Paige looked over at her friend. “I’m sorry, Mel. Maybe I should have tried harder or something. I didn’t realize how badly you needed me, okay? I dropped the ball. I’m really sorry.” Her face tightened. “What happened? What shit did you go through?”
Melanie barked a short laugh. “Oh, nothing serious. Just getting possessed by a demon, almost killing my college friends at some haunted resort. But hey! It was all worth it. I inherited ten million dollars!” She crossed her arms with a huff. “How’s that for idle chitchat, catching up?”
Paige stopped dead in her tracks. Gripping Melanie’s arm, she gaped at her. “What? Are you kidding me? You were possessed? Mel, how much weed do you smoke these days?”
Melanie huffed a fast sigh pulling away from Paige. “I don’t do weed anymore. It’s all true. My life changed after that weekend. And frankly, I resent the hell out of getting mixed
up with anything supernatural again. I don’t need that shit, but the dreams are
getting worse.”
Paige stepped off the boardwalk and onto the sand. When she saw that Melanie wasn’t next to her she turned to see her friend with hands on hips, still on the wooden walkway.
“What? I’m not plowing through that sand in these boots. No. Way.”
Paige rolled her eyes and stomped back to her. “When did you start dressing like a runway model? This is Madison not the Big Apple.”
“These boots are Gucci and so’s my jacket! My life became a total do-over after that weekend in the Catskills.” Melanie scraped her fingers through her hair, “But now these damned dreams! I can’t help that little girl, so why is she haunting me? And why would you be there with her? There’s no way you can dodge me like you’ve been doing these past few years. I had to see you. This has got to stop before I lose my mind.”
Paige jerked back. “I wasn’t dodging you! Well, not on purpose. It’s just the way it worked out.” She shook her head thinking about how she’d been so involved in her own life. She’d lost touch with Mel and all her friends. Not to mention how she hadn’t visited her mother nearly enough. And then the poor woman had a stroke.
No. She’s lying to herself. The truth was that she’d become too caught up in her own ambitions. What kind of person had she become?
“Hey! Earth to Paige! The dreams. The little girl, and you being in my dreams. Care to enlighten me?”
Paige was jolted back at Melanie’s words, shot out like bullets. “We need to talk. Let’s get a coffee. We can try to figure this out.”
“Make it whisky and I’m in!”
Paige stared at Melanie, trying to decide if she even liked this version of her friend. Flashy clothes and car, snarky attitude. That had to have been some weekend! “Okay. But you’re
buying, Miss Fancy Pants. I think you can afford it. Was that actually a Ferrari you pulled up in?”
Melanie grinned. “With all the bells and whistles! I’m loaded. I’ve got the house here, a condo in LA, and a time-share in France!” Her smile fell, and she looked over at Paige. “Now tell me about this little girl. What’s the connection to you? Who is she?”
Paige took a deep breath, looking up the street to the flashing lights of a small pub and tavern. “I’ll explain everything. Let’s go to the Crown and Pint. After all that’s happened, I could use a drink too.”
The two women entered the warmth of the small room where a bartender stood polishing glasses behind an ancient oak bar. A couple guys in business suits sat at the far end, probably
stopping for a drink before heading home from work. Paige led the way to an empty table next to the window.
When they were settled, a waitress arrived and handed them menus.
Paige held up her hand. “Just a drink, please. Two Jack Daniels and soda.”
Melanie chirped, “Make mine a double with lots of ice.” When the woman left, she turned once more to Paige. “Okay. Start at the top. I want to know about this kid. Don’t get me
wrong. I still want to hear what’s been going in your life, but I need to know about the little girl. Maybe then I’ll be able to get a decent night’s sleep.”
Paige sighed. “I practice the law, Mel—family law, specifically. I represented Cory Smith in court to allow him access to his daughter, Aubree. I’m pretty sure he killed her and his ex-wife. The police are after him but he’s disappeared.” She let out a long sigh. “The little girl in your dreams is Aubree.”
