Gifted

by Campbell, Jamie

  “What’s he barking at?” Charlie grumbled.

  “No idea. Didn’t Louise say she was only going to be gone for a few days? It feels like we’ve had him for weeks.”

  “Surely she’ll be back soon. She’s invited to the party tomorrow.” The barking was distracting them, it didn’t sound like he was going to let up any time soon. They decided to follow him, see what had made him so angry. They stepped in the hallway and saw him next to the staircase. The dog turned around and saw them standing there. As soon as he saw he had their attention, he continued down the hallway. They caught up with him and followed his steps. Sammy led them to the door of the study and started wagging his tail. Blair stepped forward and opened the door, hoping the dog was just being a pest.

  They entered the room and stood next to the door, the dog’s barking still echoing around the walls.

  “Look at that,” Blair pointed to the light hanging from the roof. It was slowly rocking back and forth like a pendulum. They stood there watching it, mesmerised. The longer they stared, the faster the rocking got. Back and forth, it swung higher and higher. All of a sudden, it started to swing around in a circle. Faster and faster, the light was barely visible in the swirling. There was just a constant circle of movement.

  “What do we do?” Charlie asked. Sammy was starting to get agitated, his barking more insistent than before. Suddenly, the light pulled away from the roof and went flying across the room, heading directly for the two of them. They ducked and the light hit the wall behind them. With a great thud, the light broke into a thousand pieces. Glass and ceramic went crashing down to the floor. Sammy yelped and ran from the room. Silence followed.

  “What the hell was that? It came right for us!” Charlie exclaimed.

  “No idea. Let’s just clean this up before Cate sees it,” Blair was already starting for the door. He returned only a few seconds later with a dustpan and broom. They quickly set about clearing the broken light. They hoped Cate wouldn’t have a need to enter the study for a while. They may be able to clear up the evidence, but she would definitely notice the missing light fixture.

  After the mess had been cleared, Charlie was starting to grow concerned for the party. If weird and potentially dangerous things like lights crashing against walls were still happening, maybe it wouldn’t be a good time to have thirty people over to the house. The last thing she wanted to do was to disappoint Cate, but she also didn’t want to put a lot of innocent people into harm’s way. The party was her idea, she would feel responsible for anything that happened to the guests.

  “Blair, maybe we shouldn’t go ahead with this party. I know what Cate said, but she only knows about half of things that have gone on here.”

  “I know. You only have to look at the cut on your face to see that whatever is here, is dangerous. Maybe we could call an expert, ask Melanie Lucas what she thinks?”

  “It’s worth a try. I think I know what she’ll say though,” Charlie sighed. They returned to the foyer and found Melanie’s phone number. She dialled and waited for the line to be picked up.

  “Hello? Melanie speaking,” the happy voice of the psychic answered the call.

  “Melanie, hi, it’s Charlie Lane. You came to Sage Manor a few days ago?”

  The tone in Melanie’s voice changed instantly. “How could I forget? If you’re calling to get my help, I’m sorry but I can’t.”

  “No, it’s okay. Cate has decided to move. We have admitted defeat. The reason I’m calling is that we were planning on throwing Cate a birthday party tomorrow night in the house. We’re concerned something might happen to the guests. Do you think a party would be safe to have here?”

  “A party? Honey, I don’t even think you’re safe there. Add another bunch of people to the mix and you couldn’t even predict what would happen. My advice is to cancel it quick smart.”

  “What could happen? Surely he wouldn’t do anything to dozens of people?”

  “He was more than comfortable terrorising the four of us,” Melanie laughed. “He’s not afraid of numbers. Anything could happen. He may also feel insulted about the house hosting a party. In his mind, the place is his. Anyone coming to the house is an unwanted intruder. Take my advice and cancel the party.”

  “Okay. Thank you for the advice.”

  “You’re welcome, Honey. Just try and get out of there. Unfortunately, there are just some spirits we can’t help.”

