The Reservoir (18 page)

Suddenly, he slapped the table with him palm.  “Hey, we’re verging on the melancholy here.  Maybe we should talk about something else.”  He searched his brain for several seconds.  “Hey, how is Deputy Gray liking the cabin about now?  Has he made the changes he’d talked about?”

Kendall gave Daniel a sharp glance, and then glanced back at John.  “Hasn’t the cabin been in his family for years?” she asked.  “I guess I assumed it had been in his family for generations.”

“Well, it’s been standing for a long time.”  John laughed jovially.  “But, no.  He bought the place…  Let’s see…”  He stroked his chin.  “What, maybe ten months or so ago.  Last time I saw him, he’d mentioned something about tearing it down and building new.  I told him it sounded like a good idea to me.  That cabin has a mighty crazy floor plan.”  John checked his watch.  “Well, kids, if I don’t eat my meal in the next few minutes, I’m out of luck.”

Daniel stood up and extended a hand to him.  “Thanks for your time.”

“It’s nice to have met you,” Kendall told him.

Daniel reached into his pocket to grab a couple dollars to pay for his soda, but John waved him off.  “I’ve got it, son.  Hey, best of luck to you both in your future endeavors.  Maybe I’ll see you around.  I fish up on the reservoir fairly frequently.”

“Thanks again for the information,” Kendall said.

They started for the door, but she came to an abrupt stop and ran back to the table.  “Sir,” she said in a rush.  “Do you know who lived in David’s cabin before he bought it?  Is the former owner still alive?”

“Sure, sure,” John said.  “Cleve Walker owned the old place, before he hurt his back and decided to sell out.  Lived there for years.  But no. Cleve is dead now.  Passed not long after he sold the old place.  He used to own the gas station several miles north of here.  ‘Course, with his back messed up, he had a kid running the place for him for awhile.   Old station burnt down about six months ago.  Not much of it was left standing.  If you came from the lake, you probably passed the place, er, the charred remains.”

Kendall nodded.  “I remember it.  Thanks.”

Zack shut down the dinghy’s motor and rose to his feet.  The action was so sudden, the boat rocked and he nearly fell into the water.  Somehow, he remained upright, but quickly dropped to a sitting position, his hands holding firmly to the sides of the boat.  He raked his eyes over the water, trying to see Holly.  Where had Cassie taken her?  Presumably, it had been Cassie who had just pulled her into the water.

Zack nearly rose again in panic.  What if it wasn’t Cassie?  What if there was another ghost inhabiting these waters?  What if this was a malevolent ghost?  What if Cassie was a malevolent ghost?   

“Holly!” he shouted.  “Holly, do you hear me?  Oh, God, Holly, where are you?”

He panned the water with his eyes, willing her to break the surface.  How long had she been down there?  Only a minute or so, but still—she wasn’t a trained diver.  She would die down there without air.  “Holly!”  He glanced around frantically.  “Please, somebody help me!”

Suddenly, she broke the surface, sputtering.  She did a quick turn in the water, her eyes seeking his, when to his horror, in a matter of mere seconds, she was pulled back down again. 

“No!” he cried, keeping his eyes fixed on the location where he’d just seen her go under.  He dove into the water and began swimming, but he couldn’t gain enough speed in the cumbersome vest.  He paused, attempting to keep his eyes fixed on the spot where she’d gone down, while he struggled to tear himself free of the vest.  He unhooked the clasps, his hands trembling and clumsy, but somehow, he shed it and then cut through the water with powerful, determined strokes.

He reached the spot where he’d seen her go down.  He dove, forcing his body into deep water with powerful thrusts of his arms and fierce kicks of his feet.  He had no idea how deep he’d gone when he stopped.  He looked around him, trying to see some sign of Holly in the murky depths.  The water was simply too clouded and he could only make out vague shadow shapes around him.  Unfortunately, none of them were Holly, but instead only a couple of large trout. 

Zack knew he needed to swim to the surface for air.  He felt the unrelenting pressure of the water against body.  His lungs felt as if they might burst and his ears were killing him.  With frustration, he rose, fiercely kicking to propel himself upward.  He broke the surface with a gasp, startled to see Holly only a few yards away from him.

He lunged toward her, powering through the water, but when he reached her, she was gone.

