Edgeville. A picturesque small town nestled in a valley surrounded by lush green hills south of Port Pinnebog. Its quaint Main Street was lined with charming shops and cafes. The town's friendly residents were always ready to welcome visitors and share stories of the town's rich history, including its once-thriving textile industry.
Edgeville's past was not all sunshine and roses. The town was once home to a notorious criminal gang known as the Edgeville Outlaws. The Outlaws terrorized the town for years, robbing banks, stores, and homes.
They were finally brought to justice in a dramatic shootout that left several townspeople dead. The incident shook the community to its core, and even now, decades later, the memory of the Outlaws lingers like a shadow over the town's history.
Duke Innes was the leader of the infamous Edgeville Outlaws, a criminal gang that wreaked havoc on the small town for years. Innes was a charismatic and ruthless figure, feared and respected by his fellow gang members. He was known for his quick temper and violent tendencies and was responsible for numerous robberies and acts of violence. Despite his reputation, some townspeople admired Innes for his bravery and daring. However, his reign came to a violent end in a shootout with law enforcement, and he died in a hail of gunfire, leaving behind a legacy of infamy in Edgeville's dark history.
Ruth Ann Solari was Duke Innes' girlfriend and a member of the Edgeville Outlaws gang. She was known for her beauty and her loyalty to Innes, and was often seen by his side during the gang's criminal activities. However, her fate took a tragic turn when Innes was killed in the shootout with law enforcement. With the gang disbanded, Solari was left alone and vulnerable. Some say she turned to alcohol and drugs to numb the pain of her loss, while others claim she tried to leave her criminal past behind and start a new life. Regardless, her name has become synonymous with the tragic consequences of getting involved with dangerous criminals in small towns like Edgeville. People called it 'stepping in Ruth Ann's shoes.'
After the shootout that took down Duke Innes and most of the Edgeville Outlaws, a few managed to escape the law's grasp. Rumors circulated that some of the gang members fled to neighboring towns and continued their criminal activities, but nobody knows for sure what happened to them. Their names have become the stuff of legend, whispered about in hushed tones among the townspeople of Edgeville. Tomlin Gray. Dennis Maubry. Calico Pete Houghton. Just to name a few.
Art Reasoner knew what he was stepping into by going there. He'd heard the story many times from his grandfather, Sheriff Harry Wilde. At the time of the Edgeville Shootout, as he called it, Reasoner's maternal grandfather was a deputy in Edgeville. Reasoner's mother and her siblings, Barton and Elsie, were just children. When word came down that the raid was imminent, Harry Wilde sent his family down to Port Sanilac until, as Wilde put it, the weeds were pulled.
Deputy Harry Wilde played a crucial role in bringing justice to Edgeville during the reign of the Edgeville Outlaws. He was a tenacious lawman, known for his sharpshooting and quick thinking. Wilde worked tirelessly to gather evidence against the gang and track down their hideouts, putting himself in harm's way countless times. His bravery and determination paid off in the end, as he was instrumental in the shootout that brought down Duke Innes and many of his fellow Outlaws. To this day, Wilde is remembered as a hero in Edgeville's history, a shining example of what it means to serve and protect a small town.
His grandfather had been instrumental in Reasoner's decision to become a private detective.
Reasoner knew going to Edgeville could be tricky if people knew his connection to their town's history. Some folks revered the Edgeville Outlaws as modern-day Robin Hoods, something his grandfather never believed. The same people who glorified Duke Innes vilified Harry Wilde. Both men were long dead. Innes in the gunfight; Wilde from cancer. Their legends lived on in Edgeville.
The Depot Diner was busy with an early-bird crowd. The younger waitress of the two behind the. counter nudged the slightly older one when Reasoner sat down on a swivel stool. The older one leaned her hands on the counter.
"You waiting on a connection or can I get you something?"
"I've got a little time. How's the chicken salad?"
"Farm fresh this morning. What kind of toast do you want?"
"Pumpernickel."
"Pickle and potatoes?"
"Just the pickle."
The younger waitress stepped up with a cup of coffee. "You from the city?" She set the coffee in front of Reasoner.
"How'd you know?" Reasoner sipped the hot coffee.
"Alicia has a sense about these things," the older waitress said. "Calls it her intuition."
"Carol Ann Brown. You swore you wouldn't tell anyone about my gift."
"Oh, so, it's a gift now, is it?" Carol Ann turned to the kitchen window. "Chicken at the pump. Toasted. Spear it." Carol Ann turned around to face her colleague. "Now don't pout."
"I'm not pouting. I can't help it I see things."
"What do you see?" Reasoner asked.
"Mainly things that could happen."
"Nothing from the past then? No spirits or anything like that."
"Sometimes." Alicia poured another cup of coffee. She set it down in front of an empty stool. "This one time I saw this little girl-"
Carol Ann stopped her. "Alicia."
"What's wrong? The gentleman asked."
"Who is that coffee for?"
"It's for the old guy sitting there."
"What old guy?"
"The one sitting next to this guy."
"Alicia. There's no one there."
