But that was nonsense. I was allowing the atmosphere, the very “legend,” of Lake Lure to affect me. Someone who was far from being a spirit had struck out at me last evening. Only the flash of warning in my mind had saved me. My enemy was real enough, and I began to feel more angry than frightened. I must be very close to something or such an attack would never have been risked. If only Jim had shared whatever knowledge he’d unearthed. Or—perhaps he had? What if he had shared it trustingly with the wrong person and sealed his own fate?
I closed the closet door, and when I phoned Finella, she asked me to come to the shop at once. “Ty is here and I’ve never seen him so upset. He thinks Victoria is after him and that only you can persuade her to leave him alone. I can’t talk sense into him and he won’t leave until he sees you. So please come over right away, Lauren. This is more than I can take.”
Finella had always seemed perfectly able to deal with whatever happened, so her plea alarmed me. “Of course. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
I left Victoria’s ghost behind and went out to my car. A few minutes later, Finella met me at the door of her shop. While her manner was still disturbed, she tried to maintain a semblance of calm.
“How are you, Lauren? I’ve been concerned about you.”
“I’m fine. One shoulder carries quite a bruise, but that’s all. I went to see Betsey this morning and I’d just gotten back when I spoke with you.”
Ty heard us and came scurrying across the shop. “Better you stay away from that one!” he told me. “She’ll give you all the wrong ideas. She let Victoria fool her most of all.”
“I can make my own decisions,” I told him, sounding sharper than I intended. “Why do you want to see me?”
“You know why. She tried to knock you off those stairs yesterday, didn’t she?”
This was likely to be rough going. “Let’s sit down where we can talk,” I said, and led the way back to the couch where I’d sat so recently with Camilla Brandt.
He trotted after me, but when I sat down at one end, he dropped to the floor and sat with his legs crossed, looking up at me.
“All right,” I said. “What is this about Victoria? She certainly didn’t try to knock me off those stairs at Finella’s boathouse yesterday.”
Finella had come with us, clearly interested, though she didn’t sit down.
“They can be all over anywhere—all at the same time.”
“They?”
“Spirits.”
“I don’t believe in spirits.”
“You mean you haven’t felt her around?”
I didn’t want to admit that to Ty. “I’m like you—I have an imagination that runs away with me.”
“Why did you go to see Betsey?”
“That’s between Betsey and me, Ty. I’m still not sure why you wanted to talk with me.”
“Victoria will listen to you. So tell her to let me alone. She didn’t treat me right when she was alive, and I don’t want her tormenting me now.”
“Just how am I supposed to tell Victoria anything?”
“Stop holding her off. Just let her come in.”
“What if I don’t want to do that?”
“You better try. She can tell you things you need to know. If she feels like telling you the truth. She used to lie a lot in the old days—my loving sister!”
“Betsey seems more generous toward her, Ty. She admits that Victoria wasn’t always kind, but Betsey loved her and admired her good qualities.”
“What good qualities?”
Old bitterness was so deeply a part of his nature that I didn’t try to argue with him. “I’m not sure I want to let her in, as you say. If you’re right and there are spirits around us, it may not be a good idea to encourage them to become real.”
The telephone rang and Finella, who had been listening with interest, went to answer it.
Ty leaned toward me, his arms on crossed knees. “You can reach her right now, Lauren. Close your eyes and let your thoughts drift. Here—this will help you.”
He fumbled in the knapsack he carried and drew out a dried twig. “It’s rosemary. You know what that’s for, don’t you? Remembrance.”
“But I don’t have any memories of Victoria or that time. What do you expect me to remember?”
“Don’t worry, you’ll know. Go ahead—sniff the rosemary and close your eyes. She will remember.”
“Not here,” I said, and dropped the sprig into my purse. “I’ll take it with me and perhaps I’ll try it later.”
Finella returned and shook her head at Ty. “That was Gretchen. I told her you were here, and she says you’re not supposed to be running around with that bad shoulder. She’s out shopping and she’s coming over to get you right away.”
Ty looked alarmed. “I don’t want to see her. She’ll put me back inside a house—where I don’t want to be. Just tell her I’m fine and she needn’t go chasing me around.”
“She isn’t coming just to see you,” Finella told him. “Lauren’s the one she most wants to see.”
“Then I’m off!” Ty gave me an intent look. “Just think about what I told you. She won’t talk to me anymore now that I’ve given her to you. So tell me what she says if you get through.’”
He started toward the door, but he wasn’t quick enough. Gretchen must have been phoning from close by, because she came hurrying into the shop.
“I’m okay,” he assured her. “It’s Victoria you need to worry about now. She’s loose again, and she’s going to make everybody who ever crossed her pay.”
Gretchen snorted. “Sometimes, Ty, you’ve got about as much sense as Siggy. Less, in fact.”
He gave her a look that was far from brotherly and flung himself out of the shop.
At once, Gretchen turned to me. “Come along, Lauren. It’s time I showed you something.”
I’d had enough of both Frazers, and when she reached for my arm, I pulled away. “I’m not going anywhere unless you tell me why.”
