The Last Customer (33 page)

           
Despite all that had happened, Cherri, Garth and Winny couldn’t hold back their laughter.

Chapter 28

1

The laughing stopped. Garth’s sentiment fell and he brought up the reality that they would need to explain what had happened at the liquor store, not to mention that there were two dead bodies at Gardner’s farmhouse. Garth had faith that they would be able to answer the
questions
correctly.

The reality was that there were dead bodies, a liquor store had been destroyed and there was no logical explanation. Remembering what Gardner had told them about rational answers, they made their way down to the liquor store.

Chapter 29

1

A few hours had past and the sun was bright in the morning sky and it was fixing to be another scorcher. It was Sunday. The first police car arrived while Winny and Cherri stood near the cash register debating whether or not they would talk of the robbery. The Gasper boys had decided that they could leave Cherri out of it.

           
But Cherri felt that, given what had happened, she could no longer lie.
She didn’t want to.
Winny couldn’t bear the thought of what would happen to her if she were to leave him. Neither of them wanted her behind bars, not even Garth. The thought of her going to jail for a long stretch was even worse. Besides, nothing had been stolen during the robbery. There was significant damage to the store, but they were willing to let that go. It wasn’t Cherri’s fault.

           
“We don’t even know each other. What if we neglect to tell the police
exactly
what happened and then a few months from now you find that you don’t want me around?” Cherri asked...her head lowered.

           
“We don’t know our childhood history. We don’t know each other’s parents. We don’t know
a lot of
things…but we made it through last night and I’d say that has to count for something. I trust you and you can trust me.” He smiled. “Our souls are fond of each other and I want to be with you. I want to know you.”

           
Cherri’s eyes leaked tears and Winny knew that she’d felt his sincerity. He couldn’t explain it.
It was one of those things—indescribable.
He was destined to be with this girl and they both knew it.

2

Officer Rick Laymon was the first officer to respond to the liquor store. He walked through the parking lot, skeptical. His glasses kept slipping down the bridge of his nose. It annoyed him, and right now, it was even worse. He had many things to deal with. At the start of his shift, he’d learned of what had happened in town. The townsfolk had found the dead police officer’s over an hour ago. There were detectives investigating an elderly couple that had been murdered and they’d found another woman dead in the back alley behind the ice cream shop on Main Street. There was a mess to be cleaned up. There were many answers that needed to be found. The town wouldn’t stand for this, not without answers. This was the worst crime wave to ever hit Dodge Junction, and Laymon wouldn’t take it lightly. He would do whatever it took to do his job competently.

           
Walking through the parking lot, the glass crunched beneath his combat boots and his heart pounded beneath his ribs. His breath was quick. He was nervous. The violence that had gone nearly undetected throughout Dodge Junction was enough to have every law official in a state of paranoia, and Officer Laymon was no different. When he entered the liquor store and heard Garth Gasper call out from the back office, “In here officer!” he pulled his gun and held it shakily in front of his chest.

           
“Is everyone all right?” he asked, not knowing where he’d found the words.

           
“We’re okay,” Winny called out from behind the register.

           
Laymon lowered his standard issue nine millimeter berretta. “Do we know what happened here?”

3

Surprisingly, Garth and Winny weren’t as nervous as they’d assumed, and the answers came easy. It seemed as if their mouths were moving, but the answers were coming from somewhere else. Their faces held a blank pause when the officer entered the store.

Winny knew that Garth would handle the immediate explanation. He was better at explaining most things. Garth’s face insinuated that he would prefer to explain while he slightly frowned at Winny and nudged his head, motioning for them to go outside.

           
Cherri stood silent next to Winny. Her eyes were heavy, with bags having settled beneath them.

           
Winny looked to the officer and asked, “May we go outside and catch some air?”

           
Laymon nodded. Winny and Cherri stepped into the humid morning air.

           
Winny heard Garth begin to speak with the officer. Garth was telling the truth, yet leaving out the details which would not be understood by the officer.

