The Curse of Crow Hollow

Acclaim for Billy Coffey

“With lyrical writing and a rich narrative voice, Billy Coffey effortlessly weaves a coming-of-age story into a suspenseful, page-turning novel.
In the Heart of the Dark Wood
is a beautiful journey that takes the reader down a road filled with Southern gothic characters and settings; perfectly balanced with redemption and triumph of the human spirit. Allie is a courageous character that is sure to capture any reader's heart.
In the Heart of the Dark Wood
is not to be missed.”

—M
ICHAEL
M
ORRIS
,
AUTHOR OF
S
LOW
W
AY
H
OME
AND
M
AN IN THE
B
LUE
M
OON

“Coffey pens a coming-of-age story about the tribulations of the heart that is profoundly believable. The dialogues between characters are intensely rewarding to follow, and readers will anticipate the danger ahead; they will not pull away from the novel until it is finished. Suspense and mysteries of spirit make for a winning combination for any reader.”

—
RT B
OOK
R
EVIEWS
, 4½
STARS ON
I
N THE
H
EART OF THE
D
ARK
W
OOD

“
The Devil Walks in Mattingly . . .
recalls Flannery O'Conner with its glimpses of the grotesque and supernatural.”

—
B
OOK
P
AGE

“[
The Devil Walks in Mattingly
is] a story that will hold your attention until the last page.”

—J
ESSICA
S
TRINGER
,
S
OUTHERN
L
IVING

“Billy Coffey is one of the most lyrical writers of our time. His latest work,
The Devil Walks in Mattingly
, is not a page-turner to be devoured in a one-night frenzy. Instead, it should be valued as a literary delicacy, with each savory syllable sipped slowly. By allowing ourselves to steep in this story, readers are treated to a delightful sensory escape one delicious word at a time. Even then, we leave his imaginary world hungry for more, eager for another serving of Coffey's tremendous talent.”

—J
ULIE
C
ANTRELL
,
N
EW
Y
ORK
T
IMES
AND
USA TODAY
BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF
I
NTO THE
F
REE
AND
W
HEN
M
OUNTAINS
M
OVE

“[A]n inspirational and atmospheric tale.”

—
L
IBRARY
J
OURNAL
STARRED REVIEW OF
W
HEN
M
OCKINGBIRDS
S
ING

“This intriguing read challenges mainstream religious ideas of how God might be revealed to both the devout and the doubtful.”

—
P
UBLISHERS
W
EEKLY
REVIEW OF
W
HEN
M
OCKINGBIRDS
S
ING

“Readers will appreciate how slim the line is between belief and unbelief, faith and fiction, and love and hate as supplied through this telling story of the human heart always in need of rescue.”

—
CBA R
ETAILERS
+ R
ESOURCES
REVIEW OF
W
HEN
M
OCKINGBIRDS
S
ING

“Billy Coffey is a minstrel who writes with intense depth of feeling and vibrant, rich description. The characters who live in this book face challenges that stretch the deepest fabric of their beings. You will remember
When Mockingbirds Sing
long after you finish it.”

—R
OBERT
W
HITLOW
,
BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF
T
HE
C
HOICE

“
When Mockingbirds Sing
by Billy Coffey made me realize how often we think we know how God works, when in reality we don't have a clue. God's ways are so much more mysterious than we can imagine. Billy Coffey is an author we're going to be hearing more about. I'll be looking for his next book!”

—C
OLLEEN
C
OBLE
,
BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF
T
IDEWATER
I
NN
AND THE
R
OCK
H
ARBOR SERIES

© 2015 by Billy Coffey

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

Published in association with Books & Such Literary Management, 52 Mission Circle, Suite 122, PMB 170, Santa Rosa, California, 95409-5370, www.booksandsuch.com.

Thomas Nelson titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].

Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version.

Publisher's Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

ISBN 978-0-7180-2680-6 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Coffey, Billy.

The curse of Crow Hollow / Billy Coffey.

pages ; cm

ISBN 978-0-7180-2677-6 (softcover)

I. Title.

PS3603.O3165C87 2015

813'.6--dc23

2015006826

15 16 17 18 19 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Dad

Contents

Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.

E
XODUS
22:18

I

Say there, friend!

Come on out that sun and tell me hello. Devilish out, ain't it? Hard to believe only a few months back, me an everybody else's pining for summer. Now here I sit, wishing the leaves'd hurry up and turn. Ain't that just how folk are? They want all but what they got.

Seen you driving up the road all slow, like you went and got yourself turned around. Don't nobody ever come up this way on purpose. Was a time folks would. They'd take these back roads up from Mattingly and Camden every Sunday after filling their souls and bellies, stop here long enough to realize both the Exxon and the grocery was closed for Sabbath. Preacher Ramsay used to call it an abomination to have business on the Lord's Day. He had a tight grip on this town back then, before the Trouble. The Reverend, I'm saying. Lord did, too, I suppose, though after the witch it was unsettled whether He did still. Some said God had gone out of this holler, never to return. Others say even in the blackest dark a light will burn, and there it will gather and build and drive that darkness away. You ask me which it is now, I can't say. All I'll tell you is this ain't no place to be lost in, friend. Not a year ago, but especially not now.

But hang on a minute, that don't mean you got to leave. A body like this one gets tired of seeing the same old faces and hearing the same old things. Be nice, having somebody new
to visit with. We got this nice bench, got some shade. Come on and sit awhile, would you? Keep a tired old man company. Let me move my old cane out the way, clear you a spot. Won't nobody bother you so long as you're with me. Sides, ain't many around these days. Guess that makes me town greeter, don't it? All right, then:

Welcome to Crow Holler.

I know it ain't much. Right here where these two clayed roads meet's about the only things left. Got Foster's Grocery down the way a piece; you can see the sun off the front glass. Just opened up again awhile back. Old one, it burned.

Speaking of which, that charred mess on the corner from the church used to be Medric Johnston's funeral home. There's folk here who'd never want a black man to plow their fields or dig their wells, but they never minded old Medric burying their kin. Funeral home's gone now. Medric too, long with that cross the Circle put in his front yard. You can ask Joe Mitchell about that. He runs the Exxon, right down from the grocery there? You go over, though, make sure you mind yourself. Joe ain't been right since his old place got blown to heaven, same night as the grocery.

You see that little blue car over there by the council building? That's our sheriff's car. Man who once owned that? Bucky Vest. Bucky was constable hereabouts before his daughter, Cordelia, and her friends crossed the witch. You'd be hard-pressed to find a soul in the Holler who'd call Bucky nothing but a good man, even if a little simple in the mind. Most of that comes from how he once worked up to the dump. Wasn't nothing pleased him more than getting to work every morning and watching the sun peek up over a big heap of county trash, fire up that dozer, and settle in under the hum of all that machinery. Just him and open sky and the knowing that he'd spend his day moving, digging, and burying, part of his evening shooting
rats to keep his gun-handling sharp, then some of the night keeping the Holler safe. You tell me there's a man in the world don't think that's a fine way to spend his days, I'll call you a liar. There's a peace in life that comes when you know your place in it, and that was Bucky Vest.