Page 41 of One Last Whisper

Then her grin vanishes. She opens her mouth wide, and an unearthly howl emanates from her throat. “Help me! Oh God! Help me!”

***

My head hits the floor hard enough to see stars. I gasp and press my hands to my forehead, gasping and shivering. I am soaked in sweat, and while the details of my nightmare are already fading, I remember my sister’s ghost with her empty eyes and her distended grin.

No, not my sister. I don’t know what the creature was, but that wasnotAnnie. Some horrible monster my psyche created assaults me in my dreams as it assaulted me thirty years ago, warning me of some terrible price I must pay for my wrongdoing.

Perhaps this is why I don’t look for Annie for twenty-eight years. Perhaps I am so frightened that I choose to hide rather than fight.

Help me!

It’s the cry on the wind once more, only clear and loud this time. I press my lips together grimly. My nightmare is far too terrifying for me to be frightened by what I hear now.

I rise to my feet. My head throbs, but the shivering has subsided. I am not the frightened young woman I was when my sister left. I am not the shell I was in that hospital. I have thirty years of experience dealing with guilt and fear, and I have faced living enemies more deadly than any ghost my mind can conjure up.

This ghost pleads for my help. Whether it is a trick of the wind or the embodiment of the women who have disappeared within these walls, it begs for succor. And I shall provide it.

I dress in warm clothing, not a nightgown and slippers. I don’t know what I’ll face when I reach my destination, but I will be prepared for it.

I leave my room and walk upstairs. I hear wailing coming from all around me, and when I reach the third floor, lightning flashes through the windows. The portraits of lords past stare down at me, commanding me to turn back. I ignore them.

When I reach the library, I find the door locked. I’m not surprised by this. I’m also not deterred.

I get to my knees and slip one bobby pin through the keyhole with the flat side up. I insert the second flat side down and use the ridges on the bobby pin to gently find and lift the tumblers. The lock clicks, and I open the door.

A blast of cold air seems to come from the room, and a loud moan follows it. I am drawing closer to the abode of the spirits.

Lightning flashes outside as I approach the bookcase, where I nearly find the secret room. It reveals fantastic shapes, monsters and demons, and murderers and ghosts.

Let them all come.

My phone buzzes.

The sound is so… ordinary. It shocks me out of the fugue I’m in. Lightning flashes again, and I realize I haven’t switched on the lights.

I do that, and the room looks far more ordinary. Once more, it’s just a library. Lightning strikes once more, and there are no demons or ghosts outside. Just rain.

I pull my phone from my pocket, a trifle embarrassed at my fanciful thoughts. Still, Ididintend to explore this library, so maybe the nightmare and the fugue it left me in weren’t bad things. I hadn’t intended to sleep, but sleep took me anyway. My nightmare released me.

My phone rings again. Sean. This time, I answer.

“Hello?”

“Mary, I got the financial records you sent me. I think you might be right about Lord Edmund.”

My eyes widen. “What have you discovered?”

“Well,youdiscovered that House Blackwood is nearly bankrupt. I pulled that thread and learned that House Raynor is not. In fact, they are quite wealthy.”

“Who is House Raynor?”

“That would be Lady Cordelia’s maiden name. Cordelia Raynor.”

My eyes widen, but then my brow furrows. “Does their money not solve Lord Blackwood’s problem?”

“It does if Lady Cordelia is no longer with us. You see, Lord Raynor is a staunch opponent of Lord Blackwood in the House of Lords. When he learned his daughter was marrying his enemy, he cut her off from her estate. However, he neglected tocancel her life insurance policy. And wouldn’t you know it, Lord Blackwood is the beneficiary of that policy.”

I gasp softly. “So if he kills her, he gets her money.”

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