by Lukens, Mark
“Sheriff’s office,” a woman answered in a cheerful voice. “Deputy Burnette speaking.”
“Hi, Deputy Burnette,” Nora said into the phone. She watched as Nicole started the coffee machine. She knew she probably shouldn’t let Nicole drink coffee, but she enjoyed sharing a cup of coffee with her in the morning. It couldn’t be that bad for her. Had to be better than a can of Coke in the morning like Travis usually had. “I think there might be a fire,” Nora said. “There’s smoke in the sky about five or ten miles northeast of my house. I believe it might be on Tom Gordon’s property.”
She thought about telling the deputy that her son was going to check it out and make sure Tom Gordon was okay, but she decided against it. The deputy might order her not to let her son go, and she knew that she wouldn’t be able to keep him home.
“Yes, ma’am,” the deputy said, her voice suddenly all-business. “I’ll contact the fire department. Many of the roads outside Destin haven’t been plowed yet so it may take some time.”
“Oh yes,” Nora said. “I understand that.”
“Thanks for calling us.”
“Of course,” Nora said.
“Just stay inside and keep your doors and windows locked.”
Nora inhaled sharply, a surge of fear fluttering through her body. “You guys haven’t caught those bank robbers yet?”
The deputy hesitated like she was selecting her words carefully. “Just stay inside and keep your doors and windows locked.”
“I will. Thanks.” Nora pressed the OFF button on the cordless phone and Nicole took it from her and hung it back up on the wall.
Travis burst out of his bedroom dressed in warmer clothing, a hat, and gloves. He was out the front door in a flash. A moment later Nora heard his snowmobile starting up outside as Nicole prepared two cups of coffee for them.
Nora walked over to the front windows in the living room and watched Travis as he rode his snowmobile towards their driveway that ran through the woods and then out to the county road.
“He’ll be okay,” Nicole said and handed the cup of coffee to her mother. “He just wants to make sure Tom’s okay.”
Nora nodded, but she didn’t feel okay. She still felt nervous. Her stomach fluttered with fear and she didn’t know why. Something didn’t feel right.
Nicole sipped her coffee and walked back to the kitchen. Nora followed her and she almost dropped her cup of coffee when they heard someone knocking at the sliding glass door.
CHAPTER 17
Near Cody’s Pass, Colorado
Travis sped down the snowy road on his snowmobile. He knew his mom didn’t want him riding around out here. It wasn’t the fire that bothered her; it was the fact that those bank robbers hadn’t been caught yet. They’d never had a bank robbery in their town before that he’d ever heard of, and certainly not a murder. But she didn’t have to worry because Travis brought along a little protection of his own just in case he ran across one of those criminals—his dad’s pistol. If he saw one of those murdering bastards, he wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet in that man’s head. He practiced with the gun all the time in the woods behind their house and he was an expert shot now.
The first thing Travis noticed when he got out onto the county road from their driveway was the snowmobile tracks on the road. He stopped his snowmobile for a moment and studied them. The tracks went both north and south, up and down the road. For a moment he thought someone else might have headed to Tom Gordon’s property to check out the fire, but on closer inspection of the tracks he realized that they were heading south. Someone had been riding away from the fire.
He thought about riding south and following the tracks, but he knew that the right thing to do was to go to Tom Gordon’s cabin and make sure he was okay.
Making his decision, Travis drove down the narrow road that wound through the army of evergreens, pines, and firs—all of their branches burdened with snow. The roads were bad, worse than he’d ever seen them before, but it wasn’t anything his snowmobile couldn’t handle.
Everything was quiet out here, and the drone of his snowmobile’s motor was the only sound in the silence. Normally he loved the solitude and silence of the woods, but today he was feeling a little creeped out. Maybe all of his mother’s worrying about these bandits was getting to him a little. He loved his mom to death, but she had always been a worrywart.
He knew she was worried about him leaving home (because they both knew that Nicole was heading off to college as soon as she graduated high school—which would be a year earlier than normal because of her grades). He had told his mom plenty of times that she didn’t have a reason to worry about him leaving right away. He surely hadn’t gotten a scholarship to go to college and he definitely wasn’t signing up for the military, even though his father and uncle had both served. And Travis didn’t have any serious relationships in his life right now. He’d dated Jenny a few times, but she seemed more into partying and dating other guys than he could tolerate. She wanted an “open” relationship, and Travis didn’t really care for that. He tried to end things with her, but whenever she got drunk and she hadn’t hooked up with anyone else for the night, she would call him. And he would always go running to her when she called. Even though they had some good times, he knew their relationship wasn’t going anywhere. He was looking to stay right here in Cody’s Pass, and she was set on finding a rich guy and getting swept away from this small-town life.
So he wasn’t going anywhere any time soon, and he’d told his mother that many times. But she still worried about it.
These thoughts ran through Travis’ mind as he drove carefully down Tom Gordon’s long and winding driveway through the trees. He tried to hurry, but he needed to be careful—he didn’t want to hit a rock or stump or shrub on the side of the driveway that might be hidden in the snow, and wreck his snowmobile. The smell of the smoke was heavy in the air now.
