going on?”
“Well, first, tell your wife to call her best friend back before Clara has a stroke.”
“Is something wrong?”
“She’s been trying to reach her for weeks, and I had to stop Clara from getting in the car and driving from Scotland to Sussex. She’s worried about her.”
“Tell her Edward’s with her,” I said. “That should calm her down.”
“Probably,” Georgia admitted.
“Why are you coming?” I asked as Thornham came into view.
“It’s about your house,” she said grimly. “I got the file. I think you could use someone there to help you look into this locally.”
A chill raced across the back of my neck like a single icy finger had pressed against it. “What did you find?”
“We’ll figure it out. See you tonight.” She hung up before I could get any real answers from her.
Georgia had seen the closed report—the one Longborn hadn’t wanted to give her. Now Georgia was on her way to Briarshead. That wasn’t a good sign. I was trying to decide how to tell Belle that we’d have another visitor when I pulled up to the house and saw the front door open.
I threw on the SUV’s parking brake, grabbed my shopping bag, and raced up the front steps in a panic. I couldn’t deny it any longer. This was about more than Belle or me. There was something about Thornham that wasn’t right. I wasn’t a man who believed in ghosts. Not the kind you found in darkened hallways, at least. I knew well enough of the ghosts we all carried in our memories. But nothing had been right since we moved here.
When I reached the open door, I ran directly into Nora, who dropped the cup she was holding in surprise.
“I’m sorry,” I bit out as she bent to pick it up.
“I just got here,” she said. “I went up to check on Belle.” She gathered the pieces into her palm.
“Is she okay? She had a rough morning with Penny.” I didn’t have time to fill her in on more particulars. Georgia was on her way. The baby needed to be fed. And in the last few hours, my life had begun to crash down around me.
“She’s not in her room.” Nora shrugged. “She probably went for a walk. Where’s the baby?”
“Edward has her in the nursery,” I told her. I passed her the bag. “I have no idea how to make one of these. Can you?”
She peeked inside to find the formula and a few bottles the pharmacist had sent along. “Of course.”
She hurried off, and I was grateful not to waste more time with questions. I climbed the stairs, preparing myself to relay all the information that has been dumped on me in the last half hour. Stepping into the nursery, I found it empty.
I backed up, looking around. I took a few steps down the hall and banged on Edward’s door. He opened it, a towel wrapped around his waist.
“Where’s Penny?” I asked, but I didn’t wait for an answer.
“What’s going on?” he yelled. “She fell asleep. Belle came in and took her to lie down.”
I raced back to the nursery, my eyes landing on an empty crib. I already knew what I’d find when I went to the master bedroom. An empty bed. An empty bassinet.
Edward was still yelling when I rushed down the stairs. I flew past Nora, who came running after me with a bottle. Rowan appeared coming from the direction of Belle’s new offices, carrying a bag of sod over his shoulders. He’d stubbornly insisted on working on the landscaping around it even mid-winter.
“You look like the devil’s after you,” he called.
“Have you seen my wife?”
“Not this morning. I just came from the stables…”
His words stole the last hope I had. I ran in the opposite direction. Belle didn’t know the grounds like I did, but somehow—and I couldn’t explain it—I knew exactly where she was.
The pond sat almost a kilometer away from the main house. I was vaguely aware of others coming behind me. When the pond finally came into sight, I hesitated only a moment before sprinting forward. She was there, her back turned to me, blonde hair whipping in the wind. I was a few meters away when I realized she wasn’t standing on its bank.
“Belle,” I called, scared I would startle her, scared she would walk farther onto the ice. “Beautiful!”
Penny’s screams carried through the air, and fear seized me. I’d never known fear until that moment, watching my world on that thin sheet of