Ghost House Revenge (22 page)

He searched Liza’s almond eyes and found sympathy and deep interest there.

“I should have driven by her,” he went on. “But I didn’t, and now I’m stuck with her.
One night she even hid in my
car. It seems she has some sort of crush on me. But, by God, she’s the most hideous
woman I’ve ever seen!”

Liza took a sip of tea, then set the cup down again. Her thick lashes seemed to fan
out as her eyes widened.
She’s so beautiful
, Derek thought as he reached across the table to take her hand and kiss it.

“What does she look like?”

“I might sound like I’m exaggerating,” Derek warned. “Her skin looked like a coroner’s
mistake, it was so pale. You could see her veins right through it And her eyes—there
was no life in them, not even when she was angry. Not to mention hair that probably
never saw a comb and the fact that she always wears the same winter clothes.”

“She sounds insane,” Liza said. “Who would let themselves look like that?”

“Who would threaten to kill off an entire family?”

“Derek, I really think you should go to the police.”

“No,” Derek insisted. “No police. The VanBurens have enough to worry about”

“But shouldn’t they be warned?”

“I don’t think this woman was serious,” Derek said. “You know crank callers—all talk.
The accident today was pure coincidence.”

“I find that hard to swallow,” Liza said quietly, her mouth turning down a little.
She sighed. “But you do what you think is right. And remember I’m here if you need
someone to talk to.”

“I know that,” Derek said. “And I love you for it.”

He stood up and walked around the table to put his arms over Liza’s shoulders. Her
lips felt warm and full against his, and he wanted to take her upstairs with him.
But with four children in the house, he knew that was impossible.

“I wish we were alone,” he whispered.

“So do I,” Liza said. “But there will be other times.”

Other times. Across the room, an unseen woman resisted the urge to throw something
at Liza. Other times? There would be no other times! The next time Derek made love
to a woman, it would be with her, not with this Liza!

She would get rid of that beautiful bitch, she vowed, when Derek was least expecting
trouble. . . .

“Melanie?” Gary kissed his wife’s hand. “Honey, come on. Open your eyes. It’s morning.”

Melanie stirred a little bit, her lashes fluttering. “Gary, where am I?” she asked
weakly. The sheets on her bed felt cool beneath her fingers.

“In the hospital,” Gary said. “You had a little accident, but you’re going to be okay.
How do you feel?”

“My head hurts.” She breathed deeply as if to fall asleep again. Then she opened her
eyes and blinked at the glow of the track lights overhead. She turned to look at Gary.

“What do I look like?” she asked, her voice only slightly clearer.

“You always look beautiful to me,” Gary answered.

“You’re evading my question,” Melanie said, raising a hand to touch the bandage on
her forehead. It was a small one, yet she couldn’t be sure there was nothing more
wrong with her. Or else, why would she be in this room with an i.v. in her arm and
all sorts of unfamiliar machinery near her bed?

“Trust me,” Gary said. “It’s just a small cut. The worse thing is that you’ve had
a concussion. Your head is going to ache quite a bit for a few days.”

“Right now,” Melanie said, “it feels as if someone’s using it for target practice.
How long am I going to be in here, anyway?”

“Just a few days,” Gary said. “You need to rest, and they want to run some more tests.”

He lifted her hand again and kissed it. “I wish someone had seen the accident. Two
dozen people, and not one of them could tell the police anything about the car that
hit you.”

“You called the police?”

“Warren did,” Gary said. “But I doubt it did any good.”

Melanie thought for a moment, trying to remember something
that had been in her mind before the car was hit. But it evaded her, and Gary was
talking again.

“You’ll be home before you know it,” he said.

Melanie nodded slightly. She stared up into the light, squeezing Gary’s hand. What
was it she was trying to remember?

“Oh, my God, Gary!”

It had come to her, and now she looked up at her husband with panic widening her eyes.

“Gary, the car stalled,” she said frantically. “The car stalled, and I didn’t even
have the brakes on. And we just had that engine overhauled last month.”

“It’s an old car,” Gary reminded her. “I told you I wanted to buy you a new one, and
that’s just what I’m going to do when we go home.”

“N-no,” Melanie stammered. “No, it isn’t as simple as that. Gary, that car shouldn’t
have stalled. There was no reason. Someone must have tampered with it. Somebody wanted
to kill me!”

