by H. P. Bayne
The same seemed to hold true for many of the central structures. While off-streets showed signs of newer homes and businesses, the main street maintained its old-world charm, hearkening back to the turn of the last century. Halloween decorations covered store windows, and even the light posts had been festooned in orange and gold silk arrangements.
The reason became clear as they neared the middle of the main street. A banner stretched between two opposing light poles, reading “Willow Valley Halloween Festival Oct. 31.” A little more than two weeks to go, and the town was on top of preparations.
Neil didn’t stop, although he’d slowed significantly through town, as if he was either enjoying the sites or hoping Sully was. Ultimately, they drove straight out the other end of the long main street, past a row of houses—some clearly as old as the town itself—and another church. Now on a gravel road, their path wound upward, out of the valley, before swinging northward and back down. Another bridge lay at the bottom, this one as old as the last, as the river twined around the hill’s base. “Kildrake River,” the sign next to it read. Sully was pretty sure the Kildrake was one of several rivers branching off the massive Kimotan, the river after which Kimotan Rapids was named.
Another five minutes and Neil turned off again, heading west this time on a small road all but concealed within a heavy grove of trees. Unlike those around Willow Valley, these trees appeared unhappy, many of their leaves already shed, at least some probably long dead.
Sully followed Neil through the trees until at last they opened, revealing a large house ahead and another bridge fording the Kildrake. Neil slowed as they neared, and Sully wondered whether he was trying to give his guest a good view or simply dreading a return.
As they crawled forward, Sully had plenty of opportunity to study the house. It possessed a faded elegance, reminding him of the house in Great Expectations. Peering at the place, he wouldn’t have been surprised to learn an aged spinster had lived and died here—or that she hadn’t left even after her death. At this point, he was operating under the theory the woman Neil and his daughter had seen was their great aunt Mildred. If she’d loved the house enough to stay, she might not be pleased to have newcomers here, even if she’d willed them the place. Sully had known a few older people who had become so set in their ways, no one could stand being around them for long. Sully imagined if Mildred liked the place dark, she’d make damn sure it stayed that way.
As they neared, a blonde woman around Neil’s age emerged from the shadows of a mainly-enclosed entryway to stand beneath the stone arch. A set of pillars stood either side, giving the entry a grand appearance. A wide set of stairs leading up made Sully think of Victorian portraits of household staff, all grouped together in their aprons and starched collars, severe expressions fixed on their faces.
Neil drove up a moon-shaped approach, and Sully followed until they braked in front of the house and parked. As Sully stepped from his SUV, the woman he assumed was Drea waved.
He waved back, turning as Neil approached.
“What did you think of Willow Valley? Quaint little town, isn’t it?”
Sully grinned. “Yeah, it is. That’s Drea, I’m guessing?”
Neil cast a glance over and a smile back at the woman. “You betcha. Come and meet her.”
As they walked toward the house, Sully scanned the area, then the windows, searching for a sign of anyone not-quite-human. Nothing showed itself, so he returned his attention to the stairs.
Sully watched his feet as he made his way up. The stonework had cracked and chipped in many spots, leaving the steps treacherous in places.
At the top, he met Drea’s offered handshake.
She flashed a warm smile. “Drea Wynne.”
“Sully Gray. Beautiful house.”
“We think so.” She angled her body to expose more of the wide door behind her. “Come in. Let us show you around.” She paused there, hand on the knob as she leaned toward Sully. “Oh, and a warning.” She kept her voice a whisper. “Our daughter, Casey, is going through a phase. She’s a little … how should I put this—”
“Dark,” Neil supplied. “I think kids call it ‘emo’ or something. I just call it ‘Goth.’”
“She’s a good kid,” Drea said. “We worry a little about her friends, but we’re hoping being around here will sort her out. She doesn’t have a car yet, so getting into the city without us won’t be easy.”
Sully had spent some time in a small town before he’d been taken in as a foster child by the Braddocks at age seven. In his experience, small communities didn’t mix well with outsiders. Teens classed as Goth wouldn’t likely do too well.
As Drea led the way inside, Neil swept an arm grandly to the side, an invitation for Sully to enter first. He did and took his first look at the house’s interior.
If Casey was a true Goth, this house would fit her perfectly. Even with the curtains pulled aside, the interior was swathed in shadow, as if the light from outside couldn’t fully enter. Sully shook off the chill as he bent to remove his boots.
“Leave them on,” Neil said. “Please, don’t worry about tracking anything in. We haven’t bothered cleaning too many of the floors yet. We’ve got plenty more work to do in here, so they’ll be the last thing we tackle.”
Sully stood and offered a grateful smile before stepping past the entryway.
In front of him rose a sweeping staircase, its bannister curved gently at the base. To the left, a sitting room, to the right a parlour.
“We use the parlour as a TV room,” Drea said. “It’s a little cozier. The sitting room seemed too formal for us, especially with the furnishings.”
“Most of the furniture isn’t to our taste, exactly, but I suspect a good chunk of it has been here as long as the house,” Neil said. “It would be a shame to get rid of it. It’s evident it’s all been so well maintained, and it seems to suit the place.”
