Return to The Quarry

Chapter Four

EARLIER THAT MORNING

The day was going to be sticky. Anton could just tell by the smell of humidity in the air. It had been light for a while when he and Grace left the Harbinger Motel and headed in the direction of Hackett's Quarry. They took his brother's pickup truck to an overgrown gravel service road about what looked to be the equivalent of a city block from the gates of Stone Cutter's Lodge. They parked, and there behind the heavy foliage, carefully unloaded the rented red ATV from the back of the pickup. Immediately, mosquitos landed on Anton and bit through his long sleeves. The feeling of the tiny little prickles made his skin crawl, almost as badly as the looming gates of the vacated resort.

There was no breeze at all. Nothing stirred. Only the hum and occasional staccato of unseen insects and birds. No cars were on the road, because they were smart and the drivers were still in bed. Anton wanted to yawn so badly, but he'd inhale his weight in gnats.

Grace smiled at him and shivered with excitement. She seemed to be in no hurry to get across the road and start walking.

"Are we doing this or not?" asked Anton. He made no effort to mask the irritation in his voice.

"Shh!"

"What do you mean, shhh? We're the only ones here."

"Maybe I'm talking about your cynicism." Grace got out and hiked her black backpack over her shoulders. "Okay. Let's go."

Together, in the gloom of the well shaded road, they jogged across the chapped pavement and made the short trek to the gates. A cool and heavy dew had settled over the road, making it slippery in spots and making the shadowy stillness feel damp.

Anton surveyed the iron gates before him. "How are we going to get in?"

"Remember the eyewitness?" answered Grace, fishing in the pockets of her tactical vest. "The one you couldn't be bothered to vet?"

"Yeah?"

"They were a security guard at the hotel."

"Yeah. So?"

"So, I reached out to the guy and he did me a huge favor. He contacted the owners and told them that he accidentally kept the keys to the front gate and the rear entrance to the hotel. He claimed he moved and wanted to know if he could have two friends return the keys."

Said keys were dangled victoriously in front of Anton's face, who, at the sight of them, broke out into a cold sweat.

"We can't break in!"

"How is it breaking in? We're unlocking the doors! Anyhow, they told him that we couldn't return the keys for another two weeks, as there isn't going to be anyone on the property, not even security."

Grace set about working on the lock with the two keys on the ring. One clicked smoothly and with a gentle push, the heavy wooden gate swung open. Anton's mouth went dry at the thought of them unlawfully entering a property. All for the sake of a story. If they got caught, they'd definitely be looking at ten or more years in state-

"Anton!" Grace spat, snapping her fingers in front of his staring eyes so as to snap him out of it. Her face was impish and excited. "Get the ATV!"

The ride in was nerve wracking, with Anton's head on a swivel, expecting lights and sirens to be upon them at any second. However, Grace's information was correct. The place was completely empty, which didn't make him feel any better. It just made the place seem all the more remote and lonely, the windows darker, and the shadows that gathered under porches and between buildings deeper. The sun had come up slightly as they finally made it to the hotel, grand as it was, the pair were too fixated on their mission to take in the beauty of it. They were more anxious to nestle the ATV into a small hiding place in some dense, thorny brush - just in case - and locate the door to which the former security guard's key would grant them access. Since there were only a handful of service entrances, it took them only a minute to find their way into the dark and silent building. Relying on flashlights, they made their way through the maze of corridors. Some places were pitch black. In others, the exit signs still glowed. Power was still on to the hotel in some parts, but not others.

"Grace, this place gives me the friggin' creeps."

"Hopefully for us, it's going to get a whole lot creepier."

Grace and Anton passed by what appeared to be a large laundry room with a row of large slop sinks and industrial washers and dryers lined up all around the place. A pair of double doors stood closed against the rear wall, murky light filtering in through the square patch of frosted glass in each of them. As the set of doors labeled Main Lobby and Ballroom were firmly locked and there appeared to be no way forward through the laundry, they instead wound their way through a spotless, but vacant kitchen.

A cold spot caught Anton's attention.

"Whoa! Grace!" he hissed.

Learning what Anton sensed in the kitchen, Grace began fumbling with her backpack. Of course she would want to document a possible paranormal manifestation. Why not? But as Anton stood motionless, he watched as the excitement drained from Graces eyes.

"Dammit," she said, eyeing the huge walk-in freezer door. It sat ajar.

"What the hell?" Anton said, pushing the metal slab closed. "How long has that been open?"

Grace looked through the small square window and shrugged. "Nothing else is defrosted. It can't have been that long."

Onward they went through a butler's pantry. Eventually, they came out in an elegant dining room, the furniture stacked neatly and sheeted against dust. Through a pair of polished wood doors, they came out into what was certainly the hotel lobby. Morning gloom bathed the space through the floor to ceiling glass front of the building. As with the rest of the place, nothing stirred, but by a pair of brass elevator doors at one end, a circle of ten folding chairs had been set up. Perhaps someone had been in recently. After all, the chairs were not dusty.

Anton nearly cried out when Grace yanked his arm and pointed to a set of doors adjacent to where they exited the dining room.

"There it is!" she said in a stage whisper.

Grace went to the doors and gave the patinated iron handle a tug. The door opened, revealing complete velvet darkness beyond. She turned to Anton, her face goulish in its excitement.

"Let's go to the movies, Anton," she sang.