The Clockwork House

by Wendy Saunders

  She briefly considered crawling back into bed and wrapping herself around Kelley’s warm naked body, until she either fell asleep or he woke up and kept her awake in a much more entertaining way. Neither were really fair to Kelley though.

  What she needed, she decided, was some fresh air and the ocean. A swim, down in her small private cove at the bottom of the cliff would be perfect. It was still too early for Killian and the rest of the crew to be there, so she’d have some privacy. She’d already bought herself a bathing suit, anyway, so wouldn’t be naked this time… just in case.

  The more she thought about it the more the idea appealed. Just thinking about her private little beach at the foot of the cliff reminded her of the conversation she’d had with Drew the day before and she found herself wondering if there were any hidden caves down there. She felt a pulse of excitement in her veins and without stopping to second guess herself she gathered up her things, leaving a note and a pot of fresh coffee brewing for Kelley, before slipping out the door with her dog.

  It was a pleasant drive, through the winding streets, through the town and past the docks, watching as the sun began to rise. The small fishing fleet were just heading out of the bay and slowly the little island was beginning to stir. They travelled up the coast road, the window cranked down as Bailey hung her head out, her long pink tongue flapping in the breeze as it hung out the side of her mouth.

  They drove under the lush green canopy of trees, the bright light of dawn dappling through the leaves and casting patterns across the road ahead. They passed through the woods, and out of the corner of her eye Ava caught sight of a small blue car parked off road amongst the trees. She slowed down to a crawl. It seemed somehow familiar, but she couldn’t place where she’d seen it before.

  She glanced around but she couldn’t see anyone who needed help. If it was a breakdown, she assumed the owner of the car probably hiked back down into town for assistance. Mentally shrugging she sped up, heading through the woods that were now so familiar to her and up to the cliff top. Beyond the tree line she could see the house looming up, from this angle and distance it looked like it was surrounded by metal toothpicks.

  The work on the house was coming along nicely, despite the constant interruptions. They’d managed to finish replacing the roof; all that was left to do was replace the tiles. Killian’s wife Hope had managed to track down roof tiles almost identical to the originals from an old reclamation yard and have them shipped to the island to replace all the damaged and missing ones.

  Although there was still more to do, a lot of the loose brickwork on the exterior of the house had been cemented firmly back into place. Likewise, the balconies had been strengthened and the black metal decorative balustrades repaired. One of the biggest surprises was discovering that the house wasn’t a dull depressing gray stone but in fact a sunny warm sandstone, the exterior was just dirty. A little investigation by Drew had revealed that for about seventy-five years after the house was constructed a tannery had operated across the bay on the mainland and the smoke and fumes had been carried across on the sea air. As soon as all the exterior work was completed, Killian had promised her they were going to clean the staining to reveal the original sandstone colored brickwork and she couldn’t wait to see it.

  The bottom row of windows was now back in on the ground floor. Although there was still a lot more to do, it felt like they were beginning to make progress. She hadn’t picked out a new front door yet, they’d just put in a temporary one to keep the voracious ghost hunters and reporters out, but she knew she wanted something that let in the light with some kind of stained glass.

  Sooner or later she’d have to see about a landscape designer too, but she could already see it. For the first time in her life she could picture it and despite all the dark past that had been linked to the house she found she still wanted to save it, like the house deserved a second chance.

  She pulled up to the top of the road and waved to the deputy sitting in his squad car as she bypassed him and parked by the RV. They now had a permanent police presence since the bodies had been found, on account of the house being even more tempting for thrill seekers to break into.

  Climbing out of the truck with Bailey jumping down beside her, she glanced over to the house and frowned. The front door was wide open. She crossed the yard and headed up the stone steps and as Bailey bounded ahead, she caught a scent and started barking loudly. Suddenly Ava realized where she’d seen the small blue car concealed in the woods. It belonged to the reporter who’d been bothering her the day before, Derek Carpenter.

  Her expression darkened and her jaw clenched in irritation as she marched up the remaining steps and through the wide-open doorway. She stopped in the foyer with Bailey pressing heavily against her legs.

