The keepers, p.28
The Keepers, page 28
She had always done her best to shun their dark domain, they had no right to reach out and draw her into their evil realm. She had known that such forces lurked in the deep shadows at the edge of life, but she had looked away and tried to keep herself and her family free of their wicked influences. Because of her caution and fear they evidently thought she was weak and easy prey. What they did not understand was that once she had been pulled into their vile world there was no longer any reason for her to hold back. Maybe now they would be the ones to suffer and be fearful.
Jessie waited for a while and then dashed out of the shady cover. Her hate and anger gave her legs the strength to run across the sunny lawn and then she vanished into the dim green woods. When the protective trees closed around her Jessie felt a rush of triumph. It was a small victory but at this point any encouragement was help. Jessie trudged on toward Posey’s house. She could not let herself think that Andy might not be there. Instead she concentrated on her anger and determination, these emotions generated the power she needed to keep going.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Posey’s little house was silent and deserted. It looked to Jessie like an enchanted cottage in a children’s fairytale. The sight of the house drove Jessie’s mind a bit further from its hold on reality, and she struggled to keep her mind and body working together. Jessie crept along the tree line and circled the clearing, she passed in back of the gray weathered barn and came up on the other side of the house. A sleepy afternoon lull hung in the air. Even the jays and squirrels were out of sight. Jessie walked to the back porch and carefully opened the screen door. Inside, beside the kitchen door, was a row of pegs with two pair of dirty bib overalls and a blue plaid shirt hanging on them. Jessie recognized Posey’s clothes. At least she was in the right house. Jessie didn’t knock, the house should be empty unless, as she hoped, Andy was there.
Jessie stepped into the kitchen, walked past the black iron cook stove, and moved on to the living room. When she caught sight of the man stretched out on the mohair sofa Jessie stiffened and held her breath. As she stood silent and still, he moaned and rolled his head to the right.
It was Jack!
Jessie’s heart pounded with joy. Yet she didn’t dare hope that her eyes were telling her the truth, maybe it was a strange trick played by her tortured mind. As she looked closer she was positive that he was real. He was asleep and his face was a briar patch of tangled, healing scratches. Jessie ran across the linoleum and dropped down beside the sofa.
“Jack, you’re alive. It’s me, Jessie.”
He was wearing one of Posey’s shirts. It gapped at the neck and was rolled up at the wrists. A light pink and blue striped flannel sheet covered him to his waist. Jack’s eyelids flew open, his brown eyes flashed in alarm, and he tried to sit up.
“Don’t move. I’m sorry I startled you, but I’m so glad to see you. How did you get away?”
Jack drew a deep breath and seemed to wince with the effort. He patted Jessie’s arm and tried to smile, but one side of his face wouldn’t cooperate. His left eye was a swollen purple bruise tinged with green and yellow; it made a ghastly rainbow. And the left side of his mouth had a ragged split across both lips that kept it from opening. His tan had turned a dusty gray. Jack raised on one elbow and the large shirt hung open to reveal a chest marked with black and blue and the deep red of dried cuts. He stared at her, his brown eyes filled with revulsion.
“Jessie. You look awful. What did they do to you?”
Jessie crossed her arms on the edge of the sofa and put her head down, she shook with harsh laughter that sounded like sobs. A heavy, rough hand awkwardly stroked her tangled hair and she looked up.
“You’re a fine one to talk,” she said. “I know I’m no beauty, but you look like you’ve been through a meat grinder.”
“I suppose I do.” Jack half chuckled. “But I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t got out of the truck before it hit bottom. And if you hadn’t come this way to get to the cliff top Posey wouldn’t have followed you and found me.”
Jessie listened quietly as Jack told his story, then Jessie told him what they’d done to her and about Andy being gone.
“They have the whole town looking for us. I don’t know how long Andy can evade them. I had hoped he was here. Has Posey told you anything about what’s going on at the lodge?”
A bitter smile twisted the undamaged side of Jack’s mouth. “Nothing that will help. So far the only thing we got going for us is that they haven’t come poking around here. Last evening Posey went out looking for Andy, but didn’t find him. Andy must be doing a good job of hiding. He’s probably scared silly. Posey heard they had him locked up in Bessie’s storeroom and that he got out by knocking some shelves over on her. They got ole Doc Sutton to sign the death certificate, they’re calling it an accident. I suppose it was easy enough to get those two half-wit sisters to go along.”
Jessie cringed. Poor Andy. She couldn’t stand what was happening to her family. But at least Andy was fighting back, and he had gotten away. Jessie crossed the room to sit in Posey’s rocker.
Jack pulled the light cotton covering aside, eased his legs over the edge of the sofa and sat up. “I’m getting stronger. I couldn’t move for three days. But it gave me time to think. I’m going to get them, Jessie. I’m going to put the whole stinking bunch out of their misery. I’m using my head for once instead of going off half-cocked.”
Jessie’s foot tapped the floor, rocking the chair in short impatient swings. “I’ve a few plans of my own. I haven’t given it as much thought as you have, but it’s plain what we must do. First I must find Andy, then get to a phone. Once the police get here and see you it will support our story. Then they can arrest them.”
