by J A Whiting
Lin loved this time of day when lights glimmered on, the air cooled, the clink of silverware on plates could be heard through open windows, and the scent of the ocean drifted by on the light summer breeze. None of those things could calm or warm her heart in the usual way as she walked along with her boyfriend, cousin, and close friend. Lin’s muscles were tense and adrenaline pulsed through her veins making her stomach feel tight and empty and she wished she was home in her cozy living room working on a crossword puzzle while Jeff sat next to her reading and the dog snoozed on his bed in the corner. Most of all, she wished she’d declined the invitation to Mrs. Perkins’s event.
Rounding the corner, they could hear a band playing, the chatter of a large group, and the occasional burst of laughter punctuate the air. Several police officers stood near the curb in front of the mansion monitoring the cars arriving and the valets driving vehicles away, and they helped to direct party-goers through the gate at the side yard to the large white tents set up on the manicured lawns at the back of the property.
“Well, well.” Viv watched the parade of finely-dressed men and women emerge from expensive automobiles and parade along the walkway to the rear of the mansion. “I feel like we’re at the Oscars or something.”
“No red carpet?” John joked.
A flutter of nervousness ran over Lin’s skin and she glanced down the road to the small lot behind the restaurant of the Founders Inn.
“Shall we?” Jeff took Lin’s hand, and aware of her unease about attending the event, he held it tightly as the four young people joined the small groups of guests walking to the back gardens of Polly Perkins’s mansion.
The back lawns looked beautiful with the two large white tents set up on either side of the brick walk that led to the rear gardens, the pergola, gazebo, and koi pond. The band was set up in one corner of a tent and a wooden dance floor had been set in front of it.
Tables groaned with food, drink, and desserts spread out like a Roman banquet. Vases and baskets of fresh flowers had been placed on tables and columned-stands and the floral scent danced on the warm air. Gas torches stood blazing at the periphery of the property and at the side of the walkways. Strings of tiny, white lights had been laced along the ceilings of the tents where they sparkled like stars over the groups of party-goers.
The music’s happy notes and the beauty of the surroundings eased Lin’s tension and she felt herself begin to relax. Friends and associates spotted the foursome and came over to join them.
Kurt and his wife stood with the group. “I hate these things.” Kurt ran his index finger along his starched white collar tugging it away from his neck.
Kurt’s wife chuckled and winked at Lin and Viv. “Kurt doesn’t do well in dress-up clothes.”
“How’s your daughter feeling?” Lin asked.
“She’s much better. Still not a hundred percent, but she’s getting there.” Kurt nodded and thanked Lin for asking.
Kurt’s wife smiled. “Grandma’s with her tonight.”
After a few more minutes of conversation, Lin and Viv wandered away to the drinks table.
Right after discovering that Rose Weston had married Rowan Richards, Viv and Lin stayed in Viv’s bookstore office to search the state databases for Rose’s death certificate to find out when and where she had died.
“My ghost must have joined the smugglers to try and find his daughter. I bet William Weston had no idea that Rose had taken up with the smuggling boss himself.”
Viv had nodded in agreement. “And I’d bet money that Rowan Richards found out who William was and what he was after and had him killed to keep him from interfering with his relationship with Rose.”
Tapping away on her keyboard, Viv had searched death certificates in every New England state, in New York and New Jersey, and in every other state that lined the Eastern seaboard looking for information on Rose with no success. Disheartened and discouraged, the two gave up for the night and headed home.
“Tonight is the last time we’ll be able to get into the mansion.” Lin looked over her shoulder at the groups of people who had gathered at the lower level glass doors for the next tour of the renovated house. “If we don’t figure things out tonight, it’s going to be very difficult to ever find out what happened in that house.”
Viv picked up a glass of champagne from the white-cloth covered table. “Most people will go on the tour early in the evening. Let’s keep an eye on the door and wait until the throngs thin out. Then we’ll go inside.”
