Doc Tompkins, A Farm At Maple Hollow Vingette - 3. Chapter 3

It wasn’t much of a surprise that the Foley’s were selling, the farm failed years ago and conditions showed the neglect. The surprise was how little time it took to sell. Current rumor had the new owners putting in a housing development.

~~~

The FBI and the State Police were pulling out, while the clues were there, every avenue they investigated turned into another dead end. Crystal meth usage in Worcester was supplied from elsewhere and the rats weren’t crawling out of their hidey-holes.

~~~

The New Covenant Church, preaching the true word of God cautiously continued their outreach mission, building a congregation of the faithful. They would need, newer quarters soon and the good reverend was looking forward to fulfilling his destiny.

~~~

Baxter Mullen, Bax to his friends and teammates, was a boy who was hard to dissuade from a task once he set his mind to it. His appetite sucked, he wasn’t sleeping well and his school work was suffering, Timothy simply disappeared off the face of the planet. Rabbit’s parents weren’t talking, not answering the phone, slamming the door in his face and no one, simply no one including his favorite teachers were talking.

He'd asked several if he could bring missed school work to him, and bring back his homework. All he got were sad eyes and simple pats on the shoulder, telling him not to worry... Just how in the fuck was not going to be able to…not fucking worry? He was always on the verge of tears, lost hopeless and confused.

It was Mr. Duncan, his American History teacher who relented, extracting a futile promise not to do anything rash without talking to him first. It was Mr. Duncan who gave him the basics. For reasons not explained, it was thought despite what happened to him, his life was still in danger by those who did this to him.

It had taken some doing, but he was finally able to pierce the veil of secrecy surrounding his boyfriend, Timothy. By the time he was able to figure how to get to Boston, without anyone knowing, he learned that ‘Rabbit’, was up at Maple Hollow Farm. He knew how to get there; he’d been to the produce stand enough times. It was time to see his boyfriend.

~~~

Bart Foley was overseeing the last of the family belongings into the moving truck. They would leave packing up the bedrooms till the morning. Breakfast would have to be on the road. Levi was stunned to hear that they were moving from the family home, the only home he’d ever known. It was bad enough his father had tossed most of what remained of his mother’s belongings. He had found some pictures of her and some of her costume jewelry along with a wig he’d helped her pick out when she started losing her hair.

He was upset to learn that he wouldn’t have time to say good bye to his friends and pissed he would be starting a new school year as the new kid. His father’s reputation made life for him here difficult, except for a few close friends. He heard his father yelling for him downstairs, telling him to get his ass down there pronto.

Levi was handed a sealed package by his father, he instructed Levi to give it, not to leave it, to Reverend McCallister, then to get his ass back home. Grabbing his cell phone, one of the few things his father didn’t know about, it was either off or on silent, he headed out on his bike to the good reverends to make his delivery. It was cold and it would be dark soon, the ride would be brisk, he was glad for the jacket and gloves.

It didn’t take very long and he was asked to wait as Reverend McCallister was finishing up a previous appointment. While waiting he heard, indistinctly parts of a conversation concerning a final clean-up of ‘the problem’. He heard his address given out and when Reverend McCallister asked, if they needed directions, the answer back was ‘They had a fucking GPS’ as they walked out of the parsonage past Levi.

~~~

Bax stood on the front porch of Maple Hollow’s side door shivering in the cold, riding his bicycle may not have been the best means of transportation but it was all he had. Patiently watching he had seen a few people go in and out while he was observing the house. Mustering up the last bit of his false bravado and courage, he knocked on the door. After waiting what seemed and interminable eternity the door opened.

Seeing the young teen standing, shuddering from the cold on the porch Arik asked how he could help. In response Baxter introduced himself and asked if he could see Rabbit.

Thoroughly confused Arik asked, “Who is Rabbit? I’m a tad confused”.

“I’m sorry, I mean Timothy Johnson, I am Baxter Mullen, his boy…er’ best friend”, he said, his voice wavering, tears threatening to leak from his eyes. Eyes that were full of desperation in the hope of seeing Rabbit. It was obvious that the boy was hurting, missing Timothy.

Arik invited Bax, as he liked to be called to sit in the kitchen a spell with him and gave him some hot chocolate. Arik needed to gently find out what Bax knew and did not know. By the time he had finished explaining Timothy’s current state, he’d allow him to see him but to be ready for what he was going to see, not to upset him and to stay calm.

As they came to Timothy’s room, Arik knocked and poked his head through the door and let him know he had a visitor who called himself Bax.

Bax heard Timothy call out his name and forced his way past Arik. When he was in the room and could finally see his boyfriend for the first time in so long. He struggled mightily with his composure. Slowly walking up to the bed, tears in his eyes, his resolve to be brave cracking, he softly exclaimed, “Oh Rabbit, what they done to you”?

