Come Get Me Page 9

  “Well,” he said trying to sound calm, “it would appear you and I have a date tonight.” He really hoped she hadn’t just been saying everything just to help him out of an awkward situation. Jim heard Rob making what sounded like kissing noises behind his back trying to get his attention but he wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of distracting him by turning around and yelling at him. If he did Rob might think he’d won their little battle. Jim couldn’t allow that.

  After a few seconds of being ignored Rob finally figured out that it wasn’t working. He mumbled something about some people in the room being too emotional and picked up another box of something he probably shouldn’t have. Jim continued to ignoring him.

  “Yes we do have a date,” Jill said hesitating a little bit. She didn’t sound like she really wanted one. Jim was about to say something to let her know she didn’t have to follow through when she spoke again. “That is if you want one. I was just trying to help out. Although, I did think this was as good a way as any to get a date with you.”

  “Really!” he said sounding a lot less cooler than he’d wanted. “I mean, uh, don’t worry about that. I was actually going to ask you out before I left I’m just a little, you know, a little on the shy side.” How could she think he wouldn’t want to go out with her? Had the woman never looked in a mirror? He’d just about been drooling on her since the first moment he saw her.

  Jim was drawn out of his daydream by the sound of Rob. He was back to his mumbling again. He’d been doing it since he’d figured out he was being ignored but every now and then he spoke a little louder to let Jim know he was still there. Jim heard him say he had to get back to work and realized he needed to hurry up. Rob still had things to tell him. The rest of the comments were just mild threat about people needing to recognize who was in charge or else they’d get thrown in jail. Jim could tell he was getting upset that his taunts weren’t having the desired effect. Rob loved being the center of attention so when you ignored him it drove him batty. Do it long enough and he’d just about start foaming at the mouth.

  Jim figured a little while longer wouldn’t hurt him but he did need to hurry. There was only so much he would take. If they were lucky Rob would learn it’s not nice to tease people, but Jim doubted it. Trying to speed things up without being obvious he asked Jill what she wanted to do and talked about a few other menial things for a few more seconds before Rob finally popped.

  “Alright you two lovebirds. I need to get back to work,” he announced grumpily. “Being an officer of the law is an important job and I’ve got some, uh, important stuff to get back too.”

  “Well, I guess we shouldn’t keep you from those important things that are waiting for you,” Jill said teasingly. “What were they again?”

  “It must be awfully hard being a great, big important policeman like you,” Jim said joining in.

  “You must have a lot of important parking tickets to write,” Jill said through giggles.

  “And important old ladies to help across the street,” Jim continued.

  “Oh wait! I got it!” Jill squealed, “He has to go catch all the bank robbers running around town.”

  Robb was turning quite a few different shades of red by this time. Jim was surprised he hadn’t stormed out of the shop already. At least that part of him had changed.

  “You’re not funny you two!” Rob whined, “My job IS important! I don’t have time to stand around jawing with you two all day. I do have a lot of important stuff to do. Even if I can’t think what it is right now.” Rob looked like he could bite the head off a nail right about then.

  “Oh, just calm down a little ya big monkey,” Jim said thinking they may have pushed Rob too far. “Give me just a few more minutes and then we’ll both leave.”

  He turned back and quickly found out Jill wanted him to meet her at the grocery store tonight at around seven when she closed up. He gave her a quick smile, said goodbye and caught up to Rob just as he was about to stalk out the door. Jim waved to Jill once more before he and Rob made their way outside.

  Rob was still a little upset so they walked in silence while Jim gave him time to get in a better mood. He needed Rob happy and willing to talk. He didn’t need him wanting to bite his head off.

  “So,” he began tentatively after a few minutes, “what were you going to say about Tommy back there before we were so rudely interrupted?”

  “Oh yeah,” Rob said sounding a little better and not looking half as mad as he had, “I forgot we were talking about that before your girlfriend showed up.” He couldn’t resist throwing that little bit in. Jim guessed it was his way of getting back at him for earlier. He let it slide instead of saying anything and listened to Rob talk. “There was also that part where you and your other girlfriend started picking on me. Telling you stuff you wanted to know about kind of slipped my mind.” He was still a little ticked but Jim knew he wasn’t really mad. He was just trying to make Jim think he was. He only had to wait long enough for Rob to feel he’d gotten the better of him before he started talking again. It didn’t take as long as he thought it would.

  “It was real strange out where everything happened,” Rob began quietly. “When we got there we all saw Tommy’s body on the tree like I said. You already know what happened after that but what you and everybody hasn’t heard is that the tree he fell on wasn’t just some old tree that fell over like the sheriff said. It’d been broken off sometime recently. Actually the sheriff said it looked more like it’d been cut. He thought, maybe somebody might’ve used an ax or something like that on it. We’ll have to wait for the experts to decide that one. Anyways, this tree he fell on stood about twenty feet away from the stand he was sitting in. Even if he’d jumped, which I and everyone else doubt, then he wouldn’t have made it that far. He would have needed to get a running start or something to make it that far.” He paused for a minute while Jim thought about what he’d said.