“Later on, people will have had a few drinks and there will be less chance of anyone paying attention to us.” Lin requested a glass of sparkling water with lemon. “I have to keep my wits about me,” she explained her drink choice to her cousin.
When Viv wandered off to locate the restrooms that had been set up outside, Lin stood near the corner of the mansion watching the festivities while she waited for Viv to return. With a look of alarm and annoyance on her face, Polly Perkins tore around the side of her brick home wearing a long, flowing lavender, ankle-length dress. Rushing past Lin, she noticed the young woman and stopped.
“Those workers are back.” Mrs. Perkins fussed, her eyes flashing.
“Who?” Lin asked.
“Those men.” Mrs. Perkins’s hands were clenched into fists and Lin instinctively took a step back away from the angry woman. “Those men who work late at night behind the restaurant, they’re at it again. It’s an outrage. No one will stop them. I saw them from the upstairs window. They’re making such a racket. They’ll ruin my get-together.”
Lin could see tiny beads of sweat forming on Mrs. Perkins’s upper lip. “I can’t hear them back here. I don’t think their noise will disturb your guests.”
“I can hear them.” The older woman practically shouted the words.
“Why don’t you ask the police officers out front to go by the lot and tell the men to stop the noise?” Lin knew full well that the police officers wouldn’t be able to see the ghost-men working, but she thought she needed to offer a suggestion since Mrs. Perkins looked like she was about to have a public meltdown.
Flames shot from the woman’s eyes. “I did that already. They told me no one was back there. As usual.”
Lin thought of something and her heart thudded double-time. “Do you want to show me what you see back there? Can you see the men from inside the house? Maybe I could go over and ask them politely to stop for a few hours. Shall we go inside and you can show me?”
Some tension drained from Mrs. Perkins’s face as she considered Lin’s proposal. “Come with me.” She whirled and strode away to the lower-level doors.
Lin looked over her shoulder to see if Viv was heading back, but didn’t see her among the crowd. Not wanting to miss the opportunity to get inside the mansion, Lin hurried after Mrs. Perkins who stopped briefly at the doors and said something to the tall young man whose job it was to keep guests out of the mansion unless they’d gathered for one of the tours. The man glanced at Lin who was coming up behind Mrs. Perkins and he gave the older woman a nod. Polly Perkins gestured for Lin to follow and when they stepped into the large, luxuriously furnished sitting room and headed for the small elevator in the hall, a wave of cold air swirled around Lin with such force that she nearly gasped and choked.
Standing like sentries, one on each side of the elevator doors, were the shimmering forms of William Weston and Sebastian Coffin.
24
Shaking, Lin stepped into the elevator with Mrs. Perkins.
“What’s wrong with you?” Mrs. Perkins noticed the young woman’s odd and shivering demeanor.
“The air conditioning chilled me and I don’t like elevators,” Lin fibbed. Her throat was tight and her head was spinning. William and Sebastian together. They didn’t indicate that I shouldn’t go with Mrs. Perkins so I mustn’t be in danger. Lin tried to calm herself by breathing slowly and deeply. She looked out of the corner of her eye at Mrs. Perkins. I have to figure this out.
The elevator
doors opened to the second floor and Lin followed the mansion’s owner down a long hallway and into a huge bedroom with a king-sized bed placed against one wall. On the opposite side of the room, two easy chairs covered in white fabric stood before a fireplace with a marble surround and a polished wood mantle. An oil painting of sailing ships at sea hung on the wall above the mantle.
“Here.” Mrs. Perkins swung open a long wide window and pointed. “There they are. There are more of them than usual.” The woman scowled and her voice dripped with annoyance. “How are the police unable to find them?”
Lin leaned close to the open window and craned her neck to see down the street and into the small lot behind the inn. The space was empty. Straightening up, Lin looked Mrs. Perkins in the eyes. She wanted to declare that there were no men working in the lot, there was no noise, and that only Mrs. Perkins could see and hear the men because they were ghosts, but now wasn’t the time. “Have they been working every night?”
