The dweeb in the plaid hat cut in. “I’m Dwayne Schottenheimer and he’s Earl Atherton. We came about the cottage. Uh…first, congratulations. Kick-ass decision.”
“This cottage?” Rowe ventured.
Dwayne fumbled in his jacket and produced a dog-eared business card, which he pressed to the grille. Rowe read it with a sense of impending doom: Paranormal Investigators of New England. The day had just gotten worse. These bozos were here to express concern about her recent vampire novels and to explain why that subgenre was passé and she should return to more rational themes like demonic possession and undead who cannibalize.
“We were hoping you might be able to spare five minutes to talk to us, given the importance of the topic,” Dwayne said.
“The topic?” Rowe could only imagine. The same species of disgruntled fan showed up at every author event, eager to provide guidance and counsel.
“The infestation.” Her carrot-haired visitor pressed on. “We’re available twenty-four/seven. Uh…in case you need professional help.”
Confused, Rowe said, “I take it you are not referring to rodents.”
Like she’d made a joke, her fragrant visitors chortled.
“We used to be with the MPRA,” short, dumpy Earl said. “Not any more. Ecto-mist isn’t everything.”
“Have you by any chance spoken with the MPRA yet?” Dwayne inquired.
What the fuck was the MPRA? Rowe decided not to ask. If this was another paranormal society turf war, she didn’t want to be the entity in the sandwich. “Guys, I’m working at the moment. This really isn’t convenient.”
Her visitors exchanged a look of embarrassed desperation.
Earl fidgeted with a Roswell button clinging to his lapel. “Sure. We hear you, Rowe. Man, we are big fans. Huge.”
“How about if we leave this?” Dwayne poked a business card into a gap in the grille. “Then, at a convenient time, you can call us and we’ll be on the next ferry.”
“We’ve got the works,” Earl assured her. “EMF field testers, IR thermal meters, you name it.” Casting a dark look over his shoulder, he added, “And we always take the necessary precautions. These days, you can’t be too careful.”
“About?” Rowe dared.
Dwayne murmured something in Earl’s ear, and the two young males turned away to discuss something in urgent whispers. Eventually they faced Rowe and inched closer to the screen.
In a low mutter, Earl confided, “We’ve become aware of a level of surveillance. My associate believes a competing paranormal body is responsible.”
But you think it’s the government, Rowe decided.
Confirming her suspicion, Earl rasped, “But my money’s on the fucking feds.”
This attracted a glare from Dwayne, whose conspiracy theories seemed to be limited to the more mundane connivances of ghost-hunting rivals.
“The MPRA aren’t the only serious players in town,” Dwayne assured her. “They came out here and performed a cleansing a while back. And”—he pointed toward his clapped-out car—“the bumper sticker says it all, huh?”
Rowe read Ghot Ghosts? and smiled weakly. “I’ll certainly bear that in mind. Thanks for coming by.”
“No problem.” Dwayne fidgeted with a key chain. “It was a real privilege.”
Earl pulled a flapped cap from his pocket and stuck it on his head. Embroidered on the front was Paranormal Investigators Do It In The Dark! As the two walked back to their car, they did a high five. Rowe was certain she heard one of them say, “Suck on that, MPRA para-nerds.”
She was about to escape indoors when she caught sight of Phoebe Temple approaching the house carrying a basket. The woman was so shamelessly beautiful that Rowe almost wept with self-pity. What chance did she have against an arsenal of attributes like these? Her neighbor’s fine ebony hair floated and tangled about the crimson headscarf that secured it. Her plain wool tweed coat flapped in the wind, revealing a full-skirted midnight blue dress and sensible brown boots.
No doubt she was going for a practical, country look. Instead, Phoebe could have stepped out of a Grimm’s fairy tale. Even covered from head to foot, the woman was a temptress, the kind lovelorn poets blew their brains out over after penning countless sonnets in her honor. Rowe was just a horror novelist. She had to settle for immortalizing her hopeless passions in mundane passages about succubi and zombie weddings.
