Latham's Landing (18 page)

Without thinking, Helter drew Caroline’s gun
and fired. The bullet struck one of the landing legs, ricocheting
off with a spark. The copter banked abruptly, then came around
again, this time landing carefully on the granite pad Helter had
seen earlier.

Someone was here. And whoever it was might be
even more dangerous than the ghosts and monsters.

Helter waddled as fast as he could with the
heavy cooler toward the fire.

“
What the hell?” Bowman said, scanning
the darkness. “That sounds like a helicopter.”

“
I can’t see anything,” Drake said,
turning quickly. “Lease, turn off the motor.”

Lease cut the motor, then they listened. The
sound of a helicopter was directly overhead.

Drake made to stand up, flashlight in hand.
“It’s right above us—”

There was a sharp flash, the sound of a
gunshot, and a grunt of pain. The boat rocked left, then there was
a splash. The helicopter flew off, its noise disappearing as
suddenly as it had come.

“
Drake?” Bowman said.

“
Grab him!” Lease yelled. “The idiot
fell in.”

Bowman turned on his own flashlight. Lease
had both of Drake’s arms and was trying to pull him back in the
boat. Bowman grabbed one arm, then together they pulled Drake back
in.

“
Damn it,” Bowman said, collapsing back
onto the seat. “He almost went it.”

Lease didn’t answer.

“
Lease?” Bowman said, picking up his
dropped flashlight. It illuminated Lease, his silencer-equipped gun
pointed at Bowman.

Lease fired, the bullet clipping Bowman at
his temple. A piece of skull blew out, and Bowman collapsed into
the bottom of the boat, twitching. Blood oozed steadily from his
gaping head wound, dripping onto Drake’s body

“
If you’d left well enough alone,”
Lease muttered.

They were going to put two and two together.
He’d had to do it, promotion or no promotion in the offering. Damn
that Chung Lai.

He dialed his cell. It rang once, then was
picked up.

“
Lease.”

“
You okay, Mac? I heard a
gunshot.”

“
I’m okay,” Mac answered. “That guy on
the island took a shot at me. Can you believe it? I’m gonna get him
for that.”

“
Tomorrow,” Lease urged. “Come down and
help me tie up to the dock.”

“
You’re going to have to go slow and
look,” Mac said with disinterest. “There’s an intact dock on the
opposite side, but someone’s blown the one on your side to pieces.
Saw it as I landed.”

He made it sound like this just happened.
Who might have done it…that boyfriend of Stone’s kid, who had taken
a shot at the copter? Or someone else Mac had invited to the isle
for fun and games?
“What about the dock at the back? My brother
mentioned one made of granite.”

“
That’s not there anymore,” Mac said
easily, as if he were complimenting Lease on his shoes. But his
choice of words rattled Lease.

Mac hadn’t said the dock was destroyed. He’d
said it wasn’t there…like it had suddenly up and disappeared.

Every extra sense Lease had as a cop was
telling him to leave now. Who cared if Mac had promised a great
time, or if he owed that Asian bitch Chung Lai who had tried to
expose him some payback? There was something very wrong here. “What
do I do if I can’t find the dock on the other side?” Lease
said.

“
Anchor the boat just offshore and wait
until morning.”

“
What about a storm? My brother said
they come up fast.”

Mac laughed. “They do. Too fast for you to
get away, so there’s no point worrying about—”

Lease’s unease swiftly became anger. “You’re
not helping my situation, Mac. If you really want me here, give me
some instructions on how to get off this fucking boat and onto the
damned island. I’ve got cargo here I need to dump before it starts
stinking.”

Mac’s tone when he answered was contrite.
“Look, go around to the other dock, just go slow. Tie up there and
leave the boat. Come up when you’re here. I’ll be in the main
house.”

“
Anything I should watch
for?”

“
No,” Mac chuckled. “Everyone already
knows you’re here. So don’t be surprised if you get some unexpected
help.”