           
Standing in the warm summer sun, Winny leaned down to Cherri and ran his fingers through her tangled red hair.

           
“I want you to stay.”

           
“Are you sure? I mean, you won’t get sick of me?”

           
Winny frowned. “I might get sick of you.”

           
Cherri cringed.

           
Winny smiled. “But I want you to stay, anyway.”

           
“I want to...stay.”

           
Slowly coming together, Winny’s eyes danced across Cherri’s face, their lips met. Despite the adrenaline and the stress emanating from the hellish nightmare of the past night, they received heaven as they kissed for the first time. Her lips were paradise.

4

The farmhouse was a grim sight. The dead girl in the yard, baking in sun, added a macabre garnish to the property. Inside, upstairs, down the hallway, Gardner knelt beside his wife. The body lying on the floor hardly resembled his Donna. When he touched her, her skin was cold. Her face was turning purple and her lips were blue. The blank stare in her dead eyes was hardening. They looked like small wax globes.

Gardner’s grief hit heavier than he could have imagined. His heart ached. His stomach was hollow. He still wanted to die. Earlier, his vision of Donna had been pleasant. He attempted to hold onto that image, the one of her in his vision. She’d been perfect
;
an angel. But now, the desecration of what had happened to her physical body was disturbing him. He began sobbing. If he were to die, then he would see her again, sooner. But there were things that he needed to do before that could happen.

Gardner had kept his
gift
dormant for too long. He needed to work on becoming familiar with his blessing again.

He stood and walked down the stairs toward the living room. He pushed the large rectangular wooden door open. He squinted when the brightness of the fresh new day struck his gentle eyes. The red and blue lights flashing from the liquor store below danced in the bright morning sunshine.

Closing the door, Gardner walked toward the lights.

Epilogue

Chapter 29

1

Gardner, Winny, Garth and Cherri were able to answer the questions that had been asked by the local law enforcement. They’d left out the supernatural details, which hadn’t been difficult. Gardner’s group had been revealed as living victims. Their explanations weren’t received as mad—as they feared they would. In the end, the murder, destruction and blame fell upon Rod Barton and Patty King. It was unveiled that they were a team of serial killers who had left a trail of bodies and mayhem strewn across the entirety of the Northern Midwest, from Iowa to Wisconsin.

The statements made by Garth, Winny, Gardner and Cherri were enough to bring logic to the night of disaster that had taken place in
Dodge Junction, Wisconsin
. The town would not recover for years to come and stories, rumors and nonsense took form as the horror story broke throughout the small town.

2

Winny and Cherri were married the following summer. Garth was the best man and Father Gardner conducted the ceremony. It was a beautiful ceremony and a gorgeous day.

Garth finally found his calling as a writer. With his words, he was able to travel to the places he so desperately sought to visit. He wrote a non-fiction book which ended up as a best-selling fiction novel based on his experiences of that hellish night in August.

                                    
The End

                          
About the Author

   
Daniel P. Coughlin was born and raised in a small town in southern Wisconsin. At the age of 19 he joined the United States Marine Corps and served four and half years as a
Machinegunner
in the infantry. After being honorably discharged, Daniel attended and graduated from California State University at Long Beach. While studying screenwriting under the mentorship of acclaimed writer Brian Alan Lane, he also interned and served as a script analyst for his favorite director, Wes Craven.

   
Daniel is the author of two commercially successful films Lake Dead, which was selected as one of After Dark Film’s 8 Films to
Die
For, and Farmhouse, starring A-List film and television star Steven Weber (Wings, Desperation, Single White Female). Also, he is the author of the novel Ted’s Score (Comet Press) and has sold numerous short stories to such publications as Strange Tales of Horror, Macabre Cadaver Magazine, and Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine. Daniel was hailed by Macabre Cadaver Magazine as, “A Promising New Voice in Old School Horror.”
 
Find out more at
http://
www.danielpcoughlin.com
/

Look for the print version

May 2012

Brought to you by Hellfire Publishing, Inc.

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