“I don’t know.”
As we stood gazing up at the house, another crack sounded. And then another. I had a momentary image of Pell firing down at us from one of the upper balconies until Thane said, “Jesus. The house must be shifting off the foundation. The beams are snapping.”
He took my hand, and we sprinted up the drive and across the lawn. Two cars were parked in front.
“Bryn and Catrice are here,” he said. “I wonder if they’re waiting for Luna.”
“They’re in for a surprise, then,” I said grimly.
The steps had separated from the porch and the whole structure seemed to shudder as we leaped across the gap.
Inside, the sounds of the storm mingled with the creaks and moans of centuries old timbers. Rain poured through the roof and seeped down walls to puddle on floors that had already buckled from old leaks. The power flickered, and I could hear an electric sizzle as fissures appeared in the ceiling and water dripped from light fixtures. Thane and I stood in what had once been an elegant and opulent foyer and stared in amazement as the house started to come apart at the seams.
Then Thane called out to his grandfather—my grandfather—as we searched the rooms one by one. The house creaked and moaned like a living, breathing entity, and I could feel the weight of some dark emotion pressing down on us.
“If you see a pentacle, destroy it,” I said.
“You have my word.”
A ceiling tile had loosened, and a steady stream of water poured down upon the long mahogany table where we had sat at dinner and I’d told them about the hidden grave in the laurel bald. That seemed like a lifetime ago.
“Grandfather!” Thane shouted
“We’re in here!” Hugh called back.
They had all assembled in the parlor where we’d had drinks only a few nights ago and where, even then, Pell had been scheming.
He’d rolled his wheelchair to the window just as I had pictured earlier, and he didn’t turn when Thane threw open the double doors.
I followed him into the room and heard a gasp. Shock and fear fleeted across Catrice’s face before she glanced away. Bryn looked defiant and angry. Hugh, at the fireplace, stared morosely into his drink.
“Where’s the staff?” Thane said. “We need to get them out of here. The house is coming apart.”
“They left hours ago,” Hugh said. “It’s just us.”
“Why are you still here?” I asked.
“Where else would we go?”
“Someplace safe.”
He shrugged. “We’ve always been safe here.”
“Not anymore,” Thane said.
Catrice took an anxious step toward him. “We tried to leave earlier, but we waited too long and the bridge washed out. How did you two get up here?”
“On foot.”
“Then you’re stuck just like we are.”
“Not quite,” Thane said. “I’m taking Grandfather down in the four-wheel drive.”
Hugh’s head came up. “The four-wheel drive? It hasn’t been started in years. The battery will be dead.”
“I took it out for a drive not too long ago,” Thane said. “The battery is fine, so we’re leaving. I don’t care what the rest of you do.”
“But you can’t just abandon us!” Catrice cried.
“You can come with us,” Thane said. “But I should probably warn you first that the county sheriff’s deputies at the bottom of the hill will likely have heard what happened by now. You all have a lot to answer for regarding Freya Pattershaw’s murder, so you might want to prepare yourselves.”
“If you’d just keep your mouth shut, none of this would have to come out,” Bryn snapped.
“It’ll come out once Luna’s body is recovered,” he said.
Catrice buried her face in her hands and turned away.
Hugh downed his drink.
Bryn glared at me with utter contempt. “Luna was right. You’re a threat to us all. None of this would have happened if you hadn’t come here.”
Thane crossed the room in a flash and grabbed her arm. “Don’t blame Amelia. You all brought this on yourselves. And I intend to see that every last one of you is charged as an accessory to murder.” He turned to Pell. “Including you, old man.”
Pell didn’t even bother to turn.
Thane walked over to the window and stood over him. “You had my mother and then Harper murdered because they dared interfere with your grand plan.”
Pell gave a dismissive wave. “Gutter trash, the pair of them.”
Thane’s jaw clenched. “You dare say that to me?”
Pell’s head jerked up. “How dare you take that tone with me? You’d be out on the streets if not for my kindness.”
“Kindness? You killed my mother and my fiancée and you call it a kindness?”
“Edward was better off without her. She kept him from his home and family for years. She made him hate me.”
Thane’s expression was passive now, as if the old man’s rage had somehow calmed him. “That wasn’t her doing. That was all on you.” He leaned in, twisting the knife. “You should have heard the way Edward spoke your name… I’ve never heard such loathing.”
“Shut up!” Pell screamed. “You shut your mouth, boy. What I give I can just as easily take away.”
Thane straightened. “And you never let me forget it, did you? But if I was so inconsequential, so beneath the Asher name, why take Harper from me? Why did you care who I married?”
Another indifferent wave. “That girl was nothing but trouble. She would have made your life miserable.”
“So you had her killed?”
Pell Asher paused, something sly fleeting across his face. “I never said that, did I? The girl’s still alive.”
My gaze shifted to Thane and I saw his disbelief a split second before an explosion of white-hot fury made me take a step toward him. Before I could reach him, he jerked the wheelchair around so that Pell had to face him. “What are you talking about? Answer me!”
“You heard what I said. Harper Sweeney is still alive.”
Thane reeled back as though he’d been struck. “You’re lying. Her body was identified. There was an autopsy, a funeral. She can’t be alive. Not after all this time. I would have known.”
“You know nothing,” Pell said in disgust. “You accepted everything I told you without question. A real Asher would have insisted on seeing the body for himself.”
Thane gazed down at his grandfather, breathing hard, hands balled into fists at his sides. “I don’t believe you. I don’t believe any of this. You had her killed and now you’re trying to cover your tracks.”
“She was no use to me dead, but alive…” Pell’s gaze slid to me.
“You could use her for leverage,” I said.
His eyes glinted approvingly.
“Leverage for what?” Thane demanded.
“To make you do whatever he wanted.” I stared down at my grandfather. “Isn’t that right?”
His smile made my skin crawl.
“We’re not your possessions,” I said angrily. “You can’t control what we do or how we think or who we choose to be with.”
“I already have,” he said.
“If she’s still alive, then where is she?” Thane asked quietly. The hush in his voice worried me more than his temper.
“Someplace where you’ll never find her,” Pell said.
“Where is she?” Before I could stop him, Thane lunged and grabbed his grandfather by the neck. Catrice screamed and I heard Hugh swear. He was suddenly at my side, trying to help me pry Thane from the old man’s throat.
“Thane, stop it! Let him go!” I cried.
It took a moment for my voice to penetrate, but then Thane’s hands dropped and he staggered back. His eyes were wild, almost demented.
“Get him out of here!” Pell shouted, his hands clutching the arms of his wheelchair. “Leave now, all of you! I need a moment alone with my granddaughter.”
“Like hell you do,” Thane said. He was gradually starting to regain control. “I’m getting Amelia out of here. This whole place is about to slide down the mountain.”
“Asher House has stood on this land for over two hundred years,” Pell said imperiously. “And it’ll be here long after you and I are dead and gone. Now get out.”