Missing: The Body of Evidence Page 12

  ‘I was thinking, what if the janitor’s son, David, had killed him, and they had both been stalking me? Incidentally, did you just light the candles?’

  Nancy sighed at the lack of a response and drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 29

  Through bleary eyes, Nancy awoke and turned to look at Kyle. Even as he slept, she felt secure in his presence. The conversation from the evening before flooded her thoughts. The notion she had committed to them living together, felt natural. Her fingers ruffled his hair. Kyle grunted and turned away from her. She sank her head into her feathered pillow, a smile on her lips. She closed her eyes to the sentiment of the lyrics from Flying Without Wings, and thought that maybe, at last, she had found that special someone to make her life complete. There was a sense that she was floating, like a free spirit, when she suddenly came to an abrupt halt, as if she had hit an impregnable wall and it had knocked the breath out of her. She opened her eyes.

  Lying on the bed, on her back, she was unable to move a muscle, while an unseen pressure pinned her to the mattress, just as in her previous dream. She was aware of Kyle lying beside her, but couldn’t call out to him, or lift a finger to warn him of her plight. A naked figure, enveloped in flames, faced her from the open bedroom doorframe. The abstract features on the face of the figure appeared uncannily like the janitor’s son. The glow from the figure lit the bedroom, casting a searing heat toward her.

  Another human figure appeared at the bottom of the bed, with its back facing toward her. This naked figure had the appearance of being translucent, as if formed from silicone jelly. The silicone figure between her and the flaming figure afforded some respite from the searing heat emanating from the apparition at the door. The silicone figure held out his arms to form a cross with his body and rose above the bed. An almost transparent veil appeared between the fiery figure and the silicone figure, further shielding the heat, and the temperature dropped. The fiery figure posed in a stance as if making ready to pitch a baseball. A ball of fire left the palm of his hand and struck the veil. The veil acted as an energy field and absorbed the fireball, extinguishing the flames. The silicone figure brought his arms together in front of him, causing the veil to envelop the other figure and hold it captive. The body of the silicone figure remained facing forward as his head turned full circle to face her. The face carried the exact features of the janitor’s son, down to the press studs embedded in the skull. His lips didn’t move but she heard the words.

  ‘You must leave, turn off your cell phone, and get out of here.’

  The apparitions disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. Nancy broke free from her paralysis and sat up, gasping for breath.

  Chapter 30

  The temperature in the bedroom at the cabin returned to normal. Nancy pinched at the flesh on her thigh. The fleeting pain told her she was at least awake. Her head throbbed, she assumed from too much wine from the night before. She turned and looked at Kyle. He was still curled up in the same foetal position, with his back to her, from when he had drifted off to sleep.

  The nightmare had annoyed her, rather than caused her alarm. If the doctor had been right in his interpretation of her dream, then she failed to see why it had recurred. After last night’s earnest conversation with Kyle, she thought she was no longer in a place from which she needed to escape; on the contrary, she had everything to look forward to in a new beginning. Kyle groaned and turned over to face her. He opened one eye and his mouth contorted in an Elvis curl. He didn’t exactly look like the man of her dreams, with his hair standing on end like Stan Laurel. A night’s growth under his nose ran down to his jaw line.

  ‘Morning.’

  ‘Morning.’ She stroked the stubble on his chin. ‘Breakfast?’

  ‘Just a coffee would be fine. I don’t think my palette would taste anything just yet.’ He stuck out his tongue.’

  ‘Ughh, that’s disgusting. Put it away.’ The white fur on his tongue looked as though bacteria had decided to colonize it overnight.

  ‘Come here and give me a kiss.’

  ‘Not with that thing in your mouth. Wait until you’ve cleaned your teeth. I’ll leave some mouthwash out on the sink top.’

  The crunching sound of tyres on gravel outside caught her attention.

  ‘Sounds like the handyman is here.’

