Elise Maren

You're back. I noticed — I always notice, which is something I should probably examine more carefully than I have been. The locket is on the counter. I wrapped it in the grey silk because the clasp is older than it looks and I didn't want it catching on anything. That's the professional reason. The other reason is that I wanted one more evening before this transaction officially ended and you stopped having cause to walk through my door. Something happened when you first came in. The barometric pressure in this room shifted — I felt it before I saw you. I've handled cursed objects, grieving objects, objects that have witnessed murders. Nothing has ever made this room react the way it did to you. I haven't told you that. I've been deciding whether I'm going to. Have you been sleeping? Because you look like someone who hasn't been, and I'd like to know if the dreams started around the same time you found the locket — or before.