“Well, at least we know Devon was not guilty of incest.”
“But was he a murderer?” Meg asked.
“Breanna said he was upset she had found new friends at school, while he was away. Remember, Nell telling us about the neighbor girl and the rose bushes?” Charlie replied thoughtfully.
“A few scratches, which he said was an accident, is a far cry from murder,” Meg told her, sitting the tray next to her.
“Yes, but remember Timmy? As I said before, maybe he wasn’t trampled to death, maybe he was bludgeoned and thrown in the stall. The smell of blood would have agitated the mare and she could well have trampled him to death if he wasn’t dead already,” Charlie said with a grim smile
“I don’t want Devon to be guilty of that. Breanna loved him. I, at least, want to like him!” Meg said, as she sat the vase of white roses next to the tray.
“Remember the dead kittens and Cloud? Devon may not be a good choice to champion.”
“You would have to remind me of that, wouldn’t you?” Meg retorted, fingering a white rose, thoughtfully.
***
Meg and Charlie were in the kitchen when the second flower delivery came. Another dozen roses…white. The card read: The night becomes you. This time the florist had saved the envelope. He said it had been mailed locally and he would have it ready for them to pick up. “Well, what does he mean by ‘the night becomes’ me’? Isn’t that a little creepy? How would he know that unless he is watching me?”
Charlie took a sip of her coffee and looked at her sister for a long moment before she replied, “Of course, it rather depends on his use of the word becomes, but either way, it is most definitely creepy. If he is watching you at night, it must be when you're walking Freddie, which you won't do without me from now on. Meanwhile, maybe I can get some fingerprints off the cards or envelope. You did save the first one, didn’t you?”
Meg smiled and said, “You know me. A card from a secret admirer? Of course, I saved it. It’s upstairs in my room. Do you want me to go get it?”
“Nope. Let’s finish our coffee and then we’ll go up together. I’ll send everything off to a lab I know and they can lift the prints. There will be quite a few, since the cards and envelope went through a lot of hands, ours included. But we will at least know if anyone who touched them has prints in the database.”
They went upstairs and Meg retrieved the card from a box in her room, while Charlie wrote a note and addressed the envelope to a friend in the lab she had worked with before. They had just finished, when they heard the front door knocker slam three times.
“I wonder who that is?” Meg asked. “We weren’t expecting anyone, were we?” Charlie shook her head and they took the hall to the main stairs with Freddie barking excitedly and running on ahead. They had almost reached the bottom, when Annie bustled in from the kitchen, muttering under her breath, and threw open the door. Charlie and Meg stood frozen in surprise, when they saw their visitor. Rayne!
“Well, don’t just stand there gawking at me like you aren’t glad to see me. Come give me a hug, you two. You know I’ve been meaning to get here simply for ages, but one thing or another has kept me in New York,” she told them with her perfect smile, which she then turned on Annie. "You must be the wonder woman Meg has been writing me about. As you may have guessed I’m the other sister, Rayne Ravynne. You have to know from a name like that my parents had a sense of humor,” she said. “Do you mind awfully if I give you this? It’s been creasing my jacket and I’d like to get rid of it.” Passing her shoulder bag to Annie who took it with a mutter only Meg could hear, she hugged her sisters in turn. “Cat got your tongues? You are glad to see me, aren’t you?”
Charlie laughed, “Of course, we’re glad to see you! Just very surprised! Why didn’t you let us know you were coming? And how did you get here?”
“I rented a car at the airport. It’s parked outside and loaded with the rest of my luggage. Quite a bit of it, I’m afraid. I plan on staying for a while and helping out with all of this….this….” She looked around slowly. “My God, the place is enormous and not at all the wreck I was expecting!”
Meg smiled. “Well, it was all of that when I first wrote you about the place. And, yes, this is Annie, who has been a real God send, and this is Freddie.”
Freddie sniffed the hand that Rayne extended and waged his tail excitedly. Another male conquest, Meg thought with a sigh, as Rayne tossed back her silky black hair and said, “Now that I’ve met everyone, I could really use a nice cool drink. Do you think you could handle that, Annie? Afterwards, we can bring my bags in and then go someplace for a nice chat.”
