Blood Games (7 page)

    Abilene reversed it, raised it to her eye, and taped Finley climbing out.

    Helen laughed and clapped.

    ‘Real cute, Hickok.’

    ‘The historical record of our adventure wouldn’t be complete without you in it,’ Abilene said, grinning.

    ‘Yeah yeah yeah.’

    ‘Get this, Abby,’ Cora said. She grabbed Finley by the shoulders and hurled her off the edge. The girl flew backward past Helen’s side, arms and legs flapping, and smacked the water. Vivian, near the impact site, whirled and ducked away from the huge splash.

    ‘I’d give her a six-point-two,’ Abilene said. ‘Sloppy entry.’

    ‘Her form really sucked,’ Cora said. ‘Five-point-nine.’

    Finley came up, puffed out a spray, and wiped her face. ‘Hardy-har-har-har,’ she said.

    When she climbed out this time, she quickly dodged past Cora and hurried close to the wall - Abilene taping her.

    ‘Okay, okay,’ she said. ‘Enough is enough.’

    Abilene stopped recording. She held onto the camera while Finley used the sock-bound bundle of clothes to dry her face and arms. Then she handed over the camera.

    Vivian, out of the water, stamped her feet and shook her arms. ‘Now don’t you wish we had towels?’ she asked.

    ‘We’ll be dry pretty soon,’ Cora said. ‘Let’s just check things out down here.’

    ‘I don’t want to go exploring in the raw.’

    ‘Then get dressed.’

    ‘I’m soaking.’

    ‘Then don’t.’

    ‘I’m sure not,’ Abilene said. She didn’t want to get her clothes all wet. And she liked the feel of the air against her skin. Though warm and humid, it seemed almost cool after the heat of the pool.

    ‘Just pretend you’re at Hefner’s,’ Finley said, grinning at Vivian.

    Cora wandered toward a recessed area beyond the pool’s apron.

    Following her, Abilene found a short hallway. Stairs in the center led upward. On each side of the staircase, and just in front of it, were doors with signs that read GENTS and LADIES. ‘Must be dressing rooms,’ she said.

    ‘Let’s take a look,’ Cora said, and headed for the door marked LADIES.

    ‘Forget that,’ Finley said, and went for the GENTS to the right of the staircase.

    ‘I doubt you’ll find one in there,’ Cora told her.

    ‘I can always hope.’

    ‘Boy, would he be surprised,’ Helen said.

    ‘Boy, would I jump on him.’ Hinges squeaked as Finley thrust open the door. She halted. ‘Maybe not,’ she muttered.

    Except for faint gray light from the doorway, the room was totally dark.

    ‘Must not have any windows,’ Abilene said.

    ‘Anybody here?’ Finley called.

    Abilene cringed. ‘Don’t do that.’

    ‘Let’s go,’ Cora said. ‘We can always come back when we’ve got flashlights with us.’

    Finley shut the door, and they returned to the pool. They walked alongside it, heading for its south end. There, beyond a broad expanse of empty floor, a U-shaped bar extended out from the far wall. Behind the bar were rows of empty shelves for bottles. Around its front, a dozen swivel stools stood mounted to the floor. The clear space, Abilene thought, must’ve been for tables and chairs.

    ‘They had a cocktail lounge down here?’ she said.

    ‘Neat,’ Finley said.

    ‘We’ll have to bring our stuff down for Happy Hour,’ Cora suggested.

    Abilene grabbed the wooden back of a stool. She pushed it sideways. It resisted at first, then turned slowly, groaning on its rusted swivel.

    The worn, varnished seat looked clean.

    She rubbed a hand across it. Her hand looked pink, unsoiled. With a sinky feeling, she boosted herself onto the stool. The wood was slick under her wet rump.

    While others climbed onto stools and Cora went around one side, Abilene looked at the polished granite floor in front of her. No leaves, no debris of any kind, no dirt or moss or mold. The walkway beside the pool also looked spotless. She remembered that, striding along it, she’d felt no grit under her feet.

    ‘This place should not be so clean,’ she said.

    ‘It’s that maid service,’ Finley said.

    ‘I mean it. This is serious.’

    ‘The maid was here all right,’ Cora said. ‘And she left her mop and bucket.’

    Abilene twisted her squawking stool around. Cora, behind the bar, raised a mop. Its thick, gray strands swayed from side to side.

    Abilene leaned forward. One elbow on the bar top, she reached for the mophead. She fingered its strands. They were damp.

    She met Cora’s eyes.

