2 A Haunting In Oregon (16 page)

“Don’t think there haven’t been
discussions in the tribe about it,” Eliza said. “Not everyone knows about it,
but even among those who do there are plenty who don’t approve.”

“I can see why,” Steven said. “How
do you know when you’ve balanced the scales, or gone too far?”

“Trust me,” Eliza said, “there
were so many massacres of Native Americans in California in the 19
^th
century, Canyon Fire could go on for another hundred years and the scales
wouldn’t be balanced. They used to give the massacres names, but there were so
many of them they stopped naming them.”

Steven checked the time on the
car’s clock. It was approaching ten p.m. as he parked the car for the final
time at the side of the road and they removed the body from the trunk. Eliza
walked ahead with a flashlight and the shovels. Steven removed the GPS from his
pocket occasionally to make sure they were on the right track.

Once they placed the bones into
Samuel’s former grave, they filled in both holes and smoothed the dirt.

“Do you have the vial Jurgen gave
you?” Steven asked Roy.

“Yes,” he said, removing it from
his pocket.

“I suggest,” Eliza said, “that as
soon as you pour that, we make a mad dash for those fallen trees over there. We
can hide behind them. There’s no telling how quickly someone or something might
show up to get the body.”

Steven and Roy looked down at the
grave under their feet. “We’ve essentially created a time bomb,” Steven said.

“Yeah,” Roy said. “Let’s just hope
it explodes at the right time.”

Roy unscrewed the top of the vial
and as Eliza held the flashlight he poured the contents onto the ground of the
grave. Steven half expected the sound of acid eating through material, or smoke
to rise from the spot where it landed, but nothing appeared and no unusual
sounds occurred – just the sound and sight of liquid pouring on earth.

Then they smelled it. And ran.

-

They had been waiting for almost
an hour. Eliza was monitoring the barrier and Steven was watching the clearing
for any sign of disturbance or movement. Roy was watching from within the flow.
The moon was out, and it was easy to see the entire clearing from their hiding
spot.

“What if it comes at the grave from
where we’re hiding and stumbles upon us?” Steven whispered.

“We’ll know,” Eliza and Roy
whispered back in unison.

“I’m keeping an eye on the area
behind us,” Roy said. “I’ll see it before it sees us.”

They sat in silence for a while
longer.

“Got something,” Roy whispered.
“Two o’clock.”

As they watched, a large man
emerged from the forest edge and started walking toward the grave. Steven
guessed he must be seven feet tall. He was dragging a shovel and a duffel bag.

“Jump in,” Roy said. “You’ll want
to see this.”

Steven and Eliza both entered the
flow. The man was following a creature that was floating above the ground about
eighteen inches, shaped like a spider but with at least a dozen legs. The legs
moved incredibly fast, creating a blur. Then they would pause, shift to a new
direction, and blur again. It had several eyes on its forehead. It hovered to
the gravesite and stopped, then lowered to the ground. They couldn’t see it
anymore from their angle behind the trees.

Don’t rise up to try and see it,
Roy thought for the others to hear.
I don’t know how far it can see with
those eyes. Stay down. Inside the flow, too.

The man dug his shovel into the
ground and began removing earth. It was easy going as the earth had been so
recently moved. He didn’t speak or make any sounds, he just kept turning
shovelfuls of dirt.

If he’s evil,
Roy thought,
let’s
hope he doesn’t break any bones with the shovel.

They saw him lift bones out of the
grave and place them into the duffel bag he had brought. After several minutes
he had completed the job and began filling the grave back in. Once he was done
the spider creature hovered up into view, leading him back the way he came.
They exited the flow and watched as the man disappeared into the woods.

“Ooo,” Eliza said, “that spider is
going on the banned list. Just as soon as they leave the barrier edge, I’m
updating it.”

“Come on,” Steven said, “we’ve got
to get back to the car.”

They traced their steps back
through the forest. At the car Steven loaded the shovels into the trunk and
then drove them back to Eliza’s house, where they loaded up their bags.

“Goodbye,” Roy said. “I’m glad we
met you. Thank you.” He gave her a hug.

“Please tell Dixon hi for me,” she
said, moving to give Steven a hug as well.

“You were incredible,” he said to
her. She hugged him a little longer than he anticipated. “Tell me what you’re
really thinking,” she spoke in his ear.

