He made a face of genuine confusion. “The same as me?”
“Terrified,” she said. “Uncle Howard said he told you about the lottery.”
“Oh, yes. Of course.” He took another bite of his salad. “Terrified. It’s quite unnerving, isn’t it?”
Across the table, Douglas took a seat beside Carolyn. Under the table, he took her hand in his. “Has Diana called you?” he whispered.
Carolyn nodded. “She thinks she’s found something. She’s having it sent special delivery. It should be here in the morning.”
The outcome of their little séance in the basement had led Diana to conclude that there would be no reasoning with whatever forces controlled the room. It was blind rage that ruled down there. So given how close they were to the lottery, the best offense was going to have to be an effective defense. They had to focus their energies on survival, not defeat. As it stood, it was likely the lottery would still be held. But whoever went into that room would go in with something no one else had ever possessed.
Protection.
Diana might not know how to remove curses placed by “run-of-the-mill” ghosts, but she knew how to render those ghosts powerless. “There are certain amulets that can protect the wearer from any kind of supernatural force,” Diana explained. “They were created by witches centuries ago to ward off everything from demons to dead people. I have used them myself in the past and believe I know where to find one.”
And she had. An acquaintance of hers ran a voodoo store in New Orleans, and she possessed an amulet of rare power. Only for Diana would she part with it, with the promise that it be returned. Diana had just received it, inspected it, pronounced it genuine, and was shipping it up to Youngsport for delivery tomorrow.
But in the meantime, Carolyn thought, I still want to piece together what really happened that night. Only by knowing the full truth, she believed, would they finally be able to end the control of the family by those terrible spirits. Her eyes flicked over to Paula. Perhaps her news about Dr. Fifer might help. Carolyn believed that alone among all those who had tried to end the curse, Fifer had obtained critical information-information now lost, since his report had vanished from the records.
“Let us begin our meal,” Uncle Howard said, taking his place at the head of the table. “We are still waiting on Vanessa, but-”
Just then the deep sound of the doorbell reverberated through the house. A servant rushed to answer the door.
“She always did like to be fashionably late,” Philip quipped, to scattered laughter at the table.
But when the servant returned he simply bore an envelope that he handed to Philip. “What is this?” Philip asked, irritated. Tearing open the envelope, he read the letter inside. Then he laughed, bitterly.
“Well, Vanessa won’t be joining us,” he announced. “I’ve just been served with divorce papers.”
“Oh, Mummy,” Ryan said disapprovingly.
“Does she get the town house in New York then?” Chelsea asked, obviously trying to figure out if this would affect her comings and goings in any way.
“I’m very sorry, Uncle Philip,” Dean offered.
“Sorry?” Philip tossed the letter to the table. “Don’t be. I’m not. But I’ll tell you, if that woman thinks she’s taking me for-”
He stopped, a smile crossing his face.
“Please, everyone. Eat.” He stabbed his fork into his endive. “Heckuva way to get out of the family reunion, isn’t it?”
“Will it affect things in any way?” Paula asked. Zac and Callie had been allowed to take their meal out on the terrace. The adults could talk about the lottery freely.
Uncle Howard sighed. “Who knows? If a relationship has ended, then I suppose we can’t expect the person to join us.” He smiled kindly, reaching over and placing his hand on top of Paula’s. She smiled sadly in reply.
“As I was saying,” the old man continued, “let us enjoy our meal. For tonight, let us simply be glad to be in each other’s company. We have reason to be very optimistic this year. Carolyn has made wonderful progress and may have found a solution. A temporary one, but effective nonetheless.”
They all looked at her to explain. She told them about the amulet.
“But we don’t know for sure that it will work,” Philip said.
Carolyn conceded the point. “But Diana has worn similar amulets, and they have protected her from various supernatural phenomena.”
“But it’s never been tried on this particular supernatural phenomenon,” he countered.
“No,” Carolyn admitted. “It has not.”
Philip sat back in his chair, as if his point had been made.
“If it’s all we’ve got, I’ll take it,” Dean said. “No one else who has gone into that room has ever gone in with any kind of protection.”
“It’s something,” Paula agreed. “At least it’s something.”
“Exactly,” Uncle Howard said. “It is something.”
“I hope to be able to find out more in the next few days,” Carolyn said. “I’m rereading all the notes, and I’m researching the lives of Clem and Beatrice in the town hall archives. If I can find out more about them, about what really happened that night, I believe that we could possibly end this nightmare forever.”
“Impossible,” Uncle Howard barked. “There is nothing to be found about either of them at the town hall. Others have looked. There is nothing. Our best bet is to simply let history lie, and to use this amulet from now on for our protection. Carolyn, if it works, you tell Diana that I am willing to pay any amount of money-a fortune!-to purchase that amulet and keep it in our family forever.”
“But how much better if we could actually end the curse,” Paula said to him. “To actually remove the evil forces that control that room.”
Uncle Howard said nothing.
“There is one force there in particular,” Carolyn said. “One force that Diana identified as the strongest. It is that force that controls everything. Clem does its bidding.”
“And Beatrice?” asked Dean.
Carolyn shrugged. “I still don’t fully understand her role in all of this, even though it was clearly her death that set it all into motion.”
“But it all must have something to do with the baby,” Dean said.
Uncle Howard groaned. “I fail to see how all this talk can help us. We have the amulet. It is the protection we have sought for so long.”
Dean had removed a piece of paper from his inside jacket pocket. He unfolded it and handed it over to Carolyn. “You see?” he asked, ignoring his uncle’s complaint. “It’s a photograph I took years ago of that room.”
As Carolyn took the paper, Howard Young’s face burned a deep red. “How did you get in there to take such a picture?”
“Uncle Howard,” Paula said, “relax. It was a childish prank. We found the keys. We were kids. We had no idea how dangerous it was.”
The old man covered his face with his gnarled hands and trembled.
Carolyn was looking at the image. “It’s the face of a baby,” she said.
“What does the baby have to do with all this?” Dean asked.
Carolyn shuddered, then passed the photo to Douglas. “It was Beatrice’s baby. We don’t know what happened to it.”
“Well, its spirit is in that room,” Dean said.
“Yes,” Carolyn agreed. “Whatever happened that night, the baby lost a mother. And whatever force exists in that room apparently prevents the baby’s spirit from resting as well.”
“Who is the controlling force?” Douglas asked, passing the photo around the table. “Who could be powerful enough and evil enough to keep these deaths going on for eighty years?”
“Was the baby killed?” Chelsea asked, showing interest in the subject for the first time.
“Who was its father? That’s what I’d like to know,” Paula said.
“Enough,” Uncle Howard said in a raspy voice, refusing to look at the image when it was passed to him. “Tonight we will have no more such talk at this table.” He snapped his fingers, and the servants emerged from the kitchen to clear away their salad plates. The main course was served. A huge roast duck. Discussion faded away, and the family ate in relative silence. Every once in a while, Douglas grabbed Carolyn’s hand under the table.