Devil's Face by Wood David & Stephen John

Author:Wood, David & Stephen John
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: action adventure, historical thriller, new pulp, pulp thriller, men's adventure
Publisher: Gryphonwood Press
Published: 2018-07-29T00:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

Maddock looked around the restaurant until he spotted the waitress. “Excuse me, Marlene.”

“What’cha need, sugar?” she replied with a wide grin. “My telephone number?”

“That’s a tempting offer, but I’m actually looking for a little information. Do you know anything about this map?”

She looked at the map. “Nope, not really.”

“Is the manager here?” he asked.

“The owner is,” she replied. “His name is Mark. Would you like to talk to him?”

Maddock nodded. “I would.”

Marlene smiled and walked away. Maddock caught Michelle’s attention as she came out of the restroom. He waved her over. She approached as the owner, a non-descript gentleman of fifty or so, arrived,

“Hello, I’m Mark,” he said. “Marlene said you were looking to speak to me?” The ghost of a frown on his face suggested he was expecting a customer complaint.

“Yes, I am,” Maddock replied. “This map. It looks very old. Can you tell me—is it pre-World War II?”

“It is.”

“Where did you get it, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“It came from the office of the city planning council here in Phoenicia a long time ago. I like it. Adds to the classic diner ambiance.”

Maddock scratched his chin. “About how long ago?”

Mark let out a breath as he thought about it. “Sometime around the year 1940, give or take. The previous owners had this map up in the restaurant long before I bought the place. A lot has changed since then.”

“Interesting.” Maddock began snapping pictures of the map with his phone, section by section.

“Do you happen to have a yardstick?” he asked.

“Sure, in the back,” Mark replied, scratching the top of his balding head. “I’ll get it.”

“Oh, and could I borrow a dry erase marker too, please?” he added. “The blue one, maybe. The one you use to write out the lunch specials on the white board should work nicely.”

As the man walked away, Bones wandered over.

“You two having a party and I wasn’t invited?” he asked.

“I have no idea,” Michelle asked. “Dane, what is going on with you?”

“When I first saw this old map it hit me,” Maddock replied. “We’ve been processing Dutch’s notes from our modern-day perspective, over eighty years after he died.”

“Okay, so what’s your new perspective.”

“Dutch made a point for us to see what the Devil sees. He also pointed out the Devil faced southeast. So, when we stood on top of the Devil’s Face formation and looked southeast, what did we see?”

“Trees,” Michelle said.

Bones nodded. “Trees—that’s right. Lots and lots of trees and shrubs and bushes.”

“But is that what Dutch saw?” Maddock asked. “We see trees now, but were those trees there in 1935? And even if they were there, were they as full and as tall as they are today?”

Michelle and Bones looked at each other and shrugged.

“Probably not,” Maddock said. “A tree can grow a lot in eighty years, right? So, if Dutch had climbed to the top of the Devil’s Face formation and looked in the direction the Devil faced back in 1935, he may have seen an entirely different view from what we see today.

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