  ‘MR CARPENTER?’ she called out into the house, her voice echoing in the stillness. ‘I KNOW YOU’RE HERE SO YOU MAY AS WELL COME OUT.’

  She waited a few more moments.

  ‘YOU’RE TRESPASSING ON PRIVATE PROPERTY. IF YOU DON’T LEAVE, I WILL HAVE TO CALL IN THE DEPUTY.’

  Still nothing.

  ‘MR CARPENTER?’

  Bailey suddenly gave a ruff and wagged her tail. Heading toward the steps, she ran up the first few before stopping and running back down.

  ‘Gotcha,’ Ava whispered as she grasped the bannister and placed her foot on the bottom step.

  She climbed the stairs slowly with Bailey running back and forth on the steps in front of her, her tail wagging playfully. When Ava finally reached the top, she stopped, glancing around for the rude reporter.

  ‘Hello?’ she called out.

  Bailey gave another short ruff next to her.

  Ava’s blood ran cold as a small leather baseball rolled slowly across the floor towards them, a ball Ava knew without a shadow of a doubt she’d left in her RV.

  Bailey picked up the ball in her mouth, tail wagging. Ava slowly turned to look in the direction her dog’s gaze was fixed on and her heart slammed against her ribcage, thumping erratically in her chest and pounding in her ears.

  There in front of her, peering shyly around the corner, was a tiny boy. His blonde hair was messily parted on one side, and he was wearing much the same as in the photo which was tucked away carefully in her notebook. He watched her carefully through pale eyes, his skin chalky white. He pointed to the ground at her feet. When she looked down, she found a small bunch of wildflowers tied with a long strand of grass. She reached down slowly and picked them up, looking back at the boy who smiled shyly.

  Ava tried to swallow past the dryness in her mouth, blinking rapidly like she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing.

  ‘Are you… are you Peter?’ she whispered into the stillness.

  Suddenly the boy looked up, his pale eyes alarmed. He shimmered and disappeared like a mirage.

  Ava turned abruptly and sucked in a loud breath. A scream caught in her throat, but no sound came out. Her entire body froze. She was staring into the pale, colorless eyes of a face that, although she’d only seen it in an old photograph, was burned into her mind.

  It was the face of Luella Lynch.

  Her skin was sickly white, the shadows under her eyes were deep purple bruises highlighting those cold eyes. Her hair was scooped off her face in a huge loose bun on top of her head, wild, with serpent like tendrils escaping, but before Ava could register what was happening, she’d raised her white claw-like hands to Ava’s face and gripped either side of her head.

  It was like being blasted with white hot electricity. Pain lanced through her skull, until she thought it was going to explode with the pressure. She screamed and stumbled back, and felt her foot miss the top step. Her arms windmilled wildly and for a split, terrifying second everything froze, then she was falling, and everything went black.

  She could hear screaming; the children were screaming. They were terrified. A woman was crying, the sound of lightning slashing across the sky and the violent crash and roll of thunder too close. The rai
n hammered down loudly, violent jagged spears that pierced anything they touched.

  Ava moaned quietly and turned, her eyes fluttering open, blurry and unfocused. The rain was still hammering loudly only now it was against glass. Her eyes rolled as she tried to focus. There was a window, she could see streams of rain running down its surface. Somewhere in the background there was a low hushed beeping.

  ‘Ava.’

  She knew that voice. She turned and opened her mouth to speak but her voice sounded strange; dry and croaky, and not at all like her.

  ‘Kelley,’ she whispered.

  ‘Thank God,’ he breathed heavily, the relief clearly etched into his exhausted face as he unfolded himself from the chair beside her bed and leaned in, taking her hand and pressing it to his mouth.

  ‘Where am I?’ she glanced around to find a sea of brightly colored flowers and balloons.

  ‘You’re in the hospital Ava,’ he replied quietly. ‘Jesus, you scared the shit out of me.’

  ‘Sorry,’ she apologized, ‘I know you have classes to teach this afternoon.’

  ‘Classes? Ava,’ he blinked slowly, ‘that was days ago.’

  ‘What?’ she frowned in confusion.

  ‘You’ve been unconscious for nearly four days.’

