eyes
narrowing. "Who the hell would break in here? Who would have
the balls-since it's
your
place-the town sheriff?"
"I don't know. But since you think there was someone in here, I
intend to find out."
Clara shook her head. "We're the ones who have been lying to
ourselves, Matt. The whole darned house may be haunted, but this
room...this room is menacing!"
"Ghosts don't menace people, Clara."
She sniffed. "You don't believe in ghosts, so how do you know
what they do?''
"Clara, I don't believe in ghosts, but from everything I've seen
and read, I've never heard of a ghost actually hurting anyone."
Clara shook her head again, appearing to be the one wise beyond
all earthly knowledge. "Well, Mr. Matt, I'll have you know, that
isn't true at all! Haven't you ever heard of the Bell Witch in
Tennessee? They say that even old Andrew Jackson was afraid of her,
that she pulled people's hair and threw the children around
and even caused the death of the master of the house. You refuse to
accept anything that isn't cut-and-dried, and you're blind to
things going on in your own house!"
Matt leaned against the door frame, smiling. "Clara, once again,
I believe that people can make things real with their
imaginations."
"You think old Andy Jackson was an imaginative guy?"
"You'd have to show me written proof that Andrew Jackson was
afraid of a ghost. And I don't mean any hearsay on a
Discovery program or even in a book of ghost stories."
Clara pointed a finger at him. "You'd better do something,
before the stories about this house become so real that no one will
pay for the tours. You can't keep this place up on a sheriff's
salary alone."
"Thank you, Clara. I'll take that under advisement. But then
again, you know, Penny is certain that a documented haunting would
make us as rich as Midas."
Clara was startled when Matt frowned suddenly and walked over to
her. "What happened to your face?"
"To my face?" Clara frowned as well, and walked over to the
mirror. Her cheek was red and mottled, as if she'd been slapped,
and slapped hard.
She turned and stared at him. "Ghosts don't menace people,
huh?"
"Clara," Matt said. "Think about it! You must have run into
something in your hurry to get out of the room!"
Clara eyed him sharply and shook her head. "Matt, the stories
have circulated for years. People have sworn that they've seen
soldiers in the downstairs rooms. They've seen a lady in white,
floating down the stairway. Ghosts that fit in with history. It's
only been in recent years, since your grandfather died, that things
have gotten really serious. Remember how Randy Gustav quit after
staying a night in the Lee Room? He wouldn't even explain what
happened to you. It's only in the last few years that...that the
ghosts kind of threaten to get violent." "There are no such things
as ghosts." "Oh, yeah? One just gave me a bruise!" With that, Clara
indignantly walked out on him, calling back over her shoulder,
"Matt, you're a hell of a man. That's why I'm staying. Believe it
or don't, but you'd better do something about that particular
ghost-that doesn't exist in your mind."
That evening, having returned home very late from work, Matt sat
at the desk in his suite in the main house, going through
correspondence.
There was a tap at his door.
"Come in."
Penny stuck her head in. "Am I bothering you, Matt?"
"Not at all."
She walked in and sat on the corner of his desk. "Matt, you have
to do something over this latest episode with Clara."
"Oh?" He leaned back in his chair.
"Clara was hurt!"
"Penny, please. I'm sorry, I think the world of Clara, we're
friends from way back, and I gave her the rest of the day off with
pay. She had to have run into something."
Penny shook her head.
He leaned forward suddenly, abruptly. "Penny, you wouldn't be
playing some kind of game up there, determined to convince
the rest of the world, if not me, that the place is haunted?"
She gaped at him in such affront that he was immediately
sorry.
"Matt, I