Paradise Harbour chapter 9

Chapter Nine

The following morning I headed to Heavenly Diner for breakfast. The server was a young woman. I asked where Bill was. “Dad has a cold,” she said, and breezed away to put in my order. I was disappointed but didn’t show it.

As I began to enjoy my first coffee and waffles, Jackson Thormund, whom I hadn’t noticed earlier, pulled up a chair.

“Say, new guy, I got something for you.”

I didn’t want to hear what he had to say, but I feigned interest. “Oh yeah? What can I do for you?” I tried to keep my eyes on my plate and continue eating nonchalantly, but the waffles were like dust in my mouth.

“You’re an investigator, right? I got a hundred dollars just itching to come from my pocket into yours for a small task.”

“Okay, how small?”

“There is a guy, and we’re suspicious of his activities. A professor, seen plotting something with coloreds, name of Kramik. I never liked that guy, or his sponsor, that bastard Mitch. Anyway, listen—find out if it’s true, okay? You just got to report to me one time backing up my agent’s information, and the money is yours. He told me that late at night, he’s seen them coming to his lab, brought in by some of his people.”

I realized instantly that Kramik was most likely doing something horrible to those black folks, but this was a great opportunity for me to pit these two groups against each other and to find out exactly what Kramik was doing. So I agreed, and Jackson smacked me on the shoulder and looked very happy as he left the diner.

Nighttime was still far away, and I had plenty to do. First, I went to the police station to get John Haster andMarie Toussant’s addresses and possibly to see Willems. I planned to speak with Kasp Nudd afterwards.

As I reached the station, I saw that it was a poorly-maintained old building with peeling dark blue paint. A wall plaque identified it as the oldest police station in the region.

As I stepped in and asked to see Robert Willems, a thin man with a giant nose stopped yelling at another cop and stepped up to me. “Who might you be?” he demanded, annoyed.

“Luc Nistage, private investigator. Is Detective Willems available?”

“No, he’s out, but I’m Chief Sam Stoltz, and he answers to me. What do you need, new guy?”

“Oh, well, I need a couple of addresses so I can question a couple of people, namely John Haster and Marie Toussant.”

To my surprise, Stoltz opened his mouth and roared with laughter. He grabbed his stomach and leaned back as if I had just told the best joke he’d ever heard.

“Oh boy, oh boy! Sure, sure!” he said, wiping tears from his eyes and continuing to chuckle. He grabbed a pieceof paper and wrote down the addresses. His voice was

filled with mirth. “You won’t last too long here if you mess with these people, but that’s great. I hate newcomers.”

I thanked him calmly despite the inexplicably rude behavior and went on my way to John Haster’s residence. It was an unexplored section of town for me, considered part of the harbour area, but actually not as close to the water. The house was a mansion set back from the road with on a large piece of property. In front stood a guard, a tall, bulky man with a full head of curly hair, smoking. I introduced myself, and he told me to wait, angrily grinding out his cigarette before going inside the house. He emerged again after a few minutes and told me to enter, head upstairs, and turn right.

I walked into the foyer. In front of me was a wide staircase with red carpet. As I strode toward the staircase, to the left, I could see a vast dining room with a fireplace, beautiful Victorian chairs and table, an Indian rug, and several paintings depicting beautiful women. I hurried up the stairs and turned right immediately. At the end of the corridor was a heavy brown door with two statues of nude women flanking it.

I knocked on the door and heard a firm voice welcoming me in. As I opened the door, I was surprised to see a rather small office. Behind a brown wooden table sat John Haster. He was leaning back in his chair in a relaxed posture, holding a book. Around the walls were shelves crammed with books. He gestured for me to sit across from him.

Haster laid aside his book and folded his hands on the desk. “I know who you are. I had a few men check you out. However, I have no idea why you would come to see me, so, please,” he said, gesturing to me.

“I’m looking for a missing woman. Her name is Aranxa.” “Aranxa what?” he interrupted quickly.

“Von Dausen.”

“Ah yes. The daughter of Allard. I know him from way back. He’s not the type of man I’d, shall we say, mess with. You must be very good if he hired you,” Haster said, regarding me through narrowed eyes. He hesitated for a moment as if taking my measure. “I will tell you, I’ve met this girl. And I’d bet you have heard rumors of what I do besides banking. But I’ll tell you right now, even if I did want to mess with Allard, I’d never involve Miss Van Dausen. She’s not the type that’s good for business if you catch my drift. Not a particularly attractive young girl. So, I could just kick you out of here without giving you any information, but for some reason, I like you.” Haster harrumphed. “I’m only going to say this once: I have nothing to do with her ‘mystery.’ Just don’t go digging around in my parts of this town, or it won’t matter how good you are, get it?”

