Page 93 of I'll Be Waiting

That frisson of electricity, making me gasp.

“Did he?” Shania says.

Cirillo’s look silences her, and I swallow and shake my head.

“I think I’m spooking myself,” I say. “The footsteps just keep circling the table.”

Stalking.

“Anton?” I say. “Please. If you’re here—”

A whisper sounds, and I jump. We all do. Jin is on his feet first, staring toward the door.

“Did everyone else hear that?” he asks.

“I heard something,” Shania says.

An indecipherable whisper comes from the next room. Then the voice becomes Anton’s.

“Nic,” he says, then another word I can’t catch and… “Love you.”

“Did you guys hear that?” Shania says.

“Holy shit, yes.” Jin heads for the door. “It came from in here.”

He takes off at a jog, and then Shania is on her feet, following. Cirillo grumbles, but he goes after them.

That’s when I realize the breakfast nook is empty. I can say whatever I want.

“Anton?” I whisper. “It seems we’re alone now.” My voice crackson a half laugh. “If you lured them out, thank you. Better make this quick.”

I take a deep breath. “I have questions about what happened with Patrice. I’m sorry. I know that you’re Roddy Silva’s nephew and—”

My chair flies back. One second I’m sitting there, trying to speak calmly, and then my chair flies backward and I hit the floor, my head smacking into the hardwood, the world going gray as I let out a startled cry of pain.

I don’t have time to process what happened before Jin is at my side, helping me up.

“What happened?” Shania says.

I hesitate only a split second. Then I see Jin’s expression, and I know if I admit my chair was yanked over backward, he’ll haul my ass out of this house.

“I fell,” I say, making a face as I rub the back of my head. “I was getting up to join you guys when my leg caught the chair and I went over backward.”

I don’t pause to see their expressions. I just make a show out of rubbing my head and grimace as I roll my eyes.

“Sorry, guys,” I say. “I messed up your séance, being a klutz.”

“It’s your séance,” Shania says, “and you didn’t mess up anything. We heard Anton, Nic. We really did.” She looks around. “Right? What did you guys hear?”

Jin glances at me, obviously not ready to ignore the fact that I just fell flat on my back.

“What did you hear?” I ask.

“He said your name,” Jin says, after a moment of obvious reluctance to change the subject. “Then that he loved you. When I got in there, I heard ‘Everything’s okay,’ and something I couldn’t catch.”

“He said ‘I’m fine.’” Shania’s voice was thrumming with excitement. “He said ‘Nic, I love you, everything’s okay, and I’m fine.’”

“I didn’t catch all of that,” Cirillo says, “but I heard enough toconfirm that it was an audible male voice, and I heard at least a third of those same words.”

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