The Haunting at Morgan's Rock Read online

  “The boy had dark hair and brown eyes. He was about waist high and wore a green and brown striped shirt. He couldn’t have been more than five.” I put my hand to my round waist to calm Jo. “His name is Zach, and his mother’s name is Julie. She had short blond hair. Oh well, I guess he lost another balloon.”

  “What?” Alex turned as pale as a sheet. “What did you say?”

  “I said their names were Zach and Julie. What is it, Alex?”

  Without another word, he got in the car and slammed the door. Dumbfounded, I climbed in the car too and waited for an explanation for his suddenly chilly attitude. His jaw popped as he put the key in the ignition and the car began to climb the steep hill that would lead to Morgan’s Rock.

  We didn’t talk the rest of the way home.

  Chapter Two—Megan

  Alex wasted no time in getting us home. The bright lights of our kitchen gave off a welcoming golden glow, but I wasn’t ready to leave this car or end this conversation. “You are creeping me out, Alex. What is it?” I sat clutching the yellow balloon, determined to uncover whatever secret he was holding back from me. Hadn’t we learned that secrets were dangerous?

  “Please, let’s just go inside. It’s going to rain soon,” he said as he closed the door. I saw his ears redden slightly, a sure sign that he was feeling some type of extreme emotion and didn’t want to talk anymore. The skin on my arms chilled, but I was not going to be dissuaded. At least he had grabbed the tote bag, I thought as I hoisted myself out of the car and followed him up the steps. I hesitated on the porch as I wondered what to do with the balloon. For some reason, I could not stomach the idea of letting it go, but I did not want to bring it in the house. Was it the balloon that triggered Alex’s foul mood? I tied it to the twisted topiary that grew in a pot by the back door.

  You should let it go, Megan. It’s not like you’ll ever see Zachary and Julie again.

  “What is going on with you? Don’t bother lying to me. You can’t say ‘nothing’—I know that’s not the truth. You would make a horrible poker player, Alexander. You have too many tells, including those ears of yours.” Making light of the situation didn’t soothe my ill-tempered husband.

  “I think you’re having me on, Megan. It wouldn’t be hard for you to dig up the dirt. You are a whiz kid with research. That’s what you did, isn’t it?” Alex tossed his keys on the counter along with the tote bag. He seemed ready to rumble, ready to have it out over whatever sin he imagined I committed. This was so unlike him.

  “You have me at a loss, Alex. Just tell me what the heck is wrong with you!” I confronted him with as much vigor as I could muster. Oh, please tell me I don’t have to pee again.

  “Julie? Zach? You just pulled those names out of the sky? Is that what I’m supposed to believe?”

  “What? What the hell is your problem?” The baby kicked around in my stomach, and I rubbed my belly in an attempt to settle her back down. “Am I missing something?” I felt a twinge of pain in my lower back, and it surprised me. I clutched the counter in front of me as Alex watched with sudden alarm.

  “What is it? Is it the baby?”

  “No, it’s just…I’ve done a lot of walking this evening. That may not have been a good idea. I haven’t been so active lately.” I steadied myself and waited as the pain quickly passed. “Probably just a back spasm.”

  “We shouldn’t take any chances,” Alex said cautiously. “Maybe we should go to the hospital?”

  “Um, no. I’m fine. It’s easing up. Let’s note the time and keep an eye on it just to be safe.”

  “Alright,” he said quietly. “If you think that’s best.”

  The air hung between us heavy and thick with words unspoken. The house creaked, but then again, Morgan’s Rock was always creaking and making little noises whenever the weather changed. At least I no longer heard footsteps coming up the stairs in the Great Room. And I no longer caught the tail end of a dress whenever I turned a corner or heard the plaintive notes of the Victrola at odd hours of the night. The house had been dead quiet since the revelations in the hidden room, but there was a growing feeling of uneasiness here. And even though Alex did not want to admit it, I sensed he knew it too. Thunder shook the house, and rain began to fall. It went from nice and balmy outside to pouring in a few seconds.

  “You care to tell me what’s going on?”

