After a restless night, LeAnn checked the clock the next morning. Seven forty-five.
I might as well get up. If I haven’t slept so far I’m not going to now. Slowly and reluctantly she got out of bed. A headache was definitely coming on, so she walked over to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. She poured out two aspirins into the palm of her left hand and got a glass of water. After swallowing the aspirins, she reached for the wash cloth and put cool water on her face.
“What a long night.” She said to her reflection in the mirror. “I hope I have the strength to start cleaning the boathouse today.” She noticed the dark circles under her eyes. Then it dawned on her, “Oh no, I have a date with Matt tonight! Watch, I’ll fall asleep in my dinner. Maybe I should cancel.” Her headache was getting worse and she thought she’d better go lie down again to give the aspirins a chance to work.
Pulling the covers up to her shoulders she closed her eyes. Just until the aspirins kick in, she thought. In less than two minutes she was asleep.
She woke up later to the ringing of her cell phone. Without opening her eyes she reached over on the nightstand to answer it. “Hello?” she said groggily.
“LeAnn is that you? It’s Adam. What’s up? Are you all right?”
“Adam, hi, I’m fine. I woke up earlier with a headache and decided to go back to sleep. What time is it?” She still hadn’t opened her eyes.
“Here in Colorado, it’s eleven in the morning.”
“What!” She quickly looked at her clock. “Noon? Oh great! There goes my day,” she moaned. But, she did notice her headache was gone.
“LeAnn are you sure you’re okay? You sounded a little funny in your message last night.”
“Really, I am. I’ve been cleaning a lot, and yesterday I was up in the attic when a storm came through, and I guess I sort of got a little spooked. You know, being here alone with lightening, thunder and all. So were you out on a hot date?”
Adam laughed, “Yeah, as a matter of fact, I was. A new girl who moved into the complex. She’s hot and I thought I’d do the neighborly thing and take her to dinner. Actually, I really did enjoy her company. She’s a nice girl. Kind of strange sounding coming from me, huh?”
“You have no idea!” She giggled. “Hey, guess who I ran into and who I’m having dinner with tonight?” LeAnn asked the question not sure her brother would even remember Matt.
Adam paused as if thinking, “Who in the world is still out there that we know?”
“Matt Weston.”
“Seriously? Matt’s still there? Wow, I would have thought he couldn’t wait to leave that resort he grew up in, and never come back. How is he and why is he still there?”
“It seems, dear brother, your old friend is running the Ridgewood Resort for his dad. His dad is suppose to be semiretired.”
“Well, tell old Matt his old partner in crime says hey.”
“I will. Adam?” She knew she shouldn’t tell Adam about the music and definitely not about the light. He’d laugh at her, but they were so close, she decided she’d risk it even knowing what his reaction would be.
“What is it LeAnn?” Adam asked sounding uneasy. “What is really going on with you? Are you safe? Do I need to fly out?”
“No, no,” she responded quickly. “There’s just something kind of weird that’s happened the last couple of nights, but I really don’t think it’s a big deal.”
“What kind of weird things?”
Again, LeAnn hesitated.
“LeAnn, are you still there? Hello?”
“Yes, yes Adam, I’m here, sorry. Well, I’m not sure that it’s anything, but I keep hearing music late at night and then twice I saw….” she stopped.
“You saw what?” he asked cautiously.
“Well, I thought I saw a light moving around on the boathouse walkway.” There, she said it out loud. She waited for the response she knew he’d give.
“You heard what and saw what?” He started to laugh, clearly relieved. “LeAnn, my dear sister, have you been drinking? Are you trying to tell me that the ghost rumors are true? That you have seen the Tabor Island ghost?”
“See, I knew you were the last person I should have told. I knew you’d laugh at me! I wish I had never said anything! Never mind, Adam, forget I said anything!” Now she was angry, not necessarily at him but at herself for setting herself up.
“I’ll let you go Adam. It was nice talking to you. I’ll call you again in a few days.”
“Wait, LeAnn, wait___don’t hang up!”
“No, Adam, it’s fine. I’m fine. Everything is fine. I’m sorry I said anything at all.”
“Don’t you dare hung up on me LeAnn Klein! I know that tone in your voice. Now simmer down and let’s talk about this!” Adam realized he had hurt his sister’s feelings, and he felt bad. “Now, tell me what’s going on?”
