“Tears in Hell” – Opening a Door the Long Way
“Tears in Hell” – Opening a Door the Long Way
3:00 PM Saturday, July 17th
Oceanview Community, Duck, North Carolina
The five investigators sat in the car as the engine idled and the sea breeze whistled through the windows. They were parked on a curving back road in front of several large beach condos, a few houses down from the address belonging to one Wendy Johnson. The sounds of the beach and the vacationers playing on it floated over some dunes, reminding them that this was a very busy area.
“Seems like a pretty busy area,” said Quin.
“Uh huh. Lots of rich mother****ers rent these kinda places for the summer. Good place to make a quick buck if you’re fast enough, or mean enough.”
“You appall me,” Rebecca said to Armani. To the rest of the car, “So what are we going to do? The curtains are all closed on the place Wendy supposedly lives at. There is no hint of her car anywhere.”
“Let’s break the f*** in.”
Rebecca ignored him. “I think we should go knock on the door. See if anyone’s there. If so, we talk our way in and look around. If not, well, we’ll think of different options.”
“I don’t think knocking on the door is the best plan. Chances are she’s going to recognize us.” Devin said. “Then what’s she going to do? Shoot us in the head, that’s what.”
Rebecca shut down the car and popped the trunk. “I don’t think she’ll recognize us.”
As Rebecca was applying a masterful coat of disguising makeup and hair highlights to herself and Quin, the group discussed their plan.
“You and Quinton will be trying to talk your way in while Devin and I wait at the car for a quick getaway if things go south.” Meadow summarized. “But that leaves one big hole in the plan.”
“What’s that?” asked Quin.
Meadow pointed at Armani. “That hole. What is he going to do?”
“I’m going up to the house with them two, witch-girl.”
“You’re the last person I want up there as we try to bluff our way into her home.”
“How ‘bout I try not to talk too much,” said Armani.
“Good idea,” replied Rebecca. “But no. Quin and I will go. You stay back here.”
“Yeah, you can protect Meadow and Devin,” said Quin. “And if you hear screams and gunshots and bloody murder then you know that you can rush to our aid and be right in your own element.”
“How come we have to be protected?” Devin asked. “I think you two need to be protected more.”
“Yeah.” Meadow agreed. “You two definitely need the protection more than we do.”
“Fine!” Rebecca’s hands were on her hips and her jaw jutted out aggressively. “You come up there with us. But you stay out of sight and if you kill anyone I’m going to be MAD MAD MAD!”
“Alright, so we know who’s going.” Devin said. “And if you guys need to run, we’ll be here as the wheelmen.”
“Wheelpersons.” Meadow corrected.
“Yeah. Now if nobody is home, then we try to come up with an alternate plan.”
Thus planned, the strategy was executed.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. Quinton rapped on the door. He and Rebecca stood in the doorway, looking for all the world like nothing more threatening than a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses out for some soul saving. In fact, they looked considerably less threatening than that. Hiding around the corner was someone who was quite threatening, and would probably have made the average Jehovah’s Witness change his religion.
Armani hissed at them. “Hey! Gay people. Anyone answering?” His attempt at a whisper failed.
“Nobody.” Quin continued to rap on the door, now breaking down to a funky beat. Rebecca squinted through closed blinds, trying to see any hint of what awaited them inside the house. She waved down to the Devin and Meadow. They stopped the car and climbed the stairs.
“What’s up?” Devin asked?
Quin gave Devin and Meadow the Reader’s Digest. “Nobody home. Door’s locked. Don’t have key.”
“Any ideas on how to get in?” Meadow asked.
“If I had the right tools I could open this door,” said Rebecca. “But I don’t.”
“The right tools?” Quin asked. “Like a crowbar?”
“Not really. Um. Nevermind.”
“I can open the f***in’ door for you, and I don’t need no crowbar.”
“Well if Armani can open the door, what are we waiting for?” Quin asked.
“When Armani says ‘open the door’ he means ‘OPEN THE DOOR’ in the aggressive sense,” explained Meadow. “Like splinters and shattered glass and jail time.”
They all noted the vacationers who regularly walked by the building. “I don’t think Armani’s way would avoid detection.” Devin said. “Maybe as a last resort when it gets much later.”
Armani smiled. “We can wait.”
