Chapter 27

Lindy and Roman watched silently as Alec came into the inn and crossed the lobby to the registration desk. His face was pale, his thoughts unreadable. He didn't see the two of them standing near the elevator.

The clerk took a single sheet of paper from the pigeonhole marked with his room number and handed it to Alec. He read the short message, and for a moment looked as though he were going to be sick. When he saw the clerk looking at him oddly, he righted himself and headed for the elevator. He pulled up short as he saw the others. They started toward him.

"I guess you got the same message in your box that we did," Roman said.

Alec stared at him wordlessly and handed over the folded sheet. It read:

Big Reunion Party Tonight!!
At the Wolfpack Cabin.
For the Hero, the Monkey, the Cat... and the Clown.
Don't miss it or you'll be sorry!

"What are we going to do?" Alec said.

"I don't know about you, but I'm sure as hell not hanging around to see what that party is all about," said Roman.

"It seems to me that's what you said last night at dinner," Alec reminded him. "Something about getting out of here first thing this morning."

"Jesus, don't you think I've been trying? Is it my fault the damn car is screwed up and the dumbass mechanic can't fix it?"

"Are you saying that your car is the only way out of this town?" Alec said.

"It might as well be. The only car rental outfit in town is closed, if you can believe it."

"There's got to be a bus out or something."

"I came in from Milwaukee on a bus," Lindy said.

"Great. So why don't we catch one right back out of town?" Alec said.

"Don't you think I thought of that?" Roman said. "I just came from the Greyhound depot. There's exactly two buses a day out of Wolf River. The last one left at five o'clock. Just over an hour ago."

"There has to be something we can do."

Roman scowled at him. "If you've got any bright ideas, let's hear 'em. How did you get here?"

"I hired a driver at the airport in Milwaukee."

"Oh, well, lah-de-dah."

"I don't drive myself. In New York you don't have to."

"Same old Alec," Roman said. "You always did mooch a ride with somebody else. Mostly me."

Alec ignored the dig. He said, "Well, let's call around. There's got to be a way."

"Call?" Roman sneered. "Call on what? Have you tried to use the telephone?"

"There was some problem with the lines earlier. Surely that's been repaired by now."

"Oh, yeah? Why don't you try it?"

"It's true, Alec," Lindy said, "but go ahead and make sure."

Alec looked from one to the other, then walked deliberately across the lobby to the pay telephone. He picked up the receiver, dropped a coin in the slot, and listened. He jiggled the switch hook several times, tried the dial, finally replaced the receiver and walked back, not bothering to retrieve the coin that rattled into the return slot.

"It's dead," he announced.

"No kidding," Roman said dryly.

A peal of thunder reverberated through the lobby.

"I wish that storm would either move in or go away," Roman complained. "It's making me jumpy as hell."

"It's a funny kind of storm," Lindy said. "It just sits there outside of town, like it's waiting."

"Are we going to stand around and talk about the weather?" Alec demanded.

"Like I said before," Roman told him, "if you've got any bright ideas on how to get out of here, lay 'em out."

"I don't think we are going to get out of here," Lindy said quietly. "Not before... whoever or whatever is doing this is through with us."

"Now what does that mean?" Alec said. "Are we talking ghosts again? The supernatural? Some mystical power holding us in town?"

"Something is holding us here," Lindy said. "The telephones, Roman's car, that odd storm hanging over us. And you'll have to admit some pretty strange things have happened to us. Things that can't be explained away easily."

"I suppose so," Alec said grudgingly. "But we can worry about explanations later. There must be something we can do now."

"One thing we can do is buy a gun," Roman said. "Either of you see a gun shop or a sporting goods store open anywhere?"

"I didn't see much of anything open," Alec said. "If there was ever a dying town, this is it."

Lindy was staring at Roman. "A gun? What in the world are you going to shoot? Your car? The telephone? A plastic toy clown? A storm that won't move in or away? Come on, Roman, use your head."

"I'd still feel better if I was armed," he grumbled.

"I think the important thing now is for us to stay together and not panic," Lindy said.

"Nobody's going to panic," Roman said. "At least I know I'm not."

"And what good does it do to stay together?" Alec said. "We were all together at dinner last night, and somebody still pulled off that trick with the floating clown."

"That was the waitress's idea of a joke," Roman said. "It had to be."

Alec snapped at him. "You know better than that."

"The important thing," Lindy said, "is that nobody was hurt. There may be strength in the three of us."

"Do we have to stand around here in the lobby?" Roman said. "Why don't we go into the bar?"

"That will help a lot," Alec said, "for you to get smashed again."

"Listen -" Roman began darkly, but he broke off, and they all turned as the street door to the lobby pushed open and a gust of cold air washed over them.

Jim Dancey entered. He started for the desk, then saw the three of them standing by the elevator and changed his direction. "Your car's ready," he told Roman.

"You mean it's fixed?"

"I mean it starts and it runs. Nothing I did, it just decided it was ready to go."

"Are you sure?"

"I just drove it over here, I'm that sure. It's out front now if you want it."

"Hell yes, I want it. How much do I owe you?"

"I figure forty dollars will cover it. If you're gonna use the credit card we'll have to go back to the station."

"No, here, I'll give you the cash," Roman said quickly. "I don't want any more delays."

