“I’ll say.” She looked him up and down. He was serious. “You really didn’t put it there for me to find?”
“Katie,” he said, the meaning, of course, he wouldn’t do that.
“All right, all right, I’m sorry. I should have known you wouldn’t. Damn. This is so messed up. How did it get back up there?”
“I don’t know, Katie. Let me smash it again.”
“No.”
“I can use the sledge hammer this time.”
“No, Riley, it won’t work. Plus, there’s something else.”
Just as carefully as ever, Katie unfolded the handkerchief and showed him the brooch, pointing to the woman’s face.
The ivory lady wasn’t glaring at her anymore. It was set just like she had always been, staring off to the side, one hand up to her chest.
Katie stared at it. Did she imagine it? No, she was sure. The face had changed, and now it had changed back. Only, that was impossible. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, but the little face didn’t move. Either it was toying with her--which sounded crazy--or she was seeing things. Just like she had last night, in the mirror of her bathroom.
Was she going crazy? Sane people wondered that, didn’t they? Only sane people are worried about their sanity. When they were faced with something completely impossible, didn’t they wonder if they were going crazy?
Of course, they did. She’d read that in a book once. She just couldn’t remember what book it was in. Maybe it was a psychology textbook. Maybe it was Doctor Seuss.
“So what should we do now?” Riley asked her. “If smashing it to pieces isn’t going to end things, I’m kind of out of ideas.”
His words from last night came back to her. Drop it into the nearest deep body of water and forget we ever saw it. Was he right? Last night they’d tried to destroy the thing only to have it somehow return again this morning. Dropping it down the deepest, darkest hole, they could find most likely wouldn’t do anything either. Certainly, not more than smashing it with a hammer had done.
No. They needed to do something else if they were ever going to be rid of this.
“We need to go talk to Connor Norstrom,” she decided. “We’ll bring him the brooch. It belongs to his family. Maybe giving it to him will be enough to break the curse.”
“Curse?” he said, adding a thin laugh even though his eyes darted nervously to the stovetop and the ivory lady, stonily ignoring them. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”
“It’s as good a word as any, don’t you think? This damned thing is haunted, Riley, and it won’t leave us alone.” She swallowed, and for a moment she almost couldn’t breathe. “It’s going to hurt someone if we don’t break the curse. I just know it.”
“Isn’t that a good enough reason to get rid of it?”
“Haven’t you been listening?” she demanded, not remembering to keep her voice down for the sake of the guests who might be somewhere close enough to hear them. “We can’t get rid of it, and even if we could, I don’t think we should. We need to see this through, Riley.”
“Hey, hey,” he soothed, taking her into his arms. They both carefully stayed away from the stove, and the impossible contents of that cloth. “I don’t think it’s as bad as all that. It can’t hurt us. It’s just a piece of jewelry.”
How could he say that? “You don’t understand,” she lamented, keeping her voice pitched just for him. “It’s watching me. Every time I look at it, the carving has moved, and her face is watching me. Her eyes find me, or her hand moves, and I just think if it stays with us, that it’s going to do something. I don’t know what...just something. It wants something from us, and it won’t be happy until it has it.”
“You don’t think that sounds just a little crazy?”
Now she glared into his eyes. “Have you been living the same life that I have for the past few years?”
“Yeah, you got me there.” He bit his lip, no doubt remembering all of the things they had seen together, in one house or another. “It’s all right, Katie. I mean, I promise you that it will be all right. We’ll figure it out, okay? If you think we should bring it to Connor Norstrom, then that’s what we’ll do. I just want it out of our home.”
“What if that’s not enough for the ghost?”
“Then I’ll protect you.”
She was reminded again just how much she loved this man. In the face of the impossible, his first reaction was still to hold her and tell her that they could fix it, together. It gave her the strength to believe that maybe they would.
Looking over his shoulder, she saw the brooch lying there.
The ivory lady was watching her again, waiting to see what they would do next.
Angrily, she stomped over to the stove and wrapped the handkerchief uptight.
“Come on,” she said, stuffing the thing into her pocket before she could lose her nerve. “Let’s go, before I decide to let you get your hammer out again.”
“Uh, hold on,” he said, glancing over at the dirty dishes in the sink. “As much as I love to put my chores off until later, we can’t just leave the Inn unattended.”
Katie drew out a long breath. He was right, of course. The biggest drawback to owning their own business was that one of them had to be here, taking care of the guests and the phones and whatever, pretty much all the time. There were times when they could sneak out together, if they locked up their room and the kitchen and the basement door, but never for very long. This was their investment. They needed to make sure they protected it.
“Well...” She did not like the idea of going to Connor Norstrom by herself, just out of the blue, with a story of a cursed piece of jewelry that belonged to his family. Not to mention all the questions she had about a red-headed woman who was dead and calling out for help.
At the same time, she couldn’t ask Riley to do it for her. The vision had come to her. The brooch was watching her. Riley wouldn’t know all the things to say, and he hadn’t experienced the terror in the eyes of that woman in the mirror, begging for Katie’s help.
But, she had an idea.
