Read Online The Haunting at Grays Harbor (The River Book 8) by Michael Richan - Free Book Online Page A

what it is or how it
works.”
    “Well, I’ve got something that might get you unstuck on
another front,” Eliza said. “I found out more about the legend shelf. I went
back to the woman who sold mine to me, and she said there are other objects
that will work with it, that are complementary to it. One of them will give you
more information on the yellow.”
    “That’s great news!” Steven said.
    “The object you want looks like a flat cork board,” Eliza
said, “about eight inches round, like a trivet. When you drop into the River it
will become translucent, like a glass plate. It interacts with the legend shelf
somehow, and will tell you more about what’s causing the yellow area. They’re
rare, but I know where I saw an eight inch round cork trivet recently.”
    “Where?” Steven asked.
    “Well, Roy, if you weren’t happy about visiting Elliott,”
Eliza said, “you won’t be happy about this. I saw the trivet at Judith’s house,
in Gig Harbor. It was on her shelves in that room where she was resting on the
day bed.”
    Roy groaned audibly.
    “I’ll go alone,” Steven said to Roy. “If you go, it’ll just
cause trouble.”
    Roy smiled. “I’m OK with that,” he said, and took another sip
of his coffee.
     
    ◊
     
    Steven left Roy in the car and walked up the steps to
Judith’s mansion on the hill rising above the harbor. When he knocked on the
door, the same routine occurred that always played out whenever they visited in
the past: invited in by Clara, told to wait in the library, then invited up to
the second floor drawing room, where Judith was stretched out on the day bed,
looking out large windows with a view of the water.
    “I didn’t expect to see you again,” Judith said. “Your father
not with you this time?”
    “He was unable to come,” Steven said.
    “Please forgive me for seeing you here, in my ordinary
drawing room instead of the formal rooms downstairs. But I have a bad bout of
arthritis today and moving about is terrifically painful.”
    Steven considered confronting her about her story. He’d heard
a different excuse every time they visited, and he suspected she couldn’t keep
her lies straight. He looked down at the blanket covering the lower half of her
body and thought he saw it move in a place where her legs couldn’t possibly be. What was it Victor had said? Steven thought. A demon had transformed
them when she got a little mouthy?
    “Last time I saw you,” she said, noticing where Steven was
looking and adjusting the blanket a little, “you and your father were bee-lining
it out of here, determined to do something foolhardy. Looks like you survived
whatever you attempted.”
    “That’s because we decided to follow your advice and drop
it,” Steven lied.
    She looked at him with suspicion. “And Aka Manah?”
    “We struck a truce,” Steven replied.
    “Doesn’t sound like Aka Manah,” she said, squinting her eyes.
    “If I hadn’t worked something out, do you think I’d even be
here, talking to you now? I’d be dead, or worse, just as you predicted.”
    “That’s true,” she said, tilting her head to the side. Steven
could see she didn’t completely buy his story.
    “I’m here on a completely different matter,” Steven said. “I
was hoping you’d loan me something.”
    “Loan you something?” she said, sitting more uprightly on her
day bed. “What?”
    “We’re having some trouble with a legend shelf, and I was
hoping you’d loan me your device for reading them.”
    “What device is that?” she said sweetly.
    “The cork trivet,” Steven said, pointing behind himself to
her shelves. “The one that transforms into glass. I’d like to borrow it for a
couple of days.”
    “What are you talking about?” Judith said. “Something on my
shelves?”
    “Yes,” Steven said, turning to walk toward them. He scanned
the shelves, looking for the trivet Eliza had seen. He spotted it under a metal
pitcher. “May I?” he asked.
    “Go