Nine Steps to Sara (27 page)

Sara kept expecting Will to turn up after dinner, then when she was getting Jack tucked into bed, and the whole time she was taking a bath in the big copper tub, she kept expecting him to try the locked door.  Did hiring on some gardeners and equipment usually run past nine p.m.?  Her experience was limited, but somehow she didn’t think so.  Finding herself doing little more than pacing in her sitting room, Sara jumped at every little sound, thinking a dozen times over that she heard Will’s step outside her door.  After the umpteenth time, she set out for Joanie’s room, knocking three times before Joanie heard her over the blare of music from her earbuds. 

“Let’s get this over with now
.
”

“Now?” Joanie frowned, tossing her iPod aside negligently.  Wearing
creamy
satin pajamas with matching marabou slippers, her rarely seen reading glasses slipped low on her nose.  “I thought we were waiting for the witching hour?”

“I really don’t think it matters what time of day it is, she’s always around according to Jack, remember?”  Sara couldn’t explain the restlessness, other than the urge to get it over and done with so she could get to bed.  That, and maybe kill a little time so she didn’t have to sit around wondering what Will was up to.

“Yeah, okay.  I left the board down in your office, do you want me to go and get it?”

“No, I’ll come with
you;
we can do it down there.  We need a table to do it on anyway and the desk should work pretty well.”  That and she didn’t want to think about inviting ghosts into the bedroom. 

It felt strange slipping downstairs through the hushed house, almost as if she was sneaking around her own home despite the clack of Joanie’s high heeled slippers behind her.  There was no sign of any of the servants, and the ground floor was completely dark.  Rather than blaze the whole entry way with light and draw attention, Sara relied upon the natural moonlight filtering in through the leaded glass to light the way.  Once inside the study she snapped on the lights though; no way she was going to hold a séance in the dark.

“Alrighty then, how do we get this sucker started?” Sara picked up the heart
-
shaped planchette, turning it over in her hands. 

“Put that on the board, don’t you remember anything?” Joanie snatched it away, plunking it down and then placing her fingers along two of the edges.  Closing her eyes, she took several deep breaths.  Sara watched her with amusement, clearly Joanie was into it big time.  What exactly was she expecting to happen?  “Come on, put your hands on the thingy, let’s get this show on the road,” Joanie chided without opening her eyes.

“Oh, right,” Sara did as she was told, lightly placing the tips of her fingers on the piece of wood.  “Now we move it around, right?”  The pointer started to move in a lazy figure eight, and she assumed Joanie was the one to get it started.  It was almost hypnotic to listen to the light scraping sound as the planchette moved over the board and it took her several seconds to realize neither one of them were asking anything.  “Is there anyone here?” she called out; more shocked than she realized when the pointer immediately went to the
yes
on the board.  “You did that on purpose,” Sara muttered, only to have Joanie’s eyes pop open in surprise.

“I did not.  Shh, let’s not waste this.  Keep moving.”  The pointer started up again in the slow pattern and it was Joanie who asked the next question.  “Who are you?”  The piece stopped at the letter
G
to Sara’s surprise. 

“G… for Gemma?” she gasped, mouth standing open as it returned to the
yes
position.  “Do you want to hurt Jack?”

No

“Do you want to hurt any of us?”

No

“But is Jack in danger?”

Yes

“Why?”

1

“One, one what?” Joanie frowned.

1

“Gemma we don’t understand,” Sara tried again.  “Who wants to hurt Jack?”

9

“Again with the numbers,” Joanie muttered in disgust.  “Maybe this board is broken?”

“Shh,” Sara chided, intent on the board.  “Gemma is there a way to stop Jack from being hurt?”

Yes

“How?”

G-O

“Go,” Sara read aloud, brows drawing into a single dark line.  “Gemma I’m not leaving until I understand the danger you say Jack is in.  If I take him and go, will the danger follow him?”

?

“That’s not exactly a straight answer.  Am I in danger?”

No

“Did something happen to Hughie?” Joanie interrupted on her own tangent.

“Who in the hell is Hughie?”

“You know, the guy I was supposed to meet this morning.  Did something terrible happen to him?”

Yes

“I knew it!  He did want to go out with me, didn’t he?”

Yes

“We are not here to discuss your lovelife,” Sara muttered irritably.

“Speak for yourself.  Is he okay?”

No

“Christ, is he… is he dead?”

Yes

Sara stared at Joanie over the top of the board.  “I don’t want to do
it
anymore.  This is stupid.  We’re just winding ourselves up for no reason; we don’t have any more answers than we had before.” 

“No, shut up.  We started this, we have to finish it.  Who killed him?  Who killed Hugh?” Joanie insisted.

9

“Answer the fucking question!” Joanie yelled in frustration.  “I want to know what the hell is going on!”

In
that instant
, the windows blew open with a tremendous gust of wind, crashing hard enough to crack the ancient leaded glass.  Both women jumped at the sound, but before they could get up, the electricity flickered and went out.  Sara struggled to get the windows closed against the raging wind, which died in one last breath, leaving the windows to slam shut in a sudden vacuum of silence. 

“I think there’s a flashlight in the drawer,” Sara said, her voice sounding loud to her ears in the sudden stillness. 

