by Judith Post
“And she got caught?” Gabe asked.
“No, she just disappeared, never came home, never called.”
“Except she sent one card on her way to Florida,” Gabe reminded her.
Thea frowned. “And more from other locations. Says she’s going to travel all over the United States to give herself time to think. Lindsay offered to show them to me. Now I wish I’d taken her up on it and given them a close look.”
“Maybe you could ask Lindsay for them.”
“Maybe. But not now. I’ll give her time to cool down first.”
Gabe nuzzled his face against her neck. “You’re pretty unbelievable.”
“In a good way, right?”
He started to rub her back. “You’re tense.” He slid his hands under her shirt to massage her shoulder muscles. The touch of his fingers on her bare skin sent shivers up and down her spine. Her breath caught in her throat. She leaned against him, and he tugged her shirt over her head. He fumbled with her bra until it fell to the floor. His hands roamed her breasts. Her nerves jangled, her body went taut. Need coiled in her stomach. Desire sizzled through her veins. He undid her jeans and his hand wandered lower. She arched her back and groaned. His lips brushed the curve of her neck. His body was as ready as hers was.
“You’re a ghost,” she moaned. “How?”
“I’m your husband.” He lifted her to face him and lowered his lips to her breasts. Pleasure shot through her. She didn’t care about the how or why. She just enjoyed it. Draped in the old chair, they got very comfortable, and this time was even better than the last.
Chapter 60
Hannah cocked her head to one side and studied Thea over breakfast. “You sure look happier than you did last night.”
Thea swallowed her toast. “A good night’s sleep can make everything better.”
Hannah raised an eyebrow, and she gave a sly smile. “I bet.”
“What do you mean?” Thea had come back to the house last night and helped Hannah onto the air mattress in her bedroom. The girl could see ghosts, but not while she was asleep. She couldn’t have looked in the studio’s big window and seen anything that she shouldn’t have.
Hannah looked smug, naughty. “You look just like Amy does after she’s been with her boyfriend.”
Thea felt a slow flush creep up her neck and stain her cheeks. “Amy’s too young for that. Nancy needs to have a talk with her.”
“Amy says any kid with a brain stops listening to her mother when she turns sixteen.”
That sobered Thea. “Just remember. Your mother has special powers.”
Hannah shook her head. “Ghosts have rules too. There’s things they’re allowed to watch, and things they can’t.”
“Hannah…”
Hannah laughed. “I’m not stupid. I know Amy’s being an idiot. Her boyfriend’s a jerk. Besides, Rachel and Josh still listen to you, so you must not be too dumb.”
“Thanks.” Thea decided to change the subject. “Did your mom ever find Lacey when she left Cynthia’s? Is she still looking?”
“She said there are swirls of nervous energy scattered all through the woods. She said that Lacey’s a mess, having a meltdown.”
“I feel sorry for her. When you die, you’re supposed to be set free from your worldly cares. Someone’s sure ruining that for Lacey.”
“Can Lindsay help you?” Hannah asked.
“I’m not sure. She doesn’t know much more than we do.”
“Maybe Lacey didn’t die here,” Hannah said. “Maybe she died from one of the places she sent a postcard from.”
“Or maybe the card was a fake.”
Hannah frowned.
“Maybe whoever killed Lacey didn’t want Lindsay to think her sister was dead, just that she’d run away.”
“You have to call Lindsay. You have to look at the writing on the cards.”
Thea nodded. She was thinking the same thing.
Hannah’s face colored a little. “I tried to sign your name on a note for school once, and the teacher caught me right away. She could tell.”
“Why didn’t I ever hear about that?”
Hannah tried to look innocent. “Maybe because you didn’t get the second note either.” She spread her hands. “Anyway, Lindsay should be able to tell too. Call her.”
Thea shook her head, but decided to let it go. Hannah had learned from her mistake. There was no point in worrying about it now. Lacey’s postcards, on the other hand, might prove useful. She reached for the phone.
