The Suicide Forest (The River Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

discuss your situation
without fear we’ll be overheard, or what we say mistaken as an invitation. Do
you understand what I’m talking about?”
    “I think so,” Steven said.
    “You know how the religious and superstitious always warn
children not to play with Ouija boards?” she asked him. Steven nodded, and she
continued. “Just playing with them invites something in, they say. Well, it’s
true. Of course, there has to be something the invited want. They don’t come in
without a purpose. But there are so many things they want. So just talking
about them – even thinking about them – can bring them in. You open up that
part of your mind they’re not supposed to see – it’s like a lighthouse, shining
through the fog, showing them where to go.”
    “What we just drank will keep the lighthouse turned off?”
Steven asked.
    “You’re as bright as your father,” she said, closing her
eyes, looking slightly bored.
    “Clara!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, and began
ringing a bell that was on the table by her daybed. “Clara!”
    The door to the room creaked open and the maid appeared.
“Yes, Mrs. Duke?”
    “Please bring some tea,” Judith said. “And some of those
little sandwiches.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” Clara said, exiting the room and closing the
door behind her.
    “You must try them,” Judith said, suddenly perking up. “I
realize it’s not dinner time yet, but the bread comes from a bakery in Tacoma
and is sliced incredibly thin. The English cucumbers are grown year-round in an
organic hothouse up in Silverdale. If you haven’t had these particular
cucumbers, you haven’t lived. They excite the tongue in absolutely incredible
ways. Now. About your problem. Tell me exactly what you saw, heard, smelled,
and felt. Leave nothing out. Begin.”
    Roy seemed resigned to let Steven respond to her. He’s
probably a little put off by her, Steven thought. Steven began relating
their experiences with June. He let Roy tell what the trance had been like.
    “How did you come across this book you were returning to
them?” she asked.
    “We found it along with some objects when working on another
case,” Roy said. Both he and Steven had agreed to keep Eximere secret for now,
until they had returned more of the books, so he didn’t share any more about it.
“Once we determined who it belonged to, we tracked down their children until we
found June.”
    “You’re only telling me half the story,” Judith said, “but
you have some reason for not telling me all of it that you think is significant.
Fine, I don’t want to know. It doesn’t really bear on the situation, anyway. I
was asking for my own amusement. But you must be honest with me about things
that matter.”
    “Do you have any idea what we’re dealing with?” Steven asked.
    “No,” Judith said. “It could be one of a thousand things or
beings. And so asking me what to do about it would be premature and wildly
unfruitful, even though it’s what you really want to know.”
    “Any way to whittle it down?” Steven asked. “Figure out what or
who we’re dealing with?”
    “How intuitive!” Judith said to Roy. “Your son seems to know
the next step, as though he’s done this before. Clara will be entering the room
in a moment, and we’ll all stop discussing this while she’s here.”
    On cue, the door opened and Clara came in with a tray, loaded
with tea and sandwiches. The sandwiches were impossibly small.
    “Here now, you must try one of these,” Judith said, picking
one up with a small pair of tongs, and passing the bread and cucumber over to
Steven. He opened his hand and accepted the offering, which she placed in the
exact center of his palm. Steven looked at it – it was no more than half an
inch square.
    “Aren’t they delightful,” she said, passing one to Roy, who
opened his palm as well. “Thank you, Clara, that will be all.”
    After the door had closed, Judith began pouring tea for both
of them. Steven