by H. P. Bayne
He was distracted by his phone ringing in his hand. The tone was the one he’d set for Dez.
“Hey.”
“Hey, Sull. I need your help with something. I’m on my way to get you.”
“I take it Lachlan’s case comes with a ghost problem?”
“No idea. But if you see our missing guy, that will answer one of our questions. We’ll know Lonnie Debenham didn’t kill himself.”
It took all of three seconds upon sliding into Dez’s passenger seat for Sully to gauge his brother’s mood. He was a bundle of nerves, and the explanation he provided answered Sully’s unasked question.
“Lachlan said there’s a decent possibility Debenham died around Loons Hollow.”
Sully felt his eyebrows crawling up his forehead. “Loons Hollow? It’s like life keeps throwing you into these cases.”
Dez reached back to scratch Pax’s ears. “Ones with ghosts attached, you mean? Correction, dear brother. Ninety per cent of the time, it’s you who keeps throwing me into these cases. This time, I can blame Lachlan instead.”
“Hollow Road has that story connected with it.”
“Faceless Flo?” Dez said as he turned his SUV around in the yard and started back down the road. “You don’t have to remind me. I went out there once, in high school with some friends. I told you about it, I think.”
“I remember. You didn’t want to look like a wuss.”
“Big mistake. I damn near crapped my pants. Those losers knew I was terrified of ghosts, so Kurt Iggleston waited out there, dressed up in a white dress and a wig, and jumped out at me.”
“You punched him in the face, didn’t you?”
Dez grimaced. “Busted his nose. Didn’t mean to. But the jerk kinda had it coming. You ever go out there?”
“Never. I had enough ghosts to deal with. And given this one has a reputation for making bad things happen to guys, I figured it was best to avoid it. Anyway, I had enough scary stuff to deal with. I wasn’t about to go looking for more.”
“Fair point. Why are we going out there again?”
“I don’t know. You haven’t really told me.”
Sully listened as Dez filled him in on what Lonnie Debenham’s wife had said and what Lachlan told him about the investigation at the time.
“And there’s something else,” Dez said. “Some so-called psychic came forward back then, saying they’d seen Lonnie’s ghost around Loons Hollow. Police thought the whole thing was crackers, so they didn’t bother to check into it. But Lachlan did. He didn’t come up with anything. Of course, he doesn’t have your particular skill set.”
“So that’s why I’m coming along—as your token psychic,” Sully quipped.
“Sure, that. And the fact I could use some backup if Faceless Flo comes at me.”
Dez had spoken through a smirk, but Sully could see the uncertainty in the expression, the anxiety it attempted to conceal.
They fell quiet, and Sully put it down to Dez’s fear of ghosts that he hadn’t yet asked whether Sully had found Aiden last night. Part of the reason for returning to the acreage, after all, had been to seek answers from the ghost of Dez’s little brother, drowned at age five in the river that ran behind the property.
Sully had found Aiden. He’d also found Flynn. But he hadn’t received any answers from them. He didn’t need to. Sully already knew exactly what had happened to them.
The problem wasn’t one of finding more information to provide Dez; it was how best to keep that information from him. Sully didn’t think his mercurial brother was equipped to handle some truths. He would never be able to live with it if Dez confronted Lowell and met the same end as his father.
One strange benefit to Dez’s being forced to go off in search of a ghost was his resulting anxiety. Dez would have a hard time seeing through that long enough to go back to thoughts of Aiden.
By the time they reached the turnoff to Hollow Road, Sully knew the topic of Aiden had been officially placed on Dez’s back burner.
“It doesn’t look like much yet, does it?” Dez said.
True enough, the road was nothing more than a gravel path, not even a sign to mark it. Northwest of the city, it started off bordered by fields, the expanse of farmland revealing nothing about this road’s dark reputation.
But, in the distance, a long wall of trees awaited them. Five minutes would take them from sunlight into shadow.
Dez slipped back into silence, and Sully could almost hear his mental gears turning.
“It could be Flo is nothing more than a stupid ghost story,” Sully said. “I mean, has anyone reliable actually seen her?”
“There were those disappearances, though.”
“It’s the middle of the woods, Dez. People get lost in the woods all the time, especially around here. There are no marked paths like at Winteredge. It would be pretty easy for someone to wander off and never come out again. Could be an animal got them, or they died of exposure to the cold. For a lot of people, it’s more fun to blame a ghost.”
“Not for me,” Dez said.
There was no denying that truth.
And there was no denying the one that revealed itself to Sully less than two minutes after they passed the tree line.
A flash of white caught his eye first, snapped his gaze to the right, out his window. For a second he saw it—the figure of a woman standing within the shadow of a tree, a long, pale dress flowing around her.
A heartbeat. Not long enough to make out any detail. The one thing he thought he could swear to was that she didn’t have a face.
Sully swivelled in his seat as Dez sped past, going too fast for a gravel road. Sully uttered a curse word, drawing Dez’s attention to him.
“Jesus Christ, what?” Dez yelped, voice significantly higher than was natural for him.
“I think I just saw….”
“No. Don’t you say it.”
