by Lukens, Mark
“I found a prescription pill bottle with his name on it.” Cole looked over at the stove, at the two frying pans on the gas burners, at the couple of cans of food waiting to be opened. “It’s like this guy was just here. Like he was just about to make some lunch and then he left.”
Frank closed the refrigerator door. “You should’ve been a fucking detective. Maybe this guy forgot something. Went to the store.”
“This guy’s kitchen is stocked for the winter. And why would he leave with a blizzard moving in?”
“Maybe he saw us pull up and he took off out the back door.”
Cole nodded. “But there would’ve been footprints in the snow; the storm wouldn’t have covered them up that quickly. And leaving on foot? I don’t think this guy would’ve panicked just because someone pulled up in his front yard.”
Frank glanced at the freezer against the wall as Cole continued. “And this house was cold when we got here. No lights on. No heat on.”
“You said you thought this guy just left,” Frank said.
“It seemed like he left suddenly, but it must’ve been a little while since he was here.”
Frank shook his head … this was beginning to give him a headache.
“I think we should move that lady’s truck around to the back of the cabin in case this guy comes back,” Cole said. “Get it out of sight.”
Frank thought this over for a moment, and then he nodded. “Yeah. You and Trevor move the truck around back. And bring those cases inside.”
Cole hurried over to Trevor. “Come on, let’s go.”
Cole unlocked the deadbolt, and then opened the door up to the howling snowstorm. Cole stepped out onto the porch. Trevor was about to follow him, but Jose called out to him. “Bundle up, sweetie.”
Trevor flipped Jose a middle finger. “Fuck you,” he muttered and walked out onto the porch and slammed the door shut.
Frank watched the door for a moment, and then he looked at Stella and David. Frank walked over to Jose. He leaned in close to Jose as he spoke in a low voice. “Go out there and watch those two. If they try to run, kill them.”
*
Cole and Trevor sat down inside Stella’s Suburban. Cole started the truck and the temperature gauge climbed immediately into the red. He shifted into drive and gunned the gas. He needed to get this truck behind the cabin before the motor seized up halfway there.
As Cole drove, Trevor lit a cigarette with his Zippo lighter. The cabin was just a dark blur to their right—that’s how much the blizzard had intensified.
Once the truck was safely out of view from the driveway, Cole put the truck in park and shut the engine and headlights off. He sat there for a moment as Trevor inhaled on his cigarette and blew out smoke.
Cole looked at his little brother.
Trevor met Cole’s eyes and then he turned away, taking another drag from his cigarette. “I know what you’re going to say, Cole. I’m sorry. I didn’t know all of this was going to happen.”
Cole sighed as Trevor exhaled smoke. “It was supposed to be a simple job,” Trevor continued. “But that fucking trigger-happy Needles fucked everything up.”
“When we’re out of here,” Cole said, “you give Frank what you owe him and we’re done with this. Okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Swear to me, Trevor.”
“Yes, Cole. I promise.” Trevor took another drag from his cigarette. He looked at Cole again, trying to change the subject. “What do you think’s going on here?”
“I don’t know. But something isn’t right.”
“What about Needles?”
“I think he’s losing his mind.”
Trevor just nodded.
“Come on,” Cole told Trevor. “Let’s get those cases inside.”
Cole and Trevor got out of the SUV. They opened the back door and grabbed the cases of money. They turned and saw Jose standing in the snow, just watching them.
“What are you doing out here?” Cole asked. He was ready to reach for his weapon. He knew what could happen on big jobs like this, when there was so much money at stake. People got greedy. People wanted more than their share. And sometimes those people were ready to kill for it.
“Frank sent me out here to help you,” Jose said.
“Help us with two cases?” Cole asked, the howling wind trying to tear his words out of the air.
Trevor tossed his case of money at Jose. “Be my guest.”
CHAPTER 9
The front door burst open. Cole, Trevor, and Jose stomped inside the cabin as snow dripped from their coats and boots. Trevor slammed the door shut and locked the deadbolt.
