The Howling

Chapter Twenty-One

When the two cars turned up the main street of Drago, Anton Gadak was standing beneath the empty theater marquee, almost as though he had been waiting for them. Under the ever-present Stetson the white bandage still covered his ear.

Inez pulled to the side of the street and stopped. The deputy swung in and parked behind her. Gadak nodded to the women, touching his hat brim, and walked back to the sheriff's car.

"Hi, Paul," he said as the deputy climbed out. "Haven't seen you for a spell."

"They've been keeping me pretty busy," the deputy said.

"What can I do for you?"

Deputy Spears waited for Inez and Karyn to get out of the car and come back to join them. "These two ladies have some questions, Mr. Gadak."

"That so?"

"They're concerned about a couple of people who are missing. Backpackers."

"Yes." Karyn did not look at Anton Gadak. "They parked their van here in town."

"Van?" Gadak rubbed his chin in apparent puzzlement. His callused fingers made a raspy sound.

"It was taken away by a tow truck," Karyn said.

"Oh, sure, the van," Gadak said. "The one you was worried about the other day. That was parked out here on the street for a week. Nobody showed up to claim it, so I called the Highway Patrol to come and get it. That's what we always do with an abandoned vehicle. More'n likely it was stolen by kids and dumped here when they were through with it."

"It wasn't stolen," Karyn said heatedly, "and it wasn't abandoned. It belonged to a boy named Neal Edwards who was hiking up here in the mountains with his girlfriend."

"I wouldn't know anything about that," Gadak said. "Like I told you the other day, there was no registration. The Highway Patrol can check out the owner through the licence number. I ain't equipped to do that."

"And it wasn't parked here for any week, either," Karyn persisted.

"'Scuse me, Mrs. Beatty," Gadak said, "but that vehicle was parked right here in front of this theater for a full seven days. Otherwise, I would've let it be."

Karyn looked at Deputy Spears. She saw he was accepting Gadak's story.

"You can check it out with the Highway Patrol, Paul," Gadak said. "They took the van over to Palmdale. Sergeant Cutter's the man to talk to there."

"I'll give him a call," said the deputy. He turned to Karyn and Inez. "Apparently Mr. Gadak acted here strictly in accordance with our procedures. Did you have any other questions?"

"Is that it?" Karyn said. "Is that all you're going to do?"

"I can check with the Highway Patrol in Palmdale if you want, but it's their job to get in touch with the owner of an impounded vehicle."

"What about Santa Barbara? You said you could do something there."

"All I can do is send a routine request for information to the local police."

"You're brushing us off, aren't you?" Karyn's voice was tight with anger.

Deputy Spears looked down, but failed to hide a patronizing expression.

In frustration, Inez Polk, who had been standing by watching, spoke up. "Mr. Gadak, what happened to your ear?"

Gadak turned on her suddenly, but his expression revealed nothing. He took off the Stetson and touched the bandage.

"You mean this?" he said. "I had a boil back there. It was pretty sore, but I guess it ought to be all right by now. I probably don't even need this bandage anymore."

He pulled the strips of adhesive loose and eased the gauze pad away from his head. Underneath was an ear — intact and unmarked.

Gadak's smile was cold. "I appreciate your askin', but as you can see, it's nothing to worry about. Was there anything else I can do for you ladies?"

"No," Karyn said quickly. "Sorry we troubled you."

Deputy Spears politely took his leave, and Karyn and Inez walked back to the Valiant. The women drove away without a glance to the rear, but Karyn knew Anton Gadak's eyes had followed them.

"Why did you do that?" Karyn said. "Come right out and ask him about his ear?"

"I had to do something. It was obvious the deputy wasn't going to help us."

"But what good did it do? All we found out is that Gadak's ear is all right."

"It is now, but remember it's been three days since you shot the wolf. I told you those creatures heal amazingly fast from ordinary wounds."

"But it could have been a boil, as he said."

