And I would see the Lovely Man.
I was his now.
I laid my head on the table and cried. Pepper released my hand and shuffled through her purse for some tissue. Shoving it in my hand she said, “Now you know. You know what they don’t want you to know.”
I didn’t think. I cried. I cried until I couldn’t cry anymore. “I’d forgotten about Rita Faye. I thought I dreamed that whole thing. Who was she?”
“Oh, I think you know.”
“I don’t know if I understand this. How could you know what happened to me? And why did I see Anne? I didn’t say the words.”
“You don’t have to say the words, Avery. The spirit always comes for the Matrone. It was just a coincidence that day with Rita Faye. But you saw what happened to Anne. She had no choice. And as cruel as it was, she left you with no choice either. Her daughters died, and she rejected Asner’s child, for whatever reason. She put the ring on your finger knowing that he’d come for you.”
“What does he want?”
“He wants you. He wants his soul mate. He’s bound to the ring.”
“The ring I can’t get off my finger. Why would she do this to me, knowing that I would be…haunted by Ambrose?” The very speaking of his name made the air shimmer around me.
“I don’t know. I can’t imagine why she would give it to anyone. Why not die with it on her finger? Who knows? I think the cancer made her mind weak. Or maybe she didn’t want to give up the money. The legend is that’s the trade-off, your love and your soul for the fortune. And this family, they couldn’t care less about your soul, Avery. If you think that they’re your friends, that they love you, think again.” We both pretended that we didn’t hear footsteps above us. Pacing back and forth, as if he were there and waiting for me.
“Summer? Reed? Mitchell? They all know?”
“Everyone knows the legend, but I daresay many don’t believe it. But those three, they believe. They’ve all seen him, with Miss Anne. At Thorn Hill.”
“So if I reject him, I lose the money and the family loses the fortune? And what else? Will he kill me?”
“That’s what they say, but no one has ever rejected him. Not as far as I know, anyway. Will he kill you?” She tapped her lip with her finger. “I don’t know. I think he fancies he loves you because when he sees you, he sees Susanna.”
“Why didn’t Vertie tell me all this?”
“Oh, I think you know the answer to that. She wanted to protect you. A fool’s errand, but she had to try, didn’t she? I would have. I loved Vertie. She was a good woman, always had been, but she was naïve to believe that simply hiding you away would keep you from the Dufresne curse.”
A loud crash upstairs had us both on our feet. “I’d better go.” She reached for her handbag and touched my arm. “No matter what happens, you do what is right for you, Avery.”
“Thank you, Pepper. I’ll do my best. And yes, you’d better go.” Cold entered the room suddenly; it was so cold that I wanted to wrap myself in a blanket. Eager for her to leave, I walked her to the front door and we parted ways without another word. She’d taken a huge risk coming here.
Now what was I going to do? I heard another noise, this time coming from the dining room. Something crashed; it sounded like the chandelier falling again, only I was in a different house. I walked to the door, but the dining room was so cold now I didn’t dare go in. The cold took my breath away.
Come to me now…
Surely I imagined that! I walked backward away from the dining room—away from the voice. And then I heard the whispers, many voices. They practically swirled around me, threatening to swallow me. Smother me. Take me away.
“Who’s there?” I called into the dark room in front of me.
Susanna…
“I’m not Susanna!”
I watched in horror as a thick, dark shadow slid out under the door and pooled in front of me. I whimpered as it began to gather in a heap just a few feet from me. The gathering of darkness climbed higher, just a foot, then two, and finally the thing was my height and a slow swirling motion began.
This is going to be bad. This is going to be so bad. What do I do? My mind couldn’t comprehend what I witnessed. And then I heard Vertie’s voice whispering in my ear.
“Avery, run! Run now!”
Her voice didn’t soothe me. It ratcheted my emotions to new, terrifying heights, and I raced toward the front door. In one fell swoop I snatched my keys off the table and with nervous fingers began to punch numbers on my phone.
I could think of only one person who could help me.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jessica Chesterfield
“Stop a minute, Jeffrey!” I grabbed his hand and pulled him down next to me.
“But there’s a fire!”
“No, there isn’t. Look. It’s gone.” The burst of flame had disappeared completely. There wasn’t a single spark or ember left behind.
“What the hell?” He squatted down beside me and asked, “How can that be?”
“Keep your voice down.” Yeah, that was pretty foolish. I didn’t believe for a second there was anyone out here besides us, but Becker took his role as our unofficial “debunker” seriously. He wanted to investigate, and I needed to record it. To my surprise, as soon as I pulled my phone out of my pocket, it began to ring. I just about jumped out of my skin.
“Hold on. Wait! This is Avery!” With a cold shiver I answered her call. “Hi, Avery. This is Jessica.”
“Where are you?”
“Um, on the Ramparts. Right off the main road.”
“I’m on the way.”
I could hear the fear in her voice. All was not well. “Is there something wrong at Sugar Hill?”
“Yes, I heard a crashing sound upstairs, and my dining room is freezing. I can’t go back in there.”
“Go outside right now and stay there. We’re coming to you.”
“All right, but hurry up. I’m sitting in my car.”
