Jane cackled.
Kara uncrossed her arms, turning to watch Tom pour wine into a third glass of orange juice.
Shannon sliced an orange into wedges, saying to Tom, “I thought I’d add a little finesse to my beverage.”
“Finesse?” Tom chuckled. “Fancy.”
Shannon carried her glass and a plate of the orange slices to the kitchen table. Sitting down across from Jane, she finally made proper introductions. “Jane, this is Kara Tameson, the homeowner.”
“Ha!” Jane scoffed. “Owner.”
Kara noticed Tom’s head jerk up, meeting Jane’s eyes across the room. Still gripping onto politeness, Kara asked again, “How do you know Shannon?”
“Oh, we go back a ways.”
“Oh? Are you related?”
Jane mulled it over for a moment and then shrugged. “I guess you could say that.”
Kara glanced at her friends, but they were silent, drinking from their glasses. “So—” She started again, but Tom set his glass down and stood close to her.
“I’m ready to install the chandelier. Where’d you put it?”
“Really, Tom?” Shannon raised her eyebrows.
He gave Shannon a look Kara couldn’t define before heading down the hallway. Kara followed. She didn’t understand the vibe in the kitchen, so she figured she might as well follow something she did understand.
“John and I already replaced the light.” She noticed a black duffel bag by the front door. “I couldn’t stand not having a light in here.”
He glanced in the office, and then stopped by the door.
“John’s not home,” she said. “I told Shannon we already installed it. She probably should’ve called you. It would’ve saved you a trip.”
“Is he out all night?”
“Probably. Call him tomorrow. I think we’re ready to start on another project.”
“Where are the kids?”
“Jack’s watching TV and Lilah’s in bed.”
He nodded and then heaved the duffel bag over his shoulder before returning to the kitchen. Kara followed him, finding the ladies standing in front of the counter, their expressions blank.
Something was off. Kara’s pulse quickened. She looked at Jack, seeing he had turned the TV volume low. He sat on the couch, watching them.
“What’s going on?” Kara asked.
The adults exchanged looks, silently communicating.
Kara took an instinctive step back to the edge of the hallway. She tried to smile, act nonchalant, but faltered.
Tom dropped the duffel bag with a dead thump onto the kitchen table. “John’s out tonight.”
Kara’s face grew warm. Why were they making her uncomfortable?
Shannon spoke up, “He’s always working overnights. It’s just Kara and the kids. That’s fine.”
He looked at Jane. “How are we doing this? Are you sure?”
Jane scoffed, “Hell, yes. It ain’t right.”
“ ’Tain’t right,” Shannon said with an overexaggerated twang. “Classy, Jane.”
“You!” Jane yelled, making Kara and Jack jump. “Have no business being here!”
“Hold it!” Tom hollered. He moved his hand to his bag, catching Kara’s attention. She watched him unzip it.
“If I weren’t here, we wouldn’t have this chance,” Shannon spat back.
Tom smacked her on the side of the head. “Shut up!”
Kara flinched, her heart thundering in her ears. She went to Jack, handed him a crutch, and led him out of the room.
“Hold on there, Kara,” Tom said, softly.
She saw he had taken a slender rope out of the bag. Her eyes widened. The wind howled, long and loud, making all of them, just for a moment, turn their eyes to the windows where darkness lay on the other side. Kara swallowed, tightening her grip on Jack’s free hand.
“I’m sorry about this,” Tom said, sympathetically, “but I’m going to have to make you a little uncomfortable.”
“What’s going on?” Kara asked.
He crossed the room, two lengths of rope in his hand and, taking Kara’s and Jack’s hands, led them to the couch. He pushed them down gently. He looked at Shannon, who nodded, then turned back to Jack.
Jack looked at his mom for an explanation, but Kara could give none. As he shifted, something in his hands caught the light, catching Tom’s attention. A metal medallion.
“What do you have there?” Tom asked.
All eyes were on Jack’s hand. He opened his palm, revealing the toy sheriff’s star her had found in the pop-up camper.
Tom’s expression softened. “Where did you get that?”
Jack’s eyes darted to Tom’s. He swallowed, closing his fist around the star. “In the grass,” he lied.
