DANGEROUS, Collection #1

by Patricia Rosemoor

  Sibyl considered this and came up with a plan. “Not everyone has the power.”

  “How can you tell if I do or not?”

  “You must be able to go into a trance easily. Perhaps if you let me hypnotize you...”

  She let the suggestion hang, not wanting to sound too eager and thereby take the chance of souring the deal before she could take advantage of the situation.

  A cunning expression crossed the old lady’s face. “Hypnotize me, huh? Why would you need to do that?”

  Sibyl thought quickly. “I can lead you back into the past, to the events that led to tragedy, to the time when your brother hung between life and death. Perhaps if you can connect there, you’ll be able to call him back yourself whenever you want to speak to him.”

  And she would be able to find out what she wanted to know. Nearly four months had gone by with her rotting just like this old mansion and nothing to show for it. But if the old lady agreed to this...

  “When do we start?”

  Sibyl smiled.

  THINKING THEY’D made a good start despite the disruption, Echo waved to Jason as he and Frankie squeezed into the library’s van. Not hearing any noise coming from the terrace area, she figured the workmen were done for the day, too. Of course they wouldn’t be working in the dark. Then, again, it had been dark when the lights had gone out. Maybe the workmen weren’t to blame for the power failure.

  Reentering the house and crossing to the library door, Echo fingered the fancy-dress button she’d stuck in her pocket nearly an hour ago. After getting Miss Addy calmed and taken care of by Nurse Sibyl, she’d made sure her team had finished cleaning the lower level before joining their friends on the first floor. All-in-all, everyone was satisfied with what they’d accomplished in such a short time, and they were raring to come back for more the next afternoon.

  Not necessarily expecting an answer— he’d chosen to ignore her interruption the day before, after all— she knocked at the library door.

  Bram’s immediate, “Come in,” somewhat surprised her.

  Again, the fire was blazing, but this time he sat behind a mahogany desk. The green glass shades of its twin brass lamps glowed, the lights themselves casting a golden sheen over the man and giving the room a different, softer feel.

  Less claustrophobic.

  Still, she couldn’t quite relax. There was something about this room that unsettled her. A sense of gloom and doom, of emotions suppressed and ready to explode.

  “The kids are gone,” she said.

  “That time already?” Bram checked his watch. “I got tied up with a long distance call.” He indicated the papers strewn across the desk. “Just because I take some time off doesn’t mean my work won’t follow me.”

  “After we got the lights back on, I found this.” Noting his puzzled expression, she held out her hand.

  Taking the button from her, he said, “Sit,” indicating the chair facing him next to the desk. His brows shot up when he took a good look at the jeweled piece. “Wonder where this came from.”

  Following his lead, Echo sat. She couldn’t help looking around, giving the room a once-over, expecting to see someone else. Of course, there was no one. The reputation of the house just wouldn’t leave her alone.

  “Your aunt mentioned the last fancy-dress ball held here.”

  He sank against his high-backed chair and stared at her. “That was thirty years ago. Hard to believe something this valuable could go unnoticed for so many years, though as far as I know, Aunt Addy hasn’t been throwing any parties lately.”

  Though she hated to do it, Echo said, “Miss Addy thinks our finding it now is an omen.” He would, after all, hear about the outburst soon enough, perhaps from his aunt herself. “She thinks Donahue’s angry that she’s reopened the mansion to outsiders.”

  “My father is dead.”

  “Yes.”

  “If you already know that, why bother me with this pap?”

  Because she felt as if they might be back to square one. “What if Miss Addy changes her mind.”

  ”Still worried about the fundraiser? Don’t.”

  Though his words might have been meant to be reassuring, his expression certainly wasn’t.

  “Even if she doesn’t want us here?”

  “My aunt’s not making sound judgments these days. Actually, it’s been a very long time since she has.”

