The Devil's Laughter Read online

  “You’re the only old fart in the room.”

  “And you’re afraid of me,” the old priest said confidently.

  “Afraid? Me? Don’t be ridiculous!”

  “Then kill me,” the priest challenged. He touched the cross on his chest and smiled.

  His coffee cup suddenly left the saucer and went flying across the room, smashing into a wall. Kat hissed and spat and snarled. Hector went under a coffee table and Toby Belenger found himself with a husky in his lap.

  “Is that the best you can do?” Link asked. “Get out of here and leave us alone.”

  “Game time is all over,” Wanda said. Her voice held a heavy, angry, and ominous note. “You’ll soon see how true those words are.”

  “Is it gone?” Paul asked. His face was very pale.

  “Who knows?” Link said. “It’s probably still hanging around – no play on words intended.”

  “Do you know what this means?” Toby said. The husky licked him in the ear and jumped down to the floor. “There can never again be doubt in anyone’s mind concerning the Hereafter. Life after death has now been confirmed for all to see. No one in his right mind can deny the existence of God.”

  “Then where is He?” Anne asked.

  Wanda chuckled.

  “Come on, Father Lattier,” Anne urged. “Where is God when we need Him?”

  “He’s here, Anne,” Link said. “Within all of us. We’re still alive and have the means to fight this . . . evil. But we’re going to have to stay one jump ahead of the coven members to win it. And I think the rules are going to be changing just about as fast as they’re made up.”

  “Oh, you’re going to be a wonderful player,” Wanda said. “Come over to our side. I can give you almost anything you’d like.”

  “I think I’ll pass on that,” Link told her. “Why don’t you just go away and stop snooping?”

  “Call your office, FBI man.” Wanda said. “There’s someone there right now. See what surprises they might have for you.”

  Cliff used the den phone. “Hi, Cliff,” the man said. “You enjoying your vacation?”

  “My . . . vacation? Oh, yeah. I’m really having a fun time just relaxing.”

  “Glad to hear it, Cliff. Always wanted to go to the islands. Well, we’ll hold the fort down and see you in about three weeks, you lucky devil, you.”

  “Wait, John. I – ” But the agent had broken the connection. Cliff was holding a phone that was humming in his ear.

  Wanda chuckled.

  “They . . . ah . . . think I’m on vacation,” Cliff said, replacing the phone in the cradle. “In the islands somewhere.”

  Wanda giggled. It sounded strangely girlish.

  Cliff looked upward, toward the giggle. “How can you do that? Shreveport is eighty miles away.”

  “But you’re not,” was the reply from the air.

  “Give me that damn phone,” Trooper Miller said. He punched out the number of the Troop. They answered. Miller stood in silence. What the hell was he going to say to them? That he was hearing ghostly voices? That would look nice on his record. He could see it now: Trooper ordered to undergo mental evaluation. Claims he can communicate with spirit world. Trooper dismissed for having unstable personality and suspected use of hallucinogenic drugs. He hung up.

  Wanda laughed.

  “But we still have the bodies,” Jeff said, as much to himself as to anyone else.

  “I doubt it,” Ray said. “Remember that list of names? Bradshaw’s name was on it. I called forensic this afternoon. They never received any bodies from this parish.”

  “But the Troop sent investigators here. They took over at your request,” Jeff protested.

  “Call your superiors and ask about that,” Wanda urged.

  Jeff sat down. “I don’t think I want to do that.”

  “Good move,” Wanda said. “The only thing those two remember is that they had car trouble that day and waited for hours for someone to come pick them up. Well, I really must go now. We’ll be talking again. Bye, now.”

  “Those things can’t hurt us,” Toby said. “I agree with you on that, Link. But they can – or have – disrupted us. Now let’s find out to what extent.” He walked to the phone and called another minister, same faith. Out of town on vacation. Be back in a week. He tried another. Same thing. Another one. Called away because of sickness. Another one. In the hospital in Shreveport. Toby Belenger sat back down, a curious expression on his face. There were other preachers in the town, but it was obvious the ministerial alliance had been broken up. He informed the others.

