Ghost House Revenge (15 page)

Bryan straightened. “You did? What did she look like?”

“Well, I didn’t see her face,” Gina admitted. “I just saw the back of her. I was turned
around when she got on. I was talking to Doreen—she’s my friend. Anyway, all I know
is that the driver had blond hair.”

“Did she talk to you kids at all?”

“No, she didn’t say anything. We told you that this morning, remember?”

Bryan smiled, nodding, then let her go on.

“We were all talking and fooling around,” Gina continued. “Then one of the boys yelled
something, and all of a sudden the bus started going faster and faster. Mr. Percy
yelled at everybody to get on the floor. That’s Alicen’s teacher.”

“You did that?”

“I couldn’t!” Gina cried, looking at him with huge eyes. “I was so scared that I couldn’t
move at all. I just hung on to Alicen and covered my eyes. You know, like you do when
you’re on a scary roller coaster?”

“Calm down, honey,” Gary said.

Bryan said nothing, thinking. It was exactly the same story Alicen had told him, yet
. . .

“Gina, did you see the driver fighting with Mr. Percy?”

Gina shook her head. “I didn’t see
anything
. I didn’t even open my eyes when Mr. Percy—uh, when he knocked me from my seat.”

She turned to gaze back at the fireplace. Melanie went to the chair and sat on the
arm, taking her daughter’s hand.

“Are these questions absolutely necessary?” she asked.

“Yes,” Bryan insisted. “But they can wait until tomorrow if—”

“It’s okay,” Gina said. “What else do you want to know?”

“Did you see anything the driver did before the bus crashed?”

“I said I had my eyes closed.”

“You didn’t see her jump from the bus?”

“Is that what she did?” Gina asked. “Is that how she disappeared?”

“We don’t know,” Bryan said, standing. “That’s enough for tonight, I think. If you
remember anything more, you can tell me at school tomorrow. I’ll be there again.”

“Sure,” Gina said.

Gary walked Bryan to the front door while Melanie sat in the living room with her
daughter.

“Are you really going to all the children’s homes?” Gary asked.

Bryan shook his head. “No. I really just wanted to talk to Alicen. She told me she
saw the driver jump from the bus, but now I’m beginning to think I’m wasting my time
following that lead. The Suffolk police couldn’t locate a body near the construction
site.”

“Why would Alicen lie to you?” Gary asked.

“Beats me,” Bryan said. “Maybe she’s got an overactive imagination.”

“Do you want me to have her father contact you?”

“Nah,” Bryan said. “I’ve got enough parents breathing down my neck.” He opened the
door. “Call me if you learn anything new.”

“I’ll do that,” Gary promised.

He stood unmoving as Bryan left the house, listening until his car started and drove
away. Then he locked the front door and returned to the living room. Melanie and Gina
were sharing an armchair, Gina’s head on her mother’s shoulder. Melanie looked up
at her husband.

“Gina says he made her think of the night you were hurt,” she said. “Don’t you think
he could have shown a little more tact?”

“He’s just doing his job,” Gary said gently. “Gina, you know this has nothing to do
with that time.”

“I know, daddy,” Gina said. She climbed out of the chair. “I’m tired. I think I’ll
go to bed.”

“Don’t think about it,” Melanie said. “Just get a good night’s sleep.”

But Gina did think about it, lying alone in the darkness of her room. Over and over
she heard Bryan Davis asking, “Did you see the driver?” Gina rolled over and clutched
at her pillow, trying to relax. The last thing she saw before falling asleep was Davis,
standing over her in his blue uniform.

Minutes ticked by, and Gina sank deeper and deeper into sleep. She was warm and safe
in her bed, under a cotton comforter that surrounded her with gentle softness.

And then something made that softness disappear, ripping it from her body. She bolted
upright, her bare legs sprawled out in front of her. She couldn’t move her arms to
cover them.

“Hey, there,” she heard Bryan Davis say.

She looked around. The room was empty, and yet someone had to be in there because
the light was on. She leaned forward, her eyes darting. Everything seemed okay. But
her clock radio was playing music, and she couldn’t remember having turned it on.

“Did you see the driver?”

“I’m cold,” Gina heard herself say.

“Did you see the driver?”

