Unhallowed Ground Page 9

  “You aren’t going to believe me if I tell you what I saw.”

  “Try me.”

  He sighed and let the shovel fall to the side, landing in the snow covering the lawn with a dull frump. “I opened the door to the room, and the curtains were closed, so it was kinda dark. I got to her and turned her around and there were like, I dunno, all these gray strands hanging out of her mouth, and she was making this sound.”

  “Sound?”

  “Just this weird raspy breathing sound.”

  Ryan blinked slowly. “Seriously, Kel, are you feeling all right? I know we’ve been through a lot the last few days, but damn.”

  “Ryan, I swear to ever-loving God there was something really wrong with her!” Kelly shook his head and paced away a few steps. “I know it sounds bat-shit insane, but after as worried as I’ve been about Grace these last two days, why would I run away after finding her if there wasn’t something wrong?”

  “You’ve never been one for this spooky stuff.” Ryan moved away from the snowblower and closer to Kelly.

  “I know! I was the first one to always question it!” He looked back over his shoulder. “You know I would have paid anything to have seen that roid-raged bro ghost hunter show guy knocked on his ass!”

  Ryan laughed to himself, remembering how annoyed Kelly had been. “Yeah, I know, you jealous shit.”

  Kelly’s expression changed, his voice lowering. “Besides, don’t you think her reaction to finding out William died was off?”

  The levity immediately dissipated, Ryan’s eyes narrowing. “It didn’t exactly seem right, I’ll give you that.”

  “Not right? She didn’t shed a tear,” Kelly said, closing the distance between them. “I’m more shook up about it than she is. That’s not her style. She’s never been one to can her emotions. Not at all.”

  Ryan reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, his right hand moving to fish his inhaler out of his coat pocket. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you actually saw tentacles hanging out of her face.”

  “It looked more like fat dirty spaghetti. Besides, you’re the one who said he saw some sort of animal go running out of a coffin that had been sealed for a hundred years just the other day! I didn’t try to discredit you afterward,” Kelly said, watching Ryan closely. “Hey, are you okay?”

  He took a draw off of his inhaler before opening his eyes again. Though he’d tried to put the memory of what had happened in the cemetery in the back of his mind, Kelly had struck a chord. “The cold is really getting to me. I’m gonna have to go in. Steven saw that thing, too. It wasn’t just me.”

  “Well, if you’d been up there with me, you would have seen what I did.” Not wanting to see Ryan go into an attack that would need medical attention, Kelly waved him back toward the house. “Go on. I’ll put this stuff away and be in shortly.”

  Ryan looked at the house but made no move toward it.

  Kelly picked up the shovel and went to the snowblower. “Go on, Ryan. Don’t tell me you’ve got the jibblies when you think I’m full of shit about things.”

  Still, Ryan didn’t go. Kelly looked at him before following his gaze up to the window of the room they’d found Mrs. Suhr in. She was standing there, staring down at them.

  “You think she heard us?” Ryan asked.

  “Doubt it. Her hearing isn’t great, and this old house is built like Fort Knox,” Kelly said.

  “You think it’s a little weird she’s just staring at us like that without moving?”

  Kelly slowly turned back toward Ryan, one of his brows quirking up. “Kinda, yeah.”

  Ryan took another hit from his inhaler, his mouth pulling down into a frown. “I’m not going inside that house without you. I still think you’re full of shit, but now you’ve got me freaked out.”

  “Why don’t you go wait in the car? Tim has to be here soon, and you need to get out of the cold before you get all screwed up.”

  Ryan’s eyes landed on Kelly for a few seconds, and he gave a nod. “Okay, that might be a good idea.”

  Kelly watched Ryan head for the car before he looked up at the window again. She was still there, staring. He didn’t return the favor for long, quickly pulling the snowblower back into the garage.

  He hung the snow shovel on its hook next to the garage’s small window. Something blocked off the light coming through it, and Kelly felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. He froze in place with his hand still extended toward the shovel, afraid to look at the window.

  “Kel?”

