Black Stump Ridge (15 page)

A smell floated to him from the yawning blackness. His nostrils flared as he tried to identify the elusive scent. It grew thicker. He frowned. As it grew stronger, Charlie grimaced. He smelled decay, the stench of a tidal flat during low tide on a hot day. The odor reached into his nose and mouth. He gagged as his gorge rose. He tried not to throw up.

“Charlie.”

He froze. Icy fingers squeezed his testicles.

“Charlie.”

He knew that voice; knew it well. It didn’t belong here. It belonged far away from this frigid mountainside.

“Charlie.”

He turned. He tried to resist, but his feet and his body had minds of their own. There she stood, less than twenty feet away. Her hair cascaded down either side of her head. Her eyes were wide and staring directly at him. Her mouth was set in the pouty smile he knew all too well. In spite of the cold she wore a diaphanous negligee. The gauzy fabric shifted on the wind. First it revealed her upturned breasts; then hid them.

She raised her arms, opened them to him in welcome.
“Why did you leave me like that, Charlie?”

She stepped closer.

Charlie felt the shotgun’s sling slide down his arm. The weapon clattered among the stones. The tarpaulin, too, fell to the rocky soil beside his feet.

“What’s the matter, Charlie? Aren’t you glad to see me?”

Charlie’s mouth worked spastically. “You can’t be here. You’re dead.”

Janine’s face registered mock surprise as her hands made an exaggerated show of checking her body.

“Really, Charlie? I feel fine.”
She took another step toward him.
“You don’t look like you feel so good, though.”

Charlie’s hand rose to the zipper on his down jacket. Slowly, without taking his eyes off of the apparition in front of him, he eased the zipper halfway down and slipped his hand inside.

“I killed you.”

Janine nodded.
“Yes, Charlie, you did.”
Her voice sounded sad even as the expression in her eyes hardened.
“That really hurt my feelings, you know.”

“How can you be here?” Charlie’s hand found the butt of the pistol nestled in the shoulder holster. With his thumb, he unsnapped the strap and eased the safety off.

She tilted her head to one side as if thinking.
“Very good question, Charlie.”

He pulled the gun free of the holster. The hammer caught, briefly, and then the pistol was away from the coat. He raised it, pointed it at his dead wife, and thumbed back the hammer.

“I killed you once. I’ll do it again.”

He pulled the trigger. The big revolver thundered. The blast echoed in the mineshaft behind him. He heard it reverberate among the surrounding hills. A gout of flame stretched towards Janine, temporarily blinding him.

His night vision returned. He saw her walk toward him, unharmed. Her right arm drew back. She swung it sideways in an arc across her body. It moved impossibly fast. It struck his extended arm just above the wrist. Pain exploded white hot inside his brain.

He dropped to his knees. From somewhere he heard her say,
“Sorry, Charlie.”

It barely registered. All he could do was stare at the remains of his arm – at the blood pulsing from the jagged stump where once his wrist and hand had been.

Suddenly, she stood in front of him. Her gown gently brushed him. He looked up. She smiled down at him. The smile grew. Her lips parted. The smile grew larger. As her face slowly descended her mouth opened. Her jaw parted still wider – impossibly wide. Jagged teeth lined crimson gums as her mouth descended.
“I’m so hungry, Charlie. I think I’ll just eat you right up.”

His last thought as his head disappeared inside of her mouth was,
Where did you get all those teeth?

 CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Fred looked outside. “We can’t leave him out there. It’s already dark. The temperature’s dropping fast.”

“What if he doesn’t want to be found?” Peete looked at the TV.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s been acting weird ever since we started this trip. What if he planned to disappear all along?”

Johnny roughly grabbed Peete’s shoulder. “You think he did it.”

“I don’t know.” Peete pointed at the TV screen. “They seem to think so. I think he knew something about it, whether he did it or not.”

“Well, I think he did it.” Dave raised his hands as Fred turned toward him. “Look, he’s my best friend and I don’t want to think that, but if he did, I don’t think he meant to. We all know what a bitch she was. She could make the Pope swear. I think she might have started in on him. You know, started pushing all the right buttons. One thing might have led to another. Next thing you know, he popped her. It was probably an accident.”

Fred thought about it for a moment. “Yeah, that sounds about right. It doesn’t really matter right now, though, does it? I mean he’s out there in the cold and the dark. He doesn’t know his way around here, yet. We need to find him before he dies of exposure.”

Dave lowered his hands. “Maybe,” he allowed. “Then, again, maybe not.”

Johnny glared at him. “What do you mean, maybe not?”

“Don’t get your panties in a wad. All I mean is, let’s think this thing through. He’s out there with that Mossberg twelve and who knows how many shells. He’s probably packing that hand cannon, too. You gotta figure he’s been brooding about this. Hell, we’ve all noticed how he’s been. He’s upset. Scared. He’s pretty sure we don’t know anything. Probably scared the cops will show up here anytime.”

The others nodded.

“Would you want to come up on someone who’s in that state of mind, in the dark and unannounced? Cold or no cold, it could be dangerous as hell, even fatal for one of us. It would be accidental, for sure, but dead is dead no matter how or why it happens.”

Silence filled the room.

Fred spoke. “I’ll have to take that chance. I can’t leave him out there to freeze to death. No matter how upset he is, I just can’t see him shooting without first seeing who it is. Who’s coming with me?”

Johnny looked at the others. They stood, heads down, studying their feet. “I will,” he said.

Peete looked up. “Me, too. I’ll come with you.”