He had followed the snowmobile tracks the whole way down County Road 217 to the driveway, and he’d stayed far enough away from them so he wouldn’t disturb them. It was a little more difficult not to disturb the tracks in the narrow driveway, but he did his best.
But there was no denying it—someone had driven a snowmobile away from Tom Gordon’s burning cabin and headed south. Was it Tom? Had he gone for help? But why wouldn’t he have called the sheriff’s office himself? His mother’s call seemed like the first one the sheriff’s office had received about the fire. Maybe Tom couldn’t get back inside his house to use his phone. Cell phone? They didn’t work too well out here, and he was pretty sure Tom didn’t have a cell phone anyway.
Travis wasn’t sure what was going on, but it was something strange. His heart was already racing with excitement.
He emerged from the driveway through the woods, driving out into the front field of Mr. Gordon’s property—and there it was, exactly what Travis had suspected all along, the cabin was on fire.
The walls of the cabin still stood strong even though part of the roof had collapsed near the back of the cabin and the front porch was ablaze. It would take forever for the fire to burn through those log walls. Part of the porch had fallen in on itself, but Travis saw what looked like bodies on the floorboards near the open front door—twisted and burnt bodies.
Tom Gordon lived here alone. Why would there be so many bodies on the front porch?
Could those bodies be some of the bank robbers?
It had to be.
Travis drove his snowmobile past the front of the cabin, staying far away from the other snowmobile tracks. He had to be very careful now; this wasn’t just a fire anymore, now this was most likely a crime scene.
He drove towards Tom Gordon’s pickup truck, and then he idled past it towards the open door of the free-standing garage beyond the truck. He slowed down to a stop, his headlight shining into the darkness of the garage. Off to his left the fire crackled and popped, and he could feel the heat all the way over here.
“Hello?” he called out at the ope
n garage door.
No answer from inside the garage.
He was pretty sure there was no one alive left in the cabin. But maybe Tom had gone to the garage for safety. But no, that didn’t seem right either. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something terrible had happened here … something terrible had happened to Tom Gordon, too.
He should probably sit right here and wait for the fire and police. Or better yet, he should ride back home. But what if there was still a small chance that Mr. Gordon, or even someone else, needed his help?
Besides, Travis was reasonably sure that if the bank robbers had been here, if they had burned this cabin, and burned those bodies on the front porch, then they were gone now—one or two of them escaping on the snowmobile. A shiver ran through him—if he would’ve left his home moments earlier, he might’ve come face to face with them on the county road as they drove south and he drove north.
Travis cut off the engine of his snowmobile and got off the vehicle, his eyes darting around, his hand itching to grab his father’s gun tucked inside his jacket.
He walked towards the wide-open garage door and stood at the threshold.
“Hello?”
No answer from the darkness.
He hesitated a moment, starting to feel like this might not be a good idea. It was murky inside the garage, but his eyes were already beginning to grow accustomed to it. He ventured inside the garage, his hand still ready to draw his gun if he needed to.
“Mr. Gordon? You in here? It’s Travis from down the road. I saw the fire.”
No answer. Only silence.
“We already called the police!” Travis added. He didn’t like the shakiness in his voice, but he was trembling and he couldn’t help it. The cold, the fear, and the excitement were all getting to him. “The fire department’s on the way, too!”
Still no answer. After a deeper search, Travis was sure that no one was hiding in the garage. He found where the snowmobile had been parked, and he saw the crumpled up blue tarp that had covered it.
Travis left the garage and decided to walk around the cabin, keeping at least twenty-five to thirty feet away from the burning cabin. As he walked down the side of the cabin, he kept looking at the woods. He’d grown up around these woods all of his life—he’d hunted in these woods, hiked in them for years, camped out in them—nothing in these woods scared him, but he still couldn’t help feeling like something … or somebody … was watching him.
When he got far enough past the cabin, he saw a vehicle burning in the back—it was parked a few car lengths away from the back of the cabin. It looked like some kind of SUV, and he was pretty sure that Tom Gordon didn’t own a vehicle like this.
Travis ran back to the garage and searched through the tools until he found a snow shovel and a fire extinguisher. He ran back to the vehicles and used the fire extinguisher on the vehicle, smothering a lot of the flames out. Then he went to work with the shovel, smothering the rest of the flames with snow. It was hot next to the vehicle and Travis had built up a sheen of sweat underneath his clothes from the exertion.
He stared at the charred vehicle after the fire was out. Most of the fire damage was in the back of the SUV, where the fire had started. He walked to the front and peered in through the window. Nobody in the truck, and the tires on the front hadn’t melted yet from the heat. This couldn’t be Mr. Gordon’s truck; he didn’t own a vehicle like this, and when he saw the license plate on front he was even more certain—it was a New Mexico license plate.
What was this truck doing here? It seemed like somebody had purposely set the back of this vehicle on fire, because it didn’t seem like the fire could have jumped all the way from the back of the cabin to the truck. But he wasn’t an expert. The firefighters would know for sure.
