"But Mom, Grandma is here!" Katie didn't understand why Mom kept saying Grandma was gone, when she was standing right there, right there in front of them. "She's right beside you!"

"Katherine Elizabeth Gallagher!" Mom put her hands on her hips and looked down at her sternly. "You stop this nonsense right now. Grandma is in Heaven."

"No." Katie pointed. "Grandma is in this kitchen. Right now."

Grandma made a face at Katie, mocking her spirit-blind mother. Katie couldn't help but giggle.

"Oh, you think this is funny?" Mom was angry now. "This is not a funny joke, miss. You're not funny at all."

"I'm not being funny." Katie looked to Grandma for help. "Grandma is."

"Katie!" Mom said sharply. Then she seemed to take control of her emotions. She made her voice a little softer. Katie wouldn't recognize that tone as condescending until much later in life. "Katie, Grandma is gone. She isn't coming back. And that's a very sad thing."

"But—" Katie pointed to Grandma, standing next to Mom.

"It's hard to understand, I know. But that's just how it is." Mom continued. "We have to accept that and move on with our lives. Do you think Grandma wants you to be like this?"

Katie glanced at Grandma, who rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.

"Grandma was Daddy's mommy. I miss her too." Mom said.

Grandma's face hardened a little and even Katie could see that she didn't believe Mom.

"It's very hurtful to me when you make up these little stories about her. Do you understand?" Mom said firmly. "I want you to stop."

Katie turned to Grandma. Grandma frowned sadly. Then she drew herself up and opened her mouth determinedly.

"Grandma!" Katie reached for her. "Talk!"

Mom's voice lost all softness. "Katie, that's enough!"

Grandma was trying to say her name. Her lips moved, but no sound came out of her mouth.

"She's trying to talk!" Katie insisted.

"That's enough, I said!" Mom said sharply.

Grandma tried even harder to say Katie.

"She's trying!" Katie was crying now. Why couldn't Mom see that Grandma was trying?

"Katie, stop!" Mom was near tears, too.

Katie... Grandma tried to say.

"Grandma!" Katie sobbed. Why could she see Grandma when Mom couldn't? Why could she see Grandma, but not hear her? Why was Grandma gone, but not gone?

"Katie!" Mom grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the room.

Behind them, Grandma struggled. Katie...

**

"...Katie!"

Katie sat up with a start and grabbed her phone from the nightstand. Three a.m. She flipped on the lamp and looked around the room. Nothing was out of place. What woke her?

"Hello?" She said softly, but there was no answer.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something had awakened her. She propped the pillow up behind her head and reached for her tablet. Perhaps some research would help her get back to sleep. She opened the search bar and tapped in Willow Grove murder.

"Oh wow." She whispered. It looked like the results included some historical events, too. "So many."

She added the word recent to the search and refreshed. That still brought up more results than she had expected. She clicked on the first link, an article from the local paper.

Walter Barrington, owner of Barrington Inns, was questioned by the Willow Grove Police Department about the event. While Barrington was not charged with the crime, Investigating Officer Marcus Jones emphasized that Barrington is a person of interest.

Katie frowned and clicked the next link. This one was about a different murder, but the story was similar. The next story and the next story were almost copies of the first. In each of them, Walter Barrington is listed as a "person of interest."

"That's not fair. They're making it seem like he's somehow responsible. But they don't seem to come right out and say that, do they?" Katie whispered to herself. "I can see why he's so stressed out."

One thing the articles made clear was that the people in this town didn't seem to care for the Barringtons at all. Katie wondered why that was. It couldn't be simply that they were rich, like Bill claimed. That tended to make people more sycophantic, in her experience.

She cleared the search bar and typed in Barrington Inns + business revenue. This turned up less since it was a private business. But from what she could gather from some of the industry articles, it looked like the Barrington Inns were doing very well up until about two and a half years ago, when RPR Enterprises tried to buy them out.

Walter Barrington, owner of the luxury hotel chain responded to the offer. "This is my family business. I could no more sell it than I could sell my own family."

Katie smiled to herself. "Good for you, Walter."

She searched Barrington Inns + RPR Enterprises, but there seemed to be very little beyond the few articles about the rejected purchase offers. There were some angry comments from the CEO of RPR Enterprises, however.

