Chapter 20

T he next day Cameron was shocked at how busy the ER was when he arrived at work. Everything from small things to big things. By the time he was done with his shift the next morning, and things had calmed down enough for him to hand it off, he looked around and asked, “What the hell was that?”

“Tomorrow’s Halloween, so that was everybody coming in before ,” said Jenny, the nurse with the most tenure here.

“Meaning?” Cameron asked.

“It means nobody’ll come in during Halloween.”

Cameron sighed. “It would be nice if we had a calm evening for once, but are people really that superstitious around here?”

“They are definitely that superstitious,” she confirmed. “And I wouldn’t laugh if I were you because people take it seriously.”

“Oh, trust me. I’ve gotten that impression already,” he murmured. “I’m not exactly sure what to do with that level of hysteria though.”

“You just accept it and carry on, realizing that these people have a reason, and they’re not to be mocked for it.”

He slowly turned, frowning at her, and asked, “Have I mocked anyone?”

“No, but I’m not sure you have as much understanding as there could be.”

He studied her and asked, “You’ve been here a long time, haven’t you?”

“I have been here for a very long time,” she claimed. “I’m the oldest nurse on staff and am also the backup administrator for the hospital. So, if the hospital shuts down permanently, I’m retiring because I have been here every day of my working life,” she murmured, then shook her head. “The shit I have seen here has just been unbelievable. No one would believe it.”

“So, you’ll be here tomorrow night?”

“I should be,” she said grimly. “Generally nobody else shows up for work on Halloween. So, if anybody is hurt and doesn’t know about the Halloween nightmares and comes here anyway, then they still need to be treated,” she explained, looking over at him. “So, I sure as hell hope you show up.”

“I have every intention of showing up,” he declared. “I don’t have opinions or experiences with these types of esoteric events.”

“You might change your mind after tomorrow night,” Jenny suggested, staring at him intently. “It depends on whether you’ve got the guts to continue through the night or you’ll be scared away.”

“I don’t scare that easily,” Cameron stated, raising one eyebrow.

“Yeah, and maybe you’ve got more guts than brains, if you’re going out with that crazy chick.” He stiffened again, and she nodded. “I was afraid that would be your reaction.”

“Why does everybody insult Danica?” he asked. “The shit she’s gone through from people here? I just don’t get it.”

“Maybe not, but you’ve also got to wonder why she’s back again, if the treatment was that bad.”

“She’s back again because of her grandmother. It’s only the two of them.” He almost bit his lip on that one, stumbling over the realization how that was no longer true.

“Most people in this town will do everything they can to ensure Danica doesn’t stay.”

“Why is that anyway?”

“Because of her waking up dead,” she snapped. “Something about finding out you have a witch in your midst, when she should have been a ghost and six feet under, makes you not want to have anything to do with her. Add to that her crazy-ass mother who was sleeping with married men all over town and who then supposedly tried to kill Danica,… or she killed her mother. Nobody’s ever really been sure. So that just adds to the evil element as to why Danica shouldn’t be around. If she tried or maybe did kill her mother, then she’s a murderer who got away scot-free. If she didn’t try to kill her mother, she’s still somebody who escaped permanent purgatory, and nobody’s happy about that either.”

“Sounds like people around here just aren’t happy.”

“That house, that whole family,” Jenny said, with a hard laugh, shaking her head, “they’re just different,… so weird. And right now it seems to be getting worse. I can’t come in here without listening to people going off about how Danica shouldn’t be here and how she shouldn’t be allowed to stay.”

“I’ve been hearing a lot of the same thing,” Cameron confirmed. “I just hadn’t expected to hear it from you.”

“Eventually,” she replied, twisting in her chair at the front counter to look at him, “you should go with the tide instead of always fighting it. You know that old saying, Where there’s smoke, there’s fire ? Something happened, and people here just don’t like anything about it.”

“What about Harriet?” Cameron asked.

“I think she’s to blame too, but there have been just enough times that she’s been helpful to the townsfolk that people hate to blame her without justification. But I think they’re sorely losing on that point now too. She brought Danica back, and that’s something they won’t accept easily.”