  Nancy threw back the quilt and jumped out of bed. After a shower, she dressed, slipping on a T-shirt and jeans over her underwear. A glance at Kyle, and he rolled over, burying his head in the pillow. In the living room, Nancy set about clearing the leftovers from the picnic and placed the cushions back on the sofa. The curtains on the small window next to the front door fluttered in the breeze.

  ‘Damn, must’ve forgotten to close it last night and that’s what caused the candles to go out.’

  Nancy walked over to the window and opened the curtain. The handyman was busy emptying the back of his SUV of picket fence slats. Nancy called out to him.

  ‘I’m making coffee, do you want one?’

  ‘Mighty kind, Ma’am, but no thanks.’

  ‘There’s a problem with the light switch in the kitchen, do you think you could take a look at it for me. I need the electric switched on to make a coffee.’

  ‘Sure, right away.’

  Nancy opened the door for him and he walked in carrying a toolbox. She followed him to the kitchen and watched him as he removed the cover on the light switch. He looked like a frontiersman who had stepped out of the eighteen hundreds. His hair was as long as his flowing white beard which failed to hide his bright red cheeks. He wore a long sleeved chequered shirt with suspenders holding up his chamois pants. His belt held a hunting knife in a sheath covered with a pattern of coloured beads, and which looked like it had been fashioned by Native Americans. He poked around with his screwdriver and then turned to her.

  ‘Can’t see anything, but I’ve tightened up the connections. Can you switch on the mains for me please, ma’am.’

  Nancy scuttled out of the kitchen, opened the closet door, flicked on the main switch and returned to the kitchen.

  ‘Seems okay to me, now. We have a bunch of problems with power outages in this neck of the woods. Usually the lights just dim, but if it goes off at the sub-station, it can cause a surge when it comes back on.’

  The handyman snapped his toolbox shut and left through the kitchen door. The refrigerator was buzzing loudly. Oh no, the milk. She grasped at the refrigerator handle, opened the door, grabbed the carton of milk and held it to her nose. Thank God. The milk carton was warm, but luckily, the milk hadn’t soured. Nancy switched on the kettle and headed outside to have a look around.

  The smell of pine hit her senses. It made a wonderful change from the foul polluted air back in LA. She stood for a moment and took a deep breath. The view before her astounded her. The cabin sat on a small plateau set in the hillside. The rolling hill before her, covered in low brush, ran down to a creek in the valley. Beyond that were the pine covered mountains, set against a clear turquoise sky. She headed around the back of the cabin. The handyman stood in the back yard next to a solitary tree stripped of bark at the bottom of the trunk. He took off his hat and scratched his scalp.

  ‘Damn stag, all these hectares of trees and he has to take a liking for this here one.’

  ‘Yeah, he paid us a visit last night. Gave us a shock.’

  ‘I’ll mend the picket fence and build a frame to encircle and protect the tree. I hope it won’t inconvenience you none?’

  ‘Nah, don’t worry. I don’t think we’ll be having a barbecue today. We’ll be off on the trails hiking.’

  ‘Good thing, it’s hot as hell and dry as tinder out here, don’t want to be lighting no fires or the sparks could set the whole mountain alight.’

  The back yard was small, with a gate and path at the bottom leading to a steep slope covered in brush, toward a line of pine trees on the ridge of the hillside. Nancy made her way back inside the cabin. Kyle was in the kitchen pouring the coffe
e and his grin greeted her.

  ‘You do remember all we said last night?’

  ‘No,’ she lied. ‘What was that? I was drunk.’ He looked hurt, but she could not hold a straight face and started to laugh. ‘Of course, I can remember, come here. You have brushed your teeth?’

  ‘Yeah, and gargled with your mouthwash.’

  She threw her arms around his waist and they shared a minty-flavoured kiss.

  ‘What are we doing today?’ Kyle asked as they broke apart and he passed her a coffee.

  Nancy held the mug to her nose, savoured the aroma and took a sip.

  ‘Hmmm, that tastes good. I was thinking that maybe we could hike along the trails, but not too far. The doctor says I shouldn’t do anything too energetic. We could go to the lake out back this morning for you to do some fishing. After a light lunch we could go for a walk along the trails.’

