Chapter 1
Lin Coffin startled awake from a disturbing dream and sat up in bed. Her t-shirt was damp from perspiration and her hands felt shaky with the leftover feelings from the nightmare. Her husband Jeff’s soft, slow breathing beside her was a comforting sound and she gently placed her hand on his shoulder for a moment.
Her little brown dog Nicky looked up at her from the floor where he was tapping his tail against the wood.
“I’m okay, Nick. It was just a bad dream,” she whispered. Lin noticed a bright red light shining into the room from the window facing the road and she thought maybe there had been an accident in front of the house.
She slipped quietly from the bed and patted the dog on his head before going to take a look outside. Pushing the curtain to the side, she glanced up and down the street. There were no police cars and no accident. No one was on the road. No red light shone anywhere outside.
Turning away from the window, Lin narrowed her eyes. The red light was shining into the bedroom. She looked outside again and then back into the room.
Where is that light coming from?
She padded softly around the bedroom trying to determine the source of the light, but found nothing. With a sigh, she headed to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
The house was designed in a “U” shape with one wing housing the master bedroom and a bathroom, and with the living room located in the center. A second bedroom that Lin used as an office was off the living space. The other leg of the “U” housed the kitchen and dining area and another bathroom. The living room and kitchen had big windows and doors that led out to the large deck.
With the dog following behind her, she walked through the living room and glanced out to the deck. Moonlight lit up the outside and streamed in through the windows making it seem like a small lamp had been left on in the room.
In the kitchen, she poured a glass of water, and as she was sipping, she turned towards the windows … and almost dropped her glass.
Red light lit up the deck and shone into the kitchen.
Lin hurried to the door and flung it open.
Nicky whined.
“What’s causing this light?” she asked the dog. “Is there a comet or a meteor shower or what?” She stepped onto the deck to gaze up at the sky.
Nicky’s tail pounded the deck so vigorously that it caused Lin to shift her eyes to him.
“What’s up, Nick?” Lin looked to where the dog was staring, and gasped, as an icy wave of air enveloped her.
A translucent woman stood beyond the deck and patio at the edge of the field behind Lin’s house. She wore a long dress and her hair was styled half-up and half-down. An almost blinding red glow streamed out of the woman, lighting up everything around her.
“Oh.” Lin squinted from the brightness, but made eye contact with the ethereal woman. They peered at one another for almost a full minute.
The woman’s expression was neutral and calm. She didn’t appear to be distressed or anxious in any way. She looked at Lin with some familiarity, as if they might have known one another in the not so distant past, but Lin didn’t recognize the ghost. She’d never seen a spirit give off light like this one was doing … and certainly not such a bright red light. On occasion, when a ghost was angry or upset, he or she might flare red just before disappearing, but that was very different from what this particular spirit gave off.
“Are you okay?” Lin asked the spirit.
Nicky whined and wagged his tail like he wanted to run to greet the ghost.
The woman stared at Lin.
“Do we know each other?”
The ghost’s expression didn’t change.
“Does your red light mean that something is wrong?”
The ghost woman gave an almost imperceptible nod.
“Do you need something from me?”
The word yes seemed to form in Lin’s mind.
Lin shivered from the chill on the air. “Can you tell me, or show me what you need?”
After several seconds, the woman tilted her head a little to one side, and then blinding red sparks seemed to fly out from her body. In a moment, a brilliant flash of red lit up the night, and she was gone.
Lin took a long, deep breath while she stared at the spot where the ghost had stood. “Well. We haven’t seen anything like that before, have we, Nick?”
The dog woofed.
“Lin?” Jeff stood at the kitchen door rubbing his eyes. “Why are you on the deck? Is something wrong?”
“I had a visitor.”
“Oh?” Jeff’s eyes widened. “Is the visitor gone?”
“Yes.” Lin walked over to the doorway to give her husband a hug. “It was a woman. It was the strangest thing. A bright red light emanated from her. It was like the light was coming out through her pores.”
“Was she in pain?” Jeff ran his hand over Lin’s long brown hair.
“She didn’t seem to be. She seemed calm.”
“Come in here. Your skin is like ice.” Jeff took her hand. “Want a cup of tea? I’ll put the kettle on.”
Lin sat at the kitchen counter and told Jeff how she happened to be out on the deck while he put the tea kettle on the stove and gave Nicky a dog treat.
