Blood Lines 'Family Ties'

By Cathy Pace Matthews

What happens when a girl leaves the farm? She gets herself in one hell of a mess. When Emma’s cousin Christine shows up on her door one night clothed only in her pajamas and a robe Emma is set on a journey that takes her down a very dark and dangerous path. Christine lives about an hour away in another state and she has driven to Emma’s home with a strange tale.
Christine claims to have witnessed her neighbor being drug off into the woods behind her house by some unbelievable monster and the police in her town are trying to cover things up. Christine says that the man’s wife has been taken away in an ambulance and the police are trying to keep what happened quiet. The worst part is that her neighbor isn’t the only one who has disappeared under strange circumstances. There have been seven in the past year and this has been going on for decades in and around that town.
Emma finds out just how real the threat is when she returns with Christine to her home and finds her cousin’s house in shambles and the police are unwilling to talk. The screams that break through the cold overcast day and makes Emma and her family’s blood run cold is like nothing they have ever heard. They know they need to get away from there as quickly as possible before whatever that is in the woods makes it back to the house and them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cathy Pace Matthews
• Release date: Sep 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311490438

Cathy Pace Matthews

I love the twisted and macabre. I also love the old horror where the thing that went bump in the night scared you and not all the blood gushing from a jagged wound that is more likely to gross you out. There is a difference. Don’t get me wrong I can do gore and quite well when I need to.I’m also not a young adult author. I’m way too old for that and personally at this point in my life I want to read a book that involves men and women over twenty five and under one hundred and twenty five. If you’re younger than that I don’t think you’ll care and if you’re older than that, then God bless you and let me know, I’ll change the upper end of the timeline.I tend to be outspoken and nothing is sacred when it comes to my writing. Well that part isn’t entirely true. The farm in the Blood Lines series is and I don’t apologize for that. I started writing because of that farm.I strive to create the unusual and different and that’s not always easy, as a matter of fact, it’s hard. I try hard not to do the tried and true.When I read a horror story I want to read a horror story. Can it have love and caring in it? Sure, but let’s keep things in perspective. I want to scare you and I’ll leave it up to other really good authors, and there are some really good ones, to give you all that other stuff.I set out to write horror. I will take you to places in my books you’ve never been before and along the way I may make you laugh because what fun is real horror if it can’t make you laugh on occasion? The good part about the humor, you still have to turn the page and what waits for you there might not be so funny.I have also recently become a producer for the short horror film, She Summoned Him. I'm looking forward to the the release.I'm married to a wonderful man, Buddy, and between us we have three very beautiful daughters. We love to travel in our converted 1963 Greyhound 4106 and discover new places and meeting new people. I grew up with four wonderful brothers, one of which is no longer with us. I was born in Mississippi, grew up in Tennessee, and fell in love with Missouri as well as a man who comes from there.I am surprised at how much writing has helped me grow as a person. I pay a lot more attention to things around me than I used to and can find a story in almost everything I see and hear. I have also learned what a truly dark sense of humor I have. I love making people raise an eyebrow at me on occasion.My husband and I were recently at a local restaurant and were picking at one another. The waiter walked up about that time and I asked if they had an oven large enough to put a body in. He asked why and after a short explanation with a wicked little gleam in his eye he told me they did. What concerned me was that wicked little gleam. I have since found out that a lot of restaurants do have ovens big enough to hold a human body. My suggestion to you is not to make the waiting staff of any eating establishment angry. You might end in up on the menu the next night.With seven books of my own under my belt, at present count, nine short story books, one exceptional book of short stories along with eight other gifted writers and the next one in the Blood Lines Series that I'm working on I'm pretty happy with where I am in my life right now.

Book preview

Prologue

1903

Tiner Lake

The men slipped through the mist shrouded swamp in the dark of night. There was no moon so slipping through the undergrowth and the murky water wasn’t a pleasant thing to do but they had a mission and that mission was even darker than the blackness that surrounded the two men.

