by Olivia Swift
“That is just wonderful,” she told him. “The one with the balcony will look marvelous with views down the garden and right across to the mountains. When will you start?”
“Tomorrow.” He grinned. “I’ll call them in the morning.” They stood up and cleared the coffee mugs away and he rolled up the plans. Then he gently took hold of her shoulders and turned her toward him.
“Thanks for the support,” he said and took her mouth with his own. Kat let her practical side disappear as the force of emotion that she felt raced through her veins, and there was nothing she wanted more than to stay in his arms forever.
Ben Carruthers let the hope that she would want to be part of his life run riot, as he felt a surge of electricity hit the top of his head and the bottom of his toes with one enormous somersault. He deepened the kiss and it took them both far away from a trailer on a building site where peculiar stones had been dug up and taken away.
10
Kat and Ben parted at her family’s front door, and he drove away humming a little tune under his breath. He would call the timber company in the morning and get the house building underway.
The next day went well, but in the minds of all of the ghost watchers there was a sort of excitement or maybe a little frisson of fear as well. They met up as arranged and walked quietly down the track until they reached the place from which you could see the foundations of The Summer Place, but within the cover of the trees.
They had all dressed in dark clothing and had flashlights in hand. From the shelter of the woods there was no sign of movement at all anywhere else.
“We are early,” Dex remarked quietly. They found places to sit or to lean against trees to pass the time and whispered to each other as they waited.
“Look,” Meghan said and grabbed at Simon’s arm. “There’s somebody there.” The beam of a flashlight could be seen shining on the ground.
“Ghosts must have LED lights these days,” Simon joked quietly. As they watched, they saw the figure with the flashlight was lighting a small fire. The flames danced but stayed close to the ground.
“There’s a sort of hole in the floor,” Kat said. “The fire must be in that.” One or two more figures joined the first one and they appeared to be wearing long robes. They all looked much the same from a distance. It was impossible to say whether they were men or women.
“See what I mean?” Simon said with sadness in his voice. “That is a stolen totem pole.”
They watched as two figures that did seem to be men, pulled the quite heavy object into place and stood it upright.
“They are no ghosts,” Carly added.
“Just thieves,” Simon answered.
The group of people then formed a circle around the fire and the pole, and Kat and the rest could hear faint sounds of some sort of singing. The figures moved around in jerky movements but as time wore on, the dancing became more animated and the noise a little louder.
“Do you think they’re on drugs?” Dex wondered out loud, and the others agreed that it was likely. They watched the silly antics of a group of folks doing an odd dance and then gasped as another figure appeared with a headdress on that was not Native American. It looked very much like a pair of horns.
“Yuck,” Carly said. The dancing figures all came to a halt and stood waiting to see what the newcomer would do. Then another figure dragged in someone who was cloaked but obviously not willing to be there.
“Good lord,” Meghan said. “They cannot surely be going to—” she let the rest of the sentence go unsaid because the person with the prisoner pulled away the cloak, and in the light of the flames, the woman was naked but had her hands tied and her mouth covered.
“This has got to stop,” Ben said and started forward.
“Let me frighten them first. Call the police and follow me down to surround them.” Simon held his arm and exerted the authority he was used to wielding when there was a group of people. The others looked at him as he stripped off his shirt and let loose his hair. “They have just conjured up the ghost of an Apache chief.” Barefoot, he strode ahead of the rest and approached the group. They were so concentrated on what was in front of them that he reached the place before anyone saw him, and then he let out a magnificent screech that startled the whole group of dancers.
There were a few screams from some of the cloaked figures, and two of them took off and ran away. Simon made more noises and shouted in a language that the others assumed was Apache, which froze the meeting for long enough to let the others join him.
Dex, Ben and the others ran out from all sides and shouted that the police were on their way. Carly, Kat and Meghan all headed for the poor girl still stuck in the middle and ripped the tape off her face. They pulled the cloak back over her and untied her hands.
“Come away from here,” Meghan said, and they led her off to one side and found something to sit on. “Who are you?” the archaeologist asked. The woman was so terrified and upset that she couldn’t really answer but they did find out that she had been abducted after she finished work in a bar.
“You’re safe now,” Carly told her, and they looked back to where Ben, Simon and Dex had captured two men and a woman. Kat took the rope over that had tied the girl and helped them find enough pieces of cloth to tie the three of them up. In the distance they were glad to hear the sound of police sirens. Ben shone his flashlight at the three they had managed to stop from fleeing, but he didn’t recognize anyone. The three were very unresponsive and looked either drunk or drugged.
“He was here,” Kat said to Ben. “I can feel it. The black cloud is still here, but he ran away.”
The squad cars drew up at the parking area and men ran over to help. The officer in charge managed to get them to speak one at a time and got the gist of what had happened. He sent a female officer to deal with the woman who had been kidnapped and took the three others into custody. Then he asked them all to come down to the precinct and tell the story properly.