Phoebe gave a shy wave and climbed the steps to the front landing. As if to confirm her passage from fable to real time, she lifted the checked cloth from her basket and revealed a perfect fruit pie. “I made this for you.” She hit Rowe with her mesmerizing stare. “It’s blueberry and apple.”
“You shouldn’t have,” Rowe mumbled.
“Well, since you forgot to take your muffins yesterday…”
A fact Rowe had bemoaned several times the previous evening as she had munched on stale pretzels. “Please. Come in.” She opened the door wide. Why not stick a Post-it on her forehead announcing Rowe Devlin, Glutton for Punishment?
“Are you sure?” Phoebe hesitated. “I don’t want to disturb you. I was actually going to leave it on your doorstep. But then I saw you had callers, so I thought maybe I’d come say hello.”
“You’re not disturbing me.”
Rowe was struck by the irony of that remark. Her neighbor was disturbing. Tragically disturbing. As she took Phoebe’s coat, she broke out in a sweat. That perfume teased her senses again. She wished she knew what it was, so she could buy a bottle and wallow in it in private. Her dogs clawed and whined at the parlor door.
“Let them out,” Phoebe insisted. “They’re so well behaved.”
“I’m going to give them a few minutes to calm down,” Rowe said. And I don’t want to share you. Wisely, she kept that thought to herself.
Phoebe tried to remove her scarf but there was some hair caught in the knot. With a sigh, she turned her back to Rowe and asked, “Would you mind untangling this for me?” Helpfully, she lifted the rest of her hair out of the way.
A slender ivory nape taunted Rowe. It was all she could do not to touch it, just to see if the skin felt like the lotus petals it resembled. Carefully, she eased the scarf undone, freeing a soft, dark strand. Its consistency amazed her. She had always imagined only a child’s hair could be so exquisitely fine.
Phoebe glanced over her shoulder. She didn’t smile, exactly. Her eyes just grew more luminous. “Thank you,” she said in her low, melodic way.
Rowe was completely undone.“Coffee?”
“Wonderful.”
The kitchen lay at the far end of the long hallway, a neglected room that had last been renovated in the 1930s if the cabinetry was anything to go by. The walls, however, had been repainted some time in the last twenty years when avocado was in fashion. The murky green was peeling now, revealing a layer of hideous ochre. Rowe could see why the previous resident hadn’t done much cooking. The room smelled sour and musty, and the stove was a relic. She was having a new one installed in a few days’ time. The solution was temporary. Her plan was to build a whole new kitchen.
“It’s not the finest room in the house,” she said, pulling out a chair for her guest. “But make yourself at home while I fix coffee.”
Instead of stepping in, Phoebe lingered at the door, leaning against the frame, eyes riveted on the concrete wall where Rowe had positioned her cherished maple refectory table. After a long moment, she dropped her gaze to the floor, apparently stricken. Her chest rose and fell quickly, as if she were drawing breath in small gulps. She made a small, choking sound, and before Rowe could take in what was happening, the color drained from her face and she fainted.
*
Phoebe felt fingers at her throat, unfastening the collar of her dress. She could hear Rowe talking to herself.
“Shit. Oh, my God. Fuck.”
Weakly, she forced her eyes open. The room spun. “I’m sorry,” she said, focusing on Rowe’s worried face.
“Jesus. What happened?”
“One minute I was talking to you, the next minute you were out cold.”
“How horrible for you.”
“I’m not the one who landed in dog food. Then they slobbered all over you when I brought you in here. I’ll pay for your dress to be cleaned, of course.”
“No you won’t.” Phoebe decided her mind was playing tricks. The blood was an image from a dream. Sometimes they seeped into reality. She forced a smile. “But thank you for offering.”
Rowe placed a hand on Phoebe’s brow. “You still feel clammy.”
“I’ll be fine in a few minutes.”
“I think I should drive you to the doctor.”
“There’s no need. I find tea with milk and sugar helps.”
“This happens often?” A note of alarm.
“Almost never,” Phoebe said.
