“He’s got nothing to be afraid of as long as he steers clear of my young sister-in-law,” Miles smiled.
“Man, I think guys have more to fear from him, than they do your Dad and Uncle Mark,” said Xander. He looked at Miles and started to speak, then stopped.
“What?” asked Miles.
Xander looked indecisive, as the rest of us watched him and wondered why. He finally made up his mind.
“I just wondered if you knew Anika, and knew about it, when that whole Bill the jerk thing happened.”
“I did,” said Miles, his arms tightening around me as they always did when this topic came up. “I knew something was wrong when Anika came to the estate the next morning with the piano tuner. Ordinarily she would have left the guy to work, and hung out with me and searched for proof of my innocence, but instead she stayed in the music room for three hours while he tuned. Then shortly after the guy left, Anika’s Mom came to the estate. Anika was upset her Mom was there and that she’d called her Dad and Uncle, and then I saw the bruises.”
Miles stopped talking, and everyone else was silent. I turned around so I could hug him.
“I didn’t know what happened, but knew it was bad. The relief was almost unbearable when she said he only bruised her arm. Then her Dad and Uncle Mark arrived. It was reassuring to know they were involved. Her Dad said whatever it took, Bill would never bother her again. He’d make sure of it. I liked the look in his eyes when he said it.”
Miles absentmindedly rubbed my back as he spent several seconds lost in thought. Then he returned to the conversation.
“You may be wondering why I didn’t find the guy and make him pay for how he hurt her, and for what he tried to do.”
“Miles didn’t know who he was, and didn’t have a last name,” I said. “I didn’t either, actually. Not until later.”
“I believed her Dad when he said he’d protect her and bring charges against the guy, and see that he paid for what he’d done.”
“Dad did, too,” I said.
“If I had known who this guy was, before he went to prison, then… I would have learned the limits of my self-control.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” said Xander. “I just wondered, it kind of requires some readjustment realizing you knew each other a lot longer than we thought.”
“I regret so much introducing you to Bill that night,” said Jenny.
“Don’t go there,” I said sincerely. “None of it was your fault. I’m telling the truth. He probably thought if you introduced us, it would gain him my trust. It didn’t work.”
“Hm.” Miles looked distracted for a moment, then looked at me. “Whatever is trying to grab hold of Elizabeth, is stronger.”
“Stronger than you?” asked Xander, looking worried. Jenny and I did too.
A smiled flickered across Miles’ face.
“Not to sound unbearably over-confident, but no. Nothing is going to break through one of my force fields.”
“He’s telling the truth,” I said.
“Man, that’s—like so cool,” Xander said in awe.
“What will this mean for Elizabeth though?” asked Jenny in concern. “If this force pulling at her causes her to fall asleep…”
I looked at Miles, concern in my own eyes.
“Let’s go check on Elizabeth,” said Miles, and we both stood. “You guys want to come along?”
“Yeah!” said Xander, leaping out of his chair and grabbing Jenny by the hand. Jenny looked nervous, but there was curiosity there, too. She allowed him to lead her as we all left the office and proceeded toward the elevator, our suite, my sister, and our transparent guest.
Miles pushed the elevator button. We all heard a voice calling Xander, and looked in the direction from which it came.
“Mr. Thomas! I’m glad I caught you. I was hoping to go over our accomplishments today before we knock off work.”
“Hey, Stan. Get a lot done today?” asked Xander.
“Yes sir! I think you’ll be pleased,” the man said with confidence.
“Excellent. Stan, let me introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Bannerman, the Lodge’s owners, and my fiancé, Jenny Stevens.”
“Glad to make your acquaintance,” said Stan, as he and Miles shook hands.
“Good to make yours, Stan,” Miles smiled. “Text us when you’re through Xander, then you can meet us upstairs.”
“Sure, Miles. I’ll do that.”
Jenny went with Xander and Stan, and Miles and I rode the elevator alone.
