The Cove (44 page)

The police mounted a massive search and rescue effort, which included dozens of volunteers, but her body wasn’t discovered until three days later. By then, the rats and other vermin living in the well had done a good job of stripping her flesh from her bones. She was buried under a rose granite headstone Wally had carved for her which also included Pete’s birth and death dates even though he was not buried there.

One warm spring day, Ben was sitting in his car in the parking lot at Sand Beach. It had been a year since he’d come back home. His mind flashed through the losses.

The memory of Pete still burned like a red-hot coal, but like all things, with time it was getting better … slowly.

As for his mom, dying the way she did was so goddamned awful it was tough to think about, but in the end, it was probably a mercy. She had stopped being his mom a long time before she died.

And as for Tom Marshall? Good riddance. A shank across the throat couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

But there were the gains as well.

Capt’n Wally had the
Lou-Lou Belle,
which he owned outright and had no more pressure from Richie Sullivan or anyone else. Louise was seeing a decent guy from Durham, a high school English teacher named Nate Kenyon. He wasn’t a Cove-ah, but he treated her as much like a queen as he could on his teacher’s salary.

And, of course, Julia was never far from Ben’s mind. They kept in periodic touch — not as much as he would like, but he didn’t want to pressure her. His feelings for her hadn’t changed, but he knew she would never come back to The Cove even to visit, much less stay. She had been hired to teach first grade in a small town outside of Waterbury. He often wondered about how long it would take her to find someone else in Connecticut.

Maybe she can find
me
in Connecticut,
he thought
… Maybe it’s finally time for me to blow this taco stand …

His cell phone chirped, making him jump. He fished it from his jeans pocket and glanced at the Caller ID. When he saw who it was, he smiled widely. With a quick flick of the thumb, he opened the phone.

“Speak of the devil. I was just thinking about you.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I’m out at Sand Beach … just chillin’.”

There was a long pause.

“So how you doin’?” he asked. “How’s the teaching going?”

“It’s good. One more week and it’s summer vacation.”

“So you finally got to use that college degree, huh?”

“Yeah.”

He was trying to keep the eagerness out of his voice but was sure he wasn’t succeeding.

“You know … I’ve, uhh, been thinking, too,” Julia said.

“Uh-oh. That sounds dangerous.”

He smiled, wishing she was there to see his smile.

“Oh, stop it. No, I was thinking how you must have some vacation time coming. Don’t you?’

 
“Well … I know a little place in southern Connecticut that would be great for a water rat like you to relax.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Are there trees and flowers and gardens?”

“Absolutely,” Julia said, “and definitely no ocean.”

“Hmm, sounds interesting. But is it
quaint?
”

“Oh, yes … Very quaint. It’s a lovely little private B ’n B with a charming hostess.”

“Do I happen to know this hostess?”

His jaw was hurting now, he was grinning so hard.

“Quite intimately, in fact.”

“And — umm … and how long, exactly, can I stay?”

“Totally up to you. How long are you thinking of staying?”

When Ben took a deep breath, he felt light-headed as the salt-tinged air and a gush of warmth filled his chest.

“I dunno. I ’
spoze
as long as you’ll let me.”

This was followed by a silence that went on a bit too long. He stared out over the ocean, his eyes unfocused.

“Julia? … You there?”

He heard sniffling and knew that she was either laughing or crying … maybe both, but then there was such total silence.

“You there?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought the call got dropped.”

“I’m still here.” She took a breath, hissing it between her teeth.

Is this a mistake?
she asked herself.
 
But even before she could think about it, she added, “So how soon can you get your ass down here?”

“Give me an hour to get packed, and I’m on my way.”

The End

Before our lives divide forever.

While time is with us and hands are free.

(Time, swift to fasten and swift to sever

Hand from hand, as we stand by the sea)

I will say no word that a man might say

Whose whole life’s love goes down in a day;

For this could never have been; and never,

Though the gods and the years relent, shall be.

— Algernon Charles Swinburne

UNTCIGAHUNK: THE COMPLETE LITTLE BROTHERS

It has been five years since Kip Howard saw his mother killed horribly by a blur of "little brown things." Five years of nightmares and a terror of dark places. Five years of struggling to overcome what must have been just his imagination…But the "untcigahunk," the Indian word for "little brothers," are no one's imagination. Hideous forest creatures who feed every five years on human flesh, the little brothers are about to emerge from underground once again. Only this time, there will be no escape for the young boy who witnessed their last feast.

Untcigahunk
—
The Novel is an updated version of Rick Hautala's classic novel Little Brothers. Also included are seven short stories about the Untcigahunk:

Little Brother

Little Brother Speaks

Redman

Chrysalis

Love on the Rocks

Deal with the Devils

The Birch Whistle

Oilman

OCCASIONAL DEMONS

This collection, from an acclaimed Master of Dark Fiction, consists of twenty-one tales with some being straight genre entries, others psychological terror and finally a few shorts that include science fiction elements. The first eighteen are short stories written solely by Rick and the final three are collaborations with Jesse and Matti Hautala, Matthew J. Costello, and Jim Connolly.

The stories included in this collection are:

The Nephews

Nightmare Transcript

Non-returnable

Dead Legends

I’ve Been Thinking About You

The Man Who Looked Like Murphy

Toxic Shock

The Call

Getting the Job Done

Every Mother’s Son

Knocking

Hotel Hell

The Compost Heap

Iron Frog

Setup

The Gates of Dawn

Off the Cuff

The Screaming Head

Abduction (written with Jesse and Matti Hautala)

And the Sea Shall Claim Them (written by Matthew J. Costello and A. J. Matthews)

Scared Crows (written with Jim Connolly)

BEDBUGS

From the subway tunnels of Boston to the rain-swept streets of Quebec City to the deepest snow-filled forests of Hilton, Maine, no one in these chilling stories by horror master Rick Hautala is safe from the darkness or the dangerous things that lurk in the shadows. Waiting for us. Reaching for us...

Over the years, Rick Hautala's stories and novels have terrified and captivated millions of readers around the world. Bedbugs is a career-spanning collection of stories that whisks you away on a guided tour of the darkest reaches of the human mind and soul — a tour that could only be conducted by someone with Rick Hautala's ability to make your blood run cold.

The stories included in this collection are:

The Back of My Hands

Schoolhouse

The Voodoo Queen

Surprise

Tunnels

. . . from a Stone

Crying Wolf

The Sources of the Nile

Silver Rings

Colt .24

Bird in the House

Cousins’ Curse

Speedbump

Rubies and Pearls

A Little Bit of Divine Justice

Karen’s Eyes

Master Tape

Breakfast at Earl’s

Closing the Doors

Worst Fears

Winter Queen

Late Summer Shadows

Hitman

Perfect Witness

Piss Eyes

Served Cold