Pretty Baby

by Pretty Baby (NCP) (lit)

  Shadoe’s eyes lowered slightly as if he were remembering. “No, she didn’t mean that. I know that now. She meant....” His eyes found Garret’s once more, but couldn’t get the words out. “She … never mind … I know what she meant. I didn’t know then … in New York, but now....”

  “It’s changed now, hasn’t it?”

  “Yes. What Greta wants now is....

  “Come on. What are you thinking?”

  He looked at Garret, feeling for the first time that Greta’s ghost was aiming at him. “Revenge.”

  “What? Revenge? On who?”

  “You. Be careful, Garret. Stay away from Julita. Greta may be using her body to get back at you … somehow.” He looked around. “Are there any weapons around here?”

  “I have a gun I brought with me from New York, but other than that there’s nothing in the house.”

  “Lock it up. Keep it out of sight, and away from Julita.” He put his glass down, then continued. “I’m not sure how … in what form the revenge will come, but just stay on your toes. Now, I think we both need to get some sleep. I’ll be able to figure this thing out a whole lot better after a little sleep.”

  “It seems to me somebody ought to stay awake and watch out for Julita.” He looked down at his watch. “I slept a little last night. Besides, I don’t think I could sleep now, I’m too damned keyed up.” Turning, he went back to the bar and began rattling glasses. “You’ve been through a lot, you need your sleep. I’ll call you if anything happens.”

  Shadoe wondered for a moment if he could trust Garret. He seemed different tonight, and since he was dead tired, he decided to take the chance. A man couldn’t stay up twenty-four hours a day if he had ghosts to catch, spells to destroy, and crazy people to see to. Speaking of crazy people, how did he know that Lucretia wouldn’t take up her trusty hatchet and plunge it toward his neck? Hell, at this point he didn’t care. He’d be asleep. Maybe it would be fast and painless.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Garret sat under a dim light in the library, a pipe in his mouth, a smoky haze hanging above his head, and a drink tinkling in his hand. He stared down at the book he was reading, the words meaningless as his mind wandered. The wind whistled around the old mansion causing a chill to settle in his soul. His eyes slowly lifted from the page and looked around. He could feel something … something strange … creepy. No sooner had the thought formed in his mind than he heard the familiar tinkling sounds of the music box playing. The melodic tune was soft and familiar, and then the words began, soft and breathy as they echoed around the room.

  Pretty baby, pretty baby. Won’t you come and let me rock you in your cradle of love, and we’ll cuddle all the while. I will be your loving sister, brother, dad and mother too. Pretty baby of mine, all mine. Pretty baby of mine.

  Garret jerked himself around looking everywhere, his eyes wide, his heart jumping in his chest. The words … the voice, he knew them. But it was impossible … it couldn’t be.

  Hello, Garret, the voice said, her chilling voice soft and cutting. It echoed as if rising from a dark, deep, grave … from the caverns of hell … from some other world.

  “Greta, my God is that you?” he said, still looking around. All at once a white, glowing specter appeared. She seemed to float, her shroud moving in a nonexistent wind.

  Who else would know your favorite song, sung by that wimpy little blond bitch with the legs. And then you had the gall to put that song on my daughter’s music box. You pathetic old man, mooning over a dead woman that wasn’t even part of your generation. You even played it for Julita … for her to hear night and day.

  “But … y-you can’t be here, you’re dead … you … I can’t believe....”

  You’d better believe it, she said, her sarcastic tone turning treacherous, because I’ve come for you.

  “For me? What … what do you mean? I’ve done nothing to you.”

  Nothing? she shrilled. You killed me, you bastard, and blamed it on childbirth! Do you remember? she hissed, her eyes narrowing on him. My contractions had started, and were getting closer and closer. I was bleeding profusely. I begged you to get me to the hospital … to call a doctor … anything, but you laughed. She hesitated, looking at him with eyes of loathing. After you delivered the child you left me there to bleed to death!

  “You were having problems. I … I didn’t know what to do. I was frightened. I had to see to the child, make sure she was taken care of.”

