Harrison Investigations 1 Haunted (27 page)

"She's all right?" Penny asked.

"She's fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Penny, please be quiet," Adam said.

"Must...be careful. More than me, I'm certain. I knew... the
girl. I thought... for the power, for the money,'' Darcy said in
the strange voice.

"Who? Please, you've got to be more specific," Adam prodded
gently.

"Afraid..."

"You don't have to be afraid," Adam said.

Darcy began twisting in distress.

"Adam!" Penny said.

Another voice interrupted them from the hallway. "Hey, what the
hell?"

Clint had come up the stairs, and was standing behind Penny.

Adam kept his voice low, his tone even. "I need you two to
either go away, or stand there silently."

"But-" Clint began.

Adam waved a hand at him and Penny, trying to shoo them away.
Darcy was becoming more and more mired in the emotions that had
once raged her, but Adam was certain that they were very
close to a breakthrough, and he didn't want to break the tenuous
thread that was connecting them to the spirit.

"She's...she doesn't look well!" Clint said, deeply
concerned. "You should stop."

"We will," Adam said calmly. He stared at Clint. "When I'm
ready."

Clint was unhappy, and uncomfortable, but he locked his jaw and
was silent.

Darcy murmured something low.

"I can't hear you," Adam said, rising, and going to sit on the
bedside.

Darcy's muscles were tensed like bowstrings. A sheen of
perspiration had broken out on her face. She tossed on the bed,
hands going to her throat.

Clint rushed into the room. "You've got to stop this!" he told
Adam.

"Here, here, here..." Darcy murmured.

The door slammed inward with force. Adam saw that Matt Stone had
arrived on the scene.

"What in hell is going on here?" he demanded.

A sudden breeze blew and the balcony doors flew inward.
Distracted, Adam looked toward the balcony. He heard something
scrape against the wall, just beyond the doors.

"Here, here, with us, run...go, no, no, there's no help, I have
no help, alone, oh, please if you could hear me, if you could just
hear me... help!''

Darcy screamed, clawing at her throat.

"Stop it!" Matt snapped.

Darcy was contorted, her back arched. For a moment, it appeared
that she had been dragged straight upward, almost off the
bed.

"Stop!" Matt shouted with thunder in his voice.

Darcy started to let out the terrible choking sound they had
heard the night before. Her face was growing more and more flushed,
beginning to resemble the red of a boiled lobster.

"Redhead!" Adam said.

She didn't respond. It seemed as if there were a rope, suspended
from the ceiling, drawing her ever upward.

"Here, he's here! Are you blind!" she garbled out.

Here?
Adam thought.
Was that it? Both specters
lived
on in this room, with the poor girl reliving her own
death
every time she tried to cry out for help?

"Here!" Darcy shouted, then began choking.

They heard her breath, rasping, ridiculously loud in the room.
Shorter, shorter...she ceased to fight, her body was
falling....

As if she were dying.

"Jesus, stop this, stop it instantly!" Matt said.

The sound continued.

"Adam!" Matt shouted.

"Redhead!" Adam stated loudly.

Darcy fell back on the bed like a rag doll, every bit of tension
eased from her body, the color fading as quickly as it had
come.

Her eyes didn't open.

Matt pushed his way over to the bed, slipped his arms around
Darcy, dragging her up.

She lolled, still like a doll...broken.

He pressed his fingers against her throat, feeling for a
pulse.

"Darcy!"

She began to blink, then stared at him blankly, not even aware
of the way he held her.

"Darcy!"

"Yes!"

He was shaking. "Darcy, are you all right?"

"Fine, I'm fine!"

His eyes had been filled with anxiety and fear. They seemed to
take on a clouded edge. He swore angrily, still shaking, set her
down, and strode from the room.

As the others watched him leave, Adam became aware again of a
scraping sound against the outer wall.

