Page 11 of Gumbo, Ghosts, and Deadly Deception
In that darkness, someone screamed.
Ripping my hand out of both Beau and Maggie’s, I stood up so fast that my chair tipped over and hit the floor.
“What’s happening?” Beau demanded. “Harper, where are you?”
“Relax, I’m turning the lights on.”
Someone was moaning. I surmised it was Ginger.
When I strode over to the wall, I flicked the lights back on and blinked at the sudden influx of light.
Everyone else was doing the same around the table.
Except for Delia.
She wasn’t in the room.
FOUR
I stared at the empty chair where Delia had been sitting just moments before.
Huh. She was obviously much more spry than I had expected. She’d looked tired all day and yet somehow she had managed to hot foot it out of the parlor in about twenty seconds.
But then I realized there was no way she could have left by the main parlor doors, because that’s where I had gone to flick the lights on. We would have essentially collided with each other or at least I would have sensed her presence. Right?
Yet the only trace of her presence was the faint scent of gardenias that seemed to grow stronger by the second.
She must have buzzed by me when I knocked the chair over.
"Where the hell did she go?" Maggie demanded, her tutu rustling as she spun around to check the corners of the room.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Beau exclaimed. “Did you see that candle? It was like a torch!”
"Language," Father Claude murmured again, but his heart wasn't in it. His face had gone pale above his collar, and his hands were shaking slightly as he reached for his wine glass.
I had no doubt Claude was already dusting off his exorcism speech. He would obviously conclude this was demons.
Hollis was already on his feet, his detective instincts kicking in. "Everyone stay where you are. Don't touch anything." He pulled out his phone and hit the flashlight, scanning the room methodically. "Harper, are there other exits from this room?"
"Just the doorway we came through," I said, my voice sounding oddly calm despite the fact that my heart was doing a tap dance in my chest. "And the windows, but they're painted shut and haven't been opened in decades."
Which may or may not be a fire hazard for a B&B but that was a concern for another day.
Beau was still gripping the edge of the table, his knuckles white. "This is impossible. She was right there. We were all holding hands?—"
"Were we, though?" Ginger interrupted, her crystal necklaces jangling as she gestured dramatically. "Because I could swear I felt my connection break right before the lights went out. Like someone let go."
“It was probably the skunk,” Hollis muttered.
"That was me," I admitted. "I dropped everyone's hands when I heard the scream."
"But whose scream was it?" Maggie asked, her investigative instincts clearly kicking in. "Because it didn't sound like Delia."
Hollis continued his methodical examination of the room while we talked. "The windows are definitely sealed. No way she could have gotten through them without making noise." He paused at the doorway, shining his light into the hallway. "And I would have seen her if she'd gone past me toward the front door. But she obviously did, because she’s not here.”
Teddy, who had been unusually quiet during the séance, suddenly leaped from his chair and waddled toward the staircase with purpose. He paused at the bottom step and looked back at us, chittering softly.
"Teddy thinks she went upstairs," I said, because after living with him for two years, I'd learned to trust his instincts more than most humans'.
