Cades Cove 01 - Cades Cove: A Novel of Terror (26 page)

“
Why in the hell didn’t you mail it back to Gatlinburg??
”
she shrieked.

“
I did mail it!”
he told her, trying hard not to get any more upset. “I even checked the confirmation yesterday, and the mailer was delivered to the park’s office in Gatlinburg around nine-thirty that morning!”

“
Then…
how
did it get back
here
??” She slid down into the desk chair, which brought her much closer to the bag. She noticed the additional stains. “Is that what I think it is?” she asked. Tears streamed down her face.

“
It’s Norm’s blood, I’m sure.” His voice fell to a whisper. “I wish I knew what to do.”

“
Call the police,
that’s
what you should do!” she told him angrily, and for a moment he thought she might accuse him again this was entirely his fault. But she didn’t. Instead, she picked up the bag and held it tightly, as if determined to either hold onto it forever or crush its contents into dust. “
Will we never be free of this shit?”

Her shoulders heaved. Clinging to the bag, at first she resisted his efforts to comfort her. But she allowed him to gather her into his arms. She hugged him tightly, and as she did the bag fell from her grasp, its contents jingling when it landed on the carpeted floor.

“
We’ll figure something out, Miriam, I promise,” he told her, burying his face in her neck while he fought his own tears.

“
Did you hear that?” She pulled away and leaned her head toward the office door.

“
Hear what?”

“
Sh-h-h…
that!”
She didn’t wait for his reply. She jumped up from the chair and ran over to the door, throwing it open. As she did, Christopher and Jillian’s screams resounded shrilly from upstairs. Miriam caught Janice on the way to the second floor, with David and Tyler right behind them.

While fear inspired Jillian’s tears, Christopher’s came from physical pain. Miriam examined Christopher’s outstretched arms while Janice consoled Jillian. Neither child could stop crying. Miriam and Janice soon cried with them. Tyler looked bewildered, and for the moment unable to remove his eyes from his brother’s arms. David followed his gaze and watched a pair of handprint bruises emerge on each arm.

“
Oh, my baby, I’m so sorry…
so
sorry!” Miriam told Christopher, drawing him close and kissing him on his cheeks. She dropped to her knees, still clinging to him.
“My poor baby!”

“
She hurt me, Mommy!”
sobbed Christopher, looking over at his dad and brother.
“She hurt me because I’m next! She’s going to ‘kill the seed’, that’s what she said!!”

He cried harder, and David came over and dropped to his knees as well, not caring whether Miriam tried to push him away or not. He reached around her and pulled them both toward him. Everyone wept together.

“
Did you see anything?” Janice asked Jillian gently, to which she responded with a nod she hadn’t.

“
How about you, darling?” Miriam asked Christopher. “Did you see her?”

He nodded slowly that he had.

“
What did she look like?”

“
I could only see her up to here,” he said, pointing to his chest between sobs. “She was barefoot in a long blue dress...and her arms were real white. I couldn’t see the rest of her because...because nothing was there!” He cried harder again.

Tyler looked around anxious. Up until now, he had said little about the ghost’s appearance. David had no doubt it matched what Christopher described. He wondered if Allie Mae appeared similarly when she attacked Norm. No one could ever confirm that. Hostile toward the males in the family and his closest male friend, he took her threat seriously. Recalling Sara’s pronouncement from last night, he realized the only way for his family to be free of the spirit’s powerful hold came through him. Everyone he loved would remain in grave danger, including the females at some point. If a cure to free them all existed, he had to find it alone. He rose to his feet.

“
I love you so much, Miriam. I love each of you with all of my heart—Chris, Jill, and Ty—and you, too, Jan.”

“
Where are you going?” asked Miriam, as he left the room.

“
For a ride!” he called back to her, as he ran down the stairs. “And I’m taking Allie Mae’s shitty little bag with me!”

Before she or anyone else could stop him, he gathered up the bag, his briefcase, and left the townhouse. He returned to their beleaguered home on LeClair Drive, running upstairs to the master bedroom. Ignoring the knocks and creaks that resounded throughout the second floor, he hurried to pack a suitcase with enough clothes to last a week.

Miriam tried to reach his cell phone several times, but he waited to call her back until he headed north on I-25. Despite her pleas for him to return to Janice’s townhouse, he refused to endanger them further, promising to call her once he found a suitable place to stay. Soon after he hung up the phone, he veered onto 6
^th
Avenue west to Golden, which seemed like a fitting destination. Located halfway between Boulder and Littleton, where his life in Colorado began and where he now stood on the verge of losing everything, he needed an answer…a miracle. Quick.

Chapter Twenty-five

Almost midnight that Saturday, he shared a good cry with Jonas and Margaret Sowell on the phone. David promised to meet them Sunday morning, with plans for brunch not far from the chapel where the service would be held. He had just finished washing his face when the phone in his suite at the Residence Inn in Golden rang again.

“
Hi, hon’.” Miriam’s voice sounded tired.

“
Hey, babe,” he told her, sitting down on the edge of his bed. “I take it the kids are asleep?”

“
Tyler was the last one up, until about an hour ago,” she said. “I miss you.”

“
I miss you, too.” He looked up toward the ceiling, fighting the urge to cry.

“
Did you already take care of everything we discussed earlier?”

“
You mean the flight, rent-a-car, and reservations for a couple of nights in Gatlinburg?”

“
Yes.”

“
I decided you were right, that I should spend tomorrow night visiting Auntie in Chattanooga,” he said, referring to his dad’s sister, the only living relative he had. “I’m flying there instead of Knoxville, and then driving up to Gatlinburg. I found a Comfort Inn that will allow me to check in late tomorrow night in Pigeon Forge, which is right next to Gatlinburg.”

