Chapter 3

Tori woke the next morning with an uneasy feeling. Getting out of bed, she wandered to her purse and withdrew the keys Cole had made for her. She absently jangled them in the palm of her hand while considering her situation.

Everything was final now. There was no turning back, not that she wanted to. Most of the time she liked being with Cole. The only time she didn’t was when he got spooky on her—like the night they’d met and yesterday in the mansion apartment. She didn’t like his overprotective nature, either. Apparently, he thought of her as a sister, even though the look in his eyes often carried a distinct expression of longing.

Maybe she should go out to the house while he was at work. She had an awful lot to do just to get the project specifications that she needed before she could actively start. To begin with, she needed to thoroughly check the roof, but she couldn’t while he was there. He was too skittish about heights. She also wanted to open the alcove, and that was something that he would oppose no matter how hard she tried to reason with him.

Again her senses screamed that he was hiding something. Taking a rose from the vase, she inhaled the fragrance deeply. Cole had been ten years old when his parents had separated. He probably didn’t even know the real cause of their divorce.

Sticking the rose back, she bounced the keys in her other hand. Cole had been away at camp when the final split came. He could only know what his father had told him, and what his mother’s farewell letter had explained. She’d fallen in love with his uncle, and the two of them were leaving South Carolina. Apparently, Cole’s father had told him that they left separately so nobody would get suspicious.

What had happened to his aunt? Why hadn’t she stayed at the mansion? And why not take the furniture when she left? Maybe she simply hadn’t been able to bear the memories. The apartment only had one bedroom, so it was doubtful that children were involved on that side of the family. Cole’s aunt obviously had nothing to hold her there.

Dismissing her thoughts, Tori laid the keys on the dresser and went into the bathroom to shower. When she finished, she ordered room service. After eating, she set the tray of dirty dishes outside the door. As she closed it, her gaze fell on the mansion keys.

Cole had given her a map to Coleman Estates, but he’d still insisted that they meet at the Tides around 12:30. Picking up the keys again, she weighed them in her hand. If she went out to the plantation alone, she could examine the roof and check out the grounds. He wanted the plantation back in operating condition, so she also needed to see what shape the barn and other buildings were in.

Again laying the keys on the dresser, she wandered over to check the clothes she’d been wearing when she first met Cole. They were still wet, not soaking but too damp to put in her suitcase. Taking a plastic bag from the wardrobe, she put her wet clothes into it then got the rest of her belongings together. By ten-thirty she’d loaded everything into her pale sea-blue Toyota Prius and strode up to the reception desk.

“Good morning,” the young man behind the counter greeted. “Can I help you?”

“I’d like to check out,” Tori told him as she laid the room key on the counter. “I also need to leave a note for a friend. Could I please have a piece of paper?”

“Of course,” he said, handing her a piece of stationery. “What room were you in? I’ll fill out the paperwork while you write.”

“Thanks.” Tori wrote the note, folded it twice, and wrote Cole’s name across the back. Signing the check-out papers, she asked, “Will you see that Mr. Marshall gets the note? It’s very important.”

“Of course.”

Tori hurried to her car, anxious to get to work on the marvelous old house she’d done a walk-through on yesterday. This time when she approached the mansion, she felt no fear. She’d finally accepted that restoring this plantation was her destiny. Maybe that was why the eerie road to the mansion didn’t bother her anymore.

After parking her car, she took her purse and keys and went directly to the apartment. Dropping both on the coffee table, she stared at the wall where the alcove was. Did she dare break it down? No, that could wait. She was going to live there, so she could tear it down any time she wanted, as long as Cole wasn’t with her.

Going to the roof, she examined it with extra care. Thank goodness, it was in relatively good condition, although in need of reshingling. Hurricanes hadn’t done that much damage, probably because the house was so far from the shore and surrounded by such a thick growth of trees. Unable to curb her curiosity, she strode over to the edge of the apartment roof and stared down at the alcove. Why would anybody have closed it off? It could easily have housed a small study, or even a music room with a piano.

Forcing the thoughts from her mind, she carefully made her way across roof and left it via the bell tower over the kitchen. She wandered down the servants’ stairs then went outside.

Within minutes she had followed the path through a wooded area to some marshes, where there was an old dock. So this was the South Edisto River Cole had told her about. Not far away, she heard something splash in the water and glanced over in time to see a mother duck and her ducklings swimming parallel to the bank. With a soft smile, she turned to see what other parts of the plantation she could uncover.

After retracing her steps, she crossed in front of the house and wandered down the path leading away from the river. Several yards off to her right was a round smokehouse. Before her was a row of nine, brick cabins which had probably housed servants at one time. Passing the one-room dwellings, she came to the stables. That building needed a lot of work if it was going to house horses again. About fifty yards behind the stables stood the barn.

Excitement flooded through her. Maybe she could find an axe or crowbar she could use to take down the alcove wall.

