Double Trouble Squared
Chapter 2:
It was hard to get over the two men sitting in the parlor of Gull Cottage with Carolyn Muir. Martha Grant's hands shook as she prepared the coffee and cookies to bring into their guests. Only a few months before they had been entertained by Sean Callahan, as close to a living version of Captain Gregg as she could imagine. Now, not only was another Captain look-alike sitting under the mariner's portrait, but a duplicate Claymore Gregg was with him! She took a deep breath, hoping not to spill anything, and carried the tray into the room across the hallway.
"Thank you, Martha," Mrs. Muir said graciously. "Would you mind waiting for the children? They should be home soon."
"Of course!" the housekeeper replied, understanding that the children were to be whisked away to the kitchen as soon as they had said their hello's.
Carolyn began to pour out the coffee for her two guests. She felt, rather than saw, the ghost of Daniel Gregg, materialize behind her chair. "So gentlemen, what can I do for you?"
As usual, Eric Gregg lead the conversation, but noticed that the young woman had difficulty keeping her green eyes off of Davy. Looking up at the portrait of their "ancestor", he had to admit that the resemblance was downright uncanny. "Well, it seems that my cousin and I have a prior claim to the estate of the builder of Gull Cottage and we are here to claim it."
"Utter bilge!" roared Captain Gregg. Not for the first time Carolyn Muir wished she and the seaman knew how to finger spell. Everyone thought she was a little unbalanced because they saw her talking from time to time to thin air. "It's bad enough Claymore claims to be my relative. Now these two pirate rats are here trying to capture my ship. Why did you allow them to board without my permission, Madame?"
"Well, Mr. Gregg," Carolyn began, trying to have two conversations using the same words, "much as I wish to be polite, the house -and its contents- are not mine. I don't understand why you are here speaking with me."
Eric replied smoothly. "We wanted to see the house and the property. And of course, it's a wonderful surprise to see this excellent portrait of our great- great-grandfather." Turning to his cousin, he said, "You look very much like him, Davy."
The other man tilted his head this way and that. "But he has dark hair and a beard," he said flatly.
"Get rid of them," the Captain demanded of Mrs. Muir. She quickly looked over to the apparition leaning over the back of her chair and rolled her eyes and quickly shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, blast!" was all he said before he popped over to the kitchen to speak to Martha.
Coming up the road from the school bus, the children immediately noticed the fancy car. "That's the car I was telling you about, Jonathan!" Candy cried with excitement. "I wonder what it's doing at Gull Cottage?"
"It sure is neat! Or is it trim? Can cars be trim, like ships?" Candy just rolled her eyes at her brother.
"I thought I saw Claymore Gregg and another man in it. They must be inside. Let's go see!"
The children were disappointed when Martha told them they had to have their snack and then start their homework after making their quick hellos to the group in the parlor. Both Candy and Jonathan were struck dumb by the resemblances they saw on the faces of the two guests, but by the time they recovered their wits, Martha had them safely ensconced in the kitchen.
"Captain?" Jonathan whispered.
"Yes, lad?" the Captain materialized in the seat next to the boy.
"Who are those men with Mom?"
"Those brigands claim to be my great-great grandsons and they want to hijack my ship and everything that Claymore has already made off with!" His voice dropped to a growl. "I'll show them all a thing or two!" Then turning to the two children with a comforting look he said, "Don't worry, crew. I won't let anything happen to my family. As long as I have anything to say about it, this will be your home."
It was only a few moments later that Claymore arrived as well. He was in equal measures dismayed and angry to find the big Cadillac parked in front of Gull Cottage. And what about the ghost of Daniel Gregg. Would he recognize Eric and Davy as his descendants, or would he be as put out by them as he was by Claymore himself? Claymore wasn't sure which would be better, but whatever way you cut it, it probably wasn't going to be good for him. With all the courage he had, he marched up to the door of the house and pushed right by Martha when she opened it for him. Turning into the parlor, he paused for effect.
