Katie shook her head vehemently. “No names.”
“All right. I can do that.” Sarah’s smile bordered on elfin. “Spirit,” she addressed the board. “Will Katie become entangled with a man in Point Pleasant?”
Katie tried to make her mind blank. She was attracted to Ryan, but didn’t want the others to know. He thought of her as a friend, nothing more. Few men would want to become involved with a single mother who had an eight-year-old. And yet the more she thought of Ryan, the more she influenced the “spirit.”
The planchette slid across the board to YES.
Sarah beamed a triumphant smile. “What is his name?”
Warmth flooded Katie’s cheeks as the plastic heart moved to the alphabet. She braced herself, waiting to see an R in the clear plastic window. But the heart-shaped diviner skimmed away to the opposite end of the board.
“C.” Sarah read the letter aloud, clearly befuddled by the results. Other letters followed before the planchette was still. O-L-D. Sarah looked directly at Katie. “C-O-L-D. Cold? What does that mean?”
A draft of air scuttled through the room, sending the candle flames flickering.
Katie shivered. “I don’t know.” The frivolity she’d felt moments before was replaced by a sensation of dread. “I suddenly have a bad feeling.”
Sarah wet her lips. “Spirit, who is Deputy Brown?”
Katie flinched, unprepared for the question. A bubble of anxiety mushroomed in her stomach. “We shouldn’t ask—” Before she could finish, the planchette slid to the bottom of the board, stopping abruptly on GOODBYE. Katie jerked her hands back as if stung. “What happened?”
Sarah gave a little laugh, but her face had paled. “It ended the session on its own.”
“Is this where we whistle the theme song for the Twilight Zone?” Eve asked, obviously trying to lighten the tone.
Katie scuffed her hands against her arms. “It’s cold in here, isn’t it? That’s what Jerome kept mumbling the night I found him…about being cold.”
“Well, it is October.” Eve walked quickly to the wall switch and flipped on the light.
Katie glanced at Sarah. The other woman nibbled on her thumbnail, her gaze glued to the Ouija board. “Did you ever have that happen before?” Katie asked. “The thing signing off like that?”
“Maybe. I can’t remember.” Sarah offered a smile, but it seemed false. “I haven’t played since we were kids.” She moved to the end of the table and blew out the candles. “It’s just a bunch of creepy fun, Katie.”
“What does it mean when the planchette goes to good-bye?” Katie persisted.
“That’s how you end the session with a spirit.” Sarah waved a hand over the smoke spiraling up from the candle wicks, dispersing the streams into the air.
“If you believe that stuff,” Eve added quickly. “Like Sarah said, it’s just a bunch of silly, creepy fun.”
“If you want to know more about it, ask your mom.” Sarah removed the game piece from the board and looked around for the box.
“Sarah.” Eve sounded annoyed.
“My mom?” Katie looked between the two, perplexed. “What would she know about a Ouija board?”
“Um…” As if realizing she’d blundered, Sarah bit her lip. “It’s just what I heard when I was a kid. I remember my mom talking about Doreen Sue and how she was into all that stuff about spirits and UFOs.”
Katie stiffened. She’d purposefully shut her mind off to the time her mother tried everything and anything—including talking to mediums and using Ouija boards—to learn Wendy’s whereabouts.
“That was a long time ago,” Eve said.
“You’re right.” Sarah folded up the board and placed it into the box. Before she could say another word, the phone rang. All three women jumped in response.
Eve laughed nervously. “See what talking to spirits does?”
As she stepped into the kitchen to grab the phone, Katie blew out the remaining candles.
Their nerves probably had a lot to do with the setting—candlelit darkness and a séance-like atmosphere. It had to be coincidence that the very word Jerome kept mumbling when she’d found him was also the word the board had spelled tonight. As Eve pointed out, it was October. Naturally, it was cold.
“Katie.” Eve returned from the kitchen, her face white and taut. “Your mom’s on the phone for you. She’s at the hospital with Sam.”
“Hospital?” Alarm sent Katie racing for the kitchen. Clasping the phone to her ear, she spoke in a breathless rush. “Mom, what happened? What’s wrong?”
“Don’t panic. It’s nothing serious.” Her mother attempted to sound calm, but a jittery edge made her voice wobble. “We’re in the ER. Sam’s eyes are swollen shut.”
“Oh dear God.”
“He’s going to be all right, honey. I’m sure of it. But you need to come as soon as you can.”
Katie closed her eyes. Cold did not begin to describe the icy fear clutching her heart.
Katie cupped her forehead in her hand. The stiff vinyl chair in the ER was anything but comfortable. The nurses had allowed her to see Sam briefly before ushering her to the waiting room, saying they needed space to work.
“Nothing to be alarmed about.” The doctor, a young man who barely looked past college age, had done his best to assure her Sam would be fine. “A bad case of conjunctivitis. We’ve actually had several turn up lately. Your mother did the right thing in bringing your son here.”
Pinkeye. Sam was in the hospital with an acute case of pinkeye.
“You should have called me sooner.” Katie didn’t bother to hide her displeasure when she raised her head to speak to her mother. Eve and Sarah had wanted to come to the hospital with her, but she’d overridden their pleas, promising to call when she had news. Something she’d done a few minutes ago. There was no sense in three semi-drunk women camping out in the ER.