Old Sins: The Tangled Dreams Series, #2

1

Liza felt like she had been beaten. Her neck ached and her legs ached and her back was stiff. It was as if some sort of poison flowed through her veins, leaving its unwelcome traces in various parts of her body. She was confused. She was sprawled on the floor and was aware that there was something wrong with this position.

She looked at the ceiling and did not recognize it. She turned her head and looked at the walls. There was no furniture and that did not make sense to her. She took a deep breath and was overcome with a sense of loss and fear. There was a blackness surrounding her and a deep dark violence flooding her veins.

Be calm. Be calm. She tried to settle her nerves but all she could see was the Walkersville cemetery. She could smell the grass and feel the breeze ruffle her hair. She closed her eyes and still felt the same sense of bleakness with a touch of fear.

The fear would not leave her. Eyes open or shut, it lingered unabated. Liza sat up and still did not recognize where she was. She stood and walked to the window. There were no vehicles on the street but the view began to look familiar to her.

She could see Jim planting flowers but it was in a different season. It was a memory of something had never happened. Slowly it began to come back to her. She was in the house she had just bought, that tomorrow the deal would close and this would be the home she had purchased for her parents.

But where was her car?

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been lying on the floor or why she had been unconscious. It could have been a minute, it could have been an hour. It could have been longer.

She had to do something. She could either stay right where she was and wait for her memory to return or she could ... could what?

The memories began but she knew as each one entered her head, there was no help from those memories. She had to go visit her mother – and Jim – at the hospital. She had to see her mother and try to explain everything to her.

She should go over to Karen Densmore’s house and find out exactly what kind of mess her client had gotten himself into.

She had to do something about Thomas.

But what?

Oh well, she’d think about that later.

She should have been overwhelmed with what she was remembering but her thoughts focused on the big mystery: her car. Where was it? Her purse was on the living room floor and she bent and picked it up. Her car keys were gone and in that instant, she remembered Melissa Carriere.

Melissa had her car. She had gone to get coffee for them. And she had let Melissa take her car. Then Liza had fainted.

How long ago was that and why couldn’t she remember? Liza sat down in the corner of the room and leaned against the wall. She needed to calm down. There was something about Melissa that always threw her off, warning of death.

She had to find a way to deal with these shattering events. They were not logical. Right now, she needed to gather her senses and be ready for when Melissa returned with the coffee. Why did she even let Melissa take her car? That was not her style.

She looked at her watch and decided she would give Melissa a half hour to return and if she didn’t, Liza would have to make other arrangements to get to the hospital. She would deal with Melissa later. She could call a cab but she wasn’t sure Walkersville had a cab. There had been some old guy in the past who provided a taxi service but she didn’t know who, if anyone, did that now.

She didn’t have a phone book. She could call Giselle if she had to. She couldn’t call Jim at the hospital. Well, technically she could. She just didn’t want to disturb him. It would upset him if he knew she lost her car on a Monday morning in broad daylight. Her final decision was to call Giselle and ask for the number of a cab if Melissa didn’t return soon. She used the time to explore the house once more.

It was in good shape. The floors and walls had been cleaned recently. She could make arrangements to start setting up the house. The decision was whether to paint it first or furnish it and then paint it. Her mother needed to have a good place to come home to.

She would talk it over with her parents and let them pick their room. She glanced at her watch. Thirty-five minutes and no Melissa. She called Giselle on her cell phone. There was a cab but Giselle insisted that she come and pick up Liza and take her to the hospital.

2

Jim sat at the side of his wife’s bed and held her hand. She looked better than she had for weeks, but the nurse had made it quite clear that Betty was heavily sedated.

While he stroked her hand, he went through the various ways he could begin to discuss Elizabeth with Betty. He had a problem for sure. He couldn’t even think the thoughts. It was like if he went into that part of his mind, any number of evil memories and fears would come pouring out. Not for himself, but for Betty.

After what she had been through, this would be too much for her.

But his bile rose when he thought of how the cursed McAllisters had ruined Betty’s life and now Elizabeth’s life too. They couldn’t keep getting away with this kind of behavior.

