“Mom, you okay?” Abby said.
Toots breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes and no.” She took the phone with her and eased herself back into the warm water. She just might spend the day here, she thought to herself.
“What’s that mean?”
“It means I’m okay, but I feel like shit. We were at Sophie and Goebel’s last night. To put it simply, I have a bitch of a hangover.”
Toots heard Abby giggling. “I hope you didn’t drive.”
She hoped so, too, but wouldn’t voice her thoughts to Abby. “Of course not,” she said, trying her best to sound indignant, though it set off the drums once again.
“Just saying—”
“How are my two favorite grandkids this morning?” Toots interrupted, wanting to change the subject.
“They are happy and well fed. I made them eggs this morning, and they loved them,” Abby said.
“Not too much, Abby. Remember their cholesterol.”
“They’re babies, Mom. They need protein. And you’re one to talk about good eating habits? Give me a break.”
“True, but don’t start them out with bad habits. Remember, I started drinking coffee when I was twelve, and look at me now.”
“And you’re just fine, Mom,” Abby said. “I didn’t call to discuss bad eating habits.”
Toots perked up, instantly alert. “Is everything all right?” Hearing the alarm in her voice, Frankie hurried down the ramp they’d had made for him after his back surgery. His toenails clicked against the oak floors as he scampered to the bathroom. Toots blew him a kiss.
She heard Abby’s intake of breath. “I’m not sure. I mean, we’re all okay, but there is something I’ve been meaning to discuss with you, but the timing is always off.”
“I’m all ears now if this is a good time,” Toots said, amazed that her headache had receded to a dull throb.
“I guess. I wanted to talk face-to-face, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen anytime soon. Here’s the thing. Is there anything weird going on at Sophie’s? Something she doesn’t want me to know about?”
Toots shifted the phone to her other ear. “Not that I’m aware of. I mean, yes she believes there is some kind of... woman spirit hanging around her place, but I’m sure she isn’t trying to keep this a secret. We were there last night, she had a séance, trying to make contact. Why, is there something going on that I don’t know about?”
“You just answered my question. At least I think you did. Tell me about this woman spirit. What’s her story?”
“Nothing really. Sophie says there is a ghost in her house that hasn’t crossed over to the other side. Apparently she believes this ghost is asking for her help, but the ghost isn’t taking it just yet.” Toots found it very easy to discuss ghosts and anything paranormal these days. Ten years ago, she would’ve been scared out of her mind. Having a best friend who is a psychic really changed her attitude.
“You’re sure that’s it?” Abby asked. “She’s not hiding anything from you?”
Toots swirled the water around with her foot. “Nothing I’m aware of. Of course, if she was hiding something, I wouldn’t know, would I? But truly, I don’t think she is. She wasn’t able to make contact with this ghost last night. I’m guessing she’s upset about that, but it would only be a guess. I haven’t spoken to her since last night, and we were both a bit inebriated.”
Abby laughed, but Toots could tell her heart wasn’t in it. “There’s more, isn’t there?” she asked her daughter.
“Yes and no. Here’s the gist. I was there the other day with the twins. We stopped by. Sophie wanted to show me the table you gave her, the one in the séance room.”
“Yes, she really liked that table,” Toots commented.
“We weren’t there but a few minutes, and I swear, the twins started acting odd. They acted like they were looking at something that only they could see. Their little heads were moving from side to side, like they were watching a game of tennis. I asked Soph if there was anything going on in the room, and she told me there wasn’t. Then, when she saw how the kids were behaving, she hurried me out of the room. When we were at the top of the landing heading downstairs, Amy and Jonathan started screaming. I mean really screaming. No tears, it wasn’t a normal cry like they needed to be changed or were hungry. They were frightened of something they saw. I know they were. Then Sophie grabbed my hand, and I swear she almost caused me to fall down the darned stairs. I was holding Amy, she had Jonathan. She practically tossed us out the door. I didn’t even get a chance to say hi to Goebel. It was like she couldn’t wait to get me out of her house. It made me feel weird since Sophie’s usually pretty upfront about everything she sees.”
