Unhallowed Ground Page 8

  “What in the hell are you doing out here?” Ryan asked, his smile instantly fading when he saw the expression on Kelly’s face and the redness of his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  Kelly pulled off his gloves and placed his hands over the heater vents. “Deputy Bryant found William dead in his truck out by I-70. They still haven’t found Grace. I told Tim I’d go check the store. I didn’t find anything at the house this morning other than the heat being out. Front and back doors were both blown open. I thought maybe they’d left to go somewhere warm, but...”

  Ryan dropped his gaze to the steering wheel and furrowed his brow. While he wasn’t as close to the Suhrs as Kelly, they had still been a constant fixture in his life. “Wow... What actually happened? Do they know yet?”

  “I dunno. Tim was broken up when he called, and I just volunteered to check the store because I needed to do something, you know?”

  “Well, killing yourself being out in this cold isn’t going to help anything. I’ll drive you over there, okay?” He turned his eyes back toward his friend.

  “Thanks, Ryan. I should have probably called you to drive me in the first place. I don’t know what I was thinking, heading out when it’s this cold.” Kelly shook his head and averted his gaze, feeling more tears welling up.

  “It was cold yesterday, but today, damn.” Ryan pulled away from the curb. “Yesterday it was like 30.”

  “Bank sign said thirteen below.” Kelly fastened his seat belt and wiped his eyes, glad for any conversation to get his mind off of what was happening.

  “That’s crazy. I just had lunch with Dani. Madgie’s still being weirder than normal, I guess.”

  Kelly frowned to himself as the thought took him right back to the Suhrs. “I guess we should tell the old lady what’s going on after we hit the store, huh?”

  “I reckon.” Ryan sank lower in his seat, his hands tightening on the wheel. “Can I be a crazy conspiracy theorist for a moment?”

  “Aren’t you always?” Kelly asked, giving a faint smile.

  “True. What if... I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but what if it was William who went out and messed with the equipment last night?” he asked. “Afterward, he just got turned around in the storm and ended up where he ended up?”

  “I can’t see him doing something like that, but...” Kelly narrowed his eyes and looked at the road ahead. “For him to have left in that storm to head out anywhere, he must have had a damn good reason. The heat being broken in their house was reason enough for them to leave, I would think. I figured they would have headed to Tim’s house, but he didn’t say he was expecting them when I talked to him.”

  “Tim lives in the opposite direction out of town from the interstate, Kel. Was the heat broken?”

  Kelly slowly turned his eyes back to Ryan. “What?”

  “Was the heater really broken?” he asked again. “Or was it just butt cold inside the house because the doors were left open? Did you check the thermostat?”

  He blinked slowly, his mouth pulling down into a frown. “Honestly... I didn’t even think to.”

  “Okay, we check the store, then we go back to the house to check that out,” Ryan said, easing the car around the corner and into the parking lot of the feed store. “Something about all of this is really bothering me.”

  Chapter

  21

  Kelly used the key Grace let him keep and entered the store. The lights were all off, and the interior of the store wasn’t as warm as it would have been had anyone been working. The two men walked through the entire building and the hay barn, but there wasn’t any indication that anyone had been inside since the day prior.

  Before locking up, Kelly hung a note in the door window letting customers know that the store would be closed until further notice. He wasn’t sure why he felt compelled to do so, it wasn’t his store, but it made him feel like he was doing something proactive.

  They headed back toward the house, Ryan’s small car sliding a few times on the otherwise deserted road. Kelly did his best to keep his emotions in check, but they got the better of him, and he felt tears burning in his eyes as they went. He tried to keep it hidden from his friend, but Ryan picked it up and kept quiet.

  Ryan put the car in park before the house, exactly where Kelly had put it earlier that morning. He opened his door and got out, going around and waiting for Kelly to emerge.

