by Jana DeLeon
She threw her hands in the air. “So call your congressman.”
She looked back at Cornelius. “Tell me something that you’ve observed Dane doing when no one else was around to see. Something besides his regular work.”
“Like what?” Cornelius asked.
“I don’t know what. Something that I wouldn’t know or be able to guess.”
She glanced over at Dane, who was staring at her with a mixture of concern and disbelief. This whole thing was going about as well as she figured it would.
“Oh,” Cornelius said. “He had a roast beef sandwich, sea-salt-and-cracked-pepper potato chips, and grape soda for lunch yesterday. He ate it sitting in the lawn chair out back where he uses his saw during the day.”
“Good,” Zoe said. “That’s good.” She repeated what Cornelius said and Dane’s eyes widened.
“Okay,” he said. “I have no idea how you knew that but I will also say that I eat that same lunch at least three times a week.”
“And you think I sought someone out and quizzed them over your lunch habits in order to make you believe I was seeing a ghost?”
He looked uneasy. “No. But Sapphire could have mentioned it.”
“I know this might be hard for you to believe, but I don’t spend time talking about you when you’re not around.” She spun around to look at Cornelius again, then looked back at Dane. “Fine, I have another idea.”
She went into the living room and dug a pad of paper and a pen out of an end table, then handed it to Dane. “I want you to go outside and write something on this piece of paper. Anything at all. Cornelius will go with you and read it. Then you’ll both come back inside and I’ll tell you what it says.”
“This is ridiculous,” Dane said.
“What can it hurt? At best, you get to prove I’m crazy. I’ll even let you say it.”
He shook his head. “If it will end this absurd conversation then I’ll do it.” He headed out the front door and Zoe signaled for Cornelius to follow.
“Close the door,” she instructed as Dane walked out, “and make sure the paper is facing the opposite direction of the house. I don’t want you coming up with any way that I tricked you.”
He shot her one last disbelieving look before pulling the door closed. Cornelius walked right through it and Zoe stood there, fuming and counting the seconds.
About thirty seconds later, Dane walked back inside and stopped a couple of feet in front of her, his arms crossed and a piece of folded paper clutched in his hand.
Zoe looked at Cornelius. “What does the paper say?”
“Aunt Tilly is willy-nilly,” Cornelius said. “Is that part of a rhyme? I’ve never heard it.”
Zoe laughed. “It’s not a rhyme. It’s something Dane used to say about his aunt Tilly when she was stressed.”
His eyes widened and she repeated what Cornelius said.
“Do you want to show me the paper?” she asked.
His gaze never left hers as he unfolded the paper and handed it to her. The words she’d just repeated were written on it.
“Now do you believe me?” she asked quietly.
A tiny bit of color had left his face and his mouth hung slightly open. His expression was one of someone who wanted to say something but wasn’t quite sure what that something was.
“I, uh…” He walked into the living room and sank onto the couch. Zoe sat next to him, giving him a chance to process the huge curveball he’d just been thrown. She, of all people, knew how it felt.
“I didn’t want to believe it either,” Zoe said. “I tried to convince myself that I was seeing things, but he was talking, too. Then I pinched myself to make sure I was awake. See, I even have bruises to prove it. Trust me, the absolute last thing in the world I wanted to do was believe that ghosts are real and that one was standing in front of me talking.”
Dane ran one hand over his head. “It’s incredible and frightening and I don’t even know where to begin with my questions, but if I take the existence of the ghost as truth, then my next question is what do you know about him?”
Zoe frowned. “Why does that matter?”
“Because he could be lying about what happened to Sapphire.”
“Why in the world would he lie?”
“I don’t know, but the reality is we don’t know anything about ghosts. But they’re not angels, so why would you assume he’s perfect? For all you know, this Cornelius could be in cahoots with the guys who broke in here.”