“Jeez,” Cameron muttered, his hands on his hips, “and what if Danica didn’t do anything but endure the terrible experience of waking up in the morgue, after her own mother tried to murder her?”

“That’s the sad part of it,” Jenny replied, “because, if Danica didn’t do anything, this town hasn’t treated her well at all. However, none of that will change the viewpoint of the townsfolk. They’ve made a stance, and that’s all there is to it.”

“So, whether they’re right or wrong doesn’t really matter?” Cameron asked.

“It absolutely does not matter, not here,” Jenny declared, with a nod, “and you better get that in your head. If you decide to continue a relationship with Danica, you’ll find out that everybody here will turn against you.”

He stared at her for a long moment. “I see. So you’re prepared to get another doctor in here then, if that’s the case?”

She turned and stared at him, her gaze hooded. “I’m hoping I can talk you out of it. You really don’t need that in your life.”

“I don’t need that in my life, and Danica and Harriet don’t need it in theirs either,” he stated. “This town doesn’t need to hang on to something that fills them with so much hate that they can’t see that Danica had nothing to do with any of this nonsense.”

“Maybe,… but, even if they did see it, I don’t think anybody here would treat Danica any differently. It would be hard for them to back up and to let go of all those old rumors and innuendos. So, even if Danica is innocent, I don’t think they can see their way to letting her be.”

Cameron sighed, as he looked around to see a couple other people staring at him. Several looked away, ashamed. Others just glared at him. “Interesting,” he murmured. “Up until I met her, I had no idea that this was the level of animosity in town or right here in this hospital. And now it is directed at me.” He stared down at the tablet in his hands, wondering about his decision to be here.

“As you well know, you have several more months in your contract,” Jenny reminded him.

He nodded. “I do, but that doesn’t mean I should stay beyond that.” With that, he turned and walked back to his office, feeling a sadness deep inside. He’d come home to help out the town he had been raised in, but, at this point, he wasn’t even sure that he would stay to the end of his contract. He’d had a house built, although only partially to date, and had been prepared to settle down and to make it his home, but his heart wasn’t in it anymore.

He finished his shift, blocking out everything but what he needed to do. By the time he headed home, it was five in the morning. Instead of going straight to bed, he walked outside, wandering around in the fresh morning air.

Deciding he needed the exercise and a chance to destress, he put on his running shoes and headed out for an early morning jog. By the time he got back, it was definitely time for a shower, and then he crashed.

Waking up a few hours later, he had an odd sense of not being alone.

He bolted out of bed and stepped into his living room, wearing just his pajama pants, to find his brother sitting there. Jace looked disheveled, as if he’d lost his entire world.

He looked up when Cameron walked in but didn’t say anything, choosing to just glare at him instead.

Not sure what to say, Cameron walked to the kitchen, put on coffee, then turned to his brother and asked, “What’s the matter, Jace?”

“Everything,” he muttered. “Absolutely everything.”

“I gather you’re having some trouble right now.”

“Ya think?” he muttered.

“Please don’t blame Danica anymore,” Cameron said, his fatigue evident in his expression, as he prepared to listen to his brother run off at the mouth again.

“It wouldn’t matter if I did or not,” he snapped, “because you won’t listen anyway, will you?”

“Why does everybody think I’m getting into a relationship with her?”

“Because you are. You just haven’t allowed yourself to admit it.”

He stared at him and shrugged. “Even if I did, what difference does it make to you? I like her.”

“Yeah, well, you’re nuts.” Jace stared off in the distance. “She’s freaky.”

“Really? Is she? Or is it just you saying that?”

“It doesn’t matter because the minute you’re off on your own, doing whatever you’re doing, everybody will just judge you anyway.”

“Is that what happened to you?”

“I don’t know what happened to me,” Jace admitted. “I really don’t. It just feels like everything is wrong these days.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

When the coffee was done, he poured two cups. He also pressed the Record button on his phone and pocketed his cell. Then he called out to Jace, “Come out onto the deck.” The two of them walked outside and sat down. He looked over at his brother and asked, “What the hell’s going on now? You’re not here working, and you’re not doing anything else, as far as I can tell.”

“Don’t lecture me,” Jace replied irritably.

“I’m not trying to, but I really don’t know what I’m supposed to do with you either.”

