Jekyll Island: A Paranormal Mystery (Taryn's Camera Book 5)

by Rebecca Patrick-Howard

  “Will you marry me?” Matt asked abruptly.

  Taryn, who was mid-bite, found her spoon flying from her hand and landing in the dirt. “Uh…are you proposing?”

  Matt laughed and patted her on the knee. “No, not yet. You’ll know when I am. I am just asking will you, when the time comes?”

  Taryn put her cup of chocolate yogurt down beside her and snuggled into Matt’s arm. “I couldn’t imagine life without you,” she answered with total honesty.

  The ride back to Jekyll Island only took them fifteen minutes and Taryn was pleased with herself for not letting the roundabout get the best of her again.

  In contrast to St. Simon’s light and activity, Jekyll was dark and quiet. An oppressive mood settled over Taryn as they got out of the car and started into the house. She’d felt so much lighter on the other island. Now she felt depressed.

  “The ghosts must be getting to me,” she mumbled, as she started towards the bedroom.

  “What?” Matt called from the kitchen where he was bringing down a pitcher of tea he’d left sunning in the window all day.

  “Nothing. Just talking to myself,” Taryn hollered back.

  Feeling grimy and sweaty she considered hopping in the shower but decided she was too tired. Instead, she slipped on her nightgown, brushed her hair, and scrubbed her face. Matt’s toiletries took up almost as much space as her own on the bathroom sink and this made her smile. She also grinned at the sight of his bathrobe hanging on the back of the bathroom door and his towel folded neatly on the edge of the bathtub. Matt always traveled with his own bath towel, even to five-star hotels.

  When she finished she returned to the bedroom. While Matt puttered around in the kitchen Taryn busied herself in the bedroom. She turned on the lamp on the nightstand, stacked the throw pillows neatly on the floor, and removed the afghan at the bottom of the bed. When she reached for the blankets to pull them down, however, something extraordinarily red under the snowy white duvet caught her eye.

  Not altogether comprehending what was before her, Taryn flung the covers back with gusto. The angry and frightened snake that slithered towards her at a lightning-fast speed might not have been very long at only two feet but when its tiny tongue flew out in a livid “hisssss” Taryn dropped straight to the ground in a dead faint.

  Chapter 14

  For the fifth time in less than an hour the grandfatherly officer assured Matt that he’d done the right thing.

  “I’ve never killed a living creature before. I even catch mice and take them out to fields,” Matt worried. “But when I saw that thing slithering around her, I didn’t even think twice.”

  “You did the right thing,” the elderly gentleman replied. “If it had’ve been my own wife, I’d have beat that thing to a bloody pulp for touching her.”

  “It already bit her once. Are they supposed to go back again for another try?” Matt asked in wonder.

  Taryn, propped up in a hospital gown, opened her eyes and looked around in a glassy daze. Her calf throbbed with an ache that wasn’t part of her “normal” pain and her head felt thick. She thought she might vomit and reached for the bowl next to her bed. Both Matt and the officer reached for it at once and handed it to her together.

  In embarrassment, Taryn emptied her stomach into the plastic container and tried to ignore the fact that there were people watching her. It was mostly bile that spewed forth, but it was bitter on her tongue, and that alone had her gagging a second time.

  When she was finished Matt took the bowl from her and set it on the other side of the room, knowing that having it close would make her even sicker to her stomach. After he’d washed her face off with a cloth he dampened in the sink, he turned back to the officer.

  “So that wasn’t normal, right?”

  “Well, even those coral snakes won’t usually strike unless they feel threatened,” he agreed.

  “And we don’t know if it bit her before or after she passed out,” Matt said.

  “I don’t remember,” Taryn croaked, finding her throat sore. “I just remember seeing it. Why am I so sick?”

  “It might be the antidote,” Matt replied. “We’re in Brunswick. We got you here pretty fast, but the doctor thinks that because of your EDS it hit you harder.”

  “EDS?” the officer asked.

