The Haunting at Grays Harbor (The River Book 8) (14 page)

“Humprff!” Roy and Maynard said simultaneously.

These two are exactly alike,
Steven thought.
Children
.

“Her father is James Unser,” Roy said.

Steven paced in his motel room, listening to his father’s
thoughts.

“The vorghost was married to him,” Roy continued. “That’s
what this is all about. Unser forced her to build the vortex under false
pretenses, using his own child as the power source. We can confirm this with
Maynard later, but I’ll bet the child of two gifteds is a lot more powerful than
you or I, with just a single gifted parent. I’ll bet that’s why she was able to
do so much from under all the goop. That, and she managed to get some fingers
out.”

“Why would Unser want her to make a vortex?” Steven asked.

“I don’t know,” Roy answered, “but it’s connected to Eximere
somehow, we already know that. Things were going haywire there when the rod
shifted locations, after those bozos from Seattle did their electromagnetic
thing. Shutting down the vortex at the abandoned house might be a very bad move,
it might impact Eximere. It could cause more damage. Unser wanted that vortex
built for a reason. Enough that he tricked his ex-wife into murdering their
daughter for it.”

“What a prick,” Steven said. “I didn’t think I could dislike
the man more than I did, but the more we learn about him, the more I hate him.
How could he have his own daughter killed like that?”

“For all we know, he married Marie with the intent of having
a child for this purpose,” Roy replied. “She was apparently an unstable gifted
who was clearly in love with him. Easy to manipulate.”

“He hated gifteds so much,” Steven said. “Why marry one? Why
have offspring that would be even more of what he hated?”

“The vortex,” Roy said. “It’s all about that. He was up to
something much bigger. And to sort that all out, we’re going to need Maynard.
We’ll have to tell him about Unser and Eximere and all of it, or he won’t be
able to help us. And we can’t do that unless we talk to Eliza. We made a pact
that we wouldn’t divulge Eximere’s existence to anyone unless we all agreed. So
there are two things that need to be done before we go back to Maynard,
hopefully before he gets so pissed off he just ups and leaves. The first thing
is to call Eliza, explain things to her and see what she thinks. See if she’s
OK with bringing Maynard into the know. The other thing I think we need to do
is find out who owns the land that abandoned house is sitting on. I can’t
believe that house would sit undisturbed for so many years. Someone would have
tried to buy it and tear the thing down. If we find out who owns it, that may
connect the dots on this.”

“I can check the state’s records with my phone,” Steven said,
“but I can’t get a good data signal here at the motel.”

“Let’s go somewhere in town where you can,” Roy said. “Any
place you remember it being strong enough?”

“Duffy’s,” Steven said. “I checked my email there, it worked
fine.”

“Let’s go,” Roy said. “I could use a cup of clam chowder
about now.”

◊

“Sure is taking a long time,” Roy said, slicing his fork into
blackberry pie.

“It’s a government website,” Steven said.

“Ah, say no more,” Roy replied, lifting his coffee mug to his
lips.

“The abandoned house is owned by a trust that’s administered
by a law firm out of Tacoma,” Steven said.

“Just like the Unser estate!” Roy replied.

“There was an option here to have it search all records on
the same owner’s name, so I’ve launched that, and it’s taking a long time.”

“Don’t need that, we already got what we need.”

“Well, there’s no harm in seeing what else this law firm
owns,” Steven replied, “or at least controls.”

“Let’s call Eliza,” Roy said. “Explain it to her. Get her
vote. If that property is controlled by a law firm from Tacoma, that’s evidence
enough for me.”

“You don’t know that it’s the same lawyers that control the
Unser property,” Steven said. “Percival never told us the name of the firm.”

“It’s close enough,” Roy said.

“I need to wait until these results come back before I call
her,” Steven said. “I can’t use the internet and make a call at the same time.”

“Do it later,” Roy replied. “I want to get back to Maynard
with a decision before he gets cold feet.”