He hung up, laughing ominously. Lease
narrowed his eyes, then began piloting the boat again.
Now he
had to go ashore, if just to find out who else knew about his
involvement with the brothel.

He moved around the back of the island, going
slowly in the darkness, his searchlight steady.

His light illuminated red granite, flecks
sparking wetly in the light. Waves crashed against large rocks,
flinging surf upwards toward a stone balcony high above. Carefully,
Lease moved further out, worried about scuttling the craft.

A ship’s foghorn sounded once, then again.
Lease stopped the motor, letting it idle, his searchlight looking
in the dark for the source.

There was a creak of wood, and a snap of
sailcloth. Then a ragged small galley slipped into view, its hull
slimy with mildew and rot. Someone was at the wheel, holding it
steady, its ragged clothes flapping in the breeze. Others stood on
the dock, ready with rope and gaffs.

Lease moved out of the way, staring as the
ship slipped by noiselessly. The sails were tattered, the second
mast broken off at the top and missing. A smell of death permeated
the air, the foulness making Lease cough.

As one, the humanoid shapes turned to look at
him, as the craft slipped by. Their eyes glowed an eerie bright
green in the gloom

Lease’s eyes widened, as he took a jerky
intake of breath.
That was a crew of skeletons, green with
slime. Yet they moved just like live men.

The foghorn sounded again, this time fainter.
And the ship slowed, heading for the rocks. Lease motored away as
fast as he dared, afraid to look back.

There was a flash of light, a momentary
brightness from far out in the water. Lease turned to see a burning
ball of light there, first white, then turning bloody red. As he
watched, it darkened again to black, disappearing but leaving spots
on his retinas.

He blinked, turning back to the rocks. But
the ghost ship had disappeared.

Spooked, he revved the boat engine, looking
frantically for the dock Mac had mentioned as he hurriedly skirted
the shore.

“
There’s no one here,” Mac lied into
his radio. “But I did see a light on the lake, heading inland. They
may be trying to get back to the mainland by boat.”

“
Is it still out there? Do you see a
light on the water?”

There was no way for Mac to see from his
vantage point inside the stationary helicopter, parked on the
granite pad. Even if there was, he’d already given more than enough
info to sound like the good guy. “Sorry, I’m over the island
already, and I’m not going back tonight. Even though I can fly at
night, it doesn’t mean I like doing it. Emergencies only, my
man.”

“
Sure,” came the reply. “Thanks for the
update. I’ll let them know in the morning. I’m heading out myself
now. I just wanted to wait for your info before
leaving.”

“
Have a good night,” Mac said amicably.
He shut off the radio. “I’m going to.”

After turning off the chopper’s radio, Mac
transported both girls out of the helicopter and into the main
house. After sitting them in opposite corners, he grabbed his two
bags, then went into the main house.

God, he just loved this part.

“
There is a helicopter here,” Helter
said, throwing down Barb’s stuff and taking deep breaths of air,
the pungent smell of incense bracing. “It just landed on the
granite pad by the back of the main house.”

“
I saw that,” Barb said slowly.
“Someone was building another larger house behind this
one.”

“
There is only supposed to be one main
house here,” Caroline said stridently.

“
There was,” Helter said eerily. “But
now someone is building again here.”

“
Latham’s ghost?” Barb
supplied.

“
I’m not sure,” Helter said, looking at
Caroline. “But we both saw the snowmobile, Caroline. You came on
that here less than twenty-four hours ago and now it’s sunk in the
mud with rusty boat tracks over it and a whole boathouse complete
with cobwebs. Something did that.”

“
Why?” Caroline managed.

“
To confuse you,” Helter said,
unwilling to utter he suspected that the island had tried to lure
him into shooting her. He gestured to the darkness. “Most of this
island is not like the records say it was. It’s like someone came
in and rearranged things.”

“
No one can rearrange a house—” Barb
started.

“
Really?” Helter said with emphasis.
“Did either of you notice a belltower behind the main house earlier
today?”

