The Legend of Bastien - Chapter 18 – The Critical Calculation – Part 2 of 2

 

The Legend of Bastien

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 18 – The Critical Calculation – Part 2 of 2

 

As Chrissy climbed back into the truck, he mentally counted the bullets he had just used.  Five.  That meant he had only nine left, plus a bunch he could reload with in his purse.  It was time to head to his next destination.

Compared to other places, it was a bit of a drive, but there was no place in Bastien that was really very far.  In a few minutes, the bridge came in sight, along with Deputy Thomas’s pickup truck parked sideways across the road blocking the bridge.  But Chrissy wasn’t interested in going over that bridge.  As he pulled his truck to a stop, he saw Deputy Thomas getting out of his truck and heading towards him.  Chrissy grabbed his gun and flipped the safety off as he rolled his window down. 

Deputy Thomas was shocked to see Chrissy there…and especially shocked to see him driving a truck.  He walked up to the truck as Chrissy lowered the window.  “What the hell is going on?” he asked as he leaned his head down to the window. 

Chrissy raised his gun and shot him right in his head.  He never bothered getting out of the truck to check the body.  One look out the window was enough to tell him that the Deputy was dead.  He turned his truck around and headed back into town.  Eight bullets and five people left…or more, depending on the situation.  So far, he had managed to accomplish everything he really wanted, but there was no sense in stopping now.

Deputy Don’s house was the closest.  He stopped in front and went to the door.  He saw the door opening as he walked toward it.  The deputy himself was there.

“Chrissy, what the hell are you doing?  And who’s truck is that?”

Chrissy didn’t answer, except to raise his gun and fire it.  Deputy Don dropped like a rock.  He continued into the house.  Deputy Don’s wife was staring at him, screaming.  She stopped screaming as he raised the gun toward her head. 

“No!” she yelled.  “Please…don’t!”

But Chrissy was beyond redemption.  He pulled the trigger, then walked back toward the truck.  Two more bullets used.  He had six bullets left in his gun.  The same as a revolver held.  But he had plenty more in his purse if he needed them.

Deputy Wyatt answered the door himself…and died a moment later.  Five bullets left.

Deputy Phillip’s wife answered the door.  She died quickly.  Chrissy stepped over her dead body and walked into the house where Deputy Phillip was running toward him from the kitchen.  One bullet and Chrissy was leaving the house.  Three bullets still in his gun.

Deputy Steve answered his front door himself, and died just as quickly and easily as the all the other’s Chrissy had killed.  He didn’t bother with Deputy Steve’s wife.  He left her crying over her husband’s body as he climbed back into his truck.  Two bullets.

Deputy Will was walking out from his barn when Chrissy pulled his truck into the yard of the small farm where he lived.  Like he had done at the bridge, Chrissy didn’t even bother getting out of his truck.  He just lowered the window. 

“Chrissy!” Will said as he walked up to the truck.  “What the hell is going on?”

Like with the others, Chrissy’s only answer was a gunshot to the head.  He was gone before Deputy Will’s wife could get to him. 

He had done it.  He had killed them all.  Every last one of them.  He had only one bullet left in his gun, and only one person left that he had to kill.  The most important one of all.  But not yet.  He headed home.  Back to the tiny pale-yellow house he and his mother had lived in together for so long.

When he got to the house, he saw Fred Tucker’s delivery van parked out front.  As he stopped in front of that van, his mother came running out to meet him.  He could tell she was desperate with worry.  He got out of the truck, and she hugged him tightly.  “Are you alright?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” he told her.  He looked her in the face.  “I killed them Mom.  I killed the Bastiens.  All of them.  And I killed the deputies too.  All of them.  You’re safe now Mom.  Nobody can hurt you anymore.  None of them can hurt anyone anymore.”

She looked at him, not knowing if she should believe him or not.  “Come on in.  I’ll get you something to eat.”

As they headed for the door, he saw Fred and Betty Tucker in the doorway, waiting for them.  As soon as he got inside, Fred asked, “What happened?”

The answer was the same as he had just told his mother.  “All the Bastiens are dead now.  All of them.  All the deputies too.  All of them.”

