Krampus: The Yule Lord (47 page)

Isabel nodded and they headed out of the cave. Nipi stayed behind.

“Nipi,” Isabel called. “C’mon, we need to go.”

Nipi shook his head.

“You can’t stay here,” Isabel said.

“Yes, it is where I belong.”

“You don’t belong in some smelly old cave. You’re human again, in case you haven’t noticed, and you’re gonna catch your death of cold.”

“I have lived many lifetimes. Have been honored to serve the mighty Yule Spirit. If the Great Fathers call me home . . . I am ready.”

“What, so you’re just gonna sit up here and shiver to death? Well, I’m not about to stand for such nonsense.” Isabel walked back to him, took a seat on a boulder. “If you’re not coming with us, then I guess we’ll both just sit here ’til we freeze to death. How’d you like that?”

Nipi grinned. “You are indeed his little lion. Isabel, I have no intention of shivering to death. I will serve out my life guarding this sacred cave.”

“But why?”

“Tell me, what is there for me in this new world?”

She sat there for another long minute but came up with no answer. Slowly the stubborn left her face and she let out a great sigh. She stood up and slugged him lightly on the arm. “You got no sense, you know that?”

Nipi nodded.

Isabel started away, stopped, returned, and embraced him.

Nipi held her tightly. “I will miss you as well, little lion.”

“You won’t neither,” she said, trying her best to look angry. She wiped at her eyes and left him standing beside the mounds. When she reached the mouth of the cave, she called back, “You ever change your mind, you come and find me, you hear?”

Nipi didn’t answer.

Isabel and Jesse headed away back down the trail for the truck. At some point they thought they caught the sound of the Shawnee chanting.

“T
HERE
,” I
SABEL SAID,
pointing to a small church.

J
ESSE PULLED INTO
the parking lot. It was just after noon on Sunday and the church lot was almost full.

“It’s hardly changed,” she said.

“You sure you don’t want me to wait? What if your son’s not there?”

She sucked in a deep breath. “Someone will be there.” She pulled the necklace from around her neck, popped the wedding ring off the cord, and held it in her palm. She stared at it for a long moment, then slipped it on her ring finger. “It still fits.”

“Are you scared?”

She met his eyes. “I’m scared that when I do find him, he won’t want to know me. That’s what I’m most scared of.”

“Y’know, you showing up like this . . . gonna put a lot of folks off. They won’t understand. Could cause you some trouble.”

“Nobody’s gonna keep me from finding my boy,” Isabel shot back, and Jesse saw her spunk, saw the girl that Krampus liked to call his little lion. It brought a grin to Jesse’s face. “Guess they’d better watch themselves.”

“Guess so.” She grinned back and touched his hand. “How about you? You gonna be all right?”

“Not sure yet. Me and Linda, we got a lot of fixing to do . . . a lot of hurt to work through. Got my work cut out for me I guess.”

“Someone needs to tell that woman just how damn lucky she is to have someone like you loving her so.”

He laughed. “Someone sure does.”

“Well, here goes nothing.” Isabel popped the door and started to get out.

“Wait, just hold up. We got a spot of unfinished business.”

She looked at him curiously.

“Get in here and pull that door to. Don’t want no one to see.”

She shut the door

He slid the rear cab window open, reached through, and tugged his old canvas gym bag out from beneath the tackle box. He wiped the snow off and sat it between them, then pulled the cardboard box up off the floorboard, opened it up.

Isabel peered in at the cash. “What you gonna do with all that?”

“Gonna see to it you ain’t destitute.”

He emptied the work clothes from the gym bag and put half of the cash into it, zipped it up and pushed it over to her.

“You don’t have to do that,” she said.

“Yes, I do have to do that.”

She took the bag and gave him a grateful smile.

“Listen up, now. Don’t let anyone know about them bills. You hear?”

She rolled her eyes. “For Pete’s sake, Jesse. I might look like a kid, but I’m over fifty. Believe it or not, I got
some
sense.”

He tapped the bag. “There’s around twenty thousand dollars cash there. Won’t go far these days, but should help you get on your feet. Oh . . . and here.” He handed her a wadded-up piece of paper. “This here’s Linda’s mother’s phone number. Her phone might not be working just yet, but if you get in a fix, run out of money, if anything, I mean anything, comes up you don’t hesitate to give—”

She put her fingers up to his mouth. “Jesse. It’s okay. I’m gonna be all right.”

