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CHAPTERONE
Astrid Windsor wiped her sweaty palms on the skirt of her little black dress as she looked around the room. All her life she’d heard rumors that this house was haunted. But every year people came and stayed there. Grand parties were thrown with all kinds of celebrities attending. Even some of the TikTok Influencers she followed had stayed there. Now she was one of the insiders. No longer just a townie but an invited guest.
Heavy brocade curtains muted the howling wind, but rain lashed against the windows and there was a puddle growing at the base of one. Old houses were like that. Leaks and quirks came with the ghosts. That’s what her father had said. He said they were lucky they didn’t live in one of the old mansions on the beach. The upkeep would be astronomical.
But she wasn’t glad. She’d always wanted to live in one. And now she was realizing her dream. A smile crept across her face, and she hugged herself. If only Audrey could see her now. Her best friend wouldn’t believe it. They were due to go off to college this fall, but Astrid was going to have the best summer of her life here in Everlasting Manor.
She just knew it.
Wandering over to the bookshelves, she trailed her fingers along the dusty spines. She touched title after title about the historical witch trials of the area which was. not surprising with Salem located just down the interstate. The room, a library of sorts, was only lit by a single lamp in the far corner. Dark paneling on the wall made it hard to see, even for her teenaged eyes. She looked around for another floor lamp but there didn’t seem to be one. A fact she found odd in a room this size.
In front of a fireplace, a leather sofa was flanked by two matching chairs. A rustic coffee table and matching end tables completed the seating area. In another corner, she spied a desk with a small lamp on top. She went over to it but hesitated before turning it on. He’d said to make herself at home. Surely turning on a lamp would be okay. After all, he’d promised her she would feel at home here for the summer.
Her stomach fluttered. Suddenly she didn’t feel so good. The howl of the wind escalated and the light in the corner flickered. Her heart thudded in tempo with the rain lashing the windows.What if the power went out?She didn’t have her cell phone. He’d taken it, quoting some regulation about them being forbidden in the mansion, but hadn’t influencers posted pictures on TikTok of the interior of the house?
Her palms were sweaty once again, only this time it wasn’t nervous excitement. Her breath quickened.I wish Audrey was here.She was the brave one.Shewouldn’t be scared. A loud banging sound came from the window, startling her and making her heartbeat surge.Calm down. It’s probably just a loose shutter. Suddenly, she wished she was anywhere but here. She wanted to go home. It didn’t matter what Audrey or anyone else would think. She longed for the familiar safety of her bedroom.
Her skin-tight dress and sky-high heels made it difficult to move quickly across the floor, but she reached the door and turned the knob. It wouldn’t budge. Hand trembling, she tried again but it wouldn’t give. Was it stuck? She rattled it.God, she’dbeen locked in.
Her breath shallowed as fright built at the base of her skull.What was going on?He’d said he’d be right back and now she was, for lack of a better word, a prisoner in the room.
She kicked the door and pounded on the wood, yelling for someone to help her. She stopped hitting the barrier and listened. No approaching footsteps, or shouted reassurances that someone would be there soon. Just the rain lashing the windows, and the boom of thunder. She tried again but still…nothing.
Tears rolled down her cheeks. What had she done? She went to the leaking window and tried to lift it, but it resisted her efforts.Unlock it. She flicked the lock, but it still wouldn’t go up. Frustrated panic gnawed at her throat. She shuffled to the next one and tried again but it wouldn’t budge either. Her teeth started chattering and her hands shook as she skimmed them along the window frames. Were they painted shut? How was she going to get out?
Looking around once again, she noticed the lamp on the desk. Hurrying across the room, she bent down and unplugged the small but weighty light and picked it up. She’d throw it through the window, clear out the glass and jump. She was only on the second floor. Surely, she would survive that fall.
She lifted the lamp, and someone grabbed her from behind.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Before she could scream a hand clamped around her throat cutting off her oxygen. “No, honey. I promised you fun and you shall have it. You wanted to belong and now you do.”
Astrid tried to fight but the world shrunk to two small pin holes and the darkness closed.This was all one big mistake.
CHAPTERTWO
Harper Edwards stood off to the side, staring down into the hole where Astrid Windsor’s body was partially uncovered. The teen’s hair was still intact, but the rest of her body was badly decomposed. Despite the advanced decay, there was little doubt about the victim. The dress she was wearing the night she disappeared was in tatters around the corpse and then there was the necklace. A small gold heart locket that her parents had given her for high school graduation.
Harper wanted to scream at the injustice of it all. How would this have happened? Her heart broke for Astrid’s family. For the whole town. This would rock everyone to their core. But mostly it broke for her niece Audrey, Astrid’s best friend since kindergarten.
“Ms. Deputy Mayor,” Detective Jason Merritt said as he came to a stop beside her on the bluff.
“What the hell happened?” she demanded.
He shrugged. “We don’t know. A jogger running with her dog found her early this morning. She’d been following along the path on top of the bluff when the dog, a Jack Rat took off down here and started digging. He dug up her hand and ran off with a couple of the fingers. When his owner, Mrs. Barstow, caught up with him, she immediately called 911.”
Harper wrapped her arms over her chest. A biting wind came off the Atlantic Ocean, but she was glad for it at the moment because if she was too cold she couldn’t be ill. “What is a Jack Rat?
“Cross between a Jack Russell and a Rat Terrier. Goes by the name of Brutus”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Brutus?”
He grinned. “Apparently he’s got quite the personality.”
Oh, Lord.“Did they…” She shuddered to a stop. Never in her life did she think she’d have to ask if someone’s body parts had been recovered.
“Yes, we got the fingers back. But it took a bit of doing,” he admitted.
