Grayson Manor Haunting

by Cheryl Bradshaw

Addison opened the door. “Excuse me.”

  Officer Jackson and the woman both turned, his hands remaining on her shoulders as if they belonged there.

  Addison directed her comments to the woman. “Can I ask you a question?” The woman nodded, practically leaping up the porch steps. Officer Jackson followed. The woman slipped inside. The officer tried to do the same, but Addison was quick to shut him down. “Not you. Just her.” She slammed the door, sliding the deadbolt into place.

  This seemed to impress the woman until she looked at Addison and started talking. “What’s your question? I’m in a hurry.”

  “I don’t have one. I just…saw you out there and I…thought you could use a little help. I hope that’s okay.”

  “Are you kidding? It’s great.” She stuck her hand out. “Sorry I snapped at you. It’s been a long day. And he’s…well…just made it longer. I’m Lia McReedy.”

  Addison took Lia’s hand in hers. “What’s your job, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “I examine the bodies.”

  “Is he…always like that with you?”

  Lia tipped her head toward the porch. “TJ?”

  Addison nodded.

  “We used to be together. He doesn’t really grasp the concept of ‘broken up.’”

  “I’ve been with a few men like that myself. Can I get you anything?”

  “Coffee, if you have it.” Lia followed Addison into the kitchen. “Cool place you’ve got here.”

  “I inherited it.”

  Addison poured two cups of coffee and handed one to Lia. They sat down at the table.

  “Can I ask you something?” Lia said.

  “Sure.”

  “How’d you know there was a body back there?”

  “I’ve already given my statement to the officers who were here earlier.”

  “Yeah, but there’s more to it.”

  Addison raised a brow. “Why do you say that?”

  “I can just tell these things. Call it a gift.”

  A gift. She had no idea.

  “Several decades ago, a woman went missing after a party she attended in this house. She was an actress. Roxanne Rafferty.”

  “Was she ever found?”

  Addison shook her head. She told Lia about the dress she’d found after moving in and about the man who posed as a detective. “I don’t want to give you the impression that I’m crazy, but the floor in the room upstairs looks like someone cleaned it with bleach.”

  Both girls walked upstairs slowly, mindful of the fact that Addison’s father was sleeping nearby. Addison closed the door and turned on the light. Lia examined the large circle on the faded wood floor.

  “Well, what do you think?” Addison asked.

  “It’s hard to say. I don’t think you’re crazy, but there’s one thing here that doesn’t make sense. You said a woman went missing—this Roxanne Rafferty person. But the skeleton behind your house isn’t a woman’s. It’s a man’s.”

  CHAPTER 45

  Addison’s mind refused to settle, her eyes continually drawn to the time displayed on the clock on her nightstand. It ticked by. Slowly. Effortlessly. She’d struggled for hours to find a comfortable position. She’d even taken something to help her sleep. Nothing worked. Nothing quieted her mind. And she’d come to the conclusion that nothing would. Not tonight.

  The bones weren’t a woman’s. They were a man’s. Her grandfather’s. She didn’t need confirmation. She knew they were his. All of the stories she’d been told since arriving at Grayson Manor swirled around in her head like a blizzard on a cold winter’s day, and she couldn’t help but come to the decision that every last one had been laced with lies.

  She went downstairs, opened the front door and stepped outside, taking in a lungful of precious country air. She wrapped a blanket around her and sat down, allowing her feet to dangle over the front porch steps. Sharing a house with Roxanne had made her weary. She wanted to help her, give her the resolve she needed to move on, but it was hard to know where to go or who to turn to anymore.

  She leaned her body against the porch railing and rested her eyes. But not for long. Two hands, heavy and thick thrust down, crushing her ribcage, the force so powerful it flattened her body to the ground. She fought for breath, swallowing big, empty gulps of air. She looked up and saw no one, yet she was stuck, as if the blanket wrapped over her had been nailed into place. Roxanne? No, it couldn’t be. She’d always been surrounded by a ray of light and not cloaked in blackness. A figure outlined in black took shape before her. His stone-like eyes were cold and menacing, his lips tight. He removed his hands from her chest and encircled them around her neck, his thumbs pressing into the well in the center, cutting off the airflow throughout her body. I’m going to die here! As much as she missed the presence of her mother, she wasn’t ready to go—not yet, not like this.