“Nobody wanted to kill you,” Gary said. “Why would you think such a thing?”

Melanie was crying loudly now. “Those dreams. That woman trying to warn me. She tried
to tell me to get out of the house, but I didn’t listen to her. Oh, Gary, something’s
wrong at the house again. I know it. It’s Sarah’s death and the bottle that broke
in my hand, and now this! And the bus accident and—”

“Melanie, please calm down,” Gary ordered. “Nothing is going on in Belle Bay. It’s
just coincidences.”

“Coincidences?” Melanie said. “Oh, Gary! After what happened last year? How can you
stand there, crippled by something no one would believe in, and not see that it’s
starting all over again?”

“Melanie, for God’s sake,” Gary said. “Jacob Armand is
gone
. He got his Lydia, didn’t he? What the hell would he want to come back for? Now,
please quiet down.”

“I can’t quiet down!” Melanie screamed.

Just then, a nurse came into the room, alerted by Melanie’s cries. Seeing that Melanie
was hysterical, she called in a doctor to administer a shot. Gary was then asked to
leave the room. Having had no food since the previous morning, he decided he’d better
have breakfast to keep his strength up.

As he ate the bland eggs and toast he felt sorry for Melanie. It was no wonder she
was having such fears,
considering all that had occurred in the last weeks. But like he said, they weren’t
connected at all. Didn’t every other family on earth have its share of problems?

“She’s just sentitive to this sort of thing,” he reasoned. “She’ll be okay as soon
as she gets home.”

Derek came in from walking the dog later that afternoon to find Alicen on the phone.
Didn’t being grounded include use of the telephone? And then Liza’s name caught his
attention. As he unhooked Lad’s leash, he pretended not to be listening.

“Sure, Liza, you can come for dinner,” Alicen was saying. “You can help my dad out
like you did last night.”

A pause.

“I guess about six?”

Alicen looked down the hall at her father. Derek nodded without emotion. “Six is fine,
Liza. See you then!”

She hung up and smiled down the hall at her father. Derek approached her, eyeing her
warily. Why this sudden friendliness toward Liza? Especially now, when she and Derek
were having differences? It didn’t make sense that she should invite his girlfriend
for dinner. Unless—

“This isn’t going to change anything, Alicen,” he said. “You’re still grounded.”

“I know that,” Alicen said, smiling. “Can’t I invite a guest for dinner?”

“I didn’t think you liked her.”

“I never said that,” Alicen replied. “I only just met her.” She shifted a little.
“Dad, I have homework to do—”

“Go ahead,” Derek said, wondering what Alicen’s game was. No matter. He liked the
idea that Liza was coming for dinner.

As promised, she arrived at six on the dot, bearing four giant cookies, one for each
child. Alicen was all smiles and thank-yous, which sharpened Derek’s suspicions. She
ran to her room to put the cookie away for safekeeping.

“Is that the girl who shot daggers at me last night?” Liza asked with disbelief.

“She’s up to something, I’m sure,” Derek said. “I wonder why she called you? I can’t
believe she wants to be friends.”

“Give the kid a chance, Derek,” Liza said as they entered the kitchen. “Maybe she
really does want to make amends. Did she tell you anything about the ring?”

“Of course not,” Derek said.

At dinner that night Alicen surprised everyone by talking to Liza as if they were
good friends. Derek knew he should be happy about that, but there was something in
the glistening of Alicen’s eyes that made him uneasy. Her words were polite enough,
but there was an underlying sharpness to them that set him on edge. Not quite sure
what to make of it all, Derek ate in silence and listened.

“Do you like the beach?” Alicen asked.

“Sure, I love it,” Liza answered.

“Well, why don’t you ask my father to take you down there after dinner?” Alicen suggested.
“It sure is pretty when the sun goes down.”

“Alicen, it looks like rain out there,” Derek said. Why would his daughter want him
out of the house?

“It’s a beautiful night,” Alicen insisted.

“Oh, let’s go down!” Liza cried eagerly. “It probably won’t rain for a few hours.”

“There are umbrellas in the hall closet if it does,” Gina said. “Want me to get two
for you, Derek?”

“That’s okay,” Derek said. He smiled at Liza. “If Liza really wants to go, I don’t
think we’ll mind getting wet.”