“It doesn’t matter what you do,” he muttered, glaring around. “Everything’s just fucked up.”

“I get that. I just don’t know why or how.”

“I shot her.”

Cameron stared at his brother, his heart sinking. “You what?”

“I shot her.”

No point in even trying to pretend it wasn’t true. “Why?” he asked, staring at his brother in shock. “Why would you do that?”

“I had to,” he said in a miserable tone.

“You had to, but why?”

He shrugged. “I’m broke.”

It took Cameron a minute to sort out just what the implication of that statement was. “When you say you’re broke and that you had to, are you telling me that you shot Danica for somebody else to give you money?”

Jace nodded. “Yeah, but now I think they’re after me, to ensure I don’t say anything.”

Cameron swallowed hard, as he stared at the brother he didn’t recognize right now. “My God,” he whispered. He pinched the bridge of his nose, not even sure what to say.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Jace noted bitterly. “I know I’m fucked.”

“Ya think?” Cameron asked. “You just admitted to trying to kill somebody and that you did it for money. That makes you a paid assassin or a hitman or some godforsaken thing,” Cameron yelled, staring at him. “And then there’s the fact that she didn’t do anything to you, which adds another completely bizarre element. Why would you would sign up for this?”

“I needed the money.”

“But did you?”

“Yes, I did. My ex is trying to get my truck, so I won’t even have wheels,” he spat, raging on. “That stupid bitch is taking my disability money as child support even though he’s not mine. I love him though. I thought he was mine and inside he is, regardless of any DNA testing. All this talk and rumors though… both poisonous.”

Just too much was going on for Cameron to unpack so quickly. “So, hang on a minute. You accepted a contract to shoot Danica for money, so you could pay the money to your ex-wife, so you could keep your truck?”

He looked at him and nodded. “Yeah, that’s exactly it.”

“Okay, and now you think that the guy who hired you is trying to what? Get rid of you so you can’t tell?”

Jace shrugged. “That makes the most sense, yes.”

“Has somebody tried to go after you?”

“Not yet, but obviously they will, if that’s what they want to do.”

Cameron frowned. “So, you don’t know for sure that somebody is after you?”

“No, I don’t know for sure that somebody is after me,” he repeated, with patent slowness in his tone. “But I’ve been followed these last few days, and I don’t know who else would do that or why.”

“Okay, so you’ve been followed, and you think it’s this guy?”

“Yes.”

“Did you meet him?”

“He came into my house one time, when I was not in very good shape,” he acknowledged, with a snort. “When I say, not in very good shape , I mean piss-tank drunk.”

“So, you decided, based on what this stranger told you, that you would do this?”

“Yes, and he didn’t pay me either.”

Cameron let out his breath. “Maybe that’s a good thing because, if you weren’t paid, maybe it wasn’t a hired hit.”

“But it was a hired hit. Except that I haven’t seen him since. I’ve been trying to contact him so I could get my money.”

Cameron didn’t even know what to say. This was just so far beyond anything he would have expected as a conversation with his brother that it was just shocking. “I see,” he murmured.

“I don’t think you do see though,” Jace countered. “If he is after me, then I’m screwed.”

“Yes, I imagine that’s possible. Did he give a reason why?”

“I don’t know. I was so drunk I’m not even really sure.”

Cameron hesitated, then asked, “Is there any chance that…” He paused, searching around for the right word that would answer the question but not set off his brother. “Could you have maybe imagined him?”

His brother glanced him, and Jace’s gaze dropped to the patio table.

Cameron swore, as he realized his brother had already considered that option. “Have you been taking your medication? Have you been hallucinating at all?” he asked, speaking softly, trying to keep the conversation productive and under control.

“I don’t have money for the medication,” Jace muttered. “So, I haven’t been taking them for a while.”

“Damn it, Jace.” Cameron stared at his brother in shock. “You know you could have come to me for that.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t want to,” he retorted. “I’m better off without them anyway.”

That was all so patently wrong, particularly about shooting an innocent woman for promised money from some guy whom Jace didn’t know.

“That guy showed up out of the blue, asking me to do it.”

“Christ,” he muttered. “You need to tell the deputy.”

