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“No, this is awful. They’re dangerous, De
“Leave ghosts?” De
“The housekeeper’s gone,” Andie said. “And it’s dangerous.”
“I don’t need a housekeeper,” De
“No,” Andie said, standing up. “If you see Isolde before I do tomorrow, tell her I need to talk to her before she leaves.”
“She can’t leave,” De
“Good night, De
“The kids are asleep in the nursery,” he said when she went into the bedroom where the gas fire was now burning. “I put the fire on in here, too.”
“I know you don’t believe, but the ghosts are real,” Andie said. “De
“De
“They’re real.” Andie sat down on the edge of the bed, too tired to be open-minded.
North pulled back the covers, and she fell back against the pillows as he climbed in bed beside her. “Let’s just get the kids out of here,” he said, putting his arms around her.
She curled against him, grateful he was there, even if he was clueless about what they were facing. “Yeah. Let’s do that. Do you have a plan?”
“I’ll have a plan tomorrow.” North kissed her forehead. “Go to sleep. You’ve had a rough day.”
“Tomorrow,” Andie said, wondering what the hell she was going to do tomorrow that was going to make any difference as she fell asleep in his arms.
The next morning, Andie met Isolde at the bottom of the stairs on her way to make breakfast.
“De
“I know, he told me,” Isolde said. “Fucking amateurs.”
“He wants another séance.”
“Over my dead body.”
“Don’t say that here,” Andie said. “Just help me exorcise the dead we already have.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Isolde said. “Did you see De
“Yeah,” Andie said, trying to remember.
“I think it’s the locket Alice is wearing.”
Andie stopped at the foot of the stairs. “She told me it was a treasure. Maybe that means she found it. Are you sure it’s the same one?”
“De
Andie picked up speed and went into the dining room where all De
The drawing wasn’t great, but that was Alice’s locket.
“It’s the same one,” she said to Isolde and then realized Isolde wasn’t with her. “Isolde?”
She went out into the Great Hall and Isolde came out of the sitting room to join her, pale as death.
“What’s wrong?” Andie said.
“We have to call the police,” Isolde said, and Andie thought, Oh God, no, something really bad has happened this time, and tried to go into the sitting room.
Isolde stopped her.
“It’s De
Fourteen
Andie had gone into the sitting room while Isolde called 911. De
North came in and said, “Isolde just came to get me. Andie, I’m so sorry,” and she knew how he felt, impotent to help her, because she felt the same way for De
“What happened?” Carter said.
“De
Andie went over to the window seat and sat down, putting her arms around both of them. Alice reached out as she wept and wound her fist into Andie’s sweater, pulling her closer to Carter, huddling between them.
“They killed him,” Alice sobbed. “And he was nice!”
“He was good man,” Andie said, holding her close. “He died very quickly of a heart attack, and he didn’t suffer. I don’t think the ghosts killed him, Alice. I think he was really happy when he died because he’d seen the ghosts in the séance. He’d always wanted to, you know.”
“They killed him, they killed him,” Alice wailed.
“No,” Andie said, holding her close. “He wasn’t trying to take you away. Why would they hurt him?” Unless he’d found out something else about them…
“Why did he have a heart attack?” Carter said, no emotion in his voice at all.
“He’d been drinking a lot and the séance really excited him.” Plus he was doped to the gills on salvia. “Maybe he just had a weak heart.”
Carter had that stubborn look on his face. “He didn’t look sick. One of the teachers at my school had a heart condition and he was really pale all the time. De
“It can happen like that. Sometimes hearts just blow out.”
“Do you think he’ll come back?” Carter said, and then the emotion was there, guilt and worry and a need for comfort. “Like Aunt May did?”
“No.” Andie smoothed his hair back and for once he didn’t flinch. “I think he’d done everything right in his life, and I don’t think he had any unfinished business. I think the only thing he really wanted to do, even though he wouldn’t admit it, was see a ghost. And he saw a ghost.”
“Which one?” Carter said, tense again.
“All of them,” Andie said. “He talked about how beautiful your aunt May was.”
“Which one did he see when he died?” Carter said.
“I don’t think any. I was in the dining room with him before he died, and he was definitely excited, but the room was warm and I didn’t see anybody in there.” Carter relaxed, and then she said, “I’m pretty sure he was alone when he died.”
“You weren’t with him?” Carter said, tense again.
“I went to bed.” I left him alone. “Isolde found him in the sitting room this morning.”
“You weren’t with him when he died.”
“No,” Andie said.
Carter looked down at Alice who had stopped crying now.
“What?” Andie said.
“The ghosts killed him,” Carter said, and Alice nodded sadly.
“Ghosts can’t kill people,” Andie said. “They can’t touch-”
“There was a big black cloud and Aunt May screamed,” Alice said. “It was Miss J. I bet she killed De
“Listen,” Andie said. “We have to talk about you leaving. It’s too dangerous to stay here, the ghosts are too strong now. So we have to figure out a way to do this.”
“We can’t,” Alice said, starting to cry again.
“We can do anything,” Andie said. “Don’t cry, think.”