Scent of Roses & Season of Strangers

by Kat Martin

  “I don’t believe in ghosts.”

  “Neither do I, but that doesn’t change the fact you might be putting yourself in danger.”

  “I’m going, Zach. That’s all there is to it.”

  “Fine, then I’m going with you.”

  She took an unconscious step backward. “No way.”

  Zach gave her a ruthless half smile. “Either I go with you or I call my brother and tell him what you’re up to. What’s it going to be?”

  “Blackmail’s illegal, Zach. I thought you’d become a law-abiding citizen.”

  “Sometimes you have to make your own laws. If you’re going, I’m going, Liz. You might as well accept it.”

  A sound of frustration slipped out. She didn’t want him to go. He posed too big a temptation. But he was determined, and perhaps she was a little relieved. “You’re as big a bully now as you were twelve years ago.”

  Zach had the nerve to grin. “I guess in some ways I am.”

  Elizabeth gave a sigh of resignation. “All right, you can come. But I expect you to behave yourself.”

  “No seduction, you mean.” He nodded, not the least surprised to have gotten his way. “I can handle it if you can. What time are you going over there?”

  She flushed at the comment, since she was the one who had seduced him last night. “I figured about nine o’clock. I don’t think anything’s ever happened before dark.”

  “Fine. I’ll meet you there at nine. In the meantime, I’ve got a room at the Holiday Inn. Believe it or not, I didn’t plan to make love to you last night. If you need to get hold of me before that, I’ll be out at Teen Vision working on the barn. I’ll see you tonight.”

  Zach finished dressing and left the apartment, and Elizabeth wandered into the living room to watch him drive away. She was determined not to get involved with him. She just wished she wasn’t so glad she would be seeing him again that night.

  * * *

  Elizabeth picked up the key to Maria’s house that afternoon.

  “I’ll be back about nine,” Elizabeth told her. “Zachary Harcourt will be staying here with me so you don’t have to worry.”

  Maria looked relieved. “That is good. The bed is freshly made so you will have a clean place to sleep and Mr. Zach can sleep on the sofa. I hope the ghost comes. Then you will know I am telling the truth.”

  “I guess we’ll see.”

  With the key to the house in her purse, Elizabeth returned to her apartment. She worked out for a while in her exercise room, stretching the sore muscles from having sex with Zach the night before.

  Her cheeks warmed at the memory of his hot kisses and intimate caresses. No question, Zach Harcourt knew how to make love. Which was exactly the reason she wanted no more part of him. He was too damned sexy, too damned good a lover. A man like Zach could make a woman fall head over heels and she couldn’t afford for that to happen.

  She did a couple more sit-ups, twisting to touch her knees with her elbows, then spent some time on the treadmill. She was glad Zach had been honest. He didn’t want a permanent relationship anymore than she did. Better they part now, before someone—namely her—got hurt.

  Determined to stop thinking about him, she showered and dressed in a pair of jeans and a pale blue cotton blouse, then went in and made herself supper: fish sticks and salad. A cup of fat-free chocolate pudding served as dessert. A quick glance at the clock and she picked up her purse and headed for the carport behind her apartment.

  It was still hot outside, even this time of evening, but at least the sun was going down, the intense, burning rays fading into a steady dry heat.

  Zach’s car wasn’t at the Santiago house when she turned off the highway a little bit early and pulled up next to the single car garage. Making her way up the front walk, she used the key to let herself in, then went over and turned on the little TV in the living room, just to have some noise in the house.

  She’d also brought a paperback novel to read, doubting the “ghost” would appear as long as the television was on. Once Zach arrived, she’d turn it off so the house would be quiet.

  He arrived right on time, nine o’clock straight up, and came in carrying a couple of plastic bags full of groceries.

  “I thought we might get hungry,” he said, pulling a bag of chips and a couple of cans of Diet Coke out of the bag and setting them down on the coffee table. A sack of trail mix and a couple of candy bars came out next. “I’m not big on junk food. This is just in case of emergency.”

  He looked at her and smiled, and she saw that once again his gaze was carefully guarded. He wanted her still. A little frisson of heat ran through her, but she quickly tamped it down. She was there on a mission and she meant to see it done.

  “How did it go out at the farm?” she asked, opting for a safe subject as she took a seat on the sofa.

  “Great. We’ll have the barn finished before fall sets in.” Zach sat down beside her, not too close, she noticed.

  “What will you do once it’s complete?”

  “You mean will I still come up to San Pico? I’ll come up to see my dad, but not as often. Not unless…” He shook his head. “You want some chips?”

  “No, thanks.” She looked over at the little TV, the sound so low she could barely hear it. “I think we should turn off the television. No respectable ghost would appear while we’re watching Saturday Night Live.”

  He smiled. “I suppose not. I brought some work to do. I figured I’d better keep my mind on something besides making love to you.”

  Her cheeks flushed as she pressed the off button on the front of the set. So did other parts of her body. “I brought a book. At least we can keep ourselves entertained.”

  His gaze ran over her, letting her feel it head to foot, and hot sparks glittered in his eyes. “I can think of a lot more interesting things we could do, but I guess that’s not going to happen.”

