GARGOYLES chapter 4

Chapter IV

                   At about 10:35 Scott hears a car horn.  He looks out the window and sees Tom leaning against an old brown 4 door Ford sedan.  As he grabs his jacket and locks the door he again wonders what has he gotten him self into.
                   “Hi, Scott.  Are you ready to go?”
                   “Yeah,” he growls “but I still think this is a waste of time.  Let’s not make this an all niter.  I still have to go to work tomorrow.”
                   They both get in the car and Tom pulls away from the curb.  On the way to the highway, Tom stops at a local Donut Shop.  “How do you like your coffee?”
                   “What?”
                   “How do you like your coffee?”
                   “Sorry, black no sugar”
                   “I’ll be right back,” Tom answers.
                   A couple of minutes later Tom returns with a large box and two 16-ounce coffees.  “Here, this is yours, help yourself to donuts, I bought a dozen assorted.  I figured these would help.  Caffeine and sugar, just what the system needs for a long night.”
                   “Is this how a stakeout works?  I might get to like this,” he laughs.  “Donuts, coffee, how come the cops aren’t fatter?”
                   “We might as well be as comfortable as possible.  We could be there for a while.”
                   Scott wasn’t sure if he liked the sound of that.  “Just remember I do have to get to work tomorrow.”
                   “No problem, don’t worry.  I’ll get you to bed tonight.”
                   The trip to Pearl Street was as quick and uneventful as the previous night’s trip.  As a matter of fact they made it in less then an hour, even with stopping for the coffee and doughnuts.  Tom turns onto Pearl Street and parks just off the same corner Scott parked on the night before.  From here they have a clear line of sight of the building, its rooftop and the rest of the block.  At this point Tom leans into the back and pulls out a duffle bag.  Out of the bag Tom pulls what looks like a very strange looking device that has goggles attached to it. 
                   Tom sees the look on Scott’s face, “this is a Russian made, night vision goggle/camera. After Communism fell in the Soviet Union all their technology was up for sale to the highest bidder.”  He then goes on to thank the New Russian Capitalism for making this piece of military technology available to him.  “With this we will be able to see at night and even be able to take some pictures.  The Russians must have spent millions of rubles to develop and build this but I bought it for $350.00 on the internet.”
                   They sit quietly for awhile drinking their coffee and eating some of the doughnuts.
                   After an hour, Tom suggests that they take turns, one sleeps while the other watches.  Tom shows Scott how to use the camera.  They decide that Scott will take the first watch.  He watches as Tom makes himself comfortable, pushing the seat all the way back, and then proceeds to drop into a very loud sleep.  A very LOUD sleep.  To call it snoring would be an understatement.  At first Scott is a little fidgety.  Every time he hears any sound he jumps.  He starts to calm down some, but with the calm comes recognition that he is tired.  He is starting to get drowsy so he gets out of the car, hoping the cool air will keep him alert.  The cold air does seem to work.  He walks a small distance from the car and squeezes into a doorway so that he cannot be seen by any one walking up or down the street, or from above.  While leaning against the cold door Scott wonders what he is doing out there.  ‘This is stupid, I feel like a kid playing cops and robbers.’  Then he starts to think about the weird turn of events in his life.  About 4 promising years of college that led to a boring, go no where Wall Street job.  He decides at this point that he will do something to change careers.  Something to jumpstart his life!  But what?  ‘Maybe I will go back to school.  I always liked writing.”  After about 20 minutes of standing in the cold and not seeing or hearing anything he decides to get back in the car.  He is feeling chilled and depressed and wants to go home.  He heads back to the car to warm up.  In the car it is still fairly warm even though it has been off for awhile and soon falls asleep. 
                   Scott jumps up from his sleep, at first not realizing where he is.  All at once he remembers the car, the stakeout, and Tom.  He quickly glances at his watch and sees that it is 1:17 in the morning.  He looks up and down the street but sees nothing.  What woke him?  Glancing up at the rooftops he cannot see a thing.  The darkness is all encompassing.  Suddenly he remembers the night vision camera.  He grabs it and starts to scan up and down both sides of the block, nothing.  He then starts to scan the rooftops, and still doesn’t see anything.  But something did wake him up, maybe the wind or one of those big city rats rummaging in the garbage, or maybe just nerves.  He was more alert now, as the adrenaline was still flowing through his body. 
                   At 2:00 a.m. on the button Scott starts to wake Tom.
                   “Tom…Tom, wake up.  It’s your turn to keep a look out. ”
                   “Anything happen while I slept?  Did you hear or see anything?” Tom asks as he rubs the sleep from his eyes.