  Link stilled the ringing phone and motioned to Ray. The sheriff listened for a moment. “Do what he tells you to do, Miles. He’s the judge. Yeah,” he laughed without humor. “It’ll damn sure fix our overcrowding problem.” He hung up.

  “What’s wrong?” Gerard asked.

  “Miles just had a visit from a federal judge. Britton ordered everyone being held in this jail to be released on their own recognizance. The judge said he’d be out at Judge Jackson’s place if I had any comments to make about it.”

  “Can they do that?” Anne asked.

  “A federal judge can do damn near anything he wants to. Especially if one is part of a coven.”

  “Britton and Jackson are big buddies, aren’t they?” Dennis Holt asked.

  “Yeah,” Ray said, sitting back down. “However, this is one of the few times we don’t have any really violent and dangerous types locked up. Some minor dopers, hot check writers, thieves.” He looked at Link. “Anne tells me you worked at your computer for several hours today. So assess the situation for us, Link.”

  “This is a wild guess, people.”

  “So have at it. This is a wild situation,” Gerard told him.

  “We’re a test parish. If they can succeed here, they’ll go on to other places.”

  Father Lattier leaned back in his chair and lit a cigarette, inhaling deeply and with much satisfaction.

  “Father!” Mark Palombo admonished the man. “You know what the doctor said about your smoking.”

  “I’m seventy years old, Mark. And according to the doctors, I don’t have that long left me, anyway. So I intend to enjoy a smoke every now and then. Get me another cup of coffee and hush up. Go on, Link. It’s interesting so far.”

  “I told you all about the estimated number of covens in the United States. Their numbers probably exceed a million members; it might go much higher than that. If the takeover – if that’s what they plan on doing – works here, then they strike nationwide.”

  “For what purpose?” Cliff asked. “It would be suicidal on their part. And very quickly done.”

  “Maybe,” Link said. “Remember, we don’t know how many we’re facing or what their real power is. Or how many in the military belong. Or the police, judges, senators, etc. Suppose, for the sake of debate, they could set up several secure zones of their own around the nation . . .”

  “To do what?” Mark asked.

  “To worship their god, Father. Once the battle was declared over, or won, or fought to a draw, to practice freedom of religion. Call it an unHoly war.”

  “That’s insane,” Tom said. “You can’t – ” He paused. “Yeah, you can worship the devil. There is no law against it, is there?”

  “I think that’s been taken to the Supreme Court, hasn’t it, Ray?” Jeff asked.

  The sheriff shook his head. “I don’t know. It wouldn’t surprise me if it has and they ruled in favor of the devil. I’ve lost a lot of respect for the high court over the years.”

  “Haven’t we all?” Anne muttered.

  “Go on, Link,” Father Lattier said. “You’re not through just yet.”

  “No, I’m not. All that happens in this parish is going to go down without the outside world knowing a damn thing about it. You’ve seen what mischief those imps or demons can do. We’re on our own. Nobody is coming in to help us. Nobody. We are smooth alone.”

  “Except for God,” John
Lattier said.

  Chapter 17

  Depressed, confused, and many of them slightly scared, the meeting broke up and the participants went home.

  The kids in bed, Link and Anne cleaned up the kitchen. Anne said, “You know, it’s strange that no one suggested we all just leave here.”

  “I was waiting for it,” Link admitted. “But what really shook them up was when I showed them the window in Betsy’s room where that creature tried to crawl in.”

  The creature had broken the window. But when Link had gathered up material to board it up, he had found the window intact.

  “You really believe those creatures were in our minds?” Anne asked. “Not real, but solely in our minds?”

  “Has to be. The bones we found afterward were real. But those hideous creatures were in our minds. Now I don’t know how the bones got from the Garrison house to here. But I’m convinced those imps are playing mind games with us.”

