DANGEROUS, Collection #1

by Patricia Rosemoor

  Echo’s heart thudded as she imagined Sibyl conjuring plots far more evil than she and Bram had planned. “Let us all place our hands on the table and create a spiritual bond with each other by joining them.”

  A few at a time, the participants obeyed. Priscilla held onto Echo’s left hand and Norbert’s right. With Travis and Lena missing, Miss Addy sat alone, her outstretched arms linking Norbert and Robert in his guise as Bram. Then came Uriah and Sibyl, with Katherine closing the circle on Echo’s right.

  “Let us open our minds to truth,” Echo intoned. “The truth of the present, that Donahue’s spirit lingers... of the past, that he knows what happened here thirty years ago... of the future, that with the channeling of his knowledge to us, his spirit will be released.”

  “Hogwash!” Norbert muttered. “Pure hogwash.”

  “Let us be of one mind,” Echo emphasized, staring at him, “so that our united power will be great enough to expose the evil that happened here three decades ago this very night, this very hour.” He dropped his gaze and she went on. “Let us all close our eyes and concentrate on Donahue Vanmatre.”

  Only wishing she could tell if they all complied, she made her voice vibrate, so if they looked at anything, it would be at her, and not at the shadowed area directly across from her and in back of Miss Addy.

  “Donahue Vanmatre. Thirty-seven. Darkly handsome and virile. Loving father and husband and brother.” Katherine’s hand spasmed at that and Echo noted the catch in Miss Addy’s breath across the table. “See him in your mind’s eye. Call him. Ask him to come.” She waited a theatrical beat before adding, “Donahue Vanmatre, we call on you to resolve an old injustice and gain peace for your everlasting soul.”

  That was Bram’s cue. But though she searched through her lowered lashes, Echo saw no movement in the shadows.

  She tried again. “Concentrate. On the man. On who and what he was. Call him with your minds, your spirits. Only if you really want him to appear will he come. Donahue Vanmatre, keeper of secrets, we call on you—”

  A sudden draft swept through the room, dousing the candle and making a log in the fireplace spark. Unrest fluttered around the table, unease spreading like wildfire. Even Sibyl seemed more alert and less amused.

  He appeared as if out of nowhere, behind Miss Addy. Echo hadn’t even seen the bookcase move. She took a deep breath as the dark figure stepped forward, and as if realizing something significant had happened, the others turned their heads, one-by-one.

  “Donahue!” Norbert’s voice trembled.

  “My God!” Katherine whispered. “It can’t be!”

  “It is,” Priscilla assured her. “He’s come back.”

  “Donahue Vanmatre, we mean you no evil,” Echo said, a funny catch in her voice.

  She was suddenly so nervous, she could hardly remember her rehearsed patter. The only light in the room came from the embers in the fireplace and the shadows seemed to move with him.

  “What is it you want of us?” Sibyl asked, amber eyes wide as if she were in shock.

  He stared right through the nurse, his gaze traveling to the woman next to her.

  Mesmerized, Katherine whispered, “We called him, and he responded to the dark forces in this room.”

  “I-I don’t like this,” whispered Priscilla, tearing her hand free from Echo’s.

  Not counting on the others adding their two cents, Echo lost track of her prepared dialogue and improvised. “Let us all concentrate and help Donahue Vanmatre reveal these dark forces. Reveal the thief and murderer.”

  A nervous murmur swept around the table as he circled them, briefly stopping at each person as if reading their souls. Effective, Echo thought. They all seemed a little freaked.

  Why not? She was uneasy herself. Something was wrong here. Bram hadn’t said a word he’d rehearsed. And she felt the presence.

  Were they both in the room, then?

  Or...

  He stopped between Uriah and the fireplace, and all eyes were drawn to the dark silhouette. Echo couldn’t see him clearly, but she felt his gaze on her face. A whisper of warmth enveloped her and she knew. Dear God, that was Donahue staring at her. Not Bram, but his father. Unless she was mad, she had called his spirit forth and he had answered.

  “This is some kind of a stupid trick,” Uriah growled. “I’m not putting up with it.”