  He sighed a little, his face relaxing. “I don’t know why I blew up so quickly. You clearly didn’t intend to bring up old wounds. I just assumed you knew about Julie, and I’ve been happy not to talk about her. I mean, what were the odds?”

  “You aren’t making any sense.”

  He examined me and sighed again. “You mean you really don’t know?”

  “I don’t know anything. Who is Julie? A stalker? An ex? What?”

  “Maybe you should have a seat, Megan. You don’t look well.”

  It was my turn to behave outrageously now. Two could play at this game, and I was quickly losing patience with him. I also worried that the pain would come back, and I wanted nothing more than to collapse in my bed. By myself. I slapped the granite countertop with my hand. “Stop stalling, damn it! Tell me the truth and stop pussyfooting around!”

  If I thought Alex would back down, I thought wrong. It was funny how much we didn’t really know one another, despite our previous working relationship and the shared paranormal experiences.

  “My first wife’s name was Julie. She had a son, and his name was Zachary Gage.”

  “I never knew you were married. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I thought you knew about her.”

  I couldn’t believe my ears. What was he telling me? “How would I know? That seems like something you should have told me before we got married, Alex. Why is this woman coming around now? Is she after money? Is she hoping to get you back?” I felt breathless and sweaty, but nothing could prepare me for what he told me next.

  “They’re gone, Megan. Dead. It was a very long time ago, and their loss is a painful subject. I was still in college…Julie had a son. Zachary was my stepson. There was an accident.”

  Alex sank down on the barstool, and I took the one beside him. I truly felt breathless now. What could I say to that? Was he telling me I’d seen two ghosts at the street fair?

  “What happened to them?” I had to know everything. How did I not know that he’d been married before? It seemed so impossible.

  “Julie’s parents had an old cabin on Parson’s Lake, and she wanted the three of us to go spend a couple days there one spring weekend. I had midterms the next week, so I stayed behind to study without distractions. That seems so selfish now. I loved Zachary, but he had special needs and did not understand that I couldn’t spend every moment with him. Julie understood, though. She’d already completed her degree in design. So yeah, I encouraged them to spend the weekend up there without me. My two distractions, I called them.” He swallowed at the thought and got quiet for a minute. “Strange to think of them like that, I know. Anyway, they drove up to get away and give me the apartment. It got cold that night, so she turned the heat on.” Alex groaned slightly as he closed his eyes and put his head in his hands. “I went up on Sunday to surprise them. They were dead when I got there.”

  “Oh God, Alex. I am sorry. I didn’t know. I would never do anything to torment you like that. Surely you know that.” Alex’s story broke my heart. “How did they die?” I felt compelled to ask.

  “Carbon monoxide poisoning. They died in their sleep.” Alex Tough Guy Wagner cried like a baby. I couldn’t do anything except hold him. There wasn’t anything to say; I was sure he’d heard it all anyway.

  They are in a better place. They would want you to be happy.

  No. I didn’t say anything stupid like that. I listened to Alex talk about them, but I didn’t ask more questions. His confession shook me to the core. It had all been a horrible coincidence. Julie and Zach. Yeah, those were pretty common names. I was left in the kitchen to watch the r
ain pour down the window as Alex went to wash his face. The back porch light was on, but the rain was coming down so hard that the light was blurry and I couldn’t see into the yard very well.

  For a moment, I saw the pale face of a boy, and then the bright yellow balloon sailed by and disappeared into the tsunami of wind and rain that ferociously struck Morgan’s Rock. I didn’t hurry to the door or check to see if the balloon was still there. It wouldn’t be. The horrible reality of it all came crashing down on me. My blood pumped in my ears. Zachary? He’d come and gotten it, and now he knew where we lived. He knew Alex was here too. I felt Jo kicking around, but thankfully the pain in my back did not return.

  No sense in panicking, Megan Pressfield Wagner. You have seen ghosts before.

  I could have easily written it all off as a huge coincidence. It’s not strange that one would hear their names together in a sentence or a conversation.

