2 Yule Be the Death of Me (16 page)

Jacob pointed
upwards to the ceiling.

“Is she up on
the third floor?”

He nodded.

“No one is to
ever go up to the third floor. Daddy forbids it.” Constance whispered. “If you
go up there, he’s going to be very mad.”

“So will
mommy.” Jacob added. “She doesn’t like Natalie at all.”

Vivienne
straightened back up just as Edgar
Rothwell’s
stern
voice shouted into the room. “I told you children to stay in your beds.”

The children
screamed and their little bodies shattered like glass and disappeared, leaving
the playroom empty except for the toys.

Vivienne
stepped out of the playroom and back into the hallway. As she did she heard a
crackling sound, dry and sharp. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the lid of
the trunk slowly rising and a skeletal arm reaching upwards from inside of it.
“Children?” Hazel’s voice echoed.

 The
light faded back to evening as the candle sconces flared to life. Vivienne
pulled the door closed and hurried back to the staircase. It was only when she
reached the bannister she realized that they went no further up.

She looked at
the ceiling and guessed there had to be an attic door with a pull cord either
in the hallway or in one of the rooms. With her options limited, she started
back down the hall. In the dim light, it was very hard to make out any details.

There was the
muffled sound of a scream from the ceiling above her. Vivienne paused and
listened. Footfalls creaked on the ceiling above her head and walked in the
direction of the children’s playroom. She followed them and then turned the
opposite way into a small office with a desk and a bookcase. The footfalls
continued above her head and then disappeared beyond the wall past the
bookcase.

She stepped
lightly past the desk and listened once more. There was the muffled sound of
two people, a male and female in some sort of conversation. She couldn’t make
out any of the words, but she was certain the female voice sounded very much in
distress.

Her hands
moved along the leaded-glass doors that kept the books safe from dust. She
tried to pull it open but it was locked.

The murmur of
the voices continued and she felt even more compelled to figure out where the
attic entrance was hidden. She opened the desk drawers, searching for a set of
keys. She found only bottles of ink, sheets of writing paper, and dust.

The voices
stopped suddenly and Vivienne was enveloped in silence. She slid the desk
drawers closed and turned around to give the lock on the bookcase another
jiggle.

She came face
to face with the angry face of Edgar
Rothwell
towering above her. “What are you doing in here?” He yelled at her.

Vivienne put
her hands up in surprise. “I’m here to help.”

His pale eyes
turned dark black and he grabbed her roughly by her sweatshirt. “You were
thieving.”

Vivienne felt
real panic as his form seemed as solid as hers. She reached up and tried to
release his grip but was unable to do so. “I’m a friend, searching for
Natalie.”

“Lies. You
women are nothing but deceit and lies. No better than Eve in the garden.” He
hissed. “Evil needs to be devoured.”

Vivienne
struggled to get free. “I’m not who you think I am.”

Edgar pulled
her closer and his breath smelled of musty earth and foul rot. She watched in
silent terror as his jaw opened wider and wider, with a sickening crackling
sound.

“Let me go.”
Vivienne screamed, kicking and pounding against him.

Edgar held her
in place as his jaw lowered beyond his throat.

Vivienne saw
movement from inside his mouth. A pair of fingers were reaching up from behind
his tonsils, reaching out toward her. “I won’t let you do this.” Vivienne
screamed once more as the fingers moved to the back of his teeth.

 “Vivienne.
Honey, can you hear me?” Kathy’s voice called to her from somewhere in the
distance.

“Help me.”
Vivienne screamed. “I’m in here.”

The fingers
shot forward and grabbed her around the throat. Vivienne gasped for air as they
tightened and constricted her airway. She could feel them pulling her inside
Edgar’s mouth. A bitter, terrible cold enveloped her.

“Snap out of
it.” Kathy’s face appeared inside Edgar’s mouth.

Vivienne let
out a scream of abject terror as the entire scene exploded with a deafening
thud.

Kathy shook
Vivienne firmly. “Vivienne, can you hear me?”

She was back
in the kitchen of the
Rothwell
home, lying on the
floor near the oven. “Kathy?”

“Oh, thank God.
I thought you’d gone insane.” Relief washed over Kathy’s face. “What the hell
happened to you?”

Vivienne
pulled herself up from the floor. “How long was I out?”

“Just a few
seconds.” Kathy replied. “I was about to explore the parlor room when you asked
me to come in here because you found something.”

