His Lovely Garden

by M. L. Bullock

  Lucas had had enough of this conversation. “I agree. No, please hear me out. My father is dead. He gave his life to set things right. It feels wrong to tamper with these things now.” His hurt expression broke my heart. I hoped he didn’t believe that I would willingly sacrifice him or his son. “My dad was an honest man if I ever saw one and a good man. Jessica should have left things alone. Sugar Hill and Thorn Hill are not safe places to explore if you’re sensitive to the supernatural side of life.”

  I agreed with them, but that didn’t make the idea of giving up taste any sweeter. “It’s too late now. She’s gone. What’s done is done,” Lucas said. We sat in silence for a few minutes.

  Then Danforth leaned in and asked in a near whisper, “And what about the Lovely Man, Avery? The power of the ring has been broken, I believe that, but have you considered that it is only broken here in this present time? In the past, Ambro—I mean, the Lovely Man—is still in power. He still woos the women of this family with promises of love and fortune and revenge. He is still tending his Lovely Garden, as the older generation called it. Do you think he doesn’t know what’s happened to the ring, that the power has been broken? He knows, and he will not be happy about it. In fact, I wouldn’t doubt it if he tried to show himself to you again. Or someone else.” He cast his eyes to the doorway where Dolly Jane paced while talking to Summer.

  I sat in wide-eyed horror as I pondered his words. Danforth was right. I never thought I would agree with him, but he was completely right. It was possible that the Lovely Man already knew we had defeated him, but he wasn’t defeated in the past. Could he come after us now? If so, he might be able to reach one of the Dufresnes.

  “Forgive me, Avery and Reed. I’m not feeling quite myself. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to go home and freshen up before we get started. Did you say seven o’clock? In the ballroom, correct?” His change of tone surprised me, but I was ready to be out of his presence. I had a lot to think about.

  “Yes. Thank you.”

  “All right. I’ll be there. I’d better take this with me.” Using a napkin, he picked up the pocket watch and left.

  “I should check on Arnold Lee,” Lucas said unhappily as he left Reed and me alone with the pizza “bones” and dirty plates.

  Reed said, “That didn’t go as well as it might. But I think it was pretty good for a Dufresne party. No one got drunk, and no one died.”

  I laid my head on his shoulder. “So, you really think this is a bad idea? It’s not too late to call it off, Reed.”

  “I think it’s the only real way you’re going to know what happened to Jessica, but you can’t guarantee anyone’s safety. You know that, and so do they.”

  “So we’re all just pawns in some paranormal game?”

  “No. I think we all have choices. We’re not pawns at all.”

  “I feel like I’ve been trapped here in this house forever and we’ve only been here a day.” I shivered at hearing my own description. What would that be like, being trapped in Sugar Hill forever? I couldn’t imagine, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that Jessica knew all about it.

  And I had to set her free. No matter what the cost.

  Chapter Eleven – Mike

  “When was the first time you saw a ghost?” Becker’s voice surprised me. We’d grabbed subs for dinner and crashed in the hotel, neither one of us saying much. I left Avery a message but hadn’t heard back from her. My back felt stiff—long drives killed me nowadays. Too much time on the road.

  “Had my first experience at the community college library in my hometown, twenty or so years ago.”

  “No kidding? Like Ghostbusters? Isn’t that where they saw their first ghost?”

  I snorted at the comparison. “That’s fiction. What I saw was the real deal, and it wasn’t an apparition of an old lady hanging out by the card catalog. This thing—I’d say it was a shadow creature—it tried to push me off a ladder.”

  “What? Seriously?”

  I put the television on mute. “Yeah. It was a temporary summer job. Not much pay but enough to live on between semesters. I still had dreams of becoming a veterinarian back then. The job was pretty easy. We were to do some small repairs, basic maintenance like change out the light bulbs and install new cabinets and bookcases. It was just me and one other college kid, Paul something or other. We had to work in the evenings because there were a ton of students there during the day. One night, we were screwing down a new bookcase; this thing was huge, a wooden monstrosity that went from floor to ceiling. Paul had this thing about heights, so I had to go up the ladder.”

