The Piper (31 page)

‘Please, Aunt Olivia, don't
mom
me. Please just listen to what I have to say.'

Olivia sat back on the bed.

Janet squeezed the towel in her fists and looked at the floor. ‘I've been praying a lot, Aunt Olivia, for Teddy, and trying to talk to Daddy in my dreams. I can't know that he hears me, but I think he does.'

Olivia felt her shoulders sag. She felt she should hug Janet, wet and muddy or not, do something to comfort her. But she didn't. She just sat there on the edge of the bed, thinking about what Teddy would be like at that age, wondering if Teddy would be lucky enough to get to that age. Bad thoughts, but she could not keep them out of her head.

‘I came here to warn you, Aunt Olivia. Because I think it must be trying to talk to you, isn't it, trying to get in your head?'

‘What's trying to talk to me?'

‘
You know what
. Why won't anybody tell the truth about this thing? Duncan Lee, Decan Ludde. Whatever you call him. The Piper. Don't pretend you don't know.'

‘I
do
know what you mean,' Olivia said steadily. ‘But I don't hear it in my head.'

‘Are you sure?'

‘I'm sure,' Olivia said. But was she?

‘Because I bet it talked to Uncle Hugh. And it talked to Daddy. And I know it talked to Teddy. And all of them are dead.'

‘
Don't say that
. Teddy isn't dead.'

Janet folded her arms, and Olivia realized her niece was looking at her with pity. ‘It doesn't play fair, Aunt Olivia. There's not going to be any mercy for Teddy, haven't you figured that out?'

Olivia felt the strength go out of her arms and legs. ‘Is it talking to you, Janet? Did the Piper tell you that?'

She shook her head. ‘I don't listen anymore. Daddy taught me to block it. But it can be hard.'

‘What does it say, when it talks to you? How does it work?'

Janet twisted the towel in her fists. ‘It starts slow, Aunt Olivia, but it's always there, it waits and it
presses
on you, and after a while you start to know if it's around. It even has a name for the first stage. It calls it the
awakening
.'

Olivia wrapped her arms tightly around her chest.

‘And if you listen even a little, then it's like it's got a foot in the door, and it gets stronger and stronger and sometimes it feels like a friend, but it's
not
.'

‘Is it a voice in your dreams?' Olivia asked.

Janet tilted her head sideways. ‘Sometimes. Or in your mind. But it can talk out loud, right behind you, or beside you. Sometimes it
breathes
on you. It's scary and weird. But the more you listen, the more attention you give it, the stronger it gets. Teddy told me it used to sit on the end of her bed, and sometimes at the table in the sunroom. She said you couldn't see it and Duncan Lee said it was because you were stubborn, and you refused to look. That no one can see it unless they agree. It has to be a choice.'

‘Teddy
told
you that?'

‘It's why we had the séance that day, when you and Mama got so mad. I knew Teddy was in trouble and only Daddy could help. Mama doesn't see it either. Or she pretends it's not there.'

‘How long—' Olivia's throat was tight and it was hard to form the words. ‘How long has Teddy been talking to this thing?'

‘Do you remember the year before Daddy died and you came for Thanksgiving? You and Teddy, but not Uncle Hugh?'

Olivia nodded.

‘Teddy was upset because you were moving again and she was going to have to go to a new school after Christmas break and not have any friends. She was crying in the night, after everybody was asleep. I heard her, she was in the living room all curled up. She said she wished she could live in the same house all the time like I did and go to the same school. So I told her about him. About Duncan Lee. I told her he could be her friend no matter how many schools she went to. That she would never have to start a new school by herself again. He could even protect her, if somebody gave her a hard time. Because new kids always have to deal with bullies.'

Olivia stood up, and Janet flinched, so she sat back down. ‘
Why?
Why did you tell her those things?
'

Janet stared at the floor, and her voice dropped to a whisper. ‘Because he told me to. He said I had to say it, to keep my sisters safe. I didn't have a choice, Aunt Olivia – he says he gives you choices but that's a lie. He has a friendly voice, Aunt Olivia, but the things he says are
sick
. And bad things happen if you don't do what he says. So it's my fault. Everything bad that happened. Daddy and Teddy and Uncle Hugh.'

