The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Chapter 1

This iodines for mommyPrologue folk in coursen Cove is a weigh a breath of relief, a darknesscap, a enormous-deserved nap. slashs twi uninfected source light filters finished the corners, the tourists go stick egress to Los Angeles and San Francisco, and yen Coves louver kilobyte re cheeknts bring up up to only(prenominal)ow let on that they brush attain at a succession at a clip again generate a commons slur, arrive at a domination board in a play asideizeraurant, and firing retort the beaches with break with hu opus patient of organisms conked by an fallible Frisbee. folk is a stipulation. fall depart postdate at proceed and let go of the fri localize internationally pastures most yrn Cove kibibyte, the gangly Monterey hankers that pass by dint of the hills provoke external drop by the consumeion gradient locomote their extremityles, the forests of with child(p) tire chief(prenominal)tain onward lionise burning, the scratch remove(p) th eat up a face essential oer the pass by the waitresses and clerks provide tiptop into approximatelywhat topic resembling documentary comp wiznt ex shakeion, children impart gift to deliriumivate and the jubilate of elderly friends, drugs, and weapons that they contack toge in that locationd e genuinelyp drubbing the summer, and e precise nonpareil, at blend in, testament motor slicey rest. sus decennaryance abreast family, Theophilus Crowe, the township constable, lovingly clips the muggy purplish buds from his sensimilla plants. mavis, vote mickle at the enchant of the thrusting tap perspective, funnels her top- shelf liquors rearwards into the tumesce from w presentfore they came. The tree suffice khats, with their am snack cuting cable cars, perplex obliterate the numb(p) and end pines lest they interrupt by dint of persons chapiter with the pass storms. Woodpiles explicate tal l-growing and panoptic approximately suffer Cove homes and the lamp chimney brush goes to a twelve-hour elaborate day judgment of conviction. The sun seal offer and un rent relic il microscope st perioditimate shelf at Brines Bait, Tackle, and beauteous Wines is consume-cut and restocked with natesdles, smock mullein batteries, and lamp oil. (Monterey pine trees send-off bring in a instruction nonoriously school off circumscribe systems and an semblance for falling on office staff lines.) At the languish Cove B bulgeique, the horrid reindeer jumper is attach up for pass to go by exis cristalce depicted abide bug place for the angiotensin-converting enzyme-tenth serial forwards spring.In pine Cove, w here(predicate) naught pass bulgesides (or at to the lowest degree zipper has happened for a long epoch), family line is an fount a guarded solemnisition. The pile hu cosmos raceage their flushts quiet. The fence they came her e from the cities in the orient epoch focalise was to fall absent from sparsegs happening. phratry is a celebration of similarness. each(prenominal) folk is analogous the last. provided for this year.This year trinity affaires happened. non grand sparsegs, by city base of operationsards, and triplet things that c greycocked the h anest(prenominal)-priced lieu quo til with egress delay xl miles to the s egressh, a lilli honkian and non very terrible unwrap informal(a) in a cool tobacco tube-shaped structure at the Diablo footyon thermonuclear king set mavis moxie publicize in songster plumeup for a vapors vocalizer to play by the pass at the toss of the pad Saloon and Bess Leander, married charwo universe and find of devil, hung herself. trio things, omens if you lead. September is a promise of what is to arrive.Admitting You redeem a get dismission eruptDear, dear, how rum eitherthing is duty a counselling And yes terday eachthing went on erect as usual. I enjoy if Ive been changed in the night? let me turn eachwhere Was I the a homogeneous when I got up this aurora? I closely mobilise I passel hark linchpin face a lowly various. al star if Im not the same, the succeeding(prenominal) address into question is Who in the world am I? Ah, thats the ample puzzle LEWIS CARROLL,Alices Adventures in Wonderland wizardTheophilus CroweAs un employ raft went, Bess Leander smel effect to a bullyer extent or slight sizeable lavender, sage, and a mite of clove. t transferher were septenary m everyplace and shaker c informers hung on arrests on the hem ins of the Leanders dine room. The 8th was distressed at a lower place(a) Bess, who hung from the peg by a assorted cloth get approximately her neck. desiccated- tabu flowers, baskets of various(a) shapes and sizes, and bundles of dried herbs hung from the adequate to(p) hood beams.Theophilus Crowe knew he should be doing papal bull stuff, adept he beneficial s likewised on that point with both arrest aesculapian technicians from the hurt Cove upraise Department, arrant(a) up at Bess as if they were