Next thing, Gina was leaning over the side of her bed, face down into a black pit.
Two eyes glared up at her through the darkness, pinpoints of red light. Her stuffed
kangaroo suddenly came into view, floating up toward her. No, just its severed head.
Gina’s hand dropped into the pit, grabbing for it. It turned into a piece of glass.

“Did you see the driver!”

“No!”

The glass dropped, down and down. The pit closed up, but it was not her floor she
saw next. It was the sand of the beach, flecked with snow. Everything was icy cold
in her room.

Bryan Davis was leaning over her, smiling. He looked so nice, and yet there was an
evil glimmer in his eyes when he said, “Hey, there. Did you see the driver?”

“Go away!”

Bryan grinned more broadly and grabbed hold of her wrist. His features began to change,
his graying hair turned darker, thicker. The blue uniform swirled and became a cape.
The round face became more chiseled. Something flashed in Gina’s dream consciousness,
making her remember this face against her will. She wanted to get away, and yet she
could only lay helplessly as cold fingers wrapped around her neck.

“Did you see the driver?”

“No!”

The fingers tightened.

“You must die, you know,” the man said.

“Nnnnnoooo!”

The man smiled.

Gina screamed and bolted upright, alone in her room but unable to realize yet that
it had all been a terrible dream. She screamed and screamed, terror churning in her
stomach. The door opened; Derek was there with Alicen at his side. They were walking
toward her bed, eyeing her strangely.

“Go away!” Gina shouted at them.

“It’s only me,” Derek said. “Derek. You’re dreaming.”

Gina simply stared at him, tears falling from her huge eyes. Her mother burst into
the room just then and said in a soft voice, “Oh, my God.”

She climbed onto the bed and took Gina into her arms. The girl was trembling all over.
Melanie could feel her heart beating. She stroked her hair and rocked her.

“It’s all right,” she whispered. “I’m here, my baby. It’s okay.”

Gary came into the room, Kyle and Nancy behind him, sleepy-eyed. He glanced briefly
at Derek, then hobbled to his daughter’s bed.

“Were you having a dream about the accident?” he asked, taking Gina’s hand.

Gina shook her head. “That man was here.”

“What man?”

“The man with the cape,” Gina said hoarsely. She stared down at her blanket with round
eyes. “The man from the beach last year, who tried to hurt me. He was here!”

Alicen gasped. Derek quickly hushed her.

“Daddy—” Nancy said.

Gary looked over his shoulder at the two younger children. “Kyle, take your sister
back to bed,” he ordered.

“I wanna hear about Gina’s dream,” Kyle whined.

“You want a kick in the pants?” Gary snapped. “Get back into bed!”

Kyle took Nancy by the wrist, not daring to question his father when he acted that
angrily. Once he was gone, Gary turned back to Gina and said, “Honey, you know that
man will never come back.”

Gina looked at her mother.

“Aren’t you worried that he will, maybe?”

Melanie didn’t answer at first. She thought of the day she had found the bloodstain
on her painting, and then of the ransacked studio. Sarah Kaufman’s face tried to creep
into her mind, but she forced it away.

“No, of course I’m not,” she insisted.

“Gina, why don’t you try to go to sleep again?” Gary suggested. “You’ll probably feel
better.”

Gina lay back down and held fast to her mother’s hand. The room was silent, and soon
she was sleeping again. Carefully, Melanie let go of her and left the room with the
others.

“It’s that cop’s fault,” she whispered. “Asking her all those questions!”

“I thought Gina didn’t care about the accident,” Alicen said.

“Go to bed, Alicen,” Derek ordered. “It’s late.”

“Is Gina okay?”

“She’s fine, I’m sure,” Gary said, not believing it.

Alicen tapped Melanie on the arm. “Did someone try to kill her last year?”

“Alicen, did you hear me?” Derek said. “I told you to go to bed!”

“I’m going,” Alicen said, walking away, pouting.

After she turned the corner, Derek looked at Gary and said, “Is there really no chance
that the man who hurt you might come back again?”

“None at all,” Melanie said. “He was a prowler, and the police took care of him.”

“I just want to be sure my daughter is safe here,” Derek said.

“She is,” Melanie insisted. “There’s nothing for you to worry about.”

“No, wait a minute,” Gary said. “Derek’s got a right to know the truth.”

“Are you sure you want to tell him?”

