BANG! Liza’s name was written on that one.
The ball sped around the court, moving so fast that its echoes were deafening. Derek dove and leaped for it, breathing heavily, sweat marking his T-shirt. It hit a high point above him and bounced to the back wall. But Derek didn’t hear it hit.
He turned and saw Janice standing behind him. She was smiling, holding the ball in her hand. Dripping with sweat and panting, Derek frowned at her and held out his hand.
“Give me the ball,” he said.
“No,” Janice said.
Derek’s arm dropped to his side. He closed his eyes and sighed. Then he opened them again.
“What do you want now?” he asked. “Isn’t it enough that you forced my daughter to almost kill a little boy?”
Janice smiled. “You shouldn’t talk to me like that.”
“Why are you here?”
“To ask why you told that slime you aren’t going to be his therapist any more.”
“Don’t call him slime,” Derek cautioned.
“He is slime!” Janice hissed. “That whole family is slime, trash, garbage! They murdered me!”
“ ‘They?’ ” Derek echoed. “Does that include Kyle and his dog? How about Gina? I suppose you engineered that bus accident—with my daughter’s help.”
“Alicen is a dreamer,” Janice said. “I control her, and I control you. I’ll keep you from leaving, Derek. I want you!”
Derek stared defiantly into her blue eyes. Why couldn’t he run away from her? Why did he stay here and take this? He had a little money. He could survive until he got a job. Mary Norton would take care of him and Alicen.
What was this power Janice had over him?
“You’d better leave,” he said. “My half-hour’s up, and someone’s bound to come onto the court.”
“They won’t see me,” Janice said. “Only you can see me.”
She moved closer to him, putting her arms around him. Derek was surprised to find she smelled like flowers. No, like the beach. And then like the perfume Elaine had always worn. He closed his eyes and gave in to her.
“Court time is over, sir,” a voice said.
Derek’s eyes snapped open. He was standing alone, his racket hanging at his side.
“I’m sorry,” he said, embarrassed. “I played too hard.”
“Why don’t you relax in the whirlpool?” the man said.
Derek smiled. He went into the locker room, looking around, expecting her to show up. She was making him paranoid. Even the whirlpool didn’t help. Derek got out when the memory of Liza came to him—the day they had slipped beneath the water together. Where was Liza now?
What had Janice done to her?
Derek cut off that thought, like he had cut off so many others, and went to the locker room to shower and dress. He was surprised to see it was nearly two o’clock before he left the building. He passed a tanned, blond-haired man on his way out, but didn’t even notice him.
Melanie moved slowly back and forth in the antique rocking chair as she stared out the bay windows at the sky. She had been unable to work, nervously waiting for Gary’s call. Why was it taking so long?
She thought of Alicen and felt a mixture of pity, anger, and of relief. It was easy to handle a thirteen-year-old mortal, wasn’t it?
She felt a hand on her shoulder. Gina, who had come home from school just a half hour earlier, wondered why her mother looked so sad. It had something to do with daddy, of course. She knew her father would never go out with Kyle so sick.
“Where’s daddy?” she asked.
Melanie turned her gaze from the window and leaned sideways against the chair’s slats. Gina was looking at her with worried eyes, eyes that told Melanie she wanted to know the truth. Yet Melanie couldn’t give in to them. How could she tell this beautiful young girl about the rats and rabies?
“He went to the hospital for tests,” she said at last.
“He had tests done just a short while ago,” Gina said warily.
“I know,” Melanie said, building the lie, “but this bad weather made his bones hurt so much that he figured he’d better have them checked out. He’ll be staying overnight, but I’m sure he’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Oh, mom,” Gina signed, putting her arms around Melanie’s neck. “Everything is so bad lately, just when we were going to start a nice summer.” She pulled away. “How’s Kyle?”
“Sleeping,” Melanie said. “His fever is broken, but his temperature isn’t normal yet. I’ll call the doctor if things don’t change more drastically by tomorrow.”
“Poor Kyle,” Gina said. “And damned old Alicen!”