  Getting edgy about the direction the topic was taking— that he was prepared to make judgments for Miss Addy— Echo asked, “How would you know? You haven’t been around. From what I hear, you haven’t been back ...”

  “Since my father died? True. That doesn’t mean I don’t know everything that’s going on here. I’ve made it my business to know.” In reaction to her skeptical expression, he said, “I engaged the law firm that has seen to Aunt Addy’s monetary affairs for the last dozen or so years. And I’m the one who hired Sibyl Wilde to take care of her when it became clear that she wasn’t properly seeing to her own health.”

  Echo couldn’t help herself. “So why did you come back now?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, my aunt is losing it. As you’ve heard for yourself, she believes my father is still here, among the living.”

  He gestured with his hands as if Donahue Vanmatre might be with them at this very moment. As if in response, a draft swept through the room, making the fire flare and the hair on the back of Echo’s neck bristle. She caught her breath. That feeling, again, stranger than ever. She stared at Bram. For a moment, he, too, seemed aware of the disturbance in the atmosphere. But he quickly closed himself off from it.

  Getting hold of herself, she said, “From what I’ve been told, Miss Addy has always believed that your father’s ghost walks here. As, I might add, do many of the residents of Water’s Edge.”

  Bram glared. “Does that include you?”

  The tingling sensation on the back of her neck continued to war for her attention. “I believe that it’s possible that someone’s spirit might linger, yes.” She smoothed the hair at her collar. “But even if your father has been at rest all these years, even if there’s no ghost, Miss Addy isn’t harming anyone by believing otherwise.”

  “She’s harming herself.”

  “That’s ridiculous!”

  “Is it? Look around. Or are you blind? This place is a mess. Crumbling from the inside out.”

  A fact that was impossible to miss, but Echo was certain the reason went beyond Miss Addy’s ability to see. “Many elderly people don’t have the money to keep up their homes. And this property would be tremendously expensive to maintain. No doubt she’s run out of funds.”

  “It wasn’t Dunescape Cottage that broke her financially.”

  The way he said it made her ask, “What then?”

  “Her obsession with her dead twin.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Over the years, my aunt has been the target of every con artist that has come along.” Bram sat forward and his eyes reflected his derision. “She’s consulted palmists and tarot readers, she’s sought out people claiming to have ESP. She’s even held seances and hired a team of ghostbusters, not to get rid of my father’s ghost, mind you, but to call him out so she could talk to him.”

  He did make Miss Addy sound more than mildly eccentric. “I-I didn’t know.”

  “Why do you think the locals call her Crazy Addy?” Bram asked, his angular features darkening. “She’s been taken advantage of, fed a lot of hooey, ripped off in a major way so that she’s in danger of losing Dunescape Cottage to back taxes. The original portion of this house was built by my family before the turn of the century. I can’t let it slide into the dumper if I can prevent that from happening.”

  Which was his greater concern. His aunt or Dunescape Cottage? Being that Miss Addy hadn’t had children and that Bram was the only child of her only brother, he stood to inherit the place. Was that his interest? Protecting an investment for the future?

  “So why
wait so long?” She couldn’t hide her own censure. “Why didn’t you help your aunt out years ago, maybe involve yourself personally in her life before things got to this desperate point?”

  “I don’t need to explain myself to you,” he said coldly. “Suffice it to say that I’m in charge now.”

  Realizing she’d hit another nerve, she pressed her advantage. “What does that mean? That you’re moving in?”

  “I hadn’t seriously considered that option.”

  At least not for the present. “That you’re moving Miss Addy out, then?”

  “I’ll decide what’s best for her.”

  ”Surely you don’t mean to institutionalize her.”

  A vision flashed through Echo’s mind, the image so strong it nearly brought tears to her eyes. Her mother sitting silent, rocking, not even recognizing her own daughters. Electric shocks that had forever erased parts of Mama’s memory had supposedly been for her own good, too. That scene had haunted Echo far more than any of the others.