"Mrs. Muir, I came up here to warn you about these two, but I see they have beaten me to the punch. However, now that I am here, I must ask them to leave. This is my house, and I don't want them in it."
Captain Gregg overheard Claymore's speech, and for once was satisfied that the herring-gutted swab had a little backbone in him.
"Good job, Claymore. You may prove yourself to be a real Gregg yet," he silently whispered in his "nephew's" ear. "Go on, throw those pirates out!"
Claymore stood up straighter and looking Eric directly in the eye he said, "Out. Now!"
"Well," Eric replied, "I did want to see the property. Perhaps you can show it to me, Claymore? That way you can be sure I don't do anything you don't want me to do. And perhaps, if we talk, we might come to some understanding?"
"Ah, ah…" Claymore began to stutter. He really did want the two cousins to leave, but there was no way to physically compel them at the moment. And if he had to tolerate them examining the property, it would be better if he supervised the exploration. Hopefully Captain Gregg would understand…
"And Mrs. Muir can show Davy the beach," continued Eric with a little nod at the blond man sitting next to him.
This put Carolyn in a bit of a quandary. She had a strong feeling that these two were not who they said they were, yet here before her was another living, breathing version of her Daniel. She had to know what kind of man Davy was.
Candy was on her knees on the bench by the window in the bedroom she shared with her brother. She saw Claymore move to the back of the house with one of the strangers and her mother and the other man who looked like the Captain head toward the beach. Turning to Jonathan she said, "We should go up to the widow's walk and watch what happens."
"Belay that, lass," the Captain pronounced as he materialized in front of the two siblings. "I need you two to head out and stay by your mother while I go rescue Claymore. We must repel these pirates!"
Jonathan jumped up and saluted. "Aye, aye Captain." He and Candy flew down the stairs with glee while the ghost smiled and then evaporated.
At the back of the house Eric and Claymore had just looked into the old barn that now was used as a garage for the family's station wagon. Their walk took them toward an old well and much underbrush.
"Careful where you step," advised Claymore. "there's all sorts of debris back here. I don't need you to threaten me with a trip-and-fall lawsuit."
"Hah! I'm not as clumsy as you, my friend. In fact, at one time I had thoughts of becoming a professional ballroom dancer. The waltz is my specialty. Even in these modern times, it sweeps women off their feet."
Unseen by the others, Daniel Gregg muttered to himself, "Don't go trying to sweep anyone off their feet around here, you son of a hogfish!" Turning his attention to Claymore, he intoned, "Ask him to see his documents, you oaf! And demand the originals. They must be forgeries!"
Claymore's eyes grew wide in fright, knowing that the ghost of Captain Gregg was somewhere in the vicinity, but Eric had no way to know that was the cause of his sudden shaking. It certainly couldn't be because of an off-hand comment about waltzing.
"I, I, uh, I must see the originals of your documents. After all they could be forgeries for all I know." Claymore seemed to steady as he went on. "You can bring them to my lawyer's office, and we'll have an independent authority look at them."
Eric laughed. "I won't bring them to your lawyer's office. You can either see them at my offices, or we can go to the courthouse in New York City. It's up to you." They were both bluffing, of course. Claymore had no attorney and Eric had no offices.
When Claymore began to protest about the distance and the cost, Daniel felt the time was ripe for a little show. Suddenly the wind came up and thunder, lightning and rain danced all around the two mortal men, but only Eric got wet. And only Eric was hit by the dirt, stones, twigs and other debris that the dust devil had stirred up. In a moment the mini tornado had coalesced around just the pretender and the winds of the vortex became so severe that he felt himself lifted from the ground and then dropped into a sodden heap.
"What the…?" he sputtered as the stood, rainwater dripping down his face, his suit becoming heavier and heavier with the water it held onto. He turned toward the house, trying to run in his expensive but water-filled Italian loafers and sodden suit, but the little storm followed him step for step.
