Newport: A Novel by Jill Morrow Read Free Book Online Page A

. had an interest in séances for quite some time now,” she said faintly.
    She brought to mind a cornered doe searching for an escape from the barrel of a hunter’s gun. Jim opened his mouth to save her, but Adrian spoke first.
    “I’m not at all surprised that Lady Dinwoodie has an interest in such things,” he said. “She is a sophisticated society woman, after all. It’s her responsibility to stay well informed about the current fads and fashions in entertainment.”
    He seated himself in the glow of Lady Dinwoodie’s grateful smile.
    “Please extinguish all lamps except for the small one on the bookcase by the door,” Amy said.
    “Allow me.” Nicholas Chapman strode through the parlor, turning off every lamp in his path. The room grew dimmer with each click. Amy’s wide eyes gleamed in the candlelight. Catharine flinched as Nicholas swept past her. She sat still as a stone, her face an unreadable blank. Lady Dinwoodie bit her lower lip as her brother extinguished the last light and took his place in the chair beside her.
    “Remember,” Amy said, “I’ve no guarantee that Mrs. Chapman will come.”
    “She’ll come.” The anxious note in Bennett Chapman’s voice made Jim turn his way. Understanding dawned as he took in the older man’s crisply creased black suit, expertly knotted tie, and freshly barbered hair. Bennett was seeking the approval of the woman he’d married decades before.
    “We must all hold hands,” Amy said.
    Jim reached for Nicholas’s hand on his left and Amy’s on his right. Her fingers fluttered so lightly in his grasp that he felt they might float away if he didn’t enclose them completely. Across the table, Catharine hesitated briefly before allowing her hand to rest against Adrian’s open palm. He acknowledged her touch with an expressionless nod but did not close his hand around hers.
    “Should we shut our eyes?” Chloe asked.
    “I have no intention of doing that,” Nicholas said. “I don’t plan to miss a thing.”
    An uncomfortable silence descended upon them as all attentionturned toward Amy. She had already closed her eyes, her face in repose reminiscent of a Renaissance Madonna.
    “We have visitors tonight, Mrs. Chapman,” Amy said politely. “Won’t you join us?”
    Chloe squirmed in her chair. “Oh, dear. I do hope we needn’t worry about anything as odious as ectoplasm.”
    “Shhh!” Catharine frowned.
    Amy’s cheeks grew exceedingly rosy. Her small hand curled into a fist against Jim’s palm. He resisted the urge to slide his chair a little closer to hers.
    Seconds dragged into minutes. The grandfather clock in the entrance hall chimed the quarter hour, each toll an indictment. Outside, the sky darkened a shade.
    Nicholas’s chair creaked as he shifted position. “I’ll endure five more minutes of this nonsense. If nothing has happened by then, the matter is settled in my favor.”
    “There is no prescribed waiting time written in our agreement,” Adrian said.
    “Perhaps you have more hours than I to waste in the pursuit of folly, Mr. de la Noye. Five more minutes.”
    “Oh, I’m quite certain they won’t mind at all,” Amy said suddenly to no one in particular.
    Bennett Chapman leaned forward. “Is she here?”
    “She says that you should be able to sense that by now . . . that if you think about her, you’ll know exactly where she’s standing.”
    The candle flames wavered as Bennett obediently closed his eyes. A small smile pulled at one corner of his mouth. “Why, of course. She’s near the fireplace.”
    “Very good indeed,” Amy said.
    “She’s wearing that blue gown I liked so well, the one she first wore to a ball at the White House. Rud Hayes and his wife, Lucy, were such splendid hosts, even if one had to resort to trickery to get a drop of liquor in their house; excellent practice for this wretched Prohibition, if I do say so myself. Good evening, my sweet Elizabeth.”
    “Oh, for the love of God.” Nicholas yanked