Vivienne shook
her head. “Only a few seconds?”

“Yes.” Kathy
confirmed. “I found you on the floor and thought you were having a seizure. I
was about to call the paramedics when you came around.”

Vivienne shook
her head. “It wasn’t a seizure. I tried to open the oven door and I must have
slipped and hit my head on the darn thing.”

Kathy clucked
her tongue. “You need to be more careful.” She offered her an arm and pulled
Vivienne up to her feet. “Do you feel a bump anywhere on your head?”

“No.” Vivienne
gave her a little smile. “Just my ego is bruised I think.”

Kathy folded
her arms together. “This place sure got awful cold since we came inside.”

“You feel it
too?” Vivienne asked.

“Are you sure
you want to poke around this place? It’s kind of spooky.”

Vivienne shook
her head. “I think I’ve had enough for today. Let’s return the keys to Brian
and call it a night.”

Monday, December 9th

It had been a
busy day for orders at the bakery, but Vivienne’s head just wasn’t in the game.
She was fortunate enough to have Stephanie keeping track of everything. Under
her watchful eyes, she made sure that dates were correct and double checked
spelling of names on birthday cakes. As they finished the usual rush during the
lunch hour, Vivienne fixed herself a cup of cinnamon tea and sat down at one of
the bistro tables with her writing pad and pen. She jotted down as much as she
could remember from her strange vision inside the
Rothwell
kitchen and began to list some of the strange questions that needed to be
answered.

“Making out
your Christmas list?” Stephanie asked as she placed a fresh batch of half-moon
cookies into the glass display case.

“I wish I was
that organized this early.” Vivienne looked over in her direction and gave her
a little smile. “I’m just trying to help some friends out.”

“Anything I
can do?” Stephanie closed the sliding door on the display case.

“Actually,
would you mind running the store a bit for this afternoon?” Vivienne felt
guilty pushing her business duties onto her assistant. She vowed then and there
to up her Christmas bonus another twenty percent. “I’m going to check on Eunice
at the hospital.”

Stephanie
walked over to the small closet where they stored the cleaning supplies and
pulled out the broom and dustpan. “Not at all.”

“I can’t tell
you how much this means to me.”

Stephanie
started to sweep the floor behind the counter. “I like it here.” She gathered
up some pieces of wax paper that had fallen during the lunch rush and dumped
them into the waste bin. “It’s never been just a job here. I love what I do.”

“You’re very
good at running a business.” Vivienne complimented her.

Stephanie
paused for a moment, leaning against the broom handle. “It just feels right to
me.”

“I wouldn’t be
surprised to see you open a business right after you finish college.”

“Maybe.”
Stephanie grinned. “But what would I open?”

“Whatever
drives your
passion.
” Vivienne replied. “When you
follow your heart, you can’t go wrong.”

“Thanks.”
Stephanie went back to sweeping. “Speaking of hearts, I was sorry to see what
happened to Nathaniel and Tristan.”

“That note was
terrible and it was written with nothing but malicious intent.” Vivienne set
the pen down on the table and took another sip of her tea.

“Any idea who
the Bad Santa is?”

“I’m working
on that.” Vivienne nodded.

“Those two are
the nicest guys, I can’t believe how the town’s just turned on them.” Stephanie
added.

“Joshua said
they were keeping an officer out near the protesters in front of their store
today. Just to be sure no one does anything stupid.”

Stephanie
emptied her dustpan into the waste bin. “So who’s this Pastor Seamus
Kilpatrick?”

“He’s Eunice
Kilpatrick’s brother.” Vivienne confirmed. “He came into town right after she
was hit by the car.”

“It’s like the
whole town is suddenly going crazy.” Stephanie remarked.

“I know how
you feel.” Vivienne added. “But I can tell you that Pastor Kilpatrick gathering
a small group together to protest Nathaniel and Tristan’s lifestyle isn’t
helping matters.”

“Why don’t the
police just go out there and tell them to leave?”

Vivienne shook
her head. “They have the right to protest peacefully.

“I wanted to
yell at them when I drove by this morning, but I didn’t.” Stephanie confessed.

“You did the
right thing. If you give them an inch of attention they’ll run a mile with it.”

“This Pastor
Kilpatrick doesn’t even have a church here, does he?” Stephanie asked.

