And then I felt warm blood trickling down my neck. “Harper…” I whispered as everything faded.
Then I heard nothing at all.
Chapter Thirteen—Jerica
“Come on, Jeopardy. You’ll make us late again.” I heard a woman’s voice behind me and recognized it as belonging to Jeopardy’s Aunt Dot. I clutched her hand. Dot was so pretty, far prettier than her sister. Why couldn’t anyone else see it, especially Dot?
“Please, I’m not Jeopardy. My name is Jerica, Jerica Poole.”
“Jeopardy Belle, what did your Daddy tell you about lying?” Aunt Dot led me to the mirror in her room and pointed at me. The face looking back wasn’t mine. I wasn’t Jerica Poole anymore. I was truly Jeopardy Belle. Or at least I was her in this dream or whatever it was.
“John Belle, come see your daughter. She’s playing that game again, you know, the one where she pretends she’s somebody else.”
John walked into the bathroom and leaned against the doorframe in his white overalls and a white t-shirt. He was as handsome today as he was the day I met him on the front porch of the caretaker’s cottage.
“Please tell her, JB. You know who I am. You must know I’m not your daughter. I’m Jerica Poole.” A gleam of recognition was in his eyes, but he couldn’t answer me because Aunt Dot stepped in the way and closed the door between us.
“Jeopardy Belle, stop playing these games and get ready. We aren’t going to have enough time to get you up to that school before Harper’s big debut, and it’s so important to her that you go.”
No, this is all wrong. John Jeffrey Belle had already died when Harper went to the Harvest Dance. “Let me out of here. I have to go. I have to go now. I don’t belong here.” And then I saw that Aunt Dot had a pair of silver scissors in her hand.
“Dot? What are you doing with those?”
Aunt Dot’s eyes were no longer a pretty soft blue, and her face had lost its feminine softness. Her eyes were dark, like two bottomless pits with no white at all. The woman—or whatever it was—was not Jeopardy’s Aunt Dot.
She shouted, “Give me what I want! I must have it!”
With a scream, I pushed her away as I closed my eyes and waited for the blow. I had nowhere to run, nowhere to go. I was trapped in the bathroom with this blade-wielding entity. I threw my hands up instinctively to fend off the attack.
It didn’t come.
“Mommy, come with me.”
I looked up to see Marisol in the doorway. The door was open, but the boy, the one who had pretended to be Aunt Dot, was in my way. “I command you to leave me alone! I own this house. It’s not yours!” He wasn’t as small as I remembered. No, not at all. This ghost was much older than the boy Jesse and I had seen on the second floor of Summerleigh.
And then he vanished, but I got the sense that he was not far away. I might have repelled him for the moment, but he was strong and persistent. And he wasn’t going to give up until he got what he wanted, whatever that was. I shivered at the thought. I stepped into the hallway and looked left and right. Just as I turned to the right, I saw my daughter’s shiny dark ringlets sailing behind her as she ran up the attic stairs.
“No, wait! Marisol, don’t go in there. Please!”
She turned back to me for the briefest of seconds before she opened the door and walked inside. I had no choice but to follow her. I had waited so long to see her, and I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity now. I walked to the attic door, which stood open, put my foot on the step and waited to hear something. What if this is another trick? It didn’t matter. I had to go!
“Marisol?” I cried softly. “If you’re in here, please tell Mommy. I need to hear your voice, baby girl.”
And then I heard her say as clear as a bell, “Where are you, Mommy? I’m waiting for you.” As I stepped into the attic fully, I said a silent prayer. It was the same kind of prayer I had heard Harper pray so long ago. “Dear God, please don’t let her be terrible. Please don’t let my baby look like a monster. Please, God, help me.”
There were many candles lit in the window near the place where Jeopardy’s bed used to be. Jeopardy always liked candles. I knew that about her. Not many people knew it, but she enjoyed making candles. She’d spent many afternoons up here working with wax and wicks and molds, making her own creations. She had gotten quite good at it too, but like most things, once she mastered it, she got bored with it. But she loved this room; the ghosts never bothered her. And she loved her family, especially her sisters.
