by Bobbi Holmes
Lily nodded and walked away, heading for the park bench.
“This is all very strange,” Randal said.
“Confession is good for your soul,” Eva said. “Time to confess, Randal.”
Randal looked to Eva, studying her for a moment. Finally, he let out a sigh. “After I do, I assume I’ll go to hell. But I don’t understand, what is the point of keeping me here all these years? Is it extra punishment, making me think about where I’m eventually going? God letting me stew in the anticipation?”
“As my friend Heather says, it is not all about you, Randal. You can’t leave because you have unfinished business here. As for going to hell, it is more complicated than that. But for now, let’s deal with your unfinished business,” Eva said.
“What unfinished business?” he asked.
“The consequences of your actions have paralyzed some souls, making it impossible for them to move on. You terrified them. Your spirit visited them once, didn’t it? After you died and before you were trapped here?” Eva asked.
Randal stared at Eva for a moment. Finally, he asked, “Are you talking about when I visited Marymoor after I died, and they were still there? All of them.”
Eva nodded. “Now confess your sins, Randal. So others will know what really happened and your victims can finally be free.”
“Is she my confessor? Is that why she’s here?” While Randal asked the question of Eva, he looked at Danielle.
Instead of answering, Eva said, “Go on. It’s time for the truth to come out.”
Randal lowered his head and said, “I killed Molly. And then I killed Waylon.”
“You killed them? Why?” Danielle blurted.
Randal looked up at Danielle. “Molly knew my secret. She found out, and she confronted me. I didn’t plan to kill her, it just happened. And then Waylon walked in on us, and he got scared and ran off. So I blamed him. I told everyone he was the one who killed Molly. When they found him, they brought him back to Marymoor, and I made sure it looked like he committed suicide. I had Sid do it. He always liked Molly, and I convinced him they would never really punish Waylon for his crime because the state would deem him insane, unfit to go to prison. And Waylon’s life would not really change after murdering Molly. Sid gladly did it. But afterwards, he felt such guilt. While we were closing Marymoor several weeks later, he went on a drinking binge, ran his car into a tree on the property. Died on impact. I had nothing to do with it. But I suppose I really did.”
“What secret did Molly discover?” Danielle asked.
“I had a little side business. If someone needed to get rid of someone, they could pay me to make sure they got committed.”
“Like you did with Sean Sullivan?” Danielle asked.
Randal chuckled. “I didn’t really make any money off Sullivan. That was a favor. There was a guy on the police force who knew what I was doing. He felt it was in his best interest to stay quiet, because he could call in a favor—like he did with Sean.”
“Who else got committed who shouldn’t have been there?” Danielle asked.
“Technically speaking, Sean belonged at Marymoor. Oh, he wasn’t a real danger, but to my credit I did think he was crazy back then.”
“But the others weren’t?” Danielle asked.
Randal shook his head. “No. And Molly figured it out.”
“Who were they?” Danielle asked.
Randal listed the names—eight names. The names of the women Chris and Heather had seen at the Marymoor property, the women whose photographs had been in the box in the museum storage room. The Forgotten Women of Marymoor.
“According to the death dates of those women, they all died before Marymoor closed. Some of them were very young,” Danielle noted.
“I didn’t kill them,” Randal said. “But I was responsible. I understand that now.”
“How do you mean?” Danielle asked.
“Five of them took their own lives. Once they realized why they were really there, that they would never get out, they couldn’t face their future,” Randal said.
“How did the others die,” Danielle asked.
“Influenza,” Randal said. “Yet I suppose I’m to blame there, too. Had they not been at Marymoor, they may not have gotten sick.”
“Tell us about each woman,” Eva told Randal. “Tell us their stories.”
“He’s gone now?” Lily asked Danielle as they walked back to the car.
“Yes. I assume he’s moved on in his journey, wherever that may be,” Danielle said.
“And Eva?” Lily glanced around.
“She’s not here. Said to tell you goodbye.”
