A Haunting at Hensley Hall (A Ravynne Sisters Paranormal Mystery)

by Merabeth James

  “She means old,” Charlie whispered to Meg.

  With a huff of irritation, Rayne continued, “He’s intelligent. educated, handsome and knows what to drive and how to dress.”

  “And just what is this paragon doing in Merritsville of all places?” Charlie asked lightly.

  “I bumped into him at the Historical Society. Who would believe this town even has one?”

  “And,” Charlie prompted. Rayne was another one who had a hard time staying on track, but with her there was usually a reason. If she led you off the track, it was because she wanted to steer you in another direction.

  “He says he’s ‘tracing his roots’. Apparently, his family came from this area and he was traveling along the coast and thought he’d just drop in and check out….”

  “The Historical Society,” Charlie supplied. “What part are you leaving out?”

  “He said he’d heard about the contest and, well, I invited him to dinner. He would love to see the house and, who knows, he may know the right kind of people to help us get things off the ground.”

  “When and who?”

  “If Annie doesn’t mind terribly, I told him tonight would be fine. And his name is Adrian Adams,” she told them with a too bright smile that made them both groan again.

  As they finished lunch, Rayne laid out her plans for the evening. It was a must that Annie be the one to answer the door, when he arrived. “It gives a better impression than if one of you does it. Does she have a little cap and apron she can wear?” When Meg and Charlie answered her with matching scowls, she continued, “We will, of course, use the main dining room, though it is not very intimate for a party of four. Meg, you can arrange something as a centerpiece. And I'll select some flowers for the front parlor, where we will greet him, when Annie announces his arrival.”

  Annie was listening to Rayne rattle on and smiled, when Meg suggested they use the four places closest to the kitchen to make it easier to serve. “And we want to help you, Annie. There’s no reason you should do it all. I can peel vegetables and Charlie can set the table and…”

  Annie laughed, “I’ll not be needin’ any help from the two of you…Lord love you both for offerin’… but that’s me job. You be the fine ladies tonight and I won’t be ahearin’ otherwise!”

  At 7PM sharp, Adrian Adams arrived in his black Jaguar. Annie led him to the front parlor, where the three sisters waited per Rayne’s instructions. She was posed gracefully on the window seat in a way that showed off her incredibly long legs. Rising with the fluid grace, Meg and Charlie had watched her perfect in her teenage years, she crossed the room and made the introductions. Fluttering her hands gracefully, she told Adrian she would play “bar tender for the night, since they were still woefully understaffed”.

  As she made them all a drink, Meg and Charlie studied Rayne’s latest interest. Not tall but quite good looking! Probably touched up the gray in his black hair. Impeccably dressed and his manners were flawless. Even his voice was cultured perfection!

  He was entertaining them with a story of his exploits in Kenya, big game hunting, that made both Charlie and Meg want to quietly vomit in Rayne’s carefully arranged flowers, when Annie announced,“ Dinner be served!”

  This was the first time they’d used the main dining room and both Meg and Charlie were proud of how it had turned out. The crystal chandelier was dimmed to supplement the tall white candles that banked the centerpiece Meg had worked on most of the afternoon.

  Adrian helped them all to their seats. He laughed as he pulled out their chairs. “Usually, my attentions are directed to just one beautiful woman instead of three,” he told them smoothly.

  “It was the butler’s day off, or he could have relieved you of some of the responsibility,” Charlie replied, raising one brow in an unspoken challenge.

  He looked at her and narrowed his eyes, then laughed again, this time without humor. With everyone seated, they waited for Annie to serve. As she scurried about, muttering under her breath “serve from the right…take away from the left or tis it the other way round", Rayne leaned close to Adrian’s ear and whispered something she didn’t want her sisters to hear, which Meg thought decidedly bad manners, so she whispered in Charlie’s ear. “I don’t like him.”

  “I know. Who would unless you like the arrogant a-hole type, but he’s not our pick and Rayne’s a big girl,” she whispered back.

  “She was a ‘big’ girl last year and remember the mess she got herself into?”

