"Ugh, there’s going to be a lawsuit. Should we fire her?" Mace asked Hunter.
"Absolutely not," he said in horror. "Then it really would be a lawsuit. Just shunt her off to another department."
"She’s planning all the Halloween stuff," I said.
"She never should have been in Garrett's office to begin with," Hunter said, ignoring me. "I don’t know what kind of operation you all are running over there."
I did not want Penny to leave the office. I—well—I enjoyed having her around, even if she did insist on all those Halloween decorations.
"She shouldn’t be driving him around anymore either. Honestly, I thought you had more sense than that, Garrett," Hunter admonished. "Considering all the grief you’ve given me."
I suddenly couldn't take my brothers anymore.
"I’m going for a run," I announced brusquely.
* * *
The several hundredacres of the old Svensson estate contained several cottages, fake ruins, bridle paths, and walking trails. It was pitch-dark and freezing cold when I ran outside. My feet pounded the ground as the cold air burned my lungs.
I hated to admit it, but Hunter was right.
I increased my pace. Lights marked the paths closer to the main house. Farther back into the estate, there weren't any lights. Slivers of moonlight shimmered through the bare trees.
I ran for miles to the back of the estate property. It backed up onto an old historic farmstead. There was a cemetery back there if I remembered correctly. While the Svensson estate contained its own family cemetery, the one on the farmstead wasn't maintained. At the town hall meetings, periodically someone would suggest that the Svenssons should take over the upkeep. I told them we would be glad to once we owned the land. The issue was of course tabled.
I slowed as I approached the high wrought-iron fence at the edge of our property. Peering through the darkness, I saw a light bobbing. Grave robbers? Vandals? I squinted. The figure was wearing a familiar red cape. It couldn’t be… The figure stumbled, and the lantern light lit up their face for a second.
It was Penny.
What is she doing in a graveyard in the middle of the night?
Thoughts of grave robbers or vagrants crossed my mind. Harrogate had improved, but out in the more rural areas, there were still the Rust Belt town problems of poverty, violence, and drugs.
She could be hurt.
She probably didn’t want to see me after what had happened earlier. I would stay in the shadows, I decided. But I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to her.
29
Penny
The Romani queen had been the high priestess of a group that had fled to America in the early nineteenth century. She had died and been buried in Harrogate. Legend had it that you could go to her grave with an offering, and she would grant you a wish.
The twins swore by her; I had always been skeptical. But now I was desperate. I parked the hearse on the edge of the abandoned farmstead, squeezed through the gate with the busted lock, and then spent the next thirty minutes stumbling around in the dark, looking for the grave.
"How are there so many dead people here?" I whispered softly. I had a lantern that the twins had given me. They swore that the Romani queen liked drama. I didn't think the lantern had a lot of oil left. It was sputtering, casting creepy, flickering shadows on the ground that made my skin crawl. I should have just brought a flashlight.
As much as I loved Halloween, being in a graveyard in the middle of the night was actually super disturbing. An owl hooted, and I jumped.
The graveyard wasn’t well maintained. The tall, dry grass rustled. A stick cracked. I whirled around. Was someone out there? Was I being followed?
"Why do you have to go to the grave site at midnight?" I muttered to myself.
The twins had insisted that was the only time to go, that the Romani queen wanted you to prove that you were serious about your request.
I wasn’t even sure what my request was. I wanted Garrett, but then I had rejected him, so the Romani queen might just ignore that request. I should probably ask for my student loans to be repaid or my article to be successful or maybe to generally put my life back on track. I was almost thirty and had never held a real job, just a series of freelance and temp gigs.
"Oh, there it is!" In front of me was a huge grave with a raised stone bed and an elaborate headstone in the shape of a weeping marble angel. There were pieces of jewelry, cigars, dead flowers, and other offerings on the grave.