~~~

It was getting late, close to supper time when Arik went back to “Rabbit’s” room, what he saw moved him deeply, the boys were holding each other closely, as closely as possible considering there were plaster casts involved. Waking them gently, he knew the answer to the question, but did Bax want to stay for supper? The answer was an emphatic yes.

Letting Bax know he should let his parents know. Holding up his cell he said he had permission and if it were ok with Arik, he would spend the night.

~~~

Just before he was headed to spend his last night in his bedroom, Levi heard a vehicle pull up the driveway. What was odd, was that they parked so they could not be seen from the street. Deep in his gut he knew something was wrong and knew he needed to get out of the house. It would be easy to slip out the window of his bedroom, there was a tree branch he’d use many a night when stuff was just too much to take.

What unnerved him the most, was that both looked like the biker types he had seen earlier at Reverend McCallister’s parsonage. Both were carrying pistols and they weren’t holstered. Throwing the blankets off his bed he quickly fashioned a body out of some clothes from one of the moving boxes, grabbing his mother’s wig, he placed it on the pillow so it appeared he was sleeping with his back to the door. Carefully covering his ‘body’ back up, he grabbed a sweater, his cash, jacket, and cell phone, slipping out the window, making sure it closed behind him.

Thanking his lucky stars, his premonition led him to park is bicycle close by, he was heading into the woods when, looking back, he saw the light come on in his bedroom and heard the first gunshot. Opening his cell, he called Hutchinson’s Police Department, as soon as dispatch answered, he calmly as possible described who he was, where he was when a second shot went off.

The dispatcher heard that shot and told Levi to get to safety and if possible, come to the police station, someone will let him in. if he rode quickly, he could be there in just under ten minutes. Levi rode like the wind and the devil was chasing him in the dark evening, six minutes later, he and his bicycle were safe.

~~~

A small wooden truncheon smashed across Bart Foley’s left knee when he didn’t answer Papa Bear quickly enough, he was distracted by watching Levi running from the house. Papa Bear was in no mood to pussy foot around, he wanted to know where Bart’s sons were, it was obvious the two older weren’t home, but where was the younger one? Upstairs sleeping he was told.

JB went upstairs and that’s when the first shot was fired, upon returning to the kitchen JB let his father know the kid was dead, he never knew what hit him. Saving graces, was a concept previously unknown to Bart Foley, he died knowing Levi had escaped. JB and Papa Bear would bag the bodies once Oscar and his brother Sam came home. They would then fire up the backhoe in the morning and bury them.

~~~

Elm Perkins was on duty that night, a blessed relief, his wife’s late term pregnancy with twins, was testing the limits of everyone’s patience. He was up past Maple Hollow doing a routine check up to the town line, someone complained there were frozen patches of ice,

Truth be told he was bored out of his mind and decided on the way back, to stop in up at the farm to check on the boy and see Effr.

He was sitting at the kitchen table with Effr, Ethan. Arik, the boys had just departed for the bedroom, smiling like barn cats who found a saucer of fresh milk and cream.

~~~

Oscar and Sam Foley were enjoying a last night at Pat’s Bar and Grill. While they were flush with cash, multiple beers and shots were ‘bought’ for them. Knowing they needed to get a move on, they declined the last offered round of drinks and staggered out of the bar. They never noticed the non-descript car parked off on the darker side of their driveway.

Helping each other up the front steps and into the house. As they entered the kitchen, the shock of seeing their father barely registered as two, twenty-two caliber, copper jacked hollow point bullets, found their marks just behind their ears. They were dead before they hit the floor.

Sending JB up to bring the body of the youngest boy down, Papa Bear laid out the four body bags. Back up in Levi’s room, JB tossed back the covers and felt his guts wretch. Of all the stupid fucking things to happen he thought to himself, the boy had to have been the kid he saw at the parsonage earlier this afternoon.

