by Ranae Rose
“Well, thanks for asking, I guess. But Henry would never hurt me. And you know me – I’m not afraid to stand up for myself. If a guy ever raised a hand against me, I’d hit right back.” Probably with one of her sturdiest frying pans.
Kerry flashed her a small smile. “I hope so.”
“Morning.” A familiar voice carried across the lobby, causing Sasha and Kerry both to turn.
Alicia stood in the house’s main doorway, looking both polished and suited for a Carolina summer day in khaki slacks, kitten heels and a purple shell top. She was smiling as she strode toward them, her purse tucked under her arm.
When she got close she stopped abruptly, nearly tripping.
“What happened to you?” She raised her brows at Sasha.
“I’ve taken a leaf out of your book,” Sasha said, mentally cataloguing the number of times she’d seen Alicia trip over nothing at all. “I tangled with a bed stand and lost.”
“You fell out of bed?”
“Not her bed,” Kerry said. “Henry’s.”
Alicia didn’t exactly look shocked. “Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. About you and Henry, I mean. I am surprised about your eye. For the record, even I don’t fall out of bed.” She grinned.
“Well, there’s a first time for everything,” Sasha said, waving her hand. “Anyway, don’t you two want to know how things are going with me and Henry?” She waggled her eyebrows up and down, eager to change the subject.
“I just assumed they were going well,” Kerry said. “You walked in here with a black eye and a big grin on your face. Things have got to be good if you’re smiling right now – I know you have to be hurting.”
She was a little sore, although she wasn’t about to admit that. “Well, you assumed correctly. Alicia, you’ll know exactly what I mean when I say I’ve finally joined you in cucumber country.”
Alicia just blushed, and Kerry huffed. “Cucumber country – do I even want to know?”
“No, you don’t,” Alicia assured her. “Trust me, it’s everything she makes it sound like.”
Sasha couldn’t help laughing. Sometimes, her two best friends needed a little coaxing to let their hair down and have a good time. When she managed to shock them, the looks on their faces were priceless.
“So is this something serious?” Alicia asked, her face back to its usual color again. “Between you and Henry, I mean.”
Sasha’s chest felt suddenly two sizes too small for her heart, and her laughter dried up on the tip of her tongue. As much as she loved to joke around, ‘serious’ was a great way to describe how she felt about Henry. “I think so. I really like him.”
That was the understatement of the century, but she didn’t want to spend all of the precious few minutes they had before work blabbing about herself. “What about you, Alicia – how are the wedding plans going?”
Alicia’s face lit up like she’d just stepped into a beam of sunlight. “I confirmed the booking here with Faye yesterday. First weekend in October.”
“Wow, that’s great. So should Kerry and I be trying on bridesmaid dresses yet?”
“Actually, I’ve got a couple styles in mind, but I wanted you two to help me make the final decision. Maybe we could get together sometime this weekend?”
Sasha and Kerry both agreed.
“You should both come over to my place for lunch Saturday,” she suggested. “We could hit the beach afterward.
“Whatever we do though, I have a feeling Liam is going to want to tag along. He’s been sticking by my side like a secret service agent ever since the warden’s murder. I actually feel bad for him – I don’t think he’s had REM sleep since it happened.”
“What about you?” Kerry asked. “You must be worried too. After what happened…”
Kerry’s gaze drifted conspicuously to Alicia’s neck, where a long pink line stood out brightly against her otherwise creamy skin.
The scar made Sasha wince inwardly every time she saw it, though she was careful not to be obvious about it.
Alicia turned up her palms and shrugged. “I’ll admit it’s unnerving to know someone so violent is out there again, probably Randy Levinson… But Liam and I are being as safe as we can. What else can we do?”
Now that she looked closely, Sasha saw that Alicia looked tense. Knowing her friend was worried – and for good reason – put a dent in her heart. After visiting her mother and commemorating another year gone by since her father’s death, she was still feeling the overwhelming urge to be close to the people she cared about, to make memories she could cherish.