“Will you be able to tell what I’m
thinking when I’m back in Seattle?” he asked as they ended the hug and separated.

“No, it’s too far away,” she said.

I expect I’ll feel the same
way,
he thought.

She smiled at him as he got in the
car next to Roy and they drove off into the night.

It was still dark as they
approached Medford.

“Should we check in with Pete?”
Steven asked, his eyes tired from hours on the road.

“It’s early, but he won’t mind the
call,” Roy said. “The older you get the less you care about getting up early.”

Steven pulled his phone out of his
pocket and passed it to Roy.

“Pete?” Roy said into the phone.
“Yes, Roy here. How’s it going?”

They talked for a while, Roy
asking about the state of things and receiving long replies that Steven
couldn’t hear.

“OK, we’ll stop then,” Roy said.
“We’re about an hour away. Yes. Bye.”

Roy handed the phone back to
Steven. “Let’s pull off and see them. Sounds like things are interesting
there.”

“What do you mean?” Steven asked.

“Claire has had a bit of an
impact,” Roy replied.

“The ghosts are still visible?”
Steven asked.

“Yes,” Roy replied, “no change
there.”

Steven took the turn towards the
manor and after another hour of travel they pulled up to the manor. There was a
red Volkswagon bug in the parking lot next to them, the only other car. There
was a large white daisy in the flower holder on the dash.

“Must be Claire’s,” Steven said to
Roy as they walked in.

They found Pete, Sarah, and Claire
in the dining room seated around the same table Steven and Roy had enjoyed
breakfast at during their earlier visits. Both Pete and Sarah seemed glad to
see them, rising to shake their hands and welcome them.

“This is Claire,” Pete said,
introducing her to Steven and Roy.

“You’re Eliza’s friend?” Steven
asked.

“We’ve known each other for
years,” she said, smiling. She was short, about five feet six, and very thin.
She was wearing a long summer dress with a floral print, and had sandals on her
feet. Her hair was bright red and curly, and it bounced at the sides of her
head as she moved.

“We’ve been up all night,” Sarah
said.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,”
Steven said. “The ghosts are still keeping you up?”

“No,” Sarah replied. “I and Claire
have been meeting some of them. It’s the strangest experience I’ve ever had.”

They all sat at the table and
passed around food and coffee.

“Meeting them?” Steven asked.
“Like, conversing with them?”

“Yes, kind of like that,” Sarah
said. “Maybe you can explain it better, Claire.”

“Well,” Claire said, “when I got
here last night, it was obvious there was no way I could stop the curse or the
blood. But there are so many ghosts here, I figured I might as well try to
learn a thing or two about the place. Sarah seemed interested in what I was
doing, so she tagged along. Before we knew it, we spent the entire night
talking with them.”

“At first I was a little leery,”
Sarah said, “but after I saw how Claire interacted with them, I realized I
didn’t need to be afraid of every one of these ghosts. Some of them were quite
nice. You just have to avoid the bad ones.”

“That is the trick,” Roy said.

“And I will admit,” Sarah said,
“that even though they’re nice, it’s still disarming. You can have a very nice
conversation with them and then something horrible happens to them out of the
blue. I’m not quite used to that. But it was fascinating.”

“We met a woman in the back
utility room,” Claire said, “who was washing clothes by hand. We talked to her
for a long time about the manor, who she worked for, her family, all of that.
Fascinating history about the place, around 1910.”

“She has a little girl who is
four,” Sarah said, “and a boy who is seven. Her friend runs a school that the
children attend while she’s here working. Her husband is a logger. Wants her to
stop working, but she refuses to.”

“Fascinating woman,” Claire said,
“very opinionated. She knew a lot about this place and the family that built
it.”

“The only problem was,” Sarah
said, “when she finished the clothes she was working on, she’d say, ‘I just
have to hang these, I’ll be right back,’ and she’d walk out the back door into
the yard. But she didn’t come back.”

“I followed her out,” Claire said.
“Another worker from the manor rapes and kills her while she’s out there. He
drags her body into the forest.”

“Which is just so horrifying to
me,” Sarah said. “But then she reappears in the utility room, washing clothes,
like it didn’t happen. You can start the conversation again with her, she even
recognizes you from before. You begin to forget what happened to her, because
she’s right there, working away, talking with you. But she always stops at some
point and takes the basket outside. Creepy.”