"It's very quaint to have a family-owned business, but it's clear that model doesn't work, once a business reaches a certain size. Right now, the Barrington Inns are at a point that they need the support of a larger corporation, one that has the resources to manage them properly and make sure they are maintained properly and safely. Now, I'm not saying Barrington hotels are unsafe, of course. But it is concerning to everyone that so many employees and guests have been murdered so gruesomely and Walter Barrington is still, somehow, in charge."

"What a jerk." Katie paged through some similar stories, with similar quotes from Roger P. Reynolds. Then another story popped up.

RPR Chief Murdered

Roger Phillip Reynolds, 78, CEO of RPR Enterprises, was killed last night on his Glencoe estate grounds. The body was discovered by Ram Thuang, 36, Head of Landscaping. Wounds on the body were similar to multiple other unsolved cases in the state. Police are questioning a person of interest in this case. Meanwhile, Naomi Reynolds, 30, wife of Roger P. Reynolds, will take over as acting CEO. The Board of Directors will meet next week to discuss a succession plan.

"That was only a month after that last story." Katie checked the date. "And it was almost two years ago."

Katie searched for a photo of Naomi Reynolds, but nothing came up. Even their wedding announcement, from six years ago—when she was 26 and he was 74! —just had a photo of the exterior of the cathedral where the ceremony took place. There was, however, a lot of commentary from her about the murders, and about Walter. She clearly blamed Walter for her husband's murder.

Katie sighed, frustrated. This research was not helping her get back to sleep. It just made her sad for Walter and upset that she couldn't see a way to help him. No wonder Walter was on edge all the time. No wonder the children didn't like going to the public school in town. The kids there were probably not very kind to them.

She went back to the search engine and tried something else. Maybe she could incorporate some of the Barrington family history into their lessons? The Barringtons had been in Willow Grove for more than two hundred years and basically founded this town. Surely their achievements would help bolster the children's self-esteem.

"Let's see who's buried in the family cemetery to start with." She tapped in a search and scanned the results. They were not encouraging. "Well, Blake wasn't wrong about there being a lot of unusual deaths."

She read through the list, glancing at the dates and comparing them. A cold pit began to form in her stomach. "Oh no. So many children."

"Melanie June Barrington. 1979-1984." Katie gasped. "Walter's sister!"

She clicked on a link and read a related article, a short piece about Brandon Barrington's efforts to fill in the pond on his property after the death of his youngest child. "It looks like the action was blocked by an environmental group. Their leader, Heliconia Wolf, said some pretty unkind things about the family."

Katie closed that window and went back to the cemetery history again. She frowned. "Alexander Gerard Barrington. 1923-1927. Died by drowning. Luvinia Jane Barrington. 1885-1890. Died by drowning. George William Barrington. 1859-1863. Died by drowning. Elizabeth Leanna Barrington 1821-1825. Drowning."

"What's this?" A familiar name leaped out. "Julietta Maria Barrington. 1780-1785. Drowned... By her mother, Arabella Fiona Barrington?"

"Arabella killed her own child?" Katie slumped miserably under the weight of this information. "I wish Bill were here to talk to about this."

"Katie!" A harsh whisper in her ear made her jump. The voice was in her room. It was followed by the sound of a click, from out in the hallway.

"Hello?" Katie tossed the tablet aside and scrambled from the bed. From the hallway, she could hear the creak of a door—and what sounded like whispering.

Katie rushed to the door and threw it open. At the end of the hallway, she could see Clarissa, just descending the stairs. Was she sneaking out of the house again? Blake and Delia were right! Clarissa was taking advantage of Bill's absence.

"Clarissa!" She whispered. "Clarissa! Where are you going?"

Clarissa didn't turn. But as she descended the steps, Katie was shocked to see someone else was with her. She ran after the two, but by the time Katie got to the bottom of the steps, they had already made it to the French doors leading out onto the patio. Katie just barely saw them pass through, leaving the doors wide open.

"Clarissa!" Katie called, louder. She rushed to catch up. And who was that with her? Outside, she could see the two off in the distance, past the gardens. How did they get so far away so fast? Katie was practically running now.

"Clarissa!" She called. She silently scolded herself for not grabbing her phone from the nightstand or waking Walter before heading outside. "Clarissa!"

