by Bill Jessome
“Have you seen her?”
“No, but people I know have.”
“Do you think we’ll see her?”
“I doubt it.”
And then out of the blue Adeline started talking about why she had left Toronto.
“The reason I came east was to get out of a bad relationship, and I also felt a lack of fulfilment in my work. I’ve always had the urge to write. I’ve had this dream since I was ten. I don’t know if it was a wise decision. I don’t even know if I can write, but I have to find out.”
“I always said you were meant to be a writer. I could see it in the letters you wrote to me when we were still kids. You made the right decision Adeline, I can feel it.”
There was a chill in the air and fog was rolling in over the rocky beach. “Time to go back,” Sandy said.
Adeline was up bright and early the next morning, but not before Sandy, who was working on a new canvas.
“We’ll have bacon and eggs before you set off.”
“Great. And the coffee smells delicious.”
Over the breakfast table, Adeline knew by the way her friend was looking at her that there was something on her mind and that she was having a difficult time finding a way of getting it out.
“I know you too well, Sandy, you have something on your mind. Out with it.”
“Well, it’s just that. Now, it’s just a rumour mind you, and yet if something untoward should happened I’d never forgiven myself for not warning—no, not warning—telling you.”
“Telling me what?”
“Well there are stories, rumours, that the cottage you bought is haunted. That’s why it’s been vacant for so long.”
Adeline laughed. “Haunted? Ghosts? Sandy, really.”
“It’s what I’ve heard, so I thought it was only right that you should know.”
“And I thank you on behalf of myself and all those shadowy things that go bump in the night. Really, Sandy, I’m surprised.”
“It’s okay then? You’re all right with it?”
“Of course. I don’t believe in all that hocus-pocus anyway.”
Sandy stood in the yard waving as her friend drove down the highway. She stayed there until the car disappeared. She couldn’t put a finger on it, but she had an uneasy feeling as she went back into the house.
Two and a half hours later, Adeline turned the car onto the long and winding driveway that led to her new home. She noticed a green truck parked by the side of the house. When she got out of the car, a man came out of the house smiling.
“I’m Eddie Colter. The bank hired me to get things in shape for you.”
“Yes, Mr. Colter, nice to meet you. I’m Adeline Colby. How’s everything? I mean with the house.”
“Oh, great. No problem. Everything is ship shape, like my daddy used to say.”
Adeline took in the sweep of the ocean. It was so enormous it took her breath away.
Eddie Colter was watching and sensed her nervousness.
“You gotta be real careful when near the cliff ’s edge ma’am. It’s a mighty long drop to the rocks below. Sometimes if you’re standing too close to the edge, the wind will sneak up and lift you clear off your feet and down you go. That’s why there’s them poles staked out along the edge. Something to hold on to if you have a mind to peek over the side.”
“What’s down there?”
“Two hundred feet of God’s air and jagged rocks to fall on. If that don’t kill ya, the fierce surf will. And something to remember ma’am, only a fool walks out here when the fog rolls in.”
“Well thank you, I’ll remember. It will be some time before I find the nerve to get that close. Well then, I’d like to see the inside of the house before I get things out of the car.”
“Right, and then I’ll help you with your things?”
“The heavy things, anyway.”
Adeline was certain she’d feel differently about the place tomorrow, but today she felt somewhat disappointed. She had assumed the cottage would be warm and welcoming. She had thought wrong.
It wasn’t that there was anything specific she disliked. From the outside the cottage looked small, but inside it was quite spacious. There were two large bedrooms, the master bedroom with an ensuite bathroom. There was an enormous living room off the dining room and a good old-fashioned kitchen with ample cupboard space. On the west side of the living room there was an alcove facing the ocean, the perfect spot to write her book. Still, she couldn’t shake the disappointment she felt about the house’s atmosphere. Oh well, we’ll grow to like each other, I’m sure, she thought.
Before leaving, Eddie Colter offered to continue the handy work, and she accepted readily.