“
Good, that should work out fine.” She sounded pleased.

“
The only drawback is I can only stay two nights in the room, because it’s still peak season—even during the week,” he advised. “So, if this takes longer than a day or two to resolve, I guess I’ll have to stay in one of the seedier places in the area.”

“
I know how busy the nicer hotels and chalets stay out there,” said Miriam. “Remember how we had to have our reservations for our anniversary trip booked last spring? I guess we should consider you lucky getting a room at all.”

“
Yeah, I guess so.”

“
Will I get to see you before your flight leaves?”

“
It departs at five, so that means I’ll need to be at DIA around three-thirty. I’d really love to have you there with me at the service tomorrow. I’m meeting Jonas and Margaret tomorrow at noon. We’ll be at the IHOP downtown. Can you get away and meet us for brunch?”

“
I’ll be there,” she promised. “This has got to be incredibly hard for Jonas and Margaret. How are they holding up?”

“
Not so good.” He fought to keep from crying, knowing he couldn’t win this battle much longer. “I’m sure they’ll be glad to see you…. Talking with them made me realize how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family and a woman like you in my life to…to help me get through it….”

“
Count on me, David,” she assured him, fighting her own tears. “I’m always there for you…. Always.”

They both grew silent, weeping and unsure what to say. Finally, David spoke.

“
Has anything else happened since I left this afternoon?”

“
No, nothing has,” she told him, still sniffling.

“
So, she’s been quiet, then?” Afraid to ask this question, it remained foremost on his mind.

“
Yes, she has,” Miriam replied. “That’s the only reason I’m not fighting you on this, even though I’m so very scared about what might happen to you. I wish I was coming along!”

“
Then who’d protect the kids if it turns out I’m wrong, and Allie Mae isn’t after me, but everyone else in our family?” He hoped she bought this logic. “Besides, you’re destined to worry regardless if you’re with me or if you’re at home. I know I’ll worry less if I know you’re with Janice and the kids.”

“
I suppose you’re right.” She sighed. “But, I’m so worried I can’t even think straight. Promise me you’ll be very careful!”

“
I promise.”

“
Well, I better go. I’ll see you in the morning downtown,” she said. “I love you
so
very much!”

“
I know, darlin’. I love you the same way.”

He finished getting ready for bed, clad only in his briefs and a T-shirt. Once comfortable under the sheets and thick blanket the Inn provided, he watched the end of a Turner Classic movie. Since he didn’t have to get up before 10 a.m. to make his breakfast date with the Sowell’s, he stayed awake until one o’clock, hoping to thwart the spirit who seemed to favor that hour, should she actually pursue him in his hotel room. So far it had been relatively quiet, with the only disturbance coming from a drunken couple in the suite next to his. After leaving the light on in the bathroom with the door ajar, he waited for sleep to come.

***

“
David…Da-vid…Hey, wake up!”

“
Huh?” He glanced at the alarm clock on his nightstand. The red digital numbers showed the time as 1:55 a.m.

“
Goddamn, you’re hard to rouse!”

“
Norm? Is that
you?”
David sat up in his bed, peering toward the chair and table next to the air conditioner/heater unit in his room. The curtained window behind the table shut tight, he remembered leaving the curtains cracked enough to allow a sliver of light from a nearby street lamp into the room. He discerned the outline of someone sitting in the chair.

“
It’s me, bro,” the shadowed figure responded. It sure sounded like Norm, although the voice seemed forlorn, so unlike him when alive. “I’ve come to give you a message.”

David reached for the lamp next to his bedside and started to turn it on.

“
No, don’t do that!” warned Norm. “At least not yet.”

“
And why the hell not?” demanded David, reaching for his jeans.

“
Please, stay where you are!” Now that sounded more like Norm, the pained tone so familiar when he’d get irritated about something.

“
All right.” David leaned back against the bed’s headboard.

“
She knows what you’re up to, and I think it just might work,” Norm told him. “That is, if you play your cards right. I wish I could tell you exactly what to do, man, but I’m unable to do that. She’s got me stuck here until her anger’s satisfied.”

“
Allie Mae?”

“
Yes.”

“
So, she’s the one who killed you?” David wanted it confirmed.

“
Yes, and if you’re not careful, you’ll be joining me soon.” Norm’s tone became more sorrowful and solemn as he said this.

“
So going back to Cades Cove is a key part to working this out, huh?” David leaned slightly toward the figure to try and make out any features. Even though the voice sounded like his best friend, he wondered if it were his tormenter in disguise.

“
I have neither the talent nor anywhere near the power she has to pull something like that off, but I understand why you’d think I’m her pretending to be me,” said Norm, alluding to David’s thoughts. “As to your question, going back to Cades Cove is the right thing to do. But what you need to do from there, I can’t honestly say. All I can tell you is I sensed her surprise when you decided to do that, like she had you pegged as a selfish bastard like myself. The fact you’re willing to go back and face her head-on to protect your family is something she didn’t expect.”

“
Any suggestions, like what you’d try to do to fix this shit?” asked David, believing more and more that Norm shared the room with him.

“
Like I said, I don’t know,” he replied. “It’s a good idea to follow your instincts. But make sure that’s what you pay attention to and not your fear. It’s exactly what you did this past afternoon at Jan’s place, when you realized what needed to be done. You’ll need to do the same thing once you return to Allie Mae’s stomping grounds.”

“
What’s her last name, do you know?” David thought this would certainly help him track down her family history, as well as where she lived and was buried—all pertinent information in finding the right resolution to appease the angry spirit.