Dark Corner (41 page)

He exhaled, and closed his eyes. The words came, without any conscious effort; a passage from the book of Psalms.
His mother had taught him to recite the verses when he was a
child and would occasionally awaken at night, frightened by bad dreams. Although he had not read the psalm in many
years, he remembered it completely.

His voice, threaded with cautious hope, resonated through
the air.

"`The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He
makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside
still waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for you are with me ..."'

As everyone left Pearl's house, David hung behind the
others and turned to Pearl.

"What are you going to do?" David said. "Are you coming in town later for the meeting?"

"I'm going to stay here," she said. "You will do fine without me. I have faith in you"

"Thank you so much for your help. We couldn't do what
we have to do without you"

She smiled. "You should marry her."

"Who?" He chuckled. Nia was in the driveway, climbing
into the SUV. "Do you see it in our future?"

Pearl laughed. "I was speaking as a woman, not as a clairvoyant. The two of you are a beautiful couple, inside and
out.,,

"We'll see what happens. I'm not ruling out anything."

"Spoken like a true brother afraid of commitment." Pearl
laughed again. She took his hands in her small fingers.
"Blessings to you, David Hunter."

He kissed her on the cheek, then walked down the porch
steps. The chief's car idled at the mouth of the driveway.
They would follow him to police headquarters.

"What were you two gabbing about?" Nia said.

"Oh, nothing, really." David shifted into drive. "I was
thanking her for helping us"

"That's all, huh?" Nia said.

"That's all." He rolled down the driveway.

"So why are you grinning like that?"

He winked. "Wouldn't you love to know?"

As they turned off the gravel path and onto the road, a
cocker spaniel with a mud-spattered coat dashed across the
street and burrowed into the thick bushes that flanked the
road.

David's smile slipped away.

"Are you thinking the same thing as I am?" Nia said.
Worry clouded her eyes.

"Yeah," he said. "We're being watched."

Back at the police station, his head ready to blow up from
everything Pearl had told them, Jackson threw the town's
machinery into high gear.

Upon arriving at the office, he'd hoped, in vain, to see
Dudu's cruiser in the parking lot, and his deputy inside, lanky
legs propped on his desk as he flipped through one of his
silly tabloids. But the deputy was not there. Jackson made a
mental note to return to the Mason place later to retrieve
Dudu's patrol car. He sure wasn't looking forward to that
trip.

He settled behind his desk and began to work the phone.
As he made calls, David, Nia, and Jahlil sat around a table
and brainstormed the design of an informational flyer that
they could distribute throughout the town.

Jackson spoke to the mayor, Cleotis Davis; Reverend
Brown, pastor of New Life Baptist, the biggest church in
town; the Chester County sheriff, Johnny Chaser; and then
Dr. Green. He was amazed at how easily he got in touch with
everyone. For once, things seemed to be going their way.

"All right, folks," he said to the others. "Everyone'll be
here in an hour. Looks like the show's on the road"

"It better be, it's already past noon," Nia said. "I checked the paper. The sun sets around eight-fifteen. We have a lot to
do in only eight hours, and time is flying."

"Hey, everyone, check this out," Jahlil said. He watched
the small TV that stood on the deputy's desk.

Jackson, David, and Nia came behind Jahlil. It was the
local weather program. A severe thunderstorm was gradually rumbling toward the area.

It would reach them by nightfall.

When the webs of the spider join, they can trap a lion.

-Ethiopian proverb

The hunter knows his prey.

-Nilotic proverb

No matter how long the night, the day is sure to come.

-Zairean proverb

he emergency town meeting was scheduled to begin at four
J o'clock, but people did not begin filing into New Life
Baptist Church until twenty minutes after four.

Even in the middle of something like this, folks are on
Colored People Time, David thought, and could not repress a
rueful smile. He and Nia sat together in a pew near the back
of the sanctuary. He remembered when he had visited the
church only a week ago. What a difference a few days could
make. He had entered a strange new world.

The past few hours had been busy. They'd had a meeting
at the police station with the town's leaders, and they had
convinced them that they faced a citywide health crisis that
demanded immediate action; they accomplished this without
stating the word, "vampire" David shared Chief Jackson's
sentiment that without proof, no one would believe their farfetched story of supernatural beasts roaming Mason's Corner.
They offered the leaders the more palatable theory of a fastspreading, rabieslike virus that afflicted canines and humans.
Dr. Green, Franklin's physician, supported the idea, which
helped his comrades fall into line. Together, they outlined a simple but effective plan that they would roll out to the residents in the town meeting.

To notify everyone of the afternoon's discussion, David,
Nia, Jahlil, and his friend, Poke, had traveled throughout
town distributing hundreds of flyers that Nia had designed
and printed at Kinko's. Due to the Labor Day holiday, most
people were home, fortunately, and received the information. The flyers announced the meeting time, location, and
topic, which was, "Health Emergency in Mason's Corner:
What You Must Do Now." The flyer stressed the critical importance of attending the meeting, but for those who were
unable to attend, Jackson had arranged a hot line-a voice
message on his cell phone-in which he outlined the basics
of the threat and what residents must do to ensure their
safety. Again, they avoided mention of the word, "vampire."

David hoped that they were not doing the townspeople a
disservice by concealing the true nature of the crisis. He was
eager to hear what people would say at the meeting when the
floor opened for discussion. Undoubtedly, others had witnessed things that defied explanation. Diallo and his clan
had been busy lately.

Their last task had been stockpiling tools and weapons.
They had a war ahead of them and could not wade into battle unarmed. They had delved into their collective resources
and prepared the best they could. David only hoped it would
be enough.

