Spirit [New Crescent 2] (BookStrand Publishing Romance) (26 page)

Reggie favored him with a bright smile. “That’s a scathingly brilliant idea, Poindexter. I’m glad you’re on my side.”

They spread out the plans on the dining room table. It was the largest surface available. Poring over the drawings, it didn’t take them long to find possible hiding places. The east side of the room looked most promising. There was at least a six-foot discrepancy between the two plans.

Chase looked at her. “Well, it looks like we start working on the east side. Are you ready?”

Reggie nodded. She wore work boots, jeans, three layers of sweat shirts…and a very determined look on her face.

* * * *

The hallway outside the library still reeked. It made Reggie think of unnatural death and putrefied flesh. Her stomach wanted to rebel, but she forced it to behave. She exchanged a look with Chase. He could smell it too, and he didn’t like it any more than she did. The air got thick and clammy as they approached the double doors leading into the library, but they pretended not to notice.

Reggie didn’t have to call upon Constance. She could feel her presence. She wasn’t with them in the hallway but rather was outside the windows away from the rancid smell. Chase opened both doors with minimal effort. Reggie remembered how hard it had been for her to open those very same doors the first day she arrived at Bennett House just weeks ago. Was Vincent’s power depleted? Maybe he could no longer keep them out because he’d had no one from which to feed. Reggie mentally corrected herself. No, that would be too easy. Vincent Bennett was tricky. It made sense to her that he’d pretend to be weak and catch them off guard. They could not afford to underestimate him. He was still stinking the place up.

The air inside the room was thick and damp. Reggie felt an irritation at the back of her throat as she breathed it in. She coughed.

Forcing her voice to sound normal, she said, “It really is a beautiful room. And think how much more beautiful it will be when we’re through with it. I have all kinds of ideas for it.”

Understanding Reggie’s attempt at normalcy, Chase joined in, “I can just see it. Fire blazing, dog sleeping by a club chair, and the
Masterpiece Theatre
music.”

Reggie could feel resistance in the air, but stubbornly refused to acknowledge it, pretending it was so inconsequential that she didn’t even notice it.

In a lighthearted voice, she said, “I think the first thing to do is take some of the boards off the windows and let the sun in. The fresh air might help get rid of that funky smell.”

They moved toward the windows. Reggie helped as Chase removed the boards, she chattered on, filling the room with cheerful observations about nothing. She was uniquely qualified. She refused to let a single negative thought enter her mind.

The outside air swept in like Mother Nature’s broom. It didn’t quite succeed in ridding the library of the rancid odor, but it sure helped. Reggie could breathe again without gagging. Her stomach settled, and she sent a silent prayer of thanks to who ever was listening—Constance maybe? Everyone kept telling her to follow her gut but lately her gut hadn’t been much help. She looked down at her abdomen and thought, ‘thanks for nothing.’ She took deep breaths of the fresh sea air outside, hoping to settle her stomach. She watched Chase do the same.

Reggie could feel Constance just outside the windows they’d opened. Her power was palpable. Still Vincent didn’t react to their presence. To someone who didn’t know better, the library felt almost normal, if a little musty. On closer inspection, however, every surface in the room was covered in the same greasy dust Reggie had slipped on the last time they’d been in the room. It wasn’t natural. It came from him, Vincent Bennett. Everything that came from him was twisted, sick, and just plain wrong. She figured that the strange greasy film was best described as a physical manifestation of an evil presence. Reggie wondered if they’d ever be able to wipe the room clean. ‘Yes of course they would’, she told herself. At the same time, she was reminded of how sly and cunning Vincent could be. His first attack would be subtle, maybe it would start as a question. Yes, he wanted them to question themselves. He played on a person’s insecurity and chipped away at it so he could feast on their despair. Locking eyes with Chase, Reggie shut down all her self-doubts. She could feel her strength grow.