  That wasn’t it, Garret, and you know it. She moved toward him, her shroud trailing after her. I was growing older, and you liked youth and beauty. She smirked. You still do. Poor Garret. I wasn’t young and beautiful for you any longer, was I? And then the child was born. She was just what you wanted, wasn’t she?

  “It might please you to know that I didn’t get to enjoy her for long. I suffered at the hands of that demon of a daughter you gave me, and I’ve been a cripple for the last eighteen years. She put me in the basement,” he rasped. “I wasn’t locked in, but I might as well have been. I didn’t have legs, and couldn’t get out. So you see, you have your revenge.”

  No, that wasn’t the revenge I sought, but it gave me time. I knew you were safe from Julita down there.

  “What about Lucretia? Don’t tell me she escaped your wrath!”

  No, she’ll pay. But at least she had an excuse.

  “What? Her dementia? She knew what she was doing. She’s only crazy when it serves her purpose. She’s here … now … just escaped from an asylum, did you know that?”

  Don’t change the subject, you slimy bastard!

  “I don’t have to stand here and listen to this,” he growled, pulling himself up on his cane, and hurriedly stumbled toward the door. But before he took two steps he was slammed back against the wall, and couldn’t move.

  She watched him for a moment savoring his fear, then continued. For fifteen years she was safe….

  “Safe! With Lucretia?”

  Shut up! she shouted, then continued. Then the stranger came, upsetting everything. I knew I had to do something, so I tried to use him to get Julita to the church. I wanted to warn her … both of them. To go … to leave! But as usual you interfered, made your way out of the basement, and back on your feet. Then the inn was shut down … everyone gone!

  Garret cast her an incredulous look. “My God, you … you were the woman in the church Shadoe keeps talking about?” He was stunned. “Why a church? What was the significance?”

  Significance? I don’t know. Because it was dead, I suppose … like me. Damaged beyond repair. Once beautiful … loved. Now lonely and forgotten. But I needed it mostly for the shock value. What would a church be doing in the wilderness? She hesitated, then said decidedly, Yes. It was out of synch … misplaced. That was the significance, and it worked.

  “Even dead you’re as crazy as a loon. I don’t see that it’s accomplished anything.”

  You’re wrong. I found that he’s a good man, Garret. He let you … the very devil himself … out of your cage because he’s a good man. You always have been prejudiced, but you fooled him into thinking you liked him. Then when you were ready … had Julita firmly in your grasp … your mask came off. You used him.

  “Who was hurt, huh? Who the hell was hurt?”

  I want him for Julita. She needs him. I’m not sure either of them know it yet, but they’re in love.

  Garret’s jaw tightened at that statement. “Over my dead body!”

  That can be arranged, she hissed ominously. I wouldn’t make any long-range plans if I were you. Some day … or night … very soon you’re going to pay for your sins, Garret!

  “You don’t scare me, bitch.”

  That’s too damned bad, because I’m going to repay you for every moment of hell both me and my daughter have experienced at your hands. I still haven’t forgotten the moment you grabbed the child from my arms. I reached out to hold her, but you took her away. My arms were empty … and remained empty. For years, Garret, I had no child t
o hold, no child to love … to fill my empty arms.

  “What do you mean? You died right after she was born.”

  I was there … and I’ve been there every day … every night since.

  Garret suddenly remembered hearing the music box playing at odd hours. It haunted him … the music whirling around in his mind. His dreams were dark and chilling, and filled with a pale, sorrowful woman looking down at a child. Wanting to reach out and touch her, to hold her, but knew she couldn’t.

  Greta’s ghostly face became etched in sorrow, her words tearful and faint. But I couldn’t do anything for her, not even protect her… Her eyes shifted up to him. From you … from Lucretia. I couldn’t do anything but watch her torment … until now! All at once her face changed to one of hellish determination as she looked up at him, her once dim, cloudy eyes now alive with the flames of hell. I’ve watched you make her beg, plead, throw up in terror. I’ve seen you stalk her late at night, putting your dirty hands on her. She began circling him, her shroud trailing after her. He turned drunkenly, watching her, his fear mounting. I read your thoughts before I came in, she continued. With everyone in the mansion in bed you were thinking of going up to Julita, weren’t you? What were you planning to do, Garret? she asked, her shrill words cutting him. Tuck her in like a good father? Read her a bedtime story? Rape her? The words kept beating him like sharp stones. You won’t stop until you’re dead, will you, Garret? As long as you’re alive, Julita will never be safe.