Haster was shrewd, that was certain and very sure of himself. I decided that nonchalance was my best course of action. “Of course. But, uh, could you answer some other questions about this town?”

“Well, sure. You seem to be a respectful lad. What do you want to know?” “Who owns the Ferry Jazz Cafe?”

Haster chuckled. “Ha. I do! You like it? Why do you wanna know?” “Someone told me that she knew the owner.”

“And who might that ‘she’ be?” “Cecilia.”

“Ah!” Haster smiled sardonically. “She’s an angel, a very nice girl. Don’t worry, I respect her too much to involve her in any funny business.”

“Who do you think took Aranxa?”

The man’s eyes narrowed, and I thought he might throw me out, but he answered, “Why do you think someone ‘took’ her? She could have run away! She could have drowned. She could have been a victim of Night Hawk, one of those whose heads he takes, you know? The possibilities are endless. Maybe she found a rich boyfriend and ran off with him. Is that what your senses tell you? That someone ‘took’ her?”

I maintained a cool calm. “Yes, that’s what I think, and I feel she’s still alive.” “Oh, and you say it with some confidence. Never failed a case, have you?” “Depends what you mean by fail. I’ve always found the missing person. In a few

cases, they were no longer alive, but those times I felt they were dead from the start.” “Oh, a natural God-given talent. Look at that, huh. Maybe I’ll hire you sometime

myself. Any more questions?”

“What can you tell me about Mitch Stochild?”

“Ah, Stochild. He’s a very beloved figure in this town. Well respected, a gentleman. He sponsored the current mayor, and he owns several businesses. The public views him as someone who helps them and cares for them.” John smirked while watching my eyes carefully. “Why do you ask? Is he a suspect?” His tone was mildly jeering.

“Everyone is a suspect.”

“Except for me, remember?” Haster leaned forward.

I knew that if I said otherwise, it would not be a smart move. “Yes, except for

you.”

“Oh, lucky me! Why? Because I told you I’m innocent?” “No, I just have a hunch.”

“A hunch called fear.” Haster laughed. “Well, anything else?” “Last one. Do you know Marie Toussant well?”

“Yes indeed, we do business together. And sometimes, I am her client.” He gave

a sinister smile. “They also call her ‘Madame Death.’” “Who’s ‘they’?”

“The people who know her.”

I decided to quit while I was ahead, so I stood to go. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Haster.”

“I hope we don’t speak again unless I have a reason to hire you. But that depends on how well you do in your current task.”

I was happy to get out of there. Talking to him felt like being in the presence of a human reptile. He had a sinister aura, but as I had told him, for some reason, I really did feel that he had nothing to do with Aranxa’s disappearance. He mentioned that he knew Marie Toussant well and was her client. For prostitutes or opium? Perhaps both, but he was a white slaver, besides being a banker. It was possible that he could have

sold Aranxa, but then again, my gut said that was not what had happened. I pulled out my map of Paradise Harbour. I would have to give Mercedes an update to deliver to Allard, but first, I wanted to speak to Marie Toussant and visit Kasp Nudd.

As I neared the corner, there was a man shouting out headlines to sell newspapers. I purchased one, and straight away, on the front page, there it was in bold type, “Night Hawk Strikes Again!”

Why don’t these powerful people put an end to this Night Hawk? I thought. Maybe they benefited from his killings. It kept attention away from the evils they were committing, even if they did lose some of their own. He was helping them, probably without realizing it.

There was no mention of KKK activity. This came as no surprise to me. On the inside, they had an announcement about a large event coming up at the harbour next week, with performers and sales booths, like a fair ofsome sort. They also had an article about a man creating an electric automatic traffic signal. General Motors was already interested in his patent. This man’s name was Garret Morgan.

I put the newspaper inside my coat for further reading later and took a cab to Marie Toussant’s building. It was an imposing row house with a water view in a safe and well-maintained neighborhood. The row of five houses curved around a garden with a fountain in the center, and she had the center house, the largest in the row. It was painted white with a red door.

