Nine Steps to Sara (26 page)

“I don’t know, he didn’t call and I’m too chicken to phone him and ask what gives.”

Too chicken?
  That didn’t sound one bit like Joanie.  “I’m sure something suddenly came up and he’d much rather be impressing you with his charm and wit.  But either way it couldn’t hurt to give him a quick call, and see what happened.”

“I don’t know,” she wrapped her arms around her legs, resting her chin on her knees glumly.  “You don’t think that makes me look too desperate?”

“For making sure he’s
alright
?  Not at all,” Sara reached for her hands, pulling Joanie up.  “What’s desperate is sitting there by the window
like a dog
, waiti
ng for him to show up
.”  Joanie’s brows drew together at the analogy, and she let herself be dragged to the study. 

“I could call the inn, see if he’s still in his room or if he left already,” she allowed.  “My cell has lousy reception here.  How do we call the inn out here in the sticks?  Is there like an operator or do I pick up a can and a string?”

“For that I should make you
hike
to the village in those heels,” Sara muttered.  “Use the phone, there’s a directory right next to it on the desk.”  Assuming it was still current, though she couldn’t imagine there being that much change in the little village.  Watching as Joanie made the call, Sara gave her a supportive thumbs up, but her good cheer crashed and burned as she followed the one sided conversation and Joanie’s brow furrowed in worry.

The furrow grew from a pucker of concern to a full fledged frown as Sara watched.  “Huh,” she said finally, hanging up the phone.

“What did they say?”

“He checked out.”

“Checked out as in, he isn’t staying there anymore?  That makes
sense;
he said he was taking you to the coast today.” 

“As in left the inn before anyone was at the front desk this morning.  They found his key and some cash in an envelope in his room and his car is gone.”

“That’s odd.”  Sara had the feeling it’d be hard to shake the developer and now he was simply gone without a word?   

“I guess I’m not going,” Joanie’s shoulders slumped in defeat, and Sara drew her into a one armed hug.

“I bet he’s got a really good explanation for this.  I’ll bet he’s even the type to show up with a gift and some serious groveling once he frees up some time
,
too.”

“I don’t know, why wouldn’t he call and let me know?  Why leave me waiting around like a tremendous loser?”

“You said it yourself, the cell reception sucks around here.  Maybe he’s not in a good place to call just yet?”

“Yeah whatever,” she muttered in disgust.  “Who needs him anyway?”

More sour grapes…
  Sara took the opportunity to jump onto that bandwagon.  “Maybe this is for the best anyway?  He was kind of a jerk the last time he was here.  I was just sorta putting up with him for your sake last night.”

“
M
aybe,” Joanie murmured distractedly.  “But it’s a little strange, don’t you think?  He just up and disappears like that?  We were up really late last
night;
it had to be a pretty huge emergency to get him up and out before the innkeepers were even up.  What if something, you know, happened to him?”

“Something like what?”

“I don’t know.  There’s something strange about this place.  Not
only
here but in the village too.  I feel like I’m being watched all the time.  What if someone decided to disappear him?”

Sara knew Joanie didn’t like the idea of being rejected, but that was taking it a bit far.  “Don’t you think you’re being a little paranoid?  Occam’s Razor – the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.  He probably had to leave suddenly for business.  The guy was
all
about business.”

“Not when he was with me.  No, think about it, Sara.  This place doesn’t give you the creeps, not even a little bit?”  Sara didn’t answer, not wanting to bring her own fears into the mix.  “And what is with all the banging?  I hear it all night long on the pipes, how do you get any sleep?”

“
T
hat’s part of living in an old house with colorful history.”

“Well, could we skip the history lesson and call a plumber?”

“I don’t think calling a plumber would be much help.”  Waffling back and forth on whether or not to say anything, Sara decided to confide in her friend about some of the other goings on in the house.  If anything, it might get her mind away from Cole’s rejection.  Launching into a brief overview of the local legends, she glossed over her own experiences, making light of them instead of dwelling on how creeped out she’d been at the time.  In the light of day, they seemed less threatening anyway.  So she’d had a couple of weird dreams and Jack had a ghost for an imaginary friend; stranger things had happened.  Nevertheless, Joanie’s eyes grew bigger and bigger, until she erupted, not wanting to hear any more.

“Are you serious? This place is haunted?  Oh hell no, I am not staying here, that was
so
not in the brochure!” she paced agitatedly back and forth.

“
D
on’t be such a baby.  Nothing bad has happened to any of us; it’s just a harmless ghost.  If the banging bothers you, then try sleeping with earplugs.” 
Or have another drink,
she thought to herself.

“Did you just call me a child?  You’re the one keeping secrets and you expect me to be okay with this?  What’s happened to you, Sara?”

“What do you expect me to do?  Run screaming from the house?  I repeat, nothing bad has happened to any of us.  This is just a quirk, like not running the vacuum when there are too many lights turned on or having to flush twice.  I signed a paper saying we’re living here and this is where we’ll stay until someone proves to me it’s a bad idea.”

