McCann's Manor (54 page)

"Witch?"

"I know, it seems to transcend the bounds of what most of us think of as possible, but I assure you, it is not only quite possible, it happens. My grandmother was something of a witch herself. With my own eyes I saw things you would
not believe
,” Joel said. “Benjamin as well as old Peaitarrh McCann, or Tarrh, as we have come to know him, were both quite excellent wizards as well."

"Tarrh? Is this the
Ptarmigan
John said Missy talked about?” Mark inquired.

"Yes, in a manner of speaking, but not exactly. See, the entity Missy knew as Ptarmigan is actually a complicated sort of conglomerate spirit consisting of old Tarrh, his wife Moira and his half brother Sean, not to mention probably everyone else they have accosted since. Mostly, Liz believes, and I'm inclined to agree, Ptarmigan is primarily Moira, masquerading as Tarrh, to make a very long story short,” Joel explained.

"You make it sound so simple,” Mark said, shaking his head. “You mean they have gone to fight wizards and witches and some weird kind of combined spirit in an old Scottish equivalent of
this
place? Isn't that dangerous?” Mark quizzed.

"That was my assessment, yes,” Joel admitted.

"And you
let
them go, just like that? Does John know?” Mark demanded.

"Liz made me promise not to tell him, or anyone
else
, for that matter. So now you know and I have broken my word to her. Do you realize I have never broken a confidence to
anyone
before?"

"Hey, don't feel too bad. It isn't like she was one of your flock who confided in you in the sacred confessional, you know,” Mark soothed.

"I broke my word, Mark and my word is supposed to
mean
something,” Joel said sadly.

"You know, as a physician, I understand how important it can be not to break a confidence, but I'm not going to tell anyone. Who'd believe me? Besides, I coerced you unfairly,” Mark said. “Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Nothing I know of, except to pray. You know, the spirit Ptarmigan is the one who choked Liz in a dream and caused that episode of swelling that nearly cost her life,” Joel added.

Mark looked at Joel in shock. “Then I would say they're in way over their heads. Any spirit that can do that in a
dream
is one strong spirit that I wouldn't want to tangle with,” he said.

Joel nodded. “I agree totally, but she didn't ask my opinion or advice. She just told me what they were going to do and asked if I would see about the animals if they weren't back by now. Anyway, I guess you know now why I wasn't exactly anxious to come in here by myself,” he said.

"I
guess
I do!” Mark agreed. “Speaking of which, looks like no one broke into the house, doesn't it? Anyone else have a key?"

"John does and there is this one, hidden by the back of the house, but no one knows about it except you and me, as far as I know,” Joel said.

"John is gone and neither of us would come in here unaccompanied, that's for sure,” Mark said. “Could a
ghost
have latched that pet door?"

"A ghost like the one we are speaking of could do almost anything, I expect, but I get the feeling it was no ghost,” Joel said with a shiver.

"What do you mean?"

"Liz, Kim and Benjamin went to the past through the portal. What is to keep Moira or someone else from coming here
from the past
through the same portal?” Joel asked.

"Wait a minute. You talk as if you think Liz and Kim went with Benjamin, not the
ghost
of Benjamin,” Mark said.

"Hmm—funny, but that is the way I think of him, not as a ghost, but as the genuine article. He would have no need of traveling through a portal if he were a ghost, would he?"

"Is that a question, or are you just pondering the obvious?” Mark asked.

"Of course! Benjamin was a wizard. He could easily have
felt
us poring over his manuscripts and come forward in time through that very same portal to see what was up. He must have come here and convinced them to go into the past with him,” Joel surmised.

"Or just as likely, he appeared here and the girls convinced him to go with
them
,” Mark suggested.

"Well, whichever way it was, if they could go into the past, someone else could come here
from
the past,” Joel restated, more to try to get a handle on the concept than to repeat the thought. Suppose Moira had slipped through time to this house and found no one here? Would she have guessed what was afoot and returned to try to outfox the others? Why would she have locked the animals out of the house? Was it perhaps a warning for him and Mark to find? What did it mean? Was she merely trying to frighten them? If so, it had worked, he thought as he felt his pulse racing.

