Caves of Darkness — Joyce Schenk

When lovely Erin O'Mara, an actress, decides to recuperate from mononucleosis by house-sitting for her aunt and uncle, Gertrude and Fred Conklin, little does she realize that the rest and relaxation the doctor prescribed would be the last things she would find in the large house overlooking Emerald Cove. Plagued by an overactive imagination, Erin feels that she is being watched, spied upon. She receives mysterious, threatening phone calls. But why? She has no enemies. Why does Sam Wessel, a real estate agent, seem so insistent that she leave the house? To increase Erin's terror, she sees the ghost of the Spanish girl who haunts the beach searching for her dead lover. But no, it's a real girl...and she's dead!

Luckily Erin has a neighbor she can trust--sweet, plump Harriet Lowesby. But she's not so sure of tall, good-looking Robert McGrath, a painter. What is his connection with the mystery, and why won't he believe her? Is she going mad? Handsome, dashing Felippe de Montega seems reliable, and Erin is drawn to him. But he too hides something.

When a young Spanish girl who has confided in her disappears, Erin realizes that she must rely on only herself to solve the mystery. She must deal with Constantine, Felippe's foreman at Carcova Industries, an apparel factory. Wild and ruthless, Constantine is a danger to all who cross him. And Erin is no match for the hundreds of ways he has learned to inflict pain.

Can she discover the truth? Terror and danger await Erin on the beautiful coast of California, and also...romance.