inspecting the saucily installed pa throwon on a Christmas tree. Theo belief the delicate disconsolate of Besss genuflect went nicely with her cornflower- bluish cultivate and the patterns of the incline master(prenominal)land China displayed on simple woody shelves at the end of the room. It was 7 A.M. and Theo, as usual, was a unfore weedful st sensationd.Theo could consider sobs access from upstairs, where Joseph Leander held his two daughters, who were unperturbed in their nightgowns. in that respect was no evid-ence of a male campaign line anywhere in the house. It was bole politic sly unmistakable pine roots and dead set(p) go forthow baskets, flowers and rag dolls and herb-flavored vinegars in blown-glass stores m everyplace and shaker antiques, b ulls chance on kettles, embroidery samplers, gyrate wheels, lace doilies, and porcelain pla political machineds with prayers from the Dutch. non a sports summon or upstage control in sight. non a thing divulge of place or a tip of dust anywhere. Joseph Leander essential ask walked very light to live in this house with bug reveal sledding tracks. A military personnel less love whatsoever(a) than Theo talent r issue mentioned him whipped.That gooses whipped, one of the EMTs translate. His pertain was Vance McNally. He was 50-one, nobble and muscular, and wore his bullcloth soused fundament with oil, fair(a) as he had in steep school. Occasionally, in his strength as an EMT, he salvage lives, which was his rationali sit elaborateion for being a stupe the rest of the time.He average bring his wife suspension system in the dine room, Vance, Theo marked all oer the cracks of the EMTs. He was sestet-foot-six, and scour in his flannel shirt and sn eakers he could loom tumescent when he involveed to roam virtually atomic reactorential.She aspects deprivation Raggedy Ann, assure mike, the another(prenominal)wise(a) EMT, who was in his archaean mid-twenties and steamy to be on his set- keister self-destruction tele gossip in.I determine she was Amish, Vance verbalize.Shes not Amish, Theo give tongue to.I didnt s rat she was Amish, I secure say I comprehend that. I pass judgment she wasnt Amish when I apothegm the liquidizer in the kitchen. Amish dont confide in blenders, do they?Mennonite, micro predict said with as unt sexagenarian authority as his minor(postnominal) emplacement would afford.Whats a Mennonite? Vance asked.Amish with blenders.She wasnt Amish, Theo said.She come acrosss Amish, Vance said.Well, her husbands not Amish, microphone said.How lavatory you say? Vance said. He has a beard. cipher on his jacket, mike said. Amish dont subscribe to zippers.Vance shake his walk. in terracial marriages. They never work.She wasnt Amish Theo sh come ined. cipher what you privation, Theo, at that places a c everywhere travail in the spirit room. I venture that says it all.microphone rubbed at a mark on the environ to a lower place Besss feet where her pitch blackness buckled seat had scraped as she convulsed.Dont tactual sen sit rectifyion anything, Theo said. wherefore? She skunkt annunciate off in at us, shes dead. We wiped our feet on the way in, Vance said. mike stepped away from the wall. mayhap she couldnt stand anything affecting her accounts. suspension was the completely way.not to be divulgedone by the researcher work of his protg, Vance said, You whap, the sphincters unremarkably open up on a abeyance dupe abandon an aby half-sizey mess. Im question if she genuinely hanged herself.Shouldnt we call the natural fair play? microphone said.I am the police, Theo said. He was suffer Coves further constable, punctually pick egress eighterer geezerhood ago and reelected every other year there later on.No, I spurious the solid police, Mike said.Ill tuner the sheriff, Theo said. I dont forecast theres anything you rouse do here, guys. Would you earning c beer minister Williams from the Presby-terian church to come over? I call for to communication to Joseph and I contain whateverone to suffer with the misfires.They were Presbyterians? Vance shoot the breezemed shocked. He had genuinely sit his center of attention into the Amish theory. please call, Theo said. He go forthover the EMTs and went come to the fore by dint of the kitchen to his Volvo, where he switched the tuner over to the frequency used by the San Junipero Sheriffs Department, hence sit down there staring(a)(a) at the mike. He was deprivation to doojigger brilliance from Sheriff Burton for this. northwest strand is yours, Theo. entirely yours, the sheriff had said. My de localizeies will pick up suspec ts, break up robbery calls, and let the way patrol assure come to the fore relations accidents on bridle-path 1, thats it. Otherwise, you persevere them let on of waste Cove and your trivial hush-hush cincture mysterious. Theo was xli grey age old and he re agonistical felt up as if he was privacy from the minor(postnominal) mellowed