Harrison Investigations 1 Haunted (33 page)

"Darcy. Where the hell is Darcy?" Matt asked.

"She didn't come with you?" Adam demanded, walking
over.

Clint sniffed out a sound of distaste. "That screwball, Max
Aubry, probably coaxed her into driving with him."

"She left with him?" Matt asked.

"Oh, yeah. Well, she walked away with him, at least,'' Clint
said.

Matt nodded, rose, and walked over to one of the pool tables. He
set up the balls with precision. Aimed to break them, and sent the
cue flashing so hard that they distributed across the entire
table.

"Matt? Want me to order for you?" Penny asked tentatively,
watching the game he was determined to play by himself.

"Sure."

"What do you want?"

"Food."

"Matt?"

"Just get me a burger, Penny. Thanks," he added after a
second.

Clint walked over to the table. "Matt, I can call Aubry's paper,
get his cell phone number."

Matt stopped playing and leaned on his cue stick. ' 'For what?
So I can demand that he bring Darcy back to us?"

Clint grimaced. "I should have stuck with them."

"It's all right. The guy's a jerk, and there's no way out of it.
And hell, Darcy is over twenty-one, and in her right mind. At
least, mostly," he added wryly.

Clint stared at him for a minute, trying to think of
something to say. Then he lifted his hands, and walked
away.

Matt sank the balls, one by one, with the first shot. By the
time he finished, he had somewhat cooled down. He remained angry,
though. And he wasn't sure if he was most furious with himself for
not being more vigilant, with Max Aubry for being an opportunist,
or Darcy for being...

Darcy.

He set the cue stick down and returned to the table. Penny was
at his one side, and old Anthony Larkin had joined them. Good.
Anthony wasn't talking about the ceremony for the skull. He
was excited by the prospect of the battle reenactment.

"I'll be riding old Geyser, and though we may both be long in
the tooth, I promise, we'll give the young 'uns dragged down to the
battlefield a damned good show," he advised. "You riding for your
homeland, Matt?" Anthony asked.

"You bet. I'll be in my best sheriff's uniform, making sure the
crowds stay under control, and that none of you blows yourself up!"
Matt told him lightly. Looking around the room, he saw that
everyone he had seen at the cemetery had arrived.

Carter and Delilah were there. Mrs. O'Hara had made it, and was
deep in discussion with Adam Harrison. They were both such history
buffs. They seemed like a team made in heaven.

"Hey, Matt!" Carter called. "Where's Darcy?"

"I don't really know," he replied.

"Is she still with that wretched Mr. Aubry?" Delilah asked from
across the room.

"Darcy hardly turned traitor, the way you're all making it
sound," Adam said. He stared across the Matt, perplexed.
"Wait a minute-I don't think she's with him at all. He accosted me,
right before I headed for the car. And actually, I had assumed she
was with you, Matt."

"I'll bet she just wanted to tell Reverend Bellamy what a lovely
job he did," Penny said.

Darcy needs you.

Matt nearly jumped a mile, jerking around quickly to see who had
whispered at his ear.

There was no one there. No one. The person nearest to him was
Penny, and she was a good three feet away.

"Who said that?" he demanded.

Penny, wide-eyed, turned around to stare at him.

"I just said that Darcy probably went to talk to the Reverend
Bellamy," she said. "Why, is that bad? Why do you look so
angry?"

"Maybe that reporter went back to her," Adam said, as if he was
trying to assure himself. ' 'The rain had started, and I was
anxious to get away, but he had just left Darcy, so he probably
went back to her, and maybe got her into his car."

Darcy... Darcy...

Her name was like a whisper in Matt's head. An urgent whisper.
He stood so quickly that his chair fell behind him. He gave no
notice.

"I'm going back to find her," he said, and started out of the
room.

Adam Harrison rose as if he would accompany him. Matt gave him
no notice, he suddenly felt such a sense of urgency.

Alone, he ran out of the Wayside Inn and hurried for his
car.

