Demon on a Distant Shore Read Free Page A

downstairs now.”
    She left quickly. I waited for the sound of her footsteps to fade, then went in the nearest room.
    It was empty, dust on the bare board floor smeared by adult-size footsteps, and light came through a small dormer window beneath the eaves. I went to the window and enjoyed the sunlight on my face. A balustrade like a stone banister surrounded the roof and blocked the view of the estate, but the valley stretched beyond.
    I went to the middle of the room. “Nicholas Jordan. Come here.”
    I gave him a minute, then spoke again. “I know you can hear me, Jordan. Come talk to me. It might be to your advantage.”
    Jordan walked in the room a minute later.
    His eyebrows still rose over dark-brown eyes. Grease slicked short brown hair parted in the middle. His ears were on the large side and stuck out from his head like handles. His mouth drooped sourly below a long, thin nose with pinched nostrils.
    “What do you think you’re playing at, you foolish woman. Go back to your séance. Perhaps someone will knock on the table and frighten the living daylights out of you.”
    I clasped my hands behind my back and crossed the space between us. I looked directly into his eyes. “Thank you for joining me, Nicholas. Or can I call you Nick?”
    “You most certainly cannot - ” He drew himself up from a slouch. “You see me. You actually see me.”
    “Yep.”
    “You’re the real thing.”
    “Depends what you mean by that. But it doesn’t matter. What matters is where Gordon Eccleston Junior is, and I think you probably know.”
    His head went up so I looked up his nostrils. “I may. But why should I tell you?”
    I smiled. “I think we can come to an arrangement.”
     
    Royal rose to his impressive height and was at the wall in two strides. “Here?”
    I looked at Jordan’s head where it stuck through the paneling. “Positively.”
    Royal spread his big palms flat on the wall. It reminded me of another case, when he sensed something odd about an office and found a secret panel and steps leading down to where a mini army bivouacked.
    He reached to one side and pressed something too small for me to see. The panel swung inward with a soft clunk .
    Everyone gathered around the opening. Darkness crept up old stone steps and a dry, musty smell greeted us.
    “Flashlights,” Royal said.
    Michael proved he could move fast. He returned in a couple of minutes carrying two large flashlights. “I’m going with you.”
    “Michael - ” Brienne began.
    “Wait here, darling. No telling what condition the place is in.”
    Or what we’ll find down there .
    Royal went first, then Michael. I brought up the rear, shining my flashlight down. The steps had crumbled on the edges but were remarkably clean, as if regularly swept.
    My voice sounded muffled. “This is old.”
    Michael spoke over his shoulder. “I didn’t know it was here.”
    How many secret hidey holes did this house have? Michael’s grandfather’s business ventures were thought to have a shady side, particularly during the Depression. I would not mind betting this hidey-hole, and maybe others like it, were excavated after the house was built.
    The steps didn’t descend far. Royal and Michael stood at the bottom, checking out a heavy wood door. They waited until I joined them. Royal passed his palms over the door, then the frame. He pushed what looked like a natural knot in the wood, a click , and the door swung inward.
    Michael’s flashlight found Gordon Junior curled like a kitten in a corner of the small concrete-lined room. He squeaked awake when Michael took him up in his arms, but settled into a sob when he heard Michael’s croon.
    I directed my flashlight around until I found what I was looking for.
    A heavy brocade curtain tied with nylon rope wrapped the body. The corner was set up like a primitive chapel. Bunches of dried flowers and tiny glass jars of melted wax surrounded a small table draped in a crimson satin cloth. An old bible sat on the