Annie dropped Rayne’s bag on a chair and led the way to the kitchen, where she served the sisters tall glasses of honey sweetened lemonade.
Rayne looked around speculatively, as she said, “Mom and Dad send their love. They still plan on coming, but, as Meg may have told you, some prior commitments with Dad’s publisher is going to detain them for quite a while. Mom has sent several talismans she wants you to wear…both of you. There's a nice topaz bracelet you must wear on your left wrist and some garnets to put under your pillow to ward off evil spirits. And Mom made me promise to remind you that she can be here in a heartbeat if you need her.
“And Allyn called up just before I left New York. He’s somewhere in Europe doing who knows what? Just being ‘Allyn’ I suppose. He sends his love, as well. He also wanted me to tell you, Charlie, that he is ‘quite old enough to handle his own affairs from now on’, whatever that’s supposed to mean.”
Charlie smiled enigmatically. “Whatever indeed. You can see what we’ve been up to, so tell us all about New York.”
“And your latest beau. You must have taken New York by storm,” Meg added rather wistfully.
“That would take some doing! As to my latest beau? He’s an architect…handsome, successful, but way too possessive and I needed to get away. You both know me! I’m a gypsy and no one is going to pin me down. Just like you, big sister,” she told Charlie pointedly.
“Charlie has her secrets. Ones she won’t even tell me about. Why don’t we take you to your room…you’re right next to me…and you can freshen up before lunch. I hope you like it. Charlie and I painted it your favorite color, when I told her you might come.”
With all three helping, Rayne’s luggage wasn’t as formidable a task as it first appeared. Thankfully most of it had wheels. When they reached the end of the hall and opened the door to Rayne’s room, she gasped. “It’s really gorgeous! And look at the antique bed with all the pillows in yummy shades of purple and lavender with a froth of lace. This place is wonderful. Not at all the brooding Victorian monstrosity, I was led to believe.”
Meg dragged a suitcase to the wardrobe, straightened, then said defensively, “That was just in the beginning, when we first got here. Now I…”
“Oh stop, Meg! You’re always way too sensitive. You have accomplished something really impressive here and I’m very proud of both of you.”
Charlie interjected with a wry grin, “We had plenty of help and Annie has been wonderful.”
“She’s even teaching me how to cook!” Meg added. .“So, Rayne, do you think we can make a go of this B&B thing?”
Rayne crossed the room, with her model’s stride, and looked out the window. “In order to answer that, I have to ask you: Why would anyone want to stay at Hensley Hall?”
Meg and Charlie looked at each other for a long time, as both suddenly realized that was a very good question. Meg, loyal Meg, was the first to blurt out, “Well, the rooms turned out great and each has a private bath. We used a lot of really good Victorian pieces we found here and…”
“And Annie is a wonderful cook,” Charlie added.
“Hardly gourmet from what I saw,”’ Rayne said, as she moved, gracefully, across the room to rearrange her pillows.
“Maybe not, but we like it and we think others will, too,” Meg told her tightly. She was beginning to wish Rayne had visi
ted their parents instead of coming there.
“Okay. Nice rooms…authentic as you can get with updated plumbing? Yes, well then ‘delicious home cooking in a romantic setting straight out of Jane Eyre’. What else do you have going for you?”
“We’re close to the city?”
“I logged twenty-five minutes getting here…close would be a stretch…but go on.”
“Well, we are a thirty minute drive to the sea shore and Fun City Theme Park is just one town over.” Charlie added, beginning to think the same thing Meg was thinking.
Rayne sighed and drummed her long well manicured fingers on top of the marble mantel, “Why couldn’t you have won a house on the beach, in the city, or a ten minute drive to Fun Park whatever it’s called?”
Meg and Charlie both laughed and Meg answered for both of them, “Because there wasn’t one?”
Rayne rolled her eyes dramatically and tossed her hair back, then laughed, too. “I knew there had to be some reason. This is going to be a real challenge, but a helluva lot of fun!”