“Yes. Every night this week. I can’t get any sleep.” Mrs. Perkins rubbed her temple. “It’s driving me insane.”
“I’ll go talk to them.” Lin gave the woman a gentle smile. “They might listen to me. Will you take me back downstairs? My friends will be looking for me. I’ll tell them I’m going over to the inn for a minute and that I’ll be right back.”
A look of gratitude showed in the older woman’s eyes. “Yes. See what you can do. Please.”
They returned to the elevator and descended to the lower level. As they walked through the sitting area to the glass doors, Lin spoke. “Is there a rest room down here that I can use?”
Mrs. Perkins started back to the hall to show Lin where the room was.
“Just give me directions. I don’t want to keep you from your guests. I’ll go right down to the inn as soon as I use the bathroom.”
Mrs. Perkins told Lin where to go and then turned for the door and exited out to the party.
Lin breathed a sigh of relief. As she turned for the hall, she nodded and smiled at the young guard who was standing by the doors watching her. Out in the hallway, she’d hoped that William and Sebastian would be waiting for her, but the space was empty. Moving down the corridor away from the sitting room, Lin tried to slow her breathing and clear her mind. She needed to get to that bedroom where Nicky had been hiding in the walk-in closet. She’d nearly passed out in that room the other day. Lin knew that whatever terrible thing had happened in the house, it had taken place near that room.
Reaching the bedroom at the end of the hall, Lin stood outside the closed door afraid to open it. Once inside, she had no idea what she would do … she only knew that the answer to her questions were there in that room. Slowly she turned the knob and stepped in.
The room was dark and Lin fumbled for a switch. When her hand hit it, she flicked the button and the bedroom flooded with light. Lin let out a long, relieved breath when she saw the space was empty and she began to shuffle around trying to pick up on anything.
A gust of freezing air engulfed her and made her teeth chatter. Her eyes darted around, expecting William or Sebastian to be visible, but she was alone. Reaching up, she ran her finger over her horseshoe necklace and tried to slow her racing heart. Stepping around the space, she could feel the coldest air at the back of the room so she placed her palm against the smooth cream-colored wall and for several minutes, moved her hand inch by inch over it. Little sparks began to bite into Lin’s hand as if an electric current was running through the wall.
Suddenly sensing someone in the room behind her, Lin yanked her hand off of the wall and whirled around to see Polly Perkins standing just inside the doorway watching her with cold eyes. The look of hate on Mrs. Perkins’s face nearly knocked Lin over.
“I waited for you outside.” The woman’s voice was hard. “I decided I’d go over to the lot with you. When you didn’t come back out, I thought maybe you couldn’t find the bathroom so I came in to look for you. The bathroom was empty.”
Lin swallowed. She started to make up something about why she’d wandered into the bedroom, but abandoned the idea and decided to confront the woman. “Why didn’t you let the plumbers run the pipes where Kurt wanted to place them during the renovation?”
Mrs. Perkins’s eyes went wide, surprised by Lin’s question.
“You didn’t want them to disturb your father’s den, right? You didn’t’ want his things disturbed. That was the reason you gave the contractors.” Lin paused for a moment. “That’s a lie though, isn’t it?”
Mrs. Perkins’s facial muscles tightened and she took a step forward. “What are you talking about?” Her nostrils flared as she sucked in quick breaths.
“Your father did something in this house. Here on this level, right behind this wall.” Lin pointed. “He walled up the space, didn’t he? To hide what he’d done. That’s the reason the plumbers couldn’t go through there.” Lin’s head was pounding so hard that it felt like it was about to explode. “What’s in there?”
“Get out of this room. You aren’t supposed to be in here.” Mrs. Perkins’s face was as red as a beet and her arms were flailing about. “You’re trespassing. Get out,” she shrieked.
Lin lowered her voice. “You’re the only one who can see the workers behind the inn’s restaurant.”
Mrs. Perkins looked like she’d been struck. “What?”
