A little over two hours later, Fiona’s chartered jet landed at Alpena County Regional Airport.
The small airport mainly served local residents, business travelers, and private aircraft.
It was far quieter than the terminals Charlie had passed through in New Orleans, and only a handful of ground crew members waited outside when the plane stopped.
Charlie carried a backpack containing the Golden Arm as he descended the steps with Madison.
After thanking the flight crew, they entered the terminal, rented a car, and followed the navigation directions toward downtown Alpena.
The drive took less than fifteen minutes.
Alpena County had a population of fewer than thirty thousand people, while the city itself was home to only about ten thousand.
Compared to New Orleans, downtown Alpena felt more like a collection of quiet streets than the center of an entire county.
There were no crowded tourist districts, loud street musicians, or historic mansions standing behind iron gates.
Low buildings, local stores, and modest houses stretched between broad roads that could be crossed within minutes.
Fiona’s divination had located the source of the curse somewhere in Alpena County, but the great distance had prevented her from identifying a precise address.
Charlie and Madison would have to gather the remaining information themselves.
They had left New Orleans early enough that it was not yet noon.
Neither wanted to waste time sightseeing when another manifestation of the corpse could appear after sunset.
Charlie parked near a convenience store and went inside to purchase a local map.
Madison wandered between the shelves while he approached the counter and placed the folded map in front of the cashier.
The store’s owner was a heavyset middle-aged man with graying hair and a worn flannel shirt.
He glanced from Charlie to Madison, apparently assuming they were another young couple passing through northern Michigan.
Charlie paid for the map before casually asking, “Are there any strange local legends around here?”
The owner raised an eyebrow.
“What kind of legends?
Stories people tell to frighten children?”
“Ghosts, monsters, strange disappearances.
Anything unusual.”
The man leaned against the counter and gave them an amused smile.
“Every small town has the same stories.
Killers hiding in the woods, secret cults, monsters near the lake, lights in the sky.
Drive far enough into the country and someone will swear they’ve seen all of them.”
His tone became mockingly serious.
“Of course, some stories might be true.
Attractive city kids wandering through unfamiliar woods are usually the first people to disappear.”
Madison had been examining a display of sunglasses near the counter.
She looked toward the owner with open contempt.
“Anything that comes after me will end up twisted into a knot.”
The owner laughed and looked at Charlie.
“Your girlfriend has an attitude.”
Charlie smiled without correcting him.
He unfolded the map and studied the surrounding roads.
“What about something less common?
I heard an old story involving a woman with only one arm and—”
“Enough.”
The owner interrupted so sharply that the humor vanished from the room.
His face had gone pale, and his eyes moved toward the backpack hanging from Charlie’s shoulder.
Charlie could not tell whether the man knew what was inside or merely feared the legend itself.
“If you want to enjoy your trip, stop asking questions.”
The owner placed both hands on the counter and lowered his voice.
“Drive along the lake.
Eat at one of the local restaurants.
Buy some souvenirs and leave before dark.
Do whatever young couples do when they think no one is watching, but stay away from that story.”
Charlie studied him carefully.
“You know something about it.”
“I said to drop it.”
The owner pushed the map toward Charlie and pointed at the door.
Charlie considered pressing him for answers, but the fear in the man’s eyes suggested threats or money would accomplish nothing.
He picked up the map and left the store with Madison following beside him.
Once they reached the sidewalk, Charlie looked back through the front window.
The owner remained behind the counter, watching them with an expression that mixed suspicion and dread.
“There’s definitely something here,” Charlie said.
“The curse has frightened the locals enough that they won’t even discuss it.”
Madison adjusted her sunglasses.
“That means Fiona sent us to the right place.”
“The problem is getting anyone to tell us what they know.”
“Not everyone in town will be as stubborn as him.”
Madison tapped the map in Charlie’s hands.
“Find me a bar.”
Charlie looked at her.
“What are you planning?”
She gave him a confident smile.
“I’m going to ask people who enjoy talking.”
Colored lights flickered across the dim interior while heavy metal music played from speakers near the bar.
Although it was still early in the day, several tables were occupied by locals drinking, playing pool, and talking loudly over the music.
Madison stepped inside and looked around.
“Nothing special.”
The setting was far less glamorous than the clubs she preferred in Los Angeles or New Orleans, but she appeared completely comfortable.
Bars, parties, and groups of attention-starved young men were familiar territory.
Madison pointed toward several men seated around a table near the pool tables.
“Give me ten minutes.”