Rowe gave her a piercing look from beneath mousy blond bangs. Her eyes were an unusual smoky teal blue, the color of an ocean in shadow. They looked weary, as if she didn’t sleep well. Phoebe wondered what kept her awake nights.
“I’ll get you that tea,” Rowe said and left the room, her dogs trailing behind.
Phoebe stared up at the ceiling and thought about Jasper. He had lived here for less than two years before selling up. The house gave him the creeps, he said. He’d had big plans when he bought it, intending to convert it into an upscale B&B. Dark Harbor Cottage was listed as haunted by the Maine Paranormal Research Association, which meant visitors sometimes showed up on the Temples’ doorstep by mistake, hoping for a tour. Jasper had figured the ghost would be good for business. A certain species of tourist came to Maine hoping for supernatural thrills.
He had never invited Phoebe and Cara over but was a frequent guest in their home. This one-sided hospitality had annoyed Cara at times, but Jasper always acted like there was a big renovation project happening and he didn’t want anyone injured. Obviously that had not been the case.
“I’ve never been in your cottage before,” Phoebe said when Rowe returned with the tea. “I thought the last owner had fixed the place up.”
“I wish.” Rowe waved a hand expressively toward an area of collapsed ceiling.
“I wonder why he didn’t.” Jasper seemed to have money. He’d bought a new place in Kennebunkport long before he put the cottage up for sale.
“Maybe it was more work than he expected. You don’t always realize until you start getting the quotes.”
Phoebe sipped her tea, then asked impulsively, “Have you seen the ghost?”
Rowe’s straight mouth puckered slightly in the corners as if she was suppressing laughter. “You mean the dancing girl in the ballroom?”
“They call her the Disappointed Dancer.”
“Uh-huh.” A broad grin took hold, infusing her expression with wicked charm.
Phoebe couldn’t help but smile back. “I suppose you don’t believe in ghosts.”
“Dead people who wander around carrying their own heads? What can I say?”
“We have one, you know. A headless horseman. If you stand on Stephen’s Field at night, they say you can hear his hoofbeats echoing across the Narrows.”
“I’ll give that a shot next time I need inspiration.”
Phoebe was amazed. “I can’t believe you write all those supernatural stories, but you’re so—”
“Boring?”
“No.” Phoebe giggled. It was unlike her to giggle, and she placed a hand over her mouth wondering if the fainting episode was responsible for this sudden giddiness.
“Okay, I confess,” Rowe said dryly, “I’m a shameless cynic exploiting the superstitions of the masses for profit.”
In that moment it registered with Phoebe that her skeptical companion was an extremely attractive butch lesbian. She’d already figured the butch lesbian part from the way Rowe walked, or rather sauntered, and the way she checked Phoebe out each time they met. But the new neighbor hadn’t struck Phoebe as attractive. She seemed fairly ordinary at first glance. Five-nine. Solidly built. Her hair was somewhere between mouse brown and blond, streaked in a lighter shade that was now growing out along with her trendy cut. In her faded, loose-fitting jeans and black turtleneck, she looked casual but groomed. Her sleeves were pushed up to expose firmly muscled, bronzed forearms. On one of her wrists she wore a plain silver cuff-style bracelet with a fine black leather thong embedded along the center.
Phoebe checked her fingers. No rings. She lifted her eyes and found Rowe watching her intently. Something glittered in the smoky blue of her gaze. Lust. Phoebe was accustomed to seeing it in the eyes of friends and strangers alike. People had lusted after her all her life. Mostly it embarrassed her. In Rowe’s case, it made her wonder how a kiss would feel. She glanced away. The last thing she needed was another lecture from Cara about boundaries and why she had to make them one hundred percent clear.
“Feeling better?” Rowe asked.
“Much better, thanks.” Aware she had probably outstayed her welcome, Phoebe sat up and slid her feet to the floor. “I should go. You must want to get back to your writing.”
“Actually, I’m not in any hurry. The new book isn’t exactly spilling from my Waterman.” Rowe’s tone was laced with irony. She sank into an armchair a couple of feet from the sofa Phoebe was on. “Is there someone at home who can keep an eye on you?”
