A Haunting at Hensley Hall (A Ravynne Sisters Paranormal Mystery) (5 page)

As Charlie drove, she found herself silently chanting, “Please be all right…please be all right.” It just had to be, didn’t it?

“Myrtle Road! Turn right!” Meg shouted suddenly. So, tires squealing, she did.

They must have been driving on ‘Hensley’ land for some time now, Charlie thought. Mrs. Brown had told them that the house had, originally, been surrounded by 3000 acres of rolling woods and meadows, but one cash strapped Hensley after another had sold off all but the ten acres that now belonged to them.

“Almost there,” Meg cried excitedly. “Just a bit farther.” They drove past a scattering of small ranch houses with bikes and basketball hoops…past a small convenience store with one gas pump…and then, there it was!

Twin iron gates leaned drunkenly inward, with “Hensley Hall” worked into their rusted fretwork. Charlie watched her side view mirrors, carefully, as she squeezed between them, remembering Dante’s grim warning, “Abandon hope all ye who enter here”. She found herself laughing at the drama of it all. She, for one, wasn’t about to ‘abandon hope’! She looked at Meg who had a weird expression and wondered if she was about to throw up. Not good. Her hand scooted around Freddie and found her sister’s. “Ready?”

Meg managed a small nod and a smile, then said, “Torpedoes and all.”

After the normalcy of the neighborhoods they had just passed, the silence was deafening. All they could hear was the crunch of gravel, and the slap of tall weeds hitting their front bumper, as they headed up the drive that threaded its way among the dark, dank tangle of trees, brush and high grass.

They circled a marble fountain…a satyr frozen in pursuit of a nymph…both chipped and green with moss and, suddenly, there it was! Charlie braked hard and both stared open-mouthed.

They had expected ‘big’ but the enormity of it took them both by surprise. Their house. It crouched with a forbidding arrogance on its patch of ground. Ivy crept everywhere, fingering its way along the bricks, up the sagging wooden shutters that might have been green once, up the chimneys that sprouted from the moss covered slate roof and draped around the gazebo at the end of the wrap around porch that embraced the entire front of the house. Tall casement windows stared blankly, perhaps quizzically at them, but Charlie was sure that was just her imagination, until Meg whispered, “I think it’s watching us.”

A crow circled above them and then disappeared inside a broken second floor window in the far left tower…one of twins that seemed to stand guard like sentinels from another era.

It was worse than they had imagined. Far worse. And the Hensely’s had only been dead how long? Meg tugged at Charlie’s ponytail and managed to smile. “It’s our ‘home sweet home’ now and….” She broke off unable to finish.

Charlie laughed. It was better than crying, which is what she really wanted to do. “Just think about the ghost part, Meg. You’re right. This place must be loaded with them. Do you think you could talk them into a little help with…well with everything?”

Meg smiled weakly. “You stay here in the truck, where you’ll be safe,” Meg told Freddie, who didn’t seem all that anxious to do anything but! “Ready, Charlie?”

“As I’ll ever be,” she replied, opening the door and sliding out. Meg followed suit and they met at the foot of the broad sweep of steps that led up to the porch. “Watch your step. That top part looks rotten,” Charlie warned.

“Right,” Meg replied, her blue eyes widening, as she looked around.

The porch was covered with a thick drift of dead leaves. Railing spindles were missing or broken and there was a large hole where the floorboards had rotted through. But the door was beautiful! Scarred and peeling though it was, the upper part was beveled stained glass in purples, blues and greens. Meg winced at the cracks and missing pieces, while Charlie found herself trying to make out the unusual pattern.

The handle and lock were heavily ornate and dark with patina. The doorknocker was either a replica of a wolf’s head or a very surly dog, Meg thought. She looked at Charlie, “You do the honors. It was your idea,” she said softly.

“I’ve got a feeling that you will be reminding me of just that a whole lot in the days ahead,” Charlie replied just as softly. It seemed unnatural to speak any louder. Like shouting in church, though ‘church’ was a big stretch from where they now stood. She fit the key in the lock and gave it a turn. They could hear the click of the mechanism, and both drew a collective breath, as Charlie turned the knob and pushed.