Charlie followed her gesture.
“What happens in ten minutes?”
“I’ll know every secret they’ve ever told anyone and several they haven’t.”
She raised one eyebrow.
“Getting a ghost story will be easy.”
Charlie gestured for her to proceed.
Madison crossed the room with the confidence of someone walking onto a movie set.
Her black dress, expensive makeup, and carefully styled blonde hair immediately drew attention from nearly everyone nearby.
The young men at the table stopped talking as she approached.
“Hey, boys,” Madison said.
“Is anyone buying drinks?”
For several seconds, none of them responded.
Alpena did not receive many Hollywood actresses, particularly ones who looked like Madison Montgomery.
Whether they recognized her from movies or were simply stunned by her appearance, every man at the table stared.
One finally pushed out an empty chair.
“Sit down.
What do you want?”
Madison joined them, and the offer to buy her a drink quickly became a competition.
Within minutes, she had learned their names, jobs, and which of them believed he had the best chance of impressing her.
“We aren’t boys,” one of them protested after she used the word again.
Madison looked around the table with exaggerated doubt.
“Really?
You all seem inexperienced to me.”
Her challenge wounded their pride exactly as she intended.
Each man began boasting about past relationships, fights, drinking contests, and other achievements that became increasingly unbelievable with every new story.
Madison smiled, asked carefully chosen questions, and encouraged them to compete against one another.
Within the ten minutes she had promised, the group had revealed far more personal information than Charlie needed to hear.
Madison glanced toward him from across the room and gave him a triumphant smile.
She then shifted the conversation toward local legends. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
“I heard there’s a story around here about a Golden Arm.”
The atmosphere changed immediately.
Several of the young men stopped smiling.
One looked toward the bar as though checking whether anyone else had heard her.
Madison noticed their reaction.
“What happened?
I thought none of you were afraid of old stories.”
A young man named Mike slapped his palm against the table.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
His voice was louder than necessary, suggesting the alcohol had given him more confidence than he truly possessed.
“It’s just a ghost story.
The older people around here act like saying it out loud will summon something.”
Madison gave him an approving look.
Mike straightened proudly.
The attention of a beautiful woman was enough to overcome whatever hesitation remained.
He ordered another drink and prepared to explain the legend.
The others soon interrupted with their own details.
None wanted Mike to become the only person Madison found interesting, so they competed to provide names, locations, and different versions of the story.
Piece by piece, the history behind the Golden Arm emerged.
The legend centered on a woman named Heather, who had once been considered the most beautiful woman in Alpena County.
She cared deeply about her appearance and married a man who adored her enough to satisfy nearly every desire.
Heather spent money freely, but her husband rarely complained.
He worked long hours and accepted heavy debts because keeping her happy mattered more to him than his own comfort.
Their life changed after a logging accident.
Heather’s right arm was crushed beyond repair and had to be amputated below the elbow.
Losing the limb devastated her, and she refused to accept the idea of living without it.
She begged her husband to provide a replacement worthy of her beauty.
He borrowed money, mortgaged their home, and emptied their remaining savings to commission an elaborate prosthetic arm covered in gold.
The finished limb was decorated with detailed patterns and shaped so carefully that it resembled a work of art.
Heather loved it.
She wore the Golden Arm constantly, even after becoming seriously ill with a disease that weakened her lungs.
Doctors advised her to remove the heavy object, but she refused.
As her condition worsened, Heather made her husband promise that the arm would be buried with her.
He agreed.
When Heather died, the Golden Arm was placed inside her coffin.
Her husband watched as both his wife and the valuable object were sealed inside the family grave.
The debts remained.
Without Heather, he had no reason to keep paying for the arm, yet creditors still demanded their money.
Desperation slowly overcame grief, and he began thinking about the fortune buried beneath the ground.
One night, he returned to the cemetery with a shovel.
The husband opened Heather’s grave, forced apart the coffin, and removed the Golden Arm from her body.
He carried it home while convincing himself that the dead had no need for gold.
Mike emptied his glass and leaned closer to Madison.
“The next morning, the neighbors noticed his door standing open.”
The other young men fell silent as he lowered his voice.
“They went inside and found him dead in his bed.”
Madison listened without interrupting.
“He wasn’t alone,” Mike continued.
“Heather’s corpse was lying beside him even though she had already been buried.”
His expression became grim.
“The husband was wrapped in her arms like they were still sleeping together, and the Golden Arm was lying between their bodies.” 500 = +1 Chapter]
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