by Connie Myres
Madisyn and Eddie each lit a candle and left the room.
Mary looked at the puddles around everyone’s feet. “There are dry clothes in my great uncle’s bedroom, but they may fit the skinniest of you better than they do the others.”
“I’ll be dried out soon,” Moose said, taking off his boots. He sat them on the hearth.
Everyone, including Mary, followed suit, setting their shoes next to the fire to dry.
“We can’t sit around too long,” Carl said. “The demon already possessed you, Nick, and I’m sure it played a hand in the death of the Simmons. We need to get inside that locked room.”
“I haven’t seen the door, but can we break it down,” Moose said.
“It looked pretty solid,” Donny said. “So I don’t know. But one thing is for sure, no one is to be alone; we need to use the buddy system.”
Pickles sat by the fire chewing on a bone that he had brought inside earlier in the day.
“I want to know what that walking doll was,” Moose said.
“I think it’s a voodoo doll,” Mary said. “And I think it’s still in the house.”
“I thought voodoo dolls were negative,” Moose said. “But it looked to me like the Simmons used it to save Nick.”
“They did,” Mary said.
Madisyn and Eddie came into the library.
“Look what I found,” Madisyn said, holding up the stiff lifeless doll. She walked to the fireplace and sat it on the mantel while Pickles continued to gnaw on the bone.
“It’ll probably run off,” Mary said with a chuckle. “I think that’s what I’ve been hearing running around the mansion. That’s probably why it was stuck on a nail in the wall, the Simmons needed to keep it in its place.”
“This is messed up,” Nick said, taking a bottle of pain pills from his pants pocket. He stood up and hobbled to a cabinet where he poured himself a glass of sherry, he swallowed it along with the pain reliever. “If we’re all going to die in a few hours, at least I’ll be feeling good about it.”
Mary didn’t want to move from her chair. While the storm raged outside, it was warm inside the library. She wondered if the demon had changed its mind about killing them all. Mary looked down at the calendar blotter on the desk, she’d never taken the time to inspect it closely since she moved in. She flipped through the months, but nothing stood out to her. Then she remembered her great-uncle mentioning the blessed rosary and how it would protect her. But where was it? Finding it was as hopeless as finding the key to the forbidden room.
Mary sighed. She turned and looked at Pickles, cracking away on the bone. Then she looked closer at it, its shape was familiar. Mary stood up and walked over to Pickles. She bent over and gasped. “Someone, come look at this.”
Donny rushed over.
“Is that bone what I think it is?”
Reaching down, Donny picked up the bone and then dropped it. “It’s an arm and part of a hand.”
“Wait,” Mary said, moving Pickles to the side. “A key. Pickles must’ve brought it in with the hand.”
“And where did Pickles get this bone?” Moose said. He looked at Eddie. “And you have the nerve to tell me to stop telling creepy stories about this house.”
“Sorry,” Eddie said. “I’m a believer now.”
Mary brushed dirt from the skeleton key. “Pickles has been digging around that fountain in the garden. He must’ve dug this up.”
“I’ll throw that arm outside if you want me to,” Donny said.
Mary nodded. Pickles, however, wanted to chase the bone into the garden but changed his mind when hail began pelting him. He skedaddled back inside without the bone.
Outside it was dark as night as hail smacked against the French doors so hard it seemed the glass panes would soon shatter. Then Mary said. “Gentlemen, and ladies. I believe we have our key to the forbidden room.”
Chapter 18
Shoes that did not have time to dry by the fire squished and squeaked as they all squeezed into the passage single file. Donny and Mary were first in line as they walked into the freezing cold. Carl was next recording every anxious moment. Moose sucked in his gut as he brought up the rear.
Mary could see her breath in the beams of light that moved through spider nests and strings of dust. She heard Pickles whimpering from the library, wisely unwilling to follow them.
Finally, they reached the door. Donny shined his light on the keyhole as Mary inserted the key. After a dull clickity-clack, Mary turned the knob and pushed open the near stuck door with Donny’s help.
“There’s a sarcophagus,” Donny said, walking up to the stone coffin.
“It looks like an Egyptian tomb,” Mary said, sliding the key into her pocket. Then she turned her gaze to a stone table with a footed chalice and a dagger on top of the tabletop and an image of a beast painted on the wall behind it. “But that altar does not look like the one at Church.”
“It’s an altar to Satan,” Carl said, shining his light at the image of a goat with horns. “An unholy altar. I’m sure animals were sacrificed, and that image looks like it was painted with blood.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if people were sacrificed,” Moose said. “That’s probably why Pickles found a human bone in the garden.”
Sharon walked up to the altar. She placed her hands on the table and then on the chalice. “We need an offering.”
“What kind of offering?” Nick said, backing against the wall. “I hope you’re not suggesting something be slaughtered.”
“I need blood, human blood.”
Madisyn clung to Eddie as Sharon picked up the dagger.
“What are you going to do with that?” Mary asked, stepping back toward Nick.
