The Ghosts of Peppernell Manor (13 page)

We all dismounted with only one minor injury—my pride. As I was trying to gracefully descend from Chuck's back, I misjudged the distance to the ground and ended up on my backside on the stone floor of the stable. Heath ran over to where I sat on the ground.

“Carleigh! Are you all right?”

And Lucy, in chorus, shouted, “Mama!”

I smiled ruefully and stood up slowly. “I'm fine. Just very embarrassed.” I rubbed my hand where I had hit it trying to stop my fall. Lucy ran over and kissed it, pronouncing that it was now “all better.” I tousled her hair and thanked her.

To Heath I said, “Please let's never discuss this.”

He laughed and asked, “Discuss what?”

I nodded and winked and then, taking Lucy's hand, followed him out of the stable. Back at the manor, we thanked Heath for taking us out with the horses and headed inside. As we entered the manor, Heath called me back for a second.

“Would you like to come over to the carriage house for a drink after Lucy goes to bed?” he asked.

I didn't know what to say. I didn't want anything to do with men. But I liked Heath. Was this like a date? As the seconds ticked by and the panic started to swirl around in my head, he must have wondered why it was taking me so long to answer him.

I was just about to decline politely when suddenly I heard myself accepting his invitation. He smiled and turned to go. “See you in a bit.”

What was I thinking? I'm over men!
But I found myself looking forward to seeing him after Lucy was asleep.

I knocked on Evie's door before leaving. “Would you mind watching Lucy for a little while?”

“Sure. Where are you going?”

“Just outdoors for a bit.”

“No problem.”

I wandered through the soft night air, heavy with the scent of jasmine, roses, and honeysuckle, to Heath's carriage house. I knocked on the front door, suddenly feeling shy. He answered the door and led me to the small patio behind the house. We sat at an uncomfortable set of wrought iron chairs and a small, round table. He had placed a tray on the table with two glasses and a pitcher of something icy.

“Do you like gin and tonic?” he asked.

“Sure,” I replied.

“I like it when it's warm out like this.” He seemed as nervous as I felt.

I nodded.

“What did Lucy think of horseback riding?” This was a safe enough topic.

“She loved it. She wants to be an equestrienne now,” I answered with a laugh.

“If she really wants to do that, then she's starting out good and early.”

The conversation stalled for a moment as we sipped our drinks.

“It's beautiful out here,” I told him.

“You mean out here on the patio?”

“Yes. I didn't even know the patio was here. It's hidden by the garden walls.” Honeysuckle vines and Confederate jasmine climbed the brick walls that surrounded the patio on three sides.

“I like to garden. Those vines took a few seasons to train, but they're growing well now. They require a little bit of upkeep, but I like the way they look. I've got some rosebushes over here,” he said, standing up and walking over to a corner of the patio. “There are some gardenias, too.”

He stopped talking.

“Did you hear that?”

“Yes,” I answered slowly. “What was it?”

From the other side of the patio wall came a sound like a low growl. Heath crouched down, peering under the bushes that grew along the wall.

He turned to me and said quietly, “There's a dog under there. I think he's scared.

“Come here, boy,” he said, holding out his hand.

No sound, no movement.

“I've got an idea,” he said softly. He stood up slowly. “I'm going to run in the house and get some meat. That ought to get him out of the bushes.”

I could see light reflected in the dog's eyes under the shrubs. He and I watched each other warily while Heath went into the kitchen. In the dim light from the patio lights, he looked like a cross between a golden retriever and an Irish setter. Heath came back carrying a large bowl of water and a crinkly plastic bag from the deli.

“All I have is salami, but that should work.” He placed the bowl of water on the patio stones and set a slice of salami on the ground next to it. He motioned me back to the table.

“Let's see if he'll come out of there,” he whispered.

As we watched, the dog cautiously poked his head from around the patio wall and eyed the food and water. He looked at us, then back to the meal again, apparently unsure of the situation. After several seconds of indecision, he walked slowly over to the water and salami. He wolfed down the meat—inhaled, actually—and then set about slurping the water. He looked at us eagerly, obviously waiting for seconds.

“He acts like he hasn't had anything to eat or drink in ages,” I commented.

Heath pointed to the dog's fur, which seemed to be hanging from his bony frame. “I don't think he has.” The dog's fur, the color of ginger, was long and matted, but I could tell he would be beautiful with a bath and a brush.

“Poor thing.”

