She looked at him intently. “Ain’t it any easier now that you’ve seen the Devil?”
“Why, I… uh… I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean?”
“Lookit, I got no idea how much you know about this island, Mr. Allen. I know you seen that old monastery up there on the north end. Well, fact is, the story starts there. That old place used to be the meetin’ hall for a group of spiritists. They was tryin’ to build some kinda bridge connectin’ this world to the next. Turned out they was fixin’ to use me as that bridge. I was s’pose to learn how to do it — how to be the connection. I got tutored by a man name a Cortney Dare. Ever hear of him?”
Harrison shook his head.
“He used to live right in your house. Course, he pretended he didn’t know nothin’ about the spiritists, when all the time he was the ringleader of the whole thing! He believed there was another world, jes’ like this one pretty much, but invisible to us, even though it’s all around us. The folks over there, on the other side, are a whole lot stronger an’ more powerful than we are. Some people call ’em angels and devils, I guess, but Cortney Dare, he didn’t go in for none of that religious stuff. He looked at the whole thing kinda scientific-like.
“Now these folks from the other side, they can make us work for them without us even knowin’ it. Turns out they got an awful lot more to do with our lives than any of us could ever realize.
“Anyways, Cortney Dare thought if he could turn the tables — get them to work for him — why then, he’d be the most powerful man in this world. More’n any king or president or pope or whatever. See, Mr. Dare, he wanted to control more than jest the colony a spiritists, he wanted to control… well, he wanted to control anything he wanted to control. An’ he did control a lot a folks, me included.
“But don’t get him wrong, now. He was a special man, Mr. Allen, a grand an’ shinin’ man. There weren’t an ounce of bad in his makeup; that’s the important thing to remember. He didn’t want to do nobody no harm. Jest wanted to make things better all around. Why, thinkin’ of him now, I believe that man had more charm than anyone should ever be allowed to have. That’s how he got me to do what I done.
“Him an’ the others at the monastery trained me. See, I always had a touch a the second sight. So did my mother, an’ some of my other ancestors, too. Guess I had a pretty strong dose of it, from what they told me. Anyways, they trained me. Got me so I could talk to folks without even movin’ my mouth — I’d jest think a what I wanted to say to ’em, an’ they’d hear it, even if they was a long ways off. I kep’ gettin’ better at it, too. Pretty quick I could tell folks what to do, an’ they’d jest do it without ever givin’ it a thought. I can put thoughts in folks’ heads that was never there before, an’ I can make folks ferget things, too. I’m ashamed to say it, Mr. Allen, but sometimes I can do harm to folks without so much as even layin’ a finger on ’em.”
Harrison shivered.
“So I kep’ workin’ and practicin’, an’ when I got my powers up to where Cortney Dare figgered they was strong enough, he got me to talkin’ with them folks nobody can see, them invisible folks that’s all around us an’ all over ever’where.
“Oh, I guess I ain’t the first to talk to ’em, or even the first to see ’em, but I might jest be the first one who ever tried to entice one of ’em with the idea of havin’ his baby.
“First time things didn’t go too good. Some kinda connection got made, all right, but nothin’ much happened.
“But that Cortney Dare, he wasn’t never one to give up on somethin’. Like I said, he was a charmer, an’ pretty quick he got me to try again. This time he had me fix my attention on another daddy — one a the real strong ones.
“An’ that’s what you see in them two kids of mine. ’Specially Jenny. She’s my daughter, all right, but her daddy’s one a them outside ones. Jabez, too, for that matter, but he jest don’t look so strange.
“So you see what happened? After all was said and done, Cortney Dare’s idea jest didn’t work, ’cause Jenny, she got her daddy’s looks okay, but her insides is jest as human as can be. Jest as human as your schoolteacher friend, I guess. Must be, ’cause they both of ’em feel the same way about you.