  “Let’s just hope she learned something from all that.”

  “Wanna bet?”

  Adrian broke in on them then. The candlelight flickered across his handsome face, as he raised his wine glass and said, “Here’s to your every success. This place is really something. That contest was a stroke of genius, if it was legal, but of course they would have checked all that before hand. Rayne tells me the place is haunted?”

  Meg sent a well-aimed kick at Rayne’s shin and was rewarded with a yelp of real pain. Annie paused and looked at her, then finished refilling her wine glass. If she had heard the ‘haunted’ word she didn’t give any indication.

  “That’s just one of Rayne’s marketing ideas,” Charlie told him largely because she had to say something.

  He laughed, “Rather a clever one at that. You’ll have to see how it plays out. I wonder how they will figure out the taxes on this place?” he asked looking at her over the rim of his glass.

  “The property tax rate is low around here,” Charlie began.

  “And the income tax? Of course you realize you will have to pay 50% on a contest award.”

  After that, neither Charlie nor Meg heard much of what went on around them. They both operated on auto pilot as they finished their meal, had coffee in the drawing room, said their ‘good byes’ with pasted on smiles, and hurried Adrian out the door with Rayne attached to his arm.

  When they were finally alone in Meg’s room, Charlie collapsed on the bed and buried her face in her hands. “Oh, Meg, what have I got us into? Why didn’t I think of that before? Fifty percent! Oh, Meg, and there’s Sage and Dad involved in this fiasco, too, and it’s all my fault!”

  Meg did the only thing she knew how to do. Wrapping her arms around her sister she dragged her into a hug. “Don’t be such a poop, Charlie. I am as much to blame as you are, if we should even want to blame anyone. We’re in this together. You and me. We’ll manage. We always have. The Ravynne sisters, remember?”

  Charlie was crying openly by then and so was Meg. "Dear God," Charlie prayed silently. "Please let Meg be right, at least this once!"

  ***

  “You know that marketing idea we won’t mention may have some merit,” Rayne said thoughtfully over breakfast.

  “Annie’s picking parsley or something so she can’t hear you. You know we don’t want her to know the place is haunted. If you had to tell what’s his name, you might have told him to keep his mouth shut,” Charlie told her irritably. She would have wondered why Rayne was even up so early, if she hadn’t noticed she was still wearing what she wore last night. “And I think you should be careful. Who is this guy? What do you really know about him?”

  “Yes, mother. So why do you both look like the living dead this morning?”

  “Taxes. Your new boyfriend dropped the tax bomb on us last night,” Charlie said with a moan.

  “For some reason, we just didn’t figure it in,” Meg added. “But I know everything will be all right. Charlie’s last book will be a big success and I’m going to find a job. So, we’ll manage.”

  “Well, back to what I was saying before. The haunted angle could work for you. There are plenty of people fascinated by the supernatural. Adrian and I discussed it at length.”

  “Now we know why you arrived back here just in time for breakfast. I don’t want our ghosts exploited,” Meg said, "they trust us!”

  “And Old Thumper? Does he trust you, too?” Rayne asked sarcastically “You two really are something! I’m here to
help, remember? And you, Meg. I’m surprised at you even mentioning how I may have spent my night. That’s Charlie’s job to meddle in everyone's affairs…bad choice of words!” Rayne stormed , as she snatched up a blueberry muffin and fled the room in a royal huff.

  “Well, she’s right in a way I guess,” Charlie said with a sigh. “Maybe I do hover over everyone like a helicopter, but I don’t want to see any of you hurt. I’ve seen too much to be any other way.”

  “Fine by me. You can hover around like the mother hen helicopter from hell and I won’t mind. I’ll tell you when I’ve had enough. I always have,” Meg reminded her with a laugh and punched her in the shoulder, just as Annie walked through the door.

  “Now, you two, I will not be havin’ fisticuffs in me kitchen any time before noon,” she told them with a smile. “Where’s that sister of yours, who’s still awearin’ what she wore and comin’ home not more than thirty minutes ago?”