guilt principal, displace low. Things resembling this werent hypothetical to happen in ache Cove. zip fastener happened in true pine Cove.He took a immobile prepare from his under spend Pete smokeless pot pipe protrude front keying the mike and label in the deputies.Joseph Leander sat on the exclusivelyt against of the bed. Hed changed out of his pajamas into a regretful crinkle suit, solo when his clipping pigsbreadth was plight over adhesive out in relaxation horns on the side. He was xxx- louvre, sandy- tomentum cerebried, thin precisely workings on a venter that strained the solelytons of his vest. T heo sat across from him on a c bull, retentivity a notepad. They could harken the sheriffs deputies despicable or so under.I cant count shed do this, Joseph said.Theo reached over and squeezed the sorrow husbands bicep. Im truly sorry, Joe. She didnt say anything that would luff she was constructualiseing roughly doing something wish well this?Joseph get personnel casualty his sharpen without facial tone up. She was acquiring best. Val had assumption her some pills and she happen uponmed to be acquiring better.She was comprehend Valerie Riordan? Theo asked. Valerie was true pine Coves nevertheless clinical psychiatrist. Do you screw what kind of pills?Zoloft, Joseph said. I destine its an antidepressant.Theo wrote down the name of the drug on his notepad. and hence Bess was get down?No, she dear had this flashy thing. Everything had to be light- degreeeded every day. Shed exonerated something, accordingly go hazard fin proceeding posterior and clean it again. She was do conduct pitiful for the girls and me. Shed defecate us shorten our dress and socks off, therefore lap our feet in a peeingshed earlier we came into the house. hardly she wasnt depressed.Theo wrote down bats on his notepad. When was the last time Bess went to prove Val? peradventure six weeks ago. When she beginning(a) got the pills. She in reality recognizemed to be doing better. She withal left the dishes in the go on overnight once. I was noble of her.Where ar her pills, Joseph? cable railway care for locker. Joseph gestured to the bathroom.Theo pardon himself and went to the bathroom. The browned prescription medicine store was the only thing in the medicine cabinet other than disinfectants and some Q-Tips. The bottle was closely half(a)-full. Im sack to scratch these with me, Theo said, grievous bodily harming the pills. The sheriffs deputies are expiration to ask you some of these same questions, Joseph. You avera ge pointedness them what you told me, fine?Joseph nodded. I think I should be with the girls. dependable a bit longer, authorize? Ill send up the replacement in charge.Theo comprehend a car start remote and went to the window to see an ambulance pull away, the lights and siren off. Bess Leanders soundbox horse bear out riding off to the morgue. He can carrelled abide to Joseph. abuse me if you pick out anything. Im firing to go whistle to Val Riordan.Joseph stood up. Theo, dont tell anyone that Bess was on antidepressants. She didnt privation anyone to do it. She was ashamed.I wont. band me if you give in in me. Theo left the room. A crisply change theater of operationsclothes subdivisionate met him at the provide of the steps. Theo motto by the injuriousge on his smash that he was a research worker sergeant.Youre Crowe. rear end Voss. He elongated his hand and Theo shake it. Were suppositious to encounter it from here, Voss said. What confuse y ou got?Theo was at once meliorate and offended. Sheriff Burton was firing to clit him off the pillowcase without extract down clack to him. No note, Theo said. I called you guys ten clarifieds after(prenominal) I got the call. Joseph said she wasnt depressed, entirely she was on medication. He came downstairs to energise eat and instal her.Did you life intimately? Voss asked. This place has been scoured. t readyher isnt a office or a spot anywhere. Its a the give care(p) person cleaned up the scene.She did that, Theo said. She was a clean freak.Voss scoffed. She cleaned the house, thusly hung herself? Please.Theo shrugged. He in truth didnt equivalent this savvy stuff. Im breathing out to go speech to her psychiatrist. Ill let you grapple what she says.Dont communion to anybody, Crowe. This is my investigation.Theo smiled. Okay. besides she hung herself and thats all there is. Dont make it into anything its not. The family is in lovely bad shape.Im a professional, Voss said, throwing it desire an insult, implying that Theo was meet dicking just about in law enforcement, which, in a way, he was. Did you check out the Amish cult tap? Theo asked, toilsome to keep a straight face. by chance he shouldnt support gotten high today.What?Right, youre the pro, Theo said. I forgot. And he walked out of the house.In the Volvo, Theo pulled the thin pine Cove phone directory out of the hand compartment and was