The Haunting at Grays Harbor (The River Book 8) (2 page)

He was sad when he parted with his Accord since he’d had it
for so long. One test drive in the Acura, though, and he was ready to upgrade.
He offered to buy Roy a new truck as well, but Roy declined. Roy had warned him
not to get too spendy now that his bank account was flush, but the Accord was almost
two decades old and Steven felt the new car was a wise investment.

He blew past the turnoff to Eximere. The road to Westport
would be just a few minutes ahead.

◊

“It’s almost dark now,” Father Wynan said, standing, looking
out the windows of his small rectory home in Cosmopolis. “You can go see them
if you want. But I won’t go.”

Steven and Roy sat on a couch in Father Wynan’s small
quarters. Steven thought the priest was nice enough, but he was obviously
scared.

“Why won’t you go?” Steven asked. “I assume they’re your
parishioners. And I understand they’re in need.”

“Technically,” Father Wynan said, “they go to the Westport
church. The priest there, Father Cannon, abandoned their case. They went to
Father Thompson in Aberdeen after that. He went to the house once, and refused
to do any more. When they came to me, I felt sorry for them, so I offered to do
what I could. But I tell you, I’m this close,” he raised his hand and showed
them a fraction of an inch between his fingers, “to giving up as well. I called
Dixon because he and I have a bit of a history, and I know he has, shall we
say, an ‘interest’ in these types of things.” Father Wynan released the drape
on the window and returned to a chair. He was clearly nervous.

“Me? I don’t like this at all,” Wynan said, sitting. “It’s
not of God and it makes me very uncomfortable.”

“Is that why you won’t go at night?” Roy asked.

“I’ve been out there four or five times,” Father Wynan
replied, “every time during the day, except for the last time. I’ll never do
that again. I don’t know if I’ll ever go back out there, day or night.”

“What happened?” Steven asked.

“I got sick,” he said. “First I felt an overwhelming presence
in the house, something that made my hair stand up on the back of my neck.
That’s a warning, you know. It means something dangerous is nearby. And then I
felt it, in my stomach. I had to throw up. As soon as I was a mile away from
the house, I felt a hundred percent better.”

“What about the family that lives there?” Roy asked. “They don’t
get sick?”

“No, but…” he paused. “I think that perhaps they’re… used to
it, in a manner of speaking. I’m not sure the things that happen there impact
them the same way they impact a visitor. And I think, in the case of the little
girl, she’s so far gone, nothing would impact her.”

“Gone? What do you mean?” Steven asked.

“Father,” Roy said, “it would be helpful if you’d back up and
tell us everything. From the start.”

“Alright,” the priest said, taking a deep breath and leaning
back in his chair. “One night I got a phone call from a woman who was very calm
and polite, explaining that she wanted her home blessed. When I took her address,
I saw that she was in Cannon’s parish, and I mentioned that to her, but she
seemed insistent that I do it. I thought maybe she didn’t like Father Cannon.
Anyway, I went to her house, and met with her family. Nice husband, two pretty
girls, about nine and five years old. The husband was a little dismissive – I
don’t believe he was Catholic. But she was kind and welcoming. Barbara is her
name, and she asked if I would bless the house for her, as we had discussed on
the phone. She said they’d just moved in a few months ago, and had neglected to
have it blessed when they first arrived.

“What I didn’t know is that she’d already attempted to have
the house blessed twice before,” Father Wynan continued. “I started going
through the house, and I began to feel uncomfortable. What I felt is hard to
describe, but if I had to choose a word, I’d say it was foreboding. As I went
from room to room, I felt a rising dread, and a knot beginning to form in my
stomach. By the time I reached the rooms on the top floor I was completely
unnerved, let me tell you. The air seemed thick, and everywhere you looked,
things were wrong. I don’t mean things were in the wrong place. I mean it
felt
wrong. You know how things are supposed to feel. The rooms in that house felt
completely foreign, as strange as if I was walking on another planet. I know
that must sound bizarre to you gentlemen, but I’m telling you, it was unearthly
– like I was in a mental fog. And there was movement in the air. I couldn’t see
it, but I could feel it, I could feel the air pressure change as things moved
by, in front of me. I remember reading something about that type of thing back
when I was in the seminary. Definitely evil, something not of God. It scared me
then, when I was young, and it scared me when I was in that house.” He stopped,
and sighed. “You must think I’m insane.”

