She wanted to meet the owner that had ordered that personal inscription.
Other standouts included Sponge, Restless, Trim, My White Muff, and Spotted Chum. Traveller had the most interesting inscription; it contained parts of the 'To be or not to be” speech from the Third Act of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: ‘Traveller A favourite retriever That undiscovered Country from whose bourn No traveller returns.”
Taryn was on her way out, convinced she’d overreacted, when a small stone near the entrance caught her eye. She’d somehow missed it coming in so now she walked over to it and paused. She read the inscription twice and then sighed, feeling her heart fluttering in exhausted acceptance.
“Dear Freckles: beloved cat and best of friends.”
Well, Taryn thought to herself, I guess that explains why he didn’t drink the milk.
Chapter Twenty-Two
THEY’D HEARTILY CONSUMED Taryn’s steaks and French loaf and scarfed down Shawn’s chef’s salad. Now, back in Taryn’s room, they were making their way through Nicki’s trifle.
“I feel like I’m at some kind of weird slumber party,” Taryn said through a full mouth.
“Hey, I never had a slumber party before,” Nicki said brightly.
“Me either,” Shawn agreed. “Not with women. Are we going to strip down to our underwear now and have a pillow fight? Because I am totally up for that.”
Taryn sent him a withering look then laughed. “Sure. You get to that and we’ll join you later.”
Nicki was stretched out on Taryn’s bed in her pajamas. Her feet were bound in house shoes that had horseheads at the end. “Very Godfather,” Shawn had remarked upon seeing them.
Shawn had taken the two chairs in Taryn’s room and pushed them together, creating him a makeshift Lazy Boy. Taryn had been on the floor, at first, but then scooted Nicki over and now they were sharing a pillow.
“I want to show you all something,” Taryn said suddenly. “Shawn, will you turn on my laptop?”
“Sure, make the man do everything,” he grumbled.
“It’s on the table right next to you.”
When he had the screen up, a picture of the kitchen came into view. “I want you to look at that picture and tell me what you see,” she commanded.
“I see the kitchen,” he replied.
“And what else?”
“Um, a refrigerator. An island. The stove. A white fluffy cat…”
“Ha!” Taryn cried. She bounced from the bed and grabbed the laptop from his hands. After flipping through a few more shots, she presented it to Nicki. Now tell me what you see in this picture.”
“The corridor,” she answered. “It looks like the second floor. And a pretty little kitty walking down it.”
Feeling smug, Taryn leaned back again the pillow again, balancing the laptop on her stomach. “That cat? It’s dead. Been dead for over one-hundred years.”
Nicki raised up and took the laptop back. “What? It’s not! It’s alive. It’s walking!”
Even Shawn appeared a little rattled. “Are you sure?”
“That collar around its neck? It has a tag on there that says ‘Freckles.’ I visited the pet cemetery today and Freckles-the-cat died over one hundred years ago.”
“Different cat, same name?” Shawn offered.
“Paul insists there’s no cat here,” Taryn explained. “Even got bent out of shape when I left milk down for it.”
“Oh, good heavens,” Nicki exclaimed.
“It explains a lot, though,” Taryn said. “I’ve tried to touch it and it won’t let me. Sometimes it just appears out of thin air and then disappears again. I should have known something was up, should have felt it.”
“Have you done that before?” Nicki asked. “Gotten a picture of a ghost?”
“Not like that,” Taryn admitted. “Not to the point where I was confused and thought it was real.”
“Wait, what do you mean?” Shawn walked over to the bed and peered down at her. “You holding out on us?”
Taryn sighed. She might as well get it over with and tell them, she reckoned. She’d been going back and forth over whether or not there was something going on in the house and now she was certain there was. She might need their help.