"Where did you go?” Mark asked.

"What? Oh, I was wondering what the purpose had been in locking the animals out of the house. I was also wondering if someone needs to stay here to guard against any further intrusion, I guess,” he said.

"You're not suggesting we
stay
here, are you?"

"I'm not sure what I am suggesting at this point; someone came here, possibly to look for something they could use against Kim and the others. Maybe the animals got in the way, so this person or persons lured them outside and locked them out,” Joel said, looking around the room. “The question that comes to mind is: did they find what they were looking for?"

"How would we be able to tell that?” Mark asked. “What could they have been after?"

"Most likely it would have been something personal, something like—” Joel stopped his sentence abruptly and ran out of the room and up the stairs toward Liz's upstairs bathroom.

"Something like what?” Mark called after him. “Joel, wait!” Mark raced up the stairs behind Joel, found Joel with Liz's hairbrush in his hand. “What is it?"

"There are lots of spells that require nothing more than having a lock of hair from the person you are trying to hex,” Joel declared.

"Hair?"

"Yes, hair. This brush has been cleaned recently; not a single hair left here, and there is no hair in the trash."

"That doesn't prove anything,” Mark said.

"No, it doesn't prove anything beyond
all doubt
, but this trash hasn't been emptied in at least a couple of days, see? There are a few floss picks here and more than a couple days’ worth of cotton swabs, but no hair. If Liz brushed her hair before she left, and I'm sure she did, there would be at least a few hairs
somewhere
, either in the brush, in the floor, on the counter or in the trash, but there is nothing,” Joel stated with a growing sense of foreboding.

"Maybe she flushes it,” Mark suggested.

"No, I don't think so. You know what kind of hair those two have. If they flushed their hairs, they would have all kinds of plumbing problems,” Joel said.

"
Now
where are you going?” Mark asked as he followed Joel down the hall to the other end of the house.

"To check Kim's hairbrush,” Joel explained as he sped into Kim's boudoir and grabbed up her brush. “Aha! You see? No hair here, either. I tell you, this can't be good news."

"Aw, come on, Joel,” Mark pleaded. “Surely there's some other logical explanation."

"Such as?"

"I—well, maybe they collect and save their hairs for—for what?
Some
thing! Or maybe they hid their hair, you know, just in case someone might come looking for it to use it against them,” Mark stammered. “All right, I can't think of any
logical
explanation at all, but that doesn't mean there isn't one, does it?"

Joel laid the hairbrush carefully on the counter and studied the assortment of items lying there. He noticed a nail file, clippers, makeup and various other feminine accouterments that included dusting powder. With the exception of the powder, everything was nicely arranged and appeared to be undisturbed. Yet he had the feeling things weren't as neatly
untouched
as they appeared. The powder had ostensibly been used and was sprinkled on the counter and spilled off onto the floor in an inordinate richness that suggested it had been spilled in an alternative manner than simply dusting one's body. He looked closer and noticed the small tracks of cat paws that left their imprint in the powder and trailed off across the counter and quite unexplainably disappeared as though the cat had jumped straight into the air.

On still closer examination, he saw there were other tracks as well, though these were in the powder that was on the floor. Larger than Kim's or Liz's feet, the prints were quite obviously those of a man. And there in the powder were several unmistakable red spots mingled with the talc and carpet. Joel picked up one of the red globs, found it to be still slightly damp. He rubbed it between his fingers, coagulated as it was with the talc, held it to his nose and inhaled the determinant brassy smell of blood mixed with the subtle perfume of the powder.

"What is it?” Mark asked.

"
Blood
. Undoubtedly that of our intruder, which
proves
it was no ghost. And if my
guestimator
is working, I would guess it was probably Sean,” Joel said.

"Tell me, Sherlock, how did you deduce that?"

