2 Yule Be the Death of Me

by J. D. Shaw

  She nearly jumped out of her chair when her purse tumbled off the end table, spilling the mythology and folklore book from inside of it. She quickly walked over and found it lying face down, about a quarter of the way open. She carefully lifted it off the floor and turned it over. The top right page was dog-eared under the entry ‘Female Spirits; Banshee’. Vivienne scanned the entry and read it quietly aloud to herself. “A banshee is female spirit common in the mythology and folklore of early Irish-American immigrants. Known to haunt graveyards and battlefields, this fearsome specter often appeared to those about to face a violent death such as murder. It was also common for a banshee to attach itself to a family if a particularly tragic history unfolded.”

  Her thoughts drifted back to the Rothwell family and all the tragedy that befell them. If there was such a creature in Cayuga Cove, it would have certainly found the family a tempting target to latch onto. The question was, who exactly left this book for her to find in the library? Or was it a warning to stop poking her nose into what was going on? If it was that, she certainly needed more to be scared away from investigating. She reached down, retrieved her purse, and slipped the book back inside of it. She would hold onto it for a little while just in case.

  Exhausted as the clock neared one in the morning, Vivienne finally put the computer into standby mode and walked over to the tree. She stared at the miniature lights and wished that life could be as idyllic as the little villages depicted on some of the ornaments hanging from the branches. There were no murders or poisonings happening inside the little homes that lined the cobblestone roads. No parents burying their children in the cemetery behind the stained-glass glow of the cathedral as a soft snow fell from the heavens. Nor were there invisible portals opened to other dimensions where dark things could sneak through and cause havoc. Each little scene on the ornaments depicted absolute peace on earth and good will toward men. She lingered for a moment before stepping on the pedal to turn off the tree.

  As the lights went out, she heard the wind rattle the windows of the house. Bits of snow flew against the panes as the streetlight cast shadows of tree branches on the darkened walls of her living room. She heard the moaning sound again and froze in place. “Sally.” A sepulchral voice called out from the freezing darkness. “Sally Rollins.” It called out again as the windows rattled a bit more.

  Vivienne moved to the window where she could get a better view of the moon. Sure enough, it resembled a grinning half-skull as dark clouds swirled around it. Vivienne turned to rouse Joshua from his sleep in the bedroom when she gasped. There were four shadows cast against the wall near her. Her own, that of a woman a bit shorter and heavier than herself, and the distinct shadows of two small children holding hands.

  Vivienne watched in terror as each of the shadows, save her own, raised their arms upwards, pointing toward the window behind her. She felt a blast of bitterly cold air creep around her body as she slowly turned around. There, standing outside her window was a tall man with skin as pale as snow. His facial features were mostly hidden in the shadowy darkness, but as the moonlight faded in and out, she could make out thin lips around a mouth of chipped and rotten teeth. His arms were folded across his chest, as if he were lying repose inside a casket. His hands were lined with dark veins, fingers curled and gnarled like tree branches. Where his eyes should be, there were only two dark holes that seemed to pull the moonlight inside with some bizarre force.

  She took a step backwards, unable to turn away. “Joshua.” She called out, but her voice sounded hollow and weak. As if it were coming from across the street. She coughed and cleared her throat, but it didn’t help.

  The shadows of the woman and children melted like hot wax down the wall, slithered like snakes across the carpet, and climbed back up along the wall surrounding the window. The arms of both figures twisted around into strange positions, the sounds of bones snapping and popping out of joint as each one defied anatomical movement. When they stopped, they were each pointing to the man in the window.

  “Joshua.” She tried to speak again, only her voice was the faintest of whispers. The moaning outside grew louder as the man opened his mouth wide. His jaw continued to drop lower and lower, far beyond the normal range until it was nearly level with his chest. From inside his throat, she could see hands and arms reaching outwards in a frantic effort to escape.

  She felt woozy, as the room began to slowly spin around her. The man moved closer toward the window, pressing the end of his nose against the cold glass. Her knees went weak and she struggled to remain standing. A line of frost shot across the windowpane, then another. Each one began to move of its own accord, until a few seconds later when the entire pane of glass was frozen solid.