“Hang on, Jessie. I see where you’re heading and it won’t work.”
Jessie pounded the arms of the rocker and jumped to her feet and began pacing. “And why not? I’m sure that even out here there are laws against trying to kill people. First, everyone in that twisted little town knows about them, what they are and that something strange happens when they are here. Velma tried to warn me. I know she would admit it if the police questioned her. And that rummy doctor... he would crack in a minute.”
“For a smart woman you don’t catch on very fast, do you? The police can’t do anything. We got to take care of this ourselves!”
Jessie began to shake and wrapped her arms around her ribs. The tiny time-worn room grew dim and fuzzy. Jessie had trouble focusing her eyes.
“Jack, we can’t handle this. We have one chance and that is to get help. Otherwise they will kill us!” Jessie started toward the front door. “When I found you I thought you would help me.”
Jack stood and hobbled across the room. As Jessie took the doorknob his calloused hand closed over hers. For a second she resisted, but even in his battered condition he was stronger than she was. When her hand came away from the door she raised her fist to hit Jack’s shoulder. He caught her by the wrist and then wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight against his chest. They staggered and then regained their footing. Jack held her close and for an instant Jessie found comfort in the clumsy embrace. Then Jessie looked up at the brown bear of a man. He seemed as unreal as everything else, an unstable stranger that fate had washed up onto the shore of this dark tangled land.
“Let me go,” Jessie whispered. “You do what you want, but I must find Andy. Then call the police. I’m tired of this insane group and what they’re doing to our lives. They must be stopped.”
“I know that, Jessie. But hear me out. You only came here this spring, You don’t know everything. And you look sicker than I feel. They will catch you for sure. You ain’t had real food in days, it’s a wonder you made it this far. Let’s go to the kitchen and fix something. It won’t hurt to eat before you take off. I won’t stop you after that.”
There was a measure of reason in the suggestion. Jessie nodded and followed Jack’s halting gait to the kitchen. She should listen to Jack, more information could help, and as for the food it would give her some strength, which she definitely needed.
Jack pulled out one of the straight-backed kitchen chairs, Jessie sat down and clasped her hands on the oilcloth covered table. Then Jack took a heavy black skillet from the cabinet and set it on the cook stove. She watched as he opened the cast iron door and blew on the few smoldering embers in the firebox. Then from a wooden box beside the stove he took slivers of kindling and put them on the coals. He fanned the small, flickering flames and then put two larger pieces of wood into the stove. Next he hobbled to the old refrigerator and took out four eggs and some milk and whipped them up in a cracked blue bowl. From time to time he turned to smile at her as he worked.
“Soft scrambled eggs, that will most likely suit your stomach,” he said.
Then he lifted the lid on a dented aluminum pot that was setting on the back of the stove. A pungent, gamy aroma filled the room.
“You can have some of this if you want. Its what’s putting me on my feet. But the eggs probably be better for you.”
Jack slid the pot over a hotter part of the stove. “I keep it warm and have a dish ever now and then.”
Jessie wrinkled her nose. “What is it?”
“Started out as squirrel stew, yesterday we added a rabbit. Posey don’t like killing anything lest it’s for a good reason, but he’s got common sense when it comes to getting a person well. This makes the richest soup you ever saw. We cook up potatoes, wild onions, carrots, and throw in a handful of oatmeal ever now and then. You can feel it healing your body.”
“Eggs will be fine,” Jessie said.
Jack finished cooking the eggs and then ladled out some stew for himself. Then he put coffee grounds in a chipped blue and white enamel pot and set it to perk while they ate. Jessie looked down at the mound of golden eggs. She was hungry. Even the stew began to smell enticing. She picked up the fork and began shoveling in the eggs. They slid down her throat and suddenly a sharp cramp hit her stomach, the eggs threatened to bounce back up. Jessie dropped the fork and clasped her hand over her mouth. She found that her upper lip was damp with sweat.
Jack chuckled.
“See? You ain’t in no condition to be going off by yourself.”
Jessie leaned back to rest a minute then picked up her glass of milk and sipped it slowly. Across the table from her Jack tended to the business of eating. Again and again he raised the tablespoon to his mouth, slurping up thick pale broth that shimmered with a skim of fine melted fat. His jaws ground the chunks of dark meat and he swallowed them with eager determination. There was an almost visible change in his vitality. He was like a soldier preparing for battle. Jessie admired his steadfastness. She could learn from him. Then Jack slowed down and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth.
“I’ll let that settle a while and tell you what I got figured out. Try to get some of those eggs down while you listen.”
Jessie obediently tried another bite. She did feel a little better. And she thought that perhaps she was able to think more clearly. Only now, with the fog drifting away from her mind, did she realize how groggy and sedated she had been. It was surprising she had gotten out of the lodge and made her way to Posey’s house. As she slowly ate, Jessie listened to Jack.
“... now, the way I see it, what we got here is a bunch of devil worshipers. How the hell I could of been so stupid I’ll never know. I grew up here; I should have caught on. I don’t understand some of it, but best I can calculate it’s got something to do with that guy building the castle. You know something about that?”
