until she heard her own words.
“But I don’t know who killed him. By the time I’d worked it out that someone might have, it was too late to look into it. I didn’t exist anymore, anyway.”
“And when were you going to tell me all that? Or were you?”
It was as if she’d stabbed him in the heart. “Barrie. I was.” He put his hands to his head and paced. “I’m not used to telling that truth to anyone. Please believe me. It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s just that it’s going to take time.”
He looked at her pleadingly, but she shook her head, slowly at first and then violently. “I don’t know. I can’t think!” she exploded. She sat on a couch and instantly sprang up again. “I have to think. I think you should go.”
He flinched as if she’d slapped him, but he nodded. “Then I will.”
She felt her heart breaking as she watched him walk out. She stood without moving until she’d heard the front door close.
Something brushed her leg, and she nearly jumped out of her skin, then realized Sophie was at her feet.
Barrie picked up the cat...and burst into tears.
Chapter 20
Barrie wasn’t sure how long she was curled up on the couch, crying. She might have slept. She might have dreamed. It felt like her whole life was over and the only thing that was keeping her breathing was the warm, furry presence of the little cat nestled on top of her.
When her phone buzzed she thought through her dull gray haze that it was the alarm clock, and she couldn’t for the life of her remember any appointment she had, or anything in the outside world to live for, for that matter.
Then she reached out and felt the phone. The screen read Blocked Caller. It wasn’t Mick, then, so she answered it, a dry-mouthed hello.
“Is this the Keeper?”
The voice on the other end was familiar, but so hoarse she could barely make it out.
“Yes...who is—”
“He came to me tonight.”
Barrie realized with a jolt that it was DJ on the other end of the line. His voice was slurred, and there was a strange intensity behind it.
“Who did?” she managed.
“Johnny. I woke up, and he was standing in my room.”
She was awake now, trying to process what she was hearing. A dream? Or a ghost? Or could it possibly have been Mick? She was reeling, not knowing what to think.
“You have to help me.” DJ was babbling now. He sounded terrified. “What does he want? What do I do?”
Barrie sat up and tried to focus herself and him. “What did he do? What did he say to you?”
“He said I was next.”
She felt a cold chill run through her whole body.
“He said Travis is dead. Murdered. Hung up like the werewolf from Otherworld.”
Barrie’s mind was racing. The only way DJ could have known that was if Johnny really had come to him. Or if DJ had been there to see Travis Branson dead. Or killed him himself...
Or if Mick was there impersonating Johnny, a voice she didn’t want to hear said inside her head.
The actor was speaking on the line. “And he said—he said he talked to you and you could explain.”
All right, there was no way DJ could have known they’d had a séance and talked to Johnny. That made his story much more plausible. Beyond that...DJ was a movie star and a vampire, but at the moment he sounded like a terrified teenager.
Things were so weird already, it was entirely possible that Johnny had visited DJ. She felt responsible, as if she’d opened a door.
And then that implacable voice inside her said, But Mick could have done it, too. He’s the only one besides Sailor and Rhiannon who knows we had a séance tonight.
She squeezed her eyes closed to shut out the voice. “Are you alone?” she asked the actor.
“I can’t find Brad,” he said, and his voice was shaking. “He’s not in his room.”
Not that Brad would be much good, anyway, Barrie thought.
“I’m calling the police now,” she told him. “A detective who’s an Other, Brodie McKay. You can trust him. But right now you need to lock yourself away somewhere with a weapon, do you understand?”
The actor didn’t answer.
“DJ?” she said sharply into the phone.
The line had gone dead.
Barrie redialed frantically, but the call went straight to voice mail. She stood with the phone in her hand, paralyzed, then she spoke firmly and authoritatively, for anyone who might listen to