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I shake my head. “He was at a movie with his friends.”
“Your friend had a scare, though? A heart attack or something?”
I almost say yes. This is an easy answer. Pretend Heather was scared to death and that I’m worried that Anton and his friends might have spooked her the first time and that carried over to the second séance. But that doesn’t get to the core of my fears. If that had happened, then it would be a tragedy, but not the boys’ fault in the way it would be if one of them actually murdered her.
I shake my head. “There was some confusion. We all separated, and she was murdered. Someone was arrested and convicted.”
Her hands fly to her mouth. “Oh my God. I am so sorry, Nic. That must have been terrible. I can see how this week would trigger the trauma. Two séances, both involving Anton in a way.”
“It’s not just that. I…” I take a deep breath. “Before Anton died, he said he had a secret, and then he told me something that wasn’t really a secret. Also, when he confessed to pranking us, he felt farmore guilty than he had any reason to be, and I thought that was just Anton being sweet, but now I’m worried…”
She looks at me and waits. I think the answer is obvious, but when I don’t say it, she prompts, “Worried about what, Nic? That he was there? That he saw what happened and couldn’t save your friend?”
I shake my head. “I’m afraid… he was there, yes, but not just that he didn’t save her. That maybe he…”
She continues to stare in obvious confusion. Then she says, “You don’t think he killed her, do you?”
I nod, and she gives an exhale of a laugh, as if she’d been holding her breath. Then she rubs it away. “Sorry, I shouldn’t laugh. I can see you’re serious, and I understand how this…” She waves toward the house. “… could all be a bit much. The excitement of actually making contact, and then that nonsense Dr. Cirillo gave about dark forces. He shouldn’t have said that. It’s obvious that Anton is here, and he’s reached out to you in the way he can, and maybe he’ll do more tonight.”
My cheeks heat. “So I’m being silly.”
“No, no.” She squeezes my arm as if I’m the much-younger friend. “There’s a lot going on, and resurrecting those old memories is naturally going to cause confusion between the two, like you said. The link is Anton, so your exhausted brain is leaping on that and thinking it’s a bigger connection than it is.”
“Okay.”
She peers at me. “Do you honestly believe Anton could have done that?”
“I… I should say no. He was wonderful. Sweet and gentle. But Dr. Cirillo mentioned a case of a boy who seemed sweet and turned out to be a sociopath.”
“You know what I think? That Dr. Davos Cirillo needs to keep his damn mouth shut more often.”
I bite my lip to keep from smiling. She looks so stern, even thatmild profanity ringing false, like a child trying it on for size. That relaxes me a little.
“He didn’t say it in connection with Anton,” I say. “It was an unrelated conversation that preyed on my mind. There’s something else, too. My friends and I conducted our séances at a spot where someone had died, and we thought we’d conjured the killer. That killer turns out to be related to Anton.”
She frowns. “So you may have summoned the spirit of Anton’s murderous relative?”
“I… I don’t know about summoning but…”
“You think this relative possessed Anton? Made him murder this girl?”
That wasn’t what I was thinking. More like that sociopathy might run in his family. But now that she says this…
“Maybe?” I say. “I just can’t get the idea out of my head.”
“Then you need to ask him.”
“Ask…?”
“Anton. Tonight. At the summoning. Bring up the killer’s name. Ask him about it.”
“Ask whether he murdered my friend while possessed by the spirit of a psychopath relative?”
She gives me a look. “Of course not. Unless you want to tell Dr. Cirillo and Jin what’s going on.”
“No,” I say emphatically.
“So just mention his relative’s name. Mediums always give you the chance to ask the dead any questions. Ask Anton about his cousin Esther or whatever. Just like that. For Dr. Cirillo and Jin’s sake, pretend you’re doing it to confirm his identity.”