I knocked, and a beautiful young woman in a skimpy, short dress and black stockings held up by frilly red garters opened up swiftly.

“Miss...Toussant?” I said, surprised.

The girl laughed. “No, I just work here. But Madame is home. Who may you be?

I’ll ask if she’s expecting you, mister.”

“Oh, she’s not expecting me, but please tell her that Luc Nistage, private detective, is here to see her.”

The girl closed the door, and after a few minutes, she opened it again and told me to go to the third floor and knock on the red door there.

As I made my way up the curving steps, I noticed that the walls were covered with art depicting women in varying states of undress. As I crossed the landing on the second floor, I caught a glimpse of a hallway with green doors. On each was a number. When I got to the third floor, there was only one door, the red one, which I knocked on. A smooth feminine voice welcomed me in.

As I entered, I instantly felt awkward and knew that the blood was rushing to my face. On a leather couch near a window with elaborate orange draperies lay an attractive woman in a short black dress, revealing her legs, also in black stockings with red lacy garters. She smoked a cigarette in a long holder. Her medium-length straight black hair was perfectly smooth, but her most startling feature was her large, bright green eyes, watching me with such intensity that I almost felt them pierce right through me.

“Sit, please. Luc? That’s what Melia told me. So you are a private detective.

That’s very interesting.”

As I sat down, she smiled and took out a small glass tube filled with white powder and a tiny delicate silver spoon. I knew the powder was cocaine. She put some on the spoon and motioned for me to snort it.

“Oh no, not for me, but thank you.”

“If your answer is no, then this conversation will be a no as well. Only one time, for my pleasure?”

If she refused to talk to me, I would be cut off from one of the most powerful people in the town, someone who could possibly lead me to finding Aranxa. So I took the cocaine as she asked. It was unpleasant. I hoped that my senses were strong enough not to be disturbed too much.

“Well now, young, handsome detective, are you here to investigate me?” she purred as she waved her cigarette around.

“I’m looking for a missing woman. Named Aranxa Van Dausen.” “Van Dausen? Related to Allard Van Dausen?”

“His daughter.”

“Oh, well!” She sat up, her dress exposing a great deal of her generous bosom. “What a tragedy for such a man to lose his daughter! He was my client a while back. I met him several times.” She took the cigarette out of the holder and stubbed it out in an ashtray. “Frankly, very few things interest me in this town, and I don’t pay attention to anything else.”

I sat there for a minute, realizing that I’d used the cocaine for no reason whatever. I was irritated at the woman, but I stayed composed, unsure what more to ask at this point.

“What may those things be?”

She sighed, then said airily, “Money, young men, and drugs, Luc. What else is there?” She laughed as I sat there,regretting the question. I wrote down my information and handed it to her, asking her to let me know if she found out anything. Marie winked at me. “Perhaps if you do some favors for me sometime, there will be some information for you.” Then she stood up gracefully, extending a slim, well-manicured hand out to me. Her skin was creamy and smooth, and I couldn’t help but be attracted to her, but I thanked her for her time, and I was glad to go.

I walked, lost in thought, toward the canal, and sat on a bench. I pondered the situation for a long time. The sun was starting to set as I tried to gather my thoughts and align everything in my head. It occurred to me that darkness was not my friend in this place. Though I was close to Kasp Nudd’s bookstore and The Dark Turtle, I felt weary and decided to go back to my apartment without visiting either establishment.

The sun was setting, and street lamps were coming on. I walked up the street, checking my map for the correct route home. Then several men in shabby clothes approached me, led by a bearded man in a nice black suit.

“Hey, asshole! I’m Ante Manland, and these are my streets!”

I didn’t want to stick around and be shaken down or end up with some broken bones. I ran as fast as I could along the canal in the direction of The Dark Turtle, but I knew it was some distance away. The men chased me, shoutingin anger. I was giving it

all I had, lungs burning and feet pounding, when I realized they were no longer behind me. Here, the canal went under a building, and it was more or less a dead end. Breathing hard, I ducked into an alley, looking for a way back to where I’d been, when I heard a familiar, sickening chewing sound and quickly slunk behind a corner and into a dark opening in the wall. I sat there with my heart beating so loudly I was sure the creature could hear it. Fear flooded my body, and I held tightly to my revolver.

The creature was coming closer and closer. I could see one eye missing and blood from its latest victim dripping from its mouth. It could see me! It began moving toward me, the slavering mouth with its deadly, horrible teeth open wide. I froze in fear.

