Harrison Investigations 1 Haunted (42 page)

But when she had talked to Matt, and read about Darcy
discovering the bones in the smokehouse, she had felt a terrible
urge to come down, a feeling of dread that something just
might have happened years before, something she hadn't even begun
to fathom until she had returned to Melody House. When Carter had
pretended that he wanted Lavinia to be with Darcy at the
reenactment, something inside Lavinia had triggered suspicion, and
she had realized that it was time to talk to Matt about
Carter. She had stayed with Clint until one of the officers had
arrived and an ambulance had been called, and then left, still
anxious that she might still somehow prevent tragedy. Clint would
be in the hospital for several days. He had suffered a
concussion.

It was late when Adam, Penny, Lavinia, Matt, and Darcy returned
to Melody House. Later still when they had all showered and
changed, and come down to the kitchen to scrounge through the
refrigerator for something to eat.

' 'Matt, your friend thinks I'm guilty of something,''
Lavinia said wearily.

"Lavinia, you're not guilty of anything when you assume
that someone just broke something off with another person," he
assured her.

"It's so scary. I can't even imagine. We all...we were all his
friends. And more," she said sheepishly. "And all these years...he
killed when it was convenient. Hid the bodies-and got away with
it." Lavinia shivered. "To think...never mind, I don't want to go
there. But I didn't know-I really didn't even suspect, way back
then, that Carter could be...crazy. And yet, when you called me, I
had to come here."

Matt grinned at her, "Lavinia, it's all right. You're a good
friend. You came here, and you followed your instincts."

' 'Everyone has a certain amount of instinct, Lavinia. A touch
of something deeper in the mind. It doesn't suggest that you might
have known anything all those years ago. It just means that you
have greater mental powers than you imagined," Adam told her.

"Yeah?" she said, and shivered. "Did I do any good? No! And I
saw the way you looked at me, Matt Stone. You actually thought that
I might have been his accomplice in murder, when he made that
ridiculous statement to me!"

"Only for a second of sheer panic," Matt admitted.

"You did a lot of good, Lavinia," Darcy told her. "I don't think
I would have made it until Matt came if you didn't help me," she
said.

' 'See there, Lavinia?'' Penny added.

Lavinia shivered again. "Greater powers...." She stared at Matt,
then at Darcy. "What did happen at the end?" she asked. "Carter
rose...and looked like a raging bull. Then he was teetering on the
bridge, and I could have sworn...I can't say it."

"You could have sworn that a ghost knocked him over?" Darcy
asked.

Lavinia's huge violet eyes fell on hers. "Yes," she said
quietly.

"Carter lost his balance, and went over," Matt said.

"But, Matt..." Lavinia began.

"When I told my story to the FBI, that's exactly what I told
them," Matt said firmly. The house phone began to ring. "Excuse
me," he said, walking out of the kitchen. "Hey, Penny, we've got
all kinds of stuff to go in eggs. How about omelettes?"

Darcy smiled at Lavinia. "I think that Susan Howell did make a
return, Lavinia. She was the lady in white people kept seeing in
Melody House. Because she was in a long flowing gown,
everyone-including me-assumed that she had to be a victim of
traumatic death from centuries ago. I think she faded away on me,
too, every time Carter was around. He stalked me from the time I
first came here. And she was still afraid of him. Even in death,
she was afraid of him. But, today, when she had her chance, she
helped us."

"You think Matt really believes that?" Lavinia said.

"No," Darcy said. She smiled at Adam. "But I think it's what
really happened."

Matt came back into the kitchen. "They've recovered some of
Susan Howell's bones. Carter had scattered them in the water. They
were in the stream, near the bridge. They're still missing a few,
but they'll find them. And hopefully, they'll find the other
bodies."

"So, Matt," Penny murmured, "you were right, in a way, being
convinced that the things going on here were being committed by
someone alive and well." She stared at him. "But there are ghosts,
you know." She gave her attention back to the omelettes. As the
rest of them moved around the kitchen, getting plates, drinks,
silverware and napkins, they continued to talk about Carter. Shock,
Darcy assumed. Every time she thought about it herself, the fact
that so many people had seen him as such an entirely normal
human being for so long, she felt goose bumps rise on her
flesh.