  Suddenly, hands were on the back of her shirt, dragging her inside the house—through the front door—to safety. As her body retracted into the entry way, the blackness surged toward the door, then smacked into it and started to fade. Within seconds, it was gone. The door closed, Addison turned. No one was there. She was all alone, yet someone had rescued her. She checked on her father. He was asleep. She wrapped her arms around herself and walked back to her room. Grateful she’d been rescued, she whispered, “Roxanne, I don’t know if you can hear me, but if you can, thank you.”

  CHAPTER 46

  Helen, Hugh Brandon, Celeste Brandon, and Marjorie Grayson sat around a circular table. Helen had her hands folded in her lap. Hugh and Celeste rested theirs on the edge of the table. Marjorie’s were crossed in front of her. They all stared at one another, but no one said a word. It was like a game really—who goes first?—even though everyone knew Marjorie was the ringleader of the bunch.

  Years earlier they had agreed that what really happened the night of Roxanne Rafferty’s disappearance would never pass their lips again. They had also agreed that no matter how much time went by, it would be wise for them to keep their distance from one another. Well, all except Hugh and Celeste. After all, they were married.

  Not to disappoint, Marjorie spoke first. “Honestly Celeste, I really don’t know what you were thinking.”

  Celeste crossed one leg over the other and avoided Marjorie’s gaze. “What do you mean?”

  “Dottie Davis? What kind of name is that?”

  “A damn good one if you ask me. How was I to know the girl would come here?”

  “Dottie Davis doesn’t exist!” Marjorie howled. “How long do you think it will take my granddaughter to figure that out?”

  “Long enough for us to make a decision. That’s what we’re here for, aren’t we?”

  “Which one of you followed me to the coffee shop?”

  Hugh raised his pointer finger into the air but didn’t say a word.

  “And you,” Marjorie said, shifting her focus to him. “Posing as a detective, stealing the dress, and then hitting that young man over the head with a shovel. What the hell has gotten into you people?!”

  Hugh rubbed his hands together as though he was washing them. “He was about to discover Norman’s body. I wasn’t trying to hurt him. I panicked.”

  “You were supposed to keep your distance. That’s what we agreed upon, remember?”

  Helen, who up until now had been quietly taking it all in, slammed a hand down on the table. “All of this might have been avoided if you had burned that dress along with all of the other evidence.”

  “The dress was my mother’s. It’s one of the only things I had left of hers. I know it was wrong to keep it. But after so many years, I never thought it would matter.”

  “None of us would even be here if it wasn’t for you, Marjorie,” Helen pointed out.

  Marjorie clenched her teeth together, fighting to maintain her composure. “Meaning?”

  “The reason the girl came here in the first place is because she inherited that house. Your house. If anyone is to blame in all of this, it’
s you. It was bad enough when Detective Dobbs wouldn’t stop sniffing around all those years ago. Now your own granddaughter is playing detective!”

  Marjorie leaned back in the chair and rubbed circles around her eyes with her fingers. “My daughter died—I always assumed she wouldn’t ever care to go back there. I figured by the time I passed on, it wouldn’t matter anymore. I was wrong.”

  Hugh laughed. “You were wrong? I never thought I’d see the day.”

  All three women glared at him. None of them smiled.

  “If you’re quite done, Hugh, we have a decision to make,” Marjorie said.

  “I still think we could drive her away from that house,” he said.

  “We can’t. Nothing will make her leave. Not now.”

  Hugh sighed. “How can you be so sure?”

