Hazy View: Souls of the Vanished (7 page)

“
No, he’s too weak. It's
safe to say the person was bigger and stronger than a teenager.
From the time the boy came in he’s been sitting on the bed rocking.
He’s humming every waken moment, at times he would look around
filled with more fear than I’ve ever seen in one human being. He’ll
ask anyone who gets close if she’s coming back. I’m not sure who
his referring to, but I think perhaps he’s talking about someone
who might’ve been with the attacker.”

“
It could possibly be,
maybe he’s talking about the attacker.”

“
I don’t think so, maybe
if she’s armed with something sharp and maybe metal. It takes a
strong force to give someone a concussion or to break a bone. But
the father has three broken bones, and by the bruises left behind,
a single blow caused the damage. Once he fell over the side of the
boat it left his head underwater. This might explain the water in
his lungs, but now I’m just guessing. I’m hoping the boy might tell
you something. I need to get him talking, so he can start to work
through his ordeal.” Phillip added as he walked deep in
thought.

Phillip lifted his shoulder and turned
right at the end of the long passage. He walked through doors with
reinforced glass. Andrew followed and gave way to an empty
wheelchair as an orderly pushed it past them.

“
You should’ve been a
police officer. You’re eye for detail’s astonishing.” Andrew
remarked.

Phillip smiled, “I did several years
in criminal psychology but prefer dealing with sane people rather
than mentally disturbed psychopaths.”

“
Thank goodness we don’t
have too many of those running around town.”

“
I don’t know there are a
couple of strange characters that drifted through here.” Phillip
laughed.

“
So I’ve heard.” Andrew
admitted.

They entered Edwin’s ward.

There were six beds. Blue curtains
that hung from the ceiling on railings surrounded two of the beds.
Three beds were empty. Edwin curled up on the bed under a large
window. He folded his hands in front of him so tightly that they’ve
turned white. He was mumbling what sounded like a prayer. His eyes
filled with tears and he was staring into nothing. Physically he
appeared unharmed.

“
Here’s the son.” Phillip
said picking up a chart and stepped back.

Andrew steps closer to the bed.
“Edwin, Edwin its Sheriff Foster. Can you hear me?”

“
You know him?” Phillip
asked.

“
Yes.” Andrew said turning
to Phillip.

“
Good luck, I need to see
some of my other patients. I’ll speak to you later.” Phillip turned
and left.

Andrew pulled a chair closer. He
reached and touched Edwin’s hands. Edwin stopped swaying. He looked
at Andrew. A large window above the bed admitted bright sunlight
and a view of the lake. Although the sun was warm Edwin’s hands
remained icy cold.

Edwin looked at Andrew with teary eyes
and a whisper in his voice. “Did she come back?”

Andrew leaned forward and whispered.
“Did who come back Edwin?”

“
The woman who was in the
lake last night, didn’t you hear her?”

“
Can you tell me who you
are referring to, the woman who helped and brought you
here?”

Edwin looked around nervously. “No!
I’m talking about the woman who was standing in the lights, who
attacked us.” Edwin moved closer to Andrew. “The dead
woman...”

Andrew pulled back sharply. “There’s a
dead woman in the lake?”

Edwin turned his attention to the
lake, for a moment he stared out the window. “Yes, she was like a
ghost.” He added softly.

Edwin, are you sure you saw a
woman?”

Edwin looked back at Andrew. “She was
so angry. She wanted to know why we did it. What was she saying? We
didn’t do anything, but she wouldn’t stop. She just wouldn’t stop.”
He wept softly into his hands.

“
What did she look
like?”

Edwin relaxed. “Like a ghost. Did you
find the child?”

“
There’s no child, it's a
cry from a bird or something.”

“
There’s a child, a small
child just like her.”

“
What do you mean, did you
see the child?” Andrew asked shocked.

“
No, but she’s looking for
him too. It's her child.” Edwin pulled his knees to his chest and
wrapped his arms around them. “It's her child crying at the lake at
night. Where’s my dad, is he okay?”

“
Yes, do you want to see
him? He’s sleeping now, but I’m sure the nurse will take you to see
him when he wakes up.”

“
Thanks.” Edwin said and
dropped his head onto his knees.

Andrew left the hospital confused. For
a moment he sat in his vehicle. The sun was warming his chilled
body. Thoughtfully he reviewed witness statements and Robert’s
file. Clouds were darkening the sky from the South. The wind was a
light breeze.

“
What’s with these ghost
stories? Are they just rumors to boost trade? Is someone trying to
hide something? Two witnesses claimed ghosts? What connection do a
new resident and a teenage boy have to the trade? What would they
stand to gain…? Nothing, absolutely nothing…”

Andrew studied the autopsy report.
“What did Robert see on the lake, ghosts? Was that what caused his
heart attack? Several people heard the child crying, yet no one has
seen it. I did hear it… it was a child. Who’d do this, killing a
woman it happens, but killing a child? It might’ve been a camping
accident or murder? Where did they come from, the city, local?
Maybe they’re not missing yet, that’s why it's not reported.”
Andrew took a deep breath, starts the engine and drove to the
lake.

*~*~*

*VI*

Andrew found Tom walking back from the
pier. Tom walked up to the passenger window and leaned into the
open window.

“
Good morning deputy,
sorry I mean sheriff.” Tom extended his hand in
greeting.

“
It's okay Tom, I’m
getting used to it. Do you have anything to do with what’s wrong in
the lake?”

“
What do you mean Sheriff?
I’m just doing my job. You can’t blame this on me I’ve got nothing
to do with this. There’s something else making this fuss.” Tom
defended, getting a little upset.