  “Kind of like you do now?” Becker joked as he popped the top on a can of soda.

  Funny how I hadn’t put that together until he mentioned it. Man, Megan was right. I wasn’t in touch with myself at all.

  “True. I didn’t have that fear or phobia before that night, but it has stayed with me even after all these years. Man, I will always remember that experience. The library had an eerie vibe to it that night. I felt like eyes were on me. I kept looking around thinking I’d catch whoever it was staring at me, but there wasn’t a soul in the library that night. Even with the lights on, that place cast a lot of shadows.”

  “I never have liked libraries.”

  I nodded in agreement. “Paul left to get me a new battery for the power drill. Had to go out to the truck to grab one. While he was gone, the lights in the resource room where we were working began to flicker. I couldn’t understand it because we’d just replaced the ballasts and bulbs. I had to climb down to check it out, but it was as dark as a cave in that back room. I couldn’t see a thing, so I had to wait until my eyes adjusted to the dark. I called for Paul a few times, but the jerk didn’t answer. I finally said screw it, I’ve got to get down.”

  “Sounds intense. Hey, no wonder you don’t like heights. Did you fall?”

  “No, but it’s a miracle I didn’t. That shadow thing, I thought at first maybe it was a cat, it began to circle the bottom of the ladder. It kept going around and around. The room was pitch black, like I said, but this thing was even blacker. It gathered up into a ball and growled at me, and when I heard that, I knew I was in trouble. I got about halfway down—these were ten-foot ceilings—and the whole ladder started shaking. The legs rocked back and forth like I was riding a bucking bronco. I shouted at it, but it didn’t do any good. Just when I was about to fall, Paul came back in the room and flipped the lights on. Everything stopped. First thing he asked me was why I turned the lights off. I told him what happened, but he didn’t believe me. Not at first, anyway.”

  “Dang. Definitely intense. I thought I had an awesome first-time ghost story.”

  “Yeah. I saw that thing twice after that. The third time was the charm because I quit and left Paul to finish the job himself. He saw something, though; I have no doubt about that. He saw something but didn’t want to tell me about it.”

  “You know, if people were honest, I think we’d hear about a lot more supernatural encounters. But it’s like some big secret. I mean, who hasn’t seen something they can’t explain?”

  “Yeah,” I agreed as I leaned back on the pillow. “Tell me about your first-time ghost story, as you so eloquently put it.”

  “Nothing like yours. I saw my grandfather after he died, Grandpa Dave. He was in the garage sitting in his old car, a 1968 hardtop Chevy Camaro. He wasn’t a nice guy when he was alive, and he sure as heck didn’t like people tinkering with his car. Grandpa Dave let me know in no uncertain terms I wasn’t to touch his ride. I got the message.”

  “No doubt you would. What was he doing?”

  “After he passed away, my friend and I went to check out the car. I just wanted to sit in it…it wasn’t like I really intended on driving it out of the garage. Jack, my bud from school, decided to be a wise guy and light up a cigarette in the car. Suddenly the doors locked all by themselves. And these weren’t electronic locks. Both doors locked, whoomp, whoomp. I looked in the rearview mirror, and there wa
s Grandpa Dave. Jack and I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”

  “Shoot. What did Jack say?”

  “Not a dang thing. He didn’t want to talk about it.”

  There wasn’t much to say after that, and I felt exhausted. It was still light out, too early for bed, but I couldn’t move another inch.

  “Hey, Mike?”

  “Huh?” I said as I closed my eyes. I was so tired, tired but anxious. I was ready for tomorrow to arrive. Tomorrow I’d be walking into Sugar Hill; I’d be that much closer to finding out what happened to Jessica.

  “Thanks.”

  “For what?” I asked as I opened a lazy eye. “Driving the whole way here and letting you sleep? I’d be surprised if you slept at all tonight.”

  “No, not that. And for your information, I can sleep anytime, anywhere. You should know that by now.”

  Remembering the half dozen times I’d caught Jeffrey Becker napping in the My Haunted Plantation van brought a smile to my face. The kid used to drive me crazy with that crap, but now I’d give anything to have those days back. To have Jessica back.

