Chapter Six
Jillian sat there for most of the afternoon. When she got up to go she realized that she had weeded almost the entire plot. She felt like it had been the right thing to do. No one had done it in years and it was a sad state to think no one cared at all anymore.
When she started back to the house she looked down at her hands. They were dirty and sore from pulling so much long grass but she was satisfied with what she had gotten done.
As she came up to the back door she warily peeked inside the kitchen. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary so she went inside. Walking over to the sink she began washing her hands.
Poppy came in and plopped herself down on the floor.
Jillian glanced at her dog and sighed. “You are supposed to be my guard dog. How can you possibly guard me if you keep taking off on me?” She smiled at the dog as she knelt to rub Poppy’s head and behind her ears.
Poppy responded by leaning into her caress. She then whimpered her pleasure briefly. Suddenly, her ears perked up and she turned her head toward the front door.
Jillian stood as the sound of a car coming down the road caught her ears. She walked through the house to the front porch as this car pulled into the parking lot and parked next to hers.
She waited for the driver to exit and when he did, she found herself looking at a stranger. Tall and dark haired, he simply stared at her. She noted that he was very easy on the eyes. Good looking as some women would say. She would too, in fact.
Then the passenger side door opened.
The tall man walked around the car and helped an old man out.
He too was tall but his hair was salt and pepper as they call it and he walked with the aid of a cane.
They both headed toward the front porch.
When they stopped, the older man looked up at her and he had the most astonished look on his face. He tried to say something but found he couldn’t. He simply stared at her in shock.
Jillian glanced at the younger man then back to the old man and asked, “Can I help you?”
The younger man smiled and nodded. “I know this is a strange request but my grandpa would like to have a look around the Inn. He stayed here a long time ago and he wanted to see it again before he gets too old to travel.”
Jillian’s eyebrows shot upward. “His name wouldn’t happen to be Matthew Nixen, would it?” she asked a little louder than she had planned.
The younger man looked surprised by this question as he tilted his head a bit and replied, “Yes, it is. How did you know that?”
Jillian felt absolutely stunned. She had been told that Matthew Nixen had died here a long time ago. “Who are you exactly?” she asked.
“Can we sit down while we talk about this?” The younger guy asked. “He had a stroke a few months back and he can’t stand for too long a time anymore.”
Jillian nodded. “I’m sorry to hear that. Sure, come on in.” She figured this would be a really interesting meeting for sure. She motioned for them to come up the steps and pointed to a couple of chairs on the other side of the porch.
After he got Matthew Nixen seated his grandson looked over at Jillian and explained why they were here, “I don’t know if you know the story behind the Inn...”
“I know one story at least,” Jillian interrupted him. She looked over at Matthew and stared at him. “Your grandpa was supposed to have died almost forty years ago along with the sisters who ran this place. He like... burned to death with them.”
The young man nodded. “Yes, I know that one.” He stuck his hand out.
“My name is Dino by the way. Grandpa barely escaped the fire that night. He had been run out of the Inn just hours before the fire started. A man named George Walker knocked him out and drove him about a mile away then dumped him along the highway. When he came to, he walked back to the Inn and saw that the place was on fire. He tried to get back into the house to make sure the sisters got out alright but the flames were too high. He told me that the sisters didn’t make it out.
The fire department found two bodies in the rubble the next day. ”
“Your grandpa must be almost 70 by now. The fire happened in 1989,” Jillian stated.
Dino nodded. He was picking up on the hostility in her voice and he looked confused as to why it was there. “He just turned 70 last week. The doctors didn’t really want him to come this far but he insisted on coming.”
“Why?” Jillian asked.
Dino shook his head. “I’m not really sure. He wouldn’t give anyone an explanation. He just said he had to come.”
Jillian looked at her unexpected guests and nodded. “Maybe he can answer some questions while he’s here. Come on in.” She got up and went inside.
Dino helped his grandpa to his feet and helped him inside.
“You look just like your mother,” Matthew told her when he arrived inside.
Jillian stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him. “What did you just say?”
The old man looked at her with the same lavender eyes Matilda had described in her diary. “I said that you look just like Chloe. She was a beautiful woman too.”
Jillian looked at him and then at Dino.
Dino just shook his head. “He was fine then the closer we got to the inn here, the more he rambled,” he offered an explanation.
Jillian shook her head. “No, he’s right. I do look like my mom.” She smiled then made her way into the front parlor and turned to look at him.
Matthew Nixen walked slowly into the room. His gaze darted around as if remembering each and every corner. He then slowly gazed upward to the top of the stairs. Tears appeared in his eyes and they turned from lavender to grey.
Dino helped his grandpa over to the sofa in the corner of the room.
Suddenly, the door behind them slammed shut.
Both Dino and Jillian stared at the door briefly before looking at each other. Something hovered in the air that both could feel. A tension and something else, something they couldn’t identify.
Matthew chuckled a bit. “Claire doesn’t like the fact that I came back,” he murmured.
“Excuse me?’ Jillian asked as she twirled around to face him. “Did you say Claire ?”
Matthew waved his hand around the room. “Can’t you tell the girls are still here? Well, their spirits are anyway and right now Claire isn’t happy with the fact that I came back.”
Dino looked pained. “Gramps, you know that’s not so. Once a person dies, their spirits are gone. Ghosts aren’t real.”
Jillian smiled. “Well, I don’t know about that. I think when someone is murdered or killed before it’s their time to go, the spirit can stay here on earth until some sort of closure or justice is done.”
Matthew nodded. “I always told Tilly I would come back for her someday.”
A cold breeze brushed past Jillian and manifested into the form of a woman.
This woman stood in front of Matthew.
Dino backed away slowly and came to stand beside the equally stunned Jillian. All they could do was stare at this crazy sight.
Matthew smiled at the figure of the woman in front of him. “Hello Claire,” he greeted her while looking unafraid.