Cades Cove 01 - Cades Cove: A Novel of Terror (6 page)

Sadie ran into the kitchen from the living room when David called her. The dog jumped up into his arms and he carried her outside.

Once she was finished he brought her back inside. She collected her treat and immediately climbed up on her favorite spot on the sofa, curling up and facing the TV. She cocked her head as if to remind him that he needed to set the station to the Cartoon Network, which he did.

After that he gathered his briefcase and coat. Before he left the house, he glanced around the living room and peered into the dining room. The dog seemed happy. No unseen voyeur this morning…. Last night seemed more and more unreal in the light of day, which made him think it had everything to do with lack of sleep coupled with an overactive imagination. David set the security system and stepped outside, locking the front door behind him.

“
Are you ready to rock n’ roll, son?” he asked, once he reached the black BMW Z4. Whoever took Tyler to school got to drive it for the day. “Today, with that jacket this ride definitely matches your look.”

“
Maybe…but please don’t call me ‘Studly’ in front of my friends,” he pleaded, as they both climbed into the sports car.

“
No problem…Johnny Bravo,” teased David. Tyler shot him an irritated look. “Okay, I’ll quit.”

For the next several minutes the two rode in silence while Tyler scanned the sports car’s stereo until he found his favorite station, an alternative rock venue that brought a smile to David’s face. While most men his age preferred oldies 90’s music, the rocker in him still liked the latest sounds.

“
So, you and Mom had a great time, I take it,” said Tyler.

“
Yeah, we did,” said David. “The next time we visit Tennessee I’d like to take you kids with us.”

“
What’s so special about Tennessee, other than the fact you were born there?” he asked, snickering. “Without the Titans, Grizzlies, and the Predators, what else is there? It’s not like there’s a Universal Studios, and there isn’t a beach either.”

“
True,” agreed David, seeing more and more of his own cynicism in his son. “I admit there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot to do in Chattanooga when I was a kid, and things haven’t changed too much since then. But, Gatlinburg—now that’s a place with plenty to do, son.”

“
Hmmm...the pictures on the web that Auntie Jan showed us were nice, but mostly of mountains that would only count as foothills here in Colorado.”

Despite Tyler’s smile smug, David could tell he was intrigued enough to not completely pan the idea of a family vacation trip to the Great Smokies.

“
There are ghosts, too,” said David, immediately wondering where in the hell that thought came from, and even more why he voiced such an absurd notion. It didn’t take long to regret it.

“
Really?” Tyler perked up. The fact they just arrived at Goddard Middle School was the only thing that saved David from a deeper explanation. “Tell me about the ghosts in Tenn-essee, Dad.”

“
It’ll have to wait for another time, son. There’s Jarrod and Smitty.”

He pointed to Tyler’s two best friends, and he watched his son walk with them toward the school’s main entrance, so proud of the boy becoming a young man. Just like Miriam prophesied, several girls came up to Tyler and admired his new jacket, while Jarrod and Smitty looked on in envy.

***

Norm Sowell leaned over David’s desk at Johnson, Simms & Perrault, the accounting firm they both worked for. Deeply tanned and strikingly handsome with piercing blue eyes, thick dark brown hair, and a disarming smile, Norman Sowell III fit the perfect image of corporate success in an Armani suit. David’s best friend outside of Miriam, he built an impressive resume from his tireless drive as the firm’s top attorney. Pals for nearly twenty years, shortly after they met as incoming freshmen football players at the University of Colorado, their mutual love of sports and the great outdoors attracted them both to Boulder. Like David, Norm hailed from the southern part of the country, in his case, Tupelo, Mississippi.

“
So, how was your trip, bro?”

“
Great,” said David. “Honestly, I’d have to say it was one of the best times Miriam and I’ve shared in the past ten years.”

“
Good for you, David,” said Norm, his tone envious. “You seem happier than before you left, so if that’s what adds the spice back into your love life, then more power to you.” He smiled and stood up straight, adjusting his tie. “If lunch is still on for today, how about we shoot for twelve-thirty?”