“Okay, be there in a few minutes.” I stared at Becker, but before I could tell him anything, our fearless leader and Megan walked up. I didn’t point out that Mike had pink lipstick on his neck.
“I’ll let you tell him the good news,” Beck said.
“What are you two doing out here? Getting a head start?” Mike didn’t hide his aggravation.
“We saw something that looked like a ball of fire. Over there. But it’s gone now.”
“Where? In the ruins?” Mike pointed toward the old foundation where we’d fixed the camera.
“Yeah, but that’s not all. Avery is having a problem at the house. She wants us to come over there and investigate. She’s got a cold spot and some bangs. Seems like we stirred up something.”
“Oh Lord. What now, Jessica?”
“Nothing. I haven’t done anything, Megan.”
Mike slid his MHP hat off his head and back on. It was his go-to move when he was aggravated. “We can’t abandon this spot. I’ve already told the channel we’d be out here tonight—they will be expecting some footage.”
“Yeah, but it is Sugar Hill. You know that’s the real prize here. Why not let me and Beck go over there? You can keep James, Megan and the other guy.”
“Fine, but be thorough. And no going rogue, Jess. If you sense something or see something, keep it to yourself. At least until we can all go over the evidence. No spontaneous reporting to the client.”
“I had no other plans, Mike.”
“I mean it, no more going rogue.”
“I didn’t go rogue! You make it sound like I did it on purpose so they could find the bodies. I guess you think I stuffed them in there too? Are we really going to stand out here and argue in the woods?” His criticism hurt my feelings more than I cared to admit.
The leaves crunched behind me, and I heard Megan talking on her cell phone. “Great. See you then!” she said. Then she hung up and beamed at us. “Hey, guys, Summer just called me. She’s coming out to do an interview tonight. Has s
ome cool details to share about the Ramparts. And she’s so photogenic. This will definitely make good television.” She had a proud grin on her face, but I was more than puzzled. Why would Summer suddenly want to come out here? I was keenly aware that we’d gotten ourselves in the middle of some type of familial struggle, but I couldn’t figure it all out. I wondered if the others had any clue.
“That’s strange timing. Jessica just got a call from Avery. She’s heading back to Sugar Hill with Becker.”
Becker huffed and said, “Come on.” His voice was kind of whiny, like a teenager’s. “We need to spend some time investigating this location. We’ve got the equipment up, and our time is limited. I’d rather stay here.”
“Only because Summer is coming out,” I said disapprovingly. Was he deliberately trying to keep us from investigating the house? “Look, you do what you want, but I have to go. Avery needs help.”
“Jess, what did I just say about going rogue?”
“Guys! Cut it out. I’ll go with Jess, and you and Becker stay here, do the interview and conduct the investigation as we planned. Chances are it’s just Avery’s nerves or something. I mean, that’s to be expected when people find skeletons in your basement. We’ll check it out and come back when we’re through.”
“Well, you won’t be disappointed here,” I said. “We’ve already seen a fireball. Check the footage. I recorded it.” I felt relieved that Megan supported my decision. I was eager to help Avery, if I could. If we could.
Megan smiled and slid her arm in mine. And why are we suddenly BFFs? Because she and Mike made up?
“All right, you two, but be careful. Grab some gear and get going.”
“Roger that,” Megan said with a perky smile, and we scrambled into the van to grab the usual toys. Then she slid behind the wheel of the truck. It smelled like musky cameramen, but they didn’t give us a hard time when we evicted them. It was time to go to work anyway. Just as we turned onto the sloping driveway of Sugar Hill, she asked me, “What do you think is going on here, Jessica?”
“To put it bluntly, I think it’s what the old folks would call a reckoning.” Fortunately she did not ask me to explain myself. I wasn’t sure I could, but it was as good a description as I could muster.
“Great. Sounds promising.” She put the truck in park and said, “Since Miss Dufresne reached out to you, I think it’s best if you take the lead in the conversation. I’ll hang back and back you up.”
“There she is.” I grabbed the small duffel bag and met Avery at the back of her Lexus. I’d watched her on the news. Not religiously, because I wasn’t a big fan of the news, but I’d seen her enough to know she didn’t get shaken easily. And now here she was, shaken to the core.
She took a deep breath. “Okay, full disclosure. Ever since I moved here, there’s been weird crap happening.”
“Weird crap?” Megan asked. So much for letting me take the lead.
“Yeah, weird.” Avery paused her pacing. She had her hands on her hips and was obviously disturbed. Her usually neat hair was not so neat now, she didn’t have any shoes on and she was visibly trembling.
“Okay, Avery. Well, we’re here,” I stepped in. “Why don’t we go back inside? You don’t have shoes on, and Megan and I are here now. Do you feel safe doing that, or should we sit in the truck for a few minutes?”
She chewed on her thumbnail and sighed loudly. “God, I’m being such a wimp. I called you because a black shadow from the dining room gathered up and stood in front of me. It called me Susanna. Something really bad is going to happen, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Hey, it’s okay, Avery. You aren’t alone now.” I didn’t touch her. Avery was a sensitive, like me, and from what I’d gathered in the short time I’d known her, she didn’t have a clue about managing it.