  “Which means?”

  “Their power is limited. They can be very mischievous, but they alone can’t do us any physical harm. But they can damn sure make us hurt ourselves by producing creatures out of our own minds – from movies we’ve seen and books we’ve read and fears and nightmares of the past.”

  Anne straightened at the counter, a strange expression on her face. “Of course. Now I remember. That creature I shot, Link. That was from a damn movie I saw!”

  “That’s right. So was mine. And that thing I shot in the drive. That was straight from the pages of a book I read a long time ago.”

  The iron skillet that Link used to make cornbread was suddenly gripped by invisible hands. The skillet was pounded against the floor by something in a rage. It was pounded so hard the handle finally broke off.

  “Oh, go away,” Link said. “Go have a temper tantrum someplace else.”

  The skillet was hurled across the room. It smashed through the window and fell to the ground.

  A coffee mug was picked up. It floated in the air. Link took a small New Testament from his back pocket and opened it to a page he had pre-marked. He read, “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.”

  The mug was slowly lowered back to the table.

  Link read on. “Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? And then he will spoil his house.

  “A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”

  Link closed the Bible and spoke to the invisible intruder. “In other words, you evil little imp, God is on our side, so carry your ass.”

  Link and Anne could, for the first time, actually feel the intruder leave.

  “Will he ... she . . . it, be back?” Anne asked.

  “Oh, I’m sure. But not tonight. They’ve got to get together and have a conference somewhere and talk this thing out. They might even decide to go bug someone else and leave us alone. But that’s probably wishful thinking.”

  A small length of rusty barbed wire materialized and was dropped onto the kitchen table.

  “Get out of here!” Link said.

  As before, they felt the imp depart.

  “We won the first skirmish,” Link said. “But I think we have a hell of a battle ahead of us.”

  “Interesting choice of words,” Anne replied.

  * * *

  The morning was just plain cold, the mercury dipping into the mid-thirties. Link pulled Paul into the main house and told him to stay with Anne and the kids. He had to go into town for supplies.

  “They might not sell anything to you,” Anne said.

  “Then I’ll take it,” was his reply.

  He met no one on the road into town. At the edge of town, he pulled into the nearly deserted parking lot of a small mall and entered the supermarket. His nose wrinkled at the strong smell of unwashed bodies that hit him when the electric door swung open. He got a shopping cart and began stocking up on canned goods.

  The assistant manager of the store, a young black man named Jimmy Hughes, saw him and walked over. “Link,” he said with a half smile, “I think the people of this town have gone on a bath-strike.”

  “I agree, Jimmy.”

  “Link, what’s going on in this town? The manager just took one of the cashiers into the back. They’re . . . screwing in the storeroom. You can go back there and see for yourself. They don’t care. There’s half a dozen people back there now, just standing around watching them. Although by now they might have joined in.”

  “How do you feel, Jimmy?”

  “Feel? I feel embarrassed!”

  “No. Generally speaking, how do you feel?”

  “Well, pretty good for a man who just got fired. The manager gave me thirty minutes to – and I’m quoting here – ‘Get my shit and get gone.’”

  “You know Paul Morris, don’t you?”

  “Oh, sure. We played football together in high school. Went to college together until he had to drop out and find work.”

  “Get a cart, Jimmy. Help me stock up on canned goods. Everything you can pile in there. Then you go home and get some personal items. Pack a suitcase and get on out to my place. Paul will tell you what’s going on. And, Jimmy: Bring your guns.”

  The young man stared at Link for a moment, then slowly nodded his head. “All right, Link. I sure don’t have anything else to do.”

  Link paid for his goods, after being checked out by a young woman who mentally appeared to be in another world. He filled up the back of the Bronco with food and then reentered the supermarket, walking back to the storage area. He pushed open the door and stood for a moment, witnessing a scene of total depravity.