“Where do you want these cases?” Jose asked.
“Set them over there by the fireplace,” Frank told him.
Jose and Cole set the dripping metal cases on the hearth right in front of the small pile of cut wood and the large ax. Cole turned and gave Frank a sarcastic grin. “This good, boss?”
Frank didn’t answer Cole.
Trevor shrugged off his coat and threw it over the back of one of the dining room chairs. “What now, boss?”
Frank stared at Stella and David. “I think it’s time we asked this lady some questions.”
Frank walked across the room to the couch and stood in front of Stella and David. “Stella,” Frank asked in a calm voice that seemed menacing no matter how pleasant he tried to make it sound. “You got a cell phone on you?”
Stella shook her head no.
“Let me see your purse.”
“I told you, I don’t have a phone.”
Frank held his hand out, waiting for her to hand the purse over.
Stella sighed and handed Frank her purse. Frank tossed the purse to Jose. “Check it out.”
Jose dumped out the contents of Stella’s purse onto the dining room table. He moved the items around: a wallet with a driver’s license and a few credit cards inside, a pack of gum, a brush, lip balm, scraps of paper. He picked up the wallet and read the driver’s license as he looked at Frank. “Stella Weaver from Arizona wasn’t lying. No phone in here.”
Frank turned back to Stella. “Where were you two headed?”
“A relative’s house. My aunt’s house.”
“Far from here?”
“Northern Colorado.”
“So she’s expecting you?”
“No, it was going to be a surprise.”
Frank’s eyes moved to David. Frank crouched down in front of David, trying to get on the kid’s eye level. Frank smiled at the kid, it was supposed to be a comforting smile, but it came across as creepy.
“Hey, kid. What’s your name?”
David didn’t answer, he just stared at Frank.
“His name is David,” Stella answered.
“I was talking to him,” Frank told her with his eyes still on David.
“He doesn’t talk much,” Stella said. “Especially when he’s scared.”
Frank nodded and stood back up. He glared at Stella. “Where were you two coming from? What’s with all the tools in the back of your truck?”
“I’m an archaeologist. I specialize in Southwest American Indian cultures, especially the Anasazi. They were a people who used to live in what is now the southwestern United States until they mysteriously vanished around—”
“Enough with the history lesson. Where were you coming from?”
“We were coming from a dig site in New Mexico.”
“And David is your son?”
Stella hesitated. “Yes.”
“No he’s not.”
Jose left the contents of Stella’s purse scattered all over the table. He walked into the kitchen and rummaged through the cabinets.
Cole walked to the dining room table and collected the contents and put them back into Stella’s purse.
Jose moved boxes and cans around in one of the cabinets, and then he broke out in a big smile. He pulled out a nearly full bottle of whiskey. “Jackpot,” he whispered.
Cole brought Stella’s purse and
handed it to her.
As she took it, Cole asked her a question: “Who are you running from?”
The question caught Stella by surprise. She took her purse and set it on the couch beside her. “What do you mean?” she finally asked. “I’m not running from anyone.”
“There aren’t any bags or suitcases in your truck,” Cole said. “Not even a change of clothes. Only some items you bought at a convenience store.”
In the kitchen, Jose closed the cabinets and walked over to the large freezer against the far wall. He lifted up the lid of the freezer, expecting to see pieces of wrapped meat. What he saw made him stumble back a step. He jerked his hand away from the freezer lid and it slammed shut.
The others turned at the noise of the lid closing.
Jose turned and looked at them with shock in his eyes. “You guys better come take a look at this.”
CHAPTER 10
Cole, Frank, Jose, and Trevor gathered around the freezer—it was a tight squeeze in the small kitchen. Even Needles broke out of his daze and stood up at the dining room table, staring at the others in the kitchen. But he wouldn’t enter the kitchen.
“What is it?” Needles asked them. “What’s in there?”