Officer James was the female policeman who took over dealing with the terrified and now violently shaking victim. She called for a doctor immediately while on her way to the precinct.
Satisfied that the girl was being taken care of, the rest were happy to answer questions and report what they had seen.
“Why were you there?” was the main question from Detective Gomez. Ben recounted buying the stones and how they had started to try to find out where they came from. He omitted the weird things about the stones moving but told them that the archaeologists had confirmed that the stones were unusual and from a very long time ago . . . probably dating back about five thousand years.
“Thing is,” Kat said, “we buried the stones with the markings, but someone came and dug them up.” She hesitated, and the detective asked what was it that she had not told him. Kat smiled. “It seems crazy, and there is no evidence, but I know that the man called Art Melvich from the antiques shop was there tonight. He has an awful nastiness about him and I could feel it,” she finished in a rush.
“I am pretty sure he was the main person there dressed up,” Ben added. “I didn’t recognize who brought in the poor girl they kidnapped off the street.” The police got all the other details they could remember.
“We’ll keep it as a crime scene and see what we find in the morning. We can find where they parked their vehicles and maybe pick something up there.” He added that the three captives were being tested for drugs. “We’ll get nothing out of them just now but they will probably give us what we need to pick up the rest.” He thanked all of them for being brave enough to step in and help and said he would be in touch when he had something to report.
“Can I see the girl we untied?” Kat asked, and Carly backed her up. Detective Gomez went out and came back to say the woman was feeling much better and they could have a quick word.
They had found clothes for her, and the doctor had said that physically she was fine.
“They say I’ll need counseling,” she told Kat, Carly, a
nd Meghan. “But you were wonderful. Thank you so much.”
“If you want to talk to us, you can find Carly and me at the crystal shop,” Kat said, and then told her how to find them.
“I will when I feel better” she answered. “My name is Marie Carpenter.”
The group left the precinct and went to an all-night diner for a coffee and to talk the whole thing over. Simon was praised for his idea to startle them while everyone else got into position. He wondered if he could claim the totem pole for the Apache museum and he was pretty sure he knew where it was from.
“I am pretty sure it was stolen from there in the first place,” he added.
“You did make a great ghost of an Apache chief,” Meghan told him.
“Can you really speak Apache?” Kat asked him. He nodded and told them his parents were both Apache and he spoke the language at home quite often.
“I wonder if the stones will turn up somewhere?” Ben said. “I guess they’ll question Melvich after what Kat’s told them about him.”
“I would think they have their eye on somebody like that anyway,” Meghan answered.
“Don’t want those stones back though,” Kat joined in. “Maybe the museum would like those as well” she said with a smile at Simon.
“After I thought about it,” Meghan told them. “I think they were probably part of something to do with the rising sun, especially at midsummer.”
“Oh, my mom will be overjoyed if she hears that. She loves the summer solstice.” Kat grinned. “I’ll not tell her. She might want to put flowers in her hair and dance around them.”
On that cheerful note, they said their goodbyes and set off for home.
“That poor girl,” Kat said to Ben as they drove away. “It must have been terrifying.”
“It was just so lucky that we were there to step in.” She touched his arm.
“Do you think he meant to kill her?” she asked in a quiet voice. “Is he that bad? He feels that bad to me.”
Ben looked quickly sideways at the woman beside him and reached out his hand.
“He frightens you,” he said and pulled up in a parking spot. “Tell me if it frightens you that much.” She nodded and hesitated.
“I’ll ask what Carly thinks in the morning, but yes, I think he is bad enough for that.”
“And if he knows it was us that stopped everything, would he look for revenge?” Ben voiced his worst fears.
“Maybe he is on the run because he knows the others will tell the police.”
“I’ll call that detective tomorrow and see what he thinks. They will have found out more from the other three, I would imagine.” Ben added. “The meetings will be finished at The Summer Place.”
He set off driving again and told her that they should be careful. When they pulled up at the bungalow, he took her hand.
“When you go into work, I want you to travel with your dad and if he can’t do it, call me and I’ll pick you up.”
Kat looked at him and knew he was deadly serious.
“You think it might be that dangerous?” she whispered. He nodded and as they went to the door, he took her in his arms.
“Better safe than sorry,” he said. “I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you. You saw what they were capable of doing to a perfectly innocent passerby.”
“You are right. We should be very careful just in case, and if you are working at Eagle’s Cry, I think you should have someone with you.” He nodded and claimed a long and lingering kiss. She could feel the worry in his system and pulled back.
“Stop worrying about me.” She smiled. “We’ll get together and work it out.”
11
Kat woke up her mom and dad and told them what had happened. Her dad was in total agreement with Ben and said he would take her to work and back.
“If we have to close the shop sometimes . . . so what,” he said. You will always have somebody with you.”
