Teagan's Books

Saturday, July 15, 2023

Welcome back to my sanctuary in the town infested with “supernaturals,” that I call Atonement, TN.  Before we get to the story, I need to apologize because I haven’t been around the blog-verse as much as I would like.  As you know I’ve had Internet problems ever since I moved into this house four years ago. Now I’ve had to resort to a horribly slow plan, with very limited “data.” I run out of data, and yes the Internet is still technically accessible, BUT it’s so slow that it won’t even connect to a browser or the provider’s website.  That’s why I haven’t been to your blogs much.

The random reader things, which drive this episode are from fellow blogger and new author, Dan Antion.  His random things for today are: bicycle bell, pink eraser, and flashlight.

Previously

As you know, stories have hills and valleys, fast and slow.  Paths to plots have to be established and characters built. So, no reanimated corpses today, but you just might learn something.  We’re back with Pepper Riley, where we left her in the Hogly Wogly.  Deputy Fletcher Hodge showed up wanting to ask her questions about the incident at Magnolia Skies Convalescent Home. If you missed an episode, or if you want to refresh your memory for that click Episode 15.  For where we last saw Pepper (and what she heard Donny planning), click Episode 16.

Atonement in Zugzwang

Episode 18

Absently I touched an item on the shelf.  I supposed that I actually had been an anxious person for most of my life.  I didn’t like to admit it, and I tried to hide the fact from everyone.

My nerves were still rattled from the strange things that happened at Magnolia Skies Convalescent Home.  Any unexpected sight, smell, or sound became a discordant ping in my mind, like a bicycle bell.

Not to mention that bizarre cloud above the building, after the fire alarm sounded.  It looked like a mass of arms, legs, and maybe tentacles writhed within a thick mist.  Thinking of it sent a chill down my spine.

My uncle’s doctor, Mary Sue Leggett had assured me that Salty’s mental health was good, and that he certainly didn’t have any inheritable form of insanity or psychosis.  She had been intuitive, or maybe experienced enough to know that was what concerned me.  However, secretly even to myself, I hoped to discuss with her the fact that I was having hallucinations.

Maybe it’s for the best that I didn’t get to tell the doctor any of those things.  I might find myself locked up.  I don’t think there’s anyone I can talk to about these things.  Not even Maudie, I fretted.  I wish I could use a bright pink eraser to remove these memories!

Deputy Fletcher Napoleon Hodge turned away from me, to watch Donny and Chip leave the grocery store.  His expression was pensive.  Without further comment on the boys, he resumed what he had been saying.

Fletcher’s speech was often broken by parenthetical statements.  It took a moment for me to get used to it, but I decided it was an endearing habit.  Abruptly, his growling stomach joined the conversation.  He made an awkward face.

“Like I was saying, I haven’t had breakfast yet.  So, could we talk at L-O-L-A Lola’s?  My treat.”

“That’s fine.  I haven’t been to the diner yet,” I remarked.

I searched the deputy’s expression.  It was easy to see when people flirted with each other — except when it came to myself.  I was an absolute dunce about it.  Fletcher Hodge was easily a handsome and engaging man, even if he was almost a head shorter than me.  However, I saw him as more of a kid brother type.

Besides, I wouldn’t want to be in my best friend’s way.  After her last relationship, Maudie deserves a nice normal guy.  And I’m not really interested in him.  Maybe he’s too cute, I thought.  Maudie always jokes that I’m only attracted to ugly men.  Of course, that’s ridiculous…  Although she might have a point.  Sort of anyway.  It’s nice to look at gorgeous men, but…

“You’re in for a treat then,” the deputy broke into my revery.  “Try the breakfast pizza.  It’s a biscuit crust, smeared with red-eye gravy.  You know, instead of tomato sauce.  And topped with scrambled eggs and cheese.  The eggs are perfect, by the way,” he added, and my stomach growled in chorus with his.

“That sounds fattening,” I complained with a wry face.

“Don’t worry about that.  Besides, you know what we say — more is better,” he encouraged with a twinkling white smile, and I rolled my eyes, causing him to chuckle.

Okay.  I don’t know about the rest of it, but that “more is better” bit was flirting, even if he wasn’t doing it seriously.  Even I could see that.

As it turned out, before we could leave the Hogly Wogly, he was called to an emergency.  I wondered just how shorthanded the sheriff’s department was.  I heard bits of an authoritative voice on the other end of his call.

“Bring your flashlight.  Those woods are dark,” the sheriff said, but Fletcher stepped away and I couldn’t make out anything else.