  “I guess it isn’t.” Much to her regret. Pulling the paperback out of her purse, a romantic suspense she wouldn’t have brought if she’d remembered how steamy the sex scenes were, she turned to the page she’d left off. She would skip the juicy parts, she vowed, and settled in to read.

  They sat in surprisingly companionable silence, Elizabeth absorbed in her book, Zach poring over the pages of a legal brief he was working on.

  It was getting late. Elizabeth yawned, shifted on the sofa. She checked her watch, saw that it was nearly midnight. Flicking a glance to where Zach leaned back against the sofa, she saw that his eyes were closed, his thick dark lashes fanned out against his cheek. His long legs stretched in front of him and his head rested on the back of the couch. He was sound asleep, and Elizabeth realized she was equally sleepy.

  Yawning, she made her way as quietly as possible into the bedroom. As far as she knew, the vision—assuming there was one—had never appeared anywhere except this room. She lay down on the bed, still fully dressed, plumped the pillow behind her head, and closed her eyes. As tired as she was, it didn’t take long to fall asleep.

  She wasn’t sure how long she slept or what awakened her. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was how still the room had grown, or at least it felt still and close, the air thicker than it should have been. An odd creak came from the living room, the same sound she had heard the first time she stayed in the house. A few seconds later, the wind began its eerie moaning. She wanted to rush to the window to see if the noise was real, though she was fairly sure it wasn’t.

  She wondered if Zach could hear it. She cast a glance toward the living room and saw that he was sitting up very straight on the sofa. He could hear it, too, she thought with some relief. At least, she wasn’t imagining things.

  Her pulse beat a little faster as the air thickened even more. She could see Zach on the sofa, his head cocked toward another, different sou
nd rising in the distance, the eerie wail of a train whistle, screaming into the blackness of the night. She could hear the ding, ding, ding of the warning bell at the crossing, then the locomotive roaring down the track through the cotton fields on the other side of the highway.

  The track crossed the road just north of the house and the place shuddered as the train drew near. But the tracks had been abandoned for years. She wasn’t even sure the rails were still there.

  A chill swept through her as Zach turned to look out the window, but Elizabeth’s attention swung in another direction. Something cold had crept into the bedroom, something so dense and chilling she couldn’t seem to move. She sat frozen on the bed, her heart beating as if it were trying to escape through her ribs. Something was there—she could feel it—and an icy fear began to well inside her. The dense air made it hard to breathe, hard to think, and her mind seemed cloudy, her thoughts far away.

  A faint sound reached her, a voice so soft, the words so faintly spoken, she couldn’t be sure she had heard them.

  “I…want…my…mama. Please…I want…my…mama.”

  Her heart clutched, speeded up even more. The chill was pervasive now, filling the room, stretching into every corner. Her gaze went to Zach who perched on the edge of the sofa, completely alert, waiting to see what would happen next. The atmosphere in the bedroom shifted. The chill remained, but with it now came the cloying scent of roses.

  The smell was unbearably heavy, dense and putrid, a sickening odor that made the bile rise in her throat.

  “Mama…? Mama are you there? Please…I want my mama.”

  The fear inside her swelled. Her gaze shot to the living room in search of Zach and it must have shone in her eyes. She saw him get to his feet and start moving toward the open bedroom door. Then something caught her eye. A faint, translucent light began to appear at the foot of the bed, a wavering, eerie glow barely visible in the room. But Elizabeth was certain it was there, and a strangled sound of fear came from her throat.

  Zach stood in the doorway, his feet braced apart, and the minute he heard the sound, he started toward her, his strides long and angry.

  “That’s it! That’s enough!” Storming into the bedroom, he came straight to the bed, sat down on the edge and pulled her into his arms.

  “Oh, God, Zach!”

  “Easy, baby, it’s over. Everything’s all right. You’re safe now.” He glanced around the room, searching every corner. “Whatever it was is gone.”

  She trembled wildly and Zach’s arms tightened around her. Burying her face against his shoulder, she started to cry. The tears were coming and she wasn’t exactly sure why. She just knew she would be forever grateful that he was there with her tonight.

  “Hush,” he said softly. Reaching over, he turned on the lamp on the bedside table, the soft glow warming the room, dispelling the last of her fear. “It’s over.”

  Elizabeth swallowed and nodded, dragged in a shaky breath of air. “I’m sorry. I don’t…don’t know what happened. I didn’t mean to fall apart that way.”

  “Don’t be sorry. That was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  She closed her eyes, took another calming breath and swung her legs to the edge of the bed, fighting to compose herself.

  “Stay here,” Zach said. “I want to check outside. I’ll only be gone a minute.” He headed for the front door, turning on a lamp as he passed, and left to make a search of the perimeter of the house. A minute seemed like an hour. Again and again, her mind kept replaying the terrifying sounds and the awful smell, the whisper of a little girl’s voice. When Zach returned a few minutes later, Elizabeth met him at the front door.

  “I checked outside.” He walked back inside the living room and closed the door. Elizabeth looked at the closed portal longingly, wishing it were time to leave.

