A Haunting at Hensley Hall (A Ravynne Sisters Paranormal Mystery) (23 page)

She smiled then. Someone was actually trying to look after her! “I can’t leave here. This house is all we have, but I’ll make sure Rayne’s out of here in the morning. Meg’s another matter. She is a very stubborn woman who has her own ideas about what she wants to do.”

“Like her sister,” he replied, tracing her full lower lip with one finger. “Then promise me, you won’t take any foolish chances. I know you have a gun and I know you can use it. Protect yourselves, but let me handle the rest.”

She looked into his dark beguiling eyes and felt a tug of longing work its way through her entire core. At that moment…more than anything…she wanted to pull Zack Mallory into her bedroom and let him do to her everything his eyes promised. But she couldn’t…or, rather, wouldn’t. She would not
allow
herself to feel what she was feeling, so she laughed and warned him. “You know that is never going to happen. I’m going to the police station first thing in the morning, after I see Rayne headed for the airport. We could help each other, but don’t get in my way.”

Twisting free she sped down the stairs. At the bottom she turned and looked back. He stood there looking down at her and she had the strangest feeling he had done that once before…a long time ago.

Meg and Charlie helped Rayne load her bags in the back of her rental. She was headed back to New York and couldn’t wait to put as many miles as she could, as fast as she could, between her and Hensley Hell. She was only too aware that the missing girl might have been her and she was more terrified than ever “Mom and Dad are there now…a meeting with his publisher…some TV appearances. I won’t tell them about the mess you’ve gotten yourselves into here. No use scaring them, too. I’m scared enough for the whole Ravynne family!” she told them. After hugging them tightly and making them promise they’d be careful, Rayne slid behind the wheel and drove off.

“This is the earliest I’ve ever seen her up, ” Meg muttered around a yawn.

“Fear can be a powerful motivator,” Charlie said with a wry grin. “I love Rayne but a little of our baby sister goes a long way!”

“I’m glad you said that and not me. It sounds more natural coming from your lips.”

“Alas! I’m not all sweetness and light like you!” Charlie told her with a laugh. “I wonder where Zack is this morning? I gave him the journal to read. He was probably up all night finishing it.”

“I was a little fed up last night with both you and Zack, but I’m over it. So you trust him now? Are you certain he’s not Devon?” Meg asked, narrowing her blue eyes as she studied her sister.

“Honestly? He’s not who he says he is, but I don’t think he’s Devon,” Charlie replied.

“And you know that how?” Meg asked with a frown.

“Gut instinct, what else?”

“Just make sure you are listening to the right part of your anatomy, if you get my meaning,” Meg told her, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. She knew she had gone too far, when she saw the look in her sister’s eyes. Squealing loudly, she sprinted around the house with Charlie in close pursuit. They were both laughing when they burst through the kitchen door.

“I’ll not be askin’ what’s got you two actin’ like four year olds. Breakfast is almost ready. Get your bottoms in the breakfast room. I want to get busy puttin’ me kitchen back in order after all the commotion yesterday. Imagine caterers and all! And dancin’ on the lawn! Quite a shebang it was!”

“Then you didn’t hear what happened afterwards?” Charlie asked.

“I took a wee nip of whiskey and fell asleep like a log. The first night’s sleep since your sister was chased up from the lake. I’m not all that sorry to see that one go, beggin your pardon for me sayin’ so. That young miss is full of herself and then some. So what happened while I be snug in me bed like a wee tick?”

“A girl seems to have disappeared…one of those with the caterers. Long dark hair…young? You don’t remember seeing her about after you went to your apartment, do you? Maybe when you were walking Tavish?”

“He uses his piddle pad ‘as seen on TV’, when me old legs want to stretch out and not be climbin’ the stairs. No, didn’t see or hear a thing. After me drink…maybe a mite more than just the one…I was sound asleep. Did you call the coppers?”

