The Drifter

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The Drifter Page 9

by Richie Tankersley Cusick


  He kept his eyes on the road. His jaw clenched slightly, and it was several seconds before he spoke.

  “You know that couldn’t be real, don’t you. You know that couldn’t have happened.”

  “But it did happen!” she insisted. “When I went out in the hall, the attic door was open. But it’s never been open before, and Nora said there’s no key.”

  She started to say more when something nagged at the back of her mind. Andy was talking again, but Carolyn frowned, searching back through her memory. Key … of course … that key I found yesterday in the closet …

  “Andy—”

  “—but doors are pretty common symbols in dreams, aren’t they?” Andy was going on, and Carolyn realized she’d missed half of what he’d been saying. “Maybe the doors mean something. You know, making choices. Making changes. Discoveries. Uh … transitions … going from one place to another. Things like that.”

  Carolyn pulled herself back to the conversation, shaking her head adamantly. “I went upstairs, and then I saw a ghost—well, something—by the door that goes out to the widow’s walk—”

  “Well, there, you see?” Andy said triumphantly. “Another door!”

  “Listen, Andy, that door was the least of my worries, okay? There were gouges in the wall. Deep places where the wood was scraped away. And there were these dark spots splattered all over everything, and a pool of blood coming across the floor. Don’t look at me like that—I know what I saw! And then when I was talking to Molly today, she told me about the hook. And it makes sense, Andy, it really does!”

  Andy groaned. “What makes sense? Certainly not you at this particular moment—”

  “The captain was in a jealous rage. He murdered Carolyn, then chopped up her lover. He clawed the walls with his hook and got bloodstains all over the place and—”

  “Listen to you!” Andy’s jaw dropped. “I think you’re beginning to enjoy this, Carolyn. And you really think, after all these years, that no one ever bothered to straighten up the attic or wash away the blood?”

  “Why would they?” Carolyn threw back at him. “People were scared of everything in those days. After a brutal murder like that, they probably avoided the house like the plague!”

  Andy opened his mouth to argue, but Carolyn kept on.

  “And remember the voices, Andy?”

  “What voices?”

  “The voices of the drowned sailors calling their own names? Well, I heard one yesterday—I swear I did! Along the cliffs by the house. He was calling Matthew!”

  Andy’s glance was patronizing. “And you’d swear to it—swear to it—that it wasn’t the wind or the gulls?”

  “Well …”

  “For God’s sake, Carolyn, where do you think these legends come from? Those superstitious people you were just talking about didn’t have rational explanations for spooky noises, so they made things up!”

  Carolyn stared at him, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wished more than anything that she’d never told him about any of it.

  “I know what I saw,” she said sulkily.

  Andy chewed his bottom lip. He put one hand to his forehead and pushed back his hair.

  “I’m not debating what you saw in the attic, okay? I think you probably saw everything you say you did—but in a dream, not in real life! And I know how eerie those gulls sound out there on the point—it can make your skin crawl. At least think about it, Carolyn. You’ve been under a whole lot of stress, and Nora’s been filling your head with all her gory stories.”

  “I saw that stuff in the attic,” Carolyn said through clenched teeth.

  “Oh, yeah? Okay, then, fine. Just show it to me when we get to the house.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  Carolyn’s look was almost sheepish. “Because when I woke up, the door was locked again. That’s why Mom said I dreamed it. But look—” She pushed up her sleeve, and Andy leaned over, squinting.

  “What’s that?”

  “Bruises.”

  “I can’t see them. Are you sure they’re not shadows?”

  Carolyn stiffened and yanked her sleeve in place again. “If you don’t believe me, then wait and look again when we’re in the light.”

  She heard Andy chuckle softly, but when he reached to touch her shoulder, she pulled away.

  “Well, it might interest you to know that when I was trying to get out of the attic, I also fell. No, I don’t think I fell, I think something pushed me. All the way down the steps. That’s the last thing I remember till I woke up in bed the next morning. This bruise,” she said smugly, “is evidence.”

