The Stories That Haunt Us (10 page)

Then too, she remembered the dream she had. Now she wasn't so sure it was a dream at all. Maybe it was these same men arguing during the night while she slept. She stood with her back to the wall, just inches from the open door, and listened while her heart pounded. They were deciding what to do with the body of someone who had stolen something from them.

“Throw ‘im over the cliff,” someone shouted.

“A burial's too good for the likes of ‘im. Thievin' from his own.”

“Take ‘im out when we sail on the morning tide and dump ‘im over the side, I says.”

“You're the boss, Cap'n Swaine. What do you say?”

“I say we buries ‘im in the secret place in the cellar and we bury the gold under ‘im. No one will ever find ‘im or the gold. And for good measure, I'll put a curse on them that tries to steal what's not theirs.” There was hearty agreement to this plan from the other men.

Adeline looked down, fascinated, as a piece of seaweed floated by in a fine stream of water. She stiffened when she heard chairs being pushed away from the table.

“So, it's the cellar for ‘em that try to cheat their mates, right?”

“Aye Cap'n, aye!”

Then there was only silence.
Have they gone?
She wondered.
Should
I look? What if they're there waiting for me to show my face? What will
I do then? Should I intervene? Can I intervene? If I do, will they attack
me or will they vanish at the sight of someone living?

Adeline waited and waited but there was nothing but absolute silence. Three, four minutes went by.
I just have to find out,
she thought to herself. She took in a deep breath and stepped boldly into the kitchen. It was empty. The only evidence that anyone had been there was the eight puddles of water on the floor. Adeline turned and went out the front door, and for the longest time stood staring into the dawn.
Now,
she thought,
now what do I do?

What she did was go back into the cottage to get her purse and car keys. She then drove down to the village and sat in a coffee shop until the library opened. She also called Sandy. “You were right, the place is haunted,” she said, as soon as Sandy picked up.

“Adeline?”

“Yes, it's me. There were eight of them all seated around my kitchen table discussing ways to get rid of a body and bury gold.”

“It was only a rumour. I really never believed the place was really haunted. Are you sure?”

“Of course, I'm sure.”

“Where are you now? You're not still in the cottage, I hope?”

“No. I'm calling you from a restaurant in the village. I'm waiting for the library to open so I can see if there's anything there about the place.”

“I think you should leave and come stay with me.”

“Leave? Don't be ridiculous. If anybody leaves, it will be those creepy ghosts.”

“Do you want me to come over and stay with you? Please don't ask me to, please.”

“Don't worry, I won't. Listen, I have to go. I'll let you know how things turn out. Bye.”

A frail-looking young girl seated at the information desk smiled as Adeline approached. “Yes, how may I assist you?”

“My name is Adeline Colby. I bought the Swaine cottage and I'm wondering if you have a history of the place? Something out of the ordinary?”

“Yes, to both questions. Let me see…Ah, here it is.
Places
, written back in the fifties. The Swaine cottage is included because it's one of the oldest homes still standing and because its owner was a privateer. Would you like to see the book?”

“Yes, of course.”

Places
was a small book, only eighty pages. Adeline found what she was searching for on page thirty-three:

Not much is known of the owner of the cottage, Captain Samuel Swaine, but we do know he was a privateer. In 1790, Captain Swaine built a cottage on the highest point of land in the port town. He said he selected that piece of land so he could keep an eye on those down below, but others believed the reason was so he could haul his booty up over the cliffs without being detected.

Captain Swaine and his crew were lost in a storm off Sable. Not long after his death there were reports that the cottage was haunted. A family of three fled into the night when they were awakened by screams and angry voices coming from the cellar. Rumour had it that there were bodies buried there and that captain Swaine hid his gold under the bodies.

There were a lot of folks who were itching to find out if there was any gold in the cellar, bodies or no bodies, but the possibility of being confronted by the ghosts of Captain Swaine and his men kept them away.

Closing the book, Adeline smiled, thinking,
I don't know about the
gold but I sure know about the ghosts.

In the weeks that followed, there were no further visits from the ghost of Captain Samuel Swaine or any of his maties, as he so affectionately called them. Eddie Colter, however, was around all the time, fixing little things and painting. He showed up at Adeline's door early one morning with a pressing need to repair part of the foundation. The damage was on the inside, and he wanted to get started before the first frost.

“Well, if it needs to be done, of course. How long will it take?”

“Oh, I'd say no more than a couple of days at the most.”

“Very well then. When do you want to start?”

“Sooner the better, ma'am. Got everything in the truck.”

“Fine. Actually, I'm going out of town tomorrow morning for three or four days and I was going to call and ask you to keep an eye on the place while I was gone. Now you can do both.”

Eddie Colter agreed not only to look after the cottage but also to get the place ready for winter, especially the cracks in the foundation.

“And you'll be leaving when, ma'am?”

“Tomorrow morning. I'll fly out of Halifax to Toronto. If everything goes as planned, I should be back by Saturday at the latest.”

The next morning, as Adeline drove out of her driveway, she looked for Eddie Colter's pickup, but it was nowhere to be seen.
Slept
in, I suppose,
she thought.
Mr. Eddie Colter, there's something about
you that bothers me. You have something on your mind other than just
handyman's work. But what?

If Adeline had looked in the window of the wayside restaurant as she drove by, she would have seen Eddie looking out. Eddie watched Adeline's sleek-looking convertible drive out of sight before he left the restaurant. Parking his pickup by the back door of Adeline's cottage, he quickly grabbed a pick and shovel and hurried inside.