    Cora looked worried. ‘The bucket’s empty,’ she said. ‘But it’s still wet inside.’

    ‘It’s humid in here,’ Finley pointed out. ‘Things probably never get dry.’

    ‘Christ,’ Vivian muttered.

    ‘Hey, come on, guys,’ Finley said. ‘Don’t get your balls in an uproar. We know somebody cleans the place. We’ll just have to remember to leave a tip before we leave.’

    ‘The upstairs wasn’t like this,’ Abilene told her. ‘It was clean, but this is spotless. Someone really…’

    ‘And there he is,’ Cora said. From the tone of her voice, the look on her face, she wasn’t joking.

    Abilene swung her stool around in time to glimpse the head and bare shoulders of someone in the pool’s archway. Shaggy dark hair, wide eyes, a young and startled face. In the next instant, the stranger vanished, lunging for the outside pool.

    

    

    ‘Oh my God!’ Helen gasped.

    ‘Shit!’ Vivian blurted.

    ‘Let’s get him!’ Cora snapped, scrambling over the bar top.

    ‘Are you nuts? We’re nakedl ’

    Abilene was already dashing for the pool, her feet smacking the granite floor.

    ‘Wait for me, Wild Bill!’

    She dived. In midair, she heard Vivian yell, ‘Don’t go out there!’

    She hit the hot water. It smacked the front of her body, stinging. Then it engulfed her. As she darted along beneath the surface, she wondered what the hell she was doing. Did she hope to catch the intruder? Not hardly.

    She came up for air, heard others splashing behind her, saw the archway straight ahead. She swam through it and got to her feet. In spite of the porch’s shade, the brightness hurt her eyes. Squinting, she spotted the kid.

    A lean, tanned teenager in cut-off jeans, shirtless and barefoot, dashing straight across the overgrown rear lawn.

    Finley and Cora came up beside Abilene. They were panting for air.

    ‘I’m not going after him,’ Abilene said.

    ‘We’d never… catch him anyway.’

    ‘And what would we do with him if we did?’

    ‘I could think of something,’ Finley gasped.

    ‘I thought you’d sworn off guys.’

    ‘Is it a he?’ Cora asked.

    ‘I think so,’ Abilene said. ‘Not sure.’ As she spoke, she saw the stranger rush into the forest at the far end of the grounds and disappear.

    ‘What’d he wanta run away for?’ Finley said.

    ‘We probably scared the crap out of him.’

    ‘I wonder how long he was there.’

    ‘God only knows,’ Abilene muttered.

    ‘Long enough to enjoy the view,’ Cora said. ‘Vivian’s probably thrilled to death.’

    ‘She’ll want to leave,’ Abilene said.

    ‘We’d better get back inside.’ Cora turned around, slipped forward into the water, and swam through the archway. Abilene went next, followed by Finley.

    Stroking her way across the inside pool, Abilene saw Vivian and Helen straight ahead. They had abandoned the bar area and returned to the place where they’d left their clothes. Vivian, already in her panties, shot her arms through the shoulder straps of her bra and pulled the flimsy red cups over her breasts and fastened the hooks. Helen was zipping the fly of her Bermuda shorts. ‘Did you see him?’ Vivian asked.

    ‘Yeah,’ Cora said, climbing out. ‘He took off into the woods.’

    ‘Was he alone?’

    ‘Yeah.’

    ‘With any luck,’ Finley said, ‘he’s running home to fetch his older brothers.’

    ‘God, this is awful! We’ve gotta get out of here.’

    ‘Relax,’ Cora said. ‘I told you, he’s gone. Besides, he’s just a kid. He couldn’t have been much older than sixteen, seventeen. What’s he gonna do? There’re five of us.’

    ‘He got a free show, that’s all,’ Finley said. ‘It’s no big deal.’

    ‘At least he didn’t videotape us,’ Abilene said.

    She and Finley climbed from the pool.

    ‘Maybe he’s the one who cleans the place,’ Helen said, buttoning her blouse.

    ‘Probably is,’ Cora agreed. ‘And that’d mean we can stop worrying about the damn “maid service.” I honestly don’t see him as any threat.’

    ‘Except he really might come back with someone,’ Vivian said. ‘If he is the one who cleans this place, he must live nearby. And if he’s as young as you think, I bet he doesn’t live alone. What if he tells his parents about us?’

    ‘I’ve got brothers,’ Finley said. ‘At that kid’s age, not one of them would’ve told Mom or Dad about spying on some naked gals. No way.’