“You killed them all?” Fred asked in disbelief.

“All of them,” Chrissy replied.  “No one will have to worry about them again.  There’s none left.”

“I wonder if we should tell anyone?” Betty asked.

Fred nodded.  “Yeah.  You’re right.  I think it’s high time this town saw some real authority for a change.”

“Real authority?  What are you talking about?” Betty asked.

“The police outside of here.  If he did kill so many people.  Someone outside of Bastien is going to have to know about it.  And it’s long past time that someone found out what’s been going on here…for generations!”

“Yes,” Betty finally agreed.  “But I was thinking maybe…tell some of the people who live here instead.”

“Oh.  Yeah.  I guess we should probably do that too.  I’ll head to the sheriff’s office.  I need a phone that can call outside of Bastien.  That’s the easiest one to get to.  I’ll call the authorities out there, and then I’ll call….”

“Pomeroy,” Betty suggested.

“Yeah.  Good idea.  Let him spread the word.  I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

As soon as Fred was gone, Tess headed to the kitchen and Betty followed, leaving Chrissy standing alone in the living room.  It was time.  He had murdered so many people, but he still had one bullet left in his gun, and one more murder to commit.  The most important murder of all.  Himself. 

He pulled the gun from his purse, and put it to his head.  His last thoughts were of his mother as he pulled the trigger, and heard the gun click.  He quickly made sure the safety was off, and he put the gun to his temple again and pulled the trigger.  Click.  Again and again, he pulled the trigger, but the gun wouldn’t fire.  There was still one more bullet in it.  He knew.  He had counted them carefully.

Hearing the odd clicking noise, Tess came out of the kitchen where she could see what it was.  She saw Chrissy with the gun to his head, pulling the trigger over and over again.  “Chrissy!” she yelled desperately as she ran to him.  “No!”  She grabbed his arm with the gun and tried to pull it away from his head, but he fought her, still trying to kill himself.  “No!  Let go!” she yelled.  Betty was there a moment later, and she too fought with him to pull his arm away from his head.  It took both of them, but they couldn’t pry the gun out of his hand. 

Chrissy sank down to the floor in tears and his mother enveloped him in a tight hug.

“No Chrissy.  No.” she sobbed.

But Chrissy’s only response was to bring the gun to his temple again and pull the trigger, uselessly.  He had counted perfectly.  He knew he had.  Why wouldn’t it fire?

“No, Chrissy,” Tess said again.  “Don’t!  I’ve got you baby.  I’ve got you she told him time and again as she sat on the floor holding him tightly.

 

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There were only a few telephones in Bastien that were permitted to call outside of the community.  When Fred needed to call outside to Bastien for business reasons he always had to go through the Bastien operator to do that.  But he wasn’t sure if that would be a good idea just now.  He wasn’t too sure about anything that Chrissy had said.  He needed a phone that could call directly out to the outer world around Bastien, and the closest one belonged to the sheriff.  Deciding that would be his best bet, he drove from Tess’s old house to the sheriff’s office.  When he got inside, he stopped for a moment to stare at the bodies of the sheriff and Deputy Hank.  It looked like Chrissy had been telling at least some of the truth.  Doing his best to ignore the bodies, he went into the sheriff’s inner office and grabbed his phone.

The sheriff’s office phone wasn’t like any of the other phones in Bastien.  This one had a few buttons on it.  One of them was pushed down.  Since most phones in Bastien could only call inside the community, he was guessing that the other button had to be the one to allow him to call outside the community without the aid of the Bastien phone operator.  He pushed that button, but now he wasn’t sure who to call.  To just reach the Bastien operator to make outside calls for the store, he usually dialed zero.  Who would he reach if he did that on this phone line?  Hoping it would get him somewhere, he dialed zero.

“Operator,” the voice suddenly came back.  “How may I help you?”

It was a voice he didn’t recognize, which meant it wasn’t from Bastien.  “I need the police,” Fred told her.

“Did you try dialing 9-1-1?” the operator asked.

“9-1-1?” Fred asked, unfamiliar with the number.

“For emergencies,” the operator replied.  “Never mind, I’ll connect you.”

