Lasting Shadows Read online

  Three hours in, her eyes a little glassy and her mood a bit giddy, he suggested he take her home. She stamped her foot, though he saw the pain rip across her face when she did. He chuckled.

  “Feet hurting, angel?”

  She pouted.

  “Yes.”

  “Let’s go then,” he said, leaning in close and whispering in her ear. He lingered a few seconds more than he needed to, breathing there, his lips hovering over her skin. He watched in the mirrored wall as she closed her eyes.

  “Yeah,” he whispered. “You look pretty tired.”

  He pressed his lips to her ear. She trembled a little and nodded at him, meeting his gaze. He walked her out of the thumping music and into the calm relative quiet of the city evening.

  She made a hissing noise and stumbled a little. She stopped to take off one heel. He smirked and watched her a few seconds.

  “Ouch,” she said, trying to force the shoe back on.

  “Coming?”

  “Yeah, one sec.”

  He walked up to her side.

  “Here,” he said. He crouched and put his left arm behind her knees, his right one behind her back and lifted her up off the pavement. She gasped, grabbing his neck, still holding the shoe.

  She stared up at him in awe, her lips a little open. A half-smile turned up on his mouth. He chuckled.

  “My hero,” she whispered.

  She leaned up and kissed his cheek. He turned to her as he carried her to his car, people pointing and girls giggling as they passed them by. Without saying a word he stared into her eyes. She stared back but blushed and blinked, looking away.

  He lowered her to her feet and unlocked the car, opening it for her. She touched his chest as she sat. He closed the door and walked around, spying the glances of other young ladies watching in the parking lot. He slid into the driver’s seat and zipped between the crowd, catching more looks as he did.

  ***

  Just as they arrived in Nock, he turned to her.

  “You’ve been quiet since we left Maxine’s,” he said.

  She turned to him and nodded.

  “Yeah.”

  “What’s up, angel?”

  She took a deep breath and peered out into the night.

  “I don’t want it to end.”

  He laughed. He reached over and patted her knee, again squeezing a little. He left his hand there.

  “But it means there’s always a next time, right?”

  She shrugged. He rubbed her thigh with his thumb.

  “At least until your Dad puts on his glasses and sees I’m probably older than him.”

  She smirked then, still avoiding his gaze. He squeezed her again, his thumb rubbing more.

  He had to let go to make all the complicated turns to get to her home, but when he parked, a bit behind the semi-truck, hidden from the front of the trailer, he let his hand drop again to her thigh.

  “So it was a good night then? You had fun?”

  She nodded.

  “Is he still up this late?”

  She shook her head.

  “Good,” he said. “Then I can walk you to the door.”

  She blinked at him in the darkness.

  “And give you a proper goodnight kiss,” he said. He let go of her thigh and reached up pushing back her long hair. He held out his left hand. She took it and he lifted hers to his lips kissing gently. His eyes met hers as he raised up.

  “Otherwise,” he whispered. “I’d have to do that right here.”

  He let go of her hand and reached up, touching her cheek. With only a little nudge, he pulled her closer to him and kissed her lips, once and again before urging her mouth open to him. He rubbed her cheek and then slipped his hand down to her neck, the tips of his fingers brushing against the neckline of her dress. She kissed him back just as hungry, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He traced the top of her dress and broke the kiss, slipping to her neck. He kissed and nibbled her ear and neck while his hand slipped lower, caressing her chest. He squeezed and kneaded her as she hugged him tighter, moaning a little. The windows fogged up fast.

  Her phone startled them both, the heavy rock music ring tone blasting loud in the quiet.

  “He knows we’re here,” she said a little breathlessly.

  His hand dropped from her chest to the bottom of her dress. He slipped it up inside, touching her there. She pushed at his hand.

  “I have to go in.”

  Frustrated, he groaned and let his head drop to his chest.

  “My turn to pout then,” he said, putting on a comical pitiful face.

  She huffed and smiled at him. His fingers rubbed at her panties, but she again pushed him away and opened her car door.

  “Nope,” he said. “Stay right there!”

  He got out and ran around, opening her door. He held out his hand to her as she pushed on her shoe and wiggled out, fixing her dress before taking it.

  “Do I look okay?”

  “Beautiful as always, angel.”

  She smiled at him. He took her arm and wrapped it around his, walking her right up to the porch steps.

  “I better let you go from here, just in case he’s got his glasses on,” he said. He kissed her hand and then wrapped his arms around her and kissed her lips.

  “Goodnight angel.”

  “Goodnight baby.”

  He grinned at her and kissed her again, finally letting her go. She stood on the porch and watched as he pulled out, her father opening the door behind her.

  ***

  Quinn sighed as he pulled into the parking spot in front of the house. He had forgotten to leave the porch light on and the moonless night kept the house shrouded in gloomy shadows. He turned to his phone, finding the flashlight app Angela told him he needed ages ago. He thanked her in his head and turned it on, using it to see his way to the front door in the dark.

  Whispering echoed to him from across the street. He glanced back to see the old woman rocking on her porch, staring right at him. He frowned.