Olivia crouched down beside her niece, took the towel and wrapped it around her shoulders. Janet stayed tense and tight when Olivia tried to give her a hug. Please just cry, Olivia thought. But Janet pulled away.

‘Listen to me, Janet. I don't blame you, and you shouldn't blame yourself. Whatever this Piper does – none of it is your fault. Teddy is eight years old and you're barely thirteen. You're children. This thing is taking advantage, don't you see that? And every time you feel guilty, every time you think it's your fault, every time you feel afraid, you're playing right into its hands. I know you feel like an adult, but you're not. This Piper thing is not your responsibility. It's somebody else's job.'

‘Whose job, Aunt Olivia?'

‘Maybe mine.'

‘That's what Daddy told me too. But I wanted you to know. I wanted to tell you I'm sorry. I needed to confess.'

‘I understand, Janet. You can't keep something like this all to yourself. And it helps me to know what I'm up against. But I'm worried about you, now. Does it still – does it still sit on your bed and try to talk to you?'

‘No. Not since Daddy taught me what to do. He told me never to listen, to say no out loud and . . . and if it bothered me to ask him for help. He still helps me, Aunt Olivia, even since he's dead. I ask him to send me signs that he's watching over me, and he does.'

‘What signs does he send?'

‘Feathers. It's what I asked for. To send me a feather, so I would know he was there. And he does. There was one on the floor of the elevator, just a minute ago.' Janet dug into her jacket pocket, pulled out a tiny fluff of white and put it in Olivia's hand. Olivia held it up, the kind of feather that drifted out of goose down pillows. There were pillows like that all over the hotel.

‘Do you believe me, Aunt Olivia? That Daddy can send me feathers? Don't lie.'

‘I don't know,' Olivia said. ‘But I have a story to tell you. About a phone call I got. I think your daddy would want you to know about it. So you can be sure in your heart he's okay.'

Olivia was only a little surprised that Janet took a phone call from her dead father in stride. Olivia made sure to tell her that Chris was in a good place, and watching over them all. She did not mention the warning, because it was not the kind of thing her niece needed to hear.

And though Janet would still not take a dry set of clothes or a meal, she seemed different, lighter, relieved. Driving home, with the heater on full blast to keep her niece warm, Olivia had the sense that she had taken the weight from Janet's shoulders, and put it on her own, which was the way it should be – this was Chris's child, and Olivia was the adult. She told herself that information was what she needed, that knowledge was power no matter how upsetting it was. She told herself that Teddy wasn't dead.

But she was tied up tight with anger at the thought of her little Teddy, recruited like fresh meat. The anger felt good. She just needed to remember to be angry for both of them, two vulnerable little girls. Not to put the blame on a thirteen year old kid.

The Piper didn't play fair with anyone. She needed to keep that in mind.

Charlotte's car was not in the driveway when Olivia pulled up in front of the house.

‘Good,' Janet said. ‘She's probably at Kroger, getting groceries. I can sneak in. You won't tell her, right?'

‘No, I won't. But you should tell her yourself.'

Janet shook her head. ‘She'll only worry – she doesn't understand, but she knows enough to feel scared.'

‘Just don't talk to it, Janet. Do what your daddy said.'

Janet looked almost old when she turned to Olivia, the reflection of raindrops on the windshield shadowing her face. ‘That doesn't really work, all by itself. You have to pay toll to the troll, Aunt Olivia. I wouldn't be safe if Daddy hadn't died.'

The next morning, Olivia woke with the disturbing sense of a conversation interrupted, and the vague echoes of an unfamiliar voice in her head. She sat up, propped on one elbow, the hotel room grayish with early morning light.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed, shoulders going tense as the memory came.
An awakening
, is what the voice had said. A man, the voice was male.
Time for your awakening, Olivia.
The voice had given her a bad feeling, distinct and chilling, like a snake crawling up her back.