Startling me, she put a hand on either side of my head. “Just be quiet for a minute, Lauren. There’s too much turmoil now for you to think clearly.”
In spite of myself, I stopped resisting. When she took her hands away, I felt somehow calmer and more relaxed. Whatever resentment was left in me had dissolved at her touch.
Apparently, Finella had seen Gretchen do this before, for she nodded her reassurance. “You’ll be fine, Lauren. Whatever Gretchen wants to show you must be important, so come and see me later.”
The bell on the shop door sounded musically and she went to greet a large group of customers who had just come off the tour bus parked outside. I followed Gretchen out the door.
“We’ll go back to the lodge first,” she told me. “I’ll meet you in the parking lot.”
My actions had begun to feel strangely normal. “Are you part witch, Gretchen?” I asked.
“Only about one percent,” she told me, and her smile reminded me of Siggy’s grin. Perhaps it was true that we come to resemble the animals we love.
Her car was parked not far from mine and I followed as she drove uphill over the familiar road to Rumbling Mountain Lodge. There she put her car into her own garage, while I left mine in the space reserved for guests. As she emerged from her garage, she waved me over.
“We’ll go down to my house and use the boat.” She walked ahead of me so quickly that I could ask no questions.
When we reached the house at the foot of the walk, a curious sight met us. Siggy was trying to come out through his doggie door, but he’d foiled his own efforts by carrying a handbag of Gretchen’s in his mouth. It was too wide for the opening and he was stuck, with only his snout protruding.
Gretchen laughed. “He’s trying to leave home again. If we give him time, he’ll figure it out and turn the bag sideways. He’s plenty smart. Here, let me give you a hand, Sigmund.”
She reached in and relieved him of the bag. He trotted through, looking up at her hopefully. “You can leave if you
like, my boy, but you can’t take my good bag. You’ve got an old one of your own. Go and get it.”
Siggy sat back on his haunches, the tip of his tongue, out and his little piggy eyes entreating.
Gretchen threw up her hands. “Oh, all right—come with us. I don’t know how you always know when I’m taking out the boat, but you can come if you’ll behave.”
He trotted happily down to the boathouse and went around to the side of the dock where the small pontoon boat was moored. “In you go,” she told the pig, and he launched himself heavily onto the boat, setting it rocking. When it had quieted, Gretchen got in and gave me a hand. We sat side by side, as we’d done when we went to visit Ty. As before, Siggy sat at the back of the boat where he could watch the wake, which apparently fascinated him.
“I hope you’re not going to leave me somewhere this time,” I said, but my tone was calm and I wasn’t really worried.
She had the grace to look ashamed. “That wasn’t a positive thing to do. Usually, I’m pretty good at rejecting negative actions, but that time I got upset.”
She started the outboard and there was no more talking as we headed across toward Rumbling Bald. Justyn’s sight-seeing boat was coming down the lake, but Gretchen steered calmly in front of it, waving at him insolently. He slowed to let her cross, though I thought he gave us a troubled, questioning look as we headed toward shore.
I’d wondered whether we could be going to Roger’s house, but the stretch of shore Gretchen approached seemed empty. As we drew near a rickety dock, I saw that the same rough sort of path that had run past Ty’s shack followed the lake here, as well. Gretchen tied up to a rotting post that didn’t look too secure.
“You stay here and mind the boat,” she told Siggy.
He whimpered a little, but, with his bulk and short legs, he couldn’t get out on his own. He watched unhappily as Gretchen and I started along the overgrown path. The dam was ahead at some distance, and, through an opening in the trees, I could see the roof of Roger’s house.
Gretchen seemed sad, or perhaps grim would be a better word, her manner far from reassuring. I knew this was no time for questions, though I had many. Her “witch’s spell” had stopped being effective and I found myself apprehensive, though unable to do anything but go along.
The shoreline turned in to accommodate a little cove where no houses had been built. Gretchen stopped on the path ahead of me.
“The tour boats have it wrong,” she told me. “This is where Victoria died.”
I froze on the path behind her and she turned to face me, her expression blank—as though she held whatever she might be feeling under stern control.
“It was time for you to know, Lauren—now that I know who you are. There are too many lies being told. You need to know the truth—or at least part of it. There’s only one person who could know it all. This is where we found her.”
The shock of this new reality held me still, frozen.
Gretchen knelt on the path and moved her hands through the weeds as though she could touch what had once lain there. A snake wriggled away and slid into the water, but she didn’t move. I suspected that no snake would choose to tangle with Gretchen Frazer. I asked no questions but waited tensely for her to continue.
After a moment, she looked up at me. “She was dead when we found her. Roger and I. I think she died immediately from a blow to her head.” Gretchen sat back on her heels and covered her face with her hands. I saw the glint of tears and knew that remembered grief could be as painful as grief in the present.
A blow to the head? That was the message that had come to me yesterday when I’d plunged into the water and had known how Victoria died.
Gretchen continued, her voice muffled. “It was toward evening when we found her. Roger and I were walking along this very path you and I just took. We were angry with each other and we walked over here so no one would hear us argue.
