The Hauntings Of Sugar Hill: The Complete Series

by M. L. Bullock

  “Since the first time I met you, I felt like you were special. Like I knew you.”

  “I hear that a lot. When people see you on their televisions night after night, they tend to feel that way. I think there’s a name for that psychological effect. I don’t mean to be insensitive, but I’d really like to get to Sugar Hill.”

  “I can tell by your expression that you think I’m certifiable. I was afraid of that.” He leaned back in his seat and sighed heavily. “I don’t know what I expected you to say, but I had to be honest with you. I can’t keep this a secret anymore.”

  “I understand, Jamie.” I had read somewhere that using the other person’s name sometimes defused dangerous situations. I hoped it was true. “Try to look at this from my side. I don’t want to think you would hurt me, but here I am, sitting on the side of the road, against my will.”

  “Against your will? Oh God, Avery! I would never hurt you! Never in a million years. I want to protect you. In fact, I believe I was sent here to protect you.”

  “Sent? By who?”

  “I don’t know. The Powers That Be? God? Whatever you want to call whoever is orchestrating all this.”

  “Jamie, I see this is important to you, but I can’t focus on this right now. I have to know everyone is safe at Sugar Hill. Can we talk about this later tonight?” I slapped a fake smile on my face. I had my hand on the door handle now, just in case he said no. My skin was crawling, and the look in his eyes was different from any I had seen before.

  Except once.

  He was freaking me out. He didn’t seem to hear me but just kept talking.

  “And while I’m confessing, I have to tell you this.”

  “No, please don’t. Save it for later.”

  He droned on as if I were mute. “I have told two other women that I loved them, and I believed I did when I said it but…”

  “Jamie…now isn’t…”

  “Yes, I said ‘I love you,’ but that was nothing compared to how I feel about you. You have to understand.” He grabbed my hands and stared into my eyes. I wanted to cry but couldn’t allow myself to go there.

  No, it’s best to keep cool, I warned myself.

  “I want to understand, Jamie.” With every second that passed I was planning my escape.

  You are my soul mate, Susanna.

  “Wait? What did you say?”

  “I was trying to say, although I’m not doing a very good job, that I love you. God! What am I doing? I should never have told you that. See? That right there should tell you something. I’ve never said it first.” He laughed again, but it was a sick sound. He was lost in his own head and not really talking to me. It was as if he were trying to explain all this to himself. I was so upset I wanted to scream.

  “Um, oh, that’s so nice to hear, Jamie. I haven’t heard that in forever. Although it is very early in our relationship, I can tell that you are special to me too and we have the potential to be something great together.”

  “Good. I just wanted to get that out there.”

  And then all the intensity in his voice was gone. It was as if he did not notice that he’d called me Susanna. Or that he’d told me he was my soul mate. He did not seem to notice that his behavior was beyond inappropriate and that I was not at all happy about this turn of events. He was himself again. I sat in the car staring straight ahead as we drove down the road in his classic Ford Mustang. The rain began to fall, and I covertly wiped at my eyes.

  If I could just get to Sugar Hill, everything would be okay. If I can just make it there I won’t be alone.

  I prayed to God that I would make it.

  Part III

  Chapter Eleven

  Avery Dufresne

  We arrived at Sugar Hill to find Reed and the crew of My Haunted Plantation practically mixing it up in the driveway. My cousin and one of the crew members, I assumed the guy in charge, were arguing like two kids totally oblivious to the rain that had finally begun to fall.

  “You can’t expect me to tear down walls on the word of a psychic. Do you have any proof that there is a body in there? If you do, I want to see it!”

  “Sir, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m just trying to make you see that it’s a possibility. Jessica believes she saw something, and that’s good enough for me.”

  Reed snorted. “Not for me.”

  “Hey, what’s happening? Is Jessica okay?” I touched his shoulder hoping to calm the situation and get the hell away from Jamie. What a night this had turned out to be! Not at all what I had expected.

