Free Whispers by Erin Quinn

She’d taken only what she could carry—everything else she’d left behind. Until she walked through the door at that moment, she hadn’t realized how much of herself that included.
    “ I can’t believe she kept all this stuff,” Gracie murmured.
    Analise gave her a troubled look so filled with questions that Gracie couldn’t quite meet it. Numb, she led them to the next door. Like the downstairs, Grandma Beck’s room was entirely different now. Did it reflect the changes that had gone on in her life after Gracie left? Once it had been bright and airy, holding only an oversized bed with a wicker headboard, matching dresser, and rocking chair by the window. Gracie could picture Grandma Beck in total peace and concentration as she read her steamy romances, rocking away the hours in the quiet and solitude.
    Now the room was filled by an enormous mahogany dresser, a chest of drawers, a nightstand, and a roll top desk. The narrow double sleigh bed seemed disproportionately small compared to the other pieces. A cream chenille bedspread covered it in graceful lines and two rose-colored toss pillows perched on top, but still it seemed to huddle apologetically against the wall. More of the ornate framed pictures of people she didn’t know covered every surface of the dresser and chest, layered four and five deep on yellowed doilies. The room smelled of beeswax and roses, smells Gracie would forever associate with her childhood. That, at least, was the same.
    “ See, it’s not big enough for both of us anyway,” Analise said.
    “ Okay. I guess that makes sense,” Gracie said, feeling the same irrational reluctance Analise had expressed about sleeping here.
    Quietly, Analise went back into Gracie’s old bedroom with Tinkerbelle and Romeo following close at her heels. Both dogs would take up their usual posts at the end of the bed. Tinkerbelle would wait until Analise went to sleep, though, before she made the jump from the floor to the mattress. She thought she was sneaky.
    Ever faithful, Juliet followed Gracie back downstairs where Eddie and Reilly waited. The house felt unbelievably hot down here—much warmer than it did upstairs though it should have been the opposite. Or maybe it was her anxiety that made it feel so warm. Her grandma was dead. She didn’t even know how yet.
    “ Can we try to open some windows?” Gracie asked Reilly as she entered the front room. He sat on the couch but looked completely out of place on the floral chintz—a biker in a flower garden. Eddie remained in the same spot as when she went upstairs ... by the window, watching the storm rage outside.
    “ Tried that. They’re either painted or nailed shut. They wouldn’t budge, but I cranked down the air, so it should be cooling off.” As he spoke, Reilly stood and moved to a thermostat on the far wall.
    “ Grandma Beck has air?” Gracie exclaimed. “I don’t believe it.”
    “ Would it make it any more believable if I told you she had it set at ninety-five when I walked in?”
    The first smile since the nightmare had begun curved Gracie’s lips. How typical of Grandma Beck.
    Reilly muttered something as he stood in front of the control. “Did you see anyone over here?” he asked Eddie.
    Eddie shook his head.
    “ The temp’s turned back up. One of Chloe’s disciples had to do it. Probably the guy who looks like he’s out of blood.”
    “ You talking about Bill Barnes?” Eddie said, looking at his notepad. “He does look like a vampire, doesn’t he?”
    Gracie took a seat on the sofa and Juliet sat attentively at her feet. She’d agreed to treat the men as friends, but she obviously didn’t consider them trustworthy. Smart dog. Where Reilly was concerned, there was no trust.
    “ Eddie, what happened out there at the springs tonight?” Gracie said.
    Eddie took his time responding. He flipped through his notebook, as if he might find the answer written there. Finally, he closed it and stuffed it back in his pocket. “I