by Laurel Veil
I just couldn’t wrap my mind around what she was suggesting. “Toni.”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s just keep this to ourselves… at least for now.”
“I’m not sure what good it would do to tell anyone,” said Toni. “Besides, what is it exactly that we know?”
As we stepped out of the Jeep, I heard my name.
“Oh hey, Aunt Pam.” She was waving from the balcony.
“I was just invited to meet some friends. Would you mind—”
“I don’t mind. I’d love to spend some time with Danielle.”
She looked relieved. “Really? Oh, thanks Ronnie. You’re a doll!”
“You in?” I asked Toni. “Or would you rather chill at our place?”
“I’m not going over there alone. A ghost might get me. Or who knows, Miss Betty might creep up the stairs and—”
“Toni! Come on.”
As it turned out, an evening of playing Monopoly was just what we needed.
***
Later that night, I found myself struggling to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, not only did images of the ghost girls haunt me, but now Miss Betty and her makeshift cemetery did as well. The idea of her as a murderer didn’t seem possible. Am I in denial because I like her? I thought about the lovely time we’d had sipping coffee and eating pie. I hated myself for thinking it, but I couldn’t help but wonder whether Toni and I were safe. I tried to tell myself it would be impossible for someone so old to hurt us. But then I would picture her sneaking up on me as I worked and whacking me in the back of the head with an ax. I pulled up my sleeping bag closer to my face. That was ridiculous. R-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s!
I concentrated on the sound of the waves and finally began to relax.
I was in a strange room. Wait—I recognized it! It was a bedroom at Miss Betty’s house. Why was I lying in bed? I didn’t feel well. My stomach hurt. I was sick. Just then Miss Betty walked through the door, pushing a tea cart. She smiled. “Care for something?” she asked me. I looked at the cart. It was loaded with cookies, cakes, pies and an unusually large pitcher of lemonade. When I looked back up at her, for no apparent reason, she began cackling maniacally. It was bizarre and unnerving.
I woke with a start. Miss Betty in my dream had reminded me of the evil queen in Snow White—the one with the poison apple. But Miss Betty couldn’t be poisoning us… could she?
18.
Confession
I was surprised to find I was alone. When I checked my phone, I saw a message from Toni. Her mother had texted her. They were going to spend the day together, shopping and having lunch. Before I had a chance to wonder how on earth I was going to pass the time until she got home, I got a text from Charlie, asking if I could come in and work a shift at Fins. I immediately responded that I could and went to get dressed.
I was going to be early, so I decided to extend my drive. It was such a nice day, I rolled my windows
down and, on a whim, turned and drove past Toni’s house.
I was thrilled when I caught a glimpse of her stepping out from the back of her house, carrying a sack of trash to the large cans that sat next to her garage.
I immediately stopped and called out to her, “Hey, girl!”
She was surprised to see me. She looked back at her house and then darted quickly to my Jeep as I idled in the street.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I’m heading to Fins, but I’m early and thought I would kill some time driving around. I thought you were going out with your mom today.”
“Oh, we still are. It’s just I have to get a few chores done around here first.” Looking back at her house again, she seemed nervous to me. “Look, I gotta run,” she said when she turned back around. “I’ll call ya later.” She took off before I could respond.
I was so preoccupied thinking about how strangely she had acted that I completely forgot about Dane until I saw his truck. We were going to get to work together!
I parked and as I headed in I heard my name.
Turning, I saw Dane sitting in his truck with the window down.
“Hey.” I tried not to smile too much. “I didn’t see you sitting in there.”
“I was lying down. Trying to catch a few more Zs.” He rolled up his window and walked with me into the restaurant. “So, we get to spend the day together?”
My heart beat a little faster. “I guess so.”
The right side of his mouth lifted into a slight grin. “Now if I could just get to spend the night with you.”
My heart went from a trot to a gallop. “Are you asking me out, Dane?” He froze with his hand on the door. We were only a couple inches from one another as he looked down at me.
“Would you like to get something to eat tonight?”
I bit down on my bottom lip to keep from smiling too much and nodded.
***
The day passed quickly for a couple of reasons. One, we were busy. And two—just when I would start feeling tired, I’d look up and catch Dane watching me. I would return his smile and then get a sudden jolt of energy.
“So what time do you want me to get you this evening?” Dane whispered as he playfully nuzzled my hair.
“Ronnie,” a deep voice called from near the entrance.
Dane and I both looked guilty when we looked up. “Officer Bill,” he said.
“Hey, Uncle Bill. You want something to eat?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he removed his hat and let his stare linger on Dane until Dane excused himself.
“No thank you, sweetie.” He turned to me. “I just wanted to ask you how things have been going with Miss Betty.”
