Glen didn’t know what to say. She did know Kayla. Part of her was absolutely certain that Kayla was a perfectionist and was, admittedly, an expert in her field. But no matter what she said, the blood on the walls was nothing more than a trick. She
knew
that with even more certainty.
Then she felt it again. It was as tangible as her own heartbeat. Light as a feather, a touch traveled from her jaw to her throat to her arm. She slapped at her arm. "That’s it. I’m leaving! You can drop the report at my hotel when you come to your senses." She turned around and marched over to what she thought was the door, then adjusted her path when a flash of lighting outlined the dark wooden panel. She reached for the knob and pulled, but the door wouldn’t open. "Kayla, is this some sort of joke?" She pulled harder on the door, shaking it. Her hand shot up to the deadbolt and she turned it, checking to see that it as open. It was. "Shit!"
"Glen?"
An eerie voice called her name from the stairway. It was not Kayla. The low whisper repeated, drawing out the word. "Gleeennnnn."
Glen swallowed hard. "Kayla?" Her eyes darted wildly as she strained to see through the darkness. "Kayla, where are you?"
She was greeted with a stone-cold silence.
"That’s it. This isn’t funny. I’m calling the police and they can break down this door." Glen reached for her briefcase to retrieve her cell phone, but it was gone.
"Glen," the whisper had moved across the room. "Gleeennnn."
"Who are you?" Glen cried, dropping to her knees to search for her briefcase. The wooden floor was cold and hard against her skin and she knew she’d torn her pantyhose. A hand squeezed her shoulder and Glen screamed.
"Glen! What the hell is wrong with you?" This time it was Kayla.
"Kayla?" Glen could hardly hear her over the pounding of her heart.
Kayla helped her to her feet. "Of course it’s me. You took off and I couldn’t see you. I thought you’d left until I heard you call my name."
"I-I am leaving."
I am.
Glen rubbed her temples, pushing hard. "Why were you whispering to me? That wasn’t funny."
"Whispering?" Kayla’s brow creased. "Why would I be whispering to you? I thought you’d gone, remember?"
"I can’t get out." Glen’s emotions were starting to get the better of her and her panic was rising fast, calmed only by Kayla’s presence. "The door’s locked. Try it."
Kayla did. "Is this locked from the outside? How did—?"
"My briefcase," Glen interrupted anxiously. "What did you do with it?"
"I never touched it. I saw you set it down when you came in. It’s on the floor." But when Kayla began feeling around she couldn’t find it. "It was right here. I—" She stopped talking and until the silence between them grew thunderous. "I think we should call the police, Glen."
The new urgency in Kayla’s voice sent Glen’s pulse racing again. "Yes. Yes. Okay," she babbled. "Oh, no. My phone is in the briefcase!"
"Gleeennnn." The whisper had returned.
Glen’s eyes went round as twin moons. "Don’t you hear that?"
"You need to calm down," Kayla reached for Glen again, and the smaller woman nearly jumped out of her skin at the unexpected contact. Kayla had barely touched her when they were lovers and never since. "Relax."
"Don’t touch me!" Glen could taste salt on her lips from a cold sweat.
"Gleeennnnn."
"You can’t tell me you don’t you hear that. It’s clear as day." She moved closer to Kayla, wanting some sort of contact so long as
she
was the one initiating it. That was safe.
"Hear what?"
"My name!" Her breath was coming in short pants. "Listen for Christ’s sake!"
The whisper had changed locations again. "Gleeennnn."
"Oh, God. Oh, God, there it is again. See?" She whirled around and began tugging violently on the doorknob. "The voice is moving. I think it’s coming closer. Why can’t you hear it?" Tears welled in her eyes and she started to shake.
Kayla grabbed Glen by the shoulders and spun her back around so that they were facing each other again. "I don’t know what you’re talking about or what’s happening to you, but we need to call the police so we can get out of this house. My phone is in my backpack upstairs. I’ll go get it and be right back. You can wait—"
A loud boom of thunder interrupted Kayla, cutting through the sound of the pouring rain and howling wind like a knife through hot butter.