“Hell no.” Jace shook his head. “I ain’t telling that guy nothing. Besides, he’s already got a hate on for Danica, and he thinks she shot herself.” He laughed. “So, it’s all good. As long as Benson thinks she did it to herself, then I’m in the clear.”

“You’ll just let him think that?” Cameron asked.

“Sure, why not?” Jace asked. “It’s better than having me going to jail for it.”

“I don’t know about that,” Cameron murmured, staring at his brother. “It’s just not right.”

“Yeah, you’re the one who was always held by that sense of right or wrong,” Jace noted, shaking his head and sneering. “I never was.”

Unfortunately that was quite true. If one of them never worried about the law, it was his brother. “You can’t let the deputy think Danica did this to herself. He’s looking to get her charged.”

“That’s her problem,” Jace muttered. “It sure as hell isn’t mine.”

Cameron shook his head. “How is it you can just say it’s not your problem when you know full well what you did?”

“Sure, but what I did has nothing to do with it. And, if you tell Benson, I’ll just call you a liar, and he’ll believe me because he wants to.”

The logic in his words was a little too real. It was also sadly true because Deputy Benson did appear to have a problem with Danica, to the point that it would quite likely stop him from ever seeing her as innocent. Cameron still wanted to believe in the law and in justice, but right now? Everything seemed to be completely screwed. “I get that you’ll say I’m just lying, but I do have a stellar reputation.”

“Yeah, well, your stellar reputation is getting smeared right now,” Jace said, with a laugh. “It’s one of the reasons why I didn’t have a problem telling you what I did because everybody’s starting to think of you in a different way.”

That was also true, and Cameron had seen the evidence of it already. He could only just stare at his brother in surprise. Then it hit him. “Hang on. Have you been actively spreading lies and damaging my reputation, and Danica’s?” he asked in shock.

“No, why the hell should I be bothered with that?” he muttered, looking over at him. “You’re doing a good enough job of that yourself. Besides, if you weren’t seeing that bitch, it wouldn’t have happened, but you are. So now it’s your world that can spin off into a nightmare spiral,… just like mine did.”

Honestly Cameron didn’t have a clue what to say. He stared at his brother and shook his head. “Has the whole fucking world gone mad?”

His brother looked at him in surprise, then shrugged. “No, I think you’re just starting to see the real world that you live in.”

“No, it’s not. It wasn’t this way before,” Cameron argued. “I get that it can take time when you resettle into a place to really figure out who and what’s changed, but”—he took a moment to collect his thoughts—“I never ever would have thought that something like this was happening here.”

“That’s because you were living in your happy little world,” Jace pointed out. “As long as you’re in your happy little world, everything is just fine and dandy, but somebody, namely her , pulled you out of that happy little world.”

“What is it that she supposedly did?” he asked his brother curiously. “You went through all the trouble to get a gun?”

“No,” Jace held up a hand. “I’ve always had the gun. Haven’t had too many reasons to use it, so I was not all that upset about getting a chance to do something with it.”

His brother sounded so completely calm. How could that be when the words coming out of his mouth were absolutely insane and made no sense to Cameron? He knew his brother was on medication—or should be. Cameron had deliberately removed himself from Jace’s psychological treatments, knowing it was easier to keep his distance and to be neutral and supportive, especially if he stayed out of the details and wasn’t his doctor. However, this —whatever this was—wasn’t normal at all. “I wonder if the whole place goes mad at Halloween.”

His brother laughed. “You heard all those Halloween rumors, did you?”

“Or is that something you’ve created too?” Cameron asked, looking at him.

“No, but I certainly added fuel to the fire. After all, that crazy bitch Daisy died that night.”

“Yes, she did. And I’m still trying to figure out how and why.”

“You and the rest of the world,” Jace noted, with a laugh. “It’s not as though anybody really cares. She was one hell of a whore, and the best thing to happen to her was to get herself knocked off. I should be thanking Danica for that.”

“Danica didn’t kill her mother,” Cameron stated, looking at his brother with new insights.

His brother laughed. “See? I knew you were so far gone that you would listen to all the shit she spouted.”

“And what if it isn’t shit that she’s spouting?” he asked, staring at his brother.