“We’ll go see what’s been accomplished on our new fitness center later,” said Miles. “I had a feeling you might be anxious to check on your sister.”
“I am, and oh my goodness what a horrible babysitter I am! She hasn’t had breakfast, or lunch!” I was horrified to realize it.
“First,” said Miles, as he hugged me. “Don’t refer to yourself as the babysitter in front of your sister, unless you are holding a baby that you are actually sitting. It won’t go over well.”
I laughed.
“Second, are you aware of how much ice cream she managed to ingest during the course of the night? I had no idea a pre-teenage girl could eat as much as a teenage boy. Third, we’ll order room service. The kitchen will be opening soon. She may not be hungry, but I am, and you probably are too.”
“Sounds great,” I said. I was very hungry, that donut I ate was only a faint memory.
“Fourth, if you and I wish to have any chance of eating ice cream ourselves, we need to order more.”
“Let’s do that,” I smiled.
“Fifth, we’ve got a kid in our suite, and about five seconds left on our elevator ride. So kiss me now, while we have the chance.”
I laughed, and did.
Chapter 13
“Hi kiddo, how are things?” I asked, as Miles swung open the door to our suite, and we walked inside.
Doreen looked up from the iPad that rested on her knees.
“Good,” she said. She was lying on the couch, an empty bowl that probably once held the last of the ice cream, on the coffee table beside her.
I am a terrible substitute mom! Miles better plan on hiring a nanny for our future children, and a nutritionist too. In the twenty-four hours since my sister got here she’d eaten one meal, all the ice cream in the freezer, scoured the internet for reports of murder, babysat a ghost, been babysat by a dog… Yeesh!
“How about some lunch?” asked Miles. “We’re going to order room service in a couple of minutes.”
“Hm…” she looked at the empty bowl and made a face. “Yeah, what do they have?”
Miles smiled and handed her the room service menu.
“Anika, do you know what you want?” he asked me.
“Yes! Baked potato soup and a sandwich.”
“You got it,” Miles said, making a note of it on the pad that lay on the kitchen counter next to the suite’s phone.
Elizabeth still sat with her arms around her legs, her cheek resting against the back of the chair. I sat on the coffee table and studied her.
“How about you, Doreen?” asked Miles.
“Chicken strips and macaroni,” she said.
“Great. I’ll call this in,” he said. Picking up the phone, he dialed room service.
Doreen sat down beside me.
“What are you doing?” she asked quietly.
“I’m getting a good look at her,” I said. “I don’t know what it’ll tell me, but…”
Doreen stood and walked around Elizabeth’s chair. She reached out toward Elizabeth.
“Doreen, stop! You have no idea what will happen if you touch her!” I exclaimed.
Doreen looked at me, a puzzled crease between her eyes.
“Like what?”
“Like I have no idea! Just don’t!”
Not that she could, with that force field in place. Thank goodness for Miles’ force field!
“Okay. Well anyway, I can still show you.”
Doreen walked back around the chai
r to the couch and retrieved her phone, then sat beside me on the coffee table again. She opened her photo album, flipped through some pictures, then held the phone out so I could see it. I gasped.
“Miles!”
“What, honey?” he asked, no doubt alarmed as much by the sound of my voice, as I was by the picture on my sister’s phone.
“This,” I said, holding out the phone as he hurried over and knelt beside me.
“Whoa,” he said, surprised. He studied the photo, then looked at the back of the phone. “Is this yours, Doreen?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Was she awake while we were gone?”
“No, I took this while you guys were asleep. I just forgot about it until now. Anika wanted to get a good look at Elizabeth…”
Doreen and I both watched Miles as he studied the photo.
“Did Elizabeth know about this? Did you point it out, what happened?” he asked.
“She didn’t know. She brushed her fingers through her hair, which covers it, and then I saw. I asked about it, and she was really surprised and kind of scared. She got real confused too, and couldn’t remember anything. So I took a picture.”
“I don’t understand this…” Miles said to himself.
