Chapter 4

Two days later Violet set off for El Jay. It was a clear and sunny ten a.m. when she pulled away from her condo with a traveling cup filled with coffee and a murder mystery audio book playing. By the time she got on the Interstate, rush hour traffic had cleared. Going south on I-75 through Cincinnati was a breeze. She passed the city's two crown jewels perched upon the north bank of the Ohio River, Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ball Park, home of the Bengals and the Reds. As soon as she drove onto the Brent Spence Bridge she was in Kentucky. Although named the Ohio River, most of it belonged to Kentucky. A coal-laden barge crept downriver as she passed high above.

Driving off the bridge, she immediately began climbing. Although the cut in the hill had been redesigned and wasn't as steep as originally built, it was still a hard climb for her four-cylinder engine. After several miles, the Interstate leveled off amid suburban sprawl. Twenty miles south of the Ohio River the Interstate split, with I-71 heading west toward Louisville. Violet continued south on I-75. The sprawl gave way to rolling hills of pastures and farms. Approaching Lexington, she passed Kentucky Horse Park, and other horse farms, with beautiful white-fenced green pastures populated by beautiful horses. Once through Lexington the terrain grew hillier and the Appalachian Mountains could be seen in the distance. Richmond, Berea, Mt. Vernon, then into the beautiful wild of Daniel Boone National Forest. By that time she was through the foothills and in the mountains. Emerging from the Forest, she passed Charles' hometown, London.

After an uneventful four-hour drive she arrived at Corbin. When she exited the interstate, she saw a sign for Cumberland Falls at the bottom of the ramp. This was a vacation, after all. She turned west. After stopping at a Subway to pick up a sandwich and drink, she drove into the state park. Violet parked near the Falls and walked to the viewing platform. Cumberland Falls was running good with the spring rains. She noticed several families, couples, a few lone men. A park ranger spoke to the young children of one family.

Violet took her lunch to the nearby picnic grounds. No one else was there. She sat at a table and began spreading out her meal. Then froze. A hundred feet distant on a hiking trail she spied Joshua. He stood perfectly still watching her. Violet jumped up and walked toward him. The police detective disappeared into the trees. Violet stopped about halfway to where he had been. She peered all around into the deep forest and realized how isolated she was. She looked back. A family with a young child had arrived and was setting up their meal on a table near hers. Violet walked back to her table. She smiled gratefully at the young mother tending to her child. Violet looked up from time to time as she ate to search the trees, but she saw no other sign of Joshua.

Violet finished her lunch and continued her drive. Only she did not listen to any more of her audio book. Seeing Joshua had disturbed her too much for her to concentrate on it. Why was he following her? Did he think she was in danger? Or did he believe she would lead him to Elijah Wheeler's killer? He had been the one to direct her search by informing her Elijah hailed from Corbin. Had he wanted her to learn about El Jay? Did he want her to go there, like her bearded rescuer had claimed? She kept glancing into her rear-view mirror. But she never saw Joshua's car. She had seen it parked outside of her condo the day after her attack and was certain she would recognize it.

Violet turned east out of the park onto a two-lane highway. Soon she was back to the Interstate. She drove under it and continued on Highway 25 into Corbin. All the usual retail chains lined the highway. The small southern town of seven thousand was compactly situated in a valley at the head of the Laurel River, ringed by mountains. She passed what claimed to be Colonel Sanders' original Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant.North of Corbin, Violet turned east onto the four lane Cumberland Gap Parkway. It ascended out of the valley up into mountains. Commercial development thinned and merged with residential then fizzled out completely as upscale houses on scenic acreage took over. The further east Violet drove, the smaller and more spread out the houses became. Soon trees lined the highway so thick she couldn't see anything else. Occasionally the road rose above the treetops, or she reached a stretch of highway clear of trees, and she could see mountains towering all around.

Commercial development reappeared as she neared the city of Barboursville, but the Parkway bypassed most of the small town. Just to the east of the city, Violet turned onto a two-lane road heading south. She left all development behind as the road dove deep into the mountains. The narrow blacktop twisted its way up a valley alongside a small creek with mountains rearing up on either side. The further into the mountains she drove the narrower the valley and the rougher the thinly-paved pot-holed road became. She passed few houses. Many were just shacks, some abandoned, some looked like they should be. She frequently saw gravel or dirt lanes leading from the road up out of sight into the trees.

Approaching one of many hairpin turns, Violet encountered a coal truck barreling around it straight at her. She hit the brakes and skidded off onto the shoulder nearly going off into the creek. The coal truck raced past and somehow missed her while never slowing. It whipped around the next bend and was gone. Violet took a deep shaky breath to compose herself. When she pulled back onto the road she drove much more slowly.

Rounding a sharp bend, the narrow valley opened up before Violet. She had arrived in El Jay. She passed an abandoned two-room schoolhouse. On an open hillside opposite was a small cemetery. As Violet drove past a small general store she saw several ragamuffin children, accompanied by dogs, standing around. They were eating candy, drinking sodas, and scratching at fleas. Violet smiled at them as she eased past. They all stared sullenly back. Except for one little girl, maybe five. She smiled bashfully, with huge dark soulful eyes.

The road Violet had followed out of Barboursville continued south, but she turned off onto a narrow lane that her GPS informed her was El Jay Camp Road. It was like the satellite image she had seen on Google Maps, but in person at street level it was so much more real. She could feel the cool of the encroaching shadows, the sharp scent of the pine trees. The surrounding trees appeared just as impenetrable as they had on her computer, but peering into them she could sense their mystery, their menace.

