Nomadic:Sessions:20041120:Day 2
{1/1/2005}
DAY 2 – Tuesday May 9, 1972
On the morning of May 9, 1972, just before dawn, JT awakens, calls a taxi, loads his handgun and puts it in his black bag, and scrawls a note to the others that he will be at the coroner's office. It's a ten-minute ride to the county hospital. A young orderly hands JT a note from Dr Dallas giving the location in the morgue of Brad Bolton's body.
Back at the bungalow, the others begin to stir -- eventually, even Max. Valerie runs over to the convenience store to buy ground coffee for the coffeemaker. Argus and Rick go to the other two bungalows and rumple the beds to make them look slept-in. Vicente drives over to the diner and brings back breakfast for all.
Valerie gets a pencil and paper and makes a list of tragic events that have happened in the area since the beginning of the year:
- January 16+ - Accident on I-71 near Campbellsburg involving a semi and some other cars. Four people dead, 10 injured.
- February 15+ - In Sanders, a man "went crazy" and murdered his wife and children before killing himself.
- March 15+ - A robbery resulting in a police pursuit that turned into a running gun battle between Worthville and Ghent; 10 people were killed.
- April 15+ - Gas explosion in Prestonville; 20 killed.
- April 22 - High school students Vic Daniels (star pitcher for the baseball team) and Gail Price disappeared.
- May 1 - Dan Field of Sanders last seen alive.
- May 7 - Millionaire Brad Bolton's yacht crashed into the riverbank near Carrollton; 11 killed.
The starred events took place at the time of the New Moon. The next New Moon is this coming Saturday, May 13th.
Valerie marks the various locations on the map, then tries fruitlessly to find some pattern among them. She sighs, "How am I supposed to know what to do in this movie when I haven't even seen the script?" Vicente tells her seriously, "Improvise." Almost literally, a light comes on in Valerie's eyes.
Vicente describes how Dan Field's ghost had been destroyed in the encounter with the dog pack, and a bundle of dark energy had flown off toward Carrollton. Afterward there was a "null mana" zone where the ghost had been. Vicente tries to describe mana and null mana but "It's hard to explain."
JT's voice comes over the radio. "We have a magic bullet." The slug he has extracted from Bolton's brain is made of lead, shows rifling marks, and is not quite 9mm in size. Argus asks if it's 7.62, but JT says it was a special handmade bullet. JT found nothing to explain why the dogs didn't tear up Bolton's body, though he did find a tiny birthmark on his left calf that resembled an occult symbol pertaining to perception and discernment. Max, who has finally gotten up, describes the "heat shimmer" he saw when each of the dogs died. (This reminds Vicente to cast Aura on Max, who reads as a 'normal guy'.) Vicente and Rick take the truck to the hospital.
Valerie, Max, and Argus drive the Impala over to the city/county library. A bookmobile is parked out front. They divide up their newspaper search - Argus checks for local crimes and disappearances; Max looks for events of interest in the entire area; Valerie focuses on Brad Bolton. She has a theory that there's some link between Bolton and "the witch" -- perhaps the woman is an ex-lover or rival. Valerie finds a small mention from last July of "something odd" involving Bolton at a social event in Hollywood, a "something" which was immediately hushed up. Valerie phones the Louisville gossip columnist, Karen Padgett. Ms Padgett recalls hearing of an altercation between Bolton and a longtime friend, a man named Helsing, at a party involving "spiritualistic things", illicit drugs, and a Ouija board. She will dig around in her archives and Telex her finds to the library for Valerie.
Argus learns that three students from Carrollton High were involved in the January accident, and one of them had died. The "psycho guy" in Sanders had a younger brother who is a student at Carrollton High. Argus also makes a list of all the hunters who have been killed this year.
At 10:00am Rick and Vicente arrive at the hospital. Vicente says to Rick, "If you see me talking to thin air, don't freak out." Rick replies, "Yeah, you -- you talk to ghosts." After a couple of attempts [Ted quips, "Why do all your spells end with 'dammit'?], Vicente sees a spell on the bullet. JT: "The spot where he was shot was the third eye -- sixth chakra -- and the birthmark is perception and protection."
