Ivy stood at the counter talking to Sidra when I entered the library a few minutes later. They both wore their school uniforms, so I assumed neither had been expelled.
“Hello,” I said with a friendly nod.
“If it isn’t The Graveyard Queen,” Ivy drawled. “That is what they call you, isn’t it?”
“Sometimes.”
“Creepy.”
What I found creepy was the fact that she must have looked me up to know my nickname. What I found even creepier was the possibility that she’d been spying on Thane and me at the falls that day. Ivy’s not like other girls, he’d said. There’ve been some incidents. “I guess it depends on one’s perspective,” I said, carefully.
Her gaze was slightly contemptuous. “If you say so.”
I turned to Sidra. “Is Luna here?”
She shot a warning glance at Ivy. “No, but she’ll be back soon.”
“I guess that’s my cue.” Ivy straightened. “See you later, Sid. Don’t forget what we talked about.”
Sidra frowned. “I already told you, I’m not going up there again.”
“Never say never,” Ivy said and gave me a knowing smile.
Sidra waited until the door closed behind Ivy, then turned back to me. “Can I help you with something?”
“Is everything okay? You look a little anxious.”
“I’m fine. It’s just…” She shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Are you sure? If you need someone to talk to—”
“I don’t,” she said, dropping her gaze to the counter.
“Okay, then maybe you can help me.” I told her what I needed, and she led me through the library to a long table stacked with books and records. “Luna gathered up all this stuff for you days ago. We were wondering when you’d be back.”
I almost told her that I’d been in once before, but then I remembered the circumstances of that visit and decided to hold my silence.
“If you don’t find what you’re looking for here, I can always check the archives,” Sidra said, thumbing through one of the file folders. “And I’m sure we have more reference books that mention Thorngate.”
“Thanks. Whatever you can find will be a big help. Oh, and speaking of reference books, I’d like to find out more about the hex signs up at the waterfall. I tried an internet search, but nothing turned up.”
Her eyes widened, and I saw something surface in those blue depths that might have been fear. “Hex signs?”
“I’ve seen similar ones on old gravestones. I’m curious how they came to be carved into the side of that cliff.”
She hesitated. “You won’t find any information in here or anywhere else about those symbols. And I wouldn’t mention them again. People around here are funny about those things.”
“Superstitious, you mean?”
Her gaze darted away. “I just wouldn’t say anything if I were you.”
I was puzzled by her behavior, but I let the matter drop.
A door closed somewhere in the library, and she looked a bit alarmed. “Luna must be back. I’ll let her know you’re here.”
She hurried away, and I settled down at the table to work, but I’d barely had time to shuffle through the first stack of papers when Sidra returned with a couple of books. “Should be something in here about the cemetery,” she said. “It lists all the graveyards in the county.”
I glanced up. “You sure found that fast.”
“I know just about every book in this library. I’ve spent most of my life in here.”
“You must enjoy your work, then.” I smiled. “I love libraries, the older the better. Just like cemeteries.”
She said almost shyly, “I like cemeteries, too. I could help you go through some of this stuff if you’d like.”
“Luna wouldn’t mind?”
“I don’t have anything else to do,” she said and pulled out a chair. It had occurred to me while she’d been gone that she might know something about Freya. The girl had died before Sidra was born, but in a town this small, she was bound to have heard something. And she’d certainly reacted to the photograph in Luna’s office.
We worked in silence for a few minutes before I casually remarked, “I met your mother at Asher House the other night.”
“I heard.”
“She told you?”
“My mother never tells me anything, but I always manage to find out what I need to know.”
The hint of superiority sounded more like Ivy than Sidra. “After dinner, Thane and I went through some old boxes. I came across a photograph that reminded me of the one hanging in Luna’s office—that group photograph of her and your mother and Catrice. There was another girl in the background. Thane said her name was Freya Pattershaw.”
Sidra didn’t glance up, but I could sense a sudden tension and remembered her strong reaction that day in Luna’s office. I’d suspected then, as I did now, that she’d seen Freya’s ghost in that photograph.
“Have you ever heard that name?”
Her blue gaze lifted to mine, and something in those crystalline pools made me shiver. It was the dichotomy of light and dark, I realized. “I’ve heard the name,” she said. “She was the bird woman’s daughter.”
“The bird woman?” I asked in confusion.
“Tilly Pattershaw. That’s what we call her.”
“Shouldn’t that nickname belong to Catrice? She’s the ornithologist.”
