The Darkly Stewart Mysteries: The Woman Who Tasted Death Read online

  “So, Victoria’s your daughter. What does your husband do?”

  “He died a long time ago.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Darkly and Geraldine strolled past manicured lawns behind small clapboard homes.

  “Buck’s the closest thing to a father Victoria ever had. And a pretty sorry excuse for one, at that. Buck was Wyatt, my husband’s, brother.”

  Darkly sensed she had opened a wound. But, there was something else. Geraldine was holding back her emotions, keeping herself in check, binding her thoughts. Darkly likened it to smelling blood underwater.

  “Sorry if I brought back a bad memory.”

  “You can’t stop that around here. Every day is filled by the memory of something in a small town. And everyone has a different account of the same memory to tell.”

  “Do you mind if I ask how your husband died?”

  “Hunting accident. We have a lot of hunting accidents around here.”

  “I guess I should wear an orange vest if I ever take a hike.”

  Geraldine stopped and gripped Darkly’s arm more tightly. “Don’t you go hiking alone in these woods, you hear me?” Geraldine let go of Darkly’s arm. “The bears,” she added almost as an afterthought.

  Darkly recognized more than concern in Geraldine’s face. There was genuine fear. But, again, the fear seemed misplaced. It was fear for what was in the woods, not Darkly.

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  “Sorry. Buck has a habit of setting me on edge, is all. He and I have a history. I left him for his brother, and he never forgave me.”

  “Some people can’t let things go, I guess.”

  Darkly doubted that was of any comfort, but she felt the need to say something. A small cloud bank rolled in, covering the moon. The night became suddenly darker. Much darker. Darkly looked up to see the clear section of sky awash with the Milky Way.

  “Wow, you don’t see that in the city.”

  “You have your own spectacular light show, I suspect. Makes you feel small, doesn’t it? Like everything we worry about down here means absolutely nothing.”

  “An ex-boyfriend of mine used to say we’re ants building a hill out of dirt that’s just going to get washed away by a cosmic flood.”

  Geraldine smiled. “So, you’re attracted to cynics too, huh?”

  “Oh, Aaron wasn’t a cynic. He was a romantic. He put all his faith in me and had little left for anything else.”

  “Darling, that is pretty much the definition of a cynic. They find it almost impossible to see beauty in the world, so they attach their obsessive search for it on one thing. And that one thing becomes their savior or downfall.”

  “Are we talking about Buck?”

  Geraldine sighed. “Buck is the best man I ever knew. Loyal to a fault, unswerving in his duty to protect everything that falls within his responsibility and beyond. He is the definition of a man. I thought to myself many moons ago, ‘That is the kind of fella you grab hold of and never let go. He’ll keep you safe, and you will feel loved with an unflinching power, until the day you die.’ So, when I was nineteen and he finally asked me out, I decided that was it. I was going to marry him.”

  Geraldine and Darkly approached a steep road that ended abruptly at a ford in the river. The road picked up again on the other side.

  “Hotel’s up here. It’s great exercise.”

  Geraldine and Darkly began to climb the steep road, and Geraldine continued the story of her past.

  “For Buck, life is a constant. He’s still living the same day now two decades gone. But, for most of us, life is a series of circumstances that are unplanned. It was here where we’re standing that it happened. I was walking home from the diner. I was a waitress then too. I saw Buck’s older brother take off all his clothes and walk into the water for a swim. He was a beautiful man. Long hair. Perrrfect body.”

  Geraldine had drawn out the word “perfect” for Darkly to get the message.

  Darkly piped up. “In case you didn’t notice, the sheriff’s pretty gorgeous.”

