Fabric of Life

by Judith Post

  “I’ve tried to warn her. She can’t see me. She can’t even feel me.” Lacey went absolutely still. “He’s going to the winery. I have to go!” There was one last sparkle of energy, and she was gone.

  Chapter 71

  “We can’t sit around and wait for Lindsay to come to us anymore,” Aggie said. “Time’s running out.”

  Thea sagged back onto the chair. Her knees didn’t want to hold her, and her whole body felt shakey. She had a hold of Hannah’s hand and couldn’t let go. What would have happened if Aggie weren’t here? What would she do if she lost Hannah? For once, even Hannah looked shaken.

  Aggie understood. “Hannah’s been chosen to be the next weaver. The universe isn’t going to let anything happen to her.”

  Hannah looked at her mother. “It let Olive’s husband pull her threads. That’s why Granny Doreen had to take her place. If Lacey had killed me, then Rachel would have to weave. She’d hate that.”

  Aggie sighed. “That’s why the universe changed the rules. A weaver’s bookmark is always protected, even from ghosts. But it was a close call. We got lucky. We might not get lucky again.”

  Hannah sank onto Thea’s lap. “What do we do?”

  Thea hugged Hannah close to her and rocked back and forth. Hannah’s sturdy, young body gave her strength, helped ground her. She’d lost Gabe. She couldn’t lose anyone else. Her voice went grim. “Aggie’s going to stay here to guard the bookmarks, and we’re driving to see Lindsay.”

  “At four thirty in the morning?” Hannah asked.

  “Lacey said that ‘he’ was going to the winery. Lindsay might be in trouble.”

  “He couldn’t get away with killing both sisters,” Aggie said.

  “Even if a fire started? Or Lindsay tripped while coming down the stairs?”

  “Get out of here,” Aggie said.

  Thea pulled a pair of jeans on over her pajamas and raced to her Jeep with Hannah close on her heels. They tore through the empty streets of Emerald Hills and screeched to a stop in front of Lindsay’s Tudor house. Thea went straight to the door and clanked on the knocker while Hannah pressed on the doorbell.

  Lindsay came to the door in a lightweight robe. She stared when she saw Thea and Hannah.

  “I don’t have time to explain,” Thea said. “You have to come with us now.”

  “You’re nuts.”

  “Your sister just tried to kill me!” Hannah said, hands on her hips, face pinched with fury. “You’d better do what we say!”

  Lindsay’s eyes went wide and she stared.

  “If you don’t, I can see and talk to ghosts,” Hannah threatened. “I’ll make sure they all know about Lacey. If she’s miserable now, she’ll be worse when I’m finished.”

  “How old are you?” Lindsay asked.

  “I’m ten, and I want to live to be eleven.”

  Lindsay looked at Thea. “Is she for real?”

  “We’ve both been through enough. The gloves are off. Come with us, or we take matters into our own hands.”

  “Let me get my clothes. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “Don’t tell Melissa,” Thea said.

  Lindsay frowned. “She wasn’t in her room when I passed it.”

  “Then we have to get out of here. Now!”

  “Screw the clothes. Let’s go.” Lindsay followed Thea to the Jeep, and they peeled out of the driveway and tore down the roads toward home.

  They passed the cabin and drove straight to the barn. “We’ll be safe here,” Thea said. “The barn’s protected.”

  Lindsay followed them up the stairs, but stopped at the golden arch. “What’s that?”

  “The celestial arch to protect my studio.”

  “What does it do?”

  “It only lets people pass that I’ve invited in,” Thea said. “You’re invited. You’re safe.”

  Lindsay ducked under it quickly and plodded up the rest of the steps. She looked around when she reached the middle of the room. “What’s on the ceiling?”

  “Peoples’ bookmarks,” Thea said.

  She glanced at the small loom on one end of the room and the large loom on the other. “These are why you’re a weaver?”

  Thea wasn’t in the mood to explain. She glanced toward the corner of the loft to where Aggie was.

  When Lindsay followed her gaze, she sank, Indian fashion, onto the floor. “Oh, shit. She’s a ghost, isn’t she?” She took deep gasps, trying to steady herself.

