The Ghost Who Loved Diamonds (3 page)

Silently, Lily stared
at Danielle, her brows drawn into a frown. It took her a moment to register
what Danielle was saying. Lily’s expression shifted from confusion to surprise
and finally to amusement.

“Oh, you almost got
me!” Lily laughed heartily. “Walt Marlow,
right
…” Lily stopped laughing
a few seconds later when she noticed Danielle’s serious expression had not
changed. Mirth wasn’t tugging on the corners of Danielle’s mouth—there was no
sign of suppressed laughter.

“Oh my god…you are
serious, aren’t you?” Lily said after a few moments of silence. Danielle nodded
her reply. Glancing around the room, Lily asked, “Is he here now?”

“Yes. Over there.”
Danielle pointed at the counter near the sink.

“Hello, Lily,” Walt
said, taking a puff off his cigar.

“He just said hello,”
Danielle told her.

Slowly Lily stood up
and faced the section of the counter Danielle indicated. Making her way to the
spot she stopped a few feet before reaching Walt. She sniffed the air.

“Yes, the cigar smoke
is strongest here,” Lily observed.

“You’re taking this
rather well,” Danielle said.

“It’s not like I hadn’t
wondered.” Lily reached out and waved her hand from right to left. Walt leaned
back away from Lily, but not before her hand moved through his face twice.

“Tell her to stop.”
Walt frowned, waving Lily away with his free hand.

“He doesn’t like that.
You just smacked his face,” Danielle chuckled.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Lily
jumped back, looking at where she believed Walt would be standing. “Did I hurt
him?”

“Of course not. He
can’t feel anything. He doesn’t actually have a real body.”

“Now
that
hurt.”
Walt glared at Danielle and then disappeared.

“Nice to meet you, Mr.
Marlow,” Lily said.

“He’s not there any
more.”

“What do you mean?”
Lily looked at Danielle.

“I think my crack about
him not being able to feel hurt his feelings. Or maybe it was because I said
his body wasn’t real. Either way, he took off in a huff.”

Lily sniffed the air. “I
can barely smell the cigar anymore.” She rejoined Danielle at the table.

“So you believe me?”
Danielle found Lily’s acceptance of the situation a bit unnerving.

“Since I first got
here…well, I sort of felt something. And then there was Sadie.”

“Sadie?” Danielle
asked. Ian had rented the house across the street from Marlow House for the
summer. Sadie was his golden retriever. The dog, like Danielle, could see Walt.

“The way Sadie acts
when she comes over here is strange. She barks at nothing. But it’s not
nothing, is it? She was barking at Walt Marlow.”

“Yes. It appears Sadie
can see him.”

“They’ve become
friends, haven’t they?” Lily asked.

“How did you know
that?”

“The way she wags her
tail at nothing… I guess it wasn’t nothing. Or how she likes to hang out alone
upstairs in the attic when she’s here. But she wasn’t alone. Was she?”

“Sadie has become
attached to Walt. It’s amazing how they communicate with each other—it’s like
they can read each other’s minds.”

“I’ve read animals are sensitive
to the supernatural,” Lily said.

“Are you saying you’ve
been wondering if this house was haunted all along, because of how Ian’s dog
was behaving?”

“It wasn’t just Sadie.
The thought first crossed my mind when you screamed bloody murder that first
day we arrived. Remember, in the bathroom? You saw him then for the first time,
didn’t you?”

“Yes, but at the time
you asked me if I had seen a mouse.”

“I couldn’t very well
ask you if you’d seen a ghost. How would that have sounded? And then there was
the cigar smell—coming and going.”

“Why didn’t you ever
say anything to me?” Danielle asked.

“Oh right,
Hey
Danielle, I think your house may be haunted
.”

“But when I first told
you, just now, you thought I was kidding.”

Lily shrugged and said,
“Well it’s one thing to have a feeling about something that’s out of the
norm—and another to have someone come right out and confirm it. For a moment I
thought you were pulling my leg, but then I realized you weren’t kidding, and
it all sort of made sense to me.”

“You know, you’ve met
him already,” Danielle said.

“I have? What do you
mean?”

“In your dreams. Dreams
are a way some spirits communicate with the living.”

“Hmmm, I’m not sure how
I feel about that—Walt Marlow popping in and out of my dreams.”