"He's sitting right there. Says this guy is his grandson."
"Ask the old guy his name," Reasoner said.
A bell rang. "Order up!"
Carol Ann set the sandwich plate in front of Reasoner. "Well," she said. "What's his name?"
Alicia stared at the empty stool. "Don't know. He's gone now."
"Bell must have scared him away," Reasoner said. He winked at Carol Ann as he took a bite of his chicken salad sandwich.
"How's the chicken?" Carol Ann asked.
"Damn good."
"It's the Traverse City cherries. Sweet and tart."
A crash of dishes turned heads. Alicia stood over a shattered cup and saucer.
Carol Ann took hold of Alicia's trembling arm. "You okay?"
"I need to sit--"
The young waitress started to topple. Reasoner reached over the counter and caught Alicia before her forehead bounced off the countertop. Alicia grabbed his arms with both of her hands. She blinked. Her eyes widened.
"His name is Harry Wilde," Alicia blurted out. "He killed someone." She shook. Her eyes rolled into the back of her sockets.
"Alicia. Stop this. You don't know anything about this man."
"So far, she's batting a thousand," Reasoner said. "Could you maybe get her a chair? I'm losing my grip."
Carol Ann pulled in a chair from a dining room table. She helped ease Alicia onto the seat. Just before Reasoner released his grasp on Alicia, she looked at him. "That man has something heavy in his hand."
"What man?" Reasoner tried to pull his hand away from Alicia's grip.
"Gray." Alicia slumped in the chair.
Carol Ann took a wet towel and draped it over the back of Alicia's neck.
"That do anything?" Reasoner asked.
Carol Ann shrugged. "Seems to calm her down when she has one of her episodes."
"This happen often?"
"More so, lately. Ever since people started talking about that man with no face."
Alicia moaned. She looked up quickly, her face pale but her cheeks red. "My gut. I'm going to be sick!" Alicia bolted for the restroom.
"That's new." Carol Ann said.
"I have that effect on people." Reasoner pulled out his wallet. "What do I owe you?"
"After that, it's on us."
Reasoner dropped four singles on the counter. "For you and Madame Alicia."
"Thanks."
Reasoner picked up his pickle spear. "How far away is Barney's Gas and Go?" He bit half of the crisp, green pickle.
"Two blocks north. Go left."
Reasoner finished the pickle, still chewing as he left the Depot Diner. Suburban blocks turned out to be shorter than city blocks. The walk from the train station to the Gas and Go took no more than fifteen minutes.
Barney's Gas and Go Service Station was hectic and bustling. Cars constantly came and went. Customers rushed around, some impatiently honking their horns, while employees worked quickly to fill tanks and make transactions. The mood was one of urgency and efficiency, with little time for pleasantries or relaxation.
Reasoner approached the garage. A greaser mechanic worked on a car.
"Excuse me," Reasoner said. "You Barney?"
The greaser looked up at Reasoner. The oval patch on his shirt said, Gary or Gray. The embroidery made it hard to tell the small A from the small R.
"No, sir. I'm Junior."
"I'm Art Reasoner. I spoke to Barney earlier about my car."
Junior flipped a wrench into the air. The tool spun like a plane propeller until he caught it barehanded. Stopped it dead in its rotation and didn't break or bruise a finger.
"Mr. Phipps does the inside work. I do the cars."
"What is that? A fifty-two Vipe Motors Sidewinder?"
"Four. A hundred a fifteen horses pulling a V-Eight."
"Sounds fast."
"She'll get you there."
Reasoner nodded. "Barney's inside, you say?"
"Yes, sir."
"Thanks."
Reasoner turned and walked off to the service station. He could feel Junior watching him.
Barney Phipps looked to be in his fifties. His short salt-and-pepper hair and trimmed mustache gave away his age. He flashed a friendly smile when the bell over the door tinkled as Reasoner entered. Phipps' gray-blue uniform matched Junior's to the point the A and R in Barney were also hard to tell apart.
"Hello," Barney Phipps said. "Welcome."
"Barney Phipps?"
"Yes, sir."
"Art Reasoner. I'm looking for a friend of mine. Phyllis Norton. I was wondering if you'd seen her?"
Phipps shook his head, wrinkled his face. "Can't say the name is familiar."
"Maybe she had some work done on her car."
"Not too many ladies bring the car in, I'm afraid. Mostly it's the husbands."
"Any idea why your name and number would be inside a matchbook cover?" Reasoner flashed the gold cigarette case. He opened it and took out the matchbook.
Phipps looked at the writing. "People recommend my services all the time."
"Here's a picture of her. Does that help?"
Phipps looked at the picture. Again, he shook his head. "No, sir. I'm sorry. Face just ain't ringing a bell."
"That's funny, Mr. Phipps because to me she looks a lot like your poolside pin-up gal on that poster for Coppertop Sparkplugs and Wires hanging on your wall right there."
"So you say. The woman on the poster is Dorothy Martin. One of the Calvacade Sisters."