  Meg and Charlie laughed. Apparently Charlie had competition in the ‘mither’ hen department. “Upstairs to get some sleep. Thanks for everything last night. You were splendid,” Meg told her.

  Charlie chimed in, “You must know how much it means to us having you here?”

  Annie looked at them both, then took the seat Rayne had vacated. “It be time we had us a wee chat. I may be an old woman, but I’m not a daft old woman, at least not yet. What’s this ‘haunted’ business I be hearin’ from your sister’s fancy man last night?”

  Meg and Charlie looked at each other and then at Annie. Meg was the first to speak, “Well, we didn’t tell you, since you never asked.”

  “What Meg is trying to tell you is that, living in the apartment as you are, even though you do stay here after dark some nights, you never go upstairs, which is where everything significant seems to happen.”

  “I be guessin’ that’s your way of tellin’ me that this place be haunted. And why shouldn’t I know about that?” Annie asked, looking from one to the other.

  “We didn’t want you to leave us,” Meg supplied lamely.

  “Leave you! The likes of me scared off by some wee ghostie?” Annie scoffed.

  Charlie grimaced. “Well, one of them is not some ‘wee ghostie’. I think it would be wise to let it go at that.”

  “It be an old place full of creaks and groans and such, but a ghostie…wee or not…I have yet to see. Nor likely to since I’m not a believin’ in such!”

  Meg and Charlie both beamed. “That’s great. That means you’ll stay. Rayne wants to exploit the haunted angle to attract guests,” Meg told her.

  “Fine by me. Just don’t be askin’ me to dress up in no sheet and pounce on folks shoutin’ ‘Boo!’ I have me work to do and, as for the rest, it sounds like you’ve made up your minds,” Annie said, pushing herself up from the table.

  "Unfortunately, we don't seem to have much choice unless we can move the whole place to the seaside," Charlie said with a wry smile.

  ***

  Days passed. Rayne was supposedly photographing the area’s attractions with Adrian. Meg was looking at turning their one really sunny half-acre into a “daylily farm”. “I know I can make a success of it. I’ll raise exotics and they will be absolutely gorgeous…an attraction all by themselves…at least while they’re in bloom. Otherwise they aren’t much to look at,” she told Charlie.

  Meanwhile, Charlie threw herself into her writing and Annie continued being ‘Annie’. Zack came and went without anyone seeing him, though they heard doors opening and closing, his car starting up, which was fine with Charlie. He tipped her balance way off kilter and knew entirely too much.

  Then one night, Meg woke shivering with cold and reflexively pulled the extra blanket over both her and Freddie, who was curled in a tight ball with his tail covering his nose. Meg poked her head up and looked around. Breanna had to be somewhere close. Then she saw her, pacing the floor back and forth back and forth and wringing her hands. Something Meg thought they only did in Gothic novels. But there she was ‘wringing’ away. And wailing.

  Meg moaned and sat up on the edge of her bed, pulling the blanket over her shoulders and lifting one corner for Freddie to burrow under. “What’s wrong, Breanna? What do you want? We read your journal and we want to know how to help you?” Meg asked.

  Breanna turned to her then, her eyes round with entreaty, and wailed again.

  Meg sighed. This was not going anywhere, she thought. “Okay. You can’t, or won’t, talk to me. Then how will I know what to do?”

  Another wail.

  Then Meg had an idea. A seance! She hadn’t held one since she and Charlie were kids. Not that she’d ever contacted anyone except for the vampire and that didn’t turn out so well.

  She watched as Breanna wavered then faded, leaving one last wail lingering behind. She crawled back under the covers and waited until Freddie repositioned himself. She was more than half afraid he would want to go out again and she didn’t want to wake Charlie. She had promised she wouldn’t go out at night unless she went with her and so far she’d managed to keep her word.

  Freddie began to 'woof' softly and his hind legs pumped against her side. He was asleep and she wished she could be, too. But her mind wouldn't let her. She began to plan her séance. She knew she was a ghost magnet, but she wasn't a medium, which was the usual requirement, though that hadn't stopped her in the past. Which might explain her track record.

