Curse of Black Tor (17 page)

“I heard Simon tell Aunt Natalie that Uncle Norman won't last another week,” Sarah said. “But how can Simon tell?”

“He's guessing,” Josephine said. “But he might be right.”

“Does—will Uncle Norman's heart stop beating?” Sarah pressed her hand against her own chest. “I can feel mine inside.” Her eyes grew round. “What if my heart stops? Will I die?”

Martha put her arms around Sarah. “Your heart will go on beating for years and years. Your Uncle Norman is old, and his heart's just tired and worn out.”

Sarah nodded. “That's what Uncle Norman said. He told me I had to watch over Josephine because he couldn't anymore. But I forget sometimes, so I'm glad you came, Martha. Uncle Norman is, too. He said you were sensible. He said you wouldn't let anyone railroad Josephine into a place. One of those places, he said.”

Josephine's tawny eyes stared into Martha's. “Please don't leave Black Tor,” she said.

Chapter Sixteen

Josephine received permission from Aunt Natalie for Sarah to join them in their outing with Bran.

“Natalie's upset about something,” Josephine said. “She hardly listened to me. She probably found out about Uncle Matthew at the party last night.”

“Wouldn't he have told her what he was going to do?” Martha asked.

Josephine shook her head. “She never approves of anything. She was a sour old maid too long before she married Matthew.”

“Has she always lived at Black Tor?”

“Ever since my mother died. She's run the house, too. Daddy wasn't afraid of her, but he usually let her have her way—it was easier than arguing, he said.”

“But when Jules was married, didn't Cynthia... ?”

“Cynthia didn't count. Besides, she hated Black Tor. And she was afraid of Natalie. Everyone is. Maybe not Jules, though he humors her. And now that daddy's so sick, she runs him.”

“What do you mean 'runs him'?”

Josephine shrugged. “Oh, she takes good care of him. But in her own way. Like having Simon when daddy didn't want a male attendant.”

“Is Matthew afraid of her?”

“I suppose so. Although he does go off on his field trips when he wants to. Cynthia liked him. She said he was a romantic. Sarah likes him, too.”

“You know, Josephine, Sarah should be in school. She has no friends her own age.”

“I know. But then Louella would never come out of her room. You've seen her gliding down the stairs like a ghost. You turn around and she's disappeared. Jules told me that's why he continues to have Louella teach Sarah—if Sarah was sent off to school, Louella would just fade away like she was doing before. She is an excellent teacher-Sarah seems to know everything.”

“Sarah's a bright child,” Martha said, “but children need children.”

“I'll be a child for her,” Josephine said. She spread her arms and whirled across Martha's bedroom to the window. “I don't have any friends my age, either. Except you, and you're five years older.”

And I'll soon be gone, Martha thought. What will happen to Josephine?

“Don't you have Diego now?” she asked.

“We have to wait,” Josephine said. “I can't leave Black Tor while daddy's still alive. They could get him to change the Will—I know they've tried. But daddy trusts me. We talk every day. And Diego has his own reasons for waiting.”

“But why can't he come to the house?”  

“No!” Josephine cried. “Something bad would happen like before, like the two years... They'd never let Diego and me stay together.” Martha remembered the previous night's unpleasant surprise, but, like Josephine, she didn't want to think about her problems.

Bran arrived on time, and they were down the stairs and out the door almost before he'd had time to park and get out of the car.

“Three beautiful girls,” he said. “What did I do to deserve such a pleasant fate?”

“This is Sarah,” Martha told him. “We invited her to join us.”

Bran bowed slightly. “Charmed,” he said.

Sarah smiled shyly, staring at him.

Josephine and Sarah sat in the back of the VW, while Martha climbed in front with Bran.

“Where are we going?” Sarah asked as they drove away from Black Tor.

“To a house even bigger than yours,” Bran said. “Craigdarroch Castle.” Then he turned to Martha. “We saw the place from Beacon Hill Park, if you remember.”

“I know all about Craigdarroch,” Sarah said from the back. “Robert Dunsmuir never got to live there because he died before they finished building it. His wife, Joan, lived there all alone for eighteen years, and when she died no one wanted to buy it because it was too big. Aunt Louella told me all about the old places in Victoria.”

“The Dunsmuirs must have been millionaires,” Martha said.

“Coal,”
Bran said.

“Here on the island? Coal mines?” Martha's tone was disbelieving.

“The mines are worked out now, but California imported a lot of Vancouver Island coal before the turn of the century. There's even a town called Dunsmuir in California.”

They drove up a hill on a street lined with older houses, and suddenly the castle was before them. Martha was disappointed. Houses crowded to either side made the multi-chimnied building seem a great gray elephant in a pen.

“The grounds used to be extensive,” Bran said. “Twenty acres. But all of it was auctioned off after Joan Dunsmuir died.”

They climbed steep stone steps into a paneled entrance hall with a fireplace whose legend read:

WELCOME EVER SMILES AND FAREWELL GOES OUT SIGHING.

“The brochure says the castle has a minstrel gallery,” Bran said.

“It's for musicians,” Sarah explained. “Aunt Louella says they used to sit there and play and you could hear the music all over the house.”

As she spoke, music drifted down the stairs—pianos, someone singing a hymn.

“The minstrel gallery?” Martha asked.

“No—the brochure says the Victoria School of Music uses the castle,” Bran said.

Every room was paneled in glowing wood. But in the hall and on the stairs where there were no windows, the effect was one of gloom.

Martha found the darkness oppressive, and she wondered if Joan Dunsmuir hadn't found it depressing, sitting alone in the castle her husband had built for her.

“The castle's all right,” Sarah said as they climbed back into the VW. “I liked the fireplace with the colored windows best, but Black Tor's really nicer to live in.”