Caroline and Barb looked up with horror. Far
above the main house, in the setting sun, a belltower now stood. As
they stared, the peal of a large bell rang out. One by one, lights
appeared in the main house looming above them.

“
Should we douse the fire?” Caroline
whispered.

“
No,” Helter said grudgingly. “We need
to keep it going and sit with our backs to one another. We won’t be
able to see all four directions, but three is better than nothing.
I just hope to God nothing comes over that wall behind us.” He
tossed another log on the fire. “Get ready for a hell of a long
night.”

“
Thanks,” Mac said in appreciation,
toasting the newly formed belltower with his glass of Jack
Daniels.

It was always amazing to watch it form. The
first time, just hearing the bell had scared the shit out of
him

Mac had run outside the main house, where
he’d brought the first live girl, and seen a belltower more than a
hundred feet high in the place of his helicopter and the granite
pad. Frantic, he’d flung open the door at its base, and gone
inside. There was his helicopter, safe and sound on the square
granite rock. But there was no way it was getting airborne from
inside those solid brick walls. And they
were
solid. The
belltower was not an illusion, it was really there.

Mac had been livid. He’d killed the girl
quickly, only worried about getting her buried somewhere so that
when he called for help the rescuers wouldn’t find her remains.
He’d hurried to the house’s basement, hoping for an earthen floor.
Instead, at the base of the cellar stairs, there was a pool of dark
stagnant water that stretched over most of the basement floor. As
he watched, trying to determine the best place to drop the body in,
the water rippled slightly.

Startled, Mac had let out a loud curse and
tried to back up. His foot slipped on the slimy stairs, and he went
down hard on his ass and back. The girl’s body slipped out of his
hands, splashing into the water.

Mac cursed again and reached for the body,
trying to hold onto the stairs and grab an arm or leg. But the body
had already moved away, floating steadily toward the far wall. Mac
grabbed a penlight from his pocket, shining it into the
darkness.

There had been no far wall as he’d first
assumed, only a long corridor of shadows and water. The body
floated steadily toward it as he watched, turning slightly in the
eddies. Then, the body seemed to get hung up on something, as it
stopped moving.

A greenish white hand had come up from the
brackish water, taking hold of an arm. Then the body continued out
of sight.

Mac had run for the stairs, taking them two
at a time, his only thought to get to the shore. He’d swim home if
he had to. But as he emerged from the main house, he saw his
chopper gleaming there in the sun on the granite pad. He stared at
it a while, then went to his overnight bag to gather it up to
leave. Near the bag was a small pile of cash.

Mac knew it hadn’t been there when he’d put
down the bags. He was fairly sure it hadn’t been there when he’d
run past with the girl’s body. But it was there now.

The pile contained a couple twenties, a five,
a ten, and seventy-three ones. There was also a handful of change,
mostly quarters. And there was one gold coin which was some kind of
rare two dollar American Indian he’d never seen before. All of it
was wet, the cash sodden, some of the coins grimy with silt.
Like they had been found washed up on the shore, or in a drowned
man’s pocket.

Mac had gathered up the cash, grabbed his
bags, and taken off for home. He’d done a lot of thinking that next
week. Then the following weekend he’d come back with another live
girl.

Again, as soon as he landed and went inside,
the belltower had formed around his helicopter. But this time he
didn’t kill the girl. This had been his first real hunt, with the
finale on the staircase. Again, there had been a small pile of cash
when he’d returned to his bags, mostly ones and quarters. But there
had also been an expensive watch, a gold charm bracelet, and a pair
of diamond earrings. Looking at that pile, Mac thought he
understood.

Passage home from the island was assured with
a dead body. But a live one paid extra. And since Mac would have
done his part for free, it was a hell of an arrangement, especially
with the added protection of custom-built camouflage for his
copter.

Mac put down his empty glass, then stood up
from his easy chair. It was time to get moving. He walked down the
stairs, admiring the paintings hanging from the walls of men like
himself, who weren’t afraid of their destiny.