by Bobbi Holmes
Cheryl shook her head. “No. I don’t. But I have a question.”
“What?” Danielle asked.
“When was the party? What’s today’s date?”
“It’s Friday, July 11. You went missing a week ago,” Danielle explained.
Cheryl glanced down at her dress and frowned.
“What is it?” Danielle asked.
Tugging at the hem of her pink dress, Cheryl looked at Danielle and said, “Are you telling me I’ve been wearing the same dress for a week? An entire week!”
“Well, I suppose so,” Danielle shrugged. “But I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
“Of course you wouldn’t understand. Just look how you dress!” Cheryl let go of her hem and sat back in the chair.
“It won’t always be like this,” Walt explained.
“What do you mean?” Cheryl asked.
“This…” Walt snapped his fingers. The suit he had been wearing changed colors.
“How did you do that?” Cheryl asked in awe.
“Can we please discuss your wardrobe later,” Danielle said impatiently.
“I’d like to know where she took the necklace and why. And where is it?” Lily asked.
“Yes, I would like to know that too.” Danielle looked at Cheryl. “I have a feeling that’s what got you …well, to your current state.”
“Maybe I’m still wearing it.” Cheryl touched her throat. “Perhaps it is on…on the other me.”
“I suppose that depends on what happened to you. Why were you in that shed? Did Adam take you there?” Danielle doubted the necklace was still on Cheryl. After all, it was what probably got her killed.
“Adam? Why would Adam take me there?”
“What’s your last memory before the shed?” Danielle asked.
“I don’t know, it’s kind of fuzzy.”
“Do you remember the open house?” Danielle asked.
“No. I said it is fuzzy.” Cheryl squirmed in her chair.
“But you remember having the necklace,” Danielle reminded.
“Yes. But like I said it is…”
“Fuzzy. Yes. You’ve mentioned that. Maybe I can refresh your memory. At the open house you tried on the necklace, went to look at it in the mirror and then left the house suddenly with Adam. According to him you two drove to one of his beach rentals where apparently he had too much to drink and you helped him to bed. When he woke up in the morning you were gone with the necklace. They’ve been looking for you ever since.”
“Okay…I guess I remember trying on the necklace. I wasn’t going to steal it. Honest.”
“Why did you leave with it?” Danielle asked.
“You got to wear it all day. I just figured it was my turn. But I didn’t want to wear it around a bunch of old people at your open house and I knew you wouldn’t let me wear it out so people could see it. I figured I’d spend a romantic evening with Adam. I mean come on Danielle, imagine how sexy it would be to make love wearing just that necklace!”
“I suppose I can understand that,” Walt said. “Was it?”
“Walt!” Danielle snapped.
“She really can be such a prude,” Cheryl told Walt. “I don’t know what you see in her.”
“Please, let’s stay focused,” Danielle said impatiently.
“Fine…” Cheryl sighed dramatically. “It’s getting a little clearer. I can remember some of it. Adam took me to the beach house. When he got there he poured us each a glass of wine. I hadn’t told him yet about the necklace.”
“What do you mean, what hadn’t you told him?” Danielle asked.
“He didn’t know I had it. After I left the parlor, I took it off and slipped it in my purse. There was so much commotion with new people coming in the house that no one seemed to notice.”
“So Adam didn’t know you had the necklace?” Danielle asked.
“No. I wanted to surprise him at the beach house.”
“Then what happened?” Walt asked.
“After Adam poured us the wine I went to the bathroom. I was going to put the necklace on, and then come back out and surprise him. I suppose I stayed in the bathroom for longer than I intended—I kept looking at myself in the mirror. It was so pretty. And then I decided it would be more dramatic if…well…I simply walked into the bedroom wearing just the necklace.”
“You took your clothes off?” Danielle asked.
“No!” Cheryl frowned. “I was going to do that later, after we had some wine. So I put the necklace back in my purse and went to the living room. Adam’s wine glass was empty. I didn’t think anything of it, but then he started acting funny, like he was drunk. I mean on one glass, can you believe that? I helped him to his bed, although I don’t know why I bothered. I should have just let him pass out on the couch.”
“Then what did you do?” Danielle asked.
“That’s when it gets fuzzy again. I can’t quite remember how I got there—but I remember walking on the beach. It was dark. And then someone else was there.”
“You obviously got as far as those huts. What do you remember about leaving the beach house?” Danielle asked.
“I remember putting the necklace back on. I remember standing on the back porch, looking down the beach. I could see the fireworks in the distance. And then…well, things get sorta spotty…”
“Spotty?” Danielle asked.
“It’s like bits and pieces. Someone was there with me. I wasn’t alone on the beach.”
“Who was it?”
Cheryl shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t remember.” Cheryl sounded frustrated. “But it was someone familiar.”
“A man or a woman?” Walt asked.
“I’m not sure. But someone who I wasn’t afraid of. I remember that.”
“Did you walk to the beach shack together?” Danielle asked
“I think so…maybe…I’m not sure….” Cheryl stood up abruptly. “I don’t like these feelings.”
“What feelings?” Danielle asked.
