2 A Haunting In Oregon (14 page)

“A lot of brutal things happened
here,” Eliza said, “that people don’t talk about. The governor at one point
ordered the extermination of all Indians. They paid five dollars for every
scalp. Some men brought in hundreds of them. There were many, many massacre
sites. There’s a lot of bad juju here.”

“Do you think Sam Stone was
involved?” Roy asked.

“Well,” she replied, “I don’t
know. But the name Stone does make you wonder. Might be worth some research. If
he was related to the ranch owner, or had a hand in the massacres, he needs to
stay in the fucking ground.”

Steven and Roy dropped Eliza off
at her house, then continued on to the local historical society. Eliza had
suggested they check there for any information on Samuel Stone and, oddly, had
asked them to bring her back a postcard from the gift shop. It was only half a
mile from Eliza’s home, in an older section of town next to the city offices.
As they walked from the car to the old building with the sign “Clearlake Museum,”
Steven wondered if the shuttered businesses nearby would be filled if not for
Walmart at the other end of town.

Inside, they saw a collection box
asking for donations for admittance. Steven dutifully dropped a couple of
dollars into the box and they entered the main room.

It was one big room painted off
white. It looked like every small town’s version of a museum. It was quiet; it
appeared they were the only ones there. Displays lined panel dividers,
stationed around the room to give browsers something to walk past. A glass case
contained some artifacts, mostly arrowheads and baskets. There was a small gift
shop in an adjacent room next to the restroom doors. Most of the displays were
about the gold rush, and they managed to walk past the majority of them in less
than five minutes. As they approached the end of the displays a small older
woman appeared and asked them if they needed any help. Her hair was pulled back
in a bun and she wore a grey flannel print dress.

“Actually,” Roy said to her, “we do
need some help. We’re looking for information on someone who used to live here
in the 1850s. His name was Samuel Stone.”

Her eyes pinched a little at the
name, but she bounced back immediately.

“I don’t recognize it, but if
you’d like, I can look it up,” she said.

“Would you please?” Roy said,
smiling.

She nodded and left them, saying
she’d be right back. They continued browsing the panel displays.

“I’ve seen nothing about
massacres,” Steven whispered to Roy.

“Me either,” Roy whispered back.

They sat on a bench that was
against a wall next to the exit and a water fountain. Steven noticed the gift
shop alcove again. “I’m going to get that postcard,” he said to Roy. Roy waved
him on.

He stepped into the tiny room that
housed the museum’s gift shop. It was crowded with postcards, books, paintings,
and toys. At the end of the room about ten feet away, a woman sat on a chair
behind a cash register. She was reading a book. She looked up at Steven, and
smiled. She was Native American.

Steven smiled back, and returned
to browsing. As he picked a postcard, he heard the old woman return to Roy.
They were right outside the gift shop, and he could hear every word.

“Samuel Stone was a brother to
Charles Stone,” the woman told Roy, “who had a ranch near here in 1850. Charles
died at the ranch, and his gravesite is there if you’d like to visit it. He and
his partner settled this area.”

 “Any idea where Samuel is
buried?” Roy asked.

Steven walked his postcards up to
the counter. The woman put down her book and began to ring him up.

“No, you’d have to check with the
county office on that,” the old woman replied to Roy.

“Do you know if he was involved in
the retaliation against the Indians for the death of his brother?” Roy asked.

“No, I wouldn’t know anything
about that. We don’t have anything about a retaliation.”

The Native American woman behind
the counter looked up at Steven as she handed him a receipt for his postcards.
As he took the receipt, she whispered to him, “If you’re looking for what
really happened around here, you won’t get it from white people.”

He looked at her. “Do you know
where I might get it? We need the truth,” he said.

She took the receipt back out of
his hand, and wrote a number on it.

“Tell him Lynn said you’re OK,”
she said, handing it back. “He won’t talk to you if you don’t.”

Steven was about to ask her who “him”
was when the old lady walked into the gift shop. Steven decided to retreat
instead. “Thank you,” he said to Lynn, and walked out of the room. He heard the
old lady asking Lynn about the status of a map order.

He joined Roy at the bench. Roy
rose and the two walked out of the museum. As they got in the car Roy said,
“Well, that was a bust.”

“Yes,” Steven said, “since it was
the whitewashed version of things. This,” he said, showing Roy the receipt Lynn
had given him, “might get us what we want to know.”

