Page 18 of Eldritch

Pauline stared at Maria, but the young woman appeared almost dazed as she examined the tracks on the floor.

“Maria?” Pauline’s voice snapped like a whip.

Sybil’s first instinct to tell Pauline to fuck off almost kicked in, but the part of her that detested and feared conflict kept her mouth shut.

Maria still looked stunned and continued to examine the footprints.

Sybil said, “She explained. Walking on the property.”

Pauline’s cool gaze flicked to Sybil, but then went back to Maria.

Maria mimicked Pauline’s stance by folding her arms. She glared at Pauline. “You think I tracked this stuff around the entire house before you all got out of bed. And somehow I did it without anyone catching me?”

“Well, if you were outside walking and came back in, it’s plenty wet out there. You’d have mud on your feet,” Pauline said. “What were you doing out there in the dark?”

Sybil wondered the same, but she waited for the younger woman to respond.

“I don’t know,” Maria said. “I just…”

A shiver ran over Sybil when Maria didn’t finish.

Letisha leaned on one side of the enormous fireplace. “Look at that one track over there. It’s half under the leg of that huge side table by the fireplace. She would have to drag the table across the hardwood floor, put her muddy footprint down, then drag the table back over it and leave the heel showing. And there are no other tracks around it. If she’d dragged it across this floor we would’ve heard something. There’s no rug under it. How do we explain a footprint half under the damned table?”

Sybil hadn’t seen that track until now, and she walked toward it, nausea roiling her stomach. “I agree. I don’t understand how someone did that without making a racket. Yes, this is a big house, but…well, at least you guys on the second floor should’ve heard it. Whoever did it was fast,” Sybil said. “As I mentioned, my alarm didn’t go off and someone knocked on my door. I got out of bed right away and there was no one there. The hallway is long. No one could’ve run down the hallway without me seeing or hearing them. Especially if they’re stomping along in boots.”

“Then maybe we need to call the cops again. Or search this property up and down. Every last room,” Pauline said.

Sybil was tired of it. “No. We need to get work started. Clean this up and--”

Pauline snorted. “What? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Letisha cleared her throat. “I think Pauline is right. Whoever did this must have a key to the place. It’s not safe to ignore this.”

Humiliation rose inside Sybil, and her face heated. She instantly questioned herself.

“Fine.” Sybil threw her hands up quickly. “You guys call the cops. I’m going to eat something. I’m starving.”

Unable to look them all in the eye, she tromped across the hall, careful to avoid the tracks and into the short hallway that led to the back of the house.

She passed the formal dining room and segued left into the connecting kitchen. She stopped in the doorway a moment, hearing Pauline using her cell phone to call law enforcement. Resentment rose inside her, even if she knew she shouldn’t feel this way.

She entered the massive kitchen, marveling at the high ceiling, the large stained-glass windows on the south side that allowed in the muted morning light. The stained glass featured astrological figures, and that alone captured her eye. She hadn’t noticed that yesterday. Weird for a Victorian motif, but maybe a later owner had installed them and not the original builder. A generously sized fireplace graced the far left of the kitchen, a dark, rather rustic table and chairs nearby. Someone had modernized it all in an approximation of an old Victorian era kitchen in a high-class estate. Yet the appliances worked in the modern way. They wouldn’t have to rough it with cooking.

She grabbed a granola bar from the pantry. She ripped it open and leaned back against the granite countertop and stared at the wall. A headache started in her temples, so she grabbed her large traveler mug and poured it full of black coffee.

Letisha walked into the kitchen, her brow a little knitted in apparent concern. “Hey.”

Sybil sipped her coffee. “SWAT coming?”

Letisha smiled. “They’re sending a deputy again. Maybe it’ll be our friend, Deputy Annapolis. She might be a skinny chick, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she had some military training and could kick anyone’s ass.”

Sybil’s ire loosened at her friend’s lighthearted tone. “I wouldn’t be surprised either.”

“I asked Maria and Pauline to clean the bathrooms. That’ll keep them busy for a damned long time. They’re starting on the third floor and working their way down.”

Sybil ate her granola bar with gusto. “Good.”

“Don’t sound so satisfied. Are you okay?”

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