  “These folks want me to tear down a basement wall because a ghost said there were bodies buried there. Can you believe this?” Reed was walking up and down the driveway, completely ignoring the rain. His black hair was wet yet somehow still wavy, and he was as angry as I’d ever seen him.

  “Reed, let’s get inside out of the rain and talk like civilized people.”

  “I don’t want to have anything to do with this!” he whispered to himself. Or to me. I couldn’t tell which.

  “Well, that’s a problem, isn’t it? I need you to act like the family attorney. If there is even a remote chance that there is a body or two in the wall, it is our responsibility to deal with it all. So get it together, Reed.” Why were all the men in my life losing their minds today?

  “Fine.”

  We led the group of ghost hunters inside and gathered in the dining room. One of the housekeepers busily made coffee and poured iced sodas. Robin brought in warm towels and politely asked Reed if she needed to make up rooms for our guests.

  I answered for him, “That would be lovely, Robin. Please do that, just in case someone wants to stay. It’s raining cats and dogs, and we might be chatting a while. Summer and Jamie will need rooms for sure. Is Dinah here?”

  “Last I saw her, she was upstairs…doing something. Most everyone else left, you know, to give the crew some space. Do you want me to go look for her?”

  “No, that’s not necessary. Thank you for staying and helping, Robin.” She smiled and got back to handing out towels. I didn’t know any of these people. Where was Jessica? I walked into the parlor and found her sitting on the floor with a soggy blanket wrapped around her. She stared out the window and didn’t even appear to notice I was in the room.

  “Jessica? There you are. Mind if I sit with you?” I waited, but she didn’t move and barely blinked. “Jessica?” I wondered if it had been a mistake not to insist she go to the hospital for a checkup. She was calm and quiet. “May I sit with you?”

  “Sure.”

  “Are you up to talking?” I sat on the floor next to her. This was strange, sitting on the floor of my own living room. I touched her shoulder reassuringly. “What did you see downstairs? You can talk to me, Jessica. I’ve seen things too.”

  She glanced over my shoulder at the boisterous gathering in the other room where Reed and Mike were still bickering. Jamie lurked nearby, but I didn’t invite him closer. I didn’t even look at him.

  “Pay no attention to them. Tell me what you saw, Jessica.”

  Her blue eyes reflected her discomfort. “I felt a pain in my side before I saw anything. That has happened before, but not to this degree. It started as mild pain in my right side and steadily worsened. I could feel the blood pouring out of my body.” She shivered uncontrollably as she spoke, so I pulled the gray blanket closer around her. Her eyes had dark circles under them; I’d seen those eyes before, during my tenure as an anchor at WBTV in Atlanta. They were eyes that had seen something horrible, like a house fire or the death of a loved one. I couldn’t be absolutely positive, but I was confident that she believed what she was telling me was true.

  “It was where he shot her, Avery.” She sobbed, and I held her hand. “Her father shot her. Her name, her name…is Regina. I can hear her calling for help. She’s calling her mother and screaming at her father. Then I hear pounding on the wall. Like she wasn’t quite dead after all.”

  “What else did you see, Jessica? What did this
woman look like?”

  “She was young, younger than us. She had long brown hair, and her dress was bloody. I can still hear the banging. Can’t you hear it? The pounding on the walls, like a boom, boom, boom. The pounding. The crying. I hear the scratching—no! They aren’t dead. And they scratch! They scratch to get out.” Then she zoned out. She sat staring off into space like I wasn’t even there.

  “Jessica, can you listen to me?”

  “Yes.” She talked like someone who was in a trance or maybe in shock. Her voice sounded dreamy and soft, softer than normal, and she didn’t move a muscle now. Had she hypnotized herself? A memory of a long-forgotten interview with a medium rattled around in my mind. Yes, if I remembered correctly, these psychics sometimes self-hypnotized in order to get a “better” signal. It almost seemed like she’d done that. What if she was stuck? Too bad Jamie’s ex-wife wasn’t here to give us a diagnosis, I thought sourly.

  I’d interviewed a hypnotist once and even sat through a demonstration of his abilities. Maybe I could use that experience now.