-

“Oh, that’s Joe’s number,” Eliza
said, handing the receipt back to Steven and grabbing something from the
refrigerator in her kitchen. “He’s one of us working on the barrier.”

Steven stopped, flabbergasted. “If
you knew he could help us figure out Samuel Stone, why didn’t you tell us?”

“Honey,” she said, walking up to
Steven and placing a hand on his face, “he’s Native. You don’t invite yourself
to Native American things. You need an invitation.” She walked back to the
kitchen counter, working on dinner.

“Which is why she sent us to that
museum,” Roy said to Steven.

“Doing things the right way makes
a huge difference,” she said, stirring something in a bowl. “So you met Lynn?”

“I did,” Steven said. “Roy dealt
with the old woman.”

“Roberta,” Eliza said. “Roberta
Cummings. White as a sheet if you know what I mean. She’s been in charge of
that place for thirty years or more. Folks around here seem to value the tenure
more than the accuracy. Have you called him yet?

“I guess I should,” Steven said.
“What do I say to him?”

“Ask him over for dinner!” Eliza
said. “We’re gonna have a ton of extra food. Tell him to bring Tommy.”

Steven looked at Roy.

“Go ahead,” Roy said.

“Sure you don’t want to do it?”
Steven asked.

“She gave you the number,” Roy
said. “You make the call.”

Steven dialed the number and said
he’d been referred by Lynn. The conversation continued, with Steven asking
about Samuel Stone. The voice on the other end proposed they meet somewhere.

“Funny you should say that,”
Steven said into the phone, “because I’m here at Eliza’s and she’d like to
invite you over for dinner. And she says to bring Tommy.”

The call concluded and Steven
slipped his phone into his pocket.

“He’s coming,” Steven said. “Said
he’d be about an hour.”

“Perfect,” Eliza said, pounding a
ball of dough with her fist. “This should be just about ready then.”

“Do you need any help?” Steven
offered.

“No,” she answered, “just stay
here and keep me company. It’s nice to have adults in the house to talk to.”

-

Tommy was the same age as Troy and
they knew each other well. They could hardly sit still through dinner. After
dinner, Troy and Tommy went outside to play.

The four adults gathered in
Eliza’s living room. Steven and Roy recounted the history of their adventure so
far, ending with their visit to the museum earlier that afternoon.

Joe listened intently. He was a
handsome man with a striking face and black hair. He was wearing a t-shirt and
jeans, and cowboy boots. He looked to be in his late 40s, and the way his
clothes hung on him you could tell he was physically fit. He also had a warmth
that was genuine and inviting.

“What do you think of their story?”
Eliza asked Joe.

“Well,” Joe answered, addressing
Roy, “I’m glad Lynn sent you to me,” and then he turned to Eliza, “and I’m glad
you sent them to Lynn. If it is true that Samuel Stone was the brother of
Charles Stone, there’s a very good chance he has blood on his hands.”

“For all we know,” Steven said,
“he may have worked on that ranch.”

“Or been involved in the
retribution on Bloody Island,” Roy said.

“Or not,” Joe said.

“But it’s a good guess, Joe,”
Eliza said. “That body was glowing off the charts. Whatever he did in his life,
it was bad. That’s why Jurgen wants it.”

“Canyon Fire would know,” Joe
said. “And only Kicking Horse can call him. If we brought the body to him, he
could tell us.”

“Who is Canyon Fire?” Steven
asked. “And Kicking Horse?”

“Kicking Horse,” answered Joe, “is
the medicine man for our tribe. He is powerful, and he can call Canyon Fire
from the spirit world into ours. He is the only one who can do this.”

“And Canyon Fire?” asked Roy.

“He’s like a Nazi hunter,” Eliza
said, “but in spirit form.”

“Canyon Fire seeks a repayment of
wrongs,” Joe said. “He knows the past, he knows who did what. When we find the
bodies of those who wronged our people, Canyon Fire reclaims the bodies and
their souls. They pay in the next life for what they did in this life. He makes
sure they pay.”

“What would Canyon Fire think of
someone who wanted such a body for their own profit?” asked Roy. “To grind up
and sell to others for money?”

“He would view them as an enemy,” Joe
said. “The power of those who gained it by murdering our people is to be
returned to our people. This is what Canyon Fire does. He returns the power
stolen from us. And He exacts revenge for their crimes. But he requires proof.
He would not act if their guilt was not clear.”