Allen hated the whole thing but he felt he had no choice that night but to follow the man in front of him into the swamps. Taking a chance of encountering a snake in the shallow water of the swamp surrounding the lake was a small price to pay for not only the money but more importantly the safety of his family. His burly companion, Roger, led the way deeper into the swamp and their goal. Roger moved in total silence cutting through the waist deep water with an ease which belied his size making almost no sound at all. It was harder for Allen because he carried two heavy cans, one in each hand which Roger had insisted that he carry. Allen stared at the back of Roger’s head. Of the two men Roger was the mean one and the brains behind this whole thing. Roger liked destroying things. Roger also loved hurting people and his excitement at what lay ahead of him only served to exhilarate him. Roger had been anticipating the mayhem and suffering he would inflict on his victims. Allen could only hope that Roger wouldn’t take this whole thing too far.

As the two men neared their intended objective Roger, who was still in the lead, slowed even more as they made their way toward the house that sat in a small clearing at the edge of the swamp. It really was nothing more than a two room cabin with a small vegetable patch set on a portion of land that was on a little higher ground than the cabin. Allen knew that the reason for the vegetables garden being on the higher ground was to try and protect it as much as possible from flooding. You might survive if your house was underwater but going hungry was another matter.

It was well after midnight and except for the noises of the swamp nothing else could be heard. Everyone who lived here was inside asleep. There should have been a dog to wake the family but Roger had taken care of the poor animal the day before. It would take a while for the family to replace the four legged guard. When you lived out here you kept a dog or two around to stand watch over the place and the people who lived there. The animals were depended on to sound an alarm should anything come around that might represent danger. A lot of times there would be more than one dog but for some reason these people had only the one. With the dog gone there was nothing to warn the people that Allen and Roger were slithering out of the swamp headed toward their home.

Allen had been carrying two cans of coal oil and now Rodger reached and took one. Roger began to pour the liquid around the lower portion of the cabin. When he stepped up on the porch and started pouring the oil in across the door Allen took hold of his arm to stop him only to have his hand shook off. Rodger shook his head and made a low hissing sound at him to warn Allen not to interfere again. Allen drew back and let Roger continue his actions against the family inside.

Roger continued to pour the liquid across the front of the door and along the wall just below the window as well. Allen thought about turning around and heading back into the swamp. He didn’t do this of course because the next cabin that might get this treatment would be his own he was sure.

Once they were off the porch Roger reached for the second can that Allen had been carrying. He continued to pour the oil around the house leaving no escape route for the people inside. Allen again thought about defying Roger but again he held back knowing that his would be next along with his wife and kids. Allen knew that there were kids inside this place as well.

Roger handed the second can back to Allen and pulled a tin from his shirt pocket. Roger opened the tin and pulled out a match and struck it and watched as the small flame first flared then settled into a soft glow as it burned down the wooden stick. There was no breeze to blow that tiny flame out as Roger leaned in closer to the cabin and ignited the oily sheen of the liquid that ran around the base of the structure. The flame took hold and quickly spread around the small building at its base and Roger turned around and headed back to the swamp with Allen close on his heels. The two cans that Allen had been carrying were now empty and he didn’t understand why he was still carrying them. Roger had told him not to leave them at the cabin before they had started out earlier that night.

Allen now thought about the family in the cabin and thought for sure they would awaken quickly and escape the house. Allen’s thoughts kept him occupied for several minutes but was jolted out of his reverie when he heard the first sounds coming from back behind him. He turned around as the first scream of pain reached his ears. What was even more horrifying was the anguished and pain laden screams of the children. It was a sound he knew would haunt him the rest of his life and he took a step back the way he just came. Allen was so caught up in what he was hearing that he was unaware that his deadly cohort had pulled a large knife from the sheath attached to his belt. The first time Allen realized his own life was in jeopardy was when he felt Roger’s hand on his shoulder at the same time he felt the blade of that knife slip inside of him under his ribs on his right side. He felt the knife being pulled out of him and slipping in again a little further back than the first puncture. Allen opened his mouth to take a deep breath to scream but no air came into his lungs and only managed to choke on the hot metallic liquid that now flowed out of his mouth. He never was able to let out his own screams of pain to mingle with the ones from the innocent victims now burning as they each tried to make their way out of the inferno that had been their home. At least he wouldn’t have to worry now about carrying those screams for a long time in his own mind because his life ended quicker than his victims.