“Sorry, but I did. There was a woman standing under a tree. She was wearing a long, white dress. I didn’t see a face.”
“You didn’t see one, or she didn’t have one?”
Sully turned to Dez, trying for a comforting smile and failing miserably. “Uh, the last one. Sorry.”
“Sully, you’d damn well better not be trying to scare me, or I will pull you out of this vehicle and beat your ass.”
“I wouldn’t joke about that, Dez. You know that. Maybe we should go back.”
“No. No, we are not going back. We are here looking for a missing man, not some creepy ass, murderous ghost with no face. You hear me? Jesus Christ, I can’t believe it’s real.”
“You already seemed to think it was real.”
“No, I was afraid it was real. Now I know for sure, and let me tell you, that does not sit well with me. We are not going back. You are not going back. You got that?”
“Hey, Dez? You want to slow down a bit?”
“I am trying to get us as far away as fast as humanly possible from that woman.”
“Sure, but if you roll your SUV, you realize we’re going to be like sitting ducks for her, right?”
The engine’s rev died back a bit as Dez’s foot eased off the gas. “This sucks, man. I’m going to kill Lachlan. How can you sit there all calm after seeing something like that?”
“I guess I’ve gotten used to it.”
“The no face thing, though? Or did you mean she was so badly injured that her face was gone?”
“No, I meant she had no face. There was nothing there. It was like this big black shadow under her hair, like—”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry I asked. Stop talking about it, all right? Let’s just get to Loons Hollow. And I swear, man, if you or Pax take off on me, I’m going to leave your asses there and go home by myself.”
Sully managed a laugh he hoped would help to calm Dez. “I won’t take off on you. Promise.”
Going by the memory of his mother’s stories, Sully recalled the town of Loons Hollow had been established around the same time as Kimotan Rapids. B
ack in the late eighteen hundreds, it was a booming community, full of businesses, families and enough shared wealth to make it a comfortable place to live and work.
The coming of the railway had brought great change; unfortunately for Loons Hollow, the change was not a welcome one.
Given Loons Hollow and Kimotan Rapids were so close together, railroad officials were left to choose between them when it came time to establishing a new station. KR, larger by a hair and boasting a new hotel and the first moving picture theatre in the area, won the bid.
Over the course of several decades, Loons Hollow died a slow and painful death as its residents sought their fortunes elsewhere. The World Wars further decimated what remained of its population.
Some residents stayed as late as the nineteen fifties, the stubborn ones whose memories stretched back to a more prosperous time, when the town was the place families moved to rather than away from.
Eventually, the final resident died, and the community became a ghost town.
As the forest opened to reveal the townsite, Sully could see for himself what was left of the once-vibrant community. Trees and “No Trespassing” signs had sprouted within the ruins, giving the place the feel of a zombie film. The remaining buildings stood sad, empty and broken, paint long since peeled away, windows shattered, many walls either collapsing or spray painted.
The town once held as many as five thousand residents. Given what little remained, Sully assumed the forest had swallowed many of the buildings and other structures, leaving just this central piece at the end of Hollow Road.
“Bloody creepy,” Dez said. “See anyone yet?”
“Nothing yet,” Sully said. “We’ll probably have to get out and look around. You up for a walk?”
“Do I have a choice?”
Sully led the way, leaving the vehicle first and opening the door so Pax could join him. Dez gained his side a moment later, snagging Sully’s arm as he started toward the first of the buildings on the main thoroughfare.
“There’s no chance she followed us here, is there?”
Knowing exactly who Dez meant, Sully scanned the area as best he could, given the number of trees. “I don’t see her.”
“But that doesn’t mean she’s not out there somewhere, does it?”
Sully shrugged, an honest response he knew would do nothing to soothe Dez’s anxiety.
The two of them, with Pax trotting along at Sully’s side, set off to explore the town.
4
Dez’s eyes dropped to the floor at the sound of a creak from beneath him.
They’d stepped into the front room of what might have been a main street store. Dez wasn’t sure what worried him more: the chance of finding a ghost or the possibility of falling through the rickety wooden floor. Given his size—six-foot-six and a frame stacked with muscle—if one of them was going down, it was bound to be him.
“I don’t know about this,” he said.
Sully’s gaze shifted from Dez to the floor. “Yeah, maybe you should stay by the door.”
“You’re not leaving me here by myself.”
Sully laughed. “Nothing’s going to get you, all right? I’ll be able to sense if something’s around.”
“You sure? What if she moves fast?”
“Dez.”
“All right, just make it quick. And watch your step. It wasn’t so long ago we got trapped in a cave. I might actually prefer that to being stuck in a ghost town, especially one by a haunted road.”
He backed up a couple steps, keeping his back to the doorframe while Sully crept forward with Pax to explore the building. From here, Dez had a good view of the street from the open door and through the large multi-pane window, most of the glass long-since smashed out. A large tree had sprouted in the middle of the street, and smaller ones were well on their way. Grass and weeds had overtaken the pavement outside, so that the street was more green than grey. What remained of the surrounding buildings made it hard to imagine what they must have looked like in their prime.