  “Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome,” Matt explained. “It’s a connective tissue disorder. Pretty serious. It’s basically like her body is a house and the bricks are all defective. It affects all of her systems and sometimes things that wouldn’t hurt people like us just strike her harder.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that ma’am,” the officer remarked, looking grave. “I would like to ask you a few questions, though.”

  “I’ll try,” Taryn answered weakly. She felt sick, like she had the flu. She just wanted to go back to sleep, but she also didn’t want Matt leaving her.

  “Have you had any trouble with anyone on the island?”

  “Me? No,” Taryn smiled thinly. “I don’t interact with many people. I work most of the time and keep to myself.”

  “What about friends?” he pressed.

  “I haven’t made any,” Taryn stated drily. Now she felt sorry for herself. She’d been there for weeks and hadn’t made even a real acquaintance, other than David. “Oh, wait, I did make a little bit of a friend. His name is David. We’ve been hanging out. I haven’t seen him in a few days though.”

  Matt turned and looked at her, his eyes full of questions. She could feel his mind probing at hers, seeking answers. He’d always been able to do that. She tried to ignore it now and let him search.

  “Any chance he’s upset with you?”

  Taryn laughed. “No, no. We’re on the same side.”

  The officer, who’d been making notes in a small booklet, snapped his head up and gazed at her. “’Same side’? What do you mean by that?”

  “Oh, not that there are sides or anything. It’s just that he works in historic preservation, in a sense, and that’s my area as well. I recreate historic structures through my paintings. We both love history is what I meant.”

  “Are you thinking that someone did this to her on purpose?” Matt asked narrowing his eyes.

  “Oh well, we don’t want to go that far. We just like to cover our bases.”

  “How else could the snake have gotten in the house?” Matt pressed, moving closer to Taryn and taking her hand. The IV point was sore, and the pain raced all the way up her arm but she didn’t want to let go.

  The officer shrugged. “Well, they’re small fellers. Could’ve come in through a hole you don’t even know you have. Or sneaked in when you left the door open bringing in groceries or something. They can live like that for days before coming out and making themselves known.”

  Taryn shuddered at the idea of having lived with a snake for “days” and not knowing it.

  “Well, if you can think of anything else, just let me know,” the officer said, snapping his notebook closed. “I’m sure this is just an accident. My names Juniper and I’ve left my number with your husband here.”

  Taryn closed her eyes and nodded, not bothering to correct him. “That’s the name of the guard who took him to the cemetery…” she mumbled groggily.

  “What?” Matt and Juniper asked in unison.

  Taryn shook her head. “Never mind.”

  When he was gone Matt pulled a chair up to her bedside and took her hand again. “They said you can go home tomorrow probably. I’m going to leave here in a little bit and make a clean sweep of the house just in case that guy has some friends hiding out.”

  “My grandmother always said ‘where there’s one, there’s two,’” Taryn agreed. She was slurring her words, unable to keep her eyes open. She felt like she could sleep for a week.

  “You want me to go back now? I could bring you a change of clothes, your hairbrush or something,” he offered.

  “Can you just stay here awhile?” Taryn mumbled, snuggling down into her flat hospital pillow. “Don
’t leave me by myself for awhile.”

  He leaned over and brushed the hair back from her face and then let his hand rest against her cheek. “I’m not going anywhere,” he answered.

  Taryn let herself drift off, trying to convince herself that what she’d seen and heard on the beach had nothing to do with what had happened earlier that night.

  “How ‘ya feeling?”

  Taryn glanced over at Matt and rolled her eyes. It was the sixth time he’d asked her that in an hour. She tried to remind herself that he didn’t mean to be annoying; he was just concerned.

  “Not so bad,” she answered, barely looking up from her painting. She hadn’t felt like going to either cottage so she’d set her easel up in the back yard. Matt had pulled a fold-up chair near her and was flipping through a Terry Pratchett book. “Good to be busy.”

  “Anything hurt?”