Toots flicked the drain with her foot, stood up, and grabbed a bath towel off the rack. “Hold on, Abby.” She wrapped herself in the towel, then went back to her bedroom, with Frankie at her heels. “Okay. I was in the tub and had to get out. You’re right. This isn’t like Sophie.”
“She hasn’t mentioned anything at all, not even a hint about this to you? I thought she’d run over and tell you right away. You know how she is.”
Toots contemplated her daughter’s words. Yes, she knew Sophie, and this was very much unlike her. “Do you want me to talk to her? Because I can. I’m sure she didn’t mean to . . . to chase you off. Maybe she and Goebel had plans, and she didn’t want to be rude. No, forget I said that. Sophie thrives on being rude. Doesn’t matter who it is, either.”
“I’m not sure if either of us should say anything. Maybe Sophie was just having a bad day. Maybe I popped in at a bad time. It wasn’t like I had an invitation.”
“You don’t need one with Sophie or Goebel,” Toots observed.
“That’s what I’ve always been led to believe.”
Toots peered out the window, deciding she’d make a trip to Sophie’s as soon as she dressed. If something was going on, she wanted to know what it was. “I’m going over there.”
“Mom, promise me you won’t . . . just feel her out first. I may be overreacting. It’s just that I’ve never seen the kids scream like that. Pure, bloodcurdling screams. They were afraid, I’m telling you.”
“A mother knows her own children, that’s true. I believe you, Abby. Now, let me go, so I can get over there. If something sneaky is going on, I intend to find out.”
“Okay, I’ll wait to hear from you,” Abby said, then clicked off.
As soon as Toots hung up, she hurriedly dressed in a pair of khakis and a navy blouse. Sliding her feet into a pair of denim Toms shoes, Toots ran a brush through her hair before racing downstairs.
In the kitchen, she filled Frankie’s bowl with kibble, which she knew he wouldn’t eat because he was spoiled by Mavis’s chicken, but in case he decided he wanted it, it was there. She freshened his water dish with bottled water, then poured herself a large to-go cup of coffee, grabbed her smokes, and hurried to the garage. Toots slid into the Lincoln, cranked over the engine, then backed out of the garage. She hadn’t seen a soul around the house, and wondered where Bernice was and what she was up to. The coffee was made, so she was around somewhere. Probably off delivering a new recipe to Robert. The two were glued together at the hip but in a good way.
She wheeled out of the gates, then headed toward Sophie’s. Though she didn’t remember much from last night, she did remember the séance and its lack of results. Toots hadn’t put her heart in the evening’s event because her mind had been elsewhere. George Spector, a major newspaper mogul, had made an offer on the Informer, the L.A.–based tabloid she owned. It was a decent offer, and he’d even said Abby could return as editor-in-chief anytime. Sure that Abby and Chris wouldn’t be packing up and moving back to the West Coast anytime soon, Toots was seriously considering the offer. She hadn’t told Abby or Phil yet. She hadn’t made any promises one way or the other. Of course she would discuss this with Chris and Abby before making a major decision, but not now. Later, she thought as she pulled into Sophie’s drive. Right now, she was
on a mission to find out what in the hell was going on with Sophie.
She turned off the ignition and remained in the car for a few minutes, giving herself time to gather her thoughts and decide what she would say to Sophie. She didn’t want her to feel as though she were being blindsided, but as a mother and a grandmother, there was no way in hell Toots was going to dismiss Abby’s story without at least trying to find out whatever it was that Sophie apparently didn’t want her to find out. With that thought in mind, she opened the car door, not even bothering to remove the keys from the ignition. The odds of anyone’s stealing her old Lincoln Town Car were slim to none, especially in this neck of the woods.