***

Holly felt like she was dying.  The water pressure felt crushing against her ribs.  Her ears were ringing, and her head felt like it might explode.  Where was Cassie taking her?  And if she didn’t take her back to the surface soon, she knew she would die.

Fortunately, Cassie apparently understood this, since she hoisted her to the surface long enough to take a breath.  Holly gulped for air, and then she was down again.  Soon, Cassie took her to the surface for another gulp of air.  She allowed her a slightly longer respite above water this time, and then pulled her down a third time.

This time, Holly felt her body propelled through the water, her hand in Cassie’s grip.  She suspected the experience felt much like swimming with dolphins, only she was not here of her own accord, and she was actually underwater, too.

Curiously, she realized she should be terrified, but she was not.  If Cassie was trying to drown her, she would have done so already, and wouldn’t have bothered taking her to the surface for air twice.  Wherever she was taking her, she apparently intended for her to survive the experience.    

That second time she was up for air, she had spotted Zack.  He was clearly terrified and had dove into the water after her.  He had to care about her to do that, she realized.  How many guys would jump into ghost-infested waters to save their girlfriends? 

Girlfriend. 

Was she his girlfriend?  And what did it say about her that she was presently slicing through water like a ghost-powered torpedo and thinking about her relationship status?

Suddenly, Cassie came to a breaking halt.  Holly felt herself hoisted up again, and to her surprise, found herself under the logging bridge.  She glanced up, blinking against the sunlight that shone through the gaps.  She made a grab for one of the pillars, holding on with all her might.  She sucked in deep breaths of air, and then glanced around her.  Where was Zack?

She spotted him a hundred yards away.  He was still in the water, absent a vest, and turning in the water, probably trying to find her.  She called out to him, waving frantically.  She registered the instant he saw and heard her, since she could see the relief in his body.  If it was possible to sag in the water, he did it. 

Where was his vest?  She searched the water, finally spotting it floating some distance away from him and the boat.  Silently, she implored him to retrieve it.  If a boat came along and hit him, or if he became tired from swimming, he was on his own without the buoyancy of a vest that could save his life.  She felt her heart flip flop at the thought of him unprotected in the deep water.

She kept an eye trained on him, practically forgetting that she had been separated from him by a ghost.  Suddenly, to her surprise, she saw the vest moving through the water, as if under its own power.  It seemed to happen in the span of a blink, but suddenly, the vest was thrust at Zack.  He scooped it up, understanding Cassie’s message immediately.  “Put it on.”

Any real fear Holly felt abated at that instant.  Any ghost who cared enough to retrieve Zack’s vest for him to assure his safety in the water was a friend of hers.  “Thank you, Cassie,” she said aloud.

Holly watched Zack slip into the vest and begin swimming toward the bridge. 

When Cassie suddenly appeared and clamped down on her wrist, Holly braced for another plunge into the water and gulped for air.  Cassie didn’t pull her down this time.  Instead, she floated in the water just inches below the surface and inches away from Holly’s face.  Holly attempted a smile, determined to show she wasn’t afraid.  Cassie began motioning with her hands, but she could not understand what the girl was asking of her.

She gave a helpless gesture, and out of habit, and as a result of three years studying American Sign Language, Holly rapidly signed, “I wish I knew what you wanted from me.”

Cassie’s ghostly green eyes widened and a smile spanned her face.  Holly could see she had been a beautiful girl—was still striking, with her perfect bone structure and beautifully formed lips.  And despite its greenish hue, her hair was lovely as it fanned out from her face and floated on the water.  When she raised her delicate hands and began signing back to Holly, she could not help the stunned, but relieved grin that spread across her face.

“I need your help,” Cassie signed.  “But I think you’ve already figured that out.”

Holly nodded, grateful for the discovery that Cassie knew sign language.  “Can you hear me speak?” she said aloud, but signed simultaneously.

Cassie nodded and signed back.  “Yes, I can hear you, but I can only speak underwater.”  She gave a resigned shrug.  “I know, weird.”

“You need my help…” Holly prompted.

Cassie nodded and signed, “I’ve been in this lake for two years…”

Holly gave her a glum look.  “I know you must want out…”

“No!  No!” Cassie signed.  “I’m happy here…  Well, as happy as I’m able to be, under the circumstances.”