“The feelings I get when I try to remember the rest of it. I just want to go home!” Cheryl began to cry again. She flopped back down in the chair and slumped over, her muffled sobs breaking into an occasional hiccup.
“I’m sorry Cheryl, calm down. It will be okay, I promise,” Danielle said.
Cheryl jerked her head up and looked at Danielle. “Okay? I am dead, dead! How can I be okay!”
“Bad choice of words,” Walt noted, shaking his head in disapproval.
“Thank you Walt,” Cheryl sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “At least you understand.”
“Is Cheryl upset again? What’s wrong?” Lily asked.
“I guess I need to take a course in afterlife sensitivity training,” Danielle said with a sigh.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Danielle woke up the next morning to the sound of Lily vomiting in the bathroom down the hall. Groggy, she sat up and was surprised to find not just Walt sitting on the side of her bed looking at her, but Cheryl.
“Lily is sick,” they said in unison.
“What’s wrong?” Danielle rubbed her eyes and stumbled out of bed.
“I think she has the flu,” Cheryl said. “The sound is grossing me out; you really need to do something about it.”
“You should wash down her face with a damp cloth.” Walt suggested. “The poor thing looks miserable.”
“Oh, you’re so sweet,” Cheryl cooed, flashing Walt a smile.
Danielle rolled her eyes and silently made her way from the bedroom to the bathroom down the hall. She found Lily sitting on the floor in front of the toilet.
“Oh, poor Lily,” Danielle said, turning on the bathroom light.
Lily flushed the toilet and then looked up at Danielle through red rimmed eyes. She remained seated on the floor leaning over the toilet bowl. Danielle grabbed a clean washcloth from the bathroom cupboard. After running it under cold water and wringing it out, she handed it to Lily.
&nbs
p; “Thanks.” Lily took the cloth and wiped down her face. “I think I have the flu.”
Danielle noticed Lily already had a glass of water by her side. “When did you get sick?”
“I woke up about an hour ago with a killer headache. Started throwing up about twenty minutes ago. Sorry I woke you.”
“No problem. Can I get you anything?”
“No. But I won’t be able to go down to the beach with you today, and show you where those beach huts are.”
“That’s okay, you take care of yourself. You can give me directions, I’ll find it.”
“You can’t go alone. I mean, what if you do find…well, you know…Cheryl.”
“That’s sort of the point, isn’t it?” Danielle leaned back against the bathroom counter and looked down at Lily.
“Yeah but if you find her, what are you going to do?”
“I guess I’ll call the police.”
“How are you going to explain how you happen to find her?”
“I suppose I’ll call in an anonymous tip.”
“They can trace those things. And if she died of unnatural causes, which I imagine was the case, you certainly don’t want them to think you had anything to do with it.”
“I’ll figure out something. Maybe I can get Ian and Sadie to go with me. I’ll tell him I want to walk the beach from Adam’s bungalow to the beach in front of his house. On the theory she tried to walk here. I know the authorities supposedly did that already, but if she is at that hut, they obviously didn’t do a terrific job.”
“I’m afraid Ian is going to Astoria today for another interview with Emma. He’s taking Sadie with him. I imagine he left already.”
“Well, I’ll just have to go there alone.”
“I’ll go with you,” Cheryl said from the doorway.
Danielle turned to face her cousin. “You? I don’t even know if that’s possible.”
“I don’t think she’s bound to this house,” Walt said.
“What do you mean bound to this house?” Cheryl looked from Walt to Danielle.
“Walt and Cheryl are here, aren’t they?” Lily asked.
“Yes. They were in my room when I woke up. Wanted me to come check on you.”
“Ah, that’s sweet.” Lily looked to the doorway where she assumed they were standing.
“Yeah,” Danielle said dryly. “I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Cheryl interrupted. “What do you mean bound here?”
“Walt isn’t able to leave the house. When he’s ready to move on to the next level—wherever that is for him—it appears he can now do that. But while he chooses to be on this plane, it seems he’s confined to Marlow House—inside the house not the grounds.”
“Next plane…you mean there is more than just this?” Cheryl asked.
“Certainly. I don’t think this is your final destination. You sort of got derailed because of how you died, and before you can move on, you need to resolve some issues. At least that seemed to be the case for Walt, so I imagine that’s what’s going on with you.”
“You really did see Grandma, didn’t you?” Cheryl asked with a pout.
“Yes. She was the first spirit I ever saw.”
“So she did love you more,” Cheryl’s lower lip began to quiver.
“It has nothing to do with who she loved more. Grandma didn’t choose me to see her. Ask yourself, did you choose for me to see you?”
“No. You just saw me,” Cheryl murmured thoughtfully. “Did you see mom and dad, and Sean?”
“No, Cheryl. I never saw them. I never saw my parents or even Lucas.”
“Well, I imagine Lucas probably wanted to avoid that meeting considering what he did,” Cheryl scoffed.
“My point is, I don’t think I can choose—nor can the spirits choose. It just sometimes happens.”
Lily began to throw up again. When she stopped she said, “Would you guys mind taking your conversation elsewhere so I can puke in peace?”
