Ghost Walk (19 page)

“What do you care, anyway? I’m just material for your fucking book.”

They drove on in silence. Levi remained quiet and motionless. His breathing was shallow. Maria wondered if he’d fallen asleep.

“Levi?”

He didn’t answer.

“Wonderful.” She turned up the radio and focused on the highway.

Once they reached the Shrewsbury exit, Levi became alert again, and apologized for his silence. On his suggestion, they stopped at the twenty-four-hour Wal-Mart. Adam told Maria his pants and shoe sizes. Then, while Levi and Adam waited in the car, Maria went inside and purchased him some new clothes—jeans, T-shirt, pullover sweatshirt with a hood, socks and underwear, and a pair of shoes. She also selected a ball cap and a pair of sunglasses. Word of Adam’s escape would break soon enough. They might as well try to disguise him. At the register, while she stood waiting behind an overweight woman who was trying to pay for her Hostess cupcakes and carton of cigarettes with food stamps—and arguing with the cashier when told she couldn’t—Maria got an iced cappuccino out of the cooler, then added two bottles of water for Levi and Adam.

Surrendering to her growing paranoia, she paid cash for her purchases, just in case somebody had spotted her car leaving the area around the White Rose Mental Health Facility and remembered the tag number. This way, the police would have no record of her movements. No way to track them. Of course, there were the store security cameras to think about, but it was too late now anyway. She wondered if Levi could do something about them, and decided he probably could. Maria was starting to think she’d barely scratched the surface of what he was capable of. She considered mentioning it to him, but decided against it. He’d seemed moody and unresponsive since freeing Adam.

She walked out of the store, nodding thanks to the elderly greeter standing next to the shopping carts, who thanked her for shopping and asked her to come back again. As she crossed the parking lot with her bags, she stuffed the sales receipt in her purse. With any luck, she could claim the purchase on her taxes—if she sold the book.

The book
, she thought.
Yeah, like that’s ever going to happen
now. I’m aiding and abetting a murderer—and the ex-Amish magician who helped him escape by creating some
kind of flaming hole in time and fucking space. Maybe I can
write the book from prison. What the
hell
was I thinking?

Then she remembered the voice on her digital recorder. She felt the blood drain from her face.

Maria halted, afraid that she was going to pass out. When the dizziness had passed, she hurried to the car. She climbed behind the wheel and handed the bags to Adam without speaking. Then she gave them each a bottle of water and started the car.

“Thank you,” Levi said. “You must have read my mind. I was indeed thirsty.”

“Yeah,” Adam agreed. “Thanks.”

“There you go,” she said. “You’ve got a new suit of clothes. Sunglasses and a hat, too. You’re a new man.”

“Cool shades.” Adam pulled the items out of the bags. “I really appreciate it. I’ll pay you back when I can.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Maria said. “You can pay me back by helping us out.”

“Should I change now, or wait till later?”

“Wait,” Maria said. “Let’s get this over with first.”

“We’re not far,” Adam replied. “Just a few more minutes.”

“I know the way,” Levi said.

“You were really at my house?” Adam asked him as they pulled out of the parking lot.

Levi nodded. “Yes. Right after your arrest and once since then. I was looking for the book.”

“The…people that live there now. What are they like?”

“They seemed like a very nice family. Husband and wife. Two kids. A dog. Good folk. I didn’t speak to them for very long, I’m afraid. Just asked them a few short questions.”

“That should have been us,” Adam whispered. “Me and Tara and Big Steve. That should have been us. The only thing missing were the…kids. We miscarried several times. That’s why, when Tara got pregnant after Hylinus, I just…”

He stopped talking, unable to finish. Moaning, he buried his face in his hands and wept.

“Adam,” Levi said softly, “I know that you are hurting right now. And I know this won’t be easy, seeing your old home. But I need you to keep your wits about you until we’ve retrieved the book. Then we’ll talk about this, okay?”

“You don’t understand,” Adam cried. “The ultrasound…the picture…the baby had horns! She said it was mine, but it had fucking horns, man! That’s why she tried to hide it from me. What was I supposed to do?”

Maria’s grip tightened around the steering wheel. She stared straight ahead, slowing as they approached a red light.

