The Mask, Chapter 17
17.
Saturday, October 13th8:00 AM
Chairman of the Town Board, Bob Phillips sat back in his plush leather chair, closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed it. He looked about as tired and vexed as Sheriff Baker felt.
"Okay," he said, eyes still closed, still rubbing his nose, as if a throbbing ache had settled there, and he could rub it away. "Let's go over it again, from the top."
Sheriff Baker repressed a sigh as he flipped his yellow notepad - now three pages full of notes which didn't make much sense at all - and did just that. He recounted the disappearances of Lester McDonough, Margaret Seaver, Jasper Riley, then of Jasper's mother, and eventually the whole family.
"And there's been no sign of them since. No sign of anything amiss at the houses, cars gone, no evidence of foul play?"
Sheriff Baker shook his head. "It's like they disappeared. Got in their cars and drove off. And of course, all these folks are fairly isolated people. It's not like any of them had many connections in town."
Phillips opened his eyes and offered Baker a wry grin. "And that's how it always works around here, isn't it?" Before Baker could respond, he added, "And there's been desecration up on Hillside Cemetery. But not vandalism. Coffins dug up, broken into, and the corpses...eaten? Is that right? By what, for Godsakes?"
"Jeff Anderson over at Utica PD Forensics couldn't give us a positive ID. Not any know animal, and not exactly...human."
Phillips shook his head, in a gesture of amazement or disgust, Baker wasn't sure. "Shit. I bet Jud Collins is foaming at the mouth, ready to hide up in a tree-stand with a shotgun, at this point."
Baker allowed a small smile, despite the circumstances. "It took some doing, but I convinced him to wait until I could talk to you about approving overtime for someone to watch over the cemetery. His patience is running out, though. It's happened three more times this week."
Phillips waved a hand. "Well, you'll get the overtime, that's for sure. Especially after what happened at The Golden Kitty last night. God, what a mess."
Baker had to agree. He'd received a call from the Webb County Police at 4 AM this morning about the strip club just past town limits, and how it was in the process of burning down. He felt wrung-out because he hadn't been able to get back to sleep, but he wondered if maybe that was a good thing, seeing as how the call had pulled him from a troubled sleep filled with nothing but leering, misshapen masks.
"Any word about what started the fire yet?"
Phillips shook his head. "Since it's just outside our jurisdiction, Webb County Police and Fire are handling it. Thankfully, it appears as if there was only one causality. They're still IDing the body, but the only vehicle in the parking lot - an 85' Dodge pickup - belonged to a Conroy Ortega, and bouncer at the club who lives in Booneville. I'm guessing that's who the body is."
Baker pressed his lips together. As Phillips had said, The Golden Kitty was just outside his jurisdiction, but he'd been called there on a handful of occasions when Webb County had been delayed. He'd dealt with Ortega a few times, and even though he knew little about the man, the bouncer had always seemed respectful and forthright. Protective of the club and the girls, almost as if they were his family. It was an unfortunate loss.
"So, I can't remember - my mind is about shot, and it's not even nine in the morning - but there's been no sighting of those missing?"
Baker tipped his head. "Only one possible. When I interview the Taylor boy, he said the last day he saw Jasper, they split up and went their separate ways because they felt threatened by two adults wearing 'weird' masks. I gave him the physical descriptions of McDonough and Seaver, and though he couldn't be sure because of the distance, he thought they corresponded."
Phillips leaned back, clasped his hands behind his neck, stared at the ceiling and sighed. "Son of a bitch. What the hell is going on? I mean, weird stuff tends to happen here, especially around Halloween, but this...."
He shook his head, still staring at the ceiling. "What about the person this Taylor kid says was chasing him at Kaminsky's corn maze last night? He was wearing a mask, too?"