Melanie sat back allowing the waitress to set the two drinks down on the table. When she left, Melanie stared at Paige, “There was something in the paper about some guy murdering his wife and kid, but that was up in Albany. I didn’t bother reading it.”
Paige nodded. “Yeah, that’s the one.”
Melanie’s eyes widened. “That was you who represented him and gave him access? Oh my God. You must feel like shit about that.”
“That’s a serious understatement. If I could do it over—”
“You can’t, so don’t go down that road, Paige. You also don’t have a crystal ball. You didn’t know what would happen. It totally sucks but that’s life.” She sighed cupping the glass of whisky between her hands. “But these dreams… you’re having them too?” Melanie hunched over the table, peering into Paige’s eyes.
“Yeah. And not just dreams. This may be hard to believe, but I started seeing her everywhere.” She took a deep breath and continued. “She even left a message on my phone. But I was totally floored when I went to her house.”
“It’s dark yellow with burgundy shutters, right?” Melanie took a sip of her drink and set the glass down with a sharp thud. “I believe you, Paige. After what I’ve been through I’ll believe anything when it comes to the afterlife.” Her eyes became hard, looking at Paige. “I don’t want to have anything more to do with this stuff, but it looks like I’m being pulled down this shitty rabbit hole again.”
Paige could only stare at her friend silently. Melanie had a sharp edge that had never been there when they were growing up. She’d changed a LOT. It must have been a nightmare what
happened to her. Yet here she was trying to figure this out and offer help.
“What happened to you, Mel? You’re so different than when I last saw you.”
Melanie looked down staring into her drink for a few moments. “That weekend... It was like something out of a horror movie. I thought I had an understanding about paranormal things...you know, the Ouija board and séances...” She made a small wave with her hand and with a rueful smile added, “We had some scary slumber parties as kids, right?”
Paige couldn’t help but smile too. “We sure did.” She tilted her head. “But that was then. What happened?”
Melanie shrugged. “I’ve always been interested in the paranormal. Nothing huge, but you know, I’d read some books and looked at stuff online…” Her voice trailed off. “But then…”
Paige let the silence hang. Mel would get to it.
Melanie took a deep breath. “I made really good friends in college. The four of us…we stayed in touch; every year after we graduated, we’d have a weekend get-together.” Her mouth turned down. “But…a year and a half ago, Dara died.”
“Who’s Dara?”
“She was one of us. It was me, Becky, Cindy…and Dara. After she died, her will required us to spend a weekend at a place she owned.” Melanie shuddered. “It was horrible.” Lifting her eyes, she stared into Paige’s eyes, “I just wanted to reconnect with a dear friend who’d died. And I did!”
“What, you communicated with your dead friend?”
“Yeah…but there are dark forces out there, too, Paige. And they used me. My obsession with the afterlife was the chink they used to control me. It was bad, Paige! I was fucking mind-raped by them!”
“What!” Paige didn’t even know what that meant.
“That…thing took me over! It made me…” Melanie’s face twisted at the memory. “It made me hate with such fury! I hated everyone!” Her face relaxed, and with wonder,
and her voice almost a whisper, she added, “I almost killed my two other friends who were there.”
“You’re shitting me.” A shock of fear spiked through Paige; Melanie was telling the truth.
“No, I’m not.” She shot Paige a look. “And right now, I know that you know I’m telling the truth.” Silence hung for a moment. Melanie took another deep breath. “I got through it. I’ve been through psychotherapy”—she paused and her voice became a low whisper—“and exorcisms. Many exorcisms.”
Paige could only stare at Melanie silently for a few moments. Exorcisms? Melanie had never been much of a churchgoer. Whatever had happened had affected her so much that she’d
turned to the church. And she couldn’t deny that Melanie was a changed person.
“You were really possessed? Honestly, I’ve never believed in all that, but—”
“It’s real. Trust me. I’ve experienced it. I was lucky to get through it. If not for some pretty special people, I might not have.” She grit her teeth, shaking her head a little. “Having any more contact with the afterlife is the last thing I ever want to go through.” She clenched her fists. “But these dreams of Aubree. And you. What the hell?”