  Hearing a familiar male voice, Kelly slowly turned his head and lowered his arm. Though it was Tim looking through the window, he still had to fight off the instinct to flinch when he made eye contact.

  Kelly cursed to himself and hastily walked out of the garage. “Tim, I’m really glad you’re here.”

  Ryan was walking toward them as well, feeling confident enough to exit his car now that someone else was on the scene.

  Tim’s face lacked his typical overly-friendly grin, his eyes bloodshot. Though he was usually the type to try a little too hard to instill the warm fuzzies in others, nothing of that vibe was present.

  “Grace is inside,” Kelly said, once he realized Tim wasn’t even capable of giving a greeting.

  “How’s she taking it?”

  The two younger men looked at one another, and Ryan shrugged, leaving the answer up to Kelly.

  “Uh, I think she’s in shock.” Kelly focused on Tim, knowing Ryan would clam up given the awkwardness of the situation. “She didn’t really react much at all.”

  Tim nodded slowly, turning toward the house. “Mom probably... Maybe it has to sink in. I dunno. I really don’t know what to think of it myself. I know mom and dad aren’t young, but I never thought losing one would just... happen.”

  Kelly’s pain over William’s death dug at him again, his eyes burning. “This whole day has been beyond screwed up.”

  “Yeah,” Tim sighed. “Let’s go in and see how she’s doing.”

  Chapter

  23

  Kelly and Ryan immediately stripped off their coats and gloves upon entering the house. Tim, numbed from his emotional state didn’t do so immediately.

  They went in through the back door and headed into the kitchen. Mrs. Suhr was sitting at the table within, her hands wrapped around a teacup. She stared down into it, giving them no acknowledgment as they neared her.

  Tim bent down as he walked closer. “Mom? I’m here.”

  There was a five-second delay between his words and Grace’s eventual response. She turned her head toward her son, giving him the same blank look she’d shown Kelly and Ryan earlier. “Timmy, did they finally get that road cleared?”

  He eased down into the chair to her left. “Yeah, finally. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, I suppose,” she replied, turning her head briefly to Kelly, giving him a stern glare before retaking the blank look.

  Ryan looked at Kelly afterward, the two of them landing in the remaining chairs at the table. Kelly tensed his mouth down and said nothing. Maybe she had been able to hear what they’d talked about outside of the house.

  As Grace lifted up the teacup to have a sip, there was a faint clink that came from it. No one else in the room took notice of the sound, but Kelly’s senses were on high alert. The sound was familiar enough, and when she set the cup back onto the table, his suspicion was confirmed.

  Most of the tea inside the cup was still frozen, rattling against the inner rim of the cup when it moved. The kittens painted on its exterior were visible between her crooked fingers.

  Kelly stared at her hands and the cup, tuning out the conversation Tim and his mother sank into. The frozen tea had his attention, but the other two men hadn’t noticed.

  Despite being in the room with three other people, Kelly felt isolated and alone. The idea he was losing his mind washed over him, but he knew what he’d seen hadn’t been all in his head. Regardless, the chunk of ice tapping
against the ceramic every few seconds was definitely real.

  Kelly interrupted Grace midsentence, unable to remain silent. “Grace, isn’t that the cup that’s been out all night? It was frozen solid when the back door blew open earlier. I should make you a fresh cup.”

  Everyone looked at Kelly, but he didn’t care. He pointed at the cup as he stood up. “Look, most of it’s still ice.”

  Ryan and Tim both looked at the cup, seeing the round chunk of solid tea floating in a discolored skin of settled out cream. While it looked repulsive, neither of them had the same visceral reaction to it Kelly did.

  Tim screwed up his face and reached out to take the cup from his mother’s hands. “Ew, mom, don’t drink that! Let Kelly get you a new cup.”

  Grace didn’t resist as the cup was pulled from her grip, nor did her expression change until her gaze panned up toward Kelly. Her eyes narrowed for just a second before an insincere smile curled her lips. “Thank you, Kelly. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  Kelly took the cup from Tim and went over to the sink and dumped it out. He took a clean cup from the cabinet and filled it before popping it in the microwave for two minutes.

