Ashley watched her uncle’s face grow tight, watching Aunt Claire with flinty eyes. He practically spat his next words, “There are a lot of things I’d like right now. Yeah, scotch is one but more importantly I want some answers, Claire.”
Mason shot a look at Claire and Jake and then sidled close to Ashley talking out of the side of his mouth, “From the look on his face, your aunt is in serious shit. Just when we thought things had calmed down.”
TWENTY SEVEN
“HOW COULD YOU keep your brother’s death from me, Claire?” Jake grabbed the glass from her hand and glared at her.
Her heart skipped a beat as her mind scrambled. She looked over at her nieces and their friends. They’d just been through a horrifying time. She was barely holding it together. How were they managing?
She looked at Jake, saw the anger and sadness in his eyes and her chest sank. “Look, I was not doing well at the time. Surely, you can understand that. And do we really want to get into all that now? Here, in front of the kids?”
“Why not? It concerns them too! You shut me out of their lives. You kept your brother’s death from me! Claire! Rob and I were buddies! I loved him and Gail like they were my own brother and sister! You couldn’t pick up the phone and let me know?”
Claire gazed at Ashley and Maya. They were standing with tears in their eyes reliving that time. How could Jake be so insensitive? She couldn’t change the past! And besides...
“You walked out on me, Jake! I was hurt and angry! I couldn’t stand the thought of seeing you again!”
There! It was the truth. She’d been a mess, hiding out at her big brother’s home to try—somehow try!—to get over it. She took a fast swallow of the whisky and slammed the glass on the counter. Barely able to stop the tears that stung the back of her eyes, she took a deep breath.
His voice was ominous in the softness of his tone, “Who’s fault was that, Claire?”
She looked over at her nieces and then turned on him, “Don’t go there, Jake. Not here in front of the girls.” She opened the fridge and got the plate of burgers out trying to focus on the mundane task of cooking and getting them something to eat. She was not going to get sucked into this argument.
Jake’s hand gripped her wrist. “Why not? They’re my nieces too! For someone who never wanted kids, you’re in the thick of it now, aren’t you! I could have been part of Ashley and Maya’s lives. Could have helped them through the ordeal. You’ve deprived not only me, but you hurt them as well, Claire!”
He tossed back the glass of whisky in one quick move. Turning to her again, he sneered. “How’s that career working out for you, Claire? Are you top sales agent in Saranac Lake? Is it everything you’ve dreamed of?”
It was a battle not to reach up and slap him! How dare he say all those things in front of the girls! And if he loved them so much...
“You could have called them! Why didn’t you? Huh, Jake? Answer that!”
BANG!
Claire jerked and she looked at the ceiling overhead. It was happening again! Oh God, no!
“Yu...you need to stop fighting.” Preston’s face had flared, and he looked down after saying the words. “I think if you keep yelling at each other, it reminds her of her own death. Can you just stop?”
Henry’s eyes held panic and mirth as he pointed to the ceiling. “Yeah! Don’t make momma ghost come down here!”
Mason snorted. “You’re such a tool, man.”
Claire looked over at Jake through a film of tears. She couldn’t put the kids or herself through anymore terror. Jake was hurting and he had a right to that hurt. But Preston was right. Fighting was making things worse.
Jake set the glass on the counter. “I’m going upstairs to see if anything’s broken up there. If you don’t mind, Claire, I want to spend some time alone with my nieces.” He turned to Ashley and Maya. “Girls. Can you come up, and we can talk while we check it out?”
They nodded and followed him out of the kitchen silently.
Claire stood crying as she stood at the counter. This was all too much. The nightmare of the Ouija board, her house possessed by an angry spirit and seeing that face. For a moment she paused staring down at the floor. That face.
“Do you need help with this, Claire?” Leah stood looking up at her. “I’m sorry, I had no idea Angela knew Jake. I mean, I’m glad he’s here but he really lit into you.”