A moment later, Fred heard another woman’s voice.  “9-1-1.  What’s your emergency?”

“This is Fred Tucker in Bastien,” Fred told her.  “We’ve just had a bunch of murders here in this town.  We need…someone to come out and help.”

“How safe are you right now?” the operator asked.

“I’m fine.  Everyone’s fine.  Nobody’s getting hurt anymore.  We just need…someone to get out here.”

“Where did you say you were?”

“Bastien.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve never heard of it.”

“Can you just get me in touch with some police or something.  Some real police?”

“One moment,” the operator said.  “I’m checking my computer now.  I’m afraid I don’t see any mention at all of a town called Bastien.”

“Get me someone from the police to talk to.  Please!” Fred told her.

“One moment,” the operator replied.

Fred was getting fed up, but a minute later, a voice came on the line.  A man’s voice.  “Sergeant Enroy, State patrol.  How can I help you?”

“This is Fred Tucker.  My wife and I run the dry goods store in Bastien.  We’ve just had a lot of people killed here in this town, and I think it would be a good idea if someone with some kind of authority…real authority…came out here to at least take a look.”

“Where did you say it was?” the man asked.

“Bastien.  B-A-S-T-I-E-N.  Bastien!”

“I’ve never heard of it.  Wait a minute while I check.”

Fred’s irritation was increasing.

“I’m sorry,” Enroy said.  “There is no town called Bastien.  You can be arrested for making calls like this.”

“Fine!” Fred said.  “Arrest me.  Just get someone here to take a look!”

“Get someone where?”

“Bastien!  Oh hell!  Tell you what.  We send someone out every day to a few places in Mason for business.  Do you know where the Mason post office is?”

“In Mason?  No problem.”

“Then give me an hour.  I’ll drive out there myself.”

“The post office in Mason,” Sergeant Enroy stated for clarification.

“Yes!  Just give us an hour to get there.  It’s a long ride from here.  Everywhere is a long ride from here.”

“And what did you say was the problem there?”

“Murders!  A lot of them.”

“What do you mean by a lot?”

“I don’t know how many, but I do know the Sheriff, the judge, all the town deputies, and a lot of others have died today.”

“Did you say the sheriff there?”

“Yes!  That’s why I’m calling you!”

“If this is a crank call, we will trace you down and prosecute you.”

“Like I said, fine!  I’ll be at the Mason post office in an hour.  Please have someone there.  They can follow me back here.”

“And how will they know you?”

“My name is Tucker.  Fred Tucker.  And like I said, I run the dry goods store here.  My dry goods vehicle is a large van.”

“Very well, Mr. Tucker.  I’ll have someone meet you there in an hour.”

“You might want to send more than one.”

“We’ll see, Mr. Tucker.  I’ve never heard of Bastien, and there’s no listing of any such place in our records.”

“Somehow,” Fred replied.  “I’m no longer surprised.”

Fred hung up the phone and pushed the other button on the phone, hoping it would get him all the Bastien numbers.  A moment later he was rewarded to hear Hugh Pomeroy pick up the phone.  “Hugh!”

“Fred?  What’s up?”

“I just came from Chrissy Moore’s house and now I’m in the sheriff’s office.  According to Chrissy, he just murdered every Bastien in the town, and ever deputy as well.”

“That’s a bit hard to swallow,” Hugh replied.

“True, but I’m standing in the sheriff’s office right now, and he and Deputy Hank are definitely dead.”

Pomeroy was aghast.  “You’re joking!”

“Not one bit!  Listen, Pomeroy.  I just called the state police.”

“The state police!  I don’t think there’s been an outside policeman here in my lifetime.”

“I’m sure there hasn’t.  When I called they didn’t have a record of Bastien even existing.  I had to convince them to meet me at the Mason post office in an hour.  I need to get out there now.”

“What do you need from me?” Hugh asked.

“Can you pass the word?  According to Chrissy, the Bastien family doesn’t exist anymore, and neither do the deputies.”

“What are we going to do?”

“I haven’t a clue,” Fred told him.  “I’m off now to meet some real police.  In Mason.  I hope.”