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“For myself, actually.” He shrugged. “And, yes, for my story. I’ll change your name though, for privacy considerations.”
“I’ve lived in this area all my life. My mother raised me on her own here, choosing to be close to her family. She never married, and she passed far too young from cancer.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Oliver said.
Katherine lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “She smoked three packs a day, it wasn’t really a surprise. I’ve been doing this since I realized what was happening. That was back before the motel went out of business. Rumors had been going through town about men disappearing on their wives or girlfriends. Search parties never turned them up, so I think she moved her victims around to keep them out of sight, but she always brought them back to the well.” She shook her head as she angrily whisked the eggs. “I got the idea one autumn when I was shopping in a nearby town and came across some Halloween costumes. I watched videos online about latex masks, and created an old woman character to scare people away from the place.
“It worked sometimes, but other times the Vixen got there before me and lured a man away. Everyone thought it was Ruby Gallagher seeking revenge, but I knew who it was all along. I didn’t tell anyone else about it, though, and I’m kicking myself for never looking down into that well.” She added some milk to the mixture and resumed whisking.
“I don’t know if I’d have known enough to burn the body, but maybe I could have done something. Anyway, once the motel closed, thrill seekers started showing up. I’d try to scare them off, too. Sometimes they’d go, but most times they wouldn’t. I almost got caught a few times, so I changed up my haunting tactics. Did more screams from out in the woods, less close up scares.”
“It was effective,” Dave said.
She poured the eggs into a large skillet and turned on a gas burner. Oliver’s stomach rumbled at the thought of food, but he made himself focus on her story.
“I came across the well several times, but didn’t see any bodies around it except when I found that one man standing there and he attacked me.”
Cody appeared in the kitchen doorway, dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, hair wet, feet bare, and smelling of soap. “Okay, Ollie’s up.”
“Yeah, in a minute,” Oliver said.
“I’ll go next,” Dave offered. “Then you can shower. How’s that?”
“That’s good.” Oliver turned to Katherine as Cody took Dave’s chair. “You told us a bit about it. He fought you when you tried to get him to leave, right?”
Her expression tightened as she looked down into the skillet. “It was awful. I realized that night just how deep of a hold she had on her victims. And it scared me enough to keep me away from the motel for a while after that. But more men went missing, and I couldn’t let it continue. I had to do what I could. That woman ruined my parents’ lives.” She stirred the eggs in silence, then whispered, “Mine, too.”
“I’m sorry,” Oliver said, keeping his voice low and gentle. “I hope you can find some peace now that we’ve put her to rest.”
Katherine flashed him a tight smile and dabbed at her eyes. “Thank you. I hope so, too.”
They showered in turn, ate scrambled eggs and toast, and between the five of them, came up with a cover story for Katherine to take to the police so the woods could be searched for bodies of the missing and laid to rest. Cody and Demetrius told some of their adventures, and soon they were all fed and clean and ready to hit the road. Cody and Demetrius thanked Katherine and hugged Dave and Oliver.
As Cody pulled Oliver in for an uncustomary hug, he said, “Good work with all this, Ollie.”
“Thanks,” Oliver said, voice muffled against Cody’s chest. “You, too.”
“We’ll make a Critter Catcher out of you yet.” Cody stepped back, smirked, and then got behind the wheel of the truck.
Dave gave Katherine a wave and got into his car. Oliver hugged her a second time and smiled.
“Thank you,” he said. “For the help with everything, and risking your life to save Dave and Demetrius.”
“And you and Cody,” Katherine added with a grin.
“Yes, us, too,” Oliver said with a quiet laugh. “But also for being honest with us about the past. Not just the motel’s past, but yours as well.”
She crossed her arms and shuffled her feet. “To be honest, it feels good to have told you all that. And to finally, hopefully, be done with the Vixen and that damn motel.” She shook her head as tears welled up in her eyes. “I want to feel bad for her, you know? Unable to be at rest even in death, her body moldering away at the bottom of that well. But I’m still too angry.”
“Maybe now you can come to terms with it.”
“Ollie!” Cody shouted. “Gotta learn when to wrap up an interview. Come on!”
Oliver sighed as he heard Demetrius’s whispered admonishments and Cody’s retorts. Apparently things were already getting back to normal. He supposed that was a good thing.
“Well, thanks again,” he said. “Take care of yourself.”
He gave her a final quick, tight hug, then turned away and got into the passenger seat of Dave’s car. As Dave followed Cody’s truck down the street, Oliver gave a final wave, and watched until Katherine was lost to his sight. Dave reached over the console and took his hand, giving it a squeeze, and Oliver smiled at him. They rode in comfortable silence, both lost in their thoughts as the miles unwound, taking them closer to Parson’s Hollow and home.
