The Pale Man Rises

CHAPTER SIXTY

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Captain Champion told the federal agent of his orders to forgo the investigation until the weather cleared. This frustrated him but he had no choice because it was Raleigh's edict. He planned to leave only enough personnel there at the Crawford Town Café to mine the bodies of the dead that they had stowed in the cafe's walk in freezer. He regretted that certainly, but he wasn't sure they could get them out of there even if his orders were to the contrary. He wasn't even sure the people who were to leave could get away now. But he had to get the bodies to the Medical Examiner eventually regardless the obstacles the storm presented.

When Harper asked if he could provide some chains for the Sayerville detective's sedan he summoned over one of his subordinates and told him to take care of it. This man moved off taking Farr and Spellman with him. By now the two detectives were clutching onto mugs of coffee and drinking it spiritedly.

Together the three men attached the chains on the tires of the police sedan. When the patrolman returned and indicated that all was in preparation Champion, Sheriff Harper, and Special Agent Mabry walked outside. "I don't think they'll be able to get here and fetch these bodies for several days yet–damn I think most of my boys even have to bunk down here." the captain now said to the federal man. "They won't like that huh?" Mabry asked. "I can hear 'em bellyaching right now. And then Raleigh will be on my ass about all the overtime."  he grumbled. After a brief pause he looked about through the falling snow. "Sometimes being a civil servant really sucks huh?" he said to the agent as he pushed down between the fingers of his gloved hands. "You know it captain." Mabry said as they then shook hands. "I appreciate your help." Mabry now said to him. "Pleasure, but it's still going to be rough going for those boys." the captain warned as he pointed at the sedan the two Sayerville cops were driving. "Got no choice captain–they've got to try it." Mabry said to the patrol officer and then he and the large sheriff moved off through the slush before them.

Langley followed close behind them. Mabry had ordered Farr and Spellman to follow them as best as they could in the sedan. He told Langley to come with him and the Sheriff because he didn't want the discord between the deputy and Spellman to go any further than it already had and which he suspected would happen with himself absent from the car.

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A young man came out of the café then and it was easy to see he was one of Harper's deputies by the uniform he wore. Whereas the patrolmen all wore gray and black uniforms his shirt and trousers were poplin in color and a blue strip of piping went down the side of each pant leg. His hat was similar in style as the patrolman's, but was the same color as the rest of his uniform. He was bundled up in a tan leather jacket, which matched Harper's, but he was evidently more affected by the cold because he had a brown scarf wrapped around his neck and over his tender mouth. He slapped at the cold as he attempted to trot through the snow to catch up to his boss and the other men. 

 Harper looked over his shoulder at his trailing deputy who at last caught up to the overweight Sayer County deputy dressed in a suit and a long overcoat. "Hustle up Skeeter!" he called with a laugh. He then looked over to the FBI agent. "Skeeter's one of my boys–he lives in town."

He paused briefly now. He looked across the lot of the café and saw a small dull gray Jeep parked beneath marquee of the café. Its exhaust was heaving great plumes of smoke as it sat there. "That's the reporter there–I wondered where that som' bitch had got to. Sure as shit he got wind of something–looks like he's planning on following us into town." he said motioning with his head toward the vehicle.

"Looks like he came better prepared than you fellas though." he said laughing as they came up to his large Jeep Wagoner, one that was fiery red and covered with snow. It had a black top, which was likewise covered by a mountain of snow. "If I hadn't been giving young Skeeter here a ride home because of his own ill preparedness I probably wouldn't have had this wonderful opportunity now to work with the FBI." Harper said with good-natured sarcasm. "Sheriff I had no idea that it'd get this bad." Skeeter said looking to Langley and the federal agent. "My pipes busted when it got real cold today–I should've had them all changed long ago. The sheriff was still in his office when our shift ended and he gave me a ride home when everyone else had an excuse not to. And it looks like he's never going to let me forget it either." Skeeter told the two me. 

 Harper laughed after those words. "If I wasn't such a good boss boy you'd still be stuck at the county seat instead of being out here in this natural disaster." Harper continued ribbing his subordinate. "The only good thing about this kind of weather is it impacts the criminal element as much as it does us good guys. Let's hope it does the same for these maniacs you're after." he now told the agent.

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Once they were all in the vehicle he backed out of the parking spot and pushed it out toward the exit of the café lot that was almost indistinguishable from the rest of the terrain, which was a massive white canvas of snow. "I hope those boys can keep up–the road is really gettin' to be a mess now." the sheriff said with a grunt. "How come you fellers didn't see the need for a four-wheel drive on your drive down here?" he asked the federal agent. "Well like Skeeter here we didn't anticipate it getting this bad." Mabry said snidely. He was tiring of Harper's constant reminders that they should have chosen alternate transportation. "Well it's understandable I guess–hell if I didn't drive this sucker almost exclusively I would have been tooling around in that big damn Chevy I'm supposed to use." The sheriff now said with a laugh.

Mabry smiled and then turned around to Langley and looked beyond him out the rear window. He could see the lights of the sedan as the two Sayerville detectives cautiously struggled to follow them down the dangerous snow covered highway. And behind them he could see the elevated lights of the other Jeep. "How in hell did that reporter get wind of the fact that they were coming down this way? You wouldn't know anything about that would you Ronnie?" he asked the rotund deputy. "Honest Mr. Mabry I don't...ah...Yulan's brother-in-law is the publisher of the Gazette I'll admit and he may have mentioned something to him about it, but I honestly don't recall anyone mentioning it." the deputy said defensively. Mabry eyed him suspiciously. He then turned back around in the seat. "Well I'm not going to let some asshole reporter screw up this thing!" he now turned toward the sheriff. "Ever since that goddamn Watergate thing got started every reporter on the planet wants to think he's working for the goddamn Washington Post!" he complained. "Ain't that the truth?" Sheriff Harper agreed.