    ‘What would they do?’ Helen asked.

    ‘Depends. Joe’s the kind of guy who’d keep it to himself and just enjoy the memories. Ray, though - he’s more aggressive. He might sneak back, hoping for seconds. He might even bring along some friends. It’d be a big, exciting thing for them, but they wouldn’t do anything. Just try to see us again.’

    ‘We don’t know anything about this kid,’ Vivian said. ‘There’s no telling what he might do.’

    ‘The way he ran,’ Abilene said, ‘I don’t think he’ll be back.’

    Cora nodded. ‘Let’s just go on about our business. We’ve still gotta check out the rest of the lodge, and it’s almost time for Happy Hour.’

    ‘How do you know?’ Abilene asked. None of them wore wristwatches.

    ‘My thirst tells me.’

    

    

    Vivian and Helen, finished dressing, waited while the others got into clothes. Abilene used her blouse to wipe herself dry. Finley put on her baggy shorts and shirt without drying, tucked her knee socks into the deep pockets, and slipped her bare feet into her shoes. Cora didn’t bother to dry, either. She put on her T-shirt. It clung as if melting into her skin, but was long enough to hang like a very short dress. She stepped into her shoes and picked up the rest of her clothes.

    She started to climb the stairs. Abilene took up the rear, carrying her damp blouse.

    At the top of the stairs, they found themselves in a dimly lighted corridor beneath the stairway to the second floor. On the right, the hall led to the rear of the lodge where it met a windowed door to the porch. The far side of the corridor had two shut doors. There were no numbers on them, and Abilene guessed they might open into rooms that had been the living quarters of the lodge’s owners. On the other side of the corridor, near its end, was a single door. Picturing the layout of the place, Abilene figured it must lead into the back of the kitchen.

    She followed the others out from under the stairway and around it. There, just ahead and to the left, was the front door.

    She felt very glad to see it.

    Vivian walked straight toward it. As she stepped outside, Cora and Finley wandered into an open room to the right. A parlor or library, Abilene supposed. Much of it was walled with built-in, empty bookshelves. There was a fireplace, smaller than the one in the lobby, on its north side. At the front, some limbs from the huge branch on the porch reached through the shattered window.

    Helen gave the room little more than a glance before going out to join Vivian. After a few moments, Abilene followed.

    It was good to be outside. It was especially good to see the familiar car parked a few yards from the porch.

    Vivian and Helen stood in the sunlight beside the car. They were talking softly. They turned their attention to Abilene as she trotted down the stairs.

    ‘Do you want to leave?’ Helen asked her.

    Shrugging, she spread her blouse on the hood of the car to dry.

    ‘Vivian does,’ Helen said.

    ‘I don’t think it’s safe.’

    ‘It might not be,’ Abilene admitted. ‘I don’t know.’ She looked at Helen. ‘I take it you’d rather stay.’

    The girl’s face twisted as if she were in misery. ‘At least for one night, you know?’

    ‘What’ve we got here, a mutiny?’ Cora asked, striding out the front door.

    ‘We’re just discussing the situation,’ Abilene said.

    Cora trotted down the porch stairs, Finley close behind her.

    ‘Shouldn’t we just climb in the car and drive out of here?’ Vivian asked. ‘I’m not suggesting that we fly home right away, nothing like that. We could find a nice motel for tonight and maybe spend a few days driving around, exploring.’

    ‘That kid really rattled you,’ Cora said.

    ‘This whole place rattles me. It gives me the creeps.’

    ‘It’s supposed to,’ Helen pointed out. ‘That’s why I picked it.’

    ‘I think it’s neat,’ Finley said, climbing onto the hood. She put down her camera, then sat beside Abilene’s blouse, lay back, raised her knees and folded her hands under her head. ‘We haven’t seen the upstairs yet, either,’ she added.

    ‘I think we should stay at least tonight,’ Helen said.

    ‘It’ll be really swift after dark,’ Finley said, sounding as if she longed for nightfall.

    ‘What about you?’ Cora asked Abilene.

    ‘It’s Helen’s choice. And we came all the way out here to see this place.’ She thought about the lodge for a few moments. It was spooky. She didn’t care for that aspect, but she realized that she did rather like the mysterious and nostalgic sides of its atmosphere - the wonder it inspired in her of peaceful times that were gone forever. Also, she knew she would hate to leave the hot spring behind. In the cool of the night, the caressing water would feel wonderful. ‘I think we should stick around overnight,’ she said. ‘See how it goes.’