The Glowing

Chapter 5

“Morgan, we have to call the police.” I was clutching my stomach, barely holding back the impulse to let everything come back up.

“Yeah, I’ll use the phone in the lobby.” He turned and went back inside, and I chanced another look at the grisly scene in front of me. Drying blood was splashed around like an abstract painting. There were pools of the red stuff everywhere, and although some still gleamed in the light, much of it already had a slightly crusty appearance. In the middle of the gruesome mess were two bodies, horribly maimed and drenched in red. A slight, but pungent smell, like iron, wafted out. I knew I shouldn’t step into the scene, I wouldn’t want to contaminate anything, but I had to see who was lying in the macabre setting.

The first body was Joey Jacobs, a slim, graying man who had worked for my dad for over fifteen years. His face had a grayish sheen, and his nose was horribly set off to the wrong side, with blood saturating his mouth. The blood had made its way down to his ear and clung to the hair at the nape of his neck. I didn’t want to, but I reached out to check for a pulse, my fingers barely missing the drying blood. There was no flutter of life. I looked over to the other body, and was sickened, though not surprised to see Mike, lying face down, his arm sticking out at a ghastly angle. I forced my throat to close as the contents of my lunch made their way back up. I was just about to high tail it out of there to relieve my churning stomach when I heard a low groan. I spinned back to the seemingly lifeless bodies and heard it again. The sound was coming from Mike.

I stepped over Joey, as carefully as I could, and squatted down next to Mike. I reached for his neck and found a flicker of a pulse.

“Mike, can you hear me? Mike, its Ivy!”

He let out a painful sounding moan again, and I called out to Morgan.

“Make sure they send an ambulance, Mike is alive!”

“What? Someone’s alive?” Morgan came sprinting to the doorway, and heard the awful noise that Mike was making. “I can’t believe he survived. I’ll tell them someone made it, and to hurry.” He turned back into the lobby where I heard him pick the phone back up, his low voice becoming more urgent.

“Mike, hang in there, we have help on the way.”

I had no idea how long he and Joey had been here like this, but with the amount of blood that was covering the floor I knew Mike couldn’t have much time left. The fact that he survived whatever had happened to him was a miracle. I couldn’t get a good look at his face, but aside from his bizarrely twisted arm, there was a large puddle of blood underneath his face, and the back of his shirt was stained with blood as well. I could also see dark wet stuff matted to the hair at the base of his skull.

Morgan came back in and said, “they'll be here in five to ten minutes”.

“I hope that’s fast enough.” My voice wavered, and my stomach was calming down as the initial shock wore off. “I can’t believe anyone could do such an awful thing to Mike, he’s honestly one of the best guys around. And Joey here,” I said indicating the lifeless form behind me, “he’s been working here for over fifteen years. I’ve known both guys since I was a kid.” I noticed my hand was shaking as I reached out to pat Mike on the back. He moaned again at my touch, and I quickly pulled my hand back, afraid of causing any further injury.

“Maybe we should wait for the ambulance outside,” Morgan looked a little anxious, though not at all queasy. I assumed it was only because he didn’t know the two men laying on the floor: one lifeless, and the other quickly following suit.

“I think I should stay here, for Mike,” I said. “I don’t want him to be alone like this.”

Morgan nodded and stepped into the garage, sticking his hands in his pockets as he looked around. We waited grimly for several minutes, silent aside from my occasional encouraging remark to Mike. He had stopped moaning, and at one point I reached out to check for a pulse, alarmed that he was silent. I found the small, though erratic, pulse and a minute later we heard the sound of sirens in the distance.

“Mike, the ambulance is coming now, you’ll be okay, I promise.”

Morgan said something under his breath, and I looked up sharply. “What did you say?” I asked.

“I’m just not sure that’s a promise you should make, is all.”

I looked at him stunned. “Of course he’s going to be okay; he’s going to pull through.”

Morgan just nodded, then went outside to direct the emergency team to us, as the sirens were right outside the garage now.

“Help is here now Mike, just hang in there, you’re doing great.” I had no idea if Mike could even hear me anymore; at this point I was trying to reassure my own mind. I steeled myself for the blitz of emergency workers and police that were making their way into the shop. I heard Morgan’s voice directing them to us, and within moments a handful of people buzzed around, one man corralling Morgan and myself back into the lobby. An officer took our statement and told us to wait in the lobby until further directed. After a few minutes another man, this one in a dark brown suit and carefully parted hair, approached.