He snorted. “Everybody here is pretty superstitious. I mean, Daisy was crazy, like good old-fashioned crazy. You know that, right? All the guys would talk about her constantly.”

“Did that make her crazy or just sad, as in pitiful?”

“Oh, she was that too,” Jace added, his tone hard.

“I know that you know,” Cameron declared.

His brother looked at him in surprise and asked, “Know what?”

“I know.” He didn’t add anything else.

His brother looked at him, then suddenly yelled, “Those stupid fucking bitches.”

Cameron’s eyebrows raised. “Now who are we talking about?”

“You know exactly who I’m talking about. Are they spreading that bullshit again?”

“And what bullshit is that?” he asked, still staring at his brother.

“The bullshit that the old lady witch is my grandmother too? You know that’s complete BS.”

“I don’t know anything at this point,” Cameron replied, staring at him. “Honest to God, Jace. I don’t know or understand what the hell’s going on here.”

“That’s just because you’re so fucking gullible,” Jace declared, with a mock smile. “Never really thought that you would be quite that gullible though.”

“Meaning?” This whole conversation was breaking Cameron’s heart. To see Jace like this?… Yet Cameron had to continue this crazy conversation, as it was the only way to get answers.

Jace chuckled. “Don’t tell me that you can’t figure that out either. You should know that I’m your brother, and, if you can’t figure that out, then, God, I can’t imagine what the hell you’ve been doing with your life all these years. No one who knows you would be listening to you spout all this off now.”

“I’m not spouting it off to anybody,” Cameron stated. “I’m just trying to figure out what the hell is going on and why you would shoot Danica and then expect me to keep quiet about it.”

“Even if you don’t keep quiet, Deputy Benson won’t listen to you anyway. Besides, what do you care? She’s crazy.”

“ She’s crazy?” he asked, frowning at his brother.

“Or do you think I am?” he asked, his tone turning ugly.

“I don’t know what the hell I believe right now, Jace,” he murmured, shaking his head.

At that, he laughed and laughed. “See? That’s the thing. You should figure it out, but, because you haven’t, that just makes it all the more amusing for me.” Jace stood up. “Don’t even begin to believe that shit they’re spouting. I am not related to them.” He looked over at Cameron bitterly. “The fact that you would even doubt something like that? God, Mom and Dad must be rolling in their graves.” Then he laughed. “And, if they aren’t, they should be.”

Something in his tone just didn’t make any sense. Cameron eyed his brother and whispered, “Did you have anything to do with that?”

His brother stared at him in surprise and then snorted. “You mean, because I shot Danica, now I’m supposed to be some crazed killer?” he asked, chuckling. “My God, you’ve really got it bad, don’t you?”

“I don’t have anything at the moment,” Cameron admitted, “and I certainly don’t have a grasp on the truth. If somebody would enlighten me on that part, I could get somewhere.”

“Yeah, you might. On the other hand, you don’t appear to have a very good grasp on anything, so you should probably just toddle along and let the rest of us big boys do our thing.”

“Just what is your thing?” he asked, wondering at the twisted bitterness on Jace’s face, even as Cameron looked for a resemblance to Danica. “Because none of this makes a damn bit of sense.”

“Oh, it makes perfect sense, but you just don’t see it.” And, with that, he laughed again. “Don’t mind me. I’ll head out for a while.”

“Where to?”

Jace faced him, a mocking expression on his face. “What? Now you’ll start checking up on me?”

“I never thought to before, but now, all of a sudden, you’re shooting innocent people? What the hell am I supposed to do with that?”

Jace walked to the door and turned to look back at his brother. “Don’t you believe in any of that shit they told you about Mom and Dad.”

“They didn’t say anything about Mom and Dad,” Cameron clarified, eyeing his brother as if he’d never seen him before—and honest to God, he wasn’t sure he ever had. “I’m still struggling with a lot of stuff they did say.”

Jace nodded. “I struggled with some of it too for a long time, and then I ditched it as just weird, jealous, godforsaken rumors they decided would be fun to spread. Nobody’s spreading that shit about me,” he muttered. “No way in hell that anybody in this town would let any relative of theirs live peaceably who did that,” he snapped. “And believe me that I won’t be part of that shit.” And, with that, he strode out the front door.

