The Piper (36 page)

‘You checked?'

‘Yeah, I checked. The only way to get in there now is to do what your brother did. Trespass.'

‘I'm going to be arrested tomorrow,' Olivia said. ‘But I've got some free time tonight. If you're ready. If you want to face it. Don't you think it's time to stop running from this? Aren't you tired of living under a shadow? Maybe we were meant to do this together, you and me.'

‘You'd say anything to get me up there. The only thing you're worried about is Teddy, not me.'

‘True.'

‘But you're good, Olivia. You should be in sales.'

‘I'm in the mom business right now. I can take you home or I can take you with me.'

‘Look, give me some time—'

‘I'm out of time, Ack, and I'm scared as hell that Teddy is out of time too. For all we know three fifteen means tonight, or tomorrow afternoon. And I'm going to be in police custody very soon. If you haven't come up with a plan in fifteen years, you won't come up with one tonight. Just drive up there with me, okay? Show me how to get in. You want to wait in the car, you wait in the car.'

‘I'm not promising I'm going in there with you, Olivia.'

‘Fair enough.' Olivia started the Jeep, and backed out of her parking place, heading back down the hill. The Papermill exit was right by the interstate and five minutes later they were on their way.

T
he Waverly Hills Sanatorium was located in the southeastern edge of Louisville, and from Knoxville, it was a solid four hour drive. By eleven eleven p.m. Olivia and Ackerman were just a mile away. Ack looked at the clock on the dash and snorted.

‘Well, we timed it perfectly, didn't we?' she said. ‘We should be heading into the tunnel right about midnight.'

‘If it matters to you, we can get a hotel room, and go in the morning. Early, before it opens.'

‘We can't go in daylight, Olivia. There are security cameras and volunteer security guards, workmen all over the place doing renovations. They'll be there tonight too, but it will be a skeleton staff. We'll have a better chance in the dark. If we're going to do it, let's get it done.'

‘So you're coming in with me?'

‘Yeah,' Ack said. ‘I'm coming in. If for no other reason than my butt is getting tired of being jolted around in this Jeep. You got any shocks on this thing?'

‘It's one of the older models. You get used to it.'

‘
You
get used to it, I just want out. I've been nauseous the whole way. Look, there's a Pilot station a couple blocks from here. Let's stop for coffee, before we face our doom.'

‘Are you being funny or serious?' Olivia said.

‘I haven't decided yet.'

Even the pictures on the website had not prepared Olivia for how big the sanatorium was. Spotlights on redbrick and white concrete, several stories high, a monster. An institution. Inaccessible behind a gate that was padlocked and brightly lit. It stretched out like a castle, and Olivia realized the size was a serious advantage. The grounds took up acres, and even with an army of security guards, there was simply too much property to watch.

‘Don't stop here, Olivia, keep on going. If I remember right, there's a dirt access road in the woods behind the north wing. You don't happen to have a flashlight do you?'

‘I've got this little pig light on my key chain. Teddy gave it to me for Christmas, but it makes little oinking noises when it's on.'

‘Perfect,' Ack said. ‘We're like a couple of goof butts out of an Elmore Leonard novel. Do you get that we're totally unprepared?'

‘Do you get that I'm totally out of time? And you're prepared for this, Ack. You've been prepping for this for the last fifteen years.'

‘Yeah, but . . . wait, go back, Olivia. There it is. There's the road, see, on the right?'

Olivia backed up and went right. The dirt road doglegged, then wound through the woods on the north end of the estate, and Ack had Olivia follow it for three and a half miles before she was satisfied they had driven as far as they could.

‘We'll go the rest of the way on foot. How good are you at climbing fences, by the way?'

‘As long as there isn't barbed wire, I'm not too bad.'

‘There didn't use to be barbed wire. Let's hope there's not now. Don't look like that, Olivia. This is a huge place, we'll find a way in. Just like your brother did, twenty-five years ago.'

‘Yeah, but I never really got it till now. How incredibly big this place really is. What part of the sanatorium should we concentrate on? Does it matter? Will one of the outbuildings do?'

‘We're going where your brother went, Olivia.'

‘The Death Tunnel?'

