Part 16 (1/2)
”How did it go out at the farm?” she asked, opting for a safe subject as she took a seat on the sofa.
”Great. We'll have the barn finished before fall sets in.” Zach sat down beside her, not too close, she noticed.
”What will you do once it's complete?”
”You mean will I still come up to San Pico? I'll come up to see my dad, but not as often. Not unless ” He shook his head. ”You want some chips?”
”No, thanks.” She looked over at the little TV, the sound so low she could barely hear it. ”I think we should turn off the television. No respectable ghost would appear while we're watching Sat.u.r.day Night Live.”
He smiled. ”I suppose not. I brought some work to do. I figured I'd better keep my mind on something besides making love to you.”
Her cheeks flushed as she pressed the off b.u.t.ton on the front of the set. So did other parts of her body. ”I brought a book. At least we can keep ourselves entertained.”
His gaze ran over her, letting her feel it head to foot, and hot sparks glittered in his eyes. ”I can think of a lot more interesting things we could do, but I guess that's not going to happen.”
”I guess it isn't.” Much to her regret. Pulling the paperback out of her purse, a romantic suspense she wouldn't have brought if she'd remembered how steamy the s.e.x scenes were, she turned to the page she'd left off. She would skip the juicy parts, she vowed, and settled in to read.
They sat in surprisingly companionable silence, Elizabeth absorbed in her book, Zach poring over the pages of a legal brief he was working on.
It was getting late. Elizabeth yawned, s.h.i.+fted on the sofa. She checked her watch, saw that it was nearly midnight. Flicking a glance to where Zach leaned back against the sofa, she saw that his eyes were closed, his thick dark lashes fanned out against his cheek. His long legs stretched in front of him and his head rested on the back of the couch. He was sound asleep, and Elizabeth realized she was equally sleepy.
Yawning, she made her way as quietly as possible into the bedroom. As far as she knew, the visiona.s.suming there was onehad never appeared anywhere except this room. She lay down on the bed, still fully dressed, plumped the pillow behind her head, and closed her eyes. As tired as she was, it didn't take long to fall asleep.
She wasn't sure how long she slept or what awakened her. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was how still the room had grown, or at least if felt still and close, the air thicker than it should have been. An odd creak came from the living room, the same sound she had heard the first time she stayed in the house. A few seconds later, the wind began its eerie moaning. She wanted to rush to the window to see if the noise was real, though she was fairly sure it wasn't.
She wondered if Zach could hear it. She cast a glance toward the living room and saw that he was sitting up very straight on the sofa. He could hear it, too, she thought with some relief. At least, she wasn't imagining things.
Her pulse beat a little faster as the air thickened even more. She could see Zach on the sofa, his head c.o.c.ked toward another, different sound rising in the distance, the eerie wail of a train whistle, screaming into the blackness of the night. She could hear the ding, ding, ding of the warning bell at the crossing, then the locomotive roaring down the track through the cotton fields on the other side of the highway.
The track crossed the road just north of the house and the place shuddered as the train drew near. But the tracks had been abandoned for years. She wasn't even sure the rails were still there.
A chill swept through her as Zach turned to look out the window, but Elizabeth's attention swung in another direction. Something cold had crept into the bedroom, something so dense and chilling she couldn't seem to move. She sat frozen on the bed, her heart beating as if it were trying to escape through her ribs. Something was thereshe could feel itand an icy fear began to well inside her. The dense air made it hard to breathe, hard to think, and her mind seemed cloudy, her thoughts far away.
A faint sound reached her, a voice so soft, the words so faintly spoken, she couldn't be sure she had heard them.
”I want my mama. Please I want my mama.”
Her heart clutched, speeded up even more. The chill was pervasive now, filling the room, stretching into every corner. Her gaze went to Zach who perched on the edge of the sofa, completely alert, waiting to see what would happen next. The atmosphere in the bedroom s.h.i.+fted. The chill remained, but with it now came the cloying scent of roses.
The smell was unbearably heavy, dense and putrid, a sickening odor that made the bile rise in her throat.
”Mama..? Mama are you there? Please I want my mama.”
The fear inside her swelled. Her gaze shot to the living room in search of Zach and it must have shone in her eyes. She saw him get to his feet and start moving toward the open bedroom door. Then something caught her eye. A faint, translucent light began to appear at the foot of the bed, a wavering, eerie glow barely visible in the room. But Elizabeth was certain it was there, and a strangled sound of fear came from her throat.
Zach stood in the doorway, his feet braced apart, and the minute he heard the sound, he started toward her, his strides long and angry.
”That's it! That's enough!” Storming into the bedroom, he came straight to the bed, sat down on the edge and pulled her into his arms.
”Oh, G.o.d, Zach!”
”Easy, baby, it's over. Everything's all right. You're safe now.” He glanced around the room, searching every corner. ”Whatever it was is gone.”
She trembled wildly and Zach's arms tightened around her. Burying her face against his shoulder, she started to cry. The tears were coming and she wasn't exactly sure why. She just knew she would be forever grateful that he was there with her tonight.
”Hush,” he said softly. Reaching over, he turned on the lamp on the bedside table, the soft glow warming the room, dispelling the last of her fear. ”It's over.”
Elizabeth swallowed and nodded, dragged in a shaky breath of air. ”I'm sorry. I don't don't know what happened. I didn't mean to fall apart that way.”
”Don't be sorry. That was the scariest thing I've ever seen.”
She closed her eyes, took another calming breath and swung her legs to the edge of the bed, fighting to compose herself.
”Stay here,” Zach said. ”I want to check outside. I'll only be gone a minute.” He headed for the front door, turning on a lamp as he pa.s.sed, and left to make a search of the perimeter of the house. A minute seemed like an hour. Again and again, her mind kept replaying the terrifying sounds and the awful smell, the whisper of a little girl's voice. When Zach returned a few minutes later, Elizabeth met him at the front door.
”I checked outside.” He walked back inside the living room and closed the door. Elizabeth looked at the closed portal longingly, wis.h.i.+ng it were time to leave.
”I looked under the house, checked the garage. Nothing. You know how to get into the attic?”
”Probably through one of the closets.” She went in to look for an opening in the Santiago's bedroom closet while Zach went to search the second bedroom.
”It's in here!” he called out. She followed him in, the room lit by the ceiling light he'd turned on, watched him shove back the attic cover in the closet and haul himself up with those impressive biceps of his.
”See anything up there?”
”Not a d.a.m.ned thing but a lot of dust.” He lowered himself back down and dropped to the floor, brus.h.i.+ng off his hands.
”Okay, you didn't find anything,” she said as they returned to the living room, ”but you did hear the noises and feel the cold. You noticed the smell, right?”
He nodded. ”I heard the train too.”
”That didn't happen before.”
He tipped his head toward the window. ”There's an abandoned track just down the road, but it hasn't been used for years. And there's no warning bell, Liz. The line was completely dismantled.”
She fought down a s.h.i.+ver. ”I know. I hope to G.o.d you didn't see a train when you looked out the window.”
The edge of his mouth tipped up. ”No train. But I sure as h.e.l.l heard one.”
A fresh chill moved along her spine. ”Did you see the light at the foot of the bed?”
”I thought I saw something. I'm not sure what it was.”
”Whatever it was, it was eerie. And there was something else, Zach. I heard this voice. It was very faint, so I don't think you would have noticed, but I'm sure I heard it. It sounded like a little girl.”
”That's what Maria claims she heard. What did the voice have to say?”
”She said, 'I want my mama. Please I want my mama.' It sounded like she was about to cry.”