  “I looked under the house, checked the garage. Nothing. You know how to get into the attic?”

  “Probably through one of the closets.” She went in to look for an opening in the Santiagos’ bedroom closet while Zach went to search the second bedroom.

  “It’s in here!” he called out. She followed him in, the room lit by the ceiling light he’d turned on, watched him shove back the attic cover in the closet and haul himself up with those impressive biceps of his.

  “See anything up there?”

  “Not a damned thing but a lot of dust.” He lowered himself back down and dropped to the floor, brushing off his hands.

  “Okay, you didn’t find anything,” she said as they returned to the living room, “but you did hear the noises and feel the cold. You noticed the smell, right?”

  He nodded. “I heard the train too.”

  “That didn’t happen before.”

  He tipped his head toward the window. “There’s an abandoned track just down the road, but it hasn’t been used for years. And there’s no warning bell, Liz. The line was completely dismantled.”

  She fought down a shiver. “I know. I hope to God you didn’t see a train when you looked out the window.”

  The edge of his mouth tipped up. “No train. But I sure as hell heard one.”

  A fresh chill moved along her spine. “Did you see the light at the foot of the bed?”

  “I thought I saw something. I’m not sure what it was.”

  “Whatever it was, it was eerie. And there was something else, Zach. I heard this voice. It was very faint, so I don’t think you would have noticed, but I’m sure I heard it. It sounded like a little girl.”

  “That’s what Maria claims she heard. What did the voice have to say?”

  “She said, ‘I want my mama. Please…I want my mama.’ It sounded like she was about to cry.”

  Zach caught her hand, gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Maybe this is some kind of elaborate hoax, but I don’t think so.”

  “Then you believe…you think the house is haunted?”

  “I don’t know what to believe. But the only way we’re going to figure this out is to start thinking outside the box. Either something in the house is affecting our minds…or the things that are happening are real.”

  “How do we find out which it is?”

  “Since we haven’t found any kind of foreign substance or anything that might affect our brains, let’s assume this is all really happening. I’ll do some more research. If there really is a ghost, we need to find out who it is.”

  “Oh, my God, I never thought of that.” She shook her head. “Of course, my experience with this kind of thing is sorely limited.”

  “Maria thinks she saw a little girl. You both heard a little girl’s voice. We need to find out if a child died in the house.”

  It was a chilling thought, and yet Zach was right. They had to start thinking outside the box. “The house is only four years old. Something like that should be easy enough to find out. I’ll have Maria ask around. I’m sure a number of the workers have been here that long.”

  “Sounds like a good place to start,” he said.

  “What do you think I should tell Maria about tonight?”

  “Tell her we’re still working on figuring things out. And tell her whatever happens, not to spend the night here alone.”

  Ignoring a feeling of unease, Elizabeth turned to survey her surroundings. The living room was quiet, everything in its place. Lamplight shined through the open bedroom door and the window air conditioner hummed away. The house felt completely normal again, not the least bit frightening. Still…

  “Do you think we need to stay here the rest of the night?”

  “Stay? Are you kidding?” Zach gripped her hand and started tugging her toward the door. “Not on your life.”

  Elizabeth smiled and pulled away. “Give me a minute to straighten the bedroom and turn off the lights and we’ll leave.”

  Zach nodde
d, started refilling the grocery bag with the goodies he had brought while Elizabeth straightened the quilt on the bed. A few minutes later they had locked the front door and were standing outside the house, looking back at it.

  “It’s a cute little house,” she said, surveying the yellow stucco walls with the sparkling white trim.

  “Yeah, it’s great—unless you try to sleep in there.”

  Zach walked her over to the car. “I’ll call you if I find out anything useful.”

  “I’ll do the same.”

  He started to turn away, but Elizabeth caught his arm. “I owe you an apology, Zach. I’m glad you were here tonight. I don’t know what I’d have done if I’d been here alone.”

  He ran a finger along her cheek. “You’re pretty damned tough, lady. You probably would have been just fine, but I’m glad I was here just the same.”

  He bent his head and very softly kissed her. “I know you’re probably right about us. But, God, I wish you weren’t.”

  So do I, Elizabeth thought as she slid into the seat of her car and Zach closed the door. She ignored the little pinch in her heart as she started the engine and drove away. Zach’s BMW followed her protectively all the way back to her apartment.

  He didn’t drive away until she was safely inside.

  Elizabeth told herself she was glad he hadn’t asked to come in.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Knowing Maria would be worried, Elizabeth phoned her at Mrs. Garcia’s after church on Sunday morning. Maria had given her the number and it was obvious she had been waiting for the call.

  “Dios mio, I have been so worried! Are you all right?” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Did you see the ghost?”

  “I’m fine, and no, I didn’t see her. I think I heard her, though. At least I heard something.” To say the least. But she didn’t want to frighten Maria any more than she was already. “It sounded like a little girl.”

  “Sí, that is her!”

  “I want you to do me a favor. I want you to ask around, find out if sometime before you moved in a child died in the house. If there is a ghost—and I’m not saying there is—we need to find out who she is.”