“I know who can come with me,” she told Riley. “Someone who can explain the whole thing to Connor. Maybe a lot better than I can.”
“Is that so?” He looked skeptical. “Who?”
Chapter 8
Pastor Jim Sutter drove them across town. It really wasn’t far, but the car ride was appreciated. Along the streets and sidewalks, ghosts in white sheets stirred in the breeze, their plastic skeletons rattling underneath. Katie was just as happy not to be walking among them right now.
Nothing was very far away from anything here in Twilight Ridge. The historic cemetery full of dead witches and their founding fathers were within walking distance of the Good Eats Diner, and the church was within walking distance of the grist mill, and nobody’s house was more than twenty minutes away from anybody else’s house and that was in a snowstorm with blustering winds trying to push you off your feet at every step.
This was New Hampshire. Things like that happened here. It was a big, big difference from the weather she was used to from her old life out west.
It wasn’t snowing today, but the clouds had rolled up thick and black, and when the sky turned that quickly on you in New Hampshire, you knew better than to be caught out in the open. So when Jim had offered to take them to Connor’s in his beat-up Chevy HHR, Katie hadn’t hesitated to accept the ride.
“Now, mind you,” he said when they were almost there. “I haven’t been to Connor’s house since my aunt--his mother--died. Like I said, I was there when she died. Eased her passing into the next life as best I could with well wishes and prayers. It was more for the family she left behind, to make them feel better, of course. Funeral services usually are. Didn’t do much to comfort Connor, though. No sir. He was angry at the world back then. Angry at me, too. Angry at his sister Amber, God rest her soul, and the rest of the world, too. So I don’t know how happy he’s going to be to see me. Especially when he sees h
is mother’s necklace.”
Fantastic, Katie thought to herself. Not that she had a lot of choices. There was no one else who knew the situation. If there were hard feelings between Jim and Connor, well, every family had issues.
She steeled herself as they parked in the driveway of a small one-story house. It showed all the signs of having been loved, once upon a time. The purple paint was faded, and even now, in October, she could tell that the rosebushes out front had been dead for over a year. The front steps squeaked underfoot as they went to the door and tried the doorbell.
When it didn’t work, Jim knocked.
It was a long half minute or more before someone came to open up for them. A man looked out at them, dressed in gray sweatpants and a matching sweater. Unlike Marlin McCandry, this guy filled out his sweats nicely. He had light brown skin that pointed to his parents being different races, his father White, his mother--Emmaline Norstrom--a strong-willed Black woman just like her nephew, Jim. His curly hair was brown with blonde highlights. There was even a passing resemblance to Jim that she could see around Connor’s cheeks and eyes. Must take after his mother’s side of the family, she guessed.
Those eyes stared hard at them now. “Well. I didn’t expect to see you anytime soon, Jim. Especially since you haven’t been here at all since you came back to town.”
Those words were full of stinging barbs, but Jim let them pass him by, and smiled instead. “Just figured you wanted to have some space. I wouldn’t bother you without invitation. Your mom meant the world to me, and I figure I owed her that much. Her, and you too.”
“I never heard from you after Amber died, either,” Connor grumped. “You think you can just walk back in and be part of my family again, Cousin Jim?”
Again, Jim ignored the obvious taunt. “I felt real bad about missing Amber’s funeral. I was caught up in some things and just couldn’t get away. But I’m here now, and I sent you several emails when Amber passed. You never replied to any of them. If you had needed anything, I would’ve been here for you.”
“I never got those emails.”
“Well, I sent them. Maybe if you hadn’t blocked me across all your internet platforms...”
That was met with stony silence. Then, in the next instant, it was like Connor had forgotten he even brought it up. “What do you two want? I’m busy today.”
Jim’s smile never slipped. “Can we come in for just a few minutes, Connor? It’s a bit of a story.”
“I told you,” Connor insisted, “I’m busy.”
“Can’t you spare just a few minutes for the family? We’re cousins, after all. My mom and your mom were sisters, related by blood.”
“Don’t remind me,” was the acidic response. “Fine. I guess you aren’t going to go away until I do this, so come in and tell me whatever this long story is. Then you can leave.”
He turned around and stepped back into the house, leaving them alone on the front step to either follow him or not. Katie frowned. “Friendly sort, isn’t he?”
“He never really got over the loss of his mother,” Jim said by way of explanation. “Then when his sister died, well, he kind of went further into his anger. Hard to be human, sometimes.”
They followed Connor down a hallway to a kitchen that showed the same sort of inattentiveness as the rest of the house. It was a small space, rectangular and lined with cabinets and shelves that needed a good dusting and maybe some varnish, but somehow it managed to seem open and inviting at the same time. The table was draped in a white cloth that was frayed at the edges. Connor was already sitting in one of the four chairs. He motioned impatiently for them to use the two on the other side.
“Say your peace, Jim, then get out.”
Jim cleared his throat as he eased himself into a wobbly chair, but then he leaned back and motioned for Katie to speak instead.
From her pocket, she took out the bundled handkerchief and set it in the middle of the table between them.
Connor stared at it contemptuously. “What’s this?”
