The Ghost Who Loved Diamonds (15 page)

Cheryl stood before the
massive paintings in the library and studied Walt’s portrait. Tilting her head
from side to side she said, “It really is you, isn’t it?”

“Did you doubt it?”
Walt asked.

“What is going on?”
Lily asked in a whisper. She sat with Danielle on the small couch wishing she
could hear everything that was going on. In response Danielle reached over and
gave her hand a squeeze. Lily took the gesture to mean,
not now Lily, I will
tell you later
. Letting out a sigh, Lily leaned back and resigned herself
to the fact she’d have to wait until later to get Danielle’s account on
whatever was said.

“Cheryl, why don’t you
come over here and sit down in the chair next to Walt so we can talk.” Danielle
suggested.

Cheryl turned from the
portrait and walked toward Walt. “I hadn’t really noticed, but you are rather
good looking.” She sat on the chair next to him. “I suppose if I’m destined to
be trapped for eternity with someone I’d rather it be a handsome man rather
than someone I can’t bear looking at.”

Danielle glanced from
Cheryl to Walt and noticed his expression of horror at Cheryl’s misguided
conclusion.  She wouldn’t have been surprised had he taken this moment to pull
one of his disappearing acts.

“You are not trapped
for eternity with Walt,” Danielle explained.

“Really?” Cheryl looked
from Walt to Danielle. “Is there something between you two?”

“Excuse me?” Danielle
asked with a frown.

“You do seem rather
fond of each other. I just wondered if…”

“Cheryl, it’s not
really possible for the type of relationship you suggest. Can we please get
back to your situation?”

“But it is possible for
one between let’s say….Walt and me?” Cheryl smiled at Walt.

“No,” Walt snapped.

Dejected, Cheryl
slumped down in her chair and looked over at Danielle. “I don’t want to be dead.”

“Do you have any idea
what happened?” Danielle asked. “Do you know where…where your body is?”

“My body?” Cheryl began
to tear up again.

“Please, Cheryl, try to
stay calm. We need to sort this all out,” Danielle urged.

“Is she screaming
again?” Lily whispered. Danielle shook her head
no
.

“It is all sort
of….well foggy feeling,” Cheryl said after reigning in her emotions.

“It’s like that at
first,” Walt explained. “But once you understand why things are so different,
why the world as you know it is off kilter, everything will eventually come
into focus. You won’t remember all of it at once. But just try—what can you
remember?”

“I remember wanting to
go home,” Cheryl said.

“Home here or
California?” Danielle asked.

“My home in California.
This isn’t my home. It wasn’t fun anymore here. Something…something scared me.
I can’t remember how I got back to my room here. I just wanted to get my things
and leave, but everything was gone—my clothes, my suitcase—everything.”

“Try to remember where
you were before you returned to Marlow House,” Danielle urged.

Cheryl closed her eyes,
her expression somber. She let out a little gasp and said, “I was in a dark
shed. I could hear the waves breaking on the beach. I was close to the ocean.
But I couldn’t see anything.” She opened her eyes and looked at her cousin. “I
remember now. I was afraid; I didn’t know where I was. I could see a little bit
of light coming in through the wall boards, so I ran toward the light hoping to
find a door, but then…then…”

“Then what?” Danielle asked.

“Then I was outside the
shed, standing on the beach. How did I do that? I don’t remember finding a
door.”

“You walked through the
wall,” Walt explained.

“I did?” Cheryl’s eyes
widened at the thought. 

“So it was daytime?”
Danielle asked.

“No, it was nighttime.”
Cheryl said.

“But you said you saw
light coming through the wallboards,” Danielle reminded.

“It was night, but
there was a little bit of light from the moon and the nearby houses.”

“I bet your body is in
that shed,” Danielle said.

“Her body is in a
shed?” Lily gasped.

“That really creeps me
out when you talk about my
body
,” Cheryl shuddered.

“I understand,” Walt
agreed. “Danielle just doesn’t get that.”

“Hey! How else am I
supposed to say it?”

“Not suggesting you can
phrase it differently. But I do think you are sometimes a bit insensitive.”
Walt said.

“I agree she can be,”
Cheryl nodded.

“Oh brother,” Danielle
muttered under her breath.

“What’s going on?” Lily
asked in a whisper.

“Ghost divas,” Danielle
quipped.

“Can you describe where
the shed was?” Walt asked, ignoring Danielle’s comment. “You say it was on the
beach?”

“Yes. There was a row
of sheds, about six of them I think. Not on the beach exactly, but under a
rocky cliff overhang. It wasn’t all sand underfoot—wild grass—about five feet
from the beach. Each shed had a large number painted on its door. The one I
came out of had the number three.”

“Does that place sound
familiar?” Danielle asked Walt.

“No. But I doubt the
sheds were around back then.”

“What place?” Lily
asked.

“Cheryl remembers being
at a beach shack. She said there was a row of six them, with numbers painted on
their doors.”

“Red numbers?” Lily
asked.

Cheryl jumped up and
shouted, “Yes, red numbers!”

“Yes. Cheryl said they
were red numbers,” Danielle confirmed.

“I think I know where
that is.” Lily said. “Ian and I walked Sadie down there a few times. It’s on
the south side of town.”

“Okay, so now we have a
good idea where…where we might find…you know…” Danielle said. “Now Cheryl, do
you remember how you got to that shed?”

Cheryl shook her head.
“No. I don’t. But I have a question.”

“What?” Danielle asked.

“When was the party?
What’s today’s date?”

“It’s Friday, July 11.
You went missing a week ago,” Danielle explained.

Cheryl glanced down at
her dress and frowned.

“What is it?” Danielle
asked.

