Joseph didn’t know how she could have foreseen the place of her destiny, but he didn’t question her powers any more than he questioned his own omnipotence. He would take her to meet the thousands of souls who awaited her arrival.
“Be prepared to travel by Friday evening at sunset,” was all he said. Then he led her back to the basement and her children.
*****
Chapter 18
Maeve was feeling like she and Glenn had really started to accomplish something. What it was she wasn’t sure, but she did know they were both determined to get the kids out of there in one piece. The interminable stress of worrying about the girls and the effort she had made to concentrate on putting the pieces together had taken its toll. When she walked down the stairs and saw the smiling faces of her two beautiful daughters she nearly broke down and cried.
“Somebody was here today,” Claire said trying to subdue the hopeful tone in her voice. “They were looking for us.”
“Did you see who it was?” Maeve asked gently.
“No, and I didn’t hear them either, it was more like just a feeling, you know. But I know they were here and they’ll be back.” She said this with such certainty that Maeve no longer had any lingering doubts about her earlier intuition.
She was having a good deal of difficulty accepting all the strange behavior that she and the girls were displaying. Maybe it was the stress of the situation and it was all just coincidence combined with wishful thinking, but she wasn’t about to discount anything that might help to end this nightmare.
“I have to talk to you,” she said earnestly, pulling them both over to the bed and patting the mattress in invitation.
“We have something we need to tell you, too, Mom.” Claire was serious but Maeve could see the light of excitement in her eyes.
“I’ll let you tell me in a minute but we may not have much time to talk about this and it’s important. Dr. Makula and I have come up with a plan to get away from here and I’m going to need you to be ready when the time comes.” The girls both nodded in agreement and Maeve continued. “I’ve told Joseph that we need to perform a ritual under the full moon. I think it’s going to be Friday night so we’ll have time to get everything in place. If we can just get outside I know we can separate Joseph and Carl and that will give us a chance to get away. I want you to remember that whatever else happens you stay together and you run. Do you understand?” The girls both nodded but Maeve wasn’t convinced that they would do as she asked.
“Now, we’re hoping that there’s some way to take Faye and Joe with us, but I don’t know if they’ll go or if they’ll be on our side, or even if we can get a message to them.”
“That’s what we need to tell you, Mom.” Torei jumped in at what she perceived as just the right time.
“Faye’s been coming down here to talk with us during the day.” Claire looked pointedly at Torei and Maeve thought she knew what they were trying not to say.
“And today Joe was here too. They’re afraid of their dad and especially Carl. We were talking about a way they could help us escape.” Torei blurted in a single breath.
“Joseph says he just wants them to get better but that’s a lie. He only wants the money they get from a trust,” and then Claire added, “I don’t know what that is, but it’s how they live.”
“A trust is usually money that comes from an inheritance.” Maeve explained, “Like if someone dies.” And there’s your briefcase full of money, she thought but she didn’t say it out loud.
“Well, their mom died and they have this money, but Joseph has to take care of them in order to keep getting it.”
“Anyway,” Torei emphasized, attempting to put the conversation back on track. “We can talk to Joe and Faye tomorrow and let them know what they need to do. They’ll be ready to go as long as they know what’s going on.”
“Do you trust them?” Maeve looked directly into Claire’s eyes, knowing that her little one was an amazing judge of character.
“We both do,” Claire assured her. “And Jason will be there too.”
“Who’s Jason?” Maeve asked, dumbfounded that there might be yet another victim involved in this unthinkable situation.
“He’s the boy with the Mohawk.” Claire responded as if it were obvious and she couldn’t understand why Maeve didn’t already know. “I keep seeing him in my dreams and I know he’ll be there with Faye and Joe. No way will they let us down.” Claire gave her mother a reassuring pat as she spoke.
“Especially since Torei has been using some special energy to help Faye, right?”
Torei stared sheepishly at her hands and looked around the room as if it were the most interesting place she’d ever seen. Claire just sat calmly and returned her mother’s stare.
“Maybe you can explain to me how it works,” Maeve said, reaching her cuffed hands over Torei’s head so she could pull her close.
Torei could be extremely bashful at times, so Maeve tried not to make her feel uncomfortable with a too focused gaze.
Claire was watching her closely too and that wasn’t helping at all. Torei looked at the ceiling and then let her eyes roam the room while she took several deep breaths.
“Okay, so the thing is, I don’t really think Faye is being healed.”
“What? Torei, she gets better every time she comes down here to be with you. I swear, sometimes you are so dense!” Claire cut her off indignantly.
“I may be dense, but at least I’m not a big know it all!”
“Okay, okay, okay, now stop. The last thing we need right now is an argument.”
“Sorry.” Claire said and actually sounded like she meant it.
“So if you’re not healing her, why is she getting better?” Maeve encouraged Torei to explain.
“What I mean is, I don’t think it’s anything permanent. It’s more like,” Torei paused for a while as she tried to figure out how to explain.
