Halfway down the steps, another unsettling shiver of awareness stirred Gwen’s senses. She realized that Max was no longer talking to her. She glanced back and saw that the cat was not following her down into the basement. She could see him silhouetted in the doorway. He had gone very still, very alert, at the top of the steps. But he was not watching her and the others. His attention was fixed on something only he could see.
The dark music of the chimes was growing more intense, almost painful. The wind keened through the old house. The shadows in the hallway lengthened as the storm gathered outside.
The light shifted abruptly down below in the basement. Startled, Gwen turned quickly and saw that Judson had picked up the flashlight. She made herself take a deep, steadying breath.
Judson played the light beam across the body. Louise was sprawled faceup on the cold concrete. The ropes of her long gray braids were tumbled around her head. She had always been thin, but in death she appeared gaunt, almost skeletal. Her sharp features were so starkly etched that it was as if her skin had been drawn tight over her skull.
The violent energy pooling in the room left no doubt as to the cause of death. She knew from the way Judson was studying the body that he was picking up the same vibes and probably a lot more information than she could.
“Poor Louise,” Gwen whispered.
“This was murder,” Judson said.
Nicole cringed and turned away from the body. “You can’t blame this on me.”
Judson ignored her to sweep the beam of the flashlight around the small space. The light raked across crates and boxes filled with crystals, mirrors, and the metals that Louise used in her sculptures.
Judson shifted the light again, aiming in another direction. “The electrical panel is over there on that wall. But she was here, near this crate when she died. If she came downstairs to check the panel, why did she end up over here?”
The light danced across a handful of palm-sized crystals in the shape of teardrops that lay on the floor near the body. Gwen followed the ray of light and was not surprised when a ghost appeared in one of the crystals.
“I knew you would get here sooner or later,” the specter said. “Took you long enough.”
Judson moved the light past the crystal. The ghostly image disappeared.
“Wait,” Gwen said. “Move the light back to those crystals on the floor.”
Judson did not ask any questions. He swept the beam back to the stones.
“See a ghost?” he asked matter-of-factly.
“Yes.” Gwen went toward the crystals.
“Ghost?” Nicole yelped, beyond terrified now. “You two are crazier than the old witch was.”
Gwen did not bother to respond to that. Neither did Judson. He kept the beam of light aimed at the crystals
Gwen crouched down to take a closer look. The ghost snorted in disgust.
“So much for that psychic talent of yours,” the ghost said. “What good does it do you? You’re always too late. Now you’ll have to live with the knowledge that you couldn’t save me from the demon, just like you couldn’t save Evelyn.”
“Don’t start with me,” Gwen said. “You’re the one who claimed to be a witch. Shouldn’t you have seen this coming? You knew I was in town. You could have picked up the phone. Except you don’t have a phone, do you? Or anything else in the way of technology.”
“Oh, shit,” Nicole whispered. “Does she really think she’s talking to Louise’s ghost?”
“Something like that,” Judson said. He kept the flashlight aimed at the crystals. “Keep quiet.”
“You want me to shut up?” Nicole was incensed. “She’s the one talking to a dead woman’s ghost.”
“You think that makes her weird?” Judson said. “You’re the one who had an affair with a serial killer.”
“What?” Nicole gasped. “No, no, that’s not right. It can’t be right. Zander couldn’t have been the killer. Gwen’s the one who murdered those people two years ago and now Evelyn and Louise.”
“Quiet, both of you,” Gwen said. “I need to concentrate. What were you doing here, Louise?”
“I knew all about your little problem with seeing ghosts at crime scenes, remember,” the ghost said.
“I remember,” Gwen said.
“Obviously, I came down here to see what was wrong with the electrical panel, but then the demon appeared. I knew that he had come to kill me. I was about to be murdered. I did my best to leave you a message.”
“You managed to open this box of crystals before you died,” Gwen said, looking the scene over.
“The demon didn’t understand that I was trying to leave a message for you.”
“Just like Evelyn did with the photo.” Gwen studied the scene, thinking. “Very few people know about my thing with ghosts.”
“No, you’ve kept that quiet all of your life, haven’t you?” the vision said.
“It’s awkward.”
“Tell me about it. I see demons, remember? At least I used to see them.”
Gwen opened her senses a little further, deepening the trance as she sought to see the unseen. “Tell me something I don’t already know.”
“I would if I could, but you know it doesn’t work that way. All I can do is lay a heavy guilt trip on you so that you’ll feel compelled to find the person who did this,” the ghost said.
“The first step is to figure out why someone would want to kill you.”
“Witches have never been popular, but we have our uses. Evelyn had need of my talents, remember?”
“How were you involved in this thing?” Gwen asked.
“Obviously, I knew something that Evelyn knew. After the demon got rid of her, he had to get rid of me, as well.”
“But why now?”
A violent series of hellish musical chords crashed through house. The explosion of wild notes charged the atmosphere with a fierce, painful energy. At the top of the stairs, Max screeched.
The dream-trance shattered, Gwen whirled around.
“Max,” she said.
The big cat was silhouetted against an ambient glow of ultra-light energy. His back was arched, his tail rigid. He snarled at something that could not be seen from the basement.
Nicole shrieked.
“What’s happening?” she yelped.
Gwen grabbed her shoulder. “Hush,” she whispered. She used a little energy to drive home the message.
Nicole stopped the earsplitting scream, but she started to shake uncontrollably. “There’s something here in this house, isn’t there? It’s going to kill us just like it killed Louise.”