  Shielded from the terrible sight, she found her voice and cried out in terror. Her scream went higher and higher as a the shadows of the woman and children on the wall changed to skeletal forms and then crumbled into nothing.

  “Vivienne.” Joshua bolted out of the bedroom door.

  She ran into his arms, sobbing. “Something was outside. A man.”

  He raced forward to the window near the Christmas tree. “Out there right now?”

  “He’s gone.” She could see that the frost on the window had disappeared along with her stalker. “I don’t think it was human.”

  “What was it then?” Joshua looked out the window and then pulled the curtains closed. “A ghost?”

  “I don’t know. But it felt evil.” She took a deep breath.

  “What makes you say that?” He walked over to her and put his arms on her shoulders. “Wow, you’re cold as ice.”

  She shuddered, crossing her arms across her chest to get warm. “There was so much hate inside that thing. It was overwhelming.”

  Joshua reached over to the loveseat and pulled a fleece blanket off the end. He wrapped it around her protectively. “It’s not going to hurt you with me around.”

  She dropped her head on his chest. “I’ve never felt anything like this. It was like it was draining the life right out of me.”

  “I’m here now.” He tried to soothe her.

  “I heard a voice outside saying the name of Sally Rollins.” Vivienne spoke. “I think she may be in trouble.”

  “The woman who lives out in the trailer park near Natalie?”

  “Yes.” Vivienne replied. “I have a bad feeling something’s happened to her.”

  Joshua led her over to the loveseat and gently helped her sit down. He then picked up the phone and began to dial.

  “Who are you calling?”

  “Bill Collins is on the night shift tonight. I’m going to have him send a car out to check on Sally Rollins.” Joshua explained.

  Vivienne nodded. “Good. I won’t be able to sleep until I know what’s going on.”

  Joshua explained the situation as best he could to the night officer, but even he was at a loss for words to explain exactly what could be going on. He finally just asked for a favor and left it at that. He hung up the phone and sat down next to Vivienne. “It would be so much easier if they just knew about your powers as a witch.” He spoke softly.

  “Or yours as a werewolf?” She asked him.

  “Right.” He nodded. “That would not be good.”

  Vivienne began to feel the much needed warmth return to her body. “That’s the price of magic.” She added. “We have the power to change things, but we have to work harder than anyone else to explain how we did it in a way that makes sense and keeps us out of psychiatric wards.”

  “What were you doing up so late anyway?”

  She pointed to the computer desk. “Research.”

  “On Eddie’s case?”

  “It started out with him, but then it lead to something else that concerns the entire town.” Vivienne replied. “It involves the Rothwell mansion.”

  “Your gingerbread entry?” He looked at her with a puzzled look.

  “The real thing.” Vivienne went on to explain the carbolic acid poisoning of the ent
ire family and several other cases within that two year span.

  “Do you think it’s something in the water here?” Joshua asked. “Perhaps the fracking for natural gas pockets has ruptured some old industrial waste site and contaminated the water supply?”

  “They use well water out at the trailer park, don’t they?”

  Joshua nodded. “Yes, town services cut out just before the old cemetery.”

  “But how does that explain what I’ve seen tonight?” Vivienne wondered. “Or the author of the Bad Santa notes?”

  “I have no idea.” Joshua replied as his phone rang. He answered it and then thanked the caller. “Jerry Parsons just took a cruise out to the Tall Pine Grove trailer court and everything is quiet. No trouble at all.”

  “What about Sally Rollins?”

  Joshua shook his head. “He’s not going to go knock on her door at one in the morning on a hunch.”

  “I know.” Vivienne sighed.

  “If there was a problem, he would have seen it immediately.” Joshua reminded her. “Now, it’s time to come back to bed.”

  “You’re right.” Vivienne pulled the blanket off herself and tossed it to the side of the loveseat. “Thanks for checking for me.”

  “I know better than to ignore your hunches.” Joshua reminded her as he pulled her up . “Let’s get some sleep.”