Jessie nodded and told him what Bessie had told her.
“Okay, that’s close enough. I don’t know how it came to burn down, but I got my suspicions. Probably somebody like me that wanted them out of the valley. But that don’t make no difference now cause they failed. I won’t! I don’t think old Farley was one of them, but he knew. The bastard knew! He ran the lodge for them in exchange for them keeping watch over Posey for the rest of his life. A deal with the devil. And Melanie is another of their stooges. She keeps things running smooth. And the rest of the people in town are plain greedy. They want the money that comes in every year. It’s surprising how normal folks can turn their heads when it suits their pocket.
“Now, those crazies we saw that night ain’t the head of this slimy snake either. They have left. Posey told me. He don’t understand but he told me enough so that I figured out the rest. Every year the ten main ones come. They gather from all over, even a couple or three from Europe, and it is them that I want.”
Jack leaned across the table, his eyes smoldered like the embers in the stove.
“They live longer than other men. Posey swears they are the same ones who came here when he was little. They are as young as they were forty years ago. Posey told me how Farley’s hair got gray and wrinkles came in his face. And Posey remembers growing, getting new overalls and shoes because he out-growed the old ones, and still these men stayed the same. Not a gray hair or wrinkle among them. I don’t know how long they’re suppose to go on, but I’m going to make sure it ain’t much longer. Now, you think the police can do something about a bunch like that?”
Jack abruptly stood, the wooden chair tipped back on two legs. He took three limping strides across the room to the grease stained calendar that was tacked to the wallpaper. He jabbed a hard, curved finger against a red-circled day.
“Farley did that. For Posey. He told him to stay inside on that date. You got to give Farley one thing, he tried to protect his son.”
“His son?”
Jack shook his head and waved his hand. “Yeah, but he never told Posey. I haven’t either, no use mixing him up. For some reason Farley didn’t marry Posey’s mother. He was gone when Posey was born. When he came back and saw the kid wasn’t right his conscience must have bothered him. That’s when he made his stinking deal. And looks like they’ve stuck to it so far. Maybe they needed a poor simple soul like Posey. It comes in handy having a worker that doesn’t ask questions and stays out of the way. Anyway, after hours of talking I finally got Posey to explain about these red-circled dates.
“Farley told Posey to never, no matter what, go up to the old ruin. That took care of keeping him out of the way of those loonies we saw. Every six years Farley marked June 6 and made it a ritual with Posey.”
Jack stopped and looked at the floor, a red flush rushed up his neck and Jessie knew that if she could see his eyes they would be flashing fire. He took a deep breath and finally raised his head.
“This part gets hard for me. I think that’s the night they use a human sacrifice. I counted the years back and it fits. Anyway, before Farley died he showed this year’s date to Posey and said it was even more special. That Posey was to lock the door and not even use the outhouse till morning. Posey asked if he should be that careful on the other dates. Farley said, no. This was the most special time and it wouldn’t come for another sixty-nine years. And by that time they would both be dead and gone.
“So, I decided that whatever it is, the reason for you being here has something to do with this special date. Maybe they slaughter a whole family every sixty-nine years.”
“No,” Jessie spoke with wooden lips. “That’s when they take in a new member and he pays his admission by giving them his family.”
For a second Jack lost his angry look and a stunned glaze dimmed his brown eyes. “How do you know that? That’s worse than anything I dreamed up.”
Jessie put her hands to the sides of her face and drew a rasping breath. “I overheard them talking. It didn’t make sense then, but the change in Stan, the way he’s acting, it fits. They want Stan and Denise to serve them in some way. Andy and I are marked for a different fate.”
“And you want to go to the police?”
“Yes, of course. How else can I save my family? Even if the police do not believe me it will give me time to get us away from here.”
Even as she spoke the flaws in the plan glared at her like shining evil eyes. Stan was the key. If he denied everything, and Denise stuck to her story, no one would believe her. Jack put his hands on his hips and frowned, his swollen eye giving him a slant-eyed grimace.
“You think they’re going to let you live? You can’t hide. They got you here in the first place think they couldn’t find you again? Use your good sense, woman. You want to run for the rest of your life?”
“No, but if they’re locked up for awhile it will give us a chance to get away.”
Jack spread his lips. The upper one cracked and oozed a drop of blood. His harsh rasping laugh struck the walls of the small kitchen.
“You still ain’t thinking straight. Okay, let’s take it your way for a minute. The fine and proud police force come rolling out here, all three cars of them. You tell your story and I say, ‘Yes Sir, see how banged up I am. They threw me off the cliff’. First off all we got is that they tried to kill me. But that don’t touch this bunch. They weren’t even here when that happened. Even if you tell how they kept you knocked out it won’t make any difference. Stan will tell them you had to be kept sedated because you flipped out. And they can explain Andy’s actions by saying he was upset by his mother being sick. Even if we took them to the spot where my truck went over the cliff it won’t prove much. I bet my drunken past will talk a lot louder than you and I can.”