The old oak's heavy branches covered the entire opening to
the grave and protruded down into it. After her initial terror at
the fall, Darcy had tried to use the tree to crawl out. But every
time she got a grasp of a branch, it split in her hands, sending
her splashing back hard into the rising mud.

She was soaked clean through, cold, miserable, freezing, and
wondering if she could survive an overnight stay in the stygian
pit. The afternoon had waned, and real darkness was setting in.
Something slithered by her in the water and she choked back a
scream. A snake.

Virginia had rattlers, right?

Not a rattler. Rattlers rattled.

A moccasin? What deadly venomous creature might roam the dryness
of a cemetery by day, and swim through the flooding of the rain by
night?

She had to get out. She was too cold, trembling throughout
her limbs. She was imagining too much again. Ghostly dances before
her eyes. Bones reaching out from the ground. Yes, she spoke to
ghosts. But none of them were speaking to her. They were just
playing tricks with her mind, adding to the terror of her
situation.

The water in the hole was almost to her waist.

"I'll be able to swim out soon!" she told herself out loud.

Once again, she tried to get a grasp on one of the tree limbs.
Her fingers curled around what seemed like a sturdy branch. She
braced a foot against the side of the hole.

Her foot slipped on the mud and the branch snapped at the same
time. She plunged all the way down, her head going beneath the
surface of the rising water.

She rose, sputtering, gasping.

And then, a miracle.

"Darcy!"

Had she imagined it? Or had she really heard a voice?

"Here, here! I'm here! Help!"

Nothing then, she heard nothing at all. She hadn't shouted
loudly enough, not to combat the wind and the rain. Her voice had
grown hoarse, almost nonexistent.

"Darcy!"

She wasn't imagining it. Matt's voice.

She jumped, throwing herself as high as she could. "Matt! Here,
Matt, here, please!"

And then, at last, the limbs were ripped from the top of the
grave, piece after piece. "Oh, God, yes, thank God, thank you,
thank you!" she heard herself gasping.

The last of the oak was pulled away, and she was standing
in the mire, looking up. The sky was dark.

She saw only his form.

Huge, hands on hips, glaring down.

And for a moment she felt a twinge of panic.

Matt. How had he known that she was here
-
unless
he
had pushed her in. Maybe he hadn't come to save her at
all. Maybe he was about to reach down and use his imposing
size and strength to press her down, down into the muck and mire,
where she couldn't breathe, where she would slowly struggle and
fight until she....

He hunkered down by the side of the grave.

She'd thought it before. Maybe she'd been pushed, just
shoved into the grave, so that someone could come back....

And finish her off.

"Jesu, how in the hell...?" he said. "Take my hand."

He didn't give her a chance. He reached for hers.

Inadvertently, she pulled back.

"Are you hurt?" he asked anxiously.

"No."

"Let me get you out of there!"

She swallowed hard, let him get a good grip on her hand.

A moment later, she heard a strange suctioning sound- she hadn't
even realized that the water had turned the earth to such a
grasping muck. And still, it gave her up. He reached down to slip
an arm beneath her right shoulder, pulling her out.

They both fell to the side of the grave. The rain
continued to sluice down upon them. He stared at her a moment
before righting himself, and reaching to help her up.

"You're like a goddamn ice cube!" he said. "How the hell did you
manage to fall into a grave? Never mind, let's just get you back to
the house."

She was shaking, trembling. Her knees weren't holding her. He
picked her up and carried her to the car, setting her into the
passenger's side.

He found a blanket in the back and drew it around her shoulders.
"How could you have missed a hole that damned big?'' he asked her,
turning the key in the ignition, and hitting the switch for the
heater.

I
didn't fall in
-
I was pushed!

But she didn't say the words. Yes, she had been pushed. But by a
who
or a
what,
she didn't know.

Matt himself?

"The rain...I was running from the rain. I thought I could just
leap over the brick wall and reach the cars faster," she
stuttered out.