  Rob was right; there was no possible way Tommy could’ve made it that far by himself. There was just no way. Deer stands were usually only about ten feet or so up and maybe a few feet wide. In order for Tommy to have jumped that far the thing would’ve need to be a lot higher and a lot wider than it was. He hadn’t seen Tommy for a while but he doubted he, much less anyone else, could’ve made a jump like that from his little stand. Jim found it easier to believe he’d fallen than that he’d jumped but neither made any sense. Rob was speaking again so Jim put those thoughts on hold. He was glad he did when he heard what else Rob had to say.

  “Once everyone was done being sick and whatnot we started looking around. From what we could see with the body in the way the stump or whatever you want to call it was only sticking out of the ground about three or four feet. There was a lot of brush around it so if it hadn’t been for the thing sticking out of Tommy’s chest we probably all would’ve never seen it. With it looking like it was cut and that maybe somebody tried to hide it just makes things look a little strange. If nothing else it was in the perfect place for what it did. Unfortunately there were no signs of foul play that we could find and no signs of anyone else having been there. No foot prints, trash, broken branches, nothing.”

  “So what makes the sheriff think he fell then?” Jim asked.

  “Well, all the stuff he brought out with him was still sitting up in his stand where he’d left it for one thing. His gun, lunch, and a chair were just sitting there. If someone had come out there to rob him or something they would’ve surely taken that stuff. But it was all still there. Since there were no signs of anything else the sheriff says Tommy jumping was the only thing that could’ve happened.”

  “There were no footprints on the ground or anything?” Jim asked. He was pretty sure they would’ve checked for something like that. Rob might’ve just forgotten to mention it.

  “Wait a minute,” Rob said after thinking about it for a few seconds, “now that you mention it I think there were. I said before there weren’t but now after thinking about it for a few
minutes I think maybe there were.” Jim’s hopes grew. Maybe this was the clue they needed to figure out what had really happened. Now there’s a lot they could do with a shoe print. Rob was just upset. He must’ve forgotten about them before. “But those were from other hunters who’d been through there that day.” Jim’s hopes crashed back down as he listened to his friend continue. “There were a few hunters that came through that area. Those were the prints we found. We questioned them but from what they say everything was just like it was any of a hundred other times they’d been there that morning. It was when they came back later on towards evening that everything was all messed up and bloody. They said the first thing they heard were the flies. Thinking it strange they decided to investigate. That’s when the smell hit them. After that they found the body then high tailed it out of there and called us.

  “At first they thought it was a joke or that they might’ve drunk a little too much while they were out since they could’ve sworn he was floating in the air when they first saw him. Course that’s not what it was but that’s what it looked like, to them, at first. They said Tommy was just stuck to the tree and blood was splashed all over the place. Now they were overreacting a little bit. There wasn’t blood all over the place, it just looks that way.” Rob glanced at Jim to make sure he was following everything he was being told. Jim reassured him he understood that the old men were just a little drunk so anything they said had to be taken with a grain of salt. But that didn’t really matter too much. They were still right about Tommy being dead.

  Rob kept looking around as if somebody was watching them. He was still worried someone would somehow find out about everything he was telling Jim. Rob didn’t come out and say he was uncomfortable but then he didn’t have to. Jim knew his friend even if they hadn’t hung out together in years. He didn’t want to push him into saying anything he would regret so he just stood silently waiting to see if Rob would continue.

  “I really lost it when I saw who it was,” Rob began again after a few minutes. “I try not to think about it too much but I can’t help it. I keep seeing him there on that tree every time I close my eyes.” Rob seemed to be on the edge of tear but he pushed on like he wanted to get it all out at once. “Hell, listen to me. I can’t even say the damn word. I never thought about it before now but it’s a disgusting word. Whoever thought of it should have it done to them and see how they like it. Impaled. Gives me the willies just thinking about it. What’s worse is that’s probably how I’ll think of Tom for the rest of my life. Every time I hear someone say it or see it in a movie I’ll think of Tommy with that damn stick coming out his chest. I don’t want that.”

  “I know you don’t think you did very well out there Rob but its ok,” Jim said gently trying to console him. “Heck, I don’t know what I would have done if I had seen it but from what you’ve told me you did just what Tommy would’ve expected you to do. You did your job. Tommy would’ve understood. Don’t beat yourself up about losing it. Tommy would’ve teased you sure, but you did what you had to. Just because you’re a policeman doesn’t mean you aren’t human. You probably never thought you’d have to see something like that when you signed on for this job anyway. Don’t think about how Tommy looked out there. Think about all the fun we had when we were kids and the things we did back then. Tommy might not be here anymore but he’s still with us on the inside for as long as we live.” Jim didn’t know what else to say. He grabbed Rob and hugged him and was relieved when he felt Rob return the hug. They stood there like that for a few minutes in the middle of the sidewalk, neither of them caring what anyone might think or say if they saw them.

  Jim didn’t even want to think about what he might’ve done coming up on a horrific scene like that. “What did you mean there was blood all over the place?” he asked as they stepped back from each other.