"There's one thing I haven't told you," Claymore announced, for once happy with the Captain's temper tantrums. "Gull Cottage is haunted. By the ghost of Captain Daniel Gregg. He hates me, but by the looks of it, he abhors you!"
"Nonsense!" came the answer as Eric began to run to his car, the storm following him every step of the way, along with the Captain's laughter.
Carolyn was holding her sandals in one hand as she and Davy walked along the beach. She had been trying to get him into a conversation, but he wasn't much of a talker. All he had said to her was some drivel about what a pretty woman she was while he tried to take her hand. She had quickly pulled it away thinking that this doppelganger of the Captain had been born with no suave whatsoever. If there was going to be any conversation, it would have to be up to her, and maybe she would be able to uncover what was going on here.
"Tell me about how you and your cousin decided to pursue Captain Gregg's estate now?"
"Ask Eric. It was his idea."
"Well, what do you think about it?"
"I'm glad we came. It's nice here and you're pretty."
"What else do you do besides chauffeur Eric?"
"Whatever he needs me to do. You know, like handling the bags and keeping the car running, things like that. This is the first time he's asked me to check out something for him, though. It's a nice beach. And it's nice being on it with you."
Carolyn sighed. This was going no where fast. Davy was obviously just the muscle of the operation. Suddenly a thought struck her. "And do you also protect Eric?" she asked.
"Yeah," the tall man replied. "If I have to. Never had to fire my pistol, though."
There was a sharp intake of breath from Carolyn as she stopped and turned to look up at Davy. It was then that she saw her children running toward them. "Not now. Go back up to the house," she thought hoping somehow they would subliminally get her message. They continued onward, closing the space rapidly. "You're not carrying it now, are you?" she asked Davy.
Before he could answer, Candy and Jonathan were at their side.
"Hi Mom! We want to walk with you on the beach. It's too nice to be inside," began Candy.
"And besides, we wanted to talk to Mr. Gregg. He looks so much like the Captain's picture," added Jonathan.
"Don't the two of you have homework?" Before her children could answer, Davy responded to her previous question. "Nah. It's in the glove compartment of the car." Carolyn breathed a sigh of relief.
Jonathan answered for himself and his sister. "Yeah, but we can do that later. Right now is the best time to be here on the beach."
Knowing that there was no imminent danger, she allowed the children to dance around them, asking what seemed like a thousand questions that Davy couldn't or wouldn't answer.
"Where are you from?" asked Candy first.
"Can you sail a boat?" Jonathan put in next.
"How come you look so much like Captain Gregg?" fired Candy.
"Are you going to stay in Schooner Bay?" Jonathan continued.
Davy was overwhelmed by the children's barrage of questions and couldn't keep up, much less come up with reasonable answers. He felt like a little child at school again when the others taunted him and called him "dummy" or "retard". It made him angry and he shouted at Candy and her brother "Get away from me! I've got no time for the lot of you!"
The brother and sister stood stock still in shock. Both the Captain and Sean Callahan had enjoyed being with them and were as friendly as could be. They both loved the ghost of Gull Cottage and were beginning to think of him as a father. This version of the man was the exact opposite and his outburst surprised and hurt them.
Carolyn was angry. "I will not have you yelling at my children, Mr. Gregg."
"I'm sorry. Not used to kids around." Davy muttered as he hung his head. He was supposed to make friends with Carolyn Muir, but Eric hadn't said anything about her son and daughter. Now he'd gone and messed up, again. "I guess I am stupid, like they used to say when I was their age."
Carolyn couldn't help but feel sorry for the man. He was quite unlike Sean or Daniel, clearly, but there was some sensitivity in him, and she knew from her own experience and the experience of her children how cruel others could be if you were different. They all walked along in silence. After a few minutes, she looked up at Gull Cottage and noted a very local thunderstorm right in front of the house. Someone was having a tantrum.