Travis had a feeling that this was the bank robbers’ vehicle. Obviously they must have come from New Mexico to rob the bank here. And then they had ditched the getaway vehicle and escaped on Tom Gordon’s snowmobile.
But not all of them.
They had left some of their crew behind, their bodies burning on the front porch. And Mr. Gordon was probably among those bodies. It was a sad thing to think about, but it was most likely a reality.
Travis continued his investigation around the house to the other side. He saw a discarded gas can. This fire had been deliberately set, yet it didn’t seem like the criminals were trying to hide the evidence.
He had an overwhelming feeling that he should go back home now and protect his mom and his sister. He wasn’t sure why this feeling was so strong. He’d seen the snowmobile tracks on the road beyond their driveway and they had continued south along the road. Whoever had been on that snowmobile was probably down in Cody’s Pass by now, trying to find a way to escape, perhaps trying to find another vehicle.
No, he decided he would wait for the sheriff and the fire department to get here.
CHAPTER 18
Cody’s Pass, Colorado—Nora’s house
“Who’s knocking at the door?” Nicole said. She walked straight to the sliding glass door that led out onto the deck that they’d both been standing on only ten minutes ago. Nora had pulled the vertical blinds back over the glass doors after they had come back inside and they couldn’t see who was knocking.
Fear gripped Nora so badly that she couldn’t speak for a moment. She wanted to warn her daughter not to go to that sliding glass door, but her words were frozen in her throat, her muscles paralyzed with fear. There was something bad out there, she was sure of it … something very bad. It was the way the person was knocking on the glass door … three loud and steady knocks … impatient knocks.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
It was one of the bank robbers, Nora was sure of that. One of those animals had been in the woods earlier when they’d been outside watching the smoke drift above the trees. He must have waited until Travis left and then he climbed up onto the back deck and now he was at her sliding glass door. Maybe there was more than one of them.
For a split second Nora thought maybe it might be Travis at the sliding glass door. But she dismissed that idea instantly for a few reasons. For one thing, Travis wouldn’t knock—he had a key to the front door. And she hadn’t heard his snowmobile come back. But even if he’d broken down in the driveway and had to walk back, he would’ve come in through the front door.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Nicole was at the vertical blinds now, about to pull them aside so she could open the door for the person who was knocking.
Nora lunged for the cordless phone on the wall in the kitchen. She grabbed the phone and it nearly slipped out of her hand. She pushed the TALK button with a trembling finger. She was going to call the sheriff’s office and tell them to get out here right now.
There was no dial tone.
She tried all the numbers on the phone, jabbing at them furiously.
Nothing.
The phone had just been working a few moments ago.
They had cut the phone lines.
Then another thought occurred to Nora. Had she locked the sliding glass door when they had come back inside? She hadn’t heeded Deputy Burnette’s advice on the phone earlier and locked all the windows and doors, but maybe she had locked the sliding glass door … but she was pretty sure she’d left it unlocked.
Nora plucked the biggest kitchen knife out of the wood block on the counter and she ran into the dining room.
“Don’t open that door!” Nora screamed at her daughter, finally finding her voice.
Nicole seemed to be ignoring her—almost like she was in a trance. She slid the vertical blinds to the side and then she stood there, paralyzed for a moment as she stared at the person on the other side of the glass. She seemed frightened but also confused, like she was trying to figure out exactly what she was looking at.
Nora wished Travis was still here. He would know what to do.
“Nora,” a voice said fr
om outside the glass door, a voice that seemed to somehow float into the house through the glass, a voice that sounded so clear to her.
Her heart stopped in her chest for a moment. The person standing outside knew her name. Maybe it was a neighbor or someone from town checking on them. But then again, why wouldn’t they have come to the front door and ring the bell? And why would Nicole be so frightened and shocked by who was on the other side of the glass?
“Nora …” the man said again. The voice was louder. Her name sounded garbled in the man’s mouth, like he was having difficulty speaking, like he might be injured.
There was something familiar about the man’s voice, something familiar in the way he said her name. She knew this man’s voice from somewhere; she could feel it in her bones.
“Nora … I’m home. I’ve come back home.”
Nora knew who it was now … but it couldn’t be. She bolted from the end of the dining room towards the sliding glass door with the knife clenched in her hand.
Nicole was already sliding the door open for their visitor, her face shiny with tears as she stared at the man in the doorway.
“Don’t open that door!” Nora screamed at her daughter.
But it was too late now.
Nora stopped in her tracks a few feet away from the door as Nicole backed up to let the visitor inside. Now Nora could clearly see who was on the other side of the sliding glass door. She froze in shock and fear just like Nicole had done, her mind trying to understand what she was seeing. The knife slipped out of her fingers and dropped down to the floor with a thud.
The sound of heavy footsteps thumped through the house as the man entered their home from the deck.
“Daddy?” Nicole said as she backed up away from the dead man standing just inside the sliding glass door. His skin was gray and mottled. The suit he’d been buried in was nearly shredded with rot. Clumps of dirt hung in his hair. More dirt was smeared all over his clothes and exposed skin.