The victims from the yacht:
- Brad Bolton & Ella Parker
- Don Helsing & Dana Skell - she's the one who hit her head on the coffee table; he had been mauled badly
- Tom & Elaine Ennis - chased by the dogs; became the 'ghost lites'
- George & Carol Brewer
- Steve Carson & Diane Brewster
- Phil Parker - pilot
Vicente apports Bolton's body 6" above the slab. He feels a "charge" -- the body is still protected, and the protection centers on the symbol/birthmark. JT makes a cut across the birthmark; Vicente feels the charge "go sharp", then go away. He sees a brightness for three or four seconds, then a ghost flashes upwards and is gone. Vicente mutters "Damn" just as the coroner, Dr Dallas, walks in. Doc heads off to read JT's report. Vicente tells JT about Bolton's ghost; JT says Vicente needs to talk to the sheriff.
Max leaves the library and goes to a local garage operated by one Doug Donald. Max, letting on that he's shopping for a used motorcycle, learns the address for Zed Brunson's mother.
Valerie tells Argus that while she's waiting for the Telex, she's going shopping at the antique store. Argus decides to walk over there with her. There aren't any Ouija boards, but Valerie finds a couple of nice quartz crystals on chains. The proprietor says that he had several others, but Mrs Dorothy Parsons bought the others several months ago. She's an English teacher at the high school. Valerie looks up her address and phone number in the phone book. Valerie purchases the two quartz crystals as well as an old wooden crucifix. Argus is drawn to several nice antique weapons, and buys a beautiful cavalry saber. ("Do you know how to use a sword?" Valerie asks him, to which he replies, "I know the pointy end goes toward the bad guy!")
Vicente and Rick arrive at the sheriff's office. Sheriff Powell greets them with "What's the scoop?" and Vicente describes the custom bullet, which certainly required a custom rifle to fire it. Powell says he's been busy fending off the next-of-kin and lawyers of the yacht victims. Among the personal effects he turned up a perfect crystal ball about the size of a golf ball, a shotgun, a hunting rifle, and several books including a couple of Bibles and a blank book that looked like an unused diary. Dana Skell's purse contained a medicine bag. Vicente tells the sheriff his guess that there is a correlation among various events of the past several months, and that Bolton was involved in the occult.
The sheriff opens up the evidence room and shows them the crystal ball (which had been found among Don Helsing's effects), Dana Skell's bag (which Vicente sees as magic), and the blank book (not magic). The crystal is of very high quality. Powell says "Helsing's brother has been bugging me" about his effects, checking almost every hour. Also, someone from Oklahoma giving their name as Skell kept asking for the release of Dana Skell's body, but "I didn't get the right vibes for a family member." The rifle looks to be a 30-.06, high quality but not custom; the shotgun is a 12-gauge. There are two boxes of ammo for the rifle and a box of shotgun shells, still sealed. Vicente and Rick open the boxes; each cartridge and shell has an obscure occult symbol carved into it, and Vicente realizes they are intended for use against demons.
Vicente: "Let's trade info." Powell starts to protest, and Vicente shrugs, "Okay, have it your way." Powell: "Whoa, let's not be so rash." The sheriff picks up the rifle and ejects a shell from it; "I should have thought to look," he chastises himself. Vicente says, "For people who believe in those things, the materiel was designed to kill demons... and we all know there's no such thing as demons, right?"
Meanwhile, Valerie and Argus have gone to the five-and-dime, where Valerie buys a Ouija board. The cashier, Beth Ann, seems curious in a friendly way; Valerie, hoping to learn more about high school students' use of such items, invites her to lunch with her and Argus. The three go to the Big R Restaurant. Valerie draws out Beth Ann on the subject, and Beth Ann says that a sixteen-year-old girl named Debra had bought a Ouija board a couple of months ago. She mentions "the old Spurlin place" which local lore claims is haunted. She says the students talk about Dorothy Parsons as a "boogie man" because she is a strict teacher and a prim, proper "old maid". She mentions a Miss Kennedy who teaches at the junior high.