  When the new cup of tea was ready, he came back over to the table and set it down near Grace, but did so at arm’s length. He wasn’t in the mindset to get too close to the old woman under the circumstances.

  When Kelly retook his seat, he quickly noticed Ryan staring right at him. He quirked a brow in response, not wanting to interrupt the quiet conversation between Tim and Grace.

  Ryan cocked his head toward the kitchen door before standing up.

  Kelly got up as well and followed him into the living room. “What?”

  “I gotta get out of here, Kel,” Ryan admitted. “You’re right, something’s wrong. That look she’s given you a few times... You don’t look too well yourself. We should probably give Tim and her a little time alone, anyway. Maybe we can go to the bakery and get something to bring back in a little while.”

  Kelly sighed and ran his hands through his hair, torn between leaving and the uneasiness writhing in his gut. “That’s really not a bad idea. We can tell Madgie what’s up, too.”

  .

  Chapter

  24

  Kelly and Ryan made the ride to the bakery in silence. Both of them sank into their thoughts. Kelly continued to fight tears about William’s death, and his worry that he was honestly losing his mind.

  Ryan gave an audible sigh. “Shit, I didn’t think about what time it was.”

  Kelly looked over and quirked a brow. “They close the bakery at two?”

  “Yeah, and it’s almost four already,” he replied, shaking his head. “I completely lost track of what time it was. Maybe we can pick up something more along the lines of dinner for them.”

  “Maybe,” Kelly replied, looking out the passenger window again. “We really should go tell Madgie what happened, though. She’s Grace’s best friend.”

  “Okay, we can swing over to their place.” Ryan continued down the street, passing the darkened bakery. “We should probably make it quick, though. It’ll be dark in another hour or so. With as bad as the road is still, I don’t really want to be out. Shoot Dani a text real quick to let her know we’re coming.”

  Kelly nodded and pulled out his phone to do as asked. “Sounds good.”

  Ryan glanced at his friend. “You wanna stay over tonight?”

  Though Kelly hated to admit it, going home to be alone was the last thing he’d wanted to do. He gave an honest smile and lowered his phone after hitting send. “Honestly, I would. With the shit I’ve seen, I don’t wanna be alone. I probably sound like a big pansy for saying that, but...”

  “Look, man, I don’t know what you did or didn’t see, but there was something definitely off about Mrs. Suhr. Drinking that frozen tea and those glares—hell, I dunno. Maybe we are all losing our minds.” His hands tightened around the steering wheel with an audible creak. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

  Kelly gave a small nod. “At least it wasn’t all in my head.”

  “Just most of it,” Ryan said with an uncomfortable laugh.

  He shrugged and shook his head. “Just the best parts, I guess.”

  Within five minutes, they were stopped before the house Dani shared with her grandma. They walked to the door, Ryan opening it right up and walking inside without knocking.

  Madgie slowly appeared in the doorway to the kitchen off the entry hall, looking the two men over. “Dani said you were on your way. That was fast. Hi, Kelly.”

  Kelly lifted a hand and offered a small wave, lingering behind Ryan. “Hey there.”

  Madgie wasn’t a small woman by any means. Nearly six-feet tall and beyond three-hundred pounds, there was a lot of her. She moved further into the kitchen and waved for them to follow. “Come on, the two of you look frozen. I’ll get you some hot chocolate. Sit. Dani will be down in a minute. She was changing after shoveling the walk.”

  They immediately did as asked as Madgie’s requests weren’t mere suggestions. Though they were grown men, the idea of hot chocolate wasn’t unappealing, anyway.

  Ryan and Kelly landed at the old wooden table, the entire house decorated to match its Victorian bones. Within minutes, Madgie set down large mugs before the two of them, complete with whipped cream on top.

  They heard Dani trotting down the stairs before she appeared in the kitchen, smiling when she saw Ryan. She moved to sit with them, Madgie soon joining them.