“Of course I am,” Gary said. “Derek, remember the day
you moved in, when I told you the owner of our house had been a captain in the eighteenth-century
British navy?”

“What’s he got to do with this?’

“Take off your coat and come into my study,” Gary said. “It’s time you heard about
him.”

Derek had always liked Gary’s office. It was a decidedly masculine room, with dark
paneling and leather-covered furniture. A huge antique map hung on one wall, and near
the window stood a brass stand that had once held a telescope. Now, as promised weeks
earlier, Derek was about to learn of the man who had put them in here. He couldn’t
see the connection with Gina’s dream, but curiosity made him anticipate the upcoming
story with interest. He hung his raincoat up on a brass coat rack and sat in a chair.
Melanie and Gary shared a small couch across from him.

“To begin with,” Gary said, “our ‘hero’s’ name was Jacob Armand, a British naval captain
who came to America during the early 1790s.”

“The colonists, of course, didn’t care much for the British at that time,” Melanie
put in. “Which made life rather difficult for him, added to the fact that he was in
the enemy’s militia.”

“So he built a house far away from the town,” said Gary, tightening the belt on his
robe. “He hoped they’d leave him alone. It turns out he had to pay a sort of protection
fee to keep them from stoning his windows out.”

“It didn’t hurt him to pay it,” Melanie said. “Jacob Armand was a very wealthy man.”

“I can see that by this house,” Derek answered.

“One day,” Gary went on, “Jacob met a beautiful young woman named Lydia Browning.
They fell in love, and everything was fine and dandy. But there was a hitch—Lydia
was married.”

“Her husband detested the British with a passion,” Melanie said. “When he found out
her lover’s nationality, he became
enraged. It wasn’t enough to have Lydia punished for adultery. He had to throw in
a charge of witchcraft, too. And to make matters worse, he forced his two young children
to testify against their mother.”

Gary pointed out the window. “So Lydia was dragged down to the beach and burned at
the stake. Jacob Armand saw all of it but couldn’t do a thing. When his beloved Lydia
died, he vowed to avenge her death.”

“Wait a minute,” Derek said. “Why wasn’t he executed with her?”

“Don’t forget he was putting a lot of money into the town with his protection fee,”
Gary reminded him. “They were willing to forget his part in the ‘crime’ just to keep
getting the money.”

“Jacob himself died just a few months later,” Melanie said. “Literally of a broken
heart. He carried his vow to avenge Lydia’s death to the grave.”

“That was the end of him, then,” Derek said. “So why the history lesson?”

Gary and Melanie exchanged glances.

“It wasn’t the end of him,” Gary said in a low voice. “We bought this house last year
without knowing his spirit still walked its grounds.”

“Whoa!” Derek cried. “Hold on a minute. Spirit? As in haunted? You’re trying to tell
me this place is haunted?”

He was looking at them as if they were crazy, but Gary was undaunted.

“Was
haunted,” he corrected. “We drove Jacob Armand out last November. He had become attached
to my wife and tried to kill the rest of us to have her.”

Melanie took Gary’s hand and looked at him with sad eyes. Remembering the events that
led to this story, she spoke in a soft, choked voice.

“He saw me as his Lydia,” Melanie said. “And Gary and the children as the husband
and children who led her to her death. In order to save me—Lydia—he first had to get
rid of them. And he almost succeeded.”

She shuddered and turned to put her head on Gary’s shoulder. Gary put his arms around
her and kneaded the hair at the back of her neck.

“On the night it ended,” he said, “he pushed me from a window upstairs.” He motioned
toward his legs. “That’s why I’m like this.”

“You said it was a prowler,” Derek said quietly, a little overwhelmed.

“Would you have believed the truth?” Gary asked. “We hardly believe it ourselves.
In fact, we promised each other not to talk about it ever again. But, considering
Gina’s dream, we might have made a mistake. It was wrong to expect the children to
forget that night.”

“The bus accident made Gina remember what had happened,” Melanie put in. “And she
was tormented as horribly as any of us that night. I don’t think I’ll ever forget—”
She began to cry now. “Oh, God, Gary!”

“Jacob Armand tried to murder my daughter on the beach,” Gary said. “In the same spot
where Lydia had been executed. Fortunately, Melanie got to him in time to prevent
him from taking another life.”