‘Or you could call it the Body Chute. I'm not sure which is worse.'

Olivia sat forward, looking out the windshield at the grounds. ‘We'll never find it in all this maze.'

‘It's easier than you think. Come on, turn off the engine. I've got my cell phone, you got yours? In case . . . I don't know, we get separated or we need to call somebody.'

‘Let's not get separated, okay?'

‘Yeah, okay. Come on, Olivia. If we're going let's go.'

‘But how will we ever find the Body Chute in the dark like this?'

‘Easy enough. We'll go in through one of the vent shafts. They come up about every one hundred feet. Look for a big concrete cylinder, two by three. They'll stick up about two feet above the ground. I hope you don't have claustrophobia,' Ack said.

It was chilly out, with patches of fog drifting along the leaf covered ground. The only sweater Olivia had was Hugh's black cashmere, and she put it on with a muttered apology. Ack wore a sweatshirt and jeans and her usual pirate boots. She took a rubber band out of the pocket of her jeans, and pulled her long blonde hair into a ponytail. Olivia looked at her and shivered, thinking of Decan Ludde.

A half moon gave them just enough light to make their way, with the pig light ready when needed. In the end they did not even have to climb. They walked along the side of the chain link fence and found a weak spot that bowed inward along the ground. They went under instead of over, smearing their bellies with grass stains and dirt. Olivia's sweater caught on the fence, ripping a flap in the back. She asked Hugh in a whisper not to mind.

After that, Ack took the lead, wandering for so long at the edge of the woods that Olivia began to suspect she was losing her nerve. But then Ack stopped, and Olivia saw the concrete opening that was swallowed up by ground. A vent shaft, right into the Body Chute. Ack went forward and looked down into the hole, then glanced over her shoulder at Olivia.

‘Decision time. You really want to do this? Once we're down there, I'm not exactly sure how we're going to get back out. With any luck, we can follow the tunnel into the main building.'

‘And get arrested for trespassing.'

‘Maybe. Maybe not, if we're smart.'

‘I'm up for murder, that's the least of my worries now. And you're a well known psychic. You can talk your way out.'

Ack shrugged. Took a breath. Swung her legs over the ledge. ‘I'll go first. Wish me luck,' she said, and jumped.

Ack disappeared, and Olivia heard the thud of her feet hitting the ground beneath, and her shout that yes, she was okay, not to worry, it was no more than a ten foot drop.

Olivia stood very still. Somehow she'd thought she'd be the one going first, that she'd be talking a reluctant Ack in. But once Ack's head disappeared down the hole, it dawned on her that it was one thing to trek through the woods, and another to go into a tunnel. Underground. Into a place called the Death Tunnel, or, worse still, the Body Chute.

Was it possible that Teddy was in a place like this? Teddy could be anywhere, and there were limitless possibilities of bad. Maybe Teddy was in a dark place. Maybe Teddy would be in a dark place till Olivia found her.

Olivia went to the edge of the concrete and flashed the little pig light. ‘Ack? Where are you? You okay?'

The blonde head appeared beneath the halo of light and the pig light made grunting noises. ‘Don't shine that thing in my eyes, dammit. You coming? Because quite honestly I don't think I can climb back up and this would be a hell of a crap time for you to change your mind.'

‘I'm coming,' Olivia said. She swung her legs over the side of the concrete lip, slid as far down as she could on her butt, then jumped, landing on her feet but rolling sideways on the packed dirt floor.

‘Shit shit shit,' Olivia said.

Ack bent over her. Olivia could smell the coffee breath.

‘You okay?'

‘Bruises and a banged up ego.' Even when she whispered, Olivia's voice echoed, and it was cold down in the tunnel, she could almost see her breath. ‘I think I have to go to the bathroom.'

‘You went at the Pilot station,' Ack told her. ‘It's just nerves. Come on.' Ack gave her a hand up.

‘What now?' Olivia said.

‘Hell if I know. Let's walk.'

‘Which way?'

‘That way,' Ack said. ‘Toward the main entrance. Look, see the tracks there? That's how the rail car came through. Bringing the supplies in.'

‘And the bodies out,' Olivia said.

