William sat next to her at the edge of her bed, and one quick glance around proved she was in her room at Saddle Inn.
“Wh-what’s happened?” she moaned, more stars floating in her vision.
“Careful, you have a nasty bump,” William worried and gently cupped his hand around her face. “I found you while hiking by the Davidsons’ property. You were passed out and hurt. What the hell happened?”
Lacey brought her hand up to her head, the throbbing area rattling her brain from the outside.
“Crap, the paper…and the cat….” Lacey shifted on both elbows, propping herself up.
“Whoa, easy there,” William warned as he tried to help her up. “What paper? A cat?”
She rubbed her temples with one shaky head. “Get me a sheet of paper…”
“A what?”
“A sheet of paper, quick, before I lose it…” she begged, and William ran over to the little desk under the window.
“Okay, jeez, no need to lose your temper, killer,” he joked.
“No, lose the information,” she corrected, then took the paper and pen he brought over to her. “I found something in the forest.”
“Yeah, I’d say. What were you doing there anyway? What happened to you?” William asked as he sat back on the bed.
“We’ll get to that in a second, but first…” Lacey furiously scribbled down on the paper. She had to immortalize Brian’s notes before they disappeared from her mind completely.
Cannot leave. 2330 Knotted Tree Ln. Faded pink dot.
She stared at her notes for a few long moments. Brian couldn’t leave town? The address meant something. As far as a faded pink dot, she had no clue what that signified.
William looked at her with both brows pinched together. “So are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
Lacey gazed up at him. “I should be asking you the same question.”
Confusion veiled his features. “What do you mean?”
“Everyone in Raven Hills is hiding something, William. I know it. There is something that’s happening in town, and no one wants to talk about it. Why?”
William took a big inhale. “Lacey, all I know is that our history is…strange.”
“Strange and dangerous,” she countered. “It almost claimed my life, and possibly Brian’s!”
His eyes filled with worry. “I’ll tell you what I know, but it isn’t much. What do you want to know?”
She sat up higher in the bed, trying to shift into a more comfortable position, despite her bones screaming with every movement.
“What do you know about Brian?” she began, her eyes laser focused on him.
“I only heard his name once in passing. Maybe a couple of weeks ago or so. I didn’t think much about it. We don’t get many visitors here, so I was surprised someone from out of town had lodged here at all, but from what I heard, he came and went quickly.”
“That’s it?” she pressed, her gaze intensifying.
“I promise.”
“Why is everyone lying about him being here?”
William shook his head. “I don’t really know, Lacey. The only thing I can confirm is that he was here at one point.” He gave her a pleading glance. “Look, I know we’re a backward town, but Raven Hills is important to us. I admit I’ve considered leaving a few times,” he conceded. “To go and build a life in a larger city, where there’ll be more opportunities. But I grew up with a sense of pride for our ancestral roots, and even though my generation doesn’t have the same attachment, the elders in Raven Hills are very protective of our little corner of the world.”
“What are they protecting, William?” Lacey asked, not budging. She had gained momentum on the situation, and needed William to spill as much information as possible before he, too, became wary to confide in an out-of-towner.
He appraised her for a long moment, chewing on his bottom lip. “Something evil.”
A shiver ran down Lacey’s spine. “What is it?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“But there’s still more you’re not telling me,” she pushed on, leaning closer to him now. “Please, William, I need to know.” Her voice had toned down to a whisper.
William’s gaze trailed to her lips, and his own face inched closer to hers before whispering, “So you can put it in your story?”
The moment fizzling, Lacey swayed her head back, frustration rolling through her. William rose and began pacing the room, both arms crossed.
“No, William, so I can find Brian,” she replied with an exasperated breath. “And Ginny. Don’t you think we owe it to the younger generation? Do you really want her to grow up in such a messed-up town?”
He gave her a puzzled look. “Who?”