  “Please, please tell me you’re not going to institutionalize her,” Echo begged. “For God’s sake, she’s harmless!”

  Appalled at her heartfelt outburst— for a moment her emotions had been plunged back into the past— Echo held a shaking hand to her mouth. She struggled for the breath that came too shallow and only with great difficulty. The room went dead silent but for the sputtering of a log in the fire.

  And Bram was staring at her as if he’d never seen her before.

  “I haven’t decided what my aunt needs yet,” he finally said. “At the moment, I’m concerned with making certain the place is safe. That’s why I’ve brought in workmen.”

  “Y-yes.” Her fingers dug into the arms of her chair. “I saw them earlier doing something out by the pool.”

  “They’re repairing the retaining structure that’s keeping the pool and terrace from sliding into the lake. The terrace is built so far out, the hide tide nearly floods it.”

  He was watching her carefully, as if looking for signs that she was ready to lose control again. Echo forced away the feeling of humiliation that was all too familiar and that she thought she’d successfully overcome years ago.

  “First thing next week, a contractor will give me an estimate of what it’ll cost to bring the building up to code,” Bram went on. “Until I have a clear picture of the financial situation, I won’t be making any permanent plans.”

  For himself or his aunt? “Start with the electrical work,” Echo said, calm and in control once more.

  “Electrical work?” he echoed.

  “More power for a start. And a breaker box someplace where you can get to it easily instead of the archaic fuse box in the coal bin.”

  Bram started. “What were you doing in the coal bin? Surely Aunt Addy didn’t give you permission to use that area.”

  “I thought you went in there.”

  “Why would I be in the coal bin?” he asked, as if he didn’t remember her following him in that direction.

  “I don’t know. You just disappeared and...”

  Bram was giving her that weird look again, making her sink into silence. What was going on here? Was he as loony as his aunt? Echo didn’t want to consider the alternative. That she had something to worry about.

  Gathering herself together, she rose. “I really ought to be leaving.”

  “I’ll see you to the door.”

  Was he afraid she might not make it all the way out? Realizing the conversation and especially the blast from the past had made her oversensitive, she didn’t object as he followed her from the room.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  BRAM STUCK TO Echo like glue across the foyer. They stopped near the front door. He almost thought to apologize for having been so rude earlier. But he’d had reason to suspect Echo St. Clair of being a fraud. He still did, though he’d softened to her some. Anyone who could convince him that she was so concerned about a woman she hardly knew couldn’t be all bad. Of course, he’d gotten the distinct impression that she’d had to dig deep for that outburst of emotion. Whatever the reason, he’d responded to her.

  He was responding to her now. He was attracted to Echo despite his good sense.

  “So is everyone coming back tomorrow?” he asked.

  “As far as I know. Same time, same place, same faces.”

  “Including yours?”

  She was staring at him, at the scar on his forehead. “Uh, right. I’ll be here, too.”

  “Good.” Then he would be able to spend more time with her, maybe psyche her out a bit.

  Bram wasn’t going to fool himself. There was still the tarot card he’d found in Aunt Addy’s sitting room. If Echo hadn’t dropped it, who had? He simply wasn’t certain if he could take Echo at face value the way she’d claimed or if she had ulterior motives for wanting to get to his aunt, the reason he’d been so straight with her about Addy’s finances.

  No, he couldn’t be certain of Echo St. Clair’s ethics.

  Yet.

  But something told him he would find out exactly what kind of woman she was and enjoy doing so. And why wait? Why not now? “So what are your plans for the rest of the evening?”

  Before Echo could answer, loud voices coming from outside startled them both.

  “Don’t be disturbing people, Ferguson!” Uriah Hawkes ordered.

  But from the bam, bam, bam at the front door, Aunt Addy’s neighbor was ignoring the groundskeeper.

  “Vanmatre, you in there?” a deep voice demanded.

  “Sounds like someone wants to see you real badly,” Echo said.