Lindsay wasn’t happy to hear from her. “I thought I’d made it clear that I’d call you if I wanted to talk anymore.”
“You made it abundantly clear, but you said that you got postcards from Lacey. If she really wrote them, that would prove me wrong, wouldn’t it? The whole thing would be finished.”
There was a short silence.
“What would it hurt if I looked at the cards?” Thea persisted.
“I’ve already looked into it,” Lindsay said. “After I went home and talked to Lacey’s friends, I went to Alabama, to the post office Lacey had mailed the postcard from on her way south. I talked to the authorities there, told them that my sister disappeared and I was worried about her. I showed them the card. They looked through their records for any accident victims that would match Lacey, anything that would help at all.”
“And?” Thea asked.
“Nothing.”
“And Florida?”
“More of the same.”
“The handwriting--“ Thea began.
“I thought of that, too. It wasn’t Lacey’s usual loopy letters. It was printed--like she was trying to fit everything in a small space. After I talked to you, I took them to a woman in town who studies handwriting. She looked at them this morning. It isn’t Lacey’s writing.”
“So someone else sent them?” Thea asked.
“Yes.”
“And that doesn’t make you wonder?”
“I’m worried sick. There, are you satisfied? But I don’t see how you can help.”
“How can it hurt?”
Lindsay hesitated. “Let me get through this week. Melissa’s back. It’s ugly. Let me think about it.”
“When you need me, I’ll be here.”
“Gotta go. I have company.” She hung up.
Thea slowly replaced the phone in its cradle.
“Well?” Hannah asked.
“We’re making progress.”
“Grown ups always take too much time,” Hannah complained.
“This grown-up is going to work on her quilts today,” Thea said. “I need a day of normal.”
“Can I help?”
“No, but you can join me.”
“In your loft? Hey, I’m moving up in the world.”
“Just remember that you can always drop back down.”
Hannah laughed and ran to the stairs.
Chapter 61
Thea spent the first hour in the quilting studio teaching Hannah the basics, how to design a quilt, assemble the pieces, and put it together. When they finished that, Thea led her to the sewing machine that Rachel had used when she sewed with Thea.
“It can be mine now?” Hannah asked.
“If you don’t mind if one of my friends uses it for our quilting sessions once a month.”
“What’s once a month?” Hannah said. “Show me how to use it.”
That lesson took more time than the quilting one, but after several false starts, Hannah stitched several nice, straight lines without jamming the machine or making Thea worry about needles through fingers.
“I want to make something,” Hannah said.
“A quilt takes a long time. Rachel started with pillows.”
Thea let Hannah pick any fabric she wanted to cut out wing parts, a body, and antenna for her butterfly. Hannah was working on her sewing machine, Thea on hers, when the phone rang.
Hannah looked at Thea. “I’m too busy. Can you get it?”
Thea rolled her eyes, but
went to the phone. Melissa Smith started screaming at her the minute she picked it up. Thea waited until Melissa took a breath to say, “Even if I’d done a weaving for you, I wouldn’t have known that Lindsay was Les’ daughter.”
Melissa had a few more choice remarks before she slammed down the receiver on her end of the line. Thea rubbed her ear as she replaced hers.
“Someone else mad at you?” Hannah asked.
“Melissa. I can live with that. Lindsay’s okay with me for now, but if things don’t get better, she’ll be mad at me again too.”
“That’s not fair.”
“People have to be able to blame someone when their lives fall apart. Most people get mad at God. Since I’m a weaver and I’m closer, they’d rather get mad at me.”
Hannah turned to frown at her. “Doesn’t that make you mad at them?”
“No, I understand. It does make me sad, though.”
“If things go wrong, I hope Lindsay doesn’t stay mad at you,” Hannah said.
Thea sighed. “So do I.”
Chapter 62
When it came time for lunch, Hannah said, “Okay, now you can teach me how to cook.”
Thea gave her a hard look. “You’re really bored, aren’t you?”
“Me? No, I could go out and do lots of neat things, but you’re sort of fun once in a while.”