“No, not at all,” Steven said. “Please continue.”

“Well, if you’re friends of Dixon, I expect you have some
knowledge of these kinds of things. Dixon always seemed to. I’m very wary of
it, I don’t like the dark feelings associated with this kind of evil. So,
anyway, I finished up the blessing as quickly as I could, and walked back
downstairs. I found it much easier to breathe down there, though the feeling of
dread was still present.”

“Could you sense the movement when you were downstairs?” Roy
asked.

“No,” Father Wynan replied, “that was only upstairs. In the
rooms.”

“Please, go on,” Roy said.

“Well, she asked if I would come by and visit them in a day
or two, to check up on them. I could tell she was troubled – something was
weighing on her mind that she didn’t tell me. I said I would, and left. Went
back a couple of days later. This visit was also in the daytime, right around
supper, like the last visit. Got the same feeling when I entered the house. The
girls were upstairs playing while we visited downstairs in the living room.
Several times I heard a banging from upstairs, and Barbara would comment on how
loud the children were. I could tell something was wrong, so I asked her if she
needed help. She broke down in front of me, saying she thought there was
something evil in the house. She described several things they had noticed that
disturbed them; windows that opened on their own, shadows on walls that
shouldn’t be there. She was afraid for her oldest daughter. She said her
daughter related frightening stories of events in her bedroom. At first they
tried to dismiss it all, but she seemed worn out, tired of trying to find
excuses for the strange events. Then, I saw it.”

Father Wynan paused, sat up in his chair, and cleared his
throat. He looked perplexed and anxious.

“You saw what?” Steven prompted.

“You’ll think I’m crazy, but I saw something in my peripheral
vision, above me. I glanced up, and a girl’s face was in the ceiling, sticking
out of it. She saw me looking at her, and she pulled back into the ceiling, and
was gone. I was terrified. It was as though it was eavesdropping on us, and
when it realized I’d seen it, it hid. Gives me chills to recall it.”

Steven looked at Roy, who turned to look at Steven in
response. He saw the side of Roy’s mouth hidden from Father Wynan curl into a
smile.

“I knew, from that moment on, that something way out of my
league was in that house,” Father Wynan continued. “I stopped trying to find
rational explanations for the things Barbara described, and instead looked for
ways to combat it. I’m afraid I’ve not been very successful so far. I was
hoping that by calling Dixon he’d have some approach that could help. Perhaps
you two have some idea of what is happening?”

“How long ago did you see the face?” Roy asked.

“Two weeks ago,” Father Wynan replied. “I tried everything in
the book that I know to do. The poor girl, Georgina, that’s the oldest
daughter, she’s going through hell. One day everything is fine, the next she’s
terrorized. Things seem centered on her.”

“Did you encounter any other phenomena?” Steven asked.
“Anything else unusual?”

“It was very hit and miss,” Father Wynan said. “I’d visit one
day and things seemed normal, though the family was always on edge. I’d visit
another day, and they’d be very upset. I only saw one other thing, the last
time I visited, and it…”

He paused, looking down at his hands in his lap.

“…I’m not sure I should relate it to you. It’s the kind of
thing that makes one sound like a raving lunatic.”

“We’ve heard worse, I assure you,” Roy said. “If we’re going
to help, we need to know what you’ve seen.”

“Well, the last visit I made there, three days ago,” Father
Wynan said, still looking down, “I was visiting with Georgina in her room. She
was sitting on her bed with several dolls arranged in a circle. I was standing
by the bed, talking to her, and I felt a change in temperature, like when
you’re standing in the sun, and something casts a shadow on you, and you lose
the heat. It felt like it was behind me, so I turned away from the girl to see
what was there. Nothing. When I turned back…”

Again he paused. Steven and Roy waited while he gathered his
courage to speak.

“…when I turned back, she was no longer on the bed. She was
on the wall, naked, upside down. There were spikes – they looked like railroad
spikes – in her feet and hands, pinning her to the wall. She’d been crucified. She
was staring at me with her mouth open, trying to scream, but nothing came out.
I stepped back in shock. I remembered stepping on something, a toy on the
ground, and I looked down, trying not to lose my balance. When I looked back
up, she was back on the bed, just as before – playing with her dolls, looking
at me as though nothing had happened. I excused myself and left. I’m afraid
that when I reached Barbara downstairs, I was so distressed at what I’d seen
that I told her I wouldn’t be able to help her any further. Then I left. By the
next morning I was feeling so bad about abandoning her and that little girl
that I decided to call Dixon and see if he could help.”

