Chapter 19
Back in the cabin, Caleb watched the byplay between Kymbria and her mother. He supposed he needed to politely take his leave, so the two women could talk in private. No way would Kymbria's mother talk frankly in front of someone she had just met. Yet he couldn't stifle the vague thought Niona had more reason for making her unannounced visit here than just missing her daughter.
"Excuse me for a minute," Kymbria said. "I'm going to make sure I haven't forgotten anything important." She walked toward her bedroom, giving Caleb at least a slight window of opportunity to question her mother. Did she do it on purpose?
"We need to get on the road, sweetheart," Niona reminded Kymbria.
"I won't be long." She shut the bedroom door behind her.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Caleb asked.
Niona shook her head and browsed the living room, fluffing two throw pillows on the sofa, straightening one of the eight-by-ten framed pictures on the fireplace mantle. She wandered to the front window and pulled up the slatted blind they'd closed after Hjak left. She was obviously distancing herself from him, blocking any chance he could probe her knowledge of this situation. Caleb considered giving up and taking his leave, but he wanted to include Kymbria in his goodbye.
"Is that where the windigo left Le - the man who did work for us? Inside that yellow circle?" Niona asked, surprising Caleb. He'd obviously misjudged her desire to talk about the windigo.
Her hesitation at naming the man puzzled Caleb, until he recalled that one of their customs was not speaking a dead person's name. Kymbria's mother must be very close to the Old Ways practiced by her tribe, despite not living in close contact with her people.
"Hjak left the crime scene tape there," Caleb said. "He didn't think his techs would be able to find any evidence, but...frankly," he continued on an exhale of breath, "I don't think he's going to call anyone out to even look at that area, now that the body's missing."
The Native American woman faced him directly. "There's something I need to know. Kymbria asked me if I felt this entity was more dangerous to her and me than to others in the area. She had a reason for asking that."
"It won't matter now," Caleb answered evasively, although she hadn't framed a question. Even though this was Kymbria's mother, he felt uncomfortable discussing her more or less behind her back. "You'll both be gone in a few minutes."
"It might matter," Niona said sternly. "Tell me what's different this time."
"I wasn't here forty years ago," Caleb pointed out. "I can't know what's different, beyond the fact that this thing woke a month earlier than the history of it indicates."
Niona re-closed the blind and sat in one of the chairs on the enclosed porch, motioning for Caleb to take the other one. With a sigh, he complied. She wasn't going to let this lie. Had he been in her shoes, worried about someone he loved, he would also do whatever necessary. He should have done that back in Colorado.
"Kymbria told me about your wife and son. You have my deepest condolences. Yet what makes you think you might have a chance to defeat our windigo?"
Caleb repeated a little of what he'd already told Kymbria, that he'd been raised in a family that supported the belief in the paranormal and had been investigating that world for a long while now.
Niona asked, "Are you aware of this monster when it comes near you?"
"Kymbria - " Caleb shut his mouth and considered his next words, disgusted that he'd let that slip. Niona's sharp gaze indicated she'd picked up on it.
He started to speak again, but Niona held up a forestalling hand. "This thing is communicating with my daughter?"
Caleb winced at her sharp voice. "Kymbria hasn't admitted that."
"Admitted? That's an interesting choice of word. So you believe that it is, but Kymbria's denying it for some reason?"
"Look, Mrs. James. I know about her PTSD. She might be afraid that's what's causing this...this supposed communication from the beast. And it really could be something to do with her PTSD. Maybe she's being truthful and it's not the windigo she's hearing."
"But she's hearing something?" Niona persisted.
Caleb shook his head in denial. "I can't confirm that, only Kymbria can."
In an abrupt change of subject, Niona asked, "Would you like to stay here at our cabin after we leave, Mr. McCoy? It would be much more comfortable than that one Paul rented to you."
"Caleb, please," he insisted, then again mulled over how he should respond. There were depths to this woman, many of the same things he admired in her daughter. She didn't speak lightly, and Caleb realized that he needed to plumb those intricacies. She had knowledge of this entity, knowledge she was reluctant to share for some reason. Similar, he realized, to Kymbria's reluctance to admit what was happening to her. A reluctance that was sending her back home.
Yet that knowledge could possibly hurt both her mother and Kymbria, maybe others, if they kept secrets. If he'd learned one thing over his years of investigating paranormal entities, it was that the more information you could glean, the more control a person had over the beings of the other dimension. The lack of understanding of this creature had allowed it to roam and kill for so long, hundreds of years.
"Let me ask you something first, Mrs. James."
"You haven't been very forthcoming about my questions to you, Mr. McCoy." He didn't miss the fact that she intended to keep their relationship on a more formal basis.
"The things you've asked me aren't mine to answer. You and Kymbria are obviously extremely close, despite the fact that she's been away for years."
"True," Niona acknowledged.
Caleb hesitated, then lowered his voice and said, "Have you ever thought that maybe your people's isolation and non-communication might foster these killings?"
Surprising him, Niona answered, "I have. But my words have been rebuffed every time. Our past has set our customs well."
"Then I'll just come right out and ask this, Mrs. James. Is there some other reason than my comfort that you're offering me your cabin? That you care that I'm safe?"
"You've been here for Kymbria," she said. He started to respond, but she held up that forestalling hand again. "And I deeply sympathize with you over what happened to your wife and son."
The pain stabbed Caleb, as it always did, even in the midst of condolences. "Not enough to help us, though," he couldn't resist saying.
Hurt and anger flashed on her face, and Niona stood. "You don't understand."
