She told him about Edie Decrow.

“My god, that’s awful! No wonder he let the place go for so cheap. Remember what I told you about the spring—who knows how deep it is out there in the middle of the bog. Don’t go too close, okay? If you’re down there on your own, stay by the edge.”

She thought of telling him the rest, that the librarian said Mr. Decrow was convinced it wasn’t the bog that had nearly drowned his wife, it was Hattie. But that would only annoy him, possibly lead to a lecture about how the human mind looks for explanations and patterns when terrible things happen, how it makes us prey to fairy tales and nonsense…

She only nodded. “I’ll be careful,” she said.

“I’m going to go take a nice lukewarm spit shower and put on some dry clothes,” he said, giving her another quick kiss.

“Sounds good.” She went back to the book she was reading, to a chapter on hexes and curses. She skimmed the pages, reading about knot magic, candle burning, anointing your enemy’s door with a special oil. She found a reference to a spell that used a donkey’s tooth to banish an enemy. If a donkey’s tooth would work, couldn’t you use a deer’s or sheep’s tooth?

She closed the book. A witch ghost putting curses on them from the Great Beyond? This was silly. Ridiculous even.

Helen had tucked the historical society woman’s phone number into one of the books: Spirits and Hauntings. Now, at the kitchen table, she opened up the book and pulled out the slip of paper. She grabbed her cell phone and punched in the number.

“You’ve reached the home of Marvin and Mary Ann Marsden. We’re not in right now, but leave us a message and we’ll call you when we get back.”

Helen left a short message along with her cell number.

She drummed her fingers, thought of George Decrow pulling his wife out of the bog. She dug around in her purse until she found the card of their real estate agent. She dialed and he answered on the second ring.

“Hi. This is Helen Wetherell. My husband, Nate, and I bought the land by the bog?”

“Yes, of course. How’s the building going?”

“It’s going well, thanks. Listen, the reason I’m calling is that we found something belonging to the previous owner in the trailer and I’d love to be able to mail it to him down in Florida. I was hoping you could give me his number?”

“I’m sure he really didn’t want anything from in there,” he said.

“But this looks important. It’s a bunch of personal papers, letters. I’d love to call him just to ask if he’d like them. I can’t bring myself to throw them away.”