Town Haunts (4 page)

“I know. It was
a real shame that things didn’t work out,” Frank said in a soothing
tone.

“It’s just been
so hard,” Henry said, his voice cracking. “Clearances. Zoning laws.
The town office prevented me from installing it. What harm would a
drive-through window have done? When I think of how hard I’ve
worked for the town council, I could kill myself.” He stared at
Frank through teary eyes.

“No one’s
worked harder than you.”

Henry nodded.
“That’s right. But no matter how hard I worked, no one listened to
me. Everyone listens to you, though. ‘Good old Frank and The Diner.
He brings all the tourists into town. That Frank, he sure knows
what he’s doing. Not Henry, though. Henry’s a joke.’ You said that
about me, didn’t you, Frank? You made me into a laughing stock!” He
waved his knife at Frank while Judy sobbed in a corner. “But I’m
not a joke now, am I? Am I!” He slashed at Frank, and Frank jumped
back.

“Henry Ernest
Fellows, you put down that knife this instant!” a stern voice
commanded from the doorway.

Henry cringed.
“Miss Dombrosky?” he muttered. He turned to look at Erna, who stood
just past Anna and Clive in the kitchen entrance. She was a tiny
bird of a woman, but drawn to her full height of five feet, two
inches, with a purse clenched beneath her left arm, she was every
inch the high school history teacher she had once been.

“How dare you
threaten Franklin with that knife. Shame on you, Henry. Your mother
didn’t raise you to behave like a hoodlum. Give me that knife this
very instant.” She held out her hand, but Henry was immobilised
with dread and just stared at her. “This instant, young man!” she
demanded. Henry cringed and slowly gave her the knife, handle
first. She snatched it from him and said, “I’m very disappointed in
you.”

“I know. I’m
sorry,” he said, his head hanging.

“I really think
that you ought to apologize to Franklin, too,” she added. Henry
raised his eyes to Frank’s face, but instead of apologizing, he
burst into sobs and fled out the back door.

“Well,” Erna
said with a sniff, dropping the knife onto the counter with
distaste. Anna ran forward to put her arm around her shoulders,
while Judy hugged Frank. Mr. Andrews, who had slipped unnoticed
into the kitchen, removed a cell phone from his corduroy jacket and
calmly dialled 911.

“Police,
please. Cecilia, that you? Yup, this is Tom Andrews. I’m at The
Diner. Better send Corporal Fox Child right over. Henry Fellows was
just in here trying to kill Frank. Yeah, that’s what I said. What?
Nope, no one’s hurt. Uh huh. Right.” Mr. Andrews snapped his cell
shut and dropped it into his pocket.

Mary crept up
behind him, her face incredulous. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I
hadn’t seen it with my own eyes,” she said. “Mr. Andrews, when did
you get a cell phone?”

“Bought it for
myself last summer from the drugstore. On sale. Bought it as a
birthday present.”

“Well, I
never!” Mary said in astonishment.

Corporal John Fox Child sat on
a stool at The Diner’s counter taking notes. A newcomer to the
Crane RCMP detachment, he was a clean-shaven, compact man with a
wife and two young sons. Anna had seen him playing basketball in
the park with a group of guys from the subdivision, and had noticed
that he was quick and wily.

Judy and Frank
sat on stools beside him, while Anna and the other witnesses sat at
a nearby table. The Diner’s sign was turned to “Closed,” but that
didn’t stop curious passersby from pressing their faces against the
foggy window to peer inside.

“You quoted
Henry as saying something about clearances and zoning laws when he
was threatening you, Frank. What was that about?” John asked,
referring to his notes.

“Yeah, seemed
like someone at the town office gave him a hard time when he wanted
a building permit for his drive-through window. He came by last
spring to talk to me about changing the bylaw, but then he got
arrested, and nothing ever came of it.”

Steve entered
the restaurant through the kitchen backdoor and nodded to the
corporal. “There’s no sign of Henry, John. I searched up and down
the alley, checked his house, and drove all around town. It’s as if
he disappeared.”

“Is his car
parked out front of his house?”

“No, it was
gone. I called in for the model and the licence number, and had
Cecilia radio out a report to all cars.”

“Good
work.”

Steve nodded
and took a seat at the table next to Anna while John turned back to
Frank. “You might want to stay closed for the rest of the day. If
we haven’t found him by nightfall, we’ll have a car outside your
house tonight.”