“You believe me?”
Danielle asked.

“I rarely remember my
dreams. And if I do, I typically forget them shortly after waking up in the
mornings. Those dreams, the two with Walt Marlow, were quite vivid. Some parts
were a little blurry, but basically I can still remember them.” Lily glanced
around the room. “Is he still gone?”

“He’s not here. At
least I can’t see him.”

“He likes you, you
know,” Lily told her.

“Well, I like him too.”
Danielle shrugged.

“No, I mean he likes
likes
you,” Lily whispered. “It was obvious by the questions he asked me.”

“Lily, the man is a
ghost.” Danielle scoffed.

“I’m just saying,” Lily
shrugged. “Why is he here anyway? Is his spirit trapped or something?”

“Trapped?”

“Well, I figure when
people die they go somewhere. When Grandma came back to say goodbye to my
mother she was on her way
somewhere
. Walt Marlow died what, almost
ninety years ago, and he’s still here.”

“Eighty eight but…”

“Oh, that’s why you
wanted to prove he didn’t commit suicide! You did it for him!”

“Yes, he couldn’t
believe he killed himself.”

“You mean he didn’t
know?” Lily asked.

“No. He couldn’t
remember what had happened. I’m pretty sure it was because he was knocked
unconscious before he was strangled.”

“And he showed you
where he hid that necklace, didn’t he?” Lily asked.

“Yes. I was worried we
were going to have more break-ins once Ian published his story and people knew
Walt may have taken the Missing Thorndike.”

“Wait a minute…when you
first showed us the necklace you were so sure it was fake. I wondered why. He
told you the stones weren’t real, didn’t he?”

“He thought they were
fake.”

“Why?” Lily asked.

Danielle paused a
moment, reluctant to break Walt’s confidence. “I really can’t say, Lily. I
promised him.”

“You can’t tell me?”

“It’s a long story, and
I promised Walt I would keep his confidence. Let me talk to him first. Please
understand. All I can say is he did believe they were fake. It came as quite a
surprised to discover they were real.”

“Gee, I can imagine.
Especially considering they were hidden in his attic for a century. But I still
don’t understand…”

“What, Lily?”

“Why is he still here?”

“I suppose he’s not
quite ready to leave yet. For one thing, he’d like to find out how the necklace
he stole—the one with the fake gems—turned out to be real.”

 The doorbell rang,
interrupting their conversation. “I think that’s Ian,” Lily said as she glanced
at the wall clock.

 “She took that rather
calmly,” Walt said when he appeared a few moments later, after Lily left the
room to answer the door. “Thank you for keeping my confidence, but you can tell
Lily about the necklace. It might make things easier, especially if we’re to
find out how those stones turned out to be real.”

“You left abruptly.”

“How do you know what I
can or cannot feel?” Walt asked.

“I’m sorry if I hurt
your feelings. But I meant your body can’t feel physical pain in the way a
living person can.”

“And just how do you
know that?” Walt challenged.

Danielle stood up,
facing him. “Well, can you?”

“No…but…” Walt
stammered. “But how do you know that?”

“Let’s just say I’ve
picked up a few things since I first started seeing ghosts.”

“Oh my god…now you’re
talking to yourself!” Cheryl called out from the doorway. “And you’re back to
that nonsense about seeing ghosts!”

Danielle groaned and
turned to face her cousin. Cheryl had changed her clothes and now wore a short
cotton dress; its hemline fell just inches down her upper thigh. Judging by the
pink straps pulled up through the neckline of the dress and tied around
Cheryl’s neck, Danielle guessed her cousin was wearing a bikini, and the dress,
its pink and orange floral print reminiscence of the sixties, served as a cover
up. Danielle didn’t see how the garment could be used as just a dress; Cheryl
would be showing the world her bottom if she leaned over just slightly. 

“I knew you were standing
there,” Danielle lied. “I know you were telling Lily stories about me.”
Danielle sat back down at the table.

“I think I’ll leave you
ladies to fight this out,” Walt said before disappearing.

“The way you say
stories
,
it sounds like I made stuff up. You did tell us you saw ghosts.” Cheryl walked
into the kitchen, sniffing the air. “There it is again…are you sure you haven’t
taken up cigars? Not exactly ladylike.”