“What kind of being is Canyon Fire?”
Steven asked. “You said he is a spirit?”

“He is a spirit created by the
anguish of our people,” Joe said. “Many years ago, a great Elder named Owl
Feather held a dream lodge with those who were the most angered by what had
been done to our ancestors. They channeled that anger and Canyon Fire was born.
He was named because a canyon fire is inescapable. He will live until the
crimes committed against us are avenged.”

“How does he exact revenge?” Roy
asked. “What does he do?”

“He has many tools at his
disposal,” Joe said. “But the most powerful is the Manitou, which he can task
with retrieving the soul of the guilty. If they are dead, they can remove the
power from the corpse. If they are living, they torment the soul until death,
then they claim it.”

“I wonder if Canyon Fire would be
willing to work with us,” Roy asked. “This might work out successfully for
everyone involved.”

“What are you thinking?” Eliza
asked.

“First,” Roy said, “you’d need to
let us exhume Stone’s body. We take it to Kicking Horse, and he can confirm with
Canyon Fire if Stone committed the crimes we all believe he did. If so, we give
the body to Canyon Fire, for retribution of his crimes.”

“What happens with Jurgen?” Steven
asked.

“We don’t trust that he’ll keep
his end of the bargain,” Roy said. “We’d love to get rid of him, shut him down
if we could. This might do it.”

“How?” asked Eliza.

“If Canyon Fire could inhabit – or
command the Manitou to inhabit – another body, make it look like it has power,
but stay dormant inside until Jurgen shows himself and his guilt, we could bury
that body in place of Samuel Stone, and mark the grave.”

Steven realized Roy’s plan. “Jurgen’s
accomplices dig it up,” said Steven, “take it back to Jurgen, who tries to sell
it or grind it up, providing the proof to Canyon Fire of Jurgen’s intentions.”

“At that point,” added Eliza,
“he’s guilty, and the Manitou can take him.”

“All that Canyon Fire would need
to do,” Roy said, “is command the Manitou to inhabit the body and wait until
someone tries to destroy it for profit. Canyon Fire will claim both Sam Stone
and Jurgen.”

“A lot of your plan must play out
exactly as expected,” Joe said, “for it to work. Things can go wrong.”

“We can at least find out if Canyon
Fire can confirm Sam Stone’s history,” Steven said. “And if he was evil, offer
his body for retribution.”

“But,” Eliza said, “if Canyon Fire
won’t go along with your plan on the changeling corpse, you’ll be left with
nothing to offer Jurgen.”

“Fine,” Steven said, becoming
excited and standing up. “Then we pour the marker on another grave and when Jurgen
is pissed it isn’t Sam, we tell him it was the best we could find. He sent us
into a barrier, what does he expect? We’ll be back to square one with him.
He’ll give us some other task until he’s happy. That’s worst case scenario.”

No one spoke.

“This is an opportunity to take
him down,” Steven said emphatically, “a way to pay him back for his greed and
the torment he’s caused people at Pete and Sarah’s place. And who knows how
many others. A way to stand up to him instead of just giving him what he
wants.”

Still no one spoke. Everyone
seemed to be thinking it over.

Steven sat down. “Well, I think
you know how I feel about it,” he said.

“Do you think Canyon Fire will
listen to us?” Roy asked Joe.

“I know that if the body committed
crimes against us,” Joe said, “he will take it. That is a definite. But if he
hears your story about the plans of Jurgen, he may agree to your proposal. I do
not know.”

“What do we do next?” Steven
asked.

“I will take this to Kicking Horse,”
Joe said. “Stay here. I will call Eliza when I get an answer from him.”

“It is urgent,” Steven said. “Our
friends are being tormented every night. And Jurgen probably suspects we’ve
located the body and will wonder why we haven’t marked it yet.”

“I will tell Kicking Horse it is
urgent and must be done soon,” Joe said, standing up. “But he operates on his
own timetable, so be patient. If he agrees to call Canyon Fire, you’ll need to
have two bodies ready – Samuel Stone, and the corpse you want the Manitou to
reside in until Jurgen proves his intentions. You might as well get prepared
for that.”

Joe turned to leave and thanked
Eliza for the dinner. He shook Steven and Roy’s hands, then walked out the
front door. As he got in his jeep he called for Tommy to join him. Troy and
Tommy ran over to Joe and Joe patted Troy on the head as Tommy climbed into the
jeep. They drove off as dusk settled on the house.