Fletcher studied my face for a moment, making me wonder what he was being told.  I read concern in his dark eyes… concern and sympathy.  I gulped worriedly.

Having finished the call, he heaved a sigh.  His stomach rumbled again.

“Could we make that lunch?  If you don’t mind meeting me at the diner?  I need to go to the sheriff.  There’s been a development in your uncle’s case.  Or rather a um, a discovery.  I need to see to that before we talk,” he told me.

“I’ll go with you.  I’m anxious for first-hand information about my uncle’s missing body,” I offered quickly, and he muttered something I didn’t quite catch about my choice of words.

“No.  I mean, no ma’am.  It’s not anything you want to s—  There’s a crime scene.  You wouldn’t be allowed.  Regulations, you know,” he replied hurriedly, as if explaining was somehow awkward.

Puzzled, I watched the deputy walk quickly toward the front of the store.  I wondered what else he was investigating besides my uncle’s stolen body and the incident at Magnolia Skies early that morning.

A whiff of newly cooked delights brought me back to the moment and my original intention when I stopped at the store.  I made my way to the bakery department.

♣ ♣ ♣

Lunchtime found me walking into Atonement’s diner, L-O-L-A Lola’s.  On large black and white floor tiles was a chrome stand which held a sign, “Welcome.  Please be seated.”

Feeling rather awkward, alone in an unfamiliar setting, I stepped toward the well-padded barstools.  I thought that might keep the meeting more casual than sitting at a table.  Then I changed my mind and moved to a booth, just in case.  I had asked Maudie to join us because she seemed interested in the deputy.  However, she didn’t think it was a good idea, since lunch was also a police interview.

“Even though it’s in a public place, he’s still a cop who needs to question you.  He might not want somebody else right there in the same booth.  Although he is awfully cute,” my friend had said hesitantly.  “If I change my mind, I’ll pop in long about dessert time.”

Like the stools, the booths were done in red vinyl.  The windows had clean white vertical blinds.  When I opened the menu, I found plenty of options.  I chuckled when I saw the house special, the Lola-palooza burger.  Then I laughed out loud remembering Fletcher’s remark, “More is better.”  Fortunately, they also had salads.

A woman spoke my name in a mildly surprised tone.  I looked up to find Dr. Mary Sue Leggett.

“It’s a small town, but I didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” she remarked.

I invited her to sit down.  When I explained that I was waiting for Deputy Hodge, who wanted to question me about what happened at the convalescent home that morning, it turned out that she was there for the same reason.

“And lunch,” the doctor added with a warm smile.  “The meatloaf is delicious.”

Any “flirting” he was doing was just that — flirty banter with no need to worry about anything coming of the playful words.  I’m such a nerd! I thought.

“I only spoke to Fletcher a moment ago,” the doctor went on while I mentally chided myself for being conceited.  “He said that we should go ahead and order in case it took him awhile to get here.  I gather those people who have been hanging out at the Rowdy Rooster have brought quite a crime wave with them.  Meanwhile my office is useless for the time being, so he suggested LOLA’s.”

“Was it that badly damaged by the fire?” I asked, and she gave me a long considering look before answering.

“No.  There was only a small fire in a storage room.  Although my office was ransacked when the facility was evacuated,” she began.  “My paper files were scattered, and some destroyed, so much so that I can’t tell if anything might be missing.  They also tampered with my computer,” she explained, but paused looking abashed.

“I suppose they guessed my password.  I should have made it more complicated.  Anyhow, someone accessed the system and put a virus in my computer.  When I turned it on, it wiped my computer and did serious damage to the facility’s network as well.  Also, my office was… vandalized.  There was urine, vomit, and feces…  Oh, Miss Riley, I’m so sorry.  This was unprofessional of me to tell you all this,” the doctor stated.

“Don’t apologize.  And please call me Pepper.  It’s only human that you’d be shocked and upset.  No one could blame you if you never went back to that office again,” I said firmly.  “Maybe you could set up in town.  Magnolia Skies is kind of out of the way.  I noticed an empty building at the opposite end of my street, where most of the nicer businesses are.”

“Pepper, I know the one you mean.  The place is in good condition.  Actually, it wouldn’t need much remodeling at all to suit my purposes.  It’s a tempting idea,” Mary Sue started positively, but shook her head.  “I’m needed in Rectify.  There the creat—”

The doctor stopped in the middle of her sentence and coughed.  Then she coughed a couple more times, but I thought it was all for effect.  I didn’t believe the cough was real.  What had she been about to say?

