CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
They stopped at Wyatt’s to drop off the snowshoes, and once inside, he turned to her.
“I thought I might come with you,” Wyatt said, peeling off his jacket. “If that’s okay. If you’re not sick of me yet.”
“I was hoping you would,” she said. “I guess I was assuming you would, actually. I really don’t want to face whatever Jane and her crew have up their sleeves alone.”
“In that case, I have another idea,” he said. “We should leave the dogs here. I don’t think we want them at the house with the ghostbusters. In fact, I’m all but sure Jane would rather they weren’t there.”
Tess thought back to the barking in the studio the night before, how they attacked an unseen enemy. “You’re probably right,” she said.
“I’m going to dash upstairs and take a quick shower and put on some dry clothes,” he said. “I won’t be long. Make yourself at home.”
Tess smiled at him. “I’ll feed the dogs,” she said.
“Perfect,” he said over his shoulder as he scurried out of the room.
He was back in the kitchen in record time, and soon they were walking back to La Belle Vie.
“Let’s hope we don’t see a figure in the studio window like we did last night,” Tess said with a grin, threading her arm through his.
“If we do, that’s okay,” Wyatt said. “That guy’s time haunting your house is running out.”
Back in her own kitchen, Tess heated the tea kettle and poured them both steaming cups. The house held a certain emptiness, a quietness, Tess noticed.
“It’s odd to be here without Storm,” she said, looking down at his dishes.
“I get that,” Wyatt said. “They’re a lot of company, dogs. Aren’t they?”
“The best,” she said.
Now it was her turn to dash upstairs to the shower, though she wished she could take a long bath. Headed up the back stairs, an uneasiness fell around her. She glanced down the hall toward the studio and could feel a sort of radiating energy pulsing from it. Or could she? Was that just a product of her overactive imagination? She wasn’t sure. But she got the feeling the house, or whatever otherworldly spirits were haunting it, could sense what was coming. Maybe they were preparing.
As she stepped into the shower stream, she hoped not.
Twilight had fallen over Wharton, turning the sky into its familiar pinks and purples. The snow glistened in the soft light. Tess had brewed a pot of tea and was just pouring cups for herself and Wyatt when her house phone rang.
She crossed the room to answer it and put the handset to her ear. She heard a crackling sound, like what you’d hear on a recording of a radio broadcast from long ago. In the distance, Tess could hear talking, a frantic, intense conversation between a man and a woman. But she couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. Just snippets, words here and there.
Stop. It’s the right thing. And shriller: What are you doing? Who are you?
“Hello?” she said. “Who is this?”
More muffled conversation, more frantic-sounding voices. Sirens, then. Clear, clear, clear. And then, one booming male voice filled Tess’s ear, and her mind.
Let it go, Amethyst, the voice said. She recognized that voice. Or thought she did.
“Dad?” Tess asked, her own voice sounding very small. She and Wyatt shared a worried glance. “Dad? Where are you?”
Amethyst, you need to promise me you’re going to let it go. He sounded like he was talking from inside a tin can. Or a tunnel, as his voice reverberated and bounced off the sides.
“Dad, what’s going on?”
The line went dead.
Tess replaced the handset, the action feeling as though it occurred in slow motion. Or she was moving through water.
“What was that all about?” Wyatt said. “Was it your dad?”
Tess didn’t bother to answer. She turned back to the phone and dialed her parents. It rang once, twice, three times. Four.
“You’ve reached us. Sorry we’re not here to take your call. Please leave a message.”
“Mom, Dad, you need to call me right away,” she said, her voice wavering. “It’s not an emergency. I’m fine and Eli’s fine, the paintings are fine, but I need to hear from you just as soon as possible. It’s important.” She was about to hang up when she said, “I love you guys.”
Wyatt had gotten up from the table and was at Tess’s side. “What just happened?”