She nodded toward the elves. “Hard not to, here. The walls have ears and eyes.”
“Well,” I replied, “it appears that they do. But those are inanimate.”
Sable leaned toward me. Her hair swirled around her face, making Sable look like she was swimming underwater. “He’s still here, you know—watching you. Waiting.”
As if she knew him. “For what?”
“The right opportunity to speak with you? How should I know.” Her gaze darted right nervously. “But I’ve seen him, and I know what he did. He hasn’t gotten close to me, though. I don’t make myself that well-known. I hide good.”
“I doubt he’s interested in taking your soul.”
“You never know.” Her ghostly hand reached for me and slid right through, leaving a trail of goose bumps on my flesh. “Sometimes the dead have nothing to lose. I like staying here and watching Tex. It’ll take him years to figure out exactly where the jewels are. But there’s something…never mind. I came here because you’re searching?”
“A room with lots of elves.”
Sable smiled. “I know just the place.”
It was as if I had asked and received, because Sable led us to a room on the other side of the house. She pointed to two closed pocket doors. I slid them away and gasped.
The lights were on, and Zelda’s electric bill must have been astronomical from the look of this space alone.
Fake white puffy snow covered the floor. The very center of the space was cleared away, revealing a blue pathway that led to a red bench with a striped lamp beside it.
Dioramas littered the room. There were scenes set up with elves frozen mid-snowball fight. Deer were scattered around the scene and flanking the walls were ten-foot-tall nutcrackers painted bright red and green. And yes, there were more elves sprinkled along the walls, creating several perfect hiding spots.
Roan whistled. “Would you look at this?”
“It’s magical, isn’t it?” Sable said, waltzing around the space, arms positioned for an imaginary partner to dance her down the path. “I could live in this room.”
“Well, we want it for a hiding spot,” I said.
“This house has lots of those,” Sable replied. “This room is good for that, too, but it’s not where I saw the others hiding earlier.”
My blood froze. Roan moved to my side and stood by me protectively. “What others?” he asked.
Sable shrugged. “Some others. People. Not spirits.”
Well, that narrowed it down. “Did you see these others before tonight? Like yesterday maybe?”
Sable looked at me sympathetically. “No. I only came here today. So how could I have come earlier? I wasn’t called.”
My gaze darted to Roan. “So the others…they weren’t anyone who was in the séance room.”
Sable started silently counting off on her fingers. After a few seconds, she shook her head. “Nope. Different others. Not the same people in the room.”
I grabbed Roan’s bicep. “That could be who killed Zelda. It might not have been any of the people we know. Someone orsomeonescould have sneaked in, killed Zelda and left before we got locked in.”
“That could be true,” Sable said, “except for one tiny detail.”
I hated to ask, I really did, because I wanted there to be a simple, easy explanation for all the crap that had happened in the last few hours.
Roan asked the question for me. “What detail are we missing?”
Sable clasped her hands. “The detail you don’t know is that the others are still here—in this house.”
Chapter 13
Ishould have left hours ago. Maybe I never should have come here to begin with. I should have stayed home, watched some TV. Or better yet, let Roan cook me a pot roast and then eaten some white chocolate peppermint bark for dessert.
