Chapter 12: Quoth the Raven
"Find his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming"-Edgar Allen Poe
Thanksgiving Eve, Late 1990's
His heart pounded in his heart like a wild herd of mustangs through the flatland of the Old West as he ran down the deserted Fulton County road. The bright moon stood high in the sky, the cold air made his labored breath visible in the clear winter air. His feet pounded against the pavement as he hurried toward the bridge were broken hearted lovers flung themselves to their death into the cold murky waters below. Fog oozed around him making it impossible for him to see down the road.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME," he screamed loudly as he stopped upon the bridge and looked around his surroundings frantically. The sound of footsteps echoed through the old rusted bridge that he stood upon.
Salome Buck emerged from the fog with a smile upon her features as she tsked him with a wag of her index finger and warned softly, "Careful, you'll wake the dead Mr. Soon To Be Mayor."
He shook his head as she stepped in front of him, acting as if there was no such thing as personal space between the two.
"Now look Sally May," he offered in fear, "I've done talked to Lucas-"
"I don't give a damn about my brother, Billy," she hissed and then looked down at the rushing, frigid water below them, "Never have cared about his ignorant political concerns."
"Then what do you care about," he asked as he peeked over the railings at the raging water below.
"My own political concerns of course," she said with a loud chuckle, "Wow, that's a long drop isn't it. I wonder how many people have actually came here and reconsidered jumping to their death."
"Sally May," Billy begged as his bottom lip trembled in fear, never had a woman brought him to trembling fear like Lucas Buck's little sister did.
"You asked me for a favor a few years ago, to save your child from some such illness and I did that," she replied casually as she shrugged her shoulders in a nonchalant way as if she were not about to ask him to do something that he could never take back, "and now I am callin' in that debt."
He followed her harsh eyes as a wicked smile stretched across her face causing her to look like the most gruesome of Jack O Lantern's that he had ever seen. She was almost demonic as she stood regally in front of him.
"Oh," he said shaking his head as he understood what her unspoken words and gaze revealed, "No I can't do that. I have a family."
"I want to send a big, bold message to my big brother," Salome informed him happily as she grabbed his lapels and shoved him dangerously to the side of the bridge, "And you are the perfect wrapping paper, Billy boy!"
Billy tried to wrap his hands around her wrists, but was too late as he felt air beneath his feet as he was shoved backwards. He watched as she smiled demonically as he fell down upon the jagged rocks that hid just beneath the rough water's surface.
Salome chuckled as she watched blood stream from his head and whispered, "Sorry, but I do have a lot invested in you not becoming mayor, Billy."
She did a small little jump in giddiness as she sashayed away from the murder scene whistling the tune to the Andy Griffith Show as she walked away toward her car hiding just out of the fog's reach.
Thanksgiving
Salome and Selena sat on both sides of Lucas Buck at the decorated Thanksgiving table inside of Ms. Holt's boarding house. Caleb sat beside his teacher and devoured the homemade Southern stuffing upon his plate. The other residents of the boarding house ate at their wonderful home cooked meal that Ms. Holt had been kind enough to make all by herself. Silverware clanked as the mismatched people sat at the table to share the holiday together.
"It's always nice for a family to sit down together," Ms. Holt announced as she glanced over to Salome and Lucas who had been ignoring each other since the start of the mayoral elections that had begun rather early with the biased re-election of the incumbent mayor.
Salome smiled cheekily at the black woman and replied, "It always is. Why just the other day I was complainin' about how I don't ever get to see my lovely brother, the poor child that lost his family and gained this horrible one, and my brother's loose girlfriend."
"Salome," Lucas warned as he glared at her with harsh eyes, "That's not proper table conversation."
She smiled at him in anger and turned to Ms. Holt and apologized, "Sorry Ms. Holt. This dinner is fabulous, much better than the food at the cafeteria at college. Dorm food is the worst."
"How is school goin' by the-"
The screen door at the front of the house was pulled open and slammed quickly behind the intruder. The sounds of boots scuffling against the wooden floor signaled the emergence of the intruder. Ben hurried inside the dining room. His face was pallid as if he had seen a horrifying ghost that rivaled Merlyn-Ann Temple and those damned Indian ghosts. Sweat beaded down his forehead as he looked over to Lucas.
"What's wrong Ben," Lucas asked as he wiped his lips with the cloth napkin that he had hidden in his lap.
"Billy McCallister," Ben answered quickly as he wiped his lips in worry.
Salome smiled wickedly as she reached for a biscuit and buttered it. She smiled as she watched it melt upon the hot white folds of the biscuit.
