Cades Cove 01 - Cades Cove: A Novel of Terror (36 page)

“
That should work fine, provided Allie Mae doesn’t kill me first,” said David, returning his smile with a wan smirk.

John told David he’d give him directions to his cabin, near Cades Cove and not far from the park station. Evelyn lived in Johnson City, less than an hour away. He planned to call her tonight, and then confirm the time with David.

Feeling slight hope, David called Miriam from his cell phone when John pulled the cruiser onto the main thoroughfare heading into the park. After telling her how the afternoon went, he told her about John’s latest idea. Omitting what happened last night and this morning, he told her the Whitestone’s ancient amenities brought about the change to the EconoLodge.

Jillian picked up the second phone in Janice’s townhouse.

“
Daddy?”

“
Hi sweetie!” Surprised to hear his daughter’s voice, it immediately warmed his heart.

“
Mom says you won’t be back until Sunday,” she said, sounding bummed out. “Why can’t you come home tomorrow? The fall play is in the afternoon, and I wish you’d be there!”

“
Jill, I would if I could,” said David, hating the disappointment in her voice. “But, the problem we had in the house last week—remember that?”

“
Yeah, I do.” Now she sounded nervous, like she didn’t want to relive the memory.

“
Well, Daddy needs to take care of a few things here in Tennessee first, to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” He said this with fatherly confidence to sell it. “I should be home on Sunday.”

“
I understand,” she said, sighing deeply. “So, will you take us to the Halloween party at the Benson’s Sunday night?” A glimmer of hope lifted her tone.

“
If all goes well here, yeah, I’ll be happy to do that, sweetie!”

He forgot all about the annual Trick or Treat party the Benson’s held for the neighborhood kids the weekend before Halloween. Tyler wasn’t so keen about it, but Jillian and Christopher had marked the kitchen calendar once October 1
^st
arrived.

“
I’ll see you Sunday, Daddy. But if you get everything taken care of by tomorrow morning, the play is at two-fifteen at the school auditorium!”

He chuckled as she hung up the phone, and then realized the line remained active.

“
Miriam, are you still there?”

“
Yeah, I am,” she said, chuckling. “What a pistol, huh?”

“
Yes she is.”

“
So, John will contact his granddaughter tonight and you’ll meet with her tomorrow?” she asked, confirming their earlier talk.

“
That’s the plan.”

“
If it doesn’t work, will you
please
just do what we agreed on and take the bag back to the ravine and hop on the next plane home?” She sounded worried again.

“
Yes, I promise this is the last thing I’ll try.”

John smiled while listening to him tell her how much he loved and missed her.

“
You’re a lucky man, David Hobbs,” he said, after the call ended. “You have a family who cherishes you, which is the greatest treasure there is. I can tell how much you cherish them too.”

“
I really do,” said David, worried. He feared never seeing his wife and kids again, and regretted more than ever his decision to bring the bag to Littleton, Colorado in the first place.

“
We’ll find a way to free you from Allie Mae’s spirit,” John told him, patting him on the knee. “One way or another, we
will
find a way.”

***

When they reached the park station, John drew David a map to his cabin and confirmed his home phone number. David promised to call him once he got settled, later that evening. In addition to the photos, he also gave John the trash bags from his trunk, since he asked again to examine their contents. Then David returned to Gatlinburg, treating himself to dinner at a quiet Italian restaurant near the hotel.

Almost eight-thirty when he arrived at his room on the third floor, unlike the previous four nights, this time he left the little bag outside in the LaSabre’s glove box. He unpacked the new clothes he purchased that morning and got ready for bed. When he called John to let him know his new number, John told him that Evelyn happily agreed to meet with them the following afternoon at two o’clock at his cabin. With this good news, David called Miriam, and following a chat with her that lasted the better part of an hour he retired shortly after ten o’clock, leaving the television and every light on in his room. Keeping his tired eyes open became an impossible task, and before the night’s news broadcast ended he fell fast asleep.

Chapter Thirty-two

It rained all morning on Friday. He slept through most of it after visiting the hotel’s continental breakfast in the lobby around seven. He also purchased two boxes of large bandages for his neck from the gift shop. Though the wounds stopped bleeding hours earlier, the four red streaks drew a number of curious looks from both the hotel staff and other guests either checking out or eating breakfast nearby. He didn’t linger, grabbing a few Danish rolls and a large glass of orange juice before returning to his room.

The events of last night after he fell asleep were blurred in his tired mind. Some images clear, like his shock when he abruptly awoke at 12:20 a.m. and looked in the dresser mirror. Four tiny crimson rivers poured down his neck and onto his T-shirt.

What the hell?

David asked himself that question over and over, especially once he determined the wounds were real. A squadron of deep scratches pulsed in anger along the right side of his neck.

Unlike his previous nocturnal experience at the Whitestone, wiping the blood off with a wet wash cloth did little good. Grimacing from the sting, he marveled as the wounds quickly filled with blood again. After an hour of losing blood, enough to make him consider calling the front desk for directions to the nearest hospital, the flow ebbed. By then two o’clock, he knew he couldn’t go back to sleep…at least not yet.

Another dream... David recalled bits and pieces. In some ways it reminded him of the one he had Monday morning, where his heart overflowed with rage, and a powerful urge to get even…. But this time, he attacked someone.

What did she look like? Think, David—damn it, think!!

The images blurred, he hurt more than one person. A woman and a man…the guy tried to interfere.

Interfere with what, for Christ’s sake?

Reddish strands of hair filled his vision….he sat on top of her, and that’s when the other man tried to pull him off. David punched him and then he hurt the female. She retaliated by raking her hand across his neck.

