by J A Whiting
“That might be hard.” John led the way to the solarium. “You can’t lock him in the basement until who knows when. Why not just tell him the reason? Those two ghosts need him around so they can get back together.”
“I don’t know if that is the reason he’s supposed to stay.” Lin was beginning to feel uneasy being in the house. She kept expecting a ghost to make an appearance in one of the rooms and she felt on edge and nervous.
“You’d think a couple of ghosts would be able to find each other in the spirit world,” John said snapping some photos of the solarium.
“We don’t know how it works,” Lin explained. “If we did, we’d be better at helping.”
“Let’s go up to the bedrooms. Tim told me there are seven of them.” John and Lin climbed the staircase and walked from room to room.
Every once in a while, Lin felt cool air around her, but no one materialized. When she entered the master bedroom, a wave of sadness engulfed her as she moved about the room. She began to suspect the chill was the effect of leftover currents moving through the space from long, long ago … the sensation of many lives that had moved through these rooms. The sadness she picked up on was most likely from the terrible grief that Ezra had left behind hundreds of years ago. She was amazed that those emotions could still be floating on the air.
“Is being in the house helping you?” John asked.
“I don’t know. I feel things while I’m walking around, but I don’t know if it will lead me to anything.” Lin gave a shrug.
A room Tim was using as an office was in the middle of the second floor and when John and Lin entered the space, a cold, energizing wave hit her like a ton of bricks and she had to take a step back. Glancing quickly around the office, she looked for something that might have caused the strange feeling. Her skin felt like pins and needles were pricking at her. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Everything looked normal. Lin wondered if Tim might experience feelings similar to hers while he worked in the room.
“This place is fabulous,” John said as they headed down to the first floor. “Some beautiful updates have been done, but the work has been faithful and respectful to the home and its history.”
Descending the stairs, Lin kept having the urge to look back over her shoulder at the office room located on the second floor. The impulse to return to the office was almost overwhelming.
“Do you feel anything when you’re walking around in here?” Lin asked John.
John’s face took on a look of shock. “Feel anything? Like what?” He looked warily around the hallway and into the rooms they were passing.
Lin wanted to chuckle at John’s reaction. “You know,” she teased, “ghosts, the sensation of something or someone walking close to you, a feeling of nervousness, a sense of dread.”
“Stop it,” John ordered, picking up his pace to hurry to the kitchen. “You’re freaking me out.”
When they reached the kitchen and John turned to face Lin, there were beads of perspiration on his forehead. “You love scaring me, don’t you? You know I hate that kind of stuff. I’m not going to pretend to be tough. It scares me to death.” John looked around the bright kitchen. “Did you see something? Should we be worried? Why don’t we get out of here? We can come back another time.”
“I sense things in the house, but they’re nothing you need to be concerned about.” Lin felt badly about frightening John and tried to reassure him. “I’m sorry I scared you. Nothing’s going to happen. We’re safe here.”
“Are you sure? How do you know?” John quickly gathered up some papers from the kitchen island.
Lin reminded him, “I have some experience with ghosts.”
“Whatever. Let’s get out of here. I’m done for now. We can come back another time.”
As they were leaving the house, Lin asked, “What’s the date today? Is it the tenth?”
“It’s the eleventh.” John pulled the front door shut and locked it.
Lin thanked John for including her in his walk-through of the house and apologized again for teasing him.
“Maybe I won’t take you along next time I come.” John opened the car door and put his briefcase inside.
“Maybe by then you’ll forget that I teased you,” Lin smiled.
“Don’t count on it.” John gave Lin a mock mean look and she knew he wasn’t angry with her.
After parting ways, Lin made a detour into town and then drove her truck to make one more stop before heading home.
Lin pulled close to the side of the road and got out, flicking on her flashlight and walking along the path into the Old North Cemetery. Despite the darkness, she found the graves she was looking for and placed the bouquet of flowers she’d brought next to the headstone in a little pool of moonlight.
“Happy Anniversary to both of you,” Lin whispered. “It’s been a little over two hundred and forty years since your wedding day. Isn’t that amazing? But I guess time doesn’t really have any meaning for you anymore.” She sank down and sat on the damp ground. “I know you still love each other and I’m still trying to figure out how to bring you both together again. I promise I won’t give up.” She let out a long sigh. “Don’t you give up either.”
20
“Lin was mean to me.” John set the platter of appetizers on the table. “I’m never inviting her along to see a house with me ever again.”
The daylight was fading as Lin, Jeff, Viv, and John sat around the table of John’s boat at the Nantucket town docks. Couples and families enjoying the evening weather strolled past on the docks to look at the boats.
“Just pretend there’s no such thing as ghosts.” Viv tried to keep a straight face. “If you can’t see them, then they mustn’t exist.”
“It’s worse if I know they exist and I can’t see them.” John passed around a bottle of wine. “How do I know if they’re creeping up behind me?” He had to look over his shoulder to be sure nothing ghostly stood behind him.
Jeff said, “I don’t think we have to worry. The ghosts know we’re good for nothing so they won’t bother us.”