“No, my sister’s away, filming. But I’m fine.”
“Are you in a rush to get back?”
Feeling awkward, Phoebe said, “No. I guess I’m embarrassed about fainting in your kitchen. And, truly, I don’t want to interrupt your work.”
“Well, you have nothing to be embarrassed about,” Rowe said warmly. “Like I said, all you’re interrupting is my inability to work.”
“You have writer’s block?”
Rowe clasped her hands behind her head and stuck one foot on a small ottoman. In a reflective tone, she said, “It’s worse than that. It’s like something has gone. I can write, but what I write is”—she searched for a word—“barren. I’m just going through the motions. I know it probably sounds ridiculous—we’re only talking about horror stories. But they still have to have integrity…some kind of heart.”
“You feel the heart is missing?”
For a long moment they stared at one another.
“A deadly banishment?” Phoebe prompted softly.
Dull pain moved across Rowe’s face before she countered it with a rueful smile. “I deserved that. For being so damned melodramatic. Shakespeare?”
“Of course.” Phoebe knew how to make angst-ridden creative people laugh. She had plenty of practice with Cara, who stopped eating when a music video didn’t work.
Rowe dropped her hands to her thighs and stood up. “Let’s get out of here. Want to have lunch with me in Camden?”
Phoebe smiled. “I’d like that.”
CHAPTER THREE
“You had lunch,” Cara said.
There was a silence at the other end of the phone, then, “She’s our neighbor.”
“Is she gay?”
“I haven’t asked.” A defensive note. “Maybe. Probably.”
“So, what’s she like?” Cara kept her voice even. She had already heard enough about Rowe Devlin to have a pretty clear picture. The woman was a thirtysomething dyke with a crush on Phoebe. What else was new?
“She’s good company. It’s funny. She writes these bizarre stories, but she doesn’t believe in the supernatural at all.”
“Have you slept with her?”
“No!”
Cara ran a quick count. A week had passed since Phoebe had first encountered their new neighbor. They’d had lunch a few days ago. No doubt they would have dinner some evening soon, which meant by the time Cara got home they would be lovers. “Please don’t do this,” she said.
“I know what you think, but it’s not like that.”
“Okay. What is it like?”
“
I’m being clear about boundaries. No mixed messages.”
That would last about five minutes if she found this woman attractive. “So, are you telling me she’s not your type?” Cara could hear Phoebe breathing softly into the phone. Her silence provided the answer. “Promise me something. Promise me you’ll wait.”
A sigh. “I wish you would trust me.”
“And I wish I didn’t have to get rid of your unwanted lovers.”
“Please don’t be angry at me.” Phoebe’s voice shook.
“People are not flowers. You can’t just pick them because they seem beautiful, then discard them when the bloom fades.”
“I don’t!” Phoebe burst out. “They pick me! What am I supposed to do? I hate disappointing them.”
“Oh, please. You hate that they disappoint you. They are never perfect. They are never what you dreamed of. How many times do we have to have this conversation?”
“All right. I won’t see her!” Phoebe choked on a sob.
“Smart move. Don’t see her. Don’t talk to her. And for Chrissakes don’t fuck her.”
A loud metallic click made Cara wince. Phoebe had hung up on her. In about three minutes, she would call back, imploring forgiveness. Meanwhile, Cara had time to make herself a whiskey sour.
*
Phoebe pulled on her coat, tied her headscarf, and marched out into the November sleet. A snowstorm bleached the early evening sky, the first of the season. Driven by the north wind, icy white flakes whipped her face as she plodded across the long meadow that led to Dark Harbor Cottage.
At the sight of the warmly lit windows, she stopped in her tracks and almost retreated. She knew she should go back home and phone Cara again. Her sister had enough to deal with. It was time Phoebe starting making some difficult decisions and taking responsibility for herself. She could begin by letting Rowe Devlin know they would only ever be friends. No flirting. No games. It was one thing to have short-lived relationships with women in Portland, most of which ended badly, quite another to mess things up with the next-door neighbor. Cara was right to be cross with her.
Dark Dreamer Page 3