  She hung up the line, feeling depressed about the situation. Charlie didn’t have to explain the conversation to Blair. She just shook her head and he understood. They slowly made their way into the garden to help Cate. It felt good doing some manual labour and clearing their minds for a few hours. Besides, they needed to repair the lawn. Cate hadn’t been impressed that they had dug a straight line right across the yard, no matter what they had found.

  After lunch, Charlie was still toying with the idea of what to tell Cate about the party. Blair was no help, he told her it was up to her. She was her sister and she knew what was best. She wanted to call him a fence sitter but held her tongue. As Charlie sat there looking at Rahni playing with her dolls on the floor, she knew she had one more thing to try.

  “Rahni, do you think you could do me a favour?”

  “Sure. What is it, Auntie Charlie?”

  “Could you please ask Alice a question for me? I need to know whether she thinks it’s a good idea to go ahead with the party tomorrow night. Could you ask her?”

  A confused look passed over Rahni’s face. “Okay. She’s upstairs. Do you want me to ask her now?”

  “If that’s okay.” Charlie accompanied Rahni upstairs and into the play room. She thought Alice must like that room the most. Every time Rahni talked to her it was in that particular room.

  “Is she here?” Charlie asked, eying the room. She knew she wouldn’t be able to see her like Rahni could, but it didn’t stop her trying.

  “She’s here. Alice, Auntie Charlie wants to know if it’s okay to have the party tomorrow?” Rahni was silent and staring at a spot near the fireplace. She looked to Charlie as if she was listening intently to the answer. It was creepy to watch. Rahni turned back to Charlie. “She says you can’t stop the party now.”

  “Can you ask her if the guests will be safe?”

  “She says she will do her best to protect them but there is something brewing. She’s worried because she doesn’t know what’s going to happen.”

  “But she will do her best to protect the guests?”

  “Yep.”

  Charlie looked at the same spot that Rahni was talking to. “Thank you Alice. We really appreciate your help.”

  “Can we go back to playing now?”

  “Of course we can,” Charlie took Rahni’s hand and they returned downstairs. As least now Charlie knew they had some help from the other side. Melanie may have given up on them, but Alice hadn’t. It felt strange taking the word of a ghost as comforting but in Sage Manor, anything was possible.

  * * *

  After everyone else had gone to bed for the night, Charlie felt restless. Despite only relying on a few hours sleep every night, she didn’t feel tired. She was worried about the party. Not only because of the potential danger to the guests, but also on the practical side as there was still a lot of preparation to do before the night’s events.

  Instead of laying there in vein, she decided to pick up Eve’s diary and continue reading. One good thing about sleeping with the light on, one person could read easily and it didn’t disturb the others.

  She flicked to the entry she had reached the previous day. The entry was about Eve’s birthday. She didn’t have a party to celebrate her sweet sixteenth. Instead, they had a family dinner with a sponge cake. Her parents didn’t think it would be appropriate to have an extravagant birthday party when there was an impending wedding that would take place in only a few weeks. Two events in the one month would have been flaunting their wealth, apparently. Eve was upset about the decision. Not because she particular
ly wanted a birthday party, but because she didn’t want to have the wedding. Thomas was staying in the house with them and she was doing everything possible to avoid him. She was spending most of her days out in the garden. She loved watching the flowers grow and bloom. The only good thing about the upcoming wedding had been that she was able to choose all the flowers they were to use in the ceremony.

  Charlie formed the impression that Eve was in denial about the whole Thomas affair. She was trying to keep herself busy so she wouldn’t have to think about it. There was an entry that confirmed her theory. Mr L had met with Eve in secret, they had been able to spend the day together thanks to her sisters giving her an alibi. According to Eve, they felt just as bad about the situation as she did. They were missing out too, their adored sister was going to be shipped back to England, never to be seen by them again. Their whole family was about to be torn apart and they placed the blame squarely on Thomas’ shoulders.