  “I mean thanks for inviting me along. I don’t think many investigators would do that nowadays. I’m kind of damaged goods.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m kind of desperate,” I lied. I could have reached out to someone else, but the truth was I wanted Becker here. He was part of the team. For better or for worse. No, that’s marriage. I don’t know. My brain hurts.

  “Yeah, I know I screwed up. I should never have tinkered with the evidence. I’m sorry I did. I let you down with that whole thing, but I won’t let you down again.”

  I reached over and turned off the lamp. “We’re okay, Becker. Let’s just find Jessica and bring her home.”

  He breathed a sigh of relief and asked, “What if we can’t find her?”

  I hesitated a minute. I didn’t even want to consider that possibility. “Do I need to tuck you in or something, or can I go to sleep now?”

  “I’m good. Thanks.”

  Becker turned the television down but didn’t turn it off. That didn’t bother me. I was used to sleeping with the television on.

  It helped to drown out the voices.

  So many voices. So many ghosts. I couldn’t live with one more.

  Chapter Twelve – Avery

  Reed wheeled me into the ballroom a few minutes before seven, and I was surprised to see we were the last ones to arrive. Lucas hovered behind Arnold Lee like a mama bird. His son waved at us while Dolly Jane sat in her comfy chair and looked bored, but then she always looked bored. Robin had thoughtfully brought in five chairs and arranged them in a circle. Danforth had red cheeks; a sure sign that he’d decided to partake of a bit of bourbon before coming down here.

  “Thank you for being here. I appreciate you all more than I can say. You must think I’m being dramatic, insisting that we meet here in the ballroom, but this would be about the time that Jessica disappeared, and this is certainly the place. Tomorrow, Jessica’s friends from her paranormal team are coming to Sugar Hill to search for her. But before they do that, Reed thought it would be a good idea if we looked for her ourselves. However, I don’t want any of you to get hurt. If you feel at all that you’re in danger at any time, I want you to leave the ballroom. Lucas, that goes double for you. If you think it’s unsafe for you or Arnold Lee, you take him and go. I will understand. No hard feelings. I haven’t asked you here as matrone; you were asked to come because we consider you our friends.”

  Danforth respectfully nodded while Lucas hugged his son. Arnold Lee perched in his lap and tugged on his father’s shirt. He desperately wanted me to see his picture, so I accepted it. The child’s drawing skills had improved so much, and he’d begun to add a lot of detail to each picture. This one was unusual because Arnold Lee had sketched it out as if it were a comic book. The long sheet of paper was drawn into eight square boxes. The first box was easy to recognize. That was Arnold Lee and his grandfather. They both wore chauffeur’s hats.

  “I know who that is, Arnold Lee. That’s your grandpa, right?”

  He smiled and pointed to the next one. “And that is Daddy. He’s wearing his special boots because it is really muddy out.”

  “Really? Let’s take a look. That looks like a pond. Is he working down at the pond?” Arnold Lee gave me a thumbs-up and pointed to the next few frames. The last one caught my eye. Jessica was the only character in that one. She was lying in a bed with her eyes closed, looking like a princess in her green dress. Her hands were folded over her chest…did this mean she was dead? I couldn’t ask him that. I felt tears burn my eyes.

  And then I heard Arnold Lee humming a tune. What was that? Gloomy Sunday? “How long have you been singing that song, Arnold Lee? I like that song.”

  “Since a few days ago. But I don’t like it much.” He pointed to another frame of the drawing. “See that?”

  What was that? A well? I knew there was a well on the property. Back when I first arrived here, when Susanna reached out to me and my ex-producer Amanda tried to kill me, I’d fought a desperate spirit there. Handsome had saved me. Where would I be without him?

  “Let me look a little closer. Is that a well?” I asked Arnold Lee politely.

  Dolly Jane leaned over and laughed. “That is a portal. You can see the air swirling around.”

  “I do see it. Thank you, Arnold Lee.” His beautiful smile lit up his face, and with it came a truckload of guilt. No way could I allow this child to interact with the paranormal. Not at this level. Reed’s sad expression confirmed what I was thinking. “Lucas, you go ahead and take Arnold Lee on home now.”