Then, bang! There was a gunshot. Blood splattered on the brick wall across from me as the monster fell dead, half its head shot away. Beside it stood Kasp Nudd, dressed entirely in black, holding a sawed-off shotgun.

“Not a good part of town to be loitering in the dark at night,” he said to me. I slowly stood up and faced him, my legs shaking.

“If you’re gonna take on the Sut Ni Tul cult, Luc, you better get used to killing, and not just monsters like this one.”

“Monsters...as in plural?” I croaked.

“Oh yes, there are a bunch of them. Not just this kind either.”

“And what were you doing here walking around with a shotgun??” Nudd shrugged. “I do that.”

We mutely turned in the direction of The Dark Turtle and made our way there. I breathed deeply and slowly, trying to calm my racing heart.

As we entered The Dark Turtle and seated ourselves, it began to rain. Through the open windows, we could hear the drops on the wooden planks, roof, and the water in the canal. There were only a couple of other patrons in the bar, one a homeless man sitting in a far corner, drinking something warm. Maria approached, and I asked for a cup of black tea rather than a stiff drink. Kasp raised his eyebrows in surprise, but he asked for the same and told Maria to keep it coming. The owner, John, was behind the counter, talking to the same drunkard as last time, a man called Custard.

“So you have returned, as I said you would, Luc.” Kasp looked out the window as the storm intensified. “This rain reminds me of a specific event during the war,” Kasp said quietly, a faraway look in his eyes. “It was pouring just like this, and I had been sent to steal some documents from a small enemy base. Because of the rain, I was able to sneak up behind each guard and eliminate him one by one. Then I went inside— can you believe it was unlocked?—and took the documents while everyone else was asleep. After that, I set the whole place on fire. Fire and rain, dancing together. It was incredible.” Kasp shook his head, smiling slightly at the memory, and sipped his tea.

“Well, let’s keep the fire out of the equation this time,” I said, forcing a smile. It was disconcerting hearing how casually Kasp spoke about killing people.

“This is good tea, shocking for a dump like this. Hey, John!” John turned to Kasp and indicated he was listening.

“Is this a British tea brand?” “Yorkshire, yes.”

Nudd nodded in satisfaction. “Ah, yes, yes. I had this a few times during the war. I’ll find out later where he got it. I want some for home.”

“You live near here?”

Kasp nodded again. “That bookstore is also my home. I live ‘above the store,’ as it were.”

We sat quietly, drinking our tea for a moment. Finally, I spoke. “Kasp, what do you propose we do?”

He looked at me penetratingly. “I like how you think. You ask direct questions, the hallmark of an honest man. You have very respectable qualities. Frankly, our task is quite simple. We find out more about the cult and eliminate its leaders. But it is important that we have concrete, immutable proof of their crimes.”

I swallowed hard. “I have concrete proof. I know who the leader is and the scientist who is working for him. I saw something with my own eyes.”

Kasp smiled mysteriously and leaned forward. I told him everything I knew. He listened carefully.

“We can check out Kramik’s lab tonight. If those reports by Thormund are accurate, we could get lucky,” said Kasp, finishing his third cup of tea.

“In the rain?”

“The storm’s passing now. And besides, the sound is good cover for our movements.”

We paid John and bid him goodbye and spent the next hour making our way to the university lab on foot. We hid behind a wall, looking for signs of activity inside. After about twenty minutes, I was starting to get anxious, but Kasp Nudd looked as relaxed and calm as he had the entire night. I stretched out my legs and put my head against the cold wall. My clothes were wet, and I was feeling quite fatigued. Another hour passed.

“There we go!” whispered Kasp, finally.

Two cars drove up to the doors. Out of the first came Kramik and a tall man with a gun. Two men in identical outfits emerged from the second car, and with them were two sorry-looking fellows, one colored and the other white. Kramik and his henchmen took the two men inside the lab. Kramik was laughing and joking with them.

“Let them all settle in, then we go.” “How about the two men?”

Kasp’s face was furious. “Don’t shatter my assessment of your intelligence, Luc!” he hissed. “Do you want to take their place on the operating table? Or perhaps learn nothing? I am an expert in combat, in espionage, in stealth. Okay?”

“Yes, I’m sorry.”

“Now, focus, my friend.” He slapped my shoulder.