“I left my phone number on the kitchen table, ma’am, just in case.” Eddie Colter then saw the slightly alarmed expression on Adeline’s face and quickly added, “It pays to be enterprising these days ma’am; early worm and all that.”
“Yes. Thank you. I’ll have to see what needs to be done first.”
“I left a list of things that should be taken care of with the number ma’am. Well good day to ya.”
“Good day.” There was something about Eddie Colter that bothered her. Something strange. But if the bank people recommended him, he must be okay.
Adeline was surprised when she checked the refrigerator and shelves. Sandy had bought enough cans of food to last the winter—and, Adeline noticed with relief, a sufficient supply of wine, too. After supper, she watched the news, read a while, and fell asleep.
When she woke in the morning, the dream she’d had cluttered her mind. It was a most peculiar one. It had something to do with people arguing over where to hide a body. She also remembered how angry some of the voices had been.
After a shower she went downstairs to the smell of freshly brewed coffee in the automatic coffee pot. “Ain’t progress grand,” she thought, as she made her way to the living room. She stood looking out the window at the dawn, sipping coffee and looking at the vastness of the ocean, when she heard someone behind her whispering. Adeline’s back stiffened. The hand holding the cup began to shake.
My god, she thought, if I turn—and I must—what will I see?
Again the whispering. Her heart was racing and she was having difficulty breathing. She finally whirled around to face whatever it was, but there was no one there. How could that be? Adeline wondered. I distinctly heard someone whispering. Maybe somebody got inside and was trying to scare me. The thought angered her, which in turn gave her the courage to call out, “Hello? Hellooo?” No one. She crossed the living room toward the kitchen and was stopped in the doorway by what she saw. Faint at first, the shapes were beginning to appear. They were of eight men seated at a long table, whispering to each other. And it looked like the men had just come in from the rain. Water was dripping from their knee-high black boots onto the floor. Fear filled Adeline’s heart when one of the men turned and looked in her direction. She took a step back. Was he looking at her or someone else? I must be losing my mind. Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing? she thought. Is this something out of the past? Ghosts! Oh god, Sandy’s right! The place is haunted.
Then too, she remembered the dream she had. Now she wasn’t so sure it was a dream at all. Maybe it was these same men arguing during the night while she slept. She stood with her back to the wall, just inches from the open door, and listened while her heart pounded. They were deciding what to do with the body of someone who had stolen something from them.
“Throw ‘im over the cliff,” someone shouted.
“A burial’s too good for the likes of ‘im. Thievin’ from his own.”
“Take ‘im out when we sail on the morning tide and dump ‘im over the side, I says.”
“You’re the boss, Cap’n Swaine. What do you say?”
“I say we buries ‘im in the secret place in the cellar and we bury the gold under ‘im. No one will ever find ‘im or the gold. And for good measure, I’ll put a curse on them that tries to steal what’s n
ot theirs.” There was hearty agreement to this plan from the other men.
Adeline looked down, fascinated, as a piece of seaweed floated by in a fine stream of water. She stiffened when she heard chairs being pushed away from the table.
“So, it’s the cellar for ‘em that try to cheat their mates, right?”
“Aye Cap’n, aye!”
Then there was only silence. Have they gone? She wondered. Should I look? What if they’re there waiting for me to show my face? What will I do then? Should I intervene? Can I intervene? If I do, will they attack me or will they vanish at the sight of someone living?
Adeline waited and waited but there was nothing but absolute silence. Three, four minutes went by. I just have to find out, she thought to herself. She took in a deep breath and stepped boldly into the kitchen. It was empty. The only evidence that anyone had been there was the eight puddles of water on the floor. Adeline turned and went out the front door, and for the longest time stood staring into the dawn. Now, she thought, now what do I do?
What she did was go back into the cottage to get her purse and car keys. She then drove down to the village and sat in a coffee shop until the library opened. She also called Sandy. “You were right, the place is haunted,” she said, as soon as Sandy picked up.