As he sat there, he began to form some sort of plan in his mind. It was like a deal, he thought. If he could make some sort of retribution possible, it would remove the cloud from Betty’s mind. Perhaps even the cloud from her life.

But where would he begin?

He wanted to talk to Betty about it. He needed to talk to her about it. But he couldn’t. She had told him about it once, her cloud, her shame. It was painful and he asked no questions. He just listened and then held her and told her he loved her.

Then he asked her again to marry him. She had told him what she told him because he wanted to marry her and she was that kind of person. Decent and honest and honorable. Before she would marry him, she had to tell him the truth.

She only lied in extreme circumstances. In their life together, he tried to make sure that she never faced extreme circumstances.

His head nearly ached from thinking about the situation. If he said nothing, the McAllisters would continue to have a hold over them. If he said anything, the whole filthy story could emerge.

Oh Betty, what should I do?

The words came out even though he meant to keep them inside.

Her eyes fluttered and she squeezed his hand. She mumbled something.

I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.

Jim. Whatever you do will be the right thing, she said. Her voice was strong and clear.

He leaned forward and kissed her.

I love you, Betty.

I love you, too.

She went back to sleep. Jim was wondering where Liza was and thinking about Mabel. When he talked to her this morning, she said she was exhausted and said that she really wanted time to rest up and think about things. She just needed to be left alone.

Jim suspected that Mabel really wanted a little hair of the dog that had obviously bitten her. He didn’t have the heart to say anything to her about it, but lately, she’d been drinking too much. It was easy to understand. Mabel had always been that kind, too quick to take the easy way. When she had some hard things to face up to, it would be like her to get into the gin.

He’d keep an eye on her. Sooner or later she’d have to accept her life as it was. Briefly, he thought that perhaps he and Betty should buy a house in town. It would be better for them all, even Mabel. He rejected the notion almost as soon as he thought of it. Betty would refuse.

He looked at her sleeping in the bed and thought that her color seemed to be better. Her face had a little more pink in it. Maybe if she realized that Liza was Elizabeth, if Elizabeth said that it was okay to spend the money...

No. Don’t get into thinking like that, Jim, he warned himself.

Elizabeth should have been at the hospital by now. Jim tried to imagine what Elizabeth was thinking about and he couldn’t imagine it. There was no point in dwelling on the past ten years.

Then the unfamiliar lump of anger rose in him again. There was that incident that set off the trail of events for Elizabeth’s last ten years. That single vicious act of Thomas McAllister. Not out of character for a selfish, arrogant McAllister. Take what they want and to hell with the rest of the world. To hell with those they are supposed to love and protect.

Jim’s heart was racing fast and he could feel the tension rise in him. He got up, more abruptly than he intended to and he bumped into the night table. He froze, afraid he had awakened Betty. But she continued to sleep. He calmed himself down and moved slowly out of the room.

In the hallway, he saw Liza walking quickly toward him. I’m sorry I’m late.

She’s sleeping.

Do you think she will know me today?

I hope so. She seems to be better than she has been.

I’m so ashamed.... Jim stopped her by raising his hand dismissively.

What do you think is important to your mother? That you were gone for ten years or that you’re back. What will matter to her is that you’re back, Jim assured her and Liza was beginning to believe him. Aside from being glad to see her again, Jim had no reaction to her absence. No recriminations. No questions. And it wasn’t a matter of him holding back.

Her mother slept the whole time she was there. Liza and Jim were quiet as they visited. They didn’t want to wake her mother from the sleep they both thought was what Betty really needed. So they just sat there companionably and watched Betty sleep.

Her mind wandered to Melissa and the missing car and then it drifted to other areas of her life. Liza usually struggled to contain her mind’s tendency to wander. She didn’t like where it roamed. Over the years, she had forced thoughts of Thomas away from her. Thinking of him was too difficult to handle. She wanted to think about her first love, about the things they talked about, about the things they did. She wanted to remember Thomas as he was when they were together.

These memories culminated in the last fateful night of her life as Elizabeth Coffin and that single act blotted out all the other memories. She was stuck forever with the memory of the rape and the shattering of her preplanned life.

