She turned the key, expecting the spirits to sweep her off her feet as they’d done when she had lost her job, but the hall welcomed her without a creak or rustle. The chandelier did not swing, the china did not clink, and the glasses did not knock together. Yet her restlessness remained.
“Joe? Kathy?”
There was no answer.
Is there trouble with Kathy again?
She called Joe, but his phone went straight to voicemail. She left a message that he should call her back immediately.
She looked at the bookshelf in the living room. The maps and other big books concealing Great Granny Salome’s book were still in place. She cut through the room and pulled them all out, letting them fall to the floor. Great Granny’s book was there, rolled into the old shawl.
She breathed a little eas