Thea decided that she’d better enjoy being “sort of fun” while she could. Hannah was ten. The time would come when it wouldn’t be cool to hang out with an adult. “What are you hungry for?” Thea asked.
“Chicken and rice soup.”
“You’re not talking a can, are you?”
Hannah grinned. “The kind you make from scratch is the best.”
They headed down to the kitchen. “I hardly ever make it from scratch. I get a jump start with a box of chicken broth and skinless, boneless chicken breasts.”
Hannah dug in the refrigerator for onions, celery, and carrots. “Works for me.”
They were having a good time, dicing and chopping, when there was a quick knock at the door and Melissa Smith barged into the house. Oh, great! Screaming over the phone hadn’t been enough.
Melissa’s faced worked, she was so furious. She hadn’t even taken time to put on makeup. Her blond hair hung limp to her shoulders, and her green eyes sparkled dangerously. “Lindsay told me that you’ve already talked to her, that you figured out that she was Les’s daughter before I got the wonderful news from Les’s lawyer. Bet that really made your day!”
“I went to talk to her about problems in my weaving studio.”
“You came to MY winery,”--she choked on the word “my” and corrected herself--“to LINDSAY’S winery, and told her some half-ass story that scared her almost to death. Her stupid sister ran off with some loser, and you’re telling her that you’ve seen Lacey’s ghost.”
“She has. So have I,” Hannah said, coming to stand beside Thea.
“Get lost, kid,” Melissa snapped. “Go play with crayons somewhere. This is between Thea and me.”
“Suck an egg,” Hannah said and stood her ground.
Thea shook her head. “Thanks for the support, but this could get nasty. I can’t be myself if you’re here.”
Hannah nodded. “You want to get mean and you won’t in front of me. I’ll go watch cartoons in the basement.”
“Thanks.”
The minute Hannah was out of earshot, Thea turned to Melissa. “Didn’t Les tell you he had two daughters before he married you?”
“Hell no. No one knew, the bastard. I married an old man, and what do I get for it? A percent of the profits.”
“Not even the house?”
“It’s part of the winery, and guess who gets that?”
“Les was always fair. He wouldn’t cut you out like that.”
Melissa’s eyebrows went up. “The old fool got it in his head that I was having an affair. Just because he could hardly ever get up, he thought I was getting my fun somewhere else.”
“Were you?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Thea studied her for a minute. Melissa was younger than the rest of them, only in her early thirties. Maybe it came as a shock to Les to realize he was married to a woman who wasn’t that much older than his daughters. She looked older, though. The innocence must have worn off Melissa when she was a toddler.
The sun burst from behind a cloud and spilled into the front room. It sparkled off a beautiful ankle bracelet of rubies and diamonds that circled Melissa’s tanned leg.
“When you asked me to do a weaving for you, who were you worried about? Who couldn’t you trust?”
“My senile, old husband. And I was right. He was acting strange, and he cut me out of his will. How was I supposed to know he’d moved his two kids from some teenage fling under our roof to live with us? If you’d have done the weaving, maybe I could have done something to protect myself.”
Thea glanced at the ankle bracelet. “You’re not exactly going to live in poverty, are you?”
“No, this is just his way to snub me, put me in my place. Lindsay and Lacey get the house and the business. I get enough money to live well for the rest of my life.” Melissa turned her ankle so that Thea could see the bracelet better. “You’d have things like this if you’d decided to marry a man who amounted to something.”
“I did marry a man who amounted to something, and you tried to take him away from me, remember?”
“If I remember right, I’d say that I was pretty successful.”
“For a one-shot deal. Then he lost interest. Most men do. I heard that Les was going to ask for a divorce before he died.”
Melissa went ballistic. She threw herself at Thea, but Thea sidestepped her. “If you’re going to throw a temper tantrum, go somewhere else. I’m not in the mood.”
“What are you in the mood for?” Melissa screamed. “Revenge? You want to make Lindsay hate me because I slept with Gabe?”