                   Scott begins to tell Tom what happened earlier.  About falling asleep, and waking up.  About using the camera and not seeing anything.
                   Tom says “OK, why don’t you get some sleep now.  I’ll wake you if anything happens.”
                   Scott now pushes his seat back and curls up the best that he can and falls back asleep almost instantly.
                   Tom raises his seat back up and settles in for a long night. 
He has been through these before and knows what is ahead.  He starts to think about different things.  His life, about the fact that he has never had one job for more then a couple of years.  About working for small local papers, covering high school sports, local parades, and birth announcements.  Always dreaming of that one big story that would make him famous, maybe win a Pulitzer and get him a job with a more prestigious paper like the Times.  Maybe some day he will write that great American novel.  About Penny and their 5 year engagement.  Maybe it was time to make that more permanent.  “She has been very supportive of everything I do, no matter how crazy.’
                   Suddenly he hears a sound, a loud thud that brings him back from the daydreams.  It sounded like a large heavy bag was dropped onto the pavement.  Tom pulls out the night vision camera and starts to slowly scan up the block.  “Hey, what’s that?  I don’t remember that garbage bag sitting over there.”  At the center of the block in front of the building approximately where the blood splattered on Scott, was what looked like a large dark punching bag.  “Where did that come from, I wonder if it blew off the roof?  That was definitely not their earlier!” Tom mutters to himself.  He looks up at the roof and scans with the night vision camera.  He sees a shadow scurrying along the roof.  It looks like a man hunched over so that he will not be seen.  He starts to snap pictures all the while trying to wake Scott. 
                              “Scott, Scott, damn it Scott wake up. Quick!” 
Scott jumps up confused.
                   What’s the matter, what happened?” questioned Scott, as he sat rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
                   “I see something strange on that rooftop!  Take a look.”  He hands the night vision binoculars to Scott pointing up at the building where he saw the shadow.
                   Scott grabs the night vision binoculars and looks up, “where, I don’t see anything.  There’s nothing up there, you’re dreaming.”
                   “Scan the rooftops over there!  By the center building.”
                   Scott continues scanning back and forth over the rooftops.  But he sees nothing.  Tom grabs the camera and begins a slow, steady examination of the rooftop, but now sees nothing.
                   “Are you sure you saw something.  Sometimes the shadows can play tricks on your eyes.  You probably fell asleep and had a dream.”
                   “No, I did not fall asleep.  I did see something.  I wasn’t hallucinating, I wasn’t seeing things and I was not dreaming.  I was wide awake at the time unlike some people.  I have been through these stakeouts before.  I know I saw something, but I’m just not sure what it was!”
                   “Describe to me what you saw.”
                   “I….I can’t.  I’m not sure what I saw.  Don’t forget it was dark.  It could have been a man.  I think.  But it was moving along that rooftop, and then it stopped ……… It all of a sudden turned this way and was looking straight at me.”
                   “What?  How could it see us down here?  It’s dark and we are in a car.”
                   “I don’t know but it seemed to be looking at me.  Or maybe it was looking right through me.  I don’t know.”  Tom’s heart was really pumping, his chest was heaving in and out with each breath.  He starts to analyze what he saw in his mind.  But it doesn’t fit into any categories that he is familiar with.  He is a little confused and feels somewhat agitated, but doesn’t know why.
                   Scott does not believe Tom saw anything.  ‘He probably dozed off and had a dream’, thought Scott ‘just like I did.  There was nothing on the roof and certainly nothing staring back at him.  How could anything see us in this darkness?  This guy is a little loony if he thinks that.’
                   They both sit quietly for what seems like hours when Tom suddenly shouts.
                   “The bag!”  Tom jumps out of the car and sprints towards the building.
                   Scott follows closely, “What bag, what are you talking about?”
                   They both pull up short in front of a large black garbage bag. 
                   “That bag!”  But as they stood there they realized this was not a black bag, but a man.  Or at least what used to be a man.
                   “This is what got me going.  I was sitting there thinking about Penny when I heard a thud.  I then grabbed the night vision binoculars and checked the rooftops first.  I did not see anything up there so I started to look over the sidewalk from the far corner in.  It  was at that point that I saw what I thought was a large garbage bag.  I then looked back up to the roof immediately above where the bag was lying and I saw it.  At first I thought it was a man looking down.  But the shape was different, kind of like a big man with a hunched back, or maybe carrying another bag.  Then it looked across at me.  I am sure it was looking at me right through the dark.  It then stood straight up and..................this is the strange part.  I think it had wings!”
