Especially considering that trusting Dane was a new development I still wasn’t entirely comfortable with. I regarded him closely and the love for his wife was clear-cut in his warm eyes. He lied to protect her. Just like he had lied to protect Kipp and I. Truth was, without the angry looks and without the evil I swore I spotted in Dane’s gaze, he started to make a lot more sense to me. If it meant protecting Kipp or saving him, I would have no remorse telling a lie.
Amelia continued her approach through the squeaky old barn, sending horrible noises to echo around me while she frowned at him. “Okay, but why are you in here?”
“Tess knows,” was all he said.
Amelia skipped a step, stopping dead in her tracks, and blinked in surprise. “You told her the truth?”
“I did.”
“Well…” She glanced over at me with an extremely hard look. “So, now you know that this might relate to your gifts, but I don’t know why you’re looking for Nettie’s diary. How will this help in finding my father’s killer?”
“She doesn’t appear to blame you for his death,” Kipp whispered.
His whispering was beyond amusing, since no one could hear him except Alexander and I, but I stayed focused on Amelia. It did make me happy she didn’t blame me, considering it wasn’t at all my fault. I hadn’t asked for my gifts and I certainly hadn’t meant to cause her father’s death, even if that was still unbelievable.
Sadly, though, I doubted my answer would make her as happy as me, since locating the diary had nothing to do with finding Alexander’s murderer and was more for personal reasons. But I liked that she said the truth, because it only confirmed what Dane had told me in the bedroom wasn’t another lie.
“We need her diary because I’ve been getting these headaches…” Headaches that now I really hoped didn’t mean my demise,“ so we needed to find out the repercussions of going into the Netherworld.”
She finally settled in next to Dane and regarded me. “Why are you so concerned of that? You came back, so clearly, there’s nothing to worry about.”
I paused at her questions. Why was she drilling me? And I didn’t like how she looked at me. Creepy crawlers ran across my skin as if that spider scurried up my arm, making me shift uneasily on my feet.
Sure, she didn’t seem angry that apparently, my gifts caused her father’s death, but she definitely seemed annoyed. “Because it could be a danger to me.” Did I even need to explain that?
She studied me a moment longer and then her features softened under the beam of my flashlight. “Have you found anything else about my father?”
I forced myself not to look at Alexander, and instead focused on Dane. Odd, that he never told his wife that Alexander possessed Caley, but I figured his reasoning was as it had been so far, emotionally related.
His worried gaze and the slight shake of his head begged me not to tell her. I suspected that might be because we had no answers for her yet. Her knowing her deceased father was with us would only cause her more despair, because we had no way to help him. “We have no further developments.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “Have you seen him again?”
I seriously did not want to lie to the woman, since she’d been nothing but kind to me and made me incredibly amazing food, so I simply shook my head.
“I’m sure Tess will figure out what happened,” Alexander said.
Amelia narrowed her eyes on what she thought was Caley. “I’m not sure why you are here, either.” She looked at Dane. “I don’t approve—my father wouldn’t approve—of having outsiders know about us.”
Dane looked as if he were annoyed, even though I knew he wasn’t. “I’m afraid we are out of choices now, Amelia. Tess wants her friend with her, and we need Tess. We have to compromise.”
She stared her husband down for a long moment, but finally huffed. “Okay.” To me, she asked, “With you leaving the house now, how are you going to talk to my father again?”
Dammit, I hadn’t thought up a good reason yet. What she didn’t know is that I wasn’t necessarily working the case anymore. From all we’d learned, we’d never find out who killed Alexander. No one at the house had a motive and they all wanted to solve his murder enough they made me bind the promise.
The feat of finding any evidence was impossible and at this moment, I was more concerned with Kipp. In addition to finding a solution that would also save Alexander from his predicament. “Well, to be honest, he’s not stuck at this house or anything, so maybe he’ll find me.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Maybe?”
“She’s right.” Dane wrapped an arm around his wife, tugging her into his side, sending more horribly creaking sounds to echo in the barn. “Alexander knows her now and would have touched on her energy. If he wants to find her, he can.”
Little did she know, her father was standing right beside me and I almost felt a pang of shame. All she wanted was to find justice for her dad. The whole thing topped the list of things I never wanted to repeat in my future.
Amelia gave him a sweet smile. “Okay, you’re right; he would be able to find her.” She exhaled a long breath, then added, “I’ve finished in the house and packed our things.”
“Where are you going?” I blurted out.
Dane arched an eyebrow at me. “Do you think I’d allow her to stay in this house now?”