Lake Marie

By A. J. LeBerge

A young woman anxious to leave the control of her parents believes she can find solace at an old Midwest waterfront property previously owned by her ancestors. There, she quickly discovers all is not as she envisioned as her own sanity is put to the test while the village's missing persons and dead-body count rapidly increase. Neighboring acquaintances and family begin to reveal haunting age-old secrets while she, in desperation, attempts to separate fact from fiction before it's too late. Learning who to trust and who not to at Lake Marie becomes key to her survival as she is forced to mature quickly or die trying.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662441868

Book preview

Chapter 1

Janet sat upon the whitewashed wooden swing hanging from her porch as she gazed, dreaming upon the glistening ripples of Lake Marie. For Janet, this was her dream come true. Having grown up closer to the city in the suburbs, her parents, Wes and Peggy, had owned this particular vacation property since Janet was born. Now Janet was twenty-one and had purchased the fixer-upper from her aging parents who had felt the maintenance had become too much of a bother. For Janet, it was a challenge she gratefully accepted and a future she was sure she’d warm up to quickly and humbly. It was an environment familiar to her, and the best times of her life had been spent vacationing with her family in this very home. Since the death of her grandparents, Janet inherited quite a sum of money and had now acquired the home from Wes and Peggy officially only yesterday. Such grand plans Janet envisioned for the lake house. Most excitingly, her own personal possessions would be delivered in just one day.

As the sun set upon Lake Marie, Janet grew more alert. An orange cast illuminated the surface of the water as the wake ripples made by earlier boaters had smoothed the liquid into what was now an apparition of calm glass. The air began to chill with evening breeze, and Janet shivered as an unseasonal coldness seemed to reach into the depths of her and touched the bone. If the cold didn’t disturb Janet, the bugs coming out in the evening would. Mosquitoes were plentiful in the summer when evening triggered their voracious feeding frenzy.

Time to retire indoors for a warm libation, Janet spoke aloud. She could not help but notice how her own voice seemed inaudible over chirping crickets and croaking frogs. They, like the mosquitoes, accrued in abundance in the woods surrounding the lake and countryside vicinity.

Scurrying inside and quickly preparing a soul-warming adult cocktail, Janet suddenly stopped and realized the fast-paced world she had come from had been left behind. This was the countryside. Antioch was a small town. A quiet and unhurried place to settle. Few people lived here year-round. It might take some time, Janet thought, to become fully accustomed. Here, neighbors were friendly, and everyone knew everyone. At least the locals knew one another. Doors were often frequently left unlocked, and it wasn’t uncommon for neighbors and friends to enter homes unannounced. It was a place where many thought time had stood still through the decades. Janet knew her parents had entrusted the half dozen of the residents surrounding this end of the lake with keys to the home over the years to help with maintenance. She did not care at all and hadn’t ever given it any real thought. After all, she had grown up with all the folks surrounding the lake and even knew most all the people from town, which was just a five-minute-or-so drive away. Perhaps she’d need to change the locks when she could get around to it. For now, her thoughts just wandered from one thing to another as she admired her new abode. That was what mattered most to Janet. It was her home now.

People Janet knew in town never seemed to be a problem. It was the tourists who always caused trouble. Many were campers from the campgrounds on the opposite side of the lake. Boaters accessed Lake Marie through the connecting waterway channels, churning any trash they littered into what was once crystal-clear water. They made noise on the lake with their powerboats and boisterous yelling. They often made trouble searching out any home looking vacated to loot, vandalize, or party around. In some cases, they would break in and party inside. If not the homes being at risk, clearings in lakefront woods served nicely for rave partygoers who had been known to let their campfires get out of control, including talks of cults holding rituals in the forest preserves from time to time. Sometimes, they would even graffiti the trees and damage natural surroundings. As Janet often wondered, who would bring spray paint with them to the middle of the countryside? Despite the bad tourists coming, Janet knew and appreciated that the season for them visiting was short. With so much to be accomplished this summer in particular, autumn would soon arrive, and the autumn air would keep them away for quite some time after.