She sighed deeply, trying not to cry.
“LeAnn? Talk to me.”
She let out another big sigh. “Well, I’ve been working hard on cleaning up the house and everything. And maybe I could just be tired, but the other night at two o’clock in the morning I heard music; it actually woke me up. I went to check and see if I had left the TV on and saw that it was off. I figured that there was a party somewhere and that the music carried over the water. I went back to bed, but before I got into bed I looked out the window. The moon was shining. It was a beautiful night. Then I noticed a light going along the boathouse walkway. You know the one on the second floor.”
Her brother responded, “Yes.”
“Well, I thought maybe it was the moon’s reflection on the windows so I wasn’t too concerned. The music stopped, and when I looked again at the boathouse, the light was gone. Adam, it happened again last night, only….” She paused.
“Only, what, honey?” He sounded sincere this time.
She slowly responded, “There was no moon.”
Adam didn’t say anything for awhile, and then said, “LeAnn, would you like me to come and stay with you for awhile? I can, you know, and I would be happy to. It’s not that I have a job or anything, thanks to Mom and Dad.”
LeAnn heard the sarcasm in her brother’s voice. He was still having a hard time dealing with his anger of their parent’s death. They had gone to grief counseling, which had somewhat helped LeAnn, but not Adam. She didn’t think Adam would ever forgive his parents for dying.
“Oh, Adam, it’s not necessary for you to come up here. I’m fine. Really. It’s nothing more than I’m tired from working so hard, and last night I didn’t get any sleep.” Actually, deep down she really did want him to come back, but she didn’t want him to always feel he had to take care of her. “Hey,” she said quickly before he could say anything. “Did you know that there was a murder here on the island?”
“What?” he asked, shocked. “When? Who? There on the island?”
“Yup. In 1942, at the summer ball. Someone named Jonathan Armstrong. Pretty interesting, huh?”
“I’ll say, but how did you find out, and why didn’t we hear about this before? You’d think Dad would have said something if he had known. I mean, he knew everything about that area, or at least he acted like he did.”
“I found old newspapers in the attic with a bunch of other stuff of the Tabors. And you’ll never guess who the first suspect was.” She didn’t give him a chance to answer. “Ephraim Tabor!” She almost sounded giddy.
“Who? Wait, you mean the man who built the house?”
“Yes! But there was no evidence against him, and there were too many witnesses that saw him watching the fireworks display with is daughter and guests. I’m guessing no one’s heard about it because he was such a prominent man here and he probably had the rumors squashed. Besides, it was over sixty-five years ago.”
“Did they ever catch the person who did it?” Adam asked, intrigued.
“Not that I know of. The story in the papers kind of dies off, but his widow did offer a reward of one-hundred thousand dollars. reward. Can you imagine that kind of money back in the forties?”
“No, I can’t. Okay,” he said, directing the subject back to what they were talking about. “So, you’re really okay, and you’re sure you don’t want me to come out?”
“No, Adam, you don’t need to come. I’m just fine. Honest.” She tried to sound more convincing than before.
“Make me a promise,” he said.
“What?”
“If you have even the slightest notion that you want me there, you’ll call me. Promise?” He knew she was lying to him. But, he also knew not to push her.
“I promise. Really, I do.” She said lying, wanting him there with her in a bad way but unwilling to admit it. “Hey Adam, I love you.”
“I love you, too. Bye.”
“Bye.” LeAnn hung up reluctantly.
They had been on the phone for over an hour. LeAnn decided that today she wasn’t going to clean anything. She was going to take it easy so she would be fresh and energetic for her date. Only…I have to go down to the boathouse. I just have to, she thought.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed slowly making sure her headache was gone. Thankfully, it was. Walking over to the window she saw it was a beautiful day, what was left of it. It made her feel embarrassed and mad at herself for letting the day get away like this. She decided to wait until she got ready for her date with Matt to take a shower.
While she brushed her teeth, she noticed the dark circles were gone from under her eyes. “Well, I guess going back to sleep wasn’t such a bad idea after all.”
She started for the kitchen after pulling on shorts and a tee shirt. Pausing by the trap door to the attic, she looked up. “Not today. Your secrets are going to continue to go uncovered for awhile.” She skipped down the stairs.
