Page 28 of Eldritch

She closed her eyes at the same time she clapped her hands over her ears.

No. Not now. I don’t want to. I don’t have time for this. Please.

She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Another breath and a third, each designed to slow down her heart rate and relieve tension in her muscles. She opened her eyes and uncovered her ears. The heaviness had retreated. At least it had gone back to the corners of the room.

Yet as she sat there, another nagging thought came to mind. An idea that bothered her now that she paid attention to it.

No one believed the footsteps were paranormal. Nor did they believe her bedroom door opening itself was paranormal.

Maybe they thought she was doing it.

At least they hadn’t said it out loud. Yet.

Chapter Six

Sybil sat the breakfast table the next morning and tried to check her email on her phone using the Wi-Fi password Clarice had given her. She had just managed to download it all before the Wi-Fi had given out. She looked at the email and nothing appeared pressing enough to use cellular data to answer, and she glanced at her watch. Almost eight o’clock.

She left the table and pocketed her cell phone in the belt bag. Before she could leave the kitchen, her phone rang. She grabbed it out of the pack and looked at the screen. A name came up.

Taggert Heming.

Her ex-boyfriend. Her stomach dropped, and she grimaced. “Son-of-a-bitch.”

Her heart picked up speed, anger tightening the muscles in her throat until she thought she might choke. She drew in a breath. The call went to voice mail. She stared at the screen, at the little red number one that showed she had a message. Her hand shook as she opened the voicemail. A minute and a half long. What the hell was he saying?

Why was he calling after six months? She hadn’t forgotten him, but she’d tried. Most days she could. She almost put the phone up to her ear to listen. Instead, she hit the trash symbol, and it was gone.

She opened her contacts and didn’t hesitate to do what she should’ve done six months ago. She blocked his number.

Still vibrating with anger, she entered the Great Hall. The grandfather clock bonged at the same time the knocker on the door banged out a demand. She almost yelped in surprise. Sybil halted for a second, and Pauline came out of the parlor.

“Must be the security guy,” Pauline said. “No one else with any brains would want to come here.”

Sybil ignored her and went through the octagon entryway. At the front door, she looked through the peephole. Yep. The guy matched the photo Candice had sent. She opened the door and this time it opened with hinges that shrieked.

Douglas MacKenzie smiled broadly. “Hi. I’m Douglas.”

“Hey there,” she said, returning his grin. “I’m Sybil.”

He put his hand out, and she shook it. “Nice to meet you.”

She stepped back. “Nice to meet you. Would you like to come in?”

He smiled again, a teasing in his eyes. “No, actually. I’d like to see the outside first.”

“Oh?”

“I like to take note of what sort of ingress and egress points a structure has.”

She nodded. “Makes sense.”

Once outside, he walked toward the dirt road just beyond the circular drive. She followed and stood beside him when he turned back toward the house. He stared at the mansion while she took out the notepad she kept in a pocket on the side of her painter’s style pants. He scanned the area. After he’d done this for some time, she wondered if he’d ever speak again.

He retrieved a cell phone and used a stylus to write a few brief notes on the phone. He took photos.

“Any verdict?” she finally asked.

He glanced at her and smiled. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to ignore you. I’ve got some ideas for outside cameras and where to put them. I’ll need to go around the rest of the outside to make sure.”

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