A Suspect?
The silver car putted to a stop near the church. Chernobyl got out. "Thanks, Christian," he shouted.
"No problemo," Hosoi replied, and drove off. [Note--the "Christian Hosoi" referred to is named and based on the skateboarder, but the name and profession are about the only similarities.]
Choby walked into the side alley next to the church. It was really two buildings blocked off by part of the church, and Father Damien's car was still there. He saw four people near it. Going closer, he saw it was Damon, Amy, Lilith, and a nun.
"Hiya," he greeted.
"Hi," Amy said.
"Yo, Choby," Lilith replied.
"Yeah, hi," Damon mumbled. [Note--apologies are made now for the unintended similarity of the names "Damien" and "Damon."]
"And who's this?" Choby asked.
"This is Sister Annemarie," Amy said. "She works around the church with Father Damien." She looked a little uncomfortable. "Or, rather, used to work."
"Don't worry," Damon said. "We'll find him before next week is through. Why don't we go to B&C in the meantime 'n' try to forget about it?"
"Yeah," Amy said. "But we better get goin'. It looks like the weather's gonna change real soon."
The five of them walked uptown. They got to the restaurant just in time, for it had begun to rain. It seemed as if the whole world was miserable at the priest's disappearance. They sat down at a table in the dimly-lit yet cozy room and began to talk.
"He just finished a wedding and said he was going home," Sister Annemarie informed them. "I went out after about a half hour and his car was still there. An hour later it still sat there, so I called Damien."
"Why doesn't he want the police involved?" Choby asked.
"He says they'd cause even bigger trouble."
"Wow! Look at the car!" Damon exclaimed. All heads turned to look. A red Lamborghini pulled in and parked.
"Hey, I know that!" Choby said. "That's Damien's car. I wonder what he's doin' here?"
Damien got out and headed towards the building.
"Where d'ya think Father Damien is?" Choby asked.
"Damien has a theory that Scorpio has him," Sister Annemarie whispered.
"Scorpio! Where'd he get that idea?"
They were interrupted when Damien came in. He obviously didn't take any notice of them and he sat down at a booth. He also started to write something on a pad of paper he had.
"I wonder what he's doing?" Choby asked.
"Taking notes on the food?" Damon asked. [Note--Damon Barrymore--as this character is really named--is WAY out of character in this version of the story. He's actually pretty quiet and polite, and not given to random outbursts of humor whatsoever.]
Everyone glared at him.
Just then another person, whom they'd never seen before, came in and sat down in front of Damien.
"He's the one! That guy was talking to Damien earlier. I've seen him with Father Damien before, too," Sister Annemarie whispered. "Maybe that's where he got the Scorpio information."
"I smell a rat," Amy muttered.
Damon did a take with his water. "And all this time I thought they had top service!" [Note--despite my earlier note, THIS line sounds kind of like something Damon WOULD say.]
"What's his name?" Choby asked.
"It's, uh, something like Martin--no, no, it's--Luther! That's it. His name's Luther."
Damien and Luther talked for a while, then left. They drove off.
"I guess Dami's taking him to the coven," Choby said. "He musta walked here or somethin'."
Back at home, Harvey was now reading Tales From the Crypt. The Lamborghini pulled in.
"Can I use your phone for a sec?" Luther asked. "Just wanna tell a friend something."
"Sure," Damien said. "I'll wait."
Luther walked right past Harvey without noticing. Harvey wasn't really into the Crypt-Keeper right now so he couldn't help but to overhear.
"Yeah? Hi, Der. Yeah, it's me. Still got him? Didn't get away? Good." He looked over his shoulder nervously. "Listen, Derrick, his nephew's right here. Says he's lookin' for him. Y'better tie him and gag him good. One false move and he'll get it. One wrong move and we're in for it."
Harvey stopped, staring at the Crypt-Keeper. He felt a lump of fright rising in his throat.
"You got the poison? In the needle?"
Harvey gasped and dropped the magazine. Luther looked up, startled. "I think someone's in here, Der. See ya later." He hung up, looked around, and bolted for the door. [Note--more out-of-character reactions are from Luther Broderick. He should not look nervous, should not "bolt" for anything, should not call Derrick "Der" or address him like an equal, etc. etc. etc. This is remedied in the rewrite.]
Harvey looked around wildly. If he ran, Luther would know that he'd overheard. He jumped down and picked up the magazine when Luther came in.
"Oh! Hiya! Just--just came in to get my mag," Harvey laughed, terrified. "Really like th' ol' Crypt-Keeper."
"Hmm-mm," Luther nodded. Harvey stood riveted to the ground, unable to move. Somehow he felt as if he'd entered the Crypt himself. But Luther seemed to believe him. He took the comic book and paged through it, then handed it back and left.
"Whew!" Harvey said, daring to let out his breath and move again. Putting the magazine aside, he ran out--just in time to see the red Lamborghini, with the unsuspecting Damien, speed away.
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