Green Eyes Cry, You Die, page 11
part #2 of Layton Shayne Mystery Series
“Why didn’t you destroy it?” Alex said.
“Oh, I would have, and Philip knew it. My man knew me well—I miss him a lot. When you find someone that knows you—I mean really knows you… it’s something special. And he knew me as well as I knew him—maybe even better.”
“Why are you sharing all this with us?” I said. “I thought you were wary about people going after the green-eyed lady.”
“Ah, what can I say? I like you guys, besides there’s not many people who’d humor an old man like me. In my day, I would’ve been considered a catch—now, not so much. I’m not being down on myself… just being honest. There are some cuties that like older men, but I’m not in the mood to be anyone’s daddy. Sometimes I think I’ve lived too long, and it does get lonely at times, but I’m managing.”
“So, why the heck didn’t you destroy that statue?” Buck said. “Was it because of the cult?”
“It was because Philip knew I wanted to smash that damned thing into a hundred pieces, and he hid it from me. I’ve never been able to find it—and neither has anyone else.”
“If it’s lost, then what’s with the zombies,” I said.
“I’ve been wondering about that same thing,” Billy said. “I’m figuring one of the other statues has seen the light of day again, and someone managed to read the incantation on it like the last time.”
“What was that last thing?” I said.
“All three of the statues are identical, with emerald eyes and everything, except the writing on them is different and old. We were messing around with them in The Treasure Trove, and Farwell, the owner, tried to read the writing on one of the statues when those and the eyes on some of the signs around town started crying emeralds. The statues hadn’t been there that long yet; and only the bakery, the bar, and the Chinese place had adopted the green-eyed lady for their patroness. They were the only places with her likeness on their signs, so they were the ones to get emeralds.”
“What’d the other statues do when Farwell read the writing?”
“He didn’t read anymore of the writing, because we got scared, then after the zombies came that night, we really didn’t read the writing. Philip had already bought the one statue, and for a good price too; then later on, Farwell sold the other ones, but never would say to whom.”
“Billy, did you say earlier, you’d be cooking steaks tomorrow?” Buck said.
“Geez,” Alex said. “Is food all you guys ever think about?”
“A man’s gotta eat,” Buck said.
“I agree,” I said, then grinned.
“I’ll have plenty of real food inside the clubhouse tomorrow afternoon. Some of the newer members of our so-called cult are vegetarians; I can’t stand their food. And I don’t trust anyone that doesn’t eat meat—they can keep their greenery to themselves.”
“Amen, brother!” I said. “Billy, we’d better take off and give you time to get ready for tomorrow’s festivities.”
“Yeah, as it is, I’ll be up all night ironing my clothes.”
Alex, Buck, and I looked at Billy confused. He laughed before responding to our looks.
“Ya, dummies. I’m a nudist, I don’t have any ironing to do for tomorrow.” He laughed again.
“Do you need any help with setting things up for tomorrow… or anything?” Alex asked.
“No, the boys have things handled. I’ve just gotta work on marinating the steaks, so the marinade can soak into the meat overnight.”
“I’ll give you a hand with that, if you’ll show me how to handle your sickle first,” Buck said. “If that’s OK with you Layton, and you too Alex, my little honey bunnies.”
I felt sick to my stomach hearing him call us ‘honey bunnies.’ “You two enjoy yourselves, and no need to rush home, punkin,” I said to Buck.
* * * *
Alex and I held hands walking back down the path. I looked at my watch and was surprised to see it was only eleven.
“How’s about a swim, Alex? It’s a nice night for it.”
There was only one other couple in the pool when we went in. They were nice looking; one had neatly cut white hair, and the other, who was slightly younger, had brown hair.
“Good evening,” I said, as Alex and I entered the pool.
“Good evening, you must be our neighbors,” the white-haired man said. “My name’s Link and my boyfriend’s name is Harry, we’re in the room next to you.”
“Hi,” Harry said.
“I’m Layton Shayne, and this is my partner Alex Shayne.”
“Same name—that’s interesting,” Link said, as we swam up to them.
“Not really,” Alex said. “I took Layton’s last name not that long ago.”
“That’s really nice,” Harry said.
We talked some more and discovered that Harry and Link were from out of town, and visited The Adonis campgrounds periodically. I finally managed to drag Alex away into a small corner of the pool, where we could make out. When I stopped for a breath, I noticed Link and Harry were making out in another corner of the pool. As much fun as we were having, it was time to say goodnight to Link and Harry, go to our room, and wait for our final visitor of the night.
* * * *
At exactly midnight, there was a knock on the door. Alex and I were lying in bed with the sheet draped over us. Noelle had seen me naked back in Shelby, so it was no big deal.
“Come in,” I said.
Her disguise was perfect. She wore baggy pants with hems that dragged the ground, and a baggy shirt. Her long auburn hair was tucked under a baseball cap, and she had sneakers on. Even though she wore no makeup, she still looked beautiful.
“Now, you look like a nun,” I said.
“Ha, ha, I actually prefer the pretty clothes and fancy Louboutin shoes I wore while on the case in Shelby.”
