Vampire at Amston Lake

By Larry Zimmerman

Dirk Adler becomes worried when he hears construction noise next door to his cottage on the usually quiet road near Amston Lake. The construction stops when a human skull is unearthed. Investigation by the State of Connecticut Archeologist reveals a grave where a man died from a deadly disease. Dirk, checking the skeleton after a heavy rainstorm, notices a ring on one of the finger bones. When he removes the ring, Dirk unleashes a terrible vampire into the lake area. Fearing for his and Margot’s life, he must discover how to use the ring to stop the vampire from killing innocent people and return him permanently to the grave.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Larry Zimmerman
• Release date: Jan 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9780988962118

Larry Zimmerman

Larry E. Zimmerman graduated from the University of Hartford with a major in mathematics and a minor in literature. He worked for IBM as a Technical Industry Specialist and retired after 25 years. During that time, he taught programming classes, wrote many application programs and manuals for the banking industry. In retirement, he teaches poetry and short story writing to adults and senior citizens. Larry has won a number of awards for his poetry and short stories. He is known in Amston CT, for his mystery books that take place in the local environment.

Book preview

by

Larry E. Zimmerman

Book 13 of the Amston Lake mystery series

* * * * *

Published by: Blue Pinion Enterprises at Smashwords

Copyright 2014

by Larry E. Zimmerman

[e-mail]

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This book is available in print from Blue Pinion Enterprises. Order books from:

http://www.amstonbooks.com

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All rights reserved. The characters and animals in this story are fictional and bear no resemblance to people or animals living or dead.

Amston Lake Map

"I can’t write a book, but I have great titles."

Kathleen Lenker

Table of Contents

Title Page and Front Matter

Map

Quotes

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

About the author

Other Amston Lake mysteries

He rises from the dirt-filled grave

A misty apparition knave

He drains the blood from humans rife

And wears a ring to give him life.

Chapter 1

I woke up to the sound of a chainsaw rumbling through my bedroom. That raucous, sonorous chainsaw noise is the worst kind of alarm clock, especially to a retiree who is not an early riser. What the hell was happening now?

I dragged my rear end out of bed and staggered out to my porch. Wendell and Winky, my pet pygmy pigs, followed me out. I looked through bloodshot eyes over to the wooded lot next to my house. I could see two men cutting down the trees. Those bastards were clearing the area that provided me the privacy that I enjoyed ever since I bought a rundown cottage on a back road near Amston Lake. I envisioned my isolation disappearing with each tree crashing to the ground.

I kicked myself all that morning as each tree fell to the saw's sharp teeth. I should have bought that lot. I could have bought that lot. I just procrastinated, never considering that an enterprising contractor would buy the lot and build a house. How stupid could I be?

I fed my Double-U boys and had breakfast, all the while listening to the voracious chainsaw destroying my privacy. I knew what was coming next. First, the wood chipper, grinding up the branches. Then a truck hauling away the tree trunks too large for the chipper. Then the excavator digging up the roots and then the pit for the foundation. After that, the forms for the foundation, the wood for the house, and finally the construction of an ugly box in my pristine woods. Damn them, double damn them.

I had a two day wait before the excavator came in, just as I had predicted. They spent a day digging up the tree roots, loading them in a truck, and carrying them away. Occasionally, I would walk over and watch the progress. It was killing me, with every root they dug up. I thought about trying to stop the desecration of my woods, but I knew I had no chance at that. I thought of threatening or suing the contractor, but all that would do was to cost me money and make me look stupid in court. After all, I had no legal grounds to stop the construction. I probably could sabotage their equipment but with my previous dealings with the police, I would be a chief suspect.

Two days later, they had cleared all the roots out of the property, and started digging for the foundation. I was trying to block out the noise of the excavator by turning up the volume on my television and hiding in my computer room. While I was processing my E-mails, the noise stopped. After being accustomed to all the commotion, the silence was deafening. The song Sounds of Silence came to mind. I waited, yet the noise didn't continue. I left my computer desk, turned down the TV, and listened. No machinery noise.

I went out on my porch and looked over at the lot. The machinery had stopped and the two men who were working there were looking at something in the ground. Now what?

Of course, I was curious, so I walked over to where they were standing.

What are you looking at, guys, did you find gold? A wiseacre question that I was noted for.

They both looked up at me and then without a word pointed down to where they had started to dig. At least they were in agreement.

I moved over to the pit and looked in. Holy shit. There looking up at all three of us through very empty eye sockets was a human skull.

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Chapter 2

As much as I hated to (yeah right), I informed the workers what they had to do when they found a skull. I said that it was their duty to stop digging and notify the state police. I was so happy that they found that skull. I knew it would stop the construction for now and hopefully far into the future. Perhaps the Pan Gods were watching over me after all and my privacy would return.

Actually, I called the police. The workers wanted to call their boss at their construction headquarters. I didn't want to wait for them to make the wrong decision and possibly continue to dig. So I called.

I was accustomed to the police determining if calls were serious or not. Sometimes you might wait hours until someone showed up. I could imagine what would happen if I told the dispatcher that someone found a skull in the ground. She would laugh (if it was a she), and think to herself that this was another crank call. The skull was probably from a deer or a dog. Not an urgent situation.

I know how they work. So I told the dispatcher that I had just shot my wife. She is bleeding on the kitchen floor and I am about to shoot myself. Well, this got her attention. She tried to talk me out of the suicide and asked where I was. I told her the location, how to get there and hung up. The dispatcher must have known my phone number from caller ID, and called me back. I didn't answer. In about a minute, I could hear a siren coming from Colchester. Did I or did I not know how to get some action from the police.

The first police car came in with sirens blaring. The state cop jumped out of the cruiser with pistol drawn. What he saw were two workers and an innocent neighbor standing there looking at him.

The cop looked at us. Where's the body, he asked, with a sincerity that was almost funny. Then he added, Where's the shooter?

The two workers didn't know what to say. They were struck mute by the gun. Perhaps they were illegal aliens and were afraid that they would be taken away and deported.

Just for fun, I pointed at the two workers.

The cop glared at them. Which one of you two made the call?

I thought the two of them were going to shit. I decided to save them.

We have no idea what you are talking about. We don't have a shooter or a body. Well, at least not a recent live body. What we have is a very dead body. Probably an old body. I pointed down at the skull in the pit.

The cop walked over and looked down. That's what you called about?

Beats me. I answered, denying that I made the call. What did you expect?

The cop looked at us. The dispatcher said there was a murder here. Did one of you make the call?

The workers and I shook our heads, all in unison. Then three shrugs.

As we stood there, another police car drove up. The first cop went over to the car. We waited. The two cops came back.

Who called the station? The call is recorded so you might as well tell us.

It was time to confess. I did. I raised my hand.

Why did you tell us it was a murder?

Because you never come immediately when you are called. I know how you work. These men dug up a human skull. Perhaps the rest of the bones are in the dirt there. If I told you they had uncovered a skull, you would ignore us as kooks. You might never show up. And guess what, you are here, so you have to investigate this now.

The cop gave me a look that could kill. I should arrest you for making a false call to the police.

I shrugged. Whatever, but you're here and a skull is there. I'll take my chances with an arrest, but I think you had better take some action on what these guys found while digging their foundation.

The new cop went over to the pit and looked in, came back, and talked it over. Then the first cop went to his cruiser and came back putting on plastic gloves. He climbed down in the hole and carefully touched the skull without moving it much. Then he came back out.

"That skull appears to have been here for some time. It’s definitely old. I think we need a forensic detective to look at this site and determine who belongs to this skull and why it's here. I'm going to declare this site as under investigation and cordon it off with yellow tape.