The Killing Room (31 page)

Now that the rain had ended, Paula ventured outside the barn. Looking up at the great house, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

First came the smashing of glass, then Uncle Howard was plummeting out of a window to the earth below.

And Paula could have sworn he was holding a baby in his arms.

The old man’s body hit the muddy ground with a sickening thud. Paula ran to him as fast as she could. As she got near, she saw there was no baby in his arms. It was just Uncle Howard, twisted and broken.

It was clear that he was dead. Paula knelt down to inspect his brittle, broken body. It had been a horrible way to die. But the expression on his face was peaceful.

“Is it over?” Paula asked, clutching the old man’s hand. “Or does it still go on?”

Movement caught her eye from several yards away.

She looked up quickly. Darkness was settling. The trees cast long purple shadows across the lawn. But as Paula stood, she could discern the figure of a woman moving toward the cliffs.

It was Beatrice.

And she was carrying a baby in her arms.

Douglas and Carolyn came running out of the house at that moment. Reaching Paula, they exchanged looks that said more than any words could convey. Douglas knelt beside the body of Uncle Howard and saw that he was dead. Still without words, Paula gestured for them to look across the lawn.

There was Beatrice, holding Malcolm. She was walking away from them. She kept on walking, without ever turning back, her black hair blowing in the wind. She walked straight over the cliffs, as if she were walking on air. Paula, Carolyn, and Douglas kept their eyes on her until she had faded away into the reflected light of the setting sun.

Carolyn’s FBI credentials served her well when the sheriff arrived. The multiple murders were easily explained by the presence of the body of David Cooke, a known killer wanted by New York police. The explanation for his rampage in Youngsport was obvious. Cooke had been after Carolyn, and was working his way through the entire household, killing the others in an effort to terrorize her.

But the problem was: there was no blood in Cooke’s body.

That’s when Carolyn had her former superior at the FBI give the sheriff’s department a call. Carolyn’s credibility was vouched for, and it was explained, as carefully as possible, that some of the cases she investigated were, to say the least, unusual. The Youngsport sheriff wasn’t about to buck the word of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. So he closed the case, classifying the murders as the work of David Cooke. He accepted the survivors’ contention that Cooke was killed in self-defense.

But the sheriff would never understand why there wasn’t a single drop of blood in Cooke’s body.

Of course, there had been blood everywhere else. The bodies were removed and buried. Dean’s funeral was especially sad, the sight of Zac and Callie clinging to their mother breaking everyone’s hearts. On the fourth day after the terror had ended, Sid arrived at the house. He had with him Howard Young’s will. Seated at the old man’s desk in the study, Sid read the will to Douglas, Carolyn, Paula, Karen, Jeanette, and Michael. The bulk of the estate had been left to Douglas over a year before, with generous bequests to Jeanette, Paula, and Dean. Dean’s share would now go to Linda and his children. Sid explained there was nothing in the will for Philip’s family, so they didn’t have to worry about his widow trying to grab anything.

“I don’t really care about any of it,” Douglas said afterward, as the six of them sat on the benches overlooking the cliffs. “I’d still rather just have a little house by a river as I’d imagined. Run a little carpentry shop.”

“Then that’s where we’ll live,” Carolyn said, taking his hand, kissing his cheek.

Paula smiled. “We could donate the house to the state. Turn the grounds into a park.”

“And bring the kids here to play,” Karen said.

They exchanged a smile. Paula had already arranged for a donor and hoped to be pregnant within a few months. She’d be forty in a few weeks, after all; she had no time to lose. She had told them she was praying for twins, since they ran in the family. A boy and a girl. And she’d name them Dean and Chelsea.

Paula took Karen’s hand. She would forever be grateful to her brother for risking his life to save her, and to her cousin for giving her life to save Karen’s. In the end, Chelsea hadn’t been so selfish after all.

“Well, I’ve finally agreed to marry Michael,” Jeanette announced. “I figure a forty-one-year engagement was long enough to make him wait.”

They all smiled, looking out over the cliffs.

That sat there in silence for a while. Finally Douglas asked, “We’re sure it’s over, right?”

“Of course it is,” Jeanette said. “They’re all at rest now.”

“Of course it’s over,” Paula echoed. “Uncle Howard reunited Beatrice and Malcolm. And he paid for his crime with his death.” She shuddered. “It’s
got
to be over.”

They were all looking at Carolyn for affirmation.

“It’s over,” she told them.

They seemed to be reassured by her words. Douglas squeezed her hand.

After all they’d been through, it was natural to wonder. It was perfectly understandable that they’d fear this time ten years from now. For the first time in ninety years, no lottery would take place in the house behind them. Carolyn believed it wouldn’t matter, that danger no longer threatened them. They’d discover that nothing bad would occur as a result of skipping the lottery. There would be no dead bodies in the morning. They’d know that the curse finally and truly was over.

But still.

Ten years.

It was a long time to wait.

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Copyright © 2010 John Manning

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