  He started to rise. Another draft of air swept through the room. A woman screamed.

  Echo whipped around in time to see Priscilla Courtland slump in her seat in a dead faint.

  “What the hell...” Norbert ground out.

  And as Echo followed his gaze, her mouth dropped open. For there in the shadows stood a woman dressed in a flapper’s costume, her head capped, her face masked. As she stepped forward, a huge diamond winked from her throat.

  “The Courtland jewels,” Katherine whispered.

  Not having a clue as to what was going on, Echo stared. Had Bram planned a surprise for her?

  “The jewels have been here all along,” Norbert said, sounding frustrated. “All along, just like I told Travis.”

  “Who are you?” Echo asked when she found her voice. “What is it you want of us?”

  The flapper backed into the shadows and Echo could see a slit of an opening in the bookcase.

  “Don’t go!” cried Sibyl.

  People were getting to their feet as the mystery woman slipped out of the room.

  “Don’t let her get away!” Norbert shouted.

  It was Robert who lunged for her, caught her wrist just as she was about to make good her escape. She screeched in fury and fought him. But Echo’s brother-in-law was hefty and strong and the woman was frail.

  “That’s no ghost,” came a shaky voice. Priscilla had come out of her faint. “But those are my jewels.”

  The seance participants quickly surrounded the captured woman, who Robert brought to the table and pushed into a chair. Echo reached out and removed the mystery woman’s mask.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  “MISS ADDY!” Echo cried, turning her shocked gaze from the aging flapper to the hooded witch.

  “Adrienne? Then who is this?” Katherine reached out and slipped down the hood as the room lights went on. “Lena!”

  The housekeeper gave Bram’s mother a black glare of defiance and stepped closer to Miss Addy, placing a protective arm around her mistress. Obviously conspirators, the women had exchanged places just as had Robert and Bram. And looking to the doorway, Echo saw Travis Ferguson standing there, eyes narrowed, hand still on the light switch.

  “Sorry I’m late,” Travis said smoothly. “Looks like I’ve missed something.”

  “What’s going on here?” an angry voice demanded. “Aunt Addy?”

  “Bram!” Echo started along with some of the others. Having been certain she’d called up his father, she was suddenly disoriented.

  “I knew it was a hoax,” Uriah muttered.

  Katherine turned everyone’s attention back to her sister-in-law, who sat rocking in the chair. “You’re the thief. Why am I surprised when you stole my family from me?”

  “I promised Donahue I would make it up to him,” the elderly woman said. “So he would forgive me. So many secrets. Donahue’s death was my fault.”

  Her revelation was backed by a flash of lightning and a thunderous threat over the lake.

  “You killed him?” Appearing stunned, Katherine gripped a chair back. “And I thought he committed suicide. All these years I blamed myself. You hateful woman! You let me believe it was my fault when you’re the one!”

  “No, no!” Miss Addy protested, as if finally realizing several people looked at her accusingly. “I didn’t kill him.”

  Katherine made a sound of disbelief. “Just like you didn’t steal the jewels.”

  “I’m neither a murderer nor a thief. Just a foolish, gullible woman.”

  “I think it’s time you told us what you do know,” Echo said kindly.

  “Yes.” Bram wedge
d a hip on the table and took one of his aunt’s frail hands in his. “Tell us.”

  Miss Addy pointed a bony finger at Norbert Ferguson. “It was him. He seduced me... for the house’s secrets. But I didn’t give him all.” She cackled. “All these years and you couldn’t find the jewels. I know what you’ve been up to, you and your humorless son, sneaking around on dark, moonless nights, making people think the place is haunted when they haven’t ever seen my darling Donahue.”

  Looking as if he were about to have a heart attack, Norbert sank into another chair, mumbling to himself.

  “Don’t bother yourself, Dad, she can’t prove a thing,” Travis stated.

  “Norbert Ferguson started it all,” Miss Addy announced. “His wife was still alive then, but he swore he loved me!”

  “So you showed him the tunnel,” Bram said.

  “We could be together in secret, that’s what he said.”

  “He needed a way to sneak the jewels out.” Echo’s gaze connected with Bram’s.

