The Scottsville Vampire Invasion

Chapter 28

Chapter 28 

I walk into the front door of The Corner and see the owner's wife, Beth, sitting at a table by the entrance. She has her head down and is staring at the floor. Beth--an old hippie just like owner, John--has long white hair and is wearing jeans and a tee shirt.  

"I'm sorry Beth, but we'll get to the bottom of this." 

"Please, Clark. Please find him and let me know he's alright. You know the problems he's had with drugs. He could be off running with his old friends or worse." 

"We'll do everything we can." 

When I see Josh stick his head out from behind the door and wave me over I head to the back office. It's all wood. Wood paneling, wooden desk and a wooden chair. There are piles of papers everywhere with a cheap black and white TV and a video machine on top of it. There is a large ashtray filled with dead cigarettes. The smell of smoke is ingrained into everything.  

Josh is ready for me with the video from their security camera. We fast forward it until we see something moving and play a section showing John carrying out a garbage bag. He gets to the dumpster and drops it in. He pauses, puts his hand in his pocket, takes out a cigarette and lights it. His head turns like he hears something. He takes a few steps forward, stops and looks around. All of a sudden, three people appear from the shadows and descend on him. He tries to fight them off, but they overpower him. The three creatures pick him up and carry him off the screen. 

"They're taking his body so we can't destroy it," I say.  

Josh rewinds the tape. "They're learning from their mistakes."  

We go through the video again. "I'm going to have to tell his wife, but I need to talk to you about what was in the paper this morning," I say. 

"I saw what Glenn wrote about the DA." 

"This is a big problem Josh. I told you not to do anything with the body. Now we have to deal with the investigation and having the DA on our ass." 

"Clark, don't worry about it. We covered our tracks. We both have alibis. It will be fine. 

"Okay, what's your story?" 

"Bear and I were running patrols. We even called in right before and during when we were at the morgue. It will be fine." 

"Sheriff Taylor?" I hear from behind me.  

I spin around. "Beth, sorry for making you wait. I'll be out in a few seconds." 

She nods and closes the door. I lean into Josh and whisper, "Did she hear us?" 

He pauses for a second. "No, I think we're good. The door was closed. She just stuck her head in." 

"That door is paper thin. She could hear what we were saying. What if she goes to Chip or Glenn?" 

"Clark, calm down. This will all blow over. We just need to stop these vampires. Once that's done no one will care about anything else." 

"No, we need to stop doing stupid shit that is only going to blow up in our faces. We'll never get to solve these cases if we're wasting our time covering tracks left by things we shouldn't be doing," I say as we leave the room. I let Josh pass me and he heads out with the tape to bring it back to our office. Needing a second here to think, I stand in the hallway and take a deep breath. This is only getting worse and worse. I'll have to keep that DA at bay. Hopefully, I can stonewall him long enough to tie Glen down. I've been so busy dealing with so much other crap, I haven't been able to focus on nailing him.  

I slip my hand into my pocket and grab a pill. I try to get another but have to dig around to find one. Just as I put the second pill in my mouth, Beth comes around the corner. She looks at me like she is wondering what I'm doing. "Just got a breath mint." I say, which is my standard lie if someone catches me. I take a deep breath. "Beth, I do need to talk to you about your husband. It seems like there could be some foul play." 

"Foul play? How do you know that?" 

"Some of the evidence we gathered is suggesting that." 

She puts her hands up to her face and sucks up some oxygen. "Is he okay?" 

"We're going to work on it to see who could have done this, and when we get any information we'll let you know," I say, putting my hand on her back and leading her to the front. "Do you need a ride or anything that we can do for you?" 

"I got to open the business for today." 

"Maybe you should close and take it easy." 

"We can't afford that. We're barely meeting the payments." 

"Okay, I'll check up on you when I can, and I'll let you know if we learn of anything," I say. I head out and go back to the office.