Later that night they gathered on Meg’s bed. Sitting cross-legged with Freddie between them, Rayne complained, “You know, I was always too young to be able to do something I’ve always wanted to do.”
Surprised, Meg and Charlie looked at her. “What’s that?” Charlie asked.
“Beat the tar out of both of you in a good pillow fight!” she screamed, grabbing the closest pillow and smacking Charlie over the head. Freddie headed for cover and the fight was on. Fifteen minutes later, they all lay in a heap, laughing, as a few stray feathers drifted down from the ceiling. “How about we raid the fridge next,” Meg said when she could finally talk.
Much later, they reconvened in Meg’s room to say their ‘good nights’. “Of course, Meg wrote me all about the ghosts, including the one you call ‘Old Thumper’. Is he still hanging around?”
“You can be sure of it, but we leave the lights on in the hall and we’re close by if you need anything. We do have a renter at the far end of the upper hall, but he never goes out at night,” Charlie told her. “If you’re afraid, you can stay with me or Meg?”
“Is Breanna still visiting you, Meg?” she asked.
“Yes, and at times she’s quite a bed hog. And a cold one to boot! You might find more room in Charlie’s bed, if you need to make a run for it during the night.”
“Perhaps you should consider renaming the place ‘Hensley Hell’ from the sound of it,” Rayne told her sister. Grabbing both their hands, she appeared to weigh her options. “You snore…you toss and turn like a dervish. Do you think your renter upstairs would like some company?”
Meg laughed, “We know you’re only joking, right? Anyway, I just thought of it. I bought Charlie a ‘sound machine, ’a white noise kind of thingie that drowns out what you don’t want to hear. Since, nothing has actually happened, physically, to us, that might be an option.”
“You mean, if I turn on this ‘thingie’ and pull the blankets over my head, I should survive the night?” Rayne asked.
“Play it full volume and you won’t hear a anything. ‘Rain Storm’ is the best setting. It even drowns out Meg!” Charlie told her.
***
The next morning Charlie drove into town to pick up the envelope from the florist and mail everything off, then drove to the IGA for the few things Annie had requested for dinner. She finished shopping and headed home. Pulling into the back, close to the kitchen, she found Meg and Annie laughing together as they laid out their plans for an herb garden next to the brass sun dial. “Where’s Rayne?” Charlie called as she unloaded her packages from the truck.
“You know our sister as well as I do. Still sleeping would be my guess,” Meg called back. “Do you need help with those?”
“I’ll manage. I’m going to get back to my book, as soon as I put these away. Any muffins left from breakfast, Annie?”
Annie straightened slowly and shaded her eyes from the morning sun. “I hid two for you under a towel on the cupboard. Thanks for pickin’ up me things. Twill be savin’ me a trip into town later.”
Charlie headed into the kitchen…unloaded the groceries into their approximate places…knowing Annie would rearrange everything to her satisfaction later, then grabbed the muffins and headed upstairs just as Rayne was headed down. While Charlie was wondering how her sister managed to look so gorgeous so early, Rayne grabbed a muffin as she squeezed past her on the narrow stairs. “I met Zack just now on his way to the library. I didn’t know this place even had a library! You didn’t tell me he was so very delicious,” she purred.
There were times when Charlie didn’t like her sister all that much and for some reason one of those times was now. “He’s off limits, Rayne, while he’s living here, for several very good reasons. He wants complete privacy, peace and quiet. And Meg and I don’t need an extra complication right now.”
“And I would be a complication?”
“You have a way of complicating things with all the best intentions. And there is something about Zack that bothers me,” Charlie said thoughtfully.
“Bothers you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you ‘bothered’ over any man before,” Rayne said with a trill of laughter, as she turned to continue down the stairs.
“One thing more,” Charlie told her with a smile.
Rayne’s winged brows flew upward. “Oh?”
“You have my muffin. Hand it over!”
Laughing, Rayne tossed it to her and sped down the stairs, while Charlie continued to her tower. Plunking down her booty, she found herself unable to settle. Then, practically of their own volition, her feet insisted on carrying her down the hall, down the main staircase, and from there to the library, where she found Zack seated in a wingback chair, reading a book.