  It was a question she couldn’t answer. Not with the truth. Explaining Addison’s ability was something she’d never do—they wouldn’t understand anyway. No one ever did. The spirit of Roxanne Rafferty was alive and well at Grayson Manor, and there was only one way to get her out. “I met with my granddaughter yesterday, as you all know. I didn’t just ask her to leave, I begged her. She refused. Norman’s body was dug up by investigators last night. Even if my granddaughter left now, it would be too late. There will be more questions, and Addison won’t know how to answer them. The manor will be searched again.” Marjorie paused and glanced at each one of them. “And you all know we can’t allow that to happen. A lot has changed since Roxanne died. Forensics is far more advanced than it used to be, and this time, we won’t be able to stop them from finding the evidence.”

  Celeste nodded. “We need to tell Addison the truth. It’s time.”

  “And then what—she goes to the police?” Helen threw her hands in the air.

  Celeste shrugged her shoulders. “What can they do to us now? It’s a risk, but we don’t have much choice.”

  Marjorie stood. “Well then, are we all in agreement?”

  Celeste looked at Hugh, who looked at Helen. Helen clasped her hands together and hissed a low but audible, “Fine. We’ll tell her. But the moment it goes south, so do I.”

  CHAPTER 47

  When Addison woke the next morning, she found a note taped to the inside of her bedroom door. She had no idea how anyone had gotten in. The night before, she’d locked herself inside, checking the lock three times before crawling back into bed. The note was handwritten in straight, cursive lines. A woman? It said: Coffee Shop. 10 AM. COME ALONE. The note was signed “M.” Hmm. M for Marjorie?

  Addison got dressed, told her father she was going to town to get some groceries, and made it all the way to her car before Luke stopped her. “Where you off to?”

  “Grocery store.”

  “You’ve got plenty of food in that kitchen of yours, and I haven’t seen you cook much since you got here.”

  She shrugged. “I’m in the mood for something different.”

  “Fine. Mind if I tag along? I forgot to grab something I needed at the hardware store.”

  “I’m not sure I’m going that—”

  Luke swung the passenger door open and got in. “Let’s go.”

  They drove for almost fifteen minutes before Addison couldn’t take it any longer. “How did you know?”

  “I’m not sure what I know exactly, only that grocery shopping has never been high on your priority list. Especially at this hour. So, where are we going?”

  She handed over the note.

  “And you really thought going alone was a good idea?”

  She took a deep breath. “I’m all out of ideas. That body in the woods, it’s a man, not a woman. My guess? My grandfather.”

  “If he’s out there, where’s Roxanne?”

  “I’m hoping that’s what we’re about to find out.”

  ***

  Marjorie stood in front of the coffee house/soup kitchen modeling a pair of black sunglasses that were so large she looked like she was in the Witness Protection Program. When she got an eyeful of Luke crossing the street with Addison, her words shot out like rapid fire. Addison held a hand up and firmly stated, “He stays or I go. I don’t want to do whatever this is without him.”

  “He shouldn’t be here,” Marjorie stated. “I know nothing about him.”

  “And I know almost nothing about you. So what’s it going to be?”

  Marjorie huffed a few times then said, “Follow me then.”

  The three of them walked to the park across the street. Once there, Marjorie took them down a secluded path that seemed to lead to nowhere, but when they rounded the corner, Addison couldn’t believe the three people sitting on a bench in front of her. She never thought she’d see them in the same room, let alone out together.

  “I don’t understand,” Addison said.

  “We’ll explain everything,” Marjorie said. “I need you to be patient.”

  “Who’s he and why is he here?” Helen said, bending a finger toward Luke.

  “No one. Don’t worry about him,” Marjorie replied.

  “Who are you?” Addison said to the man sitting between Helen and Celeste Brandon.

  “Hugh.”

  “Hugh Brandon?”

  He smiled like she’d just recognized he once was a famous celebrity. “I can’t imagine what these three have filled your head with lately. You’ll forgive them for a few white lies, won’t you?”

  “Is this supposed to be funny?” Addison said.

  “Look, no one is around right now, and I’m catching a chill,” Helen said. “We need to get on with it.”

  Addison and Luke sat with Marjorie on a bench directly across from the other one.

  “She’s my granddaughter,” Marjorie said. “It might be best if I tell it.”