Nobody answered Needles. They all stared down at the freezer.
“I guess we know where Tom Gordon is now,” Cole finally said.
Tom Gordon’s body was stuffed down inside the freezer. His legs and arms were bent at odd angles, like his limbs had been broken when he’d been stuffed inside. He looked like some doll pushed down inside a kid’s toy box. Except that this doll didn’t have any eyes—Tom Gordon’s eyes had been carved out.
No, Cole thought, they didn’t seem like they were carved out—they looked more like they were torn out of his face.
Or eaten out, his mind whispered.
“Holy shit,” Jose muttered. “Holy shit, I can’t believe this. What the fuck, man?”
Stella and David still sat on the couch; David’s hands still clutched one of Stella’s hands. She looked at David and their eyes met. Stella felt a lump in her throat, a knot of dread worming its way through her body. She had promised David that it hadn’t followed them. She had promised him that it wouldn’t be able to find them. She had promised David that they would be safe now. But the look in David’s eyes stung her. He had dared to believe her. But now he knew the truth.
It had found them.
Needles hurried over to the kitchen, rushing up behind the others. “What did you find in there?” he asked, his voice trembling.
Jose turned and marched away from the freezer, needing to pace, needing to move, needing to be away from the gory sight of Tom Gordon’s body.
Needles walked to the freezer on unsteady legs. He took Jose’s spot. He stared down at the body and inhaled a sharp breath, and then it was like he couldn’t exhale, like the breath was caught in his lungs.
“Shit,” Frank finally said as he stared down at Tom Gordon’s crooked body. The lips of Tom Gordon’s mouth were pulled back in some kind of strange rictus smile. There were two deep black holes where his eyes used to be, ragged gray flesh around the edges. But there was no blood anywhere on his face, or anywhere around him inside the freezer.
“Somebody was in here,” Jose rambled, still pacing back and forth by the dining room table. “Somebody was in this fucking cabin and they killed that guy. Stuffed him in the fucking freezer. Took his fucking eyes out.”
Needles could finally breathe again. He stared at Frank. “I told you, Frank. I told you we couldn’t stay here. There’s something bad here. There’s something coming for us. For all of us.”
“Shut up, Needles,” Frank growled.
“The devil’s coming for us. That’s what that old man in the bank said. The devil’s coming for us and he’s going to kill us all.”
“I said shut up,” Frank snapped. “I’m trying to think.”
Cole watched as Needles backed away out of the kitchen, shaking his head no over and over again. “No, I’m not staying here. I’m not waiting for the devil to come.”
Frank rushed at Needles. He grabbed him by the front of his thermal shirt and bunched his fists up in the fabric. He pushed Needles back a few steps into the kitchen counter. “You want to leave so bad?!” he yelled at Needles, spittle flying from his lips. “Go on, then!”
Needles stared at Frank for a long moment, his body trembling; his eyes darted to the front door like he was re-thinking his statement, like he was thinking about being out there alone.
“Okay, then,” Frank said as he let Needles go. He turned and walked away. “Just shut up and let me think.”
Everyone was silent, the cabin eerily quiet except for the nonstop howling wind outside.
Jose couldn’t take the silence anymore. “We need to do something, man. There’s some kind of psycho running around out there.”
Frank looked at Jose. “There’s nothing we can do right now while that blizzard’s out there. We’re stuck here for the night.”
“What about that guy’s truck parked out there?” Jose asked. “Maybe it runs. Maybe we should start it up.”
“In the morning,” Frank said. “After the storm lets up.”
End of discussion, Frank’s eyes said.
Cole looked back down into the freezer at Tom Gordon’s body. He studied it for a moment. Then Cole opened a drawer near the stove. He rummaged through the kitchen utensils until he found a long wooden spoon. He poked Tom Gordon’s body with the spoon’s handle. The handle of the spoon pushed into Tom Gordon’s soft flesh.