“What do you think it is?” Roy asked. “In the house?”

“I have no idea,” Father Wynan said, “I honestly don’t, and I
haven’t got the faintest clue what to do about it. I only know it’s evil, and
it’s way above my pay grade.”

“Well, it’s not evening yet,” Steven said, checking his
watch. “But it will be soon. Do you suppose we could go to the house? Introduce
ourselves? Maybe talk with them?”

“I’ll give you directions,” Father Wynan said. “And I’ll call
Barbara to tell them you’re coming.”

“You won’t come with us?” Roy asked, standing up.

“I doubt I’ll ever set foot in that house again,” Father
Wynan said.

Steven saw the correctional facility looming over a hill to
his left just as they passed a sign warning motorists not to stop for hitchhikers.

“Didn’t know this was out here,” he said.

“Surprised they live so close to it,” Roy replied. “Usually
people don’t like prisons in their backyard.”

They drove on another mile before finding the turn into the
small outcropping of homes, many situated with a view of Grays Harbor. There
were five rows of small streets, arranged on a hill, each lined with houses of
differing ages, and a comfortable distance between each. The house that Father
Wynan directed them to was on the second street, and looked large and modern.

In addition to an SUV in the driveway, a large white van was
parked in front of the house with its back doors open. Steven parked in front
of the van, and he and Roy walked to the front door as two men carried a large
metallic trunk from the van into the house.

“Can you get the door?” one of the men asked Roy, who was
standing next to it. Roy obliged and reached for the door knob, but it opened
before he could reach it. Inside was a short man with a moustache, who held the
door open as the two men carried the case inside. He was wearing a white polo
shirt with the initials WES embroidered on the front. He started to shut the
door when Roy stepped up.

“Excuse me, we’re here to see Barbara,” Roy said.

The man eyed Roy up and down. “Who are you?”

“My name is Roy, and this is my son, Steven. Barbara should
be expecting us.”

The short man squinted at them as though he did not believe
Roy, but he held the door open. “Come in. She’s in the kitchen.”

Roy stepped in, and Steven quickly followed. It was chaotic
inside. There were cables running in all directions on the floor. They stepped
over them, walking down a hallway, trying to find the kitchen. People were
moving throughout the house and metallic crates were stacked everywhere.

“What’s going on here?” Steven whispered to Roy as they made
their way down the hall, avoiding the people and the cables.

“I have no idea,” Roy replied. “Maybe they decided to move?”

“These guys are moving stuff in, not out,” Steven said,
glancing into a room as they passed by it. Electronics were spread around the
room, wires running everywhere. He saw light stands, control panels
–
even a parabolic dish. “They’re not movers.”

Roy found the kitchen and walked inside. It was quieter than
the other rooms. A woman was sitting on a stool at a counter, looking
dejectedly into a cup of coffee that she held between both hands.

“Barbara?” Roy asked.

She looked up, and Steven saw how deeply worried she looked –
the weeks of stress and sleepless nights were evident. Underneath the worry was
a pretty, young face. She stood up. “You must be Roy?” she said, extending her
hand.

“I am,” Roy said, taking her hand. “And this is Steven. He’s
my son.”

“I have to admit, I was a little surprised to get Father
Wynan’s call. I figured he was out of the picture.”

“We just came from his place,” Roy said. “I think he feels a
little guilty about running out on you the other night. He made a few calls,
and here we are.”

“Well, as you can see, you’re not the only ones!” Barbara
said. “Brad – that’s my husband – called in these people. Some ghost hunting
outfit from Seattle. They claim to be able to eradicate everything from a
house. Not bugs or mice, mind you. Just spirits.”

“You seem skeptical,” Roy said.

“Would you like some coffee?” she said, smiling at them. “I
just made a pot.”

“Would love some,” Roy replied.

“Please, sit,” she said, motioning to the stools at her kitchen
counter. As she poured them both a mug, they could hear the men in the other
rooms banging equipment and hollering at each other.