  Kelly wiped his eyes again and exited the vehicle. As they walked up toward the front door, the note he’d left there earlier appeared to be gone. He didn’t let his hopes get up too far, in case the small note had just fallen from the door jamb and blown away. Once on the porch, he looked around, but the note wasn’t anywhere to be found.

  “What are you looking for?”

  He looked at Ryan and gave a small shrug. “I left a note here earlier. It’s gone.”

  Nodding, Ryan looked around them on the porch before pointing down. “Those tracks aren’t near big enough to be yours.”

  Kelly looked, seeing there were other prints besides the ones he’d left that morning. They most certainly hadn’t been there before, and he felt a spark of optimism kindle. “Those are new. Maybe she’s here.”

  Ryan didn’t respond, and he reached out and pressed the doorbell.

  Several minutes passed, and there was no answer. Kelly knocked and they waited again, but there still wasn’t any hint of movement within the house. He pulled out his keys and unlocked the door, looking at Ryan before opening it.

  “Just in case she’s here and didn’t hear us, why don’t I go in first? Seeing both of us at once might scare her a little more than needed.”

  “I’ll just come inside the door. It’s too damn cold for me to stay out here.” Ryan motioned for Kelly to get the door open. The air was so cold it hurt to breathe, and he could already feel his chest tightening up. “I can’t take this air.”

  Kelly quickly nodded and opened the door. They both stepped inside, and it was immediately clear the furnace was on. The house had warmed considerably since his earlier visit.

  “Well, they weren’t bailing because of a broken heater,” Ryan said quietly, folding his hands behind his back. “Go see if you can find her.”

  Kelly nodded and moved into the house. He looked in the kitchen first, but nothing was any different from his first visit there. Next, he moved to the stairs and called out to see if Grace would answer. If she was there, giving her a heart attack was the last thing he wanted to do.

  He waited for a minute but was met only with silence. Kelly looked over to see Ryan waiting exactly where he’d left him before he started up the stairs. On the way up, he unzipped his coat as the heat within the house had risen to the second floor.

  Kelly paused at the top of the stairs and called out again. There wasn’t any answer or sound other than the faint trickle of water he’d left running in the upstairs bathroom. At least, that’s what he thought it was at first, but instead of coming from the bathroom to his right, the sound was coming from the guest bedroom before him.

  There was a rushing prickle across his skin, adding to the flush of heat coming to his cheeks after being in the cold. Kelly had to work up the nerve to go forward, the jittery, nervous feeling he’d suffered the day prior returning.

  Moving with cautious steps, Kelly got to the half-closed door of the guest room and reached out to push it open. The curtains were closed, and it was dark inside. When his eyes adjusted, what he saw inside initially gave him a sense of relief. Grace was there, but she was standing in the far corner of the room, facing the wall. The odd, rushing sound he’d heard in the hallway was coming from her with each of her breaths.

  “Grace?”

  She didn’t move, nor did she stop making the sound. Her body was still wrapped in her winter coat, despite the oppressive heat that had built up in the bedroom. Something was wrong with her, and before he gave himself the chance to think back upon the vision of her he’d had the night before, he closed the remaining distance b
etween them.

  Kelly reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, trying to turn her away from the wall, so he could look at her. She resisted moving at first, but on his second try, she pivoted around to face him.

  Her mouth was agape, multiple strands of what looked like filthy mop strings hanging from between her lips and out of her nose. The surfaces of her eyes were dark with writhing masses of the same material, and the strangled breathing sound continued to emanate from her as she tried to pull in air around the worm-like tendrils.

  Though his instinct was to scream, he failed to produce any audible sound. His skin was hit with an immediate icy-glaze, and he fought his fear paralysis and backed up to run from the room.

  His snow boots gripped the edge of the bedspread as he tried to run, and he careened forward. His hands clawed for anything to stop his fall, and he caught the edge of a curtain, ripping it from the rings holding it to the rod as he went. He hit the aged wood floor hard enough to knock the wind out of him, the curtain crumpling to the ground beside him. The room was immediately filled with diffuse white light, and he struggled to pull in air and continue his escape.