“I’m Detective Greenway,” he said, “who can tell me what happened here?”

“Well, we don’t really know, we found them like this and then called you right away.” I shuffled my feet under the detective’s stare. He was a younger guy, maybe early-thirties, and he had a short brown mustache that didn’t do a positive thing for him. “We pretty much told the other officer what we know.” I added.

“It’s procedure to get your statement myself, sometimes it helps the witnesses remember something they may have forgotten earlier.”

It was obvious he thought this would be the case with us, and he stood with a pen hovering inches above a notebook.

“Well, really,” I said, “we just came back from lunch, and I noticed Mike was still out for lunch, which was really unlike him. He only ever took thirty minutes for lunch, and it was already close to two hours by this point.”

“How do you know how long it had been?”

“I had come by earlier to leave a note for Mike, letting him know I wouldn’t be coming into work on Monday.”

“Why was that?” he interrupted before I could go on.

“I just got a new job today, and I start on Monday,” I said maybe a bit more defensively than was needed.

“Mmhmm, and where is this new job?” He was writing everything down, his pen practically flying down the tiny notepad.

“It’s a ceramics shop called ‘A Little Joy’.” I heard Morgan cough behind me, and I glanced up at him, and he made a show of clearing his throat. He nodded his head for me to continue, so I turned back to Detective Greenway and waited for his next question.

“I see, and so you came back here to leave a note?” I nodded, and he asked, “And what time would you say that was?”

“A little after ten thirty I guess.”

“And you didn’t think that was odd, them taking lunch so early?”

“Not really, I thought maybe he had just left, and wanted to be back when other people might come in on their lunches.”

“And did you notice anything unusual? Anything out of the ordinary that may not have struck you at that point, but now seems odd?”

I shook my head slowly, trying to remember. “No, not that I can recall.”

Morgan cleared his throat again, and we both looked at him.

“Ivy, didn’t you say you thought you saw someone across the street; someone who looked like they were maybe waiting in the shadows?”

I was taken aback by Morgan’s interjection, but he was right; what if the man I had seen earlier was the one who did this? My heart began to race as I thought of how it seemed like he had been waiting for me – following me – and how terrified I had been. What if someone had been following me, watching, and waiting? What if Mike and Joey were attacked because of me?

“Is this true ma’am? Did you see someone outside that looked suspicious?”

I nodded my head, still appalled that I hadn’t thought of this; and even more appalled that I may have seen the attacker, and not even known it.

“Yes, right after I had left the note. I forgot my keys, so I went back to get them. When I came back to my car I noticed that there was someone standing in the shadows across the street. It looked like he might have been watching me, and then I thought he started to come towards me.” I shuddered at the memory, and then continued, “I kind of lost it a little. I started running to my car, but I tripped and fell flat next to my car. That’s when Morgan showed up,” I motioned to Morgan who stepped forward.

“I see, and did you see this man as well?” Greenway barely glanced at Morgan.

“No, I’m afraid all I saw was Ivy making a bee-line for her car, then falling.”

“And were you coming to meet Miss…”

“Sparks,” I added.

“Right, Miss Sparks here?”

“No, I was just taking a walk. I always enjoy strolling in the rain; it helps to clear my head.”

At that Detective Greenway looked up from his pad and looked at both of us. “So, you were just passing by, you had no immediate business nearby?”

“That’s right, just taking a walk.”

“And how long have you two known each other?”

“We just met today, right then,” I answered, starting to feel uneasy at the turn of questioning. Luckily, at that point the EMT’s wheeled Mike out of the garage through the lobby, and I broke away from Morgan and Greenway. I rushed up to the gurney they were carting Mike off on.

“Is he going to be okay?” I asked.

“It’s looking a little iffy right now,” the woman at his head said. “The faster we can get him to emergency, the better.”

“Can I ride along?”

“Sorry, no room, but we’ll be taking him to St. Vincent if you want to catch up.”

I just shook my head glumly. I didn’t know what good it would do for me to tag along anyway. I knew Mike through my dad and just through my time at the shop. I remembered he had been divorced for about eight years or so and mentioned that to Detective Greenway who was making ready to go with the emergency team.