Yes, it was as if I could feel Jeopardy. I knew what she knew, what she felt. How strange that I would have this experience.
Jeopardy. You have to know I tried to help you. Harper tried too.
She didn’t want to hear about that right now. She had something else on her mind, something she wanted to show me. She liked Marisol. Marisol reminded her of Loxley. And then I saw that my Marisol was sitting on the pallet with Jeopardy Belle. They were playing some sort of board game and having the time of their life. Marisol laughed as she tossed the dice and moved her blue piece around the board. I thought for a minute that they didn’t see me, but I knew that wasn’t true because I could feel and see and hear what Jeopardy felt and saw and heard. She knew I was there.
I didn’t know what to do. Should I approach them? What if I walked toward them and then Marisol vanished? I couldn’t live with that. Quietly, so I didn’t disturb them, I sat on the floor a few feet away and stared at my baby’s face. It was perfect and not broken at all. She was alive; her face was not pale, as it had been when I’d seen it last. It was sun-kissed, lovely and just as I remembered. My hands covered my mouth as I attempted to remain quiet. They wanted to show me something. Why didn’t they just talk to me?
Jeopardy? You know I’m here. Just tell me what it is you want me to know.
She didn’t answer. Instead, they began picking the pieces up and putting them back in the box. Was their game over already? I reached a shaking hand toward Marisol, but the air moved around me and I heard Jeopardy’s raspy voice in my ear.
No. It’s forbidden.
They wouldn’t look at me or talk to me, except Jeopardy picked up a tiny book and let me see it before she put it in the Life board game box. They got up from the pallet and walked to the door with the game.
Marisol, please, honey. Look at Mommy.
She didn’t, and I wanted to cry. I followed the girls as they left the castle room and went downstairs. To my surprise, they went not to the kitchen but instead to a small closet under the stairs. I don’t think I’d noticed the hidden cabinet before, but now I wondered how I hadn’t seen it. I was a carpenter’s daughter, for pity’s sake. Jeopardy put the game in the hidden door and closed it tight. She looked at me once more, then stood up and stretched out her hand to Marisol.
It was in that moment that my baby girl, my beautiful, perfect daughter, saw me. She didn’t smile or frown. “Marisol…”
With a sad expression, she shook her head and spoke to me, but her mouth didn’t move. “You can’t come with me, Mommy. Not yet. Go back, okay? I’m okay, see? I’m with Jeopardy and Harper. Go back, Mommy.”
I collapsed on the floor and cried my eyes out. After a few moments, I heard tiny footsteps approach me. My daughter put her arms around my neck, and I smelled her sweetness. I knew the feel of her skin, the smell of her hair. “My Marisol. I love you, Marisol. Mommy is so sorry.”
And then she was gone. Those sweet arms around my neck vanished. It was a strange sensation to feel someone vanish beneath your fingers.
The next thing I knew, Jesse was there. The worried look on his handsome face caused me to worry. I smiled at him, in spite of the pain. “Marisol was here, Jesse. I saw her. She’s here.” And then I was out again.
When I woke up again, I was in a hospital room.
Chapter Fourteen—Jerica
“Hey, Jerica. You finally decided to wake up?”
I glanced over to see Jesse in the chair beside my bed and gave him a
wry smile. “I’m awake now. Don’t these people know you aren’t supposed to sleep if you have a concussion? What kind of hospital is this?”
“The closest. And for the record, you were told not to go to sleep. You snore, by the way.”
“Good to know.” I squinted at the light. “What happened? The details are a bit fuzzy.” My mouth felt dry, and I had one hell of a headache.
Jesse pulled his chair close to my bed. “As near as I can tell, you fell off the ladder and smacked your head on the counter. But maybe there’s something I’m missing.”
And then it all came rushing back to me. The breeze, falling, seeing Jeopardy and Marisol. I swallowed and said, “I saw them, Jesse. I saw Jeopardy and Marisol. They were in the castle room.” I saw my baby! Grief overwhelmed me again. It always seemed to creep up on me. I missed her every minute of every day, but sometimes the pain just heaped up and swept over me like an ocean tide. This was one of those moments. I couldn’t help but cry. “Sorry to be such a mess.”
