The Legend of Annie Murphy (3 page)

“I don't have an explanation,” said the professor. “I only know it's no mistake, and no joke. You're standing on the grave of Cyrus Murphy, Annie's husband.”

Lila stood on the grave marker and looked toward the cliff. There was something about viewing the image of Annie from this perfect angle, this one special spot. “Can you see it? She's weeping for her husband. She's mourning.”

They all huddled close and looked into the sad eyes of the woman in the cliff. It was chilling to see her look directly back at them; there seemed to be a message, a thought behind those eyes.

Dr. Cooper gazed at the woman for a long moment and considered all he'd seen and heard. Then he turned to Professor MacPherson. “Mac, it looks like you've cut short our vacation.”

Which was fine with Jay and Lila. They gave each other a high five.

“So what now?” Jay asked.

“We'll have to get our gear, bring cameras, climbing ropes, surveying equipment. We need to know how that thing was formed, and why.” Dr. Cooper looked at Mac. “Which means we need to know anything and everything we can about the town of Bodine and about Annie Murphy.”

“I have people doing research back at the university,” Mac replied. “But don't forget, there's still one substantial piece of data we haven't examined.”

Dr. Cooper nodded, following Mac's line of thinking. “The ghost.”

That turned Jay's and Lila's heads.

“The ghost?” Lila asked.

Dr. Cooper explained, “It seems the boys were right about the woman in the cliff. It stands to reason they saw the ghost as well. Now
we
have to try and see it.”

“We can use my tent,” Mac volunteered. “Okay, then. Let's get moving so we can get back here by dark.”

By dark, they were back, ready to wait for the ghost. They pitched Mac's big green tent just below the crest of the hill so nothing would obstruct their view from the top. Then they stowed their food, camping gear, surveying and climbing equipment, and sleeping bags inside.

But no one was thinking about sleep right now. They were all tense and wide awake. Sitting in a circle around the grave of Cyrus Murphy, they kept watch in all directions as the last glow of sunset ebbed away and darkness filled the canyon. They had no campfire and refrained from using their flashlights so their eyes would remain sensitive in the dark. They spoke quietly, almost in a whisper, so no sounds would escape their notice.

For Lila and Jay, it was the oddest feeling. Even at night the canyon's sharp lines and majestic cliffs were beautiful. The desert air was so clear and the darkness so unbroken by city lights that the stars burned like sparklers overhead.

And yet the place still seemed gloomy. A creepy-crawly dread lurked in every dark shadow; a goose-pimply chill rode on every breath of wind. It was hard to relax and enjoy the still night.

“Maybe it's because we're waiting for a ghost,” Jay ventured, and Lila nodded in agreement.

“My people at the university uncovered a little more,” Mac said in a hushed voice. All Jay and Lila could see of Professor MacPherson was a black silhouette wearing a cowboy hat. “Annie Murphy was an illiterate Irish immigrant who came west to marry Cyrus. Once she married him, she murdered him, supposedly to inherit his mine. They were going to hang her, but she tried to escape and the local sheriff, a man by the name of Potter, shot her.”

“Potter shotter!” Jay laughed.

“Jay . . .” Lila entreated, giving him a poke.

“Two more interesting details,” Mac continued with a smile. “There are some accounts of her ghost wandering around Bodine after she was killed. One person reported seeing her out by the cabin Annie and her husband were building near their mine. Someone else reported seeing her here, standing over this grave, weeping for her husband. The sightings of the ghost lasted about a week, and then she was never seen again—that is, until now.”

The kids could see Cyrus Murphy's grave marker in the center of their circle. It seemed they were almost daring the ghost to confront them.

“Uh, what about that other story,” asked Lila, “the one about the sheriff and the judge found dead on top of Annie's grave?”

“No confirmation of that one,” Mac reported. “But if it's any comfort to you, no one knows where Annie's grave is. The marker is gone now.”

“Wouldn't it be right next to her husband's grave?” Jay asked. “That's usually how it's done, you know.”

“That's what I think,” said Lila. “I mean, we're kind of asking for trouble, sitting right here.”

