Solomon's Grave

off once the final store killed its overhead light. The Hillcrest Men’s Club had theirs off all the time. Just one more quirk of their bizarre little troupe. Now that The Greedy Grocer was closed, the neighborhood fell into darkness for the next nine hours, at which time Josh would drag himself back to start another day.

Not that he minded. He was never much of a late sleeper and all he had to do was open the place until Shirley Riggalaro showed up after her kids got on the bus. Then the day was his own, until the closing shift.

He checked his watch. Five minutes past ten. Before moving back to the register to cash out, Josh looked outside, pressing his hands against the glass to see past the inside glare. Aside from his own rusting Toyota parked out front, three other cars sat bathed in the filtered white light spilling from the men’s club two doors down. Every night, with few exceptions, someone was over there. Granted it was Friday, but it could as easily have been a Tuesday or Wednesday. Having to get up for work didn’t seem a priority for them. Including Nate’s dad. Mr. Dinneck’s car had arrived sometime in the past hour.

For some reason, the fact that Mr. Dinneck frequented the place never seemed odd until now. He never came into the store when Josh was working, not even for a last minute loaf of bread. The guy in charge of the club came by often enough. Perfectly coiffed white hair and clipped moustache like some displaced English gentleman. The few times he and Whitey (a private nickname Josh tagged for him since he never got the guy’s real name) exchanged pleasantries, Josh invariably got uncomfortable. Something very weird about the man. For some reason, he never felt the need to mention anything to Nate about any of this during the past few months. Now he wondered why. Not until Nate swung by this evening to grab a few necessities like soda and microwave popcorn, did Mr. Dinneck’s nightly sojourns to his little club take on significance.

During their brief conversation at the counter this afternoon, Nate kept looking out the window. When Josh asked what was up, Nate explained about his dad. Not much, but enough to let him know that all was not well in Dinneck Land.

The discussion took a U-turn when Josh bagged the groceries and asked, “Any big plans for the weekend, Nate?” He assumed his buddy was planning some wild night of reading the Book of Moses or something equally enthralling. When Nate beamed and shyly mentioned his date with Elizabeth, Josh couldn’t suppress the sudden fear slamming into his belly.

Not that he’d done anything wrong. Not really. Well, maybe a little. He’d never told Nate about what happened, after all. Not once in the years between the then of his dirty little secret and now. He tried to mask his worry as surprise. Josh’s instincts screamed to tell his friend the truth, now, before Elizabeth did. But, well, Nate seemed to have somewhere to go.

If E told him tomorrow, so be it. No big deal. It was over now, anyway. Still, Nate was his best friend. Friends don’t keep secrets.

Josh hunkered down behind the counter and locked the canvas money bag. He dropped the bundle into the safe and spun the day’s cash into the floor. He preferred not to do any bank drop-offs at night; too many stories of ambushes to make it worth the risk. Muggers didn’t usually work the morning shift. He shut off all lights except for the few needed for security, and left the store.

He hesitated in front of the Toyota. To his left, an occasional shadow passed across the men’s club windows. No details, though. The glass was covered with some kind of white paint, or soap. Why they didn’t get drapes or curtains instead of smearing goop all over the window was beyond him. Then again, that would be something a woman might think of, not a bunch of chain-smoking Bud drinkers playing poker.

Maybe he could take a peek, if there was a gap in all that paint. Let Nate know what his dad was up to. He felt a sudden sense of deja vu. Hadn’t he done this once before? It sure felt that way. He’d have remembered it, of course. More and more the fact that he hadn’t been keeping tabs on Mr. Dinneck until now, nor even mentioning anything to Nate about the place bothered him. There was a reason, a good one, but right now he couldn’t remember what it was.

Maybe he should mind his own business and head home, or go back into the store and grab a movie from the rental shelf.

Just one peek...

As he thought this, he was already moving down the front walkway. His reflection in Hair U Doing?’s front window followed. He stepped lightly, stomach tight as if he was spying into a neighbor’s bedroom, then paused. He was just taking a peek.

The paint/soap was fairly consistent across the windows. The place reminded him of one of those campaign headquarter politicians set up during election season, taking up residence in an abandoned storefront only to abandon it after the votes were cast.

He tried not to venture too close to the door—another soaped over glass job. Someone might decide to leave. Wouldn’t be very cool to catch the Grocer’s manager spying on their secret games. There. A scrape, no more than a few inches long at roughly waist height. He could see old floor tiles from his current vantage.

Go home, he scolded himself. He suddenly needed to go to the bathroom. Just look, then you can go, you chicken.

Josh hunkered down until his left eye was level with the clear spot. The only light around him came from inside so he shouldn’t cast any shadow on the window. He leaned forward, stopping when his forehead rested soundlessly against the glass.

Someone at the bar. The guy who came in now and then for a six back of Sam Adams. He liked to glare at Josh when he paid. Typical crowbar to the wallet dude. The guy also liked to park in the back alley next to the owner’s car. Someone’s knee just to his right. Josh rolled his head, careful not to bump the window, and Mr. Dinneck came into view.

The guy looked wasted. He sat in a folding chair and stared across the room at a point to Josh’s left. At least the guy wasn’t looking at him. He didn’t seem to be looking at anything, in fact. Mr. Dinneck just sat there, hands flat on his legs and stared. Behind him, some kind of card game was going on. No one inside seemed concerned about the way the guy was acting.

Very creepy. He wasn’t drunk. Drunks wouldn’t be able to sit that still. Drugs, then? Yeah, maybe. Mr. Dinneck’s eyes were open, so he wasn’t asleep. What was he looking at?

Josh did the roll-thing with his head, trying to see what—

Everything went dark. Something blocked his view in that direction. He looked back toward Nate’s dad.

Still dark.

Uh-oh.

He stood up. Where his face had been was now a hulking shadow on the other side of the window. The shadow rose.

A man... who was now walking toward the front door.

OK, folks, time to leave. Josh looked back at his car. He’d only make it halfway before the guy came out. That would look worse than what he was doing now.

The front door opened. Be cool. I was just heading home and thought I’d take a peek. That’s it. Nothing else. It was the truth.

He turned back to face Whitey himself, holding the door open. He said with that bizarre voice of his, “Mister Everson, I presume?”

Josh’s ears suddenly itched. He ignored the feeling and put on his best Oh, hey, how you doing? look, hands in pockets. His right hand felt car keys. They represented escape. Just in case. “Heya,” he said. “Just locking up for the night.”

Whitey let the door close behind him and walked forward. “See anything interesting?”

Josh took a breath, let it out. “Just Mr. Dinneck staring off into La La Land, not much else.” Why did you say that, you moron?!?

“You didn’t see anything inside,” the man said. “Surprisingly, for a Friday, there was no one here. In fact —”

…Josh began to pull out of the parking lot when he hesitated, pressing the brake harder than he needed to. He blinked. How’d he get here? He looked over his shoulder. The Greedy Grocer was closed up, security lights on inside—always the last step in closing. Yeah, he remembered doing that. Then he took