  “I’m a ghost who’d like to help you,” Aggie said.

  “How?”

  Before Aggie could answer, Lacey drifted through the wall and entered the room.

  Lindsay's coloring drained so quickly, Thea worried she was going to faint. When Lindsay pressed a hand to her heart, Thea hurried to her. "Are you all right?" What were the signs of a heart attack? Was this too much for Lindsay to handle?

  “Oh, God, no. NO!” Lindsay screamed. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her breath came in ragged gasps.

  Lacey knelt beside her sister. “I'm sorry."

  "I hate you! You can't be dead. You can't be." Lindsay pulled her knees to her chest and rested her head on them, refusing to look at Lacey.

  "Please." Lacey's voice caught. "Don't hate me."

  Lindsay didn't raise her head. Her shoulders shook, and her body grew limp. She looked like a rag doll, sitting there, racked with sobs. "What am I supposed to do? Mom died. Dad died, and now you've died. I'm all alone." She drew her arms closer to her head, pulling into herself.

  "I'm sorry," Lacey repeated.

  Lindsay didn't respond. Thea knelt beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. She sat there and waited until Lindsay was all cried out. When silence stretched into half an hour, Lacey tried again.

  "Lindsay? I love you."

  There was a muffled sob, then Lindsay raised her head. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot. Her nose was red. Her voice was hoarse. “You sent me postcards.”

  "I didn't.”

  "One's from Florida. That meant you were alive."

  “I’m not alive. You can see that.”

  “You have to be! You promised. You told me we’d settle in Emerald Hills together.”

  “I’m in Emerald Hills.”

  “Not like this!! I’d have known if you were dead. I’d have felt it. You're my sister.”

  “You did feel it. You just didn’t want to,” Lacey said.

  “No.” Lindsay shook her head in denial. She shut her eyes and squeezed them together. "I don't want this."

  "Neither do I, but I’m dead,” Lacey said. “And you have to stay here so that Randall can’t hurt you too.”

  “Randall?” Lindsay's eyes flew open.

  “He’s who I kept sneaking off to see. He liked how young I was, how beautiful." She tripped over the word, but Lacey nodded. "You are. Were."

  "He kept buying me jewelry. . ."

  "The ankle bracelet?"

  "I loved that. It was fun getting all the presents and attention, but he couldn’t keep his hands off me. It got old. I got tired of sneaking around. I got tired of him, but he wouldn’t leave me alone. I told him it was over or I’d tell Dad.”

  “What happened?” Lindsay asked.

  Lacey shook her head. “I don’t know. He got really mad. All that I remember is waking up and knowing I was dead. I don’t even know where my body is. But the first person I saw was Randall.”

  “That happens sometimes,” Aggie said. “Everything happens so fast, you return to the last person you were with.”

  “I startled him at first, but then he told me that I’d better not cause any trouble for him or you’d be next.”

  "I'll kill him." Lindsay looked at Thea. “You’ve been telling the truth.”

  Hannah shrugged. “We get that all the time.”

  “When did he start sending you to the studio?” Thea asked.

  "I'm not sure." Lacey shook her head, confused. "Time feels different for me now. Things sort of get distorted."

&n
bsp; “I bet I know,” Lindsay said. “Can we use that to catch him? I want him locked up, ruined."

  "When did it start?"

  "After Lacey died, Melissa told me about a new hotel chain that was interested in Emerald Hills. She wanted the winery to contact them, make a deal of some kind. She probably heard about them from Randall, and Randall wanted to bring them to town.”

  “So he figured out a way,” Thea said.

  Lindsay rubbed her eyes. She looked exhausted. “This is all so weird. What do we do now? Lacey doesn’t know where she’s buried. We have to find her body and give it a decent funeral. I can't stand the idea that she's just thrown somewhere. What if. . .?" She stopped and took a deep breath. When she went on, her voice was hard. "I want Randall punished, hurt. I want answers.”

  “We wait for Gabe,” Thea said.

  “Gabe?”

  “He’s following Melissa. If she goes to Randall, Gabe will come to tell us about it.”

  In a sparkle of light, Gabe materialized nearby, and Lindsay blanched. “How many ghosts live up here anyway?”