Paige could see that Melanie was fighting back tears, her voice cracking when she spoke. She reached across the table and squeezed Melanie’s hand. “I’m so very sorry I never tried
harder to get in touch with you. If I’d known, maybe—”
“There was nothing you could have done. But I wanted to talk to you. I think I was trying to reconnect with who I was. I mean, we grew up together. You knew me better than my own mother.”
Now it was Paige who fought tears, her throat closing up. “God, I feel terrible, Mel. Can I ever make it up to you?”
Melanie swiped at the tear that spilled down her cheek and smiled. “If you can make these damned dreams go away, that’d be a good start.”
“I’ll try.” Paige paused for a few beats trying to figure out where to start after Melanie’s story. The poor woman had been through hell from the sound of it. She really wanted to distance herself from these kinds of inexplicable events, but there was no other way to tackle this. She had to be completely honest about what was going on.
She gave Melanie the rundown of what the last few days have been like. The news of Aubree’s murder, the apparitions, that insane voice mail. Then everything being thrown into chaos with her mother’s stroke and her return to Connecticut.
Taking a deep breath, Paige continued. “I’ve even had some weird stuff happen at Mom’s house too. The light in the spare room keeps coming on, even though I know I turned it off. That’s happened a bunch of times. And then there’s this old sea chest in her sewing room. It keeps opening on its own, and—”
“What’s in the chest? It has to be connected to this, don’t you think? Have you looked through it?”
Paige pulled back and shook her head. “No! I can’t. All the time growing up Mom kept it locked. She’s got personal stuff, private stuff in there. It would be wrong to go through her stuff.”
Melanie’s eyebrows flew up. “What? You’re kidding me, right? With all the spooky shit going on, you’re more interested in respecting your mother’s privacy than checking it out? Paige…” She shook her head and looked down into her drink.
Paige could feel her jaw tighten. “For God’s sake, Mel. My mom had a stroke! You think I’d risk upsetting her by snooping in her stuff? I couldn’t do that. If I was responsible for her getting sick again, I’d never forgive myself. Plus we don’t know for sure that it has anything to do with Aubree.”
Melanie did an eye roll. “Seriously? Of course it’s connected! You’re wussing out, Paige. You know it, and so do I.” She took another long sip of her drink, and when she looked over at Paige her features softened. “Look, I get that you feel bad about your mother’s stroke. You probably even feel a bit guilty because you weren’t around more. But seeing what’s in that chest is more important right now than your sensitivity to your mother’s privacy.”
Her eyes glinted when she grinned. “Which is why I’m going to go through that chest.”
“No you aren’t! You can’t—”
Melanie slapped the tabletop, hard enough that the drinks jostled. “I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in almost a week! Like it or not, I’m in this with you, girlfriend! There’s got to be some connection between the dreams and what’s going on in your house with that chest. I promise if I find something really personal like sex toys or something I’ll never breathe a word. But I’ve got to check it out even if you don’t want to.”
Sex toys? Eeew. Who was this woman, talking about sex toys in the same breath as Mom? But she could tell that Melanie was totally serious. Paige’s eyes narrowed. “You won’t find anything like that. Trust me. But maybe it wouldn’t hurt to take a peek.”
Melanie was right, and this was the only way to tackle this. That box secured by the elastic band was curious. If there was some connection to Aubree, Melanie would find it. She trusted Mel to be discreet if it was anything that would embarrass her mother.
“Hey! I was teasing about the sex toys. But there’s got to be something…”
Paige swallowed hard. “There may be something. I did kind of peek into the chest. There was a box that she’d hidden in the lower level under my christening gown.”
“Aha! So you did snoop! I knew it!” Melanie chuckled and then took a long swallow of whisky, polishing it off.
“I didn’t snoop! I put everything back and never opened that black box.”
