Second Child (39 page)

Taking a deep breath, Cora caught up with Melissa and gently took her arm. “It’s all right, darlin’,” she whispered. “It’s just Cora, and I’m gonna get you back to your bed.”

She paced herself to match Melissa’s somnolent stride, gently restraining her for a moment at the back porch while she fished in her pocket for the key to the back door. As she opened the door and guided Melissa inside, she reached for the light switch, but stopped herself just in
time, realizing that the sudden brilliance of the kitchen lights would be sure to awaken and frighten the girl.

She guided Melissa across the kitchen to the butler’s pantry door, as familiar with the layout of the house in darkness as she was in broad daylight.

“That’s right,” she crooned. “Through the dining room now, and up the stairs.”

They skirted the dining room table, moving into the foyer, then started up the stairs. At the second-floor landing Melissa paused, then started down the corridor in the exact opposite direction of her room. Cora’s brows knit into a puzzled frown for a moment, but then she understood.

The attic.

As she had so many times before in her sleep, Melissa was heading once more for the tiny chamber beneath the eaves of the house.

“No, darling,” Cora whispered. “Not tonight.”

She moved around to block Melissa’s way, and the girl stopped, staring at her vacantly. Then, as Cora gently turned her around, a puzzled look came into her eyes.

“It’s all right,” Cora assured her once more. “You’re safe inside, and nothing bad is going to happen to you now.”

Melissa’s lips moved and a word, barely audible, drifted from them. “Safe?”

“Yes,” Cora whispered. “You’re perfectly safe. Your mother’s sound asleep, and no one knows what happened.”

A sigh escaped Melissa’s lips, and then her eyes closed. For a moment she stood perfectly still, and then her knees buckled under her and she collapsed onto the floor. Instantly, her eyes flew open, and when she looked up at Cora, the dim glow of the night-light illuminating her face, the old woman could see the panic in her eyes.

“C-Cora?” Melissa stammered. Her eyes flicked around the corridor like those of a hunted animal searching for an unseen predator. For a moment she felt completely disoriented, and then a memory surged up in her mind. A memory of being in the pottingshed, and looking down into a hole in the floor, and seeing …

She choked back a sob as the rest of it came back to her. But what had happened? Why was she in the hall?

Why was Cora with her?

How had she gotten here?

Wordlessly, she stared up at Cora.

“It’s all right, sweetheart,” Cora told her, reaching out to help her back to her feet. The old housekeeper’s mind raced. She could see how terrified Melissa was—if only she’d kept sleeping another minute, she’d have had her back in her bed.

“Wh-Where … how did I get here?”

“Hush, child,” Cora said, her mind still working, searching for a way to keep from frightening Melissa any more than she already was. “It’s all right. I—I just couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d have a glass of warm milk. And wouldn’t you know, I’d run out. I came into the kitchen to get some, and heard you tramping around up here.” She forced a chuckle. “Lord knows, you were loud enough to wake the dead. But your mother didn’t hear you, so it’s all right. We’ll just get you back to bed. All right? Or maybe you’d like to come downstairs with me. We could both have a glass of milk.” She knew she was rattling on, knew that if Melissa thought about it, her words wouldn’t make much sense. But as she looked at Melissa, she wasn’t sure the child had even heard her. Her frightened eyes had taken on a puzzled look, as if she were still trying to figure out what had happened.

“You were walking in your sleep again, darling,” Cora said now, gently taking Melissa’s arm and steering her toward her room. “I think you were going up to the attic again. But it’s all right. I caught you in time, and no one need be the wiser. Let’s just get you back to bed.”

They were in front of Melissa’s door now, and suddenly Melissa froze.

The dress.

She and Teri had left the bloodstained dress lying on the floor of her room. And when Cora saw it …

Cora pushed the door open and snapped the light on, and Melissa’s eyes instantly went to the spot where the dress had lain.

It was gone.

Numbly, she allowed Cora to guide her into her room and help her out of her robe. Barely aware of what was happening, her mind still whirling with confusion, she let herself be put to bed, felt Cora tuck the covers around her. “There,” she heard the housekeeper whisper. “All back in
bed, all safe.” She felt Cora’s lips brush her cheek, felt her gentle fingers stroke her brow. “Just go back to sleep,” Cora told her. “Everything’s all right now.”