Andrew left the vehicle. “Relax Tom.
I’m only joking, but feel free to fill me in on what’s happening.
What’s bugging you about the lake?” Andrew asked and lit a
cigarette.

“
It all started some time
ago, I’d say three weeks now. It wasn’t until Robert died that I
started to notice these events. It's been around earlier, but I
guess I wasn’t paying any attention.”

Tom walked to the pier, Andrew
followed.

“
Which incidents or events
don’t I know of?”

Tom was slightly upset and took a
moment to think. “It's nothing worth mentioning at the time until I
had a chance to think about it. There were small incidences that
didn’t make sense. I’d hate to lose my job over this, you know.
People might think I’m too incapable to take care of the lake and
grounds.”

“
You won’t lose your job,
you didn’t do anything wrong, did you?” Andrew assured.

“
There’s so many things
wrong. In the last two weeks I’ve lost four boats and my cruiser’s
damaged. It’ll be some time before it's repaired. Don’t even talk
about the smaller boats. At least Roberts’ boat didn’t sink. This
crisis is putting me out of business.” Tom explained
worried.

“
There are four boats so
far? I only know of the one the men took to search for the missing
child.”

Andrew stopped at the trash can and
dumped his cigarette bud.

“
Some kids came here early
one morning and hired a small rowboat. I thought they wanted to
catch fish, because they had all their gear. They weren’t out too
far from the pier when I saw them swimming back. I didn’t think too
much of it because I didn’t see what happened. I thought they were
just cooling off, strange.”

“
Why did you think it's
strange?”

“
I didn’t see the boat and
all the kids swam back. They looked frightened and shaken up the
minute they left the water. They were breathless and scared more
than the swim tired them out.” Tom explained.

“
What happened to them,
did they say?” Andrew asked holding his breath.

“
I first had to calm them
down, couldn’t understand a word they were saying. They told me the
boat tipped over and they didn’t even bother to safe their gear.
They just needed to get out of the water fast. While they were
swimming back they felt like something was chasing
them.”

“
And the other two boats
you mentioned?”

“
That’s the strangest. I
lost the two moored boats because the one sank some distance away
and I couldn’t recover it. The other one, well I don’t know what
happened, when I found it, let’s just say it’s destroyed. This
happened about three weeks ago. I reported it to Sheriff Parker,
but I never heard anything about it again. I thought it might’ve
been the strong winds we had around that time, or kids messing
around. Well I had to write them off as lost.”

“
How’s the cruiser
damaged?” Andrew asked.

Tom seemed distant in thought. “What
do you mean?”

“
You said the youngsters
brought it back damaged.”

“
I normally check all my
boats when they come back. When I checked the cruiser water
filtered through the hull, not much about three inches. I took it
out of the water and saw large scratch marks and a few dents in the
keel. I can’t imagine the boat rammed a sandbank or rocks under the
water. The scratches’ deep and long enough that water filters
through.”

“
Do we have a sandbank in
the lake? I’m under the impression the lake’s deep.”

“
It's deep enough. We
don’t even have large enough rocks under the water to cause that
damage. There are large rocks at the rock face, but they’re too
deep. I don’t think even if the youngsters were that close, they
wouldn’t be able to do damage to that extent. There was nothing
wrong when it left, yet the cruiser came back with knocks and
scratches that I don’t know how it could’ve happened. The damage’s
impossible on this lake.” Tom assured.

“
What did the scratches
look like? Can you describe them?”

“
It looks like someone
took an ice claw and a sledgehammer to do some bodywork to the
keel.” Tom sounded a little angry.

Andrew looked at him hard. “A
claw…?”

It looked like something metal or hard
scratched in one stroke, making them even in length and in-depth.
It's too strange to understand.” Tom turned to the water. “I’m
telling you sheriff, there is something here and I don’t think it’s
going away soon. It's something that wants no one else in the lake.
Something’s defending its territory.”

“
Claw’s used on the
cruiser and Dillon. What weapon could possibly make these
scratches?” Andrew whispered softly. “Thanks Tom.”

Andrew felt his skin crawled. He
remained at the edge of the pier while Tom started back to his
office. A few steps away Tom stopped and turned back to
Andrew.

“
I just remembered
something else.” Tom started.

Andrew turned to Tom. “Is there some
damage you forgot to mention?”

“
No, yesterday after
everyone left the reeds, Sheriff Parker was standing between the
reeds. He was looking at the lake like he knew there’s something
wrong. I was busy hooking up the boat and pulling it out when I
heard Sheriff Parker screaming. It sounded like he was so scared
that he could hardly breathe. I’ve never seen or heard him like
that. It took me by surprise. I dropped everything and ran into the
reeds to help him?” Tom recalled.

“
What was he screaming
at?” Andrew asked.

“
It looked like someone
was dragging him into the lake. I grabbed him and pulled him back
to the bank before he reached deeper water. Whatever had him let go
and disappeared into the lake. I couldn’t see what it was, it moved
too quickly.”

“
What did Sheriff Parker
say?”

“
He said it's nothing. He
tried to convince me that he only slipped and lost his balance, but
I know it was more than that.”

“
Thanks Tom.”

Andrew turned back to the lake for a
brief moment and followed Tom back to the parking lot. Passing
Andrew’s vehicle ahead of him, Tom turned to Andrew.

“
Someone’s looking for
you. Your radio’s screaming.” Tom called loudly.

Andrew lifted his hand and ran to the
driver side. He unlocked the door and grabbed the radio. “Go
ahead.”

Yvonne’s voice cracked to life.
“Sheriff could you go to the hospital, we had a report that Dillon
Adams woke up.”

*~*~*

*VII*

Andrew arrived at the nurses’ station.
A nurse was sitting at the computer completing
paperwork.