Melanie signaled to the waitress to bring another round, and then her smile dropped gazing at Paige. “Aubree wants me to help you. That much should be clear to both of us. We’re supposed to work together to find her killer.”
“Good luck with that. The police can’t even find him.” Paige took a deep breath. “Can you believe that this is even happening? These dreams, that chest? Now we’re following a dead girl’s directions. I never believed in this kind of paranormal crap.”
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Paige smiled. “Shakespeare. Tenth grade. Mrs. McCarthy would be proud, Mel.”
Melanie smiled and passed a fifty dollar bill to the waitress when she appeared with the drinks. She waved at her to keep the change and turned back to Paige. There was a grim set to her mouth. “You should get back to your mom. Tell her I’ll come over to see her tomorrow.”
Paige took a long sip of the Jack Daniels relishing the slow burn in her belly. For once the muscles in the back of her neck seemed to loosen in the warmth of the whisky. “You’ll go through her chest when you visit, right? Wait till she’s asleep at least.”
“Absolutely! And trust me, Paige. I’ll keep her secrets if I don’t think we need to know them. But we have to do this. There has to be something there.”
Paige finished her drink and slipped her jacket on. “Are you still on Sycamore Avenue? You’d better walk home or take a cab.”
“Not to worry. Seth will come and pick me up.”
Seeing Paige’s jaw drop, she added, “We’ve got some catching up to do, girlfriend. After we help Aubree.”
Chapter 22
LATER THAT NIGHT Paige sat with her mother in the living room. Karen had helped clean up after a wonderful dinner and had left. The TV was playing some sitcom but it was more background noise than anything either of them paid any attention to. Still, it brought back memories of times they’d shared not talking much but content with just being with each other.
Paige felt her mother’s hand slip over hers. The two of them were sharing an afghan that Cheryl had crocheted. It was cozy and nice. No thoughts of Aubree or the strange sea chest.
“Would you like some tea or hot chocolate, Mom?” Paige looked into her mother’s face, noting the lines that had deepened in her forehead. It was the only thing that had changed about her mother’s face. Her sky-blue eyes still sparkled even
if there were worn cusps of darker flesh under them.
Her mother shook her head and squeezed Paige’s hand. It was enough to just be there, sharing the moment.
Paige smiled. “I ran into Melanie Walker earlier. She wants to visit you tomorrow. You won’t believe how she’s changed, Mom. She’s not the mousy girl she used to be. I’m just giving you a heads up because she knocked me for a loop.”
Her mother nodded, and her lips moved silently until the word she was seeking popped out. “Good. Melanie. Y...yes.”
Paige breathed out a sigh of relief when the words her mother had obviously struggled with came out. She glanced at the television set and then grabbed the remote, turning it off. Her mother’s eyes widened when Paige got to her feet.
“Hang on, Mom. I’ve got an idea.” She raced into the bedroom and picked her laptop from the dresser. When she settled again with her mother, she clicked the pictures folder and watched it open showing a series of icons. Some of the photos were older, taken mostly during holidays she had shared with her mother.
The screen filled with a photo of her mother and her eating ice cream cones in Olin Park. Paige tilted the screen so her mother could have a better look. “Remember that day, Mom? It was the Fourth of July and we staked a spot to watch the fireworks later.” She nudged her mother’s arm. “You told me to get vanilla ice cream, that wearing a white T-shirt and picking chocolate was tempting fate. You were right from the looks of that stain.”
Aside from the fond memories she knew her mother would enjoy, it was the elements in the photos that Paige wanted to subtly mention.
She brushed the screen to a picture of her mother on her hands and knees weeding her flower bed while a neighbor’s dog was squatting at the edge of the lawn, leaving a stinky present.
“I wonder if the Joneses ever got another dog after Barney died. Your petunias looked really nice that year, Mom.”
The speech therapist had recommended a touch-screen tablet and a program which her mother could use to help her recover her speech. She’d buy one the next day and set things up, but in the meantime, sharing memories while saying the names of different items in the pictures would help her mother’s therapy.
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