“Oh, man…the last time I saw him was when you caught us in the house, Liam. He must have gone back. I told him not to. I told him that you were watching the place…that the cops would be keeping an eye on it. But…oh, man! You don’t know what happened?” Vargas asked. He sounded scared.
“That’s the last time you saw him?” Liam pressed.
Vargas squinted hard, thinking. “Yeah, that was the last time I saw him. Oh, man. He was young. He might have… Well, he could play a guitar. He might have had a chance.”
“Yeah, he was young,” Liam agreed.
“Lord, oh, Lord,” Vargas said.
“Look, did you see or hear anything unusual? There were kids who had broken in as well, and they were terrified. They thought that someone—or something—was in the house with them,” Liam said.
Vargas sniffed loudly, about to burst into tears. He shook his head. “No. But you know what? I think that Gary was scared that day. He wanted to get out. He seemed uncomfortable in the house, you know?”
“Uncomfortable—that’s it?” Liam asked.
Vargas thought and lifted his hands. “Yeah. Well, you know, old man Merlin was a weirdo. There were all kinds of things in that house. I mean, there’s a goddamned mummy in the place. Gargoyles. Coffins. He was weird. And those animal heads! It’s a flipping horror house, really, you know?”
“There’s absolutely nothing else you can tell me?” Liam asked.
Vargas thought. “Yeah, yeah, there is,” he said.
“What?” Liam asked.
“There’s the guy across the water.”
“What guy across the water?” Liam asked.
“Jonas. Jonas Weston. The guy who owns the bed-and-breakfast. Hell, I remember him when he was a little kid. Always watching the place. You know what? I think, even when he was a kid, he was jealous. I think he loved the house—weird as it was. You know what else? I think he had a thing for Kelsey Donovan. Yeah. Really. I think he wanted Kelsey Donovan, and I think he wanted Cutter Merlin’s house. I mean, he has a place, yeah. But it’s nothing like the Merlin house.”
“Vargas, Jonas Weston has always lived across the water. You can see the Merlin house from his place. There would be no way that he wouldn’t look at it,” Liam said.
Vargas sniffed. “He’s a fuckin’ Peepin’ Tom, that’s what he is. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen him watching the place.”
“You’ve seen him watching it?”
Vargas gave a brittle laugh. “Hell, yeah. Of course, I watched it before I went in. I watched him watching it. I had to wait until I knew he wasn’t watching it before I went in with Gary!”
“You’re telling me that you think that Jonas Weston did in Gary White—over the Merlin house?” Liam demanded.
Vargas shrugged. “What? You think Gary walked there to drop dead? No, I’ve seen that guy staring at the place, like he coveted it or something. And not just him. Oh, man. There’s the lawyer.”
“Richter? Joe Richter?” Liam asked.
Vargas nodded grimly. “He’s always hanging around. Driving out… I mean, before old man Merlin died, that guy was always driving out to kind of case the place, too, you know?”
“No, I don’t know. Not really.”
“Ask him. Ask Richter if he’s seen Gary White,” Vargas said. Tears welled into his eyes. “Gary. Gary’s dead. Maybe there is a curse on that house.”
“You believe in curses, Vargas? You don’t seem the type,” Liam told him.
“There’s one more person you should find out about,” Vargas said.
“Oh? And who is that?” Liam asked.
“That fellow—your friend. Your friend Ted, the guy who is such a genius and such an expert on old stuff. Yeah, you ought to be talking to him,” Vargas said.
“But shouldn’t I be talking to you?” Liam asked. “You were with Gary—the two of you broke into the house together.”
Vargas shook his head. “That’s the ticket, sir. That’s the ticket. Gary and I were in that house together. You need to check out all these people that you didn’t catch in it. I’m giving you three men I’ve seen staring at that place, dying to get their hands on the things that are in it. Mr. Joseph Richter, fine attorney, Mr. Jonas Weston—and Ted and his girl, Jaden. They’re the ones you ought to be grilling, Officer! Oh, yeah. Those folks.” He paused, shaking his head. Tears welled in his eyes again. “Gary. Oh, Lord, poor, poor Gary.”
He shivered ferociously.
“That house! That wretched Merlin house. There’s something that goes on there. Something in the brick, the concrete, the wood.” He looked up at Liam. “Don’t you understand? There’s something about it. It’s the house. The house is evil. Merlin was up to something. Devil worship, had to be. And because of what he did…something is there. Something that has lived there. Something malignant. Something that is… I’m telling you, something that is pure evil.”
9
It was five o’clock when they finally left O’Hara’s. Kelsey felt exceptionally brave due to Avery’s presence and several pints of Guinness. When Katie expressed concern and said that she and David and their immediate group would happily return to the house with her, she told Katie that she was going to be fine.