“Gina!”
Gina frowned. “I’m sorry. But she is. She wouldn’t talk to me again today. Even when I tried to make her think I’d believe her story about Kyle. I mean, we haven’t heard her side yet. It’s only fair.”
“Alicen won’t talk to me, either,” Melanie said.
“She’s weird,” Gina replied. “She didn’t talk to anyone today. Not even Jamie Hutchinson, and she’s in love with him.”
“Jamie Hutchinson?” Melanie repeated. “Is he the red-haired boy I met the day of the bus accident?”
“Yeah.”
And the one who got Alicen started on all this, with his stories of murder, Melanie thought.
But she didn’t tell Gina this. Instead, she used the opportunity to change the subject She asked about Jamie, and soon Gina was babbling on about the boys in her school. The mood lightened, and both mother and daughter began to relax. Until the phone rang. It was Gary, at last.
“No rabies,” he said.
“Thank God,” Melanie whispered. She fought tears of relief and managed to laugh at herself for spending the entire afternoon in that damned rocking chair, expecting the worst and accomplishing nothing.
“When are you coming home?” she asked.
“That’s the clincher,” Gary said. “The fall I took messed me up a little. I’ll be here for the weekend.”
“Oh, God!”
“Melanie, Derek is there if you need help,” Gary said.
“I know that,” Melanie answered. “And I can take care of things myself. I’m worried about you. What’s wrong with you?”
“Just a bad sprain in my ankle,” Gary said. “It isn’t too serious.”
“But Gary,” Melanie protested, “your legs weren’t strong to begin with. Are you sure it isn’t serious, or are you just trying to make me feel better?”
“I could put Dr. Norton on the line,” Gary suggested.
Melanie sighed. “I believe you.”
There was a long silence, in which Melanie heard the distant sound of the hospital P.A. system. Then she said, “What am I going to tell the children?”
“Haven’t they asked yet?”
“Gina did,” said Melanie. “Nancy’s at a birthday party, and of course Kyle is sleeping. I told Gina you were just going in for more tests.”
“That’s good enough.”
“But I told her you’d be coming home tomorrow,” Melanie said.
“You can think of some excuse,” Gary said. “Our kids know how slow hospitals are.”
Melanie nodded, as if Gary could see her. “I love you,” she said.
“I love you,” Gary answered. “Don’t worry. I’ll be home before you know it.”
At dinner Melanie told Gina and Nancy about slow hospitals. They listened sympathetically, Nancy sad that her daddy was sick again, Gina not believing a word of her mother’s story. But she knew better than to push things. It was bad enough that just the three of them were sharing dinner. Kyle, of course, was unable to join them, Alicen refused to eat, and Derek hadn’t yet come home.
In the loneliness of the house that night, Melanie was unable to sleep. She decided to go downstairs and read for a little while. She curled herself up on the sofa in the library, her head on a bolster, and flipped lazily through a book.
A few pages blew over in a cold wind that swept through the
room. Melanie sat up, looking around. It seemed her heart had stopped beating.
She heard a familiar voice. “Melanie,” it said.
“You’ve come back again,” Melanie said when the dark-haired, ragged woman appeared. She didn’t shrink away, knowing this woman was her friend.
“I’ve come to warn you for the last time,” the woman said. “You must leave this place, before it is too late.”
“I can’t leave,” Melanie said. “I have a sick child, who can’t be moved. But—you said this is your last time? Why?”
“I took great risks coming here,” the woman said. “If I return again, she will surely learn of me.”
“Who is she?” Melanie asked. “At least tell me that!”
“I dare not speak her name,” the woman said.
“Then tell me why you’ve come to help me. I don’t know who you are.”
“You know me,” the woman said. “It is because of me that evil fell upon this house. His love for me has condemned my lover to eternal suffering in hell. But I am a good Christian woman, and perhaps, by the mercy of God, I can lessen his suffering. I came here to temper the evil of this house with kindness. But no one listens to me, and she is still strong!”
