Page 34 of Ghost Walk
Jamie obligingly lowered his voice to a baffled hiss. “What are youdoinghere, pray tell? If you plan to rob the Wentworths, I’d suggest doing it when they aren’t all home and abed.”
“I’m not robbing them, idiot. I’m trying toprotectthem.” Unfortunately, she had the bad feeling she was already too late. How could she be too late? The murder shouldn’t happen for hours, according to Gregory Maxwell’s book. Why would she be sent back to save Lucinda, if she didn’t have time toactuallysave her?!
“Protecting them from what? I’ve an acquaintance with Miss Lucinda. So if she’s in some kind of trouble, I’ve a vested interest in knowing about it.”
“Yeah, I know all about your ‘vested interest’ in Lucinda.” Grace muttered in irritation.
Jamie shot her a quick look. “There’s nothing arranged between us, if that’s what you’re insinuating. I’ve a fondness for the girl, but it isn’t a’tall serious.”
“Like I care about that, right now.” Shetotallycared about that. Grace sent him a sideways look and Jamie caught hold of her gaze, not letting go.
“Lucinda’s not the one I’ve been waiting for.” He saidquietly. “I promise you. The woman does not belong to me, nor me to her.”
Grace shook her head, before those sincere blue eyes hypnotized her and she got sidetracked. “You and your love life are your own business. I’m just here to stop a murder.”
“You’re…?” Jamie’s expression went slack. “Wait, awhat!?”
“Keep your voice down! Look, you have no idea what’s going on, so just let me handle this and stay out of sight.” She started across the lawn, her attention on that open window.
A feeling of dread settled in her stomach. The same feeling she always got when she arrived at a crime scene. Something moved in Lucinda’s bedroom. Someone. A silhouette of black against the white curtain.
Goddamn it.
“Stop!” Grace shouted, heading for the house. “Stop right there!”
Behind her, Jamie let out a curse. “Weren’t we supposed to be keeping quiet? That surely woke the whole neighborhood.”
In the bedroom, the shadowy figure vanished. Grace heard footsteps pounding inside the house as the person fled, but she couldn’t tell how big they were or what they looked like. “Jamie, go around to the front!” They needed to cut him off before he fled. “Hurry!”
He was staring up at the window, his snarking silenced by shock. “Was someone inside Lucinda’s…?”
“Go!” Praying that the wooden slats held, Grace pulled herself up the trellis. “But whatever you do, don’t get caught here yourself. They’ll think you did it.”
“You can’t go up there by yourself, woman!”
“You think this tiny little trellis is going to support you?” Thorns cut her hands and rose pedals cascaded to the ground as she climbed. She seriously needed to get in better shape if she was going to do insane stuff like this. “Hurry!” Her arms burning from strain and her hair full of leaves, she finally managed to heave herself over the window sill and into the room.
Even in the darkness, she saw the blood.
The killer hadn’t had time to clean up the crime scene, yet. Lucinda was sprawled there in a white nightgown, already dead and gone. It looked as if her throat had been slashed.Morethan just her throat. Her blood covered the flowered floor cloth, pooling under her body. Thick and sticky, it soaked so deeply into the wooden slats beneath the bed that it would still be there two centuries later.
Grace bit back a scream, her hands shaking so badly she nearly dropped her phone.
Oh God, oh God, oh God.
She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t deal with this. It was all too much. ShetoldJamie it was too much. She’d failed to save Lucinda, and she was somehow back in time, and she was looking at another dead body, and she was going to lose her mind for real this time. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’tthink.
Peaceful green cornfields. Peaceful green…
Wait.
She swallowed, her brain piecing facts together even through her shock. Wait. Was the blood already cold? The edges of the puddle were beginning to dry. She blinked rapidly, her training kicking in. It was sometime around eleven, according to Jamie, and Lucinda had been dead for over an hour. She was sure of that. That meant she must have died almost as soon as she said goodnight to her sister and went to bed.
Her killer had been waiting for her. Maybe he’d left a clue.
Panic gave way to sudden determination. If she couldn’t save Lucinda, at least she could catch who did this. This was a crime scene, after all, and she was the only one capable of investigating it.
Grace’s eyes narrowed and she quickly grabbed the camera that was still looped around her neck. Pictures. She needed pictures. Her finger repeatedly slammed down on the shutter button. Photos lit up the cameras LCD screen. Theflash revealed much more than her eyes could see in the darkened room. Whoever killed Lucinda had been furious with her. Wrathful. Not only had they cut her throat, they’d stabbed her again and again.
