"A road map unrelated to the role model, which seems strange." I leaned back and watched the moon duck behind a cloud. "Maybe that's the point. Repetition without duplication."
Kristof nodded. "Another young couple killing kids, but with enough differences to keep things interesting for the Nix."
"Interesting, yes. But maybe more than that. Not just changing the routine but improving on it. Cheri said things went wrong with Suzanne Simmons, but the problems had been fixed."
"Refining her method. So she goes from Simmons to Cheri MacKenzie to Amanda Sullivan, presumably with a few in between."
"Sullivan is a pinch-hitter," I said. "The Nix only stayed with her long enough to help her kill her children, then made sure she got caught. For chaos, comparing Cheri MacKenzie to Amanda Sullivan is like comparing a steak dinner to a Quarter Pounder."
"Fast-food murder."
I straightened. "That's it! When you're starving, you grab what's available, no matter how bad it tastes.
The Nix doesn't just want chaos, she needs it. Otherwise, why—"
A bluish fog floated past. Before I could brace myself, the Searchers sucked me under again.
Chapter 18
I STOOD IN FRONT OF A PLAIN NARROW RECTANGLE OF a two-story house, white-sided with dark shutters. "Doesn't look like the throne room," I muttered.
"Definitely not."
I started, and saw Kristof beside me.
"What am I doing here?" He shrugged. "My guess is as good as yours. Either the Searchers accidentally sucked me in along with you or the Fates want me to start pitching in."
We looked around. The sun had barely crested the horizon, but Mother Nature had turned the dial onto full this morning, and it blazed down, promising tropical conditions by noon. I glanced at the house. Every window was closed despite the heat. Air-conditioning? A horse and buggy trotted past behind me.
Okay, probably not air-conditioning.
"Colonial America," Kris said. "Does that sound like any ghost-world regions you know?"
"Boston… but this doesn't look like Boston. And the ghost world is never this warm."
A door opened across the road and a man dressed in trousers and a long-sleeved white shirt hurried out, carrying a hat and a black bag. He had salt-and-pepper hair, a high forehead, and thin whiskers that joined his mustache to his sideburns.
He hurried to the street and, without so much as a glance either way, crossed… and walked right through me.
"Okay," I said. "If he's a ghost, too, how did he do that?"
The man pushed open the gate of the house I stood in front of, and strode through. He climbed the few steps to the front door and rapped. A man opened the door. He was tall and thin, with white hair and a beard. Despite the heat, he was dressed in a black suit, with his jacket buttoned. He grunted a surly hello at the younger man.
"Just stopped by to see if you folks are feeling any better," the neighbor said.
"Feeling better?"
"Yes, your wife came over this morning, said you'd both been up all night with stomach complaints. She thought someone might have put something in your food—"
"In our food? That's preposterous. Abby would never say—"
"Oh, you know how womenfolk are. They get to worrying sometimes. She seemed fine to me—"
"She is fine," the man said. "We're all fine, and if you go charging us for this visit—"
"Now, Andrew, you know I'd never—"
"You'd better not," Andrew said, and slammed the door.
The doctor shook his head, hefted his bag, turned, and walked through me again. There was a movement in one of the main-floor front windows, a young woman washing the glass. Her face was bright red from exertion and the heat. From her simple outfit and the size of the house, I assumed she was a maid.
"Crack open a window," I said. "You got rights, girl. No one should be working in this heat."
The young woman's eyes went round. She dropped the rag and bolted.
"Shit!" I said. "Am I not supposed to do that?"
An exterior door slammed. Kristof gestured toward it and we both took off, following the sound around the house, past the side stoop. There we found the maid puking into the back garden.
"Oh, geez, they really are sick," I said. "They're making her work when she feels like this? Isn't there a labor board in this town?"
"Not in real Colonial America," Kristof murmured. "Which is where I suspect we are."
"In the past?"
Before he could answer, the maid retched and hurled. I patted the poor kid's back, but I knew she couldn't feel it.
"You sick again, Bridget?" a voice asked.
Another young woman, also simply dressed, leaned over the side fence. She shook her head. "That's what you get, having to dump those slop buckets every morning. Bound to make anyone sick. Cheap old bugger. He can afford a water closet. Just too bloody cheap."
Bridget moaned and wiped her sleeve over her mouth. "It's not the slop buckets. It was supper last night.
I told him that mutton stew wasn't no good no more. Not after three days sitting out in this heat. But he said—"
"Bridget?" A plain dumpling of a middle-aged woman appeared on the side stoop. "Bridget! What are you doing out there, chitchatting the day away? I want these windows cleaned."
"Yes, ma'am."
Bridget accepted a sympathetic nod from her colleague, and trudged back inside. Kristof and I followed, through the kitchen and into a room with a sofa, several chairs, and a fireplace. The man of the house—
Andrew—adjusted his jacket and headed toward what I assumed was the front foyer. With a curt nod to his wife, and another to a round-faced, dark-haired woman on the sofa, he strode out the door, evidently unaffected by the bad stew.
I followed Bridget into a more formal version of the room we'd just left. The parlor. Until I'd moved into my Savannah house, I'd thought parlors were places that sold ice cream. Wiser spirit that I was, I now recognized a real parlor when I saw one.
Bridget picked up her discarded rag and resumed cleaning the front windows.