"Do you believe that?"

"I don't know what to believe."

Inez turned up the narrow road. Suddenly Karyn could hold herself in check no longer. She broke into great wracking sobs that shook her whole body, and couldn't stop. Inez brought the car to a stop and took Karyn in her arms. Karyn responded instantly, pressing herself against her friend.

For the first time in many days Karyn relaxed completely and let the tears come. Her locked-in emotions flooded out as though a gate had been opened. After several minutes the convulsive sobbing eased and she was able to draw a full breath. Still, in her need for another human being, she continued to cling to Inez.

"Is the whole world insane?" she said, her face pressed to Inez' shoulder. "Or are we?"

"Things will work out," Inez said softly. "We mustn't give up."

"You're the only one I have any more," Karyn said. "Roy is so strange lately, I can't even talk to him. Dr. Volkmann seems so removed from things, and Oriole Jolivet, well, she's just Oriole. There's nobody else. I need you, Inez."

Inez stroked Karyn's arm and leaned close. Her lips brushed Karyn's hair. Abruptly, she pulled away.

"I'll take you home now, Karyn."

Karyn straightened in the seat and looked at her friend. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong. I have things I must do, that's all."

She put the car in gear and drove on toward the house. Karyn ran a hand over her hair and kept her eyes to the front.

"I'm sorry," Karyn said. "It's thoughtless of me to take up so much of your time."

"No, it's all right," said Inez. "But I really have to go."

She pulled up in front of the little house and Karyn got out. Inez did not meet her eye.

"Well… thanks," Karyn said uncertainly. "Will I… see you again?"

"Yes, of course. I'll get in touch with you."

Karyn stood in front of the house and watched as Inez backed the car around and drove away. She waved her hand, but there was no sign that Inez had seen.

Inez Polk kept her eyes straight ahead as she drove back out the narrow lane, up through the main street of Drago, and onto the back road that led to Pinyon. Then she pulled off to the side of the road and stopped. She gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white. Her head fell forward.

"Oh, my God," she said in a voice twisted with pain. "I thought that was all behind me."

She could still feel the press of Karyn's soft body against her own. How close she had come to making a terrible mistake.

Irresistibly her thoughts were drawn back through time. Back to the years in the convent when she was known as Sister Adelaide. For the thousandth time she relived the night the young novitiate had come to her room. The girl was in tears, shaking with a fear she could not name. Inez had taken the girl's hand and sat with her on the narrow bed. She had spoken words of comfort and faith while she stroked the girl's smooth white hand. Gradually she became aware of a response in her body. It was a yearning, a need that was utterly foreign to her.

It had seemed the most natural thing in the world to take the girl into her arms. The girl had come willingly. No, eagerly.

Without consciously making it happen, Inez had found herself lying on the bed with the girl. Naked. The girl touched her and caressed her in ways Inez could not have imagined. The caresses aroused sensations indescribable. Inez' body, her very soul, had caught fire that night. Her reason fled. She wanted only to possess. To be possessed.

It was there in Inez' narrow bed that they had been found. Inez had left the convent and the order immediately and in silence. The girl was turned out, of course. Inez never heard from her again. Never tried to contact her. Tried never to think about her. In vain. For often in an empty night when she lay between chaste sheets in her solitary bed, Inez' hand would stray over her own body and she would remember the delicious, forbidden caresses.

Never since then had she been tempted to act against the laws of God and nature. Never until tonight when she had held Karyn Beatty so briefly in her arms. Inez knew there had been no intent on Karyn's part to arouse her. No response at all in that way. If there had been… if Karyn had really wanted her…

Inez forced herself to break off the thought. She pounded the steering wheel with her fists, letting the pain drive the unwanted memories from her mind. She had to think of other things. She would have a busy day tomorrow doing library research. It would fill her mind. Tonight she would read a very dull book until she fell asleep.

"Please, dear God, don't let me dream."