Now she was shattering Jim’s life too. Mabel was in a rage. In the hospital room, she was letting her mind run along the memories of the note that Mabel had left for Jim. She could feel her heart beginning to beat a little faster and she was afraid the thoughts would show on her face.

Her mind drifted back to the horror and pain of that night, the unbelievable first tearing of her virgin flesh. How could Thomas have done that to her? She had been this far in her memory of it but always before she stopped at that first harsh ripping.

Go on, Liza told herself. Keep with it. In the back of her mind, she had the stray thought that she was in the hospital and if worst came to worst, she would not have far to go for assistance. Of course, that thought popped her back into the here and now. What did she think was going to happen if she went too far on her trip down memory lane? Did she think she would faint, become mad, scream?

But she had fainted. She had visions of the cemetery. Every time she met Melissa, she saw death. That short encounter with Melissa had created a huge response that went far beyond a strange vision following her migraine aura for a migraine that never happened.

Her mother stirred and Liza was grateful for the interruption of her thoughts. Underneath the thoughts, she knew she was agitated. Something was very wrong.

She could feel the tension in the room and she was not sure it was all coming from her own mind and memories. She sat and watched her mother sleep and when Betty did not wake up, Liza felt her agitation increase. She finally had to tell Jim, I’m carless.

Why?

It’s a long story but I need to get a couple of things done....

Jim pulled his keys out of his pocket, Here take my car.

I’ll get it back as soon as I get mine back.

Take your time. I’m staying here all day.

3

In Jim’s old car, feeling better after being mobile again, Liza closed her eyes again and tried to get back into the terror of that feeling she had since collapsing in the new house. A car turned into the parking lot and distracted her. A plane flew overhead. Several crows cawed their noisy cries from the small woods just behind the parking lot. Each sound pulled Liza back from the edge of her memories.

She gave up trying and drove away from the hospital and as she did, she felt the beginnings of an aura. She felt a white hot fury. She wanted to ram her car into the vehicle ahead of her at the stop light. She wanted to drive straight through the plate glass window of the drug store.

She wanted to do violence. Create mayhem. Her sorrow and fear and pain flooded back more brilliantly, more real than it had ever touched her before. The last time she had felt anything near to this was ten years ago.

Even then, she escaped Walkersville without feeling anything. Not emotional pain. Not physical pain. It wasn’t until after the accident, standing on the side of the highway to nowhere, did the first real pain and sorrow wash over her. Not just the first pain of Thomas’ incredible betrayal, but the first pain she had ever really truly felt in her life.

She pulled over and took several deep breaths. She felt her fury dissipate. Wondering if Melissa had ever shown up with her car prompted her to drive by the house.

She was surprised to see a couple of vehicles parked in front of the house. Liza parked in front of the house next door and walked to her own walkway and entered her own house. Two men were chatting.

One of the older men turned to look at her. Oh, it’s you. He smiled a big friendly smile and came toward her. Just checking on the place are you?

I was passing by and wanted to take another look.

That’s what we were doing. Just looking to see if any areas needed to be repaired before we started painting.

The man reached into the breast pocket of his plaid shirt and pulled out a pack of cigarettes but his hand froze mid-air.

Do you mind if I smoke. Outside, of course?

Not at all, Liza said and he stepped past her and out onto the front step. She followed him and walked down the steps. As she passed him, he flicked his lighter and she heard him take the first drag off the cigarette. He spoke but she didn’t hear him. Something flickered in her mind. He spoke again and she turned to talk to him. He was telling her about the house.

She was surrounded by darkness and the sound of crickets. Her heart was pounding. Death. She felt death surrounding her.

Are you all right? He asked and Liza tried to speak. Words eluded her. She blinked and nodded. I’m all right.

There was something about the sound of a lighter. That clicky popping sound.

With the scent of cigarette smoke lingering in her nostrils, Liza left the workman at her house and went toward the car. As she slowly drove away from the street, she realized that she was avoiding William and Tyrone. This embarrassed her. After all, she was the reason they had chosen to come to Walkersville. For a surprise visit. A surprise visit at the worst, no wait, the second worst moment in her life.

Her mother was ill, very ill, so ill she didn’t know her own daughter. In the back of her mind, Liza had the thought that her mother did know