Chapter Three
Jillian shivered at the cryptic message.
The hair on the back of her neck tingled and she had goose bumps on her arms. She glanced around the parlor.
There wasn’t anyone else in the house and the Inn was at the end of a long dirt road.
The town of Branden was five miles away.
It was possible that someone had entered the Inn while she was busy opening up one of the rooms upstairs.
But she hadn’t heard Poppy bark and she hadn’t heard a car outside. The words made no sense to her.
Why would anyone try to frighten her away? Was this part of the haunting?
There did not seem to be any mention in her files of trouble associated with vandals or anything else like that. The people of the town nearby wanted nothing to do with the Inn. Most of them kept away from the place entirely.
Jillian shook her head at her fanciful thoughts of ghosts when a door slammed shut upstairs. She paused and wondered if she should check it out. She sighed as she realized she had to really. If someone had sneaked in here, she couldn’t sleep here, could she?
So, she went to investigate the noise.
Poppy jumped up and followed her along the stairs.
Jillian got to the top and saw the third door down was closed.
She walked toward the door and turned the handle.
The door swung open easily enough. She couldn’t see anything wrong in the room.
She shrugged and thought that maybe the wind had blown the door closed.
She walked over to the window and closed it.
She had opened it earlier to air the room out.
She looked down at her dog and shook her head. “I must be tired. That’s the only thing that makes any sense. If someone had been here you would have let me know.” She stroked the dog’s ears. “Come on Poppy; let’s go get something to eat. I don’t know about you but I’m getting hungry.”
Poppy’s tail wagged in response.
She turned and out of the corner of her eye, she caught a movement at the end of the hall.
Poppy growled.
For a brief second or two, she could have sworn someone had been standing there but before she could make out the face they disappeared. Fear flashed in Jillian. It started in her chest and grew as it spread through her abdomen.
She closed her eyes and opened them again.
Looking at the end of the hall she saw nothing.
She again peered down at Poppy.
The dog looked back at her. Her tail was wagging and she butted her hand with her head.
Jillian responded by rubbing her head. She felt like she was going crazy. She had seen someone standing there and Poppy had started to growl but whatever Poppy had felt it was gone now.
“Come on girl, let’s go eat.” She felt a little silly. She had been thinking of too many ghost stories and it had gotten to her.
Making her way to the kitchen, Jillian rummaged through the refrigerator for something to eat. She would have to go and get more food in a few days, but for now she had enough.
Fixing the meal, she now sat on a chair and began eating a sandwich as she watched Poppy scarf down her supper.
In front of her on the table was the file she had brought with her.
In the file was her mother’s letter, an old photograph and a file of information on the Inn.
She had it on her laptop too, but she liked the old file in folders format.
Times like these she could read it like a book. She smiled to herself.
Jillian had done a little research on the history of the Inn before she got here.
Most of what she knew about the Inn was in this file.
She opened the folder and paused to look at a photograph.
It had been taken in front of the Inn back in 1988, of her dad and mom standing outside with Claire and Matilda Belmar.
Her mom told her that Matthew Nixen himself had taken the photo just weeks before the fire had destroyed everything.
Jillian opened the file and found the letter. The flowery handwriting belonged to Matilda. As she read the words written to her mother she couldn’t help but feel she was intruding on something between two very good friends...
Hello Chloe,
It hasn’t been that long since you and your husband were here on your 2nd honeymoon.
So much has happened since you left. I have fallen in love and I have to finally agree with you...
it is something very special. You told me it was an amazing thing but I wasn’t sure if I believed it or not.
Now I know you were telling the truth. I want to shout my love from the rooftops but Matthew is a private person and he doesn’t like open displays of emotion.
I thought at first that he liked Claire but he loves me instead. You know that if he really loved her I would be devastated and step aside but he chose me and I couldn’t be happier.
Claire will of course be upset when we run away together but when we return in a few weeks she will understand why we did it this way. I would never hurt her for any reason but I have to be with Matthew.
I must tell you that when Matthew first arrived I pegged him as a possible con man, just looking for a wealthy woman to support him, but that was before I got to know him.
He is a really great guy and he is good to me.
I also thought he would fall for Claire because she is prettier than I am and the oldest. I think she would feel humiliated if I got married first. So that is partly why we are eloping.
I can tell her later down the line and avoid any hard feelings I hope.
I am thinking everything will turn out well though.
Stay cool and sunny, Chloe.
Wish me happiness.
Tilly
She closed the file and thought about the letter.
From all accounts she had heard it was Matilda catching Claire and Matthew together that started the troubles.
Why then would Matilda write to her mother that she and Matthew were running away together?
One of the reasons she was here was to discover the truth about what really happened, if she could.
Jillian shrugged and looked down at her dog.
“What do you think, Poppy? There are different scenarios here. The tangled love triangle between Matthew, Claire and Matilda was only guessed at in rumors. Too bad I can’t read an account of this episode or at least about fire.
Maybe Branden has a library or a newspaper office.
Like with archives of the happenings in the 1980’s.
” She looked down at her dog. “What do you think?”
Poppy cocked her head to one side and just stared at Jillian.
Jillian smiled. “If only you could talk, huh girl? I feel a little silly talking to myself all the time.” She leaned forward and rested her head on the dog’s head. “Ok, shall we call it a night?”
She got up and tidied the kitchen. When she got to the parlor she looked outside through the window. The evening sun was fading from the horizon and everything seemed quiet. She went around and closed the windows. Finally, when she was about to close the front door Poppy raced through it.
Jillian watched the dog run into the wooded area next to the driveway. She called out, “Poppy? Here girl!”
But Poppy didn’t return.
She hadn’t seen whatever it was that Poppy had chased into the woods but she knew the dog would be back.
She sat down on the front porch for a while waiting for Poppy to return. It just seemed to be so peaceful here Jillian felt like she had stepped back in time to a forgotten time when everything didn’t run by the clock. No one had cell phones or social media.
Jillian could actually hear the crickets and the tree frogs while sitting here.
She also couldn’t stop thinking about the letter Matilda had written.
She wondered what had gone so terribly wrong all those years ago.
Had Claire felt the sting of betrayal or had Matilda?
Which one of the sisters did Matthew Nixen really love?