“Okay,” she began. “You see, a few years ago I…”
***
Taryn was sitting in Shawn’s chairs, reading the new book about Dracula that she’d picked up in town from the charity shop, while Nicki and Shawn huddled together on her bed. Their heads were close, almost touching, as they leaned forward and gazed intently at her computer screen. She’d occasionally hear one of them give a sharp intake of breath and a few times Nicki had actually exclaimed something in Welsh that Taryn didn’t understand. Mostly, though, they’d been quiet.
Now, however, they both looked up in tandem and Shawn grunted. “Ahem.”
Taryn glanced up from her book and smiled sweetly. “Yes?”
“Okay, so we believe you,” he said.
Nicki punched him in the arm. “Of course we believed her before. I just wanted to see the pictures.”
“Okay, well, maybe I didn’t,” Shawn said. “No offense.”
“None taken.” Taryn understood. Before it happened to her, she wasn’t sure that she would’ve believed it either.
“The shots of Jekyll Island? And that inn up in Indiana?” Nicki asked, her face aglow with excitement. “I almost fell off the bed when I saw those! I would’ve been so scared.”
“I was,” Taryn confessed.
“I’ve never heard of anyone being able to do this,” Shawn mused thoughtfully. “Does it happen everywhere you go?”
“Not everywhere. I think it only happens when I am meant to do something about a situation,” Taryn explained. “I mean, sometimes I’ll pick up on little things here and there but for it to be consistent like that. Well, there’s generally more involved.”
“Hey, can I have a copy of that one of the garden?” Nicki asked. “It would really help me out.”
“Sure,” Taryn shrugged. “Knock yourself out.”
“So are you saying that you think you’re meant to do something here at Ceredigion House?” Shawn asked.
“Yes,” Taryn replied. “I think I am.”
She’d been thinking about that a lot of over the past few days. Although she hadn’t seen nearly as much there as she had in other places, there was a feeling in her gut that she was meant to be in Wales. And meant to be included in whatever was going on.
“The other pictures, aside from the cat, seem to be okay,” Shawn pointed out. “I mean, in Georgia you were getting things right and left. It’s been quiet here by comparison. Most of what’s happened hasn’t involved your camera at all. So are you sure this house isn’t just haunted and it doesn’t have anything to do with you?”
“Maybe you’ve been blocked,” Nicki suggested. “You’ve felt bad and had a lot on your mind with Matt. Maybe you’re holding yourself back.”
Taryn had not considered this. Perhaps Nicki was right.
“Only one way to find out,” Shawn said cheerfully. He walked over to where Miss Dixie rested by the sink and picked her up. “Let’s go ghost hunting.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
THE THREE OF THEM MOVED NOISELESSLY down the hallway, shushing each other with stern looks and whispers. They felt like children sneaking out of their bedrooms in the middle of the night.
Before heading out into the oppressive silence of the house, they’re retired to their individual rooms for supplies. Shawn had reappeared with his tablet, a ghost hunting app downloading as he walked. He’d slipped on more comfortable shoes and a light jacket, in case they went outside.
Nicki reemerged with a small flashlight tied to her head.
“To keep my hands free?” she’d said in response to the puzzled looks.
“You look like a ten-year-old coal miner,” Shawn had said, noting her fluffy horsehead house shoes and pink bathrobe.
Once they were out in the
hallway, the laughter had ceased almost immediately.
“Where the heck does Paul sleep anyway?” Taryn asked.
“Duh,” Nicki replied. “In his coffin in the basement.”
The women snickered and Shawn glared at them. “Come on, ladies. We’re never going to find the ghosts if we can’t start acting like adults.”
“I’m still kind of bummed that we never got around to discussing The Mists of Avalon,” Taryn hissed.
Nicki paused and glanced over at her. “It’s a great book, isn’t it?”
“I really think it might have changed my life,” Taryn replied in all honesty. Indeed, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since she finished it. She’d even been dreaming about the words on the pages. It had hit her in ways she wasn’t even fully able to process yet. She truly had been looking forward to discussing it with someone.
“Later ladies,” Shawn told them. “Now come on, let’s start downstairs.”
