Ghost House Revenge (30 page)

“Gary!”

Grimacing, he at last tore the animal away. His face was red with fury as he smashed
the hideous creature against the tile floor, again and again. Melanie watched him,
crying loudly, until at last she could stand no more. She pulled the dead rat from
his grip and threw it across the room.

“Stop it, please!”

She moved closer to him. Gary clutched at his side, grimacing in pain. “Where d-did
they come from?”

“I don’t know!” Melanie cried. “Gary, I’ve got to get you to a doctor.’

“I’m okay,” Gary insisted, foolishly trying to get on his feet again. Uttering a terrible
cry, he fell to the floor. “Damn it!”

Melanie, still naked, stood up now and walked to the medicine cabinet, her body dripping
water that mixed with the blood on the floor, making it dangerously slippery. She
found a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a package of gauze. Carrying these in either
hand, she walked carefully across the floor and knelt down beside her husband. She
sniffled as she helped him get his shirt off. There was a tiny gash in his side, but
it was deep, and so much blood gushed out of it that Melanie was forced to use the
entire package of gauze to stop it. Although she shook as she worked, she managed
to do a good job. At last she stood up and put on her robe.

“That’ll hold until the ambulance comes,” she said. “Please don’t try to move, Gary.”

“I’m okay,” Gary said weakly.

“That thing could have had rabies,” Melanie said firmly.

She hurried downstairs to the phone. Gary protested when the ambulance arrived, but
Melanie refused to listen to him. She followed the paramedics from the house as they
carried her husband on a stretcher. To her relief, they had placed the rats in a bag
for inspection at the hospital.

“Please take care of him,” she said.

“You’re not coming?”

“I—I can’t,” Melanie said. “I have a sick child upstairs. Gary, call me when you can?”

“I will,” Gary said. “And don’t worry.”

Don’t worry! How many times had he spoken those words? Now, feeling tears rise again,
Melanie tightened her robe and watched the ambulance drive away.

“MOMMY?”

Kyle’s frantic cry broke her spell. She ran as fast as she
could. Upstairs, to her disgust, she found him staring at the bloodstained bathroom
floor. She hurried to him and lifted him away.

“What are you doing out of bed?”

“I had to go,” Kyle said.

Gary’s cries had wakened him, and now he stood in his bare feet, trembling. Melanie
took him in her arms and suddenly felt the seat of his pants becoming wet. He looked
at her, embarrassed. But Melanie kissed him and said, “It’s okay. You’re frightened
and sick. Come on back to your room and I’ll get you dry pajamas.”

She helped the little boy undress. Weakened by his fever, Kyle didn’t protest. Melanie
then tucked him under his covers and bent to kiss his perspiring forehead. He was
sweating—that meant his fever was going down, thank God.

“Go to sleep honey,” she said. “You’ll be all right.”

She wished she could feel that way herself.

Derek had come to the spa to work off his frustrations, only to become more frustrated
because he had to wait for a court. At this early hour, it was a marvel to see how
many people were playing racquet ball. For a while he sat on a blue vinyl couch, staring
at a bad oil painting. Then he stood up and fished a dime out of his pocket. For the
tenth time that morning, he would try to get Liza on the phone. She couldn’t stay
away forever, could she?

Derek tried not to think that something might have happened to her. He was glad when
someone answered the phone but disheartened to hear a male voice. Idiot? He’d dialed
the wrong number. And now they were calling him onto the court.

It was satisfying to take out his anger on those four walls. The loud, repetitive
bouncing marked his fury. BANG! That one was for Alicen. BANG! That was for that bitch
Janice and how she controlled his life. BANG! That was for this job. He had once called
it a godsend, but for all he cared now, God could send it to hell. BANG! BANG! BANG!
He wanted out. Away from Janice, away from Alicen, maybe even away from Liza. Where
the hell was she now?

BANG! Liza’s name was written on that one.

The ball sped around the court, moving so fast that its echoes were deafening. Derek
dove and leaped for it, breathing heavily, sweat marking his T-shirt. It hit a high
point
above him and bounced to the back wall. But Derek didn’t hear it hit.

He turned and saw Janice standing behind him. She was smiling, holding the ball in
her hand. Dripping with sweat and panting, Derek frowned at her and held out his hand.

