Page 108 of The Only One Left

Then the T a second time.

Then the L again.

Then the E.

“A little?” I say, making sure it’s what she meant.

Rather than return the planchette to theyes, Lenora taps it twice against the board.

“What was she like?”

Lenora slides the planchette again, spelling out a word with a meaning that needs no confirmation.

nasty

“Then why is Mrs. Baker giving her money every month?” I look to the Ouija board, where the planchette remains still beneath Lenora’s hand. “Did you know she was doing that?”

This time, Lenora spells out her answer.

yes

“How long has it been going on?”

Beneath the letters, a row of numbers is centered on the Ouija board, going from zero to nine. Lenora jerks the planchette to four of them, forming a telltale year.

1929

Because I was never good at math, it takes me a minute to add it all up in my head. The figure I come up with boggles my mind. Since 1929, Berniece Mayhew has been paid more than six hundred thousand dollars.

“Why?” I say, too stunned to phrase it any better than that.

Lenora returns the planchette to the letters, falling into the same kind of rhythm as when she used the typewriter. In roughly the same time it would have taken her to type it, she’s spelled out her answer.

because she knows

I still don’t understand. “Knows what?”

Lenora keeps the planchette sliding.

about that night

I nod. There’s only one night she could be referring to.

“What about that night?”

Lenora keeps the planchette moving, skipping from one letter to another to another.

she

The planchette continues to slide. Down to one of the last letters on the second row, then up to the first one in the first row, then back down to the second.

was

I keep my gaze fixed on the Ouija board, too afraid of missing a letter that I don’t even blink.

here

My heart thuds once against my rib cage.

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