“Well
,
I’m not gonna,” Joanie muttered, stalking off. 

“Wait, you’re really leaving?”

“No, not until I find some answers,” she called back over her shoulder.   

* * *

“What is this?”  It was late afternoon when Sara looked up from her desk, spending most of the day busy making calls to get workers out to give her bids on the repairs needed for the house.  So far she had appointments set up for the electrician, plumber, carpenters, painters, flooring contractors… the list went on and on.  When Joanie showed up grinning like the Cheshire cat, Sara wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“
This,
is what I call getting some answers,” she pulled off the brown paper with a flourish, revealing a smooth slab of wood, decorated with elegantly painted letters
and numbers
on one side, a smaller piece of wood fastened to it with string. 

“A ouija board?” Sara hadn’t seen one in years, not since junior high and a Screamfest on TV. 

“Can you think of a better way to talk to a ghost?”

“Where did you get it?”

“I saw it in the village the other day.  This is our key to figuring out what your dead granny wants once and for all,” she tapped the wood with a red lacquered nail.

“Okay.”  Sara was game, not that she particularly believed in them, if only to get Joanie to calm down and drop it.  “It’s been a while since I used one, don’t we need a few more girls and a pint of schnapps?” she teased.

“Make that a bottle of tequila and I’m right there with you.  But we can do it ourselves, we don’t need anyone else.  The old guy at the shop said we just need two for it to work.”

“The old guy at the shop… because he’s an expert at this?” Sara raised a single brow before looking down at the board.  She’d never seen one like that before; it for sure wasn’t manufactured by Parker Brothers.  “What are these markings on the back?”  Unpainted, but carved into the wood itself, the strange symbols formed a circle across the back of the board.

“Those are some kind of protection thingys.  The guy at the shop said it would keep whatever’s out there from getting to us or something, I wasn’t listening to that part of it ‘cause he had bits of lettuce stuck in his beard, and it was grossing me out to look at him.”

“Lettuce in his beard?”  Was she making it all up?

“Yeah, he said it was a witch’s board or something, I don’t know.  Look, are we gonna do this or not?”

“Sure, alright.  Since you’re the expert, what do we do?  Set it on the desk between us?”

“Hey, Mom?” Jack wandered by, ducking his head into the study.  “My laptop’s acting weird, can I use yours?”

“
S
ure, but take it up to your room
.
  Joanie and I are going to play a game.  Actually, you can play too if you want to.  We’re going to talk to the dead,” Sara gave him a playful wink, thinking he might get a kick out of it. 

“What’s that?” he frowned, looking at the board which was covered with letters
, numbers and
the words yes and no. 

“It’s a Ouija board for talking to ghosts.  Pretty neat, huh?”

“No, it’s a witch’s board,” Joanie insisted.  “That makes it way more likely to work.  Have a seat, squirt, it’s easy to do.”

“I don’t want to,” Jack took a step backwards and Sara offered her hand to him.

“Don’t be silly, sweetie, it’s a game, it can’t hurt you.”

“I don’t want to,” he repeated, taking another step, and another.  “And you shouldn’t either
,
”
f
ace etched with worry, he pleaded with his mother.

“Why not?  You want to be the only one to talk to ghosts, huh kid?” Joanie snorted.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.  If you call, maybe someone else’ll come.  Someone bad.”

“Someone bad like who?” Sara frowned, not liking the fear she saw on Jack’s face.  “Honey, have you seen any scary ghosts in the house?”  Jack shook his head, eyes still on the board.  “Then what makes you think we’ll find someone bad?”

“Please don’t mess with that stuff, Mom.  I like it here, I don’t want to have to leave,” the plaintive note in his voice tore at Sara’s heart.

“I know, I don’t want to leave either.  We wanted some answers, that’s all.  You might want to tell your friend that the next time she comes to visit.”  Jack nodded, eyes still on the board.  “Tell her…
ask
her to talk to me sometime and I won’t have to use the board.  All I want to know is what terrible thing she thinks might happen if we stay here.  Alright?”

“Okay.”

It suddenly struck Sara just how young Jack was.  Sometimes she forgot he was only eight with all of his mature interests and knowledge.  A boy of eight had every right to be a little wary of such things.  “Okay,” Sara nodded.  “How about you go wash up for dinner then.  We’ll see you in there in a little bit.”

Joanie waited until Jack was out of earshot, shutting the door behind him.  “So
that’s it?  We’re giving up?”

“
We’ll do it after he goes to bed
.
”

“That works for me.  It’s best if we save it for the witching hour anyway.”

“The witching hour?”

“Yeah, you know, midnight.”

“Alright, midnight it is.”  By then Will should be back, and she was eager to see what he thought of the whole thing. 

* * *

Only there was no sign of him all evening.