  She blinked as her slow sluggish mind tried to assimilate what he was telling her.

  ‘Where’s Bailey?’

  He smiled then, huffing out an unintentional laugh. It was so like her, for her first thought to be about her dog.

  ‘She’s with my brother, getting hopelessly spoiled by my niece and nephews. She’s probably going to be the size of a walrus by the time they hand her back to you.’

  There was a quiet knock at the door and as they looked over, it opened and a woman with honey blonde hair and warm brown eyes looked in.

  ‘How is she?’ she asked in a hushed hospital tone.

  ‘She’s awake,’ Kelley replied.

  ‘Oh,’ the woman smiled widely as her eyes landed on Ava and held her gaze.

  She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. As she approached, she was carrying a large potted plant.

  ‘Another one?’ Kelley asked.

  ‘Rosie from the diner,’ she replied with a shrug as she set the plant on the table at the end of the bed.

  ‘Ava,’ Kelley turned to look at her, ‘this is my mom. Cecelia.’

  Ava swallowed once more, her mouth feeling like Velcro.

  ‘Mrs Ryan,’ she croaked, uncomfortably aware she probably wasn’t looking her best, having apparently not showered for four days and wearing a rather attractive standard issue hospital gown.

  Although, it wasn’t any worse than when she’d met Kelley’s father. That time she’d only been wearing a towel and had smelled faintly like fish guts.

  ‘Call me CC honey,’ she smiled as she rounded the bed and stood beside her son. Her hand automatically lifted and stroked across his tense shoulders, as she looked down at Kelley. ‘Why don’t you go fetch the doctor, I’ll sit with her.’

  Kelley nodded, casting a worried glance at Ava before leaving the room.

  ‘Well,’ CC sat down in the chair he’d just vacated, ‘you gave everyone quite a scare.’

  ‘I guess,’ she struggled to sit up.

  ‘Here let me help you,’ CC stood up and helped her adjust the bed, puffing up her pillows and making sure she was settled against them comfortably. It was such a mom thing to do that for a moment Ava had to blink back the tears. She might not have always seen eye to eye with Serenity, but it was times like this she missed her mom.

  Taking a moment to compose herself Ava glanced around the room. Almost every surface was covered with flowers, teddies and balloons.

  ‘What is all this?’ she frowned.

  ‘From a whole bunch of very distressed well-wishers,’ CC smiled. ‘It’s seems in the short time you’ve been on the island you’ve made quite the impression.’

  Ava turned to CC and blinked in astonishment.

  ‘These are all for me?’

  CC nodded.

  ‘While you’ve been out, you’ve had more or less the entire Midnight police department in here, as well as Bunty McCarthy and all her cronies, and a rather colorful gentleman named Baz I believe.’

  ‘Baz is back?’

  ‘He never left,’ CC winked. ‘I’ve heard all about what happened at Bunty’s with the brownies, from my mother in law Alma.’ She chuckled, absolutely tickled with amusement. ‘Don’t worry I didn't say anything to Gus, what with him being the Sheriff and all, but I would bet money that he already knows. Not much escapes my husband’s notice on the island. Anyway, apparently Baz has been holed up at Barbara’s house. Barbara, who has been very vocal over the years about sexual promiscuity and sex outside of marriage and now she has a gentleman staying with her in her one-bedroom cottage, if you know what I mean,’ she wiggled her eyebrows.

  Ava couldn’t help the laugh that escaped at the thought of the strait-laced Barbara shacked up with the colorful hippy stoner.

  ‘It’s been quite the scandal,’ CC laughed.

  Ava’s gaze landed on a strangely folded blob, which consisted of coils and coils of green knitting tied into a parcel shape with a lopsided bow. Clearly a gift for her, from Norma who loved to knit but couldn’t seem to actually knit anything specific.

  ‘Still it was sweet of them to stop by,’ Ava murmured, ridiculously touched.

  ‘Oh, they weren’t the only ones. Killian has been by with all of his crew. It was kind of sweet actually, to see all of these huge tough looking guys tiptoeing around you carrying teddy bears and flowers. Even Bo, was wheeled down from his room on the 3rd floor.’

