Page 74 of The Lady on Esplanade

“We’re not alone,” she whispered.

I knew better than to say that I knew Mimi, Beau, and Jolene were with us.

“Anyone I know?”

She gave a quick nod.“Beau’s grandfather.He hangs out mostly around his portrait in the foyer.He likes to keep an eye on his family.He’s a nice ghost.”

“Okay.Anyone else?”

Sarah didn’t respond right away.“There are a couple of spirits who are always around the doll.One is a nice lady who smiles a lot.She smells like Grandma Amelia, so I think she wears the same perfume.”She pressed her lips together tightly, like a person who’s afraid to say something out loud.

“And the other one?”I asked.

She wore a pinched expression, as if each word hurt as she spoke it.“He’s not a nice man.”

“Has he spoken to you?”

She gave a quick shake of her head, her face visibly paler.“No.He’s very strong.And dark.I don’t want to open myself to him.I think he wants to hurt people.”Her fear had thinned her voice, making it high-pitched and reedy.“There’s a little boy here sometimes, too.He wears old-fashioned clothes and a weird hat.He’s the one who keeps moving the doll.”

I looked at her sharply.“Did he tell you why?”

“He doesn’t know.The man—the bad guy—wants to keep the doll hidden, which is why the boy keeps moving it even though the nice lady told him not to.”She leaned closer, her voice so quiet that it almost disappeared.“The doll is part of a big secret, and the other two don’t want anyone to know about it.”

“Does he know what the secret is?”

“No.But the man really scares me.Please don’t make me stay here.I don’t want to go home yet, either.The little boy is stuck and needs my help.”

I sighed.“Is there anyone else?”

“Adele’s here,” whispered Sarah.“She’s really clear to me.Like, much better than before.I think because Beau and I are here together.And you know what Mom says when she and Jayne get together.”

“ ‘We’re stronger together,’ ” I said, repeating the mantra I’d heard Melanie and Aunt Jayne and their mother, Ginny, say whenever they joined forces to combat less-than-friendly ghosts.

“Is she saying anything?”

Sarah shook her head.“She’s waiting for Beau to notice her.He’s pretending that she’s not here, but he knows.”She was silent for a moment, as if listening to something—or someone—that I couldn’t hear.“Is Felicity upstairs?”

“I think so.She was up with me pretty late last night, so she’s probably still sleeping.Why?”

“When she and Beau and I are all together, everything is very…‘crisp,’ I think, is the word.Like, there’s a veil between us and the other place, and it’s sometimes pretty thick, but it wasn’t yesterday when we were all here.”

“I get that, except Felicity doesn’t have any psychic abilities.At least that’s what she says, and I believe her.”

Sarah shrugged.“Maybe she doesn’t know.”She looked at me intently.“But that’s why I don’t want to stay here.The veil is very thin in this house.I think I make it too easy for the spirits to come through.Both kinds of spirits.”Her eyes widened.“I can’t help the little boy if I’m scared.And he really needs my help.”

A quick knock on the doorframe was followed by Christopher’s face peeking around the corner.“Are you okay with two more visitors?”

From the look on Jolene’s face, she would have preferred to havemore time to make me presentable, and I needed more time to become coherent.“Just give us a moment…” I began.

“The more the merrier,” said Beau simultaneously.Trevor held a large, almost-flat rectangular item inexpertly wrapped with newspaper and tied up with a shoestring that had a bow at the top.Studying my bed head, Beau said, “Don’t be scared.The accident wrecked more than just the car and her ankle.”

Trevor let out a large snort of laughter but stopped when he caught Christopher’s expression.I was glad that Jolene had removed the bandage from my forehead.She’d said that the wound there was just superficial and that the bandage would impede her ability to apply makeup to my face.At the very least, I wouldn’t scare Trevor.

The young boy approached the bed, holding out the package.“This is for you.I fixed it up all by myself.”

Christopher cleared his throat.

“Most of it,” Trevor amended.“Go on.Open it.I can help if you need me.”