“We met a couple of others, too,”
Claire said, “just as interesting.”

“Was there any diminishment in the
ghosts last night?” Steven asked. “Less of them? Or did they all become
invisible at some point?”

“No,” Claire said. “Not that I
noticed. They faded as it got light outside, just before you arrived.”

“They seemed at full intensity all
night long,” Sarah said. “But I have to admit, I enjoyed them last night for
the first time. Thanks to Claire.”

 Claire smiled and sipped her
coffee.

“Well,” Roy said, “we’ve been driving
all night long. Completed our task down in California, and we expect the man
who has been cursing the place every night to stop. At least that’s what he
promised.”

“You don’t sound too sure,” Pete
said.

“To be honest with you,” Roy said,
“I’m not. He’s a scoundrel and he may not hold up his end of the bargain.”

“Who is it?” Claire asked. “Do I
know him?”

“A fellow named Jurgen,” Roy
answered her, “from Seattle. Trades in illicit materials.”

“I’ve heard of him,” Claire said.
“Only bad things though. I try not to deal with those kind.”

“Good idea,” Steven said, “Stay
away if you can. He’s a piece of work.”

“What did he ask you to do?” Sarah
asked.

“He wanted us to locate a grave,”
Steven said. “We did that, and now he should stop. We’re going back to Seattle
to confront him, to hold him to it.”

“It’s a long story,” Roy said,
“and we should get back on the road.”

“All right,” Sarah said. “But
promise me when this is over you’ll come back and spend a week relaxing. You
can tell us the whole story then.”

“It’s a promise,” Steven said.
They said their goodbyes to everyone and made their way back out to the car. Claire
and Sarah stayed inside, but Pete followed them out.

“Sarah’s changing,” Pete said.
“Claire made these ghosts interesting to her. I won’t say she’s going to reopen
the bed and breakfast, but she seems less upset about it all. You know she’s
been very angry with me, especially since I asked you to help, Roy.”

“Sorry about that,” Roy said. “It
comes with the territory I’m afraid. Sometimes to solve something you wind up
stirring things up.”

“I know,” Pete said, “and I’m glad
you did it and it’s almost over. But this might just work out for the best with
Sarah. The way she was talking to me this morning before you arrived, her
attitude about the place was improving. She seemed to reconnect with the things
about this place that make it great. You heard her, she thinks it’s interesting
– that’s a far cry from when you were here before; she absolutely hated the
place. And of course she now fully believes in your ability, Roy. Your idea to
send in Claire was brilliant.”

“I gotta admit,” Roy said, “that
wasn’t my idea. It was Eliza’s. A woman in California who helped us out. She’s
Claire’s friend, it was her idea to send her over when she heard what was happening
here. You should send her a gift certificate or something.”

“I will,” Pete said, “you just
send me her address, will you?”

“We gotta get going, Dad,” Steven
said. “We need to hit the road.”

They shook hands with Pete again and
got in their car. Pete waved as they left. Steven pulled the car onto the main
road and headed for the Interstate.

They arrived in Seattle eight
hours later.

-

Roy handed Steven the jar and
Steven downed two gulps of the clear fluid. He felt it go down his throat like
fire. Roy followed him and capped the jar. They were parked outside Jurgen’s
warehouse.

“You ready for this?” Roy asked.

“Yes,” Steven said. “I’m ready.”

“And what are we going to watch
for this time?” Roy asked.

“Don’t let him get under my skin,”
said Steven.

“Because?” Roy asked.

“Because,” Steven said, “that’s
what he wants, and I make bad judgments when I’m angry.”

“That’s right,” Roy said. “He
might be satisfied and ready to grind that body up, or he might have found us
out and be pissed. You need to be ready for anything.”

“OK,” Steven said. “Let’s do
this.”

“That said,” Roy added, “I want
you to act angry.”

“What?” Steven asked.

“
Act
angry,” Roy replied,
“not
be
angry. I think we should go with the good cop bad cop approach.
I want you to be the unpredictable son. I’ll be the steady and reasonable old
man. He already thinks that’s how we operate, no reason to change his opinion.
You stay cool on the inside so you’ll make smart decisions. But on the outside,
be a little crazy and pissed. I’ll tell you to calm down and be reasonable, but
don’t listen to me.”