She hurried to the front door, knocked lightly, then pushed the door open. “Sophie? Goebel? It’s me. If you’re naked or doing anything you don’t want me to see, now would be the time to bring it to a halt.” Toots couldn’t help but laugh. She doubted they were in a compromising situation, but she had to give them fair warning.
“In here,” Goebel called. “I was just making another pot of coffee. Sophie’s outside smoking her weed. Want me to get her?”
Toots surveyed the scene in the kitchen. The room was nice and tidy. Sophie and Goebel had really modernized the kitchen without taking away the uniqueness of the past. The sink was solid brass, as it was before, only now polished like a shiny penny. Dents in all the appropriate places made the sink look as genuine as it must have been in its day. The cabinets were original and had been restored to their natural oak luster. Goebel had ordered customized knobs to match the brass sink. Herbs in brass pots were scattered along the windowsill. Sophie had followed Toots’s pattern for the kitchen curtains, only hers were forest green and white checkered, rather than the red and white that Toots had in her own kitchen. Matching seat cushions covered the old pine chairs that Goebel had found at an estate sale and refinished himself. The place looked like an honest-to-goodness home, and for that Toots was thrilled, as she knew that neither Sophie nor Goebel had ever really lived in an actual house. Both of them had grown up in apartments. She was glad she’d hung on to the old place as long as she had.
“No, I smoked on the ride over. I will take a cup of coffee, though,” Toots said as she removed a cup from the cupboard above the coffeemaker. “You two still brewing that cheap old Folgers stuff?” she asked as she filled her cup.
Goebel snickered. “We are. You’re welcome to bring that expensive stuff of yours over anytime, Toots.”
“Yeah, you can, you cheap old woman,” Sophie called out as she entered the kitchen through the back door.
“Cheap old woman, my ass!” Toots parroted.
“I know you hoard that coffee, I’ve seen you hide it from Bernice,” Sophie said.
“And Bernice couldn’t care less, too,” Toots added, wondering why in the hell they were discussing coffee. She cleared her throat. It was time to get down to business.
Sophie poured a cup of coffee for Goebel and one for herself. She nodded toward the table. “So, what brings you over here on a morning when by all rights you should have the hangover from hell? It can’t be for more of that spiked strawberry lemonade we had last night.” Sophie pulled out a chair and sat down. Goebel eased into the chair next to her.
Toots found a spot across from the couple. She wanted to see Sophie’s expression. She could read the woman like a book. If there was something going on in this house, and Sophie was lying about it, Toots would know just by the expression on her face. They’d been friends since they were twelve years old. It was a rare moment, when something really important was at stake, that either of them could get away with telling a lie, or even a half-truth.
“No, I didn’t come over here for that shit. I was so drunk, I don’t remember leaving here last night. Did you do that on purpose?” She took a sip of her cream-filled, sugar-laced coffee.
Sophie laughed. “I don’t recall forcing you to drink the stuff.” Sophie turned to her husband, questioning, “Did I?”
“Did you what?” he asked.
“Force her?”
He chuckled. “Not that I saw. I think you both had way too much to drink. I have to take the blame, too. I saw you adding vodka and didn’t have the heart to tell you the stuff was already loaded with enough liquor to knock out an elephant.”
“Then it is your fault that I felt as if I gnawed cotton balls all night, and it is also your fault that an orchestra decided to set up shop in my head this morning, too. For that alone, I ought to smack you upside the head with one of those shiny pots.” She motioned to the rack above the kitchen’s island. “But I won’t since I’m not one for violence.” Toots smiled and took another sip of her coffee.
They all laughed. “I’ll make sure to inform both of you the next time I decide to spike the punch,” Goebel promised.
“Sure you will,” Toots said dryly.
“Okay, now that we have all of the bullshit out of the way, tell me why you’re really here. You’re not here for the coffee, that much I know. You cringe every time you take a sip.” Sophie said all of this while staring Toots directly in the eye.