“I won’t tease you anymore.” Lin scooped some cheesy nachos onto her plate. “Or will I?” she added slyly.
“Did you learn anything about the house?” Viv asked. “Anything that might help bring Ezra and Abigail together?”
“There’s a room on the second floor that Tim is using as an office,” Lin told the group. “I was hit with strange feelings when I stepped into that room.”
“What sort of feelings?” Jeff questioned.
“My skin felt all prickly.” Lin had to rub her arms remembering the sensation. “The room felt cool, but not cold enough to indicate a ghost was about to appear. It was more like traces of spirits moving around the space from the people who once lived there.”
John groaned at the comment. “I don’t think I’ll be going back to that room when I return to the house to take measurements and better pictures.”
“Why do you feel those traces of past lives only in that room?” Viv sipped from her wine glass.
Lin gave a shrug. “I don’t know, but the feeling is powerful. I’d like to go back there … if John will let me go with him again.”
“Don’t count on it,” John muttered. “Maybe if I go in daylight, you can come along.”
“Have you given any more thought to why Sebastian wants you to try and convince Tim to stay on-island?” Jeff asked.
“I’ve given it a lot of thought.” Lin wiped her fingers on a napkin. “There’s only one thing I can come up with. Could Tim be a descendant of Ezra and Abigail?”
The others were silent for a few moments.
Viv asked, “That’s an interesting idea, but why would that matter?”
“All I can think of is … that Tim, being a descendant, can somehow act as a conduit to bring the ghosts together. Plus, he’s living in the same house where Ezra and Abigail once lived.”
“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Jeff nodded.
&nb
sp; “What does Tim have to do to get the ghosts together?” John asked.
“I don’t know,” Lin said disappointedly.
Viv perked up. “You said you felt odd when you were in the room Tim uses as an office. Could that room be important to the ghosts finding each other?”
Lin’s eyes brightened. “I wonder.” She looked to John. “When are you going back to Tim’s house?”
“Not until Tim wants to go ahead and sell. Then I’ll go back to take better pictures and do measurements for the listing. If Tim decides not to sell, then I won’t be going back.”
“Has he given you any idea which way he might be leaning?” Viv asked.
“Not really. I only spoke with him briefly since he returned from Boston the other night.”
“I’d really like to get back into that room on the second floor,” Lin told them.
“If I get the go-ahead, I’ll let you know,” John said and then he gave Lin a narrowed-eyed look. “But no more scaring me with ghost-talk when we’re in there.”
Lin smiled. “I promise.”
Lin’s phone buzzed in her sweater pocket and when she saw the text, her heart jumped into her mouth. “It’s Tim.”
“What does he want?” Viv’s expression had turned wary when she saw her cousin’s face tighten.
“The table is tapping again. He says it’s out of control. He wants us to come as soon as we can.” Lin’s eyes looked to her three companions around the small table.
“Go,” Jeff urged. “Shall we come with you?”
“Not me,” John said. “No, thanks. I’ll come if you need me, but I won’t be any good to you.”
“It’s okay,” Lin told John as she stood up. “You can stay here. Thanks for offering though.”
“I’ll go with you,” Viv said.
“Me, too,” Jeff nodded.
“I’ll keep the drinks cold for when you return.” John stood to clear away the dishes. “We can have pizza when you get back. No worries. Good luck.”
The threesome left the boat, hurried along the docks, and practically ran up Main Street.
When they arrived at Tim’s house, the man was standing on the front step waiting for them. His face was pale and his facial muscles sagged. “I’m sorry to bother you, but that table is driving me nuts. It’s jumping and banging and I can’t take it. I don’t know what to do with it. Will you take it away? I can’t have it in the house. Keep it. I don’t want it returned.”
“When did it start?” Lin asked.
“As soon as I got back from my trip to Boston. It was late, I was exhausted, and then it started up. I yelled at it and it stopped. It was quiet for twenty-four hours and then an hour ago it all started again. I told it to stop, but it won’t. I don’t understand how this can be happening.” Tim rubbed at the side of his face. “Why is it doing this? How is it doing this?”
“Why don’t we have a look?” Lin suggested and Tim opened the door to allow them in.
“I’m staying out here. It’s in the sitting room to the right.” Tim sat down on the top step to wait.
Lin, Viv, and Jeff slowly walked inside and saw the table in its spot by the wall.
When Lin touched it, the table began to jiggle. It leaned slightly this way and that, the legs rhythmically tapping against the wood floor.
“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Jeff’s eyes were wide, but he didn’t seem disturbed by what was happening.
“I’d like never to see anything like it again,” Viv whispered and moved a little behind Jeff. “What does it want?”
“Let’s take it back to my house.” As soon as Lin said the words, the table stopped and went quiet.
Jeff picked it up and carried it outside.
“It stopped?” Tim asked looking at the table like it was a rattlesnake ready to strike.
“It went quiet,” Lin said. “I’ll take it home for now.”
“You can keep it,” Tim was adamant. “I’ll drive you home.”
The four people and the table rode in Tim’s Jeep to Lin’s cottage.