The door opened with a long squeak of protest and they stepped inside the foyer…its black and white tile floor covered with dead leaves and grimy with dirt. The light that found its way through the door behind them didn’t penetrate very far into the cavernous depths beyond where they stood. Their footsteps actually echoed as they made their way into the great hall. “We should have brought flashlights,” Meg whispered. “Do you feel that?”

Charlie looked behind her and then at her sister, “You mean a heavy, oppressive feeling like someone is sitting on your chest and you can hardly breathe?”

“Yes…that and the feeling that someone or something is watching us,” Meg whispered back, looking over her own shoulder.

“You wanted ghosts and it looks like you got them,” Charlie muttered. “One quick peek and then we’re out of here till we can get some lights on. Mentally, she put ‘call the power company’ first on her short list. The long list didn’t even bear contemplating!

Meg nodded. She had been hoping for the friendly variety of ghosts…the kind that just hung around and wouldn’t hurt you, but the whispery voices she didn’t tell Charlie about, seemed more menacing than innocuous. “I feel like this house just swallowed us up,” she murmured. Charlie couldn’t have agreed more and shot her a quick glance, before moving ahead.

Light spilled from a tall window at the top of the staircase that swept gracefully up to the second floor and then on to the third? It was too dark to see where the stairs disappeared. The railing at the first landing was broken, dangling upside down from its mooring. “That looks potentially lethal,” Charlie pointed out. “And don’t trip over the pieces that landed down here.”

Meg grimaced. Her sister always treated her like a mother hen with her baby klutz. Not that she wasn’t one, she was. She just hated being reminded of it.

Crossing the marble floor, Charlie pushed open a pocket door and more light flooded in…though
flooded
would be a stretch, since it had to find its way past grime covered windows and the thick vegetation that hugged the outside walls.

It was a parlor of some kind, Charlie guessed. Summer…winter…sitting, she knew old houses like this had had a room for nearly everything. She was surprised to see a scattering of furniture…a broken lamp, a chair that leaned on three legs, a tattered chintz couch. Meg ducked under her arm and looked around. “I’ll bet there were some nice antiques here once,” she said pointing to the empty places, where something had once stood.

“I’m sure Mrs. Brown saw that anything of value was stripped and shipped a long time ago. Let’s take a quick look around and then get out of here.”

“Okay, but no cellars or attics. And I get first dibs on the exit door if we have to book out of here in a hurry,” Meg told her with a cheeky smile she was far from feeling.

“Just stick close. I don’t want you falling through the floor.”

Actually, Meg was more than happy to oblige. She had a strong feeling something was not far behind them and there was no way she would be more than two feet from Charlie’s comforting presence.

Ignoring her sister’s warning ‘growl’ as she stepped on her heels for the second time, she followed her down the long hall towards the back of the house, throwing open the doors on either side as they passed. More parlors with gaping empty fireplaces, a huge dining room with a scattering of broken chairs, a breakfast room and finally, behind the baize covered swing door, the kitchen.

A sealed off fireplace hugged one wall, while an avocado fridge and enormous matching stove, right out of the seventies, lined another. Gray painted cupboards gaped open, exposing their cache of rusted cans and remnants of mouse…rat?…chewed boxes. Cobwebs drifted like wraiths from the ceiling and festooned the window corners. The mummified remnants of some long ago meal had hardened on the chipped plates scattered on the wooden table that dominated the center of the room.

A pot still sat on the stove. Meg lifted the lid and peered inside, then wrinkled her nose at the dried residue. “Looks like someone just stepped away in the middle of dinner a very long time ago. What do you make of it?”

Charlie looked around slowly. “I’ve got the funniest feeling that the Hensley’s didn’t die as ‘peacefully’ as we’ve been led to believe.”

“I wonder why no one in. what…three years?…has bothered to clean this place up a bit. Especially if they had any hope of selling it.”