"With Susan Howell, it must have been easy," Matt said as they
ate. "My grandfather had just died. Lavinia and I were falling
apart. Penny wasn't living in the house yet. It was frequently
empty. And he probably brought Susan there often. She probably
really thought that he was going to marry her, and she'd be part of
the group that stayed on the property whenever they chose. And yet,
that night, Carter would have known that he was alone. Maybe he
thought that the smokehouse would cover the fumes when the body
started to decay. Or perhaps he thought that he'd buried her so
deeply, she'd never be found anyway. It's impossible to know
now."

They talked late, over coffee, brandy, and dessert. Darcy felt
Adam's eyes on her, and looked at him, and knew that though the
situation was sad, he was proud of her for her abilities to touch
what others could not.

She frowned suddenly.

"Adam, why were you so anxious that we come here?" Darcy asked
him. "It was as if you knew that there was something going on
here...but you hadn't been here in years, either."

Adam hesitated, then looked at Matt "My actual gift isn't like
Darcy's," he said quietly. "But I knew that such gifts existed, I'd
seen them far too many times to ignore them. I have the ability to
discover and channel such gifts. In fact," he admitted, smiling
ruefully at Darcy, "one of my greatest heartbreaks has been the
fact that although I know there is something beyond, and that so
many of those powers are locked in our minds, I cannot touch my own
son, while he and Darcy...sometimes it seems that they can converse
as if Josh were still alive. But right before I sent you that
letter, Matt, I had a dream about your grandfather. We were
playing chess on the porch, just as we had done so many times, and
he was talking about the house, telling me that it had been
wronged. And as we were talking... a woman drifted by me. In
mist. And I asked your grandfather if he had seen her, and he told
me that so much that was so wrong had occurred there, and that she
needed help. The house needed help, and so did you, Matt.
Anyway, when I awoke, I felt as if I had really talked to him
again, and I knew that something was going on here. I didn't, of
course, know that it was a recent tragedy that had occurred, I just
knew that I had been summoned." He looked back at Darcy. "The
business I had in London could have been put off, actually, has
been put off. But I wanted you to come here first. I wanted your
impressions. Then, it seemed as if Matt just might be right, too,
what with the things going on, and so, I was worried about bringing
you here. That's why I decided you needed a dog, because the dog
would always know when a living being was causing the trouble."

' 'Oola did run after Carter, growling and snarling. And that's
why he hurt her. She gave me warning, Adam. She's wonderful, and I
love her," Darcy said. She smiled then. "And you had a dream, huh?
And you talked to your old friend in it."

Adam flushed. "I don't think that I have what you have, Darcy.
Not at all. But it's good to know that my instincts kick in as
well."

"This is terrible," Penny said. "I don't think I can sleep a
wink, but I'm exhausted."

"I am not going back out to that caretaker's cottage by myself,
not tonight," Lavinia said firmly.

"Don't worry-we've plenty of room in the house."

Matt smiled, looking at Darcy. "The Lee Room is
available."

"I will not be sleeping in the Lee Room!" Lavinia said
indignantly, and they all smiled.

"If you're really uneasy tonight, you can bunk in with me,"
Penny told her.

"I may just be doing that," Lavinia said.

"Maybe we should all try to get some sleep," Matt said. "Let's
pack up, and call it a night."

Darcy had insisted earlier that she was fine, but now every bone
in her body seemed to hurt. Matt looked a little rough around the
edges as well, but he jumped into a brief shower himself, and when
he came out, Darcy discovered that he'd filled the tub for her with
hot water and an aloe and oil bath that was guaranteed to ease sore
muscles and be kind to tender, scraped, and bruised flesh. Darcy
sank into the tub, troubling over one thought that had nagged at
her during the day.

Josh.

He had been with her....

And he had disappeared. She couldn't understand why he would
have left her under such circumstances.

