style="font-size:15px;"> “What’s up on the third floor?” someone asked.
“It’s a storage area that’s presently under construction and being renovated. It’s not open to the public,” the guide replied. “Now, on our way back down, remember that only two people are allowed on a step at a time, so please come down the stairs slowly and in groups of two.”
“We need to talk,” Kane growled in her ear. “I’m not letting you off the hook until you promise to stay away from my brother.”
“Go away!” she hissed, angrily pulling back from him. She needed to lose him and fast. She was feeling unsettled enough as it was, tonight. She wasn’t in the mood for any more confrontations. But there was no place to hide. Unless... Her gaze was drawn upstairs. Maybe she could ditch Kane by sneaking upstairs and waiting a few minutes until the coast was clear.
While the tour guide’s back was turned and she still had the protection of the crowd, Susannah did just that. She didn’t take time to think about her actions. She just did it. It was almost as if she were compelled to do so.
Kane was about to go down when he saw her out of the corner of his eye. Susannah was going up the stairs. Muttering under his breath, he went after her, slipping past the tour guide. He wasn’t going to let her get away from him that easily.
Instead of a storage room under construction as the tour guide had claimed, he saw a room that looked to be completely furnished although very dimly lit with a sort of flickering candlelight. He also saw Susannah, just over the threshold of that room.
Not wanting to get caught in a restricted area before he had a chance to talk to her, he whispered her name when he wanted to shout it.
Paying him no heed, Susannah moved forward, away from him and toward a bright blue light that was coming from a rocking chair in the far corner near the other entrance into the room.
Enchanted, Susannah forgot all about Kane. She was drawn forward, as if pulled by invisible forces. The nearer she got, the more the light shifted away from her toward the second doorway. Following it, for one instant she saw a face amid the ethereal blue light—it was the face of the woman in the portrait!
Kane was right behind Susannah as she reached out to touch the pool of light, but it disappeared as they stepped through the second doorway after it. Whatever it was they’d witnessed had vanished!
“Did you see that?” Susannah asked in a whisper. When he made no reply, she said, “You’re not going to tell me that you didn’t see it, are you?”
“I’m not telling you anything except to stay away from my brother,” Kane replied curtly.
“You sound like a broken record,” she informed him before hurrying back downstairs.
Kane let her go. She’d caused him enough aggravation for one day. He’d talk to her again tomorrow, get her promise to stay away from his brother then. God knew, he’d had an exhausting day with little to eat. As for that strange light they’d seen upstairs...it must have been a hologram, perhaps a future exhibit of some kind for the historical house.
The party was in full force now. The rooms were packed with people, all looking rather solemn. Glancing around, Kane didn’t see anyone he knew. With a crowd this large, he wasn’t surprised. After all, this was his first publishing convention. Normally he demonstrated his CD-ROM material at computer shows.
Heading straight for the food spread, he eyed the offerings with suspicion. Nothing looked good. And nothing looked substantial enough to stop the growling in his stomach. He remembered seeing a soda machine by the gift shop in the back of the house but when he headed that way, he couldn’t find it. Or the gift shop. But then, the house was a maze of rooms. Crowded rooms.
Kane tugged at his stiff collar again. “Damned monkey suit,” he muttered under his breath, sliding a finger beneath his collar and grimacing at the tightness of the fit. The place was getting unbearably hot. The air conditioner must not be working properly. That or the organizers were really sticking to historical accuracy for this party.
Either way, it was the last straw. Deciding that enough was enough, Kane opted to skip the rest of the party and go grab a cheeseburger and a huge cola with an extra order of fries. He was able to find the front door, although it took him a while to get there through the mad crush of people. He reached the front entrance the same time Susannah did.
“After you,” he said with a mocking bow that almost cut off his circulation at his Adam’s apple. The damn collar would be the death of him yet.
“I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough of this fancy-dress stuff,” he announced as they stepped outside. “I’m heading for the closest fast-food joint and grabbing a thick cheeseburger with everything on it.” And after that, Kane planned on calling his brother.
Moving forward, he bumped into Susannah as she halted on the steps in front of him.
“Something’s not right,” Susannah murmured. Looking around, she searched for the cause of her uneasiness. She’d always been a great believer in trusting her instincts. Some people called it jumping to conclusions. Her grandmother claimed it was a touch of second sight. Whatever you called it, Susannah trusted the feeling.
The house faced a small park, one of many in this part of the city. The street had been lined with parked cars when they’d arrived. Now there were none. No cars anywhere—none parked, moving, nothing. “The cars are gone,” she noted aloud.
Kane looked around. “What cars? I came by bus.”
“There were cars parked all along the park across the street. Now they’re gone.”
“Probably only allowed to park there during the day,” he logically explained.
She shook her head. “Something just doesn’t feel right. There isn’t any traffic, either.”
“You’ve got an overactive imagination, do you know that?”
To which she replied, “I didn’t imagine that blue light upstairs. The one on the third floor. Surely you saw it, too?”
Kane didn’t answer as a couple walked by on the sidewalk. They were wearing costumes similar to those worn at the party and he was preparing to move aside to let them enter the house—when they walked past and entered a home a few doors down.
Susannah saw the couple, too, and the house they entered: a building she could have sworn was boarded up and empty when they’d arrived earlier that evening. “I’m telling you, I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” she murmured.
Two
“So you’ve got a bad feeling,” Kane retorted. “Probably caused by that crab dip at the party.”
“Very funny. Don’t tell me you don’t feel it, too.”
“I don’t eat crab dip.”
“I’m serious. Didn’t you see that couple walk into that house?” she demanded.
“Sure, I did.” Kane shrugged. “So what?”
“They were dressed—”