  “Why is she out here at this hour?”

  He shook his head and went inside, flipping on the light and closing up the door behind him, turning the deadbolt.

  He opened his laptop and turned everything on, changing into comfortable clothes and getting himself a bottle of water. He smiled at it, thinking of the ladies at the store, and plopped down in one of the chairs, propping his knee up in a second one as he logged in.

  Checking his email, he found three from Kate, asking him if something was wrong with his phone. He sighed and picked it up, turning notifications back on. There were forty-six messages from Kate, beginning about three hours previously. He groaned and read each one. He shook his head and called her.

  “H-hello?”

  “Kate? You haven’t taken anything, have you? Are you okay? Can you sit up?”

  “Qui-hnn?”

  “Yes, babe,” he said. “It’s me. You were talking about taking pills. What happened? Was it Jack again?”

  “No,” she said. Her voice sounded so quiet he turned up the volume on the phone.

  “Talk to me, babe,” he said. “Did you take the pills?”

  “Oh.” She sighed. “No. I thought about it. I looked at them for a long time. But I couldn’t.”

  He blew away a long sigh of relief.

  “I tried to call you all night,” she said. “You told me when I’m feeling this down that I should find someone to talk to.”

  “I meant anyone, babe. Anyone who’ll listen,” he said. He heard her sad sigh. “Did you find someone?”

  “No.” Her voice broke up. She cried quietly. “Where were you?”

  “I had dinner with an eighty-something-year-old woman,” he said with a little half-laugh. “She told me some insane stuff about this house, and the mine, and the cemetery, and-”

  “Oh.”

  “I guess I hit that airplane mode button by accident again, babe. I’m so sorry.”

  “That’s okay. So you got a lot of wo
rk done?”

  “A ton,” he said. “And a mountain of research for the next books.”

  “That’s great.”

  “Yep. It was a pretty good day.” They both went quiet a long moment. “I guess I woke you up?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m sorry, babe. I should let you get back to sleep.”

  “No, it’s okay,” she said. “I really need to talk a bit, Quinn.”

  He tensed.

  I don’t love you, babe, he wanted to say. Don’t make me tell you that.

  “Tell me what’s wrong,” he said instead.

  She launched into the usual stories he had heard a million times before. Loneliness, darkness, pain, misery. All the stuff he knew she dealt with, all the things he could not help her with, except to listen when she needed it, and to hold her when they both needed that.

  His mind drifted off to the young thing he spent the evening with.

  Have to make another date, he thought to himself.

  He shook it away with a little half-smile and focused on Kate’s wailing again, trying to think of something constructive to say that kept the pressure off of him.

  ***

  An hour later, they said goodnight. He grabbed up all his notes and the laptop and moved into the living room, sitting in the big recliner. He began carefully transcribing and making notes from all the recordings during the day.

  Two hours after that, he caught himself yawning and decided to call it a night. He shut down the laptop and set it on the table before stretching and yawning again.

  A distant female scream shocked him awake. He jumped to his feet. He ran to the front door, throwing it open. Outside crickets chirped. Night birds made distant calls. A truck far out on the main road thundered through the quiet town.

  He shut the door and locked it up tight, turning around. Every hair stood up on his body. He snatched up his phone and turned on the flashlight app again, shining it down the hall. A second scream seemed to rattle his bones, piercing the night air. His heart thudded hard in his chest.

  “What the fuck? I have to be dreaming this.”

  He blinked as he pulled the chain on the hall light. Ash swirled from the ceiling to the floor, twisting in a sudden hot gust of air. He took a step backward. The scent of burning tickled his nose, at first pleasing, but slowly growing rotten, like cooking rancid meat. He choked, backing into the living room and dropping to one knee. The smoke seemed to curl up at the high ceiling like dark clouds in the sky. A third pleading screech and it was all gone.

  He sat hard on the floor, staring up in shock at the high ceiling. Shadows played a little there from the flashlight app and the lamp by the chair, but otherwise, it was just as bright as ever, the white paint seemingly fresh as if it was painted yesterday. His shallow, fast breathing slowed. His heart calmed down. He shook his head and snatched up his recorder.

  “Holy fuck,” he said. “Either there’s a fucking ghost in this house or I had way too much to drink tonight.”

  He shut it off and sighed, closing his eyes a moment. After calming down, he stood and made his way down the hall, deliberately leaving the lights on there and in the front of the house. He threw himself into bed a short while later, leaving the lamp by the bed switched on.

  Chapter 5

  WRONG NUMBER

  A tickling little tune erupted from his phone, at once startling and irritating. Quinn groaned, rolling over and reaching for it, fumbling on the table. He held it to his face, opening one eye and swiping this thumb across the screen to shut it off. He let it and his head drop again to the pillow.

  Memories of the night before flooded into his thoughts. He smiled, moaning a little in his chest, remembering Tamara trembling at his touch. Eventually, Kate’s crying over the phone colored his fantasy disrobing of the girl and he sighed, rolling on his back and blinking at the ceiling.

  Damn it.