“Not to my
knowledge.” Vivienne picked up her writing pad and slid out of the chair. “But
that’s part of what I’m going to find out today while you run the business.”

“Go get them.”
Stephanie raised her broom up in the air with a grand gesture just as the telephone
rang. She hurried over behind the counter and answered it. “Sweet Dreams
Bakery, how can I help you?”

Vivienne
walked over the display window that looked out upon Main Street. Inside her
bakery, everything was peaceful. She counted her blessings that the Bad Santa
hadn’t targeted her yet, because she found it all too easy to imagine the
protestors in front of Carriage House Antiques moving to her front sidewalk.
Imagine if she were
outed
as a witch? Miss Octavia
had her shop vandalized, but could an angry mob go even further and burn her
bakery to the ground? The very notion gave her chills.

“Vivienne,
it’s
Joshua on the phone for you.” Stephanie called out.

“Joshua?” She
turned around in surprise and hurried to the phone. “Thanks, Stephanie.”

Stephanie
handed her the phone. “I’m going to go out back and get a start on the
inventory before you leave.”

“Thanks.”
Vivienne put the phone to her ear as Stephanie graciously left to give her
privacy. “Hi
hon
, what’s going on?”

“Forensics has
a match on Sally Rollin’s car. She was the one who ran Eunice Kilpatrick down.”
Joshua explained.

“That doesn’t
make any sense.” Vivienne clenched her teeth in frustration. “You know that
Eunice tried to help her out not too long ago.”

“Help her out
how?” Joshua asked.

“She was at
the bank applying for a loan and got turned down. Eunice told her that
Nathanial and Tristan sometimes bought antiques and paid cash on the spot.”

“Who told you
this?”

“Nathaniel and
Tristan.” Vivienne explained. “But there’s much more to that story.”

“Sally Rollins
is being brought in for questioning” Joshua offered. “Be careful you don’t step
on Sheriff
Rigsbee’s
toes when you check things out.
He’s on his last nerve and not afraid to let anyone who gets in his way know
it.”

“I’m heading
to the library, so I’ll be far from the line of fire.” Vivienne assured him.

“Any leads
that
your
magic helped out with yet?”

Vivienne had
wanted to tell him all about what had happened yesterday in the
Rothwell
mansion, but she could barely process the
experience herself. She needed to verify information first, piece together what
she had seen in her vision, and then formulate some sort of explanation that
tied everything together. “I’m working on it.”

“I wish I
could talk longer, but I’ve got a meeting with Sheriff
Rigsbee
in a minute. Be careful.” Joshua replied.

“You too.”
Vivienne wished that he could come with her. She always felt safe with him
beside her. “I love you.”

“I love you
too.” Joshua echoed back. “If you find out anything big be sure to call me
right away.”

“I promise.”
Vivienne hung up the phone and opened her display case. She pulled out two
half-moon cookies and wrapped them in a small box. Delores would be thrilled to
get the treat.

*            
*             *

Vivienne’s
first stop was at the hospital to check on Eunice’s progress and to say hello
to Delores as she had promised. However, her plans changed slightly as she
walked into room 508 and heard two familiar voices talking from behind the
curtain, Eunice and her brother, Pastor Seamus Kilpatrick. Delores, was fast
asleep, her head tipped to the side as she snored.

“When did the
doctor say you could leave?” Seamus’ voice asked as Vivienne crept carefully
closer to hear everything.

“Not for at
least a week.” Eunice’s voice was raspy and sounded frail. “He says I might
need some physical therapy first.”

“Did you let
him know that I could stay with you to help out?”

“I didn’t know
how long you were staying in Cayuga Cove for.” Eunice replied. “Did you have a
talk with Father William over at Our Lady of the Lake?”

“I did.”
Seamus replied. “He was happy to hear that I would be taking over the
congregation at Shoreline Baptist while Pastor Green goes overseas on
missionary work.”

“So when you
do start?”

“New Year’s
day.” Seamus added. “That’s when we start to clean up this town and put it back
on the path of righteousness.”

“Amen, dear
brother.” Eunice replied. “This town has been going downhill fast with the
murder scandal, the opening of a witchcraft store, and those sleazy gays who
run the antique store.”

“I promised
you that I’d fix things, sister. With the Lord on our side, how can we go
wrong?”

