Devil's Creek by Todd Keisling

Author:Todd Keisling [Keisling, Todd]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Silver Shamrock Publishing
Published: 2020-06-15T22:00:00+00:00

3

Jack parked outside the small modular building and looked up at the adjacent radio tower. Z105.1 flashed above, bathing the surrounding hillside in red neon. Over the hill, beyond a line of trees, traffic sped across the overpass and down Main Street. Two other cars were parked in the parking lot, and though he was already a few minutes late, Jack remained seated, collecting himself before going inside.

He’d driven home after the meeting with the professor, but the things the old man said remained with Jack in the hours since. They lingered in the forefront of his mind as he returned to his grandmother’s house and wandered its rooms like a ghost, struggling to make sense of everything. He busied himself with cleaning up the broken glass in the foyer, reinforcing the seal of plastic over the shattered windows, and leaving a message for the repair guy Chuck recommended, but the mystery left behind by his late grandmother persisted.

Her final years were devoted entirely to research on the nature of Devil’s Creek, and he couldn’t shake the feeling her breadcrumb trail was missing a vital piece, something that would tie everything up and let him move on. Maybe she was simply obsessed with that part of her life—and why not? What happened out there in the woods all those years ago defined her.

Only that didn’t make sense to him. Mamaw Genie told him everything, promising she’d never keep a secret. The revelation of what she’d been up to didn’t bother him nearly as much as the fact she’d kept it from him. Even the money she’d left him in her will was a shock, especially when he remembered some weeks she’d pinched pennies to fulfill a grocery order, when her checks from the state came a day or two later than usual and her brow furrowed with worry like a looming storm.

There was a whole other part of Imogene Tremly’s life he’d missed, another side that left him feeling cold and confused, worsened by the fact he couldn’t face her and ask why. Why was she digging up the past? Why was she researching Hermetic symbols? And why did she need that creepy idol?

Part of him wished he’d stayed in New York. The other part wished he’d left town yesterday after his meeting with Chuck, before his nagging curiosity got the better of him.

His phone vibrated, and he checked the screen. A new text from his agent: “Checking in. Everything okay?” Jack stared at the message, his fingers hovering over the digital keyboard, but his mind was frozen. What could he say? No, everything’s not okay, I just learned my grandma was up to some weird shit that had to do with the cult we were a part of when I was a kid. My father was a fucked-up preacher who molested me and my brothers as part of some twisted ritual underneath our church.

Instead, he replied: “All is well. Doing interview with local radio DJ. Will call later.”

He sent the text without second-guessing himself and stepped out into the low evening light.

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