Baker nodded. He'd received a call last night, around 9 PM, from Cassie Tillman, waitress at The Skylark, clerk at Kevin Ellison's used book store Arcane Delights, and a hospice nurse at the Webb County Assisted Living Center. She and Julie Sanzone - a stripper from The Golden Kitty, he'd recognized her soon as he'd arrived on scene - were with a rattled Scott Tyler, He'd claimed that a teen dressed like Jasper Riley - but wearing the same weird mask - had chased him through cornfield, actually tackling him and wrestling with before he was able to fight free.
"Yes. He thought it might have been Jasper Riley - was wearing the same clothes he'd seen the boy in last - but couldn't be sure. Also..."
"Yes?"
Baker paused before continuing. In his initial interviews with Taylor, he'd sensed the boy had told him everything. Last night, however, he felt like the boy hadn't been entirely truthful about the encounter, with him or the young women he'd blundered into.
He shook his head. "I'm not sure, Mr. Phillips. Just seems like something here doesn't quite fit."
Phillips glanced out his office window and snorted. "Something? Make that nothing fits. At all."
He looked back to Baker, eyes slightly narrowed. "And you're sure you've told me everything?"
Baker hadn't, of course. He'd asked Jeff to keep the weird rubber sample - the organic rubber sample that was alive - off the books and between them, for the moment. So when he nodded and said, "Yes sir," firmly, he was lying through his teeth. However, it was also the normal state of affairs around Clifton Heights. Things too weird he kept off the books, and tried to handle himself."
Phillips' face relaxed. "All right. I'm officially approving overtime for Shackleford and Potter to start watching Hillside Cemetery tomorrow night. Think you can keep Jud Collins pacified until then?"
Baker thought that very unlikely, but even so, said, "I'll do my best."
"Also. I'm authorizing you, as Town Board chairman, to force entry into both McDonough and Seaver's homes. Find out, if you can, where they've gone. Get to the bottom of this, before it blows up. We're used to our fair share of weird happenings, but we haven't anything go over the edge in quite some time. I'd like to keep it that way."
"Agreed," Baker said, putting his trooper hat on as he stood. In addition to searching the two homes, another interview with Taylor was needed. Time to ask the boy straight out what he hadn't told Baker the night before.
Saturday, October 13th8:00 AM
Chairman of the Town Board, Bob Phillips sat back in his plush leather chair, closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed it. He looked about as tired and vexed as Sheriff Baker felt.
"Okay," he said, eyes still closed, still rubbing his nose, as if a throbbing ache had settled there, and he could rub it away. "Let's go over it again, from the top."
Sheriff Baker repressed a sigh as he flipped his yellow notepad - now three pages full of notes which didn't make much sense at all - and did just that. He recounted the disappearances of Lester McDonough, Margaret Seaver, Jasper Riley, then of Jasper's mother, and eventually the whole family.
"And there's been no sign of them since. No sign of anything amiss at the houses, cars gone, no evidence of foul play?"
Sheriff Baker shook his head. "It's like they disappeared. Got in their cars and drove off. And of course, all these folks are fairly isolated people. It's not like any of them had many connections in town."
Phillips opened his eyes and offered Baker a wry grin. "And that's how it always works around here, isn't it?" Before Baker could respond, he added, "And there's been desecration up on Hillside Cemetery. But not vandalism. Coffins dug up, broken into, and the corpses...eaten? Is that right? By what, for Godsakes?"
"Jeff Anderson over at Utica PD Forensics couldn't give us a positive ID. Not any know animal, and not exactly...human."
Phillips shook his head, in a gesture of amazement or disgust, Baker wasn't sure. "Shit. I bet Jud Collins is foaming at the mouth, ready to hide up in a tree-stand with a shotgun, at this point."
Baker allowed a small smile, despite the circumstances. "It took some doing, but I convinced him to wait until I could talk to you about approving overtime for someone to watch over the cemetery. His patience is running out, though. It's happened three more times this week."
Phillips waved a hand. "Well, you'll get the overtime, that's for sure. Especially after what happened at The Golden Kitty last night. God, what a mess."