Claire’s mind snapped back to Jake. Again the tears flowed. She’d really blown it with him. She’d made a mistake that couldn’t be fixed
TWENTY EIGHT
ASHLEY LOOKED OVER AT MAYA as they followed their uncle up the stairs. He wasn’t angry with them but he’d sure torn a strip off their aunt. It had been scary how mad both of them had been. Not as scary as the Ouija board crap or the Skylar thing, but scary nonetheless.
“I want you to know that I love you. I’m really sorry about what happened to your parents.” Jake paused and looked back at them, searching their faces. “I loved your dad and mom.”
Ashley nodded. She could see the earnest look in his eyes, that he meant every word.
“Why didn’t you ever call us?” Maya blurted.
“Honey, if I’d known what you were going through, wild horses could not have kept me away.” He looked down at the step where Ashley’s foot rested. “I never heard from her, nor her brother… I figured they just took her side and wrote me out of their lives.” He raised his head. “I never knew they died.”
He sighed again. “I called your dad about a two months after your aunt and I broke up, you know. I had moved to Syracuse. The phone was no longer in service.”
Ashley said, “They died a week after you two broke up, Uncle Jake. Maya and I were living with Aunt Claire by then.” The bottom of her chin trembled. “We thought you didn’t care…” She shot a look of fury down the stairs. “She screwed up.”
Nodding, Jake said, “I know.” He looked back at Maya, “But even through that I still loved you. I missed you too. But I was wrong to never call, or try harder to reach out to you guys. I know that now. Please, will you forgive me?”
Ashley took a deep breath. “We never reached out to you either, Uncle Jake.”
“Honey, you lost your parents. No, this is my bad.”
“Okay, then. Of course I forgive you, Uncle Jake. But we need to see you, talk to you more.”
Maya looked over at Ashley and then turned to Jake. “I’ll forgive you if you make this right. Ash has a point. You need to make time for us in your life. Visit us.”
Jake reached for both of them and drew them into a group hug. “I will. I promise.” He held them for a few moments and then eased away. “Now, we’ve got some catching up to do. Let’s see what mess is up there and you can tell me while we get it cleaned up.”
He turned and then flicked the light switch on at the top of the stairs. All the doors were open in every room, but there was nothing out of the ordinary in the hallway.
As he walked into the bathroom, Maya began, “Aunt Claire’s got a boyfriend. Neither one of us like Puke Ass.”
He stopped dead, taken aback. He lowered his head. “Really? Who? She’s got a boyfriend?”
Ashley shot a look at Maya and then added, “His name is Lucas Moretti.”
Jake nodded and looked around the bathroom. He turned and came back out, speaking casually, “Oh yeah? How long she been seeing him?”
Ashley hid the smile following him to Maya’s room. He was pretty interested in what was going on with her aunt for a guy that was through with her. “A few months…maybe about a year or so. Are you seeing anyone?”
He stopped and bent to pick up the dresser which had toppled over, setting it straight before he answered, “No. I’m too busy with work. Just some dates here and there, no one special.” He looked around the room and then up at the attic hatch. “Let me guess. That’s where you found the board, right?”
Maya gaped at him. “How’d you know?”
“Just a hunch.” He loo
ked at Ashley. “How about you? You interested in that Mason guy? He sure seems interested in you.”
Ashley could feel her face getting warm. “Maybe.” She left the room and then went down to her own bedroom. Again the dresser was overturned and even the bed was moved, now up against the window. Holy cow! This ghost was pretty strong!
Jake straightened the bed and then set the dresser upright. “How’s school? Doing well there, you two?”
Maya scoffed. “It’s summer, Uncle Jake.”
He reached out and pinched her side, trying to tickle her. “I know that, Miss Smarty-Pants! Did you pass or what?”
Ashley walked past him and grinned. “Straight A’s except in math and science.”
“Hey! I could give you a hand with that.” He followed her down the hall and then to the other side to their aunt’s bedroom.
“How? Don’t you live in Syracuse? That’s a pretty far way to go to help us with our homework.” Maya moaned as she followed him into the room.
