Plum Spooky Part 16

WE SKIRTED A boggy area and stopped at the edge of a clearing. Not too far from us was a small, weathered house with a tin roof. A garden taken over by pumpkins sat to one side of the house. Beyond the house was a large caged habitat filled with monkeys. A long low shed was attached to the habitat. Carl wrapped his arms around my leg and wouldn't let go. boggy area and stopped at the edge of a clearing. Not too far from us was a small, weathered house with a tin roof. A garden taken over by pumpkins sat to one side of the house. Beyond the house was a large caged habitat filled with monkeys. A long low shed was attached to the habitat. Carl wrapped his arms around my leg and wouldn't let go.

"What's with him?" Lula asked.

"I think he's afraid of the monkeys."

"No s.h.i.+t. There must be twenty monkeys in there."

"I have a feeling this is Gail Scanlon's latest cause. She probably rescued these monkeys from a lab or a zoo."

"Don't look like anybody is here," Lula said.

We cautiously moved into the clearing and looked around.

"Those monkeys are wearing hats," Lula said.

I moved closer and looked at the monkeys. Lula was right. They were wearing hats. Metal helmets held on by chin straps. A small antenna stuck up from the top of each helmet. They looked like some German monkey army left over from WWI.

There were no cars in the yard. No lights on in the house. Power lines ran through the woods to the house and monkey shed. It looked like there was a road leading out of the compound, just past the caged habitat.

"I don't care about monkeys," Lula said. "I care about a restroom. I don't know who owns this place, but I'm using the facilities."

She knocked on the front door to the house, and when no one answered, she tried the doork.n.o.b. Unlocked. We stepped inside and looked around.

"Anyone home?" I yelled.

No answer.

Lula used the bathroom, and I prowled through the kitchen and living area. The colors inside the house were bright, reminding me of Gail Scanlon's clothes. There were lots of books lining the walls but no tele vision or phone. No computer. Basic pots and pans. Her appliances were old but ser viceable. A stack of mail addressed to Gail had been placed on a small desk. Notice of her brother's death was on a kitchen counter. I didn't see anything that would tie her to Munch or Wulf.

"I feel better," Lula said, coming into the kitchen. "I feel like a new woman. I'll feel even better when we get out of the enchanted forest. I'm gonna hotfoot it down the road on the other side of the monkey cage before it gets really really dark and the Jersey Dev il goes on a rant." dark and the Jersey Dev il goes on a rant."

Sounded okay to me. The alternative was to go back the way we'd come, and I wasn't sure I could retrace our steps.

"I don't suppose you found a phone," Lula said. "We could call a taxi if we had a phone."

"No phone. And I still haven't got ser vice on mine."

We walked out of the house and froze. There were monkeys everywhere. The yard was lousy with monkeys in monkey helmets. They were shrieking and running in circles and jumping up and down. I heard Lula suck in air behind me.

"This here's a monkey nightmare," she said. "This is like that movie where birds were swarming all over the houses and cras.h.i.+ng through windows and attacking people, only this is monkeys."

Not exactly. These monkeys weren't interested in attacking or swarming. They were interested in getting the heck away from the habitat. One by one the monkeys ran off into the woods. Only Carl was left, looking worried, standing by the open door to the empty cage. He had one hand on the door handle, and it was pretty obvious how the monkeys had gotten out.

"Think this is one of them born free born free things," Lula said. things," Lula said.

I thought it was more like one of those good thing I don't have a loaded gun because I'd shoot myself good thing I don't have a loaded gun because I'd shoot myself things. I was supposed to look out for Gail's animals, and now they were running loose in the woods. How was I ever going to get all those monkeys back? things. I was supposed to look out for Gail's animals, and now they were running loose in the woods. How was I ever going to get all those monkeys back?

Lula took off for the road. "I'm getting out of here before the monkey keeper shows up. I'm not paying for no runaway monkeys. I just used the restroom. I'm not responsible for this."