“Catrice studies birds,” Sidra said. “Tilly takes care of them. She’s a rescuer. And she probably knows as much or more about birds than anyone around here, including Catrice. You should see her yard. Sometimes they flock to her by the hundreds.”
I had a sudden vision of all those crows staring down at me. “Do you go out to her house often?”
Sidra gave a wary glance over her shoulder. “I’m not supposed to go out there ever. But I like birds. The little ones especially and the songbirds. Catrice studies predators.”
I tried to keep my voice mildly curious. “Why aren’t you allowed to go out there?”
Another pause. “Tilly’s not one of us.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s not from Asher Falls.”
“But she’s lived here most of her life.”
“She’s still considered an outsider by people like my mother and Luna.”
Ironic, considering she’d probably lived here longer than they’d been alive. “Do you know what happened to Freya?” I asked.
“She died.”
“Yes, I know, but how?”
She hesitated with another cautious glance over her shoulder. “No one likes to talk about it, but…I’ve heard people say it was a fire. That’s how Tilly burned her hands. They say she tried to go in after her daughter.”
“That’s why she wears gloves,” I said.
“Always. I’ve never seen her without them even when she feeds the birds.”
“Where was the fire?”
“I don’t know. Some abandoned building in town. There was a party or something. That’s all I know. Except…” Her eyes were very cool and very blue but filled with something I couldn’t put a name to. Something that unsettled. “I don’t think they liked her much.”
“They?”
“My mother and Luna and Catrice.”
“Why didn’t they like her?”
“Maybe you should ask Luna.”
“Ask me what?”
My gaze shot to the end of the aisle where Luna stood holding her cat. She wore a deep purple dress the exact shade of a twilight sky. Silver cuffs circled her wrists and I could see the milky glow of the moonstone at her throat. She bent, and the tabby leaped from her arms to dart under one of the shelves, claws scratching at the hardwood floor.
“He’s after a mouse,” Sidra said.
“Yes, he’s a bloodthirsty little thing,” Luna said. “It’s a natural instinct, though, so one can hardly begrudge him. Besides, rodents are the bane of old libraries. Traps can only do so much.” She
smiled as she leaned a shoulder against the shelf and folded her arms. “Now, what was it you wanted to ask me?”
Sidra had her back to Luna. Her head was bowed to the book, but her gaze was lifted to mine, and I saw an almost imperceptible shake of her head. For some reason, she didn’t want me to mention Freya, maybe because she wasn’t supposed to know anything about her.
I said evenly, “I’m trying to find a site map for the cemetery. Thane said there might be one at Asher House, but it never turned up. Have you seen one in the library archives?”
“Should be one somewhere in all those records.” She walked over to the table, her hand sliding up Sidra’s back to rest on her shoulder, and I saw the girl close her eyes, as if suppressing a shudder. “At least for the new section. But the site map for the original cemetery could very well be at Asher House. I’ll have a look myself next time I’m there.”
“Thank you.”
She stared down at me for a moment, and then before I could react, she reached out and grasped my chin, turning my face to the side, as if to study my profile. I jerked away in shock.
She smiled. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you. I thought I saw a spider in your hair.
And now it was I who suppressed a shudder. In that brief moment that we were so close, I noticed a fan of lines around her eyes, the crepey skin at her neck, the shimmer of gray hair in her dark mane. She didn’t seem quite so vital or lush as I’d first perceived her, and for some odd reason, I thought of that withering corpse in the Asher mausoleum.
She straightened. “Sidra, don’t forget you’re locking up tomorrow.”
The girl’s gaze was on me. “I won’t.”
To me Luna said, “Is there anything else I can do for you, Amelia?”
“No, thank you,” I said a little too quickly. “Sidra has been kind enough to help me sort through the records.”
“Yes,” Luna said, “Sidra can be quite the helpful girl.” And with that, she turned and disappeared.
Sidra let out a breath. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“Not mentioning Freya. I don’t like to make Luna angry.”
“Why would that make her angry? Regardless of what she and the others felt for Freya back then, the poor girl has been dead for years.”
“You don’t know Luna very well,” she murmured. Then she leaned in, her voice lowered to a whisper. “There’s something you need to see.”
“What is it?”
“Not now. Meet me here tomorrow after Luna leaves.”
“I don’t know if I can make it—”
“It’s about those hex signs,” she said. “Come back tomorrow and I’ll show you.”
Twenty-Four
When I left the library a little while later, I found Wayne Van Zandt nosing around my car. He had his hands cupped to his face, peering in through the back window. When he heard my approach, his head came around, but his smirk told me he wasn’t unduly concerned that I’d caught him snooping.
