Chapter 13
Ghosts at the Gas Station
Fog rolled off the mountains, hovering over the curvy road and blurring the forest around them. The typically cheery lights on the red barn of Dan's Diesel were just hazy blobs of half light by the time Maria pulled her car in the gas station.
One light was on inside, and the only other car apart from hers was a beat up pick up truck parked at the edge of the property near the entrance to the Burial Rock Trail. Shane jumped out of the passenger seat as soon as her car stopped. She followed him to the door, pulling her heavy cardigan tighter in the wind, and winced at the banging in the too-quiet night.
"Emily! Open up! It's me." He said, yanking on the front door as if he could pry the locked door open with just an arm.
Maria offered, "Call her again? I'll check the other entrance around the side."
She walked around the building, shivering at the now empty space where the trucker was murdered. The side door was locked, but before she turned away she thought she heard whispers.
"Hello? Emily?"
Stupid kids. Why would they come out here when we just had a murder?
She kept her voice steady, belying her nerves. "Emily, it's Maria Fever. Your dad is here too, you can come out now."
She crept around to the back, attempting to keep her footsteps light. The gas station backed up to a retaining wall and the dark woods behind it loomed over the little red hut. She could just make out a few empty blue pallets leaning against a storage shed under the back door’s flickering light. Maria scanned the woods for any movement or any more whispers, but heard nothing. She twisted the Mal de Ojo bracelet around her wrist, trying and failing to ignore her mother's fears. Satanic cult. Satanic rituals.
An empty glass bottle rolled over the pavement in the wind, and she knocked over a crate in her haste to get out of the narrow space with too little light. She threw out her arms to regain her balance just as someone grabbed her from behind.
Maria opened her mouth to scream in the same moment she registered Shane's voice behind her. "Shh, it's just me."
Heart racing, she turned around in his arms and hugged him tight. "Sorry, Shane. I got freaked out." His arms tightened around her, and she buried her face in his pullover. She breathed in its crisp linen scent before reluctantly pulling back. "Come on, that door is locked. Let's go back to my car while we wait for the cops."
He shook his head, whispering back. "You go wait in the car for them. I'm going to check the trail to Burial Rock. I don't know what Emily is doing, but she overheard some teenagers talking about it. She wouldn’t let it go earlier. I think she might have gone there."
"On her own? I doubt—" Maria was interrupted at the thump from the storage shed. Shane pushed her behind him as the shed door creaked open.
In the dim light Maria could just make out Emily's light blonde hair and at least a couple more teenagers. "Dad?" Emily asked.
"Oh thank God, " Shane said in a sigh, closing the distance to them in just a few strides. He scooped Emily up, her short legs dangling a foot above the pavement. She must have been terrified if she allowed him to squeeze her like that in front of the others.
"Danny?" Maria asked, as the gas station attendant walked out of the shed. He looked paler than normal, and two more teens she didn't recognize followed behind him.
Danny crossed his arms tightly in his oversized coat, chewing on his lip piercing. "Honey, are you ok?" Maria asked, looking everyone over.
"Mrs. Fever, we were out at Burial Rock." He glanced back at the dark woods as one of the girls behind him began to cry. He stepped closer to Maria and whispered, "Something isn't right."
Maria ignored the warning bells clanging in her head and his stiffness as she pulled him into a quick hug. She put her arms around the other girls as well and said, "OK, everybody inside. The cops are already on their way and we'll call your parents. You can explain what's wrong inside where it's warm." And less creepy.
Danny pulled keys from his pocket to unlock the back door, the key slipping on the lock before it opened. Maria wondered if his hand was shaking from the cold or nerves, and forced herself to not glance back at the woods behind them again. She flipped on every switch inside, illuminating the old black and white checkered laminate floors and rows of sundries and snacks. Rusted metal signs hung from any available inch of wall space, and the mahogany counter gleamed under the lights. Shane's usually cheerful eyes were on his daughter as they walked in. Maria pushed the heavy metal door closed behind him, the snip of the deadbolt echoing in the silent shop.