“Yes, an officer came out, but said he couldn’t do anything for twenty-four hours. Her boyfriend was supposed to meet her near the front gates, but she wasn’t there, so he came up here looking for her. We’re going to the station after breakfast. I want to know more about what happened here forty years ago. Somehow I think it’s all connected,” Charlie said, afraid that she might be scaring Annie when that was the last thing she wanted to do.

“Ach! And why is that? That all be a long time ago…the three murders and the disappearance of this Breanna, who no one has ever laid eyes on again. I heard the boy who done it, the twin brother, run off and got himself killed somewhere.”

“And who told you that?” Charlie asked in surprise.

“There be gossip aplenty about this place and, with me living here, they want me to know all the nasty bits. The worst is the postmistress. What a tongue that woman has! Could fillet a fish with it…sharp as it tis and all.”

“Annie, nobody really knows if he was guilty, but if it was Devon Hensley, he probably murdered his sister as well. We
all
saw Breanna again, at the seance, whether you want to remember it or not. She can’t be a ghost, if she isn’t dead,” Meg told her, before she realized it was better left unsaid.

Annie crossed herself and muttered something under her breath. “Saints presarve us! Don’t be mentionin’ that again. If I live to be a hundred I’ll never be a able to wipe that from me mind, though not from lack of tryin’.” And with that she stormed from the room.

“Well, it’s back to keeping Annie in the dark. Sometimes I wish we could all take that route and pretend nothing happened. Sometimes I feel it’s all my fault,” Meg said with a long sigh.

“Yours? I was the one that wanted to enter the contest. You tried to talk me out of it, remember?”

“I didn’t try hard enough…especially when I realized it must be haunted. I’m a ghost magnet. Among other things, none of which are good. I must have summoned up Breanna and Old Thumper. I don’t mind if Breanna wants to hang around. I like her and her cat, but Old Thumper is evil…really evil. Do you think he could have taken Brittany?” Meg asked, as she nervously worried her lower lip.

“Wouldn’t that take more energy than a ghost would have? Meg, look at me,” she said, “whatever is unfolding here is destiny at work. We would never have won that contest
if
we weren’t meant to. You…me…Breanna…even Devon and Old Thumper are caught up in something we have no control over.”

“You believe that don’t you? You really aren’t just trying to make me feel better?” Meg asked, hopefully.

“That’s the funny part. Pragmatic, feet on the ground, Charlie Ravynne really does believe it. And nobody could be more surprised than she!” Charlie told her, as she drew her into a hug.

Charlie parked her pick up truck in front of the brick two-storied police station, then turned to her sister. “Look, Meg. This may be a complete waste of time. I’m not even sure what we’ll be looking for.”

“And you can bet the police won’t be too happy with us poking around,” Meg added. “But that’s not going to stop us, is it?” Charlie smiled and didn’t bother to answer what she knew was a rhetorical question.

They climbed the cement steps and pushed through the door. It was quieter than they expected, the only sound, other than a fan whirling above their heads, was the moan from an elderly lady sitting on a bench that hugged one wall. A too thin, sandy haired officer, sitting behind a glassed in counter, looked up as they entered. His name tag read: Sgt. Muggins. He smiled when he said, “I don’t think you need to tell me who you are or what you want. The Chief’s been expecting you. Millie!” he called to the woman pecking away at her keyboard behind him. “Take these ladies to the Chief. And better bring him another cup of coffee. Looks like he might need it.”

They followed the older woman who greeted them with a sour look and a curt “This way!” Behind them they could hear Sgt. Muggins say,”Your husband will be here for you soon.”

Millie snorted, “Third time this week she’s run off…he needs to put her away some place if you want my opinion.”

Neither sister did. At the end of a short, dark hall Millie knocked once and opened a door. The name stenciled on the frosted glass front read: Chief Beasely. He unfolded his long frame from behind his desk and gestured to the two chairs in front of it.

He was still a handsome man with thick iron-gray hair and steely eyes that looked them over carefully, as he said, “Have a seat ladies. Charlotte and Margaret Ravynne. I’ve been expecting you.”