  ‘How is Bo?’ Ava asked.

  ‘He’s doing just fine,’ CC nodded. ‘Had a bit of a concussion, but the break in his leg was worse than they first thought. He had to have surgery, a few pins and screws and he’s right as rain. They released him yesterday.’

  ‘God,’ Ava frowned, ‘all these people coming in and out to see me, I hope I wasn’t snoring or drooling.’

  CC laughed in amusement as she stared at the beautiful woman with jet black hair. While she’d been unconscious, she’d looked as pretty and as unreachable as Snow White. She’d watched her son, as he’d watched over Ava. She didn’t think she’d ever forget the look on his face, or the moment she realized he was completely in love with her.

  ‘Kelley never left your side,’ CC murmured.

  Ava turned to stare at her.

  CC opened her mouth to say something else, but the door opened suddenly, and Kelley strolled back in, followed by the doctor.

  ‘Miz Cortez,’ the doctor looked up from his chart. ‘Back again so soon.’

  She recognized him as the doctor who’d treated them before for suspected heavy metal poisoning.

  ‘What can I say Doc,’ she replied, ‘I like the Jell-O cups.’

  ‘Well you’d be the first then,’ he smiled.

  CC rose from the chair and smoothed her skirt. ‘Why don’t I go grab some coffee and give you some privacy,’ she excused herself and slipped out the door.

  ‘How are you feeling?’ he dropped the chart on the bed and reached into the breast pocket of his white coat, retrieving a flashlight pen and shining it in her eyes as he spoke.

  ‘I’m okay,’ she frowned, ‘a little confused, my head hurts and I’m a little dizzy.’

  ‘Any pain anywhere?’

  ‘No,’ she shook her head.

  ‘Well we seem to have a bit of a mystery,’ he frowned. ‘There’s nothing wrong with you.’

  ‘Why am I here then?’ she asked in confusion.

  ‘According to your fiancé…,’ he nodded toward Kelley.

  Ava slowly turned to Kelley who had the grace to look slightly embarrassed.

  ‘…you were found at the bottom of a rather large staircase. The general consensus is that you fell.’

  ‘What do you remember Ava?’ Kelley asked.

  ‘I re
member going into the house,’ she frowned thoughtfully. ‘I remember climbing the stairs. I was standing at the top when…’

  ‘When?’ he prompted.

  ‘I don’t know,’ she blew out a breath, ‘it’s all a bit blurry, then I woke up here.’

  ‘The thing is Miz Cortez, you haven’t sustained any injuries, not one single bruise, scrape or broken bone. That simply wouldn’t have happened if you’d fallen down the stairs, there’d be some evidence of trauma.’

  ‘So why was I out cold for four days then?’

  ‘We don’t know,’ he shook his head, ‘there’s the mystery. We’ve run every conceivable test we could think of, CT, MRI, bloods, we can find no head injury or illness. It’s like, your brain, for whatever reason just went offline for four days and then rebooted. I’m at a complete loss as to how to explain it.’

  ‘Oh,’ Ava frowned.

  There was another knock at the door and this time a nurse looked in.

  ‘Doctor you’re needed down in the ER for a consult.’

  He nodded.

  ‘Get some rest,’ he told Ava, ‘we’ll check in on you later.’

  She waited until both the doctor and nurse left, closing the door behind them before she turned to Kelley.

  ‘Fiancé?’

  ‘You don’t have a next of kin listed,’ Kelley explained. ‘When we arrived, they wouldn’t tell me what was going on, so I had to tell them I was your fiancé. Apparently, fiancé trumps boyfriend.’

  ‘Is that what we are?’ she tilted her head as she watched him.

  ‘Aren’t we? I mean you’re practically living in my apartment and having sex with me.’

  ‘Oops sorry,’ CC blinked in the doorway.

  ‘Mom!’ Kelley rolled his eyes in exasperation.

  ‘Sorry, sorry,’ she tiptoed into the room, ‘I just thought Ava could use some caffeine after four days.’ She placed a disposable cup down on the table over the bed. ‘I’m just going to…’ she indicated to the door, ‘but it’s not like I didn’t know you two were pounding the bed springs…’