Forest of Shadows Read online

  Mary Longfeather smiled and said, “We have had a few people look at the house.”

  She was lying. Anyone could see it.

  During the course of their handful of email discussions, Judas had warned him that he wouldn’t receive a warm reception on account of his skin color. He was partially right. True, Mary Longfeather’s eyes nearly popped out of her head when he walked in and she was pretty curt with him, at first. Once he told her he was interested in their finest house, she softened. Prejudice took a back seat to money almost every time.

  “Then I hope their interest doesn’t prevent my offer from being considered. As I said earlier, I’m looking for inspiration and relative quiet.”

  “Have you written any books that I might know?”

  His cover was that he was an author looking for a quiet place in the wilderness to write his next novel. Money wasn’t an issue. He needed a place to charge his mind and spirit and Alaska had always been a point of interest for him. Hiking was a growing passion of his and Shida looked to be about as perfect a place to commune with nature as he could find.

  “This will be my first. I was a script doctor for the past ten years and I think it’s time I did something on my own where I can actually get full credit for the work.”

  Mary had no idea what a script doctor was but didn’t want to look ignorant in front of him by asking.

  “Oh. It must be exciting, starting a whole new venture.”

  “To say the least,” he said and uncrossed his legs.

  The real estate office was quiet. Just the two of them. No ringing phones or faxes.

  “I’ll need to review this with my partner.”

  “Of course. That’s completely understandable.”

  Mary Longfeather reached into her drawer and dropped a yellow legal pad on her desk. She asked him for some general information: current address, phone, etc. He noticed that she didn’t ask where he would be staying, probably because there was only one place in town—a squat, three story brick building that held hints of being a flop house in the early days of Shida. Now it was a sort of inn with a general store taking up the bottom floor.

  “And how much did you say you were looking to rent the house for?”

  “I didn’t, yet. If you were looking to make some money by renting it until you find a buyer, what figure would you consider as a monthly fee?”

  “Since your offer is out of the blue, I can’t say right now. I’d really need to take some time and make a proper evaluation.”

  Time was the one thing he did not want to waste. Even coming this far took a lot of courage on his part. He wanted to keep the wheels turning before his own mind sabotaged him.

  Either she was truly flustered and couldn’t come up with a rental figure or she was feeling him out, seeing how much he’d be willing to part with. In a perfect world, she would have blurted out something in the range of fair market value and it would be done. He’d have to drop the hammer.

  “How about fifteen thousand a month? That’s around what we’ve paid for summer vacations on the Vineyard and this house seems similar.”

  Mary’s face went flush and she almost dropped her pen.

  John sat back on the creaky old mattress in his Spartan room. His suitcase was propped against the wall, next to the dresser. A mirror hung over the dresser and there was a chair by the window. He was afraid that the chair would splinter into millions pieces if he even thought of sitting in it. The bedside table had a lamp and rotary phone. None of the drawers in either the table or dresser contained a Bible, not that he was in need of one.

  He’d tried to use his cell phone when he first got back to the room but quickly realized he had a better chance of sprouting a second set of arms than finding a cell signal. The adrenaline that had sustained him throughout the entire trip was rapidly wearing off and his head felt heavy, so he took a power nap.

  Thirty minutes later, he was up and feeling refreshed. He went down the hall to the communal bathroom to pee and splash some water on his face, then checked his watch and realized he was supposed to meet Judas Graves at the diner. He’d passed it on the way into town and hoped he wasn’t going to have to eat moose burgers. He changed into a new shirt, pulled on his new hiking boots, closed the door without a lock, and headed out to Cheryl’s Diner.

  All heads turned when he walked into the diner. Conversation for the most part stopped and he was given the once over by two dozen pairs of eyes. John tried not to let the stares get to him. He silently thanked Judas for his early warning. It was like something out of a movie. Even the cook stopped working the grill to pop his head out and ogle the stranger.

  “Can I help you?” A pretty waitress with a bad dye job addressed him from behind the counter. Thankfully, some people had resumed talking, though in hushed tones. A family of four in the booth to his right stared at him like he was a carnival freak. The young boy, no more than five, broke out in a smile and waved at him with his index finger.

  “Just looking to have some dinner,” he replied. His voice betrayed him and cracked slightly.

  “He’s with me.”

  A younger man with shoulder length light brown hair and a nose slightly bent at the tip jumped up from his booth, clapped him on the shoulder and escorted him to the table. He wore a long-sleeved gray shirt with a smiley face on his chest. His bright blue eyes were glassy and concerned. As they passed by the lunch counter, an older man with a cowboy hat and a badge tipped his hat and said, “Evening.”

  John supposed it was the man’s attempt at being friendly but something in his eyes said different.

  When they sat down, his escort extended his hand. “If you’re not John Backman, at least you’ll have company for dinner.”

  They shook hands.

  “Judas I presume.”

  “Yeah, thanks for coming, man.”

  The normal clatter of dinnertime at Cheryl’s slowly resumed its cadence. The redheaded waitress walked by and plopped a pair of menus on the table in passing.