The girl did this to me?? How in the hel—

He had just returned to his bed to sit down, and noticed his wristwatch sat next to the alarm clock. Like the previous times it disappeared from his wrist, Allie Mae’s little bag rested neatly inside the watch’s circumference.

Allie Mae did this?? Why???

The questions stayed with him long after the dawn’s light peered through his room’s curtains, and started up again after he returned to his room with his breakfast. Did what happen in the middle of the night relate somehow to her death?

And if that’s the case, is this the beginning of her planned revenge, to butcher me with her bare hands??

Waiting for a satisfactory answer that never came, he showered and dressed around noon, and then used the remaining bandages to cover the wounds. With the bag in his coat pocket he grabbed his briefcase and left the room. By then the rain had tapered off to a light mist. Grabbing a burger and coke to tie him over until his dinner with John, he drove toward the park.

John’s directions instructed him to take several detours not easily discernable once the rain picked up again. After a few wrong turns and a near collision with a van hydroplaning across the park’s two-lane highway, David finally arrived at his log cabin just after one o’clock. An older two-story A-frame, a large picture window dominated the second floor.

“
I’m a little early,” said David, as he greeted John on his front porch. John’s smile faded when he saw the bandages on David’s neck.

“
What happened to you?”

“
Honestly, I’m not sure.” He followed John inside. “I guess what seemed like a dream was in fact reality.”

The cabin was much larger than it appeared from outside, with a spacious loft on the second floor in front of the window. An immense rock fireplace dominated the living room, where a crackling fire burned brightly. Cozy, furnished with leather chairs and a couch, all four walls were decorated with a variety of Native American artifacts. The open living room sat next to a kitchen area that featured a grill enclosed by smaller stones similar to those used to create the fireplace. The rich aromas of grilled beef and baked cinnamon filled the air.

A beautiful young woman with lovely dark hair and large brown eyes sliced vegetables on a large cutting block that sat next to the oven. She looked up from her task when John led David into the living room, and he recognized her from the photograph on his desk in the Cades Cove visitors’ center.

“
David, I’d like you to meet Evelyn Sherman, my granddaughter, known also as ‘Two Doves Rising’,” John announced proudly.

She rinsed her hands and wiped them on the apron she wore, and stepped over to where they stood. Tall and shapely, she was dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt that almost matched the outfit her grandfather wore.

“
It’s nice to meet you, David,” she said, extending her hand to him. “Grandpa’s told me all about what you’ve been through lately.”

“
I’m glad you were able to come today.” He squeezed her hand gently before releasing it. “Hopefully, we can find a way to finally put an end to this whole thing.”

“
That’s my intent,” she assured him, and then walked back into the kitchen. She returned to her task of cutting vegetables while her grandfather moved over to inspect her work. Evelyn shot him a look to leave her alone, and he let out an impish chuckle while peering at three large rib-eye steaks cooking on the grill.

“
It may take more than just this afternoon’s session to complete everything,” she advised David, looking up from the cutting block after John left her alone.

He nodded in response, hoping it wasn’t the case and that everything
did
get done today. He offered to help out in the kitchen, but she and John told him to instead make himself comfortable by the fire. He moved over to one of the chairs closest to the fireplace. The strong scent of hickory prevailed over the other aromas, and he watched the flames dance around several large logs on the hearth.

“
I’ll take your coat,” said John, once satisfied with the progress in the kitchen. He disappeared with David’s coat down a hallway to the right of the fireplace, where the bedrooms were located. When he returned, he carried a small first-aid kit. “Let’s take a look at your neck.”

Still busy in the kitchen, Evelyn paused to watch her grandfather pull aside the bandages on David’s neck. He grimaced while John cleansed the wounds and added a topical antibiotic before dressing them with a surgical bandage.

“
That should last awhile,” John advised. “But before you leave later today, we’ll dress it once more. ‘Must’ve been quite a dream.” He eyed him thoughtfully.

“
I don’t even know where to begin,” said David.

Evelyn joined them in the living room.

“
Dinner should be ready within the next twenty minutes,” she said. She seemed worried, her gaze focused on his bandaged neck. “We’ll get started soon enough on the other, after we’ve had a chance to enjoy our meal and chat for awhile.”

“
I thought you were supposed to be the chef today?” David chided John. He didn’t want to think long about Evelyn’s troubled look, his last hope.

“
It started out that way, but she’s the boss.”

“
You’re
so
funny, Grandpa,” she said, her mock serious expression with a raised eyebrow reminding David of Miriam. He missed her more than ever right then. “If I hadn’t come to your rescue, we wouldn’t be eating anything ‘til late tonight!”

She alternated her gaze between him and David and then sauntered back to the kitchen area. “You could make it up to me by setting the table,” she said over her shoulder.

“
Yes, I suppose I could.” He chuckled.

“
I’ll join you,” said David, getting to his feet.

Together they moved into the kitchen, mindful to stay out of Evelyn’s path as she moved from the grill to the oven and then to the counter where she had just placed a delectable apple pie. The dining table set flush against the cabin’s rear wall, and once they finished setting the plates and utensils, dinner was ready.

John and Evelyn sat across from each other while David took the seat in the middle facing the wall. An antique electric lantern that long ago ran on gas or oil hung upon the wall above a portrait of John’s late wife. The lantern radiated soft light upon the table loaded with food.

Excellent steaks, along with everything else Evelyn prepared, they soon enjoyed light conversation. She talked about the Masters Degree in civil engineering she presently pursued at the University of Tennessee in nearby Knoxville, along with her recent engagement to the boyfriend John mentioned previously. David’s eyes misted as he shared family pictures from his wallet. Meanwhile, John seemed pleased by the conversation between his cherished granddaughter and their guest.