"And I can't, if you don't explain."
"You think I'm being selfish."
"I'm sure you have your reasons. Yet people are dying, in horrible ways. Len's face...I wouldn't have wanted Kymbria to see that."
Kymbria's bedroom door opened, and she emerged with her luggage. "I'm ready, Mom. Oh, Caleb, glad you're still here. I didn't want to leave without saying goodbye. I was also thinking, if it would be all right with Mom, we could leave a key with you. You'd be free to use our refrigerator."
"Actually," Niona said before Caleb could, "I've offered Mr. McCoy the use of our entire cabin. He's be more comfortable here."
"And safer," Caleb added, to which Kymbria raised an eyebrow in question.
Niona pulled a key ring from her pocket and removed one of the keys, which she handed to Caleb. "There's also a key under the turtle shell on the windowsill by the back door, if you misplace this one."
"Turtle shell," Caleb mused. "That's a sacred symbol to some Native Americans."
"To one of our clans also," Niona said. "And you have our phone numbers?"
"Kymbria's cell phone."
"Anything else you need is on the list beside the cabin phone." Niona walked into the kitchen and retrieved her coat from the coat stand beside the door. "I'll go ahead and warm my car up, Kymbria. You'll take Scarlet with you?"
"Of course."
Niona paused for a moment as she looked from Kymbria to Caleb. Rather than the caution he expected to see in her glance at him, she only nodded, then turned and opened the door.
"Damn," Kymbria murmured. "I'd hoped to stall her long enough to get some more information out of her. That's not going to happen, though. Did she tell you anything more?"
"Nope," he admitted. "And yeah, I did try."
"Well," Kymbria said with a sigh. "I'll work on her, and if I find out anything, I'll call you." She set her suitcase down and held out her hand. "I hope the next time we meet, it will be under far better circumstances."
Caleb grasped her hand, reluctant to see her leave. It was for the best, though. He didn't want her in danger, and he needed some time to try to decipher Niona's evasions. "I haven't forgotten that dinner I promised you. But even without that, yes, I'd like to see you again."
"Me, too," Kymbria admitted with a small smile. "I think we could be friends, Caleb McCoy."
Maybe even more than that. But he didn't want to push her. Kymbria James had plenty of things to work out in her own life, as he did.
He held her hand for a few more seconds as he examined her face and stored it in his memory. That would be a nice memory to have when the darker ones tried to intrude. Even nicer would be....
He bent his head. She didn't try to avoid him. Instead, curiosity lurked in her eyes before she closed them slowly and waited for him to take the kiss he wanted.
The kitchen door burst open. "It won't start again," Niona complained. "I thought that damn mechanic fixed it!"
Caleb drew back with a sigh of disappointment, which he thought - hoped - he heard Kymbria echo. "He replaced the battery cables," he told Niona. "From the little I know about cars, maybe that wasn't the problem. Could be your alternator."
"We'll just call Gabe and let him bring his tow truck this time, Mom. You can ride with me."
"We can't. My car's blocking yours in, as well as Mr. McCoy's truck!" She stared back out the open door, but Caleb clearly heard her murmur, "Something's working against us. Keeping us here. I'm calling Keoman, and this time, he better call me back."
Niona shivered in the cold and pushed the door shut before she strode towards them. In the living room, she veered to the phone. Kymbria grabbed her suitcase again, but Caleb took it from her.
"Just put my bag by the back door, Caleb," she said in acquiescence. "I'll make some hot chocolate while we wait for Keoman and Gabe."
She didn't notice when Caleb stayed where he was. He wanted...needed to hear Niona's conversation with Keoman. However, she wasn't talking to him during this phone conversation.
"How long?" she asked. "Do you have an alternator in stock, if that's what it is?" She paused, then huffed in frustration. "I guess that will have to do, won't it? Call me back here when you know more."
Without a goodbye, she hung up the phone. At first, she glanced at Caleb, then abruptly turned away and walked into the kitchen to join Kymbria.
"There's a wreck out on the main highway. The woman who answered had no idea how soon Gabe would be free."
"Is there another tow service around?" Caleb asked.
Kymbria answered, "Gabe's all there is."
"Did you get the snowmobiles ready?" Niona asked.
"Sorry, Mom. I'd decided to leave, so I didn't bother."
Caleb shrugged into his jacket, which he'd hung in the kitchen this time, as he said, "Let me go out and look around. Maybe I can maneuver my truck out of the way."
"Thank you," Niona said as he closed the door.
Caleb waited just outside the door, frankly eavesdropping on the two women. Thinking him not there to overhear, maybe they would spill some information. Niona's unease indicated the woman had plenty to say. She was hiding something, something important if her actions were any indication.
But he only heard them moving around in the kitchen, a pot sliding onto the stove, the refrigerator door opening. He finally gave up and walked toward the vehicles.
Kymbria's black SUV sat first in line. He'd pulled up close to her bumper and a little to the side when he brought her home the previous evening. Niona's sedan wasn't that close to his truck, but there wasn't enough room to edge past it. Trees lined both sides of the drive. They couldn't even circle Kymbria's SUV around, since there was a wall of landscape timbers to the left of it.
Cold. The cold seeped around his neck. He'd forgotten to grab his cap. He glanced up through the treetops at a sky heavy with pregnant clouds. He should have listened to the weather forecast. It didn't matter. This creature's vision could penetrate a whiteout.
The consecrated cross hung safe and secure on his chest, emitting at least a measure of security as he tramped through the snow towards Niona's vehicle.