The Hauntings Of Sugar Hill: The Complete Series

by M. L. Bullock

  Champion reached down and picked up his silver knife. He didn’t attempt to harm Dominick further, but he didn’t back away either. “Annalee wanted to be with me, Dominick. Don’t tell me you’re jealous. You and I both know she’s not our real sister. You make it sound so terrible. She’s no blood kin to either of us, or didn’t your mother tell you the truth about her friend Flower? I suppose she wouldn’t have. She was a woman of many secrets, your mother.”

  Dominick sobbed again, “You lie! You lied about Annalee, and you are lying about my mother! Nothing you say is true. You’re a damned liar, Champion. Get out of here, or I shall have my man bring a whip, and I will whip you out.”

  Champion smirked, and for some reason, I thought of Ambrose. Champion could have been his younger brother. “You tell your ‘sister’ to stay away from Thorn Hill. I don’t want to see her there again. No more moaning in the halls. No more wandering the grounds. She’s upsetting my wife a great deal. This must end, Dominick. I will not warn you two again. I have allowed you to keep this place,” he said, casting a raised eyebrow toward Sugar Hill, “but don’t believe for a second that I will remain so generous if you continue to play your games. Don’t step foot on my property again, brother.”

  Dominick didn’t speak, and he stiffened at the accusations that Champion hurled at him. With obvious anger, he watched Champion walk through the garden toward Jackson Lane. I was drenched now. The rain still poured, and all three of us were soaking wet. Even though it was pouring rain the sun shone above, and the effect was breathtaking.

  So was the man who walked toward me. I stammered as if to apologize for interrupting, or maybe I should introduce myself? Why would I do that? He’s a ghost!

  “I…” Before I could say another word, Dominick stepped through me as if I wasn’t even there and walked into Sugar Hill. I fell to my knees as a strange sensation of floating, a weird disconnectedness, overwhelmed me. After a minute or two, my equilibrium returned, and I stood up and headed back in, shivering with cold. As soon as I walked inside, Robin spotted me.

  “Oh my lord, Summer. What were you doing out there in the rain? Is everything okay?”

  Through trembling lips, I answered her, “Yes, I thought I saw someone in the garden. It’s all right now. Would you mind asking Cathy to make me some coffee and a hot breakfast? I’d like to eat in my room this morning.”

  “Okay, and I’ll bring up some warm towels in just a minute.”

  “That’s not necessary, but thank you.”

  “All right. Coffee and breakfast coming up.”

  I slogged up the stairs to my room and into the bathroom. This used to be Avery’s room, but I claimed it as mine after she left for Thorn Hill. I turned on the shower and got out of my wet nightgown. The water washed over me and warmed me up in a few seconds. As I shampooed my hair, I thought about the scene that had just unfolded before me. Dominick and Champion fighting over Annalee? I would have to review Grandmother Margaret’s tapes to get the whole story. Yes, maybe I would do that today instead of working on the Starlight Ball. Avery had been asking me to watch them anyway, and I knew it would make her happy.

  I took my time showering, and by the time I finished, the tempting smell of bacon and toast coming from the other room let me know that breakfast was waiting for me. My stomach growled as I dried off with a big blue towel and wrapped it around me. I’d given my hair a moisture treatment, and I left a turbaned towel on my head.

  For the next half-hour, I watched grainy videos, ignored my phone and ate my breakfast. As always, Grandmother Margaret made a riveting narrator since the woman had a natural talent for storytelling. I listened in horror as she related the sad story of Annalee and Champion.

  Finally, I paused the tape. I had to rinse the treatment out of my hair and finish getting dressed. Despite this morning’s paranormal activity and my desire to hide out in my room, there were some things that had to be checked off my to-do list. Avery was counting on me.

  Fifteen minutes later, I was dressed and ready to go. My hair would take a while to air-dry, but for now, I cinched it back in a messy bun just to keep it out of my face. I was reaching for the door when a movement to the left caught my eye. I gasped to see Dominick standing there. Unlike Ambrose, he didn’t scare me or try to charm me. He simply observed me, as if he couldn’t quite figure me out.

  “What are you doing here?” I whispered. Immediately he began to fade, and soon there was nothing else in the corner of the room except an heirloom chifforobe.

