Lure (13 page)

Sam looked past the registration desk, and not far away sat a bar. For a moment she wondered if a quick drink might be in order.

"There are a number of different stories that people tell," Michael said. "Soldiers rested here during World War II, and there is said to be the spirit of a woman here. Mostly I think people are just telling tales, but if you can come up with some hard evidence, then people will come just for the haunting. And if you don't find anything, then I can tell the staff that the place isn't haunted. Either way, I win."

Sam could see his point, and from the stale smell in the air on the third floor, it appeared these rooms didn't get much use anyway, so he wasn't losing out on room fees. That just left the meals they had been promised, and the two of them couldn't eat all that much. It seemed like a pretty good deal for everyone involved. Despite the lack of use, the rooms were well appointed and comfortable. Once the air conditioner had brought in some fresh and cool air, the room began to feel a great deal better.

"So people have experiences in the spa, right?" Sam heard Shells asking Michael, who waited in the hall, and she smiled. She loved that girl.

"I suppose I could comp you each a massage. Just stop by the spa and schedule something. Keep in mind the therapists are independent contractors, and I'm sure they would appreciate any tips you feel are appropriate."

"That's a fair deal," Shells said. "Thanks."

Looking out of her still open door, Sam saw Shells moonwalk, grab her crotch, and spin around with a "He he!" She shook her head.

With guests to attend to, Michael didn't stay any longer, and Sam and Shells were left to settle into their rooms. A king size bed dominated the room, but a small desk and chair provided a work space, and an easy chair and ottoman filled the remainder of the main space. Aside from that, there was a nice sized bathroom, with relatively modern fixtures. Someone had done a great deal of work to keep this hotel up with the times. A small closet was the only other space, its open door facing the bed.

Ready for the real adventure to begin, Sam grabbed her key, never looking at the white paper tag attached to it by a bit of string. When she stepped outside and slid the key into the lock, she turned it to the right and there was a satisfying thunk of the deadbolt. At that moment her eyes came to rest on the dull brass-rimmed number plate that adorned the door.

313.

Her room was number 313. It couldn't be a coincidence, and Sam felt a lump rise in her throat. What did this mean? What was she supposed to do with this? Without realizing it, she was pounding on the door to Shells' room, and it didn't take long for her friend to respond.

"What the hell?" she said when she opened the door, but then she saw the look on Sam's face. "Dude. What's up?"

"Look at my room number," Sam said.

"Holy crap!" Shells said when she saw the number. "Oh, man. You're not going to believe this. I mean you're
really
not going to believe this."

"What?" Sam asked, not really wanting any more surprises, but unable to resist asking.

"The guys from Survieltech called, and they weren't all that mad about picking up the equipment, and they know the only reason the equipment was abandoned was because we got arrested, which they actually thought was pretty funny. So anyway, on to the really friggen' interesting part. Rather than just trash our evidence, my buddy Ron decided to check it out and see if we actually caught anything. And guess what?"

"What?"

"We friggen' caught some stuff, dude! And he emailed a couple clips to me. We caught two EVPs. Here, listen to the first one. Just tap the play button."

Shells handed Sam her smartphone and after figuring out what the play button was, she tapped it. A sound played, but Sam couldn't pick any words out of it.

"I know what Ron thought that said, but I'm not going to say it. Did you make anything out?" Shells asked.

"No," Sam said.

"OK. Hold onto your panties, and listen to the second one. You might want to sit down, dude. For real."

Sam took the smartphone and with a certain amount of trepidation tapped the play button. What she heard was a deep and garbled voice issue three very clear syllables: three thirteen.

"Is that not freaky as hell?" Shells asked. "What is going on here, dude? I'm starting to freak out."

"I don't know Shells, but we're going to find out. This just tells me that we are heading in the right direction. When will the equipment arrive?"

"It should get here tomorrow," Shells said. "I didn't want to pay for overnight shipping, so I tried to time it. It may take a couple days, but it saved us some bucks."

"That sounds good," Sam said, knowing Michael had said they could stay for as long as they needed to, within reason, and a couple extra days seemed well within reason. "Let's go see about scheduling those massages. I doubt they would let us record those anyway, so we can just relax and get in tune with the Inn."

"Yeah. That's the ticket," Shells said. "I'll bet getting yourself into a super relaxed state is a great way to bring out the spirits."

Sam shook her head.

"I've told you before that getting a massage is an art," Shells said. "If you don't do the right things when receiving a massage, there's not much the therapist can do for you."

"As you say, master massage receiver."

"I used to sleep with someone in massage therapy school, and I was her homework for like a year. Now I'm a friggen' pro," Shells said.

Taking the stairs across from the registration desk, the girls descended to the spa level and made their way to where a pleasant looking woman sat at an antique yet modest desk. "How y'all doing?" She asked with one of the most appealing drawls Sam had heard. Coupled with a warm smile and laughing eyes, Sam instantly knew she liked the woman. "My name is Lori," she said. "What can I do for you ladies today?"

"Hi, I'm Sam and this is my friend Shells, and we would like to schedule massages for tomorrow if possible."

"Ouch. Tomorrow, huh?" Lori said. "We stay pretty well booked. Let me have a look at the schedule."

"The later the better," Sam added.

"Well. You might just be in luck. I've got an opening and a cancellation at 2:30 tomorrow. Will that work for you?"

"Deal," Shells said, trying to move her way a little closer to Lori. Sam stepped to the side, barely able to suppress her smirk. "You ever have anything weird happen to you down here? Oh. Wait. That came out wrong."

Lori laughed. "You're the ghost busters, aren't you?"

"We prefer ghost detectives," Shells said. "It makes us sound badass, don't you think?"

