Halloween came and went without incident. Because of all the strange things that had been going on, James had half-expected some strange occurrence on Halloween. Now he felt foolish for having thought such nonsense.
On Monday, the first day of November, four days after Sharon Perrett was killed, Guy told James that Mrs. Baker had called and said she was taking her car somewhere else if it wasn’t finished the next day. Guy told her they didn’t have the parts in yet (he left off the part about him forgetting to order them back on the twenty-seventh), and the next parts truck wouldn’t come through until the fourth. She would hear none of it. Her car would either be fixed by tomorrow afternoon or she would take her business elsewhere.
Guy wanted James to leave early in the morning and drive to Beaumont for the parts. James would have to get up at around four in the morning to make it to Beaumont and back in time for them to fix her car.
James told Guy he wouldn’t do it. He wasn’t about to leave Angie and Jimmy at home alone after what had happened to Sharon Perrett. He said he’d leave at seven and they could have the car ready first thing Wednesday morning. Guy called Mrs. Baker and told her what they had decided, but she wasn’t happy. She said she would be by to pick up her car the next day and not to expect any more business from her or any of her kin.
When James got home Angie met him in the doorway.
“How was work?” she asked.
“Fine, I guess,” James answered with a shrug. Pausing for a brief peck on the cheek from his wife, James stepped inside and hung his cap and jacket on the coat rack just inside the door.
“I talked to Mrs. Georgia Baker at the store today,” Angie said once James was inside.
“Really?” James said dryly. “What did she have to say?”
“I overheard her and Juanita Martin blabbing away about how slow Baldwin’s Garage is now that it was never this slow when Ike was still around. I told her right quick that y’all do almost twice the business now and that y’all still have cars ready in half the time.”
“You didn’t,” James said as he rubbed his sleepy eyes.
“I did,” Angie replied with an impish smile, then her face turned serious and she added, “The old bat shouldn’t have been running her mouth, James.”
“Actually, we have been behind the last couple of weeks, and her car should have been ready a week ago.”
“She said she was going to pick her car up tomorrow and take it to Jasper.”
James nodded.
“Unless you fix the car tomorrow.”
James shook his head; he could see where this was going. “No can do. We don’t have the parts in.”
“I called and talked to Guy this afternoon. He said you could pick up the parts in Beaumont and be back in plenty of time to have her car ready.”
“You sure have been busy today,” James commented.
“You should go,” Angie said, ignoring James’ comment.
James took a seat on the couch, placed his head in his hands and began rubbing his temples. “I would have to leave early in the morning, and there’s no way I’m going to leave you and Jimmy alone after what happened out at Sharon Perrett’s place.”
“James, they’re saying it was a pack of wild dogs or something. I don’t think a pack of dogs are going to come in the house and attack us,” Angie replied, leaning over the couch to rub James’ shoulders.
“They’re not sure what it is. It may be a serial killer or something.”
“If someone breaks in, I know how to use the shotgun. You’ve worked too hard to build up the business to run off the entire Baker clan over something like this. You know once Mrs. Baker and Mrs. Martin start gossiping about you up at Alice’s Beauty Shop there’s no telling how much business you could lose.”
“No one believes a word they hear from that place.”
“That’s not true. Some people take small town talk like it was the gospel truth. All it would take is a couple of dissatisfied customers and you could lose half your business to the shops in Jasper. Word of mouth is how you built your reputation. You can lose it that way just as fast.”
“Angie, there’s no way…”
The discussion continued for thirty minutes before reaching a mutual truce, then, just before they settled in for the night, the argument started anew. James was adamant, but Angie was persistent. In the end James found himself too tired to argue. He agreed to leave for Beaumont early the next morning. It would be the worst mistake of his life.
Angie always tried to wake up before James went to work, even when he had to get up earlier than usual, but James wasn’t in the bed next to her when the alarm went off at 3:40 the next morning. When Angie walked into the living room James was on the floor cleaning his old double-barreled shotgun.
James glanced up at her.
She yawned and stretched, causing her nightshirt to rise up revealing her frilly red underwear. Angie rubbed her eyes and said, “Good morning.”
James put a shell in each chamber, closed the breach, and set the gun on the couch.
“You’re really taking this seriously aren’t you,” Angie commented, plopping down on the couch.
James didn’t reply. He acted as if she hadn’t even spoken. He stood, walked to the window overlooking the front yard, then turned back to face his wife, “Angie, I want you to listen to me. After I leave, I don’t want you to open that door for anybody, okay?” He paused. He had more to say, but he didn’t want to worry her too much. On the other hand, he certainly wanted to make sure she was on guard. “Not even me,” he added.
“What?” Angie asked, looking at James like he was completely out of his gourd.
After a pause, James decided to tell her. “I’ve been having dreams about that thing that killed Sharon. It can… well… disguise itself.”
“Is that why you haven’t been sleeping well?” Angie asked
“Yeah,” James answered, then continued. “Do you understand? Don’t open the door for anybody. If someone comes to the door, including me, call the sheriff’s office; they can send Greg. He’s on duty, and I’ve talked to him about all this. I also asked Greg to drive by every now and then. And take the shotgun into the bedroom with you after I leave.”
Angie’s face grew more serious and awake as James talked. This was good. She was taking him seriously. He was worried she might think it was some sort of joke. When he finished, she asked, “What have you seen in your visions?”
“I’ll tell you all about it when I get back. For now just promise me you won’t open the door for anybody after I leave.”
“I won’t,” she answered with her eyes wide and her lower lip slack. James could see he was scaring her, which was good.
“I can stay if you want me to.”
Angie paused and almost asked him to. He had scared her and she knew how much safer she would feel with him here at home. However, she hesitantly replied, “No, you need to take care of this.”
“Are you sure?” James asked, “Or I can take you and Jimmy with me.”
“We’ll be fine,” Angie said, this time with no hesitation in her voice, “and Jimmy doesn’t need to miss school. We’ll be okay.”
James sat for a while and almost decided not to go. He almost decided to tell Mrs. Georgia Baker that she could take her car and park it right up her fat ass. But he didn’t.
James got up, and this time it was his turn to stretch his mouth in a yawn. He looked at his watch and said, “Looks like I’d better be getting on the road.”