She grabbed the keys to the boathouse from the key hook in the mudroom, which was off the kitchen. There were actually quite a few keys on all the hooks and she would have to check them out. Some probably didn’t go to anything now, like the ones for the front and back doors.
As she opened the front door, she felt the cool breeze on her face. It was sunny and probably seventy-eight degrees, but the breeze was brisk off the water. I’m sure the temperature of the lake is starting to go down. Maybe I can get some fishing in, she thought to herself happily.
Walking down the path to the boathouse, her heart started to pick up the pace of its beat for some reason. Apprehension, she thought. Of course, after the last two nights who wouldn’t be a little nervous? She reached the tower with the stairs to the second floor. The ballroom. Slowly she climbed the steps. “Damn it! LeAnn, get it together! You’ve been up here before and there is not going to be any ghost running around!”
Before she put the key in the lock, she once again admired the door. The carving was amazing with the same rose design that was carved into the fireplace and the mirror in the attic. She wondered if the same person had carved all of them. The beveled leaded glass was still intact with no cracks. It really surprised her that after all these years it was in such good condition.
She inserted the key into the lock and unlocked the door. She was awestruck as she stepped into the large room. She remembered having the same feeling when she came into the room for the first time with the realtor. It was as if she was stepping back in time.
Admiring the grandeur of the room and thinking of the past she said, “This is something you just don’t see anymore.”
She noticed the four black old-fashioned light buttons on the wall to her left. She remembered her grammy had the same buttons in her home. LeAnn pushed the buttons and the four crystal chandeliers came to life. Well, somewhat. There were several bulbs burned out and, boy, did they need cleaning. LeAnn knew she would need to hire someone with a tall ladder to clean them. The large chandeliers ran the length of the room and were very ornate. She could just imagine the low-burning bulbs casting a warm glow along with the many candles that would have been burning on the buffet tables in beautiful candelabras.
She continued to walk across to the other end of the ballroom. The view of the lake was incredible from here. The French doors creaked when she opened them to let the air into the ballroom. She hoped whoever she hired for the chandeliers could do all of the repairs to the boathouse. The work would be more than she would be able to handle on her own.
She stepped out onto the walkway. purposely looked out over the lake in the opposite direction from where she had seen the floating light.
“For heavens sake LeAnn, it’s broad daylight! You’ve only seen the light at night.” She forced herself to walk over to the side where she had seen the light.
Of course there was nothing there. She bent down, touched the walkway, and felt the wood looking to see if there were burn marks or footprints. Why in the world am I doing this? Maybe I am nuts! She was looking for anything that would be a sane explanation for what she had seen.
After following the walkway around the boathouse, she returned inside and decided to open all of the eighteen doors. She found herself running between each door to get them open fast. After they were all open, she took a deep breath and found herself dancing around as if in a waltz trance. She imagined she could hear beautiful music such as “Rhapsody in Blue” by Gershwin or some of the other greats, possibly Irving Berlin.
LeAnn climbed the stairs leading to the stage where the band had played all night so many years ago. She gently touched the burgundy velvet drapes. They were covered with dust and cobwebs and were torn from years of neglect. Sadly she decided they would have to come down and be thrown away but she would definitely replace them. Turning to face the ballroom, she thought, Now, here’s a view! She couldn’t believe how elegant and romantic the room was. There was a wonderful view of the lake. She could almost smell the flowers of the centerpieces and hear the clinking of champagne glasses. She tried to imagine the elegantly dressed men and women dancing the night away.
Speaking of night away, what time was it? It seemed like time just wanted to mess her up and speed by. It was probably time to get back to the house and get ready for her date.
Was this a date? “I guess it is.” She said talking to herself. But she really didn’t want to leave the ballroom. It cast a spell over her. As she walked around closing the French doors, she took mental notes of the work that would need to be done here. I’ll have to ask Matt if he knows someone who can help me out with the repairs. She smiled as she thought about seeing Matt again.
After turning out the lights she took one long gaze at the wonderful room. “Maybe I’ll start the summer balls up again,” she said aloud. A sudden chill went up her spine. She quickly closed the door, and locked it.
The velvet curtains on the stage moved…on their own.