Part 14 (1/2)
”Where? When? I'm afraid I have a number of appointments during the day.”
”Now. It's a ten minute drive. Just on the outskirts of town, not far from the hotel where you're playing. And now.”
”Now? What if-”
”Your husband is still sleeping, isn't he?”
She was startled by that.
”Give me the address. I'll come-if I can.”
He didn't give her an address, but explained the route. Andy hung up.
She sat in the chair a long moment, the receiver in her hand-certain that she heard a second click. Susanna McCarthy, she thought. Listening in.
She exhaled on a long sigh. All right, if Finn was still sleeping, she'd go. And if he had wakened... well, she'd said that she'd come if she could.
If Susanna had been listening in, she would tell Finn where Megan had gone once he started prowling around, looking for her.
But then again, she didn't intend to be gone long.
She rose with a strange determination, dreading the idea of meeting the man, and wondering why she was even contemplating doing so when the idea was so loathsome to her.
It had been his voice. The pleading in it.
She hurried back to her room. Finn was still sound asleep.
”Finn?” she spoke his name.
He didn't stir.
She walked to the dresser and picked up the car keys. They jangled. He still didn't make a move.
Shaking her head, she grabbed her handbag and walked out of the room.By daylight, the car was just a stone's throw away. Bizarre how last night the walk from their auto to the B and B had seemed so ridiculously long. And scary. By the sun's light, it was a pretty walk, even with the dead and dying leaves of autumn scattering the paths. Some-a few-remained on the trees. It seemed a gentle day.
She followed the easy directions he had given her, leaving the center of town behind in a matter of minutes. Soon she was pa.s.sing the new hotel where they were playing. Just about sixty seconds after the hotel turn-in, she found the trail he had indicated she take, a narrow, winding road into what looked like a forest area.
Foolish. Down the trail, the trees were thick. Despite the coming winter, there were enough branches and leaves on the trees to block out a great deal of sunlight She began to think that Andy Markham was really crazy; the trail seemed to go nowhere.
Then, she reached a large copse at the end of the trail, and parked, looking around.
There were trails leading through the woods, but none big enough for a car. Whoever ventured down those trails did so on foot.
But to either side of the central clearing in the woods were other pockets of cleared areas. They were overgrown with gra.s.s and underbrush, but the trees had been cleared, probably ages ago. As she sat, staring out the window, she noted that there were bits of stone among the long gra.s.ses, weeds, and bits of bush here and there. The place was eerie. She noted that some of the stones were larger than others, weather worn. She squinted, trying to see better from her distance. One of them looked like it had been an angel or something of the like at one time.
A chill seized her. She thought she had come upon some time-forgotten cemetery.
A tap on her window nearly sent her flying right through it.
She turned to the pa.s.senger's side of the car and saw that Andy Markham was standing just outside the car.
For a moment, she hesitated again. Maybe the old man was crazy. He had lured her here to murder her.
The thought was not without value, and yet, she suddenly doubted that the skeletal old man could take her in any kind of a fight.
He could have a gun.
But he didn't. His clothes hung off his body in a way that allowed for no hiding of any kind of a weapon.
She had come this far. And obviously, it was just she and Andy in the G.o.dforsaken, eerie clearing.
She stepped out of the car.
”Hi, Andy.”
He walked around to her, his eyes anxious on her. ”Thank you for coming. I swear, I am trying to help you.”
”That's great,” she said lightly, ”but-”
”But you don't believe in tall tales or hauntings, the spirits of the dead, or anything like that.”
”Right,” she said softly.
”But hear me out. Do you know where we are?”
”It looks like some kind of a cemetery. I see what was an angel over there.”
”Yes, it's some kind of a cemetery.”
”So... we're on hallowed ground. Nice and safe,” she murmured cheerfully. He shook his head so gravely that she felt as if one of the dead branches on the distant trees had reached out to sc.r.a.pe her spine.
”Andy-”
”It's unhallowed ground. Centuries ago, it was where those who died outside the sanction of the church were buried.”
”Oh!” she murmured. ”How sad! You mean like Rebecca Nurse, or others prosecuted in the witch trials-”
Andy snorted. ”History and research show us that Rebecca Nurse was a fine old woman who was simply not appreciated by her neighbors. She had a loving family, and they got hold of her body. I'm talking about the truly evil.”
”I see,” Megan said evenly, wis.h.i.+ng she hadn't come. What the h.e.l.l was this creepy old man up to?
He continued to stare at her earnestly. ”You must believe that there is evil in the world.”
”Andy, I have a cousin who is a Wiccan, and I know-”
”Not Wiccans!” he interrupted with a snort, then gave her a deep sigh. ”It should be evident that if there is good in the world, there is evil. There is a benign G.o.d, and, even in the Old Testament, a G.o.d of wrath. Say you believe in the general tenets of the day. G.o.d is good, and sits above in Heaven. But those who believe in that G.o.d believe in his nemesis as well. Lucifer, the fallen angel. And just as the great G.o.d of our fathers is good, his nemesis is evil. They believed, once, that Satan had come to New England. Satan is a busy fellow. But just as the great G.o.d rests among the angels and what spirits surround him are those of good, Satan has his imps and demons, and creatures of pure, malignant evil.”
Megan just stared.
”Walk with me.”