“So we’ve been told,” Charlie said, returned his gaze with a narrow-eyed one of her own. “And you know why we’re here, supposedly, but perhaps not entirely.”

“Coffee? No? Millie, bring me one. And no calls unless it’s important,” he ordered, settling back in his chair and lacing his hands behind his head. ” Before you begin, I read the night log, so I know what happened at your place. The parents called in after that. Brittany Nelson does seem to be missing. And we’re going to be doing what we can to find her, as soon as we figure out if she’s a runaway. Not the happiest family life from what I hear and, in a town this size, you hear most everything. Got some feelers out…making some calls…checking with her friends. I’m expecting to hear any minute she stayed overnight with some girl friend. Now suppose you tell me what more I should be doing, since I’m sure as hell certain that’s exactly what you’re doing here so bright and early.”

“You weren’t at the Open House last night. I know Rayne invited you,” Charlie said.

“My wife wanted to come, but quite frankly I don’t especially like rubbing elbows unless it’s an election year, which it isn’t. Your ball, Miss Ravynne, you were going to tell me exactly why you’re here?”

“I think there’s a connection between Brittany’s disappearance and what happened in this town forty years ago,” she told him evenly.

“You can’t be even a little bit serious. The Stoneman murders! That case was closed when they brought Devon Hensley’s body back. I was there when all that went down…just a rookie…but I remember it all too well. Devon Hensley was responsible for the murder of three women, and his sister though, we never did find her body.”

“How do you know it was Devon?”

“To be honest, he wasn’t our first suspect. When Mary Watson was killed, we looked at strangers in town. No one else had a motive. She was a nice girl everybody liked. Then two weeks later, Bea Kingsley was found dead and the autopsy report said she was pregnant…four months along and we started looking at her boyfriend.

“I knew Jeremy Johns, he was a few years older than me, way too old for a 17 year old school girl. He was in trouble most of his life with a long record of petty thefts…fights. The older he got, the meaner he got. I wouldn’t have put much past him.”

“He was a ‘bad boy’. Some girls can’t seem to resist them…think they can change them,” Meg found herself murmuring.

Charlie shot her an understanding smile. “You were saying, Chief Beasely?”

“My chief pinned the murders on him, claimed he had killed and raped Bea to get rid of her and the baby, had killed and raped Mary before that to throw us off the track. Used her as a red herring. But by the time we made the arrest, he had hanged himself from Fife bridge not more than ten feet from where they’d found Bea’s body. That was before the third girl was killed, so we started looking again for the killer.”

“That’s when you decided on Devon. Did you check out the ‘strangers’ in town?” Charlie asked.

“No one was here during all three killings, and then Breanna up and disappeared, right after the third girl went missing. Devon was the most likely.”

“Because? What would his motive be? From what we heard he loved his sister,” Meg interrupted.

“The hired help talk. Even the ones paid enough not to. Small town, remember? It seems he ‘loved’ his sister way too much. That’s why he was sent to military school. Got kicked out of there for pushing some kid down the stairs. And there were other things rumored about him that no one ever followed through on mostly because the Hensleys were very important people back then. His father…I remember him well….big man, .powerful, always carried his father’s cane….or was it his grandfather’s? Pretty thing…ebony with a silver handle.”

“And Devon wasn’t like his father, was he?” Charlie asked.

“He was a runt. Never interested in sports. Stuck to himself or his sister. Either had his nose in a book or was out collecting things…butterflies…or something. A weird kid and he grew up even weirder.”

Charlie threw him her frostiest smile. “You still haven’t answered my sister. Why would he harm those girls, or his sister?”

“He was reportedly jealous of anyone who had her attention. Hated her having friends from school. Every girl who was killed was a friend of Breanna’s and .had been to Hensley Hall on several occasions. According to our sources, he had attacked one of her friends previously.”

“As a child. Pushed her in a rose bush. Rather a far cry from raping and killing, wouldn’t you agree?” Charlie asked, wondering why she was defending him. Maybe, because no one else ever had? Except for Meg.