Book Two: Part Four - Binding Evil - Chapter Nine

Baker’s Townhouse – 7:45 p.m.

The doorbell rang, and Stevie went to the door and saw Ed standing there with a plastic bag in one hand, and three pizzas in the other.

Ed promised a movie night, even if it was in the middle of the week.

Tonight, would be different from most. There wouldn’t be any school until Monday due to teacher meetings; though there would be the first home game Friday night for the Montie Pythoners against the Jason Bearcats.

Tonight, is triple-play night. Ed promised Stevie he would bring the movies he watched when he was Stevie’s age. Stevie was curious as to what they were.

As the night began, with Baker in the middle, Stevie to her left, and Ed to her right, the first movie they watched, ‘History of the World: Part One’. By the time the second one started, the laughter had pretty much died down. Then came ‘Night of the Living Dead’.

Stevie found it neither frightening or funny. He thought it was about b-o-r-i-n-g as it could get. But he liked Ed a lot and didn’t want to hurt his feelings. When the third one was halfway finished, two slices of pepperoni and mushroom pizza was all that remained; and three bodies were dead asleep. The movie: ‘Carrie’.

It was close to three in the morning when Baker awoke to two bodies pressed up against her and her neck, stiff to the point of being sore.

What woke her was a nightmare. They were all torn apart and Fredrick was eating them.

Rubbing her eyes and never missing a beat, she rousted a half-asleep boy long enough for him to find his own bed, kissed his cheek, returned to the front room, picked a pair of legs off the floor, pulled off his tennis shows, put the legs on the couch, found a blanket and covered Ed, and kissed his forehead goodnight.

Then she went into her bedroom and tried to sleep.

Her nightmare kept coming back to her. In vivid color.

Sollie’s Fruit Stand – Hwy. 40

Thursday – September 6th – 2:17 p.m.

Satchell and Andre Devon responded to a hit and run. Rescue Services were notified and arrived on scene moments after Satchell and Devon showed up.

Sollie was still alive and that was surprising, especially since he was eighty-three.

Looking around, Satchell made the determination that this was deliberate. The fruit stand was cut in half by whatever type of vehicle hit it.

With Sollie breathing, his breath shallow, his words came out in a raspy breath.

“Pretty blonde. Had an accent. Bought stuff. She drove … away. Came back. Straight at me. No, no … time, to react.”

Devon followed the tire tracks and they led back to the highway, and it appeared they turned in the direction of Montie.

A lot of good that would do them. Sollie couldn’t remember the make or model of the car other than to say it was big and dark.

Satchell was thinking if it was big it might have been a Cadillac and most likely black. Even so, without a license plate number, it would take weeks, maybe even months before they might find it, if even then.

2356 Cranston Way - 6:12 p.m.

Alexandria was preparing dinner for Ronald and herself; preparing a spinach salad and roasted leg of lamb, with a red wine sauce with a trace of honey, along with curried rice, and of course fresh fruit for afterward.

Ronald was in the living room catching up on the local news. He was waiting to hear what he already knew. The last thing he wanted to hear was a change in plans.

“In other news, this afternoon, on Highway forty, a familiar, if not an almost local historic site was torn to pieces. Sollie’s Fruit Stand, a mainstay since 1961 was destroyed, and Sollie himself, seriously injured.

“What we have learned from authorities so far; a blond, possibly twenty-five to thirty, with a foreign accent, driving a large possibly dark blue or black Cadillac.

“Sollie Jetson’s injuries include two broken legs, and a ruptured spleen. He is listed in serious but stable condition. He is eighty-three and has no known family. His wife Margaret died four years ago and lives alone.

“We’ll be right back with the weather, and find out from Martin’s Weather Picker, if we’ll have another warm weekend ahead, or if we are looking at….”

Ronald sat straight in the recliner. Steaming.

“Alexandria? Alexandria!”

Coming around the corner from the kitchen she said, “Dinner will be ready in a few more minutes. Patience, please.”

“The hell with dinner and the hell with patience!” He stood up. “Come here.”

She walked to with an arm’s length of him.

“I have just heard some disturbing news. Did you take the Buick out today?”

“Yes, I did. I bought fresh fruit from….?

Like a rattlesnake, his right hand shot out and slapped her face, knocking her back into an ottoman where she lost her balance and fell to the floor.

“You stupid, stupid bitch. Why did you run the old man over? Are you trying to get us caught before we even get started?”

“I, I, I thought he was dead when I left. No one saw me. But how did you know it was me?”

“The police, according to the news, are looking for a cute blond with an accent that drives a big car! Your car that happens to be a dark blue. That’s how I know it is you! Just what possessed you to do such a thing?”

Staring up at him, rubbing her cheek that still stung from the slap, she smiled and said, “You.”

“Me! What about me?”

“You brought out of me all of my repressed hates and angers. You taught me how to express my anger by ending lives of people that had no reason to live. I was bored. The old man looked like it was near time for him to die anyway. I felt that rush come over me, that desire to help him along. And, like the others; it felt good. And I have it on video.”

“Destroy it, then. And do not leave this house again unless I tell you to leave. Because of you, I have to make a trip to the hospital, and finish what you started. He knows what you look like. Once he opens his eyes and regains his strength, he will be able to describe you, which means your picture will be everywhere. I am going there to fix your fuck-up

.

“You cannot afford another mistake like this again.’

Alexandria had finally stood up from the floor to go back into the kitchen, fully understanding what he was saying.

Her name would fit on a headstone just like anyone else’s.

Dinner that night was wasted. She picked at the spinach salad. Ronald didn’t touch a thing.

A few tense, but quiet minutes passed, before Ronald got into his Lebaron and drove to the hospital.

Alexandria threw the fruit away.

Johnson County Memorial Hospital – 7:23 p.m.

After convincing two duty station nurses he was Sollie’s nephew, convincing them he just heard what happened to the dear man, they allowed him to visit Sollie, but only briefly.

Alone in the hospital room with Sollie, he stared down at the old man, sleeping away in part by machines, in part on his own. He mentally remembered the machines Sollie was attached to and knew what must be done.

He left the hospital twenty minutes later.

Sollie was still sleeping.

1:43 a.m.

Ronald returned, and this time without being noticed as the nurse’s station was empty. He figured they were in a break room or on their rounds.

He quietly entered Sollie’s room.

Standing next to him, he reached out with both hands encased his leather gloves, grabbed Sollie’s chin with one hand and braced his other hand behind the old man’s neck, and gave a hard-sharp twist to the right and broke his neck. He then straightened Sollie’s head into a sleeping position and left the room.

The moment he left his room, the machine Sollie was connected to, flat-lined and a warning alarm emitted throughout the halls.

Ronald was just entering the elevator, and as it was about to close, he saw nurse’s running in Sollie’s direction.

He looked at his watch. Thirty seconds from start to finish.

Problem solved.