Page 10 of Hallow Hill at Halloween: Part Two

CHAPTER FIVE The Witch Always Rings Twice

The door chime sang out with George Michael’s voice, “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go”.

Keir’s head jerked up. Then he looked at Lochlan.

“What?” Lochlan said.

“The door chime. It’s different. Didn’t you notice?”

Lochlan thought about it for a second. “That’s not unusual, is it? Seems she’s always changing it.”

“That’s just it.She’salways changing it. Rita tells the house what to play. It doesn’t just…” Keir waved his hand in the air. “…decide on its own.” He turned to Evie. “Can the house do that?”

“That’s a question for your mum. Right?”

The idea of begging Evie to go ask Maeve seemed cowardly, but he had a good excuse. He needed to be right where he was. Not to mention that he didn’t want to have to explain why he was asking.

“You’re, uh, closer to her these days. Maybe you could…?”

“I have the same problem as you, Keir. First, I don’t want to leave Mom. Second, I could get stuck listening to the queen’s rants.”

“One of us has to go,” Keir said.

Lochlan shifted in the big leather chair and changed the subject. “You’re thinking she could be sending a message. Through the house?”

“Until we have some answers, everything is a possibility.”

Lochlan sighed and pulled out his pipe.

“Not in here,” Keir said. “The first thing Rita would do when she wakes is to make us both sorry you smoked in here.”

Lochlan put the pipe back into the breast pocket of his jacket. “Of course.”

“You could go out on the porch.”

“Well, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t.”

The door chime sang out again.

“I guess I was so curious about the chime I forgot it meant someone wants entrance,” Keir said.

Lochlan followed Keir to the door. Esme was standing there looking perturbed. Of course, Esme usually looked perturbed. So, it might have been something other than being kept waiting.

Keir stepped back to make room for her entrance.

“News?” Lochlan said succinctly.

“Nothing definitive to share yet. I’d just like to see her if… that’s alright.”

“Of course, it’s alright,” Keir said. “You’re her closest friend.”

Hearing those words made Esme’s heart skip a beat. She’d been without family since she was little more than a child and without friends for almost as long.

Esme wasn’t the only one to react emotionally to Keir’s pronouncement. He would’ve caught Lochland’s little gasp of surprise even without extraordinary hearing. Being put in theposition of being a diplomat only made him feel Rita’s loss more keenly.

She was so good at that sort of thing. He was not. He was the Enforcer. The only time he could be counted on to say the right thing was when he was talking to Rita. Because he adored everything about her, he didn’t have to parse words or worry about diplomacy.Hel’s Holes.With Rita, all he had to do was speak the truth. Simple. Stress free.

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