Max returns to the library and takes the car. He sees Argus and Valerie at the Big R with a young woman with black hair and brown eyes. He goes on over to the Dairy Queen, and who should he see there but Randy Close, the biker. Max overhears Randy saying to another man that he expects Zed back this afternoon with more recruits and "stuff" (which Max figures means illegal drugs). Randy growls, "This town needs more excitement."
JT radios 'Vincenzo' -- "Any reason to keep these bodies?" "No." "Learn anything?" "Lots." "We'll have to meet someplace." Vicente suggests that JT take another look at Dana Skell; "I think she was a priestess or a shaman." Her body had been found in the same cabin as that of the woman who had been scared to death.
Vicente and Rick arrive at the hospital to pick up JT. At JT's prompting, Vicente phones the sheriff to ask whether a pipe or flute or anything similar was found on the yacht. No, no tobacco, paraphernalia, or drugs were found. Vicente explains that since Dana Skell had a medicine bag, he thinks she was a shaman. JT asks reasonably, "If the sheriff didn't look in the medicine bag, how'd he know there was no smoking material?" Rick responds, "He assumed." Vicente shows JT the symbol on the bullets; JT comments that the symbol signifies that the bullets are made to combat the "Greater Old Ones" as described in the works of Lovecraft.
Argus and Valerie return to the library. They notice the Impala is missing, but figure Max must have taken it. The Telexed material awaits them, and Valerie flips through it. It's mainly a list of social events Bolton had attended. She notes that Don Helsing and Dana Skell had appeared at some of the events.
JT describes the climbing spikes and lack of animal hair found at the sniper's roost in the tree. There had to be a collaboration between the shooter and the boat. JT: "I saw them." At this, Vicente hurries them all out of the sheriff's office. "The sheriff's about to ask a question -- *how* you saw it." JT: "*You* didn't ask." Vicente: "You don't understand -- it's okay with *me*." Vicente mentions that Helsing's brother has been in town, and perhaps still is. Regarding Cthulhu, Vicente remarks, "If the two of us are in the same dimension, I have to leave." JT remarks, "From what I know, he doesn't have too many friends."
Valerie suggests to Argus that they visit Miz Parsons. Argus calls Max, who says he's at the DQ watching the biker. Argus: "How's Randy doing?" Max: "He had a belly buster and a twirly cone." Many bikers will be coming to town soon. Max comes and picks up Argus and Valerie. Argus radios Vicente, who wants everyone to meet at the boat wreck site.
Around 1:30pm a bored state trooper and one of Powell's deputies let us through to the site. Valerie remarks, "Seems to me their trip was more like a hunting party than a pleasure cruise... so where were they headed?" JT believes the "ghost lites" had fled outside the witch's sphere of influence, and she hasn't been able to return and finish the job because there are too many people around. Vicente points out the "ghost lites" still at the base of the tree... but even as he does so, he notices the sky overhead turning brighter. The two ghosts are drawn upward into the brightness; we each experience a pleasant feeling, and most of us can hear the words "thank you" in our minds.
Valerie pulls out the Ouija board and seats herself under the tree. She asks, but no one offers to help work it. She points out, "If these things work, they will work whether you believe in them or not." Lightly she places her fingers on the planchette and tries to clear her thoughts. She asks, "Are there any spirits listening?" The planchette is still for several moments, then begins to quiver, then moves to indicate Yes. "Where is the witch?" The board spells out I-N-T-O-W-N. "Who is the witch?" The pointer wanders around the board, finally coming to rest on the question mark. "What is the witch's name?" Again the question mark. Argus slips the city map onto the board and adds his finger to the planchette, then Valerie says, "Please point to the place where the witch is now." Max speaks up; he suddenly feels a sense of immediate danger. Argus opens his eyes and removes his finger, and Max reports that his sense of danger has gone down from 'immediate' to 'impending'. Valerie gets a sense that whatever she had touched might be untruthful and even malicious, but she had definitely had a brush with something. At this, Vicente casts Sense Foes... and sees something antithetical receding from the Ouija board. A check of the map using a straightedge indicates that Dorothy Parsons' house lies in that direction, on Old Cartsile Road on the west side of Prestonville.