“Ginny!” Lacey stumbled out of bed, now remembering how Ginny had been in the forest too. “She’s out there alone in the woods. We have to find her! William, whoever attacked me could attack her too.”
Frantic, she looked around the room. Her shoes were off and strewn on the floor, and she tried to put them on.
“Wait a minute, you’re not going anywhere until you see a doctor,” William warned, rushing over to her.
“But Ginny is alone!”
“Who is Ginny?” he asked, his words thick with annoyance.
She stopped and looked into his eyes. “Ginny…I don’t know her last name, but she’s always around town. Little girl, wears a lace black dress, bell sleeves…surely you know who she is.”
Worry lines etched William’s forehead. “I think you really need to see a doctor.”
“No, I’m fine!” she urged, knowing that every little second that scurried by meant Ginny grew in more danger. “We have to find Ginny!”
William placed both hands on her arms, trying to calm her down.
“Lacey, there’s no one in town named Ginny. I think you’ve imagined her.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sitting in William’s truck, Lacey held an ice bag to her head, the sore spot slowing down to a dull throb. After inspecting it carefully, William ensured it wasn’t a deep cut, but only a superficial scrape. He was still reluctant to take Lacey to the address she’d scribbled down, given he had found her injured in the forest and then panicking about some strange little girl. But Lacey wouldn’t take no for an answer, so he obliged.
Lacey recalled everything she’d seen in the forest area that belonged to the Davidson family. She thought of the bobcat glaring at her, then of Ginny’s presence pointing to something. How could she have mistaken the girl being there? And surely William couldn’t be right. Ginny existed, and Lacey did not imagine her.
“So the root grabbed you,” William said, interrupting her troubled thoughts.
She nodded. “It was…alive.”
William’s brows arched high. “Okay. Or maybe you just got tangled in it.”
“No, I’m telling you, it wrapped around my leg like a fist, and it grasped tighter and tighter.” Lacey dropped the ice bag on her lap, her eyes focusing outside the passenger window. “It knew what it was doing.”
William bit his cheek. “And you saw the girl…Jenna.”
“Ginny,” she corrected with a frustrated groan. “Ginny. How do you not know her? And don’t say she doesn’t exist,” she quickly added. “I know what I’ve seen and whom I’ve talked to. I’m not insane.” She shot William a sour look.
“I’m not saying you’re insane,” he comforted. “Just that this kid doesn’t exist. I know everyone in town. Raven Hills isn’t big.”
“I know,” she replied, finding sincerity in his words but also believing in what she’d seen. “But she is real.”
“Okay, then who are her parents?” he countered.
“I’ve never met them.”
“And what’s her last name?”
She sighed. “I don’t know.”
He gave her a side glance, eyes wide with a ‘See? You imagined her’ look.
“She knows the Smythe family!” Lacey said, hands
flailing in the air and ice bag dropping to the car floor. “Oh, oh! And she ate breakfast with me at Saddle Inn the morning after my arrival.”
She felt a stab of satisfaction, until William asked, “So Diddie saw her too?”
Her beaming smile deflated. “No. No, she wasn’t in the room with us.”
William sighed, but didn’t press anymore. Lacey imagined the thoughts running through his head and couldn’t blame him.
“What’s the number we’re looking for, again?” William asked, as the truck turned down Knotted Tree Lane, a long, winding road that grew more and more familiar to Lacey.
“2330,” Lacey answered.
“There it is,” William announced, pulling the truck to a slow stop in front of the home.
Lacey looked out the window, her face growing pale. She stared at the little steps leading to the front door, and the paved path arching to the side of the house. A shed lurked behind the home, half hidden but still visible under a large pine tree.
“Are you alright?” he asked, his hand grazing her arm.
“Yes,” she said, and took a big breath. “I know this home. I was here.”
“I think it belongs to…” William said, looking at the house.
“…Mary Sue Collins,” Lacey replied, her voice shaking. “And her daughter Julie.”