“I can't imagine living in Craigdarroch,” Martha said.

I don't belong at Black Tor, either, she told herself. I'm not the right person to run a great house and manage servants. Not that Jules ever asked me to. Or would.

“Now for Point Ellice House,” Bran said. “Then, lunch on a beached ship.
”

“The Point Ellice House was more of a museum than anything else, with objects stuffed in every available space. Martha left with a confused impression of multitudes of O'Reillys whose every belonging from swaddling clothes to pictures taken in the coffin had been indiscriminately preserved. Again, the grounds had once been lovely, with green lawns sloping to the river—a river now completely commercial. The place was surrounded by factories and warehouses, log booms floated in the river.

They drove across the Point Ellice bridge, and Martha remembered the earlier bridge collapse where Abel's first wife had died. They passed more manufacturing and lumberyards, then came to the Princess Mary Restaurant.

“Was this a real boat?” Sarah asked.

“Yes,” Bran told her.

“I've never been out on a boat,” Sarah said. “No one wants to take me. Martha went with Charn and they caught some salmon.”

“That's what I plan to have for lunch,” Bran said. “I haven't had good salmon for years.”

After they'd eaten, Sarah and Martha went to use the bathroom, when they came out, there was no one at their table.

As Martha followed Sarah outside, she saw Bran and Josephine by the car. Josephine was looking up at him, he down at her. Neither of them moved, seemingly frozen in position.

Sarah ran ahead of Martha to the car. Bran turned away from Josephine and smiled at the child, and a flicker of recognition lit the edge of Martha's mind.

“I wish we could stay all day and all night and tomorrow,” Josephine said. “I don't want to go back.”

The thought, whatever it had been, was gone. Martha climbed into the VW. She didn't want to go back, either.

They drove through town and were approaching the turnoff to Black Tor, when suddenly Bran jammed on the brakes and they were all thrown forward as a panel truck whooshed by.

“Stupid bastard!” Bran exclaimed.

“He almost ran into us!” Sarah cried.

Martha turned to make sure Josephine was all right and her eyes met Josephine's.

“Another try,” Josephine said.

“What?” Bran had pulled the VW onto the shoulder. “What do you mean?”

“That truck tried to run you off the road, didn't he?” Josephine asked.

“He came damn close.” Bran turned in his seat. “You aren't hurt, are you?” he asked Josephine. “You or Sarah?”

“We're fine. But who was in the truck?”

“A man,” Sarah said. “I couldn't see him very well.”

“Are you all right, Martha?” Bran asked.

“Yes. Do you think the truck deliberately tried to... ?”

“Could have been deliberate.” Bran frowned. “What's going on?”

“Please just drive us home, Bran,” Josephine said. “I don't want to—to talk about it now. I want to go home.”

He started the car, and they reached Black Tor with no further incident.

After they were all out of the car, Josephine swayed against Bran. “I—feel a little faint,” she said.

“I'll carry you.” He swept her up, and Martha went ahead to open the door.

Josephine insisted that Bran put her down in the foyer, saying she was fine now and Martha could help her up to her room. She leaned on Martha's arm, and they climbed slowly up the stairs. When Josephine was on her bed, Martha checked her pulse and found it regular and strong. She pulled the coverlet over Josephine.

“I’m all right now, I really am. Let me rest until dinner.” Josephine closed her eyes.

“I'll sit in here and read,” Martha offered.

“Please don't. I feel like you're watching me. I'll call you if I want anything.”

“Well....”

“Don't hover over me!” Josephine said irritably, eyes open again. “I can't bear that. Just let me rest. Alone.”

“I'll stay in my room, then,” Martha said. “I can hear if you—”

“I know you can!” Josephine interrupted. Then she turned her head away.

After a moment Martha went out. She walked to the head of the stairs to see if Bran was still waiting to find out about Josephine, but no one was in the foyer except the killer whale with its enigmatic smile.

In her room Martha took off her shoes and lay on the bed. But she couldn't rest. The horror of the scene in the woods the night before came flooding over her. What would have happened if Jules hadn't stopped the parody? Would she, as Nida, have been dragged before the warlock? Would he have stripped her and—and....

Bile rushed into Martha's mouth and she sat up, afraid she would vomit. She went into the bathroom and washed her face with cold water.

When she went in to check on Josephine, she found her room empty. A piece of paper on the dresser caught Martha's eye. “I'm in the tower,” was written in black ink.

Josephine's favorite spot. But should she have tried to climb all those steps if she didn't feel up to par?

Martha hurried across the hall to the tower door and started up the curving staircase. “Josephine!” she called.

No one answered

She climbed one flight. Another.

“Josephine!”

Silence.

When she came out into the tower room, she found Sarah crouched on a window seat with playing cards spread out in front of her. Josephine wasn't there.

“Do you want to play crazy eights?” Sarah asked.

“Why didn't you answer when I called?” Martha demanded.

“I'm not Josephine,” Sarah said.

“You could have called down and told me she wasn't up here.”

“I didn't think about that,” Sarah said.

Martha scanned the grounds from the tower windows.

“You remember I told you about the kings and queens and jacks?” Sarah said. “Well, I've decided you're the queen of hearts because—”

Martha heard Sarah's words without comprehension. Where was Josephine? No sign of her outside. But wait—wasn't that Bran's car driving back toward the house?

Martha descended the steps as rapidly as she dared, came out into the upstairs hall and reached the top of the staircase just as Bran brought Josephine into the foyer.

Martha hurried down to them.

“You'd better see what's the matter,” Bran said. “I found her running down the driveway—saw her in my rearview mirror. She tried to talk me into taking her into Victoria.”