Jason smiled. “My pleasure.”
He took her bowl and disappeared into the kitchen with it.
Dave and I looked at each other. He arched an eyebrow. I almost laughed out loud.
Jason returned, steam rising from a rounded full bowl of squirrel stew.
“Oh, that’s too much,” she said.
“Eat what you can.”
“I’ll never finish all of this. It would be a sin to waste food, especially during times like they are now,” she said.
“Whatever you don’t eat, I’ll finish,” Dave said.
Again, I had to hold back a laugh. Because he still arched that eyebrow at me.
“Well, there you go. Enjoy,” Jason said.
We all watched Sues shake out her napkin and place it back on her lap.
“How about anyone else?” Jason said.
We all, at once, politely declined.
“How long have you and your brother been living up here?” Allison said.
Jason took a sip of water. “Our grandfather owned a parcel of land out here. Spent his life clearing it. When he died, our father began building the log house. His dream was to move his family from Nova Scotia down to the states and live off the land.”
“Problem was,” Jeremy said, “he wasn’t a rich man. Had to work. Only had so much time to dedicate to building the place. Jason and I helped as much as we could. Loved coming down here with him. He taught us not just how to build, but how to live off the land. We’d spend long weekends and holidays working here.”
“Drove our mother crazy,” Jason said.
“His heart gave out. Jason and I were with him. We didn’t have any way to get help, or call for an ambulance. We didn’t have cell phones then. Papa wouldn’t have allowed them even if they were around.”
“Place didn’t even have electricity at that point,” Jeremy said.
They weren’t far from a state park. There had to be park rangers, a main office, or a phone somewhere close. I wondered how old they were when the heart attack struck? Had to have been horrible for them.
“He was out in the woods. Been gone, I don’t know, an hour or so?” Jeremy said.
Jason nodded. “Sounds about right. Nothing unusual about it. I mean, we were in the wild, really. Nature. Someone’s gone for a spell; you don’t get all panicked. This wasn’t the city. I don’t know though, I guess we started to figure something might not be right and went looking for him.”
Jeremy stood up, picked up his bowl, and silverware. “Just wasn’t right.”
“Was nothing we could do. His skin was blue and cold. He’d been dead a while,” Jason said.
The room fell silent. Jeremy brought his dirty dish into the kitchen, and to be alone, I presumed.
“The land became ours And our mother’s. She wanted nothing to do with it, because she felt like the land was cursed. Our grandfather died on his way here, I guess. We didn’t know him. Just what our father told us.” Jason looked around, as if admiring the rafters and quality of the completed work. “Two generations of Terrigino men died here. Tried to tell our mother, wasn’t going to happen to Jeremy and me. We were younger, and stronger. When we finished building the place, we begged her to come see it, but she wouldn’t. Wouldn’t even look at pictures of the place. When I say she washed her hands of this land, I mean she scrubbed away even the idea of soil from under her nails.”
“The place is absolutely breathtaking,” Allison said.
“Thank you, dear. I appreciate that. My family appreciates that,” Jason said.
Jeremy emerged from the kitchen. “We don’t really have anything for dessert. I’m sorry about that. I’d have made Jell-O, or something.”
“Please, that’s all right,” Palmeri said.
I watched Spade. He’d been as quiet as Dave and Sues during dinner. He’d eaten silently, and just seemed to be taking everything in. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him, or know him, for that matter, but I felt like he was up to something. I just wished I knew what.
“But, I can brew us up some coffee. Would anyone care for a cup?”
Coffee did sound amazing. As much as I would love a cup, I didn’t want anything to hinder my sleep. There was no denying that it felt safe in here. The log cabin was like a fortress with enough weapons, and apparently food, to make anyone lower their guard and relax a little.
Only thing that would be better than a cup of coffee is a pack of cigarettes. Still missed the one Marfione had given me, the one I’d tucked behind my ear to smoke later, but never got the chance. I’d give most anything to have that cigarette back.
“I would love some,” Charlene said. She quickly added, “If it’s no trouble.”
“If it were trouble, dear, I’d not have offered.”
Spade’s jaw tensed. A ripple made its way up his cheek as if he’d ground his teeth together. I missed it. Something caused the reaction. I looked around casually; certain something was taking place that I just wasn’t seeing.
Jeremy stood half inside the dining room, half in the kitchen, his back and shoulder kept the swinging door from swinging. “I will just--”
Erway ran into the room. “Zombies are scratching at the windows!”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
My weapons were upstairs in the bedroom, the machete, sword and the knife.
Everyone else seemed to have a rifle leaning against the wall behind their chair.
“My rifle’s in the other room,” Charlene said. “Near the window.”
She wasn’t going anywhere without me right next to her.
Allison checked her clip and slapped it in place. “Let’s go get it,” she said.
Jason patted the air with both hands. “Everyone, everyone, please. Please, just settle down. It happens sometimes. The smell attracts them when we cook.”
“Because you are such a wonderful chef,” Jeremy said.
Jason bobbed his head side-to-side, mulling over the compliment. “I suppose so. I suppose. Thing is, ain’t none of them things getting in here. I explained the windows, the bars, and the shutters. The doors are steel, and so are the door casings. They’d have to have dynamite to blast them in. Huffing and puffing won’t do shit. That, I promise you.”
“So, what do we do?” Spade said.
Jason looked at Jeremy. “Will the coffee be long?”
“I’ll make it now,” he said, and went into the kitchen.
“Coffee,” Palmeri said. “You still want coffee?”
“Dear,” Jason said, addressing Erway, “the zombies--you look out the window?”
“I saw them, yes.”
“How many? Guess.”
“Ten, twelve. It was dark,” she said.
“If you’d like, if it will make you all feel better, follow me upstairs. Okay?” Jason got up from the table. He wiped his mouth on his napkin, dropped it over his bowl and left the room.
We sat, staring at each other, not exactly sure what to do next.
“Well, are you coming?” Jason said. I could see him from where I sat at the table. He had one foot on the stairs, a hand on the railing, and was leaning back to look at us in the dining room.
Spade motioned us to move along with his rifle. Dave and Sues went first, Crystal behind them.
“You two stay right next to me,” I said to Allison and Charlene. I made eye contact with Spade. “Something going on?”
Spade pointed with two fingers at the kitchen, and then shushed me.
Dammit. Something was wrong. He either knew, or sensed something that I was totally missing. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand. That was not good. Not at all.
I led Allison and Charlene out of the kitchen, and Palmeri and Spade followed.
Charlene snatched up her rifle by the window. “Why are we going upstairs?”
“You’ll see,” Jason said. He was already upstairs. Charlene had practically whispered. How had he heard her?
We climbed the stairs. I was behind Palmeri, but ahead of Alley and Charlene. Spade followed along. He kept looking back. I knew this, because I kept looking back at him. It was as if he expected Jeremy to come at him with a kitchen hatchet or something.