I felt a slight flutter in my stomach. Does he know something? “Oh. Uh, things are fine.”
He nodded. He believed me. It should’ve relieved me, but instead I felt guilty.
“Why do you ask?”
He gave me a long look. I swallowed nervously. Ugh! What’s wrong with me? Quit asking questions and just let it go, Ronnie! “Is something wrong?” I asked, apparently unable to control myself.
“Nothing really, I guess.”
I didn’t believe him. He was no longer making eye contact and he absentmindedly ran his hands along the rim of his hat. It made him seem nervous.
“It’s just that when she went for her doctor appointment yesterday, Charlotte—the gal who drove her—said she started acting real strange on the way back home.”
“Strange how?”
“Like she was afraid or something. Charlotte said she was jumpy. Like she’d seen a ghost.” He chuckled, but after what I had experienced, I was concerned she may have actually seen one. “Anyway,” he continued, hesitating, “I was hoping you could stop by for a minute and check on her. When you get done here, I mean.”
“Sure. I’ll stop by.”
***
I told Dane to meet me at my place in a couple hours. That would give me plenty of time to check on Miss Betty and get myself ready for our date. Date. I couldn’t believe it! My stomach tickled with excitement. I wished I could tell Toni, but I didn’t want to bother her. I wished even more that she was with me when I turned into Miss Betty’s drive and felt a sudden onset of nausea. I was nervous and afraid.
I took a deep breath and walked up to the porch. The door was closed. When I tugged on the screen door, I found that it was locked as well, and the curtains were tightly drawn.
I knocked. “Miss Betty? It’s me, Rhonda. May I come in and visit a minute?”
A moment later I heard her undo the chain and twist the deadbolt.
“I’m glad it’s you and not the plumber just yet. He’s stopping by to fix my leaky faucet in the bathroom.”
She looked weary, like she’d aged overnight. The lines on her face seemed deeper.
“You feeling alright, Miss Betty?”
She didn’t answer. Her eyes welled with tears that didn’t fall.
“I could sure use someone to talk to.” She swallowed. “I ca
n trust you. I know I can.”
“That’s right.”
“Come on in and I’ll make us some coffee.”
I quickly texted Dane that I might be late, and not to come over until I texted. I wasn’t about to rush Miss Betty.
The comforting aroma of coffee grounds welcomed me into her kitchen as she removed the lid from a container of Folger’s and placed a couple heaping scoops into the coffee maker. While she waited for it to brew, she cut each of us a thick slice of yellow cake with swirly waves of heavy white icing. I felt guilty for ever thinking this woman could hurt anyone. She was kind and she needed me… and I needed her. I didn’t have a mom, and Miss Betty felt like a grandmother to me.
We finally sat down with our cake and coffee. I’d already taken several bites before I realized Miss Betty hadn’t eaten anything. She was deep in thought, staring out the window.
“Miss Betty?”
She turned to me but kept her eyes down.
“You haven’t touched your cake. Aren’t you feeling well?” I looked at what was left of my cake and coffee and soundly felt nervous. I hated myself for even thinking she could have added poison to them, but the thought crossed my mind just the same.
With her eyes still down, she traced along the flowers embroidered in the tablecloth. “I did something terrible.”
My stomach felt like I had just jumped off a cliff. “Oh,” I said, as casually as I could. I tried to force my eyes away from the rose garden out back, but they kept betraying me. “I’m sure it’s not that bad,” I said calmly, but my heart was racing.
“I killed someone, Rhonda.”
I felt dizzy. Did she really just say that?
“Who, Miss Betty?” I finally managed to choke out, terrified of her answer. I wished Toni were there.
“A man. And now he’s come back for me.”
A man? That wasn’t the answer I’d been expecting. I’d thought she was going to confess to killing the little girls whose mementos now laid buried in her backyard. Maybe she’d killed them and the man she was talking about. The fact that she was capable of killing anyone terrified me. “What do you mean he’s come back for you?”
“His ghost, I reckon. I saw him when I was coming back from the doctor yesterday. He was looking down from a second-floor window in the mansion.”
“Thorton Mansion?”
She nodded.
“Miss Betty, you know someone is living there again, don’t you? It’s possible you just saw the owner.”
“I know who I saw. It was him.”
“OK,” I said. “I believe you.” Who was I not to believe her after what I had experienced?
A banging at the door made me jump.
“That’s the plumber.”
“But—”
“We’ll talk more tomorrow, dear. Remember, don’t tell no one.”
I already knew that I needed to tell Toni, and I didn’t want to lie to Miss Betty. “Miss Betty, Toni is my—you and Toni are my best friends. And I know Toni feels the same about you and me. If you don’t want me to tell her I won’t, but—”
Her eyes were teary. “I like her, too.” She leaned in and patted my hand, and whispered, “It’s our secret then—the three of us.”