  Kelly took a deep breath and looked over at the old woman, his throat tightening. “I’m afraid we’ve got some pretty bad news.”

  Madgie leveled her humorless gaze on him, folding her thick arms on the table’s surface and leaning forward. “Is that so?”

  “I guess the deputy found William’s truck off the road earlier. He didn’t make it,” he said, dropping his gaze down into the mug sitting before him.

  Madgie quickly leaned back and covered her mouth with her hands, drawing in a sharp breath. “Dear God! Is Grace okay?”

  “She’s at home and Tim is with her,” Ryan said, seeing that Kelly was on the verge of choking up. “We just came from there.”

  Dani reached over and placed one of her hands on Kelly’s arm. “You okay? You were pretty close.”

  He gave a small nod, appreciating the gesture. “I’m not really sure it’s quite sunk in yet.”

  Madgie pushed herself back from the table and took several steps away. “Grace wasn’t with him when it happened, was she? When did it happen?”

  “No, Grace was at home,” Kelly said, watching as Madgie started to pace. “I guess William took off last night sometime after she got dropped off. She doesn’t know why he went out.”

  Madgie stopped moving and switched her gaze between Ryan and Kelly, her cheeks going red. “I’ll...I’ll have to let the others know. I should go over and see her. Was she acting all right?”

  Kelly kept his gaze on Madgie, though he felt Ryan’s sudden stare. “She’s in shock, I think. That’s why we didn’t leave her until Tim showed up. We were going to go back over and take them something for dinner in a while.”

  “No, no, I’ll do it,” she quickly said, shaking her head. “Is the road better than it was earlier?”

  Ryan turned to look at her. “It’s not terrible. The sand truck has been around. If you want me to drive you over there, I’d be happy enough to.”

  Madgie wrung her hands together and looked toward the window. “No, it’s fine. I can cope with it. Maybe I’ll stay the night over there. Tim might need help with her. Ryan, I want you to stay here with Dani tonight. Promise me you won’t leave her alone. Kelly, I wouldn’t mind you staying here, too.”

  The two men exchanged looks. Madgie was old fashioned enough that she usually grumbled about Dani and Ryan spending the night together. For her to ask both of them to stay wasn’t normal.

  “Uh, sure, I was gonna hang out with Ryan all night anyway,” Kelly replied wi
th a small bob of his head.

  Madgie gave the three of them one more look before she turned to go grab her keys from the hook on the kitchen wall. “All right. Dani, you make these boys dinner. I’ll call when I get over there to let you know I made it. You stay locked in and no funny business.”

  “Okay, Grandma,” Dani replied with a nod, shocked with her request to have the boys stay over. “We’ll hold the place down.”

  “God help us all,” Madgie huffed as she pulled on her heavy coat and trudged for the door.

  Once she was gone, Ryan looked at his girlfriend. “What in the hell was all that about?”

  “She’s still spooked about the whole cemetery thing,” Dani said, standing up. “Mr. Suhr dying, though... Damn. Why in the hell would he have gone out in that storm like that?”

  “Dunno,” Kelly admitted before picking up his mug and having a drink while he fought back more tears.

  “Well, with how messed up things have seemed, I guess I’m just as glad to have you guys here.” She went over to the refrigerator and tugged open the door. “Like hell I’m cooking for both of you, though. One of you order a pizza.”

  Chapter

  25

  It hadn’t taken Dani and Ryan long to decide to take advantage of the situation and they disappeared into her room after dinner. Kelly sat on the couch staring at the television for a while, but his mood made it extremely difficult to focus on the show or to keep from getting annoyed at the occasional sounds from upstairs.

  Before long, he was grabbing Ryan’s keys from where they’d been left and he headed out the door. He fired up the car and drove two blocks away to the town’s only liquor store.

  Ten minutes later, he emerged again with a bag in hand. He paused and looked down the street, noticing that half of the street’s lights weren’t on. Given the outage of the ones on his own road the night before, the tension returned to his gut. Kelly hurried back to the car a little faster than he’d left it.