______ 13___

Penny and Clint were staring at her, Darcy realized, as Matt
Stone left the room. Adam could bring her out of a state of trance
quickly and completely, but that time, she had felt a little
disoriented, the more so because it seemed that she had opened her
eyes to see Matt staring down at her like a raging bull. The force
of his emotion sent a sinking sensation throughout her, then a rise
of anger. She didn't know what had happened, but it must have been
something that clearly demonstrated there was something beyond
their known world. Matt simply didn't want that to be the truth,
and so he continued to deny it, no matter what he saw or heard.

Darcy looked to Adam, but he was the one person in the room not
paying any attention to her. Adam was heading out the balcony
doors.

"Darcy?" Clint said hesitantly. "Good God, Darcy! Do you feel
faint, ill? Should we call a doctor? Do you need something?"

"I'm fine," she assured him. "I'm really, truly, honestly fine.
If there's any sense of danger, Adam gets me out of a trance. And
once I'm out of it...I'm fine. Please believe me.

Clint kept staring at her, but then nodded slowly. "What...what
happened?" He asked.

"I don't know," she told him.

"You don't know anything?"

"I'm afraid not. Did we learn anything?" she asked
anxiously.

"I...don't think we learned anything more," Clint said, looking
at Penny.

"It was like last night," Penny said. She added softly, "Very
scary. You're...not scared now?"

Darcy shook her head. "I'm sorry. I must have been very deeply
under. I don't remember anything. I was listening to
Adam...and then looking into Matt's eyes."

She was surprised by the look of anger that flashed across
Clint's face then, and she thought it was for her. But it wasn't.
"I'm sorry that Matt can be such a jerk," he said. "But, hey,
that's his problem." He walked forward into the room,
offering her a hand. She accepted it, rising. ' 'I think we should
get out of here. How about it?''

"Go out? The two of us?" she said. She really didn't remember
anything, and yet she was still a little slow as she made the
transition back into the world of the living. Hypnotism was very
different. Sometimes, she knew snatches of what happened, as if she
had been a distant observer. Sometimes, as on this occasion, she
had no recollection at all of anything that had gone on.

He smiled. "Not a date-you'd turn me down. I mean, I think we
should go out. You, me, Adam, Penny, Carter, if we can find him.
Clara, if she's around, even old Sam. Anyone we can round up. We
need to get out of this house for a while."

Adam walked back in from the balcony, wearing a frown of deep
introspection.

"Adam?" Darcy said.

"Yes, what?" he said, as if startled by being drawn from
thought.

' 'Would you like to go out?'' Darcy said.

"Out where?" Adam asked.

"Anywhere away from the house. Heck, even the Wayside
Inn," Clint said.

"It'll be fun," Penny said, but didn't sound entirely
certain.

Adam smiled. "Sure."

"I'll see who I can round up. We'll meet downstairs in ten
minutes?"

"Sounds like a plan," Adam said.

Penny and Clint turned to leave them. When they were gone, Darcy
walked to the door, closed it, and turned to Adam.

"Well?"

He grimaced. "We're close."

"Is it Arabella?"

"I don't think so," he said slowly.

Darcy frowned. "Then... ?"

"I don't know. But I agree with what you've been feeling,
that we're very close, that the ghost is afraid, so afraid that she
can't quite tell us what she is so desperate to say. We have to
figure it out."

"But it seems that we're hitting a wall at the same place every
time," Darcy said. "And I'm afraid that I'm going to be thrown out
of here any minute now."

Adam waved a hand in the air. "Matt would never force you to
leave."

"You haven't seen the way he looks at me."

"I know Matt."

Darcy arched a brow.

"Scared ghost-scared sheriff," Adam said, shrugging.

"Neither makes much sense, does it?"

"When you're dealing with matters of life and death, faith and
belief, things don't have to make sense, Darcy. You know that."

"Maybe we're letting this all go too easily. They're gone now.
You should hypnotize me again, we should pursue this with
greater intensity-''

"Darcy, no. Whether you want to admit it or not, there's too
much stress in what we do to repeat it with that kind of frequency.
And I'm not sure we could make contact again. Spirits seem to
possess only so much energy themselves. Clint has the right
idea. Let's get out, do something. Are you ready? Do you want to
change or anything?''

She grinned. She was in jeans and a tank top. "For the Wayside
Inn? No, I think I'm formal enough."

