Adam's Thorn (13 page)

Cutting open a scone, Adam
lathered it with jam and cream, biting into it with relish.  Man, it was warm,
soft, sweet.

Kind of like Bar-
stop right
there
.  What was wrong with him?

“You all right?’ Ghost queried.

“Fine.”  He took another bite. 
“Awesome scones, Ali.”

“Barbie made them, actually.”  Ali
licked some jam off her finger.  “Delicious.”

Nods went around the table.

“Thanks,” Barbie said.  “Mum
taught me to make them.”

There
had
been some
changes.  Adam slanted her a look.  What else had changed?  How much had she
changed?

“Now, you’d know.”  Ali turned to
Ghost.

“More than likely,” he replied. 
“I know everything.”

“So modest.”

“Just being truthful.”

“Whatever.”  Ali waved her hand. 
“This is about a haunting.”

Interest perking up immediately, Ghost’s
eyes lit up with that familiar gleam.  “Yeah?”

“You’d think he’d get enough of
that writing horror stories for a living,” Matt commented to Adam.

Grinning, Adam shook his head. 
Nope, Ghost not only wrote best selling horror stories for a living, he spent
his spare time dragging Ali all over the countryside investigating haunted
hotspots.  Or rather, he set up his camera then kicked back and relaxed, waiting
leisurely.  No high tech equipment for Ghost, he always reckoned it spoiled the
atmosphere.  He just loved the stories and wanted to know if he’d see anything or
capture anything on film.  Set-up, relax, and wait was his motto.  He got a lot
of fun out of it and so did Ali, who’d’ been accompanying him since they were
teenagers.

“What haunting are we talking
about?” Ghost queried.

“Barbie’s house,” Ali replied.

Ghost looked at Barbie.  “Your
Great Aunt’s house or your house in the city?”

Adam watched her.

“Well,” she answered slowly, “my
Great Aunt’s house.  But I don’t know if it’s really haunted.”

“The window?” Ali raised her
eyebrows.  “The thuds on the veranda?”

“I could have left the window
open,” Barbie began.

“You remember seeing the rain
running down it.”

“Yeah, but I could have gotten
confused.  I was opening and closing all the windows upstairs.”

Adam’s attention sharpened. 
“You’re hearing strange noises?”

She glanced at him.  “A few thuds,
but it was probably the tree branches.”

“Is it haunted?” Ali asked Ghost.

He stroked his jaw.  “Hmmm, well
not that I’ve heard.”  At his fiancés disappointed face, he added, “Doesn’t mean
it’s not, though.  It’s an old house.”

Not liking what he was hearing, Adam
turned partially in the chair to face Barbie.  “What did you see?”

“Nothing.”  Reaching for a scone,
she cut it in half.  “One night I thought I saw a face in the window, but I
think I was imagining it.”

Lori’s gaze switched from her to
Adam and back again.  “What did the police say?”

“I didn’t call them.”

Adam’s brows drew together.  “Why
not?”

She buttered the scone.  “It was
nothing, just…”

“What?’

“My imagination.”  She reached for
the jam.  “It’s an old house, there are bound to be noises from old floorboards
and things.”

“Creepy.”  Lori shivered.

 “If you think you see something
outside, you should call us,” Adam told Barbie.

“For a wild goose chase?  No.” 
Forgoing the cream, she took a bite of scone.

Concerned, he studied her face. 
“But there have been more disturbances since?”

“No.”

“Yes.” Ali shrugged when Barbie
shot her a look.  “What?  The open window, the thuds, the face at the window. 
Could be ghosts.”  She turned to Ghost.  “We could set up a camera.”

“We could.”  He looked at Barbie
eagerly.  “Can we?”

“Let me think about it,” she
hedged.

Elbow on the table, Adam leaned forward,
forcing Barbie to look up at him.  Staring her right in the eyes, he ordered
quietly, but forcefully, “You see anything, you hear anything, you ring the
station.  It could be nothing, it could be something.  But call.”

He could almost see her bristle. 
“I’m not ringing for nothing.”

“If you see something-”

“It’s nothing, all right?  Just
the wind, a few fallen branches-”

“A window open that wasn’t,” Ali
supplied, unfazed by Barbie’s annoyed glance.

When she picked up the mug without
answering him, Adam laid a hand on her arm.  “Barbie.”

“Fine,” she said.  “I’ll call.”