"Oh, man, Darcy, look at you. Are you hurt? No broken bones?
Sprained ankle?"

A crack on the temple. Maybe one that made her mind wander too
fiercely.

"I'm fine."

"Are you?'' he murmured. He glanced at her, his look concerned
and anxious. "This place isn't good for you, is it?" he murmured,
more to himself than to her.

"I'm all right," she repeated. They were driving through rain,
but at long last, it seemed to be slackening. "Matt?"

"Yes?"

"How did you know where to find me?"

"What do you mean?"

"How did you find me? That oak had covered the entire grave. And
actually...it did take you a while."

He scowled, cast her a glance, and looked back to the road. "We
all thought you'd gone off with Max Aubry."

"Gone off with him?"

"Clint said you were determined to talk to him, that you could
handle yourself.''

"I did handle myself, very well, thank you."

"There were so many cars, as well. I didn't realize you were
really missing until Adam said that Max Aubry approached him
when he was leaving."

"I see," Darcy said.

He drove fast. They reached the entry to Melody House, and he
swung hard into the drive, halting the car abruptly, coming around
the side for her. He opened the door in haste, then paused, staring
at her suspiciously.

"You're not going to tell me that a ghost reached a bony hand
out of a grave and wrenched you down into it, are you?

"Nope. Absolutely not," she assured him.

"Come on. I'll help you."

"I can manage on my own, thanks."

She slid quickly out of the car, and up onto her feet. But the
world seemed to waver before her. She gritted her teeth hard,
feeling the pounding at her temple where she'd struck the earth
hard as she'd catapulted into the open grave.

"You're going to slip in the mud!" Matt said impatiently.
He swept her up.

Her limbs still felt frozen. She couldn't fight. He walked up
the steps to the porch, fumbled with his key, and opened the front
door.

A moment later, they were on the stairway.

They passed the spot where, sometime in the past, two lovers had
battled viciously, before the man had swept the woman into his
arms...

And into the Lee Room.

Just as Matt now carried her.

And, just as in the past, he laid her down upon the bed, and
turned away.

And once, in the past, a man had realized just what a
woman knew, and what she could tell the world about him. He had
turned back to her, wound his fingers around her
throat,
and strangled the life from her.

Matt turned back to her.

"Damn you, Darcy!" he said softly.

And came toward her.

_______ 16____

"They're taking a really long time," Penny said, looking
at her own empty plate and the untouched hamburger she had ordered
for Matt.

"Yes, well, we can order coffee," Delilah said. "I'd really love
some coffee."

"I just wish we all knew where Darcy was," Penny murmured.

"But, surely, nothing could have happened to her!" Delilah
said.

"I'm certain that everything is all right," Carter said
firmly.

"Wonderful," Delilah said, smiling. "We'll all order coffee, and
hopefully, they'll arrive along with it."

"So what's taking so long?" Clint demanded.

"I think that I should get back to Melody House as quickly as
possible," Adam Harrison said.

They all stared at him.

Penny jumped up. "Adam! Do you have a feeling, a hunch? What's
wrong? Should we all be running out of here?"

"Penny, I'm so sorry, calm down," Adam said. "I don't have a
feeling about anything. I just assume that, if Darcy had been
caught in the rain or anything, Matt would have taken her straight
back to the house."

"Of course!" Penny said with a sigh of relief. "Mae, would you
get the check for us, please? Or better yet, can you just bill the
whole thing to Matt?''

"Naturally," Mae said.

"I really think we should order coffee!" Delilah said, somewhat
plaintively. ' 'What if Matt is bringing her here? Then we'll all
be in cars going in different directions."

"Who could drink coffee at a time like this?" Penny said,
glaring at Delilah.

"Delilah has a point," Carter said.

Adam let out something of an exasperated sigh. "I'll head back
to Melody House, and the rest of you stay here. That way, we'll be
covered."

They all stared at him.