"
Elementary, my dear Adams
,” Joel retorted. “Look, these boot prints are larger than mine. We already pretty much established no one had come in from outside or we would have found evidence of it in our earlier exploration of the house. From what I have heard of Sean from Liz's
accidental
visit to the past, Sean is, or was, a large man whose feet would undoubtedly be about this size. And the soles of his shoes—well, look. You can see the imprint of the cobbler's crude nails ... very old ... ancient, in fact, compared to anything we have ever seen."

"I see your point. You know, you are really quite good at this. But when did Liz
accidentally
visit the past?” Mark queried.

"I did tell you I was making a very long story short, remember? It happened after the dream I was telling you about. Anyway, she met Moira, Sean and Tarrh during her trip to the past,” Joel explicated.

"Well, I can see I've missed out on quite a lot by not finding the time to fraternize more with our young ladies,” Mark observed. “Maybe I should have tried a bit harder to come around more often. So, assuming you're right up to this point, we
think
we know Sean came here to collect hairs from their hair brushes? What else?"

"Spooky must have taken a strong dislike to Sean and attacked him, whereupon Sean threw or chased the animals out onto the screened-in veranda while he finished his quest. It is a wonder he didn't kill them, I guess, and take their dead bodies back to use against Liz and Kim in some macabre manner,” Joel ventured.

"You think anyone would actually
do
that sort of thing?"

Joel merely looked at Mark, shook his head. “We didn't miss Sean by long. Possibly, your arrival distracted him and might even be what saved Spooky and Ghost from a worse fate than being locked out of their own house,” he said.

"
That
is a creepy thought,” Mark volunteered. “Suppose it had been you instead of me and you had just let yourself in and confronted him instead of knocking?"

"See?” Joel chuckled. “All the more reason for you to be with me when I come here.
Now
you begin to understand my dilemma. I am glad you just happened by when you did and that I appeared
after
you were already here!"

"You're welcome,” Mark replied. “The question remains as to what we're going to do. If they are plotting against Liz and Kim, there must be something we can do to break their concentration or—whatever. I mean, the girls are at their mercy, aren't they?"

"Well, they do have Benjamin with them and Benjamin is a very strong sorcerer. That should help some, but yes, it does look bad for them and their mission and I definitely think we should stay here with the animals until they return."

"You don't think Sean might come back to finish them off, do you?” Mark asked.

"Dealing with people like them, anything is possible, my friend,” Joel warned. “I feel I
have
to stay here and I would certainly appreciate it if you would stay with me. I nearly succumbed to their trickery once myself and I wouldn't like to see it happen again without someone else around who might be able to help me. We just have to hope and pray the girls return home soon, because both of us have other responsibilities and we can't very well shirk them."

"Well, I can stay until tomorrow afternoon, but I'll have to leave no later than two o'clock. I'll just call my service and let them know to call me on my cell if anything comes up,” Mark said.

Joel smiled. “I appreciate that, Mark. I won't forget it, either. In the meantime, there are a few things we
can
do to create some obstacles for Moira and Sean and lay some protection for Liz and Kim."

"What things?"

"I'll show you, and I suppose I'll have to fill you in on the rest of the details as well. Let's go down and see if our hostesses left us any sustenance in the fridge. It's going to be a long night,” Joel promised.

Sean appeared in Moira's chambers, produced two corked vials of hair and handed them to Moira. “This should be quite more than enough to take care of that spell you are working, my dear,” he said as he ran his free hand around her waist.

"Later, Sean,” she scolded as she brushed his hand away. “I need to concentrate now. Did you have any trouble getting this?” she asked as she took the vials from him, held them up to the light to study their contents.

"Only a bit, my love. As you know, they have that wee snip of a dog and a vicious cat who gave me
this
before I threw them out of the house,” he said, indicating the side of his face where Spooky had sunk both teeth and claws into his cheek.

"Oh, that looks nasty; better let me have a look at it. You are still bleeding,” she said as she laid the vials on the table. “You should have brought those little pests back with you for the hounds to feed on. It would have made quite a spectacle for those meddling wenches to watch their precious darlings being eaten alive."