  “You bitch,” he said, his voice trembling in anger. “So I’m not perfect, so what?. What about you? You were nothing but a whore.”

  Only because you liked me that way. Remember the games I had to play to keep your interest? They were disgusting and sick.

  “You have a lot of nerve casting blame on me. You’ve taken possession of Julita several times trying to tempt me!”

  For a very good reason, Garret. I knew the only way to keep you away from her was for her to be willing. That spoils the game, you see. After all my years with you I’ve learned something. You have to be in control, Garret, the one in power. A willing woman is too easy. No challenge. You’ll back away every time. You like the dark … the forbidden … a struggle … a fight.

  “What about tonight when you tried to entice Shadoe?”

  That wasn’t entirely me. I had entered her for another task, but something inside Julita began to react by his closeness and I had to take over and act so out of character for her that he would know something was wrong. With a little help from you he figured it out. Now their relationship has a chance.

  “There won’t be any relationship. I’ll see to that.”

  You won’t ruin it between them, she hissed. He already thinks he’s not good enough. He’s willing to give her up so she’ll have what he feels she deserves. That’s how much he loves her. But they’ll be together. I’ll see to it. And you? You’ll be dead!

  “No … n-no … you’re talking crazy. I … what have I done that’s so bad? I am what I am … a man of the flesh, always have been. There are millions in the world.”

  There are also millions in hell … but don’t worry, there’s a place for you.

  “If there is a hell, why aren’t you in it? Besides, I don’t believe in hell.”

  Your hell is inside you, Garret. You hold nothing sacred, not even my daughter’s body. When you did take me, you took me by force, just as you take everything you want.

  Trying to find words that would hurt her, he spat out, “Even at your best you were never as good as Julita.” He knew the only way to get back at Greta, and the words began rolling off his tongue. “Julita has a soft, hot little cunt. Tight and luscious. When I enter her I can taste it as well as feel it. She gives....”

  Stop it! Greta yelled, her voice wet with sobs.

  “She gives begrudgingly,” he continued, his voice taunting, “but that’s the way I like it, so I take … no I steal, plunder, ravish until I reach that summit where I become a fountain, spewing forth my hot, hellish, burning seed!”

  You’re a liar, she rasped, her nostrils flaring with anger. Oh, you’ve been close, I’ll admit that, but she was always faster than you. I almost felt sorry for you limping along, trying to catch her. But it never happened, and you know it. And I promise you this. You’ll never get another chance, she cried. I’ll kill you before I let you put your disgusting hands on her again.

  He looked at her with loathing in his eyes. “To think I loved you at....”

  Stop lying! she shouted. How could you love me when the word is foreign to you? You never loved anything in your life.

  “All right, so I admit it! I never loved you. The nearest I ever got to love was Julita.”

  That isn’t love, you bastard! That’s … dirty, filthy, disgusting, animal! She looked at him as if he were scum. If anyone deserves hell, Garret, it’s you.

  “Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not going to hell or anywhere else … so get out!” He pushed himself away from the wall and limped across the room and got as far as the door, then stopped when he heard her voice, but didn’t turn to acknowledge her.

  Haven’t you found it strange that I keep referring to Julita as my daughter?

  He turned quickly. “What do you mean?”

  I mean she’s not yours.

  Garret’s face suddenly paled. “What the hell are you trying to say?”

  Remember the oil man from Texas? Richard … Dick, I called him … for one very important reason. He came up to sell you stock in his oil wells. Blond, rugged, and beautiful. We....

  “You bitch!” he bellowed. “Behind my back, you....”