We sat there for another twenty minutes, Kasp alert as a fox on the hunt. He made the sign to move, and we silently ran up to the door. Kasp used a tiny metal pick to unlock it. He eased it open just a crack and peered in with one eye. Then Kasp jerked his head at me to follow, and we slipped through and eased the door closed.

We hid behind a nearby desk, watching a guard at the other end of the hallway.

He seemed distracted and bored, looking out a window.

As I sat waiting for Kasp’s next move, I wondered if my body had any adrenaline left and if any of these crazy actions would help me find Aranxa. My gut told me they would, but I sure couldn’t see any connections yet.

Kasp squeezed my shoulder when he noticed my thoughts were far away, and I snapped back to reality.

We crept quietly down the hallway. Kasp held a large bolt in his hand, eyeing a mirror a few yards away. Suddenly he flung the bolt against the mirror, shattering it, and the guard ran past, not seeing us. In a flash, Kasp was on him and stabbed him in the back and laid him out on the floor without making a sound.

Swiftly and silently, Kasp and I moved down the hallway, up the stairs, and crawled, staying in the shadows,into a large room. It featured a twisting metal stairwell going further up. In a chair next to it was another guard, fast asleep and snoring. Another guard stood outside an open door on a balcony, keeping watch over the grounds outside. Kasp did not take long to eliminate these men as well, and we made our way up the spiral stairs.

There behind a glass door, we saw the lab. Kramik was focused on his work. To my absolute horror, I could see two bodies on separate tables, already dead, with their faces stripped of the skin and other parts of the bodies missing skin as well. Kramik was busy mixing some kind of potion.

Kasp nodded at me, and we burst into the room.

“What the hell are you two doing here? Guards!” Kramik yelled.

Kasp laughed and stepped closer to him. “Your guards are taking a nap until their next reincarnation.”

“You bastard! And you’re that pathetic private investigator! You little snake, you’ll get nothing from me.”

Kramik moved to grab a gun, which was hidden underneath the apron of his work table, but Kasp was faster and punched him in the stomach and then stabbed him in the same spot.

What followed next was as nearly as horrific as Kramik’s work. Kasp lodged his thumbs into Kramik’s eyes and crushed them, blood spurting. Kasp laughed like a psychopath and then broke Kramik’s neck.

I stood there in shock.

Kasp grabbed a towel and began to clean the blood from his hands. “Well, that was a bit exciting! I’m goingoutside to be on the lookout; you look for what you need to find here and get out soon.”

He was as calm as ever, enjoying the casual carnage and brutality. The man who was now my partner was also a demented individual.

Kasp went down the spiral staircase. I shook my head hard, slapped myself, and turned on the tap to throw cold water on my face. Then I took a closer look at what Kramik had been doing.

He had carefully cut the facial skin away and laid it in a flat-bottomed basin. I realized that during the cave ritual, facial skin was what they had put on Charlie. But how had they held it in place? How did it adhere to the victim to completely alter his looks? I had no idea what else happened during the dark ritual. Maybe the creature’s tentacles did something I couldn’t fathom.

I wondered what would happen if one of the changed people died. I left the lab and examined the bodies of the guards, pushing and pulling their facial skin. I could not tell whether they were normal or people who had undergone the face change. Well, now I knew more about what they did, even if I was not sure how they did it. I forced to the back of my mind the knowledge that I had partnered with an insane maniac.

Kasp Nudd first took me to his bookstore, where we got cleaned up. He gave me a fresh shirt after I got most of the blood off my coat. He drove me home himself, for I was completely exhausted and couldn’t handle another adversary that night.

I fell asleep surprisingly quickly despite all the terror I’d witnessed.

In my nightmare, I was walking through the streets of Paradise Harbour, and there were dead bodies all around, and at every corner, someone was crying in sorrow. I could see a green light coming from the ocean. As I got closer to the water, it illuminated the sky and the waves. Then out of the ocean came long, thin tentacles, dozens of them. They stretched up high and danced in the green light. I was horrified, but I could not move. I wanted to wake up but couldn’t do that either.

Suddenly everything went dark, and the next thing I knew, I was in a rowboat on the canal, relaxing. The sun was shining brightly, and the birds were singing. It was no longer a nightmare!

I woke up, but for the first time in years, I didn’t want to.

I took a deep breath and smiled, feeling relaxed and happy, but then the memories of the previous night rushed in, clouding my mind like a dark mist. I was back in reality.