The woman’s red-slicked lips tightened, and Em glanced over her shoulder to see what had gotten her attention. It was Ellie. She was tiptoeing up the stairs. The table appeared to rise off the floor and then fall with a loud bang. Several women cried out in alarm, and Em took a protective step toward Jenny.
Jenny gave her head an almost imperceptible shake, and then Em noticed her finger resting on her knee, pointing at Madame Zola’s lap under the table.
Em nodded, glancing at Abby, wondering if she’d caught it. But the angle of the camera was off. Em had a feeling Madame Zola had told Abby where to stand. Another question that would have to wait until later.
The medium fell back against the chair, her body shaking as if she were having a seizure. Then she stiffened and jerked upright, saying in a guttural voice, “Leave. Our. Home. Now.”
After uttering the words, Madame Zola collapsed face-first onto the table. The women in the room glanced nervously at each other as if wondering if they should go to the medium’s aid but within seconds she lifted her head, looking around as if she’d come out of a trance.
Clutching her amulet, she sat up. “You must leave this house. Leave the Seaton sisters alone or you’ll be sorry.” The medium turned her head, her gaze flicking from Jenny to Abby. “You’ll all be sorry.”
Em was about to tell Madame Zola it was her who would be sorry if she didn’t return Jenny’s jewelry but was distracted by the swirl of emergency lights through the living room window. She walked over to look outside. The front yard was filled with cops making their way across the lawn with flashlights.
This wasn’t something she’d expected. Turning to the women in the living room, she said, “We’re about to have company. Everyone back against the far wall and let me handle this.”
The door burst open, and cops filed into the house with Gwen and Todd leading the charge, guns drawn. “You’re a little late for the party, guys. Now put your guns away.”
“Em?” Todd looked around the room while holstering his gun. Gwen did the same. They glanced at each other, muttering, “We’ve been swatted.”
“Of course it was a hoax call. What did you expect to find?” Em asked.
“A human sacrifice,” Gwen admitted sheepishly.
Something about that bothered Em but she didn’t have time to question them further. She’d just noticed Madame Zola wasn’t in the room. Em was mentally kicking herself for being an idiot when a familiar voice called out, “Help! I need help.”
Em ran toward the voice with Todd following her. She found Granny MacLeod in the kitchen, lying on the floor, her hands wrapped around Madame Zola’s legs. “I’ve got her,” she said.
“Way to go, Granny,” Em said, clamping a hand on Madame Zola’s shoulder while extending her other hand to help Bri’s grandmother off the floor. Em looked up to see Bri and Jenny and half the Sisterhood crowding into the kitchen.
She pulled out a chair, firmly pressing Madame Zola into it. “Search her for a ring and silver chain and locket, and I want to know who hired her,” Em said to Todd.
Then Em guided Bri’s grandmother into a chair. “Someone get Granny MacLeod a glass of water.”
“I’d prefer a cup of tea, if you don’t mind. And some cookies,” Granny MacLeod said. Her friends hurried off to do her bidding.
Em heard Cal and Josh arguing with Gwen in the entryway, and she leaned back. “You can let them through, Gwen.”
Josh’s gaze roamed her face as he strode down the hall into the kitchen. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”
“We’re all fine, and I’ll explain everything in a minute, but first I need to know if a reporter for the Highland Falls Herald is out there with a photographer?”
Josh nodded. “Yeah. It looked like he was interviewing a cop and Peter O’Brien.”
“That’s what I thought.” Em glanced at Todd, who was questioning Madame Zola. “Todd, would you mind interviewing her in the living room?”
“No problem.” He helped the woman off the chair, rolling his eyes when the medium said, “You’ll get nothing out of me. Nothing. I want my lawyer.”
Once they were out of hearing range, Em said, “Okay, everyone, listen up. A reporter’s outside interviewing Peter O’Brien. HFPD got a call that there was a human sacrifice taking place here, you’re all dressed in black, the Sisterhood have been labeled witches before, and the mayor is a founding member, so it’s not hard to figure out what O’Brien is up to. It’s entirely up to you if you want to deal with it head-on or you can take the path through the woods and avoid O’Brien and the press altogether.”
“I vote for taking the path through the woods,” Granny MacLeod said to her friends. “O’Brien will end up looking like the fool if none of us are here.”
The women argued back and forth but eventually ceded to Granny and some of the older members’ wishes. “Okay,” Em said. “Bri, Cal, Jenny, and Josh, you guys can distract the reporter, cameraman, and O’Brien so that the ladies can get into their cars unseen.”
Everyone agreed. The Sisterhood left through the back door while Cal, Bri, and Jenny headed for the entryway.
Josh hung back. “What are you going to do?”
“There’s someone I need to talk to.”
“Fine, let’s go talk to them.” He crossed his arms when she opened her mouth to object. “I’m not leaving until you do.”
She sighed. “Okay. Come on.” She looked around the entryway and the living room for Bri’s sister but couldn’t see her. “Ellie must be upstairs.”
They found her sitting on the floor in the turret room, her face streaked with tears.
Em and Josh rushed to her side. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
She shook her head before lifting her eyes to Em. “You need to help them. They can’t move on unless you do. There’s a box. I’m not sure but I think it’s a wooden box, a little bigger than this.” She indicated the size with her hands.
“Did they say anything else?” Em asked. “Did they tell you if they were murdered, and if they were, by whom?”
“No. But I feel like the answer is in the box.”
Chapter Eighteen
I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Todd said, waggling his eyebrows with a grin on his face when Josh opened Em’s door the next morning.
Em’s spoonful of Froot Loops froze midway to her mouth, and Josh rolled his eyes. She was acting as if Todd had caught them in bed together.
Then again, maybe she had a point given how gossip with little or no basis in truth spread in Highland Falls. Josh was about to clear things up for Todd. The last thing he needed was for Cal to think he and Em were sleeping together. The kiss had nearly sent his best friend over the edge, something he didn’t want to think about now—not to mention his own reaction to it.
But it wasn’t as if he could tell Todd they’d left Seaton House at two in the morning and he’d crashed on Em’s couch. He didn’t want to blow their fake-dating cover. Although last night, he’d come close to pulling the plug. It wasn’t the most romantic or passionate kiss he’d ever shared with a woman, but it was the first time he’d kissed, and been kissed by, Emma Scott, and he’d wanted to keep kissing her. He’d wanted to take his time exploring her sweet, soft mouth and drawing another breathy sigh from her lips. He wanted to… He swore under his breath when an image of him in bed with a naked Em popped into his head.