In the four-season room with glass walls, one wall attached to the porch overlooking the lake, Janet sat facing the lake. Falling darkness quickly hindered her view of the lake only a mere one hundred feet from the front porch. Her thoughts were still rambling but mostly centered on all the work she wanted to accomplish this summer. The house was in need of a major cleaning, and Janet wasn’t sure as though it ever really had a thorough cleaning. Janet wanted to remodel, but the house had an unusual layout in a functional way with a versatile floor plan so rooms could be utilized as she saw fit. Yet there was even more to ponder. The unfinished basement needed a serious cleaning. Dampness had created a mold, and that moldiness could be a health hazard. The gardens and lawn needed much care and probably should be replanted altogether. A motorboat docked in a private boat slip extending off her property needed maintenance as did the pier the slip was affixed to. The two-car garage, plus boat storage, was loaded with cracks and peeling paint, and the floor was covered in oil. Above the garage perched a one-bedroom apartment. It had never been used, as Janet could recall, but would make a great studio for Janet to create her canvas artwork. Contemplating, Janet did not know if she was better off cleaning before remodeling or performing a major cleaning after any remodeling mess was over with. One thing at a time. Janet focused on perspective. Tomorrow, her things would arrive, and the movers would haul away what remaining household possessions her parents would be keeping for themselves.

Sleepiness and alcohol took over her alertness as the antique grandfather-clock hands spun and a ticking from the swinging pendulum within it hypnotized her. Unaware, tired, and relaxed, Janet fell into a deep-sleep dream state. She was smiling and very contented.

Chapter 2

From the inside doorway, entering the porch from the living room was a man in the dark shadow watching Janet as she slept. The smile on Janet pleased him. It excited him, and he was glad she was there. He stared longingly at her for the longest time as she slept, unaware of his presence. Considering the length of time he watched, he barely flinched an inch as he stood motionless. Just staring. Just watching. Just fantasizing a twisted scenario in his own mind.

With a kink in her neck, Janet arose to greet a new dawn from the chair she had fallen asleep in. The sun was rising in a bright manner over the water while tiny whitecaps sparkled like diamonds in its rays. It was a frequent morning view of the lake Janet had always appreciated. On second thought, she considered how she liked any view on the lake. All that remained of the chilly night air from the night prior was a slight coolness in a breeze, which rustled the leaves on nearby trees. Reportedly, temperatures were expected near eighty degrees, and the breeze was welcome. Last drops of dew nestling atop the green grass blades brought joy to the awaking eyes of Janet, while aromas of lavender and honeysuckle brought joy to her breaths. This was a most-appreciated time of day when the last few early fishermen left the lake with their quiet rowboats and just before the speedboats would start turning out in quantity. On a day like this, water enthusiasts would most certainly be out in force. Much more so than years ago when she had been a child, positioned in this very spot looking out at the same lake, same sun, and same view. Only now the trees were bigger and structures much older.

For Janet, there was much to be done today, and her daydreaming had taken too much time. Having allowed little time to get ready on this morning, the moving truck would be arriving shortly, and she wanted to be prepared. Her parents would be showing up too. Janet hustled. Removing clothes from an overnight bag she had brought and tossing them onto the bed, which she now claimed as her own master bed, she stripped off the clothes she had slept in and hurriedly sprinted into the shower.

Water ran in the bathroom as the dark shadow of the man who had admired Janet from the previous night emerged from her bedroom-closet louvered doors. He headed to the bed where the clothes Janet had worn only last night were strewn about. Picking up her panties, he held them to his face. With hasty rhythm, he repeatedly inhaled their musk-like scent. From between his lips, his tongue extended and stroked the crotch. It was exciting, and he was excited. Not just excited over the silk-like fabric he held in his hand and pressed to his face but also over the imagery he had witnessed of Janet undressing through the closet-door slats. It wasn’t the first time he had seen her naked over the years. He was certain this would not be the last.

Making his way down the hallway and passing the open bathroom door, the man could see the nubile form of Janet through the steamy glass shower doors. Wanting to stay and admire the vision, he avoided his desires and pressed onward out the back door. Away he went—at least for now.

Janet was sure she had heard the back door as she rushed to get out of the shower and into a towel. Shouting, she repeatedly called for anyone who might answer. Mom? Dad? Is there anyone there? She wondered if the moving company had arrived already. Nobody responded, and nobody was there at least now. But Janet didn’t know that. Comprehending her own imagination, Janet convinced herself the noise she thought she had heard was just one of many an old house might make and she’d eventually grow accustomed to them.

