The Haunting at Grays Harbor (The River Book 8) (8 page)

“You can’t let her religious clap trap weigh you down,” Roy
said. “We’ve been over Jason’s death a hundred times. This is the way it’s got
to be. I wish you’d stop fretting over it.”

“You asked why I’m on edge, and I’m telling you,” Steven
said. “I don’t like the idea of his body there, threatened by this thing. It’s
like he’s not at rest.”

“What, you want to move him? Where, exactly?”

“No, I’m not saying that. And now we’re sitting around,
waiting on a long shot from Deem. I feel like we’re losing control.”

“We’ll call the guy directly if Deem doesn’t come through. Calm
down. Things will work out.”

Steven suddenly pulled his phone from his pocket again,
looking at it.

“See, another phantom ring,” Roy said.

“Goddamn it!” Steven said. “I missed a call, while we were
talking! Didn’t even feel it vibrate!”

“Useless things,” Roy said as the waitress placed a coffee
and a piece of blackberry pie in front of him, with a fork. She slapped the
check on the edge of the table and wandered off.

“I don’t recognize the number,” Steven said, “but it was from
a 702 area code, which is the same as Deem’s.”

“Mmm!” Roy said, chewing down a bite of the pie. “You’re
missing out.”

Steven saw the voicemail icon light up, so he pressed it and
held the phone to his ear. Roy shoveled another bite of pie into his mouth and
followed it with a long sip of the coffee.

After he finished listening to the message, Steven lowered
the phone and clicked it off, replacing it in his jacket pocket.

“Well?” Roy asked between bites. “Who was it?”

“Winn.”

“Winn? That’s a surprise.”

“Deem called him to ask if he’d ever heard of Maynard. Turns
out Winn knows him. We’ll call him back as soon as we get out of here.”

Roy smiled as he chewed. “See, things work out. You need to
listen to your old man.”

Steven watched Roy finish off the last few bites of the pie,
and he smiled a little.
He may not be right about technology,
he
thought,
but he’s right about most everything else. I’m not doing either of
us any good by worrying about Jason, or feeling guilty. But it’s damn hard to
stop.

Roy slid from the booth. “Hitting the john. Meet you out
front.” He left Steven alone with the check.

Steven heard the knocking on the adjoining door and rolled
over to look at the clock. He’d overslept. Their call was in five minutes.

He stumbled to the door in his underwear and opened it. Roy,
fully dressed, held out a cup of coffee to him. “Oh, we’re not quite ready to
face the day, are we?” Roy said, walking into the room.

“Damn neon light,” Steven said, waving at the motel room
window. “Blaring in my face all night long.” He sat the cup of coffee on a
table.

“My mattress was like sleeping on a plywood plank but you
don’t see me still running around in my skivvies,” Roy said.

“I’ll be back for the call in a minute,” he said, stumbling
into the bathroom.

After using the facilities, he splashed cold water on his
face to help him wake up faster. Grabbing a thin towel from the rack, he wiped
the water from his face, then walked back into the motel room. Roy was seated
at the table, checking his watch.

“You have exactly one minute to put on some clothes,” Roy
said.

“I can dress while we talk to them,” Steven said, unplugging
his phone from the charger by his nightstand, and placing it on the table next
to Roy. Just as he sat it down, it rang. He picked it back up, saw the 702 area
code, and pressed the button to take the call and turn on the speakerphone,
then sat the phone back down on the table next to Roy.

“Hello?” Steven said.

“Hello, Steven? It’s Winn. And I’ve got Maynard here with
me.”

“Hello, Winn!” Steven said. “I’m here, and I’m with my
father, Roy.”

“Hello,” Roy said.

“As I was mentioning to you last night,” Winn said, “I’ve
known Maynard for many years. I told him what you told me, and he’d like to ask
you some questions.”

“Go ahead,” Steven said.

They heard a man clearing his throat on the other end, then
they heard him shouting at the top of his lungs: “I’D LIKE YOU TO GO BACK OVER
YOUR STORY AND… ”

They heard Winn telling Maynard he didn’t need to shout.
“Oh,” Maynard said. “Can you hear me alright?” he asked, his voice normal.

“Clear and plain and coming through fine,” Roy said.

“You’re coming through fine, too,” Maynard said. “Pardon me,
I’ve never used one of these things. I’d like you to go back over your story.
Start from the beginning, and don’t leave anything out.”

“Roy?” Steven asked, hoping he’d take over and tell the story,
so he could use the time to get dressed.

Roy began relating the incidents at Grays Harbor to Maynard,
and Steven began to locate his clothes. Once he finished, he sat down at the
table next to Roy and took a long sip of the coffee Roy brought. It tasted
terrible.