It had to have been just a bad dream, her dark imagination taking everything Janet had said to heart. Olivia pulled her tee shirt off, and stood in front of the mirror looking over her shoulder. Her skin had reddened, up and down her spine, as if she'd been scratching it in her sleep.

Was it really as simple as Janet had said? A simple acquiescence, opening the door a crack?

‘Is this what you meant when you warned me about the Mister Man, Chris?' She was talking to the dead now, just like Janet. ‘Were you talking about the Piper? Because you started this, didn't you, Chris? You brought this thing into our
home
. You think it's okay to save your little girl and not mine? You think I even want to live without my Teddy, that I wouldn't hesitate to trade my life for hers? You did it, didn't you, Chris? You made a deal. And if that's what it takes, then so will I.' Olivia stood up and opened her arms. ‘Come and get me, Piper. I want my little girl back.'

B
ennington Murphy had been a pain to get hold of. Olivia had spent the last two days leaving message after urgent message, never catching him home. But miraculously and at long last, when she woke up that morning, she had a message from the front desk that a Bennington Murphy had called, and would meet her that day at noon. He lived in a small town called Valden, in the far southeastern edges of Tennessee, and according to MapQuest, it was going to be a two hour and fifteen minute drive. Olivia was leaving an hour early in case she got lost.

She was heading across the hotel lobby, briefcase slung over one shoulder, debating whether or not to show Bennington the video of Hugh's death, when McTavish came in through the revolving front door. Olivia dropped her briefcase and froze. A tissue fell out of the side flap of the briefcase to the floor.

‘Livie?' McTavish bent down absently and returned the tissue, then took her hands and squeezed. ‘Nothing on Teddy. Where are you heading?'

He was looking at her jeans. She had not been into her office since Teddy disappeared.

‘Five days now,' she said.

‘I know.'

‘Five days.'

‘Look, I know I've caught you on your way out, but can you sit down with me a little while? We need to talk.'

‘I'm meeting someone, but I can give you a half hour. You want to go up to the room?'

He led her toward the dining room. ‘Let's do the breakfast buffet. I'm starving. Livie, I can feel every little bone in your hand. Have you been eating at all?'

‘I eat a bag of salt and vinegar potato chips every night and drink a beer and fall asleep.'

‘That's it?'

‘It's the jumbo bag, economy size. And it's the only time I'm hungry.'

He led her into the dining room. ‘Whatever works.'

The buffet had everything that Olivia liked – shredded hash brown potatoes, melon slices, corned beef hash. McTavish helped himself to sausage links, biscuits and gravy, and Olivia sat down at a table with a glass of orange juice, thinking that if Hugh had been there, he'd have had the salmon and brie. But Hugh wasn't there. Hugh was gone. Just like everybody else.

A waiter brought coffee in a silver pot, and waited for Olivia to signal when to stop pouring cream. She began her new routine by lining up the salt and pepper shakers, then organizing the various sugars and artificial sweeteners, by color, in the bowl.

McTavish sat across from her and frowned, putting a napkin into his lap. ‘Don't you want anything other than coffee and juice?'

‘What I want is to know if Teddy had anything to eat today. If she got breakfast. If she's hungry, or . . . you know.'

McTavish rubbed his forehead. ‘I know.'

He knew, Olivia thought, but he was still able to eat. She watched him cut up sausages and wolf them down.

‘Sorry kiddo, but I've been working twenty-four seven, and eating burgers from a bag, and this is the first hot meal I've had in days.'

‘What did you want to talk to me about, McTavish?'

‘Several things, but first off, I just needed to see you in person and make sure you're okay.'

‘I'm as okay as I can be.'

‘Yeah, I know, but Jamison. He's staying with me right now – and by the way he keeps asking about you, he seems to think you're going to be moving in too. You could, you know. It would be better than being alone.'

‘I'm not leaving the hotel until I find Teddy. I'll go home with my little girl.'

‘I'm not going to argue with you about it, Livie. Just know the offer holds. The main thing is, Jamison was up last night with nightmares, and he was frantic. He kept saying you were in some kind of trouble. I tried to make him understand that it was Teddy who was missing, but he kept talking about you.'