CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
The sun shone a bit too brightly through the window the next morning. Jess would have liked to sleep longer, but someone was knocking lightly on their door. Head pounding from lack of sleep, she rolled over and looked at her roommate, hoping she’d answer it seeing as her bed was closer to the hallway. Allison was sleeping like the dead. There was another, louder tap on the door.
Ugh!
“Just a second!” Jess called. Wiping her bleary eyes, she forced herself from the bed and stumbled to the door. Allison merely grumbled something and rolled into her pillow. Jess raked a hand through her hair and opened the door a crack.
A woman wearing the standard Siler House maid uniform stood before her. Jess didn’t recognize her, but that didn’t mean a lot. Since they’d been here, three maids had either given notice or just walked off the job—like the gardener had done last week.
The woman smiled. “Dr. Brandt sent me to check on you and Miss Giles. Are you two all right? It’s after nine o’clock and he wondered if you were joining him for breakfast.”
Who was this cheery in the morning?
She opened the door a little further. “Where’s Mrs. Hirsch?”
The maid gave a slight shrug. “I don’t think she’s in today. Should I tell Dr. Brandt you’ll be down shortly?”
Another polite smile.
“Not in? She lives here. I mean, she’s been staying here with the rest of us.”
“Sorry. I’m sure you could ask Dr. Brandt.”
“Tell him we’ll be down in a few.”
With that, the maid turned on her heel and headed back down the hall.
“Who was that?” Allison asked, voice still heavy with sleep.
Jess closed the door. “I don’t know. One of the maids. Another new one.”
Allison looked at the clock and leapt from the bed. “It’s after nine! Mrs. Hirsch will be up here next if we don’t get downstairs!” She slid out of her sleepwear and grabbed last night’s pair of shorts from the floor.
Jess stretched, trying to shake off the sleep that wanted to reclaim her. She changed out her sleepwear as well, also putting on last night’s clothes. After breakfast, she’d come back and take a shower. A nice, long one. “The maid said Mrs. Hirsch wasn’t here today.”
Allison stopped brushing her hair and turned to face Jess, surprise evident on her face.
“Yeah,” Jess replied, sliding on her sneakers without bothering to unlace them first. “That’s what I thought, too. It’s why I want to hurry up and get downstairs. Don’t you think it’s a bit too weird?”
Allison nodded as they left the room. “Think she saw something and quit? It’d sure make things go more smoothly.”
Jess nearly laughed. “If she didn’t quit after seeing what happened with Bryan and the knives, she never will.”
“You never know. Mrs. Hirsch walked around at all hours. Alone. She’s likely to have seen anything. Maybe she found some way to leave. We could hope, right? For her sake?”
It was possible, but Jess still didn’t feel right about it. Mrs. Hirsch just wouldn’t have quit. And if they were stuck here, then Mrs. Hirsch had to be, too. The house had affected everyone who stayed here around the clock.
What if she had gone the way of Dr. Brandt? What if she was so taken by the house that she’d holed herself up in one of the rooms?
What if she’d uncovered one of the mirrors?
Jess envisioned Mrs. Hirsch, a crazed look on her face and a large, shiny knife in her hand.
…She cut off their heads with a carving knife, have you ever seen such a sight in your life…
Stop it! Just stop it right now!
Her mother’s words rang in her head. Your imagination. Your misplaced imagination.
“When’s the last time you saw her?” Jess asked.
“Yesterday. Last night, maybe? You don’t think Riley or the house…” Allison trailed off.
Jess forced a smile, trying not to recall Allison’s words about how pissed the house would be once it realized what they were up to. “No. I’m sure she’s around here someplace.”
She gave the second floor hallway a quick glance as they passed it. No Gage or Bryan. “I saw her when she went through the Great Room, but that was it.”
“She was in the hall right after you left to go downstairs,” Allison said. “I heard a couple of the doors open and close—you know, like she always does when she’s on patrol.”
“But did you actually see her?” Jess asked as they headed into the dining room. Dr. Brandt sat at the table sipping coffee, an empty plate in front of him.
Allison shook her head. “No, but I’m sure it was her. It’s what she always does.”
“Hey!” Bryan said as he exited the kitchen with a plate and coffee.