We arrive at Miz Parsons' home around 2:15pm. It's a big old house. Vicente knocks but there is no answer, though he does hear a couple of cats inside. Detect Magic shows nothing. We realize that the English teacher would still be at the high school, as school doesn't let out until after 3:00pm.
We head for the high school, which is on 11th Street (Highway 320). On the way, Argus spots a big Harley heading south on a side road, and turns to follow. He thinks the biker could have come from Mrs Brunson's house. The bike appears to be going toward the I-71 Roadhouse; it bears a California license plate. The rider wears a Hell's Angels jacket, so it must be Zed Brunson. Argus makes plans to run Zed off the road, and thinks he sees his chance when Zed stops at a stop sign. Unfortunately, there's a city police car at the intersection, and as Zed rides off the cop turns and follows him. Argus follows discreetly. As we near the Roadhouse we see eight bikers waiting; as Zed pulls into the parking lot, the cop peels away. Argus continues on past and gets on the Interstate; he sees yet another Harley take the exit to the Roadhouse. Argus radios the sheriff that there are 10 bikers at the Roadhouse; he hears two units being dispatched. Argus takes the next exit and comes back on the Interstate, then pulls into the gas station from which we can watch the Roadhouse.
Vicente walks into the high school office and introduces himself to the secretary, Miss Anderson, as an investigator of disappearances. Miss Anderson immediately phones Mabel at the sheriff's office to verify. Vicente pretends not to know the name of the teacher he wants to talk to, so the secretary brings out the 1971 yearbook, where he locates a photo of Dorothy Parsons. He says he wants to see her right away. Miss Anderson is quite bothered about the possible disturbance to the class, until Vicente growls in a hard tone, "We don't have to *disrupt* her class, Miss Anderson. However, my time is not un-valuable." As they pass by her classroom, Vicente takes a good look at Miz Parsons, but there are no magic items or occult symbols on her that he can see.
Vicente then asks about the newest teachers - Sue Bowers (math) and Marty Evans (PE). Vicente studies Ms Bowers; she just started teaching 10th grade there last September after graduating from a teachers' college in Louisville. One of her students, Renée Clark, had been involved in the January wreck; she had injured her leg, but was now back in class.
As Argus, Valerie, Max, and JT watch from the gas station, the bikers leave the I-71 Roadhouse before the sheriff's men arrive. They may be headed for the Brunson house. Argus decides he needs to find out about Carrollton's police chief, Frank Tolbert. The bikers certainly wouldn't head into town unless they felt it was safe for them.
Vicente asks to speak to Renée Clark, who is in study hall. She accompanies him to the assistant principal's office. She still walks with a slight limp. Vicente asks her about the accident. She and three of her friends had been coming back from Louisville; she and her boyfriend Larry had been in the back seat, Darryl was driving, and Mary Saunders was sitting beside him. Renée had been fairly distracted, but she did notice when a guy in a black leather jacket riding a big, loud motorcycle passed them. Their car had been behind the 18-wheeler, and she thought another car had been in front of it. Suddenly the 18-wheeler hit its brakes and jackknifed, and their car went under it. Darryl had been killed in the accident. Renée says, "I told all this to the state trooper." Vicente: "They're not putting everything together." Vicente wants to talk to Mary Saunders after she gets out of English class.
Via radio, Vicente tells Rick that Zed Brunson may have been a sharpshooter in the military. Vicente thinks Zed caused the 18-wheeler wreck. He also points out, "How do we *know* a man went crazy and killed his whole family? Only that that's what we were *told*." He thinks it quite possible that Zed caused the gas explosion, too.
Around 3:00pm Argus goes in to talk to Sheriff Powell about Police Chief Tolbert. Vicente and Valerie get into a big discussion on the radio.