Drea led the way through the half-closed pocket doors of the parlour, back into the entry hall. “By the way, I’m sorry about how dark it feels in here. The windows need washed. I washed the insides, but it’s the outsides that need doing. It’s been too cold out to take care of it. I’m thinking I’ll have to wait until spring.”
She led them through the main floor. The floor plan was laid out to allow visitors to circle the stairs. Past the parlour on the right was an old phone room now used as storage. Behind that, a small office-library. Pocket doors at the very end of the hall opened to reveal an elegant dining room with a table long enough to have entertained as many as twenty people at once. Large windows overlooked the back gardens.
Sully stepped closer to the windows. He could see what Drea meant. They really were coated in a layer of dust and grime. He guessed Mildred, with her love of the dark, had considered dirt in this instance her friend.
His eyes returned to what had brought him to the windows in the first place. “Is that a hedge maze?”
Neil joined him. “It is. I’ll admit, I’ve always wanted to live in a house with a hedge maze. We’ll show you after.”
Through yet another wide set of pocket doors was a short, carpeted hallway.
Drea pointed each direction in turn. “Door to the back gardens to your right, door to the basement to your left.”
Neil brushed past Sully and Drea to reach the next room. He visibly shuddered as he passed the basement door. “We haven’t gone down there at all. We were assured by our inspector the structure as well as the furnace and water heater were sound. Good enough for us.”
Drea leaned toward Sully with a teasing smile. “Neil has a phobia about basements. And luckily for him, the washer and dryer are on the main floor.” She pointed to a wide folding door just before the kitchen, one Sully suspected concealed the laundry room and a pantry.
A light flush coloured Neil’s cheeks. He looked so abashed, Sully felt the need to make him feel better. “I get it. Basements and I haven’t always mixed well.”
Flashing a grateful smile, Neil
directed Sully into a large country-style kitchen. A door at the back led to an enclosed sunroom, and Sully guessed that might well be the brightest spot in the house.
“It was boarded over when we arrived,” Neil said. “I suppose it might have been too much light for Aunt Mildred, but Drea thought with all those big windows and a door to the gardens, she might have also been protecting herself from intruders or vandals.”
Drea stepped into Neil’s half-embrace. “A couple of the windows were broken, and honestly, the panes were too thin. Replacing them with a sturdier material was the first thing we did. Given the age and apparent reputation of the house, it seems to attract its share of looky-loos.”
Sully raised a brow. “What reputation?”
Drea exchanged a glance with Neil before continuing. “We went into town a couple of times to get supplies, and people seemed—” She paused as if searching for the right word.
“Standoffish,” Neil supplied. “I might go so far as to say hostile. The man running the hardware store took some pity on me and told me Aunt Mildred made people a little anxious.”
“How so?”
Neil’s lips drew tightly together. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not speak about it here. I get the feeling she’s never really left, if you know what I mean.”
Given Sully’s skill base, he knew exactly what Neil meant. “We can talk more outside later.”
So far, Sully hadn’t seen any ghostly presences around Neil or Drea though he did sense something. An occasional prickling at his skin suggested someone or something was nearby, maybe watching or listening. Ghosts, even those he could see, didn’t always reveal themselves to him. If they needed help, they found ways of communicating. But if they were satisfied with their lot in death, someone like Sully with the power to get them to cross over wasn’t welcomed in their world.
The kitchen led back into the main sitting room, which was set up to seat numerous people. Sully could imagine a little old lady drifting through the house and how diminutive and alone she must have appeared in these big rooms.
Of course, some people did just fine with alone. Sully usually did—although knowing his family was a phone call or short drive away made all the difference.
Drea guided them through the sitting room, toward the stairs. “We’ll show you the upstairs next.”
The house contained several bedrooms, two with one bathroom to the left of the stairs and three and a larger bathroom on the right. The largest of the rooms—the master—jutted out farther than the others and contained a narrow balcony beyond a series of large windows. The latter detail he only discovered when Drea pulled aside one of several heavy drapes.
“We’ve stopped trying to keep them open,” she said. “They just won’t stay that way.”
Sully glanced at Neil. His expression was taut, lips pressed tight and eyebrows drawn together to make the lines between them stand out. The man’s abject fear reminded Sully of the way Dez used to appear, back when his terror of ghosts was far greater.
Sully laid a hand on Neil’s arm. “We’ll get to the bottom of it.”
Neil turned to him, whispering. “Do you see anything?”
Sully shook his head. “Not yet. Why? Do you?”
A head shake in reply. “No. Just watch—she won’t show up because you’re here. She’s going to make you think we’re nuts.”
“I don’t think you’re nuts.”
They left the master and headed to a closed door across the hall, where Drea rapped.
“Yeah?” came a muffled voice from the other side.
Drea pushed the door open a few inches and peered in, as if to ensure her daughter was in a fit state for company. “Hon, Sullivan Gray is here. We’re giving him a tour. Could we show him your room?”
“Whatever.”
Drea offered Sully an unneeded apology in the form of a smile before pushing the door open all the way.
Sully stalled in the hallway, eyes locked onto a figure standing in the middle of the room.