“Okay,” Chase said, “let’s start with the east side. You start here”—he pointed—“and I’ll start at the other end. We’ll meet in the middle.” He kissed her before he left her side. She could feel the jolt of power their contact created.

They tapped their hands against the wall every two inches hoping to hear a hollow sound. Meeting Chase in the middle, Reggie pursed her lips. She refused to frown. She wouldn’t even give him that much.

“Anything?” she asked Chase, hopefully.

“Nothing hollow.”

Narrowing her eyes, she asked, “You didn’t answer my question. You didn’t find anything hollow, so what have you found?”

Chase grinned and took her by the hand. Reggie was assaulted by a strong whiff of Vincent Bennett’s signature fragrance. The Big Bad was rattled. They were headed in the right direction. Reggie spared a look outside and saw Constance focusing on something she couldn’t quite see.
Handy to have your very own watch ghost,
Reggie mused. She could tell that Constance had engaged Vincent and was struggling for control. The temperature of the room fluctuated between comfortably mild and icy cold, and she could swear if she touched metal she’d conduct electricity.

Chase guided her to a section of mahogany wainscoting and told her to knock hard on it. She did as he asked. It didn’t sound hollow to her and she looked up at Chase and said, “So?”

“Now, knock here.” He pointed to a section about three feet away. She tapped her knuckles on the wall. “Notice the difference?” He smiled expectantly.

“There’s something behind this panel,” she said, the excitement evident in her voice.

The force hit fast and hard. It knocked the wind out of her lungs leaving her gasping for air. When she took deep gulps of air, she wanted to gag. The air was almost gray with that horrible stink. She held a hand out to Chase.

Chase got a good grip on Reggie’s hand and pulled her towards him. Their touch helped to restore her strength. She took a breath and grimaced. Chase nodded, understanding immediately why she made such a face. His upper lip curled in response and Reggie laughed with genuine amusement.

“Good Elvis impression, Poindexter,” she said as she regained her center of gravity.

He smiled back at her fighting the overwhelming odor. “Thanks, but I have to admit it isn’t intentional. It’s not something I could recreate on command.”

They were both struggling to breathe through the strange air that filled the room. Reggie looked outside and saw Constance. She was still focused and had a determined look on her face, but Reggie could feel her strength waning. Chase followed her glance but couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

Reggie held fast to his hand and headed in the direction of the windows. “Come on, Chase, let’s let more air in here. We could take down a few more boards.” Together, they fought their way through the heavy air. It was like pushing her way through quick sand and it depleted her strength. By the time they made it to the windows, the room was filled with a grayish mist. Its atmosphere looked like something out of a bad horror film and Reggie tried to think of it that way. It made it feel less threatening.

Prying another board off, they stuck their heads outside and breathed in the clean air. Reggie spoke to Constance. “Are you okay?”

Constance nodded but didn’t look Reggie’s way. She was concentrating on something even Reggie couldn’t see. Reggie realized that breaking her focus even for a split second may unleash Vincent’s power. Once those floodgates were open, she feared what he’d be able to do. She popped her head back inside.

“I can’t see her, Reg. Is she okay?”

Reggie nodded. “She’s just playing with him. Everything is under control. We can do this.” She turned her face up for his kiss. When his lips touched hers, she felt the butterflies in her stomach take flight. Her giggle was genuine and Chase looked down at her with bemusement. “Shall we take down another board?”

“Sure thing. Let’s get some help from Mother Nature herself. Out with the unnatural, in with the natural.” Laughing, she made sweeping gestures with her arms. Chase just smiled at her.

Without warning, the mist disappeared. All was still and quiet in the room. Reggie and Chase looked at each other in wordless anticipation. Something was coming. This couldn’t possibly be the end. Could it?

Reggie took a breath and began to speak. She didn’t get the words out. A massive force threw her against the wall. She hit solid mahogany like a fly hitting a windshield. Sinking helplessly to the floor, Reggie winced at the pain in her shoulder. Her left arm hung at an impossible angle. She knew it was dislocated and she bit down hard to keep from crying out. The same force that had sent her flying had also thrown Chase. He sat against the opposite wall, his legs in front of him. He must have hit his head because he opened and closed his eyes and shook his head as if trying to clear his vision.