  Geraldine leaned in close to Darkly. “Wyatt was gorgeous and dangerous. He rode a motorcycle! He was a man to be tamed who had broken many a heart. Wyatt would disappear into the woods for days and bring back a wild boar draped over the broadest shoulders you’d ever seen,” Geraldine remembered. “Well, he saw me and asked me to come in for a dip. I have no clue what possessed me to do it. But, I just couldn’t say no to that boy. We swam to the other side of the river, where he told me he had always loved me. He said, if he couldn’t be with me, he would leave town and never come back. There were many girls who couldn’t hold on to him, and here he was saying he belonged to me. I knew if he really did leave, I’d follow closely behind. And nobody leaves Wolf Woods.”

  Geraldine looked up the hill. There was still a distance to go.

  “We should make a move on up. This ain’t New York City. Lewis will lock the door to the hotel and go to bed. And you don’t want to spend a night on my couch getting stabbed by rusty springs.”

  “Not until you tell me the end of the story.”

  Geraldine shook her head. “I know now that there’s nothing romantic about tragedy. Victoria was conceived that night. Wyatt and I were married six weeks later. A month after that, he was killed on a hunting trip. Buck refused to go to the funeral.”

  “That’s awful. Wyatt was his brother. And he was dead!”

  “Wyatt would have understood. He said to me once, ‘For what I’ve done to him, Buck and I are no longer brothers and never will be again.’ Wyatt knew better than anyone how his brother saw the world, and he always envied the fact that Buck was a better man than he was.”

  “So, Victoria never met her father.”

  Geraldine’s voice became a little choked up. “I went to Buck just days before Victoria was born and asked him to marry me. I told him I still had feelings for him and that I would do anything he needed to be a good wife to him. I wanted Victoria to be raised as his daughter.”

  “And he said no?”

  Darkly actually felt an emotion welling up from somewhere. The story had impacted her like she was connected to these people who tortured themselves.

  Geraldine nodded. “The worst part is, that moment made me realize I really was in love with him. In the course of nine months, I lost the only two men I ever cared for.”

  Geraldine stopped in front of a three-story brick building. A weather-worn sign on the front read “The Royal Tavern and Inn.”

  “Oh well,” Geraldine exhaled, “Don’t go getting wrapped up in my drama. It doesn’t do any good to revisit your own past, let alone someone else’s.”

  “So he spent all these years bitter and alone because of his pride? Men.”

  Darkly suspected there was more to this story than just love and betrayal. Or maybe not. Maybe love and betrayal summed up just about all possible outcomes to any story.

  Geraldine laughed a little and wiped the water from her eyes.

  “Oh, he wasn’t alone for long. And she gave him an amazing boy. Trey has the best qualities of both Buck and Wyatt, if you ask me. It’s no wonder my daughter loves him.”

  The hotel owner, Lewis Bowie, was a slight man with a comb-over so sparse, he was, in essence, bald. He looked annoyed to have waited up so long for Darkly to arrive. She wondered why he wasn’t jumping for joy. Despite the odd husband being locked out of his home for drinking at the bar too late, she couldn’t imagine the place spilling over with bookings.

  The corridor of rooms was dimly lit by a small table-top lamp at one end of a row of doors. Lewis slipped a key into the door knob below a brass number plate that read “ROOM 209.” The door opened with a loud creek into a darkened room.

  “Bathroom’s directly across the hall.” He pointed to the door a few feet away from Darkly’s room. “Good night.”


  “Where’s my friend?”

  Lewis handed Darkly the key.

  “Down the hall.”

  That didn’t exactly answer the question. Lewis turned and walked back down the hallway. Then, he remembered something and turned to speak at Darkly again.

  “My niece, Marielle, changes the bedding, but she’s away at the moment. So -” He left it at that.

  Darkly stood in the hallway in a daze for a minute. Could Lewis’s niece and her Marielle be one in the same? She’d certainly wait around for Marielle’s return to find out.

  Darkly felt for the light switch on the inside wall of her room and flipped it up. Nothing. She could make out an outline of a dresser and slid cautiously along what felt like a hardwood floor to the edge of the unit. She slid her hand along the wooden surface until she felt a lamp. She ran her fingers up the neck and pushed the switch.