The only light in the kitchen came from the small bare bulb over the stove. “So how do you want to do this?” Nicki asked. Although they were still keeping their voices low, they were no longer whispering. As far as any of them knew, there were no bedrooms on the first floor.
“Well, I suggest that we take all the pictures first and then go back to my room and look at them,” Taryn said. “It just seems to help the flow. If you look after every shot then you kind of get out of the moment.”
“Works for me,” Shawn grinned, slapping her on the back. “You’re the weirdo.”
“I really think we might have been siblings in a former life,” Taryn said.
Nicki glanced over at him affectionately and threw him a small smile. “I think I knew you both.”
“Back at you, lovely,” he said.
“Okay, now that we’ve all bonded, let’s do this before I lose my nerve,” Taryn said.
Nicki and Shawn waited patiently by the door going into the dining room, Shawn with his app running on mute, while Taryn stood in the middle of the floor and took her pictures. With each shot, the flash filled the room with stark, bright light. When she was finished, multicolored light beams were shooting before her eyes like light sabers. It took her a moment to get her full vision back.
Part of her was tempted to look at her LCD screen, of course, but she’d already lectured the other two about that. She had to stick with the plan.
“Where to next?” she asked.
“The Music Room?” Nicki suggested.
As they filed out of the kitchen, Shawn cast a look at the back door and shuddered. “Just thinking of those chains scares the shit out of me.”
“Yeah, well, if I hear that damn dinner bell ringing then I’m out of here,” Taryn warned them.
“Are you getting anywhere with app?” Nicki asked as she tried to peer over Shawn’s hands at the colorful graph currently moving up and down on his screen.
“Yes,” he replied bluntly. “Everywhere. Thing’s going apeshit.”
The hallway leading from the entryway to the music room was lit with wall sconces, just like the one upstairs. The music room was pitch black when they entered. Taryn and Nicki waited by the door while Shawn felt along the wall for a light switch. “I know it’s here,” he grumbled. “I turned it on earlier.”
When, at last, the room was flooded with light Nicki walked over to the piano and began running her fingers over the keys, fondling them without releasing the music. “It’s so beautiful,” she sighed.
Shawn leaned over to Taryn. “She’s beautiful,” he whispered.
Taryn turned to him in surprise. “Really?”
He nodded. “I absolutely cannot look away from her.”
Taryn was surprised to find herself feeling a wave of jealous. She couldn’t figure out who it was for-whether she was jealous that Shawn apparently had a crush on Nicki and not her or if she was jealous of Shawn for possibly taking some of Nicki’s attention away from her. Taryn had never had a really close female friend. The past week with Nicki had sent her reeling back into high school. She’d felt downright girlish again.
Taryn could remember being younger and having female companions. Things would go well until the other girl started dating someone and then-BOOM! They were caught up in dates and long, giggly phone calls and sneaking backstage in the auditorium during lunch for make-out sessions and Taryn never saw them again. One of the things she’d appreciated about Andrew was that as much time as he’d spent with her, he’d never neglected his friends and had encouraged her to have outside interests as well. Of course, she hadn’t because she’d been tied up in her work and her art, but she could have.
“This room will be trickier because of the mirrors,” she told them, “but I’ll try.”
Nicki danced across the floor back to Shawn and they waited patiently out of view while Taryn walked around the room and found different angles that would allow her to get as much of the space as possible without getting herself in the shot.
“Okay,” she announced when she was finished. “All done.”
“The other rooms maybe aren’t as important as this one and the kitchen but how about we go ahead and get the other ones on this floor?” Nicki suggested. “It won’t take long; they’re small.”
“And we definitely need your bedroom,” Shawn directed this at Taryn, “and Iona’s bedroom upstairs. Those are the two main ones.”
“And the staircase!” Nicki cried. Realizing her voice had gone up an octave, she quickly covered her mouth and ducked her head. “Sorry. Got a bit carried away there. Don’t mind me.”