 ***

        Cole read Tori’s note a second time: I’m sorry I didn’t wait, but I couldn’t sit around when I should be working.

“Damn it!” Cole exclaimed irritably as he leaned against the reception counter.

“Is something wrong, Mr. Marshall?” the young man asked.

“There sure is,” Cole returned. “That woman’s out to get herself killed. Why couldn’t she have waited for me? Damn it! I just know she’s going to do something stupid.” When he noticed the clerk’s curious expression, he explained, “She’s restoring my plantation house, and she’s probably checking out the roof. We don’t even know if it’s safe yet.”

“Do you really think she’d go up there if it isn’t safe?” the clerk asked skeptically. “She didn’t strike me as somebody who would do something dangerous.”

“I don’t know what to think,” Cole admitted flatly as he turned to leave the building.

He hoped she was checking out the roof, anyway. If she was there to tear down that alcove wall, he would ream her out something fierce. Something was wrong if it had been boarded up, and he didn’t want to know what it was. He wanted to keep whatever secret lay hidden in the alcove right there; he wanted to restore the house and get on with his life without bringing out mysteries that he had no intention of solving.

Back in his Rogue, he read the note a third time. She was probably just working. Why would he suspect anything else? They’d come to a final agreement at dinner, and she was officially, undeniably contracted to the restoration job. There was a lot to do, but he was still concerned that she would tear down the wall. And gut instinct told him that would be a terrible mistake. From the panic in his father’s voice on the phone, he had a feeling that Richard knew more about that house than he’d ever let on.

Starting the car, he grimaced. Why was it that every time he thought of the alcove he had a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach? Maybe it was because it had been there when he left for camp, and now it was blocked off. There wouldn’t be any reason to change the apartment when nobody would be living in it, anyway.

His heart seemed to leap into his throat, choking away part of his exclamation. “Oh, my God!”

Cole tore out of the parking lot, barely missing a couple walking across the street. He had to get out to the mansion right away. He had to stop Tori from taking down that wall.

 ***

        The barn was as spooky as the lane leading to the house, but Tori had to search the dim, dirty, smelly building. It was in worse condition than the stables. The door had even come off its hinges when she’d carefully opened it. Maybe the cheapest thing to do on those two buildings was tear them down and start over.

A board above her creaked. She glanced up at the ceiling. There were several holes in the roof through which the sun clearly illuminated the rotting beams. All four walls had a second level that had once been the hayloft. A rickety old ladder led up each end. Everything wood looked like it was ready to collapse. She needed to find something for knocking out a wall quick—before the whole barn crashed down on her.

She moved to her right and began to circle the building, searching in every place conceivable. When she opened one storage bin, a rat scurried through a hole to the outside. Tori squealed and slammed the lid shut.

Her heart pounded as she leaned back against the bin; her breathing came in short pants. “Lordy! It’s spooky in here!” Something moved in the hayloft above her, and she gasped, pushing away from the bin. “Get hold of yourself, Tori. It’s just another rat—or maybe a squirrel. Just calm down, find something for that wall, and get out of here. You don’t want Cole to find you under a pile of rubble. He’d just say ‘I told you so.’ Oh, no! Now I’m talking to myself.”

Forcing herself to move, she quickened her search. While she looked, she hummed a cheery song in a desperate attempt to ignore the creaks and groans of boards, the chattering and movements of creatures that were more afraid of her than she was of them—if that was possible. After several minutes, she found a small hatchet; and relieved to have a reason to leave, she raced out of the barn.

When she reached the smokehouse, she leaned back against the small, circular brick building to catch her breath. That was the last time she would go into the barn without Cole. Her eyes widened in amazement. What a ridiculous thought! She didn’t need a man with her just to go into an old barn. She was a big girl. She could handle any critter the size of a rat or squirrel.

But she couldn’t necessarily handle a critter the size of Cole. Returning to the apartment, she began chopping away at the wall. The hole was just beginning to grow when she heard a scrambling. Her heart raced, and she breathed deeply to still the anxiety. Why couldn’t she stop reacting like that every time she heard a noise? She hadn’t on other jobs. Putting the hatchet down for a moment, she collected herself.

“Don’t go off the deep end, Tori,” she told herself. “If there were rats and squirrels in the barn, that’s all that’s in the wall. Just relax and keep working.”

When she had a hole big enough, she peered into the opening, but it was too dark to see anything. She needed the high-powered flashlight she kept in her car. About ten minutes later, she had chopped a hole big enough for her arm as well as her head.

Turning on her light, she put her arm into the hole then bent in to see what was in the alcove. Centered against the wall directly across from her was a seven-foot tall secretary with a bonnet top—probably another antique. After she exposed the alcove, she would see if it had a hidden compartment. There was a spindle-backed chair before it and a floor lamp off to the left.

