The Winslow Incident (62 page)

When she glanced at Sean, the look
of wonder on his face told her he was thinking the exact same thing she was.
“Look at this,” she said. “I can’t believe we were so afraid of him.”

“Us, and every other kid in
Winslow,” Sean marveled. “Before and ever since.”

This was the scene they had
interrupted that summer day. This was what the man—driven mad by
isolation and remorse—had been doing right before they dared each other
to cross the creek, to trespass and steal a souvenir, surely frightening him
when they’d clamored onto his porch. This was how he was spending his afternoon
right before they killed him.

Hazel’s heart filled with pity as
she imagined Hawkin Rhone sitting beside the little stove, the blanket warming
his old man legs, reading his poems for probably the thousandth lonely time and
eating a lunch of berries and squirrel.

Sean walked slowly to the chair.
Digging into his pocket, he pulled out a gold, heart-shaped pendant on a chain,
reached to the shelf behind the chair, and gently hung the necklace around a
frame containing a photograph of the Rhone family: mother and father, Zachary
and Missy, all young, all smiling. Sean had discovered the pendant among the
bones after he dug them up; Hawkin Rhone must have had it on him when he was
buried the first time. Later, when Hazel and Sean had read the engraving,
For
Missy, Love Father
, they had both felt that it belonged here—the site
where he paid his penance—rather than reburied with him in the church
cemetery, burdening him for all eternity.

Sean turned back to Hazel, relief
softening his features. “You know who’s next, don’t you?”

She nodded. Before Violet and
Daisy Rhone had left to go live with their aunt in Gig Harbor, Hazel heard
their dread-fueled whispering about Gus Bolinger. The old veteran had lost a
hand to gangrene and had his wrist fitted with a large steel hook. At that, a
new bogeyman was born in Winslow.

“Gus the grappler,” she said,
repeating the kids’ dark words.

“Nice.” Sean grimaced. “Real
nice.”

“Don’t forget the vampire in
Second Chance Mine. They still haven’t figured out where that sick maniac came
from.”

“A carny, probably. Hope it wasn’t
Cyclone Clyde.”

“I hope not either,” she agreed,
wondering what had become of their bag of weed that Tanner had with him. “And
the most ghoulish bogeyman of them all . . .” Hazel winced. “Tanner Holloway’s
leg.”

“You’re right.” Sean’s eyes
reflected the horror of that image. “That amputated leg’s gonna be walking
around in the nightmares of every kid in Winslow for a long time.”

“Poor Tanner.” She shook her head.
“You know, I’m surprised, but ever since he went home, I actually miss him a
little.”

Sean frowned. “I don’t.”

Feeling as though they were
finished here at last, Hazel left the cabin. Once back outside, she paused, titled
her face up to the sun, and released the pent-up breath she’d been holding for
years.

Then she glanced at Jinx, where he
was taking a nap in a sunny spot of dirt, wearing a gigantic plastic cone
around his neck because he refused to stop scratching at the stitches in his
ear.

Coming up behind Hazel, Sean
wrapped his arms around her and bent his head to hers. “I’m glad you stayed,”
he said. “You, I’d miss.”

Hazel thought about her own mother
not bothering to pack anything, not bothering to say goodbye before leaving
everything and everybody behind. “Don’t worry, Sean. Before I go anywhere, I’ll
give you plenty of time to pack your bags, too. And bring extra bologna and
cheese for our—”

Hazel gasped and Jinx shot up,
barking his furry head off.

Something was coming, gnashing and
crunching its way through the woods across the creek.

She whipped around to face Sean. “
Bigfoot
,”
she mouthed, and pushed past him to get back onto the porch. The whereabouts
and whyabouts of the creature in the woods had yet to be discovered. Wolf,
bear, Sasquatch, nobody knew for sure.

“Hey!” a high voice called.

Hazel turned to see Patience
emerge from the trees on the opposite bank, a colorful beach towel draped
across one arm, the other arm gesturing to them with a scoop.

“That’s it!” Hazel placed her hand
over her pounding heart. “That is the last time I let anything on this
mountainside freak me out.”

Sean squinted at her with
skepticism. “We’ll see.”

“You guys coming, or what?”
Patience shouted.

As if she’d meant him, Jinx was
already loping her direction, tail wagging, cone bobbing.

Hazel held out her hand to Sean,
which he took in his own and pulled her down from the porch.

Then they walked to the edge,
kicked off their shoes, and waded into the cool, calm waters of Three Fools
Creek.

Time to teach Patience Mathers how
to swim.

For Peter
Tackaberry

co-creator of
this story

best part of my
story

E
lizabeth Voss is
the author of
The Winslow Incident
, a tale of ghosts, madness and other
strange happenings in the remote mountain hamlet of Winslow, Washington. (Five
Star Mystery Series, Gale/Cengage; Harlequin Worldwide Library Suspense; and a Daphne
du Maurier Award Nominee for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense.) Her short stories
“Hawkin Rhone” and “Treats for Adeline” are available from Cemetery Dance
Publications.