“I know,” Levi soothed the distraught man. “I know. But we need to focus.”

“It should have been mine,” Adam wailed. “I was supposed to be the father—not him! Not the satyr.”

“Which way?” Maria asked, stopping at the light.

“Left, and then straight through the next light,” Levi told her, turning back to Adam. “Mr. Senft, I need you to be with me. Put this behind you for just a little longer. Can you do that for me?”

Sobbing, his face still hidden, Adam nodded.

“Good.” Levi turned around again and stared straight ahead.

When the light turned green, Maria made the left. The streets were deserted. Levi opened his bottle of water and drained it without pausing for air.

“Are you okay?” she asked him.

“I’m fine.” He screwed the cap back on the empty bottle. “Tonight’s occurrence took a lot out of me, and I’m tired. That’s all. But I’ll be okay. I just need to prepare myself.”

Maria sipped her iced cappuccino. “For what?”

“For what’s to come. For what I have to do next. I like it even less than flying.”

“You don’t like to fly?”

“No.”

“I love it,” Maria said. “I always ask for a window seat.”

Levi shuddered.

They passed through another intersection.

“At the next light,” Adam said, “there will be a gas station on the left. Go straight through it and then, about twenty feet later, you’ll see the fire house on the right. Turn down that alley.”

Maria followed the directions. The gas station was closed for the night. As they drove by it, Adam pressed his palm against the window. His expression was full of grief.

“Did you used to go there for cigarettes or something?” Maria asked.

“A friend of mine worked there. Leslie.”

“Did she visit you while you were in the hospital?”

Levi started to speak, but Adam interrupted him.

“The last time I saw Leslie was when she had Merle’s dick in her hand. She cut it off with a rock, trying to protect Hylinus.”

“Oh…”

“She was shot by a police detective named Ramirez,” Levi explained, taking over for Adam. “On the night of the fire, Detective Ramirez and Adam, along with several of their friends, confronted Hylinus during a mating ceremony. Mr. Senft’s wife, his friend, and several other women were…accompanying the satyr.”

“Ramirez,” Maria said. “I spoke with him on the phone earlier today. Seems like a week ago already.”

“He knew the truth,” Adam whispered. “And he let them railroad me anyway. Because he didn’t want to admit that he’d been wrong. He didn’t want to believe, even after being confronted with the proof. He was a coward.”

Maria slowed as they approached the alley. She switched her turn signal on, but before she could make a right into the alley, Adam flung the car door open and leapt out into the street.

“Adam!” Levi shouted.

Maria slammed on the brakes. “Oh shit.”

Before they could react, Adam had fled into the alley, disappearing from sight.

“What should we do?” Maria yelled.

“Go after him—drive!”

She turned into the narrow alley and her headlights speared the fleeing man. Maria floored it, and the car shot forward. But as they closed the distance between them, Adam stopped running. Holding his sides, he walked a few more feet and then stopped at the rear of a two-story house with gray vinyl siding. The house was sandwiched between the alley and Main Street. There was a detached garage and a driveway at the rear of the property, and a large oak tree in the center of the yard. A red Toyota and a blue minivan were parked in the home’s driveway. Adam glanced at them and then collapsed, kneeling in the driveway. He clawed at the stones, his hands curling into fists.

Maria glanced around. To her left was the community Fire Hall’s parking lot. Beyond it lay a grassy vacant lot and a playground with swings and monkey bars. Beyond the playground was a dark line of trees. To her right were a row of houses, including the one Adam knelt in front of.

“Pull into the parking lot,” Levi said. “Turn the car off. And the headlights, too. We can’t attract any attention.”

“Tell that to him.”

“I’ll handle Senft.”

He got out of the car and quietly shut the door behind him. Then he crouched down next to the crying man, put his hand on Adam’s shoulder, and whispered something in his ear. Maria rolled down her window, trying to hear the conversation.

“They changed the siding,” Adam said.

“I know,” Levi sighed, patting Adam’s shoulder. “But we have to be quiet. Okay?”

Shaking her head, Maria crossed the alley and parked the car. She yawned, realizing just how long it had been since she’d slept.

“Jesus…”

She was beginning to wonder if she’d ever have a good night’s sleep again. How could she, with all that she’d seen today?

