“What happened to him?”

Dottie sighed. “He landed his dream job as a reporter for the Charleston Journal News right out of high school. We kind of lost touch after graduation, but I read everything he wrote. I was so proud of him.

“When the massacre at Ormsby Island happened, the story was given to one of the more veteran reporters.” She said this in a whisper, as if speaking about what had happened over two decades ago could make it happen all over again. “I heard that Peter went to the island himself, after all of the police and press left. I guess he wanted to uncover something the others had missed. I don’t know what he found, but when he returned, he was never the same again. Whatever he saw out there broke his mind clear in half. He lost his job, his fiancé, his car, everything. I hear he’s spent most of his time in and out of institutions.”

Ranea sat back in her chair. “Wow.”

Shaking her head, Dottie said, “Yeah, wow. Look, I’m happy that you managed to sell what we all considered the unsellable. But I know something is very wrong with that island. It destroyed everyone who lived there. And it destroyed Peter. He just didn’t want the same thing to happen to someone else. Unfortunately, he’s no longer able to convey his emotions the way he used to. He won’t come back. I made him promise me. You go on home and forget this ever happened. Maybe we’re all wrong and whatever badness that lived on the island is gone. No news is good news, right?”

Dottie left and Renae jammed some papers in her briefcase.

Maybe we’re all wrong, Dottie had said.

Renae had never put much credence in the whole Ormsby Island mystique. She had to admit the place was as queer as a three dollar bill, but part of that was most likely all of her preconceived notions coming to the fore.

“No news is good news,” she muttered, getting into her car.

The phrase played in a loop in her head all through dinner and even while she made love to her husband in the kitchen of all places.

Lying in bed, she broke the loop with one simple thought.

What if it isn’t?

Chapter Twenty-Nine

It took some time for Daphne to clean the children up, get them into their pajamas and cook something for dinner. They’d been so quiet through it all. Considering what had taken place in the house, she wondered what her babies had been through. Eddie promised he would do his best to find out for her. How he would do that she didn’t know, but she trusted him. It pained her to think she couldn’t say the same about her husband at the moment.

She was normally a stickler for making sure they ate healthy, but tonight was an exception. Getting treatment usually reserved for when they were sick, Jason and Alice were allowed to eat in bed, tearing into boxed macaroni and cheese, washing it down with glasses of soda.

“You both must have been starving,” Daphne said, collecting their trays.

Alice said, “Very.”

And that was it. Nothing from Jason, for whom she had to wipe gooey cheese from the side of his mouth.

“I need to talk to your father. Do you mind if Ms. Backman stays with you for a bit?”

Both children shook their heads, neither wary nor enthused by the prospect.

Daphne nearly bumped into Jessica in the hall. “Thank you for being with them. I don’t want to leave them alone.”

“Trust me, I don’t want to either. Do you have the key?”

Daphne shook her head dejectedly. “I searched all over. Tobe must have it. I’ll get it from him now. How is Eddie?”

Jessica smiled. “He cleaned up good. Don’t worry about us. This is what we do.”

Daphne didn’t know the young woman long, but she could tell Jessica was stretching the truth. Was it for Daphne’s sake, or her own?

She brought the trays into the kitchen, adding their bowls to a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. I’m not cleaning these. She dropped the flatware noisily amidst the plates and glasses.

Earlier, there had been a heated debate between Mitch and Rusty, the latter wanting to take the logical route and get off the island. Tobe had taken him to the boat launch, proving once again that they were stuck, for now.

An unwelcome embrace of claustrophobia squeezed harder around Daphne when she heard the boat still wouldn’t start.

Everyone had gathered in the library. The house was a disaster. Tobe and Paul had done their best to pick things off the floor and clean up the broken bits of glass and ceramic. Everything was askew, including the furniture. She knocked on the library door.

Paul opened it. Rusty paced by the window, hands on hips. Mitch sat beside Nina, both looking worse for wear but calm. Tobe was still in his undertaker’s outfit, leaning against the roaring fireplace, smoking a cigarette.

“Hey, sis, we were just talking about you,” Paul said.

She looked past her brother. There was no way she could speak to him at this moment and maintain any sense of civility. “Tobe, can you come outside for a minute?”

Her husband rolled his eyes, as if to say see what I have to deal with?

“I’m really sorry about the house,” Paul said. “We had no way of knowing anything like this would happen.”

Needles of pain stung her jaw as she ground her molars together. “So does this mean you’re stopping?”

He cast his eyes to the floor. “No. We may have just captured the footage of the century. We can’t stop now.”

Tobe filed between them. Daphne stared at her brother for a moment, searching for the sensible, wandering soul she once knew. She left before he could say another word.

Her husband waited for her in the main dining room, far enough from the library so they couldn’t be heard.

“You have to stop this,” she said.

He sighed. “Look, I know what just happened is a bit frightening. This has become bigger than us. We have an obligation to document everything we can. This could change the way people think about life and death.”

She turned her back to him, studying her distorted reflection in the window. “People will think you’ve faked it all. It’s too much. No one will believe us. Just leave whatever is here be. Tell Paul to send up a flare and get some help so we can get off the island. I don’t care about the money anymore. We’ll find a way, or we’ll just have to live different lives. It doesn’t have to be the end of the world.”

His heavy footsteps came up behind her. He grasped her shoulders. “Nina thinks the ghosts have drained all of their energy. They won’t be able to do that again, at least not for a long while.”

Her flesh cringed at his touch. “So you’re comfortable leaving your children in a house filled with angry ghosts?”

“They’re powerless.”

“You call what just happened powerless? I’m worried about Alice and Jason. They’ve barely spoken a word since we found them. Who knows what they saw out there?”

“They’ll be fine. Maybe a little frightened for now, but they’ll get over that faster than any adult.”

Daphne pulled free from his hands, turning to him. “Then I’ll get the flare gun. At least I can take the kids out of here.”

He pursed his lips, walking to the other side of the room. “We don’t have any flares. Paul thought they were on the boat, but they’re not. If you want to flag someone down, you’ll have to wait until morning.”

She felt her blood simmer.

Just one more night. Sleep in the kids’ room and get them out at first light. Tobe and Paul can do whatever they want then. Maybe I’ll make it hard for them to find us when they’re done.

“We’re leaving in the morning,” she said.

“I understand.”

She was about to storm away when she remembered Jessica’s request. Jessica had told her there was a chance she and Eddie could put a real end to everything before Paul and his crew did more damage.

“I need the key to the bedrooms. Jessica and Eddie need access to the attic.”