“Well, this way we won't miss anything,” said Dr. Cooper.

“Dad, that's not funny.”

The cries of coyotes came to them from somewhere farther up the canyon. Why they had to yowl and yap like that, no one knew, but the sound was creepy.

“About what time the other night did the ghost appear?” Cooper asked.

“The boys figured it was between eleven and midnight.”

Jay pushed a button on his watch and the numbers glowed. It was ten after eleven.

They fell silent, as if on a hunt and not wanting to scare or alert their prey. It was quiet on that hill. They could hear the distant coyotes, and sometimes the wind, and often the beating of their own hearts.

A huge, golden moon had peeked over the horizon. As its light moved down the upper canyon walls, the head of the lady in stone was slowly unveiled, her features stark and clear. No wonder the boys had been so scared the other night. In the moonlight, she seemed alive and so much closer.

Mac spoke in a near whisper. “That reminds me of one other detail I learned today. It seems Annie Murphy was a wood and stone carver who created fine sculpture.”

“That's got to mean something,” Jay mused.

“But what?” Lila countered.

Dr. Cooper got out his camera and tripod. “I've got to get some shots in this light.” He dug around in his camera bag, flipped open a few compartments, and groped for something in the dark. “Oh nuts.

Hey kids, I need the other camera, the one with the night lens. I think it's still in the jeep. Would one of you go get it?”

Lila considered a trip to the jeep: a nice long, scary hike down the hill, a lonely walk through the ghost town of Bodine, and a risky trek along the old dirt road that used to be Main Street. All in the gloomy, spooky dark. “In the
jeep
?”

Jay piped up, “I'll go with you, Sis.”

“
You'll
go with
me
? Why don't you just go by yourself?”

“Because . . . because it wouldn't be safe to go alone.”

“What's the matter, you scared?”

“Okay, so go by
yourself.
”

“No way!”

Dr. Cooper settled it. “Both of you go. And you'd better hurry or you might miss something.”

They jumped up and headed down the hill, quickly but carefully stepping around stones and prickly cacti. Their flashlights remained unused, clipped to their belts. The moonlight helped them. It bathed everything in cold, gray and blue tones, but at least seeing the way was no problem.

The shadows gave them a jolt every now and then. A limb on a bush could twitch in the wind and look like a lizard darting along. A lizard could look like a still shadow until they got close, then dart away, making them jump.

They made it quickly through the town and finally saw the jeep sitting in the road like a boxy, squatting toad.

“Now what was it he wanted?” Jay began to review.

“The night camera,” said Lila. “You know, high speed lens, high speed film. But let's hurry.”

They ran the last several yards to the jeep. Jay found Dr. Cooper's other camera bag in the backseat and grabbed it. “Okay, let's go.”

They turned to start back.

The jeep made a squeak. Then they heard the tires crunching on the gravel.

“Jay!” Lila shouted, looking back. The jeep was moving, rolling lazily backward. “What did you do, let off the parking brake?”

“I didn't touch the brake! All I did was grab Dad's camera bag!”

Jay took off after the jeep but began to stagger as he ran, feeling dizzy. “Whoa . . .”

He wasn't alone. Lila was stumbling as well. It was weird. Their eyes saw no motion anywhere, but their feet told them the ground was tilting.

The jeep rolled a little more, then stopped, then started rolling forward.

Jay stopped in his tracks and shot a look back at Lila. “Hey, didn't Professor MacPherson say something about this?”

Lila stood in one spot, just trying to stay standing. There was nowhere to sit but on a cactus. “It's gravity! It's going weird, just like the professor said.”

The jeep stopped, then started rolling backward again.

Jay ran, zigzagging and staggering, and finally caught up with the vehicle. He jumped in and yanked on the parking brake then gave a sigh of relief. “Whew! Is this weird or what?”

Lila managed to return to the road and steadied herself against the jeep. “I still feel dizzy.”

“Must be the gravity playing games with our inner ears,” Jay theorized. “It's hard to know which way is up. I'm just glad the jeep moved, otherwise we'd think there was something wrong with us—”

Lila put her finger to her lips. Jay could read the fear in her eyes and froze, silent. They listened.