Everyone moved away from Sharon as she raised the dagger into the air and chanted. Not the chant of the Simmons, but a chant in Latin or some similar language. Then Sharon turned and faced them. Her face was not her own. It was hideous as was the voice that came from it.
“This is too easy. You have brought yourselves to my altar to be sacrificed.”
Moose turned to run out the door, but an unseen force slammed it shut. Moose used all his strength to try and open it, but there was no escape. The door would not budge.
The demon laughed through Sharon, with vocal cords that were not hers. “I will suck the lifeforce from each one of you and you will exist no more, not even for Hell or for Heaven. You will be blotted out of your God’s Book of Life.”
Donny began saying the Lord’s Prayer, but instead of pushing the demon away, Sharon charged at him with the dagger, thrusting it into his side. He keeled over and dropped to his knees. Carl and Eddie grabbed Sharon’s arms while Moose tried to take the knife from her hand but was not able.
“She’s too strong,” Moose said, trying to pry her fingers from the blade’s handle.
Mary and Madisyn ran to Donny and pulled him away from the others who were struggling with Sharon. Madisyn took off her shirt and pressed it firmly onto the wound to stop the bleeding as she held Donny and leaned against the door.
Flashlights rolled on the floor and candles lay on their sides about to expire their flames as the lid to the sarcophagus slid to the side and dropped to the floor with a noisy crash.
Mary reluctantly looked to see what was inside. Shadows covered a body clothed in a black robe. A demon? An ancestor? Then it slowly began to sit up. Mary could only see part of its face. It looked like the creepy thing that was in her room the other night, but this had a robe on.
“What do we do?” Eddie shouted. “I can’t keep holding her.”
Sharon began biting at Eddie and Carl, surely to take a chunk out of their flesh if she was able to grab it with her teeth.
The cloaked demon rose out of the tomb by levitation and stood next to it, facing Donny. Then it spoke, “I will take this one’s soul first before it leaves the body and is claimed by your God.”
Mary picked up a candle and tried catching the demon’s robe on fire, but the flame
would not take.
Madisyn heard something clawing at the door behind her and then begin barking. “Mary, Pickles is on the other side of the door.”
What good can Pickles do? Mary thought. But as one of the flashlights shined its beam along the ground and under the door, Mary saw something shiny. She stopped trying to catch the robe on fire and looked to see what was wrapped around Pickles' leg. She dropped to her knees and saw it—the rosary. How Pickles got it stuck on his leg she’ll never know but there was enough room under the door for her to reach with her fingers and retrieve the rosary. Mary held it up to the demon. And to Mary’s utter surprise, it worked. The demon backed away. This must be the blessed rosary that her great-uncle had written about.
Moose finally was able to get the dagger from Sharon’s hand as Mary forced the demon back into the tomb. Sharon collapsed, and Eddie lowered her to the floor gently, knowing that whatever had been within her was now gone.
“Now what?” Mary said. “I can’t stand down here and hold this rosary forever.”
“Let’s put the lid back on the coffin,” Carl said. The men struggled to lift the heavy covering, finally sealing the tomb once more.
“Maybe if you keep the rosary on top of the sarcophagus, it’ll act as a barrier and keep the demon from escaping,” Madisyn said, still pressing on Donny’s bloody wound.
“Sounds good to me,” Mary said, laying the rosary on top of the tomb’s lid. She let go of the string of beads as Nick rushed to her side. Nothing happened.
“It must be working,” Nick said, putting an arm around Mary.
“Well, I hate to tell you,” Mary said, “but I’m not going to be happy living in this house knowing that the only thing between me and the devil is a rosary lying on top of a coffin. For all I know a mouse could knock it off and then all hell will break loose again.”
“We’ll bring in an exorcist,” Carl said, trying to wake Sharon. “An experienced one who knows what they're doing to finish this thing off.”
“I can’t believe we were saved by Pickles,” Moose said. “Who would’ve thought?”
Mary smiled. She would’ve thought. As much trouble as the little pug could be at times, he was a loyal companion.
“Let’s get out of here and get Donny to the emergency room,” Madisyn said, trying to get her cell phone to work.
Donny groaned as the men carried him out of the passage and back up to the library. The storm had subsided, and the sun was peeking out from behind parting black storm clouds. They placed Donny on the loveseat while Mary ran to get a blanket.
Eddie looked at Madisyn’s bra and smiled.
Madisyn smiled back, then said, “Ah, you can bring me Mary’s sweater from the back of that chair over there.”
Eddie looked at her, gave a quick nod, and returned with the coverup.
“Thank you,” Madisyn took the sweater. She followed Eddie’s eyes as she slipped her arms into the sleeves. “You can stop staring now.”
Eddie grinned as he watched her button it. He took the phone from his pocket. “I’m calling to get Donny help and to tell them about the Simmons drowning in the storm.” Moments later he said, “They’re sending emergency services out to get Donny and the police to look for the Simmons body.”
“It’s not going to be easy to explain how Donny got stabbed with a dagger,” Carl said, helping an exhausted Sharon to a chair next to the fire. “All we can do is tell the truth.”