He knew this must have once been a bustling street, but for the life of him, he couldn’t picture it.
Any attempt to try to catch a glimpse into the past was interrupted by evidence of the present.
More specifically, the sight of a woman emerging from a building down the street on the opposite side.
“Hey, Sull?” When there was no answer, Dez tried again, louder this time. “Sully?”
His brother’s head poked past a doorway toward the end of the long shop. “What?”
“There’s a woman down the street.”
Sully and Pax approached him. “The woman from earlier?”
“No, this one’s dressed pretty modern. You see her?”
Sully peered out the door next to Dez, then immediately put his hood up, concealing his face. “Yeah, I see her…. Hey, Dez, that kind of looks like….”
The tone in Sully’s voice had Dez ducking to try to get see his brother’s eyes. “What’s wrong? If I was talking to anyone other than you, I’d say you looked like you’ve just seen a ghost.”
He’d been trying for a joke. Sully wasn’t laughing.
“Okay,” Dez said. “Who is it? Is it something I should be worried about?”
“I think it’s Ara.”
Dez turned toward the woman, catching the back of her as she disappeared inside another building. “Ara? You mean Takara Watanabe?”
The hood nodded, but no verbal response followed.
“I take it you’re not planning on talking to her?” Dez asked.
“I can’t. She never knew about me to start with—about what I can do, I mean. How am I supposed to explain everything else?”
“Maybe you should have trusted her in the first place.”
“It wasn’t that,” Sully said. “I did trust her. I just wanted one normal, good thing in my life, someone who didn’t know how weird I am.”
Dez smacked Sully on the back of the head. “First off, you’re not weird. Second, you do realize she’s a practicing Wiccan, right? Or at least she was back then. It’s not like she’s Miss Apple Pie or anything.”
For some reason, that’s what drew the laugh from Sully. “Miss Apple Pie?”
“Hey, I’m hungry. Listen, I’ll go talk to her. Maybe it’s not even her.”
“It’s her. I’m sure of it.”
“Okay, okay. Stay put and keep out of sight. I’ll see what she’s doing here. And don’t move, I mean it. If I can’t find you when I’m done talking to her, I’m going to kick your scrawny ass.”
“I’ll wait until you get back, okay? Chill out.”
Dez nudged Sully aside—a little harder than was necessary—then made his way across the road to where the woman had disappeared into what looked like a former bank. The inside, once Dez stepped beyond the threshold, revealed itself to be in surprisingly good shape. The brick walls had provided a barrier to the elements, keeping rain and snow from rotting the floors. The wood creaked beneath him as he took a few steps inside, but he wasn’t as worried he’d fall through.
He could see no sign of the woman, and he wondered whether she’d stepped outside through a back door.
He took a chance at calling out. “Is anyone here?”
When he received no response, he tried again. “I saw you come in here. I just want to talk to you.”
He jumped at movement from his left, and he turned to see a door swinging open. A young woman emerged from behind it.
Chalk one up for Sully. There was no doubt this was Takara Watanabe.
Japanese on her father’s side, Ara was as exotically stunning now as she had been when Dez had last seen her two years ago. Her long, dark hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun, a few strands hanging loosely around her petite, pretty features. She might have been wearing a little mascara and some colour on her lips, but Dez would have banked on it she had otherwise kept her face clean of makeup.
Ara’s expression—wide dark eyes and slightly parted lips—mirrore
d what Sully’s must have been just a few moments ago.
“Dez?” she said.
“Hey, Ara. How are you?”
Skipping a verbal answer, she closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his middle. “It’s so good to see you. I’ve always wondered how you were doing, but I didn’t know if I should call after….”
The way she trailed off was rich with meaning, and Dez read the sorrow in the way her eyes left his to fall to her boots.
“Yeah,” Dez said. He didn’t know what else to say.
She returned her gaze to his face and managed what looked like a feigned smile. “So how are you doing?”
“It’s been a rough couple of years,” Dez said. It was an honest answer and, he realized regretfully, possibly the only honest answer he’d be able to give. “How about you?”
“Same. Sully… he’s a hard guy to get over.”
“Yeah. Yeah, he is.” It seemed like a good time to get off that topic and onto something safer. “So what are you doing here? You couldn’t have missed all those no trespassing signs out there.”
“You’re here too.”
Dez flashed a few teeth. “Good point. But I’m a private investigator now, and I’m looking into a missing person case. What’s your excuse?”
“Actually, as it happens, I’m looking for a missing person too.”
It wasn’t the answer he’d been expecting. “What missing person?”
“Emory Davis. He’s my….” She paused mid-thought again, and Dez felt compelled to finish the sentence for her.
“Your boyfriend? It’s okay, you know. You’re permitted to have a life.” Whether Sully would be as accepting remained to be seen.
“Yeah. We’ve been seeing each other since shortly after… you know. Anyway, he and I were here overnight, and he left for what I thought was a few minutes. Now I can’t find him.”
“I didn’t see any cars outside.”
“We drove it in behind some bushes. We always park there. We know we’re not supposed to be here, but it’s what we do.”
“What do you mean, it’s what you do?”