Melanie reached out a hand to put it on the woman’s shoulder. But the woman shrank away from her.
“I must leave now,” she said. “My Jacob awaits my return.”
She was gone. Melanie stared at the now empty space where the woman had just stood, unmoving. My Jacob?
Melanie shot to her feet and cried out: “Lydia?”
There was no answer. But Melanie knew now who the woman was. It was Lydia Browning—Jacob Armand’s lover! The woman who had been burned at the stake for witchcraft while Jacob stood witness. It was the pursuit of her that had brought Jacob’s wrath down on Melanie’s family the year before.
But why had Lydia come? Did this mean Jacob Armand had nothing to do with all this? Lydia kept talking of a woman. Who? What woman had reason to hate the VanBurens so?
There were too many questions. And Melanie feared the answers would come all too soon.
25
Alicen could barely make out Kyle’s silhouette in the darkness of his room. She stood near his bed, a pillow clutched in her hands, listening to the uneven sounds of his breathing. The doctor had said he had caught pneumonia up on the roof, and they were blaming her for it. As the other Alicen, she had believed in her innocence, but now she remembered the incident on the roof. She smiled. Her mother had been pleased with her.
Now it was time to finish the job . . . .
With her fingers tightening around the pillow, Alicen leaned closer to the sleeping figure. Closer—
Kyle stirred in his sleep, mumbling something. Alicen backed away, her heart pounding. Had she wakened him?
“Do it,” a voice commanded.
Alicen nodded. “Okay, mommy.”
And the pillow was pressed to Kyle’s freckled, angelic face.
Alicen pushed with all her might, hearing her mother’s voice. “Kill him, Alicen! Kill the brat!”
Emotionless, Alicen stared down at the little figure. Mommy said kill. Mommy loved her. Mommy made her do the right things—
“AAAUUUGGGHH!”
It was Alicen’s own cry. Something had struck her under the chin—a small, bare foot. She regained herself and threw her body on top of Kyle’s. Somehow, she had pressed the pillow at the wrong angle, leaving a channel in the folds for Kyle to breathe through. He was fully awake, kicking and screaming.
“Mommy!”
“Shhhh!” Alicen hissed.
“Stop it! Stop!” Kyle yelled hoarsely, his screams torturing his sore throat.
He was like a tiger under Alicen’s body, clawing and kicking and biting. Alicen couldn’t handle him much longer. Why wasn’t her mother helping her?
At that moment Melanie burst into the room to find Alicen straddling Kyle, her fingers around his small neck. Kyle’s face was crimson with rage and fear, and his arms and legs seemed to be everywhere. Without a moment’s hesitation, Melanie ran to the bed, grabbed Alicen by the hair, and threw her across the room. The girl cried out in pain and ran out. Ignoring her, Melanie climbed onto the bed and took Kyle in her arms.
“Oh, God,” she whispered. “Oh, my God.”
Over Kyle’s blond curls, growing wet with her tears, she saw a blue-and-white-striped pillow. A pillow that didn’t belong in Kyle’s room.
“Alicen tried to hurt me,” Kyle whimpered.
“Shh,” Melanie said. “Mommy’s here. It’s okay.”
“Make her go away!” Kyle cried.
“I’ll do that,” Melanie promised. “Alicen won’t hurt anyone again.”
She was furious. How could anyone hurt a little boy? Kyle had suffered so much. Alicen had been cruel to lure him onto the roof through that trapdoor. And now the pillow—
Her thoughts skipped backward. Through the trapdoor? But how did Alicen know about it? Melanie herself had only discovered it a few months earlier.
Was she the someone, that mysterious “she” that Lydia had warned about?
She wished Gary was there. Or even Derek. Where the hell was he? He’d been gone all day long, leaving this mess to her. God damn him, Melanie thought. She’s his daughter.
“Mom, what’s going on?”
Gina was at the door, holding hands with her sister. Both girls were in pink nightgowns, barefoot. Nancy had her thumb in her mouth. Her blue eyes seemed to fill her face.
