Page 103 of Home Before Dark

E

Next came the bell that always rang twice. Last one on the first row.

LL

By the time the sole bell in the second row rang, I’d already matched it to its corresponding letter, spelling out the full word.

HELLO

“Hello?” I said, ignoring the absurd fact that not only was I right about a spirit spelling out words, but I was now also speaking aloud to said spirit. “Who is this?”

The bells rang again, this time in a different configuration.

Third from the left on the first row.

C

Fourth from the right on the second row.

U

Various bells continued to ring, spelling out the name I’d already suspected.

CURTIS CARVER

“Curtis, did you speak to my daughter last night?”

The last bell on the second row chimed. Two more followed, one on the first and one on the second.

YES

“Did you tell her she was going to die here?”

The same three bells rang in the same order.

YES

I took a gulp, bracing myself for the question I didn’t want to ask but needed to.

“Do you plan on killing my daughter?”

There was a pause that might have only lasted five seconds but felt like an hour. During that time, I thought of what Curtis Carver had done to his daughter. The pillow over her face while she slept. How horrible it must have been for her if she woke up, and I’m certain that before the end came, Katie Carverdidwake up. I pictured the same thing happening to Maggie and became seized with panic.

Then a bell rang.

Second row.

Not at the very end but on the other side, second from the left.

N

The bell immediately to its right chimed next.

O

I exhaled—a long, heavy sigh of relief in which another question occurred to me. One I’d never considered because I thought I knew the answer since before we even moved into Baneberry Hall. But after seeing those two bells tilt out their song, I began to doubt that what I’d been told was true.

“Curtis,” I said. “Did you kill your daughter?”

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