“Weren’t you and Layton naked when you first met and danced in the rain?” Alex said.
“Shh,” I said. “That was agent Noelle undercover, not Sister Marie-Noelle.”
“Sorry, I forgot,” Alex said, then smiled. “Nice to see you again, Noelle.”
“Same here,” Noelle said. “Although the accommodations at the Kennedy estate were significantly nicer than here. Where’s Buck, and how are you three getting along?”
“That evil grin on your face tells me you’ve already met him,” I said. “I’m a detective… I’m good at deducing.”
Noelle laughed. “What have you boys found out? Hopefully, more than me.”
I sat on the edge of the bed and caught her up on what we’d discovered during our time in the area.
“Darn, I was hoping the Cult of the Green-Eyed Lady would pan out to something more,” Noelle said. “But from what I’ve researched, they seem to really be just a do-gooder group like you said.”
“What about the hippies and the African church?” I said.
“I got nowhere researching either group,” Noelle said. “Both of them have been in the area for years, but have no real power structure. The hippies aren’t really in one religion. Their community is more a collection of various faiths, most of which are new age, and people who are just trying to live a simpler life. I’ve searched and haven’t found a single religious organization with a significant amount of members there. The African church isn’t very large, but the pastor’s wife does run a museum in Rampart. I’m going to mention the writing on the statues to Miss Lucy; she’s been spending time with the pastor’s wife and various members of their church. Maybe she can find out something.”
“What about Sassafras Jones?” I said.
“The three of you will be meeting her the day after tomorrow at the bed and breakfast you sent me the e-mail about—the one owned by Prudence Bailey. You two will just love Sassy, she’s a tough cookie.”
“Is there anything significant about the fact that there are three statues?” I said. “Besides the normal three stuff.”
“It isn’t really strange for that number to come up again,” Noelle said. “It’s clear each statue must represent something in particular. The zombies and emeralds came after the writing on one of the statues was read….”
“Which would imply rebirth and wealth, maybe,” I said.
“Rebirth doesn’t seem quite right,” Noelle said.
“Re-energized?” Alex said.
“Miss Lucy sent me information about the zombies to tell you,” Noelle said. “The sheriff had a few zombie body parts in the morgue that our scientists were able to look at and examine. It turns out the zombies can only last for about an hour or two before burning out from within. Some sort of energy force shoots through their body, and starts to slowly burn from the inside only seconds after the bodies are re-animated. Apparently, two hours is the maximum that the burning out process takes.”
“If we’re confronted by them, then all we have to do is keep them at bay for two hours?” I said.
“Not quite,” Noelle said. “According to police witnesses, the zombies exhibit immense strength and move faster than you’d think.”
“If they bite someone, will they turn into zombies too?” Alex said.
“No,” Noelle said. “In every case, the people were already dead before they became zombies. However, the zombies have killed people using their bare hands.”
“This isn’t like Shelby, where a large and well organized cult collected supernatural power, is it?” I said.
“It doesn’t seem like it,” Noelle said. “In my opinion… it’s not a cult behind things. But someone’s involved in what’s going on here, and we need to get our hands on these statues before anything else happens. Leticia said our primary goal on this case is to take the green-eyed lady statues out of commission. They’re too dangerous to bring back to the organization.”
“Understood,” I said.
“If the zombies are being created through the use of just one of the statues, then what happens when the three statues are used together?”
“First, we have to know what we’re up against,” Noelle said. “It would help to find out where exactly the statues came from. I can’t find any reference to them in Chinese or Japanese culture.”
“We need that missionary priest’s travel records or log,” I said. “And I’m willing to bet The Green-Eyed Lady Hotel and Treasure Trove has them or at least, had them. We’ll go by there and let you know what we find.”
“Good luck with that, Layton; but I probably won’t be here too much longer,” Noelle said.
“What?” I said. “We’ve barely seen you.”
“I know,” Noelle said sadly. “Remember, I’m primarily a researcher—it looks like I’m going to be called away soon to do research at the Koklova Monastery.”
“Where’s that?” Alex asked.
“That’s a closely guarded secret” Noelle said. “Even I’ll be blindfolded when I go. Koklova is the name of the founder of the monastery. The organization has been trying to get someone in there to look at their books for ages, and an opportunity may come up to do just that—if it does, I’ll need to leave immediately.”
“Sounds interesting,” I said.
“It will be, though probably not as lively as this place with its zombies,” Noelle said.
I thought about what she’d said for a moment, then repeated some words I was thinking of out loud.
“Lively… zombies… lively. Lively zombies—lively… life! It’s life that the statue brings. The bodies are all of dead people, so the statue brings them back to—” I looked at Noelle and Alex.
They responded in unison.
“Life!”
“Then one of the other statues must bring death,” Alex said.
“Not necessarily,” Noelle said. “I think you’d better think in another direction.”
The door to the room opened, and Buck entered holding a large sickle as if ready to use it on us.
-15-
Let the Festivities Begin!
“Man, this sickle is cool as heck—it was worth fighting off Billy just to learn how to use it,” Buck said.