“
Sure,” said David, briefly wondering whether his buddy coveted the vacation or the intimacy with his wife. “I’ll meet you out front. I brought the Z, so I’m driving today. That way, we’ll be sure to get back on time before Ned sends a posse looking for me.”

He lowered his eyeglasses, which he only wore when working, smiling slyly in reference to Norm’s penchant for long lunches to take care of ‘personal business’ errands.

“‘
Sounds good,” said Norm after he started to move down the hall toward the legal department. “I’ll see you then!”

A very busy morning, the lack of sleep on top of such an enjoyable, and yet strange, weekend made it hard for him to focus. Nonetheless, by noon David managed to make a serious dent in the mound of paperwork stacked on his desk. His boss, Ned Badgett, came by just before he planned to meet Norm for lunch.

“
It’s good to have you back, David!” he said, squeezing his shoulder. “Did you find the place we talked about?”

“
Yeah, I did,” said David. He smiled, and for an instant thought about Allie Mae’s Treasures and the lonely ‘Allie +’ carved into the oak in the ravine. “The spot was as special as you said it’d be, Ned,” he added, unaware his smile had faded slightly. “Thanks again for the advice.”

“
No problem at all,” said Ned. He studied David’s face as if trying to define the subtle change in demeanor. Still, he seemed pleased by his report.

Significantly older than all of his subordinates, Ned did little to minimize that fact. His gray thinning hair and drooping jowls clearly announced he had passed the short end of sixty. A driven perfectionist, he took an instant liking to David when he joined the firm after Norm successfully recruited him away from Blakely & Jones, a much smaller accounting firm, four years earlier. Ned planned to retire soon and groomed David to step into his role as manager of the mortgage services department. Like him, Ned grew up in rural Tennessee and then went to college in Colorado, in his case the University of Denver. Their common heritage helped create a bond of mutual kinship.

“
I’ll take it easy on you today, and let you get through the rest of the King’s Inc. reports Nancy brought up here earlier.” Ned glanced at the shrinking pile on David’s desk. “We’ve got the Applewood Associates audit coming up Thursday, so we’ll want to go over the preliminaries on that tomorrow.”

After Ned returned to his office, David locked his laptop. He glanced at his watch.
12:31 already
…
Shit!
Grabbing his coat, he moved swiftly through the row of cubicles, intent on catching Norm before he could rub it in for being late. Instead of the elevator, he took the stairs down to the main floor of the historic building. The stately Victorian mansion located near the heart of downtown Denver had been completely renovated six years earlier, with ten offices on the main floor and another six upstairs.

The upper landing overlooked a grand foyer and was graced by an immense stained glass window that dominated the back wall of the building, next to the elevator. An angel blowing a trumpet dominated the window’s foreground, which often made David wonder if the mansion had originally been a church turned into a home as an afterthought. On either side of the landing stood a double oak staircase of exquisite workmanship from the late nineteenth century.

He ran past a marble fountain directly below the landing’s balcony. At the reception desk, Nancy Geddings, the firm’s chief admin, was busy reviewing invoices from a recently delivered supply shipment. He asked her if she’d seen Norm. She excused herself from her assistant and came over to where he stood. A beautiful woman of Haitian descent, who always dressed conservatively with her hair in a severe bun, she often gave the firm’s clientele the incorrect first impression of a stern, matronly woman.

“
He was here a moment ago,” she advised, her warm voice sweetened by her strong island accent. “There he is.”

Peering around a large potted fig tree obstructing her view of the building’s front section, she pointed to where Norm stood on the patio just outside the main entrance. David’s footsteps echoed across the parquet floor as he hurried over to him.

“
I thought you might’ve forgotten,” said Norm, as soon as he joined him on the patio. He took one last drag from his cigarette and mashed the butt on top of the stone lion closest to him, flicking it out onto the front lawn. “How about Mario’s today?”

“
I can go for Italian, I guess,” said David, who led the way to his car.