Just as Janet completed dressing, a moving company van pulled up. It was pure coincidence that her parents pulled up at the same time in their land yacht, which had followed the moving van in from the main thoroughfare. Out the back door and down the few steps leading up to it, Janet headed to greet everyone. First, she approached the moving men. There were three of them who stood with their backs against the truck while talking. All of their eyes fixed upon Janet’s perfect, jiggling breasts as she hustled toward them, not wearing a bra under her tank top. What any one of the men wouldn’t give to see her breasts and nipples. Wes distracted their obsessed fixation with a greeting, yelling out from his car window.

Peggy quickly became her usual take-charge self and began bellowing instructions for everyone to follow as she stepped out of the car. You men, I want you to start with Wes inside the garage while I speak to my daughter about details. After barely inhaling a breath between commands, she said, Janet dear, I brought a cake, snacks, and lunch for all of us. Be a sweetie and please come help me get the grocery items inside before they bake in the heat inside this car. Before Janet could utter a word, Peggy continued speaking about another new topic, You know your father. It’s hot as hell out today, and he would not turn on the air conditioning in the car. As if the heat wasn’t bad enough, we had to smell the putrid stench from those horrid dairy-cow pastures most of the way here. While Peggy was a take-charge kind of woman who could talk up a storm, nobody could ever say that anyone would go hungry while she was around. From the looks of it, Peggy had brought plenty of food to feed a small infantry.

Janet quickly realized she’d have no personal say so in how this moving coordination would transpire. Instead, she took a deep breath and let out a sigh. Putting a big smile on her face, Janet rushed to her mother. Peggy handed Janet the cake and was speaking rapidly, covering one subject and another and then another. By the time Janet got into the house with Peggy, Peggy had described the entire morning she and Wes had getting up to the lake. Yet Janet thought to herself, it wasn’t any different from any of the hundreds of trips to the lake they had made over her lifetime.

Meanwhile, Janet’s father had opened all the garage doors and was instructing each of the moving men. Everyone seemed to be scurrying about outside, and items were going into and out of the garage. Within minutes, one of the moving men came to the back door. First casualty. I’ve got a cut on my hand, he explained to Janet and Peggy. Cut it on a saw blade. Good thing it wasn’t one of the old rusty ones. While not particularly nasty, it was best to treat the wound appropriately. Taking charge as she always managed to do, Peggy led him into the bathroom while Janet sat at the kitchen table, feeling useless in her own home. Peggy and Wes appeared to have everything under control as always. As one should say, under their control. As always, they meant well. Longing for being away from their control was most likely the best feeling Janet couldn’t wait to experience by being on her own.

By 4:00 p.m., the moving truck had departed, which later led to a quiet evening indoors. Wes and Peggy decided to spend the night and take it easy. While it was impossible for Wes and Peggy to ever run out of conversation, the moving event had exhausted them. It seemed wise that they make a fresh start of it in the morning as the moving truck would not be delivering to them until then. Despite exhaustion, her parents seemed quieter than usual. That did not bother her. It was just an observation.

Wes broke the silence. You’ll need to change the locks on the doors. Now that you will be living here alone, I mean. Your mother and I worry about you.

The thought crossed my mind, Janet replied. So much to do. I’ll be able to pick up new locks in town tomorrow, I guess. If I have any trouble installing them, will you come back one day and put them on for me?

Ask Armani Mirelli next door if you have any trouble, answered Wes. The guy is amazing. He can do most anything you’ll need done around here. He might charge you, but he’s worth it. Maybe you can do what you can by yourself and pitch a few bucks his direction to help when you are in a pinch. It’s probably cheaper to ask him for help by the time I’d put gas in the tank. I’d like you to get that done ASAP. Then Wes changed topics and said, I’m going to turn in early now with your mother. It’s been a long day, and your mother and I aren’t accustomed to all this excitement. We’ll have a lot to do tomorrow when the moving men deliver all of our stuff they hauled off today. They said they’ll be there bright and early. Your mother and I will need to hit the road by 6:00 a.m. if we expect to be home by 7:00 a.m. Though 5:30 a.m. might be best. To which Peggy was nodding in agreement.