“I don’t think it’s
necessary for you to gossip about me with my friends. We’ve all done embarrassing
things when we were children. I don’t feel compelled to tell everyone I meet
about the embarrassing things you did when you were a child.”

“Oh boo hoo, boo.”
Cheryl giggled. “Boo hoo, Boo…now that’s
funny
.”

Danielle shook her
head. “Whatever…”

“It’s not like I tell
everyone I meet. I can’t recall the last time I even thought of you, much less
talked about you. I just thought your friend might find the story amusing. And
anyway, you don’t have anything embarrassing to tell about me.”

Danielle started to
say,
what about being in pageants all your life
, but stopped herself. As
much as Cheryl annoyed her, Danielle had no desire to demean her cousin. Cheryl
was proud of her years in the pageant circuit, whereas Danielle compared the
accomplishment to first place winner in a food eating contest. Danielle loathed
food eating contests.

Cheryl nodded toward
what was left of the sandwich Danielle had been eating. “I hope you don’t plan
to serve those hideous sandwiches to your guests. If you do, you won’t be in
business a month.”

“What are you talking
about?” Danielle frowned.

“Lily brought me a
sandwich, it was barely edible.”

“What is it they say,
beggars
can’t be choosers
?” Danielle smiled sweetly.

Cheryl made a grunting
sound and started to turn back to the doorway.

“Are you going
somewhere?” Danielle asked, noting the straw purse in Cheryl’s hand.

“I tried to take a nap.
But I couldn’t sleep. So I decided I’d go check out the beach.”

“You might get chilly.
The beach is a little cooler here than what you’re used to. You might want to
put some jeans on and grab a sweatshirt.”

“I’ll be fine. But
thank you for worrying about me.” With a flounce, Cheryl walked toward the
doorway. As she stepped out of the kitchen she called out, “Try not to talk to
yourself too much!”

Danielle could hear her
cousin’s laugh as Cheryl made her way down the entry hall to the front door.

Ian sat quietly on the
small sofa in the parlor of Marlow House, listening to Lily rattle off the list
of things that needed to be done before the open house on the fourth. He’d
hoped she’d join him for a walk along the beach, but he doubted that was going
to happen this afternoon. She was dressed more for cleaning house—wearing her
strawberry print apron and tattered denims and t-shirt—than for a leisurely
stroll along the seashore.

He wasn’t paying close
attention to what she was saying, and hoped there wouldn’t be a quiz when she
was done. But he enjoyed watching her talk and move—she was a bundle of sexy
enthusiasm. She’d secured her red hair into a casual side ponytail and he
resisted his temptation to remove the rubber band and watch the hair tumble
down. 

  Sadie lay curled up
on the floor by his feet. She’d already lifted her head a few times since they
had arrived, and had let out little whimpers, seeking permission to dart from
the room and up the stairs to the attic. He didn’t know why Sadie acted this
way at Marlow House—she had always been so obedient. Ian wondered if perhaps
there were mice in the attic. That might explain why she found the top floor of
Marlow House so fascinating.

Reaching down to give
Sadie a reassuring pat, Ian noticed something tucked under the sofa next to his
foot. He leaned down and reached for the item, picking it up. It was a hot pink
stiletto high heeled shoe. The moment Lily noticed what was in his hand she
stopped talking and faced him.

Smirking, Ian turned
the shoe over in his hand, inspecting it. By its size, it was obviously not
Lily’s. It was much too large. However, Ian would love to see Lily wearing a
pair of these—in her size of course. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the
color.

“Danielle surprises
me,” Ian said with a chuckle.

“Danielle?” Lily asked.

“Well these are
obviously not yours.” Ian glanced down at Lily’s small dainty feet.

“Oh, my shoes! I forgot
I left them in here!” Cheryl stood at the parlor doorway staring at Ian.

“This is Cheryl,
Danielle’s cousin. She just arrived today. The shoes are hers.” Lily walked to
Ian and reached down, snatching the shoe from his grasp. In the next instant
she retrieved the second shoe from under the sofa and then tossed the pair at
Cheryl who was not prepared for the missiles hurled in her direction.

Cheryl’s straw purse
fell to the floor as she fumbled with the shoes, catching one while the second
shoe hit her in the shoulder before falling to the floor. Glaring at Lily, she
leaned down and picked up the fallen shoe and purse.