“Definitely let’s hit the beach after lunch at your place on Saturday,” she said. “We’ll invite Henry and Grey too, and I’ll make a picnic lunch for everyone. It’ll give us all a chance to relax and get our minds off what happened to the warden. Plus, I’m sure we’ll be safe together at a busy public beach.”
Alicia smiled. “That sounds good. I’m sure I can talk Liam into it. What about you, Kerry?”
“I’m up for it.” Kerry nodded, her dark ponytail bobbing. “Uh-oh. Look what time it is.”
They all glanced at the clock hanging above the large cherry wood desk Faye so often worked at. The start of the work day was just minutes away.
Alicia sighed. “Well, I’d better get down to the basement. I’ve got to dig around for a portable trellis Faye swears is down there. A bride wants one for her ceremony and I need to see if it’ll work.”
Sasha felt her eyes go wide, and she immediately met Kerry’s gaze. The other woman wore a similar expression of surprise, though she quickly looked away.
“The basement?” Sasha asked. “You’re really going down there?”
“Yes. Why?” Alicia wrinkled her nose. “It’s not mildewy or something, is it?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Kerry was very carefully not meeting Sasha’s eyes.
Fine, if she wouldn’t say it, Sasha would. “It’s just that the basement is supposed to be the most haunted part of the house. No one likes going down there unless they absolutely have to.”
Alicia’s brow furrowed. “Really? Faye didn’t mention that. Have either of you ever been down there?”
“Once, when I first started working here,” Sasha replied. “Phil dared me.”
Phil was one of Wisteria’s two groundskeepers. Sasha could still remember the way he’d cackled as she’d approached the basement doors, then backed away quickly as she’d stepped inside.
“Well, was it haunted?”
Alicia’s question was a valid one, but not one Sasha could easily answer. “I don’t know, but it really creeped me out. It just felt … wrong down there. Like someone was watching me. I only stayed down there for a few seconds, just to shut Phil up.”
“What about you, Kerry?”
Kerry shook her head. “I’ve never had a reason to go down there.”
“Well…” Alicia looked conflicted. “I need to find the trellis, so it’s settled. I’m going. As long as there are no spiders or rats, I’ll be fine.”
Sasha bit back a sigh. “We’ll go with you. Won’t we, Kerry?”
Kerry looked taken aback at first, but she nodded. “Sure. We’d better get moving now, if we’re going to do it.”
CHAPTER 17
The three of them marched outside together, into the July sunshine. As always, Sasha was impressed by the beauty of the stately mansion grounds. Beyond the house’s white columns and perfectly-manicured front lawn, a wide path / driveway was lined with trees draped with wisteria vines. They weren’t currently in bloom, but the trees were gorgeous enough on their own and Sasha loved the rich, earthy smell of Spanish moss, which drifted from behind the house.
The entrance to the basement was outside, around the left side of the house. The doors were ancient, but well-maintained, recently painted and fitted with a padlock. The three women gathered outside them, and soon attracted notice.
“Everything ok
ay?” It was Ernesto, who wore gardening gloves and held a pair of shears. Phil was close behind him, and the two groundskeepers looked wary.
“Everything’s fine,” Alicia explained. “We just need to look for a trellis that’s supposed to be stored in the basement. When I find it, I may need your and Phil’s help carrying it out. I think we’re going to need your help getting in too. Do either of you have a key?”
Ernesto and Phil exchanged a wide-eyed glance, and something unsaid seemed to pass between them.
“I don’t think you should go down there,” Ernesto said. “There are rats. We have an exterminator coming next week to get rid of them.”
“Rats?” Alicia frowned. “Faye didn’t mention that.”
“We just made the appointment this morning,” Ernesto replied. “She probably didn’t know when she told you the trellis was down there.”
“When’s the wedding you need the trellis for?” Kerry asked.