  “But I didn’t know that until I found him with Donahue.”

  “Father tried to stop him,” Bram said. “What happened to the jewels, Aunt Addy?”

  “They’re right here under your nose, silly boy.” She fingered one of the bracelets. “Pretty, pretty baubles.”

  Realizing the elderly woman’s mind was wandering, Echo was desperate to get her back on track so Bram could at last learn the truth.

  “Miss Addy,” she said, putting a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “They are beautiful. Is that why you took them and kept them hidden all these years?”

  The elderly woman’s expression went slack for a moment. Then her features crumpled. “They were fighting and I was humiliated. Furious. I secured the jewels, but when I returned, Donahue and Norbert were gone. Back to the ball, I thought, so I went, too.”

  “I was there with my wife.” Norbert emphasized, “With my wife.”

  “Pretending nothing happened!” Miss Addy turned a sorrowful expression on Bram. “I looked and looked but couldn’t find you, Donahue.”

  Bram seemed about to correct her, then said, “That’s because I was already dead.”

  “I swear I didn’t know!” she wailed.

  “But you knew I was dead the next morning when they found my body. Why didn’t you return the jewels?”

  “People would laugh at me. You knew what to do, Donahue, but you would never tell me,” she said sadly, tears rolling down her wrinkled cheeks.

  “You’ve had my jewels for thirty years,” Priscilla said, her tone accusing.

  “You were insured. Donahue was dead.” Miss Addy gasped, “Who cared about diamonds?”

  Echo ached for this sad woman who had lived her entire life for her brother, even after his death.

  “What about it, Ferguson?” Bram turned on Norbert. “What have you got to say for yourself? Did you kill my father?”

  “Don’t look to me!” Norbert exploded. “I needed money, yes, and Letitia tempted me into helping her steal her mistress’s jewels. But about the other... I didn’t know any better, I swear. Didn’t know. Donahue knocked me out with a sucker punch. When I came to, he was gone. Gone. I believed your father’s drowning was a tragic accident.”

  “But it wasn’t,” Bram said with conviction. He rose and circled the room, his gaze pinning each of them in turn. “Someone else entered the tunnels that night. I heard it all.”

  “But you couldn’t have.” Miss Addy appeared even more confused as she mumbled, “You were in the attic.”

  “Air ducts go from the attic down to the hidden rooms. Great sound conductor. Unfortunately, I blocked most of what I heard. Until tonight.”

  Realizing he was filthy with coal dust— and wasn’t that blood on his forehead?— Echo wondered what had happened to him. “You finally remembered.”

  Bram nodded. “First Father was arguing with Ferguson over the theft. Aunt Addy found them and left with the jewels. Father knocked out Ferguson. Then a fourth person arrived.”

  The only people in the room who hadn’t been cleared or named were Lena and Uriah. Both Sibyl and Travis had been too young. Then again, might Grandmama Tisa have gone looking for her share of the jewels? Echo wondered. Or had Lena been protecting Miss Addy as she obviously had continued to do through the years?

  But when Bram said, “Another man,” all eyes turned in unison to a glowering Uriah, who had edged his way to where Echo stood near the entrance to the hidden staircase.

  “Father said, ‘You came from the tunnel,’” Bram quoted. “‘How did you know about the tunnel?’”

  “I knew about everything going on in this house,” Uriah said with a lascivious grin. “The walls have ears, ya know, especially a house like this one with all its secret ways. I made it my business to pay attention, especially when Ferguson got friendly with the island woman. I let him steal the jewels for me. Only I didn’t expect for Mr. Donahue to be there that night. Didn’t expect the jewels would up and disappear, neither.”

  “So you killed my father for nothing.”

  “Had to protect myself just like I do now.”

  So quickly she didn’t see it coming, the groundskeeper whipped an arm around Echo and put a knife to her throat.

  “Echo! Omigod!” This from Robert who stood frozen barely a yard away.

  “Uriah, don’t do anything stupid,” Bram pleaded, looking as if he were holding himself from attacking the man. “Let Echo go. You don’t want to hurt her.”

