Kerry was dozing in and out of sleep on his hard, uncomfortable jail cot when he heard someone scream. The sound was over almost as quickly as it had come. Silence filled the jail cells and Kerry closed eyes again, certain he'd dreamed the scream.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The heavy steel door that provided the only way in or out of the jail section of the Callahan County Sheriff's Department began rattling on its hinges as it took repeated blows. Startled back to consciousness, Kerry sat up too quickly. His vision spun as he gripped the edge of the cot with both hands. He could barely see three feet in front of his face. The only light in the room was that of the full moon outside coming through the windows.
It took Kerry a minute to realize that there should have been more light in the room. The Sheriff's department was never completely dark. He looked up at the ceiling and realized that even the emergency lights had somehow been turned off.
Bang! Bang! Bang! The pounding was getting faster and louder. Why the heck didn't the person on the other side of the door just open it already? The jail door was locked from the outside, not the inside.
Bang! Clang! Several loud thumps made Kerry jump. His arms broke out in goosebumps. Local folklore held that the hundred and five year old jail was haunted. Addison, in particular, loved retelling the stories about how the sheriff in the 1920s had allowed members of the mob to use the jail as a place to torture and abuse their enemies. Addison was always talking about how the ghost of one-eyed Bobby was still rattling around in his cell, hunting for his missing eye. Kerry didn't believe the horror stories but the old brick rooms were a bit on the creepy side. Especially when you were alone,trapped and defenseless in the dark.
Bang! Thunk! The slow creak of hinges being forced open against their will.
“You aren't funny!” Kerry yelled into the corridor that separated his cell from the main area of the Sheriff's department. “I don't believe in ghosts!”
Thump. Thump. Thump. A dragging, clunking noise echoed against the walls. Kerry slid backwards across his cot so that his spine was pressed against the wall behind him.
“I know you're there!” He called out as the dragging noise came closer and closer to his cell. Whoever was approaching was careful to avoid the small squares of light that were coming in through the windows.
A slow, deep laugh cut through the still air like a knife.
“Addison, I'll have your badge for this!” Kerry forced air into his constricting lungs. “I know this is one of your jokes and it's not funny. Not funny at all. One-eyed Bobby wasn't a real person!”
“Who is Addison?” The low voice asked.
“Stop it!” Kerry demanded. “I mean it! You've had your fun. Turn on the lights and let me out.”
“Tell me where my jewelry is,” the voice said.
“What?” Kerry blinked in confusion. “What jewelry?”
“You stole from me. I want my property back.”
A cold chill ran down Kerry's spine. “I don't know anything about any stolen jewelry,” he lied.
Sitting in the pitch dark, Kerry was stricken by the thought that Curtis's ghost had come back from the grave to get him. Even as he stared into the darkness, he could see Curtis raking his fat fingers through the piles of gold chains and heavy gemstones. A million dollars, Curtis had said. Maybe two million. His tiny, piggish blue eyes had glinted with joyous greed as he'd held that jewelry. More money than either of them had ever seen in one place at one time. A small but substantial fortune. The kind of money that a man could start a new life with.
Except Curtis wouldn't be starting a new life. He was dead. Cal Walker had blown his brains out all over Kerry's own driveway. There was still a stain on the concrete. It had faded to pale pink with the help of bleach and the scorching summer sun, but it still marked the exact place where Curtis's life had leaked out onto the pavement.
“You have my jewelry,” the voice hissed. Something hit the bars of Kerry's cell. Fingernails scraped across the metal. “Give it back!”
Kerry screamed and pissed himself as the back wall of the jail exploded.