  Mr L had given Eve a present that day. A book about gardening. Charlie knew the book she was talking about. She now understood why it had been precious enough to be locked away in Eve’s chest that they had discovered in the attic. It was a present from her beloved, that enough is worth it being kept safe.

  Charlie read something else that now made sense. Before parting company for the day, Mr L had shown his love for her by carving their initials in an old oak tree. EL ER. She had a feeling it was Eve’s initials rather than her mother Elizabeth’s. It must have seemed like the most romantic thing in the world to a sixteen year old girl. Hell, even Charlie would have found it irresistible at her age.

  The picture of Eve’s situation was building. Here she was, totally smitten and in love with Mr L, yet she was being forced into a marriage with her cousin Thomas. She didn’t have a say and it was all happening so quickly. She would have felt so scared and panicked about the whole situation. Every day would have been a day closer to the inevitable. Denial seemed like the best response possible, at least then she could still function.

  In another of the entries, Eve described another day she had spent with Mr L. They had gone swimming in the creek together. It was so inappropriate that they were only in their underwear together, soaked right through. Eve didn’t care though, if anything, she was hoping to get caught. Maybe if her image was tarnished then the proper Thomas wouldn’t want her anymore. There was a growing desperation to her actions. Charlie considered the state of mind Eve was in, she wouldn’t have been surprised if she and Mr L walked right into the house together, naked.

  That afternoon, while they were lying underneath their oak tree, Mr L had given Eve a small gold ring. He said it was a promise ring. While they couldn’t be engaged yet, they would be one day. He was going to make sure of it. Instead of wearing it on her finger, she would have to wear it on a chain around her neck. That way, she could tuck it into her dress where it would rest against her heart. No-one would ever have to know of the promise they shared.

  The event that had sparked the swimming incident was a conversation Eve had overheard the night before. Apparently Mr L had done the honourable thing and went to visit Lord Reign. He had tried to convince him he was the right man for Eve and that he wanted to marry her. He was trying to do the right thing by Eve and her family. Apparently, there had been a heated argument between the two men. The end result was he was now forbidden from seeing Eve and having anything to do with the family. It had devastated both Mr L and Eve. Their last shot at happiness was crushed. However, instead of following Lord Reign’s orders, they had decided to just make sure he didn’t know anything about their meetings. Before then, he had only known about a fraction of them anyway.

  Charlie was enthralled in the diary entries. She continued reading right up until the very last entry. It was the day before the wedding. The morning had started off normal enough, Eve was sulking in her room when she got a message through Violet that Mr L was on his way. He wanted to meet with her. Eve was excited about the thought. She expressed her anticipation in great detail. Maybe he would have a plan for them. Maybe he was coming to take her away. They would run away together and secretly marry. She would be his wife and they would live happily ever after. There was no way he would let Thomas take her back to England, he loved her too much. Everything would be okay after their meeting. He would make it right, he would save her from her fate.

  She described putting on her best dress and making her hair perfect for him. She sprayed herself with lavender perfume and pinched her cheeks so they would be a pretty shade of pink. Her father would be angry when he found out they had eloped. He would yell and scream but she wouldn’t be there to hear him. He would never be able to yell at her again because she wouldn’t belong to him anymore. She would be Mr L’s.

  The diary finished there. Whatever happened next would remain a mystery. Charlie pictured the meeting with Mr L in her mind. If only he did elope with Eve, maybe she wouldn’t have been killed. The happy ending Eve had written about so lovingly would never eventuate. Instead, someone would snap her neck and kill her instantly. In the few seconds it would take to murder her, they also killed all her hopes and dreams.

  A tear fell from Charlie’s eyes. She couldn’t help it. Already, she was six years older than Eve had been when she lost her life. She had never had a chance to live. Her entire future could have been so different. Charlie remembered meeting with Hope Baker, the great granddaughter of Violet. Eve could have had a great granddaughter too, she could have given birth to a whole generation. Her life was cut short too soon. Way too soon.