  Kelly got onto all fours and looked back over his shoulder, seeing Grace standing in the same place. Knowing she wasn’t getting any closer did nothing to quell his panic, and he managed to get back to his feet and run for the door. He felt on the verge of insanity, and if he turned and looked at her again, he thought he might actually lose his mind.

  “What the hell is going on up there?” Ryan called out, already moving up the stairway. He’d heard Kelly call out to Mrs. Suhr and the crash of his fall afterward, prompting him into action.

  Kelly got out of the guestroom and slammed the door behind him as he fled, needing some barrier between him and whatever he’d just seen. He saw Ryan get to the landing at the top of the stairs and finally managed to get his voice to work. “Run!”

  Ryan’s eyes went wide in confusion, and he did no such thing. “What in the hell is wrong? What’s got you all freaked out?”

  “Grace is in there,” he said, pointing back toward the door. “But there’s something really wrong with her!”

  “So help her, don’t run you stupid shit!” Ryan pushed past him and went to the guestroom door, shirking off Kelly’s hands. He threw open the door and froze in the doorway for a moment before going inside. “Mrs. Suhr? Are you okay?”

  She was standing in the same place Kelly had last seen her. The tendrils were completely gone, the sound no longer coming from her.

  Grace gave a slow blink, looking confused but nodded. “I’m... I’m fine. What are you doing here, Ryan?”

  Kelly slowly stepped into the room behind Ryan, fighting his instinct to flee. He looked around his friend, disbelieving what he saw. There didn’t appear to be anything out of the ordinary at all. His chest ached as his lungs still fought to draw in air, and he leaned against the dresser, eyes fixed on Grace.

  Ryan flashed a disgusted look at Kelly before facing her again. “We came to check on you. Kelly has tried to get a hold of you since last night, he was worried.”

  She slowly lowered herself to sit on the edge of the bed, the covers half torn off from Kelly’s entanglement earlier. “I’ve been around...”

  “What the hell was all that shit hanging from your mouth?” Kelly moved a single step closer but still kept behind Ryan.

  She frowned and looked at him, shaking her head and giving a small shrug. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Kelly.”

  “You were in the corner! I turned you around and...” Kelly made a vague gesture with his hands, his complexion still waxy in his fear.

  “I didn’t hear you come in. When I turned, you just ran out and slammed the door. What’s wrong with you?” she asked, folding her hands in her lap. “You scared me half to death!”

  Kelly’s shoulders slumped as Ryan and Grace both stared at him. He tried to speak in his own defense, but he was outnumbered. There clearly wasn’t anything strange going on now.

  Grace’s bent arthritic hand came up, pointing at him. “See? Being in that damned cemetery and disturbing the dead there has already made you crazy! You never should have gone out there!”

  He thought back to the vision of her the night before outside of his window, his mouth snapping shut and pulling down into a frown. Either what he’d seen had been real, or there was something wrong with him. While the first was impossible, it had most definitely seemed real to him. It had been dark in the room, and perhaps his eyes had played a trick on him again.

  “Kel, are you okay?” Ryan’s head cocked to the side. “I know we’ve both been a little freaked out with everything.”

  He shook his head and submissively averted his eyes to the side. Whether something was wrong with him or not, there were more pressing matters at hand. “Grace, has anyone gotten a hold of you about William yet?”

  She switched her gaze between the two of them, brow furrowing. “No, why? He left last night, and I haven’t seen him since. Just... took off.”

  Kelly let out a long breath and summoned the courage to go over and sit beside her. “Grace, William’s truck slid off the road in the storm. Deputy found him this morning, but...”

  There wasn’t any obvious emotional reaction from her as she looked at him and gave a slow blink. “He’s dead?”

  “Yeah.”

  Grace sighed and placed her hands onto her knees with an audible slap. “He shouldn’t have left like that.”