Elizabeth grew up on a
forested island in the Pacific Northwest, a curious place of dilapidated
cabins, forgotten graveyards, and creatures prowling the woods. She is a member
of the International Thriller Writers and the Horror Writers Association. She
lives in Santa Monica with her husband and frequent co-author Peter Tackaberry.
Together, they are at work on a second novel. There will be ghosts.

Please visit on the web at
www.elizabethvoss.com
.

The Winslows

Hazel
—Smart, feisty and fiercely
independent seventeen-year-old; a pretty, willowy girl; fearful of commitment
consequent to her mother abandoning her when she was five years old

Nathan
—Hazel’s father; Sheriff of
Winslow; deeply devoted to his daughter and the town

Sarah
—Hazel’s grandmother; owner
of The Winslow Hotel; grieves over the deaths of her husband Randall Winslow
and her dear friend Lottie Mathers

The Adairs

Sean
—Hazel’s boyfriend; good
natured and good looking; worries that Hazel will soon leave Winslow—and
him—far behind

Aaron
—Sean’s seven-year-old
brother; fascinated by The Winslow Hotel’s ghosts

Honey and Samuel
—Sean and Aaron’s
parents; caretakers of The Winslow Hotel

The Holloways

Anabel
—Hazel’s mother, Nathan’s
wife, Pard’s sister; left Winslow and never looked back

Pard
—Hazel’s uncle; overlord of
Holloway Ranch; battles his brother-in-law Nathan Winslow over control of the
town

Tanner
—Hazel’s cousin, Pard’s
nephew; a consummate troublemaker shipped up to Holloway Ranch for the summer
to straighten out and fly right

The Mathers

Patience
—Hazel’s best friend;
beautiful, loyal and highly superstitious

Benjamin
—Patience’s grandfather; perpetuates
bad blood between the Mathers and Winslow families; out for vengeance over
perceived wrongs

The Rhones

Melanie
— wife of Zachary, mother
of Violet and Daisy; former rodeo queen

Violet & Daisy
—Sisters aged
seven and five; friends of Aaron Adair; afraid of the ghost of their
grandfather, town bogeyman Hawkin Rhone

Zachary
—proprietor of Rhone Bakery,
Sean’s boss; a rigid, humorless and haunted man

The Ghosts

Adair, Jim
—Died 2007; Sean’s amiable
uncle; death by Bourbon

Bolinger, George
—Died 1889;
upstanding purveyor of dry goods; shot to death in the Never Tell Brothel by
Dinky Dowd

Dowd, Dinky
—Died 1889; prospector,
Yellow Jacket Mine; hung for the murder of George Bolinger

Mathers, Lottie
—Died 2005;
Patience’s grandmother, Benjamin’s wife; according to Ben, Lottie was murdered
at the Winslow Hotel

Mathers, Sadie
—Died 1889;
Patience’s great-great-aunt; town beauty and object of Evan Winslow’s
affection; drowned in the deep pond under suspicious circumstances

Mathers, Sterling
—Died 1892;
brother of Sadie; allegedly committed suicide at the edge of the deep pond,
unable to cope with the grief of losing his sister

Rhone, Missy
—Died 1983; Zachary’s
sister; schoolmate of Nathan Winslow, Pard and Anabel Holloway; purportedly
poisoned

Rhone, Hawkin
—Died 2005; Zachary’s
father; town baker until the apple orchard incident; now the town bogeyman; killed
in self-defense—or murdered

Other
Townsfolk

Allison, Cal
—Proprietor of the
Fish ‘n Bait

Bolinger, Gus
—Korean War hero;
teaches history at the school; James’s grandfather

Bolinger, James
—Friend of Hazel’s;
goth punk; has a serious crush on Hazel

Clark, Kenny
—Holloway Ranch’s
youngest ranch hand; has a history of conflict with Hazel and Sean

Clark, Maggie
—Kenny’s mother; sole
Holloway Ranch cowgal

Clemshaw, Tiny
—Proprietor of The
Mercantile

Earley, Fritz
—Feed and grain
distributor from Stepstone

Hammond, Old Pete
—Pard Holloway’s
right hand man; a weathered cowpoke

Peabody, Rose and Owen
—Proprietors
of The Crock; kind and caring toward Hazel since her mother left her

Simmons, Reed (“Doc”)
—Veterinarian
and the only medical professional in Winslow

Spainhower, Marlene
—Bartender at
Buckhorn Tavern

The Creatures

Ajax Mathers
—Patience’s lucky
black cat

Boo Rhone
—Violet and Daisy’s cat;
arch nemesis of Ajax Mathers

Indigo Holloway
—Pard Holloway’s
prize bull

Jinx Winslow
—Irish setter who
adores Hazel; loves hot dogs

Molly Peabody
—The Peabodys’
chocolate Lab; Jinx’s girlfriend

Bigfoot
—aka Sasquatch; often
sensed though seldom seen

The Wolves
—prowlers of the Winslow
Woods