Carl looked at Lula, and then he looked into the woods, where the monkeys had disappeared.

"Don't even think about it," I said to Carl. "Susan expects you to be waiting for her when she comes back."

Carl gave me a thumbs-up and took off.

"Carl!"

"Maybe he needs a girl monkey," Lula said.

I looked overhead. The sun was about to set. I didn't have a lot of time to find my way out, but I didn't want to leave without Carl. It wasn't just that he was my responsibility. I liked Carl. Okay, so he was a pain in the a.s.s sometimes, but he was my my pain in the a.s.s. pain in the a.s.s.

"I can't leave Carl," I said to Lula.

"Yeah, but you can't stay, either. It's gonna get dark, and we gotta get out of here. We haven't got any phone ser vice, and there's kidnappers and who knows what kind of lunatics in these woods."

She was right, of course, but I had a sad stomach at the thought of Carl left all by himself in the woods. I called Carl one more time, and when he didn't show, I reluctantly followed Lula down the road.

After ten minutes, Lula dropped the pace. "I can hardly see where we're going. If it gets any darker, I won't know if I'm on the road. Lordy I don't want to wander off the road and have the Tree People get me."

"If we can find our way back to the Jeep, we'll be okay."

"The Jeep's out of gas."

"Ranger will find us if we stay by the Jeep."

"Yeah, but when?"

Knowing Ranger, he already had someone on the road looking for me.

"Hold on," Lula said, voice low, eyes wide. "I hear that flapping again. Good golly, it's the Jersey Dev il. I just know it's him. He's coming to get us."

I heard it, too, but it didn't sound like flapping. It sounded more like someone walking through the woods. The steps were evenly s.p.a.ced, m.u.f.fled by the dropped pine needles. Smosh, smosh, smosh, smosh. Smosh, smosh, smosh, smosh. The walker was moving toward us. The walker was moving toward us.

There wasn't a lot of cover. Our only option was some scrub brush bordering the narrow dirt road. I pulled Lula into the bushes, and we crouched and held our breath. Lula had her gun in her hand. The reality of Lula shooting is that she couldn't hit the side of a barn if it was ten feet away. That's not to say she couldn't get lucky some day and actually nail someone. My biggest fear was that it would accidentally be me.

There was some weak light filtering onto the road. The smosh, smosh, smosh smosh, smosh, smosh came closer, and a kid stepped out of the pines, onto the road. And then I realized it wasn't a kid. It was Martin Munch dressed in baggy jeans, a gray sweats.h.i.+rt zipped to his neck, and looking like a fourteen-year-old Opie Taylor from came closer, and a kid stepped out of the pines, onto the road. And then I realized it wasn't a kid. It was Martin Munch dressed in baggy jeans, a gray sweats.h.i.+rt zipped to his neck, and looking like a fourteen-year-old Opie Taylor from The Andy Griffith Show. The Andy Griffith Show. He was alone, appeared unarmed, and he was smaller than me. I liked the odds. I waited a moment longer, hoping he'd get closer, but he suddenly stopped and looked directly at me. He turned without a word and took off into the woods, running flat-out the way he'd come. He was alone, appeared unarmed, and he was smaller than me. I liked the odds. I waited a moment longer, hoping he'd get closer, but he suddenly stopped and looked directly at me. He turned without a word and took off into the woods, running flat-out the way he'd come.

I ran after him, cras.h.i.+ng through the scrubby underbrush, following his zigzag path around trees. He was fast for a little guy, clearly familiar with this patch of woods. I could hear him panting in front of me, and I could hear Lula thundering behind me. I saw light ahead. If it was a road, and he chose to take it, I could run him down. I wasn't an athlete, but I was in better shape than Martin Munch.

He broke out of the woods, and I momentarily lost him. I reached the road and looked right. Munch was on an ATV. He hit the start b.u.t.ton and roared away.