Roger pulled his knife out of Allen after he had stabbed him the third time. He had been supporting Allen but now he let him sink to the surface of the low level water where he floated; his eyes wide open staring sightlessly at the dark sky above him. Roger took a piece of twine from his pocket and quickly tied the two cans to the body before it could sink. Roger took hold of the body by the hair of the head and pulled it along behind him as if pulling a child’s toy. Roger would pull him a little further away from the cabin and then fill those two cans with the water of the swamp and attach them to the idiot’s body more securely. There was a place a little further up where the swamp bordered the lake and there was a spot where the water was considerably deeper. He would gut Allen and with the cans filled with water and attached to the body it should pull it under the surface and hopefully never be found. Allen’s disappearance should serve to set him up as the culprit for setting the fire should anyone ever questioned if the house burning down had been something other than an accident. The only thing he regretted was that Allen had never reached his full potential. Together they could have made a great team but Allen had always had the good and bad thing in the back of his head. The only good Roger saw was what benefitted him and everything else was just wrong. He had every intention of one day being the one who owned the lodge while people around him did as they were told.

Roger continued to walk toward what would be Allen’s final resting place while the screams from his other victims were fading away as he put more and more distance between him and the cabin. Once he was rid of Allen’s remains he continued his way back to the lodge and his bed. He would have a drink before he crawled into bed to celebrate this night’s successful outcome. No witnesses so there would be anyone around to tell what happened and his boss wouldn’t have to be concerned about Magnus Granger refusing to sell him his land. His boss should have no problem with obtaining that land now. Roger smiled at the thought feeling quite pleased with himself as he opened the door to his small place on the edge of the grounds surrounding the lodge. Yes Rodger was quite proud of himself and the work he had done tonight.

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Chapter 1

Present Day

Tiner Lake

The man stood on the bank of the lake looking out at the water. He didn’t know why he had stopped here but he had wanted to clear his head. He had never planned on telling Barbara about his other life.

He knew he had gotten careless with the money. Taking that hundred thousand out of the bank had been the most idiotic thing he could have done. He had gotten so mad when he went into the bank before he and Barbara had left for this trip and found out that Barbara had moved all the funds around. He was fortunate enough to get someone who knew him and had let him make a transaction and he had taken the money and moved it over into another account. He had decided not to mention anything about it to his wife until he could come up with a story she might buy. That plan had been cut short this morning when everything broke lose.

Marcus didn’t know what he was going to do now. Barbara had cut him off and short of her dying there wasn’t much he could do about that. After what he had told her he didn’t think there was much he could do to undo the damage he had done. He didn’t know if he loved Barbara or if he ever had. She had come from money and he did love money. She had been a real looker back then too. Oh she still wasn’t bad looking but she was sixty years old and that certainly didn’t add up to sexy and physically appealing to him.

He thought about his other life in Chicago and the woman there. She was twenty years younger and even she was getting old to him now. Of course her having his kid made it hard for him to walk away. He had tried to keep the two lives separate but now they had come crashing in on one another.

He knew he didn’t have to worry about walking away from the other one now because with the money drying up she wouldn’t hang around either. Things had been going south with the two of them as well. She wanted him to get a divorce and marry her and that was something that just wasn’t going to happen. He wondered if she would be willing to marry him without the money rolling in. He thought of Sharon marring him now and almost laughed at the idea. It never occurred to him that Sharon might have really loved him. As far as he was concerned she had only been in it for the money. Of course in this case he would have been right.

When it had first started it had been a couple of hundred every now and then but as time went by he started handing Sharon more and more. He had told her some whoppers about him being the one with the money but the truth was Barbara was the one who held the purse strings. To keep Sharon hanging on he had increased the payouts as the years passed. When he started to end it after about five years Sharon had threatened to contact Barbara and tell her everything. He had patched things up with Sharon and pulled five thousand out of one of the joint bank accounts and handed it to her. It was the first time that Barbara had noticed the missing money and questioned him about it. He had tried to keep it down but he would get careless now and then but never to the point that he had lately.