“No one else can see those workers, only you can see them. That’s because those men are ghosts.”
Mrs. Perkins’s hand flew to her chest and she gasped. She tried to blink back the tears that threatened to overflow, but there was no stopping them and they tumbled out of the woman’s eyes and spilled down her cheeks. “No, no.”
“Yes.” Lin nodded and moved two steps closer. “The ghosts come every night because of what your father did. They won’t stop showing up until you make it right.”
“No.” Mrs. Perkins’s eyes were glassy. She held up her hand and backed out of the room.
“You need to make it right,” Lin whispered.
Mrs. Perkins fell back hard against the hallway wall. She clutched at her chest and her eyes rolled back in her head as she toppled to the floor, unconscious.
25
Lin, Viv, Jeff, Anton, and Libby sat on the deck of John’s boat eating appetizers, sipping drinks, and watching people stroll past on the docks. Nicky and Queenie sat together on the cushion of the built-in bench at the side of the deck. John was running late working with a real estate client so Viv promised to start the grilling for him. Because John was unaware of ghosts and Lin’s ability to see them, discussion of such things had to halt when he was with the group so they took the opportunity to talk about what had happened at Mrs. Perkins’s party.
As soon as the older woman had hit the floor, Lin pulled her phone out of her purse and placed the emergency call reporting Mrs. Perkins’s collapse. Lin started CPR while shouting down the hall that they needed help, but no one heard her. The ambulance finally arrived and the young man who’d stood sentry at the lower level doors ushered the emergency personnel into the hallway where he stood proudly as if he had been the reason that the older woman survived the heart attack. Lin, dripping sweat from performing CPR for what seemed like an eternity, slumped against the wall as Mrs. Perkins was hauled away to the hospital.
Viv and Jeff rushed in and lifted Lin to her feet and as they helped her outside, she babbled about what had happened. “She knows what’s behind the wall,” Lin told them. “Her father must have confessed it to her.” When they sat Lin down with a glass of water at one of the white café tables under the tent, she leaned forward and told Viv and Jeff that she knew what was behind the wall, too.
Enjoying the gentle sea breeze at the back of John’s boat, Lin told the group, “I don’t know how I knew, but I did.”
Although Libby was still weak from the experience of seeing the vision of what had happened to William Weston, she wanted to get together with the others for an evening out and to share information that she’
d gathered from her many contacts on the island. “Mrs. Perkins told the police that a few months before her father passed away, he confessed to her what he’d done. She didn’t believe it and attributed his confession to his dementia. She didn’t mention anything to the police or the hospital personnel about what Lin told her about the workmen or anything about ghosts or other such things … which was a good thing or they may have questioned her mental state and committed her for observation.”
Jeff told them what he’d heard from Kurt. “Kurt was called in by the police to remove the wall of the bedroom in the lower level of the mansion. The police were there when it was taken down. That’s where they found the bones.”
“I went to see Mrs. Perkins in the hospital.” Lin brushed her hair back from her face. “She told me what her father had confessed to her. After they were married, Rowan Richards was abusive to Rose and she left him and moved to Boston where she ran into a smuggler from Rowan’s gang. The man had run away from Nantucket, he’d had enough of the nasty business of the illegal smuggling. He knew what had happened to Rose’s father and told Rose that Rowan had ordered her father to be killed so he wouldn’t interfere with their relationship.”
Lin continued, “Rose returned to Nantucket to confront Rowan. The two had a terrible fight and Rowan strangled Rose in the house. He buried her in the basement of the mansion and never told a soul what he’d done.” Lin looked off towards the open sea for a few moments. “Mrs. Perkins asked me why those men had shown up in the lot recently. I told her that it might have been due to the renovations on the mansion, but that I didn’t really know. She asked me if they would keep showing up. I said that I didn’t think they would.” Lin smiled. “Then she told me to leave her hospital room and if we ever ran into one another somewhere that I was to pretend that I’d never met her.”
