The Touch (15 page)

“
And he hurt you
,” Paul insisted.

Mouth full of toothpaste, Lexi looked back at him in the mirror, the brush busy against her teeth.  It gave her a few precious minutes to figure out what she wa
nted
say to him in return without sounding too defensive
,
as she had been about to answer instinctively.  After a qu
ick rinse, she patted her lips d
ry, turning to face Paul.  “
It’s sweet of you to play papa bear,
but I can take care of myself.  I’m not a little girl.”

“You don’t know what some men are like…” he interrupted, not at all soothed by her assurance that she could take care of herself. 

“Yeah I do, and he’s one of the good ones
,
Paul.  He’s a cop for crying out loud.”

“And that means he can’t take advantage of you?”  Paul laid his hands on top of her shoulders as if he wanted to shake some sense into her.  “When are you go
ing to
wake up and see what’s right in front of you?”

As Lexi stared back into his eyes
,
she wondered if they were talking about the same thing anymore
,
or if they’d wandered into dangerous territory.  “I see things clearly enough,” she replied softly.

“Do you?”  His thumb brushed over her cheek just once and then he let go of her, shoulders slumping in defeat.  “Just be careful, that’s all I ask.”

For
a split second
Lexi thought he
might
kiss her
,
and she was almost disappointed when he pulled away.  “I’ll be fine,” she called after him, withdrawing to the safety of her bedroom until her heart steadied itself.  Twenty-five years of nothing and the
n
all of a sudden she had two men interested in her? 
When it rains it pours
… her Grandmother
always said. 

Chapter
Eight

California
isn’t sunny all the time, it rains plenty enough to keep things green, especially in
Northern California
with the lush redwood forests.  It was raining fairly steadily as Lexi pulled her little car in front of Allison’s house the next morning.
Just in running from the car to the front door, she
ended up
soaked to the bone, long dark hair plastered to her face.  There was no response when she knocked
,
but the knob turned easily in her hand.  “Allie?”
s
he called out, stepping over the threshold.  Her sister’s car was parked out front, but the house was silent as a grave with only the hum of the refrigerator
reaching her ears. 

Not wanting to drip all over Allison’s floor, nor muss up her pristine guest towels, Lexi headed up to the main bathroom to
dry off.  Hanging up her hoodie
, she blotted off the worst of it, winding her hair up into a messy bun to tuck it out of the way. 

It was strange being alone in the house, but
Lexi hoped
that would make it easier to concentrate and find something useful to lead her to wherever Chloe was. 
As she stepped out of the bathroom, her eyes lit upon the stairs up to the attic
.  T
he urge to go back up there struck her with enough force that Lexi
diverted from her path and pulled
the stairs down with a groan. 
 
The attic was just as she’d left it, the light casting the same shadows on the stored possessions.  Drawn back to the dust covered dressing table, Lexi reached out to run a gloved fingertip across the
bottom of the
mirror, revealing the dark, glossy wood beneath.  It
would probably fetch a small fortune in an antique shop
, why keep it packed away in the attic? 

It
wasn’t why she’d come
t
here, but unable to resist, Lexi drew off her glove, bare fingers poised over the wood, hesitating for a moment before she laid her hand across the smooth surface. 

The last pins were set in place and she turned her head first one way and then the other with a critical eye, ensuring that not a hair was out of place.  The style wasn’t difficult to achieve, and Jack liked her bangs rolled in that
fashion
.  Remembering that he liked her to wear the pearls he
gave
her on their wedding day, she fastened them around her throat.  “There, perfect,” she murmured to herself, before frowning at the sight of her daughter in the reflection.  “
Bianca
…
Dio mio,
why are you in here
?  Y
ou should be resting!
” s
he scolded her.

“
I’m tired of staying in my room
,
Mama.  Can’t I come downstairs for a while?
” t
he little girl pouted, face all but obscured by the dark hair framing it. 

“
No! 
Y
ou know what will happen if you fall
,
and the stairs are steep
.”  Honestly, how many times did she have to tell her?  Such a stubborn girl…

“
They’re not so steep,
”
the little face frowned. 

Her face softened, and she smoothed a hand over her daughter’s glossy dark locks.  “
Go back to bed and I will be in soon to read to you, you
’d
like that wouldn’t you?
”

“
I would like to go to school to
learn to
read for myself
.”

Where did she get such ideas?  “
What need do you have to read when I am always here to read to you
,
piccola?
”

“
Some day you won’t be around Mama
, what will I do then?”
Bianca
replied, a forlorn note to her voice.

She grasped her daughter’s chin firmly, tilting her face up until their dark eyes met.  “
I will always be here to take care of you.  Always
.”

Lexi withdrew her hand, stunned by the revelation that Chloe’s ghost friend
Bianca
had really lived in the house and
turned out to be
the daughter of the dark haired woman she’d drawn.  Judging from the style of clothing and hair
, she guessed
it had been some time around the 1940’s when they’d lived in the house, though it could hav
e been the fifties
.  There were a
bazillion
new questions that surface
d
about them, namely why hadn’t the mother wanted the little girl to go to school or even downstairs?  There
were
dark circles und
er the child’s eyes and she
looked sick, but to keep her from learning to read?  That bordered on abuse
as far as she was concerned.
 

Realizing that
it didn’t do any good to get
all worked up over people that died long ago, Lexi tried to let it go, another question coming to her.  If she touched something else of
Bianca
’s, would that show her a memory of the ghost with Chloe? 