“Coffee sounds really good.” Jess said, deciding that coffee outweighed everything this morning, including Mrs. Hirsch’s whereabouts. Allison followed her into the kitchen.
Gage had already poured himself his own mug. Jess watched as he took a sip. Only Gage could make sipping a cup of coffee sexy. He hadn’t even bothered to comb his hair. Jess resisted the urge to run her hands through it to make it even messier. It was a strange thought in the midst of all they had going on today, but thinking of them together, alone again with nothing else to worry about, sounded like heaven right now.
“We could use bigger mugs.” He smiled as he walked past Allison. He leaned in as he neared Jess. “Not that I’m complaining about the lack of sleep,” he said quietly.
Before Jess could reply, he left the kitchen.
She poured some coffee, added milk and sugar, tossed a Danish onto a plate and followed Allison out of the kitchen and into the dining room.
“So, what happened?” Bryan asked Dr. Brandt. “Did she say?”
Dr. Brandt gave a slight nod to Jess and Allison and waited for them to take a seat. Once they were settled, he said, “Bryan was just asking about Mrs. Hirsch. She’s not going to be joining us for a week or so. Family emergency.”
He turned to address Bryan, his demeanor calm and casual. His face was a mask, totally unreadable. “No, she didn’t explain.”
“That was sudden,” Gage added. “We just saw her last night.”
Dr. Brandt offered a thin smile. “These things happen. That’s why they call them emergencies.”
“So she just up and left?” Jess said. “How is that possible?”
“I imagine she left right through the front door,” Dr. Brandt answered.
He doesn’t know? He honestly has no idea the house is keeping them? Liar!
But, what if it wasn’t keeping everyone? What if it was keeping just them? She’d only assumed it kept everyone who stayed, but what if it was selective?
Brandt pushed his empty plate aside and folded his hands on the table. “I think the time has come to do the séance.”
Brandt’s gaze fell on all of them, one by one. Allison stopped chewing, Bryan nearly spit out his coffee. Jess dropped her Danish back onto her plate. Only Gage seemed unfazed.
“Tonight,” Brandt finished.
Jess looked down at her plate.
“After dinner, there won’t be any staff present, and there won’t be any of the construction crew here. And, with Mrs. Hirsch gone, it’s just the five of us. We might not get an opportunity like this anytime soon.” Brandt grinned again and Jess didn’t like it. Had he heard them last night? Maybe he’d been listening to them through an open upstairs window.
“I think it’s safest this way, don’t you agree?” Brandt pulled a yellow notepad and a pen from the leather portfolio beside his chair. It’d been a while since he’d actually written anything down.
“We’ll need to record it, of course,” he went on, not waiting on anyone’s acceptance or refusal—not even Allison’s. He looked up, though he continued to write. “I leave that part to you, Bryan. You already know how to operate the video camera.”
Bryan nodded casually. “Sure.”
Dr. Brandt went back to scribbling on the note pad. The four of them exchanged a quick glance.
Now what? their expressions seemed to say. Would Brandt have them send Riley back or would he insist they try to control him somehow? Did he actually believe Allison could handle that?
No, Jess decided. If Gage and Allison were right, and she believed they were, then Brandt would want, no expect them to control the situation.
Well, crap!
“We’ll meet down here at ten,” Dr. Brandt said. “We’ll gather the equipment and set up in the music room. Then, we should go over what we’ll each be expected to do. We’ll hold the séance at midnight.”
His gaze fell on Allison as though waiting for her to protest.
If it was at all possible, Allison appeared even more pale than usual. She sat down the last of her Danish. Allison put her hands in her lap and began to wring them underneath the tablecloth in an attempt to hide her anxiety. She offered Brandt a thin smile.
Jess wanted to reach over to Allison, to offer her comfort.
Good, hold it together, Allison. Just hold it together.
Bryan swallowed his food and cleared his throat. “Why the music room?”
Dr. Brandt shrugged as though this was obvious. “Because that’s where Jess has had the most sightings of Gracie and Emma. It’s where she’s been practicing the most, and I think that’s where the house’s energy is the strongest.”
And that settles that, Jess thought. Now they had to think of a contingency plan that included Dr. Brandt.