"If you say so."

Sam could see this wasn't going anywhere. "So what would you recommend doing around here?"

"Oh, well there's Chimney Rock, which is a must see; the view is amazing. You can take an elevator up through the mountain to the chimney. And then I would have to say the boat tour of Lake Lure is quite a treat."

"Thanks," Sam said. "Come on Romeo. Let's go."

"Bye, Lori," Shells said, undeterred. "It was nice meeting you."

"Oh, do come on," Sam said, surprised by the bit of jealousy that threatened to redden her face. "Which do you want to do first?"

"I gotta see this elevator," Shells said. "I dig elevators."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Elevators?"

"Hey, everybody has their quirks, and I've got a thing for elevators. And I ain't talking empty elevators either; I'm not that freaky. Close but not quite."

After paying their way into the park, Sam drove slowly up the winding incline. One mistake here could be deadly, and Sam wasn't taking too many chances, though she chided herself for not going straight to a garage instead of sight seeing. The ride back down the mountain could prove interesting. Sam lost count of the switchbacks when they passed a small house that stood cradled by the tightest of turns. Its maroon painted wood siding with dark green roof and trim looked almost magical in that spot, surrounded by pristine forest with a quaint bit of blacktop running through it. Movement caught Sam's eye, and she thought she saw a flash of light. She craned her neck and tried to look back as they passed, but a pickup was coming from the other direction and Sam needed to keep her attention on the narrow roadway.

Finally, a parking lot appeared around the next curve, and Sam parked in a spot with an empty spot on either side, as she always tried to do. She could have parked far closer, but the risk of door dings kept her from taking those spots.

"Couldn't just park up front, could you," Shells said. "Now I have to drag my wide ass up the side of this mountain. This should be fun Kimosabe." Locking the car, Sam just started walking and Shells fell in beside her. "Oh, man. No way. Are those wild raspberries? They are! I gotta have some of them."

"I don't think you're supposed to go up there," Sam said as Shells began to climb the rocky incline on the other side of a rusty guardrail that stood between the parking lot and the vertical face of the mountain. For someone who hadn't wanted to walk up the parking lot, Shells was doing a pretty good job of scaling the side of a mountain. "Be careful."

"Oh, man, these things are friggen' delicious!" Shells said, but then her toe slipped and she slid down a foot and a half. "I'm OK," she said, and people were pointing at her as they passed.

"Please come down from there," Sam said with a sigh, and Shells made her way back down much more slowly.

"You want some?" Shells said when she reached the bottom, and that was when Sam realized her front pocket was overflowing with raspberries.

"No thanks," Sam said.

Shells just shrugged, "Your loss. These things are friggen' good, man."

The walk to the highest point of the parking lot had Shells breathing hard by the time they reached an entranceway that had been carved into the rock. It was rough and angular, and looked all the more imposing due to its primal nature. Just outside stood a single table where a woman sold walking sticks and a variety of colorful toys and stones.

"Maybe I should get one of these walking staves," Shells said, and she pulled one from the cylinder that held them. This one had the face of a wizard carved into it; the rest of the staff had been stripped of protrusions and had many areas that had been sanded, but parts of it retained natural bark. "Aw, man. I've gotta have one of these." Shells said, twirling the staff as if she were about to take it into battle. "Waaaaaaa. Pff. Pff. Pow. You're done, sister."

Though tempted to show Shells some of what she'd learned in her police training, Sam just smiled instead. "I yield to your mastery of the staff, Oh Great One."

"How much is this?" Shells asked.

The price was shown on the container Shells had taken the staff from, but the woman was unperturbed. "Twenty dollars."

"Twenty?" Shells said. "I might have to pick that up on the way out."

The woman just smiled and nodded as Shells put the staff back. Inside the tunnel were framed images from the time of construction. "Can you imagine someone spending all that money to blast a shaft up through a thousand feet of rock?"

"For real," Shells said. "Even back in the day that had to have cost some serious bucks. Why not just build a stair? I can see preserving the view and all, but damn, that seems like a lot of work."

The air grew cooler as they moved farther into the tunnel, and soon they came up behind a family of four, who stood waiting for the elevator doors to open. It didn't look like Sam had imagined. She had expected something that looked like the elevator in a hotel or office building, but even just looking at the door, this was a different creature. It was painted a dark chocolate, almost black, and had a finish that reminded Sam of a locomotive; glossy, yet textured.

"Are you going to see the chimbly?" the youngest daughter asked, her older sister rolled her eyes.

"It's chimney, and it's just a rock," her older sister said. "It's not a real chimney; people just call it that."

The girls' parents didn't even seem to hear the conversation, and the youngest girl looked at Sam, undaunted, and waited for an answer.

Little kids freaked Sam out. "Uh. Yeah," she said. "We're going up, too."

"Oh." The little girl said, and then she turned back to the elevator door.

Children are strange creatures, Sam thought. A low rumble and whine announced the return of the elevator car. The door slid open, not in a smooth mechanical way, but in a slightly jerky manual motion. Within the elevator stood a tall and stern-looking man; his khaki trousers and deep green Chimney Rock Park shirt marked him as an employee. The family of four piled into the larger than expected elevator. There was just enough room for Sam and Shells.

"We can wait for the next one." Shells said.

"Plenty of room ladies. Please step in," the man said, his voice deep and commanding.

Shells made an annoyed sound with her tongue, but she followed Sam into the elevator, which was now quite tightly packed. Sam had expected some monologue from the elevator operator, but he remained silent and refused to make eye contact. "So. When was this thing built again?"

It took a moment for the man to respond. "In the 1920's."