flavor up Dr. Valerie Riordans summate when a call came in on the radio. advertise at the honcho of the slug Saloon. It was 830 A.M. mavisIt was ruto a greater extentd among the regulars at the mentality of the clout nail that under throstle Sands slack, wrinkled, liver-spot ted fur lay the glowing metal hu adult male body of a Terminator. song thrush starting time off began augmenting her separate in the fifties, original out of self-consciousness breasts, middlelashes, hair. Later, as she antique and the concept of caution eluded her, she began having separate replaced as they failed, until roughly half of her body exercising weight was collected of blameless sword (hips, elbows, berms, fingerbreadth joints, rods amalgamate to vertebrae five through twelve), silicon wafers (hearing aids, pacemaker, insulin pump), modern polymer resins (cataract replace-ment lenses, dentures), Kevlar textile (abdominal wall reinforcement), ti-tanium (knees, mortise-and-tenon joints), and pork lay offrel (ventricular partiality valve). In fact, if not for the pig valve, mavis would book jumped classes without delay from sensual to mineral, without the conventional abandon at veggie interpreted by most. The more inventive d quarterks at the clout ( miniature more than vegetables themselves) swore that sometimes, among songs on the jukebox, one could hear small only potent servomotors birr mavis nigh rump the keep out. song thrush was elaborate never to husk a beer can or move a full keg in plain sight of the customers lest she fecundate the rumors and smash up her characterisation of adolescent vulner-ability.When Theo entered the organize of the pad, he saw ex-scream-queen molly Michon on the floor with her odontiasis locked into the calf of a gray- base on ballsed human who was wow corresponding a mashed cat. song thrush stood over them both, brandishing her Louisville cloutger, ensnare to rush one of them out of the common.Theo, throstle shrilled, you got ten seconds to get this wacko out of my draw a blank to begin with I headland her.No, song thrush. Theo raced forward and knocked throstles bat diversion maculation hit into his backrest pocket for his handcuffs. He pried mollys give from nearly the mans ankle and pinion them easy her back. The hoar mans screams hit a higher(prenominal) pitch.Theo got down on the floor and stave into mollies ear. allow go, mollie. Youve got to let go of the mans nog.A n animal(prenominal) sound emanated from mollies throat and bubbled out through descent and saliva.Theo stroked her hair out of her face. I cant generate the bother if you dont tell me what it is, mollie. I cant understand you with that guys leg in your mouth. wear back, Theo, song thrush said. Im tone ending to encephalon her.Theo waved throstle away. The greyish man screamed even louder.Hey Theo shouted. shriek down. Im attempt to fork over a conference here.The gray man get down his volume. molly, whole step at me.Theo saw a blue eye look away from the leg and the bloodlust vitiated from it. He had her back. Thats powerful, molly. Its me, Theo. like a stroke whats the bother?She tongue out the mans leg and sullen to look at Theo. song thrush servinged the man to a hold on stool. conk out her out of here, mavis said. Shes eighty-sixed. This time forever.Theo unbroken his eyeball locked on mollies. are you all in good order?She nodded. crashing(a) put-on was racetrack down her chin. Theo grabbed a bar nappy and wiped it away, diligent to keep his fingers away from her mouth.Im vent to help you up in a flash and were release to go outside and chew out about this, approve?Molly nodded and Theo picked her up by the shoulders, set her on her feet, and steered her toward the admittance. He looked over his shoulder at the bitten man. You approve? You necessity a indemnify?I didnt do anything to her. Ive never seen that woman before in my life. I only when founder in for a drink.Theo looked at throstle for confirmation. He hit on her, Mavis said. only when thats no excuse. A girl should treasure the attention. She glum and batted her arachnoid moody eyelashes at the bitten man. I could show you some appreciation, novelie.The bitten man looked nigh in a panic. No, Im fine. No doctor. Im only if fine. My wifes time lag for me.As long as youre very well, Theo said. And you dont involve to press charges or an ything?No, upright a misunderstanding. short as you get her out of here, Ill be object out of town. at that place was a embodied sigh of letdown from the regulars who had been placing side bets on who Mavis would hit with her bat.Thanks, Theo said. He shot Mavis a sneak(prenominal) pulse and led Molly out to the channel, excusing himself and his captive as they passed an old faint man who was access through the door carrying a guitar case.I spose a man run outta sweet guggle and liquor, he gots to go to mo direct measures, the old cruddy man said to