Cornelius drew himself up straight and glared at Dane, a completely wasted effort. “I take offense to that. I would never do anything to hurt Sapphire. She’s the only friend I have. And on that note, I think I’ll take a walk down to the ocean.” He looked at Zoe. “Good luck with this narrow-minded cretin.”
Zoe winced as Cornelius whirled around and stalked through the wall. “You’ve hurt his feelings,” she said.
Dane’s jaw dropped. “I hurt his feelings? Are you listening to yourself?”
“Yes, and although I understand you’re being careful, it was still a rude thing to say with him standing right here.”
“And how am I supposed to know where he’s standing?”
Zoe frowned. “That’s a good question. Look, I’ll tell you everything I know about Cornelius, but it’s going to be what he’s told me until I get Sapphire to verify the part of his story that she was involved in.”
“Fine. Tell me what you know.”
She repeated what she knew about Cornelius to Dane—everything from his murder to the pants situation. He was silent the entire time, and when she was done, he shook his head.
“Never in a million years,” he said. “So you believe he’s telling the truth?”
“I can’t see any reason for him to lie. Think about it. Why would he be in cahoots with a living, breathing thief? What can the living do for a dead person?”
“Assuming he’s telling the truth about the people who killed him already being dead and not being able to touch things, then maybe nothing.”
“Maybe?”
Dane shrugged. “What if Cornelius thinks the stone can bring him back to life?”
“Now you’re being ridiculous.”
“It isn’t any more far-fetched than anything else, is it? Emerald is the stone of rebirth. Okay, so it doesn’t bring him back to life, but what if it can give him power in the afterlife?”
“Like changing clothes, and touching things, and leaving the property?”
Dane nodded. “Why not? Is that any more out there than getting your wish granted for planting a penny in the dirt here? Or any of the other hundred things people in this town believe?”
“When you put it that way…”
Dane leaned close to her and looked directly at her. “Look, I’m not saying this is anything other than what you think. Maybe Cornelius is telling the truth. Maybe he doesn’t know anything more about any of this than we do.”
“But he might.” She sighed. “I’ll talk to him. Ask him about the emerald.”
“You didn’t talk to him about it last night?”
“Not really. I just told him I was reviewing family history and left it at that. Honestly, the whole thing had me kind of creeped out, and I was happy when he left the room.”
“Yeah, Jesus, I’m sorry. I hadn’t even thought about how you must have felt. Especially being here alone. And I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t have believed me either. Not without the dog and pony show. Trust me on that one.”
Dane grinned. “What are the odds, right? We might be the only two people in Everlasting who don’t buy into the town’s claim to fame and here we are, entertaining the thoughts of a ghost.”
Zoe closed her eyes and shook her head. “Don’t remind me. I’m trying not to think too hard about it because then I’ll never dig my way out of that hole. When this is all over, I’ll have a nice, long chat with a priest back home and maybe a couple rounds of therapy.”
“I
was thinking Johnnie Walker Blue Label, but yeah.”
“I’m certain I’ll never look at a pair of boxer shorts the same way again.”
“Me either, and I can’t even see him. So what do we do next?”
“The first thing I’m going to do is pick up some breakfast for Sapphire and head to the hospital. And while she eats, I’m going to pick her brain for a list of people she’s talked to recently about the emerald and her journals.”
He nodded. “Because if someone knew about it before now they would have tried to find the map already.”
“Exactly.”
Dane checked his watch. “It’s only 8:00 a.m. I didn’t think visiting hours started until ten.”
“They’re going to have to get over it. As Sapphire said, one of the things she loves most about me is my ability to ignore stupid rules.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“No.”
He lifted his eyebrows at her quick response.
“I don’t want to leave the lighthouse unattended,” she explained. “So far, he’s only tried to get in at night, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t take a chance during the day if one presented itself.”
“That’s true,” Dane admitted, but she could tell he didn’t like it. “Okay. Then I’ll keep working. And maybe I’ll take a look around a bit in case he’s lurking around, waiting on that opportunity you mentioned.”