  “Jessica, I know you want to help her, but it’s time to shut it off. You can’t stay tuned into that other world like that. It’s not good for anyone. Let’s try this. I am going to count backwards from three, and when I get to one, you are going to feel like yourself again. You won’t be afraid anymore.” I added quickly, “But you will remember everything. Ready?”

  She whimpered as she held the cup of tea, her eyes open. “Yes, I am ready.”

  “Three, two, one. Now wake up.” I snapped my fingers, and she brightened instantly.

  “Avery?” She smiled at me all silly, like she had a bit of a buzz.

  “Hi, girl. How are you feeling?”

  “Never better.” She smoothed her hair and glanced around the room. I could tell she was trying to put two and two together. That wasn’t a good sign. I had hoped she would recall our conversation. But then again, I really didn’t know what the heck I was doing.

  “I can’t be sure, but I think you were in a trance of some sort. You feel okay now?”

  “Just great. I am hungry, though.”

  “Good! We will get you something to munch on. But first tell me what you saw.”

  “When?” She sipped her tea now and stared at me with wide eyes. The smudges under them had vanished.

  “In the basement.”

  “Yes, that place is weird.” She screwed up her face trying to remember what she saw, when someone brought in a tray of sandwiches and offered her one. “Oh look, there are some sandwiches.”

  Well, this hadn’t gone exactly as planned. “Enjoy your snack; I’m going to talk with Reed for a minute. I’ll come back to check on you.”

  “All right.” Jessica ate her food with zeal, and I could hardly believe the change in her.

  I didn’t realize that Reed had been watching all this. When I turned around, he was behind me. “Reed, they can’t keep investigating here. It is far too dangerous. They need to go.”

  “Yes, but they have a signed contract, so they have a right to be here. Remember? I didn’t call them out here.”

  “What about the bodies? Are there bodies in the basement?”

  “Not as far as I know, but I have a friend from the local university who works in the anthropology department. I told him what happened here, and he is going to help us. He also thinks the whole thing is ridiculous, that the chances of skeletons being hidden in the walls are slim to none. But he has a machine that can detect anomalies in houses and caves and whatnot. He’s promised to come out tomorrow and wave his ‘magic wand’ in our basement. If there are bones in there we will know it, but I think it’s plain that this has all come from the imagination of a very disturbed young lady.”

  “I’m not so sure. I have seen Grandmother Margaret’s videos. So much has happened in this house. So much death and loss. And what about the fact that Jessica called the girl Regina. That was Chase Dufresne’s sister! She and her mother died while he was in New Orleans. Maybe they died here.”

  “Whoa, Avery!” He glanced around at the eyes that were watching us now. “I think you are getting way ahead of yourself on this.” I felt my exasperation rising, but I let him go on. “Avery, you were an investigative reporter. Would you even report on this with this kind of evidence?” Robin popped back in and offered us coffee. We both refused, and Reed walked into the second parlor room and waved for me to follow him.

  Yeah, he’s right. There wasn’t much to go on except feelings and a paranormal investigator who didn’t seem to have it all together.

  “Avery, I promise, if we find anything there, we will do what’s right. But for now, let’s calm the situation. I think it’s best that we keep them out of the house. At least temporarily. Having this investigation appear on television would be bad for all of us.”

  “I want to be here when the search is done. I want to know.”

  “Okay, but let’s keep this between us. If the board heard, they would flip out for sure! They’d replace me and if they could they would replace you too. For now, let’s keep this as quiet as possible. Tell your boyfriend to keep quiet too.”

  “He’s not my boyfriend,” I said nervously, “and I think something is wrong with him.”

  “Really? What do you mean?” I pretended that I didn’t see the smirk on his face.

  “This place, it affects everyone, doesn’t it? What’s going on here, Reed?” I could tell that struck a nerve. “You know what’s going on and you aren’t telling me. And Thorn Hill—it’s the same way. It’s like the past isn’t really in the past.”