  “Don’t worry, it’s not you. This is the level of service I always get,” Judas said with a pained expression. “So, I see you made it here okay. A lot of people get kind of freaked out when they take those little planes.”

  “You should have seen me earlier. I think I’ll drive up here next time.”

  Judas dropped his menu and leaned forward. “Does that mean you’re moving into the house?”

  “If everything works out, I’ll be back in a few weeks.”

  “What did you think when you were there?”

  The waitress came by and took their orders. John opted for a BLT and fries and Judas ordered pancakes with a side of sausage. She gave John a lingering look and went back to the kitchen.

  “I think she likes you,” Judas said.

  “She looked at me like I was some sort of lab specimen. In fact, everyone has looked at me pretty much the same way since I landed.”

  “Shida’s a small town with a pretty un-diverse population. In other towns, this time of year, they get all kinds of people who come up for the outdoor adventures like camping, hiking, kayaking, that sort of back to nature crap. Here, hardly anyone comes around, especially big white guys that look like a young Hemingway. So, tell me what you think about the house. Get any weird vibrations? Did you bring any of your, like, ghost busting equipment and take some readings?”

  John was going to correct him on the whole ghost busting thing but let it slide. He told him about his cover and how it wouldn’t allow for him to whip out any of his meters or cameras.

  “All in all, it seemed like a big, beautiful house. The only thing odd about it was how different it is than any other house I’ve seen so far. Are there others in the area similar to it?”

  Judas shook his head. “No way, dude. That sucker is worth more than half the houses in town combined. There are some nice places, but nothing like that one. You’ll pretty much find that Shida is a shithole in the ass end of nowhere.”

  John couldn’t shak
e the feeling that they were the center of attention and being intently listened to. The fact that they physically stood out like a pair of sore thumbs only exacerbated his apprehension.

  The waitress brought their food and leaned over the table to bring the ketchup bottle closer to their plates. “Let me know if there’s anything else I can get you,” she said and left.

  The bacon in John’s BLT tasted nothing like the bacon he was used to. It was a cross between a thick slab of Canadian bacon and a sneaker. He picked it off and ate a lettuce and tomato sandwich instead. Judas dumped close to an entire bottle of syrup on his pancakes and dug into them like a prison inmate.

  “Have you been able to find out anything more about the house since our last email?” John asked.

  Judas waved his fork. “Nope. This is a pretty tight-lipped town and I try to ignore most of what goes on around here. I did talk to someone who might be able to clue us in a little more, though.”

  “Who would that be?”

  “My friend Teddy’s grandmother. She’s like the oldest living resident here, or pretty damn close to it, at least. Teddy’s family was one of the first to settle in Shida. If she doesn’t know everything about everyone, no one does. If you want, I could try to set it up so you could meet her tomorrow. It’s after six now, she’s probably asleep.”

  “I’m actually leaving in the morning. When I come back, I’d definitely like to see her and ask some questions.”

  John was just about finished with his meal when the sheriff shuffled by their table and paused for a moment. His heavy gray mustache was stained umber at the tips from his coffee. He flashed Judas a wink and continued out the door. John’s heart pounded in his chest. For an irrational moment, he thought the man was going to lean in close and threaten him to leave town by sunset.

  “That was Sheriff High Bear’s way of introducing himself to you.” Judas’s eyes shifted as he watched the sheriff slide into his truck and pull away.

  “Seems like an amiable guy,” John said with a great exhalation.

  “Oh yeah, a real peach. Me and him go way back.” Judas lit up with a mischievous smile. “I’ll tell you more about him when you fly back.”

  “Looking forward to it,” John said, though he would rather not know. His anxiety levels were high enough without adding run-ins with the law to them.

  “I’m going to make it an early night. This day has just beat me up and I have to do it again tomorrow. Tell me again what you know about the house and the people who lived in it.”

  Judas wiped the syrup from the corners of his mouth and balled his napkin onto his plate. The people in the booths around them had since cleared out. Waving at the waitress for another hit of coffee, he reviewed the scant details as he knew them.

  Chapter Fifteen

  John groggily walked off the plane into the connecting tube to the terminal. It was nearly ten o’clock at night, but Kennedy Airport seemed as busy as ever. He trekked to baggage claim, waited almost twenty minutes to find his bag as it bounced along the conveyor belt and went in search of a taxi. It was close to midnight by the time he walked in his front door. Eve was still awake, sitting in the living room watching television. Liam lay asleep on her lap.

  “Welcome home, stranger,” she whispered.

  John tiptoed across the linoleum of the foyer and hooked the handle of his bag on the closet doorknob. The house still smelled like sausages and tomato sauce. If he was lucky, there would be leftovers in the refrigerator.

  “Hey you,” he said and kissed the top of her and Liam’s heads. “Am I imagining things or do I smell Eve’s famous sauce?”

  “I couldn’t have a homecoming without preparing your favorite meal, now could I?” she said smiling. “Don’t wait for me. Go ahead and heat yourself up a plate. It’s on the top shelf in the fridge. I’ll put Liam to bed.”