"What about him," Lucas asked as he watched Salome out of the corner of his eye.
"Well, he, ugh," Ben stuttered, "He jumped off the Choctaw bridge late last night."
Salome chuckled as she passed the sweet potatoes to the young woman that sat beside her and announced in a bored tone, "Oh Billy never had a lick of sense. I don't know why you endorsed him for mayor."
"That's a shame 'bout poor Billy," Ms. Holt said, trying to ignore the hateful glares that Lucas and Salome were exchanging with each other over the festive dinner table.
"Excuse us for a moment," Lucas announced with a fake smile as he stood from then table and hurried over to his young sister. He latched his large hands onto her arm and jerked her out of her chair and to her feet.
"Come with me Sally May," he hissed in her ear as he pulled her out of the dining room and into the library across the hall. He closed the doors quickly behind him to allow them the privacy that they so desperately needed in this matter, a matter that had been bubbling throughout Trinity, South Carolina for a long while.
"You care to explain yourself," Lucas asked.
She shrugged her shoulders and replied, "I called in an old debt. No different than what you would do."
"I invested money on-"
"Too bad," she hissed as she glared at him, "You bet on the wrong pony this time, Lucas."
He shook his head at his younger sister. They had become increasingly harsh towards each other since she had decided to become involved with the political runnings in Trinity, South Carolina.
"What's this really about Salome," he asked, but did not receive an answer from her. She looked away from him, not meeting his gaze as if she were equal parts ashamed for her previous behavior and fear of her big brother.
"You did something really stupid, Salome Buck," he informed her harshly.
"Oh please," she hissed as she jerked her eyes back up to meet his own eyes, "you act as if Billy being mayor will save you. Do you know that they laugh at you…behind your back? Selena, Caleb, hell even I do. You've become pathetic, Lucas," she watched as he glared darkly at her but she pressed on, "They laugh at you because you have given him pointless PR campaigns and billboard signs," she screamed in anger, her hands waved to prove her point as she walked passed him, "That is our authority that you are giving away!"
"Our authority," he asked with a harsh grin, "There's no our, Sally May. Why did you come back here? You don't care about family."
She shrugged her shoulders and replied, "That's were you're wrong. I love Caleb, but I didn't come here for a family reunion. I came back to Trinity for the simple reason to tell you this," she moved toward him and glared at him, refusing to allow him any personal space, "To tell you that I no longer recognize your authority," a dark smile curled around her plump looks as she looked up at her brother, "and that I am taking it just as you did from our father."
"You know that I can-"
"Kill me," she asked with a simple chuckle, "well," her eyes glittered, "you had that chance and you let it slip away. We both know that that won't be happening any time soon."
"So are you going to kill me," he asked, "Is that your plan? Last time I checked killing a sheriff is a crime."
"No," she answered quickly, "I'm just taking my proper place to bring in my own authority upon this shithole town. These idiotic," she rolled her eyes, "PR campaigns for McCallister-really? That's giving authority away, that's abdicating our authority!"
"I won't let you take this town," he informed her harshly, "I threw Caleb off the stairs to stop him, don't think that I won't do the same to you."
"You won't because there isn't a little ghost to save my poor damned soul."
"I can refuse to allow you-"
"Yes," she announced in subdued anger as she shook her head, "Maybe you haven't fully grasped the subtext of our previous exchange," she stopped as her built up anger exploded and she screamed, "BUT THERE'S A NEW FUCKING AUTHORITY IN TOWN!"
...
Salome smiled as she sat down in her chair behind her desk. Her eyes glared at the woman that had dared to enter her study. No one but Albert and Lucas had stepped foot inside this threshold. She watched as Abigail White's eyes moved over the objects inside her dark office.
Books written on the subjects of the occult and books filled with old law codes lined the large book shelves against the walls. It was obvious by the small smile upon Abby's face that the irony of devils and lawyers being compared to these books was not lost.
The all seeing eye was expressed in a large painting upon the wall behind Salome, greeting anyone that was unlucky enough to enter her dark study. The window behind her was opened slightly to allow fresh air and moonlight inside the slightly cluttered office.
"How'd you get in here," Salome asked as she glared at the young reporter that had found her way inside of her home.
"It was unlocked," Abby answered casually.
Salome smiled at her simple answer and waved toward the decanter set filled with burning amber liquor in the corner of her office, "Can I offer you a drink?"
"I helped myself," Abby answered cheekily, "Good stuff."