“Jenny can’t hear thinkin’ the way me an’ Jabe can. But she don’t need to in order to tell how people’d feel if they seen her. She knows she’s as ugly as sin. An’ that breaks my heart, Mr. Allen. ’Cause by the time I got around to birthin’ her an’ Jabez, I knew that Cortney Dare was jest leadin’ me on. Why, I wasn’t no bridge, I wasn’t no experiment, I was jest the mother a two kids, plain and simple.
“Oh, I know how that sounds to you. An’ I know it’s somethin’ you’ll never understand, not even if you was a woman. But you gotta believe me, them two kids is real special to me. I want what’s right for ’em, an’ I’d do jest about anything to make ’em happy, ’specially when I think about all the stuff they got goin’ against ’em.
“Sure, I knew what was happenin’ when Jenny started gettin’ sweet on you. I seen how she brung you things an’ followed you around, an’ how she protected you. Broke my heart when I found out she kilt a little girl who snuck into your house. Jenny thought the little one meant to hurt you, I s’pose, or maybe figgered she had designs on you herself. Jenny, she don’t really think too clear, ya see. I gotta say she’s kinda simple. But after she done what she done, there was no way of bringin’ that little gal back again, not after Jenny finished with her. Course I knew how her parents woulda felt, same as I would losin’ one a my kids like that — why, I’d wanna die. So I helped ’em with that, you know. Dyin’, I mean. I felt terrible doin’ it to ’em, but I thought it was the best thing all around….”
Harrison’s hands tightened on his mug of tea. He couldn’t think of anything to say, but he didn’t have to. The old woman continued, “Course it was Jenny saved you from them boys with the shotgun, ya know. That was her doin’, not mine. And maybe it was good what she done, I can’t say for sure.
“But I’m sure about this: she got all crazy with love an’ jealousy an’ things went from bad to worse. It’s my belief, Mr. Allen, that she meant to hurt your lady friend, too. I’m afraid she was gonna do more’n jes’ use her to lure you into the swamp.”
Harrison watched as the old woman wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. Then she said, “That’s when I knew things had gone too far. Things had finally got outa hand. See, I been hidin’ her here on the island for a lotta years. An’ in all that time she never before started actin’ the way she has since you come here. You must have somethin’ pretty powerful workin’ for you mister, that’s all I can say. You waked up somethin’ in that girl that ain’t stirred for sixty or more years.
“Y’see, Jenny grows old real slow. A lot slower than other people. Same as Jabez. That’s another thing they get from their father, I guess. But now, after all this time, Jenny’s come of age, an’ — no different than any of the rest of us — once she comes of age, she ain’t never gonna be the same again.
“I tried to help her out a little. Tried to use young Ransom to get the schoolteacher out of the picture. Thinkin’ about it now, though, I guess that was pretty stupid of me. I shoulda known a fancy city girl like that would never take a shine to none of the island boys. Too bad, too. Prob’ly woulda worked out better in the long run, though who can say.”
As she poured some more herb tea into Harrison’s cup, he noticed her hand. The palm was wrinkled and brown with an ancient scar that looked like a burn mark. Harrison took the cup gratefully, relieved to have something tangible to hold on to in this atmosphere of unreality.
“We’ve had a pretty good life here on the island,” the old woman continued. “Folks leave us to ourselves pretty much. They do little favors to help us, and I do what I can in return. It works out. They don’t ask no questions, an’ I don’t give ’em nothin’ to ask questions about. ’Cept maybe now. I’m afraid it’s gonna be a little hard to get things quieted down again.”
“Quieted down? I… I don’t understand.”
“No? Well, think about it. Right now Cliff Ransom’s lyin’ dead outside of your place, an’ some friend of yours from Burl’ton jest called in the police from Grand Isle. They’re gonna find what happened to Cliff pretty quick, ya know, an’ they ain’t never gonna realize how much he had it comin’. They’re gonna find another dead body in your hall, too — that old snoop of a college perfesser.”
Harrison couldn’t believe it. “Professor Hathaway’s dead?”
“Yes, he is, sir. Gunned down by young Ransom.”