“Hey, don’t apologize.”
I covered my eyes with my hands and forced myself to breathe. “I saw her, Jesse, as plain as day. She wasn’t a ghost, not like the boy. She was beautiful and happy, but she wouldn’t look at me. Not until the end. They were playing a game together, her and Jeopardy. A board game.”
He squeezed my hand. We didn’t get far into the conversation before the nurse stepped into the room. Without missing a beat, she said, “Great to see you awake. How do you feel? Any nausea? How is your vision?”
“I’m not sick at all, and I see perfectly. I’d like to go home now,” I said as I tossed the covers off me.
“Whoa, Nellie. One step at a time, Mrs. Poole.”
“It’s Jerica.”
“Okay, Jerica. Let’s let the doctor check you out first. He’ll be right over.”
I slung my legs over the bed and steadied myself. I had to get back to Summerleigh. I had to find that game. It wasn’t just a dream. It couldn’t be. “You have five minutes,” I answered as I waved goodbye to her. She didn’t like my answer, but I didn’t care. I had bigger fish to fry.
Jesse chuckled and stood ready to help me. “I have always heard that doctors make the worst patients, but I think nurses might give them a run for their money. What’s the rush, Jerica?”
“How long have I been out?”
“About half a day. You hit your head pretty hard. I think they want to keep you for observation. I’m no medical professional and wouldn’t know what to do if you had a seizure or something. Shouldn’t you stay?”
“I’m not asking you to take care of me, Jesse Clarke. I just want my clothes.”
He handed me a bag from the closet and said, “And I’m just concerned about you. I don’t understand why you want to leave so badly.”
“I have to go to Summerleigh, Jesse.”
“Why?”
“Let me get dressed first, okay? I feel a little strange talking to you in my underwear.”
He laughed at that. The tension of the moment dissipated, and he stepped out so I could put my clothes on. My head felt like it was on a swivel, but I was determined to leave. What if Marisol was still at Summerleigh? Seeing her only made me want to see her again. I wanted to hold her, comfort her. Whatever I could do to be with her. But I didn’t say that to Jesse.
Thirty minutes later, we were headed back to what used to be Desire, Mississippi. Mobile was a pretty place with lots of fine homes, but it wasn’t my home. Somewhere along the way, Summerleigh had become home. I loved every inch of the green grass, even the stubborn weeds and the wild woods that grew beside her. I loved the mud hole, the potting shed and every nook and cranny. It had been Harper and Jeopardy’s home, and it was now mine. The doctor was polite and reminded me to take it easy and look out for the typical symptoms that can accompany a concussion. He suggested that I stay, but of course I did not. I couldn’t. And quite honestly, I didn’t understand the urgency, but I felt it deep in my bones.
I had to do what I was going to do now. It couldn’t wait. Jeopardy Belle had been waiting too long.
When we arrived at Summerleigh, we sat in the truck a minute. I felt like Jesse had something he wanted to say to me, so I waited. Maybe he was waiting for me to say thank you? I probably should. I forgot about things like that sometimes. I didn’t usually have anyone to thank except Anita. I missed my friend.
“Hey, thanks for checking up on me. If it weren’t for you, I’d probably still be lying on the floor.”
Jesse smiled good-naturedly. Gosh, he was such a nice guy. He kind of felt too good to be true. “You’re welcome, Jerica. You can thank Ben, I suppose. He was adamant that I get back here. He’s really afraid for you to be here. I don’t understand it, but that’s how he feels.”
“Where has he gone?”
“He says he’s going back home, but I don’t know if I believe him. I think he needs medical help. He’s almost obsessive about you and this place. It’s concerning. Like I said, I don’t know much about diseases, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Ben wasn’t getting good blood flow to his brain. For a few minutes, he was talking out of his head. Acting like you were Harper. He even called you that once or twice.”
“It happens when you get old. Harper used to call me Jeopardy all the time.”
“Still, be careful. I know you have a big heart and you want to help him, but…just use caution.”
I leaned close to him. It was a bold move, but I was making it. “I promise to be careful. Now let me thank you properly.” I pressed my lips to his and kissed him with my hands in his. He felt warm and alive. Soon our tender kiss became more fervent. He was the first to break contact.