Running back downstairs he told Papa Bear that they had a problem, it was time to get the fuck out of here and on the way out of town, stop and pay the good reverend a visit.

~~~

It had been a long time Elm thought, since he’d been back up to Maple Hollow on a purely social basis. He was enjoying the camaraderie of jawboning with three old friends. It was a quiet night other than the icy patches up on the Hutchinson Turnpike, he’d radioed the highway department and they had sent a sander out.

“Esker called the other day, I told him you were back home for good, his final contract with British Petroleum is finishing, he’s coming back for a visit…he’d like to see you”. Elm stated unobtrusively.

Ethan started laughing, “You guys were two of the most stubborn, hard-headed, obstinate and pig-headed individuals, I ever had the pleasure of knowing. Ask any of our friends and they would tell you the same thing, whatever the two of you couldn’t let go, surely must be dead and buried by now”.

It wasn’t news Effr was expecting, he’d closed that sorry chapter with unresolved regrets before leaving for the army. Truth be told, there wasn’t one thing he could place a finger on as the reason for the alienation between Esker and himself. At one time they were to sole occupant in each other’s lives, both had lost their virginity to each other.

His reply was cut off by Elm’s police communicator sounding off. “Shots fired at the Foley house, two or more bikers possibly involved, traveling in a non-descript vehicle, Levi Foley is safe at the police station. Likely involvement with Reverend McCallister. Levi, delivering a package for his father earlier this afternoon, saw two bikers leave the parsonage. Levi has identified the two at his house are the same as the two he saw at the parsonage”.

Acknowledging receipt of the message, Elm asked for the State Police to be notified, set up road blocks on the main roads out of town and dispatch the first available town officer to discreetly park outside the good reverend’s parsonage.

Getting up to head out, both Effr and Ethan stood and held their hands up, it was Ethan who simply stated that Elm wasn’t going into the unknown by himself. Effr ran to his bedroom as Ethan did the same. It was all Arik could do to make Elm wait. Within a couple of minutes both returned to the kitchen.

Ethan had his thirty-odd-six hunting rifle and a box of ammo, did Elm still have the extra bulletproof vest in the trunk? Elm nodded in the affirmative.

Effr returned with his Ruger Mini-14, three extra clips and his service issued bulletproof vest.

~~~

Papa Bear knew the situation was all fucked up, they’d have to torch the house, hopefully they’d have time to deal with the reverend on their way out of town, one last loose end to tie up, while it wasn’t as clean a getaway as he would have liked, they could disappear while the heat wore off and their trail went cold. He had planned for such a contingency and a winter in Rio would suit him just fine.

~~~

Elm pulled the police cruiser slowly up towards the beginning of the Foley’s driveway. Parking so the end of the driveway was blocked, the three of them exited the car and checked their weapons were cleared for action. All agreed after a heated discussion that Elm would take the lead, of the three of them, he had the least experience.

They had gotten there too late to warn Oscar and Sam, they watched helplessly as the door closed behind them as they entered the house.

~~~

Reverend McCallister had been, per his habit, listening to the police scanner as he worked on his sermon for next Sunday’s service. Often, knowing who was in trouble, or family member who was sick, terminally ill or passed was a great help in expanding his ministry. Being one of the first to offer assistance, or comfort reaped its own rewards. What he heard shocked him to the core and it was time to gather the things he needed, the extra cash from the safe along with Bart Foley’s last package. Crystal meth had a street value that could be spent in any large city.

~~~

Rabbit certainly lived up to his nickname, for the second time today the boys were pleasuring each other. Earlier in the afternoon Bax took great delight in assuring himself that Rabbit’s equipment checked out ok. While Rabbit took the time to reacquaint himself with a long-lost friend with his favorite toy, both boys in their excitement lasted but a few minutes.

Later that evening, when Arik went to check on the boys while Effr and Ethan were out of the house, he found Bax, carefully straddling Rabbit and guiding his erect member into his extraordinarily willing bottom. Smiling to himself, he went back to the kitchen and waited for the return of his husband and nephew.

There was an unspoken synchronicity to the movements of the boys, this was the next step they wanted to take in their explorations, before their forced separation happened.

~~~

Hearing the two shots after the Foley boys entered the house, Elm notified dispatch of shots fired inside the house and lit up his headlights and floodlight. Announcing over the microphone that the house was surrounded and to lay down their weapons, he scooted off to the side of the car as a fusillade of bullets impacted the police cruiser, killing the lights. The car’s police radio squawked, repeatedly asking Elm if he were ok, did he need back-up?

~~~

It was well past time to leave Reverend McCallister thought to himself, grabbing the keys to the car. He’d have to send for his wife and children later, if and when he’d found a place. He was quite prepared to forgo his marriage and family if needs demanded it in starting over. He tucked his new passport with his new identity along with the account codes for the bank in the Grand Caymans.

As he stepped out of the house by the side door, carefully and quietly closing and locking it. Turning towards his car, he found himself staring down the double barrels of a twelve -gauge shotgun, held by none other than Sargent Pat Hurley of the Hutchinson Police Department.