“Sorry Lily,” Danielle said, stepping from the bathroom into the hall, shutting the door behind her.
“So does this mean there is a heaven?” Cheryl asked excitedly. “Will I see Mom, Dad, Grandma and Sean again?”
“I don’t know if there is a heaven exactly. I believe there is something more. Maybe it is heaven. I don’t know. But I do believe you will see your love ones again on the next plane, at least, that’s what I’ve gathered from other spirits I’ve encountered.”
“Why are you still here then?” Cheryl asked Walt.
“What do you mean?” Walt asked.
“If you’re confined to this old house when you have the option to move on to another place where you can see friends and family, why stay here?”
“I really have no one I care to see right now,” Walt said with a shrug.
“But what about the other stuff?” Cheryl asked.
“Other stuff?” Walt asked with a frown.
“Well, what if the streets really are paved in gold?”
“Perhaps. But what do I need with gold streets?”
“Maybe you don’t want to go, but I do. Okay, I’m ready.” Cheryl closed her eyes and stood still for a few moments.
“It doesn’t work that way,” Danielle said.
“Danielle’s right,” Walt agreed. “There is something holding you here, or you wouldn’t have returned to this house. My guess is you’ll be able to go with Danielle to the beach shack, but I could be wrong. You might be confined here in the same way Angela is confined to the cemetery.”
“Who is Angela?” Cheryl asked.
“Walt’s wife. Angela is more under house arrest, for not being such a good person.”
“Oh crap, do you think I’m under house arrest too?” Cheryl slumped against the wall.
“Do you think you were a bad person?” Danielle asked with wry amusement.
“I don’t think I was bad exactly…but I suppose I did some things my parents would not be proud of.” Cheryl looked down at her feet.
“I think we need to take one thing at a time. First things first. We need to find your body and figure out what happened to you. I think when the time is right for you to move on you will know it,” Danielle explained.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” Cheryl asked.
“You’re my cousin,” Danielle explained.
“Do you love me?”
“Love you?” Danielle shifted nervously from one foot to another.
“Yes, love me. We are family. Aren’t you supposed to love family?”
“Do you love me?” Danielle asked.
“Certainly,” Cheryl said absolutely.
“Then why did you make a pass at Lucas at our rehearsal dinner and then insist he was the one who did it?”
“Because I knew he was all wrong for you. I was right. You know it.”
“Is that why you came on to all my boyfriends?”
“Oh come on Dani, if any of those boys were right for you they wouldn’t have been swayed by a little harmless flirting from me. But that doesn’t matter now. What does matter, I always had your best interest at heart. Because I loved you and felt responsible for you.”
“You felt responsible for me?” Danielle frowned.
“Certainly. You were just so…so…well awkward. And I was…well, I was me.”
“What in the world is that supposed to mean?” Danielle asked.
“Come on Dani, we all knew you were jealous of me.”
“I was never jealous of you!” Danielle was insulted.
“Don’t get upset, Dani. I understood. That’s why I felt so responsible for you. It couldn’t have been easy on you, having to watch me in one beauty pageant after another—while you sat on the sidelines.”
“No, it wasn’t easy,” Danielle said dryly.
“I think we need to focus on what’s important now,” Walt interrupted.
“Yes, of course. Walt is right.” Cheryl smiled sweetly at Walt.
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br /> “I suppose we can agree on that. In this instance, Walt is correct. Let’s focus on what’s important now,” Danielle said.
• • • •
By the time Danielle dressed and braided her hair, Lily had taken a shower and returned to bed. When Danielle came to check on Lily and get directions to the beach shack, she found her sitting up in bed eating a slice of toast. A cup of hot tea sat on her nightstand.
“You went downstairs?” Danielle asked as she pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed.
“No, Walt brought it to me.” Lily smiled. “At least I assume it was Walt, and not Cheryl.”
“I don’t think it was Cheryl. She hasn’t figured out how to move things. In fact, I don’t think she even realizes the possibility yet.”
“If she’s going with you to look for her body, don’t you think that would come in handy if you ran into trouble.”
“Trouble?”
“If whoever she took that walk with murdered her and put her body into the shed, you certainly don’t want to be alone and run into him. Having someone capable of tossing around a croquet set might come in handy.”
“Yeah, I sorta thought about that. But this is Cheryl we’re talking about. Do I really want her to know how to do all that? Just imagine if she had started tossing the furniture at us during her crying fit.”
“You have a point. But please, be careful. Maybe you should just call in an anonymous tip for someone to check that beach shack.”
“Didn’t you say they trace those things?”
“Sure, but I bet there’s a pay phone in town you can use.”
“And probably some traffic camera ready to take my picture.”
“Now you’re just being paranoid, Dani.”
“Maybe…” Danielle shrugged.
“Okay, so if you do find her body, what are you going to do about it?”
“I’ve been thinking about it. If she is in the beach hut, then I’ll have to go back with someone and pretend to accidentally find her. I think it would look better if I was with someone else if I do. If this is the 24-hour bug and you’re feeling better tomorrow, maybe we can rope Ian into taking us down along that stretch of the beach like I suggested earlier.”