It was a woman, small and lean. He could see that much by her shape. She was draped head to toe in black, in a flowing dress and heavy veil. He couldn’t see beyond it, but he knew, without the benefit of seeing her eyes, she was staring at him.
The feeling of wariness coming from her struck him first. Then the frustration.
She didn’t want him here.
She didn’t want anyone here.
Drea was inside the room now, unbeknownst to her standing directly beside the spirit. Drea’s lips were moving and Sully knew she was talking to Casey, but he couldn’t focus on her words. All his senses were locked onto the woman in black.
“Sully?”
The voice, directly in his ear, made him jump and turn. He found Neil staring at him through wide eyes.
Sully glanced back into the room. The woman was gone.
Neil’s hand found his shoulder and held on a little too tightly. “What is it? You see something, don’t you?”
“I did. I’ll talk to you about it downstairs.”
Drea was beckoning him forward, and he guessed she’d been doing so for a few seconds, making him look stupid standing out here. Sully entered the room.
Casey sat slouched on the bed, but the moment her eyes found Sully, she sat up straight and a flush crept onto her cheeks. He recognized the signs of a forming crush and offered a quick, uncomfortable smile.
“Casey, this is Sully. Sully, our daughter, Casey.”
“Nice to meet you,” he said.
“Uh …” was all she got out.
Thankfully, Drea ended the tour of Casey’s bedroom there. “Come on, we’ll show you the rest.”
“The rest,” at least as far as this floor went, wasn’t much. A locked door stood at the opposite end from the family bedrooms, one Neil simply peered at and shrugged.
“Weirdest thing. Her lawyer insists we got a full set of keys, but nothing works in the lock. He’s never been in it either, so he doesn’t know what’s inside. One of life’s great mysteries, I guess.” He met Sully’s eye. “Given the situation in which we find ourselves, I’m not sure I want any more mystery.”
Drea next led them to a doorway in the centre of the hall, this one leading to an upstairs bonus room which ran the length of the master bedroom. Sitting flush with the main wing, it had an extended balcony on either side overlooking the front and the rear.
Drea paced the room slowly. “We’re not sure what to do with it. You can see it’s loaded with decades of junk and unused furniture, but we’d love to turn it into something. I mean, those views and the balconies, you can’t beat them.”
Neil’s grin was playful. “I’d love to put a grill out here.”
Drea’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not putting a grill out here.”
Sully was drawn to the rear window looking down onto the back gardens and the maze, and then out onto the balcony. He peered over the edge and caught a flicker of black in the middle of the maze. The woman was there, standing facing the house. Her head seemed to tilt up, as if she was once again locked in on him.
It seemed as safe a time as any to discuss her.
He asked the question while facing the gardens, not taking his eyes from the spectre below lest she vanish again. “Neil, the woman you saw, can you describe her for me?”
“Uh, okay, sure. She was old, with long, grey, straggly hair, like it hadn’t been combed in years. Her face was a really sickly grey, almost the same colour as her hair.”
“So you saw her face?”
“Oh, yeah. Wish I hadn’t. I’ll never forget it.”
“What else?”
“She wore a long black, ratty cloak or something. I didn’t look too close at it. I was kind of distracted by her face. I couldn’t see her features well, because she was too far away, but I remember thinking she was really, really skinny, almost like a skeleton with skin. The thing I remember the most was the scream. God, I’ll never forget it.”
The woman had yet to
move. Sully knew he wanted to head into the maze next. “Did she have anything on her head, like a hood or a veil pushed back or something?”
“No, not on the first day, but we’ve seen her like that since. Why?” Silence behind Sully, as if the reason was dawning on Neil. “You see her, don’t you? You see her right now. Where?”
Neil appeared in Sully’s peripheral vision at the balcony’s edge. “Where is she?”
A gust of wind shut Sully’s eyes for a moment. When he next opened them, the woman was gone.
Sully turned to Neil. “She was in the centre of the maze.”
Already pale, Neil turned an even whiter shade.
“What is it?” Sully asked.
“That’s where they found her,” Neil said. “My aunt. They found her dead inside the maze.”
4
Sometimes when Sully was trying to find a ghost, standing in the spot where they’d died was a good way to accomplish the task.
This time, he led the way, taking long, quick strides through the backyard toward the maze.
He’d done his best to identify and memorize its path from overhead, but it wasn’t easy. Time and lack of care had erased its crisp edges, making it next to impossible to pick out the pathways overhead. As he entered and took the first few turns, he quickly became disoriented. He stopped, Neil and Drea behind him, to regain his bearings.
Sully turned to them. “Do you two know the way through?”
Neil shook his head. “We’ve never been in here. With all the work on the house, we’ve been too busy to check it out. Then someone in town told us Mildred’s body was found in the maze. I really haven’t wanted to come in here since.”
“Casey’s been through it, though,” Drea said. “Should we get her?”
“I’m sure we can figure it out,” Neil said. “We aren’t hopeless.”
“Uh, yeah, Dad, you are.”
Casey appeared from behind Neil, coming around a turn. She cast a quick, shy glance and a smile up at Sully, then carefully brushed past him.