“It explains why she’s confused though, right?” asked Doreen.
“I’d say it explains how she died,” I said. “Blunt force trauma to the head. But—it doesn’t make sense. Miles didn’t limp or have any sign of injury when he was semi-transparent.”
“Yeah, but she’s all the way transparent, maybe that makes a difference,” Doreen pointed out.
“I don’t know. I wish Trix could help us out with this… I wish anyone could,” said Miles. He handed Doreen’s phone back to her.
“Please erase that photo before Mom sees it,” it occurred to me to say.
Doreen laughed.
“I mean it, Doree!” I said. “I can’t even begin to tell you how much I don’t want Mom to ever know anything that’s gone on here since we picked you up!”
“Even dinner last night?” she asked.
“Okay, fine. That. And watching the movie last night, that’s okay. But that’s all you did the whole time you were here, ate dinner once, and watched a movie! That’s it!”
She giggled, and then I laughed a little bit too.
“You might allow her to admit to a few more meals than that,” said Miles. “Once she’s had them, of course.”
“And it’s probably okay to say I got some sleep. Some, anyway.”
“You’ll want to minimize the amount of ice cream you managed to eat in one night though,” Miles cautioned her. “Unless of course, you’re going for a record.”
She laughed.
“I’m about to have a growth spurt, that’s what happens. I get really hungry, then I grow.”
“I’m destined to be the short one in the family,” I groaned.
“Your great-great-great grandmother Sarah was about your height,” said Miles.
“Really?” I looked at him in surprise.
“Yes. I know how tall my brother was, and she was standing beside him, so… yes. She was about your height.”
“Did you know her very well?” asked Doreen.
“No, I didn’t,” said Miles. “My brother met your grandmother right before I went out of town. He introduced us. The next time I saw her was in the clearing, shortly before my brother and I were killed.”
“It’s crazy that anyone would believe the lies about you,” I said, just as irritated about that now, as I’d ever been. “There was absolutely no justification for it.”
“And all your friends really believed it?” asked Doreen, remembering the details she heard from the History Detective’s episode, probably.
“I don’t think any of them did,” said Miles thoughtfully. There was sadness in his eyes. I put my arms around him, and he rested his chin on my head.
“Why would they—what happened, then?” Doreen sounded confused.
I heard the sound of Trixie pawing at Miles’ knee and looked down. She had something to tell Miles.
I glanced over at Doreen. Her eyes were huge again. She glanced from Trixie to me, and her eyes were filled with excitement.
She’d be going home saying “best weekend ever!” That thought made me want to laugh and cry at the same time.
Miles sighed and reached out to pet Trixie with the arm he didn’t have around me.
“What did she say?” asked Doreen.
Miles looked at me uncertainly.
“What?” I was instantly alarmed.
“Nothing, everything’s fine,” he hurried to assure me.
“Then what?” I was still alarmed.
“It’s not important,” he said, looking back at Trixie. She huffed, then joined Chip, who was lying in front of the fire that crackled cheerfully in the fireplace.
“Tell me anyway,” I said grimly.
“Fine,” he sighed. “Later.”
“What?” I exclaimed.
There was a knock at the door of the suite.
Miles jumped up to answer it. I snatched up a throw pillow and threw it, but it bounced off the force field he put in place.
“So not fair!” I said, as he turned around and smiled. “No using force fields against your wife!”
“Quit throwing things at me, and I won’t have to,” he said, as he opened the door.
Doreen laughed.
“Thanks, Troy,” said Miles, opening the door wide. “Set it on the table, that’ll be fine.”
Troy carried in the room service tray. If not for Miles and his quick reflexes, Troy would have dropped it at the sight of Elizabeth asleep in the sitting room chair. The blood drained from his face, until the poor boy was almost as pale as she was.