“Well,” Jim said, “do you remember that necklace that your mother wore all the time? The one with the woman carved in ivory?”
“Of course I remember that thing,” he sneered. “She had it on everywhere we went. She couldn’t see the irony of a Black woman wearing a White woman around her neck.”
Katie was appalled at what he had just said. In this day and age racism was dead. Or at least, it should be. “You know, just because the carving is ivory, it’s not meant to be White or Black or anything else--"
“Is that it?” Connor asked, talking over her. “That the necklace? I thought I’d seen the last of it after Mom died. I thought it got sent off with the rest of her junk to be sold at the estate sale.”
“It was, actually.” Katie took a lot of pleasure in telling him that news. Possibly more than she should have. But if his mother wanted the ivory lady to go with her into the grave, and Connor had taken it to sell, then Katie was beginning to understand the trouble here.
Amber wanted help for her mother, to return this family heirloom to the family.
She thought about the vision she’d had, and the fear in Amber’s eyes, and wondered if she had the answer or just another question.
“Whatever,” Connor said, shifting in his seat. “If that’s my mother’s necklace, then why do you have it?”
Katie folded her arms. “It was bought as part of a bunch of things by an antique dealer who lives right here in Twilight Ridge. He brought it back here without realizing what he had. It’s almost like the brooch wanted to find its way back here.”
“That’s stupid,” he snapped. “What do you know about it? You can’t have the right piece of jewelry. My mother’s stuff all got sold. It’s gone. I don’t know what kind of scam you’re running, but I know that can’t be my mother’s necklace.”
“What?” Katie looked over at Jim for confirmation, and he nodded to reassure her. “Yes, it is the same brooch. I showed it to Jim. He recognized it.”
“Then he’s as big a fool as he ever was,” Connor said. “Because my mother wore a necklace, not a brooch.”
Jim pointed at the bundle on the table, where it still sat. “It is the necklace,” he told Connor. “That right there belonged to your mother.”
“Then why does she keep calling it a brooch?”
“Open it,” Jim said gently, “and you’ll see.”
Rolling his eyes to the ceiling, Connor gave in and opened the folds of the cloth to reveal the oval of metal with the carved ivory lady, smiling her demure smile, her hand lightly at her breast.
Katie thought maybe one eyebrow was higher like she was amused to be sitting here on this table.
Connor’s face paled. He stared, and stared some more until his eyes lost their focus. He could deny it all he wanted to, but there was no doubting that he recognized this for what it was.
“Are you okay?” Jim asked him. “I know it can be hard to be reminded of things like this.”
“Shut up,” Connor grumbled, but there was no heat behind his words. “I see what you mean. The chain is gone, so it looks like a brooch. No chain. Well. Not like anyone’s going to wear it ever again.”
He reached down to scoop it up.
Katie sucked in a breath, tensing, waiting for him to have the same reaction that she and Jim and Marlin and Riley had. A spark, or a sense of foreboding, or something worse.
Connor’s fingers closed around the brooch, and he held it tight. Not like he wanted to keep it as something precious to his family and his memories, but like he wanted to pitch it just as hard as he could and watch it disappear into the distance.
Then he looked up at them.
“What?” he demanded. “What’s with you two? It’s just a stupid piece of jewelry. It doesn’t mean anything to me.”
“Connor,” Jim said gently, “we both know that’s not true. You were devastated when your mother died.”
“Yeah, well, this isn’t my mother, now is it? Rememb
er, Cousin Jim? My mother was Black, this lady here is White, now isn’t she? Ebony and ivory, and all that?”
Jim winced at the racist overtones seeping into Connor’s words again. “You know your mother loved that necklace. It was given to her by my mother. Color doesn’t matter. A person’s heart is what matters.”
“Oh, give it a rest! Were you waiting for me to break down into tears when I saw it? Was that what you thought was going to happen? Sorry to disappoint you.”
“Now, Connor,” Jim started to say, “listen. We didn’t mean anything by it. We just thought maybe...well, that maybe it would be better if it was with you.”
“What does that even mean?” The color was rising in Connor’s cheeks, his face darkening as he got angrier. “Look, Pastor. You’ve done your good deed for the day, or whatever. You can put down another checkmark in Heaven for yourself. Now. I’d like you both to leave.”
Katie’s gaze was drawn to the brooch again as Connor tossed it back into the handkerchief. She couldn’t peel her eyes away. She could feel Connor’s impatience in wanting them to go. It was like a physical force trying to push them out the door. Still, she couldn’t move. The ivory lady was staring at her, the edges of her mouth turned down in a frown.
She started to reach for it--
“Let me rephrase this,” Connor said to them. “I’m not asking you to leave, I’m telling you to go.”
The ivory lady’s hand moved, reaching out to touch Katie’s.
Her stomach twisted around itself. Sour, thick bile rose in the back of her throat, and she knew she was going to be sick. All over. Right here in Connor’s kitchen.
She pulled her hand back, and when she did the ivory lady laid her hand back down across her chest.
In a voice that was shaky and tight, Katie said, “Connor, can I use your bathroom?”
Sight Unseen Complete Series Box Set Page 76