“I had a nightmare and woke up with a start.”
“What was the nightmare about?” Jeff took two mugs from the shelf.
Lin rubbed at her forehead. “I don’t know. The past few nights, I’ve woken up from a nightmare, but I can never remember what it was about. All I know is I’m terrified. Someone I care about is in danger. All I can recall is that awful sensation that someone needs me to help them and I can’t figure out how to get to them.” She shuddered and ran her hands over her arms. “I don’t know who it is who needs help and all I can see around me is darkness. I don’t know where I am.”
Jeff poured the tea and set one mug in front of his wife. “Dreams can be some leftover worry from the day. Maybe it’s something about work, maybe something needs to get done, but it’s being overlooked.”
“That could be, but it feels more serious than that. It’s something that feels very dangerous.” A wave of anxiety washed over Lin as she tried to sort out her feelings from the dream.
“It’ll work itself out.” Jeff kissed Lin on the top of the head. “It’ll be okay.”
Almost nine months ago, Lin and Jeff, and Lin’s cousin and best friend, Viv, and her husband, John, were married in the fall in a double wedding ceremony, and celebrated with a reception in the yacht club down by Nantucket harbor. It had been a day full of joy and love, and everyone had a wonderful time. It had been a peaceful and uneventful rest of the fall, winter, and spring with no ghosts needing any assistance … until now.
“Viv will be glad to hear we have another ghost who needs some help,” Lin said.
Jeff laughed. “Oh, yeah, I bet she’ll be thrilled.”
Viv was never eager to step in when a spirit needed something from them, but she was always by her cousin’s side when something had to be figured out or resolved. Once, she herself was able to see the ghost of one of her long-ago relatives. “That was a one-time thing never to be repeated. I hope,” Viv had said. “I’ll leave seeing ghosts to you,” she’d told Lin. “That’s your specialty, not mine.”
Lin, on the other hand, had been able to see ghosts since before she could remember. When she was in elementary school, she decided she didn’t want to see them anymore, and for a long time, she didn’t … until she returned to the island where she was born. And since then, ghosts had been frequent visitors.
“Ready to head back to bed?” Jeff asked. “That alarm is going to go off bright and early.”
Lin took his hand, and with Nicky trotting ahead of them, they went to the bedroom, turned off the light, and were soon fast asleep.
An hour later, Lin bolted upright, her heart racing, her palms sweaty, and her mind disoriented.
The dog had been sleeping at the foot of the bed, and he wiggled over the quilt to Lin who wrapped him in a hug.
“That nightmare again, Nick.” Lin rocked a little with the dog in her arms. “When is it going to stop?” she whispered not wanting to wake Jeff.
She closed her eyes and took some slow, deep breaths. “I need to remember the dream. Maybe then, it will go away.”
All the sensations of the nightmare were readily accessible, but the cause of the terrible feelings was just out of reach. Lin tried to recall any detail she could remember.
Someone desperately needed her, it was a matter of life and death. She had to get to them in time or she would never see them alive again. Tiny glimpses of shadows popped into her mind and she tried to see who she needed to reach and where they were. Darkness flickered over the blurry images preventing her from making anything out.
She rested back on her pillow and Nicky squeezed in between her and Jeff and snuggled close to her as she patted his head slowly and gently.
With a deep sigh, Lin told the dog, “I need to understand what this nightmare is trying to tell me. I’ll figure it out ... I hope.” A shiver of worry ran over her skin. “At least there isn’t a blazing red light streaming into the room … for now.”
Lin closed her eyes, and Jeff’s rhythmic breathing and the warmth of the sweet dog lying next to her lulled her to sleep.
Chapter 2
Lin and her landscaping business partner, Leonard Reed, were removing annuals, perennials, and small bushes from the truck and loading them into two wheelbarrows. Nicky sat supervising the work.
In his sixties, Leonard was tall with muscular shoulders and arms, the result of decades of outdoor labor. A few years ago, he and Lin decided to start their own landscaping business and they’d developed a reputation as the best gardeners and landscape designers on the island. When she’d arrived back on Nantucket after years away and met Leonard for the first time, Lin was certain the man had murdered someone, and when she realized her mistake, she was ashamed of her suspicions that he could be a suspect.
“Oof.” Leonard groaned as he took hold of the wheelbarrow handles and started around the side of the large Colonial to the rear yard, with the dog bounding ahead of him.