Cameron stared in his wake, wondering what the hell had just happened to his world. He grabbed his phone and saved the recording. As soon as his brother was gone, he called Danica.

She answered but seemed distracted. “Hey, can I call you back in a bit?”

“I don’t know,” he replied, trying to understand the urgency he felt. “My brother was just here. He’s the one who shot you.”

She gasped. “Why does he hate me so much?” she cried out.

“I don’t know, but I suspect it has to do with the news that you might be family.”

“So he decided to shoot me over that now ?”

“He doesn’t seem to think that anybody would be allowed to live here peaceably if they were related to you ,” he shared. “All I can tell you is that he’s gone and that I’m not comfortable with you guys being alone over there.”

She gave a broken laugh. “I mean, what else can go wrong?” she muttered. “This is just one horror after another. I’m just waiting for my grandmother to wake up again. I thought we were getting somewhere with this big family secret, and then she basically fell asleep while she was talking.”

“So, you still don’t know what’s happening?”

“No, and I keep trying to sort it out,” she muttered, “but I’m not getting very far.”

“Do you want me to come over?”

“No,” she stated forcefully. “You have to work tonight, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “I slept earlier, wanting to ensure I got at least some sleep. Apparently the hospital will be short-staffed tonight because it’s Halloween.”

She shivered. “I get that you don’t understand the huge impact all this has had on us,” she noted, “but Halloween at the hospital would definitely not be a place I wanted to be.”

“No, not when you’ve already spent so much spooky time there,” he murmured. “However, if you need me, you call me.”

“I know you won’t call in sick, not with your sense of duty and all,” she shared, “yet, if anybody looking like my mother comes in, please don’t let her grab your lab coat.”

“You really think it would kill me?”

“I don’t know if it would or not, but considering what happened to your father, let’s not take a chance,” she whispered.

“What do you mean? My father died of a heart attack.”

“Yeah, after my mother left a bloody handprint on his lab coat.”

“Oh no. Don’t you go believing the superstitions too.” Cameron moaned.

Danica sighed. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. I just know that those people encountered by Daisy on Halloween don’t die instantly but usually within a few months,” she shared. “Believe me that everybody looked at me over that too. Some probably still do. So don’t add to the body count please.”

“They blamed you for it?”

“Yeah. Apparently, when you walk out of a morgue after being pronounced DOA, they seem to think that you’re in the business of taking souls with you,” she muttered.

“Wow, I’m really rethinking my future here.”

“I’m not at all surprised,” she replied, with a chuckle. “It’s pretty scary to think about all that is wrong here. I’m not sure I even know the bare minimum of it.”

“Meaning?”

“I think my grandmother is still hiding some pretty dark secrets, and I don’t know that I’m up for seeing just how dark they may be.”

“You think it’s really bad?”

“Yeah, I think it’s really bad. She’s keeping secrets from me. So, hell, yes, it’s bad. I just don’t know how bad. She’s having such a hard time telling me that I’m pretty worried she won’t get it out before she goes,” Danica revealed, sadness in her tone. “I suspect she’ll pass on tonight, but I can’t be sure.”

“Tonight?”

“ Halloween night,” she noted, “and that’s quite possible.”

“I get it,” Cameron said, hearing hesitation in her tone. “I understand, but I’m also worried about you.”

She nodded and then smiled, unbeknownst to him of course. “I appreciate that. I really do.”

He muttered, “Yeah, you appreciate it, yet why do I expect to hear a but coming?”

She chuckled. “Not so much a but , as much as a warning. An awful lot is going on, much of it that I still don’t understand, and until I do—”

“Oh, I know,” he interrupted. “I get that, and I won’t push anything, but you obviously know that I like you and that I want you to stay safe. You’ve been hurt pretty badly already. I can’t believe my brother shot you, and that already makes me feel guilty as hell,” he shared, taking a moment to wrap his head around it. “I still can’t believe Jace even did that.”

“I’m not sure I do either.”

“He did admit to it so…”

“What?”

Cameron hesitated.

“What did he say?” she asked curiously.

“He did say that somebody hired him to do it.”

“What?”

