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Theta threw Henry a look. “She pulling my leg?”
Henry rolled his head toward Evie, who was fixing the other stocking into place, then back to face Theta. “It does not appear so.”
Theta scooted to the edge, next to Evie. “Evil. Listen to me: You can’t just storm into Jake Marlowe’s fancy house. They’ll throw you out like a bum.”
“I’ll use my charm,” Evie insisted.
“You’re not that charming,” Theta said.
“I’ll have you know that I am.”
“I’ve always maintained that you were charming,” Henry said, stretching his lanky body across Theta’s bed. “Ohhhh. That’s it. I’m never getting up again. You’ll have to learn to live this way.”
“You picked a public fight with Jake Marlowe that got broadcast over the radio!” Theta reminded Evie.
“Mmm. That’s true. You were… less than charming that evening,” Henry said, eyes closed.
“But one hundred percent right!” Evie shot back.
“Jake Marlowe hates you, Evil. He hates Diviners, but he especially hates you.”
“Thanks, Theta.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Henry whistled. “The fur doth fly before ten o’clock in the morning, Mercutio.”
“I’m just saying, now that there’s rumors floating around that Diviners mighta had something to do with the bomb and his fiancée’s murder, you can forget about getting into Jake Marlowe’s mansion.”
“Those rumors are pure bunk!” Evie groused.
“Doesn’t matter what’s true. It matters what people think is true. Besides”—Theta glanced sideways at Evie, weighing how much she could say—“Mabel and the Secret Six planted that bomb. And who was Mabel’s best friend?”
Evie stared down at her stockinged feet. “Mabel didn’t do that.”
“Now who doesn’t wanna see the truth?” Theta said gently.
Henry sat up again. “There is somebody who might know how to find Sam.”
“Who?” Evie said.
Henry cleared his throat. “Somebody you’re really close to. You might even be related.”
It took Evie a second to understand, but then she frowned. “No. I refuse to speak to him on principle.” She crossed the room and ducked behind Theta’s painted dressing screen, which had been liberated from a Ziegfeld Follies costume shop. The comment about Mabel had hit home, and Evie was afraid she might cry. She was always a little wobbly after a reading, and this hadn’t been any ordinary reading.
“He’s still your uncle,” Henry said. “And he used to be Jake’s best friend.”
“If it weren’t for Will and Sister Walker and Jake Marlowe, we wouldn’t be chasing ghosts and worried about the end of the world,” Evie called as she wiggled out of the borrowed pajamas and back into her dress. “If it weren’t for Uncle Will, my brother would be alive.”
“They’re still our best hope,” Henry said.
Evie came around the side of the dressing screen. She pushed a wayward curl out of her face.
“Do you suppose…” Evie choked back the lump in her throat, losing her battle. “Do you suppose she’s… at peace?”
Theta exchanged a quick glance with Henry. “If anybody’s got a right to rest in peace it’s Mabel Rose,” Theta said quietly.
Mabel did deserve to rest in peace, and Evie knew she was a terrible person, because if there was any ghost she longed to see, even for just a moment, it was Mabel’s. The tears threatened again. Evie would not cry before breakfast.