  One word lingered in the air. Ophelia…

  “I’m not Ophelia!” As I reached for the doorknob again, it began to jiggle. I gasped and stepped back, yelling, “Who’s there?” This was getting ridiculous. I had thought when we defeated Ambrose that all this ghost stuff would be behind me. Apparently, I was wrong.

  “I’m sorry, Miss Summer. It’s Robin. I’m here to get your tray, and you have a visitor downstairs.”

  I opened the door, unable to hide my expression of relief. “Thank goodness,” I said with a smile. “I thought you were—”I realized that Robin had been crying. She rubbed her eyes and sniffled. I’d never seen her so emotional before.

  “Good gracious. What is it, Robin?”

  “It’s Pepper. She’s gone, Summer. They found her this morning at her house. I’m so sorry.”

  “What?” I asked. “I just saw her yesterday. How did it happen?” I had no idea why I would ask such a thing. Did I really want to know that?

  “I don’t know.” Robin began to sob and fell into my arms. I wasn’t usually the one to offer physical comfort, but it gave me a temporary reprieve from feeling this loss myself. Suddenly we were both crying and holding one another. A few minutes later, Jessica Chesterfield joined us. She came up the stairs with a sympathetic expression and a box of tissues in hand. As fate would have it, Jessica had once again arrived at a nexus of crisis for the Dufresne family.

  I wasn’t sure if that comforted me or not.

  Chapter Six

  Avery Dufresne

  “You’re Avery Dufresne, aren’t you? Would it be too much of an inconvenience to ask you for a photo together? I’m a huge fan, I mean your number one fan! I’ve watched you since I was this tall. Oh, my God! And it’s really you, America’s Newscaster!”

  I was wondering when the teenager would have the courage to speak to me. At least she didn’t call me America’s Sweetheart, a title that I hated. We’d boarded the plane together in Atlanta, and the teenager spent most of the flight snapping pictures of me without my permission. Reed squeezed my hand beside me, and I kept my sunglasses on. “I am, but would you mind if we took that picture together after we landed? I don’t want to inconvenience everyone else.” I asked, reminding myself to be generous. The kid couldn’t be more than seventeen.

  “Yes, that would be perfect, Miss Dufresne. My dad is never going to believe this. He’s a huge fan of your work. He was so pissed when that Stanwyck guy attacked you, but it all worked out in the end, didn’t it? You think he’ll ever get out of prison?”

  I swallowed a surprised gasp and whispered, “I’m not supposed to discuss any of that.” That wasn’t exactly the truth, but I was annoyed now. I wanted to say more since I thought the mention of the assault was just plain rude, but Reed squeezed my hand again, and I took the hint.

  “Oh, okay. Sorry to bring it up, but thank you in advance for the photo.”

  I smiled at her as I swung my leg nervously. Who lets their kid fly in first class? I was hoping to avoid too many lookie-loos, but apparently, my fading star power still had a bit of strength to it. Ugh, I was acting like a freaking diva. That’s not like me, not at all. Reed drew my attention to the scene from the window. We were approaching Bermuda now. I could see the island plainly, and I caught my breath when the brightly colored roofs came into view.

  “Wow,” I said as I kissed his cheek. I deliberately turned my back to the girl to keep the intimate moment to ourselves. No need for us to end up kissing
on Twitter or Facebook. “Imagine, a whole month of roaming beaches and chasing waves. I’m going to love every minute of it.”

  “Me too,” he whispered flirtatiously. Although we were officially honeymooning now, we hadn’t yet had any alone time, and I could tell how much he was looking forward to it. So was I, to be honest. We would be staying at King’s Point, a private beach house at the western tip of the island. According to Reed, it was the perfect place to whale-watch, something I’d never done before. I looked forward to trying lots of new things.

  “Excuse me,” a man’s voice said behind me.

  I turned around in my seat to see who spoke to me, but there was no one sitting across the aisle. There had been, but evidently, the other passenger had gone to visit someone in the back or to the restroom. And that’s when I spotted a man wearing a black chauffeur’s cap just a few rows back in coach. He was sitting across the aisle near the window. My heart skipped a beat, and I stood up to get a better look. And then he was gone. “Handsome?” I walked to the seat to find a pimply-faced young man grinning up at me.