The dog pushed against Heath's hand with his muzzle. Heath stroked its head and ears. “Where'd you come from, boy?” he asked, as if expecting an answer.

“He doesn't have a collar. Maybe he's a stray.”

Heath put down more salami next to the water. The dog ate the food quickly, then curled up on a patch of grass near the base of the gardenia bushes and lay his head down on his front paws. He looked content.

“I wonder if he'll be there in the morning,” Heath commented.

“You'll have to let us know,” I answered. “Maybe you've found yourself a pet.”

“Maybe a pet found me,” he replied with a smile.

Heath walked me back to the main house. At the door, I thanked him for inviting me for a drink and he smiled broadly. “We'll have to do it again,” he said.

I went inside with a smile on my face.
That wasn't bad at all.

The next morning I was in the kitchen when Heath appeared in the doorway. “The dog stayed under that shrub all night,” he told me. “I've been working on the patio this morning and he hasn't left my side. He's a real friendly guy.”

“Do you think it would be all right if I took Lucy to see him?”

“Of course! That's why I came over here. To see if you wanted to come to my place and bring Lucy.”

I smiled. Lucy would love the dog. I ran upstairs to get her and together the three of us walked outside. To my surprise, the dog was waiting for us by the back door of the manor. He turned and took several long, loping strides toward Heath's home before looking over his shoulder to make sure we were following him.

“Doggie!” yelled Lucy, running to pet him.

“Wait, Lucy!” I called to her. “We always walk up to a dog slowly. And let Heath go with you.”

She slowed down long enough for Heath to take her hand, and the two of them approached the dog slowly as he stood waiting for us to catch up with him. Lucy touched his back very gently, mimicking Heath's movements, and the dog licked her face. She giggled uncontrollably, making me and Heath laugh out loud.

“I'm going to take him to the farm's vet this morning,” Heath told us. “I'm also going to call the SPCA and the newspaper and the other vet offices to see if he's missing from someone's family. He seems pretty happy to be here, though. If I can't find an owner for him, maybe I'll keep him.”

After Lucy had played with the dog for a little while on Heath's patio, I took her into Charleston for school. When I returned to the manor to work I started trying to remove some of the wallpaper in the ballroom. It was dirty work and I was filthy by the time I needed to pick Lucy up from school. But I was excited to have started in the ballroom. It was huge and beautiful, even in its careworn state. This room, too, was going to be a vibrant hue when it was done and I hoped the family liked the color Cora-Camille had chosen, a deep peacock-blue.

When Lucy and I turned into the Peppernell Manor drive that afternoon, we followed Heath in his pickup truck right up to the house. Through the back window of his truck we could see a second head, with floppy ears, looking out at us.

“Look, Lucy,” I said excitedly, “Heath has the doggie in his truck!”

When Heath pulled to a stop, he jumped out of the cab and the dog followed, tail wagging, his long ginger fur shining and lustrous.

“He's a she,” Heath told me, laughing. “And I haven't been able to find anyone missing a dog of her description, so I think I'm going to keep her. If she'll stay. She's already enjoyed her first bath.”

“She's gorgeous!”

“Isn't she?” Heath looked at the dog with affection, then looked at Lucy. “What should we name her?”

“Hmmm,” Lucy said, her expression turning serious as she put her finger to her chin. “Let me think.” Heath winked at me and said to her, “You take your time and come up with a really good name, okay?”

“Okay.”

He whistled for the dog to follow him as Lucy and I went inside for a snack. Over apple slices and a glass of milk, Lucy suddenly looked at me and said, “Addie.”

“What?”

“Addie.”

“What's Addie?”

“The doggie.”

“What a nice name for a dog!” I praised her. “I think Heath will like that name.”

He did. “Addie it is, then. She'll love it,” he told Lucy with a smile at dinner that evening.

“I know,” she replied happily.

I let her play outside with Addie after dinner. Heath watched the two of them on his patio. Addie loved playing with her new friend, and when I went to get Lucy for a bath, the two of them were rolling together on the grass, Addie barking and Lucy giggling uncontrollably.

Heath smiled when he saw me. “These two are already best friends,” he said.

“It sure looks that way,” I answered with a grin.

I took Lucy back to the manor for a bath and saw Phyllis beckoning me from the kitchen doorway.

“Carleigh, we need to talk about something.”

I turned to Lucy. “You go wait for me upstairs. I'll be up in a jiffy.”

She nodded and hurried up the stairs.

“What is it, Phyllis?”

“It's about that dog,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

“Addie?”