  “That’s not what I said,” Rob quickly replied, “I just told you what the guys hunting out there said it looked like when they first got there. I mean, from the way they tell it the place was a slaughter house. It wasn’t like that though. There was some blood on the bushes around the tree where Tommy fell and a few other places but the sheriff, along with the doc, figured it was just from him struggling to get off the thing jammed in his back. They said he finally just lost too much blood and fainted. A little while after that he died and that’s how we found him.” Rob looked a little greener than he had when he’d started his story but it couldn’t be helped. Jim didn’t like making him talk about stuff like this but unfortunately he needed to know and Rob seemed to understand.

  They’d slowed their pace while they were talking but now resumed a more normal step. Jim was having a hard time believing everything he’d been told. Everything pointed to some kind of accident but he was still having a hard time believing that. Tommy just wasn’t the type who would fall out of a tree. It just didn’t sound like him. Jim had seen him climb one when he was half drunk one time without a problem so he just couldn’t understand how it could happen to the same guy when he was stone sober.

  “Was there anything else that you saw out there that you haven’t told me about?” he asked hoping Rob would remember something that would make it all easier to accept.

  Rob didn’t answer right away. He looked as if he’d recovered somewhat from his earlier description of the grizzly scene he’d witnessed but there was something else going on in his head. Jim didn’t know what it was but he had a feeling it was important especially since Rob was having a hard time looking him in the eye. He looked almost as if he was trying to decide whether to tell Jim anything else or not. Seeming to come to a decision he shrugged his shoulders slightly then began adding more to his story.

  “Alright, there were other things out there,” he said almost too quiet for Jim to hear. “But you can’t tell anyone, and I mean anyone, you know about this stuff. Not even your mom. I mean it. This is stuff nobody else is supposed to know. Before I say anything else I want your word you won’t go spouting off to anyone who will listen and getting all excited about what I tell you. Don’t make any of it any bigger than what it is.” Jim made the promise and hoped he didn’t regret it later.

  “Ok,” Rob said after being satisfied, “remember how I said the tree looked like it’d been cut? Well we found what was left of it a little ways off from Tommy’s stand. It was sorta buried under some bushes and fallen trees, kinda like someone hid it or something. You definitely wouldn’t have seen it when you walked up. The only reason we found it at all was because we were looking for stuff like that. You know, things that were out of place.” Rob watched Jim as he spoke as if at the first time Jim had a reaction he would quit speaking. When he saw Jim was about to ask a question he quickly continued before his first word could be uttered.

  “I said it looked like it was hidden that doesn’t mean that it was. The sheriff said that it might have just fallen where we found it. It was close enough to the tree that it could’ve happened like that. It was just a little suspicious.” He said pausing to let what little he’d revealed sink in.

  “Anything else?” Jim asked after a few minutes of waiting.

  “Boy, you sure are in a hurry,” Rob said slowly almost like he was reluctant to continue. “I really didn’t want to bring this up but it doesn’t look like I have any choice now. Like I said I don’t you want getting all excited about anything but while we were looking around we found two other things that everybody thought were just a little out of place.”

  “Well, what was it?” Jim asked impatiently.

  “We found some hair and some prints,” he said quickly looking away.

  “Is that it?” Jim asked. “Why were you afraid that I would get excited over something like that?” He didn’t understand what the big deal was. It was the woods. There was bound to be other types of prints out there and probably a lot of other types of hair as well what with all the animals running around back there. There were things like that in the woods last time he’d checked so it wasn’t very surprising to
find hair and tracks. Humans weren’t the only things that walked the woods. Maybe that actually was what happened to Tommy. He’d been attacked by animal or something. Maybe a bear or some other big animal. It could’ve scared him which in turn caused him to fall out of his stand and onto the tree.

  “You’re right,” Rob said, “Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal finding stuff like that out there but the things we found aren’t what you would usually find in.” He stopped talking again and took a deep breath. These dramatic pauses were really getting on Jim’s nerves. He wished Rob would just come out and say what he had to say. “We think the tracks belong to a goat. A big one. Since the tracks look like goats we’re guessing the hair belongs to one too. We aren’t sure yet but that’s what we’re looking at.”

  Goat hair? Jim thought. What the hell would goat hair be doing out in the woods. He didn’t even think there were any goats anywhere near town much less out in the woods the only goat he could think of wasn’t even a real one. With that one thought he began to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Looking at Rob he saw that he had thought the same thing when he’d first seen the tracks. The greenish color had returned to his face.

  “Now Jim, you’re thinking the same thing I did. But you and I both know it can’t be. That thing isn’t real. There’s no way it was the Goatman.” Rob didn’t really sound like he believed what he was saying. He sounded like he wanted Jim to agree with him and tell him he was right. But deep inside, they both knew.

  “You’re right,” he heard himself say as he looked at Rob. “It can’t be him. That all happened a long time ago. It was all our imagination. Plus like you just said, it isn’t real. There is no such thing as the Goatman.” The creature’s name flew off his tongue like a curse. Denying its existence did nothing to make his stomach feel any better. He could say it until he was blue in the face and he wouldn’t feel any better. If he didn’t even believe himself how could Rob?