  “Not any more than usual,” came her curt reply.

  She’d ended up staying in the hospital for two days, much to her aggravation. Three jobs in the past year had put her in the hospital. Her insurance company was just going to love her. She grimaced now, thinking about the bills that would probably beat her home.

  “You got more flowers delivered,” Matt spoke up again. “I put them in your kitchen.”

  “Yeah? Who they from?”

  “The woman over at the hotel.”

  “Oh,” Taryn paused, paintbrush mid-air. “Well that was nice.”

  Ellen, of course, had been horrified. “What a terrible, terrible accident,” she’d cried, yet still hadn’t managed to lose her composure.

  Matt was still convinced that it was no “accident.”

  “Hey, I was talking to this waitress over at that restaurant last night? Eldean? She said she’d waited on you.”

  Taryn sighed and put her paintbrush down. It was becoming clear that she would get little work done. Matt was unusually chatty this afternoon.

  “Yeah. What did she say?”

  Matt shrugged. “She told me about the airport over on the other island and how, when they put it in, they found all those Indian graves.”

  Taryn frowned. “I knew about that. Had I not told you?” She felt like her memory was getting worse and worse these days.

  “Yeah, I remembered you telling me but Eldean said that for a long time nobody knew about the skeletons. That the airport was already in and by that time nobody wanted to dig it up,” Matt explained.

  “So then there are probably more graves under it…” Taryn found herself shivering, thinking about how disrespectful it was to have take-offs and landings over a final resting place.

  “Well, I was thinking about what you saw the other night. What if they found a gravesite and was trying to clear it out?”

  Taryn turned her chair around to face Matt and considered. “That had crossed my mind as well. Interesting. It would definitely delay construction if they found something,” she mused. “And from what I understand, which granted is very little, it could set them back a lot of money to stop construction and have the archaeologists and anthropologists come in.”

  “So it makes sense,” Matt agreed.

  “Wouldn’t it be funny if they’d found the pirate gold or something?” Taryn laughed. “I mean, it didn’t look like your average treasure chest with skulls painted on it but you never know.”

  “You never know,” Matt assented. “I still don’t think you should talk to anyone else about this. They’re obviously up to something, and that snake was no accident. Somebody put it there. Be careful, Taryn. If they put an alligator in your bed you might be on your own.” With that, he picked his book back up again and began reading.

  Ha, Taryn thought to herself, just like a man. I stop working to talk to him and as soon as she’s finished he tunes me out.

  She started to turn back around when something bright by the corner of the house caught her eye. Flinching, and bracing herself for another unwelcomed reptile attack, she laughed in relief when David moved forward.

  “Hey, sorry about that,” he laughed. “I heard about what happened and wanted to come see how you were.”

  Matt looked back up and scowled at the long-haired man standing before them. Taryn was taken aback by their similarities. She knew that not all Native Americans looked alike, but Matt and David had strikingly similar features, from the shapes of their noses and chins to the golden shade of their skin. They even moved with a similar grace.

  Oh good, Taryn thought with relief. Maybe that’s why I’ve been attracted to him…because he looks like Matt and I’ve been missing him.

  “Matt, David. David, Matt,” Taryn quickly made the introductions.

  In a rare form of insolence, Matt glowered at David and narrowed his eyes. “How long have you been standing there?”

  Matt!” Taryn hissed, shocked and embarrassed. Matt was usually the politest person she knew. He was even courteous when she personally thought the situation called for something more redneck.

  David, however, was nonplussed. “I just got here,” he laughed. “Just wanted to check on our girl. She’s the only person I’ve had the chance to get to know since being here.”

  Taryn felt her face burn at the “our girl” part and saw Matt’s scowl deepen.

  “Well,” Matt replied, “she’s doing great. I’ve been taking care of her.”

  Taryn groaned inwardly and resisted the urge to roll her eyes at this uncommon show of jealousy. “Have a seat,” she gestured to her own chair and stood. “I’ll go get me another one.”

