Page 26 of The Grave Robber

“She didn’t confide in us for years. Then one day, out ofthe blue, she told us she was being haunted. That a ghost had been followingher, of all things. We thought she was joking at first, but the more time thatpassed, the further into depression she sank, and we realized she believed,truly believed, she was cursed.”

I bent my head in thought. “How old was she?”

“When she told us? Fifteen.”

“But her behavior had already changed before that?”

He nodded. “Looking back, I’d say she’d been depressed forat least two years before that. Maybe three.”

“Years?” I asked, my astonishment—my prejudice—shiningthrough.

“I know.” He rubbed his forehead and sank into a leatherchair across from me. “Like I said, either she hid it really well, or we wereoblivious. I never thought we were bad parents until I saw that video. Itchanged everything. It’s not that we didn’t support her, but we never believedher. And now I know that was even worse.”

Part of me wanted to sympathize with him. With his plight.But to miss something so detrimental… It hit closer to home than I wanted toadmit.

Then again, this wasn’t about me. It was about Halle and howwe were going to perform a miracle. How we could change her fate.

I considered the video again as Donald spoke.

“I know she seems fine,” he said to me, “but don’t let herfool you. Ever since Emma died last year, Halle has gone into a tailspin. Sheputs on a brave face, but when she comes to work with dark circles under hereyes, hands shaking, and fingernails chewed to the quick… I’m at my wit’s end,Eric. I just don’t know what else to do. And now this?” He buried his face inhis hands, and a sob shook his shoulders.

“May I ask how your wife died?”

“Car accident. A horrible car accident. She overshot a curvein the mountains and… There was little left of her or the vehicle.”

My instincts kicked in so hard they almost knocked meunconscious, especially with the knowledge of what awaited Halle. “Was thereanything unusual about the accident?”

He blew his nose into a tissue and looked at me in surprise.“The whole damned thing was unusual.”

“Like?”

“She had no reason to be on that road, first of all. And amechanic speculated that her brakes failed, but we’d just had maintenance done.Those brakes were pristine.”

I had an inkling I knew what was going on, but I needed asegue that wouldn’t look suspicious. I came up with one and crossed my fingers.“You said your head of security checked out Halle’s houseboat after thishappened?”

“Yes.”

“I’d like to talk to him, see if he remembers anything outof the ordinary from that night.”

“I’ll get you his information.” He took out his phone tolook it up.

I cleared my throat and asked as nonchalantly as I could,“Did he install her security system?”

“Yes,” he said absently while scrolling through hiscontacts. “My company has used him for years, and he also takes care of ourhome security.”

I typed my next question into my phone, cleared my throatagain to get his attention, and turned it to show him my screen.

He furrowed his brows, read my message, and started toanswer. If I hadn’t slammed an index finger over my mouth to shush him, hewould’ve done just that. I pointed to his phone to clue him in.

After a moment of contemplation, he opened a notes app,typed his answer, and turned his cell to show me.

Seventeen years. Their security guy had worked for hiscompany for seventeen years. I’d recently heard that exact number from aNordstrom much prettier than Donald.

“So, Jason tells me you have a killer wine cellar.” Hedidn’t, but Donald was rich. All rich people had wine cellars, and they wereall killer.

When I nodded at Donald, encouraging him to play along, henodded back. “I do. Would you like to see it?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

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