“Did you touch it?” Maynard asked. “The rod in the attic?”

“No, we didn’t,” Roy replied.

“Well, don’t!” Maynard said. “Steer clear of it at all costs.
You could make things infinitely worse by meddling with it.”

“You seem to know what it is,” Steven said. “Can you tell us
how to stop it?”

“Have either of you had any experience with vorghosts?”
Maynard asked.

“Never heard the term before,” Roy said.

“Where are you at, again?” Maynard asked.

“Aberdeen, Washington,” Steven said. “It’s about two hours
west of Seattle.”

“I’ll leave here in a little bit,” Maynard said. “Where can I
meet you tomorrow morning?”

“It’s a long haul, Maynard,” Steven said. “Seattle to
southern Utah is at least sixteen hours.”

“I’d better get started then,” Maynard said with a little
irritation. “Where can we meet?”

“We’re staying at a motel in Aberdeen,” Steven said, giving
Maynard the motel’s address and their room numbers. “We could meet in the lobby
of the motel tomorrow morning at nine if that’s not too early.”

“It’s not, that’ll be fine,” Maynard said. “Goodbye for now.
Don’t touch that rod until I get there, remember!”

“No, we won’t,” Steven said.

“So, I guess that’s it,” Winn came back on the line. “Maynard
has left the room and has gone to pack, I think.”

“We appreciate you hooking us up with him,” Steven said.

“He’s the best at what he does,” Winn said. “But he doesn’t
like to work over the phone. That’s why I drove up to his place this morning,
and I’m guessing it’s why he’s gonna drive up to see you.”

 “I hate to put him out,” Steven said.

“He just does what he does,” Winn said. “And honestly, you’ll
want him there. He looked a little worried when you described the rod, how the
coil was broken. I think he feels it’s serious.”

“Alright, we’ll wait the day for him,” Steven said.

“And like he said, don’t touch it,” Winn said. “You’ve
probably already seen some strange things. It will become much worse if you
touch it.”

“No, we won’t,” Steven said. “Thanks again, Winn.”

“No problem, guys,” Winn said. “Good luck.”

“Say thank you to Deem for us, will you?” Roy asked.

“Sure thing.”

They hung up.

“You haven’t touched your coffee,” Roy said.

“I took one sip,” Steven said, standing up. “I’m not in the
mood for bathwater.”

“Was it just me, or did Winn sound like he knew a little bit
about this thing?” Roy asked.

“Yeah, the way he talked didn’t sound like he was just
repeating what Maynard had to say. Sounded more like someone who’d had some
experience.”

“Well, OK, we won’t touch the damn thing. What now?”

“Breakfast,” Steven said. “And better coffee.”

◊

As they walked into the motel’s lobby on their way out, Steven
was surprised to see Barbara at the front desk, talking with the hotel clerk.

“Barbara?” he asked, walking to her.

“Oh, Steven!” she said, the worried look on her face easing a
little. “Are you staying here?”

“We are,” Steven said. “You’ve moved out?”

“We had to,” Barbara said, and then motioned to Steven to
follow her outside. They walked through the front doors and into the chilly
morning air.

“What happened?” Steven asked, seeing his breath as they
stood next to an overflowing ashtray.

“I was going to call you this morning,” Barbara said,
worried, but relieved. “We had to leave. Couldn’t take it anymore. At least we
all got a decent night’s sleep last night – first one in weeks.”

“That’s good,” Steven replied, wondering just how sleep deprived
Barbara and her family had become in order to benefit from the hard beds at the
motel. “Did something new happen?”

“Things have been so bad,” she replied. “Ever since May came
down from the attic.”

“She was in the attic?” Roy asked, concerned.

“After we went up there the other day, when you were over, I
left the ladder down after your visit. When I went back upstairs, I put it
away, but I didn’t realize May had climbed up. So I basically trapped her up
there, until I heard her pounding on the ceiling door, poor thing.”

“Things got worse after that?” Steven asked.

“Much worse,” Barbara replied. “She’d only been locked up
there a half an hour, but she was completely freaked out. She kept calling him
the ‘needle man,’ saying he was chasing her around the attic, trying to stick
her. I thought once she was down with us, out of the attic, she’d feel better,
but she didn’t. She said she kept seeing him, all through the house – standing
behind a plant, sitting in a chair, walking into whatever room she was playing
in. She’d scream and run, and she wouldn’t stop. And I swear to god I must have
killed a hundred spiders while I was trying to deal with her. They were coming
out of the woodwork. I finally said to hell with it, loaded the girls in the
car, and we drove here. Been fine ever since. No spiders, no needle man.”