  Both men moved toward her at once. “I’ll get it,” they insisted in unison and then looked at one another, one with a grimace and the other in amusement.

  “I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine,” she muttered with a smile and strolled off. Shaking her head, she walked around the house to the front porch to grab another chair, leaving the two men alone.

  “Well,” she said aloud, “this is going to be awkward.”

  And maybe a little fun, she added silently. After all, she was female.

  “I still say he’s been standing there listening to us the whole time,” Matt insisted.

  “Dude, let it go,” she laughed. “Just let it go.”

  She’d felt fine when they left the house. She even drove the golf cart herself, despite Matt’s insistence of letting him give it a spin. Now that they were at Adena Cottage, however, Taryn was exhausted. She’d broken into a sweat and her legs felt heavy. The beginning of a headache was annoying her. Still, she wanted to get out and show Matt her job sites. She’d been a terrible hostess. He was meant to return home that evening but had opted to stay one more night to ensure she was over the worst of it. Now Taryn was worried about his job. How long would NASA put up with that? Weren’t they already on thin ice budget wise?

  “You sure you’re feeling up to this?” Matt asked in concern, glancing over at her as they wandered through grass.

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine,” she swore, though she knew she was pale and had never truly been able to fool Matt–not even when they were kids. “Besides, we’re just going to walk around a house. We’re not swimming the rapids or climbing Kilimanjaro.”

  Standing before the derelict cottage, Matt frowned. “You’re right. It’s not in very good condition.”

  “Yeah, well, they’re going to start working on it in the fall,” Taryn retorted. She felt defensive of the aging beauty. It wasn’t her fault nobody had maintained her. “She’ll be a real showstopper then.”

  “I’m sure she will,” he concurred, but his almost condescending tone had Taryn’s hackles rising.

  “Here, just look up there at that turret,” she pointed. “Isn’t it magnificent?”

  Matt tried to look appreciative but failed. “I’m sorry, Taryn, I know you love those features but I’m more of a simple guy myself. It’ all a little much for me. I’m probably more of a brick ranch house on St. Simon’s, to be honest.”

  Taryn was inexplicably disappointed. She knew they didn’t have to
have everything in common and that there were couples who were complete opposites and still managed to have totally healthy relationships. Still, the old houses and architecture were more than just a love and hobby for her–they were an essential part of her.

  “Well, you can at least appreciate the porch, right?” she asked hopefully. “I mean, with a swing and some white wicker chairs…It would look pretty wouldn’t it?”

  Maybe feeling like he’d disappointed her enough he slipped his arm around her shoulder. “It’s a fantastic porch,” Matt said. “It will be a great place to enjoy the sunset, drink lemonade, and relax. I do love a good porch on a house.”

  Feeling pitifully better, and hating herself for feeling like she needed his approval, Taryn moved and began walking around the edge of the house, being careful not to get too close.

  “I’d love to go inside but this is in bad shape, even for me,” she explained when they stopped by a large window.

  “Considering your luck I don’t think it would be a great idea,” Matt agreed. “She might just get mad and fall down on you.”

  “Oh no, Adena wouldn’t do that to me,” Taryn proclaimed. There was that defensiveness again. “She likes me. It’s Ivy House who has a problem with me, although we’re working on that. I think she’s caving, no pun intended.”

  Matt didn’t say anything, just smiled.

  Taryn, overcome with an exhaustion of a different kind, fiddled with Miss Dixie’s settings and cleaned the lens with a cloth she kept in her knapsack. “Listen, I’m going to take some shots of what’s left of the roof,” she said. “I’m having some trouble with it back at the house and I want to see if I missed anything.”

  “Okay,” Matt sang cheerfully. “I’ll just mosey on around the property myself.”

  Left alone, Taryn sighed and went to work. She was being too hard on Matt. He didn’t have to like and appreciate everything she did. The important thing was that he supported her, right?

  “Right,” she assured herself out loud.