Like hell she would, he could see
she had no intention of it.  Matt shook his head slightly, concern in his
eyes.  A small frown appeared on Ghost’s forehead.  Lori and Ali exchanged
glances  Yeah, Adam wasn’t the only one who knew Barbie was lying.

Getting up, he walked across to
the phone, taking a yellow sticky slip from the pad and writing down his phone
numbers.  Returning to the table, he sat down and dropped the paper in front of
Barbie.  “That’s my phone number.  If you won’t call the station, at least call
me.”

Slowly, she picked up the paper. 
“Call you?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m a cop.”

“Off-duty if I’m calling your home
or mobile number.”

“I’m not off duty to those I care
about.”

“You don’t care about me.”  The
words fell into a suddenly silent room.  Clearing her throat, she placed the
note back on the table.  “I - I mean, you don’t know me as a - a friend.”

There was no denying that, but he
could step around it.  “I dated your sister years ago, I think that qualifies
me.”

She swallowed.  “Uh…”

“Just call.  I mean it.”  Frowning,
he turned back to the table to find Ali, Lori, Matt and Ghost all looking from
him to Barbie.

Damn it
.  At his scowl,
they all looked away.

Lori, bless her gentle nature,
filled the silence.  “Barbie mentioned some rose bushes behind the house. 
They’d have to be old.”

“I’d say so,” Ghost replied. 
“They’re planted on the graves.”

That had Barbie’s head whipping
up.  “What?”

“The graves.”  At her wide-eyed
look, Ghost stopped eating.  “You didn’t know?”

“About graves?  No.”  She looked
decidedly pale.

“Shit.  Sorry.”  He put the scone
down.  “They’re family graves, if that makes it any easier.”

Adam rolled his eyes.

“Hey, man,” Ghost said.  “I’d have
broken it to her gently if I’d realised she didn’t know.”

“
I
didn’t know,” Lori
said.  “Whose graves are they? And how did you know about them?  This is the
first I’ve heard.”

“Yeah, me too,” Ali agreed.

“Adam knows,” Ghost said, as if
that made all the difference in the world.

“Penny told me,” Adam explained.

“So what about the graves?” Barbie
asked Ghost.

“They’re her Uncle and Aunt’s
graves.  They died young, one from pneumonia, the other from what appeared to
be some kind of leukaemia, it was never really discovered by the later
generation.”

“There are four graves,” Barbie
pointed out.  “Has to be.  Four rose bushes, four graves.”

“One of those is an empty grave. 
Penny loved a man she met in the war, a soldier, but he went MIA.  He
parachuted out over France when the plane he was in was attacked by enemy
aircraft and was never found.  Probably taken POW and died in a camp, or was
shot.  Maybe didn’t even make the jump.”  Ghost traced his finger around the
top of his mug.  “Penny loved him.  She never married, never forgot him.  The
rose bush is in memory of him.”

“Wow,” Lori said softly, “that’s
so sad.”

“What about the fourth rose bush?”
Barbie asked.

“Well, no one really knows.” 
Ghost shrugged.  “One day someone noticed it, but your Great Aunt refused to
say anything about it, nor did her mother.  It wasn’t long after the war.”

“What a mystery,” Ali murmured.

Matt smiled reassuringly at
Barbie.  “I’ve not heard anyone mention the house is haunted.  I’m sure it’s
not.”

“So you don’t believe in ghosts?” 
Lori asked him.

“Well…”

They all looked at him.

“I’ve never seen one,” he finally admitted.

“Come with me on a ghost hunt,”
Ghost offered.

“Have
you
ever seen one?”

“Heard a few things, had encounters
with some cold spots.  Got some beaut orbs in photos.”

“Dust on the lens.”

“So says a true sceptic.”

“So says a true fanatical
believer.”

“Boys,” Lori said sternly.  “Stop
fighting.”

“Or what?”  Matt turned to her. 
“You’re going to spank us?”

She pointed at him.  “Don’t push
it.”

“Ooohh, I’m all delightful
shudders!”  Matt closed the gap between them to give her a smacking kiss on the
side of her neck, making her giggle and blush.  “Let’s go home and you can
punish me.”

“We are home.” She laughed.

“Then we’ll boot everyone out and
you can spank me.  I can’t
wait
.”

“Sweet baby Jesus.” Ali sighed.

Adam smiled, but he was aware of
Barbie sitting tensely beside him.  Very tense, even though her lips were
curved in apparent amusement.  No one would have known, but he did because he
knew why.