“You’ll like the beach at night,” Alicen drawled. “It’s so pretty.”

An hour later Liza and Derek were headed toward the bay. They walked hand in hand,
forgetting the events of the past few days. Impulsively, Derek swung Liza around and
kissed her.

“You know I love you?”

“Yes,” Liza said. “And I love you, Derek.”

He kissed her again.

“I was going to wait,” he said, “but I can’t. All this nature is turning me into some
kind of romantic. Liza, will you marry me?”

A beautiful smile spread across Liza’s face. Leave it to Derek to be this abrupt!
She nodded enthusiastically, letting him pull her close. “Of course I’ll marry you,”
she said.

They held each other tightly, then Liza said, “Derek, let’s spend a long time on the
beach. I don’t care if it is raining.”

“Well, let me run back to the house for an umbrella,” Derek said. “I don’t want you
to catch cold.”

“Hurry back,” Liza said.

She settled down on a log and watched him run back to the house. The rain increased
in intensity, and she was grateful
for the thick evergreen above her. Breathing in the damp, pine-scented air, she bent
forward to pick one of the tiny white flowers. Something crackled behind her.

She turned abruptly, startled. There in the thick undergrowth stood a young woman,
a patch of blood matting the blond tendrils at her forehead. The woman’s face was
corpselike, her smile blue and thin. Liza found herself standing up, staring at her.
She knew this was the woman Derek had spoken of, and yet she was too stunned to scream
for help. That moment of hesitation was the last mistake she would ever make.

The woman jerked her to the ground, pulling Liza’s face close to her own. Frantically
Liza tried to turn away from the horrible, putrefactive flesh. But this woman was
too strong. She had a gleam in her eyes that burned into her victim’s, draining the
fight in her. Something twisted Liza’s hand, and a cold line of metals slipped over
her wrist as the bracelet she was wearing broke off and fell to the ground. Her sanity
slowly drained by the piercing, evil eyes above her, Liza stopped thinking she was
going to die and saw only blackness.

Her spirit had given up her body to the malevolence that longed to possess it.

A few minutes later, the body that was once Liza Crewe’s heard the sound of Derek’s
whistling. He appeared in the clearing with an umbrella, a smile on his face. She
smiled back at him, giving no clue to the evil that had just taken place here.

“Ready?” Derek said.

“Quite ready, Derek,” ‘Liza’ said.

She smiled slyly at him and hooked her hand around his elbow. She liked the hardness
of his biceps. They didn’t speak until they reached the bay, where they kicked off
their shoes and walked barefoot in the sand. The light rain had stopped, the sky was
growing pink, and the salty wind was cool. Derek took Liza’s hand and squeezed it
hard.

“Melanie’s going to be all right, isn’t she?” Liza asked.

“That’s a funny thing to bring up now,” Derek answered. “Well, yes. She’s going to
be fine.”

Liza nodded. “That’s too bad.”

“You sound as if you
wanted
her to be hurt,” Derek said.

They caught each other’s eyes, and Derek noticed there was no light in Liza’s eyes.
Her voice sounded dull when she said, “I meant it was too bad about the accident.”

“I know,” Derek said, toeing the water that rippled along the beach. “I was only kidding.”

He had brought a blanket with him, and when they found a huge pile of rocks, they
sat down together and wrapped themselves in it. Derek kissed Liza gently.

“You’re trembling,” he said. “Do you want more of the blanket?”

“I only want you, Derek Miller,” Liza said.

She began to pull him down, pressing her lips to his as they sank into the pit of
sand in the center of the rocks. It was their own private shelter, where no one else
could see them. As Derek kissed Liza, his desires grew. So did hers, and she was suddenly
sitting up and unbuttoning her blouse.

He watched her, tucking his hands behind his head, until she was kneeling over him
wearing nothing but a necklace. This Derek fingered gently and then let his hand travel
down the length of her body. She undressed him, and he stared into her eyes, his head
filling with the mixed scents of her perfume and the wet, briny air.

“Funny,” he said.

“What?”

“In the twilight,” he said, “your eyes look blue.”

“Yes, Derek,” she said, leaning toward him.

She felt so warm to his touch. He covered her with kisses, not missing an inch of
her dark, soft skin. Liza pressed herself hard against him. Derek was in ecstasy,
never remembering a time when their lovemaking had been this intensely pleasurable.