[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Easy to see what must have happened.The young guy was up on the third floor, got spooked, and tried to come downstairs quickly.Slipped on the steps, fell, and impaled his throat on that nice hundred-year-old bit of decorative railing work.Untimely death.My officer had called it, I had confirmed it, and I was sure the medical examiner and whatever state police detective on duty tonight would sign off on it as well.Still.one more thing to look at.I felt a hint of cold air on the back of my neck, a draft from somewhere, no doubt.I looked down at Peter, saw a cassette recorder at his side, and about two feet away from his left hand, one of those miniature camcorders.I picked up the cassette recorder, reversed the tape a bit, and held it close to my ear, so I could hear what was on there.I listened for a minute, and then stopped the tape, and then played with the tape controls for a moment.I put the cassette recorder down, picked up the camcorder, and repeated the process, looking through the narrow viewfinder, seeing what had been recorded.When I was done with that, I worked the controls one more time and then put everything back down on the floor, and then I felt that cold breeze upon the back of my neck again.I stood up.Upstairs a door suddenly slammed shut, like the same errant breeze against my neck had caused it to close.And after that, I went downstairs, through the living room, and outside to the porch.I smiled at the patient Skip.“Go take a look before the circus starts.”AND the circus came and stayed for a few more hours, as the medical examiner looked at the body and confirmed that yes, indeed, the poor boy was dead, which allowed the patient volunteer firefighters of Salem Falls to remove the body and take it to the Pearson Funeral Home, next town over in Montcalm, but not before two polite and large state police detectives took their own photos, performed their own measurements, and interviewed the three witnesses.Eventually the Tolands were left in the living room with my officer Harris while Josh sat on the porch.Then the two detectives and I huddled in the kitchen—as the morning sun started streaming through the windows—and we eventually came to the logical and only conclusion, that one Peter Grolin of Newburyport, Massachusetts, had in fact died accidentally, with no indication of foul play, and that the cassette recording and the camcorder recording showed no evidence that anything untoward had happened to the unfortunate young man.With that we all wished that someone knew how to work the fancy coffee machine in the corner, because a hot cup of joe would sure taste good right about now, and then the taller of the two detectives said, “So, this is the Logan place.Funny, always heard about it, but never thought I’d be inside of it.especially looking at a dead body.Ironic, huh?”His partner, who was trying to decipher the controls on the coffee machine, looked up and said, “What about the Logan house?”The other detective said, “Read more than Sports Illustrated, maybe you’ll learn something.Chief, you’re a townie.Want to let my buddy here know about the Logan house?”I smiled and said, “Breck Logan built this place back in 1882.Was the wealthiest man in the county.Built mills along the Connecticut River and got even wealthier.Never married, never had any close relatives.and died in 1903.”The detective by the coffee machine said, “And that’s it?”The other detective laughed.“Hell, no.The chief isn’t telling you the good stuff, the gory stuff.Right?”I nodded.“Yeah, right.Story was.though never printed anywhere, that the good Mr.Logan was a devil worshipper.That he led a coven of devil worshippers.That his devil worship and the worship of the others allowed both him and the town to thrive.and that over the years, some French-Canadian girls who came down to work in his mills disappeared.That some of their fathers came down in 1903.to confront Mr.Logan about it.and before they could get any information out of him, he went upstairs to the attic of this house and blew his head off with a shotgun.And that some of the fathers from Quebec started digging on the property.and found bones and skulls.End of story [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]