A few minutes later, after Cora had gone, Melissa got out of bed and went to the window. Outside, barely visible, she could see the corner of the pottingshed sticking out from behind the garage.

Had she really been out there? Or was it possible that the whole thing had been a dream?

No. The memory of it was too vivid, too real. She and Teri …

Teri.

Teri had gone with her. It must have been Teri who retrieved the dress.

But there was still that gap in her memory, from the time she had seen the horrible sight beneath the floor of the pottingshed, when she had called out to D’Arcy—called for her friend to come and help her—to the moment she had come awake in the hall outside her room.

It was gone, a blank void in her mind, gone just as surely as if it had never existed at all.

Turning away from the window, she slipped into the bathroom between her room and Teri’s, then tapped softly at the door to Teri’s room. When there was no reply, she turned the knob and gently pushed the door open. In the dim moonlight she could barely make out Teri’s sleeping form, sprawled on the bed, covered by a sheet.

Hesitantly, almost shyly, Melissa crept across to the bed and knelt down. “Teri?” she whispered. “Teri, are you awake?”

There was no response from her half sister.

Melissa reached out and touched Teri’s shoulder. Teri moaned softly and rolled over, turning her back to Melissa.

Melissa’s heart raced. How could Teri be this sound asleep so quickly? Only a few minutes ago they’d both been out in the pottingshed.

Unless …

Inhaling sharply, she grasped Teri’s shoulder and shook her. “Teri!” she whispered loudly. “Teri, wake up!”

Teri rolled over and sat up. Her eyes blinked a few times, then she squinted at Melissa in the dim moonlight.

“Melissa?” she asked, her voice sounding thick with sleep. “Wh-What time is it?”

“I—I don’t know,” Melissa stammered.

“Well, what are you doing in here?” Teri asked. “Why aren’t you asleep?”

Melissa’s eyes widened in the darkness. “The—The dress,” she said, her voice faltering. “What did you do with it?”

Now Teri reached over and snapped on the lamp on her nightstand. Melissa shied away from the brilliance of the light, but in a few seconds her eyes adjusted to the illumination and focused on Teri’s face.

Her half sister was gazing at her, her expression puzzled. “What dress?” she asked. “What are you talking about?”

Icy fingers of panic reached out to Melissa. It was impossible—it couldn’t have been a dream—it
couldn’t
have! “The white dress,” she whispered. “The one from the attic, that I wore to the dance. It was in my room tonight!”

Teri frowned and shook her head. “It couldn’t have been,” she said. “I threw it away that night, after we brought you home.”

“But you couldn’t have,” Melissa insisted. “Don’t you remember? You saw it tonight. And we went out to the pottingshed.”

Teri’s frown deepened. “Melissa, what are you talking about? We went out to the pottingshed? When?”

Melissa’s eyes flooded with tears. “Just a little while ago. We—We found Tag out there. D-D’Arcy did something to him.…”

Teri shook her head once more. “Melissa, I don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about. Just tell me what happened.”

As best she could, choking back the sobs that threatened to overwhelm her, Melissa pieced the story together. “But after I saw Tag,” she finished, “I—I don’t remember anything else. The next thing I remember is waking up in the hall. C-Cora said I was going up to the attic.”

Teri groaned and flopped down on the pillow. “Oh, for God’s sake, Melissa, why don’t you grow up?”

Melissa drew back from her half sister. “But—”

“It was a nightmare, Melissa,” Teri declared. “Isn’t it
obvious? You had a nightmare and started walking in your sleep, and Cora found you!”

“But it
wasn’t
a nightmare,” Melissa insisted. “You were
with
me!”

Teri shook her head. “I haven’t been anywhere, Melissa. I went to bed a little after ten, and I’ve been asleep ever since.” Her lips twisted into a scornful smile. “If you can’t even tell when you’re dreaming, maybe you’re as crazy as the kids say you are. Now go back to bed and let me go back to sleep, all right?” Without waiting for a reply, she turned the light off again and rolled over once more, pulling the covers up over her head.

But when Melissa was gone, she kicked the covers off, flopped over onto her back and clamped her hands against her mouth.

The last thing she needed right now was for Melissa to hear her laughter.