The blacktop lane was lined with small houses, prefabs, and trailers. Many, rundown and sagging, were in need of paint, or a wrecking ball, or maybe just a good shove. The small yards were strewn with colorful toys and durable garbage. There were several lots where once a structure had stood, but now all trace of it was gone. As she drove down this narrow lane, she saw children playing in their yards, dogs barking, men working on pickup trucks, women hanging out wash to dry. These people all glared at her. A couple houses had above-ground pools in their backyards, and a few residences had satellite dishes on their roofs. The lane continued for about a half-mile then ended where the valley ended at the foot of a mountain. A deeply-rutted dirt road disappeared up into the trees, but Violet chose not to attempt that.

Violet backed into the gravel driveway at the last house at the end of the paved road in order to turn around. As she started to pull back out, an old grey-haired woman in an ankle-length cotton dress limped across the small front yard toward her. So Violet shifted into park and smiled out the window. "Hello. Is this El Jay?"

The old woman leaned heavily on the car and lowered her face to the open window. She peered intently at Violet. "Elijah didn't get you."

Violet's smile disappeared. "He tried. Why?"

The old woman reached in to stroke Violet's hair. It was an effort, but Violet sat still for this. "Yes, you're a Taylor. You got the hair. And the eyes. So pretty."

"Are there other Taylors here?"

"Plenty of them. Up at the cemetery." The old woman cackled, and released her hair to stroke her face, her neck. Violet stiffened, but otherwise remained motionless. The wrinkled crooked fingers felt the scar on the front of her throat. "Seems like Elijah came close to putting you up there."

Bang! Violet and the old woman jerked apart at the sudden noise. Violet jerked around to see a scrawny bare-chested man in ragged jeans standing behind her car with both hands on the trunk he had just slapped. His unshaven crooked face grinned a vile welcome with bad teeth. He walked around to join the old woman at Violet's window.

"Arley, you'll be the death of me," the old woman said.

Arley glared in at Violet. "You sure got the nerve." He looked at the old woman. "What'd you tell her, Phoebe?"

"Nothing she don't already know."

While he was distracted, Violet began raising her window. Arley grabbed the top of the glass and tried to hold the window down. He peered inside grinning as it slowly went up. "Ain't Garth the lucky one." Violet shifted into gear and pulled away. Arley yanked his fingers from out of the window and stepped back. "Git!"

Violet drove onto the lane and sped away. She looked into the rearview mirror. Arley and Phoebe stood at the end of the driveway staring after her. When Violet drove up to the general store, she saw the children and dogs were gone. No other cars were in the small gravel lot when she pulled into it and parked. She climbed out and looked back down the lane. There was no sign of Arley or Phoebe, or anyone. She locked her car and walked into the store.

The dimly lit store was still and quiet. All the usual junk food with a sensible shelf life was displayed. Violet walked up to the counter. "Hello?" There was no reply. But she could hear someone moving about in the stock room behind the counter. "Is anyone here?" Still no reply. And now the noise in the stock room quieted. Immaculate silence. She peered all about the empty shifting shadows. Nothing other than shadows stirred. She rushed out.

Violet climbed into her car and drove away. On the way out of El Jay back toward Barboursville she glanced up at the cemetery on the hill across the road from the dilapidated two-room schoolhouse. 'Are there other Taylors here?' 'Plenty of them up at the cemetery.' Violet pulled off onto the dirt lane leading up to it. She crept up the steep incline to the graves and parked. Climbing out, she gazed back down upon El Jay. No activity could be seen. She began moving among the gravestones. Taylor. Taylor. Wheeler. Taylor. Wheeler.

A dog, sniffing cautiously, joined her. It wasn't baring its fangs, but it wasn't wagging its tail, either. Violet froze after judging the distance to the safety of her car too far to make a run for it. So she stooped and held out her hand, smiling. The dog dropped its head and wagged its tail then came up to her to be petted. "Hello, boy. You're a good dog. You'll be friendly to me, won't you? Not like everybody else here." Violet raised up. The dog stayed at her side as she gazed around the cemetery. Then down to the town. Where not a person was in sight. Violet meandered through the gravestones with the dog following.

Arriving back at her car, Violet climbed in and closed the door carefully so not to hit the dog with it. Seeing its eager face sniffing after her made Violet laugh. "Move back, boy. You can't come with me." Violet fastened herself in and turned the key. Nothing. She turned it again. Again nothing. "Damn!" She tried the stereo. Her audio book came to life. And the wipers worked. She cut the key back off then gazed at the mountains across the narrow valley. The sun was close to going down behind them. She tried to start her car again. Nothing.

Violet popped the hood and got out. She raised it the rest of the way and stared down at the engine, mystified. She went back to pluck her phone out of her purse. Nothing, again. She couldn't make a connection.

"Those things don't work too good in these mountains."

Violet nearly screamed as she spun around and jumped back. Standing before her was the man who had killed Elijah Wheeler. With a grim expression on his rock-hard face, the only expression she had ever seen on him, he stepped up to her car to look at the engine. Violet watched fretfully as he poked around. "Come here." Violet edged forward. He held the loose end of the starter cable. "This came loose. Or someone pulled it loose." The man re-connected the cable to the starter coil. "Try it now."

Violet hurried back into her car and turned the key. The engine roared to life. The man slammed the hood then walked around to the open driver door. Violet looked up at him. "Thank you. Again."

"Let's go. Sundown comes early in these mountains. You don't want to be here at night." The man walked down the hill toward the ragged pickup truck she had seen in the grocery store parking lot in Cincinnati now parked on the side of the road. "I'll escort you out."

"Where?"

"Barboursville. You should be safe there. You can drive home in the morning."

"What's your name?"

"Waylon Taylor."

"Mine's…"

"Violet Taylor." Waylon climbed into his pickup. Violet released the emergency brake and coasted down the hill. Waylon pulled out in front of her, and the two-car caravan made its way out of El Jay as the sun perched atop the mountain peaks.