Tom locked eyes with him. “In the grass? In the backyard?”
Jack glanced at his mom and then at the two women in the kitchen, who watched in rapt attention. He glanced down at his buckled hand before meeting Tom’s eyes. “Yeah.”
“You know,” Tom said, squatting down. “I had a star just like that when I was a kid. My friends and I played cops and robbers. D’you ever play that?”
“No.”
Tom stood. They were quiet for a minute until he asked, “Do you have homework, Jack?”
“No.”
“Why don’t you go up to bed?”
Jack looked questioningly at Kara.
“Tom, what—” Kara stopped, seeing the warning in Tom’s eyes.
Sternly, Tom said, “Jack, I think your mom would like you to go to bed.”
Kara nodded. “It’s a school night. Go to bed.” As he started to get up, she whispered, “We’ll be okay.”
Jack, still clutching the star, hurried out of the room. The adults were silent, listening to him climb the stairs and shut his bedroom door.
Tom turned his attention to Kara. He was tugging on the rope, as if contemplating his next move. She hoped he would realize that whatever he had in mind was wrong and they would go on their way.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, glancing at her.
“Get on with it already, Tom!” Shannon cried.
Kara’s eyes darted to look at the woman who had been her closest friend over the last couple months. Shannon looked so different now, almost feral.
“What do you want?” Kara asked.
“Not many things. Just one really.” Tom took Kara’s wrists and knotted the rope around them.
Chapter Thirty-one
“Thanks for everything, John.” Lance Thurston, the director of Severs, Ltd., slapped him on the back.
“We shouldn’t see any more of those errors.” John slid behind the steering wheel. He had parked close to a lamppost in Sever’s nearly empty parking lot. The bright beam lit up Thurston’s smiling face.
“You did a great job, John.”
“Thanks. The team worked long hours to—” His cellphone rang. Glancing at it, he didn’t recognize the phone number. Whoever it was had called him earlier that day without leaving a message. He sent it to voicemail. “…get the server going. Now onto the next thing.”
“Isn’t that right? You and your team did well. Keep an eye out. There’s a bonus coming your way.”
“I’m relieved it worked out, to be honest.” That was the truth. His team had saved the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in potentially lost revenue with the software they had designed and had struggled to bring to fruition.
Thurston nodded. “ ‘Relieved’ is the correct word for all of us. See you tomorrow. You have a hell of a long drive ahead of you, don’t you?”
John started the engine. “About an hour. Not too bad.”
“We’ll see you tomorrow.”
John steered the car out of the parking lot and headed for home, driving above the speed limit. Kara would be upset he had worked again through the evening. As he pulled onto the highway, he flipped to his voicemail, and played the new message.
“Hi, John. Ahem! This is
Desmond Howard from City Realty. Um…I have some concerns about your, uh, your house…”
Chapter Thirty-two
“Keep your voice down,” Shannon warned Kara. “I don’t see the kids waking up, not after that pill I slipped them at dinner.” Shannon’s lips curled, cruelly. “Not as heavy as the pill I gave you a couple weeks ago, but something to keep them down. Still, we don’t need you making any noise.”
Kara’s eyes blazed. “What did you give them?”
Shannon pulled a gray hoodie out of her tote bag and put it on. “Nothing too strong. Don’t worry about it.”
Kara turned her eyes on Tom, pleading, “I wish you would tell me what you want.” She was afraid of the answer.
He was in the kitchen, rifling in his duffel bag. Kara didn’t want to see what he would pull next out of his bag of tricks. It was insane. She was tied up, for God’s sake!
Shannon went to the far side of the great room. “I can’t believe I was so dumb. I actually thought we could be friends. Can you believe how dense I was?” Laughing, she pulled a serrated knife from her pocket.
Kara inhaled sharply. She watched the blade as Shannon moved it from hand to hand. She didn’t say anything for a time. No one did.
The silence was finally broken when the wind howled outside, a low, lengthy moan. Kara’s eyes flicked toward the backdoor. Someone passed by on the other side of the glass panes. Excited (was it help, or was it another of Shannon’s cohorts not yet announced?), Kara leaned forward. The wind howled again. Her eyes flicked to Jane and Tom, seated at the kitchen table, their expressions unreadable.
