Whispers by Erin Quinn Read Free Book Online Page A

that woman here?” Gracie said.
    Reilly nodded his head, but she sensed he wasn’t telling her the truth. Not all of it anyway. No surprise there.
    “ You drove all that way for a story?”
    “ Well—”
    Furious, Gracie stood. “ Well , I hope my grief makes good copy.” He opened his mouth to say more but Gracie held up a hand. “I’m going to see if I can find my grandmother’s reservation book. If I can’t, I don’t care if it’s the storm of the century out there. All of you are gone.”
    She stomped out of the kitchen. As if attracted by the radiation of her anger, the lunatics in the front room turned and watched her pass. On the table in the entry was the leather-bound book Grandma Beck had always used to record the comings and goings of the Diablo’s temporary residents. Gracie opened it and fanned the pages until she came to the last with writing on it.
    There, under a page with today’s date, was Grandma Beck’s scrawl. Bill Barnes, all rooms. Then after that, Sold Out! Underscored twice. And then in small penciled-in letters, as if it were a secret mission, she’d written, Paid in advance. Check with bank. Wire transfer??? Full price.
    Damn it. Worse than reservations, they’d already paid. And they’d filled every room, which meant Gracie and Analise, when she finally got there, would be sharing quarters in Grandma Beck’s room.
    Reluctantly, she faced the group watching her. “Who is Bill Barnes?”
    Dracula stepped forward. Surely not?
    “ She didn’t take credit cards, so I had Bill wire the payment to her bank account,” Chloe said. “She was very suspicious about it.”
    “ Why didn’t you just pay her when you got here?”
    “ Because I knew you’d throw us out.”
    Chloe’s dark voice and unsettling declaration sent a deep unease through Gracie. She didn’t like Chloe LaMonte. Not at all.
    “ I still might.”
    “ No, you won’t. Not in good conscience and you are a person guided by your conscience.”
    Gracie wanted to spite this woman and damn the consequences, but Chloe cut her off before she could form thought into action. “She called to us,” Chloe said softly. Again Gracie heard that ring of compassion. “All the way across the desert, we heard her. All of us.”
    “ All of you?” Eddie repeated, staring from one face to another.
    “ She is angry.”
    Gracie was angry too. How dare this woman come here with all this mumbo jumbo gibberish?
    “ Listen, I don’t know who you are or what—”
    “ I am Chloe LaMonte,” she said patiently. “A vessel of the spirits. I am here to help your grandmother find peace and move on.”
    “ My grandmother is dead. She doesn’t need your help.” Gracie was shaking with anger.
    Bill Barnes touched Chloe lightly on the arm and murmured something in her ear. Chloe nodded. “You’re right, Bill.” She looked at Gracie. “We think it’s best if we discuss this in the morning. Would you be so kind as to tell us what rooms we’re in?”
    Gracie glared at her, wishing with all her might that she could tell them to take a hike, but the rain was hammering down now, coming in sluices that roared through the rain gutters on the roof. Thunder shook the house as the wind rattled the windows. And Chloe was right, she was a woman guided by her conscience, damn her. She’d have to be heartless to send them out in this when she knew there wasn’t another place to stay for at least fifty miles, and she was too exhausted to be heartless tonight. But that didn’t mean she’d be nice.
    “ Up the stairs and to the right. To the left are family quarters. Stay out of those.”
    With that she turned on Eddie who stood just outside the kitchen, Reilly at his side. The dogs remained where she’d left them, but they were on their feet and watching through the open door.
    “ Eddie, it’s been more than a few minutes. Where is Analise?”
    As if in answer, headlights shot through the windows and climbed the walls as a car approached.