Toots looked down at her slacks, swiped at an imaginary thread, then returned her gaze to Sophie.
“Is it that obvious?” Toots asked.
“Yep. It is.”
“You can see right through me, huh?”
“Not in the literal sense, but I do know you’re here for something that seems urgent to you.”
That’s putting it mildly, Toots thought.
It was now or never. “Abby called me this morning.” She let her words hang in the air, waiting, hoping that Sophie would take the bait. A few seconds passed. Toots realized she was going to have to tell her exactly what Abby had relayed to her as Sophie continued to stare at her, her dark brown eyes two deep pools of mystery.
“You talk to Abby every day. Why are you telling me something I already know?”
She wasn’t making this easy, but it had to be said. “Abby thinks there is something going on in this house. She said you practically tossed her out the other day when she stopped over with the twins. She told me that Jonathan and Amy were frightened, scared out of their wits, and they were screaming, yet they didn’t shed a tear. I’m hoping you have an explanation for this.” There! She’d said it. Now all she had to do was wait for Sophie’s version of events, not that she didn’t believe Abby. No, that wasn’t the case at all. Toots knew she would get the truth from Sophie even if it wasn’t what either of them wanted to hear.
Sophie’s expression changed from one of neutrality to dread. Toots recognized the look, one she’d seen more than once on her friend’s face. The atmosphere in the kitchen went from jovial to ominous in less than a second. Goebel’s features hardened, his dark eyes suddenly sharp, assessing. This alone told Toots there was something major going on.
“So, what do you have to tell me?” Toots asked.
Sophie drew in a deep breath, exhaled, then nodded. “Yes, there is something going on, you’re right about that. Or Abby is. We can’t pull anything over her eyes anymore, especially since she’s become a mother. Not that I’m trying to deceive her, it’s just . . . there is something here in this house. I am not exactly sure how to phrase my suspicions.”
Toots perked up. “I can’t believe that you of all people are at a loss for words.”
“It does happen, though only on very rare occasions,” Goebel added.
“Yes, it’s rare for me, we all agree on that.” Sophie nodded, then looked at Toots. “I am almost afraid to voice what I’m experiencing. Not that I don’t want to tell you, but I’m fearful that if I put what I suspect into words, this will somehow validate my suspicions even more.”
Toots drew her brows together. “Call me slow, but I don’t understand.”
“You’re not slow, Toots. You know better. Well, at least not all the time,” Sophie added, her full lips tilted upward in a slight grin. “No, forget I said that. Seriously, this is something that I have to deal with my own
way and in my own time. I’m not avoiding telling you, really. You’ll just have to take my word and trust me on this.”
More than frustrated, Toots spoke up, “I do trust you, but I need answers, Soph. My grandkids felt frightened in this house. I have to know why. If you can’t tell me, then I will . . . I’ll hire someone to come and find out. Do a cleansing on this place, whatever the hell it needs.”
The three remained silent, all of them lost in their own thoughts for the moment. Words weren’t necessary as they all knew something had to be done, and it had to be done now. As soon as possible. Though Goebel and Toots weren’t one hundred percent sure exactly what had scared the twins so badly, they knew that Sophie did and that time was running out.
Something must be done before two innocent babies were put in harm’s way again.
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Chapter One
“You’re serious?” Toots asked. “You won’t tell me?”
Sophie drained the last of her coffee, then walked over to the sink. She rinsed out her cup, placing it in the dishwasher. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, Toots. I can’t. I don’t feel right about this, and you know what happens when I have one of my feelings and I don’t listen.”
True, Toots thought. Her friend Sophie’s intuition, gut instinct, psychic abilities, whatever she currently sensed, must be acknowledged and taken very seriously. She was always spot-on, and as much as she didn’t want to acquiesce, she didn’t really have a choice. Frustrated, Toots glanced at Sophie, then rested her gaze on Sophie’s husband, Goebel. “Has she told you about any of this?”
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