Shannon moved to the center of the room, drawing back Kara’s attention. “You told me all about your baby girl. Sophie.” She paused, tilting her head to the side. “Hell, you even dragged me to the cemetery to check out her grave. Now, I thought that was a bit morbid. Maybe even a bit self-centered if you think about it. ‘Let me tell you all about my baby, the one I confuse with my living kid, boohoo.’ Such tragedy, Kara. Tsk, tsk.”
Shannon stepped forward and Kara stood. She moved away from the couch, angling her bounded wrists ahead of her, turning. Shannon moved forward and Kara moved back until her back bumped against the playroom door, a dead end.
“I can tell you all about tragedy, Kara. It happens all the time, even to rich people like you. Sucks doesn’t it, that not even money could keep your baby alive? No money in the world could bring your daughter back. But then, you were able to have another daughter, weren’t you? Speaking of which…” Shannon spun around and headed toward the hallway. She turned sideways and smiled cruelly. “Maybe we need to bring out the kiddos.”
“No!” Kara shouted. “Leave them alone!”
Shannon turned her back on her and sprinted down the hallway, the knife lowered at her side, running like a woman possessed.
“No!” Kara screamed, crying. She ran after to stop her, but Tom blocked her in the kitchen.
“Shannon!” he yelled. “We’re not involving kids in this! You touch them and I walk.”
The three in the kitchen looked down the empty hallway. Seconds later, Shannon reappeared.
The sudden movement made Kara jump. “Please, Shannon.” Tears glided down Kara’s cheeks. “I don’t know what’s going on, but please don’t hurt Lilah and Jack.”
Shannon marched up to Kara, their faces inches apart. Kara flinched, pulling back. Shannon hissed, “Don’t worry, Kara, they’ll be fine.” She moved away, plopping down on the couch, and crossed her legs.
“Oh, look at this,” Shannon said, picking up Lilah’s clay statue by the neck. Fixing her eyes on it, she said, “This thing is cursed!” She pulled her arm back, ready to hurl it across the room.
But Kara’s outburst stopped her. “No, please! You know Lilah loves her doll.” After all this was over, Lilah would need it for comfort. Kara might not make it through the night, but Lilah would. She had to believe that anyway.
Shannon turned blazing eyes on Kara. “Lilah’s doll?” She lowered the statue and slid her fingers, almost lovingly, over its taped body. “Do you know what this is?”
“Shannon,” Tom growled. “That’s enough!”
She ignored him. It was now only her and Kara in the world. “I can’t believe you gave a chipped, fragile statue to a child as a toy.”
Kara tried to back into the hallway, but Tom rested a heavy hand on her shoulder and steered her into the great room. He gave her a push, making her drop onto the armchair, catty-corner to the couch where Shannon sat.
Shannon waved the statue at her. “You dug this up, didn’t you?”
Kara nodded and replied, “John found it, landscaping.”
Shannon laughed loud and hard. “You’re both idiots. Nothing pleases me more than to finally be able to tell you that to your face. I only wish John were here so I could tell him too.”
John. He hadn’t texted Kara again. Would he be coming home soon? She strained to listen for his car, but she heard nothing besides the howling wind.
Shannon stood up and backed up to the fireplace, holding up the statue like she was performing a classroom show-and-tell. “This is a St. Joseph’s statue.”
“St. Joseph?” Kara looked at her blankly.
“Well, alright, I didn’t have an actual statue of St. Joseph.” Shannon peered into the clay faces of the girl and frog. “I’m curious, Kara. Do you know who you bought this house from?”
Kara blinked away tears, glancing at the pair who kept silent in the kitchen. “The bank. It was bank-owned when we bought it.”
“Do you know who the bank stole it from? Who the builder was, the actual homeowner? The one who drew up the plans for the property?”
Kara swallowed, shaking her head.
“You never cared to find out, did you? Well, how kind of you,” Shannon scoffed. “Jimmy Howard. You didn’t get any mail for him? Any past-due bills?”