  Reed shoved his hands in his pockets and walked to the window. He looked through the curtains as if he were worried someone would hear us. “Is the past ever really in the past? There are experiences that transcend time, Avery. Promises that must be kept. Surely you feel that. You understand that.”

  “I don’t know that I do. I want so badly to figure it all out, but I haven’t. Not yet.”

  Reed grabbed my hands and pulled me close. “You will. One day you will wake up and it will all make sense. I promise.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. I wasn’t sure that I believed him, but it felt good to hear him say it. Then to my complete surprise he kissed me. And I didn’t resist. I didn’t want to. His lips were strong and warm. I breathed him in as we pulled away, only a few inches apart. He smelled like fresh rain and sandalwood. He touched my face and stepped back. Unsure what the heck to do, I decided I had to get away.

  Away from everyone.

  I walked quickly out of the room and up the stairs. I thought I heard Summer call me, but I didn’t answer. I sped to my room and locked the door like a guilty teenager. Fortunately, nobody came knocking. Feeling that one room wasn’t enough to separate me from the world, I went into the bathroom, turned on the faucets and quickly shed my clothes. I slipped into the water, which made my skin tingle as the blood began to flow again. I hadn’t realized I’d gotten so cold. I soaked for a long time and stared out the big picture window. The water slid down the panes in rivulets, and watching it calmed me.

  I noticed my hands were beginning to prune, so I quickly dried off, changed into my pajamas and lit the fireplace. After a while, I stopped thinking about the kiss. I became drowsy and managed to climb into bed. My phone rang a few times, but I didn’t answer it. I didn’t even look to see who called.

  I slipped off into a dream where Reed showered me with tender kisses and I melted in his arms like warmed honey. Then it wasn’t Reed I kissed—it was Jamie. Not the crazy Jamie but the confident detective I had fallen for in Atlanta. I practically cried with relief.

  Yes, he was the one I should be with! We kissed more fervently, more passionately. Our hands were all over one another.

  And then it wasn’t Jamie anymore—it was Ambrose.

  Ambrose with his dark eyes and his spicy scent. Ambrose with his rough hands and his lips that warmed my skin and set my senses alight. He stirred something dormant in me, made me want
more of him.

  This was a dream, wasn’t it? Who would see me? Who would know that I kissed him back? I kissed him with all my might. I whispered his name, uncaring who heard me.

  I surrendered myself to him and fell back on the bed; I wasn’t naked, but the feeling of silk surrounded me. Then the man I kissed was no longer Ambrose but Chase. Chase kissed me and pulled at my clothes. He held me in his arms, kissed my neck and tenderly kissed my body. I wasn’t wearing my pinstriped pajamas now but a blue silk gown that he quickly unlaced. I was so confused, I could not fight him.

  Suddenly, he was inside me. Chase was making love to me, and pleasure washed over me. Yes, all I wanted was Chase.

  Chase, my love! Chase, my own darling! Chase, I want to lose myself in you!

  My hands flew into his hair, and I kissed his lips and looked into those bright eyes. And then he was Chase no longer but Ambrose again. Dark and demanding. He gave no pleasure but only took his. And strangely, there was pleasure in that too.

  “Stop, Ambrose! No! I don’t want you! I want Chase!”

  Then someone was shaking me. Shaking me hard, straddling me and forcing my hands down above my head. I looked up into the face of Susanna and began to cry.

  “What…just…happened…to me, Susanna? I think I am going…crazy. Please help me. I have to leave this place.”

  “We cannot leave. We can never leave. We are his now. The ring is the proof. You are his soul mate.”

  “No!” I screamed and twisted my body to get away. Then Susanna vanished and I became aware that I was only dreaming. I shook myself awake and sobbed in the darkness. I pulled the covers tighter around me and realized that I was not alone.

  Jamie was sleeping beside me, naked and sweating. And we must have made love, for I was also naked and covered in sweat.

  But I had not made love to Jamie. I made love to Chase—or was it Ambrose? Hadn’t I locked the door before I went to bed?