Most had come out of his income and he did make a fairly good salary but not to the extent that he could shell out ten or fifteen thousand a month without dipping into the joint accounts. It had been hard enough to put Barbara off about his salary and where it was going.

What he didn’t know was how he was going to explain his expense account to his company. He had made sure that he had kept that down to a reasonable amount until this past couple of months since he had removed that twenty thousand. Over the past three months he had paid out over fifty thousand on the company card. The big withdrawal he had just made had been to cover that and have a little extra to carry him over for a couple of months. He had no doubt that he was going to lose his job over this but he would have had a better chance of maybe keeping his position if the money could have been paid back. Now he would have to hang on to every dollar he had taken out of the bank if he couldn’t worm his way back into Barbara’s good graces

***

Barbara sat at the edge of the lake with a fishing pole stuck in the ground next to her feet. She wasn’t too interested in whether she caught anything or not. She had been sitting in the same spot for the last couple of hours thinking about what she had just learned.

How was she supposed to go back home and face everyone? She’d had the wind knocked out of her by her husband’s revelation. He had been having an affair with another woman for twenty years and was now asking, no demanding that she forgive him. How could she; he even had a sixteen year old son with this woman.

How could she have been so blind, so damn stupid not to have even suspected her husband’s infidelity? Barbara thought back over the years and in hindsight could point out the telltale signs that something wasn’t right. There were the long business trips that seemed to be far too long at one time. She remembered the money missing out of their accounts that Marcus seemed to always have some excuse for. The signs had been there but she had refused to see them.

When they had started out on this trip Barbara never thought it would turn out this way. It was the money that had finally brought this to a head. She had received a call this morning from her bank informing her that a hundred thousand dollars had been removed from one of her private accounts. She had moved all her money into separate accounts after Marcus had pulled twenty thousand out of one of the joint accounts. Barbara had inherited a pretty good amount of money from her mother when she had died a couple of years ago but at the rate it had started disappearing lately it wouldn’t last long.

She had blown up at Marcus after that call. One thing had led to another until the whole sorted story had come out. Afterwards he hadn’t even apologized to her. He had simply jumped up and grabbed the keys to the car they had brought with them and disappeared. Not only had he taken off with the car but he had taken off with her car. They always towed her convertible behind the RV and now he had that and was gone.

The bank had now locked everything down on all their accounts and the only one that there was access to was the one Barbara had opened a few weeks earlier at a different bank. She had access to that account but her husband damn sure didn’t. Barbara had made sure Marcus didn’t even know of this other account.

He probably had accounts she wasn’t aware of somewhere set up with this other woman. There was no telling how much money had come up missing but right after Marcus had left Barbara had called an attorney and was going to dig through everything she had on their finances. She had called her daughter and told her to get all the paperwork at the house and not to let her father near it. Casey had been devastated by the news but told her mom she would get right on it.

***

Marcus looked up quickly when he thought he heard something out in the water. He scanned the surface of the lake but could see nothing. As he started to turn to go back to the car he thought he heard someone call his name. He looked around the area where he had parked but saw nothing or no one. He was alone by the lake. When he had pulled in here there had been another car parked a little ways down but now it was gone. He was surprised that he hadn’t seen or heard it leave. For some reason he was suddenly aware of the silence around him and he became uncomfortable.

Again he thought he heard his name being called but there was no one there. His name came again and this time the sound was louder yet it had a softer tone to it. When he heard it the fourth time he was drawn to it. Slowly he began to move in the direction he thought the sound was coming from. The soft sweet voice continued to call to him drawing him ever closer. He now could see the little dancing light ahead of him. He thought they looked like brilliant little stars dancing in the wind.