Glen shook her head, causing her black, wet hair to stick to her cheeks and neck. "You’re not leaving me alone, Kayla Redding. Not for one second!"
"But—"
"No buts. Let’s go now."
"All right."
Glen reached out to take Kayla’s hand but she was already several steps in front of her. "Dammit! Wait!" She could hear Kayla’s footsteps but she couldn’t seem to catch up to her and make physical contact. "Kayla? Kayla!"
"Yes?" Kayla said softly, feeling for the banister railing as she quietly ascended the stairs.
"I-I-I…" Glen didn’t really have anything to say. She’d only wanted to hear Kayla’s voice and reassure herself that she wasn’t alone. "What room are we going to?"
Glen reached the top of the stairs. Somehow the rain seemed louder there, and she squinted as she turned a corner to a long hallway and tried to catch sight of the other woman. "Kayla?"
Silence.
"Not again!" Glen brought shaking hands to her face. "Calm down."
You’re just being silly and imagining things. There’s nothing haunted about this place. You know that, even if she doesn’t. Kayla is just being dramatic.
But that thought stopped her dead in her tracks. Kayla dramatic? That would require creativity and imagination and Glen was certain those were two qualities that Kayla didn’t possess at all. Hesitantly, she began walking forward, running her fingertips along the wall to help guide her as she moved. Rooms lined both sides of the passage and she listened carefully at each open doorway, hoping to find which one Kayla had stepped inside. She flipped another light switch but nothing happened.
"Gleeennnn."
"Is that you, Kayla?" Glen whispered harshly. She knew deep down it wasn’t and her stomach twisted painfully.
"Gleeennnn," the whisper persisted.
"Shut up! Shut up! Leave me alone!" The small woman speeded up her pace.
A bedroom door behind her slammed shut and she jumped. She whirled around and tried to see what had happening, but it was too dark.
"Gleeennnn. Gleeennnn." The whisper was growing louder and angrier and another door slammed, then another, with the sounds coming closer and closer.
Glen let out a bloodcurdling scream and her hands flew to her ears to block out the loud sounds.
It’s coming for me!
A pair of hands reached out of the darkness and snatched her out of the hallway into one of the rooms.
Glen screamed so loud her throat felt like it was fire and she began thrashing wildly.
"Glen! Stop!" Kayla wrestled with the distraught woman, working to calm her. "It’s me! It’s Kayla."
Glen’s frantic movements slowed and she grasped hold of Kayla’s sweater, clinging to her. "Kayla?" She began to cry.
"Yes," she said softly. "It’s me and I have something to show you. Proof of what I was saying."
"I don’t need proof. We need to get out of here! Something is coming."
"Something is already here," Kayla said gravely. She pulled Glen over to the wall. "Look."
"It’s too dark. I—"
Kayla’s grabbed Glen’s hand and pressed it against the wall.
Glen’s heart stopped when she felt thick, sticky liquid flow hotly over her fingers. "No. It can’t be."
"Gleeennnn." The whisper was now in doorway of the room.
"It’s blood," Kayla told her right in her ear. "Blood." Just then a flash of lightning illuminated the Keith House’s master bedroom and the wall where Glen’s hand was pressed. It was awash with dark, crimson blood.
"No!" Glen screamed, wrenching her hand away from Kayla’s grasp. She ran to the corner of the room and slid down the wall to the floor, sobbing hysterically. She wrapped her arms around herself and the blood on them dripped into her coat sleeve and trickled down her forearm.
"Gleeennnn."
"Shut up! You can’t be real." She began rocking back and forth.
"It is real!" Kayla shouted.
"It’s not!"
"It is!"
"NO! Don’t you see, it can’t be! I made it all up." Glen’s sobbing intensified. "It’s a trick. I hired Mary to do it. It’s a trick. It’s not real!" Her face crumpled. "It’s not! It’s not!"
A bright light suddenly flared in the doorway.