  Bram merely grunted and jerked open the door. A sandy-haired man immediately filled the doorway. He was slightly taller than Bram, probably six-one or so, and powerfully built.

  “Travis, isn’t it?” Bram recognized him though he hadn’t seen Travis Ferguson since they were kids.

  The man nodded. “Been a long time, Vanmatre.”

  Not long enough for Bram, unless Travis had changed from the bully he’d been as a kid. A year older and substantially bigger, Travis had often made Bram miserable.

  “Let’s get down to business.” Travis didn’t mince words. “Keep your workmen off my property.”

  Immediately irritated by the man’s high-handed approach, Bram pushed past him onto the veranda where Uriah Hawkes waited, hat in hand, his face thunderous. “I tried dealing with Ferguson myself.”

  ”No problem, Uriah. Go on home. I’ll take care of this.”

  The groundskeeper gave Travis an especially black look before retreating to the coach house over the garage. Bram peered out to the west and the Ferguson property, not that he could see much in the dark but a white-haired old man staring back at him from the distant porch. The only illumination on the beach in any direction came from the homes lining the dune.

  “I didn’t know the workmen were on your property,” Bram admitted. “You say they did some kind of damage?” He couldn’t help but sound disbelieving.

  “They screwed up my beach.”

  Of course. He hadn’t forgotten how impossible the shore residents could be. Most posted signs that threatened strangers with a royal fine if they so much as walked on the sand of a private beach.

  “Define ‘screwed up.’”

  “Your workers left chunks of old concrete from the retaining wall strewn all over!” Travis said heatedly.

  “And they spent the better part of their lunch hour sprawled down near the waterline!” came a familiar voice from the next porch. “Don’t forget that!”

  Bram realized he was hearing from Norbert, Travis’s father, another unpleasant sort from what he remembered.

  “I’ll take care of it, Dad!” Travis shouted to the white-haired man in return.

  “When the workmen arrive in the morning,” Bram said, “I’ll tell them to clean up the debris immediately and instruct them to lounge on the Dunescape beach if they’re so inclined. Will that satisfy you?”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  Trav
is’s attention shifted away from Bram and back to the doorway of the house. Bram followed his gaze to see Echo standing there, silently taking in the altercation. The light from the foyer surrounded her with a golden glow, an appealing aura of sorts. Once again, that he was a bit taken with her was driven home to him.

  “I know you,” the big, sandy-haired man said as he stepped toward her. “You’re the owner of that New Age shop in town, right?”

  Nodding, she smiled and identified herself. “Echo St. Clair.”

  And she held out her hand. Bram didn’t like the way she connected firmly with Travis— she’d been lukewarm about greeting him the night before— no more than he liked the way Aunt Addy’s rude neighbor lingered over the touch before letting her hand go.

  “I didn’t realize you had company, Vanmatre.” Travis was staring down at Echo with a provocative expression. “You know, I’ve been meaning to come into your shop just so I could meet you.”

  “How flattering. Well, now that we’ve met, don’t be a stranger. Actually, I was just leaving.” Her smile faded as her gaze shifted to Bram. “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. And it was nice meeting you at last, Mr. Ferguson.”

  “Travis.”

  “Travis,” she repeated.

  Both men watched her race down the stairs and climb into her hatchback.

  Echo was barely starting the engine before Travis said, “She’s a real looker. Back in town for a day and you’ve already got a beautiful lady visiting. Fast worker.”

  No matter what he did or said, Travis seemed to know how to push Bram’s buttons. “Echo is transforming Dunescape Cottage for the Haunted Mansion fundraiser,” he said, his voice tight.

  “Oh, yeah, I got a beef about that, too. I told Crazy Addy to put a stop to the idea as soon as I heard about it, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”

  Hardly believing the man was mouthy enough to insult his aunt in his presence, Bram took pleasure in reminding him, “This is Vanmatre property. She doesn’t need your permission to do as she sees fit.”