Marcus was unaware when his foot stepped into the beginning edge of the lake. His mind didn’t register when the water level reached his knees. He continued to march steadily forward edging toward what he suddenly thought was paradise. If he could make it to that wonderful voice all his troubles would be over.

By the time the water was up to his chin Marcus was so withdrawn from his surroundings that anyone seeing him would have sworn that the man was out of his mind. Of course they would never have known what to think when he suddenly stiffened and then screamed as something under the water reached around his legs and pulled him under the surface. For a couple of minutes you could have followed the bubbles along the surface as the air left his lungs and filled with liquid. Of course, it wasn’t drowning that finished Marcus but the long deep gash that was torn down his middle. His intestines floated out from his body and rippled out behind him like the streamers at the end of a child’s kite as he was drug deeper into the depths of the lake.

***

Barbara may have been stupid for the past twenty years but she wasn’t going to be stupid now. She was going to cover her ass and she was going to make Marcus pay for what he had done. People could call her mean spirited but they damn sure couldn’t call her petty. A hundred thousand plus dollars of her money being spent on another woman wasn’t petty.

Barbara noticed the float on her line was bobbing so she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small knife and cut the line. The last thing she was interested in right now was pulling a fish out of the water and trying to pull a hook out of its mouth.

She gathered up her things and headed back toward the RV. The car still wasn’t there and Barbara wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She didn’t want to confront him again, not right now anyway, but she also wondered if he was on his way to that woman’s house.

Not long after she returned to the RV Barbara’s phone started ringing. It was Casey letting her know she had gotten everything she could find at the house including some of her father’s things that she had run across in the home office. Barbara told Casey she would be packing up the RV and heading home. She told her daughter that her father wouldn’t be coming with her.

Barbara would have to drive the rest of the day to get back home. It was going to be a long drive but she would be back there by midnight.

She finished storing everything in the RV and went outside to unhooked it. She had just finished when a police car pulled up in front of it. Two officers got out of the car and walked over to her.

Ma’am I’m Officer Jenkins and my partner is Officer Brock and we’re from the Tiner Police Department. Are you Barbara Carpenter? The officer stared at Barbara as if sizing her up.

Yes I’m Barbara Carpenter. Is there something wrong? She couldn’t possibly understand why these men were standing in front of her wanting to know who she was.

Do you own a 99 Sebring Convertible? Jenkins asked her.

Yes I do. Why?

Mrs. Carpenter we found your car about thirty miles from here on the other side of the lake and it appeared to be abandoned with the keys still in it. Is there a reason you would walk off and leave your car with the keys in it? Jenkins gave the impression of being irritated by the idea that someone would do something like this.

No there isn’t a reason I would do something that stupid but my husband is another story. We had an argument this morning and he took my keys and stormed out of here like a bat out of hell. He might have decided that running off with my car wasn’t a good idea and had his girlfriend pick him up and just leave the damn thing.

Do you want to explain the whole thing to us?

I tell you what, why don’t we go around to the picnic table and have a seat. I’ll get me something to drink and tell you all about it. She noticed the way the officer raised an eyebrow to her remark. A soft drink Officer Jenkins, I just meant a soft drink.

That will be fine.

Walking around the front of the RV she asked the officers if they would like one and although Jenkins refused Brock said he would take one.

After Barbara returned with the soft drinks she sat down at the table and opened hers. After she had taken a drink from the refreshing cold beverage she turned her attentions to her two man audience.

I hope you gentleman will forgive me for being short right now but men are not on my list of top favorite things at the moment. Barbara told them everything that had happened that morning right up until they had walked up and found her by the RV.

So you think he called this girlfriend and had her pick him up? You could tell Jenkins wasn’t quite buying into this.

I don’t know what he did after he left here except he abandoned my car somewhere after he left here from what you’ve told me.

Ma’am you really had no idea? It was the first time Brock had spoken but the look of disbelief on his face spoke volumes.

As hard as it is to admit, no I had no idea. I should have I know but I had my head in the sand evidently. As hard as that is to admit to a couple of strangers can you imagine what it was like to have to tell my daughter when I called her this morning. Can you imagine what it will be like to go back and face my family and friends? I’m not a stupid person so how could I have been so ignorant when it came to this? For the first time since she found out Barbara started to cry.