“So, it was nothing to do with spirits or ghostly goings on. It was a bunch of nasty folks drugged up,” her mom added and they talked about it for some time.
Kat managed a couple of hours sleep before her mom brought her breakfast in bed as a treat. Her dad waited until she was ready, even if the shop opened up a little later than usual. Ben checked several times and phone calls were made between Dex, Jazz and the rest of them to make sure everyone knew what was going on.
Ben and Jinty were working together to finish the current project for a client. It had been more of a tidy-up than a design, and they planned to finish the next day. Ben brought his young worker up to date as well.
“I’ll always come along if you need me,” Jinty offered, and then asked if he could tell his gran about the night before. Ben told him to go ahead. The following phone conversation between Jinty and his grandmother was interesting, as she did say that Melvich had been convicted a long time ago of attacking someone.
“So, the police will have found that record by now,” Ben remarked as he listened to the call on speakerphone. He passed the news on to Kat and Carly.
The afternoon was drawing to a close as he answered his phone without looking at the screen, expecting to hear Kat. The man from the timber company told him that the first delivery would be ready in two days and asked if that was suitable.
“Gee, that was quick,” he said in amazement. “But I can be there.” The man gave him times and ended the call.
Ben phoned Kat and told her the news about the house. He heard her relating it to Carly and then agreed to meet up after work. “If your dad takes you home, I’ll pick you up. We can grab a bite to eat and figure out what to do about the house.”
Then Kat phoned him back to say that Simon had been in touch with the police about the totem pole, and the detective had told him they were making headway.
“Anyway, Carly says that when we’ve eaten, to come over for a coffee, and she’s invited Simon and Meghan as well.”
“What a hectic life we lead,” Ben said and laughed into the phone. “See you later.”
Bev came to the door as Ben arrived to collect her daughter, and they had a few words about what had happened.
“There are always folks who kid themselves they can conjure up the supernatural,” she remarked. “Most of that group were probably just being fooled and given drugs by whoever was running it.”
“Do you think it would be Melvich?” Ben asked her, and she replied that it was impossible to say.
“I think he would enjoy being nasty, but whether or not he has what it takes to lead people astray like that, I just wouldn’t know.”
Kat shuddered.
“Why do people have to be so horrible? If they want to dance around in the nude, why not do it without hurting somebody?” Kat asked.
“We’ll go and find out what Simon discovered.”
“Stick together,” Bev called as they climbed into the truck.
“No problem there.” Ben grinned as he drove away and Kat waved to her mom.
“Dex says he is making sure Carly is not by herself as well . . . just in case the man knows that we would recognize him.”
“He is probably too busy avoiding police to worry about any of us,” Ben suggested as they arrived at the Italian restaurant. A quick meal later, they had relaxed and were talking about the house instead of the nasty people. Afterward, they drove up to Eagle’s Cry.
“I cannot believe that the house is coming in two days,” Kat cried as she jumped out of the car and went over toward the foundations. Ben followed over and put an arm on her shoulders.
“It was quite a shock when he called, but they have the panels in stock and can start, so I just agreed,” he answered. “I’ll have to be here while they are putting it up in case they hit any problems. Luckily, Jinty and I will finish this job we are on tomorrow and I can take a couple of days off.” He told her that Jinty had offered to be around if they needed another person at any time. “His gran is a real character,” Ben added.
They walked over t
he foundations and tried to imagine where different rooms would be.
“At least we can tell where the front door will be and the kitchen will be at the back,” Kat said.
“It is one big, open living space starting at the front and going all the way to the back, with glass doors leading out of the kitchen into what will eventually be a garden,” Ben told her as they walked to the rear of the foundation and looked over the future garden area. “This will be the garden for the house, but the other gardens will be sort of an advertisement for people to visit and see what can be achieved.”
They went to the trailer and unrolled the plans.
“I cannot believe that in two days, the walls will start to go up,” Kat said. “It just doesn’t seem possible.” She paused and then asked if he would like her to take a couple of days vacation and be there to make coffee and anything else that was useful. He looked at her with a smile as huge as a sunrise and nodded enthusiastically.
“Would you really?” he asked. “That would be wonderful.”
“I would love to see the walls go up. It is so exciting,” she told him. “It’s great to think about something good for the future and not to keep worrying about stones and people being nasty.”
“You are so right,” he said and swung her off the ground and back down again. “Let’s go and see Dex and Carly and find out about the totem pole.” As they locked up the trailer, he pointed out where the trucks would be able to unload materials. They roared off to Chestnut Hall and found everyone else already there and chattering like a flock of magpies.
“Come and hear about the museum,” Carly called out, as Evan produced coffee and cupcakes.
“We ran up to the house because the builders are coming the day after tomorrow,” Ben explained, and then everyone wanted to know what had changed.