“I wonder if May touched the rod,” Roy said to Steven.

“That thing in the attic?” Barbara asked.

“We’ve made contact with someone who’s going to help,” Steven
said, “but he won’t be here until tomorrow. He’s driving up from Utah.”

“Oh!” Barbara said, surprised.

“The one thing he told us to do, in the meantime, was to not
touch that rod,” Roy said. “Said things would get much worse if we did.”

“Oh, no,” Barbara said. “She might have. I don’t know.”

“Can we ask her?” Steven said.

“Sure, they’re up in the room,” Barbara said. “I need to get
back and check on them. Why don’t you come with me, and I’ll ask her.”

They followed Barbara back into the motel and down a short
hallway to her room. Inside they found Georgina and May playing on the floor
between the two beds, toys strung around them. Steven noticed that Georgina
looked noticeably less stressed than the last time they’d seen her. She was
smiling and open, and quick to say hello when she saw them.

“May?” Barbara asked, kneeling down next to where the little
child was playing.

“Yes?” she replied.

“Do you remember when you were up in the attic yesterday? Did
you see that long rod floating in the attic? The one with the coil turning
around it?”

“Yes,” she said demurely.

“Did you touch it?” Barbara asked.

Steven saw the little girl look up at him and over to Roy,
checking in advance to see if she was in trouble or not. Steven tried to give
her his most pleasant, non-threatening smile.

“Yes,” she said. “It shocked me.”

Barbara turned to look at Steven. “It was right after she
came down from the attic that things got so bad we had to leave,” she said. “So
your friend from Utah was right.”

“Are you going to help us?” Georgina asked, looking up at
Steven.

“We’re going to try!” Steven said. “We want you to be able to
go back to your house.”

“I don’t want to go back,” May said. “He sticks me with
needles!” She looked like she was about to cry.

“We won’t go back unless he’s gone,” Barbara said, reaching
down to console the child. “Steven and Roy are going to see if they can make
him go away for good.”

This seemed to satisfy the little girl, and a smile returned
to her face as Georgina began to play with her. Barbara stood back and walked
with Steven and Roy to the door.

“I can’t take her back there,” Barbara said. “If you could
have seen how terrified she was, you’d understand. A parent can’t do that to
their child. It would be like torturing her. We’re going to be in this motel
until it’s solved, one way or the other.”

“Have you all had breakfast?” Steven said. “We were just on
our way out to find some. You could come along.”

“Thanks, we ate already,” Barbara said. “The girls were up
the moment their father left for work. I do wish I could join you for coffee, though.
The stuff they have here tastes like dirty socks.”

“We’ll bring some back for you,” Roy said. “How do you take
it?”

“Oh, that’s nice of you,” she said. “Black is fine.”

“We’ll be back in a bit,” Steven said, and they left her with
the girls.

◊

They took Barbara and her daughters out for lunch that
afternoon, but most of the day was spent killing time. They agreed not to
return to Barbara’s house, having no constructive agenda until Maynard arrived,
and not wanting to accidentally make anything worse. They thought about going
out to Eximere, but ruled that out also, considering it more dangerous than a
casual visit was worth.

The day went slowly, with Steven imagining a broken-down
Maynard at the side of the interstate somewhere between Utah and Washington,
unable to get any roadside help, and unable to communicate. Each time he
thought of it, he reminded himself that they’d just have to hope Maynard made
it OK. It was an exercise in patience that was driving Steven crazy. There
wasn’t much to do in Aberdeen, either. Looking around the place, he assumed that
was why so many of Cobain’s songs were so dreary.

The next day, Steven and Roy left the motel a little early to
secure decent coffee before they met Maynard. They brought back two extra cups,
one for Barbara, which they delivered, and the second for Maynard. They
considered inviting Barbara to join them for the meeting, but decided instead
to meet him first and find out what kind of fellow he was before introducing
him to her.

They walked into the lobby with five minutes to spare.
Maynard was already there, waiting for them. As Maynard stood to greet them, Steven
was surprised to see that he was small, almost six inches smaller than Roy. He
was wearing an old trucker’s hat that added a few inches to his height. The cap
had a logo for “Stout Motor Supply” on it, with the logo of an arm reaching
through a tire, holding a wrench. He was perfectly shaven and his skin was
baked to a leathery dark brown. He was wearing a short sleeve shirt that was
worn so thin, Steven could see through to his undergarments. When he extended
his arm to shake hands, Steven noticed mounds of curly white hair covering his
forearms.