”
They looked at each other a moment, then said at the same time, “I’d watch that show.”
When the doctor stepped into the curtained area, they were still laughing, and he smiled. “I have to say, this is not the typical demeanor of patients in the ER.”
Amelia squeezed Demetrius’s hand once more before releasing it and looking at the doctor. “This is my nephew, Demetrius. He’s like a son to me, and he always knows how to make me feel better.”
“That’s good. It’s important to have someone like that in your life.” The doctor touched Amelia’s foot. “How are you feeling?”
“I feel all right. Shaken more than hurt.”
“That will probably change by tomorrow.”
She adjusted the neck brace and made a face. “And this thing is driving me crazy.”
“Well, let’s get that off then, shall we?” He approached and loosened the Velcro straps. “The CT scan showed no concussion or neck injury.”
Once the doctor had pulled the neck brace apart and removed it, Amelia smiled and slowly turned her head side to side.
“How’s it feel?” the doctor asked.
“Much better. Thank you.”
“Good. Now, I know you’re anxious to get out of here, but I’m waiting on the results of a few more tests.”
“You’re not going to keep her overnight?” Demetrius asked.
“No, I don’t anticipate having to do that.” The doctor looked back at Amelia. “I do want you to keep that bandage on your eye for another twenty-four hours. And I want you to follow up with your ophthalmologist in the next few days.”
“Yeah, why is that bandaged?” Demetrius asked.
“It was blackened and bloodshot,” the doctor said. “I was concerned she might have fragments from the airbag, but we didn’t see anything when we checked. It might be powder from the airbag. We flushed it, but I’d like you to keep it covered another day. And make an appointment with your ophthalmologist as soon as you can.”
“I will,” Amelia said, settling in a bit on the stretcher. She looked more relaxed and comfortable with the neck brace off, and that made Demetrius feel a bit better.
The doctor checked her vitals, and Amelia and Demetrius both asked him some questions. When they had nothing else to ask, he told her he’d return soon and slipped away through the curtain.
“That’s good news,” Demetrius said, sitting in the chair. “How do you feel?”
“I have a headache, and I need to pee, but other than that I’m okay.”
“I’m sure they could give you Tylenol for the headache. Do you want me to let a nurse know you need to pee?”
“Oh, thank you. And you don’t have to stay with me.”
“I don’t mind.” Demetrius stood.
“You and Cody have things to do. Otis will stay and take me home.”
“We’ll talk about that after you pee, how’s that?”
“All right.”
He stepped out of the curtain and headed for the nurse’s station down the hall. Once he’d let one of the nurses know about Amelia’s need for a bathroom run, Demetrius checked his phone. There was no signal, which made sense with all the medical equipment around him. He returned to Amelia’s bedside, and before too long a nurse appeared to escort her to a bathroom down the hall.
Alone in the curtained area, he sat with his elbows on his knees and stared at the floor. Bits of paper from the backs of heart monitor pads littered the tile under the stretcher. Alternating beeps from other beds in the triage area played out an uneven pattern of sounds.
He’d let people down. Hell, he’d let Amelia down, one of the most important people in his life. The guilt reared up inside him again. They should have been paying closer attention. He should have noticed something was going on. But he’d been hurt by the judge’s decision, and, if he was truly honest with himself, more than a little angry.
After all they’d done for Parson’s Hollow, the fucking Wolek family had, in a matter of months, taken away everything they’d worked so hard to build. Now they had to make a choice. Did they just turn a blind eye to the possible supernatural happenings in town and enjoy their day to day blissful ignorance? Or did they put hurt feelings behind them and step up to do what they knew was right and necessary?
Hell. He wasn’t paid nearly enough for this kind of bullshit.