When Danielle and Lily got into the car, Lily asked, “What now?”
“Now I need to let the Marymoor spirits know it is no longer a secret.” Danielle closed her car door and hooked her seatbelt.
“And you think that will get them to move on?” Lily asked.
“Sometimes a spirit just needs the truth acknowledged. It’s not so important that the entire world knows, just that the truth is finally released—that someone knows. Someone other than the victims and the guilty parties. But we’ll have to see.”
“Those poor spirits. Heather was wrong. They are sad, not creepy,” Lily noted.
“I suppose most creepy and scary hauntings stem from sad spirits,” Danielle said.
“I guess.” Lily fastened her seatbelt.
As they drove home, Danielle told Lily all that Randal had confessed to her and Eva.
“What I don’t understand, you’d think at an institution like that, it wouldn’t be so easy for a patient to commit suicide. If they’re watching them closely so they can’t escape, how is it they could kill themselves?” Lily asked. “Did a lot of patients at Marymoor commit suicide?”
“No. There was protocol in place to help prevent that. Rules that weren’t enforced for those eight women. Apparently, Randal earned a bonus when any of the women died. A bonus paid by the people who paid him to incarcerate the women. That’s what got Molly to start asking questions, asking why the rules were lax for those patients. At first, he claimed it was because of who they were. VIP patients who had special privileges.”
“Privileges that got them killed.”
“Exactly.”
“Randal is going to hell,” Lily said.
Thirty-Eight
“Hello!” a voice shouted from the back seat.
Startled by the unexpected sound—especially since they were driving on the highway and no one was sitting in the back seat a minute ago—Danielle jerked the wheel to the right, sending her car veering into traffic.
Lily screamed, and Marie took the wheel, bringing the car to the right side of the road and averting an accident.
“Careful, Danielle,” Marie scolded from the back seat. “You almost sent Lily and yourself over to my side.”
“I wouldn’t have done that if you hadn’t screamed at me!” Danielle shouted.
“I didn’t scream at you!” Lily yelled. “You almost killed us!”
Danielle took a deep breath, told herself to calm down, and said, “I’m sorry, Lily. I was talking to Marie.”
“Marie?” Lily frowned.
“I can’t see her in the rearview mirror, but I assume she is now sitting in the back seat since she just shouted hello at me,” Danielle said.
“Oh, dear,” Marie muttered. “I did, didn’t I? I’m sorry, Danielle.”
Lily turned around and looked in the back seat. It looked empty to her. Yet she knew that meant nothing.
“I know you didn’t mean to scare me,” Danielle said. “And thank you for taking the wheel. I’m not sure I could have made it.”
“Oh, dear, I really need to be more careful. Heather is always telling me not to just pop in like that. But I just wanted to find out if it all worked out with Rupert.”
Danielle told Marie about their morning with Rupert. Before she could tell her about Randal, Lily asked, “How’s Connor?”
“Tell Li
ly he’s fine. When I left, he was napping.”
Danielle conveyed the message, and then she told Marie about seeing Eva and Randal.
“Oh my, you have had a big day. I would have really mucked it up if I’d gotten you killed on the highway,” Marie said.
“Well, I suspect that wouldn’t be possible if everything Eva says about this is true,” Danielle noted.
Lily almost asked Danielle what wouldn’t be possible but sat back to wait until later to ask her questions.
Marie let out a sigh. “Please tell Lily I’ll stop by after Connor’s birthday. With Rupert on his way, she no longer needs me over there, and I think it would be best if I don’t interfere. While I might not actually be able to get you killed on the highway, it’s enough Laura walked in on me putting Connor back in his crib. She’s been watching that boy like a hawk ever since it happened.”
Instead of dropping Lily off at her house, Danielle pulled up the alley behind her garage. She clicked the garage door opener, watched the door open, pulled in the garage, parked, turned off the ignition, and shut the garage door. When Lily and Danielle stepped out of the garage into the side yard a few minutes later, they found Laura waiting for them.