“Wow,” he said. “That’s some thank-you.”
“Too much?” I asked with an embarrassed smile. “If so, I blame it on the concussion.”
“It’s not too much.” He kissed me again, and I snuggled up next to him. “We should probably go inside. What is this you want to show me? Something about a game?”
“Yeah, I saw Jeopardy hide it under the stairs.” I slid out of the truck and closed the door behind me. Summerleigh looked like such an innocent place, but it was all an illusion. “You think Ben was right? That this place had activity before Summerleigh was built? That this property was haunted from the beginning?”
“I don’t know how much stock I’d put in any of Ben’s stories. I know he loved Harper and she trusted him for some reason, but he’s not quite all there. I have heard about the other house, but like I said, the names of those people are lost at this point.”
We walked into the house, and for the hundredth time, I surveyed the place. Even though there wasn’t a stick of furniture in the Great Room, the smell of new wood encouraged me and reminded me that we were making progress. We were making a difference. One day, Summerleigh would be beautiful again, and she would be my own.
“Over here, Jesse. I didn’t even notice this section of wall before. I mean, I looked at it but never noticed it. See how the panel is hidden in the grooves?” I waved him to the staircase and squatted down to get a good look at the hidden panel. Sure enough, it was right there.
“I never saw it either. But Summerleigh is huge, and I was so focused on the stairs and floor that I didn’t think to look for a hidey hole.” He squatted down beside me. “You say Jeopardy hid something in there?”
“Hidey hole?” I laughed. “I’ve never heard of that before.”
“Must be a local thing. All good southern homes have hidey holes. It’s where you keep the real important stuff.”
“Like the family jewels?”
“No, like the moonshine. Or your mother-in-law’s body. I’ll have to tell you about that sometime. So what is it you think is in there? A game?”
My head throbbed, but I stayed focused. “Yes, a board game. Jeopardy and Marisol were playing with it. Jeopardy tucked a book inside of it. She showed it to me.”
Jesse pushed on the panel, which came off surprisingly easily. H
e grinned at me, and I couldn’t hide my enthusiasm. “Hey, do you have your phone?” I asked. He eased the panel to the side and dug his phone out of his pocket. Hitting the flashlight app, he illuminated the small space.
“I see a stack of games, and there’s some other stuff too, a metal box and something else. Is that an old hat box? Can you hold the phone?” I did as he asked, and soon Jesse handed me a small stack of old games including Monopoly, Life and a box of playing cards.
They were covered in a layer of dust, but I didn’t let that deter me. I opened the Life game and sorted through the pieces. There was no sign of the book. I dumped the box out, and the book fell into my lap. Jeopardy had tucked it under the insert.
Jesse was amazed at our discovery. “Hey, this book looks familiar. Like it belongs with the other one. See the cover? It’s similar to the one you found in the potting shed.”
I flipped it open, and my eyes fell on a familiar name, Jameson McIntyre. “Oh my gosh! Look at this, Jesse.” I handed the book to him. He strained to read the text without his glasses since it was getting darker by the minute in here. I didn’t hear the usual footsteps, but you never felt alone at Summerleigh. “Why don’t we take all this stuff to the cottage and go through it there?”
“Okay. You got that stack?” We hurried back out of the house and headed to the cottage. Jesse grabbed his glasses from the truck, and then we went inside to examine our find. “No way was that a coincidence. You really did see Jeopardy Belle, Jerica.”
“I told you I did. Don’t tell me you didn’t believe me,” I said as I reached for a cloth to wipe the dust off the games. Once again we were huddled together around the kitchen table.
“I’m not saying that…” He opened the metal box but then paused and said, “Maybe that is what I meant. All this is new to me. I have always loved history, but to have it come to life…I’m not good at processing all this. There’s no denying that Summerleigh is haunted. But to have a ghost tell you where something is hidden and have it be true isn’t something you hear about every day. Look, I believe you, Jerica, but I have a scientist’s mind. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here. No matter how attractive you are.”
The Ghost of Jeopardy Belle Page 9