“Somebody did this to him within the last few hours,” Cole said. “His body isn’t even frozen yet.”
“Oh, that’s comforting,” Jose snorted.
Trevor looked around. “This doesn’t make any sense. There should be blood all over the place. His eyes are gone. There should be blood somewhere in that freezer at least.”
Cole thought of the large single drop of blood he’d seen in the bedroom, but then decided against saying anything about it. It was only one drop of blood. But Trevor was right; there should be a hell of a lot more blood somewhere in this cabin.
“There aren’t any signs of struggle anywhere in this cabin,” Cole said.
“Maybe they knocked the guy out,” Frank suggested. “Took him to this freezer and then carved out his eyes.”
“Then there should be blood in the freezer,” Trevor said again.
“Why?” Jose asked as he walked back towards the group. “Why would someone do that to him?”
“I don’t think it was a robbery,” Cole answered. “It doesn’t look like anything was taken. It doesn’t even look like anything was searched through.”
“Then why, Sherlock?” Jose asked. “Someone just killed this guy for the hell of it. Just for shits and giggles?”
“Maybe he had some enemies,” Trevor said. “Maybe he owed someone some money.”
Trevor and Frank locked eyes for the briefest of moments.
“Then this place would’ve been ransacked,” Cole answered quickly, trying to break the sudden tension between his little brother and Frank. “They would’ve looked for the money in here.”
“Then it’s some fucking psycho,” Jose said. “Some psycho who just likes to kill.” Jose glanced at the front door of the cabin. “Maybe he’s still out there. Maybe he saw us pull up here in front of the cabin.”
Stella and David stood up from the couch and started to walk towards the hallway until Frank’s voice stopped them in their tracks.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
Stella stared at Frank. “We’re going to the bathroom,” she answered in a strong voice.
“Both of you?”
“There might be a crazy person out there. I’m not letting David out of my sight.”
“What if they try to run?” Jose asked.
“Run where?” Trevor answered with a snort of sarcastic laughter.
Frank ignored Trevor and Jose. He mad
e a go-ahead gesture at Stella and David, and then he turned back to the others.
Cole glanced at the hall. He waited until he heard the bathroom door close and lock. A thought occurred to him, a thought he didn’t want to say aloud. Maybe whoever Stella and David were running from had done this to Tom Gordon.
*
Stella closed and locked the bathroom door. She looked at David.
“It’s happening again,” David whispered; his voice trembled as he stared up at her.
Stella nodded. “I know.”
“You said we would be safe,” he whispered. “You said it wasn’t going to follow us.”
A pang of guilt ran through Stella. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“It’s going to start asking for things,” David said, his voice getting louder.
“Shhh,” Stella said as she glanced at the bathroom door, and then she looked back at David, locking eyes with him. “David, listen to me. This is very important. I know you’re scared. I’m scared, too. But we have to be strong. We can’t let them know what we know. Do you understand?”
David just stared at her.
“We can’t let them know that we’ve seen this before. We have to try and survive. You know what’s going to happen at first. We have to be patient and plan a way out of this. Just like last time. Okay?”
David finally nodded.
“Can you be strong?”
David nodded. “I’ll try.”
“Good,” she said. She got down on one knee and hugged him, holding his trembling body tight. “I’m going to protect you again. I swear I will. You believe me, don’t you?”
David nodded as she held him. “Yes,” he said into her shoulder.
Stella and David both jumped from a sudden loud knocking at the bathroom door. “Let’s not make a career out of this in there,” they heard Jose say from the other side of the door.
Stella and David looked at each other. “A career?” Stella said, and she couldn’t help it—she burst out laughing.
David began to laugh a little, but Stella couldn’t stop. It wasn’t even funny, but that made it somehow funnier in her mind.
Finally, they regained their composure. Stella flushed the toilet to make it seem like they had used it. Then she washed her face in the sink, and then she washed David’s face with the warm water and a washcloth.
