Ghost House Revenge (8 page)

“Oh, no. I found them in antique shops over the years.” Sarah said.

“My husband collects antiques, too,” Melanie said. “That’s one of the reasons he bought
our house. It’s the one at the top of Starbine Court.”

“Oh, yes,” Sarah said. “Marc and I nearly bought it a few years ago.”

Melanie’s eyebrows went up. She put her coffee cup back in its saucer. “Why didn’t
you?” she asked, curious.

“Well, I don’t really know,” Sarah said. She seemed embarrassed and turned to look
out the French windows. “I just didn’t like the place. There was something about it
that made me feel uneasy.”

Melanie stiffened. “What was that?”

“Oh, it was silly,” Sarah said, waving her hand. The huge diamond she wore on her
finger sparkled brightly in the sunlight. “I’d been ill at the time—perhaps I just
wasn’t receptive to it. Not to say it isn’t a beautiful home. But this one is more
to my tastes. Your house has a rather masculine air about it, don’t you think?”

“I suppose that reflects the man who built it,” Melanie said.

“Do you know about him?” Sarah asked, leaning forward eagerly.

“His name was Jacob Armand,” Melanie said, not really wanting to talk about it, but
there was no way out. “He was a captain in the British navy during the 1790s.”

“How interesting,” Sarah said.

“Yes, it is,” Melanie said, taking a sip of coffee. “But that’s all I know about him.
Say, these roses are lovely. Do you have a garden?”

“I sure do,” Sarah said eagerly. “Would you like to see it?”

They wandered in the garden, then sat outside talking, until Melanie realized her
children would be home from school. But before she left Melanie invited Sarah and
the mayor for dinner the following week. She liked Sarah, and it wouldn’t hurt her
career to have the mayor and his wife known as her patrons.

Melanie left the house in a happy mood, whistling as she drove home. All of a sudden,
she spotted Alicen Miller trudging down the street. Wondering why she wasn’t on the
school bus, Melanie honked the horn. Alicen turned and squinted at her. Melanie pulled
the car over to the curb and let her in.

“What happened?”

“I missed the bus,” Alicen said, wriggling in the seat to get comfortable.

“Wasn’t Gina with you?”

“No, she must be home by now,” said Alicen. She clicked her tongue and sighed. “Oh!
I had to stay after school because I got into trouble today. That’s the real reason
I missed the bus.”

“You?” Melanie asked. “How on earth did you get in trouble?”

“That dumb old Mr. Percy—that’s my teacher—sent me to the principal’s office. He said
I never pay attention to him. I tried really hard, but I kept thinking about that
dream I had.”

Melanie took the girl’s hand and squeezed it.

“Is that still bothering you?” she asked. “I know it was horrible, but it was just
a dream. Keep telling yourself that, and you’ll feel better.”

“That’s what I was doing this afternoon,” Alicen said. “And I got into trouble ’cause
of it.”

“Did you explain the situation to the principal?”

“She didn’t want to hear it,” Alicen said. She stared down at the books on her lap.
“No one wants to listen to me.”

“And they call themselves teachers,” Melanie grumbled. Louder, she said, “They should
at least have driven you home. Your father must be frantic!”

“My father never worries about me,” Alicen said. “He probably doesn’t know I’m not
home yet.”

That evening when Derek left for the health club, he packed his jacket and a good
shirt in his duffel bag. As he drove to the club, his thoughts were on Liza. He hoped
she would accept an invitation to go out for a midnight snack. He was trying to decide
where they should go when something made him look in his rear-view mirror. A few hundred
yards behind, he saw the blond hitchhiker again. Sighing, he pushed his foot down
on the gas pedal. At least he knew she was alive, he thought. But she’d never get
in his car again.

He sped down the road a few more miles, putting a distance between himself and the
girl before easing the pressure of his foot.

I don’t know why I let that girl upset me
, he thought as he entered the “safety” of the club.

One look at Liza made him forget the hitchhiker completely. She was sitting in the
waiting room, dressed in white terry, racket in hand. She smiled at Derek and stood
up.

“Am I late?” he asked.

“Not at all,” Liza said. “Go put your things in a locker, and I’ll meet you on the
court.”