“Ah, I’m not
going to do that. I doubt Henry’ll come back to bother us. Looks to
me like he just blew a fuse.”

Judy
interrupted him. “Well, I’m worried. What if he comes back with a
gun and starts shooting? He could kill everyone in the
restaurant.”

Frank put an
arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “Okay, I guess we
could stay closed for the rest of the day if it’ll make you feel
better, honey. How about we do a little shopping in Calgary and go
out for supper? John can always reach me on the cell if he needs
me.”

“Sounds like a
good idea,” John said. “Drop by the station on the way out of town
to sign your statement, Frank.”

“Sure. I’ll be
by once we’ve closed up here.”

John nodded and
looked over his shoulder at Steve. “We’d better get a uniform to
attend this cleansing ceremony at the Healing Hands tonight. From
what Frank says, Henry might hold a grudge against the Raes, too.”
He picked up the flyer and studied it. “The ceremony starts at
six.”

“I’ll go,”
Steve said. “I’m sort of a friend of Tiernay’s. I was thinking of
going, anyway.”

“Okay, that
works. Stick close to the Raes tonight. Escort them home, too. Why
don’t you walk over there and tell them what’s happening while I
finish here. I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Sure, John.”
The corporal turned back to Frank and Judy, and Steve said, “You
coming tonight, Anna?”

“I wasn’t going
to, but now that all this has happened with Henry, I wouldn’t miss
it. Erna and May were thinking of coming, too, weren’t you?” She
looked at her friends, who nodded. “Do you think it’ll be safe,
Steve?”

“Oh, I don’t
think Henry will give us any trouble. I can’t see him coming into
the store if he sees me inside. Hopefully, we’ll have found him by
then, anyway,” Steve replied, rising from the table.

“Right. I guess
we’ll see you there,” Anna said. Steve nodded at his friends and
left.

“John, there’s
something else I think you should know,” Erna said, raising her
voice to catch the corporal’s attention.

“What’s that,
Miss Dombrosky?” he asked, swivelling on his stool to face her.

“Today wasn’t
an isolated instance. Henry Fellows has been acting strangely for a
couple of weeks. My bedroom faces the street, and I’ve seen him
roaming up and down peoples’ front yards at night, muttering to
himself. You’ve seen him too, haven’t you, May?”

“That’s right,”
May said. “I’ve seen him from my apartment across the street from
the Healing Hands store. He’s been staring into their window at
night when no one’s around. I don’t think he’s right in his
mind.”

Erna added,
“His embarrassment at returning to Crane after serving a prison
sentence seems to have unbalanced him.”

John nodded.
“Thank you, ladies. I appreciate the information. We’ll have a
cruiser out looking for him tonight. You’ll be perfectly safe in
your homes, but make sure you keep your doors and windows
locked.”

Erna smiled.
“Of course, John. It’s good to see that you’re a cautious boy.” The
corporal smiled at her comment and returned to his conversation
with Frank.

Anna arranged
to meet her two friends at six o’clock at May’s Groceries and More.
The small grocery store stayed open until nine on Saturday nights,
but it was Gerry’s turn to work that evening. Gerry was May’s son.
He had been helping her to run the store since his father‘s
unexpected death from a heart attack six years earlier. May
continued to live in the apartment she and her husband had shared
over the store, while Gerry lived a few blocks away with his own
family.

When Anna
arrived, Erna was waiting just inside the door while May had a
last-minute conversation with Gerry. The weather hadn’t improved
much; it was still chilly and overcast, and night was falling
quickly. Erna was dressed in a navy trench coat with a floral
kerchief tied over her hair, while May was still wearing jeans and
her jack-o’-lantern sweater. Anna had been tempted to wear a black
dress and a witch’s hat to the ceremony, but good manners had
triumphed over her sense of humour, and she had worn jeans and a
red sweater instead.

Chatting about
Henry’s bizarre behaviour that morning, the three women crossed the
street for the Healing Hands store. A bunch of yellow happy-face
balloons tied to an Adirondack chair snapped in the wind, trying to
escape. The sign in the store window said “Closed,” but Tiernay
opened the door before the women had a chance to knock, greeting
them with a cool smile.

“Nice of you to
come,” she said before standing aside. She wore a floor-length
green caftan with a plunging neckline and long, trailing
sleeves.