  “Carolyn,” Andy said patiently, “how many boxes did you lug around that day? How many times did you go up and down the steps and run into things?”

  “You sound like Mom,” she accused him.

  “Well, your mom is sensible. Like I’m trying to be sensible. You dreamed it! There’s no other explanation except for something supernatural, and I don’t see why some ghost would suddenly decide to come back to Glanton House now. Hazel lived there all those years and—”

  “She saw and heard things that nobody else did!”

  “Okay, okay. I get the message.”

  “Maybe she saw ghosts, too. Carolyn watching … the captain searching …”

  Andy gave a solemn nod. “The lover loving …”

  “Andy!”

  “Sorry.”

  Carolyn didn’t think he looked sorry at all, and she turned her attention back out the window.

  They were almost to the house now. As Andy pulled off the main road down the long narrow drive, Carolyn could feel her heart hammering, her muscles beginning to tense. Glanton House loomed before her, forbidding and alone. Only one window showed any light. Andy turned off the engine, and almost at once they saw the front door open.

  Carolyn didn’t move. She waited as the tall figure glided through the shadows along the porch … watched as it came slowly down the stairs and toward the car.

  “Who’s that?” Andy mumbled.

  “Joss. You met him earlier.”

  “I didn’t actually meet him, Carolyn. I mean, it wasn’t like we were introduced or had time for socializing—”

  “Well, then, you can meet him now.”

  “He moves like a ghost, Carolyn. What’s wrong with him—doesn’t he have feet?”

  Any other time Carolyn might have found this funny, but now as she watched Joss move closer, she felt only a growing uneasiness.

  “Carolyn,” Joss said. He stopped on Andy’s side and leaned in through the window. “How’s your mother?”

  The wind was blowing, and it was hard to hear. Carolyn watched Joss’s dark hair stream wildly back from his face.

  “She’s going to be okay, I think.” Carolyn swallowed over a lump in her throat. “She woke up before I left, and we talked for a little while.”

  “That’s a relief,” Joss mumbled. “Nora made dinner, and I kept it hot. I thought you’d want something to eat when you got home.”

  “I’m not very hungry,” Carolyn admitted.

  Andy glanced over at her and asked, a little too loudly, “Is Nora staying tonight?”

  “No,” Joss said. “She was just getting ready to leave.”

  There was an uncomfortable silence. Carolyn’s mind raced, and she stared down at her shoes, trying to think clearly. I have to stay here tonight—I don’t have the money to stay on the mainland.… I have to stay here and watch the house.… Mom’s counting on me to take over—

  “Can you stay and eat?” Carolyn asked Andy, then felt her heart sink as he shook his head.

  “I’d like to, but I can’t. I’ve got that tour tonight.”

  He didn’t look very happy about it. As Carolyn got out of the car and gazed back at him, she decided he looked about as upset as she was feeling.

  Joss pulled back from Andy’s door. He was standing in deep shadows where Carolyn couldn’t see his face.

 
“Too bad,” Joss said softly. “Maybe some other time.”

  “Count on it,” Andy replied.

  He looked as if he was going to say more, but Joss never gave him the chance. In one fluid movement Joss was at Carolyn’s side, taking her elbow and guiding her to the porch. Nora was standing there holding the door, and as Carolyn started in, she suddenly remembered something and ran back to the steps, waving her arms at the car.

  “Andy, wait!”

  She saw him slam on the brakes, saw him stretch his head out the window.

  “Yeah?” he called.

  “Do you know anything about a key?”

  “What? I can’t hear you!”

  “A key!” Carolyn yelled. “I found this key—”

  “No, it’s not risky!” Andy yelled back. “I take the boat out at night all the time! See you tomorrow!”

  “No, Andy—wait!”

  But the taillights of Andy’s car faded and disappeared.

  And when Carolyn turned around, both Nora and Joss were standing beside the front door, waiting for her.