“The thing is, I honestly don’t really know if I can believe him or not. He explained how someone offered to pay him to take you out.” He heard her cry out into the phone, and he whispered, “I’m sorry, but… no easy way to tell you that. However, when pushed, he also admitted that he didn’t know if he made him up in his mind, as he was drunk at the time and hasn’t seen him again.”

With tears in her throat, she whispered, “God, I hate this place.”

“I’m starting to be right there with you,” he muttered.

He heard her softly crying, and he felt like a heel. “I don’t know. I don’t even know what to do. Jace seemed to think that the deputy wouldn’t believe me if I told him that Jace had shot you because Benson would rather think that you did it to yourself.”

She gave a choked laugh and then said, “He’s correct on that because the deputy does want me to have done it, and he won’t look for anybody else.”

“But that’s just wrong, damn it.”

“There is wrong all over this world, and there’s wrong all over this nightmare,” she murmured. “And I’m not sure anybody gives a crap.”

“I sure do,” he snapped.

She whispered, “I am very grateful for that, and I don’t think you even realize how much. Over the last decade I’ve been used to not having anyone in my corner, and you’ve been a light in this nightmare.”

“But don’t you dare put that in past tense,” he warned. “I don’t know what the hell’s going on, but I am not giving up. We will get to the bottom of it.”

She gave a broken laugh. “You say that, but so many other people say other things, and sometimes—”

“We’ll figure this out. You’re not crazy.”

“Are you sure?” she whispered. “Because my mother was legitimately nuts, and it sounds to me that your brother may be as well. What if it’s genetic? What if it is all just a matter of who’s crazier than the other one?”

“Don’t even think like that,” he murmured. “We will get to the bottom of this, and it’s not your fault. Whatever it is that you’re thinking might be your fault, it’s not. You stay safe tonight. I do have to go to work because there isn’t another doctor on shift, and I don’t quite know what I’m supposed to do about that. But maybe, when this is over, and when your grandmother has passed on, maybe instead of buying this other piece of property,” he offered, hinting at his wishes, “maybe we can move somewhere else.”

When Danica didn’t respond, Cameron whispered, “I know I’m moving very quickly by even saying that, and I’m really sorry to spring this on you. Damn it,” he muttered. “I’m usually—I can be a whole lot smoother than this.”

“I don’t know whether it’s smooth or not,” she replied, chuckling. “I couldn’t tell you because I haven’t had a whole lot of experience. Men tend to see me and run.”

“I’m not the running kind, in case you hadn’t noticed. Now I’ve got to get organized and get to work. That’s pissing me off too because I don’t want to leave you alone. But you look after yourself and your grandmother, you hear me?”

“I will. I told you how I feel as if she’s almost gone, right?” she whispered.

“I know what you’re saying, and that could very well be true. I’m sorry I can’t be there, if that’s the case,” he told her. “She’s had a very long inning. She’s had a good inning.”

“Yes,” she whispered, “she has. I know. I know. I just—”

“I need to know that you’ll be okay.”

“I’ll be fine,” she whispered. “I just need her to tell me what the hell’s going on.”

“Good,” he said, assured that she was listening to him. “I’ll be at the hospital if anything crazy goes on here tonight.”

She snapped back sharply, “If anything crazy goes on, you be careful. Promise me.”

“I will,” he murmured. “I promise I’ll be careful.”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t sound to me like you’ll be careful enough,” she countered.

He laughed. “I’m not sure how much more careful I can be. It will be over soon. Halloween is tonight, so whatever the crazy cosmos has got planned, we’ll deal with it. And your grandmother, as you said, is on her last leg. So, when she’s gone, everything in your world may shift as well.”

“I hope so,” Danica conceded. “Nana did say something about a bloody legacy though, and that’s got me worried.”

“Legacy? What kind of a legacy?” Then he groaned. “I would love to stay and talk. I would love to just come over and talk,” he added, taking a moment, “but that’s not something I can do right now.”

“I understand,” she whispered. “Go—just go to work. You deal with that chaos, and I will attempt to deal with my chaos. Then maybe, if we catch a break later tonight, you can give me a shout, and we’ll catch up on how things are going.”

“Done,” he said. “And, if your grandmother has anything to say that disturbs you, where you need to talk, you call me.”