  ‘Sounds good to me, that way we both get to do what we like. How far is the lake? Have you been there before?’

  Nancy stopped to think. She had been to the area before, but never to a lake and wondered why she had said what she had about the lake. Then it struck her. The dreams of her travelling with David to the cabin, that’s where she had seen a lake.

  ‘You see a ghost or something?’

  ‘It’s... I... em. Look, don’t laugh.’ She hesitated. What the hell, no point in having secrets. ‘You’re gonna think I’m three cents short of a dollar. I don’t think there will be a lake. It’s just something I plucked from a dream of how I imagined the surrounding area to look.’

  ‘One way to find out. I’ll ask the handyman. If there isn’t a lake, fine, there’s always the creek.’ Kyle seemed totally unfazed and made to leave the kitchen. ‘Back soon.’

  Nancy went to sit on the sofa. She hoped he would return to tell her there wasn’t a lake. He came back with a big smile.

  ‘There’s a lake over the ridge out back, and he says there’s some good fishing to be had.’

  A cold shiver trembled its way through her body.

  ‘Lucky coincidence, then.’

  ‘Yeah, looks like it. Now I just need you to dream I catch lots of fish.’

  They both laughed, but inside, Nancy was unnerved. All she hoped for was that the scene at the lake was like nothing from her dream. Kyle gathered his fishing tackle and they set of to the lake. Kyle walked briskly ahead. The handyman was busy nailing new slats on the picket fence when Nancy passed him. She stopped for a moment and turned to face him.

  ‘The children who were here before us left a note asking me to say hi.’

  ‘Children? Ain’t seen no children, ma’am. Just got back from a two-week vacation.’

  His answer wiped the smile from her face.

  ‘You are David?’

  ‘Sure am.’

  Chapter 31

  A brisk pace and Nancy caught up with Kyle as he headed for the lake at the rear of the cabin. They linked arms and trekked along a narrow path through the undergrowth. Neither of them spoke as they laboured up the hillside, and Nancy dwelt on what the handyman had said. At the top of the ridge, they sat on a rocky outcrop to gather their breath from the arduous climb. The pine trees on the downward slope obscured any vision of a lake. Nancy was beginning to doubt her grasp on reality; what with the notion of the drawing and message in the refrigerator, the connection to the janitor’s son and her dream-induced excursions to the cabin with him, all rolling around in her mind.

  ‘Ready?’ Kyle asked and swung his backpack straps over his shoulder and stood.

  He held his fishing rod in one hand and held out his other hand. She grasped his hand and he hauled her to her feet.

  ‘Ready as I’ll ever be.’

  ‘You don’t sound enthusiastic, is it the fishing?’

  ‘No, it’s this damned headache of mine. It’s started again.’

  ‘We can go back if you like, and rest in the cabin.’

  ‘No, I’d just as soon rest at the lakeside.’ In part, what she said was true, but there was also a sense of foreboding.

  They set off down a wide clearing through the trees and turned a bend.

  ‘My God, it’s beautiful,’ she said.

  There was a multi-coloured shale and pebble crescent of a beach. The lake spread out before them with the appearance of a mirror. It reflected the exact image of the towering pine covered mountains on the opposite side of the lake, downwards and into the depths of the lake. As their footsteps crunched over the shale, they arrived at the lakeside. Two dragonflies skated across the surface close by in a never-ending haphazard chase. It was beautiful, but it was also identical to what she had seen in her dream. This was more than her brain could compute as a coincidence. The only thing she could deduce was that the bang on her head was somehow playing tricks on her mind.

  ‘I need to sit down.’

  ‘Sit on the boulder over there under the shade of that pine tree. I have some collapsible seats in my backpack, although they don’t have backs to them.’