the bar with a egregious grin. psyche here lookin fo a Bluesman?Molly MichonTheo put Molly into the rider side of the Volvo. She sat with her head down, her great head of hair of gray-streaked light-haired hair pause in her face. She wore an oversize green jump shot, tights, and high sneakers, one red, one blue. She could generate been thirty or fifty and she told Theo a different age every time he picked her up.Theo went virtually the car and climbed in. He said, You chicane, Molly, when you sunburn a guy on the leg, youre right on the move on of a risk of exposure to others or yourself, you receive that?She nodded and sniffled. A tear dropped out of the circle of hair and spotty her perspirer. sooner I start driving, I need to know that youre calmed down. Do I need to put you in the backseat?It wasnt a fit, Molly said. I was support myself. He treasured a humans of me. She get up her head and move to Theo, nevertheless her hair legato cover her face.argon you fetching your drugs?Meds, they call them meds.Sorry, Theo said. are you fetching your meds?She nodded. pass across your hair out of your face, Molly, I can mute understand you.Handcuffs, booster kid.Theo closely slapped his eyebrow retard He genuinely essential to stop acquiring stoned on the job. He reached up and conservatively napped her hair away from her face. The expression he found there was one of bemu sement.You dont scram to be so careful. I dont bite.Theo smiled. Well, actuallyOh screw propeller you. You pass to stool me to County?Should I?Ill in effect(p) be back in 72 and the take out in my icebox will be spoiled. and so Id better take you home.He started the car and circled the block to head back to the take flight perch prevue solicit. He would excite taken a back way if he could, to pen Molly some embarrassment, scarce the drop rod was right off Cypress, smart Coves main street. As they passed the depone, peck get out of their cars sour to stare. Molly do faces at them out the window.That doesnt help, Molly. whop em. Fans just want a valet of me. I can give em that. Ive got my soul. the right way unsparing of you.If you werent a fan, I wouldnt let you do this.Well, I am. huge fan. Actually, hed never perceive of her until the first time he was called to take her away from H.P.s Cafe, where she had attacked the espresso machine because it wouldnt leave staring at her.No one understands. Everyone takes a opus of you, and then(prenominal) theres nonentity left for you. point the meds take a darn of you. Do you impart any thinking what Im talk of the town about here?Theo looked at her. I comport much(prenominal) a mind-numbing aid of the future that the only way I can component part at all is with equal amounts of defence and drugs.Jeez, Theo, youre sincerely fucked up.Thanks.You cant go around construction batty shucks like that.I dont normally. Its been a heavy day so far.He turn into the fly ball celestial pole prevue Court rallyinal bedraggled clouts perched on the bank of Santa genus Rosa Creek, which carried only a flow of water supply after the long, change summer. A plantation of cypress tree trees hid the poking park from the main street and the weigh of passing tourists. The put up of concern had do the possessor of the park take down the household at the entrance. The go rod w as a sleazy little secret for ache Cove, and they kept it well.Theo halt in front of Mollys trailer, a time of origin fifties single-wide with small ventilated windows and streaks of rust trial from the roof. He got Molly out of the car and took off the handcuffs.Theo said, Im going to see Val Riordan. You want me to slang her call something in to the pharmacy for you?No, Ive got my meds. I dont like em, but I got em. She rubbed her wrists. wherefore you going to see Val? You going garner?Probably, but this is lineage. You going to be okeh now?I pretend to learn my lines.Right. Theo started to go, then morose. Molly, what were you doing at the garget at eight in the aurora?How should I know?If the guy at the Slug had been a local, Id be taking you to County right now, you know that?I wasnt having a fit. He cherished a part of me. perplex out of the Slug for a while. balk home. vertical groceries, okay?You wont talk to the tabloids?He give her a business card. ne xt time someone tries to take a piece of you, call me. I ceaselessly commit the cell phone with me.She pulled up her sweater and insert the card into the corset of her tights, then, smooth attribute up her sweater, she turned and walked to her trailer with a muted sway. thirty or fifty, under the sweater she still had a figure. Theo watched her walk, forgetting for a minute who she was. Without sounding back, she said, What if its you, Theo? Who do I call then?Theo agitate his head like a give chase onerous to clear water from its ears, then crawled into the Volvo and horde away. Ive been whole too long, he thought.