Chase didn’t much waste time. On his feet, he ran to Reggie and helped her to stand. He kept his hands off the side with the dislocated shoulder and put his arm around her helping to prop her up.

Forcing the stammer from her speech, in a steady voice she said, “That was exciting. He’ll have to do better than that.” She gathered her strength, calling upon that unused reserve she had stored somewhere deep in her belly. She pushed back with force. They heard a deafening bang, the house shuddered in its wake. The air cleared again. They could move easily, and ignoring her throbbing shoulder, Reggie walked back to the east wall. Chase joined her. There was something behind that wall. They just had to find the way to access the opening. They tried everything they could think of and still it wouldn’t budge. Reggie looked outside and saw Constance. She was still concentrating on some invisible foe, but she made an almost imperceptible gesture with her hand and Reggie understood.

Using her right hand and gritting her teeth against the pain in her left side, Reggie traced the shape of the baseboard. She felt triumphant when she found a tiny notch in the smooth wood. Carefully, she mimicked Constance’s subtle hand gesture. The panel popped open. She almost collapsed with relief. Chase pushed the panel aside and they looked inside.

The nook was just big enough to hold an average sized man. Chase had to bend his head in order to enter. He went first. Reggie leaned her uninjured shoulder against the panel and watched as Chase’s flashlight illuminated the shelves. Books. This secret room held about thirty dusty old books. Chase used a thumb and wiped the greasy grime off a leather spine.
The Dark Path Volume I
was embossed there. Chase cleaned off a few more books with the same title but different numbered volumes.

Chase shone the flashlight on the opposite wall. More shelves. There were no books on this side of the secret room. Instead there were hundreds of unlabeled glass bottles of varying sizes, every one filled with unrecognizable, but truly repulsive contents. Reggie dared not speculate on exactly what the bottles contained, but she could have sworn she saw a human toe.

Through gritted teeth, Reggie said, “Damn it, I was thinking of having toe for lunch today. We were all out.”

Chase laughed. “We have to get you to the hospital. I can’t clear this thing out in one trip, so I’ll grab what I can for now. We’ll have to save the rest for later.”

Reggie agreed. She’d been stoic long enough.

* * * *

Her shoulder ached without mercy or respite. She had indeed dislocated it and it still hurt like hell now that it was relocated. The emergency room doctor gave her a prescription for pain killers and Reggie waited in the car while Chase had it filled. Maybe she could take a half dosage just to take the edge off the pain but still be clear headed. She needed to discuss this latest discovery with Chase. She longed to open the books Chase had taken from the secret room. Had they found the source of Vincent Bennett’s power? Could it be something in one of those disgusting bottles? The thought of analyzing the contents of each container made Reggie shiver in revulsion. She was glad she wasn’t a scientist. She wasn’t fond of goo.

She hoped Constance was okay. They’d left the library in such a hurry that she hadn’t had the chance to find out. Pain killers or not, that would be the first thing she did upon returning to Bennett House. Contact Constance. She shook her head and leaned it against the cool smooth passenger side window. She smiled. Months ago, she would have laughed at anyone who told her that one day soon she’d be concerned about the health and welfare of a two-hundred-fifty-year-old stubborn, tragic, and rather endearing ghost. Her life had taken quite a turn.

Chase returned to the car and handed her the pills and a bottle of water. “Take them now.”

She shook her head. “No. I’m okay. I’d rather be level-headed when I connect with Constance.”

His voice had a sharp edge to it. “You’re not connecting with anyone except your bed. The doctor said with the proper treatment there would be no lasting damage, but it must hurt like hell.”

She smiled wanly. “It does, but I don’t want to lose momentum. I need to make sure Constance made it through and find out whatever she can tell us about her end of what happened today.”