“I don’t care what you do with it.” Tim leaned out the window. “If you don’t want it, give it away.”
Jeff carried the table inside and set it down in the kitchen, staring at it.
Nicky greeted the people and sniffed at the table wagging his little tail.
“Will it start up anytime it wants to?” Jeff asked.
“Pretty much,” Lin said.
Jeff eyed the table waiting to see if it would begin its tapping. “What does it want?”
“The age-old question,” Viv sighed. “Shall I get the pen and paper from the draw?”
Lin nodded. “Will you help me?” she asked her fiancé.
“You know I will. What should I do?”
Lin explained the process and she and Jeff sat in chairs pulled close to the table. Viv sat at the island ready to transcribe the taps.
Taking in a long, deep breath, Lin spoke. “Is it you, Ezra? Do you have something to tell us?”
Jeff made eye contact with Lin and she nodded reassuringly. After five minutes passed, the table rose an inch off the floor and for a moment, Jeff looked like he might flee the room.
“It’s okay,” Lin softly said. “This is what it does.”
The tapping began. Five taps, pause. Twenty-six taps, pause. The sequence continued with taps and pauses until the table seemed to sputter.
All the legs tapped the ground at the same time, then it hovered in the air an inch over the floor, before all four legs simultaneously tapped again. The sputtering went on for almost a full minute, and then the table set down on the floor with a mighty bang.
Breathing fast with near-disbelief, Jeff removed his hands from the tabletop. “What did it tell us?”
Viv cleared her throat. “The first word spelled was Ezra. The second word spelled was Abigail. The last word was Tim. The table seemed to want to tell us something else, but it rattled like it ran out of energy.”
“Why the three names together?” Lin looked deep in thought.
“What else did it want to say before it ran out of gas?” Viv asked.
“I bet it was important,” Lin told them with a drawn-out sigh. “Whatever the table was going to spell would have tied everything together.”
Nicky woofed, his tail still wagging.
“Maybe we can try again later,” Viv suggested.
“I don’t think it will work later.” Lin ran her hand over the top of the table. “Ezra seems to need at least a few days, maybe a week, before he can communicate again.”
Viv groaned. “I hope that won’t be too late.”
21
Lin and Nicky arrived at Anton Wilson’s house early in the morning before heading off to the landscaping job. Lin sat next to Anton at the kitchen table eating waffles with fresh fruit and the dog sat by the screen door looking out into the yard.
Anton pulled over his laptop so they could look at his notes while they were eating. “After you called last night, I did a few hours of research on the question.” The historian pointed to the screen at an ancestral family tree. Tim Pierce is not descended from Ezra and Abigail Cooper. He is not even remotely related to either one of the Coopers.”
Lin deflated. She hoped Tim might be a link to the ghosts. “That’s disappointing.”
“I know it’s not the answer you were hoping for, but at least knowing Tim isn’t a relative of your ghosts, you won’t go off in the wrong direction,” Anton offered. “It’s narrowing down the information so you’ll be able to find the solution to how to get the ghosts back together.”
Lin let out a sigh. “I was sure I was on to something.”
“Keep looking. You’ll find the answer.” Anton went to the counter and returned with the coffee pot. “Another cup?”
“Half, please,” Lin said. “Is Tim related to anyone who used to live on Nantucket?”
“Only his grandfather who recently passed away. Otherwise, Tim’s roots are in the Northeast, an
d then his ancestors go back to Canada, and then to France and England. There’s nothing that points to a previous Nantucket connection.”
“Okay,” Lin said more to herself than to Anton. “So familial lines aren’t what will bring Ezra and Abigail back together.” She took a sip of the coffee. “I’m stumped.” She relayed what happened with the table the previous night.
A look of amazement washed over Anton’s face. “Jeff was there?”
Lin gave a nod. “He handled the whole thing really well.”
“He’s a strong man.” Anton appeared glad he himself hadn’t witnessed the table tapping episode. “So the table tapped out three names? Ezra, Abigail, and Tim? It had something else to say before it stopped?”
“It tried to give us more information, but it couldn’t do it. If only it could have kept going.” An expression of disappointment showed on Lin’s face. “I think we were so close to understanding what to do. I don’t think we’ll get any new information for a week. Ezra seems to lose the ability to communicate through the table after a few minutes of the tapping, and then he needs to recharge for six or seven days.” She finished the last of her waffle and strawberries. “Ezra and Abigail had their wedding anniversary the other day.”
“Is what’s going on with the ghosts a result of the anniversary?” Anton asked.
“The couple was married in the month of May, Abigail died in the month of April, and Ezra died at the end of May in the year following his wife’s death. The spring of different years was both a happy time and an incredibly sad time for them. But it’s been centuries since they lived and died. Why are the ghosts appearing now?”
“Well, we’ve said it might be because they know you can see them,” Anton reminded Lin. “Perhaps, no one with your abilities has been known to them before now.”
“I think that’s part of it, but there has to be a more pressing reason.” Lin rested her chin in her hand and leaned on the table. “There has to be something that’s happening on the island right now that’s bringing Ezra and Abigail forward.”