Emory rolled a suitcase down the hallway to the master bedroom. He opened the door but closed it again when he saw Jeff in bed. Oh, he’s already asleep. He parked the bag next to the wall and headed toward the back stairs. Before taking the first step, though, he stopped himself. Something was bothering him. It was just a flash, but…
He backtracked and opened the door again. The moonlight diffusing through the window near the bed gave Jeff’s skin a ghostly pallor, but he was the most beautiful ghost Emory could ever imagine. What is that? He thought he had seen something amiss with Jeff’s face during his previous glimpse, but it didn’t hit him at first. Now he was sure.
He stepped closer but still couldn’t make it out. He took another step and froze. He could make out the distinctive markings of the brown recluse spider on Jeff’s right cheek.
“No!” he gasped before covering his mouth.
Jeff didn’t stir.
If I wake him, he could spook the spider into biting him. What do I do?!
Emory had an idea. He ran into the bathroom and returned with a glass of water. He looked at the pillow and saw the spider hadn’t moved.
He stood over Jeff. I can do this.
Emory positioned the glass two feet above the spider. He held his breath, his hand shaking. A drop of water splashed from the glass, hitting the pillow to the right of Jeff’s face.
The brown recluse moved a half-inch closer to Jeff’s eye.
Crap! Emory turned the glass over. The water washed down Jeff’s cheek, delivering the spider to the pillow.
Jeff grunted awake and wiped his face with both hands. “Emory, what the hell are you doing?”
“Jeff, get out of the bed!”
“Why?”
Emory hurled the open end of the glass onto the pillow.
“What are you doing?” Jeff followed Emory’s arm down to his hand and the glass with its imprisoned arachnid an inch from his face.
The spider lurched onto the side of the glass.
Jeff screamed and rolled himself off the bed, knocking Emory back as he fell to the floor.
Emory lost his grip on the glass. “Crap! It’s loose!”
Still on the floor, Jeff scooted away from the bed on his hands and feet. “Get it!”
The spider scurried to the end of the pillow at the edge of the bed. Emory reached for the glass, which puffed the pillow, catapulting the spider to the floor. “Where’d it go?”
Jeff pointed. “Right there!”
The spider started scurrying toward Jeff. Emory spotted it and stomped on it.
“God almighty!” Jeff jumped to his feet. “Where the hell did that come from?”
“I’m guessing out of one of the holes in the wall.”
Virginia appeared in the doorway. “Guys, what’s with all the racket?”
Jeff tapped his foot by the smashed spider. “That damn spider tried to Zyus Drake me!” He shuddered.
She bent over for a look and backed away. “Is that a brown recluse?”
“Yes! Thank god, Emory showed up. Actually, why did you show up?”
“I was locking up when I saw your bag in the den.” Emory rolled the suitcase into the room. “I didn’t want you showing up for breakfast in the buff.”
“I can’t stay in here.” Jeff grabbed his clothes and shoes from the chair. “I’ll sleep in Juniper’s room.”
“Ooh, you might want to change the sheets first.” Virginia feigned smoking with her index finger and thumb. “You’ll wake up high.”
Jeff sighed. “I’m tired. I don’t feel like making a bed.”
Emory grabbed the handle of the suitcase. “I’ll sleep in Juniper’s room and take care of the sheets. You can have Tommy’s room.”
Jeff followed him from the room. “I also don’t want to sleep in a dead man’s sheets.”
“I already changed them.”
Emory awoke in Juniper’s windowless room with no idea of the time. He tapped his phone on the nightstand. A little early. No one else will be up yet. He turned over on his side with the intention of culling another hour of sleep. Seconds later he opened his eyes again. Now I have to pee.
He swept himself from the bed and took two steps when something pierced his big toe. Emory yelped, grabbed his foot and sat back on the bed. He switched on the bed lamp and inspected the injury. A black metal fragment from the TV mount protruded from the front of his toe. After pulling it out, he went down the hall to the bathroom to clean and bandage the small wound. On the way back to the bedroom, he snapped his fingers. “I forgot to pee.”
He pulled an about-face just as the door to Tommy Addison’s room opened. Jeff leaned against the jamb. “Good pre-morning.”
“I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”
Jeff tilted his head from side to side. “No, it’s just the most uncomfortable bed I’ve ever slept in.”
Emory looked over Jeff’s shoulder at the barren dresser top. “I just realized something. Tommy Addison had a son.”
“Yeah, Juniper said that during the will reading. She wanted to make sure the son got the money bequeathed to Tommy.”
“I know, but it didn’t occur to me at the time. Tommy lived here. Alone.”
Jeff finished Emory’s train of thought. “Where’s the son?”
“Exactly. Not only that, where are the pictures?”
Jeff looked around the room. “Yeah, you’d think he’d have at least one. But you know, not everyone prints pictures. You just look at your phone for them.”
“We really should’ve made a point of going to his funeral too.”
“The kid must live with his mother. I guess they were divorced.”
Emory shook his head. “Those are assumptions. We should find out for sure.”
“You’re right. We haven’t really focused on him. We know how Blair died, but his death is still a mystery.”
“About that. I might’ve figured it out.”
“Well, don’t be coy. Tell me.”
“Come here. I need to show you something.” Emory led him into Juniper’s room, to the stain in the corner of the roof. “You see that black spot behind where the TV was mounted?”
“Yeah. When the TV exploded, it must’ve burned it.”
“You know what’s directly above this room?”
Jeff shrugged. “The locutorium?”
“The den. And above that is Ms.Geister’s bedroom. Remember the black spots we found on the ceiling and floor of the den? The water damage?”
“You think the water leaked into the TV and caused it to explode?”
Emory shook his head. “I don’t think it was water.”
“Then what?”
“What I’m thinking is crazy, so before I put myself in a position where I have to defend the idea, I want to know if it’s even possible.”
“Okay. How?”
“We need to go back to Oak Ridge.”