Glen screamed and covered her eyes with one hand, temporarily blinded. A few seconds later, when she removed her hand, her red-rimmed eyes flicked past Kayla, who was looking down at her boots, to find a dripping wet, young man wearing a kilt and overcoat and a very self-satisfied smile. Next to him stood Mr. Keith with a mini tape recorder in one hand and his cane in the other. Finally, there was Liv, holding a large flashlight with the beam pointed at the ceiling, her white-socked feet drawing Glen’s attention.
Liv padded over to Kayla wrapped her in a big hug, lingering there long enough to whisper something in her ear. Glen watched dazedly as Kayla nodded, whispered something back to Liv and returned the embrace. A few heartbeats then Kayla pulled away, but not before tenderly kissing Liv’s cheek.
With a gentle pat to Kayla’s side, Liv shifted her focus to Glen and slowly crossed the room.
Glen was still shaky and confused, trying to process what had happened, when Liv crouched down in front of her and waited until frightened eyes lifted to hers and held her steely gaze. She spoke in a gentle but firm voice. "Your briefcase is in the study next door and I think you owe Kayla an apology."
Glen’s mouth dropped open.
Liv leaned a little closer and whispered, "Kayla cared about you, and your little scheme really hurt her." She let the words sink in for a moment before the Southerner in her took over and her light Virginia accent unconsciously intensified, becoming nearly as pronounced as Kayla’s. "You should really thank her after you apologize." She felt a rush of protectiveness for her lover and she narrowed her eyes at Glen, barely resisting lashing out at her for hurting Kayla. "It was because of her that I went to all this trouble." Then Liv’s expression cleared and her lips curled into a deceptively sweet smile. She put her hand on her knees and pushed to her feet, holding her hand out to Glen. "
I
would have just kicked your lyin’ ass."
* * *
Kayla sat up in bed, her back against the headboard, as she watched Liv getting ready for bed. As a little girl she’d seen her mother go through the same routine and she smiled, wondering idly why it wasn’t one she shared.
Liv was sitting on the stool in front of the mirror, wearing a pair of flannel pajama bottoms and an old t-shirt. She’d bought the pajama pants here in Edinburgh, declaring it too cold to be running around in shorts, her usual sleep attire, or her birthday suit, which was fast becoming the norm with Kayla. She ran the brush through her hair for the final time and set it down on the small table in front of her. By rote she removed the studs from her ears and unclasped a small gold chain she wore around her wrist. Then she picked up a tube of fragrant lotion and liberally applied it to her cheeks and neck, softly rubbing it in until it disappeared against smooth skin. She repeated the process with her elbows and hands, finally catching a glimpse of a smiling Kayla in the mirror. Liv smiled back. "What?"
"Nothing."
"Uh huh. It doesn’t look like nothing. It looks like you were thinking about something pretty hard."
"I wasn’t." Kayla shrugged one shoulder. "I was just watching you is all."
"Oh," Liv replied, suddenly a little shy. "I like watching you too." She set the lotion down on the table and clicked off the small tiffany lamp below the mirror, casting the room in long shadow. The storm had moved out over the sea and the sky was only occasionally lit with a flash of lightning and the gentle rumble of far off thunder. She slipped into bed alongside Kayla, joining her against the headboard and pulling the sheet and comforter up to her waist.
"Mmm." Kayla sighed. "You smell like flowers and sunshine."
Liv laughed delightedly. "I didn’t know sunshine had a smell."
"Oh, it does," Kayla drawled emphatically, leaning closer to Liv and kissing the top of her head. "Because I said so."
Liv wrapped her fingers around Kayla’s hand and cradled it in her lap. "Can you believe the timing of that storm tonight?" She shook her head. "Perfect. It was perfect. I think it’s the only time in my life I was happy to see one."
"Mmm… Hmm… Nothing like a little thunder, lightning, and a torrential downpour to make a place look spooky."
"True." Liv scooted down the bed and adjusted her pillow so that she was lying flat and it was cushioning her head as Kayla did the same thing next to her. "I heard you, you know."
Kayla let her eyelids drift shut. "Heard me?" she murmured.
"Telling me that everything would be okay, during the storm."