  “This is an emergency. It’s unusual,” Thea told her.

  “Will I always see ghosts from now on?” Lindsay asked.

  “You don’t have the gift,” Hannah said. “You can only see them because you’re in the weaving studio.”

  “Thank God.” Lindsay ran a hand through her short hair, pushing the ends behind her ears. “What now?”

  Gabe looked at Lindsay. “I came to warn Thea to go get you. Randall’s at Les’s warehouse. It sits way back on the property. Melissa’s on her way to meet him. Something’s going on.”

  “Can you find out what?” Thea asked.

  “I’m on it,” Gabe said and disappeared.

  When things quieted down, Lindsay looked at her sister. Her voice dropped to barely a whisper. “I went home to try to find you. I even went to Alabama and Florida.”

  “I knew you’d be worried about me,” Lacey said. “I tried to come to you, but you couldn’t see me.”

  “Thea told me that you’re miserable. I didn’t believe her. I didn't want to admit. . ., you know.”

  Lacey’s face puckered. “I’ve killed three people. Randall even sent me to kill Hannah.”

  “Oh, Lacey.”

  “I didn’t understand. I didn’t know about the bookmarks.”

  “That’s what saved you,” Thea said. “You didn’t hurt anyone on purpose. If you’d unraveled Hannah’s, though, after I told you about them, you’d have been punished.”

  “If there was anything left of you,” Aggie said.

  “I’m sorry,” Lacey said. “I really am. I was so scared, and I didn’t know who Hannah was.”

  Thea sighed. “We’re all too frazzled to think straight,” she said. “But I know just the person to get us back on track.” She reached for her cell phone.

  “Mom?” Aggie asked.

  Thea nodded. There was no one like Kate to cut to the basics.

  Chapter 72

  Gabe got back before Kate arrived. He looked shaken.

  “Are you all right?” Thea asked.

  “The warehouse is right between Randall’s mansion and Les’s Tudor. Melissa and Randall can walk to it. They don’t have to drive, so they’re pretty safe meeting there.”

  Thea waited. There was more, but Gabe was upset. He needed time to regain his composure.

  “They have a cozy area in the office,” Gabe finally said. “With a huge desk. I walked in on them in the middle. It was disgusting. Not sex. It was more like animals rutting. It wasn’t even passion. It was too violent.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  His energy shivered. “I wish I’d never touched that woman. I feel dirty.”

  “Yours was different,” Thea said.

  “I thought ghosts didn’t have to watch stuff like that,” he complained.

  Aggie grimaced. “That’s out of respect to humans, to grant them their privacy. Randall and Melissa, deep down, must WANT an audience.”

  “Yich. When they started in a new position, I didn’t stay to watch. I went outside. I still heard them. They both like it rough. There were slaps and bites, screams and growls.”

  Aggie motioned her head toward Hannah, warning that a child was present.

  “Sorry.” He took a deep breath to steady himself. “Anyway, when they were finally finished, they started to talk. I don’t know which was worse to listen to.”

  “What do you mean?” Lindsay asked.

  “They don’t know that Thea came to get you. All they know is that Lacey failed…again.”

  “Thank heavens for that,” Lindsay said.

  Gabe nodded. “Randall’s decided that Thea knows too much and they need to take care of her, but Melissa reminded him that they tried that before when she started the fire.”

  Thea fumed. “So it was Melissa!”

  “Since it didn’t work, Melissa’s convinced that Thea’s protected because she’s a weaver.”

  “Randall doesn’t know that I came to warn Thea, does he?” Lacey asked.

  “No, but it doesn’t matter.” Gabe grew more serious. “Randall’s getting desperate. The two of them have done everything they wanted to and now Randall’s only concern is not to get caught. They don’t need you anymore, so he told Melissa to get rid of Lindsay.”

  “What?” Lacey’s energy flared. “Why Lindsay? She doesn’t know anything, and no one can prove anything. Why not just set me free?”

  “Because Randall doesn’t think you’ll leave. He thinks you’ll bind yourself to your sister.”

  “So what are they going to do?” Thea asked.