Do you mind if I get you a tissue Mrs. Carpenter? Officer Brock did want to help her but he wanted a chance to take a quick look around to see if things were out of place inside."

There are paper towels on a roll by the sink. Barbara had put up anything that could get knocked around in the RV when she had put everything away.

Officer Brock stepped up into the RV and glanced around. If there had been any physical confrontation there was no sign of it in here now. There was no heavy smells of cleaners or anything like that either. It was tidy and neat but it didn’t have that fresh scrubbed look and smell. He walked all the way to the back and noticed it all appeared to be in the same shape. The sink and shower were both dry. He returned to the sink and retrieved the paper towels and went back outside. He shook his head no to his partner as he exited the RV.

Brock handed the paper towels to Barbara and went back to where he had been sitting.

Do you know the girlfriends name or how to get hold of her? Jenkins couldn’t believe she hadn’t at least suspected.

Like I told you before, I only found out about my husband’s little slut puppy this morning. You know if this had only been going on for a year or so I might be able to understand me not picking up on it. I could even give the bitch the benefit of the doubt that she hadn’t known he was married, but twenty years. There was no way she couldn’t have known he was married unless she was dumber than me and somehow I doubt it. At least eighty percent of his time was still spent with me and that would explain why I bought into his shit to some extent maybe. If you’re only getting twenty percent or less of a man’s time then you have to know there is a wife or girlfriend somewhere else don’t you?

So he didn’t tell you who she was or where she lived? Jenkins wanted this woman to give him something he could work with but so far she was concentrating on her anger and maybe her pain. He had ignored her question.

No he didn’t tell me her name or where she lived. As far as I know she could live around the block here somewhere. It was his idea to stop here.

About that time Barbara’s phone rang. It’s my daughter. Do you mind if I take this?

Jenkins shook his head no and Barbara answered her phone. Barbara didn’t notice how the officers were watching her as she talked to her daughter. She was lucky they did. Both officers had been wondering if she might have done something to her husband but from the conversation she was having with her daughter it didn’t sound as if she did have any idea where he might be.

Casey let me put you on speaker. The officers were just asking those questions.

Barbara’s daughter had been going through the papers she had taken out of her father’s desk and found some interesting information that she passed on to the officers.

Mom do you think Dad’s OK?

I don’t know hon. All the police know is they found my car with the keys still in it but unless this woman was here too I don’t think she could have picked him up. I can’t imagine why he would just get out of the car and walk away.

Well Mrs. Carpenter if he thought there was a chance you might report it stolen he might have. Do you know if he had any money on him?

He probably had a few hundred dollars on him but not a really large amount I don’t think but then again, with what I found out this morning who knows.

Mom I’m mad at him too but I don’t want anything to happen to him.

I don’t either honey, well maybe a broken leg but nothing more than that.

Mom.

Under the circumstances honey allow me the broken leg please.

Well I guess he does deserve that much.

Do you guys need anything more from my daughter right now?

No, she’s been a big help. Jenkins thanked Casey for the information she had passed on.

Sweetie I’ll call you when I hear something and if you hear from him let me know. After Casey assured her mother she would contact her if she heard anything they got off the phone.

I should have known she lived in Chicago.

Why is that Mrs. Carpenter?

I have traveled with my husband on many of his trips but most were to Chicago and he would never let me go with him there. He always said they were constantly working and he wouldn’t have any time to spend with me there. He made a lot of trips to that city and they were the ones that always took the longest.

You didn’t find that strange?

It’s where the corporate office is so there was nothing suspicious about him having to make a lot of trips to that city.

You were planning on taking off I guess. Jenkins didn’t think this woman had anything to do with her husband disappearing but now that gave him something else to be concerned about.

That was my plan but now I don’t know what to do. If Marcus is hurt somewhere I can’t just drive off and leave him, can I. No I can’t, he is still the father of my child if nothing else. What do I do about my car?