From somewhere amid the ruins of the ghost town, they heard an eerie sound. A coyote? No. It was human. A woman's voice. For a moment they could hear it, and then it faded.

They waited, stone still and silent. Their eyes scanned the barren, moonlit landscape. They could see the old chimney some distance away and, nearby, some jagged boards sticking up through the sagebrush. But nothing was moving out there.

The breeze shifted slightly. They could feel it in their hair.

The voice came to them again, carried on the breeze. A woman crying . . . no, more like wailing, her voice full of fear. The voice was faint as if far away, and yet they could tell it was coming from somewhere close, somewhere in the ruins.

Jay had to make up his mind not to be afraid. Right now, panicking would be very easy. “You okay?” he whispered.

Lila's eyes were wide, continually scanning in the direction of the sound. Her throat was so dry she couldn't speak, so she nodded to her brother.

Jay reached into the camera bag and pulled out his father's night camera, flipping off the lens cap.

Now they could hear the woman's voice clearly.

She seemed to be crying out in fear, pleading with someone, but they couldn't make out the words.

“Don't move,” Jay cautioned Lila. “We don't want to scare it.”

Lila's head snapped around and she gave him a look that carried a clear message:
We
don't want to scare
it
?

Then she saw Jay's eyes and knew he'd spotted something. She turned to look in the same direction, not wanting to, but wanting to.

It looked like a blue puff of smoke coming up the road toward them, floating, wavering, the edges unclear. A moment later they could tell it was someone running. As it came closer, they could see a face.

It was a woman in a long blue dress, with long hair waving in the wind behind her as she ran. Her face was contorted with fear. Her faint, faraway voice came in agonized gasps. She was transparent; they could see right through her.

“The ghost!” Lila whispered. “The ghost of Annie Murphy!”

THREE

A
t the first sight of the ghost, Jay's mind had gone numb. But now he remembered the camera in his hands and raised the viewfinder to his eye. He got the woman in focus.
CLICK!
He zoomed in on her.
CLICK!
He could see her face and her frightened eyes, her mouth open as she gasped for air.
CLICK!

He lowered the camera and saw her only thirty feet away, still running. She looked behind her. Jay and Lila could make out a few words: “No . . . please . . . please let me go . . .”

Abruptly, the woman turned off the road and ran through the ruins on what used to be a side street.

Jay clambered out of the jeep. “Come on. We have to help her!”

Lila's voice was a frightened gasp. “
Help
her? Help her do what?”

“Can't you tell? Somebody's after her!”

That made Lila look down the road again. Was there another ghost back there even more frightening than this one?

Jay grabbed her by the arm and they ran together, following the vague, wavering form through the ruins, around cacti and piles of boards, over rubble, past frightened lizards and clumps of sagebrush.

“Look,” Jay exclaimed in a whisper. “She isn't casting a shadow!”

“We should get Dad!”

“We can't lose sight of her! Come on!”

They followed her beyond the ruins, moving rapidly up the gradual slope toward the base of the cliffs. She was looking over her shoulder at . . . someone, something . . . but she wasn't looking at Jay and Lila.

“Annie!” Jay called, so suddenly and so loudly that it almost stopped Lila's heart. “Annie Murphy, wait!”

Annie only screamed and ran faster. She reached the cliffs and disappeared.

“Where'd she go?” Lila gasped.

They ran up to the base of the cliff and found an opening in the rock about four feet wide. Jay unclipped his flashlight from his belt and clicked it on. Lila did the same.

They stepped into the gap, light beams searching ahead of them and up the sheer walls. It was like going into a cave with no ceiling, a tight, viselike alley in the rocks. They moved ahead deliberately but slowly, listening, looking. The opening penetrated into the cliff twenty feet, then thirty, then forty.

Jay kept searching the sandy floor. “She didn't leave footprints.”

“Oh
right
,” Lila responded sarcastically.

Jay stopped. “Shh.” They stood still, listening. “I thought I heard her.”