Lula burst out of the woods and bent at the waist. "I'm dying. I'm a dead woman. I need something. Oxygen. A lung. Legal drugs. h.e.l.l, any kind of drugs."

I pulled her back into the pines. "Catch your breath while we walk. We don't want to be here when he comes back with his partner."

"Was that Martin Munch?" Lula asked.

"I think so."

"Where are we going?"

"I don't know where we're going. I just know we can't stay on the road."

"What do you mean you don't know where we're going?"

"Look around. What do you see?"

"Nothing," Lula said. "It's black as a witch's t.i.t in here."

"Exactly."

"We could be walking in circles. We could be easy prey for the Jersey Dev il and the Tree People."

Or worse.

"I don't want to alarm you or nothing," Lula said. "But I'm gonna have a freak-out. I'm feelin' a freak-out coming on. I'm not a woods person. I need cement under my feet. I need a streetlight. I need a burger."

"Don't panic. This isn't Alaska. This is Jersey. We'll be fine. We have to just keep walking, and we'll get somewhere."

"Shush. Do you hear that?"

"What?"

"They're talking again. I hear the Tree People talking. Feet, don't fail me. I'm getting out of here."

Lula took off in the dark and didn't run more than ten steps when SPLASH. SPLASH.

"They got me," she shrieked. "Help. I'm drowning. I'm a goner."

Lula was floundering around at the edge of what looked like a cranberry bog. I squinted into the dark and reached out to her. "Grab my hand."

"I got it," Lula said. "Get me out."

I planted my foot, the mud oozed over my shoe, and I went into the soup with Lula.

"I'm getting sucked away," Lula said. "I'm gonna die. This is the end. The swamp monster got me."

"You're only in two feet of water," I told her. "You're not going to die. Not unless I choke you because you won't shut up."

I tried to stand, but the ground gave way, and I went down again. Hands grabbed me from behind and lifted me out of the muck. It was Ranger. He was up to his knees in swamp water.

"Babe," Ranger said.

"How did you find me?"

He set me on solid ground and waded out of the water. "I heard Lula yelling. Half the state heard her."

Two of Ranger's men had slogged over to Lula and had her by the armpits, dragging her out.

Ranger took my hand and tugged me through the woods. "Talk to me."

"Gail Scanlon called me and said Wulf had her locked away somewhere. She didn't know where she was, and she was terrified. She asked me to help. I tried to get in touch with Diesel, but he wasn't answering, so I called you, and I came looking for her."

"Did you find her?"

"No. She wasn't in her house."

"What would Wulf want with Gail Scanlon?"

"I don't know, but he killed her brother."

We reached the road, and Ranger continued to lead me.

"Your Jeep is parked just around the curve in the road. I'm parked behind you," Ranger said.

"I ran out of gas."

"I noticed. Is anything else wrong with the Jeep?"

"Only everything."

Ranger paused. "There's a monkey sitting in the middle of the road."

It was all dark shadow to me. "Are you sure it's a monkey?"

"Yeah."

"Is it wearing a hat?"

"Yeah."

"b.u.mmer." I was really wis.h.i.+ng it was Carl.

The men behind us were using flashlights. The beam swept across the monkey, and it ran off into the woods. We reached my Jeep and moved past it to the Rangeman SUV.

"I'll send someone to get your car in the morning," Ranger said, remoting the SUV doors unlocked.

Lula and I were dripping wet with mud and water plants stuck in our hair, caked onto our shoes. The temperature had dropped, and I was so cold my teeth were chattering.

Ranger wrapped me in his jacket and trundled me onto the Rangeman front seat. Lula and Ranger's two men got in the back. Ranger climbed behind the wheel, blasted heat at me, and backed out.

We reached the Atlantic City Expressway, and four messages popped up on my phone. All from Diesel. All the same. Where are you? Call me. Where are you? Call me.

I dialed his cell and told him about Gail Scanlon.

"Where are you now?" he asked.