Free Watch for the Dead (Relatively Dead Book 4) by Sheila Connolly Page B

emotions, no matter how intense; and she needed the visual cue to identify whoever it was. She wasn’t inside the person’s head, but watching from the outside. She couldn’t read their thoughts, but she could feel what waves of emotion they were sending out. There was another odd sound, and it took a moment for Abby to realize that it could be a sob. From a woman. She waited, staring into the dark, but it didn’t come again. There was no point in getting up and searching for the source; it was dark, and besides, she’d have to disturb Ellie, and she didn’t want to do that. She lay there, waiting and listening, until somehow she fell asleep.
    Things outside had gotten worse when Abby pried her eyes open in the morning. Ellie was still asleep, and Abby was reluctant to wake her. Let her sleep—who knows what’s going to happen today? she told herself. Slowly she remembered what she’d felt the night before, when she was falling asleep. A crying woman? Here, in this pleasant summer community? Well, people could be miserable anywhere, she supposed, even on vacation. But she couldn’t feel any remnant of that sadness now. Maybe it was someone who was just passing. Why didn’t she believe that?
    Ellie stirred and opened her eyes. “Hello,” she said tentatively.
    “Hi,” Abby replied. “In case you’re wondering, you came in during the middle of the night. Were you having trouble sleeping?”
    Ellie shook her head. “I don’t think so. But I thought I heard someone crying, outside.”
    Abby felt a chill. So Ellie had heard it too. What should she do? She’d already promised herself not to lie to Ellie, except where Ned’s connection was involved. “Ellie,” she said softly, “it sounded like a woman, right?”
    Ellie looked up at her, her eyes wide, and nodded.
    “Do you, uh, feel her now?”
    Ellie’s eyes went blank for a moment, and then she shook her head. “Not right now. What should we do?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Do we go look for her?”
    That was an odd question, although Abby had to admit she wished she could find the woman and comfort her. “I’m not sure how we would do that, Ellie. We can check around the house and see if there’s any sign of her.”
    Ellie’s expression changed. “I don’t think she’s real,” she said flatly.
    “You mean not alive, not now?” Ellie nodded. Abby sighed. “I agree with you. Do you think she followed us here?” Was she trying to trivialize this?
    “No. We’ve talked about that, right? These people we see, they’re stuck in one place. They can’t follow us home or come looking for us.”
    “Yes, you’re right. Which means that woman was crying here. Sometime. Does that scare you, Ellie?”
    “No. Why should it? Hearing and seeing stuff like this, it’s been happening as long as I can remember. I’m used to it. Aren’t you?”
    “I guess I’m not. It’s all still kind of new to me. I’m trying to, well, listen harder, just in case, but it’s not happening all that often.”
    Ellie reached out and patted her hand. “Don’t worry, Abby—it’ll get easier. I’m hungry—can we get breakfast now?”
    Abby swallowed a laugh. “Sure. And let’s go make sure all the windows are shut tight, okay? We don’t want water getting in.”
    “Okay.” Ellie skipped away and reappeared dressed in shorts and a clean tee shirt moments later. “My room’s done.” Abby pried herself out of bed and pulled on similar clothes, and checked her windows. Relatively new, double-glazed, solidly seated in the older frames. She felt a sense of relief—those windows weren’t going anywhere fast. “All secure here. Let’s go find breakfast.”
    After making the rounds of the windows downstairs, Abby started some coffee and filled bowls with cereal. “Isn’t there a bakery somewhere around here?” Ellie protested.
    “Probably, but I don’t think today is a good day to look for it.” She retrieved her phone from where she’d left it