Vivienne set
the package of cookies on the bedside table and
  hurried
away before she could be found. She didn’t like the tone in Seamus’ voice, but
he was the least of her worries. At least Delores could enjoy the baked goods
when she awoke. As for Eunice, she could just stuff her face with communion
wafers.

*             
*             
*

Harriet
Nettles had been more than happy to once again assist Vivienne with research at
the town library. She had felt quite free to express her own opinions on what
was going on in town as she gathered the Cayuga Union Cemetery records for
Vivienne upstairs in the library. As much as it pained Vivienne to think it,
she had to admit that when it came to the stereotypical ‘old maid’ figure,
Harriet fit the profile to perfection.

       
She had few friends, mostly keeping company with her books and the stray cats
she fed outside her modest single bedroom home. She never expressed very much
interest in getting married or starting a family, but that was where Vivienne
had enormous respect for her. She was happy with her life and felt no need to
justify her decisions to anyone. She was a collector of information and had a
natural curiosity about the world. However, unlike Vivienne, Harriet was happy
to explore from the comfort of her wingback chair with a hand-knitted blanket
over her lap and a cup of chamomile tea on the side table.

As Vivienne
explored the cemetery records she located the information about the death of
the
Rothwell
family but could find no record of
Natalie Burdick.  It was as if she had never existed, yet her magical
vision had told quite the opposite story.

Frustrated,
she returned to the main desk where Harriet was busy gathering books that had
been dropped off in the night return box.  “Harriet, I have a question
about the old Cayuga Union Cemetery that I can’t find an answer to.”

Harriet looked
up from the desk as she scanned the books with a barcode device to log them
back into the system. “I’ve given you everything I have on it.”

“Do you know
who the last caretaker was?” Vivienne wondered.

Harriet
scratched her chin with her hand. “That’s a good question. I wish I could tell
you, but I have no idea. The records were stored here long before I assumed the
job.”

“Maggie
Sandro
died last year, so I can’t ask her.” Vivienne
brought up the beloved former librarian that had served for nearly five
decades.

“May she rest
in
peace.
” Harriet lowered her head for a moment. “You
know Vivienne, I remember her talking about plans to fix up that old cemetery a
few months before she died. She kept saying it was shameful to the memory of
the civil war veterans buried there to let the place fade away.”

“This could be
very important, Harriet.” Vivienne pressed. “Did she mention anyone she
discussed this with?”

Harriet tried
to pull up the memory but she simply shook her head in frustration. “I’m sorry,
I just can’t recall the details of the conversation.”

Vivienne
looked around the desk. The library was empty as usual. “It was worth a try.”
She looked down at Harriet’s hands and noticed a charm bracelet on her right
wrist. “Say, that’s quite lovely.” Vivienne pointed down.

Harriet
smiled. “My bracelet? Why, thank you.”

“Wherever did
you find it?”

“It was on
clearance at Meeker Jewelers last week for twenty-five dollars.” Harriet beamed
with pride. “I normally don’t indulge in such things, but it was just so cute I
couldn’t say no.”

“May I see it
up close?” Vivienne asked.

“Sure.”
Harriet stretched her arm upwards at Vivienne’s face. “I just love the simple
elegance of silver.”

Vivienne
nodded and seized Harriet’s hand in her own grip. “Think back to that
conversation with Maggie
Sandro
. Back when she talked
about the cemetery.”

Harriet’s face
went blank as the magic worked through her mind. She let out a little gasp. “I
miss Maggie so much.”

“We all do,
Harriet. But think back to the time when you and
her
talked about the cemetery.”

Harriet nodded
as her mind began to open to Vivienne. “Yes, what a shame it was to let it go.”
She murmured.

The library
desk swirled away as Vivienne stepped into Harriet’s memory. She felt more
disconnected this time, as if she were more a silent observer than an active participant
in the spell. When her vision cleared, she was standing in a
charmingly-decorated room at the Whispering Oaks retirement facility. Vivienne
knew the layout quite well from her many visits to Nana Mary’s apartment.

Maggie
Sandro
sat on her blue-floral patterned loveseat with
Harriet Nettles beside her. Her short white hair was neatly combed, her brown
eyes still bright with the spark of curiosity that Harriet shared. “I spoke
with Mona Clarke about getting the mayor involved with rescuing the cemetery.”

Vivienne was
pleased to have the more unique view of a spectral observer than the more
personal invasion of assuming the target’s body. There was hardly any dizzy
feeling or disorientation.