  Every participant had lost all sense of morality and decency. They were coupled together like a twisting den of snakes.

  Link closed the door and walked to the front. He stopped at the counter where he had checked out. “You ought to go back there and join them,” he told the vacant-eyed woman.

  “I will,” she informed him in a voice that was flat and emotionless. “Just as soon as one of them back there gets her cookies off and breaks loose to relieve me. I’m gettin’ all tense. You know how it is.”

  “Have fun.” Link left the smelly store and drove to the courthouse.

  The offices were deserted of the regular office personnel.

  “None of them showed up for work this morning,” Ray explained. “I called Sally’s house. Dick’s all upset. Said Sally left him last night and moved in with Ed Westcott. The others aren’t answering their phones. All the jailers quit except Miles. So I shut the jail down. The damn city police all quit this morning. Our sorry-assed chief’s out patrolling the town. I don’t know whether to tell Spencer what’s going on or not. What do you think?”

  “Do you trust him?”

  “I fired him fifteen years ago for stealing out of the evidence room. He was a crook then, he’s a crook now. No, I don’t trust him at all.”

  “His name wasn’t on that list.”

  “Even the devil has his limits,” Ray tried a small joke.

  Link smiled. “Where’s Sweeney?”

  “I haven’t seen him. I think he’s still in shock about last night.”

  Gerard came in, took a seat, and Link told them both about his experiences at the supermarket.

  “In the storeroom?”

  “Yeah. Ten or twelve of them all twisted up like snakes.”

  Ray grimaced and Gerard said, “Morality and conscience goes first. I’ve been reading some of that literature you found in Chris’s room. Pleasure is all that matters to a true devil worshiper. By the way, I called Dr. Bradshaw. He denies ever seeing any mutilated bodies. His tone was sort of smirky, if you know what I mean.”

  “How many deputies showed up for work?”

  “Four. We’ve tried calling the others. There’s no answer at any residence.”

  “The four?”


  “All young. Tom Halbert, Clement, Steve Mallory, and Leon Tilden. Troopers Jeff Miller and Dennis Holt are with us, of course.”

  “It’s gearing up to break loose. Maybe tonight. By the way, I told Jimmy Hughes to pack his stuff and go on out to the house. He was fired out at the supermarket this morning. He knows something very strange is happening.” He glanced at his watch. “Paul is probably briefing him right now. They’re big buddies.”

  “Jimmy’s all right,” Ray said. “Hell of a nice young man. Worked hard for me last election and really turned out the vote – black and white.”

  “How about Miles since the jail’s shut down?”

  “I put him in a patrol car. The parish had better be quiet, Link, because I’m not sending deputies out in the boondocks unless it’s for a real emergency.”

  Link told them about his reading to the imp from the scriptures after they’d left last night.

  “And it worked?” Gerard asked.

  “The thing left and never came back.”

  Ray drummed a pencil on his desktop. “You got plenty of food for your critters?”

  Link smiled at the man’s concern for his animals. “Yes. I keep a thirty-day supply on hand at all times. If the power goes, I have a generator that’ll light up the world; runs off butane. I have two five-hundred-gallon tanks and they’re both full. How about you people?”

  Both Ray and Gerard lived out in the parish, on farms they both worked, the property located on very isolated and lonely country roads.

  “We’re not as well set up as you, Link,” Gerard said. “But we’ve discussed it. If this thing comes down to where we have to hole up somewhere, Ray and his family will come over to my place. His house is frame, mine is brick. The girls are stocking up on food and water now, and we’ve got plenty of firepower.”

  “If you can’t make it back to your homes or either one of you is cut off from the other, come out to my place.”

  “Will do,” Ray said. “When are you heading back, Link?”

  “Right now.”

  “I’ll follow you out with a patrol car. Gerard will follow me and bring me back. I want you to have access to one of our vehicles. Lord knows, we have plenty for a change. We’ll be calling on you,” he added grimly.