I’m not real sure right now? We don’t know what might have happened to your husband, if anything. He may have just walked off. We’ll get in touch with this other lady and see if she has heard anything from him. Jenkins really wasn’t sure what to do about her car. If a crime has been committed then it needed to be checked for evidence.

Well if I’m going to be stuck here for a while then I will either need my car or I’ll have to rent one. I just want to know what I need to do. Barbara wished they had never come to the place.

We should probably have the car towed and check to see if there is anything there that might give us any answers. Brock put in.

Go ahead and do that and I’ll just rent something for the time I’m here. Barbara really just wanted to go home. She knew that it would be best for her to stay until they knew for sure what happened with Marcus.

After they had left she called her attorney again and got the usual speech about not talking to them again without a lawyer present. She told him she had nothing to hide and right now all she was concerned with is that they find Marcus.

***

The two officers drove out onto the highway not paying much attention to the shiny black semi that passed them before they turned on the road and followed it until they reached their turn off. They were so wrapped up in their present problem they never questioned why a semi was on this road.

You don’t think this is another unexplained disappearance do you? Brock actually shuddered at the thought.

I don’t know? If it is I feel sorry for that woman back there. I almost hope she did do something to the guy. Lord knows she had a good enough reason. Jenkins didn’t know if the department was up to another one of these mysterious disappearances they had been having lately. That wasn’t actually right. They had been having them for a long time but lately the numbers were rising quick.

I don’t think she did have anything to do with it. The inside of that RV was neat and spotless but not like it had been recently cleaned. It looked like it might look any day you went inside. Brock also felt sorry for the woman.

Well the person in the office at the RV Park backed up Mrs. Carpenter’s story. They saw the guy go out of there in a hurry and she was seen down by the lake fishing not long after that." Jenkins didn’t want to have to go back and tell his boss they might have another problem.

You know it will be easier for everyone if we can tie this to someone if that guy doesn’t turn up? Brock wasn’t going to let this lie.

Look we don’t have any idea if anything has even happened to this man. If the son-of-a-bitch had just told his wife he had been having a twenty year affair, from the sound of it she is the one with the real money, and he had just pissed that woman off then he’s screwed. His wife finds out she cuts him off and he walks away into the unknown. That’s the way I’m going to put it to the powers that be and leave it at that. Jenkins thought this was the best option at this point.

You want me to call it in and have someone pick up the car? Brock liked what Jenkins had come up with.

Yes call it in and we’ll head back to the office. Jenkins decided he had come up with a good solution to the whole damn thing and he didn’t want to think about it anymore.

***

Barbara was getting ready for bed thinking back on the things that had happened since the police had left earlier. After Barbara had gotten the RV hooked back up she had called and arranged for a rental car. They had delivered it a couple of hours ago. Casey had called to let her know she would be leaving in the morning to join her mom and try to help find her dad.

The police had contacted this other woman and she hadn’t heard from Marcus in a couple of days herself and she was now worried. Barbara wasn’t sure that she believed this. Marcus had to be somewhere and she thought the woman knew. Evidently the other woman had made the same claim about her or so she had been informed. Of course it would be a long time before she knew that her husband had taken one last swim.

***

Out on the smooth surface of the lake what looked like a child’s ball in the dark bobbed gently up and down. If someone had been watching they would have soon realized that the bobbing orb wasn’t a ball. They might not have been able to understand what they were seeing but the deep fiery red glow of what appeared to be eyes would have sent them screaming in terror.

The thing continued to bob up and down watching the lights from what to him were strange looking houses on wheels. Somewhere in the back of its mind a foggy vague memory wormed its way through the creature’s mind but was soon lost in the black depths of its dark soul.

The creature would have made its way to the edge of the lake and walked up the slight incline to the boxed shaped houses on wheels but it had taken one of the intruders earlier and didn’t feel the need to take another right now. It sometimes liked to just watch these strange beings that crawled all over its land like tiny little insects running around in a hive.

The creature suddenly turned in the direction of a squeal one of the tinier little beings made at the edge of