“Thank you for
inviting us,” Erna responded with a genuine smile.

Entering the
store, Anna was overwhelmed by a jumble of bright colours and spicy
scents. The walls were painted a fresh mint green, and woven mats
in vibrant primary colours were scattered across the floor. Trays
heaped with incense, candles, and organic teas sat on display
tables next to miniature iron cauldrons and carved figures of
Buddha and voluptuous Earth Mothers. Near the back of the store, a
white cotton couch with plump, melon-coloured cushions was angled
next to a wall of bookcases, creating a reading nook.

May elbowed
Anna in the side. “Did you get a look at those, doll?” she asked,
pointing past the other guests to the wall behind the cash
register. Anna turned and saw three studies of a female nude done
in ink: one full-faced with arms out-flung toward the sun, another
in profile leaning back against a tree, and a third kneeling in
shadow on a forest floor.

“They’re all of
Tiernay!” Anna exclaimed. It was impossible not to recognize the
subject’s body and hair. How could Tiernay work with nude pictures
of herself on such prominent display? Taking a closer look, Anna
muttered, “I think that someone has flattered her a little.”

All three women
turned to appraise the real Tiernay still greeting people at the
door.

“No, dear. I
think the drawings are quite accurate,” Erna said. “She has a
lovely figure, don’t you think?”

“Humph,” Anna
replied.

The room was
filling with townspeople, about thirty in all, most probably hoping
that Henry would make an appearance after his thrilling performance
in The Diner that morning. Greg, barefoot in a white cotton tunic
and pants, was serving tea from a kitchenette at the back of the
store. Steve, who was still in uniform, leaned on the wall beside
the front window. He waved at Anna and her friends before strolling
over to join them.

“Any sign of
Henry yet?” Anna asked.

“Nope, none. My
guess is that he’s already left town.”

“I don’t think
so,” Erna said. “Henry seemed so obsessed with the sale of his
house and tonight’s cleansing ceremony that I just can’t believe he
would leave until everything was settled.”

Steve shrugged.
“Maybe. We’ll see.”

“Hello again,
lovely lady,” Greg said, appearing unexpectedly behind Anna. He
reached for her hand, but she scuttled back out of his reach.
Grinning, Greg said, “Introduce me to your charming friends.”

“Greg, this is
Erna Dombrosky and May Weston,” she said.

“Delighted,
ladies,” he replied, bowing with a flourish. “So happy to see you
tonight. May I get you a cup of tea? We’ve got a lovely brand of
blueberry spice, something hot on a cold night.”

“I’ll have a
cup,” May said, but just then Tiernay clapped her hands to gather
everyone’s attention. Soft music featuring drums and violins began
to play from a hidden speaker.

“All right
everyone, I think we’ll begin,” she said, indicating a medium-sized
table carved out of driftwood in the centre of the room. There were
several items upon it; a particularly handsome knife with a
pentagram carved in its handle caught Anna’s eye.

“Let me explain
what we’ll be doing tonight. The cleansing technique I use has been
culled from a variety of ancient rituals. We’ll begin by burning
sage and pinyon pine needles ‒ sage to chase away evil, and pine
needles to cleanse. My brother, Greg, will be assisting me. You’ve
all met Greg, haven’t you?”

Greg waved as
he threaded through the crowd to join his sister at the table.
While she waited, Tiernay lit a bundle of sage and blew it out,
allowing the smoke to curl toward the ceiling. Greg lit an incense
burner containing the pine needles and followed his sister as they
walked along the four walls, brushing the smoke before them with
large, white feathers and pushing it toward the open door. Anna was
glad of the fresh air because the burning scent was reminiscent of
a sweaty man who had eaten too many onions.

“Now that
that’s done,” Tiernay said, shutting the door and returning with
Greg to the table, “we come to the noisy part of our ceremony. Loud
noise drives out evil spirits. Greg and I are going to beat on the
instruments you see here on the table, and we ask that you shout
and clap your hands with us. Ready, everyone? Let’s begin!”

Tiernay picked
up a gong and began hammering on it with a mallet, while Greg beat
a staccato rhythm on a drum with his hands. Everyone made some sort
of noise: yelling, whistling, hand clapping, or feet stamping. Anna
smiled at May, who yodelled beside her, while Erna genteelly patted
her hands together.