“Give me the ball,” he said.

“No,” Janice said.

Derek’s arm dropped to his side. He closed his eyes and sighed. Then he opened them
again.

“What do you want now?” he asked. “Isn’t it enough that you forced my daughter to
almost kill a little boy?”

Janice smiled. “You shouldn’t talk to me like that.”

“Why are you here?”

“To ask why you told that slime you aren’t going to be his therapist any more.”

“Don’t call him slime,” Derek cautioned.

“He is slime!” Janice hissed. “That whole family is slime, trash, garbage! They murdered
me!”

“ ‘They?’ ” Derek echoed. “Does that include Kyle and his dog? How about Gina? I suppose
you engineered that bus accident—with my daughter’s help.”

“Alicen is a dreamer,” Janice said. “I control her, and I control you. I’ll keep you
from leaving, Derek. I want you!”

Derek stared defiantly into her blue eyes. Why couldn’t he run away from her? Why
did he stay here and take this? He had a little money. He could survive until he got
a job. Mary Norton would take care of him and Alicen.

What was this power Janice had over him?

“You’d better leave,” he said. “My half-hour’s up, and someone’s bound to come onto
the court.”

“They won’t see me,” Janice said. “Only you can see me.”

She moved closer to him, putting her arms around him. Derek was surprised to find
she smelled like flowers. No, like the beach. And then like the perfume Elaine had
always worn. He closed his eyes and gave in to her.

“Court time is over, sir,” a voice said.

Derek’s eyes snapped open. He was standing alone, his racket hanging at his side.

“I’m sorry,” he said, embarrassed. “I played too hard.”

“Why don’t you relax in the whirlpool?” the man said.

Derek smiled. He went into the locker room, looking around, expecting her to show
up. She was making him
paranoid. Even the whirlpool didn’t help. Derek got out when the memory of Liza came
to him—the day they had slipped beneath the water together. Where was Liza now?

What had Janice done to her?

Derek cut off that thought, like he had cut off so many others, and went to the locker
room to shower and dress. He was surprised to see it was nearly two o’clock before
he left the building. He passed a tanned, blond-haired man on his way out, but didn’t
even notice him.

Melanie moved slowly back and forth in the antique rocking chair as she stared out
the bay windows at the sky. She had been unable to work, nervously waiting for Gary’s
call. Why was it taking so long?

She thought of Alicen and felt a mixture of pity, anger, and of relief. It was easy
to handle a thirteen-year-old mortal, wasn’t it?

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Gina, who had come home from school just a half hour
earlier, wondered why her mother looked so sad. It had something to do with daddy,
of course. She knew her father would never go out with Kyle so sick.

“Where’s daddy?” she asked.

Melanie turned her gaze from the window and leaned sideways against the chair’s slats.
Gina was looking at her with worried eyes, eyes that told Melanie she wanted to know
the truth. Yet Melanie couldn’t give in to them. How could she tell this beautiful
young girl about the rats and rabies?

“He went to the hospital for tests,” she said at last.

“He had tests done just a short while ago,” Gina said warily.

“I know,” Melanie said, building the lie, “but this bad weather made his bones hurt
so much that he figured he’d better have them checked out. He’ll be staying overnight,
but I’m sure he’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Oh, mom,” Gina signed, putting her arms around Melanie’s neck. “Everything is so
bad lately, just when we were going to start a nice summer.” She pulled away. “How’s
Kyle?”

“Sleeping,” Melanie said. “His fever is broken, but his temperature isn’t normal yet.
I’ll call the doctor if things don’t change more drastically by tomorrow.”

“Poor Kyle,” Gina said. “And damned old Alicen!”

“Gina!”

Gina frowned. “I’m sorry. But she is. She wouldn’t talk to me again today. Even when
I tried to make her think I’d believe her story about Kyle. I mean, we haven’t heard
her side yet. It’s only fair.”

“Alicen won’t talk to me, either,” Melanie said.

“She’s weird,” Gina replied. “She didn’t talk to anyone today. Not even Jamie Hutchinson,
and she’s in love with him.”

“Jamie Hutchinson?” Melanie repeated. “Is he the red-haired boy I met the day of the
bus accident?”

“Yeah.”

And the one who got Alicen started on all this, with his stories of murder
, Melanie thought.