"It's 20 year old Scotch, it better be," Salome answered with a proud smile, "Now," her eyes glittered as she looked at the reporter, "you gonna tell me what you're doing snoopin' in my house or do you need to stay the night in a cage with Trinity's own star photographer?"
"You told me to leave. Why?"
Salome chuckled at the young woman's words and replied, "You sure do care about Mary, don't you?"
"I love her," Abby argued, "You keep her out of this!"
"No you don't," Salome announced as she waved off the reporter's retorts, "You love yourself. If you did love the poor girl, you wouldn't be here right now with me," she leaned back in her chair in triumph, "Now what do you really want?"
"The truth."
"Be more specific," Salome informed her with a chuckle as the flutter of bird wings entered the room. A crow perched upon the book shelf regally. She smiled at the black feathered bird and announced with a smile, "Hello Edgar."
Abby looked over to the intruding bird that looked at her with almost demonic black eyes that seemed to pierce into her soul.
"Sorry my lovely pet does enjoy listening in," Salome informed her with a smile as she gave a soft smile to the tamed animal that cawed at her.
"Fitting that your pet is an omen of death," Abby replied quickly as she forced herself to look away from the dark eyed bird.
"Not in all cultures," she informed the young reporter, "Now, I'm sure you didn't break into my house to talk about my bird."
"Why can't I find anything about this town in the history records," Abby asked with a fire in her eyes as she glared at the lawyer that sat lazily in the desk chair.
"It's there," Salome corrected her, "You just haven't been askin' the right people. Mrs. Mally Mae, bless her lil ol' heart, but she isn't the one ask about the history that you are looking for."
"That's why I am asking you," Abby informed her, "What happened in this town? Why is it so much more secretive than any other town I've been in?"
"Because Trinity isn't any other town," Salome answered defensively of her town, "Do you know what a crossroad is?"
"The Devil's Playground."
Salome chuckled at the answer and replied hotly, "So much like a reporter. You can answer every question, but knows absolutely nothing."
"Then what is it?"
"It's a mixture of things, different beliefs thrown over the century. Mostly European, some African history," Salome recited as if she were reading a world fact book to the reporter, "There are several different beliefs, thousands actually. Now the most common in the South is the hoodoo uses," she waved her hand in boredom as she continued to explain, "You have your casual love/hate bonding spell bullshit. Then there's what it really is."
"And that is?"
"A place where demons lurk to collect on the debts and where the Devil rests his weary feet," she answered casually, "What better place to do that than in the South where hospitality is almost a rule of law?"
"Bullshit," Abby hissed as the crow cawed loudly upon his perch above the two women.
"You've seen her haven't you," Salome asked, "The squaw?"
Edgar cawed again as the Indian woman appeared in corner of the room at the announcement of her presence. She stared absently into the darkness, ignoring the living people around her.
Salome chuckled and replied in her most stereotypical southern black voice that she could muster up, "You go out there about four a'clock, an' start a-pickin' at de fiddle. Yo' go jis' onest. An' they says de devil came out an' take it, jis' somepin will pull it from you, you jis' give up to it. An' he'll tune up an' hand it back to you and you start to play . You can pick any song you want to pick as long as you sell your soul to the devil."
She chuckled loudly at her own amazing skills at mocking the old black men and women that she had on occasion spoken to in her life.
"Stop it," Abby hissed, "You expect me to believe this Charlie Daniel's bullshit?!"
"Of course I do," Salome said happily, "It's right in front of you. You want to know what happened to this town, well I'll tell you. My family protects this town. We run it with an iron fist as you yourself have witnessed."
"Go," Abby bid.
Salome smiled as she laid her head back against her chair and revealed, "Our many times great grandfather had a little problem back in the day. That little tribe got it into their head that they were going to avenge all the other Indians that were lost to the attempted extermination of them. You see Andy Jackson didn't like the Indian folks," she shrugged her shoulders and continued, "So they came into town and killed every man, woman, and child in this town."
"Except for the Buck family?"
"It was a Buck that gave them the power to kill the townspeople," she announced darkly, "He went to the crossroads and sold his family to the devil to rule Trinity in each generation. He was an evil, vile man that used them Indians as weapons."
"Then why are they still here," Abby asked as she looked over to the Indian and then back to Salome.
"He slaughtered them after he was finished using them," she confided, "See, he didn't like the Indian peoples either…and now one child per generation rules with complete authority."
"And what about you? You're the youngest?"
"Lucas is the strongest of the both of us," she informed him, "He killed our father and took his place. He took most of the authority, and blessed me with life. I should be thankful to him. I've never properly thanked him for that."