  She held his hand as they walked back into the bedroom, safe and sound inside her warm home. For the moment, she could rest. With the Sweet Dreams Bakery closed on Sundays, she would actually get to sleep in.

  CHAPTER 13

  Sunday, December 8th

  Vivienne wanted desperately to return to the dream world as the shrill ring of the phone startled her awake. She couldn’t recall all the details, but it involved her sitting on a lovely white sand beach as turquoise-tinged waves lapped the shoreline. As she opened one eye in the weak early morning light, she pulled the soft pillow over her head with a groan. The phone rang two more times before she felt Joshua’s weight shift the mattress to his side of the bed as he finally answered the call.

  “Say that again?” Joshua asked the early morning caller.

  Vivienne’s mind refused to allow her to drift back to the comfort of sleep. She pulled one end of the pillow up and gazed at Joshua who kept his voice low. “What’s going on?”

  He pulled the phone away from his face. “It’s Bill Collins. He decided to swing by Sally’s trailer one more time before his shift ended.”

  Vivienne tucked her elbows behind her and pushed herself back against the pillows. “Did he find something?”

  Joshua put the phone back to his ear. “Yeah, I’m still here. Thanks for keeping me posted, Bill.” He hung up the phone and turned to face her. “You were right.”

  “I don’t want to be right about these things.” Vivienne sighed. “It’s never a good thing.”

  Joshua pulled the covers up to his chest. “Bill said that when he drove by Sally’s trailer this morning he noticed her car had a fairly large dent near the front hood on the passenger’s side.”

  Vivienne shook her head. “They think she was the driver who hit Eunice the other night?”

  “He called it in and they’re sending a few guys to comb it over for any evidence.” Joshua replied.

  “Why would she do something like that?” Vivienne asked. “Did they even know each other?”

  “I don’t know.” Joshua snuggled closer to Vivienne. “If they find anything, she’ll be brought in for questioning soon.”

  “This doesn’t feel right to me.” Vivienne squirmed in the sheets, wrapping her legs around the soft flannel as if she were a caterpillar spinning a cocoon.

  “Nothing feels right with everything that’s been going on here lately.” Joshua reminded her. “Cayuga Cove is supposed to be a quiet town. People are supposed to be good hearted here.”

  “Nana Mary warned me that something has changed ever since Missy communed with dark magic.” Vivienne said with a little sigh. “I don’t know if it will ever go back to the way it was.”

  “Let’s not focus on that.” Joshua pulled her close to him and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

  She welcomed his warm touch and nestled back against the pillows. “So we can still sleep in for a little bit?”

  “We’ve earned it.” He smiled and then reclined back, pulling her closer against his body. “Something tells me quiet mornings are going to be rare.”

  Despite the early morning call, they managed to sneak in another hour and a half of sleep before Joshua kissed her goodbye as he went in for the noon to midnight shift.

  After opening a can of Tuna Delight only to have Tommy turn his nose up in disgust, she knew she had to get out of the house and accomplish something. “Two options, bud. Take it or leave it.” She shook her index finger at Tommy who continued to stare at the plate of cat food with dismay. “You seem to forget how not too long ago you were eating out of dumpsters.”

  He gave her a half-hearted meow and batted a plastic ball with a bell inside. He went bounding away, claws scraping against the kitchen floor as he chased his prey.

  After her own shower and depositing a load of towels into the washer, she pulled on a pair of comfortable jeans, a cozy yet faded grey sweatshirt, and a pair of faux-leather snow boots that she had found on clearance at the outlets last spring.

  She decided it was a good day to finish off her shopping for holiday gifts, especially for Joshua as he usually followed her like a lost puppy through retail stores.

  Bundled in her winter coat, she was pleased to see that the cold spell appeared to have broken as the temperature felt like it was in the upper forties. Even the overcast clouds were breaking up, allowing some much needed sunshine to brighten the morning. She unzipped her jacket and took in the fresh air. There was nothing like a free weekend day with an open agenda. She picked up the newspaper that was lying folded up on her steps and tossed it into the house. She didn’t have time to clip coupons or scan sales flyers. This might be one of her last chances to shop before the holiday frenzy went into full swing.