Baker had to agree. He'd received a call from the Webb County Police at 4 AM this morning about the strip club just past town limits, and how it was in the process of burning down. He felt wrung-out because he hadn't been able to get back to sleep, but he wondered if maybe that was a good thing, seeing as how the call had pulled him from a troubled sleep filled with nothing but leering, misshapen masks.
"Any word about what started the fire yet?"
Phillips shook his head. "Since it's just outside our jurisdiction, Webb County Police and Fire are handling it. Thankfully, it appears as if there was only one causality. They're still IDing the body, but the only vehicle in the parking lot - an 85' Dodge pickup - belonged to a Conroy Ortega, and bouncer at the club who lives in Booneville. I'm guessing that's who the body is."
Baker pressed his lips together. As Phillips had said, The Golden Kitty was just outside his jurisdiction, but he'd been called there on a handful of occasions when Webb County had been delayed. He'd dealt with Ortega a few times, and even though he knew little about the man, the bouncer had always seemed respectful and forthright. Protective of the club and the girls, almost as if they were his family. It was an unfortunate loss.
"So, I can't remember - my mind is about shot, and it's not even nine in the morning - but there's been no sighting of those missing?"
Baker tipped his head. "Only one possible. When I interview the Taylor boy, he said the last day he saw Jasper, they split up and went their separate ways because they felt threatened by two adults wearing 'weird' masks. I gave him the physical descriptions of McDonough and Seaver, and though he couldn't be sure because of the distance, he thought they corresponded."
Phillips leaned back, clasped his hands behind his neck, stared at the ceiling and sighed. "Son of a bitch. What the hell is going on? I mean, weird stuff tends to happen here, especially around Halloween, but this...."
He shook his head, still staring at the ceiling. "What about the person this Taylor kid says was chasing him at Kaminsky's corn maze last night? He was wearing a mask, too?"
Baker nodded. He'd received a call last night, around 9 PM, from Cassie Tillman, waitress at The Skylark, clerk at Kevin Ellison's used book store Arcane Delights, and a hospice nurse at the Webb County Assisted Living Center. She and Julie Sanzone - a stripper from The Golden Kitty, he'd recognized her soon as he'd arrived on scene - were with a rattled Scott Tyler, He'd claimed that a teen dressed like Jasper Riley - but wearing the same weird mask - had chased him through cornfield, actually tackling him and wrestling with before he was able to fight free.
"Yes. He thought it might have been Jasper Riley - was wearing the same clothes he'd seen the boy in last - but couldn't be sure. Also..."
"Yes?"
Baker paused before continuing. In his initial interviews with Taylor, he'd sensed the boy had told him everything. Last night, however, he felt like the boy hadn't been entirely truthful about the encounter, with him or the young women he'd blundered into.
He shook his head. "I'm not sure, Mr. Phillips. Just seems like something here doesn't quite fit."
Phillips glanced out his office window and snorted. "Something? Make that nothing fits. At all."
He looked back to Baker, eyes slightly narrowed. "And you're sure you've told me everything?"
Baker hadn't, of course. He'd asked Jeff to keep the weird rubber sample - the organic rubber sample that was alive - off the books and between them, for the moment. So when he nodded and said, "Yes sir," firmly, he was lying through his teeth. However, it was also the normal state of affairs around Clifton Heights. Things too weird he kept off the books, and tried to handle himself."
Phillips' face relaxed. "All right. I'm officially approving overtime for Shackleford and Potter to start watching Hillside Cemetery tomorrow night. Think you can keep Jud Collins pacified until then?"
Baker thought that very unlikely, but even so, said, "I'll do my best."
"Also. I'm authorizing you, as Town Board chairman, to force entry into both McDonough and Seaver's homes. Find out, if you can, where they've gone. Get to the bottom of this, before it blows up. We're used to our fair share of weird happenings, but we haven't anything go over the edge in quite some time. I'd like to keep it that way."
"Agreed," Baker said, putting his trooper hat on as he stood. In addition to searching the two homes, another interview with Taylor was needed. Time to ask the boy straight out what he hadn't told Baker the night before.
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