the street and panic again, but it feels right when I’m in here.”
She looked up to the coffered ceiling again when she heard the sound of footsteps overhead. “Avery must’ve gone up without us.”
“No, I didn’t.” Her gaze angled up as well, Avery walked in.
“It’s probably Ryder or Owen,” Clare began.
“Could be, but I didn’t see their trucks out front or out back.”
“Well, somebody’s up there, and since the doors are locked, it’s somebody with a key.” To solve the matter, Hope walked out to the hall, stood at the base of the steps. “Hello!”
Her voice echoed back; silence followed.
“Must be the ghost.” Avery grinned, her face full of fun. “Let’s check it out.”
“Avery—” But she was already jogging upstairs. Resigned, Clare followed with Hope beside her as Avery continued to call out.
“Is this cool or what?” Avery stood in the doorway of E&D. “Can you smell it?” She breathed in deep. “Summertime. Honeysuckle.”
“It’s just your imagination.” But Clare folded her arms, chilled, because she smelled it, too.
“Then my imagination took the same trip. It’s fascinating.” Hope moved into the room. “Has anyone done any research to try to find out who she was? That would be . . .” She jumped as the porch door opened. “Look at that!”
“The door wasn’t latched and locked. That’s how someone got in,” Clare insisted.
“Someone carrying an armload of honeysuckle? I don’t think so.” Avery went to the door, opened it wider. Closed it again. “And it wouldn’t be easy to access that porch from the outside, when it’s still light out on top of it.”
“It doesn’t feel sad, does it?” Hope circled the room, opened the door again, stepped out. “Whatever, whoever—it feels friendly.”
“It can’t feel anything, because it’s stone and brick and wood.” Temper snapped in Clare’s voice.
“So was Hill House.” Avery lowered and deepened her voice. “And whatever walked there walked alone.”
“Oh, stop it.” This time, Clare rounded on her. “Just stop it. It’s an old building. Floors creak. They need to fix the door. That’s all.”
“Honey.” Avery reached for her hand. “Why are you so upset?”
“You’re standing here making this place out to be the haunted hotel and you wonder why I’m upset?”
“Yeah.” She tightened her grip on Clare’s hand. “If you don’t believe in spooks, you’d just think we’re being silly. But you wouldn’t be mad.”
“I’m not mad. I’m just tired of being pulled into talking about ghosts as if they existed.”
“Okay. I’m not upset if you don’t believe. Why should you be upset if I do?”
“You’re right. Absolutely. It’s been a hard day, and I’ve still got to fix dinner. I should get home.”
“We’ll go back,” Hope began.
“No, you should stay, go through the rest. I’m sorry. I really am tired. I just—” Her voice broke, undoing her. “I don’t believe in all this.”
“Fine, no problem.” Avery gave an irritated shrug. “We should go up so Hope can see her apartment.”
“I don’t want to believe in all of this.” Tears clogged her throat, stung her eyes. “If it’s possible, why didn’t Clint come back?”
“Clare.” Before Clare could evade, Avery had her wrapped in a hug. “I’m sorry. I never even thought.”
“It’s stupid. I’m stupid.” Giving in, giving up, Clare let the tears come. “And it’s stupid to get mad, but why does she get to come back? Why does she get to stay?”
“I wish I knew.”
“Murphy saw her.”
Avery jerked back. “What? When?”
“When we were here with Beckett. It scared me, seeing him starting upstairs, smiling at . . . her. And it made me furious. Why should he see her, Avery? Shouldn’t he have had the chance to see his father? Just once? Just once. Hell.”
She walked out onto the porch, into the air. As she stood at the rail, Hope pushed a tissue into her hand. Then Hope’s arm came around one side of her, Avery’s on the other.
“It is stupid to be mad.” A sigh trembled out as she wiped at her eyes. “Useless to ask why. I’ve done all that already, and I got past it. When they first started talking about ghosts, I didn’t believe it, so it was interesting. The way a novel is. Just a good story, that’s all. But then, Murphy.”
“You’re allowed to ask why,” Hope murmured. “Even when there’s no answer.”
“I didn’t know why it twisted me up this way, until now. Or maybe I couldn’t admit it.”
“We’ll get out of here,” Avery suggested. “We’ll go back over to Hope’s, just sit and talk awhile.”