“She’s been talking to him about this case? And he’s...he knows things that he might not otherwise know.” Mitch nodded. “What does she know that made him take this...she knows it all, doesn’t she?”
“Yes. She’s friends with Connie Aster, Steele’s grandmother, who wants to meet you by the way. Anyway, she hooked Mrs. Wilson up with a couple of the people that didn’t make it out alive, and she in turn told her husband. I didn’t think this wasn’t going to trial. The judge is going to expose them and what they’ve done to us.”
Vinnie tried to wrap her mind around the fact that the ghosts were going to help her and Mitch. Not that she didn’t believe they were out there. It was just that they were not at all like she’d been told as a child. Well, Mitch was getting the most help, but her too. Mitch was called over to speak to Roger, and she leaned against the dark part of the wall. As she stood there thinking about everything she’d been told and what was actually true, she saw someone. As her aunt moved toward her, Vinnie wanted to run and hide.
Please don’t. He had no idea that I was coming here. Vinnie looked at Mitch and her aunt laughed. Not him. He can see me, as can most of the others in this room right now. Your father doesn’t know. I wanted to talk to you. I’m glad you can see me now.
Why can I see you now? Millicent only shrugged. This is a trick, isn’t it? Father is going to come here now and hurt everyone somehow. You’re just setting me up so I’ll lower my guard or something. I have news for you, I won’t let that happen.
Me either. Vinnie followed her aunt to the chair in the back of the courtroom and sat down when she looked like she had as well. I was wondering how we could speak in such a crowded room. I suppose we can talk like this because we’re blood related. You think?
Vinnie just realized then that they were talking through a link that had formed between them when she’d turned twenty-five. Her aunt would torment her at night when she’d be out trying to make herself safe, and had on occasion scared her so badly that Vinnie had stayed cowering in her room for fear of being hurt. Her Aunt Millie wasn’t a nice person.
I have no idea. Why are you here? Millicent looked hurt, but Vinnie had had enough of her aunt and her ways to last several lifetimes. If you have a message from Father, I don’t want to hear it.
I think you do…I think you need to. He’s going to kill you and Mitch. Steele and the rest of them too if he can get close enough. And having your house is going to make that possible. She asked her how she knew. I talked to your mother. She told me everything, even things that I’m sure she didn’t mean for me to know. I still have the power to command her, which in this case came in handy. Your father and mother are plotting against you and Mitch.
What does my house have to do with all of this? And the treasure that you told Mitch about. And so you know, there isn’t one that we can find. And Hugo and I have been all over the tunnels. Millicent nodded and asked her about the vault, and whether she’d found that one. No. There is a safe in the office and the one that I have in my rooms, but that’s not what you mean, is it?
No. Somewhere in the tunnel systems is a dead wall. I’m not sure why she’s calling it that, but that is what she has in her head. I’m thinking she means false wall, and that you have to know where it is to find it. The wall can be moved, and behind it is a large vault, like you’d find in a larger bank. She showed me a picture of it even. It has one wall that has drawers in it, as well as another wall that has old trunks in it. I’m not sure what are in those, and your mother didn’t seem to know either, but they’re treasure chests, she calls them. Vinnie asked her what they were going to do with this treasure. Pay a witch to bring your father back.
Will that work? Aunt Millie said she had no idea, but he believed it, as did her mother. And the tunnels. Does he have it in his head that he can use them to get around the city? Or...he thinks he can get into houses this way, doesn’t he?
He knows he can. There are no plans for the house you live in, and up until you banned them from your home, your father was going through all of them looking for where they might lead. Amber said your father would explore the tunnels, then come to her to have her write the information down for him. She has known about this all from the very beginning, and her duty was to make you allow her to live with you so that they’d have all the access they needed. Vinnie asked her why she was helping her. Because...because I’ve come to realize that I wasn’t a nice person. There was no reason for me to treat you or anyone as I did. And now I find that while it’s too late for most of the things I did to everyone, I might be able to help you. That means a great deal to me.