“Did you see Alicen?” Melanie asked.
“She ran by me,” Gina said. “She was crying. What’s wrong?”
“She tried to kill your brother,” Melanie said, before she could stop herself. She was too angered to smooth things for her children’s sake. Gina cried out, and Nancy’s face contorted as if she would start crying.
“I hate Alicen!” Gina cried. “She’s mean and bad! I hate her!”
“Make her go away, mommy,” Nancy said.
“I will,” Melanie said. She opened her arms, and her daughters ran to her.
“Why is Alicen so mean?” Nancy asked, her round face pressed against Melanie’s stomach.
“Alicen’s sick,” Melanie said “She’s a sick little girl.”
Gina’s frown deepened, but she didn’t say anything. Melanie could almost feel the child’s emotions. She crushed her children to her and said, “No one will hurt you. Never again.”
She knew she should leave the house at once. If Lydia had been telling the truth, then their unseen enemy could strike at any moment But how could she leave? How could she move the children, when one was so very sick? More important, where would she go at this hour of the night?
So, Melanie did the next best thing. That night she took the room next to Alicen’s, leaving the door open. There was no way she could get past Melanie’s room without her knowing. Melanie’s eyes didn’t close once that night, and her ears were tuned for any unusual noise. The house was deadly silent, except for an occasional mumble from Alicen’s room. What was she saying, over and over? Mommy?
She thought about the trapdoor, meaning to ask Derek about it when she saw him tomorrow. She prayed he would say he had told Alicen it was up there.
At four in the morning, Melanie heard the front door open. Derek had returned home at last.
Melanie had gotten her daughters off to school the next morning and had gone upstairs to paint. But how could she concentrate? An hour’s work had produced a hideous piece of garbage. It was the work of an amateur, not the professional she was supposed to be. The colors were all wrong, the buildings out of proportion. Angrily, Melanie picked it up and threw it across the room.
“Hey!”
It had struck Derek. Well fine, Melanie thought. He deserves it.
“It’s about time you’re up,” she snapped.
Derek bent to pick up the painting without answering her. He propped it on the sofa.
“I was in late last night,” he said.
/>
“I know,” Melanie said. “Where the hell were you?”
Derek backed away a little. He couldn’t tell her where he had been. After leaving Janice, he had driven for miles and miles, clear out to Montauk. He’d driven until he was ready to drop from exhaustion, and then had fallen asleep at a rest stop. He hadn’t wanted to come home to that woman or to Alicen. And now Melanie was giving him this.
“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” he said quietly.
Melanie lifted a small can of turpentine and slammed it down on a table.
“It damn well is my business!” she screamed. “That brat of yours tried to murder my son last night!”
Derek fell down to the couch as if Melanie had punched him. His mouth hung open, and he stared up at Melanie in disbelief. Alicen had tried to kill Kyle?
But why was he so surprised? He had known this was coming.
“Oh, don’t sit there like an idiot,” Melanie growled. “Don’t you have anything to say?”
Derek breathed deeply. “Tell me what happened,” he said with forced calm.
“I heard Kyle screaming and ran to his room,” Melanie said. “I found Alicen in his bed, with her hands around his neck. And there was a pillow on the floor that didn’t belong in his room. She had tried to smother him, Derek.”
Derek rubbed at his eyes. “Dear God.”
He looked up at Melanie. “Where is my daughter?”
“She locked herself in her room,” Melanie said. “Derek, I want her out of this house. No later than Monday, even if she has to go without you.”
“I’ll do what I can,” Derek said, knowing he would never be able to get away from the house. “Let me talk to my daughter.”
A few moments later, he knocked at Alicen’s locked door, but there was no answer.
“What should I do, mommy?” Alicen whispered.
“Let him in.”
“Alicen!” Derek called.
Alicen walked across the room and opened the door. Derek entered the room, saw a filmy cloud by the window, and frowned. He knew what that cloud was, even if Alicen didn’t. And it was about time Alicen did know.
Ghost House Revenge Page 24
