Page 61 of From the Darkness

“Because I’m trying to figure out what’s happening at Ravencrest.”

Dinah nodded. “He said Mommy was driving—but they were fighting, so he felt like it was his fault.”

Bree stroked the child’s shoulder. “Thank you for telling me.”

“Did that help you understand?”

“Yes,” she answered. At least it confirmed what Troy had told her, although it still might not be true. And it didn’t explain a lot of other things, of course. But he had been upset. He had turned to his minister for comfort. And it seemed unlikely that he would lie to the man under the circumstances.

For several moments, she refocused on the book, turning the pages, studying pictures of the family. When you looked casually at the photographs, the people looked happy. But if you examined the images more carefully, you picked up signs of tension.

She saw a tightness in Troy’s jaw and a sullen look she came to recognize in Grace’s eyes. They seemed like people who weren’t entirely comfortable with each other but were making the best of a bad situation. And the strain was getting to be too much for them.

The photos stopped abruptly, leaving a dozen blank pages at the back of the book.

“I wish there were more pictures,” Dinah said.

“Yes.” She wanted to say something else comforting, but she wasn’t sure what.

They were both quiet for a moment, then Bree reached into her pocket and pulled out the key that she’d discovered taped to the bottom of the desk drawer. She’d kept it with her since she’d found it. “There’s something else you might be able to help me with,” she said, holding it up. “Do you know what this key unlocks?”

The child stared at it. “I’ve seen Daddy with that key, she finally said. I think it opens his strongbox.”

Bree felt her heart thump in her chest. “Where does he keep his strongbox?”

“In his room.”

Where she’d been the night before. Where he’d made love to her. At least as far as he was willing to go—before he left her alone in bed. She’d silently vowed not to go there again. But now things had changed. She wasn’t going there to meet him. She was going to look for the strongbox.

Chapter Fourteen

Once again Bree found herself sitting on her bed, waiting for the house to settle down—so she could do what had been forbidden. Go to Troy’s room.

It was a risk she didn’t want to take. Because the better she got to know Dinah, the more she liked the child. If she got kicked out of Ravencrest, she felt like she’d be throwing the little girl to the wolves.

But at the same time, the key was burning a hole in her pocket. She’d been sent here to find out what was wrong, and whatever was in the strongbox might provide the answer. Which ultimately might be the only way to help Dinah.

“Damn you, Troy,” Bree murmured as she slipped out of her room and headed down the hall. “You’ve put me in a pretty uncomfortable situation.”

There was a stirring in the air, like the vibrations she’d felt in the grove, but more subtle. The atmosphere around her seemed to thicken, and she found her steps slowing as her forward progress was retarded by some invisible force.

“Stop it!” she muttered. “I’m going to your room, whether you like it or not.”

“What about Dinah?” Troy’s voice whispered from some hidden vantage point, his question echoing her own uncertainty.

“What about her?”

“You can’t risk getting fired.”

“That’s right. So, you do something about it,” she challenged.

There was a breathless moment when nothing apparently happened. Then the air in the hallway changed, so that she no longer felt like she was caught in molasses. Now the sensation was entirely different, as though she were in the middle of an invisible bubble that moved with her as she made her way down the hall and then up the stairs.

It might be an illusion, but she felt that inside the space, nobody could see her, although she didn’t want to put the theory to the test. So she hurried along, staying in the shadows as best she could.

When she came to the back stairway, she heard voices and stopped abruptly.

It was Abner and Nola talking again. Last night they’d seemed on edge. Tonight, the effect was magnified.

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