But she didn’t tell Gina this. Instead, she used the opportunity to change the subject
She asked about Jamie, and soon Gina was babbling on about the boys in her school.
The mood lightened, and both mother and daughter began to relax. Until the phone rang.
It was Gary, at last.

“No rabies,” he said.

“Thank God,” Melanie whispered. She fought tears of relief and managed to laugh at
herself for spending the entire afternoon in that damned rocking chair, expecting
the worst and accomplishing nothing.

“When are you coming home?” she asked.

“That’s the clincher,” Gary said. “The fall I took messed me up a little. I’ll be
here for the weekend.”

“Oh, God!”

“Melanie, Derek is there if you need help,” Gary said.

“I know that,” Melanie answered. “And I can take care of things myself. I’m worried
about you. What’s wrong with you?”

“Just a bad sprain in my ankle,” Gary said. “It isn’t too serious.”

“But Gary,” Melanie protested, “your legs weren’t strong to begin with. Are you sure
it isn’t serious, or are you just trying to make me feel better?”

“I could put Dr. Norton on the line,” Gary suggested.

Melanie sighed. “I believe you.”

There was a long silence, in which Melanie heard the distant sound of the hospital
P.A. system. Then she said, “What am I going to tell the children?”

“Haven’t they asked yet?”

“Gina did,” said Melanie. “Nancy’s at a birthday party,
and of course Kyle is sleeping. I told Gina you were just going in for more tests.”

“That’s good enough.”

“But I told her you’d be coming home tomorrow,” Melanie said.

“You can think of some excuse,” Gary said. “Our kids know how slow hospitals are.”

Melanie nodded, as if Gary could see her. “I love you,” she said.

“I love you,” Gary answered. “Don’t worry. I’ll be home before you know it.”

At dinner Melanie told Gina and Nancy about slow hospitals. They listened sympathetically,
Nancy sad that her daddy was sick again, Gina not believing a word of her mother’s
story. But she knew better than to push things. It was bad enough that just the three
of them were sharing dinner. Kyle, of course, was unable to join them, Alicen refused
to eat, and Derek hadn’t yet come home.

In the loneliness of the house that night, Melanie was unable to sleep. She decided
to go downstairs and read for a little while. She curled herself up on the sofa in
the library, her head on a bolster, and flipped lazily through a book.

A few pages blew over in a cold wind that swept through the room. Melanie sat up,
looking around. It seemed her heart had stopped beating.

She heard a familiar voice. “Melanie,” it said.

“You’ve come back again,” Melanie said when the dark-haired, ragged woman appeared.
She didn’t shrink away, knowing this woman was her friend.

“I’ve come to warn you for the last time,” the woman said. “You must leave this place,
before it is too late.”

“I can’t leave,” Melanie said. “I have a sick child, who can’t be moved. But—you said
this is your last time? Why?”

“I took great risks coming here,” the woman said. “If I return again, she will surely
learn of me.”

“Who is she?” Melanie asked. “At least tell me that!”

“I dare not speak her name,” the woman said.

“Then tell me why you’ve come to help me. I don’t know who you are.”

“You know me,” the woman said. “It is because of me that evil fell upon this house.
His love for me has condemned my lover to eternal suffering in hell. But I am a good
Christian woman, and perhaps, by the mercy of God, I can lessen his
suffering. I came here to temper the evil of this house with kindness. But no one
listens to me, and she is still strong!”

Melanie reached out a hand to put it on the woman’s shoulder. But the woman shrank
away from her.

“I must leave now,” she said. “My Jacob awaits my return.”

She was gone. Melanie stared at the now empty space where the woman had just stood,
unmoving.
My Jacob?

Melanie shot to her feet and cried out:
“Lydia?”

There was no answer. But Melanie knew now who the woman was. It was Lydia Browning—Jacob
Armand’s lover! The woman who had been burned at the stake for witchcraft while Jacob
stood witness. It was the pursuit of her that had brought Jacob’s wrath down on Melanie’s
family the year before.

But why had Lydia come? Did this mean Jacob Armand had nothing to do with all this?
Lydia kept talking of a woman. Who? What woman had reason to hate the VanBurens so?

There were too many questions. And Melanie feared the answers would come all too soon.