Suddenly, the kitchen seemed to grow darker, as though the presence that had followed them through the house had been listening and decided to make itself known. Both sisters felt a sudden chill wrap around them and settle to their very bones.

“We’re leaving now to get some lunch,” Charlie said as calmly as she could. “But we’re coming back! You wanted us here …
I think
…and we’re going to stay! This is our home now, too!”

Meg looked around to see what would happen next. An ice-cold finger stroked her cheek and she emitted a small shriek of surprise and horror. “We’re leaving!” she called, shrilly, to whatever was listening. Grabbing Charlie’s hand, she dragged her to the outside kitchen door, which thankfully opened without difficulty and closed, even more thankfully, behind them!

***

Charlie pointed the truck down the drive and headed for the main road as fast as she dared go. Neither sister spoke till they slid between the gates and then both sighed. “Okay, we met your ghost, or whatever that was, and it sort of got the better of us, but we won’t let it happen again,” Charlie told Meg, as soon as her heartbeat was close to normal.

“Kicked our butts, actually, and the word is ghosts! Not ghost. There’s definitely more than one and I think they’re just bluffing. Having a bit of fun at our expense,” Meg replied as lighthearted as she dared go. Charlie was nursing a bad mood.

“You’re saying what? That they’re testing us?” Charlie asked with a frown.

“Well, something like that. You said that our being here seemed ‘fated’ and for you, of all people, to say something like that it had to be, didn’t it? Who would have thought we’d win? But we did. I think we’re meant to be here and they know it.”

“And you’re willing to go back there? Live there? Sleep there?”

“Try and stop me,” Meg said with the stubborn thrust of her chin her sister knew all too well.

“What was that shriek all about just before you dragged me out the door?”

Meg smiled brightly…perhaps too brightly. “You told me that you felt the house wanted something from you. No, that’s not how you put it. It ‘needed you’. That came out of your very mouth. I felt the same thing when it touched me. I guess I might have given a teensy shriek of surprise.”

“Hah! Sounded like you were scared stiff to me, ” Charlie said, pulling into the convenience store they had passed earlier. Leaning back in her seat, she reached for Meg’s hand. “Let’s both not get too crazy here. We’ll get some lunch and find a nice motel, where we can lick our wounds and make our plans. It’s too late to get out of this now no matter how many second thoughts I have at this moment.”

Meg squeezed her hand and smiled. “First and foremost we’ll need the power turned on and then a phone. Mitch smashed my cell phone and you never carry one. I’ve always meant to ask you why?”

“Had one until I threw it in the Bosporus about three years ago. I had my reasons. Let’s get Freddie walked and then we’ll handle things one at a time. Okay?” Charlie asked, as she restarted the engine.

“And”

“And what?”

“Don’t forget. There’s nothing us Ravynne sisters can’t handle when we set our minds to it!” Meg told her.

“I’ve got a feeling we’ll be using a lot more of our anatomy than just our minds before we’re through,” Charlie told her wryly.

***

They checked into the Sweet Haven motel, which proved to be just that. It gave them a place to plan and regroup. A few phone calls took care of the utilities. ‘Fingering’ through the yellow pages turned up a house inspector. If the size of Joe Watts’ ad was any indication, he must be good, Charlie thought, as she dialed the number. She was not entirely prepared for the too perky feminine voice on the other end. “Watt’s here! Watts can we do for you today?” Stifling a groan, she told her and a meeting was arranged for 10AM the following morning.

By the next day, two bottles of wine and a good night’s sleep had put both of them in a more optimistic mood. The blue-skied, sunny morning was the capper! Leaving Freddie at the motel after getting the maid’s promise she would walk him if they were running late, they headed to the closest cafe. Over breakfast, they promised each other that they wouldn’t look at the ‘mountain’ ahead, just take each bump in the road as it came along.

Afterwards they drove to Hensley Hall, where a white pickup with ‘Watts Here Inspections’ painted on its side was waiting in the drive, when they pulled up. The house looked different today. “It doesn’t look so” Meg began, looking around and smiling.

“Gloomy and forbidding,” Charlie supplied with an identical smile of her own.