Argus hadn't found anything on where the friction between the sheriff and the chief of police was coming from. He had never been that great at looking things up anyhow so he figured he would just ask the sheriff, he seemed like an honest guy after all. No one else seemed too keen on going in to see him so they waited in the car. Argus got shown in fairly quickly and got down to the bottom line. The chief of police was a corny appointed by the mayor and seemed to be taking bribes to cover up for the rich folks and their kids in the town. The chief had replaced half of his staff when he started and all the new ones seemed to be "good 'ol boys" in the asshole racist sense along with being old friends. The sheriff was waiting to get some hard evidence to nail him but hadn't been able to find any, yet. It wasn't clear if he was taking bribes from anyone else but the bikers had been in town for a while and they sure weren't working regular jobs. Selling drugs was very likely given their background but they hadn't been busted once. Even more oddly it turns out Zed's alibi for the night of Dan Field's death was he was with Dorothy Parson, Greg Elbert and Harvey Carson. Argus knew there was something very wrong about a hardened biker hanging out with a 60 year old school teacher and two school buddies he hadn't seen in years. Greg was a mechanic who had done some time in the army and Harvey a security guard. Neither had been in Zed's group in school. The sheriff had gotten to know Zed professionally before he joined the army. Argus thanked the sheriff and assured him he would keep an eye out for anything they could pin on the chief of police.
{1/15/2005}
3 15 P.M.
Sometime after 3:00pm on Tuesday, May 9, Argus returns to the car and relates the high points of his conversation with the sheriff. Hearing about Zed’s alibi for the night Dan Field was killed, Max suggests we go to the library and look through high school yearbooks to find pictures of Zed Brunson, Greg Elbert, Harvey Carson, and Mrs Dorothy Parsons. We find Zed’s senior class picture in the ‘61-’62 annual; he has a seedy, disheveled appearance, and the only organization he’s mentioned as belonging to is FFA. We learn that the mayor, Carl Weber, grew up in Carrollton; he’s now 45 years old, has served two four-year terms as mayor, and is currently in his third. It was three years ago that he replaced the previous chief of police (who it’s said was hired away by a larger city) with his buddy, Frank Tolbert. Tolbert is 36 years old and had been a lieutenant on the Lexington police force; he also has some military background in the Kentucky National Guard.
Someone wonders aloud why Dorothy Parsons is titled “Mrs” if she’s an “old maid”. Valerie simply asks the librarian, who recalls that Mr Parsons had died some 40 years ago “in some sort of farm accident” not too long after his wedding. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery on the edge of town. No, says the librarian wistfully, Dorothy never remarried; perhaps the memories were too painful.
Vicente’s voice comes over the radio. He’d gotten a look at Miz Parsons while she was tutoring some students after class. Her aura indicates magic potential, if not outright ability, as well as “odd stuff” and secrets, but not evil. Mary Saunders, a survivor of the January accident, remembers seeing the big motorcycle, and she thinks there were two people riding it. JT asks Vicente how long a psychic aura lasts around a death scene; Vicente replies, “It depends on the ghost – some stay for years and years.”
What to do next? Valerie speaks up and says she wants to see the old Spurlin place. Argus, Max, JT, and Valerie drive out there in the Impala, and Rick and Vicente meet them in the truck. It’s a big old one-story house with a wrap-around porch, clearly long-abandoned, but with many indications that people have been here recently. JT begins to walk around the outside of the house. Max and Rick discover a worn dirt path and follow it into the underbrush. Valerie goes up the porch steps and into the house, followed closely by Argus. The first few rooms contain nothing of note, but then Valerie opens the door to one old bedroom and there are traces in the dust on the floor. Argus hollers for JT, who arrives (pulling on his latex gloves) followed by Vicente. JT points out “butt prints” where people had sat in a circle on the floor, and wax drippings from candles. Thumbtacked to one wall hangs a torn piece of cloth, perhaps a piece of a wall hanging or banner. Vicente comments that this room has been purged of ghosts; JT shoots back, “Or else they’ve been eaten.” The arrangement reminds JT of a Ouija board reading or a crystal gazer’s circle; the traces are recent, within the past month. Borrowing a butane lighter from Vicente, JT lights the room’s kerosene lamp; in the lamp’s illumination, JT espies a small object on the floor. He picks up a dusty copper penny bearing the date 1968.