  The bed was a twin size and had a worn red comforter draped across it that was too big and gathered in rolls on the floor. Darkly made a depression in the bed with her hand. Geraldine’s infamous couch couldn’t feel much worse. At least the lamp was dim enough that the mildew stains covering the ceiling were barely noticeable in the shadows. She was sure that would change with the morning light.

  Darkly went to the window and pulled back the lace curtains. A small puff of dust stirred. She reached over a couple of dead flies on the sill and pulled up on the window. Was it nailed in place? It clearly hadn’t been opened in a long time. With a couple deep breaths and by putting some muscle into it, Darkly managed to lift the window halfway up the frame.

  She blew the fly carcasses out into the night air and, in doing so, granted them their last wish posthumously. She leaned her head out to escape the dank air inside.

  She had a view of the river and could make out the shallow part where Geraldine and she had turned to climb the hill. There was no sight of Geraldine now. Just the shadow of a large dog walking along the riverside, where she had stepped twenty or so minutes before. Geraldine had disappeared, just like every other living soul in the town. She looked at her watch. Eleven. That was when The Senate was getting busy. This really was a ghost town.

  Darkly couldn’t hear the water from this distance, but she could make out the opposite bank of the river under the once more revealed moonlight. She looked at the bank of thick grass and imagined Wyatt and Geraldine lying naked on the ground. She could see it all in her mind. Wyatt was kissing Geraldine on her face, her arms, her legs, then running his hand expectantly down over her stomach, and finally climbing on top of her.

  Darkly thought about Gus. She imagined his hands pinning her wrists to the bed, feeling his entire weight on top of her, and their breathing quickening together until she was overcome with the light-headed sensation that started a chain reaction that traveled all the way to her core. Then she thought about the sheriff. She imagined him standing in front of her at the end of the bed right now wanting her. What the hell was she doing here?

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Darkly opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling. It was just as she imagined. Different stains of mildew: black, yellow, brown, red. Red? That couldn’t be healthy. All of them were in patches that spread out from the corners of the room, hopping over clear patches in the center of the ceiling. She looked to either side of the bed. There was no clock.

  “What time is it?” she thought aloud.

  Darkly reached down next to the bed into a pile of her clothes she’d stripped off. She felt around until she found her phone. It was dead. She looked outside and gauged it was shortly after six. Yes, RCMP officers were still required to know what time it was without a timepiece.

  There was already another fly carcass on the sill. She could only make out the roof of the hardware store across the road. Darkly flopped back on her dusty pillow and resigned herself to another ten minutes of sleep.

  “Darkly.”

  There was a knock.

  “Darkly, it’s Gus. You up yet?”

  Darkly called out it in that voice she had used countless school mornings to placate Elizabeth. “I’m up. You don’t have to wake me up. I can get up on my own.”

  Darkly lifted her head off the pillow and squinted. The harsh morning sun flooded in through her hotel room window. She looked above her head at a faded oil painting of a mountain-scape and remembered where she was.

  “Damn.” She called out to Gus, “Sorry. Be right there.”

  “No problem. Do you want me to get you some breakfast to eat on the way to set?”

  Darkly slapped herself across the face and got out of bed. She pulled on her underwear and a t-shirt. She went to the door and opened it a crack. Gus was sipping a coffee. Darkly reached out and grabbed it out of his hand. She took a long sip.

  “Set?”

  “You’re welcome. Photographer’s Assistant, remember?” He whispered. “What are your initial thoughts about this place, anyway? Pretty creepy, huh?”

  Darkly grabbed Gus by the shirt and pulled him inside. She kissed him deeply and fumbled with his belt. She reached in to feel he was already hard.

  Gus then took control, as she hoped he would, turning her around and slamming her up against the wall, while pulling down her underwear. He entered her, as she reached out and pushed the door shut.

  Darkly pulled on her jeans while Gus buttoned up his flannel shirt.