“That’s right,” he confirmed. “Julie moved in years ago to help her mother.”
Lacey swallowed a knot, remembering Julie’s neglect toward her mother, and how her presence had made Lacey uncomfortable. “Yeah, she’s a real help, alright.”
She opened the truck door and walked to the side of the home. Her mind reeled with too many questions. Why did Brian notate this home? What role did it play in Brian’s research? And why did everything inside her scream at her to leave?
With William in tow, she decided to head over to the shed in the backyard.
“What are we doing exactly?” William asked, uncertainty in his voice.
“Snooping,” she replied, matter of factly.
“What?” he said, his tone dropping to a worried whisper. “We can’t do that…”
“You don’t have to do anything, William. But I’m doing it.” She stopped short before reaching the side door and turned to face him. “It’s my story after all. You don’t have to stay here.”
William groaned a frustrated sigh. As much as he didn’t want to be there, he realized that leaving Lacey to lurk about alone, especially after encountering her in the woods like a lost puppy, wasn’t a good idea.
“I’m coming with you,” he finally conceded, winning a warm smile from Lacey that made butterflies dance in his stomach.
Creeping to the shed, Lacey tried the door but found it locked. Inspecting the sides of the structure, she found a foggy window to the right.
“Seriously?” William asked, understanding Lacey’s intentions as she tried to pry the window open.
“Yes,” she huffed, forcing the window but struggling.
William sighed. “Here’s a better way.” Picking up a rock, he inched to the window and motioned for Lacey to step aside. With one quick hit, the rock met the glass, shattering it to pieces. William snaked his hand through and found the lock. Unjamming it, he opened the window.
“This is a pretty small window,” he noticed, then glanced over at Lacey. “You’re small enough, but I won’t make it in.”
“Give me a push then,” Lacey asked and as William cupped his hands, she placed a foot in them. The window was narrow, and she had to be careful of the broken glass edging the pane. Swinging into the shed, nearly tripping on a stack of mats piled on the ground, she regained her composure.
The shed was dark, but she remembered seeing a ceiling light with a pull chain the last time she was here. Feeling her way around and stumbling about, she located it and pulled the string. Light shone in the shed, revealing the same hoarded mess she’d seen before.
Her eyes immediately located the pick axe hanging on the wall. Inching her way through the mess, she examined the axe closely again. The Davidson logo was imprinted on the handle, confirming her eyes hadn’t failed her the first time around. Her fingers grazed the handle, and the moment her flesh met the wood, she sensed a strong, dark energy.
Her hand snapped back, almost as if she’d been shocked. Her skin crawled with goosebumps, and her stomach twisted into knots. The pick axe was a simple tool—why would it give her such a strange sense of doom? She thought about it belonging to the Davidsons, who also owned the large wooded property. That meant the abandoned coal mine she’d come across had been operated by the Davidsons at one point, too. But why did Mary Sue have this artifact in her shed? She wondered if maybe her family had any relation to the Davidsons or the coal mine.
She looked around some more, meandering from corner to corner. Crates, old rusty gardening tools, and other items were scattered about. Lacey began to grow frustrated, finding nothing substantial in meaning, until her gaze fell on a small brown crate waiting against the back of the shed. She bent down and picked up the folded-up fabric.
She ran the yarn material through her hands, noticing the hook work. Repeating patterns of stitches spread out in soft gray rows, and something oddly familiar jumped to mind.
Jane Dearing’s photograph from an old photo album had shown a smiling woman, wrapped in a shawl that displayed a very similar crochet stitch pattern. Lacey fingered the fabric and opened it fully, wondering exactly what it was. She gathered it was a shawl or mantle, and that it was old. The smell of it alone was a mix of mothballs and dust. She tried telling herself that Mary Sue could have very well had owned this in her youth, so it didn’t really seem like a strange item to find.