Tugging at the hem of
her pink dress, Cheryl looked at Danielle and said, “Are you telling me I’ve
been wearing the same dress for a week? An entire week!”

“Well, I suppose so,”
Danielle shrugged. “But I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

“Of course you wouldn’t
understand. Just look how you dress!” Cheryl let go of her hem and sat back in
the chair.

“It won’t always be
like this,” Walt explained.

“What do you mean?”
Cheryl asked.

“This…” Walt snapped
his fingers. The suit he had been wearing changed colors.

“How did you do that?”
Cheryl asked in awe.

“Can we please discuss
your wardrobe later,” Danielle said impatiently.

“I’d like to know where
she took the necklace and why. And where is it?” Lily asked.

“Yes, I would like to
know that too.” Danielle looked at Cheryl. “I have a feeling that’s what got
you …well, to your current state.”

“Maybe I’m still
wearing it.” Cheryl touched her throat. “Perhaps it is on…on the other me.”

“I suppose that depends
on what happened to you. Why were you in that shed? Did Adam take you there?”
Danielle doubted the necklace was still on Cheryl. After all, it was what
probably got her killed.

“Adam? Why would Adam
take me there?”

“What’s your last
memory before the shed?” Danielle asked.

“I don’t know, it’s
kind of fuzzy.”

“Do you remember the
open house?” Danielle asked.

“No. I said it is
fuzzy.” Cheryl squirmed in her chair.

“But you remember
having the necklace,” Danielle reminded.

“Yes. But like I said
it is…”

“Fuzzy. Yes. You’ve
mentioned that. Maybe I can refresh your memory. At the open house you tried on
the necklace, went to look at it in the mirror and then left the house suddenly
with Adam. According to him you two drove to one of his beach rentals where
apparently he had too much to drink and you helped him to bed. When he woke up
in the morning you were gone with the necklace. They’ve been looking for you
ever since.”

“Okay…I guess I
remember trying on the necklace. I wasn’t going to steal it. Honest.”

“Why did you leave with
it?” Danielle asked.

“You got to wear it all
day. I just figured it was my turn. But I didn’t want to wear it around a bunch
of old people at your open house and I knew you wouldn’t let me wear it out so
people could see it. I figured I’d spend a romantic evening with Adam. I mean
come on Danielle, imagine how sexy it would be to make love wearing just that
necklace!”

“I suppose I can
understand that,” Walt said. “Was it?”

“Walt!” Danielle
snapped.

“She really can be such
a prude,” Cheryl told Walt. “I don’t know what you see in her.”

“Please, let’s stay
focused,” Danielle said impatiently.

“Fine…” Cheryl sighed
dramatically. “It’s getting a little clearer. I can remember some of it. Adam
took me to the beach house. When he got there he poured us each a glass of wine.
I hadn’t told him yet about the necklace.”

“What do you mean, what
hadn’t you told him?” Danielle asked.

“He didn’t know I had
it. After I left the parlor, I took it off and slipped it in my purse. There
was so much commotion with new people coming in the house that no one seemed to
notice.”

“So Adam didn’t know
you had the necklace?” Danielle asked.

“No. I wanted to
surprise him at the beach house.”

“Then what happened?”
Walt asked.

“After Adam poured us
the wine I went to the bathroom. I was going to put the necklace on, and then
come back out and surprise him. I suppose I stayed in the bathroom for longer
than I intended—I kept looking at myself in the mirror. It was so pretty. And
then I decided it would be more dramatic if…well…I simply walked into the
bedroom wearing just the necklace.”

“You took your clothes
off?” Danielle asked.

“No!” Cheryl frowned.
“I was going to do that later, after we had some wine. So I put the necklace
back in my purse and went to the living room. Adam’s wine glass was empty. I
didn’t think anything of it, but then he started acting funny, like he was
drunk. I mean on one glass, can you believe that? I helped him to his bed,
although I don’t know why I bothered. I should have just let him pass out on
the couch.”

“Then what did you do?”
Danielle asked.

“That’s when it gets
fuzzy again. I can’t quite remember how I got there—but I remember walking on
the beach. It was dark. And then someone else was there.”

“You obviously got as
far as those huts. What do you remember about leaving the beach house?”
Danielle asked.

“I remember putting the
necklace back on. I remember standing on the back porch, looking down the
beach. I could see the fireworks in the distance. And then…well, things get
sorta spotty…”

“Spotty?” Danielle
asked.

“It’s like bits and
pieces. Someone was there with me. I wasn’t alone on the beach.”

“Who was it?”

Cheryl shook her head.
“I don’t know. I don’t remember.” Cheryl sounded frustrated. “But it was
someone familiar.”

“A man or a woman?”
Walt asked.

“I’m not sure. But
someone who I wasn’t afraid of. I remember that.”

“Did you walk to the
beach shack together?” Danielle asked

“I think so…maybe…I’m
not sure….” Cheryl stood up abruptly. “I don’t like these feelings.”

“What feelings?”
Danielle asked.

“The feelings I get
when I try to remember the rest of it. I just want to go home!” Cheryl began to
cry again. She flopped back down in the chair and slumped over, her muffled
sobs breaking into an occasional hiccup.

“I’m sorry Cheryl, calm
down. It will be okay, I promise,” Danielle said.

Cheryl jerked her head
up and looked at Danielle. “Okay? I am dead, dead! How can I be okay!”

“Bad choice of words,”
Walt noted, shaking his head in disapproval.

“Thank you Walt,”
Cheryl sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “At least you
understand.”

“Is Cheryl upset again?
What’s wrong?” Lily asked.

“I guess I need to take
a course in afterlife sensitivity training,” Danielle said with a sigh.