“I was wild because of the way he was treating Victoria, but he couldn’t take criticism from anyone. He had the gall to tell me she had enjoyed their little escapade as much as he had. Escapade! Then we came around that curve in the path and she was lying there. She loved to wear white, and her dress shone in the dusk, with a bit of her skirt drifting in the water. Even in the fading light, I could see the red stain in her hair and the blood on her dress. I can still see it!”
Gretchen seemed to be forcing herself to remember, and I could only wait in horrified silence for her to continue.
“Roger practically fell apart. I don’t think it was because he really loved her, but because her death frightened him into seeing what lay ahead. Everything the studio had hushed up—their affair, the birth of the baby—would come out now and the fingers of accusation would point to him. Victoria’s murder would never be hidden. Unless—”
She broke off and rose from her knees, brushing off her jeans. “It was time for you to know,” she repeated. “Your grandmother didn’t drown. Someone utterly evil murdered her. Part of me knew that at the time, even while part of me wondered if she had caused this to happen. Sometimes I still wonder. Who was good and who was evil? When Victoria died, a beautiful light went out of the universe. Until now, I’ve returned to this place only in my worst dreams. When there’s been an act of violence, the very ground can stay haunted for a very long time.”
She turned to go back to the boat, as if that was all she had to say. I ran after her and caught her by the arm. “Wait! You have to tell me the rest of the story. You can’t stop now. What happened after you found her?”
“I made a terrible mistake.” She turned to face me. “I listened to Roger. He told me that she mustn’t be discovered like that—murdered. He said her career, everything she had accomplished, would be forgotten in the lurid scandal of her murder. It would be better if she was thought to have simply disappeared. Her body would never be found and people could only speculate about what had happened to her. He took the white sash from around her waist and caught it around the pilings of the dock down there so that part of it floated in the water. Then he told me that he knew a place where we could hide her body, a place where it would never be found. But he couldn’t carry her up Rumbling Bald alone—the way was too rough. So I would have to help him. I began to see how terrible it would be for all of us if she was found like that, and I was afraid.”
“For Ty?” I whispered.
She ignored my question and continued her story. “While we were struggling up the mountain, I thought of a letter Victoria had shown me but hadn’t mailed yet. It would sound like a suicide note and we could use it.”
I could see how the plan must have evolved—it was all a way to keep the damage to a minimum—or so they hoped. The lake was deep in some places, and even divers might never find what was down there. But who had most needed protection? Victoria or the last person she had seen that long-ago afternoon?
Perhaps at that point, Roger might still have thought his career and reputation could be saved. He hadn’t seen that a baby plus a missing young star thought to be a suicide would be enough for the press to run with and blow everything into the open. I felt sure the uproar must have been far worse than either he or anyone else expected.
“Where did you take her?” I asked softly.
Gretchen stared up at the great dark mountain crouching above us. “It was a terrible climb, but I wouldn’t let her be dragged—even though she was impossibly heavy. By the time we reached Roger’s cave, it was dark. He had a flashlight and we managed to take her inside, deep inside. In a sense, we buried her in the heart of the mountain and left her there. The cave is still her tomb.”
“Did you ever go back?”
“Once I tried to find the cave, but the opening is only a slit in the rocks and it isn’t visible unless you know what landmarks to look for. Roger knows, but I would never ask him. We both went through all that ordeal that lay ahead as though we’d never been on the mountain that night. Once we’d conspired to hide her murder, there was no going bac
k.”
Her story left me shaken. “Why have you told me now?”
“So you will stop stirring things up and go home. Just let it be, Lauren. What difference can it make to anyone today? Let her sleep in peace. The mountain makes a noble tomb.”
I rejected this at once. “I don’t think she’s at peace. I don’t believe that anyone connected with Victoria is at peace. Jim died. Perhaps he died because he’d found the cave and Victoria’s bones and knew that she’d been murdered. Now there’s been another attack. On me.”
She caught up my words. “What do you mean—an attack on you?”
I told her then—the whole story of how I’d barely escaped the same sort of blow that must have killed Victoria. Gretchen listened in stony silence, but if she had any thoughts about this, she gave nothing away. When I finished, she stepped into the boat and helped me aboard without saying a word. Siggy was beside himself with joy—as though he thought she might never return. He wiggled, rocking the little boat on its pontoons. Gretchen scratched him absently between the ears and he calmed down. When she started the outboard, talking was impossible, so we crossed the lake in forced silence.
On the other side, she turned off the motor and boosted Siggy onto the dock. Before she could escape, I stopped her.
“I’m glad you told me this, but now we must talk. You’ve been thinking about all this for years, and you must have come to some conclusions.”
She took my hand in hers. “You’re my blood kin, Lauren. I held your mother in my arms when she was a baby. I feel connected to you, and I worry. I’ve been worried ever since you came. But there’s nothing more to talk about. Now you know what I know.”
I had to leave it at that. But just as I was about to start up the walk to the lodge, I remembered something and turned back.
Star Flight Page 21