“Be careful with that. Cornelius didn’t see any weapons when they were in the lighthouse, but it was dark. It doesn’t mean they didn’t have any.”
“You be careful too,” Dane said. “That accident got the original occupant out of the way. The treasure hunters might have expected an empty house at night afterward. But now that you’re here and since an accident worked once…”
Zoe nodded and grabbed her purse off the coffee table. She’d worried about someone breaking into the lighthouse again last night, especially after talking to Cornelius, but she hadn’t considered that she might be in danger at any opportunity the intruders felt they could seize. Dane’s point about getting her out of the way was a good one. She was going to have to be extra careful about where she went and make sure she wasn’t being followed. Forcing her econobox rental off the road would be a simple matter for a truck.
The last thing she needed was to end up in a bed in the hospital next to Sapphire.
Dane hauled a stack of tile out back and set it next to his saw. He glanced around, looking for what, he had no idea, since Cornelius could be standing on his saw table and he wouldn’t know it. Which made him sort of queasy. Just the thought that someone, even a dead someone, could be standing around watching him every second was a bit unnerving. Not that he was doing anything that was worthy of gossip, but still. Sometimes a man had to scratch his butt or rearrange things in his jeans. He didn’t necessarily want an audience for either.
He grabbed a piece of tile and shook his head, wondering what Zoe was thinking about all of this. She’d discovered him in Sapphire’s bedroom last night, which probably meant she was wearing pajamas. At least he hoped she was wearing pajamas. Back when they’d been an item, Zoe had preferred to sleep sans clothes if the weather was warm, and the weather was always warm in California. Hopefully, she’d remembered the brisk October air of Maine when she’d thrown some things in a suitcase and dashed for the plane. Otherwise, Lord only knew what Cornelius had gotten a look at, and Dane wasn’t sure whether to be outraged on Zoe’s behalf or disappointed on his own.
He settled on slightly jealous of the ghost and decided he’d leave it at that.
He measured the tile and started to make the cut when he caught something moving in the corner of his eyes off in the woods to his left. He put the tile down and studied the area where he thought he’d seen something, then started walking toward it. About five feet from the tree line, he realized he didn’t have anything on him that could serve as a weapon. There was a perfectly good toolbox sitting next to the saw, but he ultimately decided against a retreat and continued into the woods.
He stopped as soon as he set foot in the foliage and listened. Fall winds blew through the trees, loosening dying leaves and sending them fluttering to the ground. He was a good hunter and could easily detect the sound of retreating footsteps, but he didn’t hear anything to indicate that someone or something was fleeing the vicinity. It had probably been a bird or maybe a branch falling.
Because he was a good hunter, he was also a skilled tracker, so he walked around the area a bit, looking for signs that something of mass had been in the area. About ten yards away from his original entry point, he found a heel print in a small patch of dirt. The surrounding weeds had been pressed down, indicating that someone had stood there for some time or on more than one occasion. He looked around and started following the signs of passage—a piece of a print here, a broken limb there—until he reached the road. A set of tire tracks marred the otherwise pristine dirt on the shoulder of the road, and he bent down to get a closer look.
Normally, animal tracks were more his speed, but whatever had left this impression was a fairly large tire with a big tread. The kind of tire you’d find on a pickup truck. He took the road back to the lighthouse, not wanting to risk leaving his own prints on the path. Someone had been watching the lighthouse. He was certain. There was no other reason for someone to park in that remote location on the road or walk through the woods to stand in that particular spot unless they wanted to watch the lighthouse without being seen.
Locals and tourists parked on the road on either side of Sapphire’s driveway and walked across the lighthouse lawn and down the path to the ocean, sometimes burying a penny on the way or stopping to take photos. But Dane couldn’t think of a single good reason for someone to spy on the property. Not a reason that wasn’t part of something illegal, anyway.