He checked his watch: 4:25. It was about four hours until
nightfall, and they still had a great deal to accomplish.

A steady stream of people flowed into the church. David
recognized many faces. Several folks greeted him as they
filed past.

Reverend Brown had volunteered his church as the meeting location. The sanctuary could seat about three hundred,
and could accommodate more if the pews grew full and people had to stand.

David and the others had placed a second flyer on the seats. This particular flyer outlined the fundamentals of what
was going on, and the action plan. Snatches of conversation
floated his way. People were reading the document and speculating.

An hour ago, he had called the hospital to check on
Franklin. Ruby said he was asleep and had not awakened
since they had visited him that morning. David cautioned
her to be careful, but he knew she would never leave her husband-even if he attacked her in an inhuman frenzy.

He shivered.

"Why hasn't Mama come yet?" Nia looked around. "I
asked her to be here at four. She's never late."

"I'm sure she's on her way," David said.

"I hope so. I'm going to call her if she isn't here in five
minutes."

At the front of the church, Chief Jackson, the mayor, the
county sheriff, Dr. Green, and Reverend Brown sat in a row
of tall chairs in the chancel. Jackson read his watch, glanced
at the other leaders, and they nodded.

Jackson approached the pulpit. He cleared his throat,
raised the microphone closer to his lips.

"All right, folks. Thanks for coming to this meeting on
short notice and on your holiday. I 'spect more folks will be
coming in, but we got to get started. We're facing something
I ain't never seen in this town, and I've been here in Dark
Corner all my life, like a lot of you.

"Let me run down the basics for you ..

Junior Hodges sat in a middle pew, fidgeting. He wore his
overalls and boots, and he felt out of place coming to church
dressed as he was, though no one else was dressed in their
Sunday best, either. Mama had taught him that whenever
you entered the house of the Lord, you had to wear the best
clothes you could afford. Junior owned a navy blue suit that
he'd worn for years, but the woman, Nia, who pressed the flyer in his hand while he was cutting grass told him that this
wasn't a worship service, it was a town meeting, and he
could come dressed as he was. He took her suggestion, but
he felt uncomfortable, anyway. Especially with Reverend
Brown sitting up there.

Junior read the flyer he'd picked up from the seat. It
talked about a "health emergency," a virus, and how dogs
and people seemed to be the ones that caught it. You could
get infected if a sick dog bit you, or if a person who had the
illness bit you, too. The ones who were sick were in so much
pain that they might hurt you, the paper said. If you knew
someone who seemed to be acting sick lately, who was
sleeping all the time and not leaving the house, you were
supposed to write their name on a list that would be passed
around. Those people would then get "proper medical care,"
whatever that meant.

Junior knew at least five people who were sick. Vicky
Queen was one of them. Earlier, he'd visited her house to
offer to trim her hedges, something he did every now and
then, and her mama answered the door. Her mama said
Vicky was sick and in the bed. Junior cut the hedges anyway,
for free. It made him feel better.

What worried Junior most of all was that he had the feeling that this health emergency had something to do with the
work he and Andre had done at the Mason place. Nothing
had been right in the town since they'd dug open that cave.
Maybe they'd let out the virus. The scary man in black
seemed like the sort of fella who was up to no good.

The pews were filling up. He didn't see Andre, or his father. The last time Junior had seen Pa, his father was sleeping off a hangover at home, and Andre ... well, he didn't
know where he was. Probably somewhere getting high.

Junior returned his attention to Chief Jackson. The chief
was running down the stuff on the flyer.

". . . trying to keep this in layman's terms, see," the chief
said. "We've got Doc Green here if you want him to lay it out for you with big medical words. Like I said, we think it's
a virus, like rabies. Get it when you get bit. Dogs are running
around doing the biting, but people might bite you too, if
they've been bit and got infected. They're sick and ain't
themselves . .

A teenage girl who sat near Junior was frowning.

"It sounds kinda like vampires, doesn't it?" she said.

"Sure does," Junior said, and thought again of the man in
black. He felt a chill. "Just like vampires."

Emma Mae Taylor allowed her sister, Lillie, to drag her to
the town meeting. Earlier, she'd banged on Emma's door like
she'd lost her mind, then shoved a green flyer in her face.

"If you got any sense, you'll go to this," Lillie had said.
"You need to come outta that house from up under that man
and learn about the evil that's running through this town"

"I got me some gardening to do," Emma said. She'd gotten one of those flyers about the medical whatever happening in town. Some meddling fool had slid it under her door,
and Emma had skimmed it, then thrown it away. Emergency?
Please, it was all a matter of perspective. She didn't let
things get under her skin like most people did. She was cool.

"Emma, you come outta there or I'ma drag you out,"
Lillie said. Her eyes narrowed. "I'm sick and tired of you not
caring what's going on here. You need to learn for your own
good and for that man you so crazy 'bout."

"All right, all right, I'll go! Damn, you a pain in the ass.
Let me fix my hair." Emma spun away from the door, not
bothering to invite Lillie inside. Lillie was a cleaning freak
and would start criticizing Emma about cleaning her house,
and Emma didn't feel like hearing it.

After she fixed her hair, she checked on Blood. He'd been
under the weather all day. She was sure it was because some
mutt had bitten him last night when he was leaving the bar.
She'd taken him to the emergency room, to get a rabies shot; afterward, the doctor had wanted Blood to stay there, but
Blood hated hospitals and begged Emma to take him home.
She couldn't say no to him, so she brought him home against
the doctor's protests. Since then, Blood had been running a
slight fever and sleeping like a log.