  Nancy hobbled over to the boulder and sat down. Under normal circumstances she would have laughed at Kyle’s attempt to assemble the seats as he struggled to work out how the metal rods fit together to form the canvas seat. But she wasn’t in the mood, and began to feel emotional at the confusion of the significance of the dreams. The big ‘C’ crept into her thoughts to add to the turmoil in her mind.

  ‘Kyle, leave the seats. I need to talk.’ She slapped her hand on the bolder where she was sitting.’

  ‘What is it, do you feel ill?’

  ‘Sick in the head, more like.’ She couldn’t hold back the tears. She made no sound, but the tears rolled down her cheeks.

  ‘What is it?’

  He sat beside her and put his arm around her shoulder.

  ‘I shouldn’t have agreed for us to move in together until after the all clear from my tests.’

  ‘What do you mean all clear? What do you think is wrong?’

  ‘You remember when I crashed into that bough of a tree and ended up in the hospital with a concussion?’

  ‘Yeah, I could hardly forget.’

  ‘Well, ever since then my head’s been messed up. I also keep having weird dreams of travelling to places like here. It’s like when we came here, I felt like I had already been inside the cabin and now the lake.’

  ‘You mean like déjà vu? Christ, Nancy, is that it. Everyone has déjà vu at some time in their life. Hell, I wouldn’t dismiss that we may have all lived before.’

  As pleased as she was at his understanding, she was worried the problem was something bigger than an unexplained phenomenon.

  ‘What if I have a brain tumour?’

  She was expecting him to take a step back and give it some serious thought. His quick reply took her by surprise.

  ‘What if you have? Which I doubt. You’ll need someone with you more than ever. All you’ve done is bang your head. Give it time.’

  ‘All the same, I think we should wait. If it is something serious, I won’t hold you to a promise for us to be together.’

  ‘Did you have a headache when you were drinking last night?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘There you are then; it’s likely to be stress, like I’ve said all along. The wine has acted like a sedative. Didn’t the doctor give you anything?’

  ‘Yes, tablets.’

  ‘And have you taken anything today?’

  ‘No... But...’

  ‘No, but, nothing. You wait here, I’ll go and get your tablets and let’s not have any more nonsense about us not moving in together, whatever the results of the tests.’

  ‘No, don’t go. You’re all the medicine I need. The headache’s not that bad and I can wait for a few hours.’

  She took a tissue from her pocket, dried her eyes, and rested her head on his shoulder.

  ‘Forget the fishing. We’ll rest up a while and head back.’ The strength of his arm around her reassured her as he squeezed her tightly. ‘We haven’t had breakfast, a
nd you can take your tablets. If the headache goes, great, we can go for a walk. If not, we can rest up, there’s plenty for us to be talking about, and if you’re stressed with that, there are plenty of books and magazines in the cabin. The fishing isn’t important, but you are.’

  Nancy was tempted for the first time to tell him she loved him, and knew she would have meant it. His consideration was something of a new experience. She fought the compelling urge to tell him how he made her feel; instead she reasoned it would only mess her up further if he changed his mind over the weekend.

  ‘If you’re really sure you don’t mind, I would rather go back to the cabin. You can stay here and fish if you like.’

  ‘No way, I’ll join you.’

  Kyle packed away the tangle of the seat rods, set off to the cabin and Nancy followed him along the trail. Almost at the top of the ridge, Kyle dropped to a crouch and signalled for her to do the same. He turned to her, put his finger to his lips and then beckoned her to join him. It was hard to move stealthily, with the brittle dead foliage underfoot. Nancy crouched beside him and he pointed towards a small clearing through the trees.

  A giant stag was standing guard over his harem of deer as they foraged for food amongst the dry undergrowth. Nancy shuffled her feet and crunched a twig under her foot. The stag snapped his head to look straight at her, huffed through his nostrils and stamped a foot. His herd stampeded in leaps, and bounded out of sight at the signal from his stomping hoof, but he stood there defiant. His huge eyes looked straight through her as if she had no soul. She was sure that if it could have spoken, its expression and stance told them they had no right to be there in his territory. The stag, apparently unconcerned at the intrusion, turned is neck and looked away.