Dempster Road

Chapter 23

Jill's mouth dropped, but she caught a look from Harry, and she forced a smile, nodding. "I think I might have it on the register. Let me go look." Adelaine leaned against the counter and twiddled her locket.

"By the way," Harry said suddenly. "I'm Harry Sturn and this is my wife Marg, we're down from Marystown doing a little getaway driving tour . . . kind of escaping the big cities and unwinding."

He offered a grin and tilted his head in expectation of a similar response. Adelaine raised her eyes and studied him. Something about his appearance held her attention, and when she didn't answer right away the woman leaned forward and whispered something to him. He shook his head, patting her hand and held his smile.

Adelaine bit her lip as an image came and went in a flash, an image of a man standing in a doorway and looking down at her. She was about to speak when Jill returned holding out a slip of paper, and announced that it was the name of her dinner companion.

"Ted Shafton." She said. "That was his name."

Adelaine looked at the paper and nodded slowly. "I remember now. He threw money at me." Her face grew taut, and her lips pulled back over her teeth. Jill eased back from the counter and Harry felt his wife's hand squeezing his arm.

"Well good luck on finding the fellow," Harry said cheerfully. "It's not many people go to the trouble that you are to offer a thank you."

As she looked up from the paper her smile sent shivers through all of them. "Actually, I thanked him already. He understood my motives quite thoroughly." She reached into her carry bag and withdrew Barney's gun, holding it casually toward the three startled people.

****

The argument over who would act was cut short when Emily pointed out that time was wasting and that the Curtis woman would already be at the diner before they made up their minds. Barney groaned in frustration over his injuries and reluctantly agreed to the argument Fred presented.

Belinda managed to get her two cents in pushing the fact that she knew what Adelaine looked like and Fred didn't, so she had to go with him. Emily and Tony would look after Barney, and all the necessary telephoning for Latham Police support and medical assistance.

Still grumbling, he raised a warning finger to Belinda about keeping herself safe and forgetting about the story.

Fred said there would be plenty of story to go around when he was done, and raced off the hotel lot in a throaty growl of a labouring truck engine. Barney slumped dejectedly, allowing Tony and Emily to help him to a more comfortable seat. So much for an acceptable retirement, he thought.

Fred was giving Belinda his stern voiced set of rules and what she was expected to do if she knew what was good for her. She nodded pleadingly, reminding him that until she identified Adelaine, there was no validity to his rules. Fred growled, and tramped down on the accelerator.

The run was made in record time, and Belinda figured it was probably the last trip the old truck would make. It wheezed and banged as Fred swung into the motel lot, hitting the brakes and killing the hiccuping engine.

"Okay now, the plan is I go in first--"

"That's Doc's wagon!" Belinda pointed through the window. She climbed out with an angry Fred charging behind her. "There she is," Belinda issued a noisy stage whisper, pointing again, this time to the back of the woman by the counter inside the diner.

"You stay out here. And I mean it, deary." Fred checked his gun, and holding it down alongside his leg, made his way to the diner door.

****

Harry was holding his hands out in supplication. "I don't understand why you need to hold us at gunpoint. You aren't committing a robbery, and you're just making everyone uneasy." His voice, while strained slightly, was steady and soft.

"Am I. Well that's kind of tough, Harry." She lifted the muzzle toward him.

"Don't! Please!" Marg pleaded, pulling Harry back. "Please don't hurt us."

"I don't hurt women." The distinction wasn't lost on Harry, and his confidence slipped a notch when she moved toward him, signalling Marg to back off.

"Maybe you could explain this aggressive behaviour toward me- men." He started.

Adelaine laughed. "I don't have to explain anything to you or anybody else, Harry." She forced him back on the stool and pressed the gun against his neck. Marg began to cry hysterically and Jill hurried around to quiet and comfort her. "That's right; you keep her still while I deal with this."

The knife appeared from nowhere, and Marg gasped and fainted, pulling Jill to the floor with her. Harry swallowed hard and tried again to reason, but he could see the light burn out of her eyes, replaced with a frosty, empty stare. Adelaine raised the knife and as she did, Fred burst through the door with his shotgun raised.

"Hold it right there! Drop the weapons and step away from the man." Adelaine blinked and turned to see who was intruding. "Last chance, lady. Drop the weapons."

Adelaine turned back and looked at Harry, her face a study in confusion. "What's happening? Why is he pointing a gun at me? Tell him to put it down." She lowered her hands and Harry slipped off the stool to stand beside her.

"I think we can control this now." He gave her a tender pat on the shoulder. "Just a little misunderstanding."

"I need you to move away from the woman and leave this to me." Fred never let his eyes leave Adelaine.

"What have I done?" She asked with sincerity. "I'm only trying to find somebody I met here."

"She's right. There's nothing to worry about." Harry was trying desperately to convey the fact that at that moment Adelaine was perfectly controllable.

"Mister, if you don't do what I say I won't be responsible for collateral damage."

Adelaine's face screwed up in puzzlement. "What does he mean?" She turned to Harry.

"Just give me a minute, everything will be fine." He turned back to Fred. "Listen, Sheriff, you have to trust me on this. I'm a qualifi--"

At the word Sheriff, Adelaine snapped upright and stared hard at Fred then in one blinding move she swung the knife at Harry. Fred fired both barrels of his shotgun and blew Adelaine back with enough force to carry her over the counter and onto the floor in a bloody heap.

Harry yelled, clutching the gash in his face trying to stop the blood pouring between his fingers. Jill screamed, and Marg awoke in time to join her before passing out again. Belinda erupted through the entrance and skidded to a halt behind Fred, her wide eyes filling with the chaotic scene.

"What the hell have you done, Fred?"

"Saved my life," Harry mumbled from the counter where he was tearing serviettes from the dispenser and wadding them against his face.

Fred removed the empty casings from his gun and replaced them with fresh shells then slipped the safety on and let the barrel drop toward the floor. "She went nuts . . . I had to shoot."

Belinda walked slowly to the counter where blood and bits of other material were splattered over the splintered wood. She leaned forward and made a gagging sound at the sight of Adelaine's body.

Jill was standing beside Harry, her hands over her eyes and Marg was struggling to a sitting position, calling for her husband.

Fred went to the phone behind the counter and called the Hurston Hotel.