Danny turned on the ancient coffee pot behind the counter, and with the familiar gurgle of heating water in the background, Emily began to pace in front of Shane. "Dad, I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have snuck out. I met Danny and his friends earlier this week, and we all got to talking about Burial Rock and the Abenaki tribe. They know so much about the history, and when I said I was interested, they let me tag along for a bonfire at the end of the trail. It was just supposed to be something low key, we all planned to be home before midnight."
The teen girls behind Emily nodded along emphatically, their heavy eyeliner streaked from crying. Maria was grateful she had a little while longer with Isa while she still slept in emoji footed pajamas and loved unicorn coloring books.
Shane huffed out a sigh in a way that only a frustrated parent could. "Emily. I care less about the time and more about the fact that someone was murdered right here less than a week ago. We still don't know who did it. What part of that seemed ok to ignore and go on a hike in the woods surrounding the murder site at night?"
"I know! I'm sorry. It was just something stupid. Everyone said you could only see The Protector in the fall. So when I found the ouija board in town I thought—”
Maria snorted. "Really kids? You guys honestly believe in ghosts?" She tried to forget the fact that she'd had nightmares of Dave coming back to life the night before.
The Bolles pair shared a look, and Maria cocked her head at Shane. "Please tell me you don't too."
Shane said, "Of course not," but he didn't meet her eyes. He glared at Emily, “Seriously? A ouija board. Did you give a Magic 8 Ball a good shake beforehand too?”
Any remorse from Emily evaporated at Shane’s sarcasm. She crossed her arms and leveled him a look that spelled trouble. “ Some people think the spirit of an Abenaki woman can be found at the end of the trail. And some people think that spirit is trying to warn this town about the murders. And some–”
“I’ve heard enough,” Shane said, his usual affable smile gone. “Drop it, Emily.”
"Not until you hear this,” Emily jerked her head towards Danny behind the counter. “Go on, tell the great Detective Shane Bolles here what you told me earlier.”
Danny seemed to shrink down into his hoodie. Emily rolled her eyes. “Ugh fine. I’ll do it. Danny was telling us about things his family has seen in the woods lately. Like even before the murder. Lights in the woods, voices at night. We wanted to check it out for ourselves."
Danny muttered, "My parents are going to kill me."
"Just want to make sure I have all this straight,” Shane said, fisting his hands at his sides. “You snuck out of the house so you could check out the voices someone heard in the woods…away from any help…near an active murder scene, and the only thing you brought with you was a oujia board?”
The taller of the blonde girls raised her hand, “I brought snacks?”
“Lovely, “ Shane deadpanned. “Thank you. At least you weren’t going to starve before the murderer found you in the woods.”
Maria took a step towards Shane and put her hand on his back before she could stop herself. He seemed to lean into her touch as she asked, "Emily, is that what your text was about? Did you hear voices while you were out there?"
Emily gave Maria a small nod, likely grateful her dad would have to wait before he could rile himself up even more. "Well, we didn't hear voices per se... But when we got the fire lit, we heard something else."
Danny blurted, "It was breathing. Like heavy breathing, not from a dog or from any other animal."
Shane stilled, and Maria asked, "Could it have been a bear?"
The kids shrugged, but Emily said, "That's just it. We didn't hear any other movement. Like no leaves shuffling, no footsteps. Silence. But the breathing still moved all around us. And then we saw–”
Headlights swept over the storefront, interrupting her. Danny's heavy-set dad barreled out of his truck a moment later, gun in hand. Shane pushed Emily behind him, but Maria shrugged him off when he reached for her as well. "It’s just Danny's dad, Chris," she said to Shane as she walked to the front door. She held it open for Chris and he rushed in, nodding once to her.
"Danny?" Chris asked, setting the rifle on the countertop before walking behind it.
The pair hugged, and whatever Danny said was muffled in between his dad's arms. Chris walked back around and shook Shane's hand, introducing himself as his son passed the girls Styrofoam cups of coffee.
"Thanks for getting here so fast,” Chris said. “I didn’t see Danny’s text until ten minutes ago. This is my dad's place, by the way."