It didn’t take long for them to move through the first floor. Taryn didn’t focus so much on concept and context as she did on quantity-she wanted to get as much of every room in the shot as possible. Her skill of seeing the dead did not seem to rest so much on artistic ability as it did with her simply holding the camera and the planets aligned.
“Ready to try upstairs?” Shawn asked when they were finished.
Taryn had them wait at the bottom of the stairs one last time while she got another shot and then nodded. As they started up the stairway, Nicki grabbed her arm and linked it with her own. “This is fun,” she whispered. “I mean, it’s a little scary but it’s also fun, don’t you think?”
“I’m having a blast,” Taryn replied without a hint of sarcasm. In fact, she felt a little like Scooby Doo and company. They all certainly ate enough for it.
Once again, the wall sconce by Iona’s bedroom door was blinking off and on, its sporadic light more troubling than helpful. “Must be a short,” Shawn said.
They stopped beneath the flickering light and Taryn placed her hand on the knob. She was about to turn it when a sound from the other side had her stopping in her tracks.
“What’s wrong?” Nicki asked.
“Shhh,” Taryn warned them, not turning around. She brought her head to the door and listened. There was definitely something inside the room. She straightened and gestured for the others to listen as well. Shawn and Nicki flanked her and leaned forward. With the three of them holding their breaths and not making a sound, they placed their ears on the ornate wooden door and listened.
It was a muffled sound. Like the roar of a small engine.
They moved back in unison and Shawn considered the predicament. Did they open and look or back off and save it for another day? Shawn decided to go forward.
With his hand held back behind him, motioning the women to stay put, he stepped forward again and little by little turned the knob. They waited with baited breath, Nicki holding onto her tablet, while he slipped inside, the small light from the hallway casting a tiny glow inside the pitch-black room. Within seconds, Shawn was dashing out again, his face alight with shock and amusement. He quickly shut the door behind him with care and, grabbing both their hands, began pulling them down the hall towards Taryn’s room.
“Wha-” she started to ask but he shook his head.
When they were inside, he firmly closed the door behind him
and then began to laugh.
“What was it?” Nicki demanded. “What happened? Was it that bad?”
“Yes,” Shawn replied with mock horror. “It was that bad. If you consider seeing Paul, naked as a jaybird, bad.”
Taryn’s mouth dropped open. “Paul?”
“Apparently, that’s where he sleeps,” Shawn said. “He was snoring like a trucker so he didn’t wake up. Scared the hell out of me, though. I’d rather have seen a ghost.”
“I had no idea,” Taryn said. “Miriam never told me.”
“Yeah, well, I wish she had,” he grumbled.
Nicki and Taryn erupted into peals of laughter. Shawn did not look amused. “I saw his little Paul,” Shawn shivered. “Oh, it was horrible.”
“You should have taken the camera,” Taryn giggled. “We could have had blackmail.”
“Trust me,” Shawn assured her. “Nobody would want to see that.”
“We’ve got this room left to do and then I demand to see those photos,” Nicki said, all back to business. “So let’s get to it while Shawny recovers.”
Taryn took several trips around her room, concentrating on the bed, the little door, and the bathroom itself. When it was done, they all gathered on her bed, the laptop between them.
“Wait,” Shawn said before Taryn ejected her memory card. “I’ll be right back.”
She went ahead and put the card in her computer and began uploading the photos while they waited. She’d taken over one-hundred shots in the brief amount of time they’d been downstairs; it would take awhile for them to appear.
When Shawn returned, he came bearing a bottle of port and three paper cups. “This is the best I could do,” he apologized, handing the cups to Taryn and Nicki. “But it felt like we all might need a drink for what’s coming.”
With the port poured, they waited patiently for the pictures to begin appearing on the screen. When the first handful popped up, the three of them leaned forward, their heads touching as they regarded the screen.
Bloody Moor: A Ghost Story (Taryn's Camera Book 8) Page 13