Greenway jotted something in his notepad and looked back up at me. “I’m going to want to talk to you some more, just tie up any loose ends and what not,” he said.

“Okay, I gave all my information to the other officer.”

He nodded and climbed up in the back of the ambulance, and they were off, sirens blaring. I walked over to one of the more uncomfortable lobby seats and collapsed, covering my face in my hands. I had no idea what I was going to do; I couldn’t jump in and run the Lube shop, and I couldn’t begin to think of who I should call first to let know about Mike and Joey. Well, Joey I at least knew was married, but I also knew the Police would be handling that. Mostly I just needed to think about who could take over the shop for Mike. Morgan seemed to read my mind.

“Is there someone you can call about this?” He came and sat next to me, resting his arms on his knees.

“I’m thinking about that; the thing is Joey would have been the obvious choice to call if anything happened to Mike.”

“Well, you said you’re supposed to start a new job on Monday, what was the place?”

“It’s called ‘A Little Joy’ it’s a small ceramics studio and shop.”

“Right. Well, do you think maybe you should hold off on that now? Maybe you would rather stay here until things get settled down again?”

I shook my head, numbly. There was nothing I would rather do less at his point. If I had been relieved to walk out on empty vending machines, hard chairs, and a pervasive smell of rubber, it could only be doubled now that I would also associate blood and death with the place.

“I think I’ll call Juan Lopez. I don’t know him too well, but he’s worked here for several years, and he’s known Mike for longer than that. If nothing else, he would know who else to call.”

Morgan sat and watched while I logged into the computer and found Juan’s phone number. There were several people still out in the Garage, taking pictures, and doing whatever else people do in these situations. I had never walked in on a dead or dying person before, so this was a first for me. I tried to cover some of the noise going on with my hand while the phone rang. On the fifth ring, a woman answered.

“Bueno.”

“Uh, hi, is Juan there?”

“Como?”

Great, it looked like I’d get the chance to use my high school freshman Spanish skills after all.

“Uh, Hola…um…puedo hablar con Juan?”

“Uno momento,” I heard the receiver being dropped, and the woman yell something I couldn’t make out. A moment later someone picked up the phone.

“Hola.”

“Hi, Juan?” I crossed my fingers, hoping it was him; I really didn’t speak Spanish, at all.

“Yes, this is Juan.”

“Hi Juan, this is Ivy Sparks.”

After a short pause he said, “Hi Ivy, what can I do for you?”

“Juan, there’s been . . . a terrible accident here at the shop. Mike and Joey -” my voice faltered, and I struggled with how to word the awful news. “Mike and Joey were attacked.” I stopped, not sure how to proceed with the conversation.

“Attacked? By what?”

“Well, we’re not sure yet, but someone went to a lot of trouble to really mess them up. Mike’s been badly hurt, and he’s been rushed off to St. Vincent. Joey . . . Joey didn’t make it.”

There was a long pause, during which time I glanced over at Morgan. He was exactly where I had left him, his gaze intently fixed on me. Someone hurried out of the garage and returned a moment later.

“Wow,” Juan finally responded, “and how did you find out about this?”

“Um, I came by the shop to leave a note because I start a new job Monday, and I walked in on them in the garage. They had been laying there for a while by the time I found them.”

“So, you’re calling me to make sure I can take care of things while Mike is out?”

I thought that was a pretty delicate way of putting it, “Yeah, I guess I am. Is that okay? Or is there someone else I should call?”

“No, that’s fine Ivy, don’t worry about it. Do you need me to come in right now?”

“I’m not really sure, there’s still a lot of people here, making sure all the evidence is documented I guess.” At that point two nondescript men came out wheeling what I can only assume was Joey in a large black bag. They moved with much less haste than the two who carted Mike off.

“Do you need to stay there, or can you leave?” He asked.

“No, I guess I’m free to leave. I already gave my statement, and there’s not anything I can really do here now.”

“Okay, you go on home, and I’ll come in later to make sure things get cleaned up and do what I need to do to make sure we’re up and running on Monday.”

“Okay, thanks Juan.”

“Yeah. I’ll talk to you later.”