Shane nodded, his arm still around Emily's shoulders. "Nice to meet you, wish it was under different circumstances but the kids seem ok. Just a little spooked."
A deputy pulled up a moment later and the girls and Danny recapped their story. As the teens made the police report, Shane pulled Chris aside. "Danny mentioned that you guys have seen some abnormal things in the woods around here lately?"
Chris crossed his beefy arms, the dark hair poking out of his rolled up flannel sleeves. "Yeah. At first we thought it was just a bunch of kids pulling pranks. Usually happens around this time of year anyway. But all of us, my wife included, have seen the lights. They don't look like flashlights." Chris glanced over at the cop and ran a hand over his mouth and bushy beard. He spoke quieter, prompting Shane, Emily, and Maria to lean closer. "We took a hunting party out one day earlier this month to see if we could find anything, but the guys got spooked. We couldn't see anyone, but every person said they heard whispers in different parts of the woods."
"And then Nathan Dass was murdered near the trail entrance," Shane added.
"Exactly,” Chris said, stepping back. He gave his son a pointed look. “Which is why I want to know why my son thought it would be a good idea to go out solo to the woods with a few girls at midnight."
Danny spun around to the coffee machine again, busying himself with tidying the grains around the machine.
"Mr. Jones," Emily said. "How long has your family owned this place?"
"Three generations. My grandfather bought the land that surrounds here years ago to farm timber. He and my dad built the gas station in the forties."
She nodded, and Maria wondered where she was going with this. "And how many times have you been approached to sell it?"
He huffed out a laugh, "Hard to say. A lot of people have inquired about it over the years, but we'd never sell the gas station."
"But," Emily took a step closer, shrugging off her dad’s hand at her elbow. "You're selling the rest of the land to the mayor?"
"How did you know that?" Chris said even as shook his head. He rolled the edge of his wiry beard between his thumb and forefinger as he spoke. "It isn't a done deal. We're still in negotiations but Clarissa keeps lowballing my dad. And it’s contingent on her getting a rezoning permit, which everyone knows is an uphill battle in this town."
Emily and her dad shared a look. "There's something else." Emily added. "When we heard the whispers we started to look around the rocks to see if it was some other kid." She looked back at her dad, "We found a backpack instead. It was filled with candles, a bunch of spices, and a black salt rock."
The shorter blonde girl finally found her voice. "My mom said there's a cult here. That," she turned to Maria, "Sorry ma'am. They’re saying the cult did something to Dave Fever's body to bring him back to life. And now he's stalking these woods."
Chris waved her off, but she persisted. "Everyone is saying it's the ghost of Dave Fever that killed that trucker. That even the Burial Rock Protector has left because of him. That’s why no one has seen her this year."
Maria gripped the red string bracelet at her wrist, and everything else in her body seemed to seize beyond that string. She didn't believe in ghosts, but she also wasn't one to rule them out entirely if she saw one in person. It would be a cruel shift in fate if it was the ghost of Dave Fever that changed her mind.
"Enough, there is no cult, and Dave Fever's ghost is not lurking in the woods," Shane said. "Officer, can you get the girls home to their parents? Emily, Maria and I need to get home ourselves. It's almost two AM."
They piled into Maria's old Honda after a round of goodbyes. "Dad?" Emily asked once the doors were shut.
"Not now, Emily. It's late. Let's get home so Maria can get some sleep at her own house."
He glanced over at Maria, his mouth a grim line. "You think you can pick me up in the morning? We can get my car and there are some things we ought to talk about. Might be a good idea for you to join me and my family for it."
She wondered at the seriousness in his tone, but it had been a whirlwind of a night between going to Greg's farm, her confession at Cate's, and now this. She nodded, and wove the car towards his dad's home under the bright moonlight. She was grateful for the officer stationed outside her house by the time she got back, but jumped at every shadow in her home.
There are no such things as ghosts, she told herself as she turned on every light in her bedroom to fall asleep. Her dreams devolved into nightmares of Dave’s ghost watching her from the woods that night.