  13

  CAROLYN SAT AT THE KITCHEN TABLE, WATCHING JOSS slice the meatloaf. Nora had gone, leaving them alone, and she thought wistfully of Andy. Joss rinsed his hands at the sink, then slid them over the back of his jeans to dry them off. He wasn’t wearing the vest now—instead he had on a cable-knit sweater that was an offwhite color and several sizes too big.

  “I see you got some clothes,” she said as he put the platter in front of her on the table.

  “Nora found it for me.” He glanced up, and she felt the deep dark pull of his eyes. “I’m glad your mother’s all right.” He sat down across from her and moved his chair closer. “With a fall like that … well. You never know.”

  “How’d it happen?” Carolyn asked bluntly.

  His eyes were calm upon her face.

  “I don’t know.”

  “You weren’t with her?” Carolyn persisted. “You didn’t see her fall?”

  “She’d gone upstairs to do some cleaning, and I was outside. When I came in, I called her, but she didn’t answer. I started looking for her, and that’s when I noticed some broken glass lying out in the hall. She must have lost her balance somehow and tipped the ladder over. It fell onto the dresser and broke the mirror—I guess that’s how she hit her head and cut herself so bad.”

  Carolyn cringed at his recollection. “Where was Nora all that time?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He watched her a moment, then shook his head.

  “I’m sorry. If I’d been with her, maybe it wouldn’t have happened.”

  Carolyn nodded slowly. She wanted to blame him—wanted to blame Nora—wanted most of all to blame herself. But instead she looked into his eyes and said, “You called for help. With everything going on around here, I never thanked you for that.”

  “I just want her to get well.”

  “The thing she wants most right now is to get this place in shape.” Carolyn sighed. “I know her. And once she starts feeling better, she’ll be lying in the hospital thinking more about this stupid house than her own condition.”

  She clenched her fists and held them tight against her forehead, trying to push back the headache pounding there.

  “She was so excited about coming to the island—and I wasn’t. She didn’t have doubts about this place, but I did. This sure doesn’t help my attitude any.”

  He smiled then. His eyes, for a brief instant, seemed almost warm.

  “Maybe having this accident will convince her to go back.”

  “Mom? Are you kidding?” Carolyn sighed.

  “Nora told me most people around here don’t think the house is worth saving. Not worth putting a lot of time and money into—”

  “And you agree with them, I suppose?” Carolyn almost snapped at him.

  “I didn’t say that.”

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “People don’t understand my mom. When she has her heart set on something, there’s no changing her mind. It’d take more than a fall to do that.”

  He didn’t answer right away. He pushed his fork slowly into his meat. He stared at it and said without looking up, “Your mother’s a very strong woman.”

  “Yes, she is.” Despite Carolyn’s anger, a feeling of pride crept in, lessening the pain in her heart.

  “You’re very close.”

  Carolyn nodded. “Especially since Dad died. We’ve had to lean on each other a lot.”

  “She loves you very much, I know,” Joss went on quietly. For an instant his eyes lifted to her face. “If anything happened to you, she’d be devastated.”

  Carolyn nodded, more to herself than to him. “I feel the same way about her.”

  She stabbed at her potato, then put her fork down on her plate. Nothing looked good to her. She had no desire at all to eat.

  “She said your name at the hospital,” Carolyn said, and Joss hesitated, his fork in midair.

  “Did she?” he asked softly, and Carolyn nodded.

  “She mentioned you and then she mentioned the paper and she also said ‘house.’” When he didn’t respond, she gave a short laugh. “See, what’d I tell you? Even unconscious, she’s still worrying about fixing this place up and getting it advertised.”

  Silence fell between them. The house shuddered in the night wind, and even the quiet was filled with the sound of the sea.

  “Tell me about the ghosts,” Joss said.

  Carolyn glanced at him, startled. She saw him push his plate aside. He crossed his arms on the table and waited.

  “Sorry?” Carolyn tried to sound casual, though her heart had taken a dive into her stomach. She put her glass down and smiled politely as though she hadn’t heard.

  “The ghosts,” Joss said again.

