Whispers Read Online Free PDF Page B

tone contradicting her words. “Why don’t you find out?”
    “ Who’s Gracie?” Zach asked, looking between Chloe and Reilly. When neither answered, he looked to Abe. “Who’s Gracie?”
    Reilly gave a tight smile and shook his head. Chloe was baiting him. She had her little psychic antennas out looking for ways to scam him. Sure, he’d been thinking of Gracie Beck. Hell, this had been her house. But there was no way she was in it. As far as he knew, Gracie hadn’t set foot in Diablo Springs in seventeen years.
    “ Do we know who’s dead yet?” Zach asked.
    “ Give it a break, Zach,” Reilly said.
    Chloe waited for him to open the door, making it clear that it was by her decree he entered first. That pissed him off, too. He didn’t like people making decisions for him. Never had.
    Frowning, he rapped on the door, waited, knocked again. When no one answered he tried the knob. He hadn’t expected it to be locked and it wasn’t. Diablo Springs wasn’t the kind of place anyone robbed. If the residents had anything worth stealing, they would have long since sold it to get out of town.
    The door swung silently open. Somewhere behind them, not far from the ruins, lightning struck with a crack and a hiss, releasing a torrent of raindrops that broke through the vapors. It seemed they should sizzle as they hit the brimstone below. That was all the invitation any of them needed to get inside.
    They filed through the door in twos, like kids using the buddy system for their field trip. Reilly dropped his bags and closed the door.
    Every light in the house seemed to be on, but there was no sign of life anywhere. Reilly called out, “Is anyone home?” but only his echoing voice bounced back to answer.
    “ God, it’s hot in here,” Zach said.
    “ The Lord’s name is not an epithet,” the priest said, giving Zach a look that might possibly turn him to stone.
    Reilly didn’t wait to hear what Zach had to say in return. He advanced into the sitting room in front of him, feeling like he was stepping back in time.
    “ It has changed, no? Since the last time you were here?” Chloe’s voice came deep and melodic.
    “ I only made it past the porch once.”
    “ But you would have seen had it been this?”
    He had to say he would have.
    He remembered the house as being bright and cheery, TV-mom clean and neat. There’d been a serviceable sofa of everyday blue and a matching chair in front of a console television set. Nondescript, outdoorsy paintings had adorned the walls and blue-checked curtains covered the windows.
    All of that was gone now. A scene from the old West had taken its place.
    He’d told Zach the truth. The Diablo had once been a saloon as well as a house of ill repute. Scars on the floor defied the renovation from saloon to boardinghouse by clearly marking the path the large bar must have taken in front of the western wall. He wondered why Carolina had never had it repaired. Even though the bar and stools and tables were gone, Reilly could still picture what it must have looked like all those years ago, filled with smoke and drunks and cowboys shooting the moon.
    To the right were stairs leading up to the bedrooms. Straight ahead was a swinging door into the kitchen. The decor now leaned heavily to Victorian—as ironic as it was fitting. Chintz upholstery and tiny crystal lamps communed in front of the stone fireplace. Dainty tables on spindly legs displayed doilies and ornately framed pictures. The wood was dark, the curtains heavy, and the atmosphere cloying.
    “ Wow,” Zach said, coming to stand at his elbow. “This is some place. It still looks like a whorehouse.”
    Chloe’s expression tightened and her eyes narrowed. “If I were not a woman of honor, I would be hexing you young man.”
    Zach waved his hands in mock terror. Chloe turned her back to him and advanced into the room. Her black sneakers brushed the floor in an eerie whisper.
    Ignoring her, Reilly moved deeper into the sitting