By mid-morning Eddie had dug up most of the dirt cellar floor and was beginning to think that both the buried gold and the body were nothing more than a rumour. He was an impatient man and didn't take disappointments lightly. Cursing, he threw the pick against the far wall. He was about to do the same with the shovel when he heard a creaking noise. His mouth fell open at what he saw. The pick had tripped something that unlocked a secret door in the foundation. Eddie moved cautiously toward his new discovery. He got down on his knees and slowly opened the door all the way. He could see nothing but blackness. He hurried back to his truck to get his flashlight. The light fell on a narrow passageway that sloped downward for some three hundred feet.

“Well I'll be a monkey's uncle if it doesn't go all the way to the ocean!” breathed Eddie, as he noticed the water coming up the passageway thirty or forty feet and then retreating.
What a tidal wave
couldn't do to this place
! he thought. He laughed out loud when he thought of how devious ol' Captain Swaine was. Got his booty into the cottage without being seen or caught.

Eddie had to bend down as he pushed his way into the narrow passageway. Halfway down, Eddie stopped. On his right was a torn sheet of tarpaulin that covered what looked like an entrance to a room.

Eddie ripped off the tarpaulin and sent the beam of light forward. His eyes bulged in their sockets at what he saw. The room was like a mini-warehouse. Against one wall were boxes upon boxes and Eddie, with glee and greed in his eyes, could only imagine what those boxes contained. But his primary interest was where the good Captain Swaine had buried his gold. Eddie was no one's fool. He knew what to look for. Find a mound of earth or even a tiny depression in the earth's floor, and you'll find something buried.

He shone his flashlight across the dirt floor. Aha! There it was, a visible depression. Quickly he crossed the room, fell to his knees, and gently pressed the palms of his hands onto the surface.

“Could this be it?” he muttered. “Could Captain Swaine's gold be buried here?” Eddie went back to the cellar, got his shovel, and returned to the room to start digging. After a few minutes, his shovel struck something solid. He moved the beam of light, and then jumped back. A skull!

Adeline was sitting in the Halifax airport, sipping coffee and listening to the news, when her cell phone rang. The call was from her agent in Toronto, telling her the meeting with her publisher had been postponed until next week.

“So there is really nothing we can do but wait. I hope you understand,” apologized her agent.

“Yes, of course. Another hour and I'd have been on the plane, but I can get home today.”

Adeline said goodbye to Miriam, went to her car, and wondered if she should go straight home or spend some time in Halifax. She decided to do some shopping in the city and then head home.

It was dark when she pulled into her driveway. There were lights on in the kitchen and cellar. When she got out of the car she noticed the back end of Eddie Colter's truck sticking out from behind the cottage. It looked like he was trying to hide it. There wasn't a sound when she stepped into the front hall. When she got to the kitchen she noticed, annoyed, that Eddie had made himself a sandwich but hadn't bothered tidying up. The door to the cellar was slightly ajar. Adeline listened, but heard nothing. Slowly, she went down the narrow steps into the semi-lit cold and damp cellar. Every inch of the cellar floor was dug up, and there was an opening in the foundation. This did not look like an ordinary repair job. When she got closer and looked inside the narrow passageway, she saw a thin beam of light coming from what she assumed was a room.
Maybe
, she thought,
something
happened to Eddie
. She moved slowly down the passageway toward the light. She stopped a few feet away from the gaping doorway and listened. The only sound she heard was the lapping of water against rocks. She looked further down the passageway, but there was only darkness beyond the room
. The passageway must end at the edge
of the cliff
, she thought, as she walked into the dimly lit room. She was only a few feet inside when she was struck on the head. She fell toward an opening in the dirt floor, and landed face to face with a human skull.

When Adeline came to, her wrists and ankles were tied. When she tried to free herself she heard someone laughing. She twisted to look behind her and saw her handyman chuckling away.

“You'll never get free, ma'am. When old Eddie ties someone up, they stay tied. I didn't bother taping your mouth, cause who's to hear you down here? Now, here's the thing. If you had stayed away like you promised, I'd have all this here gold stashed away and I'd be long gone. But of course I can't have you telling everyone what I've found, so I've decided that our friend there has been alone for much too long a time and I'm sure he'd love some company, especially one as lovely as you.” He gestured to the skull.

Adeline had never begged anyone for anything before, but she was about to when something she saw in the passageway stopped her. Shadows! Eight of them. Eddie Colter saw the expression of surprise and fear on Adeline's face and turned, but it was too late. The ghosts of Captain Swaine and his maties pounced on Eddie Colter. Adeline listened to Eddie's horrible screams as he was dragged down the dark, narrow passageway.

Adeline waited five, ten, fifteen minutes, but heard nothing. She looked around for something to cut the ropes around her ankles and wrists. Her eyes fell upon Eddie's knife. She was about to crawl over to get it when Captain Swaine appeared in the doorway. The sight of him sent a wave of fear through her body. She could hardly breathe and was afraid she was about to faint.

Captain Swaine stood with both hands on his hips.

“Well then, me fair lady, what am I supposed to do with you? It's obvious you were not in cahoots with what we dragged out of here.”

How Adeline found the breath to speak then, she never knew. “Eddie Colter? What happened to him?”

“Oh, him? Not to worry ma'am. Eddie Colter has shipped out. He's on the final voyage of life. But you, fair one, as caretaker of my humble abode—”

And suddenly, Adeline couldn't control herself, no matter the consequences.

“Excuse me! But this is legally my home now.”

“Of course, of course,” said the grinning ghost.

Adeline knew he was patronizing her, but she let it go, not wanting to push too hard.