Spirits and Smoke by Mary Miley

Author:Mary Miley [Miley, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House
Published: 2021-08-26T23:00:00+00:00

EIGHTEEN

‘Is this some kind of joke?’ I demanded, my voice trembling with rage.

Freddy straightened up from his slouch on the sofa and peered at the vile object I was holding. His eyes widened, first in confusion, then in horror. No one could have faked such facial expressions. Carlotta squinted at the item in my hand, reached for the spectacles lying on her bosom, and struggled to focus. I brought it closer and dropped the thing in her lap.

‘What’s …? How …? Where did you find this?’

‘Hanging over Tommy’s kiddie coop.’

She and Freddy exchanged baffled glances. Obviously, they were as much in the dark as I was.

Carlotta fingered the horrid little toy. ‘You don’t think that we—?’

‘No, of course not,’ I said, feeling guilty because I had thought exactly that, at least for a few moments. ‘But it was hanging over his head. Who was in the house today?’

They exchanged glances again.

‘No one,’ said Freddy.

‘No salesman? No milkman?’

Carlotta shook her head. ‘It’s not the milkman’s day. No, Maddie, no one’s been inside today but us.’

‘No iceman? No delivery boy?’

‘No one.’

‘Not even a neighbor come to borrow something?’

‘No.’

‘Well then, did you go out?’

‘Not with the baby. We would never leave here with the baby.’

‘Did either of you go out today? I’m thinking the house might have been empty, just for a moment.’

‘I ran to the post office around noon,’ offered Freddy, ‘and I stopped to buy some string and candles at the hardware store. But Carlotta was here the whole time, weren’t you?’

Carlotta nodded. ‘I never set one foot outside.’

I looked about the parlor and considered the layout of the house. ‘Someone must have come in while you were here. Someone must have crept up the stairs without being noticed. When was the last time you checked on him?’

Freddy answered. ‘I looked in on him around four to see if he was awake. He wasn’t.’

‘Did you see this hanging there?’

‘No, but to tell the truth, I wasn’t looking for anything like that. I was just looking at the baby’s face to see if his eyes were open. I can’t say for sure if it was there then or not.’

‘What’s going on, Maddie?’ asked Carlotta, reminding me that I had told her nothing about the threat from Louis Roth.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, Carlotta, but I didn’t want to worry you,’ I began, taking a few minutes to bring her up to date on Roth’s threats to me and Baby Tommy. Suddenly she looked older, shaken – exactly what I had wanted to avoid.

‘You know I keep the doors locked all the time, even when we’re home,’ she said weakly. ‘Here, give me the baby while you and Freddy check the doors. And every window. Right now.’

We began in the kitchen and worked our way through the main floor. It was as Carlotta had said, the back door was securely deadbolted. Windows are rarely opened in winter, but we checked the locks on each one in the kitchen, middle room, and parlor.

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