Meanwhile, Max and Rick have followed the trail to a place the group expected to find – a marijuana patch. They spot the vines of poison ivy interspersed among the weed – a nasty surprise for the unwary -- and Rick points out various other “herbs” growing nearby, including a plant whose leaves contain a hallucinogen. Max discovers a deer stand that gives a good view of the patch; there’s a strange symbol marked upon it, of which Max makes a tracing.
Valerie has moved on through the rest of the house. In another bedroom she finds a cooler, but all it contains is a couple of Budweiser's and a few sodas in a puddle of water. In the kitchen she sees drag marks that lead out the back door to the root cellar. The cellar is padlocked; the modern lock has been altered to look older than it is. She scrounges up a scrap of metal and goes to work unscrewing the latch. Several minutes later Argus emerges from the house, sees her, and hands her a multipurpose tool that contains a screwdriver. They get the door open and discover a number of chests inside. Valerie opens a few of them (they aren’t locked); some contain incense burners, jewelry, and various other objects, while others contain black robes covered in mystical symbols.
Valerie goes and fetches Vicente and JT. She asks Vicente, “Is this stuff for real, or has somebody been play-acting?” Vicente says there’s one amulet that’s actively magical. This is a black-iron pentagram (that Valerie thinks looks like a trivet) on a silver chain. JT takes a look and says it’s a Cthulhu ward… or perhaps a leash. [Ted quips, “It means ‘Eat me last.’”] Valerie gives the ‘trivet’ to Vicente, who sticks it in his pocket.
Rick and Max join them. Rick tries to hand the bags of plants he collected to JT, who refuses to take them, saying “It’s illegal.” Vicente doesn’t think they’re “magic” herbs. Argus returns to the house, locates the pull-down ladder, and has a look in the attic, but it is obviously unused.
Around 5:30pm we drive back to Carrollton, passing the Brunson house. There are no motorcycles, but there’s a late-model Buick LeSabre parked in the drive. Swinging past Miz Parsons’ house, we see a Chevy parked out front, and a black cat in the yard.
We return to the bungalow about 6pm. Valerie asks Vicente if he can tell who usually wears the trivet. He thinks for a moment, then says he may have a spell that will point to the user… but he wants to wait until after supper.
We go to the diner to eat. The buzz there is about the boat wreck and the news teams that are cruising around the area.
Afterward we find a place near Miz Parsons’ house but out of sight, and Vicente casts his Seeker spell. He reports that the trivet’s wearer must be outside the range of his spell, which is about a mile.
Valerie muses about the blank diary that was found on the wrecked yacht. It appeared to have never been used, and JT mentions that he had tried heating one of the pages in case there was some kind of invisible ink. It occurs to him that the presence of a blank diary implies that there may have been a filled diary that wasn’t found on the boat. Valerie wonders whether the sheriff would let her borrow Dana Skell’s medicine bag; she wants to try to contact her spirit. The others jeer at the idea, so as soon as we return to the bungalow, Valerie takes her Ouija board, goes into a side room, and shuts the door. Rick turns on the TV in the main room, and the others go off in the Impala to tour the “disaster sites.”
A little after 8pm they are in Prestonville at the site of the blown-up houses. The debris has not been cleared away. JT determines the house that was the center, where gas built up and exploded. It was definitely gas, not dynamite, but someone had rigged the gas in the other houses. Vicente reports that there’s a no-magic zone that encompasses all four houses. Some preparation, some ritual would have had to be done. Max, checking the perimeter, locates a symbol that resembles the trivet, marked in a black tar-like substance; he sketches it. Alerted by his police scanner, Argus warns the others that a nosy neighbor has reported them and the cops are on the way. They get back in the car.
Failing to get even a hint of response from her Ouija board, a frustrated Valerie climbs out a window, listens for the howling of dogs, then trots off into the woods.