Ian stood up and
glanced from Lily to the new arrival, a curious frown on his face.

“Are you okay?” he
asked Cheryl.

“I think so.” Cheryl’s
instantaneous transformation from brassy to timid did not go unnoticed by Lily.
“I’m Dani’s cousin, Cheryl. And you are?” Cheryl flashed Ian a beguiling smile
as she walked into the parlor. Ignoring Lily, she set the purse and shoes on a
table by the sofa and put out her hand to Ian, who accepted it

 “Nice to meet you,
Cheryl. I’m Ian, Ian Bartley. I’m renting the house across the street for the
summer. I didn’t know Danielle’s family had come for a visit.” Instead of a
handshake, Cheryl gently squeezed Ian’s hand, lingering a moment before finally
releasing her hold.

“Actually, I’m
Danielle’s only family.” Cheryl moved a little closer to Ian, looking up into
his face. She gave him her entire attention.

Lily silently observed
the pair, annoyed at the dopey smile plastered on Ian’s face as his gaze
drifted from Cheryl’s eyes, down to her prominent bust line. Its cleavage
peaked provocatively from the low cut neckline of the cotton shift. Instead of
being insulted by Ian’s wandering gaze, Cheryl stood a little straighter,
arching her back to give him a better view. Lily resisted the temptation to
reach over and give Cheryl a good smack and Ian a kick in the shins.

While focusing all of
her attention on Ian, Cheryl failed to notice the dog by his feet—who was now
lifting her head up curiously at the new arrival. Cheryl took a step closer to
Ian, and her foot landed on Sadie’s front paw. Sadie jumped up and let out a
yelp. Cheryl in turn let out her own cry of surprise and jumped backwards, looking
down at the dog.

“Oh my god, a dog!”
Cheryl blurted out, staring down at Sadie as if she had three heads.  Ian
immediately dropped to one knee to comfort Sadie, while Lily rushed to his
side.

“Is she okay?” Lily
bent down and ran her hands over Sadie, who seemed to appreciate all the sudden
attention, and rewarded Lily with a wet lick across the face.

“She’s fine,” Ian said,
glancing from Sadie—who was now wagging her tail—to Cheryl.

“Are you sure? It looks
like she really crushed Sadie’s poor paw.” Lily glared up at Cheryl.

“Oh my god, I barely
stepped on her. I can’t believe Dani has a dog in the house. What about the
guests with allergies? The dog hair?” Hands on hips, Cheryl looked down at
Sadie and Lily, who both sat on the floor, while Ian stood over them.

“What, you don’t like
dogs?” Lily asked.

Before Cheryl could
answer, Ian said, “I hadn’t considered that—with Danielle getting ready to open
this place, she really doesn’t need to contend with dog hair. And some people
are allergic…”

“She’s yours?” Cheryl’s
expression of disdain quickly vanished.

“Yes, this is Sadie,”
Ian introduced.

“Oh, she’s so cute,”
Cheryl cooed. Leaning down she awkwardly patted Sadie’s head.

“She doesn’t like her
head touched like that,” Lily said when Sadie shied away from Cheryl’s touch.

Cheryl ignored Lily and
leaned over again, giving Sadie another quick pat before standing back up.

“What are you guys up
to?” Cheryl asked sweetly, her eyes still on Ian. Taking a few steps back, she
sat on a chair facing the sofa, where Lily and Ian now sat, side by side.

“I’d hoped to convince
Lily to take a walk on the beach with me, but it seems she and Danielle have
other plans, with getting this place ready to open for business.”

“The beach? That’s
where I was headed. But I’m not sure how to get there. If you don’t mind, I’d
like to tag along with you.” Cheryl asked.

“The beach is just
across the street,” Lily told her, pointing in the right direction. “Not
exactly hard to find with the big ol’ Pacific Ocean out there.”

“Aw, come on Lily, it’s
the least I can do for Danielle. With you two so busy getting this place ready
for the open house I don’t imagine she has time to show her cousin around. I’ll
be happy to walk her down to the beach.” Ian patted Lily’s denim clad thigh
while flashing Cheryl a smile.

“The beach across the
street doesn’t allow dogs,” Lily reminded.

“I guess I’ll have to
drop Sadie at my house first.”