“It seems impressive, all this stuff,” Barbara said. “Cream?
Sugar?”

“No, thank you,” Roy replied. “I guess after Father Wynan
said he couldn’t do any more to help, you decided to call in these folks?”

“It was more Brad’s idea. Calling in the church was my
approach. He said that since the church couldn’t handle it, we needed to step
it up. I’m not sure this is going to be any better. I don’t have a lot of faith
in contraptions and gizmos.”

“Me neither,” Roy said.

“Father Wynan told you what’s been happening? Here in this
house?” she asked.

“He gave us a rundown on his involvement,” Steven said. “Sure
would like to hear your side of things, however.”

“Barbara, can you come here for a moment?” a voice came from
the room behind them. Steven recognized it as the short man at the front door.

“Excuse me,” she said, placing her cup of coffee on the
counter. “I’ll be right back.” She walked out from behind the counter and into
the next room.

Steven and Roy drank their coffee for a moment, then Barbara
walked back into the kitchen with the man in tow. “This is ridiculous,” she
said. “If you want to know who they are, just ask them!”

The short man followed Barbara and stood at the side of the
counter next to Steven and Roy.

“Steven, Roy, this is Samuel White, owner of White’s
Eradication Services, from Seattle. Sam, this is Steven and Roy.”

“Nice to meet you,” Roy said, nodding.

“What are you doing here?” Sam asked tersely.

“Visiting with Barbara,” Roy replied. “What are you doing
here?”

“We’re in the middle of a delicate operation,” Sam said,
sweat beading up on his forehead, “and it would be best if the family had some
privacy while we work.”

“What kind of work?” Steven asked.

“It’s a private matter between myself and the Winters.”

Roy turned to Barbara. “Your last name is Winters?” he asked,
surprised.

“It is, why?”

“Oh, nothing,” Roy said. “We’re good friends with someone who
shares your last name. She lives in California.”

“There’s certainly a lot of us around,” Barbara said,
smiling. “Sam here is setting up equipment to try and figure out what’s been
happening in our house.”

Sam looked flustered. “Barbara, I’d advise you not to talk
any further to these men. They’re not part of the operation.”

“They’re friends of our priest,” Barbara replied. “He
referred them to me.”

“We talked about this before,” Sam said with just a hint of condescension.
“Priests can’t solve this.”

“You may be right,” Barbara replied. “But what does it hurt
to have two more people working on it? If they’re willing to help, I’m not
turning them away.”

“We have a lot of delicate equipment in there,” Sam said
pointing to the next room, his face starting to turn pink. “I can’t guarantee
anything if they interfere with things.”

“As I understand it, you’re not guaranteeing anything,
anyway,” Barbara said, sipping from her mug. “You told my husband there were no
guarantees at all. Even with all the money he’s paying you.”

“This type of work is highly variable,” Sam replied. “Things
can’t always be predicted accurately.” Sam stopped for a moment, and eyed
Steven and Roy warily. “Their presence here while we work could jeopardize the
results.”

“It’s my house,” Barbara said. “They’re my guests. I guess
you’ll have to factor them into things.”

Sam turned in a huff and walked out of the room, giving Roy
and Steven a sour glance as he passed.

“Well, he’s an interesting fellow,” Roy said.

“He’s a little shit is what he is,” Barbara said, lowering
her voice. “He’s been here all day, nipping at me like a little chihuahua under
my legs. When Brad gets home, we’re gonna have a talk.”

“It doesn’t sound like you have much confidence in him,”
Steven said quietly.

“I’m not going to turn away any help,” Barbara said. “I’m
desperate. Maybe what he’s doing with the gadgets will work. I don’t know. So
far, nothing has worked, so I’m willing to try anything. Which is why I wasn’t
going to kick you two out just on his say so. Like he owns the place!” She
rolled her eyes.

Steven could tell that Roy liked Barbara. She was his kind of
person – didn’t take shit from anyone.

“We were hoping to get your side of things,” Steven said. “As
we mentioned, Father Wynan told us what he knew.”

“He’s a scared man, isn’t he?” Barbara asked. “I’d have found
it odd if two priests before him hadn’t had the same reaction. You look at this
place from the outside, you’d never guess it could frighten away three priests,
would you?”