Much to Derek’s surprise, Liza turned out to be a terrific racquet ball player. She
explained that the Z-shot he’d helped her with a week ago was her only problem and
that she’d been playing the game for years. She beat him two out of three.

“I probably shouldn’t admit this,” Derek said as they walked off the court, “but my
ego’s been shattered.”

“It’d be wrong to say I’m sorry,” Liza teased. “I played fair and square.”

“You play like a man,” Derek said. “Just watch out next time, lady.”

Liza put her hands on her hips and tossed back her dark hair.

“What do you mean I ‘play like a man’?” she asked “I play to win, and that’s all.
You’re sexist.”

“Sorry,” Derek said. “It’s just that I’ve never been defeated by a woman.”

Shut up, Derek
, he told himself.
Before you blow it
.

“It isn’t that painful, is it?” Liza asked.

Derek thought for a moment. “No, I guess not. Especially not when you’re my partner.
Say, would you like to relax in the whirlpool awhile?”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Liza said. “Meet you there in ten minutes.”

Derek was relieved to find the whirlpool unoccupied. He leaned back, letting the water
massage his aching muscles. A day of therapy with Gary, and three games had made him
sore all over. He opened his eyes and smiled lazily when Liza sat down beside him.

“That bathing suit is beautiful,” Derek said. “Almost as beautiful as the woman in
it.”

“Okay,” Liza said, laughing, “you’ve earned your Brownie points. I don’t think you’re
sexist any more.”

“I mean it,” Derek said. “You look as if you’re in top physical condition. I—uh—I’m
speaking from a therapist’s point of view, of course.”

“Of course,” Liza said, smiling. “Remember I’m a dancer, and I keep myself in shape.”

“That’s obvious,” Derek said.

That’s the understatement of the year, he thought. She was downright stunning. Her
one-piece suit clung tightly to her, its shiny material showing off her curves. There
was just enough fat on her body to make her soft looking, but not an ounce too much.
She had rolled her hair up, and now her cheekbones stood out. Derek couldn’t help
staring at her.

“I’ve thought about you all week,” he said.

“Really?” Liza asked, sounding pleased. “I was afraid you’d forget me.”

“Are you kidding?” Derek asked. “I was hoping you’d want to see me again.”

Liza moved a little closer to him. A second later, he felt her hand on his thigh.
He gaped at her, then grinned. She smiled slightly, teasingly.

“I’ve only known you for a while,” she said, “yet I know you’re my kind of man.”

“Thanks,” Derek said. God, it had been so long since a woman had touched him this
way. Unseen beneath the foamy waters, he slid his arm around Liza’s waist.

“I think I’m falling in love,” he said.

“Me, too,” was the answer.

They stared at each other. Without another word, Derek leaned forward and kissed Liza.
She moaned a little, pushing herself closer to him. They kissed passionately, so passionately
that they suddenly slipped and went under the water. They quickly pulled each other
up and sat there laughing hysterically.

“Do all great love affairs start this way?” Liza asked, rubbing her eyes.

“I don’t know,” Derek said. “But they ought to. I’ve never been kissed like that before.”

He thought for a split second of Elaine, feeling a little guilty. Then he smiled again
and took Liza’s hand.

“Want to get dressed?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said, a little breathlessly. “I’ve got to get home to practice.”

“Practice?” Derek asked. “But I was hoping we could go out somewhere.”

“Some other time,” Liza said, giving him an apologetic smile. “I have a recital coming
up tomorrow.”

“You should have told me about it,” Derek said. “I would have gone.”

“It’s private. Only for the dance instructor and class. I’ll be advanced according
to how I do on this.”

“You’ll do great,” Derek said. “I just wish you could come with me tonight.”

“Don’t be disappointed, honey,” Liza said, kissing him.

“I’ll see you soon,” Derek said.

“You bet.”

They hugged for a few minutes, their wet bodies pressed so close that they could feel
each other’s heat rising. At last, Derek pulled away.

He didn’t wait to see Liza again, but went straight to his Volvo. He unlocked the
door, got behind the wheel, and drove out of the parking lot. The car had taken him
halfway home when someone suddenly tapped his shoulder and said, “Hello.”