“You've named it?”

“It's a she.”

“Stray dogs are bad luck. Sarah has always said so. Even the slaves who lived here a hundred and sixty years ago knew that. Stray dogs bring nothing but bad luck to the people who take them in.”

“But Addie needed a home. And she hasn't brought any bad luck. In fact, she's brought only good things. Heath and Lucy love her already. I'm very fond of her, too.”

“You mark my words. Bad things will come to Peppernell Manor because of that dog.”

“I think that's just a superstition, Phyllis.”

She looked at me darkly. “You just wait and see,” she warned, then returned to her work in the kitchen.

I went upstairs to give Lucy her bath. I was becoming frustrated with Phyllis and Sarah and their opinions. Addie had brought nothing but happiness in her short time at Peppernell Manor, and I couldn't imagine anyone believing that such a sweet dog could bring bad luck to anyone.

I
spent the next day completing the work on the dining room floor. Its surface gleamed in the soft light coming in from the tall windows. That floor might have been lovely when it was brand-new back in the 1800s, but now, with its long history of manor families and visitors peopling the room through the years, of parties and funerals and dinners, of debates over the issues of slavery and Reconstruction and Southern survival and dying farms, it was somehow even more beautiful.

The next few days were a whirl of work and play. Between taking Lucy to and from school, playing with the dog after school, and working on the walls in the ballroom, I had no time to stop for a breath. I was close to completing the prep work on the walls.

Heath came over after dinner one evening and invited me to the carriage house again. I accepted happily, and Evie watched Lucy after I put her to bed.

Sipping cold drinks, Heath and I talked in the dim light of his patio. He was funny and interesting, and I loved his stories of growing up on the farm with Evie and Harlan. He walked me back to the main house a couple hours later.

We walked side by side through the darkness. Twice his hand brushed mine and each time I felt a little thrill in the pit of my stomach.

“Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow?” Heath asked suddenly.

“Sure,” I told him with a smile.

He squeezed my hand when he dropped me off in front of the manor house. “I'll pick you up here at six,” he said as he turned to walk back home.

I smiled to myself as I walked into the entry hall and I fairly skipped up the stairs to my room. It had been such a long time since I had had such a comfortable feeling in the presence of a man.

Evie was reading in my room while Lucy slept. “I thought I heard you coming up the stairs,” she whispered. “What's got you in such a good mood?”

“Nothing in particular,” I answered, grinning.

“Yeah, right.” She smiled knowingly and I knew she was happy for me.

The next day I worked on the walls of the sitting room until lunchtime, then Evie asked me to take a break to go shopping with her in Charleston. “I'm going to Atlanta this weekend,” she explained. “Boone and I are going to a charity event. I need the perfect dress. We can shop until it's time to pick up Lucy.”

I agreed to go with her as soon as I got a shower and changed my clothes. When we got to Charleston, Evie knew exactly the place she wanted to start hunting for her dress. We parked my car in front of an expensive-looking boutique on a street full of expensive-looking shops. We went in and Evie tried on dress after dress until she finally decided it was time to look elsewhere. We went into another shop two doors down.

“What's wrong with the shop in the middle?” I asked.

“Nothing. It's a great little store, but Heath's ex-wife, Odeile, works in there and I can't stand her.”

“Is that where she works? Heath told me she worked in a clothing store in Charleston, but he didn't tell me the name of it.”

“She's awful.”

“Why didn't you ever mention that Heath was married?”

“I made a pact with myself never to talk about her.”

“How grown-up of you,” I said with a smirk.

“Maybe so, but I just couldn't help it.”

Luckily Evie found a dress in the third shop we visited. It was an adorable lime-green sheath with bright white tropical accents. She also found some chunky white costume jewelry and a matching handbag. She would be the belle of the ball in Atlanta. We still had some time before picking up Lucy, so we decided to stop at an outdoor café for a cup of coffee. We were chatting when Evie's phone rang. “It's Harlan. Let me get this,” she said before speaking into the phone. “Hello?”

Her brow furrowed. “Hello? Harlan?”

She put her hand over the speaker and said quietly to me, “I can hear some noise, but Harlan's not talking.”

“Harlan? What do you want?”

She put the phone on speaker so we could both listen.

“Please, please. No.” It was Harlan's voice. It sounded strange.

“Harlan! This is Evie. What's the matter?” she asked urgently.

