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“Hey, Demmy, it’s me. It’s Cody.”
But Demetrius wasn’t hearing him. He advanced steadily, fists clenched, eyes fixed on a spot straight ahead and unseeing.
“Goddammit, Demmy, stand down or halt or whatever,” Cody said as he walked backward away from Demetrius.
Oliver checked on Dave and was relieved to see him still standing in the same place. He wouldn’t have to worry about fending him off, at least not for the moment. The toe of his shoe bumped something and Oliver crouched, smiling when his fingers touched the iron poker. He looked up at Dave again just as lightning forked across the sky, illuminating Dave’s features. Before the corresponding rumble of thunder, Oliver had a sudden realization. Dave wasn’t staring straight ahead like he’d first thought. His eyes were angled down, as if looking at the ground.
Or the well.
Everything came to him so suddenly and clearly Oliver felt a touch of vertigo. He understood the Vixen’s motive and why she brought men to this place. This was where Kenny Walker, Katherine’s father and the man Rebecca had been in love with, had killed her. It was probably a place Rebecca had known well and brought men to when she’d been alive. He could see her thinking of it as her own private wishing well, tossing in pennies and wishing for a man to fall in love with her.
It would have made sense for her to bring Kenny Walker here and try to convince him she was the one who could make him happy. He’d rejected her advances and tried to walk away, but she’d grabbed on to him to keep him there, to make him hear her. There must have been a struggle or something, and Rebecca had died. Maybe Kenny had pushed her and she’d struck her head on the side of the well. However it had happened, Oliver had a feeling he knew what lay at the bottom of the well.
He stood and braced himself on the rough stone edge and aimed the flashlight beam down into it. A yellowed skull gleamed in the light, the empty eye sockets staring up at him. Before he could shout to Cody that he’d found Rebecca’s body, strong hands grabbed him from behind and hurled him away from the well.
CHAPTER TEN
Oliver landed hard, and he rolled up against a tree with a grunt and a whoosh of breath. Rain splattered mud on his face, and somewhere along the way he’d lost his glasses, the poker, and the flashlight. The good thing was he didn’t think he’d been injured, just shaken up a little.
But who had thrown him?
Squinting into the rain, Oliver saw a tall, blurry form advancing on him. He could hear Cody still trying to sweet talk Demetrius to stop attacking and recognize him, so he knew it must be Dave doing the Vixen’s bidding.
He’d apparently learned the truth about her resting place. He needed to evade Dave’s next attack and get Cody away from Demetrius and the clearing so they could regroup and come up with a plan.
It took him three tries to stand because his feet kept slipping out from under him in the mud. He needed the poker and flashlight, but most of all he needed to find his glasses. The flashlight was easy to see, the beam shining a path right to it. Now the trick would be to dodge around Dave in his zombie attack mode and grab the flashlight, hopefully coming across his glasses and the poker on the way. He supposed Cody had been right, dammit, and he really would play the part of Velma, always searching for his glasses.
“Cody, get back to Katherine!” Oliver shouted.
“What?” Cody shouted back.
“What?” Katherine shouted, apparently having only heard her name. “You need me to do what?”
“Stay there!” Oliver said.
“Demmy’s attacking me!” Cody said.
Oliver groaned as he made his way around some trees, angling toward the flashlight. Dave slowly came after him, like one of those psycho serial killers from the movies. All they needed now was a John Carpenter soundtrack.
Lightning streaked across the sky, followed immediately by a loud boom of thunder that made Oliver drop into a crouch. The thunder didn’t affect Dave one bit. He kept on coming, and Oliver cursed before he darted out from behind a tree and scooped up the flashlight. Playing the beam around the ground, the blurry glint of something caught his eye and he crouched. His glasses lay miraculously intact between a couple of footprints. He put them on, but immediately removed them because he couldn’t see through the mud-streaked lenses. Dave had rounded the tree behind him. Oliver paused long enough to squint and shuffle around until his foot bumped against the poker and he bent to retrieve it. Taking a second to get his bearings, he headed for what he hoped was the correct set of bushes where Katherine was hiding, all the while using the wet and dirty hem of his t-shirt to clean his glasses as best he could.
He and Cody arrived at the bushes at the same moment, both shouting in surprise as Katherine popped up into view.
“I can’t take many more of these surprises,” Cody said.
“Let’s get back to the motel,” Oliver said. “We need to make a plan.”
“The motel?” Cody and Katherine said together.
“Demmy and Dave are right here,” Cody added.
“And bewitched,” Oliver said. “But I have an idea how we can free them, only we’ll need some things first.”
* * *
Oliver adjusted the coil of rope he’d draped over his shoulder yet again. It still scratched the side of his neck, however, so he gave up trying to find a comfortable position for it.
“I hope you’re right about this,” Cody said for what had to be the millionth time.