“So, you’re choosing not to leave?” Holly asked.

“Here, I can see my family when they come to stay at the cabin.  I can see my brother.  I can see they are all right.”  Cassie gave a dismissive wave.  “That’s not what I want to talk to you about.  Not right now, anyway.”

Holly nodded.  “Why did you come to me?” she asked.

Cassie’s eyes grew sad.  “Although I do not want to leave this lake, my friends do.”

“Your friends?”

“The others—like me, murdered and dumped into this reservoir.”

To see Cassie sign those words—to have confirmation the girl was murdered—to know there were others—sent shivers down Holly’s spine.

“Who killed you?”   

Cassie shook her head.  “I don’t know his name.  He took me to the cabin where you are staying.  Hid his face…  It was the same for all the others.”  She got a faraway look in her eyes.  “Well, except for two…”

Holly’s eyes widened.  “You were murdered there?  In the cabin where my friends and I are staying?”  Goosebumps chilled her arms.

Cassie nodded, and Holly felt herself slump from the weight of the knowledge.  If Cassie was telling the truth—and why wouldn’t she be?—David was a murderer. 

Suddenly, Zack swam up, reaching her just when she needed him most.  “Holly?  Oh, thank God, you’re all right.”

She reached a hand toward him, which he held briefly.  Their eyes connected for a brief second, but she gently pulled her hand away.  “Cassie,” she said aloud, “this is Zack,” and followed by signing, “my boyfriend.  At least, I think he’s my boyfriend.”  She gave a nervous chuckle.

“Cute,” Cassie signed, and Holly nodded.  “But we can talk about him later too.”

“Where are the others?” Holly asked, and Cassie immediately understood Holly was asking about the other dead girls. 

Zack watched in quiet fascination, as Cassie glanced downward, beneath her, into the water.  Holly also followed her gaze.  Sunlight sparkled on the surface.  Microscopic debris glistened like diamonds beneath.  Holly looked past all this, wondering what Cassie wanted her to see.

Suddenly, she gasped, as did Zack beside her.  Deep below Cassie, forming a semi-circle around her, were the faces of about a dozen girls.  Their ghostly faces seemed to float with the light current, seemingly disembodied.  Holly could see they had something in common.  All wore expressions of deep sadness, coupled with fear.

Holly’s hand went to her mouth.  She wanted to cry.  There were so many—and all clearly frightened.  She met Cassie’s gaze.

“They are not like me.  They hate the water,” Cassie signed.  “It’s dark and cold down there.  They desperately want to leave this place.”

Holly glanced at Zack, who was frozen beside her.  He was still staring into the water, eyes fixed on the ghosts below.  Holly shook his arm.  “Zack!”

He shook his head to clear it.  “Uh, yeah?  What’d Cassie say?”

Holly proceeded to tell him everything.  He frowned in confusion.  “Do the others always stay down there?” he asked.  “Can’t they move freely like Cassie?”

Cassie’s face registered deep regret.  “They are too frightened to leave this bridge.”

“Why?” Holly asked.

Her eyes filled with pain.  “It’s where he dumped their bodies.  There are bodies all along the bridge supports below.”

Holly cried out in shock.  She felt tears spring to her eyes, but forced then back. She could cry later.

“We have to help them,” she said, turning to Zack.

He nodded.  “What do we do next?”               

Cassie signed in answer to his question.  “You must bring the authorities here.  You must help them escape this lake.”

“What’d she say?” Zack asked.

Holly told him, and he frowned.  “What about Cassie?”

“She doesn’t want to leave.”

“Why?”

Holly shook her head, unable to answer him since Cassie began signing again and she needed to focus on the girl’s hands.             

“There are two more—younger than the rest of us,” Cassie told her.

Holly felt her heart do a flip-flop.  “How young?” she asked, bracing for her answer.

“A little girl, eight, and a boy, twelve.”

Holly felt a wave of nausea wash over her.  So many dead girls, and a little boy too.  A little boy the same age as her brother and Thomas.  She struggled to get a handle on her emotions and turned to Zack.

“We have to call the police.”

He nodded, but then frowned.  “What’re we going to tell them?”

“We’ll tell them there are dead girls under the bridge,” Holly said succinctly.

“And how is it we know this?” he asked, giving her a pointed look.