Heath House of Six

Evil Lies Within
1. Auflage 2022
ISBN: 978-1-959760-03-0
Verlag: PublishDrive
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 257 Seiten

Salem newspaper editor John Andrews thought his nightmares were behind him. After four long years, his wife's murder is solved and put to rest. He is ready to move on with his life when his daughter is kidnapped by the Coven. They will stop at nothing to keep their secrets from being exposed. Andrews must continue his quest for the truth and expose the Coven's centuries of evil practices. The bodies continue to pile up as good versus evil in Salem and throughout the international organization. His daughter's life depends on his investigative instincts. He must expose their dark past. The witch-hunt begins.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Heath, Jack

Leseproben

An hour later, after three cups of strong coffee, John shoved his concern about the nightmare into the background and forgot about the Coven enough to focus on what he liked to call “the real world,” which for him was the Salem News, the daily paper where he was executive editor. Five minutes to eight, he and Amy walked out the door and headed up Pickering Wharf towards the newspaper offices. Finally able to get out of his own head, John noticed Amy had been unusually quiet that morning. She had come downstairs right before they needed to leave, grabbed a quick cup of coffee, and chugged it. Their relationship was new, it has only been a few weeks since it had moved into something more than just a friendship, John wasn’t sure how to interpret her silence or what, if anything, to say or do. Now as they walked along Salem’s streets of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century houses, Amy held her arms tight across her chest, perhaps because of the early morning chill and damp wind that gusted off the Atlantic, but perhaps because she was upset. “Something the matter?” John asked after they had gone a block in silence. “What did you mean when you said it’s not over?” she asked. He took a deep breath, wondering how much he should tell her. It wasn’t that he wanted to keep anything from her, quite the opposite in fact, but he knew how much of a terrible shock she had been through, nearly losing her life to the Coven in a blood sacrifice. He was reluctant to burden her with more. He glanced at her hands, still bandaged from where Cabby Corwin had cut them in the first stages of the sacrifice. She caught him looking and said in a sharper tone, “What did you mean, John?” He shook his head and blew out the breath he’d been holding. “I saw something in my dream last night, a girl walking along a country lane. It wasn’t local; it was another part of the world, but she was walking into terrible danger.” “It was a nightmare.” “Yes,” he said in a halting voice. “But you think it was real somehow, don’t you?” He ran a hand over his face. “I can’t help but think… I just don’t know.” “John,” she said, laying a hand on his arm, “you’ve been through unbelievable stress. We both have.” “I know,” he said, wanting to believe that she was right, and stress was the cause, “but I keep thinking about my last conversation with Andrew Card.” Amy nodded. “And he told you there are Covens other places.” “Yes.” “But they’re not here. That counts for something.” John shook his head. “That’s not true. I killed the leaders of the Coven, but I’m sure that wasn’t all of them. We have no idea how many are out there. Rich Harvey, my friend, was one of them. I look around this city and every person I see, I wonder if they’re a member of the Coven. I wonder who I can trust, who I’ll ever be able to trust.” “You sound paranoid.” “That’s because I am paranoid. Aren’t you?” She was quiet for half a block before she said, “Yes, I’m feeling very paranoid, too, but it really makes me angry. I don’t want to worry that every person in this town might be a secret Devil worshipper. I don’t want to think that this is just our problem.” “You’re suggesting that we’re supposed to ignore them?” She shook her head and looked at the ground. “No, of course not. I just feel like these people have invaded our lives, and I want them gone. I want the world to be what I always thought it was before a week ago, a place where there were a few bad people, but mostly good people and the Devil didn’t really exist.” “But the world wasn’t really that way at all. We just thought it was. Do you really want to be ignorant?” She let out a humorless laugh and put her arm through his and gave it a squeeze. “No, but I also don’t want to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life, wondering if the person behind me on the sidewalk or in the supermarket line is really a Devil worshipper who wants to kidnap me and kill me in a blood sacrifice.” “So, how do we keep from letting that happen?” Amy shook her head, but then she got a fresh burst of spirit. “Tell me about your dream. Where did you think this girl was? Vermont?” John shook his head. “It could have been, but I’m pretty sure it was England.” “Why England?” “I don’t know, maybe the stone walls or the hills and the sheep, maybe the gray sky.” “Where in England?” “Haven’t got a clue.” He felt a shudder go through her, and she asked, “What do you think you’re supposed to do about dreams like that?” “I don’t know.” The walked another half block in silence, but then Amy let out a reluctant sigh. “You’re right. If you have dreams like that and you think they’re real, you can’t just do nothing.” John nodded, finally putting words to what had been bothering him since he woke up. “I know. If I try to ignore them, they’ll drive me insane, but how do I do something to save a girl who’s walking on a road, and I don’t know where in the world it is?” She squeezed his arm, but she could offer no satisfactory answer. He stopped walking and looked at her, trying to fight the sense of panic that welled up inside when he confronted how little control, he had over the direction of his life. “I already called Andrew Card before you came down.” “Good, that’s what you should do.” “It’s not the first time I’ve called him since… everything happened. It’s the fourth or fifth, but he hasn’t returned my calls.” “He’s busy tying up loose ends. Calling Card is the right thing. I just don’t think you should try to get involved any further, at least alone.” “What do I do if Card doesn’t call back, or when he finally does, he tells me he can’t do anything?” “There’s nothing you can do, either. Neither you nor I have the resources to go flying around the world, and even if we did, we don’t have the knowledge or the authority to do anything.” She paused. “What do you think would happen if you ended up killing a bunch of Coven leaders outside the country? They’d toss you in jail and throw away the key.” John nodded. “I think it’s strange that they haven’t done it here, don’t you? Five important people have vanished.” Amy glanced around, making sure the sidewalk was empty. “But they haven’t found any bodies,” she whispered. “There’s no proof a crime has been committed. That’s the reason Card hasn’t called you back. It’s his way of telling you your involvement is over where the Coven is concerned, and you should keep your mouth shut and lie low for a while.” “Even though they could be torturing and murdering other people? And we haven’t talked about this, but what about Jessica Lodge? What am I supposed to do about her? She’s related to all of this you know.” “We think.” “Well, I think this girl was in England, and I think that’s where Jessica is, as well.” “You think this girl has something to do with Jessica?” “Maybe as a victim.” “Why do you think that?” John was starting to get frustrated with her questions, but he was trying not to show it. He knew she really didn’t believe him, and he realized they were close to having their first fight as a couple. “Because” he said, biting off the words, “Jessica went to Cornwall on her last trip. She didn’t tell any of us, but Rich Harvey knew. He let it slip one day when we were at lunch. I didn’t think anything about it at the time. Only later, when I knew he was part of the Coven, it seemed more significant.” She looked at him, and her face softened. “I know how you feel. I just think that after everything we’ve been through, we deserve a little break. And…” “And what?” he demanded. “You ought to hear yourself. What you’re describing isn’t a story, it’s just guesses and intuition, and it’s coming in the aftermath of a huge shock to your system. It isn’t anything you would pursue if somebody else told you this stuff.” He stopped walking and turned to face her. “Two weeks ago, I was a rational reporter who always followed the rules. I checked my sources, and I always verified the facts.” He paused. “But then this woman’s spirit started talking to me, taking me places, pointing things out to me. It seemed crazy because I didn’t believe in stuff like that, but the fact that she talked to me, and I listened made it possible for...