Jesse let out a long sigh.

“Jesse . . .”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. Thank you for looking out for me.”

He grinned. “Of course.”

Isabel leaned forward, surprised Jesse with a kiss on his cheek. Before he could respond, she opened the door and hopped out.

“Wait,” he called. “Jeez, you forgot your bag.” He held it up.

She came back, trying not to meet his eyes, but he could see her tears.

“Hey,” he said. “Don’t be forgetting that snipe hunt I promised you.”

She shook her head and grinned, took the bag, and headed away toward the church. Jesse watched her mount the short flight of steps, pausing on each step. She sat her hand on the door, stood that way for a long moment before finally pushing the door inward and walking inside.

Jesse caught a glimpse of soft, warm light, of people holding hymn books, the organ and the sound of their song drifted across the parking lot. The church door swung slowly shut and he was left alone with the falling snow.

Jesse waited close to an hour. When she didn’t come back out, he figured she just might be okay.

V
ERNON FOLLOWED THE
railroad tracks north along the Coal River, doing his best to avoid the icy patches as he trudged through the hard-packed snow. He’d forgotten the true bite of winter, but now, returned to human flesh, he clutched himself, trying to stifle his shivering. Dusk approached, and with it falling temperatures. Vernon wondered bitterly if, after all his trials, his final fate would be to freeze here alone, along this desolate river.

He’d been trapped up in those hills for close to a hundred years and realized anyone he’d ever known would now be dead, the world he once knew gone. He had no money, no real idea of where he was headed, other than as far away from Krampus and those terrible angels as he could get. Yet, he couldn’t help but smile.
I am free!
He inhaled deeply, filling himself up with the feeling.
I can go anywhere. Do whatever I like.
He laughed.
At least until I starve or freeze to death.

A freight train headed down the tracks toward him. Vernon climbed the embankment and watched it clang past. He smelled grease in the air, his stomach rumbled. He glanced up the highway, spotted a familiar structure, and started toward it.

Horton’s didn’t appear to be open yet, but a light shone from inside and a vehicle sat out front. Vernon hoped it belonged to Horton, because the two of them had hit it off pretty good the night before, well enough that he felt sure the man would let him come inside and warm up, perhaps even give him a bite to eat.

Vernon noticed that the fresh buds, new grass, and flowers about the place had all withered, as though in mourning for the Yule Lord. Vernon hated to admit it, but a part of him actually felt bad that the old goat had come to such an ill demise. He sighed, stepped up onto the porch, and noticed a
COOK WANTED
sign propped in the window. He plucked the sign off the sill and carried it inside with him.

“T
HEY’RE NOT REAL
happy with you, Jesse,” Elly said.

Jesse leaned back in the steel office chair, peered through the glass partition into the lobby of the sheriff’s office. He could see Sheriff Wright talking with the state investigators; the conversation didn’t appear to be going very well.

“Can’t please everyone, I guess.”

She smirked at him. Elly had gone to school with Jesse, he liked the way she played guitar, and at one point they’d even collaborated on a song or two. These days she worked for the sheriff. “Every news agency in the country is covering it,” she said. “They got the governor breathing down their necks to come up with some answers. Why, you should’ve heard ’em on CNN this morning, going on and on about all them mutilated bodies and speculating on rampant gang warfare in rural West Virginia.” She snorted. “Talking about Boone County like we’re some kinda Third World country.”

Jesse just shook his head.

“Oh, here, one last thing.” She pulled a blue form out from the stack in front of her and handed it to him with a pen. “Need your John Hancock right there if you want your stuff back.”

Jesse signed the form and she handed him a manila envelope.

“So that’s it?” he asked. “I’m free to go?”

“Looks like it.” She smiled. “Sheriff ain’t none too happy about it though. He’s just sure you know more than you’re telling.”

“Hey,” Jesse asked in a casual tone. “Thought I overheard someone say Chet Boggs might’ve had something to do with all this mess?”

“All I know is they had me issue a statewide APB on him. But no one seems to have found him yet.”

Jesse thought they were wasting time looking for Chet in West Virginia; thought they’d do better to look down Mexico way, or even Peru. Jesse opened the envelope, pulled out his wallet and keys.