  His long fingers drummed quietly against his sleeves. Carolyn noticed a cut on the back of one hand and the jagged line of dried blood.

  “—in him?” Joss asked.

  Carolyn jumped, her face flushing. “I—what?”

  Joss’s dark glance slid down to his hands, hesitated, then shifted back again to her face.

  “Broken glass,” he said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

  Carolyn blushed again and looked away.

  “And what I asked was,” Joss repeated, “do you believe in them?”

  “What—what ghosts are you talking about?” she stammered.

  “Don’t you know?”

  His eyes settled calmly on her face, and though Carolyn still wasn’t looking at him, she could feel those eyes—their power, their intensity—forcing her attention back again. Helplessly she returned his gaze. Her heart raced, and her mouth felt dry. She knew she couldn’t look away now, even if she’d wanted to.

  “But you must know,” Joss went on. “The ghosts of Glanton House. A captain, right? His wife? Her lover?”

  Carolyn felt herself nod. “How … how do you know about that?”

  “Nora,” he said simply. “She seems convinced the captain’s hanging around. Or visiting from time to time, at any rate.”

  “Then you believe in ghosts?”

  “They have as much right here as we do. More, in fact.”

  It wasn’t the answer she’d expected—especially from him—and her eyes widened in surprise.

  “What did Nora tell you about the captain?” she asked.

  “She told me why he built the house and about his murder. She told me about Carolyn.”

  Carolyn gave a wry smile. “Some coincidence, huh?”

  “Your mother thinks you’re taking all this too seriously,” Joss said. “She thinks you’re scaring yourself.”

  “She thinks I’m seeing and hearing things that aren’t really there.” Carolyn was annoyed. “Just like Hazel did before she died. Don’t you see the pattern?”

  When Joss didn’t answer, she leaned forward, her voice lowering urgently.

  “The captain’s wife and I have the same name. I’m seeing ghosts and Haz
el saw ghosts. Both Hazel and Carolyn Glanton died—so am I wrong to feel a little paranoid?”

  For a few minutes Joss stared at her. Then he reached across the table, his hand closing lightly over hers.

  “Believing makes you vulnerable. Believing opens the door to strange and powerful things.”

  For a minute Carolyn stared deep into his eyes, and then slowly she pulled back, sliding her hand free.

  “So,” she said tightly, “what you’re saying is that you agree with my mother.”

  “That’s not at all what I said.”

  “That you think I’m making everything up—that you think I’m crazy—”

  “What I’m saying,” Joss said firmly, “is that the more you believe in something, the more control it has over you. Control that could be dangerous.”

  “You’re not making any sense.” She stiffened back in her chair and glared at him. “You’re patronizing me just like everyone else does, and to tell you the truth, I think your philosophy is really stupid.”

  She got up from the table and rinsed her plate at the sink. She wiped her hands on the dish towel, then finally she turned back to face him.

  “And another thing—”

  She broke off and stared at Joss’s empty chair.

  Her glance went quickly around the room, but the kitchen was deserted.

  “Joss?” Carolyn whispered.

  She heard the sea crashing and the wailing of the wind.

  She put her hands over her ears, but she couldn’t shut them out.

  Just like she couldn’t ignore the house shivering around her … as though it feared some new tragedy yet to come.

  14

  THAT NIGHT CAROLYN LOCKED HER DOOR.

  For a long time she stood against it, listening, not even sure what she was listening for.

  The house lay huge and silent and secretive around her. She had just decided to turn in when suddenly she heard Joss’s door creaking. A second later muffled footsteps moved slowly past her room, and something rattled at the end of the hall.

  The locked door?

  Is he trying to get into the attic?

  The noises stopped, and Carolyn strained her ears through the silence. Part of her wanted to go out there and investigate—the other part couldn’t even bring herself to open the bedroom door. What’s he doing? To her growing uneasiness, she heard him retracing his steps, only this time it sounded as if he were pausing outside every bedroom along the way … going inside of it … coming back out again.

 

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