  Helen rolled her eyes but said nothing.

  “On the night of the party that Roxy went missing, all of us were there.”

  Addison crossed her arms in front of her. “So basically you have all been lying to me about everything.”

  “Interrupting me won’t change things now,” Marjorie replied. “Do you want to hear the story or don’t you?” She gave her words time to sink in and then continued. “Your grandfather was having an affair with Roxy and had been for some time. I knew, of course, as did most everyone. He had quite the reputation with the ladies back then. He made them all kinds of promises to further their careers, and they fell for it. Every last one. Imagine their dismay when, after one or two bit parts in small films, he moved on with someone else.”

  “Roxanne didn’t have small roles,” Addison said.

  “Roxy was different. You see, your grandfather liked to be in charge. And when he wasn’t, well, let’s just say it drove him to do things none of us imagined.”

  “Do you mean to say he shot her out of jealousy?” Addison asked.

  Marjorie shook her head. “Not exactly.”

  “What then?”

  “The night of the party, Roxy showed up, even though she hadn’t been invited. I had a firm rule about him bringing any of his flings to the house. They weren’t allowed. But that didn’t stop her. She came anyway. She asked if she could talk to me. So, we went into another room away from everyone else, and she confessed to the affair. She wasn’t aware, of course, that I already knew she’d been seeing him.”

  “Was it you, then? Did you shoot her?”

  Marjorie tossed her head back and laughed. “Heavens, no. She asked for my forgiveness, and although I didn’t give it to her, I respected her for having the decency to tell me the truth—and to my face, no less. She said she only came over to break off the affair and to clear things up with me and with him.”

  “And did she?”

  “I counseled her not to tell him that night. He’d been drinking, and I knew how he could be when he didn’t get his way. She thought she could reason with him—she said she had to. She’d met someone else. Someone she didn’t have to sneak around with.”

  “Did she tell him?”

  “A
s soon as he saw her he went on the attack, airing it all out in front of our guests. I took him aside and gave him two options: leave the house or take her to another room, somewhere more discreet. A few minutes later, he rejoined our guests. Roxy was nowhere to be seen, but no one saw her leave. The party wound down after another hour or so, and I saw Norman heading upstairs. He’d had a lot to drink and could barely walk. I assumed he was going to bed.”

  “I know about the blood on the floor in my mother’s room.”

  Marjorie patted Addison’s leg. “You’re getting ahead of yourself.” She cleared her throat and continued. “A few minutes after he’d gone upstairs I heard two people arguing. And I recognized Roxy’s voice. We all assumed she’d gone upstairs to wait it out, thinking perhaps if he sobered up, she could talk to him.”

  “Where was my mother?”

  “I used to put her in the bedroom at the end of the hall when we had parties because it was the quietest room in the house. I should have thought to check on her, but I didn’t. My only concern at the time was getting everyone out so I could deal with another one of his messes.”

  Addison looked at the others. “So everyone left except the three of you?” They all nodded in agreement.

  “I was saying goodbye to a friend when I heard a gunshot go off,” Marjorie said. “Several seconds went by and I heard another. The four of us practically stepped over each other to get up those stairs. I flung your mother’s door open and stood there. Shocked. We all were. Norman and Roxy were both dead.”

  “I don’t understand,” Addison said. “Did one shoot the other and then turn the gun on themselves?”

  “No, dear.”

  “What then?”

  “Roxy shot your grandfather.”

  “Then…who shot Roxy?”

  There was an unsettling silence before Hugh spoke up for all of them. “Your mother.”

  CHAPTER 48

  “My mother? She was just a child. How is that even—”

  “Possible?” Hugh answered. “The four of us talked it over many times after it happened. We think Norman pulled a gun on Roxy, and she charged at him. The gun went off, killing him. Their arguing probably woke your mother. She came into the room at some point—we don’t know whether it was before or after. When Roxy realized what she’d done, we think she dropped the gun. Your mother picked it up, and when she saw her father dead on the ground, she aimed the gun at Roxy.”