GRYDER'S COVE TALES: HOWLERS

the witch-lady's house

Sheriff Whaley's SUV made easy work of the poor excuse for a road that lead into the higher country of Cranton Ridge, but that didn't make the ride any smootheruts and exposed tree roots that jostled them around like rag dolls. Gail held a firm grip on her backpack so none of her electronic equipment inside ended up bumping together, while Olivia braced her feet against the floorboard and held onto her seat belt, feeling as though she were riding a bull in a rodeo. This, along with what Gail and Olivia considered the sheriff's horrible taste in music, made the trip seems twice as long as the half an hour it actually took. The road began to smooth out a little bit for the last half mile or so, and the pine trees became more and more dense, exposing less sky the farther they traveled.

"Do you know much about Elsie Gryder?" Gail asked the sheriff, raising her voice over the scrubbing of tires on rocks and roots and the squeaking protest of shocks and springs.

"Some, yeah. Hard t' tell legend from truth from outright bullshit sometimes. I do know folks that lived 'round here were pretty damned scared of her for a long, long time. Hell, nobody talks about her much 'cuz they're still scared of her, dead or not. Whole damn fam'ly had somethin' wrong with 'em, all the way back to the first Gryders that came here."

"So I imagine this is the kind of place where one family lived for generations, keeping to themselves and keeping strangers out, right?"

"Yes ma'am, absolutely. Hardly anybody ever come up here that wasn't family."

The sheriff's scruffy face looked pensive, as if he wanted to say something but wasn't sure how to say it.

"That....may not be entirely true, Ms. Stevens," he said hesitantly, turning the radio down, "Elsie was the last Gryder to live up here, and she was....promiscuous, to say the least. She was homely as a knotted tater, but that didn't seem to slow her down any. Had a pretty long line o' men come up here, 'til they found out who she was, then they'd never go back. There used to be this bar down in Derby Cross, long, long time ago, The Red Ox. Pretty rough place, too; that's why the church eventually got 'er shut down. She was in there a lot, hangin' on some feller or 'nother, and she slept with damn near ever' drunk that stumbled into that place. 'Course, y' do stuff like that, n' it'll catch up to ya one way or 'nother. She got pregnant several times over the years, but never had any kids with her when she showed up in town. Story is, she'd become so wicked that her body was sour, infertile. All her babies were premature n' stillborn, and she'd bury 'em out behind the house n' go on like nothin' ever happened. Didn't seem to make a damn to her. No tellin' how many infants buried on that land. Some folks say they can hear 'em cryin' when the moon's right. That's just another reason folks don't go jackassin' around up here."

Sheriff Whaley sniffled a little, then exhaled heavily, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Gail could tell he was a little out of sorts after telling that story, so she decided a subject change would give him a good out.

"We're almost there, right? I don't mean to question your knowledge of the area, but like you said, people almost never come up here."

"I'm fairly sure this is the way," the sheriff said, "we oughtta be there shortly."

"Fairly sure?" asked Olivia, looking at Sheriff Whaley as if to say, 'Could you be that fucking stupid?'

She grunted and flopped back against her seat, crossing her arms. Visions of being lost in the woods with no cell phone signal or the slightest clue how to get back began to form in her mind.

He just laughed weakly and said, "Sorry, ma'am. Not funny, I know. I just meant t' say it's been a long while since I been up this way. We ain't far away at all. Look yonder." He pointed ahead, and the women saw that the trees began to open up and reveal the clearing where four young people lost their lives only two weeks ago. At the edge of the clearing sat Dylan Harper's car. Sheriff Whaley eased around it and continued toward the house.