“This room wasn’t touched.” Ashley turned to her uncle. “It was only where we used the board. I wish I’d burned it like I’d planned.” Her face was tight when she continued, “Yet, it’s the same board that Aunt Claire used as a teenager. How weird is that? It turned up in here on her bed.”
“She said the board told her that Dad would die. She threw it away and yet it was here in this house that she bought.” Maya looked up at him. “It sort of followed her. Do you think we will ever be free of it?”
He looked at each of them. “Yes. When this is all over I’ll make sure of it. I’m not leaving till I know you girls are safe.”
Maya went over to him and hugged him. “I don’t want you to go. Can you get a transfer at work and live here?”
He stroked her hair and looked down at her. “I promise I’ll come see you. And I’ll call you.” He looked over at Ashley. “We can Skype so I can help you with math.”
Ashley stepped forward and went up on her toes to kiss his cheek. “I’d like that, Uncle Jake.”
Maya pulled back and looked up, “Who is this Angela who knows you and Leah?”
He chuckled. “That’s story in itself, Maya. And not one I’d care to get into right now. Let’s just say she’s a kid who has seen more than enough of life and the afterlife.”
“I’ve got to hear it!” Maya gave him a squeeze and tried to tickle his waist.
Ashley smiled and went out of the room to go back downstairs. “Not me! If it has to do with demons and angry spirits, I’m good.”
Maya continued behind her with Jake. “You can sleep in my room. I’ll bunk with Ash and Leah.”
He laughed. “Sounds like a plan. I’ve had more than enough of couch surfing.” When Ashley turned to peer at him, he added, “I have a place. But I’ve had to bunk on sofas guarding people, for work.”
She smiled and continued down the stairs.
TWENTY NINE
THE SMELL OF THE BURGERS BROILING in the oven drifted to Ashley’s nostrils. It was only then that she realized she hadn’t eaten since that morning. When she walked into the kitchen, Mason and Leah were at the counter helping with the dinner. Henry and Preston were seated at the kitchen table, but the Ouija board was gone.
“What’d you do with it, Preston?” Maya went over and took a seat next to him.
Henry answered, “We took it out to the garden shed. But who knows if it’s gonna stay there?”
Ashley’s gut wrenched at his words because he was right. The board had a mind of its own and a way of appearing wherever it chose. When this was over, she was not only going to burn it but she would bury the ashes...on the other side of town.
A cell phone started up and after a few notes Ashley recognized the tune as the one her aunt had selected for Lucas’s calls. Aunt Claire dried her hands and raced over to her purse. She looked at the front of her phone and then looking around. “I’ve got to take this.” She hurried out of the room and answered it.
Maya looked over at Ashley, “Great. He calls after the shit storm is over. He’s a big help.”
All the while Jake was quiet watching them. Ashley nodded and then spoke to Leah, “Your mom was okay with Preston staying? She didn’t think that was kind of weird?”
Leah shrugged, “She was probably more relieved that we wouldn’t be out driving around in this storm. She said that the street in front of the house is flooded. She’s got Dad going downstairs every fifteen minutes making sure the sewers aren’t backing up into the basement.”
Mason turned from where he was cutting vegetables and looked at Jake. “You said something earlier about Skylar. That you saw a missing person alert come through. It has to be the same one, right? I mean that name is not too common.”
“Yeah.” Jake looked at Ashley as he took his cell phone from his pocket. “I want to go online; is your internet up?”
“I think so…I mean, it was earlier today, but who knows…” She looked to the ceiling. “If Skylar’s messed it up?”
Jake’s eyebrows rose. “Well, let’s find out.” He tapped his screen. “Yep, you got Wi-Fi.” He typed on the small keyboard and brushed the screen with the tips of his finger, scanning through pages. He paused and then walked over to Mason. “You said you saw her in the window. Is this her?”
Mason pulled back and his eyes went wide. “Yeah. That’s the face I saw earlier.”