  But the balloon…and the face at the window…

  Alex did not return to the kitchen, so I clicked off the light and stared at the window. The boy did not reappear, and neither did anyone else. I left the kitchen and went into my office. Alex was in the study down the hall; he used it as his office when he worked from home. I could hear his conversation although I didn’t intentionally eavesdrop. It wasn’t Lucy this time but one of his new clients. I couldn’t tell Alex about seeing the boy. That wouldn’t do anything except freak him out.

  No more secrets, right? That’s what you said. That’s what ticked you off. And here you are, keeping secrets.

  But this is different, I reasoned with myself. I will tell him if I have to, but for now, I have to know more.

  I powered on my computer and began typing. Alex had been right, of course. The death of Julie Wagner had been public knowledge. I read the old news report, but there was no photo included with the articles. I glanced at the door just to make sure my husband wasn’t coming to find me. I didn’t want him to see me snooping around in his painful past. I typed her name in the search engine and added “picture” to the keyword string. To narrow the search, I included Alex’s name too. One picture appeared quickly. This was clearly the correct Julie because Alex stood next to her. He was happily smiling, probably thinking about the bright future that he and his new wife would share. Julie wore a white dress and Alex a fitted black suit. They were quite the couple, like Ken and Barbie.

  “Oh my God,” I whispered as I stared at the face in the picture. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind now. This was no coincidence, no strange bit of kismet.

  I had met the ghost of Julie Wagner.

  Chapter Three—Megan

  “I don’t know how else to describe her. This is the woman I saw at the fair. Same hair, same expression, same everything,” I told Loretta, who peered at me through her pink-tinted glasses. She put her cup down and held the phone long enough to stare at the screen and shake her head in amazement. I could tell by her expression that she wasn’t quite sure she believed all this.

  “Are you sure, Megan? I mean, like you said, those aren’t unusual names, and it’s entirely possible that you are misremembering. Alex laid a heavy truth on you, and I remember what it’s like being seven months pregnant.”

  “Really, Loretta? You think the answer is that I’m pregnant—that I’m just high-strung?”

  “I never called you high-strung. I didn’t say that. You know what I think? I think you need to get started on the next book. You have a need to create; you can’t help it. It’s the writer in you,” she suggested as she handed me the phone back.

  I leaned back in my chair feeling stung. Loretta was the closest thing I had to a good friend. Fame had a way of separating you from the people you thought you knew best. Or at least it had been that way for me. It was kind of like how my ex-husband Glenn got not only the house but our friends too.

  “You’re kidding me, Loretta. This is exactly the woman I saw. I can’t explain how all this came about; I don’t know how to explain it, but it is true. And you should have seen Alex’s face. I can’t believe I didn’t know about Julie or Zach. It’s just weird.” I twisted the straw’s paper in my fingers and tossed it on the table between us. The café practically hummed with activity this afternoon. Rockville’s newest Italian restaurant was a town favorite. I liked the atmosphere, but I wasn’t hungry at all. I wanted nothing more than to disappear behind the walls of Morgan’s Rock and pretend none of this ever happened.

  “Alright, I believe you. I really do, but I don’t like what this could mean. You and ghosts don’t play well together, Megan. You have to think about your health and the baby. I do worry about you, my friend. And I’m sorry if I come off as insensitive.”

  I sagged in my chair at her scolding. This was just too much…I expected a sympathetic ear, not an unbelieving one. Despite her words to the contrary, Loretta obviously did not believe me at all.

  “I saw the little boy back at the house,” I confessed. I hadn’t planned on telling her about that, but since she didn’t believe me anyway, I might as well unroll the whole ball of yarn. “He came back for his balloon, Loretta. Zach wanted his balloon back.”

  “During that rainstorm? Did you see a car?”

  “No car. Just the boy’s face in the window and the balloon. It was a quick flash, a few seconds, but I know what I saw, Loretta.”

  She tapped the spoon as she put it back on the table. She was on her second cup of coffee now. I guessed having the grandbaby over this weekend had taken its toll on her energy level. She said as much to me earlier when she arrived fifteen minutes late, winded and out of sorts.