“Missy? Honey, it’s time to wake up.” Charles Holloway shook his daughter gently, and finally she rolled over and opened her eyes, closing them instantly against the bright morning sun that flooded through the windows.

“D-Daddy?” she asked. “What time is it?”

“Almost nine, sweetheart,” Charles replied, sitting down on the edge of the bed and taking Melissa’s hand in his own. “I’ve got to go back to the city, but I didn’t want to leave without saying good-bye to you.”

Melissa barely heard the words, for as she came fully awake, the memory of the night before leaped into her mind. She felt a cold chill of panic run through her and sat up, her arms snaking around her father’s neck. “N-No,” she begged. “Don’t go. Please?”

Charles hugged her close for a moment, but then gently disengaged himself from her embrace. “Hey, it’s only for today. I’ve got a couple of things to take care of, and I’ll be back tonight.” He grinned at her encouragingly. “It’s only a few hours. I’m going to fly down, go to a lunch meeting,
and fly back. And if I don’t get going, I’m going to miss my plane. Okay?”

Melissa, her mind still filled with the horrible images from the previous night, stiffened. She wanted to tell her father what had happened, beg him to go out to the pottingshed with her right now and look under the floorboards.

But then she remembered the night she’d seen Blackie in the attic, and the night D’Arcy, standing at the top of the attic stairs, had flung her hand down at Melissa’s feet.

Both times, when she’d insisted that one or the other of her parents go and look, there had been nothing there.

And the memories of what she’d seen those nights were every bit as vivid as the memory of seeing Tag’s body in the dim moonlight that had shined through the pottingshed door.

Could
it have been nothing more than a nightmare?

It must have been, for the next thing she could remember after staring at the carnage in the pit was waking up in the house.

In the house, only a few feet from her own room.

And even now she could remember Cora’s words.

“You were walking in your sleep again, darling. I think you were going up to the attic again.”

Cora had been in the house—she’d been downstairs. If she’d really been outside, wouldn’t Cora have seen her come back in?

It
had
to have been a nightmare.

“Y-You won’t be gone all night, will you?” she asked, her voice trembling.

“Of course not,” Charles assured her. “I told Dr. Andrews I’d take more time out here, just to be with you, and I meant it. But I just can’t get out of this meeting. You understand, don’t you?”

Melissa managed a nod, but as her father stood up, she clung to his hand. “I—I had another nightmare last night, Papa,” she breathed.

Charles hesitated, then sank back onto the bed. “Another one?”

“T-Tag was dead,” she said, her voice quavering and her eyes moistening with tears. “He—”

Charles’s arms went around his daughter once more and
he cradled her head against his chest. “Hush,” he crooned. “It was only a dream, Missy. I’m sure Tag’s all right—”

Melissa gasped and pulled away from her father, her eyes wary. “Isn’t he here?” she asked.

Charles wished he’d thought before he’d spoken. “He went off somewhere yesterday afternoon,” he reluctantly admitted. “And he hasn’t come back yet.”

A tiny wail escaped Melissa’s lips. “Wh-What if—” she began, but her father silenced her by pressing a finger to her lips.

“Now just stop that,” he told her. “You had a nightmare, and that’s all there was to it. You were pretty upset at Jeff’s funeral yesterday, remember? I wish I hadn’t let you look at him at all. God knows, looking at dead bodies is a barbaric custom, and I don’t know why anyone still does it. I remember the nightmares I had when I was your age and had to look at my grandmother after she’d died. For the next week, I woke up every night, sure that I’d seen her. She was dead, but her eyes were open and she was staring at me. Just watching me, as though I’d done something to her. And that’s all that happened to you—you saw Jeff Barnstable’s body yesterday, and in your dream it got changed to Tag’s. But it wasn’t real, honey.” His eyes met hers and his voice dropped slightly. “You have to start understanding what’s real and what’s not,” he told her. “Dreams are just that—dreams. Some of them might mean something, but it still doesn’t make them real.”

Getting to his feet once more, he smiled fondly at her. “Tell you what,” he said. “Why don’t you just stay in bed today and take it easy. And then, when I get home, you and I will spend the whole evening together. Just the two of us—we’ll go out for dinner, and maybe go to a movie. Does that sound like fun?”