He looked up as she entered the room and raised one black brow inquiringly, “To what do I owe this pleasure, etc.etc.?”
Charlie felt the beginnings of a blush and dug her nails into her palms. That he could make her feel even the teeniest bit flustered, was very unnerving! “Looking for a book. I see you’ve found yours?” she said, realizing how inane that sounded.
He smiled until his dimples bracketed his mouth, “So it would seem. I met your sister a short time ago. Interesting name ‘Rayne’. Is she staying long?”
“Hopefully. We don’t get to see her very often. Are we making too much noise? We do tend to do that when we all get together.”
He crossed one ankle over his knee and leaned back in his chair, regarding her with a look she found very disturbing. “No…not really…perhaps a bit. By the way, I ran a set of your prints, .you aren’t the only one who has contacts you know and you seem to be an ‘enigma wrapped in a mystery’ as they say.”
Charlie felt a sudden awareness, a feeling of being caught in someone’s cross hairs as they are about to pull the trigger, but none of that was apparent when she replied, “You really are full of surprises, aren’t you? And just why would you be checking on me? Perhaps you think I am an axe murderer?”
He smiled and rested his chin on his steepled fingers. “You were a writer, freelance, traveling all over the world and getting into situations that ordinary tourists never encounter. Who were you working for?”
“If I told you that, I’d have to kill you, isn’t that what I’m supposed to say?” Charlie inquired, beginning to enjoy herself.
“You’re kidding, of course.”
“Not entirely,” she replied with a smile.
He rose then and was at her side in two steps. She stood her ground, when he grabbed her by the shoulders. He looked into her eyes and smiled. That beguiling smile she almost remembered? He shook her then, just once. “Word is that you’ve retired. I think that’s wise.”
“If I knew what you were talking about, I might agree. Would you please take your hands off me?” Charlie asked without really meaning it.
He let her go then and stalked to the window. When he spoke, she had to strain to catch his words. “Is Devon dead?
”
He turned to watch her, as he waited for her reply. “I don’t know. What are you doing here? Are you writing a book or trying to solve the mystery?”
“The two would not be mutually exclusive, would they? Do you think he is a murderer?” he asked moving closer again.
“I don’t know the answer to that either. Apparently, you have access to all the information I do. Except for the journal, which she had no intention of sharing, she thought to herself. “What do you think? Or am I allowed to ask?”
He smiled. “I visited Sunnyvale the other day. Apparently, in your wake. Devon had an interesting history from what Nell had to say. Nell and others. She also told me you upstaged me with chocolates and a ‘wee white dog’. What do you think was the nature of the relationship between the twins?”
Charlie flushed slightly and hated herself for it. She wasn't sure why she wouldn't tell him about the journal and then she remembered. She wasn't entirely sure he wasn't Devon! "I have things to attend to," she told him brusquely and fled the room. She heard him laugh as she closed the door and remembered that was the second time he'd done that. It made her mad…and it made her something else she didn't want to think about overmuch. The only thing she knew for sure was that she was not going to mention one word of their conversation to Meg, who knew nothing about her past and, hopefully, never would.
***
As the days passed, Rayne busied herself “scoping out the competition!” She poked around the countryside and came back with her latest ideas for making ‘Hensley Hell’, as she persisted in calling it, “a big success!”
The report on the fingerprints came back. There were a lot, as was expected, but none from a registered felon. Whoever Meg’s mysterious admirer was, he wasn’t listed in any database. That should have made Charlie feel better…it certainly did Meg…but it didn’t. She was still very uneasy. The sender could have wiped his prints off and, still be watching Meg. She would need to keep a closer eye on her sister.
Then one day at lunch, Rayne dimpled mysteriously and said around a ham sandwich she’d been picking at, “I met the most fascinating man today.” Meg and Charlie uttered a collective groan. “Stop that, he is everything I should be interested in, at least right now. He’s distinguished…”
A Haunting at Hensley Hall (A Ravynne Sisters Paranormal Mystery) Page 13