“Like a transfer of energy.” She finally said and nodded as if to confirm for her own self that she had gotten it right. She raised her head and found Claire and her mother staring at her with a look of confusion mixed with anticipation. Maybe she hadn’t made it very clear after all and so she tried again.
“It’s like, I can pull some bad energy out of Faye’s body and replace it with some good energy. That makes her feel better, at least for a while.”
Maeve thought she understood now, but she didn’t necessarily like the sound of it.
“So what happens to the bad energy? Honey, you could be hurting yourself by doing this.”
“No, I don’t think so. If I just rest for a little while, it seems to go away. And it’s getting easier every time, too.”
Maeve was concerned that Torei might be absorbing some of this ‘bad’ energy, but she didn’t want to say it out loud and possibly plant a negative seed in her mind. She would just have to give it some thought and see if she could think of a way for Torei to get rid of whatever it was she was pulling away from Faye.
*****
Joseph met Carl as he was returning from the cellar and motioned him through one of the doors leading off the hall.
“The woman has requested a place to perform her sorcery on the night of the full moon. Go tomorrow night out to Land’s End and make sure everything can be ready,” he instructed.
“You can’t really believe all of this bull shit.” The belligerence in Carl’s tone was undisguised.
“Don’t question my judgment in this thing,” Joseph ordered, the threat unmistakable in his eyes. “She knows about the place where the spirits dwell.”
Carl forced himself to ignore his fathers’ stupidity. “You know they’ll try to escape don’t you?”
“I do know it, but where are they going to go on foot out in the middle of nowhere? Besides, Maeve and the good doctor won’t go anywhere without those two little girls. She thinks we’ll all be together there while she heals Joe and Faye, but the kids are all staying behind.”
“She
doesn’t need the doctor to cure them.” It wasn’t a question but a statement of fact as far as Carl was concerned. “And don’t so-called rituals work better when you offer a sacrifice?” Carl’s eyes were burning now with an expectant light at this new idea.
“A sacrifice can be arranged,” Joseph finally agreed. “But I’ll take care of it. You’ll be staying here with those kids.”
Carl was suddenly angry and he stormed around the room, his fury at his father barely contained.
“Calm down and consider,” snapped Joseph, “the future possibilities. The woman has powers that can only make us stronger. She will pass her gift on to us, then you will not care who had the pleasure of sending the doctor to hell.”
When Carl turned back to Joseph he was wearing a chilling smile.
“We have no use for the little girls,” he said shrewdly.
Joseph studied his son for a few minutes before coming to a decision.
“You can’t have them both,” Joseph bargained. “Without one of them she won’t have any reason to continue to cooperate.”
Carl’s eyes turned inward and Joseph could see him wondering what it would be like, that soft tender skin giving way. Carl had killed many animals but had never actually felt, by his own hand, the life draining from a human being. His excitement grew until it was a palpable presence in the room.
Joseph knew it would do no good to finish discussing the details right now, not when Carl was in this state. He imagined it was much like the feeling he always experienced when he knew what he craved was at hand.
He even frightens me at times, thought Joseph, as Carl walked out of the room. He wondered if the time would soon come when his son would have to be put down like a rabid animal.
*****
Chapter 19
Ben walked into the detective’s office and sat down in a chair designated for visitors. Worth looked up and motioned Ben over to his desk where he sat with a phone tucked between his ear and shoulder. He finished up his call and tossed the handset back on the base, then turned his full attention to the young man who sat waiting patiently to speak.
“Mr. Drake, what can I do for you?” He asked in a bored tone that irritated the hell out of Ben. He took a deep breath, needing a second to gain some perspective, and then began his bid for an investigation at Lost Lake.
“I think the missing woman may be up at Mesa Lakes.”
Worth leaned forward in his chair and asked sharply, “Have you spoken with her or someone who’s seen her?”
“No, but my son and I were up at Lost Lake this morning and we met a man up there that was acting suspiciously.”
“How so?” Worth leaned back in his chair with a deflated air.
“Well, I knocked on the door to see about renting the cabin and, let’s just say that he was less than friendly. As a matter of fact, he more or less closed the door in my face.”
“So you walked up to this guy’s house, uninvited, and he didn’t ask you in for coffee.” Ben was irritated all over again at the sarcasm in Worth’s tone.
“Look, Detective, I’m not trying to waste your time here. The guy had a rifle behind the door, which I understand is to be expected in a mountain town.” He placated the detective with his hand up in a forestalling motion.
“But he also followed us off the property, hiding in the trees so we wouldn’t see him.”
“I’m sorry, Drake, but none of this is leading up to a search for a missing woman. Did you see her car up there or any sign that she might be in the vicinity? And even if she is up there, what’s to say she isn’t there of her own free will?”
“If she just went up there to take a few days off then everything is nice and simple. You just go knock on the door and if she’s there, voila, your case is solved.”
“And if she’s not we possibly just offended some high roller from the city and opened ourselves up for all kinds of law suits, including your trespassing.” Worth countered the argument with his finger aimed at Ben’s nose.