He heard horror and wonder combining in his voice. “My God,” he asked slowly, “how do you know all those things happened?”
“I can see things, that’s what I’m tryin’ to tell you. I can shine my mind over this island like the beam from a lighthouse. I can always tell what’s goin’ on. Everyone around here knows that.”
“S… so what do you intend to do?”
The old woman shook her head slowly, sadly. “That I don’t rightly know. Not exactly.” She tapped her fingertips on the tabletop. “Maybe I do know everything that’s goin’ on in town, but so does most any other ol’ lady. Trouble is, I don’t always know the best thing to do about it. One thing I’ll tell you for sure: things don’t look very good for you right now, Mr. Allen.”
“For me? What do you mean?”
“I mean you could have an awful lot of explainin’ to do.”
“Explaining?”
“You don’t get it, do you, son? It’s like I said. There’s them two bodies on your property, an’ you ain’t anywheres around. Now how do you s’pose that looks? Jabe an’ me, we took care of that other fella’s body, the one over to the monastery, Stubby Baron. But sooner or later somebody’s gonna notice he’s missin’, jes’ like folks already noticed that little girl an’ her parents ain’t around. We took care of their bodies, too, an’ Jabe sunk their car in the marsh. But we can’t go on like this, Mr. Allen. The bodies jest keep pilin’ up. Now these things gotta stop. They ain’t right.”
Harrison didn’t know what to say.
“Course, now with young Ransom dead, nobody can connect us, or you, with any of it. Trouble is, we didn’t have no time for hidin’ them dead folks at your place…” She took a deep breath. “Like I say, it’s gonna be a little hard to get things quieted down again.”
Harrison began to feel uncomfortably warm. His heart pounded as if it were trying to break free of the bone and muscle enclosing it. Beads of sweat burst from his forehead and formed under his arms. They ran down his sides in icy rivulets. He braced himself; he had a strong sense of what was coming.
“What about Nancy?” he asked.
“Looks to me like she slept right through the worst of it. I got a feelin’ when she wakes up she won’t remember much of anything that happened. Jabez can fix things so she can wake up right to home, right in her own bed. Be a shame to have her miss a day of school tomorrow.”
Harrison had only one question to ask. It was difficult for him, and it came slowly. After what seemed a very long silence, he finally spoke. He could manage nothing more than a whisper.
“And… what about me?” he asked.
Chapter 18 - Awakenings
1
It was as if a great weight suddenly had been lifted. For the first time in more than three hours, Chief Lawrence Connelly shifted his position on the cold concrete bridge. Suddenly he realized how chilly it had become; he figured he’d better be getting along home.
He glanced groggily at his watch. It was one of those digital affairs, the kind with just numbers and no face. He still wasn’t sure that he liked it. But it had a little built-in light that blinked on so he could tell what time it was, even when it was pitch-black outside.
It was 8:02 he could still make it home in time for a late supper.
No point staying here any longer. If that Cliff Ransom had been going to show up, he would have done it by now.
The chief got up and walked away. His legs ached from sitting too long in one position. His arthritic knees were stiff from prolonged contact with the cold stone. They hurt something wicked when he flexed them, as if the joints were lubricated with ground glass. Still, he had a feeling of satisfaction, accomplishment. He had done his job well.
He knew his stakeout had been successful. He had not seen Cliff, which meant Cliff had not crossed the bridge.
2
It was painful to look at the body. For a long while after he’d called the state police, Mark Chittenden had ignored the dead man in the hallway. He found it easy to avert his eyes; averting his mind was another thing altogether.
He tried walking around outside, not wanting to be in the same house as a dead man. But he quickly found the cold and the dampness less hospitable than the funeral-parlor atmosphere within.
As time passed, his curiosity began to heighten. He walked from the living room into the hall, where he examined the body from a safe distance. Any closer and the smell of the wound would have been overpowering.