He offered her his arm and started for the door.

"Adam," Darcy said suddenly.

"What?"

"What were you doing out on the balcony?"

"Oh...nothing. Looking around."

"Why?"

' 'I thought I heard something out there, while you were under.
But when I went out, there was nothing, no one. Must have been
birds, or a squirrel or something. Heck, maybe the old place even
has a rat population."

"Charming thought," Darcy said.

"Hm. I was just thinking. What do they do in these old places
when they have rats?"

"Traps," Darcy said. "Or exterminators. Or maybe even they bring
in a cat."

"Cat! Precisely."

"Then..."

"Oh, I'm just thinking out loud at the moment," he said. "Come
on, I'm anxious to see this Wayside Inn, the heart of society in
Stoneyville!"

As it turned out, Clint's idea was not a bad one.

Matt had disappeared, but Clara Issy had been folding sheets in
the laundry room and Carter had been working on his real estate
papers in the stables; both were eager to spend some time out. Even
Sam, the caretaker, joined them. Adam and Clara did the driving,
since she was heading on home after and Adam never drank
alcohol. Whether Darcy wanted one or not, he was determined that
she had a drink-a big one.

When they arrived, the Wayside Inn was jumping. A band was
playing a cross between rock and country and mere were a number of
pool players in action. Mae and a few younger barmaids were
bustling about. Carter instantly challenged Darcy to a game of
pool. She imagined that he was certain he could best her in a
matter of minutes, but he was to be sadly mistaken. She could play
the game with a decent skill.

David Jenner was playing at one of the tables when they arrived,
and Delilah Dey was there as well, sitting at the bar. Since Carter
had challenged Darcy, but David had possession of the table, Darcy
suggested she partner up with David. That way, Carter could ask
Delilah to be his partner.

Delilah was very pretty, and certainly, she was
intelligent and savvy regarding Stoneyville.

But she was no pool player.

Darcy had thought that she might be somewhat distracted
from the afternoon events, but she wasn't. She sank three balls on
the break, and within a matter of minutes, she and David emerged
the winners.

"My turn!" Clint challenged.

"Who's partnering who?" Carter asked.

"One on one. Darcy and me," Clint said.

An "Ooooh!" went out through the bar.

Darcy laughed, feeling her competitive spirit rising.

"What's the bet?" she asked.

"Winner takes all, of course," Clint said.

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"Let me think," Clint said, then brightened. "I know. You and
me. Dinner-somewhere other than here. And a movie."

"Go for it, Darcy!" Adam told her.

"I can beat you, you know," she told Clint.

"Maybe. And then maybe, hey, the South shall rise again!" Clint
teased. "What can you lose? A night out."

"That's if I lose?" she said, laughing.

"If you win, you get to pay," Clint told her.

She grinned, and bent down to slide her cue.

This time, the game was tough, and it seemed that it went on and
on. The entire bar seemed to tune in, and even the musicians went
on break to make comments, call out encouragements, and monitor the
game.

Darcy was caught up in the contest, enjoying the challenge.
Clint was good, very good. When she took the first game, he called
for two out of three.

She lost the second.

They started the third.

Clint made a shot which left her with a dangerous play. Her only
shot would set her dangerously close to the eight ball. As she
walked around the table judging angles and distances, she became
aware of the sensation of being watched.

It was strangely familiar, and yet...

Not at all unearthly.

Of course, she was being watched. Everyone in the bar was
watching her.

And still...such a strange feeling.

She hesitated, straightened, and looked around.

She was startled to see Matt at the bar. But he was the only one
in the room
not
watching her. He was on a stool between
Adam and Penny, talking to Mae, who was behind the
counter.

She gave herself a shake, unnerved by both the sensation,
and the fact that Matt was there.

"Ms. Tremayne...?" Clint prodded, grinning.

"You think you've got me, don't you?" she said.

"I think you're in a tough spot," he said.

"Check-but not checkmate," she told him.

She would not let Matt ruin the good time she'd been having here
tonight. Very carefully, she gave her attention to the game,
focusing.