“Look, I didn’t see her car, but there is a white truck parked out by the garage. And I hesitate to say it, but Jason swears this guy’s son is the one who was driving the missing Nissan that night in the parking lot.” That was really all Ben had and it sounded weak even to his ears.
“What would be the harm in going up there to check?” Ben asked, feeling desperate and trying to find a way to convince Worth of the possibility of finding his missing persons. Short of making a complete fool of himself and claiming that he had seen the woman in a dream standing in front of the cabin he really didn’t know what else he could say.
Worth sat staring at him for a long time while Ben’s stomach twisted. He mentally encouraged the powers that be to turn on a light in the detectives’ brain.
Without a word the detective picked up the phone, dialed, and asked for Sergeant Lance. “Hey Larry, how’s it going?” He said affably and then after a short pause, “Listen, I got a tip on the possible whereabouts of the Tidewell woman and her kids. “Yeah, can you shoot a couple of guys up to Lost Lake and check it out?”
There was another pause while Worth listened and Ben started to feel a sense of relief come over him.
“I know it’s late but if there’s a chance she’s in some trouble up there I think we need to check it out now.”
More silence followed after which he looked up at Ben and asked him for the exact location of the cabin. He repeated the directions into the phone and then thanked Sergeant Lance, telling him they’d get together for a beer on the weekend.
“The Sheriff’s department has a small satellite office up in Mesa. They only have an acting sheriff and a couple of deputies, but we’re going to call and have them go out there tonight. With any luck we’ll hear back from them in a couple of hours.
“I’m staying at the hotel over by the airport you know. Can you call me when you get word?” Ben wasn’t sure why he asked, but it was important to him that he be kept in the loop.
“I really do appreciate your coming down here and your interest in this case, Ben.” Worth’s tone had softened considerably and he went on to explain. “But I hope you understand that until we find her, details of the Tidewell investigation are still confidential.” Worth’s’ diplomatic response surprised Ben for some reason. He hadn’t considered that this was none of his business, or that he wouldn’t play an active role in the outcome.
Ben felt somehow displaced, as if he suddenly had nowhere to go and nothing to focus his attention on. His vacation had been derailed and he couldn’t seem to figure out what it was he needed to do next.
He finally stood up, his hand reaching out to shake the hand of the serious man seated across from him.
“I understand. Good luck, Detective,” he said before he turned and walked away.
Detective Worth watched Ben Drake walk out of the office and wondered if this would really be the last he saw of the rugged, intense man. He was a pretty good judge of character and it occurred to him that Ben wasn’t the type to walk away from something as important as a missing woman if he thought he could make a difference. This was the second disappearance in the last five days, and he had no leads on either case. He had covered all the bases but could find no connection between the two. It wasn’t likely they had a serial killer on their hands since there were no similarities whatsoever, with the exception that in both cases, they had vanished without a trace. He ran his hands across his head as if pushing back an imaginary lock of hair from his brow, trying again to make any possible connection between the Tidewell case and the local doctor who had gone missing last week. He spent the next two hours catching up on his paperwork and going through the files again and again. He waited for the phone to ring. Maybe the guys up in Mesa had found something after all and that’s why it was taking them so long to get back to him
Worth pulled the list of patients from Makula’s file and perused the names. So far, there wasn’t anything particularly interesting coming in on the background checks, bu
t maybe something would jump out at him if he gave it enough time. After a while he decided to call it a night and picked up his coat along with the Tidewell file, then headed out the door and home for the day.
*****
Chapter 20
Maeve lay on her back listening to the sound of the girls breathing next to her in the big bed. It brought back memories of the early days when they lived in a one bedroom mobile home and slept together every night. They had been so small then and completely dependent on her for every aspect of their care. She reached over now as she had then and checked to make sure they were both breathing. She knew it was silly, but it comforted her none the less to know that some things just didn’t change. Even though they didn’t need her all of the time any more, the way she loved the girls was one of those things that stayed the same. Maeve felt something growing stronger inside of her as she lay there watching them sleep. She felt it deep inside, the sure knowledge that they would soon be safe and free to put this horrible experience behind them.
Her mind began to drift and her imagination took over to create a vision of Joseph standing in a clearing surrounded by trees. Fall limbs bared by the cold mountain air created the illusion of long arms and fleshless fingers reaching up to the sky. A bright orange moon loomed low on the horizon and dark clouds drifted across the fiery globe, casting the clearing in deep shadow.
Something about the setting wasn’t right and Maeve tried to comprehend why she was having so much trouble blocking the negative images. Glenn was laying spread eagled on a crumbling stone wall, his hands and legs secured to stakes buried in the hard packed earth. Joseph was standing over Glenn’s prone body holding a knife close to his sternum. No, Maeve thought, this is all wrong. ‘This is my imagination and I’ll see what I want to see’, she told herself sternly.
She’d always been afraid to dwell on negative thoughts, more than half believing that thinking about them would really make them happen. The images swayed in and out as if made of mist blown by a gentle wind. It took all of her stubborn will to hold onto the pictures in her mind, slowly reshaping and directing them to create the outcome she so desperately desired.