“Chet’s not the one I’ve been wondering about,” Elly said. “I wanna know what happened to Chief Dillard Deaton. Last I heard they still hadn’t found a clue of his whereabouts.”

Jesse shrugged. “My bet’s he’s sitting in Hell right this minute wishing he’d been a nicer person.”

She shook her head. “Still don’t surprise me none that he was wound up in this mess. There was something offputting about that man.” Elly leaned forward and whispered, “Don’t tell no one I told you, but turns out they got some hard evidence linking him to his wife’s death.”

“You don’t say.”

“They found this photo of her . . .
dead
. . . I seen it.” She wrinkled up her nose. “Gruesome. I sure hope you’re right, I sure hope he
is
rotting in Hell right now.”

“We’re done then?” Jesse asked.

“Yeah, we are.”

Jesse stood and she escorted him to the door and let him out into the lobby. The sheriff and investigators stopped talking when he came out. The sheriff gave him a hard look. “You remember what I said, Jesse. Things will go a whole lot easier on you if you just come clean with what you know.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, sheriff,” Jesse said as he pushed out the door. “Now you have yourself a real fine day, you hear.”

Jesse pulled into Linda’s mother’s driveway. He drove a Ford Ranger with the extended cab, not new, but newer, paid for in full. He parked, walked up onto the porch, and knocked on the door; a minute later, footsteps shuffled his way. “Just a sec,” someone shouted. Polly Collins opened the door. “You got a haircut.”

Jesse nodded. “I did at that.”

“Looks sorta funny.”

Jesse frowned.

“Bet you’re not here to talk to me,” she said.

“You’d make money on that bet.”

“Well, I got something to say to you anyhow. I don’t know what part you played in all that mess, but . . .” She bit at her lip, seemed to be searching for the right words. “Well . . . it’s just . . . well, the way Linda tells it, sounds like she got herself in a bad spot . . . a really bad spot. I don’t know exactly what it was you done about Dillard . . . don’t ever need to know, but Jesse . . .” Jesse realized the old woman was choking up. She touched his hand. “I want you to know . . . I appreciate it.” She smiled at him then, the first time she’d ever smiled at him. “Let me fetch Linda.”

“Mrs. Collins, could you maybe do me a favor? Could you take Abigail out back for a bit, just need some time alone with Linda.”

She nodded. “I can do that.”

Jesse waited maybe a minute, felt more like ten. He noticed he was wringing his hands and made himself quit, shoving them deep into his pants pockets. This was the first time he’d seen Linda since that morning at Dillard’s and he had no idea where he stood.

Linda pushed the screen door open and stepped out onto the porch. The two of them stood apart, neither speaking, neither seeming to know what to say.

Linda looked at his feet. “See you got yourself some new boots.”

“Uh-huh.”

“They’re real nice.”

“Yeah . . . Linda?”

“Yes.”

“I’m heading to Memphis.”

Her lips tightened. “Your music? You gonna go play your songs?”

He nodded. “Gonna go give it all I got and then some. No more honky-tonks. Gonna follow up with that DJ, see if he can get me some leads. If I can’t land something in Memphis, I’m headed for Nashville.”

“Jesse, that’s wonderful. And it’s about damn time. You’re gonna do just—”

“Linda, you once asked me how you were supposed to believe in me if I didn’t believe in myself. Well, I met this . . . this . . . uh . . . real tall fella just recently, and let’s just say he opened my eyes to a whole lot of things. The long and short of what I am trying to say is I
do
believe in myself, my music . . . but I also believe in us . . . more than ever. And I was hoping that maybe you and Abigail might just wanna come along with me.”

Her eyes brightened.

“I ain’t saying it’ll be easy, but I can assure you that I’m a different person now. I got a bit of cash tucked away, but more importantly . . . I got a plan. Whaddaya say? Think we’re worth another try?”

She looked long and deep into his eyes, seemed to be searching for something. Jesse guessed she must’ve found it, because she nodded. “I’d like that, Jesse . . . like to give us another go.”

He smiled and she hugged him, hugged him tight, and after a minute he felt her crying. “I’m sorry, Jess. I’m so sorry about . . . about all of it. I just didn’t know—”