  Kelly looked up at Ryan, quirking a brow. This hadn’t been the reaction either of them had expected.

  Ryan took a step closer, kneeling down before the old woman. “They were worried you were out there somewhere, too. Finding you is a big relief.”

  “I’ve just been here,” she said, looking over at Kelly.

  Kelly shook his head. “I came by a few hours ago, Grace. The front and back doors were wide open, the house was cold. I looked everywhere, but you weren’t here.”

  She gave a slow shake of her head, turning her eyes toward Ryan again. “I’ve been here. I didn’t leave after I was brought home last night. Ryan, is there something wrong with Kelly? Why is he acting so strange?”

  After Kelly’s reaction just a few minutes prior, Ryan honestly wasn’t sure what to think. While Kelly certainly had been scared by something, he couldn’t imagine what it was he’d thought he’d seen.

  “He’s just stressed out. I know hearing about William hit him pretty hard,” Ryan said, glancing at his friend. “We’re worried about you right now. Tim’s coming as soon as the road is cleared, right Kel?”

  Kelly gave a nod, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone. “Yeah. Let’s call him right now so he knows you’re okay, Grace.”

  She gave a small nod before staring down at her hands. There weren’t any tears evident in her eyes, nor any expression on her face.

  Kelly bent to pick up the curtain he’d ripped down before with his free hand, waiting for Tim to answer.

  “Hello?”

  Kelly laid the curtain on the dresser. “Tim, it’s Kelly. I’m at your mom’s house with Ryan. She’s here... she’s okay.”

  “Thank God!” Tim’s relief was nearly tangible, even over the phone. “Losing dad’s bad enough. If I’d lost her, too...”

  “She’s fine. Here,” Kelly turned around and held the phone toward Grace. “Let him know you’re okay.”

  She reached out and took the phone slowly, putting it to her ear. “Timmy? Yes. Oh, I know. I’m fine, I’ve been here. I suppose my phone just isn’t working properly, you know how those things are. Okay, I’ll see you when you get here. Goodbye.”

  Kelly reached out and took the phone when she offered it back to him. “He was really afraid they’d find you out there with William.”

  She shook her head, her expression placid. “I wouldn’t have done such a foolish thing as go out in that storm like he did. Timmy said he’ll be here in a while.”

  “So, you have no idea wh
y he went out?” Kelly asked, slipping his phone back into his pocket.

  “None.”

  Ryan shook his head. “He should have known better. He wasn’t the only one out last night, though. Someone came by the worksite and tore all of my dad’s equipment up.”

  Grace slowly turned her head toward Ryan. “You were all warned about going out there. Now, poor Kelly here has lost his mind, and God only knows what will happen to the rest of you.”

  Ryan stood back up, looking over at Kelly. There had been something in her tone he didn’t like. While he still wanted to ask if she and the other women had been out to the job site, it didn’t seem like the time for it. “Well, we won’t be doing anything out there for a good while, now.”

  She didn’t respond, just turning her eyes forward again and frowning at the exposed window.

  Kelly’s instincts were starting to light up again. Something was just wrong. He knew it wouldn’t do his already injured body any good, but he volunteered, needing to get out of the room. “I’ll go shovel the walk for you while we wait for Tim, okay?”

  “That would be lovely, Kelly,” she said, offering him a hollow smile.

  Ryan, though not as spooked as Kelly, didn’t like the feeling overtaking him, either. Though the air was cold enough to threaten him with another asthma attack, he opted to go out, too. “I’ll help. That’s a lot of snow.”

  Kelly didn’t argue, actually preferring Ryan go with him. They turned from the room and went out the back door to get the snow shovel and blower from the garage.

  Chapter

  22

  “What the hell was that back there?”

  Kelly stopped to lean against the shovel, looking over as Ryan killed the engine of the snowblower. “Back in the house?”

  “Of course!” Ryan put his hands on his hips, his cheeks burning red and his voice hoarse from the cold.