“I have patients in Rectify who need me,” she finished sheepishly, and I politely let the subject change.

Mary Sue and I had started our lunches before the deputy arrived.  He must have called ahead for his order, because the Lola-palooza burger was on a plate in front of him in minutes, along with a large order of fries and a milk shake.

Fletcher made short work of the large meal.  Then he asked both of us several questions about anything we had seen or heard, before and after the fire alarm sounded.

My first thought was about that strange writhing cloud.  In my heart I felt it was something important, and not a hallucination at all.  Unfortunately, logic and reason dictated otherwise.

“What is it, Miss Riley?” Fletcher asked, noticing my expression.

He switched from being a brotherly guy to a law enforcement officer, and left my first name behind with the other attitude.  I reminded myself that even though we were in a diner, he would think of the meeting as official sheriff’s department business.

“It was just a cloud of smoke, I guess,” I started lamely.  “At the time it seemed odd to me, but I was pretty shaken.”

Mary Sue caught my eye.  I knew she had seen it too.  The only difference was, I thought she might have some idea about what that “cloud” actually was.

It was clear to me that she would not discuss it with the deputy.  However, I was determined to talk to her about it later.

“Miss Riley, I realize you don’t know many people here yet,” Fletcher, or rather Deputy Hodge, stated.  “But did you see or speak to anyone who seemed out of place?”

“No,” I began and slowly shook my head.  “The road to get there was blocked and I ended up in the back parking lot.  I saw some housekeepers leaving, and I decided to go in by the door they had just used.”

At his request, I described the women.  Dr. Leggett said they were regular staff.

“And inside I saw a doctor and I was her asking about my uncle,” I continued.

Mary Sue’s eyebrows shot up when I described the other doctor.  Fletcher looked curiously from her to me.  He asked if I got the woman’s name.  I had to think for a minute because everything had happened so fast.

“Gwendolyn?  No, that’s not it.  Wendy!” I remembered.  “Dr. Wendy Goens.”

“The professional staff at the facility is small.  There is no Dr. Goens, and no one fits that description,” Mary Sue remarked.  “Although now that you mention it, I did get a glimpse of a woman in a white coat going around the corner when I came in and met Pepper.”

***

By the time the deputy finished asking questions, it was well into the afternoon.  He was eyeing the peach cobbler that had just come out of the oven.

Then the door crashed open.  The deputy stood, hand resting on his weapon.  Startled, I jumped to my feet.

A woman ran into the diner.  Recognizing her, he let his hand fall to his side.  The dramatic entrance created a commotion in the diner, with several of the servers moving to see what the trouble might be.  Fletcher made a motion that indicated it was okay.

Dr. Leggett rose and put herself between the woman and Fletcher.  There was something protective in her stance, though she seemed as concerned about the deputy as the woman.

Feeling like I was in the way, I sat back down in the booth, leaving it to the professionals.

As I sank into the cushioned booth, I realized I had sat on something.  When I saw what it was, I groaned — another chess piece.  It was a white onyx tower with a pixie sitting atop it.  She had wings and light brown hair.  A knot formed in my stomach when a saw that the carving looked a lot like Mary Sue Leggett.

Meanwhile, the distraught woman held the attention of everyone else.  There was something elegant about her, even though she was dressed in jeans and a casual top.  It registered with me that she was a platinum blond version of Adelle Metatron, who owned the tearoom.

Her eyes roamed the room frantically, then she saw Fletcher.  He intercepted her.

“Miss Annie,” he began, concern in his voice.  “What’s wrong?”

“My son.  It’s my son!  Donny is missing,” Annie Metatron told him.

♣ ♣ ♣

It’s been a while since I left you with a good cliffhanger.  Hang on tight. The trouble is only just beginning.  Wishing you a wonderful weekend.  I love to hear from you, so friendly comments are encouraged.  Hugs!

♣ ♣ ♣

The Dreamers Aliance Series by Dan Antion

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The Atonement Series

Atonement, Tennessee

Full series of e-books with one click:  relinks.me/B087JV25JT

Kindle:  rxe.me/HGSVA8A

Paperback: relinks.me/1481826948

Also in Spanish, translated by Olga Núñez Miret! The title for the Spanish-speaking market is Expiación y Magia

Atonement in Bloom

Kindle:  rxe.me/5RRBLH

Paperback:  relinks.me/1726882128

The Glowing Pigs, Snort Stories of Atonement, Tennessee

Kindle   rxe.me/LTBDNH

Paperback   relinks.me/1725891972

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This is a work of fiction.  Characters, names, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2023 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene

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