“I noticed your car drive by the house,” Laura greeted them.
“Hi, Laura,” Lily returned.
“So, what did you buy?” Laura looked over her sister’s shoulders as if she might see something. Danielle and Lily each carried a purse, yet no shopping bags or packages.
“Um…” Lily stammered, glancing at Danielle.
“Walt said you guys did some last-minute shopping for Connor’s party. I would have liked to go. I like to shop. I assume it’s still in the car?”
“Trust me, you would rather have stayed here,” Danielle said as the three walked toward the house. “We didn’t go mall shopping. I heard about a guy who had one of those inflatable kids’ funhouse thingies for parties, that he rented for real cheap. We looked at it, and the thing was gross. Lily said no way would she let Connor play on it. So our little ride today was a bust.”
“Oh.” Laura looked at Lily. “Why didn’t you mention it last night?”
“Because she didn’t know last night,” Danielle answered for Lily. “I called Lily early this morning, asked her if she wanted to drive to Salem with me to check out the funhouse for Connor’s birthday. It was sort of a last-minute thing. A stupid one.”
“Your heart was in the right place,” Lily told Danielle.
Danielle shrugged. “Just one of my stupid ideas.”
“What Walt told us, it sounded like you were just shopping,” Laura said.
“I was hoping to surprise everyone with the funhouse, so I asked Walt to say we were just picking up some last-minute stuff,” Danielle lied.
Lily and Laura said goodbye to Danielle as they continued across the street to Lily’s house.
“Now I feel like a jerk,” Laura grumbled.
Lily stopped on the sidewalk in front of Marlow House and looked at her sister. “Why?”
Laura stopped next to Lily. She looked at her and shrugged. “I was so annoyed at you not asking me to go with you today. I admit, I get a little jealous of Danielle.”
“Why?”
“Seriously, Lily? You guys seem to share all sorts of secrets. I still don’t know why you lied to all of us about where you were going the other night. And when I saw you leaving with her this morning, and Walt said you were going shopping, well, it hurt my feelings that you didn’t invite me.”
“Oh, Laura.” Lily sighed. She reached over and hugged her sister. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel that way.”
When the hug ended, Laura looked at Lily and said, “You have everything. This amazing man who adores you. Connor. All sorts of friends. A house right on the beach. You have this great life, and I just want to be part of it.” Tears filled Laura’s eyes.
“Damn, I am a crappy sister,” Lily groaned. She hugged Laura again.
When the second hug ended, Laura sniffled and wiped tears from her eyes. “Oh, don’t pay any attention to me. I am PMSing.”
Lily laughed and took Laura’s hand. Together, they continued across the street to Lily’s house.
“Ian’s not here,” Laura told Lily before they entered the house.
“Where is he?” Lily asked.
“He took Sadie to play Frisbee. Mom and June are watching Connor, and Dad and John are over at the lot they bought.”
Still standing on the front porch, her hand on the doorknob, getting ready to open it, Lily frowned. “Why did they go over there?”
Laura shrugged. “John can’t seem to talk about anything but this new house he wants to build. Not sure if Dad is really interested or just wanted to get out of the house.”
Lily smiled. “I think hanging out with Connor all day is more a grandma thing than a grandpa thing.”
“Dad did say he was looking forward to when Connor is older so they can do stuff,” Laura said.
Lily smiled and opened the door. When she did, she could hear Connor crying. It came from the living room.
When Lily and Laura walked into the living room, June and Tammy sat on the sofa, while Connor sat on the floor with a pile of toys, sobbing.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Tammy told Lily, looking helplessly at Connor.
Lily walked to her son and picked him up. He wrapped his little arms around her neck, burying his tear-filled eyes in her neck. Absently, she felt his diaper. He seemed to be dry. “What happened?”
“He’s been fussy ever since he woke up from his nap,” June said. “I think he might be coming down with something.”