“Next spring,” Alicia replied.
“It can wait until next week then, can’t it?”
“I guess it can. Thanks for the warning, Ernesto.”
He and Phil just nodded, looking even more relieved than Alicia did.
Sasha barely suppressed a snort. Everyone at Wisteria was so superstitious. Of course, she’d been creeped out by the basement too, and she didn’t pretend to know exactly what went on in the next world. She had no doubt there was a next world though – Wisteria had convinced her of that.
If you spent enough time in the house, you were bound to hear voices coming from empty rooms, or at least walk through a cold spot every once in a while. And then there were the hundreds of guests, tourists and employees who’d claimed to have actually seen things.
Still, she’d mustered up the courage to go down into the basement once and could do it again, if it meant helping a friend.
“Have you seen the video?” This time, it was Phil who spoke up, his voice barely more than a mumble.
“What video?” Alicia diverted all her attention to Phil.
Sasha barely suppressed a groan. She knew exactly what video Phil was talking about – he’d shown it to her right before he’d dared her to venture into the basement alone.
Sure enough, he was pulling his phone out of his pocket now, his expression half gleeful and half reverent. Obviously, he was keen to fill Alicia in on what all of Wisteria’s other employees had already seen, though he was clearly scared out of his wits by it and the basement.
Moments later, Phil’s finger was hovering over the screen, and everyone had gathered around him. Alicia watched particularly intently as he hit play.
Sasha had seen it before, more than once. Still, she watched as the familiar minute and a half of footage played out. It looked eerie from second one, thanks to the fact that it’d been shot in the dark, with infrared. Three people – two men and a woman – navigated through the dark basement, calling out and challenging any resident spirits like investigators on TV shows were always doing.
At first, nothing happened. They kept at it though, and eventually, there was a lull in their chatter. That was when it happened: a can of paint toppled off the end of a shelf the woman was standing by and burst open, spreading in a white puddle all over the floor.
The amateur investigators screamed and swore, then charged out of the basement like a herd of frightened wildebeest.
Admittedly, a can of paint falling off a shelf didn’t sound all that creepy. But when you saw it… Well, it was pretty freaky. Especially since the shelf had remained stable, while the can had seemed to just sort of edge off the side, like it’d been given a push. Almost full, it had obviously been heavy.
“That was filmed in Wisteria’s basement?” Alicia asked.
Phil nodded. “That was about five years ago. The people in the video were guests. They weren’t supposed to be in the basement, but they snuck down there at night. The lock was added after that, to keep wanna-be ghost hunters out.”
“That was pretty creepy,” Alicia said. “It’s a good thing no one got hurt.”
“There could’ve been a lawsuit if the can had fallen on anyone,” Ernesto said. “Benjamin was really upset.”
Benjamin was Wisteria’s owner. He was an older guy who stopped by regularly but mostly trusted Faye to keep things running smoothly.
“I bet.” Alicia eyed the phone warily, though the footage was over.
“It got a lot of views on the internet and some ghost hunting shows tried to get permission to investigate here,” Phil said. “Benjamin said no.”
“Maybe I should wear a hardhat when I go down there to look for that trellis,” Alicia joked, and Sasha marveled at her ability to laugh. After all, just a couple months ago, Alicia had had some spooky incidents of her own.
Maybe her near-brush with death had diminished any fear of those who’d already experienced it.
A little shiver raced down Sasha’s spine. God willing, she’d never have to experience anything like what Alicia had at the hands of Troy Levinson. She’d rather be afraid of spirits than of people who were very much alive, more of a threat than any lost soul.
* * * * *
“Well I’ll be damned if we aren’t all outta things to eat. You mind running to the store?” Randy looked over his shoulder, one hand braced on the open fridge door. The last of the stuff Reynolds had had in his fridge was gone, down to the last slice of bologna.
Sean looked up from the daytime TV he’d been riveted to all day. “What? Oh, yeah, I would but… I’m a little short on cash right now, you know?”