“Are you looking for something?” I asked coolly. My gaze tried to stray to those scars, but I forced myself to focus on his eyes. Still, I couldn’t help but think of everything Thane had told me about the attack. Apparently Wayne had no recollection except that he’d gone to the falls to meet Luna.
I felt an odd tug and glanced over my shoulder, expecting to find Luna glaring at me. Instead, I saw Ivy standing in the shade of the clock tower staring at us. As our gazes collided, I felt a chill creep up my spine. Wayne noticed her, too, and muttered under his breath.
“Were you looking for something in my car?” I asked again.
“Just waiting for you,” he said.
“Why?”
“I thought you might be interested to know that I found a kennel up in the hills.”
“Did you make an arrest?” I asked anxiously.
He stroked a finger down one of the scars as if deliberately trying to bait my gaze. “No need to,” he said. “Someone was there before me. The dogs were all gone and the kennel was torched. The owner got himself roughed up, too. He wouldn’t talk, of course.” His eyes narrowed as he searched my face. “Don’t suppose you’d know anything about that incident.”
“Me?” I asked in surprise, even as I visualized the cut at Thane’s temple and the bruises on his knuckles. “How would I know anything about it?”
He turned his head to observe the street. “That stray still hanging around the Covey place?” His tone was casual, almost distracted, but I had the impression of a cold calculation behind the question.
If he meant to catch me off guard or provoke a reaction, he had no idea who he was dealing with—a woman who had been disciplined by the presence of ghosts since childhood. “I told you the other day, he’s probably long gone by now.”
“That is what you said,” he agreed.
“Wayne, what do you think you’re doing?” a voice demanded from the sidewalk. We both turned as Catrice Hawthorne stepped off the curb and headed toward us, her shabby attire a far cry from the elegant cocktail dress she’d worn to Asher House the other night. Her floppy hat and shapeless capris reminded me of the garb favored by the tourists who flocked to the Battery in the summer, the ones who avidly snapped pictures of the mansions and bartered for souvenirs at the Market.
Annoyed, Wayne said, “This is none of your business, Catrice. Go back to your vultures.”
Her eyes sparkled with good humor. “Vultures are scavengers. Hardly my area of expertise.”
“Maybe I wasn’t talking about birds,” he muttered.
She laughed as she turned to me. “I’m so glad I ran into you, Amelia. My car is on the fritz and I wonder if I could trouble you for a ride home. I’m right on your way.”
“Of course. No trouble at all.”
“You’re a lifesaver. And if you have time, I’ll give you that tour of the studio I promised.”
Her genuine warmth once again took me by surprise. She was so much more personable than either Bryn or Luna, or anyone else I’d met in Asher Falls, for that matter—with the possible exception of Thane.
She shook a finger at Wayne. “I know it’s asking a lot, but try to work on that attitude. You’ll give Amelia a bad impression, and we don’t want to scare her off.”
He merely glared as we climbed into the car, and I pulled away from the curb.
Catrice glanced back with a chuckle. “I hope this isn’t too much of an imposition.”
“Not at all.”
“I thought you looked as if you needed rescuing. Wayne can be a little overbearing at times, especially with strangers. He’s been through a lot, though, so we try to cut him some slack.”
“You’ve known him a long time, I take it?”
“We grew up together…all of us…Wayne, Luna, Bryn, Edward, Hugh and myself. We were thick as thieves as children.” She removed her hat and placed it on the console between us. Sunlight streaming in through the windshield set fire to her red hair as she ran fingers through it. “Then Hugh and Edward were shipped off to boarding school, Wayne’s family moved to Woodberry for a time and we three girls were left to our own devices.”
“You and Luna and Bryn?”
She smiled. “Blood sisters, we called ourselves. We were quite the explorers. There was a time when we knew these hills as well as our own backyards.”
“What about Freya Pattershaw?” I kept my gaze on the road, but from the corner of my eye, I saw Catrice turn to study me.
“How do you know about Freya?” she asked after a moment.
I’m being haunted by her ghost. “I saw a picture of you and Bryn and Luna at Asher House. Freya was in the background.”
“How did you know who she was?”
“Thane told me.”
“How would he know?” I heard the frown in her voice. “She was dead long before he came here.”
“It’s a small town. I’m sure he’s heard of her. Maybe he’s even seen other pictures of her,” I said with a shrug.
She sighe
d and turned to stare out the window. “Poor Freya. She was always lurking in the background, always trying to fit in where she didn’t belong. I always suspected her insecurities came from not having a father.”
“What happened to him?”
The Kingdom Page 18