  “Sure, you can call me handsome, lady,” one jokester commented. “Hey. Don’t I know you?”

  “Sorry, no.” I walked back to find Reed coming after me.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, his brow furrowed.

  “I thought I saw someone I knew is all.” And you knew him too, but he’s dead now.

  “Really? Small world.”

  I smiled and took a deep breath. I didn’t want to keep secrets from Reed. That wasn’t the way to start a marriage. I confessed, “I must be seeing things because I swear I saw Handsome Cheever. I mean, I saw his hat.”

  Reed ushered me into the window seat and glanced back down the aisle of the plane. “Come on, let’s have a drink,” he suggested.

  “I think they’re done serving drinks, and we’re getting ready to land.” I avoided the teenager’s fascinated stare as Reed got into the seat beside me. With one last look behind him, he settled down but watched me questioningly.

  “I’m fine. Look, we’re about to land.” The seatbelt light came on, and we buckled up and waited for landing. The pilot brought the plane in smoothly, and half an hour later I’d posed for the obligatory photo with Angela, my fan from the plane, and a half a dozen other people who figured out who I was. My shorter hairstyle hadn’t prevented them from recognizing me. I’d have thought after over a year of my being out of the news business, they’d have stopped caring. I kind of wished the world would forget me completely. I wasn’t that news savvy woman anymore. I wasn’t following politics or tracking the next white-collar hit jobs. I didn’t keep an eye on the stock market or monitor the progress of Atlanta’s Black Tar Money Pit, the south’s match to Boston’s Big Dig. (What a waste of a money suck that turned out to be.) I still believed someone needed to be held accountable. Someone needed to answer for that.

  Well, what do you know? You can take the girl out of the newsroom but….

  It was then that I noticed that Reed was staring at me. The concern in his eyes said it all. “Just nerves. I’m okay,” I murmured to Reed as he whisked me off to a waiting taxi. The teenager followed me, and I politely posed for a few pictures. She was actually a sweet young lady, and I felt bad for being such a jerk on the plane. Although she wanted to tell me her life story, I was ready to leave and enjoy my honeymoon. Thankfully, she didn’t ask me what I was doing in Bermuda and didn’t pay any attention to Reed. Finally, I sent her on her way with a sigh of relief.

  “Sorry about that. Hopefully, no one else will notice me. You ready to go?”

  “No need to apologize, Avery. People know you, and I’m okay with that.”

  “I’m not. I was hoping to have you all to myself without the world watching.” The Bermuda Taxi Company had sent us an incredibly small vehicle, but I climbed in the back seat and tried not to behave like a spoiled princess.

  “Yeah, all the vehicles are like that here. You won’t find any full-size vehicles on these roads. Did you know the roads are cut out of volcanic rock?”

  “We’re on a volcano? You’re kidding me. I’ve never been this close to a volcano.”

  “Not kidding at all, but it’s not an active volcano. Hasn’t been for thousands of years. I’m sure we’re safe. It’s beautiful here.”

  “I’m willing to chance a volcanic eruption if you are. I’m not going anywhere.” The friendly competition between us had gotten kind of amped-up recently. Summer said we were dysfunctional, but I thought of it more as foreplay.

  Reed slid in and kissed me soundly. “That’s what I love about you, Avery Dufresne. You aren’t afraid of anything.”

  I kissed him back. “Is that all you love about me?”

  “Um, no, but I’ll save my additional comments for later.” The cab driver wheeled away from the curb, and we lurched forward.

  As we zipped away, I glanced back at the tiny Bermuda airport. I swore I saw Handsome Cheever waving goodbye.

  Chapter Seven

  Jessica Chesterfield

  “You remind me of someone, but I can’t figure out who.” Danforth Dufresne towered over me, his piercing eyes studying me. He might have been in his late sixties, but he still had a keen and not-so-innocent eye. I half suspected he was trying to flirt with me, although that would be pretty inappropriate while making your cousin’s funeral arrangements.