I jumped up, Doreen right behind me. I caught the edge of the tray and kept it from falling, as Miles grabbed Troy’s elbow. Miles couldn’t use his powers unless Troy passed out, and he hadn’t—yet. But then, Troy saw my sister. He suddenly perked up. He regained the ability to stand on his own, and Miles took the tray and set it on the table. Troy looked back at Elizabeth, and lost a little of the color that had returned to his cheeks at sight of Doreen.
“How’d you—what’s she—”
“She can only talk for so long, then she gets tired,” said Doreen. “She’s asleep right now.”
Troy looked back at her.
“I didn’t know ghosts slept,” he stammered.
“Troy, let me introduce you to my much younger sister, Doreen,” I said.
“In six more months she’ll be twelve,” said Miles.
He and I managed to look serious, as Doreen tilted her chin and managed to look dignified, while giving us a glare.
“Oh, uh, nice to meet you,” said Troy, and focused his attention on the sleeping apparition. “That’s not Elizabeth, though!”
“She was wearing a Halloween costume,” I said. “That’s why she looks so different.”
“No way… So what are you going to do now?” he asked, looking to Miles for the answer to that question.
“We’re learning what we can from her while she’s awake, and once we have the information we need we’ll help her accomplish what she needs to, in order to rest in peace.”
“That’s—that’s really cool,” he said, having no idea what else to say. “So—does she just stay here, then?”
“Yes. She’ll stay right here for as long as she remains at the Lodge,” said Miles.
“Man, you guys—you weren’t kidding, what you said at the meeting. I mean everyone thought wow, how impressive and all that, just coming in there and saying, ‘if you see her tell her Miles wants to talk to her,’ but man. You’re just—handling the whole thing like you said. How are you so calm about this? Aren’t you—freaked out even a little bit?”
“No,” said Miles, and he shrugged.
Troy stared at him a minute, then looked at me and Doreen.
“Aren’t you?”
“No, not particularly,” I said.
“What’s to be freaked out about?” said Doreen.
My, how things have changed since last night.
“Well, those—those eyes,” Troy stammered. “Have you seen her awake?”
“Of course,” said Doreen, as if luminous blue eyes are no more unusual or alarming, than ordinary blue ones.
“Man, well—is this like what you do? What—what do you guys do?”
“They own stuff,” said Doreen.
I coughed to cover for the laughter that really, really wanted out.
“Thanks for bringing lunch Troy,” Miles smiled, as he tipped him. That took Troy’s mind off of Elizabeth and what we did besides own stuff, long enough to get him out the door.
I breathed a sigh of relief, then grabbed Miles by the arm.
“What?” he asked, then groaned as I dragged him toward our bedroom. “Oh.”
“Doreen, eat. We’ll be back soon.”
I got Miles through the double doors, and closed them behind us.
“What on earth was Trixie saying to you?” I asked.
I’m pretty sure I was scowling.
Miles gave me a tolerant look.
“I didn’t want to talk about this in front of your sister.”
“Okay…”
“It’s probably safe to say you remember the story your Uncle told about me, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Some of it was true. There were local girls who wanted my attention. None of them got it, and those girls who made a strong effort to gain my attention didn’t appreciate my obvious lack of interest in them. The guys didn’t appreciate the girls’ lack of interest in themselves. It was all my fault, that’s how they saw it. I didn’t realize how deep the resentment ran until I died. When I reappeared in semi-transparent form four years later, I learned of the lies that had been told about me by both groups. They painted me as someone that I’m not, and never have been. I couldn’t believe those who claimed to be my friends would do this. It wasn’t until I heard them tell some of the stories with my own ears, that I believed they were guilty of it.”
“Oh my goodness, how much that had to hurt,” I said, hurting for him. I hugged him hard.
“It did, but it’s in the past. Far in the past. I’ve got real friends now, I’ve got you, I’ve got a sister-in-law capable of eating a freezer full of ice cream in one night, aren’t you the least bit worried that if we don’t hurry, we’ll have to order room service all over again?”
The Lodge at Whispering Pines Page 19