Along the way to the restaurant, Norm brought David up to date on what he missed since last week, which consisted of several new clients the firm took on and the two corporate audits still in progress. He also included the latest ‘hot little thing’ that fell within range of his radar.

A dedicated hedonist since college, Norm had just begun detailing his latest sexual conquest when they reached Mario’s parking lot. In most other ways like brothers, David hated the continual reports on his sex life.

“
So, did you ever find the place Ned told you about?” asked Norm, lighthearted, once seated at a semi-private table in one corner of the restaurant and had ordered lunch and a couple of Heinekens.

“
Actually, we did,” said David, which brought an immediate look of surprise from Norm. “I guess he’s not as full of bullshit as you’ve thought, huh?”

“
I guess not,” he agreed, chuckling before taking a long drink from his beer. “I suppose you’re not going to tell me the finer points I’m just dying to hear about. Are you, now?” He smirked.

“
I never have before,” David replied, his smile coy. He paused to take a quick sip from his beer. “Let’s just say ole Ned Badgett’s ‘Lover’s Lane’ in Cades Cove, hidden away in the Great Smoky Mountain wilderness, was the best damned place to reignite the spark we’ve been missing lately.”

He took a bigger drink while Norm nodded his head as if even more envious. David knew better, that the matter would disappear from the landscape of Norm’s sullied mind before day’s end, replaced by some other lurid fantasy.

“
Well…it’s too bad the place is so goddamned far away,” said Norm, his sly grin wide enough to reveal the full line of expensive veneers. “I suppose the next lonely legal assistant I screw will have to settle for the spa in Glenwood Springs or a little ole chalet in Aspen.”

“
I suppose so,” David agreed, wishing for a moment that Norm could relate to his monogamous orientation.

The conversation’s focus shifted back to business once their food arrived, and they returned to the office by two o’clock. David attacked the remaining stack of paperwork with a vengeance. Hoping to get through it all by six, he worked without a break and thought he might successfully reach the goal, when he received a call from Nancy just before 5 p.m.

“
Who is it, Nan’?” he said tersely into the phone’s receiver.

“
It’s Miriam,” she replied, sounding worried. “I know you’re swamped, but your wife says she needs to speak with you right away. It’s an emergency!”

***

“‘
See if you can transfer my appointments from three-thirty on up to four-thirty to Eileen and Jim, will you Mary?”

Miriam hurriedly removed her white office coat, being mindful to grab her stethoscope and penlight before handing the coat to Mary Lavoi. She placed the tools inside her top desk drawer and reached for her purse and jacket next to her chair.

“
It’s that bad?” asked Mary.

Her light gray eyes misted with concern, and she pushed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose. Miriam’s longtime assistant stood by the door to her boss’s office holding Miriam’s work coat. Tall and slender, with fragile bones from arthritis that belied her face and dark hair’s youthful appearance, Mary seemed unsure of whether to hang up the coat and get busy making arrangements for Miriam’s patients or give her a hug.

“
I don’t know for sure,” said Miriam, rushing to the doorway. “It’s been a long time since I’ve heard Jill cry like that!”

It had already been a crazy day for her at Littleton Children’s Clinic, the pediatric practice she shared with two other physicians. Most of her patients from the previous Thursday and Friday had insisted on seeing only her, crammed in between other appointments today.
Now this to top it off!

“
Go on home,” said Mary. She placed her hand gently on her shoulder. “I’ll take care of everything, Miriam. It will all work out fine.” She smiled and limped toward the clinic’s reception area.

“
Thanks, Mary, you’re a life saver,” Miriam told her, and headed to the building’s side exit that opened to the employee parking lot. She turned to look back at her before opening the exit door. “I’ll call you as soon as I find out more about what’s happening in our house.”

Miriam stepped outside and nearly ran to where the forest green Chrysler waited. The minivan sped out of the parking lot while Mary watched through a small window next to the clinic’s lone fax machine. She frowned, shaking her head until the van disappeared from view.