“I got it,” Joanie replied from the fireplace, where she was already lighting a row of candles on the mantle.  

“It’s probably a sudden windstorm that cut the power.  Just a weird coincidence,” Sara offered weakly, digging in the drawer for the flashlight. 

“Sara… look at this.”  Holding a candle over the board, Sara could see the letters had all been obscured, as if charred by intense heat un
til it was one big scorch mark.

Definitely not a coincidence.
 

“That’s
it;
this place is giving me the creeps.  I’m telling you, Sara, if not for yourself, think about Jack.  You have to get him the hell out of here.”

“Why, because a ghost told me to?  Joanie, she couldn’t even tell me he’d be safe if I took him out of here.  Maybe it’s better to face the danger head on and deal with it?” 

“This is not the right kind of environment to raise him in.  A haunted house?  This is not normal.  You’re gonna end up scarring him for life.”

“Are you kidding me?  Compared to LA this is freakin’ paradise.  I’ll take a haunted house over gang violence and bullies any day.  Besides, where else am I going to find so many people willing to protect him?  There’s not a soul in the area who wouldn’t protect him like their own.  I can’t top that in LA where his own father won’t give him the time of day.”

“You’re crazy,” Joanie threw up her hands in disgust, stalking off.  “I’m not gonna let you ruin your life and Jack’s too.  We’ll talk about it tomorrow when you can act like a rational human being.  I’m going to bed.”

“Talk all you want, I’m not budging.” Sara leaned back in her chair, kicking her feet up on the desk for emphasis.  For all she knew Joanie could be in cahoots with Cole to get her to leave and sell off the mansion.  The entire Ouija board thing could have been part of the scheme and maybe Gemma had blown open the windows to stop the travesty?  Though she was one of her oldest friends, Sara didn’t underestimate Joanie’s self serving attributes.  What had she said at the fair?  That she’d talk Sara into caving?  If she thought she could get a little kickback from Cole and a fancy new boyfriend out of the deal, who knew what she was capable of? 

But to use Jack?  Sara’s righteous anger fizzle
d
away.  Joanie was the one who
stayed by her side in the
hospital when she’d gone into labor with Jack.  She was the one who showed up for every single birthday party of his, even though no other adults came, not even family.  Sara couldn’t believe she’d use him like that; she had to be genuinely freaked out.  “Joanie…” she called out, setting her feet back on the floor to chase after her, when she heard an ear piercing scream followed by an indescribable racket and then utter silence.

Running as fast as she could, Sara slid to a stop on the marble tiles as she found Joanie lying at the base of the stairs, her limbs at odd angles and a growing stain by her temple.  “Sweet Jesus… Mrs. Poole!” Sara yelled at the top of her lungs, sliding down to her knees to check for a pulse.  “Oh thank God,” she breathed at finding it fast but shallow.  Looking around desperately for something to stop the bleeding, she grabbed for a table runner, knocking a basket of fake fruit to the ground in her haste to bring it up to Joanie’s head.  “Mrs. Poole!  Thomas!  Anybody, I need help!”  She had almost started to think the house was too big for the sound of her voice to carry to them when Mrs. Poole appeared in her night robe, hair hanging in a braid over her shoulder. 

“Good heavens, did she take a spill?”

“Call an ambulance, she hit her head at the very least and she’s out cold.  She could have a broken…” Sara’s voice wavered as tears threatened.  Anything could be broken.  Her arms, legs, spine… she might already be paralyzed.  “Just call them.”

“The closest hospital is over forty miles away.  I’ll call Doctor Marwick, he’ll know what to do,” she hustled off, her face pinched with worry. 

Sara could hear Thomas turning Katie away, sending her back to bed and she wished he hadn’t done that.  Even if the girl had no medical training at all, she could have used the extra pair of hands.  Salvation materialized as Will arrived, his face drawn with concern.

“Fuck me, what happened?” he breathed, snapping on the main lights and pulling off his coat before returning to her side. 

“She fell down the stairs.  I guess… I didn’t see it.  We were arguing and she stormed off and…”

“Oh Sara…” Will covered her hand with his, “Now’s not the time to bother with that, she’ll live to chew you out another day, I expect,” he offered a grim smile.  “Besides her noggin, is she bleeding from anywhere else?”

Sara swallowed back the tears, trying to focus on what she could do to help.  “I don’t think so, but I’m afraid to move her.  I don’t want to make it worse.”

“Right you are,” he nodded, satisfying himself that her pulse was still there.  “I won’t pretend to be a doctor, but I reckon we’ve done everything we can until Marwick arrives.”

“Don’t you think we should call an ambulance?  She’s so still… what if she’s bleeding internally?”

“Hey now, no sense in looking for trouble, it’ll find us easy enough.  Doctor will know what to do, have faith in that,” he patted her hand gently.  “She doesn’t seem to be breathing labored, and her pulse is strong.  It’s probably for the best she’s out cold; the body’s way of saving her the pain.”

“If you say so,” Sara sighed, unable to keep from thinking none of it was for the best.  In her eyes, she was at least partly to blame for the fall.  If Joanie hadn’t been so upset, she might not have stormed off like that.  And with those ridiculous heeled slippers… all it took was one misstep.