A deathly still silence enveloped the room as Abby digested what Salome had just revealed to her.
Salome allowed a wicked smile to come across her face as she looked at the young reporter and reminded, "You didn't chose Trinity, Ms. White. Trinity chose you," she smiled as she watched the harsh realization come over Abby's face, "I expect now that you since you have your story that you will hurry it on out of Trinity as fast as you can."
Abby shook her head. Trinity had chosen her. It had tugged and nagged at her heart as soon as her boss had told her about the senator's condition. It had enticed her with the mysterious and tainted her soul.
"Go north Ms. White," Salome offered with a wicked, knowing grin upon her features.
"Why?"
"Because," Salome answered with a lifted brow, "Trinity is the crossroads. There's only one road, but there's two ways out of this town, and if you aren't listenin' to me then you are heading the wrong way."
Abby looked at Salome with slight fear in her eyes as she looked into Salome's bright blue eyes and asked, "What about Mary?"
"Forget about her. Fame is much tastier alone," Salome informed her with a bright, knowing smile, "Besides that squaw bitch has already stolen the soul from her when Mary jumped out of the window. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Mary Murphy isn't known for her strong spirit."
Salome smiled brightly as she watched Abby hurry out of her office. She quickly turned to her phone and smiled as she dialed a used number. A smile crossed her face as the southern voice on the other end of the line answer.
"Yeah," she said with a wicked smile on her face, "she just left," she twirled the white telephone cord around her index finger as she listened to the man on the other end of the line.
"I told her to go north."
...
Zachery turned the engine off as he parked in front of Selena's house where he had parked countless times before in the same spot where countless other men had parked countless times as well. He exited his car in a rage and slammed the door loudly. Rage bubbled inside of his tall frame as he relived the brush off that Salome Martin had given him only a half hour ago.
He quickly composed himself as he watched the kitchen light turn on for him. He hurriedly walked across the gravel road toward her door and knocked upon it lightly. He smiled as he watched her slowly open the door and stand lazily against the door frame.
Selena looked up at him with a bored expression upon her face as she took in his disheveled appearance.
"Burnin' the midnight oil with Salome Martin I see," Selena announced, jealousy filling her voice as she looked into his dark, angered eyes.
Zachery rushed at her with sparkling eyes. His large hand grasped around her thin neck tightly and shoved her backwards as he closed the door behind him. He kissed her violently and passionately, just the she had always liked it from him as he pushed her towards the bedroom where every other man in Trinity had shared with her.
"Fuck Salome," he hissed in her ear as he shoved her into the wall and pressed her body tightly against it with his chest, "Now lift your skirt."
"I ain't that type of girl," Selena whispered as she pushed his grabby hands away from him.
Rage coursed through his veins once again at the second brush off. He raised his hand high above his head, readying himself to smack Selena across the cheek for her behavior.
"Do it," she demanded harshly as she watched him drop his threatening hands and kiss her once again.
...
Abby hurried through her apartment grabbing her very few belongings as she moved through the apartment with almost cheetah like speed. She held the recorder in her hand tightly; a smile enveloped her features at what had been recorded. She had gotten all of Salome's ramblings about how Lucas had murdered their father. She could bring down this town with what she held.
A harsh wailing, almost as if a wild banshee had appeared, echoed violently through her small apartment that she had once shared with her lover. A burning presence behind her seemed to glare daggers into her back. She turned quickly only to see the shutters on every window in the small apartment burst open with a loud groan of pain as if the house were being physically attacked by something not natural to this world. A hot wind blew through the opened windows as the screaming and the groaning became louder and louder.
Fear pushed Abby away from the violently moving window shutters as the hot wind blew her hair around her face. A loud pop sounded behind her that caused her to turn around to see the lights surging and the lights from the ceiling fan above her burst into small shards around her. She screamed in fear as she hurried toward the door and escaped the seemingly possessed apartment.
Abby hurried into her car with her heart pounding in her chest as she opened the car door and threw her few bags into the passenger seat. She hurriedly started the car with shaking hands and backed the car out of the apartment lot. She turned south on the Fulton County road and sped away in the opposite direction that Salome had told her to leave in.
As she drove down the empty, dark Fulton County road, the radio poured out the old tune "Crossroads" by Robert Johnson, the very man that had supposedly sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads. She shook her head at the uncountable cosmic jokes that Trinity seemed to enjoy thrusting upon her.