Lily pressed her face next to Connor’s. He was cool.
“As long as we were on the floor playing with him, he was happy as a clam,” Tammy said. “But the minute we got up, he would get fussy again.”
“I can’t sit on the floor that long,” June said. “And neither can your mother. When we sat back on the sofa, we tried to take him with us, but he wanted down. We decided to just let him cry.”
“We really didn’t think he would get this upset,” Tammy said.
Lily smiled at her son. “Yeah, well, like I told you before, Connor has his moments. You just experienced one.”
It took little convincing to get the mothers to go back to Marlow House and take a rest. Laura stayed behind with Lily and Connor.
Lily sat on the sofa, watching her sister sitting on the floor with Connor, pushing around toy trucks and making siren sounds.
Laura looked up to Lily and said, “He’s not crying now.”
Lily laughed. “No. Because you’re playing with him. I’m afraid my son is spoiled.”
“How can you say that?” Laura smiled lovingly at Connor. “He’s been so sweet natured since I’ve been here. So he had one meltdown, big deal.” She leaned over and kissed his forehead.
Lily smiled but didn’t comment.
When Ian and Sadie returned to the house fifteen minutes later, Lily stood up and asked Laura, “Can you stay with Connor for a few minutes? I need to talk to Ian about something.”
“Sure, no problem.”
Ian and Lily retreated to Ian’s office, leaving Sadie in the living room with Connor and Laura. Lily shut the door behind her and began telling Ian about their eventful morning.
Laura glanced at her watch. Lily and Ian had been in the office for about fifteen minutes. Connor no longer wanted to play; he had become fussy again and rubbed his eyes. She suspected he had a wet diaper.
“While diaper changes aren’t my thing,” Laura muttered, “I guess I need to be a good auntie and change yours.”
With a sigh, Laura stood and picked up Connor.
“Dang, you’re heavy. How does Lily do it?” Laura grunted as she carried her nephew to his bedroom. Once there, she set him in the crib and changed his diaper. Thinking he needed a nap, she left him in the crib, but was reluctant to leave him alone, considering what she had witnessed the other day.<
br />
Laura walked to the large box her mother had brought Lily and sat down next to it. She hadn’t had a chance to see what old toys her mother had put in the box. Removing a tattered Cabbage Patch doll from it, she leaned against the wall while examining the doll.
It was then she heard it—voices. Ian and Lily’s voices. They came from the nearby heating vent on the floor.
Curious, Laura tossed the doll aside and leaned closer to the vent. The voices became louder and clearer.
“What’s the plan?” Ian asked.
Wow, this is like an intercom, Laura thought as she eavesdropped on Lily and Ian’s conversation.
“Dani feels we should do this right away. Before anything else happens. If we can get them to go, then your parents can build on the lot, and we don’t have to worry. But if something happens in the meantime, your dad might refuse to build, which might not be necessary,” Lily said.
“Our dads are over there now.”
“Yeah, but since we haven’t heard anything yet, that’s a good sign,” Lily said.
“Who’s going to do it?” Ian asked.
“Dani wants to.”
“It’s not risky for her?” Ian asked.
“Considering everything, she doesn’t feel it will be. She and Walt will go over to your parents’ lot at sunrise tomorrow morning. The plan is to get back to Marlow House before anyone wakes up.”
“Does she really think she can do it that fast?” Ian asked.
“She wants to give it a try,” Lily said.
Thirty-Nine
The only time Laura slept with her watch on was when she needed to get up at a certain time in the morning. Before going to bed on Friday night, she used her smartphone to Google sunrise for Frederickport. She set her watch alarm to go off fifteen minutes prior to sunrise before putting it on.
As it turned out, Laura was already wide awake when she felt her watch vibrate. She had woken up several times during the night and, after the last time, could not fall back to sleep. Turning off her alarm, she rolled out of bed and started to get dressed without turning on a light. She pulled on jogging pants and a long sweatshirt.