Reasoner stepped up to the. poster. He held the photograph up next to the woman in the pin-up poster. "They could be twins."
"Could be but they ain't. Dorothy Martin disappeared years ago. Her real sister, Dolly, sang solo for a while at the Swann Club up in Port Pinnebog. Maybe that's whose initials are on that gold case you're holding. Maybe your friend went there one night and took it from Dolly."
"Kind of a coincidence your name and number being on the cover of a book of matches from the Swann Club."
"I don't see it."
"You don't see a lot of things."
"What're you getting at?"
"You have a picture of the EO gang."
"Free country."
"They were notorious for their violent robberies."
"So you say. The folks around here were in dire need of basic necessities. No one was helping them until Duke Innes showed up."
"He was no Robin Hood."
"So you say. My great-grandfather barely survived the Crash. If not for Duke Innes and his raiders, my great-granddad's gas station would have closed and I wouldn't have this today. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some customers to call before closing."
Phipps marched off into a back office.
Reasoner looked at his watch. It was getting late. The walk back to the station seemed longer. Might have been because of the crowds of people out enjoying a cool summer evening. Many made their way around town while many others made their way to the train station. He didn't want to miss a train so he moved down an alley to get in front of the crowd.
The clack of his shoes over the pavement echoed off the walls around him. Even without stopping or slowing, Reasoner heard additional footsteps coming up behind him. It wasn't just a single set but several. A group was coming up behind him.
Reasoner ducked into a doorway. He pressed his back against a metal door. He waited.
"I don't like going this way, Mother," a child said.
"It's quicker," a woman said.
Another child spoke. "Perhaps if we sing it won't seem as scary."
Great, Reasoner thought. I'm the stuff nightmares are made from.
He held his breath and turned his head and willed himself to be seen.
The mother sang. "Oh, maresy dotes and dosey dotes and kiddley-dee-dotes for Ivy..."
The children laughed.
"That's not how the song goes," the first child said.
"I know a song, mommy," the second child said.
They were almost to him when they abruptly stopped walking.
The second child whispered, "What is it, mommy?"
The mother did not answer. Reasoner knew if he stepped out now he would terrify the children. The mother would scream. He really had no choice if he had been seen.
"Whoever you are walking behind me I am a woman with two small children. Trust me when I say I will do whatever it takes to protect my family. I am a tiger in the wild protecting her cubs so just turn the hell around and walk away."
A moment later Reasoner heard distant footsteps retreating. The family passed him.
At the next opening, Reasoner returned to Main Street.
Reasoner stepped onto the platform. Around him milled a crowd heading off for a night in the city. He moved away from their chatter. A horn bellowed as an express train rushed towards the Edgeville Station. This train did not stop at Edgeville. It was a direct line from Port Huron to Port Pinnebog traveling close to sixty miles an hour.
The express train was nearly to the depot when a woman screamed and pulled Reasoner back from the edge of the platform. Something heavy clunked on the concrete not far from his feet.
Something else went thud on the tracks below as the express train roared past. In all of the commotion, Reasoner hadn't recognized the woman who saved his life.
The young woman smiled at him. "You okay?"
"Alicia?"
She smiled. "You remember what I said?"
"Something heavy. Gray."
She picked up a wrench from the platform. "Here's something heavy."
"And the gray?"
"It just shot through here doing sixty."
"Where did the wrench come from?"
"Some guy that came up behind you to hit you over the head."
"What guy?"
"I don't know. I didn't get a look at his face."
"Someone here must have seen him."
"I doubt it."
Reasoner thought of the headline he'd seen in the newspaper he bought. "You don't think it was that nut they're calling the Void?"
Alicia shook her head. "No. This guy had a kerchief or a towel pulled up over his mouth and nose. He had an Ore Shippers ball cap pulled down low on his forehead."
"Yeah, well from the wrench he dropped I have an idea who my assailant was."
"Friend of yours?"
"Not anymore. Where did he go?"
Alicia pointed at the crowd gawking over the edge of the platform. They pointed, turned away. Reasoner heard one woman exclaim, "Why, there's no one there!"
Reasoner and Alicia moved to the edge. They looked down at a greasy handkerchief caught in the rails. At least Reasoner thought the stain marks were grease. With the Orange Line train due to arrive, he wasn't about to jump down to find out,
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
So for this segment, I used AI prose for the backstory of Edgeville as well as for physical descriptions. I think it worked well. AI is keen on exposition, it seems. It also uses a passive voice.
I came back to this piece a few hours later. I felt the story was getting a little dry. I added in what I hope is a little bit of suspense.
Returned again a couple of days later to work on continuity. The more I thought about it, the less likely it seemed the Void would have followed Reasoner to Edgeville. I decided to tie the attempt on Reasoner's life to the backstory on Edgeville and the lionizing of a villain into a folk hero. Junior's earlier juggling of the wrench at the Gas and Go Garage made it more likely Barney Phipps sent his mechanic after Reasoner for either pissing him off about his comments on Duke Innes or that Phipps is protecting a secret about Phyllis Norton. Probably both reasons.
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