Maya jumped from her seat ahead of the boys racing over to see the photo. “Yeah. That’s her. Who was she? Are you going to let them know that she’s dead?”
Jake looked at Preston. “I think you’re right that it needs to be just us. We’ll look for her tomorrow morning. Plus, what would I tell them if I called it in? I know she’s dead because you guys saw her ghost? It’s better to wait until I have hard evidence.” He sighed. “Like her body.”
Ashley turned away and took some things out of the fridge. She could barely look at that poor girl’s face knowing she was dead. And not just dead but desperately reaching out for their help. The girl didn’t look that much older than she was herself.
“Did she live around here? When was she last seen?” Henry stared at Jake.
Jake held the phone back and read, “Nineteen years old, last seen at the Akwesasne casino.” He looked at Henry. “That’s about an hour away.”
Maya piped up, “Carol works there! I wonder if she saw her.”
“Who’s Carol?” Jake asked.
Ashley set the ketchup and mayo on the counter. “She’s a friend of Aunt Claire’s. She’s an accountant at the casino.” She looked over at the doorway and heard Claire’s voice from the living room. She must be telling Puke Ass all about what was going on.
Jake put his phone back in his pocket and then went over to check the burgers in the oven. “Just in time. I guess your aunt forgot about them.” His voice was barely audible in the next words, “Too busy with her boyfriend.”
Leah finished with the salad and brought it over to the table. “So... Angela? How do you know her, Jake? She’s on the West Coast.”
Jake took the tray out and scowled. “She shouldn’t be broadcasting that fact on social media, Leah. I knew her and her family briefly in Alexandria Bay.”
Leah stood watching him put the burgers in buns and place them on the plates that Ashley passed him. “She’s in my Facebook group. I told her what was happening here with the Ouija board and that spirit. She said she knew someone who has some experience with that who wasn’t that far away from here. So tell us. What happened?”
Maya joined in, “Yeah, you said something about the afterlife. I want to hear about it.”
Ashley was about to object but Preston beat her to it. “I...I don’t thu...think thu...that’s such a good i...idea right now. Thu...things are quiet. Luh...let’s just go wih...with that.”
Ashley took the cutlery from the drawer and handed the bundle to Mason to set the table. “Preston is right. We’ve been through enough. Maybe some other time we can hear that story.”
; Jake’s face had tightened. “Don’t hold your breath, Ash.” He looked over at the doorway. “Is she going to be on the phone all night? How often does she see this clown? What’s he do for a living anyway?”
Ashley rolled her eyes. “He’s a hedge fund investment guy. He works from home.”
Henry sneered. “No, that’s what he says he does. If he’s in the market then I’m a monkey’s uncle.”
Maya piped up, “Henry is obsessed with Wall Street. He’s going to be a trader when he gets older.”
Mason nudged his brother’s shoulder as he passed him. “He’ll make a ton of money to finance my dream of being a ski bum.” He looked at Maya. “Where are we sleeping tonight by the way? Maybe we can take your room and you can bunk with your aunt or Ashley?”
Jake’s finger rose in the air wagging it at Mason. “No, no, no. That’s not how this works. I get Maya’s room and you guys battle it out for the sofa. And remember, Mason. I’m a light sleeper and Ashley’s uncle.” He smiled brightly. “I also have a gun.”
Ashley felt her face heat up, and she sneaked a glance at Mason. But instead of protesting that they were just friends and he already had a girlfriend, he chuckled looking at her uncle.
“You’re all right, Jake!”
Jake shot a look at him. “Considering the situation how we’re all in this together, I’ll let you away with that. Normally it would be Mister Whitaker.”
Aunt Claire came into the room at that moment and looked around. “Sorry. I see you got dinner yourselves. What are you talking about?”
Jake picked up his plate and cutlery and wandered over to the doorway. “I’m going to eat in the living room and check out your cable channels.”
Ashley looked at her aunt and saw her cheeks flare red as she strode over to the table.
And just like that, the mood changed with everyone quietly eating.
A Grave Conjuring Page 16