Despite the fact that he’d changed the locks and installed dead bolts on both doors, he was still worried about Zoe. The windows on the lighthouse were solid, but glass could be cut and a hand inside the opening could easily unlatch one of them. He’d broached the subject of an alarm system with Sapphire but she hadn’t seemed interested in discussing it. Granted, until now she hadn’t been given a solid reason for it, but Dane thought that given all the strangers who traversed the property every year and the fact that Sapphire wasn’t getting any younger, an alarm was a good thing to consider.
Maybe he’d talk to Zoe about it. If he called in a couple of favors he might be able to get equipment within a day. Add another day for installation and Sapphire would probably be secure by the time she got out of the hospital.
In the meantime, he needed to convince Zoe that she needed added protection. He knew there was no way she’d leave the lighthouse for a hotel, but maybe he could convince her to let him stay there with her. He’d give it a shot, anyway.
If she said no, then he’d think of something else.
Like maybe sleeping in his truck on her front lawn.
Chapter Seven
Zoe marched into the hospital with purpose. She’d been told once that as long as you looked like you knew what you were doing and didn’t make eye contact, most people wouldn’t question you. But instead of Dour Debbie at the front desk, the smiling Mary Jo greeted her.
“Good morning,” the nurse said. “You’re out early.”
“I know it’s not visiting hours yet, but I need to sneak Sapphire some edible food and get some information from her about the lighthouse. It’s important.”
Mary Jo waved her hand in dismissal. “Ms. Sapphire’s been up for hours already. I don’t care if you go back there. And I completely understand the food thing.” She looked behind her to make sure no other employees were around, then leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I’ve been known to bring my favorite patients cinnamon rolls. Ms. Sapphire might have already had one.”
Zoe smiled. She really liked Mary Jo.
“Don’t tell me they have you working a double?” Zoe said.
“
Sort of. The nurse who works the day shift is ill so they asked me to cover part of her shift since last night I wasn’t on rotation. Then I get to go home and get some sleep before I cover my own shift tonight.”
“Ugh. That’s brutal.”
“It’s all right. I like the overtime. It keeps me in bath salts and massages.”
“At least you’ve got priorities. How’s Sapphire doing?”
“Fantastic,” Mary Jo said. “I came in today thinking I’d find her improved but she’s really exceeded expectation. When you consider her age, she’s really a wonder. If I were just looking at charts, I’d guess her to be a good twenty years younger than she is.”
“She’s definitely tapped into the fountain of youth.”
Mary Jo nodded. “I’m sure you talked to Dr. Prescott yesterday about her test results, but I couldn’t believe how much the swelling had gone down. There’s hardly any left.”
“Really? I talked to the doctor after he got the results and he said there was improvement but he didn’t seem as happy about it as you are.”
Mary Jo rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell anyone I said it, but it’s the lawyers. They’ve got doctors afraid to commit to anything positive. Heck, Sapphire could be doing Olympic-level gymnastics down the hallways and they’d still hedge on their opinion.”
“State of the world, I suppose. The news station I work for got sued because the weather prediction was for sunshine. At the last minute, and based on that prediction, a bride moved her wedding outside and it poured.”
“Good Lord Almighty. What will people think of next?”
Given that Zoe was currently dealing with a ghostly roommate and a set of intruders who believed a magic emerald was hidden somewhere on her aunt’s property, she wasn’t about to answer that question. Mary Jo would call for a straitjacket.
“I’m sure they’ll think of something worse,” Zoe said. “It was nice talking to you, and thanks again for letting me break the rules. And for looking out for Sapphire.”
“Of course.”
Zoe headed to Sapphire’s room, already bracing for the situation she knew was coming. She was thrilled to hear Mary Jo’s report of Sapphire’s condition but also knew that if her aunt felt that good, she’d be itching to get back home. Zoe wanted her aunt back in her own home as much as Sapphire did, but with everything going on, she couldn’t help but think Sapphire might be safer staying where she was.