  “Melissa’s going to make sure that Lindsay has some kind of accident. Then Randall thinks that Lacey will go to the light with her sister, and he’ll be rid of both of them, and Melissa will keep the winery.”

  “Damn him.” Lindsay’s pleasant face went hard. “Melissa doesn’t have the balls to kill me. She’s a slut, but she’s a coward.”

  “She doesn’t want to do it,” Gabe said, “but when she argued about it, Randall slapped her, hard. He said that she was happy enough to team up with him when it meant that she could pull my threads.” He hesitated, his energy turning dark and troubled. “He told her she’d better do what he said.”

  “Or what?” Lindsay asked. “What’s he going to do? Turn her in? And if she gets rid of me and Lacey goes with me, Randall can’t mess with any more threads, can he? She doesn’t have to worry about that.”

  “I think she’s in too deep,” Gabe said. “And she’s afraid of Randall.”

  “So she’ll do it,” Lacey said.

  Gabe nodded.

  Chapter 73

  Kate came with a thermos of coffee and a bag full of donuts.

  Thea met her at the top of the stairs. “Bless you, Mom.”

  “You can’t think on an empty stomach.” Kate stopped when she walked to the worktable and looked up to see Aggie and Gabe. She blinked back tears, but recovered quickly. “Well, look at the two of you. You look great.”

  “Thanks.”

  Aggie went to wrap her mother in a warm mist. “Great to see you, Mom.”

  “What’s the deal?” Kate’s voice was husky. “This is more dramatic than the séance.”

  Lacey moved forward. “They’re all here to help me.”

  “Oh, you poor little thing. You must be our little, lost ghost. Good. We can finally get somewhere. What have you got in mind?”

  Thea smiled, listening to her mother--ever practical. That must be where Hannah got her disposition. Could an abundance of common sense be a genetic trait? “Actually, that’s why I called you,” Thea said. “We’ve had a rough night. We’re tired. We need your input.”

  “Start at the beginning,” Kate said. Thea couldn’t remember how many times she’d heard that, but it always worked.

  Hannah started to explain, and people added little details here and there. When she finished, everyone looked at Kate.

  “I
say if we find her body, Lacey will remember what happened to her. She’ll be free.”

  “How do we do that?” Lindsay asked.

  Kate turned to Aggie. “If we can get her close enough, will her body pull her to it?”

  Gabe and Aggie both nodded. “My body had a strong pull when I first died,” Gabe said.

  “But her body could be anywhere!” Lindsay said. “There’s a lake and a national forest on our back doorstep. How do we get her close to her body when we don’t know where it is?”

  “Gordon’s helicopter rides!” Thea said.

  Kate stared. “That’s brilliant.”

  Gordon Neilson offered helicopter rides over the forest and lake, even over Emerald Hills if tourists wanted that. “Would it work?” Thea asked. “If Lacey flew over her body, would that be close enough?”

  “I think so,” Aggie said.

  Hannah didn’t look convinced. “Not too many people want to give ghosts a ride in an airplane.”

  “That’s why you and I will pay for a ride,” Thea said, “and we’ll take Lacey with us as our invisible guest.”

  Hannah blinked. “You’d trick Gordon?”

  “Do you think he’d rather we were honest with him and explained our problem?”

  Kate smiled. “You have a bang-up plan, kiddo. I say go for it.”

  Thea reached for her cell phone and called Gordon. When she hung up, she said, “He’s booked solid today. So no luck. But he can take us early tomorrow.”

  “What do I do now?” Lindsay asked.

  “You call Melissa and tell her that you can’t make it to work today, and you stay here,” Aggie said.

  “But. . . “

  Aggie cut her off. “The winery will survive one day without you, but you might not survive if you go home.”

  That settled it. Kate waved a hand. “Make yourselves at home. I’ll be back tomorrow morning with more donuts, and Thea and Hannah can fix you supper tonight and bring it up here. You two,” she motioned toward Lacey and Lindsay, “should have a lot of catching up to do. This is a good time to get started.”

  Thea looked at her attic full of spooks. Hannah was cheerfully sandwiched between Aggie and Gabe. “I’m getting claustrophobic,” she said. “I need to get back to the house.”