JT, Argus, Max, and Vicente drive out to the tractor-trailer wreck site on I-71. The location is marked by flowers and four small white crosses. Vicente gets within ten yards and reports it’s a no-mana area. JT says we need to determine the center, which is found to be on the edge of the highway where the vehicles ended up. Off in the grass Max finds traces of the black tarry substance, and JT takes a sample. Argus listens for dogs but doesn’t hear any. Max finds another symbol, out of alignment with the perimeter, and calls JT and Vicente over. JT says the symbol is made with the same substance. Vicente says they were overlapping areas – like they didn’t know exactly where the accident would happen. Argus suggests they check the baseball stadium to see if they’ve been setting up there. JT says, “Good idea.”
Approaching the lake inside the state park, Valerie sees a young woman sitting on a dock, swinging her legs and gazing out over the lake. Drawing closer, Valerie can see it’s a teenager, probably 16-18 years old. The girl is upset, muttering that her parents just don’t understand. Valerie quietly sits down beside her and waits to be noticed. The girl is startled at first, but is soon spilling her story: her father won’t let her see her boyfriend Ed anymore, just because Ed likes motorcycles and hangs out with Zed Brunson. She’d called earlier and Ed wasn’t home. Troy, the security guard at the factory, scares her. Annie, her best friend, has been drifting apart from her and hanging out with Betty, who is anti-war and anti-Nixon and even got a tattoo from that new tattoo parlor on the square. “By the way, my name’s Sandra Melton.” Her father owns the trailer factory, and Valerie remembers seeing the Melton name on a number of other businesses around town. Valerie offers words to the effect that Zed Brunson is definitely trouble, and that fathers know from their own experience what teenage boys are like. Sandra, who is getting a little nervous, makes noises about going home, and Valerie sprints away among the trees.
The guys have gone to Sanders, and around 9:00pm they reach the house where the “crazy man” killed his family. JT jiggles a back window open, and Argus climbs in and opens a door for the others. Vicente reports no mana in the death room, which still contains bloodstains. JT finds several of the black symbols, done before the murders (since they are splashed with blood), on the perimeter of the no-mana area. There is no magic in the symbols now; they are black and ashy. JT takes a sample.
The guys drop JT off at the hospital so he can borrow the lab facilities. He finds that most of the corpses from the boat wreck have been taken away. The night tech says, “The place is all yours – Doc told me to stay out of your way.”
Argus, Max, and Vicente visit the baseball field, which is near the high school. The field is unlit and deserted.
Valerie arrives at the Rowdy Rooster; ten motorcycles are parked in the lot. Zed’s bike is easy to pick out – it’s the big Harley with the initials ZB painted on it – and Valerie looks through his saddlebags, finding a fighting chain, combat knife, some partially-melted 3 Musketeers candy bars, and some loose 9mm ammo (of which she takes a sample). After a moment’s thought, Valerie starts letting the air out of all ten back tires. Then she goes inside, moves immediately to the dance floor, and starts to dance. Most of the bikers are occupying three or four tables in a corner, carrying on and having a good time. One biker, though, mentions “our buddy the mayor” and gets backhanded by someone who must be Zed.
The guys happen to arrive at the Rowdy Rooster around 10pm, just in time to see Valerie go inside. They don’t see the truck, so Max radios Rick: “Where are you? In the woods?” Rick: “I’m at the bungalow, watching TV.” Max tells him to check on Valerie, and after a few moments Rick reports, “She’s not here.” Max: “She’s at the bar in town.”
Rick drives up in the truck. Argus says there’s no use going inside, because he’d either have to fight all ten bikers or try to join them somehow. Just then a couple of bikers come outside. Rick scrunches down in the truck, and Argus sets up where he can watch them leave. The bikers notice their tires and start cursing, then arguing, then one says “You stand here, I’ll go tell Zed.”
Valerie has heard the other bikers egging one particular biker to dance with her, and finally the guy does so. “My name’s Joe.” He’s not terribly dirty or bad-smelling, so she starts dancing with him. When the agitated biker re-enters the bar, Zed swears, then strides off toward the pay phone near the restrooms. Valerie excuses herself from her dance partner to go “powder her nose.” She overhears Zed shouting to someone named Greg, “get compressed air bottles and bring ‘em to the Rowdy Rooster; some soon-to-be-dead person has deflated our tires… Get it from the Ford place; you got keys, don’tcha?… I don’t need her help to find who did this. I figure whoever did it is sitting out there laughing… Make it thirty minutes.”