  As she zipped down Main Street, she was dismayed to see that none of the merchants had decided it was worth the time to start earlier Sunday hours yet. Store after store was dark and deserted, which left either a trip south to Ithaca or head north toward the outlets near Waterloo. She wasn’t in the mood to drive either distance, but she had a feeling she’d find more of what she was looking for at the outlets. With the roads nearly empty, she turned onto Weyer Place to head north and spied Miss Octavia standing outside of her shop, Mother Earth Mercantile. The large display window was shattered into several sharp pieces and it looked as if someone had taken a baseball bat to the shelves and destroyed quite a bit of merchandise.

  Vivienne pulled into a spot across the street and hurried over. “What happened?”

  Miss Octavia seemed to be in shock. She just stared blankly at her shop, holding a broken goddess statue in her hands.

  “Miss Octavia? Are you okay?” Vivienne waved her hands in front of her face.

  This seemed to rouse Octavia from her trance. “I was asking for justice to smite whoever has done this.”

  Vivienne surveyed the scene with dismay. “I don’t believe this.”

  “I was a fool to believe that things could be any different here than in a bigger city.” Octavia sniffed back some tears. “Cities are full of criminals and mischief makers, they said. Small towns are safer, they said.”

  Vivienne put her arm around Octavia’s shoulder. “Have you called the police?”

  She nodded. “I was going to have an alarm installed next week.”

  “They should have someone coming any minute now.”

  Octavia glanced at Vivienne. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t have insurance to replace all that has been destroyed.”

  “When they catch whoever did this, I’m sure you’ll be able to file a lawsuit for damages.” Vivienne tried to cheer her up.

  “All that I had was tied
up in this business. I cannot afford a lawyer.” She carefully set the broken goddess statue down on the sidewalk.

  Vivienne could hear the siren of the approaching police vehicle. “We’ll figure something out, Miss Octavia. I promise.”

  “It’s hard to be optimistic when everything you worked so hard for is broken in pieces all over the sidewalk.”

  As the police vehicle pulled next to them, the officer stepped out carefully and approached. Vivienne recognized him as Kevin Lovell, one of the younger recruits added to the force and fresh out of college. “Which one of you called in the report?”

  Miss Octavia raised her hand. “That would be me, the business owner.”

  Vivienne stepped aside as the officer approached Octavia. “Just answer with as much detail as you can.” Vivienne encouraged. “It will help with the investigation greatly.”

  “Did you see the crime as it was happening?” Kevin asked.

  Octavia shook her head. “I had just arrived to finish building a display for the tarot cards when I came upon this mess.”

  “Miss Finch.” Officer Lovell stood ready with his notepad in hand. “How are you involved?”

  “I’m not.” Vivienne excused herself. “I was driving by on my way to the outlets when I came upon Miss Octavia standing on the sidewalk and stopped to see if she needed help.”

  He scribbled something down on his notepad. “You didn’t see anyone fleeing the scene?”

  “It had already happened before I arrived.” Vivienne explained. “I wish I could be more help.”

  “Thank you Miss Finch. You’re free to leave.” Officer Lovell gave her a little smile.

  Vivienne reached out and gave Octavia’s hands a squeeze. “Give me a few hours and I’m going to round up some friends to help you clean up the store. We’ll get this fixed up.”

  “Thank you.” Octavia’s voice quivered.

  Not wanting to involve herself in any more police business, Vivienne turned to leave when a business card fluttered in the breeze and landed on her boot. She reached down to pick it up and noticed the emblem of a white cross with a foil-embossed fire behind it. ‘Order of the Righteous Ministries, Pastor Seamus Kilpatrick’. Vivienne turned the card over and gasped. Printed in tiny lettering was a bible verse. ‘I will set my face against anyone who turns to mediums or spiritists to prostitute themselves by following them, and I will cut them off from their people. – Leviticus 20:6’.