The man looked familiar. Surely he was an islander, somebody Mark had seen before. Holding his breath, he walked a little closer, his steps tentative. If it became necessary he was prepared to make a rapid retreat.
The body, slouched against the wall, was an elderly, moderately distinguished looking man. The cadaver’s thick white hair was obvious as his head jutted forward, chin pressed tightly against his chest. Mark intentionally avoided the sight of the ruined abdomen where torn strands of clothing were woven tightly with shreds of flesh, all matted together in a paste of thick, red-black blood.
He backed away. Turned. Redirected his thoughts.
So where was Harrison? His Saab was nowhere around. Had he done this and run away? Was Mark’s old college pal capable of such a violent act? Why would he do it? What could possibly have been the motive? Mark searched his memories of Harrison for signs of violence. Or insanity.
Though his mind continued to reject thoughts of the corpse, Mark’s attention was again caught by the papers that littered the floor. Mystery novels and cop shows had taught him that he wasn’t supposed to touch anything at the scene of a murder. But to pick up just one paper…
After reading one, he picked up another. And another. He had finished reading long before the police came. Prior to today —before this very moment, in fact — Mark never would have imagined himself as one capable of concealing evidence from a police investigation. But these papers were different. They were written in his grandfather’s own handwriting.
And they hinted at a terrible secret.
3
When Nancy Wells awoke, she found herself in her own bed. She felt tense, irritable, as if she had just awakened from a bad dream. Yet try as she might, she could not remember what she had been dreaming.
When she attempted to sit up, it was like a mallet blow against the interior of her skull. Flinching, she painfully, slowly, settled back into the warmth of her bed. She gently eased her throbbing head into the still-warm indentation in her pillow.
God, where did this headache come from?
Closing her eyes, she waited for the painful drumbeat to slow down. At first it felt like a hangover, but she had no recollection of drinking anything the night before.
In fact, she had no recollection of the night before at all!
With this realization, she became frightened. Her eyes opened wide, in spite of the painful daylight.
A total lapse of memory!
Dear God, it IS happening again!
Her senses sharply tuned now, she began to experience a tingling of sensation in the rest of her body. It was like blood returning to a numbed limb.
How her arms and legs ached! Had she banged and bruised them while thrashing around on the floor, caught helplessly in the violent throes of a seizure?
Deep inside, Nancy finally knew she could no longer deny that the seizures had returned. She had always known there was a possibility that they might.
Now they had. God, how much more indication did she need?
Then and there she resolved to put it off no longer. She would make an appointment with a neurologist today. At once. She’d even go to the emergency room at a hospital if she had to.
It would be best if she got someone to drive her. Maybe she’d call Professor Hathaway or…
Or…
Who else was there?
No one.
She began to sob, not knowing exactly why. As if to comfort her, a soft, caring voice whispered from somewhere in the back of her mind, “There, there, now. Call Eric, honey. Eric loves you.”
Yes, thought Nancy, all at once feeling better. Yes. Eric loves me.
She could easily remember his phone number in Albany.
4
Somehow Harrison seemed to sense where he was long before he opened his eyes. There was an overwhelming feeling of familiarity about his surroundings; he just couldn’t name the place.
He inventoried the various sensations. He was cold. Damp. The musty smell of earth was all around him. Yet it was a familiar smell, one he had experienced just recently.
He was not on a bed; he knew that. He was on a hard surface. He could feel it underneath the blanket he was lying on. Through the fabric tiny lumps like pebbles pushed against his sensitive flesh.
For a long time he couldn’t move at all. It was as if his mind were commanding his body to remain motionless. But his mind had issued no such command.
At least he could think. But all he could think about was how cold he was, and how uncomfortable he felt, and that he could do nothing to change either.
He took a deep breath. The cellarlike odor was almost tactile. It burrowed deep into his lungs, where it seemed to take root and chill him from within. It smelled so familiar, like the odor of returning home after a long time away, or the lingering scent of a lover’s perfume. But he had a poorly developed olfactory memory; he just couldn’t place the scent.
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