“Adeline?”
“Yes, it’s me. There were eight of them all seated around my kitchen table discussing ways to get rid of a body and bury gold.”
“It was only a rumour. I really never believed the place was really haunted. Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure.”
“Where are you now? You’re not still in the cottage, I hope?”
“No. I’m calling you from a restaurant in the village. I’m waiting for the library to open so I can see if there’s anything there about the place.”
“I think you should leave and come stay with me.”
“Leave? Don’t be ridiculous. If anybody leaves, it will be those creepy ghosts.”
“Do you want me to come over and stay with you? Please don’t ask me to, please.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t. Listen, I have to go. I’ll let you know how things turn out. Bye.”
A frail-looking young girl seated at the information desk smiled as Adeline approached. “Yes, how may I assist you?”
“My name is Adeline Colby. I bought the Swaine cottage and I’m wondering if you have a history of the place? Something out of the ordinary?”
“Yes, to both questions. Let me see…Ah, here it is. Places, written back in the fifties. The Swaine cottage is included because it’s one of the oldest homes still standing and because its owner was a privateer. Would you like to see the book?”
“Yes, of course.”
Places was a small book, only eighty pages. Adeline found what she was searching for on page thirty-three:
Not much is known of the owner of the cottage, Captain Samuel Swaine, but we do know he was a privateer. In 1790, Captain Swaine built a cottage on the highest point of land in the port town. He said he selected that piece of land so he could keep an eye on those down below, but others believed the reason was so he could haul his booty up over the cliffs without being detected.
Captain Swaine and his crew were lost in a storm off Sable. Not long after his death there were reports that the cottage was haunted. A family of three fled into the night when they were awakened by screams and angry voices coming from the cellar. Rumour had it that there were bodies buried there and that captain Swaine hid his gold under the bodies.
There were a lot of folks who were itching to find out if there was any gold in the cellar, bodies or no bodies, but the possibility of being confronted by the ghosts of Captain Swaine and his men kept them away.
Closing the book, Adeline smiled, thinking, I don’t know about the gold but I sure know about the ghosts.
In the weeks that followed, there were no further visits from the ghost of Captain Samuel Swaine or any of his maties, as he so affectionately called them. Eddie Colter, however, was around all the time, fixing little things and painting. He showed up at Adeline’s door early one morning with a pressing need to repair part of the foundation. The damage was on the inside, and he wanted to get started before the first frost.
“Well, if it needs to be done, of course. How long will it take?”
“Oh, I’d say no more than a couple of days at the most.”
“Very well then. When do you want to start?”
“Sooner the better, ma’am. Got everything in the truck.”
“Fine. Actually, I’m going out of town tomorrow morning for three or four days and I was going to call and ask you to keep an eye on the place while I was gone. Now you can do both.”
Eddie Colter agreed not only to look after the cottage but also to get the place ready for winter, especially the cracks in the foundation.
“And you’ll be leaving when, ma’am?”
“Tomorrow morning. I’ll fly out of Halifax to Toronto. If everything goes as planned, I should be back by Saturday at the latest.”
The next morning, as Adeline drove out of her driveway, she looked for Eddie Colter’s pickup, but it was nowhere to be seen. Slept in, I suppose, she thought. Mr. Eddie Colter, there’s something about you that bothers me. You have something on your mind other than just handyman’s work. But what?
If Adeline had looked in the window of the wayside restaurant as she drove by, she would have seen Eddie looking out. Eddie watched Adeline’s sleek-looking convertible drive out of sight before he left the restaurant. Parking his pickup by the back door of Adeline’s cottage, he quickly grabbed a pick and shovel and hurried inside.
By mid-morning Eddie had dug up most of the dirt cellar floor and was beginning to think that both the buried gold and the body were nothing more than a rumour. He was an impatient man and didn’t take disappointments lightly. Cursing, he threw the pick against the far wall. He was about to do the same with the shovel when he heard a creaking noise. His mouth fell open at what he saw. The pick had tripped something that unlocked a secret door in the foundation. Eddie moved cautiously toward his new discovery. He got down on his knees and slowly opened the door all the way. He could see nothing but blackness. He hurried back to his truck to get his flashlight. The light fell on a narrow passageway that sloped downward for some three hundred feet.
“Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if it doesn’t go all the way to the ocean!” breathed Eddie, as he noticed the water coming up the passageway thirty or forty feet and then retreating. What a tidal wave couldn’t do to this place! he thought. He laughed out loud when he thought of how devious ol’ Captain Swaine was. Got his booty into the cottage without being seen or caught.
Eddie had to bend down as he pushed his way into the narrow passageway. Halfway down, Eddie stopped. On his right was a torn sheet of tarpaulin that covered what looked like an entrance to a room.
Eddie ripped off the tarpaulin and sent the beam of light forward. His eyes bulged in their sockets at what he saw. The room was like a mini-warehouse. Against one wall were boxes upon boxes and Eddie, with glee and greed in his eyes, could only imagine what those boxes contained. But his primary interest was where the good Captain Swaine had buried his gold. Eddie was no one’s fool. He knew what to look for. Find a mound of earth or even a tiny depression in the earth’s floor, and you’ll find something buried.
He shone his flashlight across the dirt floor. Aha! There it was, a visible depression. Quickly he crossed the room, fell to his knees, and gently pressed the palms of his hands onto the surface.
“Could this be it?” he muttered. “Could Captain Swaine’s gold be buried here?” Eddie went back to the cellar, got his shovel, and returned to the room to start digging. After a few minutes, his shovel struck something solid. He moved the beam of light, and then jumped back. A skull!
Adeline was sitting in the Halifax airport, sipping coffee and listening to the news, when her cell phone rang. The call was from her agent in Toronto,
telling her the meeting with her publisher had been postponed until next week.
“So there is really nothing we can do but wait. I hope you understand,” apologized her agent.
“Yes, of course. Another hour and I’d have been on the plane, but I can get home today.”
Adeline said goodbye to Miriam, went to her car, and wondered if she should go straight home or spend some time in Halifax. She decided to do some shopping in the city and then head home.
It was dark when she pulled into her driveway. There were lights on in the kitchen and cellar. When she got out of the car she noticed the back end of Eddie Colter’s truck sticking out from behind the cottage. It looked like he was trying to hide it. There wasn’t a sound when she stepped into the front hall. When she got to the kitchen she noticed, annoyed, that Eddie had made himself a sandwich but hadn’t bothered tidying up. The door to the cellar was slightly ajar. Adeline listened, but heard nothing. Slowly, she went down the narrow steps into the semi-lit cold and damp cellar. Every inch of the cellar floor was dug up, and there was an opening in the foundation. This did not look like an ordinary repair job. When she got closer and looked inside the narrow passageway, she saw a thin beam of light coming from what she assumed was a room. Maybe, she thought, something happened to Eddie. She moved slowly down the passageway toward the light. She stopped a few feet away from the gaping doorway and listened. The only sound she heard was the lapping of water against rocks. She looked further down the passageway, but there was only darkness beyond the room. The passageway must end at the edge of the cliff, she thought, as she walked into the dimly lit room. She was only a few feet inside when she was struck on the head. She fell toward an opening in the dirt floor, and landed face to face with a human skull.
When Adeline came to, her wrists and ankles were tied. When she tried to free herself she heard someone laughing. She twisted to look behind her and saw her handyman chuckling away.
“You’ll never get free, ma’am. When old Eddie ties someone up, they stay tied. I didn’t bother taping your mouth, cause who’s to hear you down here? Now, here’s the thing. If you had stayed away like you promised, I’d have all this here gold stashed away and I’d be long gone. But of course I can’t have you telling everyone what I’ve found, so I’ve decided that our friend there has been alone for much too long a time and I’m sure he’d love some company, especially one as lovely as you.” He gestured to the skull.