~~~

Papa Bear, hearing the police radio squawk several times with no response, had to make a hard and fast decision, he felt the hail of bullets managed to take the officer down. He made the decision to get the fuck out of there. Turning the oven and the burners to the gas stove on he waited a bit, letting the gas start filling the kitchen, lighting a cigarette he flicked it into the kitchen. When the lit cigarette hit the kitchen floor, it ignited the heavier than air, propane gas.

Cautiously he and JB left the house and made to bolt for their car when Elm, once more told them to stop and lay their weapons down, they were surrounded. Papa Bear and JB brought their guns towards where they assumed Elm’s voice came from. Elm cried out one last warning as he rolled further off to the side. It was the last bad decision Papa Bear or JB made.

~~~

“Leaving town Reverend McCallister? I think the first stop on your travel itinerary will be a visit to the police department so we can sort out your involvement in this whole sordid mess”. Sargent Hurley, a veteran of twenty years on the NYPD, told the good reverend to turn and put his hands behind his back. Never did he think when he retired to move back with his wife to her hometown, did he think shit like this would happen.

Watching carefully, looking for the tells a body instinctively gives off in a fight or flight reaction, he knew Reverend McCallister was going to try to overpower him and make a break for it. When he did, the blunt, barrel end of the shotgun slammed into his gut. Doubling him over and knocking the wind out of him. None too gently Reverend McCallister was rolled over, cuffed, relieved of his ill gained possessions, banking information and false identities. He was unceremoniously tossed into the back of the police car.

~~~

Ethan ran past the bodies of Papa Bear and JB and on reaching the propane tank, quickly turned it off. Elm tossed Effr the fire extinguisher as he radioed back in the all clear and the need for the crime scene to be secured. Effr was quickly able to stop the fire from spreading and sat with Ethan on the front porch as they waited for the calvary to arrive. A phone call was made to a very relieved Arik, who promised to be waiting for the guys to come home.

~~~

In the months that followed, the investigations and subsequent trial and conviction of Reverend McCallister had far reaching consequences. The meth lab the FBI had been looking for, was in the old cow barn out behind the house. Years ago, the barn, known as a New England ‘bank’ barn, was built into the side of a hill.

Bailed hay entered on the first level, which was where grains and farming implements and machinery were stored. The hay was stored above this level, in the upper reaches of the barn. The cows were milked on the lower level, slop and waste were hosed into troughs in the concrete floor, and out of the barn to be collected for spreading in the fields. It was this level that the meth lab was built well concealed and away from prying eyes.

Reverend McCallister was tried and convicted, the length of sentence would assure he’d spend the rest of his natural life behind federal prison bars. It was thought in some circles, that Reverend McCallister was a rat, responsible for several of the convictions of some very unhappy felons, less than two years into his sentence, he died a rat’s death.

The Outlaw Bears motorcycle club was rolled up with nearly all getting stiff prison sentences for their role in the drug trade and other violent crimes. The FBI went back to the scene of Dave Roberts accident, where he and his truck kissed the sugar maple tree. The truck had been impounded by the insurance company pending the results of negotiations to settle the claim by Donk’s family. A closer look at the truck showed the deliberate damage to the steering linkage and the rear brake lines. Eye witness and video accounts of Donk’s last night at Pat’s Bar and Grill, further sealed the fate and time served for the remaining Outlaw Bears.

DNA testing taken from the Foley’s conclusively proved their involvement in the rape and beating of Timothy Johnson. A closer examination of Oscar Foley’s body showed bite marks on his pubic mound. A search warrant was served allowing the search and seizure of materials of interest from Donk’s apartment. His computer provided a wealth of evidence concerning Donk’s proclivities. He had been swapping on the dark net, images of child porn further expanding the FBI’s convictions. There were several images on a digital camera found on his bureau, there were images of local boys passed out while Donk molested them and in a couple of cases, had his way with them. DNA taken from Donk’s hairbrush irrefutably demonstrated his participation and conclusively proved his involvement in the rape and beating of Timothy Johnson. A significant amount of counterfeit twenty-dollar bills was found in a small lock box, hidden in the back of his bedroom closet. Apparently, Donk was being paid off in fake money. Additional FBI agents were able to trace the source of those funds from Donk’s social media contacts. Interestingly enough, that path led to and through the Outlaw Bears to organized crime.