“Will do,” she murmured.

And, with a whispered, “Good night,” he ended the call and packed up, ready to go to work.

Definitely something was going on. He felt it. A tension coiled inside him, but he didn’t know why. If he was lucky, the night would be relatively harmless. Maybe the people—staff and patients alike—would be decent to deal with, and, if they weren’t, he would get through it somehow.

*

It’s time, came the insistent voice in the darkness of her mind.

Harriet groaned, rolled over on her bed, and whispered, “I don’t think I can do it.”

You have to , the voice stated forcefully. You know that you must. There is no choice .

“I know. I do know.” Feebly she made her way to her feet, swearing that she hadn’t told her granddaughter already.

We told you to, came the same insistent voice.

Interrupting that voice was another male, one that she barely recognized.

Are you all right? Stefan asked sharply.

She gave a broken laugh. “I may never be all right,” she whispered, “but it is my time to go.”

A softening to his tone came, when he whispered, That isn’t necessarily a bad thing .

“No, it absolutely isn’t a bad thing,” she agreed, tears in her eyes. “But there are things that I was supposed to tell my granddaughter, and it’s very important, but I’m getting so weak.”

Stefan, his thoughts almost as clear in his head as in hers, whispered, I might be able to help for a little bit, but I can’t stave off the… inevitable .

“I understand,” she whispered. “I know. I just need a little bit of time, that’s all.”

Are we talking an hour or are we talking a day? he asked doubtfully. Because I can see from the energy that you’re close .

“Exactly.” She called out weakly, “Are you there? Danica, are you there?”

The bedroom door opened, and Danica walked in. “I’m here, Nana. I’m here.”

“Good,” she whispered. “Stefan, please just give me an hour or two.”

I can try , but I can’t promise anything .

Harriet whispered to Stefan, “Nobody can promise anything anymore.”

Motioning Danica closer, Harriet murmured, “Come, child.”

Danica sat down beside her and picked up her hand. “Nana, are you all right?”

“No,” she whispered, “but the tale I should tell you, well—” Her voice faded away again.

Stefan urged Harriet, You don’t have time. I can’t keep this up for long .

“What time is it?” Nana whispered to Danica.

“It’s a little late,” she replied. “I wanted you to sleep and rest. Yet I didn’t want you to sleep too long.”

“How late is it?” Nana asked, her tone sharp.

“It’s eleven p.m.”

“Almost the witching hour,” she whispered.

“Maybe, depending on what we’re witching for,” Danica replied, full of worry. “Nana, you’re scaring me.”

“I have not done you any favors by keeping this from you. I thought maybe there would be a better time to tell you, a better time to explain, but it wasn’t to be, and now Benjamin is getting insistent.”

“Benjamin?” she asked, not recognizing the name. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you mention that name before.”

“My father and his father before him,” she whispered. “And his father before him and further back.”

“Yet you call him Benjamin,” Danica noted.

“Well…” She gave a broken laugh. “All the sons down the line have been Benjamins, except for my dearly departed husband.” Outside, the wind picked up, and Nana shivered. “It’s coming time now. Stefan, if you can, you need to look out for Danica.”

I don’t even know what I’m supposed to look out for regarding her , replied the voice in her head.

“You will,” she whispered. “You will. I’m sorry for not cluing you in on this too.”

What have you done? Stefan asked in a sharp tone.

“It’s not what I’ve done. It’s what everybody through the ages has done,” she whispered to him. “Danica, come closer. You need to know before midnight.”

“What does it matter that it’s midnight?” she asked.

“It’s the witching hour.”

“Nana,” Danica said, her tone sharpening, “that doesn’t mean anything to me.”

“No, I understand it doesn’t, but it means a lot to those people who are part of this.”

“Part of what?”

“Transitioning,” she whispered.

“You mean,” Danica hesitated and then asked, “are you talking about death?”

“Yes, death, but not death. It’s literally a transition in our family.”

“Transition of what?”

“It’s transition to life forever spent as part of the entity that has housed all of us for so many decades. Even centuries ago, since this house was founded.”

“What are you talking about?” Danica cried out. “What has it got to do with this house?”

“Everything,” Nana whispered. “Absolutely everything.”