38. Sloan
THIRTY-EIGHT
SLOAN
“Who’s back there?” Sloan yelled over the dark wooden bar. “Get up now with your hands in the air.”
There was a tense moment of only silence. Sloan debated vaulting over the counter and confronting whatever it was head on. Then two hands were slowly lifted. The man that had argued with Elijah the day before at the town meeting stood up.
“I’m—I’m sorry.” He was shaking, clearly terrified as he stuttered. “I heard you coming. I panicked.”
Sloan lowered her sword but still eyed the short man with distrust. He was older with a bald head and a groomed white beard. A grey vest covered his black shirt. From the waist down, he was hidden by the bar.
Sloan looked at Aareth, who shrugged then lowered his fisted gauntlets.
“Okay, come on out,” she ordered. “Slow and easy.”
The man eyed them suspiciously as he stumbled from behind the counter, his arms still in the air. Sloan did her best not to smile as the man wobbled in front of them like a monkey. In a minute, he stood before them, eyes wide in fear.
“You can put your arms down now. What’s your name? Why were you hiding behind the bar?”
“My name is Benjamin Clive.” The little man gulped visibly as he lowered his arms. “I live in town. I have a shoe repair shop where I work, right out of my home. I’m, uh—I’m here because—Well, I might as well tell you.
I’m dead anyway. I came here looking for a drink.
I need a safe place hide from the monster that the Divine has sent to terrorize our town. ”
“Just when we thought this couldn’t get any more confusing.” Aareth made a beeline behind the bar, looking for unbroken glasses and liquor.
“You think some kind of god has sent this creature?” Sloan ignored Aareth’s comment; instead, she directed her attention to the man in front of her.
“How else do you explain the attacks and the people targeted? Oh, I shouldn’t have spoken out against the preacher during last night’s meeting. Now I’m afraid I’ve doomed myself.”
Aareth found three mugs that seemed to have escaped the mayhem surrounding them. One by one, he placed them on the bar. He looked pleased with himself as he poured generous amounts of whiskey in each mug. “Well, if you’re going to die anyway, might as well have a drink.”
Benjamin Clive looked at Sloan first. When she didn’t stop him, he wasted no time in righting a fallen stool and taking the mug in both hands. Sloan raised her eyebrows as the man took long, burning draughts of the fierce liquid.
Aareth motioned for Sloan to come and take a cup.
“I think I’ll pass. I’m not much of a drinker at nine in the morning, while I’m supposed to be working.”
“Oh well.” Aareth shook his head like that was the craziest thing anyone ever told him. He clinked mugs with Benjamin Clive. “More for us.”
“Benjamin.” Sloan walked over and stood next to Benjamin Clive.
She pulled the list Elijah made them with names of all the deceased as well as the eyewitnesses.
“This is a list we compiled with all the names of people who have died at the hands of the creature along with those who have seen it. How accurate is it?”
“It looks correct. My god. When you see the people you used to know written down like this—I mean, they’re all dead now. They’re just names on a list.”
“Benjamin,” Aareth poured both of them another glass of the dark whiskey, “can you tell us what all these people did for a living? You said that people were being targeted?”
Benjamin reached into his vest, pulling out a small pen. The man went to work over the paper, writing occupations next to all of the names.
“That’s right. When the attacks happened, people didn’t know what to think.
Every possibility has been explored by now.
From completely random attacks by a bear, all the way to killings from a wolf pack.
But it makes the most sense to think the beast was sent as a curse to this town from the Divine. ”
“Benjamin,” Sloan let the man finish but couldn’t hold her tongue, “I’m pretty sure God doesn’t single out small towns and terrorize them by sending demon creatures to kill people for fun.”
“Well, how do you explain this list?” Benjamin shrugged and handed the parchment back to Sloan. “Everyone that’s dead was either involved with alcohol, drugs, or was corrupted by money or power.”
Sloan gave Benjamin a sideways look before she examined the paper. Benjamin made a dash mark by each name then commented on their occupation before they died. The list was full of comments like “bar owner,” “drug distributor,” and “prostitute.”
“So,” Aareth leaned over the bar and cocked his head to the side to read along with Sloan, “if we buy in to the idea that God—I mean, the Divine—has sent some kind of animal to kill certain people, then how do you explain the death of the mayor, sheriff, and every police officer that worked in Burrow Den?”
“Everyone is so hush-hush about this.” Benjamin took a large breath before he took another drink from his mug.
“Our mayor wasn’t the man everyone thought he was.
He was corrupt from the inside out. He held the police and sheriff in his pocket.
The reason it’s so overlooked is because he was a fair and likable man.
But when Dr. Oliver Livingston came from New Hope with all that money?—”
“Dr. Livingston was here?” Sloan slammed the paper on the bar locking Benjamin with a crazy look in her eyes.
“Ummm… yes. He came about a year ago to meet with the mayor. Only stayed for a day. When we asked the mayor what the meeting was about, he said the doctor wanted to keep lines of communication between New Hope and Burrow Den open as a sign of friendship and good faith. That’s one of the reasons why we reached out to New Hope when the attacks spiraled out of control. ”
Sloan was still trying to process the new information, when Aareth asked, “So what does this have to do with the mayor being corrupt?”
“After the doctor left, the mayor suddenly had more money than King Midas. He built himself that huge home. When Pastor Elijah started asking questions, he had the sheriff and deputies keep him in check.”
Sloan was trying to think back to the previous year, if she had known of Dr. Livingston making any prolonged trips outside of New Hope. Was it possible the doctor made the long journey to Burrow Den? But why would he have bothered? What was he planning with the mayor?
“Crazy, right?” Benjamin asked more to his glass of whiskey than his bar companions.
Aareth was staring into his glass, swishing around the mind-numbing liquid, when Sloan spoke again. “So we have what looks like a hit list on the not-so-honorable members of the community, and a meeting between Doctor Livingston and the Mayor of Burrow Den. What do you think, Aareth?”
“I think we have a lot of new information. It’s time to start talking to people who have actually seen whatever it is that’s causing all of these deaths.”
“Benjamin,” Sloan glanced at the short list of witnesses who had seen the animal and lived to talk about it, “there are only three names on the list of people who have encountered the animal and lived. Who do you think would be the most helpful to us?”
“Well, I wouldn’t rely on any of these people.
” Benjamin took the paper again. He sucked at his bottom lip as he thought.
“Old Man Shepherd is blind as a bat. These other two are as reliable as a dull knife. They’re probably just saying they’ve seen the beast for the attention. But maybe I can help.”
“You’ve seen this creature?” Warning signals went off in Sloan’s head. “Why isn’t your name on the list?”
“Oh, I’ve seen it all right. By the Divine One, I’ve seen it.
I didn’t tell anyone about it because I thought they would laugh.
Then, as the attacks happened more and more often, well, I got scared.
Anyone who claimed to have seen the monster was killed a few days later by the beast itself.
Then when the other so-called witnesses came forward with conflicting accounts of the animal, I decided to just stay out of it altogether. ”
Benjamin raised a shaking mug to his mouth. Sloan and Aareth shared another sideways glance.
“Tell us what happened, Benjamin.” Aareth swirled the whiskey in his glass. “We’ll believe you.”
Benjamin reluctantly put the mug down starting a story that was too strange to be fiction.