Lexi sifted through the other dusty boxes with her covered hand, trying to find something that looked as though it would belong to the little girl. 
The spine of a book of children’s nursery rhymes caught her eye
;
was this the book her mother read to
Bianca
? 
Unable to resist, she stretched her bar
e
hand towards the weathered book.

“
Read it to me again
,
M
ama
.
”

“
Sing it with me
,” she smiled,
reaching out to caress her daughter’s cheek. 

“
London bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down
…”

The girl’s high voice joined the mother’s lower, richer contralto as they sang the beloved nursery rhyme. 
“
Take the keys and lock her up, lock her up, lock her up…
”

Half torn out of the vision by the addition of multiple childlike voices, Lexi realized they sounded just like the ones in her vision in Chloe’s room, but neither
Bianca
nor her mother gave any sign that they heard anyone else singing with them. 

“
Take the keys and lock her up, my fair lady.
”
 

The sound was unmistakable, and as the song was repeated, the ghostly counterpart continued, gaining strength
,
so that Lexi could hardly hear the mother and daughter’s voices any longer
.  Disturbed by the bleed over in visions, she let go of the book, expecting a blissful rush of silence, but the disembodied voices followed her into the present. 
“
Take the keys and lock her up, lock her up, lock her up…
”
  Lexi froze as the sound enveloped her, the hair at the nape of her neck prickling as though she’d touched a balloon charged with static electricity.  Afraid to breathe, she looked all around for
a
sign of where the singing was coming from
,
and it started to
change
.  F
ading
,
not as if someone had turned the volume down on a recording
,
but as though the source of the singing was changing direction, moving through the house. 

Moving as quickly as she dared, Lexi followed the sound of the ghostly singing down the stairs, pausing to try and figure out where it wa
s coming from.  The singing grew
fainter, punctuated by giggling laughter as though they were playing a game
,
and she started to worry that it would disappear before she found it. 
Descending the main stairs, she turned towards the kitchen. 
Lexi let out a shriek as a hand clamped down on her arm.
Whirling to face her attacker, nervous laughter bubbled up
when she saw it was
Allie.

“What are you doing in my house?”

Lexi could care less that her sister
was
in a pissy mood after what she’d been through.  “Do you hear singing?”  It was still
audible, though the volume
had
faded significantly
,
and she wanted nothing more than to chase it down before it disappeared entirely. 

“
Answer me
,” Allie held tight to her wrist
,
almost painfully. 

“
Jesus
A
llie, you’re the one who left the
front
door open,
”
she wrenched her arm away, rubbing at her wrist
.
  “Where did you come from?  Have you been here the whole time?”

Allison blinked, eyes dropping to where Lexi held her wrist.  “
I
was just
about to ask you the same thing,” she
murmured, brow furrowing
.

“
I came to
try again
.  Have you heard anything?
”

“
No
,” Allie’s shoulders slumped tiredly.  “I’ve been
going stir crazy
sitting here
,
but I don’t want to miss anything
. 
I k
eep expecting to hear ransom demands or hear they’ve b
een in an accident,
but so far nothing.  I’ve been sitting on my hands to keep from calling the police constantly to ask what’s going on, what they’re doing…”

“
It’s gonna be okay
.”  What else could Lexi say?  What could anyone say to help her through that feeling of dread and powerlessness. 

“
You don’t know that
.”

“
No, but I have faith
,” Lexi replied, giving her shoulder a comforting pat
,
“
a
nd Gabriel is doing everything he can to bring her back to you.”

“I’ll die if she ever leaves me…” Allie’s eyes stared off sightlessly.

Something about her tone of voice scared the hell out of Lexi.  “Don’t say that
,
Allie.”  But as her sister didn’t respond, Lexi gave her shoulder a little shake.  “Allie?”

“What?” Allison blinked, focusing back on Lexi again.

“I said don’t say that, we’ll get her back, I just know it.”

“Oh, right.  Yeah
,
I know,” she gave her a tight smile.  “I’m just trying to hold it together. 

Lexi supposed it was understandable if Allie was a little out of it, she probably wasn’t sleeping all that well.  All of a sudden she remembered the ghostly singing, ears straining to catch any sign of it, but it had
completely disappeared
.  “Did you hear any singing before?”

“Singing?  No,” Allie shook her head.  “I don’t have the radio on anywhere.”

“No
,
it wasn’t the radio.  Allie… remember when Chloe said she thought the house was haunted?”

“What about it?”

“Be straight with me S
is, have you ever seen or heard anything out of the ordinary here?”

“Don’t be silly,” Allison dismissed the question, withdrawing to the kitchen.  Lexi followed after her, not willing to let the subject drop this time. 

“I’m being totally serious.  Not five minutes ago I heard singing up in the attic.  Like a bunch of little kids singing a nursery rhyme.”

“What were you doing up in the attic?”

“Looking for clues.”

“And did you find anything useful, Scooby?”  The corner of Allie’s mouth tugged up into a smirk.

“I’m being serious
,
Allie.  I heard kids singing in this house, and it’s not the first time.”

“Okay then, what are you saying?” Allie stopped fussing with the coffeemaker and turned to face her.

“I heard the same singing up in Chloe’s room
when I touched her Brown B
unny.  Those kids were teasing her, taunting her.”

“What kids?”

“I don’t know… ghost ones.  You really have never heard anything like that before?”  Lexi found it hard to believe that
Allie had
never seen a single sign of it, living there day in and day out.