I nodded.
19.
Table for Two
I was pleasantly surprised when I pulled up and Dane’s truck was in the driveway. When I saw him leaning over the balcony railing and smiling down at me, the bomb Miss Betty had just dropped on me seemed to be exploding somewhere off in the distance and no longer at my feet.
“I thought I was supposed to text you first?” I pretended to be annoyed as I shut the door of my Jeep.
“Huh.” He grinned. “I guess I misunderstood.”
He was blocking the top of the stairway, causing me to have to squeeze past him. “I still need to get ready, ya know?”
“I’ll wait.”
I turned on a small radio that was sitting near the sink and sang along as I got ready. I showered first, then slipped on a brightly colored tank. I pulled a lightweight matching shirt over it that hung off my shoulders a tad, and pushed up the sleeves.
Next, I slipped on my capri jeans and rhinestone flip flops, then quickly touched up my sparkly, clear nail polish. Finally, I applied a hint of shadow to my eyes, along with a bit of liner and mascara, and glossed my lips. I took one last look in the mirror, pleased that I already had a beachy look. My hair was wild and a little lighter than usual, and my skin a tad darker. A quick squirt of perfume and I was good to go.
When I opened the bathroom door, I bumped into Dane’s chest. “Dane! You scared me.” It took me a moment to collect myself. “What were you doing there?”
“I wanted to hear you getting ready.”
“What?”
Images of me naked and sudsy in the shower suddenly flashed through my mind and I felt my cheeks get warm with embarrassment.
I playfully hit him in the chest and he caught my hand and held onto it. “Come on, you pervert. Let’s get outta here.”
“Pervert? I just wanted to listen to your beautiful singing. What were you thinking about, Ronnie?” he teased me as I led him to the front door.
“Never mind,” I said, and locked up.
He laughed and then got the door for me when we reached his truck.
“Hungry?” he asked.
I nodded.
“Good.”
I tugged at my seatbelt to make sure it was fastened. If it hadn’t been, I might have lunged at him and kissed that mischievous grin off his face.
He flipped on the radio and we rolled down our windows and headed into town. Everything felt perfect.
Dane pulled into a parking spot and shut off the engine. “You like Italian?”
“I love Italian.”
We held each other’s eyes.
“I forgot to tell you how nice you look tonight.”
“Thank you.” I chewed my lip nervously. “You look nice too.” And he did. His warm, brown eyes peeked at me through his dark, tousled hair. He wore a thin braided leather cord snuggly around his neck, from which a tiny metal pendent hung and rested on the neck of his T-shirt. “And you smell pretty good too.”
He raised his brows. “Well, that’s not fair.”
“What?”
“I can’t smell you from way over here.” He leaned in closer and my heart began to race. I laughed nervously when his cheek grazed mine and he playfully moved his nose in my hair and along my neck. “Not bad.”
I laughed.
“Come on. I’m starving.” He took my hand to help me out of the truck. Disappointment crept its way in the second he released it.
“Ronnie?” called a male voice from down the sidewalk.
“Oh, hey Nick,” I said, turning around to see him smiling at me.
“You look great!” He threw his arms around me like we were old friends and gave me a tight squeeze before releasing me. “I’ve been meaning to call you.”
I felt Dane’s hand slide into mine before I even knew he had walked up.
Nick looked at our hands and then up at Dane. I wasn’t exactly sure what was communicated between the stares they gave one another, but a message was definitely passed.
“Well, I’ll see ya later,” Nick said to me before turning to go.
“Bye, Nick. I’ll see—”
Dane pulled me into the restaurant before I could finish my sentence. Jealousy, like everything else, looked good on him.
We sat in the front corner, near the window. The flame of a small votive candle danced for us in the middle of the crisp white tablecloth. We took turns glancing at our menus and then each other.
“So what do you think about this place so far?”
“I love it.”
The warm scents of oregano and garlic swirled about us while Tony Bennett crooned “The Way You Look Tonight.”
We both decided on lasagna; it was less messy than spaghetti and tasted pretty much the same. Before our dinn
er was done, Dane knew about my mom, and that I had been a champ at spelling bees. He told me more about his family and the crazy things he and his brothers used to do. I liked the way his eyes lit up when he talked about them.
When Dane went to the restroom, I leaned on my elbows, content in the afterglow of our wonderful conversation, and watched the passers-by. Most of them were beach bums in swimsuits with tangled hair, which was probably why the man in khaki pants and a light, casual sportscoat caught my eye. Not only did his nice attire contrast with the others, he was also wearing a dark fedora, pulled just over his brows. He crossed the street and entered the restaurant.