We hung up and I realized I would have to talk to Juan again. This had been my dad’s shop, and I had been doing a lot of his job, along with Mike. I may not have to come back to work here, but Juan would definitely need at least an overview of the books and such.

“Is everything going to be taken care of?” Morgan looked concerned and stood up as I placed the phone back in its cradle.

“Yeah, I think so; at least it’s not going to be me taking care of it.”

“I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but are you sure you feel up to starting a new job right now?” He walked over to me and kind of rubbed my upper arm, as if to warm me up. I had only just met Morgan, but it felt awfully good to have someone here with me right now, someone who at least seemed troubled enough by my circumstance to reach out to me.

“Yeah, I really don’t want to come back here to work. I was so relieved this morning when I realized I wouldn’t have to work here anymore. I know I should have felt horrible about that; I mean this was my dad’s business – his baby. He’s owned it for twenty years; his heart and soul went into this place. He was so proud of it.” I felt my eyes water, and I blinked back the tears, determined not to lose it in front of Morgan. “But all I could think about was the stale lobby smell mingled with the smell of rubber and oil. And those stupid empty candy dispensers,” I said pointing them out.

“It must have been really hard on you, working here every day with your dad sick,” he said sympathetically.

“It really was. And then, when he died it was like I needed to come here to keep me sane. I knew my dad was going to die when I moved down here, so it’s like I had started grieving then; but then when he was actually gone . . .” My voice broke, and I felt a stray tear make its way down my cheek. I reached up to brush it away, but Morgan beat me to it, his thumb gently caressing the streak it had left. I looked up into his startlingly blue eyes, and he gazed back down at me, his eyes roaming over my face. My breath seemed to be stuck somewhere between my lungs and my throat, and I made a weak effort to find it. Morgan took a step closer to me, and my stomach flip flopped – not an overly pleasant sensation given what it had just been through.

“Excuse me ma’am, but we’re going to need to close everything off pretty soon, to make sure the crime scene doesn’t get contaminated.” A female police officer stood in the doorway between the lobby and garage watching us.

“Oh, of course, I’m sorry,” I shuffled away from Morgan and retrieved my purse from the lobby floor next to the seats. Morgan followed me and we exited the shop not looking at each other. The rain had subsided, but the sun was still hidden behind a blanket of gray clouds.

“Do you still want to see me tomorrow,” he asked, “or do you think you’ll be at the hospital? I could go with you if you want. I know you don’t have anyone else right now.”

“Of course I want to see you,” I said immediately. Of everything that I had just witnessed and been through, Morgan was the one thing I was sure about; at least for now. “I’ll probably call the hospital tomorrow to see if Mike’s able to see anyone, but I still want to see you. Do you still want to have dinner?”

“If you honestly feel up to it, I do.”

I gave Morgan my address with directions to get there, along with my number, and clumsily thanked him again for lunch. “And thank you so much for staying with me through all this,” I added, waving my arm at the shop. “I can’t imagine what I would have done if I’d been on my own. That was really kind of you.”

“Don’t even think about that,” he said, “there was no way I would have left you to deal with that on your own. You take care tonight. I’ll call you tomorrow to make sure you’re still up to meeting with me.”

I nodded, got into my car, and watched him walk back down the street. I waited until I saw him get in his car, and then I made the long trip home. When I pulled up to my house there was a white van out front, and a Hispanic man was walking from my front door towards the driver’s side of the van.

“Oh crap,” I muttered. I had forgotten about the air conditioners. I got out and ran up to the man just as he was about to drive off. After a couple minutes of pleading, I managed to cajole him into staying to install the units.

“I don’t know why you even want these now,” he said as he put the second unit in the front room, “summer will be over before you know it, and then its firewood you’ll be wanting,” he pointed to the wood burning stove.

Forty minutes later I was alone, both units blowing full blast despite the cool temperature outside. I was going to use my air conditioners to their full extent for as long as I could. I walked back to my bedroom and began stripping off my clothes. I found a tiny rim of blood around the hem of my jeans, and a dark sticky spot on my sleeve. When I was finally down to my bra and underwear, I took the pants and the black stretch tee I had been wearing and threw them in the trash under the kitchen sink. I slowly walked back to my room and crumpled onto my bed, face down.

I don’t know when I fell asleep, but when I woke, several hours later, my eyes were puffy, and my pillow was soaking wet.