Terry and Tom made their way along the winding trail, passing by the papier-mâché Bigfoot cave, the pterodactyl’s nest, the haunted out house, the guillotine, and a grove of trees with fake skulls dangling from their branches. The creek flowed silently as they crossed over the little footbridge spanning it. The forest was absolutely silent and their high-powered flashlight beams barely penetrated the darkness. The blackness was so dense that the lime outlines along the path were almost invisible.

“We should have changed the batteries in these things before we left,” Tom said. “I can’t see shit out here.”

“It’s not the flashlights,” Terry replied. “They’ve got fresh batteries.”

“Well, then why is it so fucking dark? This is like walking through tar.”

“I don’t know, Tom. Maybe because it’s nighttime.”

“You don’t have to holler at me, Terry. I was just asking.”

Terry sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just worried, is all. Didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

They cupped their hands to their mouths and hollered for Cecil, Russ and Tina. The echoes ceased abruptly, swallowed up by the gloom. When their cries went unanswered, they reluctantly continued on their way, reaching the maze house.

“Ain’t no way I’m going in there tonight,” Tom said. “I get lost in it during the daytime.”

“Me, too,” Terry admitted. “Let’s go around.”

They stepped off the trail and skirted the edge of the sprawling, ramshackle building. Twigs snapped and leaves rustled under their feet. Tree branches scraped slowly across the tin roof of the maze house, making them both cringe.

“Man, that’s a horrible sound,” Terry said. “Like nails on a chalkboard.”

Tom tugged on Terry’s arm.

“What’s up?” Terry asked.

“Just had a thought. What if they’re inside the maze? Maybe Cecil had some kind of spell, got disoriented and is stuck in there?”

“Shit. I hadn’t considered that.” Terry raised his head and called out. “Cecil? Russ? Tina? It’s Terry and Tom! You guys in there?”

Again, the darkness seemed to muffle his echoes. Then they heard a new sound.

“
Noooooooo
…”

“Jesus Christ!” Tom dropped his flashlight. It rolled away across the forest floor.

“That sounded like Tina,” Terry said. “But where is she? Tina! Tina, are you there? Sound off, hon!”

“
Here…we’re over here…
”

Tom retrieved his flashlight and made sure the lens wasn’t cracked. “Sounds like it’s far away.”

“It’s coming from that direction.” Terry shined his light into the woods. “Come on.”

Dispensing with caution, they charged deeper into the forest. Branches tugged at their clothing and whipped their faces. In the darkness, the foliage twisted into sinister, menacing shapes. Tree limbs became outstretched, grasping arms. Late-season ferns became claws thrusting up from the dirt. Roots became serpents. Terry’s flashlight beam glanced across a blurred, moving shape. White teeth flashed amidst the black.

“The fuck was that?”

“Just an animal,” Tom panted. “A coyote or a fox, probably.”

“I didn’t see any eyes,” Terry said. “The light should have reflected off its eyes.”

Pausing, he shined the beam around the area, but the creature was gone. The woods grew colder.

“Could be rabid,” Tom said.

Terry frowned. “Rabies makes their eyes nonreflective? What kind of bullshit is that, Tom?”

“It could. You don’t know. You weren’t a veterinarian last time I checked.”

“
Terryyyyyy…Tommmmm…
”

“We’re coming!” Terry shouted.

They started running again, following Tina’s frantic cries. The strange sound-dampening effect cleared. Her wails became clearer as they got closer. Several times, they heard branches snapping behind them, but neither man turned around. Instead, they just ran faster.

“It’s just a fox,” Tom repeated. “Probably as scared of us as we were of it.”

“If it is,” Terry gasped, “then it’s the first one we’ve had around here. That and the whip-poor-will.”

Pressing on, they smelled a faint hint of burned wood. Soon, the terrain sloped downward and the vegetation cleared. The towering, looming trees turned into splintered, broken stumps. In the darkness, they looked like broken stone pillars. The ground beneath their feet grew softer, like they were jogging on baby powder. Terry coughed, tasting ashes in the back of his throat. The darkness deepened, becoming almost palatable.

“Terry?”

“What?”

“You know where we are, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”