Kara shook her head. The name rang no bells.
“Uncle Jimmy, Tom’s uncle. Tom was more like a son to him. This was Jimmy’s house. You know, we tried to get the house back. We tried to scare you out.”
Kara’s eyes widened.
Shannon continued, “They were subtle things, too subtle, but we tried to get you out. Little things like taping a note to your front door. ‘Leave!’ Boooo…” Shannon laughed.
“That was you?” Kara was aghast.
“There were other things too…things that go bump in the night.” Shannon’s lips curled.
It was impossible the nightmares were courtesy of Shannon, but it’s where Kara’s mind went. The dreams were because of…what, a ghost? Caused by the tragic Collumber family? Goosebumps ran along skin as she glanced about the room. Hearing the howling wind added to her unease. Was it the boogeyman haunting her on the other side of the backdoor? But who cared about the boogeyman when reality had turned to horror?
“Tom helped Uncle Jimmy design and build this house. The plan was for me and Tom to move in with Uncle Jimmy, because he didn’t want to live alone anymore. Jimmy grew up here. They had a cabin in the woods then, dumpy, falling apart. I saw it when they tore it down. You wouldn’t have believed the hard work that went into tearing down that cabin and hauling away trash. They burned most of it, but some of the pieces were too large, so they had someone take it away for scrap. Tom spent so many days and nights with Uncle Jimmy making the final changes to the house plans.
“Uncle Jimmy lived with us in town and they worked on this house every day. The house wasn’t finished, but it was good enough to live in…as you know. It was time for Uncle Jimmy to move into his dream home. This home. But, oh no, he couldn’t, Kara. The bank wanted it. Uncle Jimmy missed a couple payments and then the next thing we knew, the bank had foreclosed. They swooped in and grabbed his dream home and the land his family had owned for generations. It was the bank’s, just like that.” Shannon snapped her fingers.
Tears rolled down her cheeks, but she made no move to wipe them away. “Uncle Jimmy never got the chance
to move his bed in. He used to sleep in that nasty camper parked in the woods. Have you seen it? Some nights he’d sleep in the house, though, curl up with a blanket in his dream home…And then you asked John’s friend at your party if that nasty blanket you found was his!” She cackled obscenely. “I bet it was Jimmy’s!”
Kara exhaled, remembering the paint-spattered woolen blanket she’d found in her bedroom closet. She asked, “Why did he write ‘help us’ on the camper?”
Shannon laughed, “Did he?” She waved Lilah’s statue around and rolled her eyes upward. Mockingly, she said, “ ‘St. Joseph, please help us keep our dream home’…”
“I’m sorry he lost the house,” Kara said, sympathetically. “We didn’t know anyone had owned it.”
“Of course someone owned it!”
“We really didn’t know. We figured the bank had been the only owner before. I didn’t know it had been foreclosed on.”
“You gave no thought to who had it ripped from their hands.” Shannon held up the statue again. “St. Joseph is the patron saint of house sellers. I got this from Buried Treasures. I buried it the day the bank listed the house for sale. Legend says it causes a quick sale. You bury a statue of St. Joseph upside-down in the yard and you’re supposed to sell the house fast. Me and Tom were going to buy the house from the bank. We were scraping together what we had when that damn real estate agent—your agent—swooped in and sold it even before it was listed for sale!”
She sat up and pounded the statue against her leg. “But I guess the joke was on me, because I didn’t even get a statue of St. Joseph! I messed that up, huh?”
Shannon was silent for a while before continuing, “Do you know I used to own Buried Treasures?” When Kara’s eyebrows raised, she laughed. “Yep. Imagine that! It was a long time ago and I only had it for a year before the bank took that away too. When you realized the statue resembled the shop sign, I told you I took Lilah there to ask about the statue, which thank God, you believed. We never went. You are just dumb sometimes, Kara. Tsk, tsk.
“That damn real estate agent!” Shannon hollered. “When we heard you guys had moved in, we started contacting him, letting him know he made a horrible mistake. Yes, I admit, we panicked. He’s so pigheaded, he didn’t do anything to back out of the transaction.” Shannon pounded her free fist into her thigh.
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