  John went to the kitchen while Eve walked upstairs to place Liam in his playpen. He removed the plastic wrap from the heaping plate of pasta and sausages, crumpled it into a ball and placed the plate in the microwave. There were a couple of cold sodas hiding on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator calling out to him. He popped them open, sat at the table and downed half a bottle on the first pull.

  Eve came back and took the seat next to him. She was wearing one of his T-shirts and short pajama bottoms that looked a little like men’s boxer shorts.

  She saw him looking at the shirt and said, “Liam spit up on my pajama top. I promise I’ll clean it before I give it back.”

  He laughed. “Don’t be crazy. You can keep it if you want. You look better in it than I do anyway.”

  She slapped his arm. “Look at this, you go away for a couple of days and you come back mister suave compliment guy. I should put you on a plane more often.”

  Looking at her in his shirt reminded him of Anne. She had never owned her own nightshirt. When she wasn’t sleeping in the nude, she would ransack his drawers for sleepwear. He used to tell her, “You know, you shouldn’t wear my shirts. Your boobs will stretch them all out.” Then she’d laugh and stick out her chest as far as she could and say, “That’s what you get for marrying a girl with D cups.” He tried buying her pajamas but they just sat in the bottom of her drawers untouched until she did her annual clearing out for the Salvation Army clothing drive.

  “You look tired,” Eve said as he gulped down his last bite.

  “I am.”

  “Why don’t you turn in and we can talk more in the morning. I’ll clean up in here.”

  He smiled with sleepy eyes and a full belly. “I knew I kept you around for a reason. I’m going to check in on Jessica then I’m sacking out. Thank you for everything.”

  He trudged up the stairs and crept into Jessica’s room. She was curled up in a ball, her little mouth open and whistling with each inhalation. Her sheet lay crumpled on the floor. He picked it up and spread it back over her. Instantly, her legs relaxed and straightened out slightly.

  “Daddy’s home,” he whispered and kissed her cheek.

  With so much on his mind, he was sure he’d have trouble finding his way back to the land of slumber once he settled in to bed. For once, when it came to sleep, he was wrong.

  The next morning, with Jessica and Liam playing in the yard, John revealed his plan to Eve. He had waited until she was finished cleaning up the breakfast mess, on her insistence, and settled into a chair with her second cup of coffee before dropping the bomb.

  It seemed like an eternity since she had last made a sound or motion.

  “You know, you’ll catch flies if you don’t close your mouth pretty soon,” he said, hoping some levity would stir Eve from her temporary paralysis.

  She sipped her coffee pensively, gently placed it on the table, crossed one leg over the other and rolled her neck until it gave a tiny crack. She closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, held it and relaxed.

  “Better now?” he asked.

  “Much.”

  He started to pace around the kitchen, his sneakers occasionally squeaking on the clean tiles.

  “I know it sounds crazy, but in actuality it’s killing two birds with one stone. Come to think of, it’s killing a whole flock of birds.”

  Eve said, “I’m sorry for the way I reacted. If you wanted to surprise me, you succeeded. I know that the trip to Alaska was a huge step for you. I just had no idea there was more in store so soon.”

  “So you don’t think I’m crazy, I mean, crazier?”

  She smiled and shook her head.

  “Not a chance. A little offbeat, but that’s always been your M.O.” She touched his hand reassuringly.

  “I’m not pretending to have all the answers here. Right now it’s still an idea. Even though I left the first month’s rent and a one month deposit, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m as good as there. There’re still a lot of things that have to fall in place. I knew that I had to really get the ball rolling while I was in Shida or there’d be no chance of ever pulling this off.”

  He go
t up to check on the kids. Jessica sat opposite Liam in the grass under the shade of a tree rolling a ball back and forth. Liam laughed and clapped his hands every time the ball bounced into him.

  “What are you going to do about Jessica?”

  Running his hands through his hair, he said, “That’s the hard part. My being away for a month or so will be tough on her. Hell, it’ll be murder on me. I was thinking of asking my father to come here and stay with her, maybe hire someone to help out around the house. And of course I’d ask if you could stop in from time to time to check up on them.”

  “You wouldn’t even have to ask,” she quickly replied.

  “As nutty and out of character as the whole scheme even sounds to me, the part about not being with Jess every day and night is what’s casting some doubt.”

  “Have you thought of bringing her with you?”

  “Sure. It’s so beautiful up there. I’m sure she’d love it. But what if there’s really something in that house? I know that nothing can harm her, but what if she gets frightened? It’s not like I can just bring her to your house if something scares her.”

  “Knowing Jess, if there is a spirit in that house, she’ll be more fascinated than frightened.” Eve laughed. Despite her working knowledge of the subject and the exposure through assisting John on occasion, she was still a doubter. She was sure that the things that went bump in the night had a rational, mundane root cause. Jessica, on the other hand, was born fearless. It wasn’t a question of belief.

  “You’re probably right.”

  Eve noticed how his leg had started to tap at an escalating pace.

  She gave him a playful kick on the shin and asked, “Okay, what else is on your mind?”

  “Is it that obvious?”

  “Mmm hmm.”

  He clapped his hands and said, “You’re right. I do have a plan B. All I ask is that you hear me out.”