  I smiled patiently. “I get that a lot. It’s probably because of the television show. The network is running quite a few commercials these days.” I shrugged it off good-naturedly to give him the chance to walk back his flirtatiousness a bit. I hung back from the gathering and asked myself, Why am I here again? It’s not like I’m a Dufresne. But I came because Summer asked me to come. If she needed me, I’d be there. I thought she needed to talk, but we hadn’t spoken a word on the drive to the Belle Fontaine Funeral Home. She’d insisted on driving her convertible, and she’d white-knuckled it the whole time. I didn’t know why she was driving so fast. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t wait for her. She was the only Matrone in town. And why had she insisted that no one contact Avery? Surely her cousin would want to know about Pepper’s death, even on her honeymoon.

  But again, I wasn’t a Dufresne, just a family friend, and the only one in attendance at this morbid meeting. People discussed the most intimate things with funeral directors. I shivered and tried to ignore Danforth’s stare.

  “I’m sure that’s not it, Jessica. I don’t watch television except for football, and that’s only college, like any other red-blooded Southern man. And who do you root for, the Crimson Tide, or are you an Auburn fan?”

  “Who?” I said innocently, hoping to avoid an endless debate about Alabama football. I wasn’t even from Alabama. I had no dog in that fight.

  “You aren’t from here, are you? I like that in a woman.”

  To keep him in check, I answered sweetly, “No, sir. I’m not,” with an emphasis on the sir. He must have gotten the hint because he stepped away to stare at a nearby placard. Thank goodness. Soon he was called to the small conference table and was given a chance to put in his two cents, which he did eagerly. Summer agreed to his suggestions, and soon everyone was leaving, ready to go back to whatever it was they were doing before they came to settle Pepper’s arrangements. I didn’t know her well, but I couldn’t imagine a woman like that would have much left to arrange. She always seemed so thoughtful and put together. But then again, lots of people liked avoiding dealing with death, especially their own.

  I climbed into Summer’s car, and we drove away, leaving Danforth and the rest of the Dufresnes behind. Danforth and the Dufresnes. Sounds like a geriatric rock band.

  Out of the blue, Summer said, “Sugar Hill must be a paranormal investigator’s paradise. If someone isn’t haunting the place, they’re dying to haunt the place.” I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I left it hanging in the air. “Sorry to sound so bitchy. Pepper’s death came as such a surprise. I just saw her the other day. She came
to comfort me, and it was like she knew exactly what I needed to hear. I’m really going to miss her.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss, Summer. Pepper always seemed like a nice lady, the few times I spoke with her. At least you got to spend a little time with her before she left.”

  Summer laughed, but it was a dry sound. I guessed that behind those oversized black sunglasses, there were tears. “The thing is…they said she was dead. I mean, she’d been dead for a couple of days. She died in her sleep, and nobody knew about it. She was dead, but she came to me at the cemetery. I hugged her, for God’s sake, and she was already gone. How is that possible? I didn’t think ghosts could be so physical. She interacted with me, and I let her.”

  Her words shocked me, but I didn’t doubt her for a minute. Stranger things had happened.

  “Are you sure you shouldn’t call Avery? You could comfort each other.”

  “I have you and Robin. That’s all the comforting I need. Besides, if I were on my honeymoon, I would hate to cut it short, no matter who had passed. But maybe that’s just me. For now, that’s the plan. I’ve already made the others swear to keep their mouths shut, and I’ll do the same. I’ll tell her after the funeral so she can’t interrupt her honeymoon and come home. Avery and Reed need this time away together.”

  “Okay, Summer. I’m sure you know what’s best for you and your family.” I watched the street signs and waited to see Jackson Lane.

  “I want you to do me a favor while you’re here, Jessica. Keep your eyes peeled. Let me know if you…detect anything. I have a feeling that something is stirring at Sugar Hill, and not just Pepper’s ghost.”

  I couldn’t hide my shock. “Surely not Amb—”

  The old superstition about saying Ambrose’s name lived on. Summer cut me off in mid-sentence. “No! Not him. Someone else.”

  “Oh, okay. Any clues?” I reminded myself not to sound too excited about this investigation. I was supposed to be taking some time off. Well, I couldn’t leave Summer hanging, could I? “Am I looking for Pepper?”