A different voice, lower, came across, but we couldn't hear what was being said. Harlan replied to the voice, “I'll tell you everything. I promise. Please put that away.” He spoke calmly, but there was a tension in his voice.

“Harlan! I'm right here! Put what away?” Evie asked tensely.

His voice issued from the phone again. “Yes. Just put that down and I'll tell you exactly what happened. I did go into her bedroom that night. I was dressed in one of his suits.”

The other voice said something. Harlan answered. “Yes. I wanted to get her to agree to my investor idea. I showed her the business card because I wanted her to think that he approved of the idea.”

The other voice again, more urgent. Then Harlan again. Evie was yelling his name into the phone and people were staring at us.

“Evie, be quiet and listen to what he's saying,” I told her. “You can't help him if you can't hear him. You don't know where he is or who he's talking to.”

She fell silent. She had missed Harlan's last remark. He was speaking again. “I got it from a friend of mine who's a chemistry professor. I took it from his lab. I just gave her one dose in her tea one night when I was at the manor. You're right. I wanted the thallium to work before she got a chance to change her will, but she had a heart attack first.”

Then, “Please! Please don't!”

We heard a faint popping sound. Evie stared at me and shrieked into the phone, “Harlan! Harlan! Are you all right? What happened? Harlan!”

No answer. Silence. Then a shuffling noise, then nothing.

“We've got to get home, Carleigh. We've got to pick up Lucy right now and head back to the manor. We have to find Harlan!”

She dialed the phone. “Daddy? Have you seen Harlan? He just called me, but he wouldn't talk and he was talking to someone else and I couldn't understand them and I think something terrible has happened!”

He must have told her to slow down and speak so he could understand her. She took a deep breath and relayed the conversation she had just heard. “Okay. We'll be there as fast as we can.”

She hung up and looked at me. “Daddy's going to look for him. He'll call Heath, too, and Heath can look at Harlan's office. We have to go back to the manor. Right now.”

We hurried back to the car and made a beeline for Lucy's school. I raced in and, after hurriedly explaining to her teacher that Lucy needed to leave a few minutes early, we left together. I picked her up and carried her to the car. Something very ominous was happening, and I needed to get home and make plans for Lucy to go away.

I broke every speed limit driving back to Peppernell Manor. Lucy remained silent in the backseat, seeming to understand that it was not the time for chatting. Evie said nothing on the way home, just staring out the window. When we arrived at Peppernell Manor, I screeched to a halt in front of the house. Evie ran in through the front door and I whisked Lucy upstairs. I shut the door behind me.

“Lucy, how would you like to go visit Grandma June and Grandpa Silas?”

“Yay!” she cried, clapping her hands.

I gave her a coloring book and crayons and, promising to find her a snack very soon, I picked up my phone and dialed my parents, who lived in Florida.

My mother answered.

“Hi, honey. What's wrong?” Moms always know.

“Nothing,” I lied. “I was just wondering if you'd like to have Lucy stay with you for a while. I'm pretty tied up here with work, so it would be a big—” My mother agreed to take Lucy, with great enthusiasm, before I even finished talking.

We made plans to drive to Florida the next day. I would alert the school that Lucy would be out for a while, and she would stay with my parents until she could safely return to Peppernell Manor. I ran downstairs for a snack for Lucy, as I had promised her. Before I returned to our room, Evie came looking for me in the kitchen.

“Mother and Daddy can't find him, and Heath is on his way here. Harlan wasn't in his office,” she told me breathlessly.

“I'll help as long as someone can watch Lucy for me. Shouldn't someone call the police?”

“Daddy doesn't want to call them until we know where Harlan is. I'll just go ahead and call them myself if we don't find him soon.”

Ruby came into the kitchen just then, carrying a plate. “I'm going to make a pie,” she said. Then she noticed Evie's drawn expression. “What's the matter, Evie?”

“Aunt Ruby, have you seen Harlan? I can't seem to find him anywhere and I'm afraid he's hurt.”

Ruby shook her head. “I haven't seen him. Why do you think he's hurt?”

“It's a long story. I just think he is. Would you come find me if you see him?”

“Yes.” Evie left and Ruby turned her attention to making a pie crust. I took Lucy's snack upstairs.

Not long after Lucy finished her snack, Evie knocked on the door. “I'll watch Lucy for you. Would you mind moving your car? I think I'm going to call the police, and I want them to be able to get their cars up to the front of the house. And an ambulance, too, if we need one.”

I grabbed my car keys and ran outside. I pulled the car slowly into the garage.

That's when I saw him.