Fred shook his head. “No. You and Dave stay here in case he comes back. We’re not going to try to search the whole forest by ourselves. My guess is that he made his way to the blind. Since he took his little cooler my guess is that he had a six-pack with him. I’ll bet he went up to the blind, had a couple of beers while he tried to sort things out, and fell asleep.”

Peete nodded. “That sounds like Charlie. If that’s the case I hope he has sense enough to stay by the blind instead of trying to find his way back in the dark.”

“So do I.” Fred walked to the coat rack and grabbed his down jacket. “I think he knows we’ll come looking for him and to stay put.”

Johnny took his coat from the rack and slipped it on. “How are you fixed for light? We won’t do anyone any good if we fall over a log or step in a hole and break our legs.”

“I have two big Maglites down in the basement. The batteries are brand new Duracells. I think we’ll be fine.”

Several minutes later they emerged from the door on the ground floor. The powerful flashlights cast intense beams of white light ahead of them. Fred looked at Johnny as the trees closed in around them. “You know, I didn’t think it was possible, but it happened. And, on the same day.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Charlie trumped your ace.”

“Huh?”

“When you told me your story while we were on the deck, well, I thought that was a pretty tough act to follow. Good old Charlie managed to top you.”

Johnny laughed. “I guess it kind of puts my problem into a different perspective at that.”

They trudged onward, mostly in silence. Even with the aid of the flashlights the night changed everything and rendered the trails elusive. They moved slowly and carefully, stopping often, sometimes back tracking to bypass an unexpected thicket.

“We should be there by now. I don’t remember it taking nearly this long this morning.”

Fred stopped, shining his light around as he looked for something familiar. “We had daylight. We could move around easier. I’m not all that sure of where we’re going.” He turned and flashed the light behind them. “Hell, I wouldn’t make book on where we’ve been.”

Johnny looked at his watch. “My God! Is it really that late already?”

Fred looked at his own watch. Ten-thirty. He shook his head. “We may have to give this up pretty soon.”

“What’s that?”

“What’s what?”

“Over there.” Johnny’s light illuminated a tree nearly thirty feet away. A crude set of steps rose up the trunk. More importantly, the light reflected off something metallic on the ground nearby.

“That’s it. That’s the blind. Good job.”

Both men pushed through the underbrush. While Johnny looked at the beer can, Fred shone his light upward at the platform.

“I don’t see anyone.” Fred switched off his light and handed it to Johnny. “I’m going up there. Keep your light on these boards so I can see where I’m going.”

“You got it.”

Fred slowly climbed up.

“It looks like he was here, anyway. There are two more empties up here.” Fred climbed back down. “Yeah, he was here all right. Those cans are all he left behind. He took his shotgun and the tarp. I wonder which way he went.”

“Do you want to keep looking?”

Fred stared into the woods. At last he sighed and shook his head. “I do, but we’re not going to. He could be anywhere out there. Two of us, by ourselves and with just a couple of flashlights aren’t likely to find him unless we’re very, very lucky. I think we need to head back. If he’s not back by morning, then we can all search. With daylight, we’ll have a better chance of finding him.”

“Do you think we need to call the authorities? You know, start a search party?”

“No!”

“But, with more people…”

“No one. No cops. No rangers. No one. We need to do this by ourselves. He’s our friend.”

Johnny thought about it for a moment. “You’re right. I don’t know if the authorities suspect he’s up here. No sense tipping them off until we know what’s really happened.”

“Exactly.” Fred started for the trail. Johnny’s hand on his shoulder brought him to a halt.

“What’s that?”

“What’s what?”

“Ssh. Listen.”

Fred held his breath as he strained to hear. “I don’t hear anything.”

“I don’t either, now.”

“What did it sound like?”

“I’m not really sure.” Johnny thought for a moment. “For a moment I thought I heard music.”

“Hmmm. Well, it’s not as weird as you might think. Sound travels in these hills. I’m sure someone in these parts plays. That’s probably what you heard.”

Johnny relaxed. “You’re probably right. It sure was strange, though.”

Fred started down the path. “Let’s get back to the house. I’m getting cold. A hot cup of coffee would be great about now.”

“Would you settle for some hot chocolate? I’ll make some when we get back.”

“That sounds even better. None for Peete and Dave, though. They haven’t been out here walking in the cold.”

“Agreed.”

They continued down the trail. Suddenly, from somewhere behind them, they heard a sharp report. It echoed in the darkness. They looked at each other.

“That wasn’t a shotgun.” Johnny looked back over his shoulder.

“No, that was a big gun – a rifle or a large caliber pistol.”

“Do you think…?” Johnny left the rest unspoken.

“I hope not. God, I hope not.”

They stood in the darkness, waiting, but the gunshot was not repeated.

“Let’s keep this part to ourselves. At least until we know for sure.”

Johnny nodded. “Agreed.”

Both men turned and continued down the mountain, each burdened with his own silent speculation.

 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Your daddy and I didn’t say much the rest of the way. I’m not sure what he was thinking, but I felt pretty sure the shot we heard was Charlie shooting himself.” Fred squeezed his eyes closed as if reliving a distant pain. He shuddered. His hand trembled as he picked up the tumbler and gulped down the remaining amber liquid. He set the glass down and stared off into space

Amanda sat stiffly in the chair. Her eyes were narrow slits; her mouth a thin gray line. Her face was pale, almost waxy. Her nostrils flared. Her arms crossed her chest.

“You look angry.”

She glared at him. Slowly she stood. She reached down for her purse, but her eyes never left him.

“What’s wrong?”