“Why are we doing this?” Steven
asked.

“Because his M.O. is to throw you
off with insults. We saw last time that it works on you. I want to throw him
off instead. Make him feel uncomfortable. Don’t let on about the time bomb, but
shake him up. If we wind up having to negotiate with him, I want him to agree
to my demands just to get you out of his hair. Got that?”

“I’m not an actor,” Steven said.
“What if he realizes I’m making it up?”

“Don’t make it up!” Roy said. “Use
your anger to give the performance. Just don’t let it cloud your judgment. Remember
our goal here. We may have to make some quick decisions and if you can keep
thinking straight we’ll be fine. If you get flustered and angry I’ll be left
flying solo. Stay in control, but act upset.”

“All right,” Steven said, sighing.
“I’ll do my best.”

“Buck up!” Roy said, slapping him
on the knee. “This just might be fun.”

-

As they walked through the worker
area, Steven felt the protection surging through his body.
It must spread
around as you move,
he thought. They reached the door to the office and Roy
opened it.

“Ah, the moron family!” Jurgen
said from behind his desk.

“We did what you asked,” Steven
said. “We saw your guy take the body. Now we want your end of the deal.”

“What body?” Jurgen asked. “I
don’t see a body!”

“Don’t fuck with us Jurgen,”
Steven said, “we saw him dig it up and take it, right after we marked it.”

“Oh, that body,” Jurgen said,
laughing. “I remember now.”

“You better remember, you little shit!”
Steven said.

“And you better watch your tongue
if you want what you came for,” Jurgen replied.

“The job is finished,” Roy said
calmly. “We expect you to leave the manor alone, for good.”

“Well, I think the terms of our
deal changed when you brought that new cunt into the picture,” Jurgen said.
“That wasn’t part of the arrangement. I’m not sure I owe you anything.”

Steven wasn’t sure who Jurgen was
referring to. He didn’t want to give away anything he didn’t have to. “I don’t
know what you’re talking about,” Steven said.

“Yes, you do,” Jurgen said. “She
showed up last night and ran around the place, trying to soothe the other two. You
don’t know her? Red hair? Thin? Perfect ass for fucking?”

“You’re a pig, you know that
Jurgen?” Steven yelled. “She changes nothing. You still owe us.”

“Where is the body now?” Roy
asked. “I gather it’s worth a lot.”

“Indeed,” Jurgen said. “Far too
valuable to leave around here. It’s in a container on the pier. Headed for
Japan.”

It’s not here?
Steven
thought.
Our plan has failed!

“You can at least tell us who it
was,” Roy said.

“An old forty-niner named Stone. Brutal
man, committed atrocities that if he were alive today would have made him
famous. But since he committed them in the wilds of California a hundred and
fifty years ago, no one cares.”

“You wanted his bones for
ingredients?” Roy asked.

“Originally,” Jurgen said. “Then I
met a buyer from Japan. When he learned I was going to come into this treasure
he wanted to see it. When it showed up here earlier today I let him examine it.
What a beautiful aroma it had! Intoxicating! He was impressed, said it was very
powerful. The corpse you marked was one of the worst human beings in the
history of the country, can you believe that? My friend offered a lot of money
to take it whole, so I sold it to him.”

“How much?” Roy asked.

“Not that it’s any of your
business, but since you did help me deliver it to him, I don’t mind telling you
it was millions.” It seemed to Steven that Jurgen was getting off on rubbing it
in their faces.

“What a slimeball you are,” Steven
said. “You’re a pathetic scavenger living off the bones of dead people. You’re
as low as them come. The bones of a man who did what he did aren’t worth
anything in my book. They’re trash, they should be left in the ground to rot.”

Jurgen grabbed an object from his
desk and walked up to Steven. He stuck the object in front of his face. It
looked to Steven like a small piece of brown chalk.

“This is why you do what you are
told,” Jurgen said, brandishing the object in Steven’s face, “and I tell you
what to do. You are the idiot. An imbecile. You’re only good for being ordered
around. Whereas I run circles around you. I tell you what to and you do it. My
intellect towers over you. You and your father are errand boys, nothing more.”