Startled out of his thoughts of Liza, Derek turned around and saw the hitchhiker sitting
in the back seat. She was grinning.

“What in the hell are you doing here?” Derek demanded angrily.

“I waited for you,” the woman said. “I wanted to talk.”

“What for?” Derek asked. “Why do you keep following me? We don’t even know each other.”

“Well, my name is Janice,” she said. “And I know you very well.”

Suddenly she jumped over the back of the seat. Her hand fell between Derek’s legs,
grabbing him. He jumped, feeling a pain in his groin as intense as if she had kicked
him. The car jumped a curb, and Derek moved quickly to straighten it again.

“Are you crazy?” Derek shouted, pulling over and stopping. “Get the hell out of my
car!”

“I want you,” the woman said, unbuttoning his slacks.

Derek pushed her hand away. It was like moving cotton. He turned and looked at her,
assessing her strength. She’d be easy enough to throw out of the car, but he didn’t
want to give her a chance to have him arrested for assault.

“Just get out” he said. “I don’t want to hurt you. Just leave me alone.”

“The way you left me alone?” she demanded as she opened the door. “You’ll pay for
that, Derek Miller.”

She was out of the car before he realized he had never told
her his name. He jumped out of the car, calling out: “How’d you know my name?”

But the street was now completely deserted. Filled with curiosity, Derek walked up
and down, looking for the strange woman. But she was nowhere to be found. Wondering
how she could have slipped into the shadows so quickly, he returned to his car. He
had never been a man to fear threats, and so he climbed into the car and tried to
put the incident out of his mind.

“What could that crazy little bitch do to me?” he asked himself.

He drove home at a faster speed than usual, unwilling to admit that the thought of
the woman knowing his name made his flesh crawl.

Derek stared up at the beam of dark wood that ran across his ceiling. He had been
awake for an hour, trying to make sense of the evening’s strange events. His hands
were folded behind his head, and his teeth dug into his lower lip, pressing harder
as his thoughts grew more intense. He had already decided how the woman had gotten
into his car. It was old, and the lock didn’t work very well. But how did she know
where to find him? And more than that, how did she knew his name?

Derek shook his head roughly, driving away sleep that wanted to claim him. He wanted
this mystery solved,
now
.

Thinking the comfortable bed was making his mind wander, he got out of it and pulled
on his robe. Walking barefoot out to the hall, he closed the door softly. He stopped
when he heard a whimpering noise—Alicen talking in her sleep. Derek ran his fingers
through his hair, then reached for the knob of her door. His fingers held it but hesitated.

“Mommy!”

The kid sounded so frantic.

“Mommy, come home.”

Derek pulled his hand away from the door. Another dream? When were those going to
stop? When was Alicen
going to face the fact that her mother wasn’t ever going to come home?

But he knew Alicen would never accept the truth. Even though she had seen Elaine’s
car explode and had stood there watching as the twisted body was pulled from the wreck,
she refused to believe it was her mother. That first year had been especially painful.
Alicen would look outside every time a car stopped in front of the apartment house,
hoping it was her mother.

Derek was struck with the painful memory of Alicen’s eighth birthday. Elaine had only
been dead a month.

“Mommy told me she’d buy me a new dress,” Alicen had said.

Derek could almost feel her small arms around his waist. He closed his eyes.

“I know, darling,” he had replied. “But mommy’s gone now. And you know how expensive
the funeral was. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for your dress.”

“Oh, that’s all right,” the little girl said cheerfully. “I’ll have a new dress when
mommy comes home.”

Derek recalled that he had given her a stuffed animal. Alicen had almost crushed him
with her hug. She had once been such an affectionate child. But over the years she
had drawn into a shell, until Derek could barely remember their last loving embrace.

He felt a pain for the child that used to be and drove it away.

He shuffled down the hall, then the stairs, and finally entered the kitchen. He always
felt as if he were walking into another time zone. Despite the antiques in the rest
of the house, the VanBurens had equipped their kitchen with every up-to-date convenience,
from the white side-by-side freezer-refrigerator to the gleaming green and yellow
tiled floor. The only antique in here was a wooden table with X-shaped legs. He sat
down and propped his feet up on one of the X’s. At that moment Lad jumped up and barked
at him.