Under the Lake by Stuart Woods

Author:Stuart Woods [Woods, Stuart]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2011-05-03T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

They huddled in front of a roaring fire, naked, swathed in blankets, sipping hot coffee heavily laced with brandy.

“We did it,” Scotty said, elatedly.

“Your first illegal entry?”

“Yep. It was terrific.”

“You’re crazy. We damn near got caught, we damn near drowned, and it was terrific?”

“Well, we got it, didn’t we?”

“Yep, we got it.”

“What did we get?”

“The maps, dummy.”

“I know that, but what’s in the maps?”

“Confirmation of a theory of mine, maybe.”

“Look, you’re acting as though you’ve taken me into your confidence, but I don’t have a clue to what’s going on here.”

“Well, something is wrong around here, and somebody’s trying to put it right. Whoever it is, is using me to do it. I think.”

“Okay, what’s wrong?”

“I told you about the O’Coineen family, the story that Enda McCauliffe told me. Rabbit, remember?”

“Yes, I remember. They were the holdouts when Eric Sutherland was buying the land to build the dam.”

“Then they disappeared, after Eric Sutherland says they agreed to sell. His story was that he went out to their place, got the deal signed, then put the money in their bank account.”

“And McCauliffe says it’s still there.”

“Right. Uncollected. Building up interest for twenty-odd years. Then I turn up, we meet these people at dinner, we have this little seance, and somebody named Rabbit, which is English for the Irish name, O’Coineen, turns up and says howdy.”

“To me.”

“Yes, but mostly, I think, to me.”

“Whaddaya mean, you? It was me, the table liked, remember?”

“Well, I don’t exactly understand this, myself, but Mama Kelly thinks it was me.”

Scotty shifted her weight, tugged on the blanket and looked thoughtful. “Now, let me see if I’ve got this,” she said. “You think Eric Sutherland has knocked off the O’Coineens for their land to build the lake, and now somebody from the spirit world has tapped you on the shoulder and whispered in your shell-like ear that you’re supposed to bring him to justice.”

Howell was quiet for a moment. “Maybe.

“You think the house we saw is real, then?

“I don’t know, but it might be best if it were, because that would put us firmly back on this earth.”

“And if it’s not real?”

“That would be nearly as good, because I’d know I was making the whole thing up in my mind and, somehow, communicating it to you, and I could spend some time in a rubber room and, maybe, be all right again.”

Scotty was shaking her head. “You’re losing me. If it’s real, everything’s okay; if it’s not real, everything’s okay…”

Howell held up a restraining hand. “What if it used to be real, but isn’t anymore?”

“Huh?”

“That’s what I hope the maps are going to tell us. We know the O’Coineen place is under the lake, but we don’t know where under the lake.” He went to the maps on the desk and unfolded them. “Come over here.”

Scotty went to the desk.

Howell spread out a map. “This was made in 1969. Now look here, this is where we are now, at this moment. Crossroads, road to the lake, cabin.” He pointed to a lakeside lot and a house marked, “Denham White Property.

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