Page 23 of Eldritch

“Darling,” came Clarice’s sophisticated tone that reminded Sybil of Katherine Hepburn’s Mid-Atlantic accent, even though Clarice had been born in Colorado. “I’m so sorry I didn’t answer earlier. I had a doctor’s appointment for an X-Ray. Damned knee arthritis. Aging is hell sometimes. Feels some days as if pieces of me are going to start dropping off like a leper’s skin.”

Sybil laughed, surprised. “Hope the knee will be okay?”

“I need a knee replacement. Within the next six months.”

“Ouch.”

“Comes with the eighty-year price tag. How do you like the house?”

Sybil went for an uncontroversial statement. “It’s huge. But beautiful.”

“I hope it’s not too nasty. I should have sold it long ago, but I couldn’t part with it. And those last tenants...well, that would probably put anyone off of wanting to rent it from me.”

“Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Sybil hadn’t wanted to think much about it, even though she had anyway. “You mean because they disappeared?”

“Yep. It’s disturbing. I still can’t understand what happened. And when their relatives wouldn’t take the couple’s belongings...that was strange. I forgot to ask you if while you’re there cleaning, if you wouldn’t consider getting their stuff hauled out of there. There’s a company that will take it.”

Sybil frowned. “Are you sure? Didn’t the police want it?”

“They went over everything, took fingerprints...nothing seemed to interest them, so they left it in the house. Would it be worth a thousand-dollar bonus on top of what I’m already paying you to arrange for the items to be taken out?”

A little thrill ran through Sybil. “A thousand dollars? No. I mean, that’s way too much.”

“I insist. This is something extra you didn’t have in mind when you started. Would the extra time interfere with your next job after mine?”

“No. We have nothing scheduled for more than a month after we finish here.” Sybil winced, realizing she’d exaggerated the timeline a little.

“It’s settled then. I’ll email the item list to you. Now, you were trying to reach me before this Adonis cop did, right?”

“Deputy Annapolis.”

“Right. She hasn’t tried to call me yet.”

Sybil paced the floor, her athletic shoes squeaking each time she tread from the rug to the hardwood. Sybil explained the figure Maria had seen as well as the ghost-like figure Sybil had witnessed in the window of this bedroom. Before Clarice could ask anything about that information, Sybil rushed to tell her all about the muddy footprints and then the additional prints appearing a short time ago.

Sybil took a big breath. “Letisha and I checked my bedroom. It’s all clear.”

“Which bedroom did you pick again?”

“The purple gothic one on the third floor.”

“Oh.” Clarice’s voice sounded self-assured. “That’s interesting.”

“Why?”

“That’s the room the young couple used as their bedroom before they disappeared.”

A new ripple of something unclean seemed to touch Sybil. She shivered and increased the speed of her pacing. “Thanks, Clarice. That’s really creepy.”

The older woman laughed. “Sorry. By the way, they left a suitcase behind in that closet. The police looked at that and put it back, too.”

“Wow. Okay.” Sybil cleared her throat. “I didn’t see it in there, but I didn’t look all the way in the back.”

“I’m pretty sure all it contained was photos.”

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