We Played With Fire by Catherine Barter

Author:Catherine Barter [Barter, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Andersen Digital
Published: 2019-07-04T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty

They were quiet as they walked home, but as they got closer Calvin began to talk again – idle, meaningless conversation. He was talking himself back into the day, into his usual, cheerful self. It was soothing. Maggie made herself forgive his skepticism. Perhaps he could help them, all the same. And sooner or later, she would make him believe.

‘Maggie, Calvin,’ Leah said, as they came through the door. Her face was flushed and she was beaming. She grasped Maggie’s arm. ‘I have wonderful news.’

‘What’s that?’ said Calvin, bending to remove his boots before they trailed mud through the house.

‘You’ve heard of Andrew McIlwraith.’

‘Oh, of course,’ said Calvin.

‘You’ve heard of him?’

‘No.’

‘Maggie?’

‘No.’

‘Andrew McIlwraith,’ she said, ‘is the proprietor of the Rochester Herald and one of the most influential men in New York State.’

‘That is wonderful news,’ said Calvin. ‘For him more than me, I suppose.’

Leah ignored him. ‘And this afternoon, this very afternoon, I’ve received a note from Mr. Andrew McIlwraith asking to meet us.’

‘Us?’ said Calvin.

Leah gave him an impatient look. ‘No, not you.’

‘No. Of course not.’

‘Us, Maggie.’ Her smile returned. ‘You and Kate, and me. He wants to meet with us and asks if we might hold a private session with him—’

‘A private session?’ said Calvin, eyebrows raised.

‘– because he’s terribly interested in all of it – a believer in the spirit world, evidently – and he’s heard all about us. You. Us. He wants to sit with us and see if the spirits will talk.’

‘And no doubt they will,’ said Calvin. ‘Once they hear that it’s Andrew McIlwraith.’

‘Your wit is the talk of the town, Calvin,’ said Leah. ‘But might I confer with my sister?’

He grinned and held up his hands. ‘Sorry.’

Maggie was pulling off her gloves, trying to understand. ‘How did he know how to find us?’

‘Oh, he’ll have asked around. I expect he has friends to discover these things for him. The point is, little sister, we have to begin preparing right away. He’ll be here at seven.’

‘He’s coming today ?’

‘Today!’ Leah clapped her hands. ‘Can you believe how wonderfully this has all come together? How quickly?’ She looked between both of them. ‘Of course I thought there might be some interest, but this – already. It’s more than I hoped. If Mr. McIlwraith is pleased then he’ll write about us in his paper, and if he writes about us in his paper, there’ll be hundreds of people, hundreds, who’ll want to try it.’

‘And out of the generosity of your spirit, you’ll entertain them?’ said Calvin.

‘That’s right.’ Leah folded her arms. ‘And out of the generosity of their spirits, perhaps they’ll pay a few dollars. A happy situation for everybody.’

‘Today?’ Maggie said again, her mind blank with sudden anxiety, so she couldn’t even chastise Leah for talking about money. ‘Leah – we can’t—’

‘Of course we can.’ She gave Maggie a meaningful look. ‘This could be the beginning of something very important.’

Maggie looked down. There was cemetery dirt on the hem of her skirt, and her shoes were worn.

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