“It might help if you didn’t fight with him,” Steven said,
looking down at his phone.

“I can’t help it, he gets on my nerves.”

“So you vote to take him into Eximere?” Steven said. “You
realize that’ll put it out of our control?”

“We don’t have a choice,” Roy said. “We can’t leave the
vortex the way it is, it’s too unstable. And we can’t have Maynard destroy it,
that’ll ruin Eximere too.”

“We don’t know that,” Steven said.

“I strongly suspect it,” Roy said. “They’re connected
somehow, that’s obvious. It’s too big of a risk to take.”

“So what, then?”

“We take Maynard down to Eximere and lay our cards on the
table,” Roy said. “Then see if his expertise can sort it out. Despite how
ornery he is, I think he can help us. We need to use him.”

“Trust me, he’s no more ornery than you,” Steven said. “You
two are like a mirror image. Old, cranky, and stubborn.”

“Call Eliza,” Roy said, taking the last bite of his pie.

“Not here, not in the restaurant,” Steven said. “Out in the
car.”

“Come on, then,” Roy said, sliding out of the booth.

“Wait!” Steven said, watching his phone. “Finally, the search
finished! The page is updating.”

“Never mind that. Come on,” Roy said, grabbing the tab.

“Dad, stop,” Steven said, reading his phone.

“What?” Roy asked impatiently.

“Two more properties,” Steven said. “One in Matlock. The
other is in Oakville. They’re all within thirty miles of Eximere.”

Roy stared at him, unsure of what to make of the news. “Will
you come on? We need to get Eliza on the horn.”

Steven slid out of the booth and followed Roy out of the
restaurant, staring at the pull tab dispensers as Roy paid the bill. Then they
walked to the car and Steven started it up, turning on the heater. The dark
clouds had intensified, and the late afternoon sky looked more like dusk.

Steven dialed Eliza and put her on speakerphone, holding it
between them.

“Eliza, it’s Steven.”

“Hello, handsome! I can tell I’m on speakerphone — Roy with
you?”

“Hello, Eliza,” Roy said.

“Hello, Roy! What’s up?”

“We’ve got a strange one here, Eliza,” Steven started. He
retold the events since their last conversation, ending with what he’d found
searching on the state website.

“So I think we have to involve Maynard at Eximere,” Roy said.
“And I vote to let him in, see if he’s got any ideas once he knows the whole
story.”

“You could just ask him to repair the vortex and leave,”
Eliza said. “Or would he resist that?”

“He might,” Roy said. “He’s a little feisty, he’d want an
explanation. And he’d need a new rod to replace the broken one. We don’t know
if he has one or not.”

“I want to know what Unser was up to,” Steven said. “I want
to know why he tricked Marie into setting up the vortex, at the expense of his
child.”

“We already know Unser was bad,” Eliza replied. “This just
confirms it.”

“But he was up to something,” Steven said. “Something more
than just his estate, his house, and Eximere. If we repair the vortex, it’ll
just be a band aid. Something else will pop up and put us at risk if we don’t
find out the whole story and get to the bottom of it.”

“He’s right about that,” Roy said. “We might be able to get
Maynard to do a patch job and leave, but there’ll be a lot of unanswered
questions.”

“That poor girl!” Eliza said. “Buried by her parents, just
because she was so gifted. What a shame.”

“For what it’s worth, she hates Unser,” Steven said. “She
sees him as the cause of all the trouble. She’s trying to wreck her mother’s
vortex just to fuck with him, to get at him. If we repair the vortex, we’d
still have to contend with her. She’d find a way to wreck it again, somehow.
It’d only be a matter of time.”

“So you bring Maynard in,” Eliza said, “then what?”

“He’s an expert in his field,” Roy said, “and he’s not a newbie,
he’s been around. He’s got experience. I’m hoping he’ll have some idea what to
do. If not, we might be screwed, in which case Steven and I will be hauling a
lot of books and objects out of Eximere as fast as we can carry them.”