                   “What?”
                   “I don’t know.  Wings, it looked like it had wings.  You know like a bird or a bat.”
                   They started to examine the body, being careful not to touch anything.  The man was obviously homeless.  The clothes that he was wearing were old and tattered.  He wore a shoe on one foot and a sneaker on the other.
                   Tom suggested that there may have been a few of them living in this old abandoned building.  “It could be that they staked out this old building for themselves and maybe this one slipped and fell to his death.  Or maybe he was pushed.  Who knows?”
                   “What do we do now?” asked Scott “We got ourselves a body.  We should call the cops.”
                   Tom doesn’t answer right away, he thinks for a couple minutes and then he pulls out his cell phone.  He dials a number and hesitates for a minute and then asks for Sergeant Salvatore Torricelli.                     “Hey Sal how are you doing?  Not bad, can’t complain, hey listen me and a friend have been doing some research on old buildings in the Wall Street area for an article and we found a body down here on Pearl Street.  Yeah I think he’s dead, at least he hasn’t moved in a while.  How do I know, I’m not a doctor I’m a writer!  Very funny.  OK, OK, I’ll wait for you.  Yeah I’m on Pearl Street right off Broad.  Get here quick, this is creepy and it’s getting late.  Yeah, see you soon.” 
                   Tom turns to Scott, “that was an old friend of mine from
high school.  Sgt. Torricelli is an old school friend of mine who now works for NYPD Homicide.  He is a NYPD detective.  He said to wait for him, he will be here in about 15 minutes.  When he gets here don’t say too much.  As a matter of fact, don’t say anything.  Let me do most of the talking and take your cues from me, OK?  I’m not sure what we are up against yet and I don’t want to tip our hand to anyone.”
                   “Sure, I won’t volunteer anything about tonight or Friday morning.  What would I say any way?  Wow, it’s almost 4:00 a.m.!  I can’t believe I have to go to work in three hours.”
                   “Why don’t you call in sick?  Do you have any time left on your job? ”
                   “Yeah, I do.  But who wants to waste sick days or vacation days.  I better call in I wouldn’t be in any condition to do any work anyway.  I guess I’ll just catch up on my sleep tomorrow.”
                   “Sleep, I don’t think so, we have work to do later.”
                   Just then a large black sedan turns the corner and pulls up to the curb.  Two men get out and approach Scott and Tom.  One, the older of the two is about 5 feet 8 inches tall, a little overweight with a balding grey head.  The second of the two is much younger, maybe 30, 5’10” with an athletic build.
                   “How are you doing?” asks the older of the two.
                   “Fine, Sal how about you?”
                   “Pretty lousy at this hour.  You never get used to working the graveyard shift.  Where’s the body, and what are you two doing here at this hour?  Are you chasing vampires again?”
                   “Scott this delightful fellow is Detective Sergeant Salvatore Torricelli and his associate is the esteemed Detective Lee Brown.  The body is right over there gentlemen,” gestured Tom, “We are doing an article for the Sunday paper on the buildings down here in the Wall Street area.  These are some of the oldest and most historical in the City you know.    This is Scott Lang, he is new to the paper and I kind of took him under my wing.  He will be working with me for awhile.  While looking around here we discovered the body.”
                   Sal walks over to the body and is followed by the younger man who nods at Tom but eyes Scott suspiciously.  Torricelli puts on some surgical gloves and bends to examine the body.  He pulls a pencil out of his coat pocket to use as a finger to look under the dead mans jacket.  He whispers something to Brown and then straightens up.  He walks back towards Tom and Scott.
                   “Since when do you write about Real Estate or anything ‘REAL’ for that matter Tommy?  I thought you only write about that crazy occult stuff.”
                   “Well Sal that was true for awhile but there’s no money in it, so Real Estate and History here I am.  One does have to support ones self.  I have become addicted to three squares a day.”
                   “OK Tommy, you and your pal can go.  I’ll call the coroner to send the wagon to pick up the stiff.  If I need you for anything I’ll call you, I know where you live,” chuckles Sal.  “I may call you tomorrow with a couple of questions.  You will be around won’t you?”
                   “Sal, call me when you get the coroners report, I’d like to know what happened.  It’s a little unnerving to find a dead man on the streets of New York!”
                   “Ok, Tommy, I’ll let you know what I find out……… maybe.  Now get out of here.”
                   Tom and Scott turned and started to walk back to the car.
                   “Hey Tom, you are telling me everything, Right?”
                   “Sure Sal, would I lie to you or stand in the way of an investigation?”
                   Sal Torricelli just watched them walk back to their car.