  So what? she hissed. You weren’t interested! We weren’t even sleeping together then. I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out for yourself. But you were so sure that no woman would choose another man over you that you never considered the possibility. What a pompous ass you were! Still are! The years haven’t changed you at all.

  “Then … then I’m not … never was … my God, Julita’s not even my daughter. All this time I thought....” He looked at the apparition, hate glittering in his eyes. “Why now? Why didn’t you tell me before?”

  I wanted to pick the right moment … the moment of your death!

  “God, I wish you were still alive so I could have the pleasure of killing you all over again!”

  Sorry, she said, with an echoing whisper, now it’s my turn.

  “Yeah? And just how do you intend to do it?”

  I’m not going to tell you, she said, her voice faint and breathy. I’m going to make you wonder. Will it be today … tonight … in the next moment … or a year from now? Will it be…?

  “You think you can beat me?” he said, turning crazily, lifting his eyes, and shouting into the dark spaces of the dome, but she had disappeared. “Garret Van Dare?”

  The voice was silent for several seconds, then the damning words came. Why don’t we put it to the test?

  “What do you...?”

  In only seconds the musty smell of wet grave dirt rose on the air just before the front door slammed open. Walking over to close it, he looked outside, but there was nothing. Just bushes and trees blowing in the high winds. My God, what had he just seen … heard? Had it been an hallucination, a vision? Or had it been real? Had Greta crawled out of her grave to haunt him … to make him pay for his sins? “Ridiculous,” he muttered, feeling his defiant streak rise up. She was dead, what hold could she possibly have over him? Finally turning, he looked up at Julita’s room, and his eyes filled with fire. “Not my daughter, aye?” He thought for a moment, then said, “Why not?” His eyes shifted to the little elevator that was nestled in the corner of the rounded staircase, shuffled toward it, and got in. The gentle whirr of the little mechanical room sounded for a moment, then abruptly stopped when it reached the top landing. Garret got out and headed for Julita’s room. “She’s gone … dead,” he muttered, “there’s no way in hell she can keep me away from Julita.” He would prove it, he th
ought, standing in front of her door. She was not his daughter so who the hell could stop him? Not God, not the devil, not every fucking ghost in the universe!

  He slammed the door open and Julita awoke, seeing a dark silhouette with a cane crowding the door. A sharp fear cut through her. Slowly she lifted herself up on her elbow and began backing up toward the headboard.

  He could hear her crying. Good. He wanted her fear, her terror. It made it better somehow. And it was going to be good tonight. Throwing his cane aside noisily he crossed the room to her bed and reached down and pulled the covers back. She lay there trembling.

  “Papa, please don’t!”

  “I’m not your papa,” he said, then reached down and ripped her gown down the front, then fell on her. His hands had begun grabbing, tugging, and scratching when all of a sudden he felt himself being pulled off her, and thrown through the air, landing against the four walls time and again, over and over until he was weak and bruised.

  But no one was in the room.

  Fear spiked inside him, cutting deep. He had to get away, so as quickly as he could, he pulled himself up and began running, limping as he ran. He didn’t take the elevator, it was too slow, so down the stairs he stumbled, grabbing the baluster, leaning on it until he finally made it to the foyer. Crazed with fear, he ran toward the front door, not seeing the other three running out of their rooms and gathering on the landing.

  “What the hell is going on?” Shadoe said, running with Lucretia and Julita down the steps. They followed Garret, watching as he ran toward his car, then suddenly stop. The wind howled, the overcast sky rumbled, the clouds low, darkening the day almost into night.

  From out of the corner of his eye he saw something glowing. The vision was white, and drifting. Somehow he couldn’t take his eyes off it and followed as it led him to the ridge. She stood on the edge, her soft white arms waving for him to come closer. He could see it was Greta, and ran crazily toward her as if he had lost his mind.

  When he neared the edge Shadoe yelled for him to stop, but he kept running, stopping only when he had almost reached the edge. She was there … her white, trailing garment blowing in the wind, her hair lifting and becoming tangled. Behind her was the restless ocean. The wind whirled, the waves crashed, and the mist that had come in from the ocean stayed low to the ground.