Thea’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you’d be concerned about Lacey, too, wondering where she was, if she was safe.”
“You’ve got to be kidding! Les’s little bastard? The farther away she is, the better.”
“She’s living in Emerald Hills,” Thea said, “as a ghost.”
“Liar.”
“Believe what you want,” Thea said, “but I’ve seen her. We even did a séance. We’re thinking of doing another one.”
“A séance?” Melissa shivered. “What does that do?”
“It calls her to us. Something’s bothering her, and we’re trying to help her.”
Melissa stared. “You are so twisted! What will you make up next? Stay away from the winery,” she warned. “Leave Lindsay alone.”
“That’s between me and Lindsay,” Thea said. “You don’t have anything to say about it.”
“Bitch!” Melissa turned on her heel and stormed away.
When Thea was alone, she realized that her stomach felt queasy. Every time she was around Melissa, she felt physically sick. It was more than coincidence, she thought. But then, wouldn’t Melissa make most people sick?
Hannah climbed the stairs. “Is she gone?”
“Yes.”
“Did you get Lindsay in more trouble?”
Thea shook her head. “Lindsay’s the one who told Melissa about my visit. Not me. She’s already in lots of trouble. I hope she calls me soon.”
They went back to the kitchen to finish the soup, but the happy comradery was gone. Worry took its place. When the pot simmered on the stove, Hannah said, “Can we walk to town and get a burger at Nancy’s instead? I don’t want to stay here right now.”
Thea understood. Neither did she. She turned off the stove’s burner and said, “Let’s go.”
Chapter 63
It was a hot day, so they headed west on Ruby Riverwalk and stopped at the gelato shop on Gold Galleyway. They had to stand in line to order Hannah’s double dip chocolate and Thea’s cinnamon in a waffle cone. Their feet moved slowly a
s they enjoyed their treats.
They stopped and stared when they reached Sheila Grayson’s three-story Victorian. Thea had heard that the new owners hired a painting crew to come during the early morning and late evening hours, when tourists didn’t clog the sidewalks, to renovate the exterior of the old house, but she hadn’t seen their handiwork. It stood out in pristine glory now with peach clapboards, deep blue trim, and gold scallops. A blue and gold striped canvas awning protected the front door.
Wrought-iron tables and chairs, with umbrellas that matched the awning, crowded the brick patio in the side yard. Every table was full. Thea peeked inside. The booths and tables in the cool interior of the teashop were bustling too.
“Looks like the Bickersons are doing a booming business.” She spotted Cynthia at one of the outside tables and went to say hi.
“Have you heard?” Cynthia asked. “The hotel chain that bought the house has decided that the teashop is good for business. They’re making an evening tea part of a weekend package for the bed and breakfast. The Bickersons get to stay. They’re going to have more business than ever. So will Rachel and Isak.”
“That’s great.” Thea looked at the three-tiered serving platter in the center of Cynthia’s table. Scones and a variety of muffins jostled on the bottom tray. Tiny triangle-shaped sandwiches filled with cucumbers, chicken salad, and roast beef with chutney nestled on the middle tray, and miniature éclairs, petit fours, and macaroons graced the top level.
“Help yourself,” Cynthia said. “I ordered the tea for two, just to see what it is. I’m taking some back for Virginia and Toby.”
“I just had ice cream,” Thea said, but Hannah grabbed a quick scone.
Cynthia smiled. “You’re being polite. You’re leaving the dessert for Toby.”
Hannah grinned. “I can beg for some from Rachel when I see her.”
“There are perks to having a sister who owns a bakery, right?”
“Lots of them.” They left Cynthia to enjoy her treats and walked the next block to Nancy’s restaurant. They passed the Holiday Shop with Christmas ornaments, Halloween jack-o-lanterns, and Valentine hearts all jumbled together in its front window. Hannah stopped to look at the crystals and rocks in the window of the New Age shop and listen to its wind chimes clanking overhead. The shop had everything from Tarot cards and meditation mats to aromatherapy. Thea loved to browse up and down its aisles.
