Dark Water by Barry Napier

Author:Barry Napier [Napier, Barry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

EIGHTEEN

It took a bit of driving, but Cooper managed to find the locations of the only two active campgrounds in the area. One was located off the beaten path, on the other side of the highway from the countless beach businesses and sandy shores. The entrance to it was nearly hidden in the scraggly undergrowth of forest that sat on the opposite side of the road from the beach.

He quickly learned that this campground was likely not the one he was looking for. It was primarily nothing more than hiking trails, a small pond, a battered playground in desperate need of an update, and a few bare patches of ground that were branded with the burn marks of campfires past. The grounds were overgrown and badly cared for. Cooper wasn’t at all surprised to see that there were only two campers and a single van using the grounds.

He wasted no time at this location, sensing from the layout and neglect alone that it had probably never boasted anything that might even remotely resemble a tourist attraction—even if that attraction was really nothing more than a big hole in the ground.

Twenty minutes after leaving, he passed a billboard on the side of the road that informed him of the second campground. The board was simple and rustic, made of wood and faded paint. It read: SADDLEBACK CAMPGROUNDS. CAMPING, FISHING, SPORTS, FUN! 6 MILES AHEAD.

Cooper drove toward the campgrounds, noting when he passed the side road that led to the Blackstock and Guthrie houses. He set his odometer to zero, wanting to clock the distance between the houses and the campgrounds. Unless the caverns Sam had mentioned were fairly close to the houses and the black rocks, he didn’t see how the two could be connected. But if he had learned one thing during his time researching the paranormal—and even before that, in his more formal time with the FBI—it was to not make assumptions about anything. This was especially true when the target you were after was abstract.

And if the thing he had seen on those rocks last night wasn’t abstract, he didn’t know what was.

When he reached Saddleback Campgrounds, he found that the entrance, like the first campground he had visited, was on the side of the road opposite the beach. When he turned in, his odometer read 4.6; there was just over four and a half miles between Saddleback and the black rocks.

Right away, Cooper could tell that this campground was much better maintained than the first one. The grass was trimmed meticulously along the entrance road, the sides of which were bordered with elegant pieces of what looked to be driftwood, set into lackadaisical patterns. The entrance road was less than a quarter of a mile long and came to an end at a fork in the road. To the right, there was a small white building that served as the visitor station. To the left, another road began. Wooden arrows told him that campgrounds, playgrounds, and fishing were located down this road.

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