  Chapter 14

  Everyone was awake early the next day. The anticipation of the party was leaving everyone buzzing. There was much to do and time seemed to be ticking over very quickly. Charlie volunteered to pick up the costumes from town. She had an ulterior motive but the others didn’t have to know that. Blair had offered to come with her, she had to do some fast talking to escape the house on her own.

  As she parked the car next to the fancy dress hire store, Charlie’s mind was going into overdrive. She couldn’t shake the diary entries from the night before and wanted to get to the truth. She had a hunch that she knew who had killed Eve and wanted to get to the bottom of it. So far, she hadn’t let on to Blair or Cate what she suspected. She didn’t want to be throwing theories out there anymore if she wasn’t one hundred percent confident about them.

  She walked past the hire store and down the road. Rounding the corner, she found herself standing outside of Mrs White’s front door. She knocked gently, hoping the woman was home. After a few minutes, she heard the door unlocking and it opened to reveal the elderly lady.

  “Charlie, is it? What brings you to my house today?” She opened the door all the way and ushered Charlie inside to the living room.

  “I have a few more questions if you wouldn’t mind sparing a few minutes?” Charlie asked hopefully. Mrs White nodded, so she continued. “A while back, they found a woman’s body on Red Hen Estate. Do you remember that?”

  “I do, it was the biggest news story in Pickerton at the time. There are lots of articles about it in the archives. Her neck was broken, if I remember correctly.”

  “Do you know exactly where the body was found?”

  “Oh, from memory, it was found on the edge of the estate. The main farm house was on the western side of the estate, but the body was found on the far eastern side. They suspected that was why it had gone undiscovered for so long. That particular piece of land was hardly used. It was only when the son took over the farm and had big plans for using all the available land, did they unearth her. Such a tragedy. They never identified her either. Imagine that, being killed and no-one ever working out who did it,” the old woman shook her head and had a tinge of sadness to her light blue eyes.

  “Did you know the boundary between Red Hen and Sage Manor used to be different?”

  “No, I didn’t. It’s possible though. When the area was first settled, the government was giving away huge estates to anyone who
wanted to settle here. Over time, as land became scarcer, they started to carve up the blocks.”

  “Thank you, you’ve answered all my questions,” Charlie smiled, she had her theory confirmed.

  “That’s all you wanted to know? You’re easy pleased. Well, I’m glad to have helped.” Mrs White showed Charlie to the door and waved her goodbye. She walked back to the main street and into the dress hire store. Waiting there were four costumes, one for each of them. She paid the store attendant and hurried back to her car.

  All the way back to Sage Manor, she was putting the pieces of Eve’s puzzle together. It was all making sense now. She knew why Eve had to die and she knew at whose hand she had lost her life.

  The house was in chaos when she pulled into the driveway. A catering van had arrived and people were busy unloading supplies into the kitchen. She walked through them all and found Blair and Cate in the conservatory, hanging decorations from every available space. She hurried upstairs and placed the costumes on each of their beds after taking them out of their protective covers. They looked beautiful lying out, she had a flutter of excitement for the night ahead run through her.

  Just as she returned downstairs, there was a knock at the door. She could see the outline of a person standing on the porch outside. Opening the door, she was greeted by Louise who had a smile right across her face.

  “I’m back! I’m here to pick up Sammy,” she beamed. At the sound of his master’s voice, Sammy ran from the living room where he had been sleeping. He jumped into Louise’s arms where he was cradled like a baby. “I can’t thank you enough for looking after him. I hope he wasn’t too much trouble.”

  “Not at all. Rahni really enjoyed his company. Is your mother okay?”

  “She’s doing well, thank you. Anyway, I better get Sammy home. Thank you again. If there’s anything you need, just holler so I can return the favour.”