The Pale Man Rises

CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE

415

As they drove Farr and Spellman dominated the conversation. They talked of sports, politics, and all, manner of things save but their trip. Langley seldom said anything as Mabry tried to sleep despite the noise. He did not request their silence and the two men in the front seat carried on with their conversation seemingly having forgotten that the agent had said that he wished to take a nap.

Soon the small talk turned from the silly kidding to the job, which they were embarked upon. Then as if making a conscious effort to include Langley and to show Mabry that he'd taken to heart his admonition to refrain from being so rude toward the deputy Spellman said. "Mr. Mabry have you told Ron yet?" "Told Ron?" Mabry repeated the question his voice rising angrily. "Told me what?" Langley asked with exaggeration. He had a desire to dig inside his coat and removed another Hershey Bar.

He really did not eat so much out of an all-encompassing hunger, but instead it was more of a tranquilizer that he used to ease the ever present anxiety, which haunted him and had done so since his youth. This anxiety had in turn fed his lack of self-esteem. It had lain upon his shoulders like some torturous beast that would never leave him and would only relax its hold and the pressure it dominated his mental state with while eating food. Any kind of food would do. It was like a crucifix he used to keep the suffocating demon at bay.

"Vampires–we're after vampires!" Spellman said unaware of the spark of anger he had ignited in the federal agent. Langley laughed nervously, and yet at the same time he thought Spellman's words were not meant to include him in the camaraderie but perhaps was another play to humiliate him. So his reaction was meant to demonstrate the cynical attitude he had toward such a revelation. "Maybe you think I'm complete idiot Frank, but I know damn well vampires are foolish tales conjured up by ignorant, foolish, superstitious people who don't know any better–so please don't think I'm gullible enough to fall for something like that?" Langley almost spat the words at his contemporary in the front passenger seat of the police car.

And yet as he said this he looked over to the federal agent and he could see that this talk of vampires was troubling him and that indeed there may be a grain of truth in what Spellman had just told him. He could see that by Mabry's angry expression. He studied the man's creased brow as he glared at Detective Spellman.

416

Mabry did not totally trust Langley and thought that blurting out the possible motive of their suspects was possibly a way that the investigation might be compromised. "Sir certainly he's just pulling my leg, this story is not in the least bit true–or is it?" Langley asked him, he was very serious now. Mabry turned himself and pulled the briefcase he was holding closer to his chest as if it was an infant he wished to prevent from crawling out of his lap. "Listen Ron this is a touchy subject, and no we are not chasing after vampires!" There was a brief pause. "But we may be pursuing some individuals who are very disturbed and may be going about doing what they are doing based on the false premise that they are vampires. But just because someone has convinced themselves that they are vampires does not make it so–do you understand what I'm telling you?" Mabry asked him.

Langley nodded enthusiastically. As he was telling Langley this Mabry  was looking directly at Spellman his anger palpable now letting him know how upset he was with what he'd said. Spellman frowned with embarrassment and slumped in his seat wishing that somehow he could sink into the upholstery of the car seat.

Now Mabry drew his attention back to Ronnie Langley. "You know these days the world it seems is overrun with deviants and malcontents, and yes lunatics. Lunatics whose twisted intellect somehow and for some reason has convinced them that they are unique or have transformed themselves into some mythical creature, and it's all for the sole purpose of justifying the fiendish things they perpetrate on the rest of society. Maybe they truly believe it, but I suspect it's all really bullshit. Just look at that maniac Charles Manson and his deranged followers. They butchered Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring. The Folger's heir, and her boyfriend, and later the LoBiancos all because Manson had some Messianic Complex and thought he was going to lead the world through some racial war he hoped those murders would start. But he really didn't believe this, who would? He was no new Jesus! He was a fucking psycho killer, who really didn't have the guts to do his own killing. He let Tex Watson and Susan Atkins do most of it for him. And all those mindless middle class kids were just about willing to do anything for him. God what fools they were! And you might say he was crazy, and in some respects, I suppose he was.

417

But the truth of the matter was that he was a jealous little twerp who was insulted when someone who once lived in Tate's home didn't want to hear his fucking songs. He was a creep who preyed on the minds of those alienated kids and he wanted them to get revenge for the insult he received. He wanted to get back at society because all he had ever amounted to was a car thief and a panderer. Now these people we're after aren't like Manson, they seem to have a desire to drink blood and by all indications are probably deranged and may think they're actually vampires. But they're like him in one respect and that is they're cold-blooded killers. It's not a run of the mill case I'll grant you that, but I'm almost sure that is the assumption they are operating under. But you have to remember that in the long run they're all the same, whether we're after creeps like Manson or deranged lunatics they're all the same, they're criminals and its our job to stop them.

I know enough about it that I think they likely have a rare form of anemia that can sometimes cause mental illness which may plant this seed of madness in them, but the answer is no we are not really after vampires." He looked angrily at Spellman once more. "Do you understand that?" He then asked looking back at Langley. Langley was stunned by all of it. "I've heard a lot of weird shit in my life you know, but this has got to be the weirdest!" he said excitedly. He looked at Mabry intently now. "I'll bet you've ran across a lot of nuts like these in your day huh?" he asked.

"Yes–unfortunately yes I have." Mabry answered and then he stretched out as best he could pushing himself into a position that would allow him to catch a nap. Langley was disappointed; he had expected Mabry would elaborate on some of the weirdos he'd brought in. But now he assumed that the federal agent wanted to get some rest or the posturing toward a nap was his way of telling him he did not wish to tell them any more scary stories.

Before he closed his heavy lidded eyes Special Agent David Hayes Mabry stole a look out of the window on his side of the vehicle. The snow and sleet were still swirling through the cold inky blackness of the evening, but it didn't seem to have increased in volume, or not so much as one could determine. The highway was still clear and seemed still safe for motorists to travel over. The heat of the pavement's surface was apparently sufficiently warm enough to prevent any ice from accumulating there and presenting itself as a hazard for the few vehicles that journeyed upon this night.

418

 The car was warming up with each passing minute. The heater was humming pushing the warm air throughout the space surrounding them and as it did it prompted in him the need to sleep. It was obvious to the whole group now that the man was most desirous of getting some rest. And gradually as time passed the conversations ceased, and each man now seemed content to ponder his own thoughts on all these things they knew, and had heard over the course of this night.

Was it possible, could two men be roaming about the state of North Carolina thinking that they were vampires? Vampires indeed, judging by the description of this duo as relayed to Officer Warren by those at the bus depot they seemed to be characters right out of some dramatic farce.

It was hard to believe they could travel over any distance without someone bringing them to the attention of the authorities. Surely even if they did come down the river under the cover of night someone must have seen them before now. And it was very hard to believe all this stuff regardless your assumptions about this case.

This then were some of the thoughts that coursed through the group's grey matter as they continued on their trip down Highway 18 leading inevitably to the town of Belfast where they would have their greatest adventure to date.