He turned his gaze back to the screen.
Randy ground his teeth and drew in a deep breath of the stale refrigerator air. It smelled moldy and wasn’t quite cool enough.
He’d known from the get-go that the food he’d found in the trailer wouldn’t last him long, and had figured he’d have to risk an outing to steal or hunt down more. Now that Sean was here though, the pain in the ass might as well make himself useful. Randy wasn’t about to walk into Piggly Wiggly for bread and milk.
Sean picked up the remote and began flipping through the channels. He paused on the local news station. They were giving the weather report – calling for rain, thanks to a hurricane currently swirling over the Atlantic – but God knew the station could hardly go five minutes without rehashing the report on the warden’s death.
Until Sean’s arrival, Randy had enjoyed the news reports explaining what he’d done, spreading fear. But now…
Randy didn’t know whether Sean had already heard about the incident. Even if he had, Randy didn’t want him thinking on it too hard.
“Don’t worry about money,” Randy said, straightening and pulling out a billfold he’d pickpocketed out of a drunk American tourist’s jeans in Mexico. “I’ve got cash. Here.”
He pulled out a neat little stack of bills Sean wouldn’t be able to resist. Hell, he could afford to be generous. He had a few hundred bucks and only needed enough to scrape by until he was finished with his mission in Riley. Realistically, he knew that probably wouldn’t be too long.
Sean leapt out of the recliner, eyeing the cash. “All right.”
“Pick up some beer, would ya?”
Sean grinned. “Sure. Hey, maybe we could get a case or two and invite a few people over. I know some girls—”
Randy all but felt the tendons in his neck snap as he turned on Sean. “The hell did you just say?”
“I was just saying we could—”
“This ain’t no damn frat house! Every person that walks through that door is a person that’s up in our business for no fucking reason. You wanna get escorted outta here in cuffs by some of Riley County’s finest?”
Sean stood with his mouth hanging open. “No, man. I didn’t think of it that way. I just…”
“No parties,” Randy said, giving Sean the hardest look he had. He’d stopped more than one fight before it’d started with that look, in prison. “No people. You fucking got it?”
S
ean nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, man. Shit. I didn’t mean nothing by it. Just thought we could have some fun.”
“You make some money here in a few days and you can go out and have all the fun you want,” Randy said.
That seemed to cheer Sean up. He nodded like a bobble head doll, then rushed out the door and leapt into the shitty car he’d arrived in.
Watching him drive away, Randy breathed a long sigh. He needed to get rid of Sean Reynolds. The kid had already cost him nearly 24 hours, and he didn’t have any more time to lose. He needed to get on with things, and couldn’t figure out a way to do that without risking Sean doing something idiotic while he was gone, or figuring out what was happening.
Heading outside, he grabbed a shovel from where he’d hidden it beneath the trailer’s skirting and walked into the woods.
CHAPTER 18
Henry noticed every little detail as he stepped out of his truck and walked toward Wisteria, still in uniform. Everything from the eight other vehicles parked in front of the mansion – one of them Sasha’s – to the way the leaves on the trees lining the drive were slightly turned out. That combined with the extra dose of humidity in the air told him it was going to rain.
He lost himself in these little details, studying the tourist couple who emerged from the house and walked hand-in-hand toward the restaurant where Sasha worked. He’d timed things so he’d arrived a few minutes before the end of her shift.
After his monumental fuck-up the night before, arriving at her place of work with the intentions of getting her to spend more time with him felt shameful. But he still had that itch between his shoulder blades, and he didn’t dare stay away from her just because he was ashamed of what he’d done.
He wanted – needed – to be there for her, to protect her. Sasha wasn’t the kind of woman who’d settle for being babysat though, so he’d come up with a plan. It was still romantic as long as it was a date, wasn’t it?
Besides, he longed to make up for what he’d done the night before – as much as he could, anyway.