"Have I lost you?" she whispered out loud.

She didn't get a reply. Then she smiled. Josh had always been so
polite. He didn't make an appearance when she was in a shower or
bath, or changing clothing.

She rose and slipped into one of the massive Melody House robes.
Exiting the bathroom, she found that Matt wasn't in his bedroom, or
his office.

He had walked outside, and was standing on the
balcony.

She thought that this must all be very hard on him. Carter
had been a friend for years. Matt had allowed Carter free access to
his holdings. Carter had used his house to commit murder.

She walked out on the balcony, slipping her arms around him.

"It's all solved now, isn't it?" he said, "or at least on its
way to being all solved." He caught her chin and tilted it upward.
"You were planning on leaving, weren't you?"

She gazed into his eyes and flushed. "Being with you is
incredible, but...I can't change what I am, Matt. If I wanted to, I
couldn't. I tried at first."

"The psychic and the small-town sheriff," he murmured.
"Hm. It could work."

"Matt, I'm here now. We weathered a lot together. But...I can't
change what I am. And being what I am, I love working for
Adam."

"We can make it," he said softly.

"You say that now, but-"

"I'm not the only one who says it," he told her.

"Oh?" She arched a brow to him. "Did...Lavinia suggest
that I was right for you? Or Adam?"

He laughed. "Lavinia did prove mat she is, at heart, decent.
Quite decent. But, no, I'd never trust her suggestions as to
my relationships. And Adam, well, of course, I have tremendous
respect for him, but no, Adam hasn't said a word to me. He probably
figures this is something we have to work out ourselves."

"Can it be worked out?"

"Darcy, you were the last thing I wanted when you walked into
the Wayside Inn that day. But you're the only thing I know I want
for the rest of my life. I love you. Everything about you. And I
think that you love me, too."

"Yes," she whispered. "But, Matt, you don't believe in the
possibility, even, that there can be something outside of logic and
reason and scientific explanation. How could we survive, with our
thoughts being so entirely different?''

"Maybe I've changed. And I know we can make it."

"All right-who exactly told you that we can make it, and how
have you changed?"

He smiled. "Josh."

"Josh!"

"I've been lying, Darcy. To myself, as well as you. Today, I
knew it. The first time I suspected it was the day you fell through
the boards at the library. I was on my way to lunch-then somehow I
was on my way to the library. Today...I was having a good time. A
really good time. It's fun for us to play soldier-we don't really
have to lose, and soldiers don't really die. Then Randy Newton
called me with the information about missing persons last seen in
this area. When he gave me names and I knew them as girls Carter
had dated, I had to find you. Right away. I had no idea where you
might have gone. But there was a voice in my head guiding me. And I
followed it."

He smoothed her hair back, cupping her head, bending down to
kiss her lips very lightly.

"Whatever it takes, I know we can make it. Trust me. Josh told
me so."

"How do you know it's Josh?"

"Because we just had a great little talk outhere, man to man, on
the balcony."

She cocked her head, looking at him doubtfully. "Where is he
now?"

"Gone."

"Gone?"

"Well, for the evening. He said that he never hangs around to
intrude on your private life.''

Darcy inhaled sharply. She eyed him, still skeptical.

"However," Matt continued, "he's promised that he will attend
the wedding. In fact, he said that he'd best be the first one
invited."

"Our wedding, huh?"

"If you'll have me, of course."

She was silent for a minute, her blood racing through her veins,
pounding to her mind.
Could it really work?
Could she
really have this man, forever? And could it be that he really
accepted her for all that she was, and had he really learned that
the world went beyond all that could be seen by the naked
eye?

"I love you, Darcy. And I'll be there for you. Always. I'll
never doubt you, ever again."

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes, absolutely. I'll marry you. Anytime, anywhere. As long as
Josh is invited of course."

He swept her up, and carried her back inside. And despite
bruises and scratches and what should have been sore muscles, they
indulged in the most sensual and passionate hours Darcy had ever
experienced.

It was later, much, much later, when Matt slept himself and
Darcy tiptoed out on the balcony.