I’ll be up on my own by the time you leave if you don’t wake me before. Janet was certain. Don’t leave without seeing me. As much as Janet longed for her freedom under what she always felt was controlling on her parents’ behalf, Janet knew she’d miss them. I love you! She concluded by blowing them a kiss as they parted ways to their bedroom.

Peggy blew a kiss back. Good night, Janet dear. Sleep tight.

Chapter 3

As always, with a new dawn came the early hours of a fresh morning. Janet awakened from her sleep and slipped into a bikini bathing-suit top covered by a short-sleeved shirt and short shorts before sitting down by a cup of tea Peggy had waiting.

I anticipated you might desire a cup of tea, Peggy said to Janet. Not much in the house this morning. At least nothing healthy for a breakfast. I hadn’t planned on us staying the night. You get yourself to the grocery store today. I don’t want you withering away just because your mother isn’t here to cook for you and wait on you hand and foot. There is some leftover cake, which can tide you through until lunch, if you desire. I know you’ll be missing my baking, but I don’t want you existing on junk food either just because you are too lazy to cook healthy meals. Hear what I’m saying, young lady? Besides, you are a pretty, single girl and too young to get fat like your mother is. Peggy was only joking and not fat. She only lacked the youthful, girlish physique Janet possessed. I’m glad your father and I stayed the night. I know we’ll be back, but this was like the end of a chapter in our lives. Enjoy your new home, dear. We love you.

Janet appreciated the kind words but didn’t want things to get mushy before they left. The grocery store is already on my list of things to do today along with visiting other shops in town. Janet spoke as Wes entered the room.

Locks!

I promise I will not forget new locks for all the doors. I’ll stop by the hardware store in town as well.

And Janet, her father said, I want you to get the boat to the Baskin Boating Shop on the river channel for some oil and gas in it. Maybe they can look it over and tell you if it’s been kept up properly since we last had it checked out. Armani has been taking care of the upkeep on it for us, but he doesn’t know everything about watercraft. He’s no expert. Any small oversight can become a costly repair. Maybe you’ll want the mechanics to do a total overhaul on it after season when the boat is pulled from the water.

Sure thing, Janet replied with a hint of frustration in her voice. Her parents often spoke as though Janet had never discussed things with them before. Having the boat examined was a topic that came up at least once or twice every year with the start and end of boating season. The topic had been discussed recently with the sale of the house. Janet knew her parents meant well, but now she could hardly wait for them to leave her be in peace. She loved them very much, but they easily frustrated her.

We will be leaving now, Janet, her mother spoke immediately upon a lull in voices. I’m leaving the morning newspaper on the table for you in case you want it. Save it when you are done to wrap things in. You’ll find it comes in handy around here, I promise you. The subscription will stop coming any day now. I forget the date I told them to stop delivery, but you may want to continue it in your name. A quick kiss on the cheek from her mom and dad, and they departed.

Janet returned to sipping her tea, which had already cooled off too much for her liking. With a sour look upon her face, Janet put the cup down and reached for the thin newspaper coiled tightly in a rubber band. Her sour look turned to one of disgust. Janet found the headlines to be unsettling. They were especially unsettling as it was local Antioch news. There it was, ANTIOCH. All in capital letters in the headline. Antioch, where a young woman named Kim Kinski had gone missing from The Come On Inn almost a week ago and still hadn’t been heard from. She was just one of many people missing over time. The family of Kim poured their hearts out in the article, asking anyone with information to please contact the local authorities. Not much ever usually happened around Antioch that Janet was ever informed of. Maybe a lot did happen, and Janet was ignorantly uninformed. The news weighed heavy on Janet’s mind; and no matter how much more of the paper Janet attempted reading, her mind kept focusing on Kim, and she expressed no interest in the other stories.

Throwing the paper down on the table, Janet leaped up from her chair, leaving her tea and paper behind. I’ve got too much on my mind without being concerned over newspaper articles, Janet reassured herself aloud. I moved here to get away, and that is what I am going to do. It was then that Janet realized she had been talking to herself as of late. It was not something she had recalled doing in the near past. Something else for Janet to now ponder. I know I am thinking aloud to organize my thoughts because there is so much I should be doing right now. Again, that was spoken aloud.