Dancey accepted the money and looked at each of them. "You'll be leaving town? All of you?"

"That's the plan," Roman told him.

"Good." Dancey turned, walked back across the lobby, and out. The street beyond the glass-paneled doors was dark and forbidding.

"What did he mean by that?" Alec wondered.

"Who cares?" Roman said. "Me, I'm outta here. Anybody coming with me?"

After a moment's hesitation Alec said, "All right, I'll come."

Lindy said, "I'm not sure it's a good idea."

"Why the hell not?" Roman wanted to know.

"It's too convenient, that's all, having the car suddenly get well like that."

"Stay if you want to," Roman said, "but me, I'm not spending one minute more than I have to in this miserable town."

Lindy pursed her lips. "No," she said finally, "I'll come along because I still think we should stick together. But we might be making a big mistake."

"I'll be packed and ready to go in ten minutes," Roman said. "We can meet back down here."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later Lindy was standing at the registration desk while the clerk processed her credit card to settle the bill.

He said, "Sorry you couldn't stay with us a little longer. Wolf River is really a nice little town."

"I know," Lindy said. "Like the sign says, 'A nice place to live.'"

"There's those who think so."

She could see Roman jittering impatiently by the door while Alec stood by, waiting for her. Just like the old days, she thought. Only much, much different.

She signed the credit slip, took the cardholder copy, and stuffed it into her handbag.

"Glad I don't have to go out tonight," the clerk said. "I don't like the looks of the weather."

"Neither do I," Lindy agreed, "but sometimes you don't have a choice."

She picked up her bag and carried it with her toward the two men.

"Come on, come on," Roman urged. "It's getting darker than hell out there."

So it was, Lindy saw. It was barely seven o'clock, which should be reasonably light at this time of year in northern Wisconsin, but the gloom that had hung in the town all day had darkened to restless night. The streetlights had been turned on, but they seemed unable to penetrate the unnatural dark.

When they went outside, a cold, wet wind eddied around the three people as though probing for a point of entry. Lindy pulled her sweater closer around her while Roman keyed open the trunk.

Their three bags fit easily into the trunk of the Monte Carlo. Roman and Lindy got into the front, while Alec took the back seat. Unwanted memories returned of the same riders in other times and another car on these same streets.

Roman fired the engine, which roared to life immediately. He looked around to the others with a smirk of triumph as though be personally had fixed whatever was wrong.

"Are we going to leave or are you going to sit here revving the engine?" Alec said.

"Keep your pants on," Roman told him. "I'll have us back in Milwaukee before you know it."

He started away from the curb.

"Aren't you going to turn on the lights?" Lindy said.

"They're on," he told her.

"What's the matter with them? I can barely see in front of the car."

"I don't know, but we're not stopping for that. As long as this baby runs, I'm heading out of here and away."

As they drove down a deserted Main Street no other cars were moving in either direction. It was as though they were all alone on a ghostly highway.

Roman snapped on the radio. Nothing but crackling static greeted them.

"Damn storm," he said. "It's fouling up everything. That's probably what jimmied the telephones, too."

"Maybe," Lindy said.

"What else?"

Alec leaned forward from the back seat. "Could we stop talking about it now and just concentrate on getting us out of here?"

Roman turned so his face was close to Alec's. "Look, pal, only one of us can drive this car at a time, and that one is me. So give it a rest, okay?"

Alec subsided, muttering to himself.

Lindy sat straining forward, trying to see into the blackness ahead of them. A mist began to coat the windshield, cutting visibility even more.

Roman turned on the wipers, but they only smeared a greasy double crescent across the outside of the glass, making things still worse.

"Try the washer," Alec said.

Roman's head snapped around. "Dammit, I'm not going to tell you again -"

"Will you two cut it out?" Lindy broke in. "All of us have frayed nerves. Let's at least try to get along while we have to be in close quarters."

Roman poked at the button bearing the symbol for the windshield washer. Nothing happened. Repeated jabs brought no result. He swore under his breath and drove on.

Neither of the men said anything for the next several minutes. Roman drove fiercely, rubbing at the windshield with the meaty part of one hand while he gripped the wheel with the other. Since the greasy mist was on the outside of the glass, his efforts had no effect.

"What the hell are you doing?" Alec said suddenly.

"What do you' think I'm doing'? I'm trying to drive us the hell out of here."

"Look over there."

Lindy and Roman turned in the direction Alec was pointing. There, through the misty gloom, was the familiar entrance with the gilt lettering on the door: WOLF RIVER INN.

"You drove us in a damn circle," Alec complained.

"Like hell. I never turned once."

"Then there must be another Wolf River Inn," Alec said with heavy sarcasm.

"Maybe if you'd shut up and let me drive we'd get somewhere, " Roman growled.

Alec let a breath escape through his teeth and moved over to a corner of the back seat.

Lindy said nothing. She suddenly felt terribly cold.

After five more minutes of strained driving, a pale glow appeared up ahead on their right. Roman slowed the car. Lindy rolled down her window, the better to see where they were.

The pallid glow behind the glassed doors was chillingly familiar.

"Oh... shit," Roman said.

Alec groaned softly.

The gilt lettering, faint but legible, spelled out WOLF RIVER INN.