“Put that thing down before you hurt yourself, fool,” I said.
Buck leaned it against the wall in front of the bed.
“Hi, Noelle,” Buck said.
“Hello, Buck. Nice to see you again.”
Buck instantly covered his privates with his hands, suddenly embarrassed.
“I would’ve said, how’s it hangin’, Noelle said, “but I could see that on my own—straight down… and rather impressive. Good night and good luck, fellows. You know where to find me, if anything comes up.”
She smiled and gave Buck an up and down look before leaving.
“That was embarrassing,” Buck said.
“Why?” Alex said. “She said you were impressive. A lot of guys would like to show that well when soft.”
“Whatever,” Buck said. “Did you see the sickle I brought back with me? Billy had an extra that he lent me, because I was so worried about zombies.”
“Let me catch you up on our conversation with Noelle,” I said.
“Can I lie down and listen?” Buck said.
“Sure,” I said, then moved over to make room for him on the bed. Buck was full of surprises… instead of getting in bed, he took his pillow and one of the sheets, and lay down on the floor. He then carefully wrapped himself in the sheet like he was in a cocoon.
“You can sleep in bed with us,” Alex said, “as long as it’s just sleeping.”
“That’s OK,” Buck said. “I think you two are really cool, and I want to earn your respect. You guys do your thing… it won’t bother me any.”
Alex and I looked at one another and smiled. After I caught Buck up on things—I pulled Alex up close; we snuggled and closed our eyes.
“Good-night, Buck,” Alex said. “Good-night, Layton.”
“Good-night, Alex. Good-night, Layton.”
“Good-night, Buck,” I said. “Good-night, Alex. Good-night, John Boy.” I laughed, and wondered if either Buck or Alex caught my reference to the show The Waltons. Finally I headed off to slumberland.
* * * *
Since I was the first one awake, I quietly grabbed my towel, travel toothbrush in its enclosed holder, and room key, then left to shower and use the restroom. While I was brushing my teeth, a now green-haired Clyde and Virgil walked in.
“It’s the attack of the tall leprechauns,” I said, then laughed when I looked down. “You guys even sprayed your pubes green—now that’s dedication.”
“We’re wandering around recruiting leprechauns,” Virgil said, holding up a large can of green ‘spray in’ hair color.
“I don’t know, guys,” I said.
“Join us,” Alex said, peering around the corner with his arm around Buck’s shoulders.
“You know you want to,” Buck said.
I laughed at the sight of Alex and Buck with their green hair.
“And the carpets match the drapes too,” Buck said.
“I can see that,” I said, then laughed again.
“They caught Buck and me as we exited the showers,” Alex said. “We must’ve just missed you, Layton. Now, are you going to stand still for this, or do we have to hold you down and spray your hair.”
“I’m outnumbered,” I said. “I know when to give in.”
With my carpet and drapes a matching green color, I went back to the room and got our bakery box containing the three cinnamon rolls. Alex and Buck had gone on ahead to the clubhouse, where we’d be able to use the microwave to heat the rolls.
“Hi there, fellow greenie,” a nude, muscular man with all over green body glitter and a green hat said.
“Hi,” I said.
The area around the pool was already abuzz with naked men covered in various types of green body paint and glitter. Some wore hats or feathers artfully arranged in their hair.
“I like your extra eye,” I said to a tall man, who had a green eye painted on his forehead.
“If you like that one, you’ll love this one.” he grabbed his cock and pointed it upward to reveal a green eye painted on the head.
“Oh, that is just brilliant,” I said.
The inside of the clubhouse was decorated with long green streamers hanging from the ceiling, and green tablecloths on the tables, which had been put against the walls to make room for a dance area in the middle.
Buck and Alex were helping move a few tables around, so I started nuking the cinnamon rolls. When they were done, I put them on the paper plates we’d brought with us.
Both Alex and Buck walked over and picked up their plates. We then took them to an outside table.
“Thanks for remembering me, guys,” Buck said, as he took a mouth full of his cinnamon roll. “This is good stuff.”
“You can say that again,” I said.
“Are you two related, or what?” Alex said. “I’ve never seen two people who enjoy eating more.”
“Maybe we’re spiritual brothers of some sort,” Buck said, then smiled. “It would be so neat having you as an older brother, Layton. I’m an only child.”
“I’m not surprised,” I said, finishing up my cinnamon roll and looking at the show in front of me.
A young, slender, Hispanic-looking man had walked up to the pool wearing a long glittering green cape, which he was working with wild abandon. On his head was a green sequined bathing cap with green eyes on long streamer type wires coming out of it. He pranced, danced, and skipped around to the cheers of the crowd, then removed his cape to reveal a perfect body and a long cock covered in a green sequined sock. He removed the sock, blew the crowd kisses, and jumped into the pool.
“That was crazy,” Buck said to me. “What’s the plan, man?”
“Let’s go for a walk,” I said.
We walked around the crowd in the pool area and toward the trail trying to find a quiet spot.
“Howdy, neighbors!” Link said, walking our way with Harry.