Going over to a stylish, antique 1960s telephone table bench, Janet sat down and picked up a pad of paper and pen to start making lists. So many lists she should be making; chores, groceries, hardware, and work supplies were included. Once she compiled as many items on the lists that she could think of, her mind wandered again. Her eyes were fixated upon a powder-blue landline phone, which Peggy had left behind. Janet’s parents were never into modern technology, but the blue rotary-dial landline seemed so archaic. Picking up the receiver, it was evident that the phone company had already cut off service at the request of her mother. Why Peggy had left the phone behind, Janet did not know. Perhaps it was a subtle way of reminding her to stay in touch regularly. How appropriate it seemed to Janet that her mother rushed to tend to that detail. Peggy always kept everything so organized in life, and now Janet was discovering just how unorganized she herself was. THINGS TO DO TODAY, Janet wrote and underlined in capital letters on another sheet of paper.

Continue cleaning and unpacking.

See neighbors and inform them I have moved in.

Check the boat over and take it to Baskin’s Boating Shop Gas Dock.

Go to town and shop like crazy.

Figure out what I want to do about newspaper delivery.

Introduce myself again to Armani.

So much for her to do, and where to start? Janet decided it best to clean for awhile while she put her things away. Not that she owned much. Just what she had brought from the bedroom she’d grown up in, stuff from attic storage, her painting supplies, and items she needed for her work. More importantly, now was the time to see what her parents had taken back home with them and what they had left for her. It would not hurt, she thought, to pack up items like the blue telephone to give back to her parents at a later time. Janet started in the kitchen with the refrigerator and freezer as it was the first thing she saw as she lifted her head from the writing pad. That task soon led her into the basement where a spare freezer was running. Best to see if her parents left any frozen foods down there before she shopped for more and overstocked. While overstocking was a great idea during winter seasons when roads might be impassible, there was no need for that during summer months.

Basements normally didn’t bother Janet, but this one did. As a child, her older brother had once played a prank on her. When the freezer had been delivered when Janet was four years old, her brother, Steven—or Steve, as he was sometimes referred to—had been playing with her in the basement. They made a fort out of the box the freezer had come in. While Janet was inside of it, Steven duct-taped the box shut. Trapped inside the box, Janet retained the incident in her mind as having lasted an eternity. In reality, Steven had let Janet out rather quickly; but the basement always left Janet feeling trapped ever since. The only doors in the basement were vertical cellar doors leading outside, which Wes had always kept a lock on and the interior door to the basement from the hallway. That interior door was up a long, steep climb of now-aging wooden steps. It seemed as if it hadn’t been but a handful of times Janet went down those stairs since Steven had taped her in the box. The basement was just storage and no place for her to need to venture into. It was rarely used storage because it was musty and, on rare occasion, prone to ankle-deep water if the sump pump gave out. Everything in it was raised off the ground in case of such rising waters. Janet predominantly had no interest in ever going down there. There was little to store down there anyway as this had been only a vacation home and not much was ever left behind to accumulate. Janet’s father occasionally went down there to putter, and she did not even know what he puttered with since the garage was his main puttering domain. Mostly, it was used by Janet’s mother to access the freezer during larger family gatherings and to do laundry. Besides her parents, anyone else rarely had reason to go down there. As a matter of fact, she had been down there with her parents only recently with the home inspector. It was just before the sale of the house. That seemed different at the time. She was older now, and she had not been alone. Today, alone, upon opening the basement door and peering down the steps to the cement floor below, Janet felt like the scared child she once was. It was dimly lit down there, and she felt as if she was walking into a trap.

Step-by-step, the feet of Janet treaded until they stood firmly on the cement floor of the basement. Not so bad, she said aloud, hoping it would calm her nerves. Whether she believed that or whether it actually did calm her was another story. Her father and the movers had cleared it nicely, leaving nothing but the washer, dryer, freezer, a lawn game in the corner, a few empty mousetraps on the floor, and a small box of trash she’d need to dispose of. Some light streamed through a glass block window, and the overhead light bulbs were shining adequately despite one being burned out. Guess I’ll be down here a lot more now that I will be doing my own laundry, Janet concluded.

The freezer downstairs was empty and already had been cleaned. Janet’s parents used it