  “Could be the boy lives in the area. He saw the balloon, walked over and got it.” She offered me a hopeful smile. “Probably a neighbor kid. I don’t know any little boy who can resist a free balloon.” It was hard to be mad at her knowing that she was simply trying to help me debunk my outlandish theory about a balloon-chasing ghost.

  “I guess anything is possible,” I said, feeling defeated by her lack of belief.

  “But you know, there is a way to find out. Do you have a picture of Zachary?”

  “No, I didn’t think to look. I don’t know how I could find one without asking Alex.”

  “If you can find one, see if it looks like the boy you met. Then maybe you can settle it in your mind. In the meantime, try not to worry about all this. Focus on finishing the nursery. Did you finally settle on a color for the rocking chair?”

  And with that obvious change of subject, the conversation veered toward more domestic things, including babies, herb gardens and Italian food recipes. Loretta handed me a business card as we walked outside. I had a nagging pain in my back, probably from shifting that hamper earlier, I told myself. But I made a mental note to call my obstetrician when I got home. Better to be safe than sorry.

  “What’s this?” I asked as I examined the card.

  “During my research for The Ghosts of Coastal Florida, I met a lot of interesting people and heard a lot of stories. I also met a lot of people who claimed to have paranormal powers. Lots of so-called mediums, clairvoyants, you name it. This lady, Sylvia Finnegan—she is the real deal. She can help you, I think.”

  “Help me how?”

  Loretta dug her keys out of her crocheted purse and brushed her long bangs out of her eyes. “She can help you cleanse the house. If there are things lurking around, if there are ghosts showing back up at Morgan’s Rock...” My friend must have seen my face pale because she continued, “I don’t know if Julie and Zachary are anything more than a coincidence, but we know that Zea and Yancey Storm were heavy into spiritualism. From what I’ve studied, that’s never a good idea. Just because they are dead and gone doesn’t mean that whatever they stirred up is dead and gone. Call Sylvia, please?”

  I tapped the business card and eyed her suspiciously. “I don’t know, Loretta. I believe in the paranormal, you know that, but this seems a bit out there. And you know Alex wouldn’t like me digging around in his past. He’s a very private person.�
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  “Probably not, but you don’t have to tell him about everything. It’s been my experience that sometimes a few secrets are actually good for a marriage. And if you’re nervous about meeting Sylvia, just call me. I’ll be glad to pop over and introduce you two.”

  I hugged her. “Thanks, Loretta. Thanks for listening to me.”

  “Always. Now, I’m going home to get a nap. Between Bexley and little Jo, I am going to need all the rest I can get.”

  “Wait, what? How did you know I was going to name her Jo?”

  “Just a hunch. It didn’t take a psychic to see that coming. Joanna, Jo…Take my advice and call Sylvia this afternoon.”

  “Sure. Thanks again.” I watched her drive away and then made my way home. The original plan was to make a few stops before returning to Morgan’s Rock, maybe find something tasty to cook for a quiet dinner at home tonight, but I decided against it. It would be takeout again. I pulled into the driveway just in time to see Alex stashing his overnight bag in his sleek, black car. He waved and walked toward me as I put the car in park. “Going somewhere?”

  “I have to fly to Savannah to deliver a contract, but it’s just overnight.” He didn’t offer to help me out of the car, and I wasn’t going to ask him for a hand. Not when my heart felt like it had dropped into my shoes.

  “Now? On a Saturday? Are you going alone?”

  “What? I’m not flying the plane, if that’s what you mean.” He was joking, but I wasn’t laughing. And then when he realized what I was asking, he wasn’t laughing either. “You don’t have any reason to worry, Megan. I’m not stepping out on you; I just have to get this contract signed, and I have to do it in person. You know how fussy writers can be. I am going solo on this one, unless you want to tag along.”

  “I’m not the tag-along type, Alex, but thanks for the invitation. Even if it is just for show.” Oh God. Why do I feel sick?

  Alex rubbed his jaw, another tell of his. Yep, he was aggravated and took a deep breath in a clear attempt to calm himself down. “I’ll call you when I get in tonight. Should be around seven.”