  The morning train rumbled past on the southern track. The whistle screeched, blaring its call like a beast. His breath caught. The phantom screams from the night before flooded back to him. His entire body tensed as he remembered, not sure if he should report it to the mayor or just let it go as too much stress on a crazy hot night. That thought made his mind switch back to lusty visions of Tamara. He closed his eyes a long moment and laid there, letting his imagination run wild, but his second alarm triggered, making him lift up his phone again.

  He half-stumbled to the bathroom, getting his day started.

  ***

  He dropped a cinnamon bagel into the toaster and turned to the door, opening it to the screen door and looking out as he waited for it to cook. A hot breeze pressed at him, ruffling his t-shirt.

  The bottles along the fence across the street tinkled. The horse made a little snorting noise and grazed quietly, taking slow steps. In the distance, the faint rumble of a couple of semi-trucks passed through the main street.

  The old woman sat there in a rocker on her porch, her head leaning to the side, apparently sleeping. He watched her a long moment in the quiet before the bagel popped up in the toaster. He closed the door and went back to his breakfast, settling by his laptop for the day’s work.

  ***

  For four hours, Quinn paced back and forth around the house dictating notes, sometimes sitting and typing furiously, occasionally attempting to look something up online.

  “This connection, my god.”

  He stared at the browser as the little circle spun around. He got up and paced some more, making more voice recorded notes before sitting and checking again. The little circle still spun. He groaned, letting his head drop on his arm.

  He snatched up his phone, standing again, and opened the door, peering out as he hit the name on the screen. It rang three times before she answered.

  “Jerry Rhines office. How can I help you?”

  “Hey, Kate.”

  “Oh! Quinn! You didn’t call-”

  “I thought it might be better to call the office phone.” He spoke in a lower voice. “This is about work.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  He heard the slight disappointment in her voice but shook it away.

  “What can we do about the internet out here? I don’t think I can function with this service. Everything takes a thousand years. I’ve been trying to look up just one thing and waiting now for at least ten minutes for a single page to load.”

  “Hm… maybe a hotspot with your phone?”

  “I should probably have that set up anyway.”

  “I’ll check into it,” she said. “Your phone doesn’t have one?”

  “No, it’s older. Should probably upgrade, but not been a priority. This is the first place I’ve been in a while that had such a poor connection.”

  “Well, you are out in the sticks.”

  He chuckled.

  “Very true.”

  He heard Jerry talking loudly in the background.

  “Sounds pretty busy there.”

  “It is.”

  “I’ll let you get back to it then, just find out about the wifi thing and let me know, yeah?”

  “Okay, Quinn. Have a good day.”

  “I will, Kate.”

  He hung up just as a text came through. Kate messaged him from her private phone.

  “Sorry, he’s had three big meetings today. Are you okay? Did you sleep okay?”

  “Yeah.” A flash memory of the scream and smoke the night before filled his mind. He shook it away.

  He took a deep breath. He knew she expected him to ask her if she was okay too. He debated it a long moment, staring down at the screen. He groaned a little and began typing.

  “I hope you’re okay too. Things will get better eventually, Kate. Just hang in there.”

  “Yeah. Okay.”

  “Any word from Gin?”

  “No.”

  “Good. Papers probably on their way,” he typed.

  “I guess so.”

  “Alright, well, back to work. Later, babe.”

&nb
sp; “Bye, Quinn.”

  He waited to see if she typed the phrase he dreaded, but nothing new popped up.

  “Maybe she’s finally letting that go.”

  He turned back to his laptop and hit reload, trying to get the browser to connect to the search engine again. Instead, the circle just looped around and around. With a sigh, he stood, again peering out through the curtains at the sunny bright day.

  “A walk would do me good.”

  He ran back to the bedroom, pulling on his walking shoes and again checking himself in the mirror. Shoving his phone, keys, and the voice recorder in his pocket and snatching up a bottle of water, he jogged out the front door and down the steps. He pushed on his sunglasses and walked south along the road, peering back into the surrounding forest. He dashed across the tracks, looking both ways, seeing the steep turn on the left side a little distance away.

  Just a good ten feet or so from the tracks he found a chimney, poking up in the middle of a clump of vines growing between a group of tall pines. He circled around it, pushing his way through the underbrush. He came out in a little weedy clearing, beside the remains of a small cabin. The roof was long destroyed, leaving the interior walls exposed to the elements. He climbed the stone steps and leaned in the gaping doorway. So much of the building was gone there was almost nothing left inside. A few collapsed walls, an ancient couch, and a firewood rack, rusty but still filled with rotted logs, were all he found in the small two-room building. He took some photos with his phone and recorded his notes before stepping back outside.

  From the porch steps, he saw the curve in the tracks and hopped off, walking over to them as he took a sip of water. Sure enough, the curve did a strange little loop back and around, vanishing in the distance to another left turn. He walked right up to the tracks and stood in the middle, taking a few more pictures before just staring into the distance both ways, making notes of what he saw.

  On the right side in the ditch, he noticed a large lump covered with kudzu. He hopped off the tracks and worked his way through the brush down to it.