Rebecca sheeshed. “I’m SURE there’s another option.”
“Well you go ahead and figure it out then, girlie. In the meantime, I’ll warm myself up for some f***in’ door opening.” Armani cracked his knuckles.
“Let’s discuss this somewhere slightly less suspicious. People are going to get worried about a gang of people hanging out in front of an unoccupied home.” Devin suggested.
They all returned to the car and sat in silence.
Quinton broke the quiet. “Maybe we ought to just hang out here and see if anyone comes by. I mean, if this is some kind of witch hangout where they do their sacrifices and stuff, they probably come back here regularly. Like with goats and all.”
“Witches don’t just go around sacrificing animals!” Meadow growled.
“Then what do they do with all the people they kidnap?” Quin asked. “I mean, sacrifice just seems like the witchly thing to do if you’ve got a bunch of extra kidnap victims lying around and nothing to do with them.”
“Sounds logical to me,” said Devin.
Meadow seethed.
“I guess waiting is as good a plan as any we have right now.” Rebecca said.
“We should wait 'til it gets dark. Then I can open the door.”
“Looks like we have plans B and C now.” Quin said. “Can we change the radio station?”
The radio had scanned through the entire radio spectrum countless times by the time Meadow tugged on Rebecca’s shirt and they got out of the car to talk. Armani, Quin and Devin stayed inside to argue about the radio station. After a couple of minutes Rebecca and Meadow got back in.
“Meadow and I need to head back to Williamsburg while you big boys play private investigator. I’ll be back this evening to pick you up. Don’t get yourself in too much trouble.”
“Why do you have to go back? That’s going to be, like, six hours.”
“I have somewhere I need to be.”
“Where?”
“She just has somewhere she needs to be. I’ll be back. It’s not like this stakeout needs all of us here anyway.”
“Oh, sure. Get out of here.”
As Meadow and Rebecca drove off, the guys looked around uncomfortably.
“I think we stand out.” Armani said.
“If by ‘we’ you mean ‘you’ then I would have to agree.” Quin pseudo-agreed. “Let’s go find a place to hang out that’s a bit less conspicuous.”
About an hour later, having wandering all along the beach, up and down the road, and finally to the gatehouse of the beach community, they returned to Wendy Johnson’s house.
“I can’t believe he bought it, man.” Devin was still amazed.
“I can’t believe I don’t get to break the damn door down.” Armani complained.
“Hey, I just have a way with words. The old guy was worried about little Miss Johnson and I just had to play on those fears to get the key. It’s all very simple if you know what you’re doing.”
Quin turned the key and the lock opened. He pushed open the door to Wendy Johnson’s home and flicked on the light.
“Honey, I’m home!”
“B**ch, we here to kill you.”
Neither greeting elicited a response. The rooms were small and sparse. Cobwebs in the corners indicated it was not cleaned very often, but a couple of slightly dirty dishes showed recent use. There were very few personal items either. Some toiletries in the bathroom hinted at a woman’s presence.
And there was a phone. And there was an answering machine. Quin tapped the play button.
“Ms. Johnson. Sammy has yet to hear from you about his merchandise. We expect a response by the end of the day or there will be problems.”
BEEP
“Ms. Johnson. We have not heard from you regarding Sammy’s goods. We now have a problem.”
BEEP
“Seems our friend, Sammy, had a bit of a problem with this Johnson gal. Wonder what’s going on there,” Devin said.
Armani didn’t say a word.
They searched the house for an hour, finding little else. Armani plopped on the couch. “B**ch don’t even have a TV. And we gotta kill a few more hours before that chick gets back with our ride.” By chance he glanced at the trashcan next to the couch. He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. “Hey, I found somethin’.” Quin and Devin rushed over to look at the note.
KOA
1900
“What’s that?” Armani asked.
“KOA campgrounds. There are a few of them near Williamsburg.” Devin said. “I’ve stayed there before, when I was younger. No idea about the 1900 though.”
“Nor do I,” said Quinton. “It could be an address at one of the campgrounds. Maybe it’s a time, like military time.”
They all sat down and made themselves comfortable.
“At least we have lots of time to talk about it.” Devin said as he looked at his watch. He looked at it again. He tapped it. “Dammit! Does anybody know what time it is?”