  Who could she get to attend? Maybe the more the better, increased energy and all that? Well, she could count on Charlie and maybe Annie, though she wasn't a believer. Rayne was a must, since she was their 'publicist' and should have some idea of what she was 'publicizing'. And if Rayne was there, Adrian would want to be there, too. And Zack. Charlie and Zack struck sparks off each other but they could probably be in the same room for a little while without a total conflagration. Six altogether! Was that a good number, she wondered? Sage could have told her, but she probably would also have told her not to do it. She was still mulling that over when she fell fast asleep.

  ***

  The séance was to be held that night in the front parlor around the big claw foot table. Meg was having an attack of jitters as she paced her bedroom. “Breanna, please show up tonight and actually say something. No more wailing, please! It's getting to be kind of irritating. This is my very first public séance and I don’t want it to be a complete disaster with all those people there. Now I know that sounds a wee bit ‘about me’, when it should be all about ‘you’ but I only had one real success in this séance business. And we can help you if you’ll let us. I know we can!” There was no response, not even the teeniest drop in temperature or muffled wail. Meg was beginning to get a headache…something she hardly ever did.

  Annie had been difficult to persuade, but when she told her that she was trying to help Breanna, the Hensley's daughter, she reluctantly agreed. Everyone else also accepted Meg’s invitation and all six gathered around the table at 9PM sharp. They were seated according to the cards Meg had arranged: Charlie to her right, then Zack, Rayne and Adrian, then Annie on her left. Everyone but Annie, who wore her usual shapeless cotton dress, wore formal attire and it was an elegant group that looked expectantly at Meg.

  Butterflies were jumping in her stomach and her hands were shaking slightly, as she told them, “I know that most of you have never been to a séance before…or thought to…but here you are and thanks for coming. We are going to attempt to contact the other side. Before we begin, I will tell you that it is usually a medium that conducts this sort of thing. She enters a trance and lets her spirit guide…usually an American Indian for some reason I can’ imagine though that may just be from what I’ve read and there may be other…” Charlie kicked her under the table. She took a deep breath and continued. “Anyway. I’m not a medium. But Charlie can tell you that I seem to attract ghosts and such and I have been in contact with Breanna Hensely, the twin daughter that disappeared forty years ago.”

  Charlie could feel Zack’s eyes burning a
hole in her and threw him a superior smile, as if to say, “See! You don’t know everything!” His answering smile promised? She wasn’t sure what, but it made her pulse quicken. She turned her attention back to Meg, who was saying, “Some of you may have questions, but I ask you to remain quiet at all times. Later, if all goes well, I will have you write your questions on the pads I have provided next to each of you. Charlie will turn off the lights now, though the candles on the mantle will remain lit. I will ask you to join hands, forming a circle, which you must not break. And no talking at any time. I must have the complete concentration of everyone on one goal…bringing the spirits that haunt Hensley Hall to us.”

  Meg was beginning to get a feel for it and rather liked being in charge. She waited till Charlie rejoined the circle. “Now join hands and concentrate!” she ordered.

  Nothing happened. The candles on the mantle danced in some hidden breeze, casting writhing shadows around the darkened room. Someone cleared their throat, someone shuffled their feet and Zack squeezed Charlie’s hand almost painfully.

  Now what,? Meg thought in a sudden panic. She’d seen movies….she’d have to wing it! “Is there anyone with us tonight?” she asked in a sonorous tone. “Please make yourself known!”

  Nothing! Though it seemed the wind had picked up outside the windows. Was that a good sign, Meg wondered? She tried again. “Is anyone with us tonight?” I’m dying here, she told herself, before she realized that was a poor choice of words. Please, Breanna, she silently begged and then continued, “Is there…?”

  The temperature began to drop…and drop. A keening wail came from everywhere. A wail that Meg could recognize anywhere! Breanna was coming through for her. “Thank you,” she muttered under her breath, then asked aloud, “Breanna is that you?”