Page 97 of Eldritch

“Okay, got it. I’ll watch it.”

They hung up, and she headed back to the others to give them the tragic news about Deputy Annapolis and tell them about Doug’s offer to stay at his cabin.

She exited the octagon room just as the others came into the Great Hall.

“Everything okay?” Letisha asked.

Sybil quickly gave them all the details about Annapolis and Doug’s suggestion.

“Holy crap,” Pauline said. “What the hell is happening around here?”

“I still think we should go to Estes Park,” Maria said, her eyes wide. “The storm be damned.”

Letisha held up her phone. “My phone is sort of working but a call or text to Clarice isn’t going out. Pauline and Maria still have issues with their phones.”

Pauline stuffed her cell in her pocket. “Doug is right. Safer to go to his place.”

Letisha chimed in with, “I’m good with that if he is.”

A tight band of frustration squeezed Sybil’s head. “And if we aren’t here at least this house can’t mess with us.”

“Time to bring the rest of our bags down here so we can load things up in the van,” Pauline said.

Sybil knew how she felt, but she said, “Let’s take the vote. Go to Doug’s cabin or head to Estes Park.”

“Doug’s cabin?” Letisha raised her hand.

Pauline and Letisha raised their hands along with Sybil.

Maria sighed and raised her hand. “Okay, I’ll go along with it. Anything to get out of here.”

“Good.” Letisha said. “Let’s grab our stuff and bring it down.”

“I’ll call Doug,” Sybil said.

Sybil tried twice but a call to Doug wouldn’t go through. She sat down on a couch in the Great Hall and glared at her phone. Another call worked.

When he answered she told him everyone wanted to bunk at his cabin.

“Good,” he said. “I tried calling Clarice but couldn’t reach her either. I’ve been looking at the news. Annapolis’s death is all over the Denver news stations.”

“Well, maybe Clarice will see it,” she said.

“I’ll keep trying to call her and let her know what’s happening,” Doug said.

“I’ll text you when we’re on our way over.”

They hung up, and she couldn’t deny the warm fuzzy talking with him gave her. Her interest in him felt genuine and intense. Not, as her last therapist had said, co-dependent or needy. She didn’t need Doug, but she respected and liked him from everything she knew of him so far. Even trusted him. Which, for her, was an enormous deal.

It didn’t take long for Letisha to return to the Great Hall with her personal luggage, and a moment later Pauline and Maria did the same.

Wind battered the house, sending a whistling sound around the big home. The wood around them groaned in protest under the blizzard’s brutal force. A creaking above made Sybil train her gaze on the chandelier in the Great Hall. It didn’t move.

“God, I can’t wait for this winter to be over already,” Pauline said with a huff. “I need a vacation on the beach.”

The knocker on the front door banged, and they all started and exchanged glances.

“Wait, Doug didn’t say he was coming over, right?” Pauline asked.

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