She moved her flashlight and maneuvered herself so she could see better. Then she lost her grip. The flashlight landed on the floor with a crunch. “Darn!” She glanced down to see if she could reach it, and stopped short. Given the crunch she’d heard, she knew that the light had broken something, but this?

A scream burst forth in the alcove, a deafening shriek that rang in her ears. She’d never been good at biology, but she knew two things for sure. That was her voice, and that was a skeleton—even if the ribs had nearly disintegrated in the collision with her flashlight. It was a human skull with whitish sockets where eyes used to be. Where soft flesh had been, brittle bone lay gruesomely exposed to her view.

Another scream pierced the alcove as she pulled out of the hole. Racing from the apartment in a panic, she screamed again when, in the doorway, strong arms encircled her. She tried to push away, but the grip tightened. She screeched even louder, hoping the ghost would release her. Instead, it held her securely and spoke in a frantic voice that sounded oddly like Cole’s.

“My God, Tori!” he exclaimed. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“No!” she cried out, pushing against him in a desperate attempt to get away. “Let me out of here.”

Cole maintained his hold, his hands grasping her head as securely as his arms did her torso. He stifled his urge to kiss her. She’d been terrified by something, and he needed to calm her, not seduce her.

Several minutes later, her trembling subsided enough for him to let go. He didn’t really want to, but if he was going to keep his distance, he had no choice. Holding her shoulders at arms’ length, he asked, “Are you feeling better?”

“I know …” The words caught in her chest. She tried again. “I know why it’s boarded up.”

“You did it, didn’t you?” he asked in shock. “You tore down the damned wall. I warned you not to do that.”

“I should have listened,” she admitted. “We have to call the police.”

“The police!” he exclaimed. “My God, Tori. What did you find?”

The tears spilled over and flowed freely down her cheeks. “A skeleton.” She hugged him tightly, as though he would make her fears go away, but he just didn’t know how he could after her announcement. “Oh, God, Cole. Somebody was killed here.”

Cole gasped in horror as he returned Tori’s embrace. He’d been afraid something like this would happen. But he had to remain calm; he couldn’t let her know how upset he was. After a deep breath to still his nerves, he replied, “We don’t know that, Tori. It could have been some bum who was using the house without permission.”

“That’s ludicrous,” she proclaimed. “A bum wouldn’t board himself up in an alcove. Besides, I don’t remember seeing any clothes. Whoever it was was naked when he or she died, so he was probably ambushed. We have to call the police.”

“Not until …”

She pushed away and gazed up at him in amazement, cutting off his words.

“For God’s sake, Cole,” she said in exasperation. “Face the facts. Somebody in your family was murdered here and buried in that alcove. That’s the logical explanation. No, that’s the only explanation.”

“You think my dad did it, don’t you?” Where had that question come from? he wondered. Why had he said such a thing when he hadn’t even had time to consider the possible impact of his words?

“I don’t know what to think, Cole. Do you think your father did it?”

“I most certainly do not.” Although, he wasn’t sure it was true. “Dad would never hurt anybody.”

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You know something that you’re not telling me, don’t you.”

“You’ve got to believe me, Tori,” he said beseechingly. “I don’t know who or even if somebody was killed here. Maybe it was some kid playing a prank for Halloween. Now I’m going to call a doctor friend of mine whom I’ve known him since first grade. I trust him to keep a secret. I’ll have him meet me here as soon as he gets off work. I should have the wall torn down by then. But you’ll be waiting at my beach house.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she proclaimed.

“Oh, all right.” He feared that danger would follow her discovery; at the same time, he understood how she felt. “Just stay out of my way.”

As he tore down the remainder of the wall, however, he gave this turn of events serious consideration. His father had been awfully nervous about renovating the mansion to its original state. Maybe he thought they would do the same with the old chapel. It was the only logical excuse for Richard’s behavior.

By the time he finished his job and examined the bones to see if they were real, he was livid. There was no longer any doubt in his mind. His father knew about this skeleton, and he was determined to get some answers.

“I want you on the first plane you can get, Dad,” Cole said angrily when he called his father. “I have something to show you, but I can’t go into it now.”

“This sounds serious, son,” Richard returned. “What happened?”

“I can’t explain over the phone. Just get here as fast as you can.” Cole’s rage over his father’s possible secret was so strong he wanted to hit the man. Since he couldn’t, he decided that a verbal stab at Richard’s heart would suffice. “I’ve got a bone to pick with you.”

Cole hung up without giving his father a chance to reply. Those last words might or might not mean anything to Richard, but Cole didn’t care. He felt better for having said them, like he would have if he’d taken a swing.

 ***

        Richard stared at the handset as he hung up slowly. He didn’t like Coleman’s last words; they could only mean one thing. Picking up the handset again, Richard dialed the same number he had the night before. When it rang twenty times without an answer, he hung up. Now what was he going to do?