“All right, let’s go in.” We walked inside, and immediately I got the distinct impression, for the third time, that whatever was here didn’t want me to know it was here. Like he—no, they—didn’t want me to see them.
Without saying anything to Megan or Avery, I began to talk to the spirits. “I know you are here, and so does Avery. There’s no sense in hiding now.” Megan stared at me and then snapped to attention. She grabbed the duffel bag and foraged for her investigative tools. She held an EMF reader and began sweeping it around. She handed me the EVP recorder, but I didn’t use it yet. I couldn’t move too quickly because I didn’t want to frighten Avery even more.
The spirit didn’t answer, and after a minute or two of pacing the foyer I asked, “You know who’s here, don’t you, Avery? Tell us, please, so we can help you.”
She didn’t answer me right away. She was listening to the house creak and pop in the humidity.
“This might be the only way,” I added.
“Well, I don’t guess I have anything to lose at this point.”
I could tell she was about to blow my mind.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Avery Dufresne
“Jessica, the truth is that this ring I wear…wait. You can’t record this, Megan!” She frowned at me, but I wasn’t going to budge. She nodded and begrudgingly put her video equipment away. I raised my hand and wiggled my ring finger, ignoring the surge of warmth it emitted. “I’m the Matrone, the symbolic leader of my family. That’s what this ring is supposed to signify, but it’s more than that. It attracts a spirit—a spirit that is looking for his soul mate.”
“So that ring is like a power object? Who is this ghost?” Megan was immediately intrigued.
“Ambrose. His name is Ambrose.” Eyes were on me. I could feel them staring, bearing into me. And not just living human eyes. I swallowed and continued, “He was Chase Dufresne’s cousin and the lover of Chase’s wife, Susanna Dufresne, although it’s a bit more complicated than that. I think it’s him. He’s the one haunting me.”
Jessica’s pretty face scrunched up in disgust. “Why would you wear that ring? Take it off, Avery.” She reached for it, but I shook my head.
“It won’t come off. I’ve tried everything except have it cut off. I just can’t bring myself to do that. I guess I’ll have to. That might be the only way to get rid of him.” Jessica held my hand, closed her eyes briefly and then released me. If she sensed anything, she didn’t tell me. “He—I don’t want to say his name too often because he can hear me—he believes the wearer of his ring is his soul mate. It belonged to Susanna. Her mother put a kind of curse on it.”
Megan laughed. “Are you sure? So this ghost believes you are Susanna? Is this a true story or just a family legend?”
“I don’t know what he believes. But the story is true, and I have recorded family history to back it up. According to my great-great-grandmother Margaret, many Dufresne husbands have died under suspicious circumstances. Or at the very least gone mad.”
Suddenly I understood what was happening to Jamie. It was the curse working on him. It was Ambrose trying to keep us apart. That had to be it. Why else would Jamie’s personality flip so wildly? And where was he? God, I hoped he was all right.
“This spirit is very…possessive. So much so that he’s a danger to the people around me. I can’t have that.”
Megan leaned against the wall, her arms crossed stiffly in front of her. Her expression made me even more nervous. I wondered what was eating her.
I continued, “He was the lover of Susanna Dufresne; he seduced her into betraying her husband and even had her declare that she was his soul mate. He was murdered during the fire on the Ramparts. I don’t know who set the fire, not for sure, but some of the women and girls in my family have seen him. They call him the Lovely Man.”
“Could it be a familiar spirit?” Jessica pondered aloud.
“Like from the Bible?” asked Megan as she tinkered with her handheld devices.
“I guess, but the existence of these beings has been recorded in many places. They’re entities that are attached to the family, usually through spells or curses. Some are nasty, evil spirits, and
others are less dangerous. One such case I’ve studied features a ghost that consistently appears in family photos, but…”
“But what?” I asked as Jessica strolled around and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. She stared up the stairs as if she could see something we couldn’t. Maybe she could.
Without even taking her eyes off the door, she answered me in a flat voice, “The ring disturbs me. We have to find a way to… Can anyone else hear that?”
The room fell silent. I didn’t hear anything at first, until I walked to the bottom of the stairs. At the first boom I practically jumped out of my skin. It was the unmistakable sound of a door slamming. I wasn’t sure where it was coming from, maybe the Angel Gallery.
“Turn out the lights, Jessica,” Megan said. “I think we need to go up.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the dining room. “But what I saw was in there. Shouldn’t we start in there?” I heard the sound too, but I was stalling. Even though I had experienced more than my share of ghostly encounters at Sugar Hill, this felt different. The presence in the house felt heavy, dark and determined to reach me. I couldn’t fathom the change, except perhaps that the opening of the basement and the revelation that two women had been walled up and left to die here had fueled whatever already called this place home.
As if to answer me, more slamming and scratching echoed above us.
“Fine, but why are we turning out the lights?” Megan had lost her mind if she thought I wanted to investigate in the dark.
“Trust me,” she said as she pulled a flashlight out of her pocket and flicked it on. “They like the dark. We’ll get more of a response if we limit the amount of light we use.”
The Hauntings Of Sugar Hill: The Complete Series Page 34