Knew why because he remembered it
so vividly.

Leaning back in the chair, he
rested his hands on his thighs.  Yeah, he remembered.

Barbie shifted uncomfortably,
picking up her mug of tea with hands that trembled slightly.  Yeah, she
remembered that night, too, and to be in the same room with her now…talk about
awkward.

“Speaking of spanking,” Ghost
began, “we had a discussion on the internet the other day.”

“Good grief.”  Ali shook her head. 
“The things you get into.”

“It was a discussion, honey, not a
fetish.”

“I’m starting to worry about you.”

He leered.

“Anyway, continue.”

Adam wished he wouldn’t, but Ghost
wouldn’t know that, and if he did he’d wonder.  They all would, but no way in
hell would he ever tell them.

He glanced at Barbie, who was
listening with seeming politeness while her hand gripped the mug in a
white-knuckled hold.  What was she thinking?  Feeling?

Deciding to head off what could
turn out to be a disastrous discussion, he opened his mouth to change the conversation,
only to have Matt ask, “What about your discussion, Ghost?”

“Spanking.  One of the other
writers, David, had been watching an old John Wayne movie and he mentioned a
spanking scene in it.  Funny that it was accepted in those days, yet nowadays you’d
never see it on TV.”

“Or in comics,” Lori added. 
“Remember those old romance comics we found at the second hand bookshop back
when we were kids, Ali?  There was a bit of the old over-the-knee happening in
some of those.”

“It’s now pretty common in erotic
romances, or straight erotica, too,” Ali replied.  “Consensual.”

Ghost looked at her.  “What have
you
been reading?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Yeah, I sure would.”  He looked
her up and down with a gleam in his eyes.

She held up one hand.  “Back off. 
No funny ideas.”

“We could class it as research.”

“I think one threat was enough.”

Sitting as silent as Barbie, Adam
looked sharply at Ghost.  “You threatened Ali with a spanking?”

“Hey,” Ghost protested, “it was only
once.  And I didn’t actually carry it out.  Besides, Matt did, too.”

Jesus, was he hearing correctly? 
Adam switched his gaze to Matt.

Matt held up one finger.  “Once. 
Just once, I swear.  And I didn’t carry it out, just for the record, Officer.”

Lori was blushing, but Ali just
grinned.

“Seriously,” Adam said.  “Would you
have really done it?”

Out of the corner of his eye he
could see Barbie stiffen even more, staring down into her mug.  Her other hand
slipped down to rest in her lap, fingers fisting.  He had to fight the urge to
cover her hand and squeeze gently.  Bit bloody late for that now.

Bit late for her, bit late for her
sister, bit late for him.  Bit late all the way around.

“Dunno,” Ghost said, only to yelp
when Ali punched him on the arm.  “Ouch!”

“You better answer that with a
no,” she warned him.

“No,” he said.  “No, I wouldn’t
have done it.”  He looked sideways at Ali.  “You scare me.”

“You arse.”

Grabbing her around the waist, he
hauled her across his lap to sit sideways, laughing as she struggled.  Hugging
her tightly, he assured her sweetly, “I wouldn’t hurt a hair on your pretty
head, honey.”

Immediately she softened.  “Oh,
Ghost.”

“Oh, gag,” Matt muttered.

Ghost looked over Ali’s shoulder
at him.  “You mean you would?”

“Depends on the circumstances.” 
He slanted a glance Lori’s way, capturing her hand and raising it to his lips. 
“There’s a rule in our house.  My sweetie doesn’t run herself down.  That’s the
only thing that would make me come after her.”

Lori blushed again.  “When did
this rule come in?”

“I just thought of it.”  He
grinned.  “You like?”

“No, I don’t.”

“We can discuss it later.”

“What about a rule for you?”

“You can spank me anytime.”

“You arse.”  She shoved him.

Laughing, he leaned over and
kissed her, this time on the lips, a long, lingering kiss.

Looking at his friend in a new
light, Adam wondered if he’d really do it.  Somehow, seeing the way he was
putty in Lori’s hands, he doubted it very much.  Nope, seeing the teasing glint
in Matt’s eyes, he knew it.  Matt wouldn’t spank his beloved Lori.

But as for himself…

Thankfully the conversation turned
to the latest escapades that Ghost’s cats had been up to, which was always
entertaining.  Barbie relaxed, laughed a little, and appeared to enjoy herself,
but by the time a pleasant hour had passed she was making moves to leave.