“And Thomas?” Eliza asked. “Jason? You can’t leave him
there.”

“I guess that’s a last resort,” Steven said. “That’s why I’m
voting with my dad on this. It’s two votes to let Maynard in.”

“Well,” Eliza said, “I know I trust you two with my life. If
you think it’s the right thing to do, I’m in too. Do you think he will keep his
mouth shut about it?”

“There’s a chance,” Roy said. “He doesn’t seem like a talker.
But you never know when money comes into it. And I suspect the objects at
Eximere would fetch plenty if put on the market.”

“And arouse suspicion,” Eliza said. “I’ll vote yes, but look
for a way to rope Maynard in more tightly, some way to ensure his silence. I
don’t know him like you two, but I think we need some leverage.”

“We’ll try,” Roy said. “He’s holding the cards at this point.
We need him more than he needs us.”

“You two take care,” Eliza said. “Please let me know how it
goes, when you can.”

“Will do,” Steven said. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“Bye.”

Steven lowered his phone. “Well, I guess it’s settled. We tell
him.”

“Let’s get back to the motel,” Roy said. “I’m gonna be pissed
if he got his panties in a bunch and left town.”

Steven pulled his Acura out of the parking lot in Aberdeen
and back onto the main road that stretched through town. As they reached the motel,
they saw Maynard loading his bags into the back of his trailer. Steven pulled
his car up next to the truck and they got out.

“Going somewhere?” Roy asked.

“I’m not paying for another night in this overpriced fleabag
joint,” Maynard said. “Especially if there’s no reason to stay.”

“We’ve found out what we needed to,” Roy said.

“Well, that’s fine and dandy,” Maynard said, as though he
could care less. “I hope you enjoy your knowledge. I have some knowledge too. I
know I’ll be back in my easy chair in front of my wood burning stove right
around noon tomorrow morning.”

“Hold on, Maynard,” Steven said. “We need to show you
something.”

“Is that what your private confab was all about? Deciding to
show me something?”

“We made a promise to someone that we’d keep what we’re about
to show you secret,” Roy said. “We had to consult with them to get the green
light. I never break my promises, so it couldn’t be helped.”

“What could you possibly show me that would be more appealing
than my easy chair next to a fully loaded stove?”

Steven looked at Roy, and they both broke into a smile. “Just
follow me, alright?” Steven said, turning back to Maynard. “Before you go back,
just come with us and let us explain.”

“Just explain right here,” Maynard said, sticking up his
chin.

“It’s much easier if you see it,” Steven said. “And I promise
it’ll be worth your time. It’s about twenty miles from here, on your way back
to the interstate. No more than an hour of your time, I promise. If it doesn’t
measure up to your expectations, we won’t try to stop you from leaving. My
personal guarantee.”

Maynard looked between the two of them, trying to gauge their
honesty. “If you’re wasting my time,” he said, “I can promise you, you’ll never
get someone with my credentials again. I have plenty of friends who deal with
vorghosts, and I’ll make sure they all know you’re a bad nut.”

“Actually,” Roy said, “I expect your complete and total
discretion regarding what we’re about to show you. It’s something only three
people know about, and you’ll be the fourth. It needs to stay private, between
just the four of us. We only let someone know about it if all the others agree,
which is what just happened. This is the first time we’ve shared this with
anyone else. So I need your word on that.”

“If you’re pulling my leg, I will warn others about you,”
Maynard said.

“I’d do the same thing,” Roy said. “But we’re not pulling
your leg.”

“Then I give you my word,” Maynard said. “Lead on.”

Steven and Roy returned to their car and pulled out onto
Highway 12, heading east. Steven kept an eye on Maynard in the truck behind
him, making sure he didn’t lose him, which wasn’t hard; traffic was light and
even though Maynard was an old man, he didn’t drive like one. When they reached
the exit for Montessa, Steven gave Maynard plenty of notice with his turn
signal. Maynard stayed right behind them.