Cheryl stood up and
snatched her straw purse from the table. “Oh thank you Ian, I really do
appreciate you taking the time. And I’m sure Dani and Lily will be glad to get
me out of their hair for a while.” Cheryl flashed Lily a smile.

Ian stood up and patted
his thigh, signaling Sadie it was time to leave.

“No, Ian,” Lily blurted
out. Ian looked at Lily, a questioning frown on his face.

“What Lily?” Ian asked.

“Sadie can stay here,”
Lily said quietly. “No reason to leave her alone at your house. She’s fine here
with us.”

“Are you sure? Cheryl
has a point about the dog hair and allergies, and once Danielle starts taking
guests...”

“No,” Lily stood up.
“Sadie is fine here. She’s not a problem.”

“Well now that that’s
settled, I’d really like to pee before we go. Is there a downstairs bathroom?”
Cheryl asked.

Inwardly Lily cringed
at Cheryl’s choice of words.
I’d really like to pee—Seriously?
Lily
thought. She walked to the doorway and pointed to the powder room door.

Cheryl smiled at Ian
then hurriedly made her way to the bathroom.

“You don’t like her
much, do you?” Ian asked, wrapping his arms around Lily and pulling her close.

“Gee, how could you
tell?” Lily half heartily attempted to pull out of his embrace before leaning
back against his chest and allowing him to wrap his arms around her waist. He
rested his chin atop her head.

“First clue was the way
you hurled the shoes at her. Considering those heels, that might be considered
attacking her with a deadly weapon.”

“And you thought those
were Danielle’s gaudy shoes?” Lily scoffed.

“You failed to tell me
Marlow House had its first house guest. But obviously you are not thrilled with
Danielle’s cousin. Why?”

“For one thing she
plans to challenge Dani for half of the estate.” Lily turned around in Ian’s
arms so that she could face him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled
his face to hers and brushed a kiss over his lips.

“She is? Interesting.”
Ian brushed a second kiss over Lily’s mouth.

“I saw the way you were
checking out her boobs,” Lily whispered.

“Hey, you can’t blame
me. They were…well there…practically in my face.” Ian gave her a little
squeeze.

“You didn’t have to
offer to take her to the beach.”

“You can go with us,
you know. I’d rather spend the afternoon with you.”

“No, I have too much to
do.”

“She might try to take
advantage of me.”

“Well, you’re a big
boy. I don’t have any claim on you.” Lily nipped Ian’s lower lip.

“Ouch!” Ian ran his
tongue over the injured lip. She hadn’t drawn blood. “Are you jealous?”

“Not my style,” Lily
hugged him a little tighter.

“Could have fooled me,”
Ian whispered into her ear before nipping her earlobe.

Lily pulled back and
looked into Ian’s face. Narrowing her eyes she said, “You were trying to make
me jealous!”

“I wanted you to spend
the afternoon with me. I was jealous of Danielle.”

“Oh my!” Cheryl called
out from the doorway, surprised at what she was seeing.

“You ready to go?” Ian
asked, still holding Lily in his arms.

“Umm…yes…I mean…are you
two…?”

“Are we, Lily?” Ian
asked, looking down at the woman in his arms, a mischievous grin on his face.
When Lily’s only response was a blush, Ian said, “I’m quite mad about
redheads.” Ian gave Lily a grin. He dropped a kiss on her nose before releasing
her.

“Lily, when you and
Danielle are done doing whatever you have planned today, go out to dinner with
me tonight, okay?”

Lily glanced from Ian
to Cheryl, who stood silently in the doorway, a perplexed expression on her
face.

“It’s a date, Ian. Have
a nice walk. I’ll take good care of Sadie.”

“I know you will.” Ian
reached out and gave her pony tail a playful tug as he prepared to leave.

Lily and Sadie followed
Cheryl and Ian to the front door, and said good bye one final time. Ian and
Cheryl made their way down the front walk to the street. For a moment Lily
considered changing her mind and going with them, but she really didn’t want to
spend time with Cheryl, and she figured if Ian decided he was interested in
someone like Cheryl, she wouldn’t want him anyway. When Ian and Cheryl reached
the front gate, Lily closed the door and went into the house to find Danielle.
Sadie raced off ahead of her, charging up the stairway to the attic.