Chapter Seven

“You think rattlesnakes are out?” As they stepped off the porch, Harri tiptoed, hurrying to catch up with Cacye, and felt more at ease when Cayce slowed to allow her to catch up.

Cayce noticed her sister’s recurring fear as they headed around the hotel into the alley. It was pitch-black dark, but the full moon helped to light their way. Cayce kept her flashlight on for backup and saw the bathhouse just ahead, camouflaged on the outside with logs but with a big carved bear holding a sign to identify it. The door was unlocked, and Cayce found the light switch just inside the door.

“Holy Tallahatchie! That man of yours does not miss a trick! Would you look at this? I may never leave.” Harri must have retrieved her bravery as she walked to the huge bath, which looked like a small pool, outlined and lined inside with river rocks. She stuck her fingertips into the steaming water. “Perfect!”

Cayce zeroed in on the furniture made from logs with comfortable-looking, fat leather cushions on oversized lounge chairs—way too inviting not to pounce on.

“I knew it. Filled with kapok just like at his house in Mississippi. You just sink right into it.” She put her head back and closed her eyes. “Heavenly!” Hearing Harri splash into the steamy bath, she opened her eyes and left her spot.

“No. This is heavenly. I can feel my crows’ feet tightening already. I hope these minerals will lift everything that’s sagging.” Harri used both hands to push up her breasts as she looked down at them. “All we need is background music.”

As if on cue, surround sound music began to play and the lights dimmed, making it twilight in the magical bathhouse. Cayce loved the easy listening music; it was like what she always carried when away from her own mountains. She always said music helped her “envision mountain streams cascading over giant river rocks, all beneath snowcapped mountains.” But Bar None was the reality of now. Native flute accompanied the orchestra, giving the music a surreal, almost eerie resonance.

“Nice!” Harri waltzed herself over to the edge where Cayce stood. “You found the right switch.”

“Actually, I didn’t. Joshua must have the lights and music on some kind of a timer. I didn’t touch anything.”

Cayce added her sweats to Harri’s pile and slipped into the bath.

“Oh, you are so right. This is heaven.” Cayce looked around and noticed a big sign they had missed when first entering the bathhouse.

“Uh-oh! We were supposed to shower before we got in. See the open showers over in the corner? Right now, they look like little trickles coming out of a stone cave wall. How beautiful!”

“I’ll shower before we leave. I’m not moving for at least an hour. My body is still aching from the ride here in Hawk.” Harri laid her head back on the towel she had rolled up on the edge of the river rock ledge.

“The sign also recommends you not stay over twenty minutes or risk shriveling away to nothing.” Cayce rolled her towel like her sister’s and laid her head back. “Shriveling off five pounds would be pretty nice, though.”

The sisters lay quiet. Harri’s eyes were closed, but Cayce enjoyed looking up at the skylight. The lights dimmed even more, allowing the moon and the stars shining through the skylight to take over as the cabin’s main sources of light. Within minutes, Harri was snoring softly.

Just as Cayce was reminded again of why she always demanded her own room when they traveled, a shadow drifted across the water, bringing her to full alert.

Must have been a limb moving with the breeze in the moonlight.

Cayce laid her head back again, but did not close her eyes. Thinking she heard a noise, she glanced toward the window without moving her head. Again she saw the silhouette of the mountain in the moonlight, but a shadow moved outside the window, distorting the silhouette. She slid closer to her sister and poked Harri until she gave another loud snort and opened her eyes.

“Harri. Keep looking at me, and don’t panic.”

“What?” Harri jerked her head off the towel, flailing the water as she tried to stand without leaning.

“I said, don’t panic. Now just pretend we’re having a cozy conversation. Someone is outside the window watching us. I see his silhouette with the moonlight behind him.”

“Has to be that weirdo Steve. I told you I didn’t like him.” Harri moved to get out, but Cayce grabbed her arm.

“No, I want you to stay here as though nothing is happening,” Cayce whispered. “I’m going to slip out of the water on the other side where it’s darker and go out the back door. I’m not letting some creep put a damper on our trip. What I see is a Peeping Tom, not a ghost.” She left the bath as quietly as possible.

“Wait! I’m coming with you…” But before Harri could get out of the water, Cayce was gingerly sneaking out the back door.

Harri sat back against the river rock, frozen in place, her eyes locked on the shadow at the window.

“Where are Louie and Glock when I need them?” she whispered.

Cayce flattened her body against the outside log wall and inched toward the side where she had seen the Peeping Tom. She stopped to pick up a short piece of two-by-four left by the construction crew, and when she got to the corner, stuck her head around the wall just enough to see if the intruder was still at his post. He stood there with his hands shielding his eyes against the window, obviously trying to get a better look. The silhouette appeared no taller than Cayce and looked like a male, dressed in dark clothes with the brim of his hat pulled down tight on his head.

Cayce dodged around the corner of the log building yelling at the top of her lungs, holding the board up and ready to swing. “Hey, you! What the heck do you think you’re doing?”

The figure got one quick glance at her, gave a clipped yelp, and fled toward the woods like a grizzly was chasing him.

Cayce ran after him but was no match with bare feet. She stopped at the edge of the woods and bent over to remove pine needles stuck to her foot.

Harri ran to her side. “Did you get a good look at him? Was it Steve?”

“I didn’t see his face, but he did not have a long, white beard and hair.” Cayce held her side as she panted. “I would have seen a beard and long hair for sure. And he was short. That leaves out Steve.” Cayce finished catching her breath.

“I say bath time is over. Let’s get our stuff and go back to the hotel. We can look for tracks in the morning.”

As they re-entered the bathhouse, Cayce looked around for the switches that dimmed the lights and turned on the music. “Here are both switches, if you can call them that.” Cayce was on the opposite side of the room from the main light switch where they’d entered. She put her fingers on the buttons that were lit up and pushed on each, causing the lights to dim and the music to turn on and off. “These big buttons are so sensitive, you just barely touch them, and they turn lights and music on and off.”

“I see what you mean.” Harri touched the buttons, copying Cayce’s moves. “Question is, who pressed the buttons, if it wasn’t you? I don’t think Boo Radley could have sneaked in here without us seeing him.”

“Good question. If the lights hadn’t dimmed, I wouldn’t have known anyone was outside the window. Since they don’t seem to be on a timer, then someone…or something…wanted to help us. Let’s hope all the spirits here are this protective.”