  “Really? Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely. Thank you for the picture, Arnold Lee. This is exactly what we needed. You keep on drawing.”

  “I will. I will!”

  Lucas stood up and mouthed, “Thank you,” to me, and I gave him a grim smile. No, they didn’t belong here. Lucas was right. His father had already given the ultimate sacrifice. Did this house require more from the Cheever bloodline? No, it did not. As matrone, I would not allow it.

  You hear me, fate? You will not touch that boy or his father!

  And now there were just four of us: Danforth, Reed, Dolly Jane and me. “Everyone all right? Dolly Jane? Danforth, are you ready to get started?” I asked him anxiously.

  “Yes, I’m ready.” With shaking hands, Danforth removed the pocket watch from his pocket. It was still wrapped in a napkin. He held it in the palm of his hand, and his other hand hovered over it, not touching it. He waved his hand back and forth while he closed his eyes. This went on for a minute or so until Dolly Jane said, “Are you going to touch it or what?” She was as curious as I was about the whole process.

  “Yes, but I am waiting for the right person to show up. Lots of people have touched this item, including you, young lady. Be patient. I have to go back quite a ways.”

  “Oh, I see what you’re doing.” Dolly Jane sat up now, completely mesmerized by Danforth’s wicking. “It’s almost like you’re swiping away the wrong energy and searching for the right one.”

  Danforth stopped what he was doing and opened his eyes. “You have the gift too, don’t you?”

  “I’m not a child. I’m fifteen, thank you very much.”

  I couldn’t hide my surprise. “Is Danforth right, Dolly Jane? Do you know how to wick?”

  “No, but I think I can do it. I can do a lot of things.” She grinned that sneaky Summer smile but didn’t provide any further information.

  Danforth said, “As I mentioned earlier, a person’s wicking ability diminishes if someone else present has a greater gift. But I shall try.” He closed his eyes again, and we all watched. “I see many faces, but not the one I am looking for.” He continued to swipe as if he were turning the pages of a book. Suddenly he shouted, “Ah! He knows me. He has seen me, Avery. He knows I’m there and that I’m looking for Jessica.” Danforth’s face turned red, and he clutched the pocket watch as if he were in
a great struggle with some invisible force.

  “Reed! Do something!” And then finally, Danforth gave up the fight and the watch dropped on the floor. Before any of us could think, Dolly Jane picked it up.

  She held it in her hand strangely, with the chain drooped over her wrist. With a determined expression, she said, “The door is open! I can see it!”

  I could barely keep up with everything that was happening. Danforth cried out, “Dolly Jane, don’t do it!” He was crying so hard that I immediately pushed my chair beside him.

  “It’s okay, Danforth. That’s enough for tonight. We tried. Please, that’s enough.” I was crying too, and I was confused. “Reed, Dolly Jane…”

  But she wasn’t there. “Dolly Jane?” I repeated. My cousin had disappeared, and nobody had seen her leave. “Dolly Jane! Where are you?”

  Danforth continued to cry and blubber. “He saw me, Avery. I should have fought harder. The Lovely Man used to come to me too. I knew him. He would bring me presents when I was young, trinkets, jewels, money. He asked me to do things for him, and because I was a child, I listened to him. I did horrible things. He knows me!” Danforth was losing it, and I didn’t know what to do about it or what to make of his confession.

  “Where is Dolly Jane, Danforth? Where is she right now?”

  “She’s done what I can’t do, and you can’t either, Avery. We’re not as strong as she is. Dolly Jane is stronger than all of us, even stronger than Summer. She’s with him now—gone to find Jessica. I do not know if he will let her go.”

  “Come on, Danforth. Let’s get you out of here. I’d better take him up to his room and put him to bed. Avery, will you be all right here for a minute?”

  “Yes,” I said as I wiped tears from my eyes. “I’ll be here.”

  “All right,” he said in a worried tone. Danforth cried all the way down the hall. I could hear him crying as he climbed the steps.