Mary spread the blanket over Donny while Madisyn continued to nurse him. “Unfortunately, I’m afraid that if we tell the truth, the police will want to go into the forbidden room, move the coffin lid, and release the demon.”
“That’s right,” Nick said. “They won’t believe us when we tell them a demon will escape. They’ll think we’re hiding a dead body.”
“Then we’ll have to twist the truth,” Eddie said, looking around the room. “We need something that’s similar to the dagger that stabbed Donny.”
“The letter opener on the desk?” Mary said, walking over to it.
Eddie shook his head. “No, it looks too much like a weapon.”
Nick and Moose closed the bookcase, hiding the entrance to the secret passage as Eddie walked out the library’s French doors and closed them. Then he walked into the garden and picked up a branch that had fallen from a tree during the storm. “Stand away from the door!” He shouted.
“Is he going to throw that?” Mary said, picking up Pickles as she backed away with the others.
Eddie threw the branch at the French door, causing shards of glass to spread over the library floor. He came back inside and picked up a sharp piece of glass and walked to Donny.
“This is what caused his wound,” Eddie said, rubbing blood on the glass. “The storm caused the branch to break through the glass door. Donny was standing by it and was stabbed with this piece of glass.” Eddie placed it on the floor underneath the loveseat. “Don’t mention secret passages, demons, or anything unbelievable that would make anyone suspicious. Does everyone got it?”
Everyone nodded.
“I’d like to know how Pickles got the rosary caught on his leg,” Mary said, walking to the liquor cabinet. She poured herself a drink while Nick and Moose followed suit.
Then Mary choked on her brandy when she looked at the fireplace hearth and saw the voodoo doll lying next to Pickles. It wasn’t there before, was it?
“What’s wrong?” Nick asked, pouring sherry once more.
Mary poured herself another drink. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that the Simmons voodoo doll knew where the rosary was, wrapped it around Pickles' leg, and sent him to the forbidden room’s door to help us. But that’s absurd.”
“It’s possible,” Moose said, tossing back his drink.
“After what I’ve seen,” Nick said. “I’m not going to argue with you.”
THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL technician looked at Donny’s wound. “What happened?”
“The storm got him,” Mary said, pointing toward the broken door. “He was stabbed with a piece of glass.”
The paramedic paused in thought, then continued to dress the wound. They stood there silent as Donny was put on a stretcher and taken to the rescue boat with Sharon and Carl at his side.
Mary and Nick stood on the porch with their drinks. They watched the rescue boat leave and a police boat approach the dock.
Mary looked at Nick’s five o’clock shadow. She reached up and stroked the gray stubbles. “You can stay as long as you want, Nick.”
He took her hand and gently kissed it. “I’ll do that.”
Chapter 19
Mary and Nick watched Carl and Sharon place chains around the sarcophagus and apply padlocks. Father Finnegan stood with an open Bible in one hand while he splashed holy water over the tomb, the now whitewashed alter, and the entire room.
Father Finnegan prayed, "I adjure you, ancient serpent, by the Judge of the living and the dead, by your Creator, and the Creator of the world, by Him who has power to send you to hell. Depart immediately with fear and with your army of terror. Depart from this servant of God, Mary McMaster’s home, who takes refuge in the bosom of the Church."
After an hour of prayers, the exorcism was finished; the room felt light and airy.
“The demon has been expelled,” Father Finnegan said, closing the Bible in his hand.
“Thank you, Father,” Mary said, breathing a sigh of relief.
Father Finnegan looked at the chained coffin, his hands trembled. “However, if you ever feel the demon has returned, please call me.”
Mary wasn’t sure the priest was convinced of the demon’s expulsion as she fingered the beads of the blessed rosary.
Chapter 20
“By the power vested in me by the State of Michigan, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”
The small group behind Mary and Nick, and Madisyn and Eddie cheered and tossed rose petals over the now married couples of the double wedding.
&
nbsp; Mary felt like a young woman as Nick kissed her passionately. Love surged through her body, this was the happiest moment in her life.
When Nick finally removed his lips from hers, Mary looked over at Madisyn and Eddie who had their whole lives ahead of them. Many babies would surely bless them. Could the blessing of a child come upon her?
“So, Mrs. Tibbs,” Nick said, extending an elbow for Mary to hold, “do you want to blow this party and start the honeymoon a little early?”
Mary looked out at the celebrating group. Moose, the Anisteem Ghost Hunters, Mr. Stine, even Pauline was there. Eddie and Madisyn were swarmed by family and friends, thrilled to see the newly married couple.
“Well, Mr. Tibbs,” Mary said, hardly able to breathe from the excitement. “Let’s give our friends a little bit of our time and then we can work on growing the McMaster family tree.”
Pickles danced in a circle, knowing this was a day of celebration.
“My pleasure, dearest love.” Nick pulled her close.
She felt his warm clean-shaven face against her cheek as she looked down at Pickles—and the dagger beneath his paws.
The End
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You might be interested in Who Killed Sweet Violet? (A Black Water Whodunit) by Connie. Find the first chapter at the end of this book.
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Floor Plan
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