  The demented laughter in her ear chilled a disbelieving Echo. Uriah Hawkes was capable of anything, as she well knew. Murder was a game to him.

  “Please,” she croaked, but he only pressed the knife tighter to her throat. A drop of something warm dribbled down to her low-cut blouse.

  “I got nothing more to lose,” the groundskeeper stated. “I stayed around all these years taking orders so I could be a rich man someday. Today’s the day.” He glared at Miss Addy. “Take off them jewels, you old bat!”

  With trembling hands, Miss Addy obeyed his order, removing the collar, brooch, earrings and bracelets.

  Encouraged by Bram’s steadying gaze, which she was certain was meant to reassure her, Echo tried not to panic, to keep her wits about her, to look for an opening to get away. But Uriah wasn’t being sloppy. And he was dangerous.

  Evil.

  The sound of her heartbeat thundered in her ears louder than the approaching storm outside.

  Keeping the knife in place, Uriah stuffed the jewels into his pockets. “Finally, I get what I deserve.”

  “Uriah, so help me, if you hurt her again, I’ll kill you,” Bram threatened.

  “Again?” Miss Addy’s voice trembled with the question.

  “He tried to run her down with a truck.”

  “She found Ferguson’s button,” Uriah growled. “Thought if I got hold of it, I could blackmail the old geezer. Bitch gave me the slip.”

  “But the button had already been stolen,” Bram insisted. “And I found it in your bed.”

  Uriah gave Lena a searing, contemptuous look. “I shoulda done a better job on all of you.”

  Echo heard the murmured concern of the others as if from a distance. The words sounded jumbled. Made no sense. She was numb with fright. Then the distance was growing. She was being dragged backward into the staircase. Unreal. All that she’d gone through. All that she’d overcome.

  She’d survived going over the edge in her own mind only to have her fate placed in the hands of a real madman.

  “HE’S MAD!” Priscilla shrieked as the shelving slid in place. “Someone help that poor woman!”

  Bram was already trying, but he couldn’t spring the door. “He jammed it!” His heart lurched as he thought of Echo’s possible fate.

  “Maybe if we all work together,” Robert said, shedding off his disguise.

  Thinking they could try until doomsday and possibly not succeed, Bram muttered, “I know another way. He’s got to be going for one of the tunnels.”
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  Bram flew out of the library and burst into the hall, Roger and Travis Ferguson right behind him.

  He charged toward the ballroom, figuring Uriah would go for the boathouse rather than the coach house tunnel. Easier access, fewer witnesses— the maze was still in operation— and a handy piece of misdirection. Once in the ballroom, he shoved aside some dancers to get to the paneling where he quickly found the latch that popped open the concealed door. Ignoring the surprised reactions of the surrounding witnesses, he flipped on the light and descended.

  “Good Lord, look at this place,” Roger said from behind him.

  Ferguson didn’t say anything. No doubt he’d seen the wine cellar before when he’d been ransacking the place with his father. A sound ahead alerted Bram. He plunged forward, dodging racks as a section of the wall began moving. On the other side of the widening breach, Uriah was about to enter, Echo still his insurance. Her terror communicated to him, making Bram go a little crazy.

  But, spotting the impromptu posse, the groundskeeper foiled him again, dragging Echo away by the hair while sliding the shelving closed.

  “Let go!” Echo screamed.

  Because Uriah didn’t take the time to secure it, Bram was able to reopen the wall. Ahead, Uriah forced Echo under a set of boundary ropes and into the maze, moving against the flow of the crowd.

  “Hey, mister, wrong way!” one of the teenagers shouted.

  Uriah merely shoved the kid to one side and continued on.

  Bram was able to narrow the gap between them until he got tangled in a living web spun by two spider-costumed teenagers who blocked his way and wrapped yarn around him.

  “Not now!” he yelled, flinging his arms to rid himself of the clinging material.

  The kids jumped out of his way. Catching up to him, Roger helped Bram detangle himself.

  “Where did they go?” Bram asked, anxiety building when he couldn’t spot the groundskeeper. Uriah had no reason to spare Echo, even if he was able to get clear. The thought of losing her made him sick.

  “I didn’t see,” Robert admitted.