  “What do I need to know about photography?”

  “Don’t worry about it. You can just hold the bag. Give me fresh batteries when I need them.”

  “Good. Best to keep it simple. Not complicated.”

  “Right.”

  Darkly finished dressing and touched up the make-up covering her spider’s web of blue veins.

  Darkly walked past Lewis to the front door. He was brushing the counter with an old-fashioned feather duster. Darkly was certain he was just moving the dirt around.

  “No messages, Miss,” he called out.

  He looked behind him at a bank of empty hotel mailboxes.

  “Oh. Thanks. I probably won’t be getting much during my stay. No one from the outside world knows I’m here.”

  “That’s good, Miss.”

  Creepy is right, Darkly thought, as she and Gus walked out into the sunlight.

  Marvin was waiting there in what appeared to be an old army jeep. It was painted with a fresh coat of flat black paint.

  “Pretty cool, huh? We rented it off a local farmer. He says it saw action in the Korean War. There are bullet holes! I’d open the doors for you, but there aren’t any.” Marvin laughed at his own lame joke.

  Darkly hopped into the back and looked for the seat-belt.

  “Sorry, there aren’t any seat belts. It’s vintage. Don’t worry, I’ll take it slow.”

  Gus hopped into the passenger seat next to Marvin.

  “That’s a shame, Marv. The lady likes it fast.”

  Darkly ignored Gus and paid attention to Marvin.

  “I’m sure you’re a fine driver, Marvin.”

  Marvin put the jeep into gear and headed down the hill into the water and crossed the ford in the river. The ride was a little bumpy, but with the spray of cold water, Darkly felt a sense of anonymity wash over her. She was alone in the wilderness with people she didn’t really know. Not to mention she’d just had sex with someone she didn’t really know.

  Gus felt the bottom of his jeans get wet. He lifted his camera bag above his head.

  “Watch the camera, Marv.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The jeep’s transmission complained at climbing the steep hill up to the scenic overlook of the valley and film circus. The sound of metal grinding upon metal was alarming at times, but the engine never seemed in imminent danger of stalling, just exploding.

  Darkly looked out over the valley and saw how the Moon River had been given its name. The po
rtion that ran through town copied the shape of a crescent moon.

  Darkly could make out the goings-on in the small town. An old man was washing the windows of a storefront, and she saw Sheriff Buck walk into an old stone building with a clock face on the front. That must be the town hall. The clock said it was three fifteen. Broken. This really was a run-down little backwater. By their nature, small places had a monopoly on secrets. It was too early for Darkly to tell if the secrets of Wolf Woods held any consequence.

  The town disappeared from sight, as the jeep moved into tree cover and climbed the last quarter mile up to the plateau. Marvin parked the jeep in front of one of the RVs, pulled the hand brake, and popped the clutch into neutral.

  “Safe and sound.”

  “Thank you, Marvin.”

  Darkly climbed out of the jeep, as Serena poked her head out of the door of her RV.

  “Morning.” Darkly waved.

  Serena smiled at Gus, who smiled back at her.

  Darkly felt a twitch of jealousy which she swiftly crushed into the ground.

  When the four actors were finally assembled for the first shot on the day’s call sheet, Shane was wearing a t-shirt that was tight enough to show off his muscles and white enough to be the perfect canvass for the first murder of the film.

  Serena was quite pleased with her costume, too. The denim sleeveless vest chafed her skin a little, but it was flattering in all the right places. She asked Gus if he would help her tape the vest to the bare skin below. He was happy to be of assistance.

  Carter was mapping out the shot with his hands for Jake, who stood with a Steadicam strapped to his torso. Gus left Serena satisfied and motioned to Darkly, who was holding a small duffel bag, as he removed the lens off his camera. He handed it to Darkly.

  “I need the prime lens.”

  “And what’s that?” she whispered.

  “The only other lens in the case.”

  “Right.”

  “What I’m handing you is a zoom lens.”