“Well, that’s hard to say,” Roy replied. “We’ve encountered
some unusual things in very normal places.”

“Have you?” Barbara asked, genuinely intrigued. “That lot in
there wouldn’t give me any references or history, something to suggest they
knew what they were doing, or were good at it. Have you had some experience
with this type of thing?”

“We’ve had experience with a variety of unusual things,” Roy
replied. “Hauntings, mainly. I’d say we were successful in most cases. But I
couldn’t really say if we’ve had experience with your particular problem, since
we don’t know the details yet.”

“See, that’s a hundred and eighty degrees from the song and
dance the bozos in the other room gave my husband,” Barbara said. “They’d sold
him a ‘ghost cleaning package’ before he’d told them a single thing about what
has happened here.”

“Well, we can’t promise anything, either,” Roy said. “But if
you’ll tell us what’s been going on, we’ll see what we can do.”

Barbara looked past them for a moment, then grabbed her
coffee cup and the pot from the coffee machine. “Follow me, would you?” She
walked out of the kitchen, down the hallway filled with cables, and up the
stairs. Steven and Roy followed, bringing their coffee along. She stopped on
the second floor and went down another hall, and into a bedroom.

Inside, a king size bed sat haphazardly in the middle of the
room, its covers nearly made. On the opposite side was an entrance to a
bathroom. Barbara shut the bedroom door behind them once they’d entered, then
walked the pot of coffee to the bathroom, where she removed a washcloth and
placed it on a counter. She sat the hot coffee pot on the washcloth.

“That little man was listening to us in the kitchen,” she
said. “I could see his head poking from around the wall. I wouldn’t mind him
hearing what I’m about to tell you, but I don’t like being eavesdropped on like
that!”

“He seems a little nervous about us being here,” Steven replied.

“Maybe he thinks you’re here to steal his business,” she
said.

“We don’t charge for what we do,” Roy said. “Never have, at
least.”

“Well, I’d pay thousands right now to have this solved,
believe me,” Barbara said. “I just think spending it on him might be a waste.”

“What can you tell us?” Roy asked. “About what’s happened
here?”

Barbara sat on the edge of the bed. “We moved here from
Bellingham,” she started, “about four months ago. Brad’s in prison
administration, and he had an opportunity to transfer out here. We fell in love
with the place when we saw it; so close to the ocean, neighborhood is quiet,
the view is nice. The house was perfect for our family. So we moved.

“It started soon after that. Georgina, our oldest daughter,
came down from her room in the middle of the night, complaining that a little
girl was keeping her up. At first I thought it was May, our other daughter, who
has a room right next to Georgina. I thought maybe May was scared, being in a
new house, and went into Georgina’s room in the middle of the night. But
Georgina was insistent that it wasn’t May. It was some girl she’d never seen
before.

“Naturally, I went up to her room to investigate, but no one
was there. This went on every night for a week. We figured it would stop once
she became more comfortable with her room, but it didn’t. She still complains
about being kept up all night by the girl.”

“What about your other daughter?” Steven asked. “Has she had
similar problems?”

“No, not that we know of,” Barbara replied. “She seems to be
doing fine. It’s just Georgina. I’m afraid the lack of sleep has taken a toll
on her schooling too. She’s doing terrible, much worse than before we moved
here.”

“Anything else?” Roy asked.

“Yes, there is more,” Barbara said. “After Father Thompson
told me he couldn’t help us, I figured we’d just try to live with things. I was
hoping things would calm down on their own. Then, the spiders…” she paused, and
looked up at the ceiling.

“The spiders?” Steven asked, urging her to continue.

“I was lying on this bed,” she said. “Brad and I had just
turned in. I was worried, lying on my back, looking up at the ceiling. Things
aren’t completely dark in this room at night, there’s light from the windows
and the hallway – we usually sleep with the door open, in case we need to hear
the girls. Anyway, I’m lying there, looking up at the ceiling, and I… you’re
going to think I made this up, but I swear to God – I see things wiggling in
the air. I’m trying to figure out what they are, when suddenly they drop on me,
six or seven of them. Right on my face. I screamed and batted them away. I sat
up, and Brad turned on a light. There were spiders on my pillow and in my bed –
large brown ones, about this big.” She held up her hand, her index finger and
thumb connected to make a circle about the size of a quarter.