Clarissa turned, and for a moment, it looked as though she was hesitating. The man she was with—and now she could see that it was the same young man from the previous instance—also turned. He smiled at Katie, that same taunting smile, before roughly pulling Clarissa by the arm.

"Clarissa! Wait!" Katie ran through the cold, wet grass. Her feet were like ice and her nightgown wrapped around her ankles wetly with every step, threatening to trip her.

Clarissa and her so-called boyfriend continued. But now it looked as if Clarissa was having second thoughts. The young man gripped her upper arm and pulled her along almost brutally. The two entered the family graveyard, slowed just a little from having to dodge tombstones in their path. But the full moon cast a lot of light over the area, and Katie could see them clearly now. She could see that it was definitely the man from before, and Clarissa definitely didn't look comfortable with going with him.

"Clarissa!" Katie called. She had to get Clarissa away from him.

The young man grabbed the door handle of the mausoleum and jerked it open. He pulled Clarissa inside with barely restrained violence. She glanced back at Katie with a terrified look on her face, just before they disappeared inside. Katie ran after them. Her heart was pounding now with exertion and fear. It was obvious Clarissa didn't want to be there. She was being kidnapped. And now Katie was the only one who could save her.

She worried about a million things all at once. What if the man was able to hurt Clarissa before Katie could get her away? What if he fought Katie? What if he had an accomplice, hiding in the mausoleum? What if he had a weapon? Why hadn't she awakened Walter? Or called the police? Or at least taken her phone with her?

Katie was at the door to the mausoleum now. She pulled it open, silently pushing her own fear to the back of her mind. She could see nothing in the thick darkness. She took two steps inside. "Clarissa! Are you in here? Hello? Clarissa?"

Suddenly, the door slammed behind her. Katie could hear the lock click on the other side.

"Wait!" She turned and pounded on the door. "Let me out!"

"Clarissa belongs to me. You should know better than to try and keep her away from me!" The man's voice came from the other side of the door—the outside. Those words, belongs to me, sent a chill down her spine as she realized Clarissa was being taken by the man who had, most likely, left Walter the note about his property and killed all those people.

"What? No! Let me out!" Katie was physically sick at the thought of what he meant to do to Clarissa, at her own inability to stop him. "Leave her alone!"

A low growl sounded from the other end of the mausoleum—inside, with her. Katie squinted into the dark. What was that? The growl grew stronger, more menacing. Katie's blood turned to ice water. She pounded her fists on the mausoleum door. "Let me out!"

From the dark, she could hear rustling, the sound of something large moving around. Every zombie movie she had ever seen flashed into her mind and she pounded hard on the door. "Let me out! Oh my God! Please let me out!"

Then the rustling became quicker, and Katie knew she was being charged. She threw herself at the mausoleum door and somehow it burst open. She fell face first onto the ground but didn't waste any time looking behind her. She was moving and shouting, even as she scrambled to her feet. "Oh my God! Help me!"

At the edge of the graveyard, Clarissa and the man stopped and turned. The look of fear on Clarissa's face was enough to supercharge Katie's legs and she ran faster than she had ever thought possible. "Oh my God! Clarissa! A monster! Run!"

Something hurtled past Katie and grazed her with enough force to knock her down. She had the barest glimpse of grey fur as it ran past her. A hundred feet away, the man shoved Clarissa to the ground and faced the beast head on.

"Clarissa!" Katie jumped up, and despite her instincts, which urged her to run to safety, she ran toward the young girl. "Clarissa! Run!"

The monster, a blur of grey fur and sharp teeth, launched itself into the man and knocked him to the ground. It yelped sharply as the man fought back. Then it growled and snapped. Katie had never seen a wolf up close, and the sight was terrifying.

She grabbed Clarissa and pulled her to her feet. "Clarissa! Hurry!"

Clarissa stood unsteadily. She looked even more pale than she had ever looked before. She looked as if she were dying. Katie's fear caught in her throat like a sob. She cast her eyes around, trying to quickly formulate a plan. They could make a run for the house, but Clarissa was clearly ill and moving very slowly. If the wolf turned to them, they would never make it. Their only hope was the mausoleum.

"Miss Gallagher..." Clarissa seemed confused. "How did I get ..."

Mere yards away, the man cried out in pain and anger as the wolf tore into him. Katie yanked Clarissa's arm and started to run toward the building. "Go! Go! Go!"