"What the heck am I supposed to be doing here?" I asked Kristof. "These people can't hear me, can't talk to me. What am I supposed to see, and why?"
Kristof nodded. "Another young couple killing kids, but with enough differences to keep things interesting for the Nix."
"Interesting, yes. But maybe more than that. Not just changing the routine but improving on it. Cheri said things went wrong with Suzanne Simmons, but the problems had been fixed."
"Refining her method. So she goes from Simmons to Cheri MacKenzie to Amanda Sullivan, presumably with a few in between."
"Sullivan is a pinch-hitter," I said. "The Nix only stayed with her long enough to help her kill her children, then made sure she got caught. For chaos, comparing Cheri MacKenzie to Amanda Sullivan is like comparing a steak dinner to a Quarter Pounder."
"Fast-food murder."
I straightened. "That's it! When you're starving, you grab what's available, no matter how bad it tastes.
The Nix doesn't just want chaos, she needs it. Otherwise, why—"
A bluish fog floated past. Before I could brace myself, the Searchers sucked me under again.
Chapter 18
I STOOD IN FRONT OF A PLAIN NARROW RECTANGLE OF a two-story house, white-sided with dark shutters. "Doesn't look like the throne room," I muttered.
"Definitely not."
I started, and saw Kristof beside me.
"What am I doing here?" He shrugged. "My guess is as good as yours. Either the Searchers accidentally sucked me in along with you or the Fates want me to start pitching in."
We looked around. The sun had barely crested the horizon, but Mother Nature had turned the dial onto full this morning, and it blazed down, promising tropical conditions by noon. I glanced at the house. Every window was closed despite the heat. Air-conditioning? A horse and buggy trotted past behind me.
Okay, probably not air-conditioning.
"Colonial America," Kris said. "Does that sound like any ghost-world regions you know?"
"Boston… but this doesn't look like Boston. And the ghost world is never this warm."
A door opened across the road and a man dressed in trousers and a long-sleeved white shirt hurried out, carrying a hat and a black bag. He had salt-and-pepper hair, a high forehead, and thin whiskers that joined his mustache to his sideburns.
He hurried to the street and, without so much as a glance either way, crossed… and walked right through me.
"Okay," I said. "If he's a ghost, too, how did he do that?"
The man pushed open the gate of the house I stood in front of, and strode through. He climbed the few steps to the front door and rapped. A man opened the door. He was tall and thin, with white hair and a beard. Despite the heat, he was dressed in a black suit, with his jacket buttoned. He grunted a surly hello at the younger man.
"Just stopped by to see if you folks are feeling any better," the neighbor said.
"Feeling better?"
"Yes, your wife came over this morning, said you'd both been up all night with stomach complaints. She thought someone might have put something in your food—"
"In our food? That's preposterous. Abby would never say—"
"Oh, you know how womenfolk are. They get to worrying sometimes. She seemed fine to me—"
"She is fine," the man said. "We're all fine, and if you go charging us for this visit—"
"Now, Andrew, you know I'd never—"
"You'd better not," Andrew said, and slammed the door.
The doctor shook his head, hefted his bag, turned, and walked through me again. There was a movement in one of the main-floor front windows, a young woman washing the glass. Her face was bright red from exertion and the heat. From her simple outfit and the size of the house, I assumed she was a maid.
"Crack open a window," I said. "You got rights, girl. No one should be working in this heat."
The young woman's eyes went round. She dropped the rag and bolted.
"Shit!" I said. "Am I not supposed to do that?"
An exterior door slammed. Kristof gestured toward it and we both took off, following the sound around the house, past the side stoop. There we found the maid puking into the back garden.
"Oh, geez, they really are sick," I said. "They're making her work when she feels like this? Isn't there a labor board in this town?"
"Not in real Colonial America," Kristof murmured. "Which is where I suspect we are."
"In the past?"
Before he could answer, the maid retched and hurled. I patted the poor kid's back, but I knew she couldn't feel it.
"You sick again, Bridget?" a voice asked.
Another young woman, also simply dressed, leaned over the side fence. She shook her head. "That's what you get, having to dump those slop buckets every morning. Bound to make anyone sick. Cheap old bugger. He can afford a water closet. Just too bloody cheap."
Bridget moaned and wiped her sleeve over her mouth. "It's not the slop buckets. It was supper last night.
I told him that mutton stew wasn't no good no more. Not after three days sitting out in this heat. But he said—"
"Bridget?" A plain dumpling of a middle-aged woman appeared on the side stoop. "Bridget! What are you doing out there, chitchatting the day away? I want these windows cleaned."
"Yes, ma'am."
Bridget accepted a sympathetic nod from her colleague, and trudged back inside. Kristof and I followed, through the kitchen and into a room with a sofa, several chairs, and a fireplace. The man of the house—
Andrew—adjusted his jacket and headed toward what I assumed was the front foyer. With a curt nod to his wife, and another to a round-faced, dark-haired woman on the sofa, he strode out the door, evidently unaffected by the bad stew.
I followed Bridget into a more formal version of the room we'd just left. The parlor. Until I'd moved into my Savannah house, I'd thought parlors were places that sold ice cream. Wiser spirit that I was, I now recognized a real parlor when I saw one.
Bridget picked up her discarded rag and resumed cleaning the front windows.
"What the heck am I supposed to be doing here?" I asked Kristof. "These people can't hear me, can't talk to me. What am I supposed to see, and why?"