But Lacey’s gut feeling told her otherwise. There was something else hiding in a dark corner of her memory, something that needed to surface. She scanned her thoughts to remember all the information she’d read or discovered through case interviews.
Virginia Kyle, killed on Halloween night, found slouched in Jane Dearing’s bathroom on the night of 1953; Jane’s disappearance into thin air; an orphan girl found in the Davidsons’ Forest, alone and cold, shivering in a blanket. The old newspaper article about finding little Joann had been shown to her by Lieutenant Bennett, the deputy who had discovered her many years ago. The faded picture—the small brunette child—dirty and covered with a simple blanket.
A blanket.
Lacey’s heart lurched to her feet, a sudden connection sparking in her head. Joann hadn’t been wearing a blanket the day Bennett had found her, but something that on a small, thin child would appear as such.
Except it wasn’t. What she had been wrapped in was a shawl—this shawl—the one clutched in her hands.
One Lacey suspected had been crocheted by Jane Dearing herself.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“You’re taking that?” William asked, shooting her a wide-eyed look as they both climbed into the truck and his gaze fell on the crocheted item in Lacey’s lap.
“There’s a connection between this, Joann Derby, and Jane Dearing,” Lacey explained, her words rushing out in a ragged breath.
“But why would it be in the Collins’ shed?”
“Exactly!” she exclaimed. She might’ve not had the answers she wanted, but these clues now pointed her in the right direction. Her hands lingered on the shawl as the truck sped away from Mary Sue’s home.
William rubbed his forehead wearily. “Maybe we need to go see Lieutenant Bennett and seek his help.”
“He’s hiding information, just like everyone else in Raven Hills,” she countered.
“Then where to next?” William asked, but before Lacey could answer, he slammed on the brakes, the truck spinning on the road before coming to an abrupt stop.
“What the hell…” Lacey cursed, her eyes narrowing at the crouched figure on the road.
“What is that?” William said, echoing Lacey’s thoughts.
Two green eyes glared at them, bright and neon irises staring a
t them with feral malice. They seemed to belong to a coyote although the body was much bigger, reminding Lacey of a panther. Still crouching and ready to pounce, the animal inched closer to the vehicle, keeping the unnerving eye contact.
“Don’t get out of the car,” Lacey ordered, shivers running down her spine.
“Wasn’t planning to,” William assured.
Suddenly, the animal dove onto the hood of the car. Lacey and William startled and jerked back into their seats. The panther released a chilling roar that filled the truck with dread.
“Is this normal around here?” Lacey yelled, her hand grasping the armrest so tightly her knuckles turned white.
William honked the car horn, an attempt to startle the feline beast off the hood of his truck. “No! Never seen a panther around here before.”
The panther raised a beefy paw, its claws stretched out, and swung at the windshield. Large scratches appeared on the glass, and Lacey could only imagine what those claws could do to their skin.
“Drive, just drive!” she screamed.
William placed the gear in drive again and peeled away, the tires screeching on the cement. The panther remained on the hood for a few moments, its glare still fixated on the two of them. Then, as the truck accelerated, it bounced off.
Lacey turned in her seat and looked through the glass windows behind her. William appraised the rearview mirror, nervous sweat dripping down his neck.
“Where the hell did it go?” Lacey’s eyes narrowed. The road behind them grew smaller and smaller.
“I don’t see it,” William added.
Minutes later, silence filled the truck, both of them trying to get over the shock. Finally, William spoke.
“You’re right.”
Lacey looked at him, her heartbeat still frantic. “About what?”
“The town. The strange occurrences. Everything!” He slammed one hand on his steering wheel. “I just remained numb and quiet about it, even though I could tell something was wrong.”
“But now?”
William shook his head, thoughts roiling in his mind. “Now, I just want to know the truth.” He looked at Lacey, determination crossing his face. “I want to know who holds Raven Hills prisoner.”
Raven Hills- Unraveling Evil Page 9