‘Yeah, well, I wouldn't dwell on that.'

They hugged the left side of the tunnel, single file, with Ack going first. The rails took up the entire right side. Ack told Olivia to keep the light going, and to point it just ahead at their feet.

They walked for about a hundred yards. The farther they went, the darker it got, until they were close beneath another shaft, which let in blessed fresh air and moonlight. The tunnel was an oblong, tube shape, their footsteps raising little puffs of dust on the dirt floor. There were things written on the walls sometimes. Olivia saw
ALICE
then
help
then decided not to shine the light on the walls anymore.

Their footsteps made muted echoes, and Ack moved steadily for another hundred yards before she gasped, and took a step back, running into Olivia, who was too close behind.

‘What?' Olivia said, shining the light.

‘Shine it over there,' Ack said, pointing. ‘Okay. There. And there. Okay. Okay, it's gone.'

‘What was it?' Olivia's heart was thumping hard. ‘I don't see anything.'

‘I just . . . I felt it. Someone took my hand.'

‘
What?
'

‘Don't forget who I am, Olivia, or what I do. It wasn't . . . unfriendly. Just lonely, I think. There's a lot going on down here, remember. It isn't all—'

‘Don't say it,' Olivia said. ‘Please. Don't say his name.'

Ack laughed softly, in the dark. ‘You do know, don't you, Olivia, that there are plans to turn this place into a four star hotel?' She turned and headed forward down the chute, and Olivia hesitated for only a second before she followed. She was glad she was not here alone. But she wasn't sure she was glad the person with her was Ack.

And as they continued to walk, Ack began to whisper. ‘Livie? Keep walking, but listen. Are you listening?'

Olivia nodded her head, then realized that Ack could not see her. ‘Yes,' Olivia whispered. Her throat was going dry.

‘I want you to keep the light just ahead like you're doing, okay? Just like that. But also, do you see ahead of us, on the right near the rail track? About ten feet up ahead. Keep walking, don't stop.'

Olivia kept walking, and kept the light just ahead of Ack's steps, and looked onto the right, up ahead, straining to see what Ack saw, in the dark.

‘No, I don't see anything, I just – oh.
God
. What
is
that?'

‘What do
you
see? Keep going, Olivia, keep walking.'

‘It's weird looking. Like a mist with something dark inside. It's moving. It looks like . . .'

‘What, Olivia? Because to me, it kind of looks like . . . shadow legs.'

Olivia took a breath, and stopped. ‘Yes. It looks like that to me too.'

‘
Keep going, Olivia.
'

‘I don't—' Olivia felt the start of tears in her eyes. ‘I don't want to follow that thing.'

‘You have to.'

‘Why?'

‘Because there's something just like it behind us.'

Olivia gasped and made a noise deep in her chest, and Ack took her hand. ‘Keep moving, keep moving.
Come on
.'

‘We can't go back,' Olivia said.

‘No. We can't go back.'

‘
What is it?
' Olivia whispered.

‘Maybe it's just . . . an escort. Maybe it means we're going the right way.'

‘I want out of here,' Olivia said. ‘I'm sorry, Ack, but I want out.'

‘I don't think getting out is an option for you, Olivia.'

‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?'

‘I've been thinking about this, and it occurs to me, that maybe this entity, whatever it is, maybe it's after
you
.'

‘
Me?
'

‘Because it's all around you, Olivia. Think about it. Everything that's happened, it always seems to connect back to you.'

‘I don't think I'm that important, Ackerman.'

‘But you're always on the sidelines, aren't you? Meanwhile your sister disappears, your brother wrestles with this thing his whole life.'

‘This thing is Chris's fault. He's the one who brought it back. He brought it back from here.'

‘Very possible. And also possible that this was an opportunity while it was hunting you.'

Olivia stopped, but Ackerman pushed her along.

‘I know you're scared, Olivia, and I'm not trying to make it worse, I just want you to be prepared. To be strong if you get . . . targeted. You can't just stand on the sidelines with these things. Keep going, come on, the only way out is forward, there isn't any other way. Think of your little girl, and keep walking, Olivia. Keep walking, okay?'