“I wonder how she does it?”
“I asked her that once.” Gwen rapped on the front door. “She said something about tuning the frequencies of the stones and a lot of other stuff I didn’t quite understand.”
“Sam is very interested in techniques for tuning paranormal crystals. I wonder if Louise would be willing . . . Huh.”
She turned to look at Judson over her shoulder. “What?”
She realized he was looking down at his ring. The amber-gold crystal was glowing ever so faintly.
“My ring,” he said. He looked grim. “I think it’s responding to the chimes.”
“Or maybe it’s picking up on your psychic response to the music.”
“Maybe.”
Max pawed the door of the carrier, meowing softly.
Gwen turned back to the door and knocked again, more forcefully this time. No one responded.
Judson abruptly set the cat carrier down on the porch.
“Get away from the door, Gwen,” he ordered.
She did not argue. Now she, too, could sense the darker currents swirling beneath the exotic energy of the chimes. The music of the sculptures had initially masked some of the violent energy that was seeping out of the house.
“Oh, damn.” Her hand froze in mid-rap. She backed away. “Not again. This can’t be happening.”
Judson was already at the door. The gun had materialized in his hand as if by magic.
He opened the screen door and tried the doorknob. It turned easily. Gwen knew that was not right. Louise always kept her doors locked.
When he opened the door, the draft stirred the chimes in the hallway. The spectral music sounded like the wailing of doomed souls.
There was a sudden clattering somewhere deep inside the house. It was followed by the thud-thud-thud of running footsteps.
“That’s not Louise,” Gwen said. “She had severe arthritis. She could never move that fast.”
“Stay here,” Judson said.
He raced down the hall.
Max snarled and began attacking the door of the carrier with his claws and teeth. The spitting, hissing and scratching grew increasingly violent.
“Stop that, Max,” Gwen said. “Please.”
The door of the carrier flew open. Max shot out. He dashed across the porch and into the house.
Before Gwen could react, she heard a familiar voice screaming in panic somewhere inside the house.
“Let me go, let me go,” Nicole Hudson shouted. “Please, I swear I won’t tell anyone—”
“Take it easy.” Judson’s voice echoed along a hallway. “No one’s going to hurt you.”
To Gwen’s surprise, Nicole obeyed. At least she stopped the hysterical shrieking and subsided, instead, into jerky, frightened sobs.
“Please don’t hurt me,” she whimpered. “I won’t tell Chief Oxley.”
“Tell him what?” Judson asked.
“About what I saw in the basement,” Nicole whispered. “Please.”
“Let’s go see what it is you’re not going to tell anyone about,” Judson said. He raised his voice. “Come on in, Gwen.”
Gwen moved through the doorway. She groped for the hall light switch and found it. But when she flipped it, nothing happened.
Judson appeared at the end of the hall. The gun was no longer in sight. He had a firm grip on Nicole’s arm.
“I just tried the switch at the other end of the hall,” Judson said. “The power is out. Looks like someone got to the electrical panel.”
“It wasn’t me,” Nicole whimpered.
“What’s going on?” Gwen said. But she knew.
“Where’s the body?” Judson asked Nicole.
“Downstairs in the basement,” Nicole said. She gave him a pleading look. “Someone killed Louise.”
“What makes you think she was murdered?” Gwen asked quietly. “Was there blood?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t go down there.”
“But you’re sure she’s dead?” Gwen asked.
“I think so. She died the way the others did.” Nicole looked at Gwen with an expression of veiled horror and then looked away very quickly. “Just like the others. Everyone will think it was a heart attack or that she tripped on the basement stairs. Or something. No one will be able to prove that it was murder.”
“Let’s go take a look,” Judson said.
“Please, I don’t want to go down there,” Nicole whispered.
“Where are the basement stairs?” Judson asked.
“That way,” Nicole muttered. She gestured toward a hall.
Judson steered her in the direction that she had indicated. Gwen followed. Max appeared at her feet, crowding close. His ears were flat and his tail was high.
“There you are,” Gwen said quietly. “I wondered where you went.”
They halted in front of an open door midway along the hall. Concrete steps descended into an inky darkness split by a sharp beam of bright light that angled across the concrete floor.
“A flashlight,” Judson said. “She took it with her when she went downstairs to check the electrical panel.”
Max wove a restless path between Gwen’s legs and muttered urgently in the mysterious language of felines. The sepulchral music of the sculptures that hung from the ceiling seemed to grow louder. Should have closed the front door, Gwen thought. The draft was getting stronger.
Nicole froze at the top of the steps. “I don’t want to go down.”
“We’re all going down together,” Judson said. “And remind me to ask you later what the hell you were doing here in the first place.”
Nicole started reluctantly down the steps. “I just wanted to talk to her.”
“Did you bring your father’s old hunting rifle along for the chat?” Judson asked.”
“No, I swear, I didn’t bring it.” Nicole stopped, gripped the railing and stared back at him. “I know what you’re thinking. Oxley came by the shop. He said you thought I took a shot at you out at the old lodge yesterday, but that wasn’t me. He asked me to show him Dad’s old rifle but I couldn’t find it. Someone stole it.”
“Yeah?” Judson made it clear he didn’t believe a word Nicole was saying. “When did that happen?”
“How should I know?” Nicole wailed. “I keep it in my grandmother’s cedar chest. I haven’t had any reason to open that chest in months.”
“You’re lying,” Judson said. “We can go over the details later.”