Valerie climbs out the ladies’ room window and goes to eavesdrop on the bikers. Then she notices the truck and goes and presses her nose against the window, giving Rick a start. She tells Rick that Greg is coming; Rick radios Argus, who decides he wants to talk to Greg anyway.
Argus, Max, and Vicente reach the Ford dealership and wait for Greg. A beat-up LTD pulls in and a guy in his late 20s gets out and rushes towards the parts area. Argus sets up. Greg returns to his car, opens the trunk, and sets a tank inside. Argus lays the barrels of his shotgun against Greg’s neck. He orders Greg to remove his belt, then uses it and a couple of greasy rags to blindfold him. Greg stammers, “I only have twenty bucks.” Argus growls, “I’m not after money – I want to know about Zed.” He hustles Greg into the LTD and has him head for Sanders; Max follows in the Chevy. Meanwhile, JT has IDed most of the plants. Among their effects are hallucinations, euphoria, and suggestibility. He analyzes the black substance. It is combustible, and there are two or three ingredients he can’t identify. It can be ignited using sufficient pressure and heat, or in reaction with a certain chemical. JT makes up six jars of this chemical, with eyedroppers for dispensing it.
A very nervous Greg babbles to Argus about Zed. Argus asks about the night Dan Field was killed. “We were just talking – reminiscing with the old English teacher – catching Zed up since he missed the reunion.” “Zed’s done bad things!... He’s reformed! Miz Parsons thinks real highly of Zed now!” Argus states that Zed is farming marijuana, and reminds Greg that “there’s a guy with a gun pointed at your head.”
Argus walks Greg into the house in Sanders. As Greg crosses into the no-mana area, he visibly shudders. Looking closer, Argus notices he’s wearing a silver chain. Now Zed starts talking really oddly, saying one thing and in the next breath contradicting himself. First he says that the chain was a gift from Beth Ann… but then, “I could have sworn Miz Parsons gave it to me… but…” He seems very confused. Argus examines the necklace and finds very small, hand-engraved occult markings on it. Greg is wearing no other jewelry, but he does sport a heart tattoo on his arm that appears recent. Argus calls Vicente inside and hands him the chain; Vicente takes it and goes back out. Argus prods Greg as to why Beth Ann would give him a necklace. Greg stammers, “She’s my girlfriend… she’s not my girlfriend… she asked me this morning about her car problems… she gave me the chain for my helpfulness.”
As for his affiliation with Zed, Greg stammers out a story that he owes him $5000 due to gambling debts; he gambles with a guy out of Cincy named Carothers. By this time Greg is so mixed up, he doesn’t know what he’s saying. “This doesn’t make sense… are you going to kill me?” Argus, levelly: “Maybe. You have to try to remember real hard.” Greg remembers that last Thursday he was home by himself… but he had told the sheriff he was with Zed… yes, he was with Zed… no, he was home! Vicente, who has come back inside, quietly says that magic could force Greg to believe both versions.
Argus says slowly, “Maybe Beth Ann’s the witch… and is trying to cast blame on Miz Parsons.” Greg says he was given the neck chain three months ago, which was right about the time Beth Ann had come back to town. A little prompting reveals that Greg has “conflicted memories” on each of the new moon dates, but he can’t remember what he was actually doing.
Greg, desperately: “I’ll tell you anything you want.” Argus: “You can’t tell me what I want – you don’t remember.” Greg gives it a try, though: “Harvey – he’s the muscle – he kills people… Zed’s the tactician; he also kills people… there are three of us helping Zed, it has to be a trio, it can only be three that help…” Another snap in his logic: “Harvey hasn’t killed anyone since Vietnam… he probably didn’t kill anyone in Vietnam…”
At this point Greg is on the verge of a breakdown, reduced to babbling once again. “I don’t think I’ve done any of these things… I’ve been scared for a long time… I’m gonna leave town…” Almost mercifully, Argus kayos him with the butt of his shotgun.