Ruby and Lucky returned indoors while I jogged across the road. Unlike
previous visits, Penny didn’t open the door on my first knock. I had to beat
my fist against the door for nearly a minute before I heard her footsteps
echoing down the hallway. She unlocked the door but only opened it a crack.
I had to lean against the house’s side to meet the single beady eye watching
me through the opening.
“Hey, Penny, is this a bad time?”
“It is.” Her voice was curt. “I’d prefer not to talk today.”
“Oh.” Shock muted me for a moment. I’d never known Penny to pass up
a chance for gossip before. “Sorry—I just had one question. Have you seen a
red sports car driving down this street recently? Specifically, last night?”
“No.” She began to close the door.
I put my hand out to stop it from being shut in my face and lowered my
voice. “Penny, is something wrong? Did I… do something to upset you?”
“No.” Her tone was still frosty but a little less curt. She hesitated. “It’s not
you; it’s the house. There’s something not right about that building. I don’t
watch it anymore. And I recommend you stay away from it, too.”
“I…” I glanced behind myself. The Marwick house looked no more
sinister than normal. Its vine-choked stone walls, its blurred, curtained sash
windows, and its uneven shingled roof were grim, but they left me feeling
more fascinated than repulsed. “What’s wrong with it?”
Penny’s beady eye scanned my face. She seemed reluctant to answer. “I
don’t know. But I can tell you I want no part in it. You’re a smart girl, Jo. Put
some distance between yourself and that building before it ensnares you,
too.” She paused for a moment then added, “I haven’t seen a sports car. But
that doesn’t mean much. I haven’t watched the street these last few days.
Goodbye.”
I stepped back as the door slammed. I tried not to take Penny’s wordspersonally, but it still hurt. After Ruby, Penny was the closest thing I had to a
friend in our street.
There’s no staying away now, I thought as I stalked across the road and
stepped back onto the dead lawn. I’ve already gone too far. I can’t just
ignore Ruby or her house, like Penny is. I can’t pretend they don’t exist.
Lucky was on the porch, taking the camera out of its bracket. “Any luck?”
“No. She hasn’t been watching the street.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Isn’t she meant to be the town gossip or
something? Has she been sick?”
“In a way.” I didn’t want to elaborate, and Lucky didn’t press. He
returned to his bolts while I made my way back to the kitchen. A soft
humming tune echoed through the house. I paused in the foyer as I
recognised it: it was the same lilting, mournful lullaby that continued to haunt
me.
Ruby stepped out of the kitchen, carrying the tray of sandwiches… and
humming the tune.
“All done?” I asked, mostly just to get her to stop.
“Yep. I cleaned up, as well, so we can relax while we wait for this ghost
medium.” She carried the sandwiches into the dining room and left the tray
next to the surveillance equipment. We’d all grown tired of the incessant
beeps and had silenced the machine the previous day, but the screen kept
changing, flicking between the upstairs hallway, the foyer, and the backyard.
I stopped and stared at the screen. The view of the backyard had changed.
Something large hung from the tree at the back. I leaned forward, trying to
make out the shape through the grainy distortion, but then the image changed
to the upstairs hallway.
“What is it?” Ruby asked. I raised a hand to ask her to wait. The screen
focused on the hall for a moment then returned to the backyard. The shape
hanging from the tree rotated slowly.
“There’s something in the yard.” I turned away from the screen and
jogged through the house. Ruby followed. I burst through the back door, my
heart pounding, and stared at the tree above the animal grave. There was
nothing there.