She looked down at the recorder that she still held tightly in her hand. It was her lifeline now, her path to success as a reporter. She could forget about the devil's bullshit, she had a murder confession upon it. She just had to make it the county line and she would be safe to expose the political crookedness in this town.
A low caw caught her attention and caused her to look up to see a crow slamming into the windshield. Glass flew around her from the bird's impact. Abby screamed as she lost control of her car on the lonely high way.
The car flipped twice, completely coming off of the pavement, and rolled to a complete stop just moments from the Fulton County line.
Abby moaned as pain ripped through her body, but she forced herself to take her seat belt off of her to relieve her abdomen of the biting pain of the hard material. Red and blue police lights filled the night air as looked at the broken windshield where the dead crow hung limply within the glass shards, blood dripped freely from the black bird onto the dash.
"Son of a bitch," she moaned as she pushed herself out of the broken window. She ignored the fresh cuts upon her body as she laid on the hard pavement of the road. Fog started to slowly roll in as she watched Lucas Buck swaggering towards her with a large cocky smile upon his face. She could see that he was carrying something in his hand, but she couldn't make out what it was from her place on the ground.
"Hey sheriff," she whispered as she looked up at him. She watched in a slight daze as he bent the stick in his hand and a bright flare took over the night.
"Street safety is a high priority in Trinity mam," Lucas announced as he looked down at her.
Abby's eyes widened as she watched the murderous sheriff remove his handcuffs from his belt and grab her limp wrist. He drug her closer to the car and cuffed her to the steering wheel of the car.
"Now what are you doing," Lucas asked as he watched Abby yank at her metal bonds violently in an attempt to escape, "You're shakin' like one of our football players with chiggers in his jock strap."
"You can't do this," she screamed at him as she watched him turn away from her and place the burning flare into the gas tank.
"Oh, I think I can," Lucas replied darkly as he glared down at the busybody reporter, "Coroner will find that you have twenty year old Scotch in your system, and it will just be chalked up as a drunken accident. Hell, they'll accept that answer. We've got our own alcoholic murderin' doctor in our little asylum. You tried meeting Dr. Matt Crower? Tried to kill me, went insane after he killed his family in a drunken accident."
"Don't do this," she hissed as she glared up at him, her arms flailing as she tried to escape the metal handcuffs.
"I'm just collectin' on my debt," Lucas informed her as he kneeled down beside her to see the shining recorder upon her stomach. He quickly pocketed the piece of evidence with a smile and pulled something else from the folds of his pockets.
"But," he announced happily as he threw a dull pocket knife down beside her, "I do believe in giving second chances."
"No," she cried as she watched him stand and swagger away from her and the burning flare. She watched as a woman emerged from the passenger side and leaned upon the hood of the car as Lucas walked toward her.
Salome held a large smile upon her face as she watched her brother walk toward her with the same smile upon his face. She crossed her arms over her chest as she watched the flames from the flare fall to the ground, coming dangerously close to falling inside of the gas tank.
He handed her the recorder and asked, "That conscience eating up at you?"
"Quoth the raven 'Nevermore'," she announced darkly as a wicked smile crossed her face as she turned away from her brother just as the car exploded into large flames that lit up the night sky.
Lucas chuckled proudly at his young sister as he watched her get into the passenger seat. He moved to get into the driver's seat and reached for the radio to call in the horrible drunken accident.
As he grabbed the walkie talkie from its holding place, he noticed Salome shaking like a leaf in an oncoming hurricane. Her eyes were filled with worry and fear as he looked her over.
"Sally May," he asked as he placed a protective hand upon her shoulder.
He was she clicked the play button upon the recorder. A distorted male voice on the other end of the line chuckled wickedly at the both of them.
"Sally May, Sally May," the distorted voice announced in a sing song voice, "Time's a tickin'. Sacrifice yourself at the crossroads or Senator Martin dies tonight."
She turned to Lucas with a new found anger in her eyes at the threat and demanded, "You take me home and the you get to Albert as quick as you can."
"Sally May," Lucas informed her as he threw the car in reverse, "I'm not letting you do this alone."
"You're not," she informed him quickly, "Call Zack on his cell phone, tell him to come to my house. He can help watch if someone is snooping around."
"Salome," Lucas started to argue.
"Lucas," she screamed in anger, "You do this for me. If I don't make it back to the hospital, then you know where I am," she paused and shook her head, "And if I don't make it, you make sure that Albert will be okay. Lucas please, he means more to me than anything in this world. I can't lose him like that. Do that for me."
And there is the wonderfully long chapter 12.
So what do you think about all this mess?