“What’s wrong?” Lin asked with a smile. “Have a tough night?”
“My evening consisted of me making and eating dinner, reading for an hour, and then heading to bed early.” When Leonard reached the edge of the new flower bed they’d dug and filled with fresh loam, he stretched his back before reaching for the pots of flowers.
“Where was Heather?”
“She had things to do. We aren’t together all the time, you know?”
Leonard had been happily dating a Nantucket lawyer for over a year. In her fifties with shoulder-length, light brown hair, Heather Jenness owned a law firm on the island, did a lot of charity work, and doted on Leonard.
When he reached for a long-handled shovel, Leonard let out a yawn and Lin eyed the man.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I haven’t been sleeping well this week.” He began to dig a hole in the bed.
“Can’t fall asleep?” Lin asked, beginning to feel a little uneasy.
“I fall asleep just fine. I’ve been having nightmares.”
Lin’s heart seemed to stop for a few beats. “What sort of nightmares?”
The tall man leaned on the shovel. “I’m in the dark. I can’t see anything except shadows and darkness. I’m desperately trying to find someone. Someone I care about is in danger and I have to get to the person, but I can’t find the way. I wake up in a cold sweat and have trouble falling back to sleep.”
Nicky woofed.
Lin cleared her throat. “How long has this been going on?”
“Four or five nights.” When Leonard bent to pick up some flower pots, he noticed the look on Lin’s face and he straightened, concern etched in his expression. “What’s wrong with you?”
Lin’s lower lip trembled and her throat was so dry, she could barely squeeze the words out. “I’ve been having the same dreams.”
Staring at the young woman, Leonard didn’t say anything for several moments. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve been having the same nightmares. Mine are just like yours.”
Leonard placed the pots on the ground, wiped his hands on his jeans, and looked Lin in the eyes. “How do you mean?”
Taking in a long breath, Lin stared off across the yard. “I’ve been having nightmares for four or five nights. In the dream, I’m in the dark, just like you. I’m searching for someone who’s in trouble, someone who needs me. I can’t find them, just like you can’t find the person you’re looking for. I wake up in a panic.”
Running his hand through his hair, Leonard asked, “What does it mean? How can we both be having the same dreams? Have we been watching something on television or reading the same book that’s giving us nightmares?”
“Jeff and I usually work on the second floor renovations after we have dinner. I haven’t been watching any television this week.”
Leonard looked down at the lawn. “Neither have I.”
“I haven’t been reading either. If I’m not exhausted at the end of the day, I work on my puzzle books.” Lin wiped some perspiration from her forehead.
“I’m reading a biography right now.” Leonard’s face was scrunched up in thought. “The book has nothing weird or scary in it that would cause nightmares. Is there anything we’re both doing this week that might make our minds conjure up a nightmare?”
Lin shrugged. “I can’t think of anything.”
“Since you can see ghosts and all that, do you have any idea what would make two people have the same dreams?”
“No, and anyway, you can see ghosts, too.”
“I could only see Marguerite,” Leonard corrected his partner. Marguerite was the man’s beloved wife who had died years ago in an automobile accident on the mainland. For a long time, Marguerite’s ghost inhabited their house and had only crossed over a little more than a year ago.
“I don’t know.” Lin rubbed at the back of her neck. “I don’t know what’s going on. I’ll talk to Libby. She’ll have an idea about what it all means.” A lifelong native of Nantucket, Libby Hartnett was a distant cousin of Lin’s who had powers of her own and had been an invaluable guide in helping Lin understand her ability to see ghosts.
“Good idea.” Leonard looked a little nervous. “Why don’t you call her right now.”
Lin shook her head. “I think I should wait. It’s not an emergency. After work, I’ll go to Viv’s bookstore. Libby is often there in the late afternoon to get a coffee.”
“Okay. Call me after you to talk to her. I want to know what this is all about.”
“Do you have any idea who is in danger in your dream?” Lin asked.
“None. You?”
“I don’t know either. Do you think we’re dreaming about the same person?”
“How the heck do I know, Coffin? The whole thing is kind of freaking me out.”
Even though it was freaking her out, too, Lin placed her hand on Leonard’s arm to reassure him. “We’ll figure it out. Maybe it’s just some crazy coincidence that we’re having the same dreams.”
“Nightmares. They’re nightmares,” Leonard said.
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