When Walt and Danielle left the cemetery, Danielle asked Walt to stop off at the mini-mart to pick up a bottle of water. After they arrived at the mini-mart, Walt stayed in the car with the babies while Danielle got out of the vehicle. After closing the door behind her, she looked back in the car through the open window.
“You want something to drink?” Danielle asked.
“See if they have any ginger ale.”
Danielle wrinkled her nose. “Seriously? A ginger ale?”
Walt shrugged. “It was my favorite when I was a kid.”
“What if they don’t have any?”
“A cola, then.”
“Want anything to eat?” Danielle asked.
“No, just a drink.”
“Okay.” Danielle turned from the car and headed into the mini-mart.
When she reached the cooler, she recognized a familiar face, Heather.
“Hey, how did you get away from the babies?” Heather greeted Danielle.
“Walt’s in the car with them. We took a little drive, and I’m getting us something to drink. Thanks again for sitting with the twins today.” Danielle didn’t mention Pamela’s ghost because she was afraid the man looking in the cooler nearby might overhear the conversation.
“Hey, no problem. Anytime I’m free, I’d be happy to help you out. And I was looking at the calendar on my phone a little while ago, and it reminded me your wedding anniversary is less than two weeks away.” Heather was referring to the date Walt and Danielle had eloped, not the wedding they’d held at Marlow House nine months later. “I think it falls on a Friday. If you and Walt want to go out that night, I would be more than happy to babysit.”
“That’s really sweet of you. I’ll talk to Walt about it.”
“And if you want to go somewhere tomorrow, I’m free.”
“Don’t you work tomorrow?”
Heather shook her head. “No, Chris is going to be out of town for a couple of days. He’s leaving tonight. He told me to take the next couple of days off.”
“Is Hunny going with him?”
“Yep. So I’m free if you want me to babysit the twins tomorrow. Brian’s working, so we won’t be doing anything.”
“That’s super sweet, but with everything going on.” Danielle glanced around, not wanting to say too much. The man lingering by the beer coolers finally made his choice and now stood in the aisle next to her, browsing through the snack foods. She looked back at Heather.
“That’s why you need to get out. How about Pearl Cove’s new Monday brunch?”
Danielle grinned. “Lily told me about it. I doubt it’s as crowded as their Sunday brunch.”
“I only mention it because tomorrow is Monday. I think you should go. With all that’s been happening, it would be good for you and Walt. I’ll come over in the morning if you want. Like I said, I’m free.”
“Really?”
“Yep. Talk to Walt about it.”
* * *
“Heather was in the store,” Danielle said as she climbed into the passenger side of the car, carrying her purchases.
“I thought that was her car in the parking lot. I figured that’s why you were taking so long.”
Danielle glanced in the back seat. Both babies slept. She handed Walt his drink, set her bottle of water on her lap, shut her door, and started putting on her seatbelt. “Remember that new Monday brunch thing at Pearl Cove Lily was telling me about?”
Walt opened his drink. “Yes, what about it?”
Danielle picked up her bottle of water and opened it. “Want to go tomorrow? Heather offered to babysit; she has the day off. And with Marie and Eva there, the babies will be fine.” Danielle took a drink of water while waiting for Walt’s reaction.
He glanced in the back seat. He looked back at Danielle. “That would be nice.”
The next moment Heather walked out of the store with a paper sack filled with her purchases and, behind her, the man Danielle had seen by the cooler. He, too, held a paper sack with purchases.
Danielle leaned out the window and yelled, “Hey, Heather, we’d like to take you up on your offer to babysit tomorrow morning.”
Heather stopped walking and grinned at Danielle. “What time you want me to be there?”
Danielle glanced at Walt.
“How about nine?” Walt suggested.
Danielle looked back out the window. “How about nine?”
“I’ll be there!”
* * *
Before returning to Marlow House, Danielle made one last request. She wanted to drive by the property the Jamesons once owned. According to Marie, it was located on the outskirts of Frederickport. Homes along that side of town were on larger parcels of land, some being an acre or more.
Walt turned down the street and parked between what had once been the Jamesons’ house and the house that once belonged to Elenore Percy. A For Sale sign stood in front of the Jameson house. The chief had explained the house had been vacant for the last couple of years, and its current owner had torn down the barn before putting the property on the market. Danielle sat in the passenger side of the car, staring at the buildings behind the For Sale sign. Nothing looked familiar, and she assumed it was because, in her nightmare, she’d looked at it from a different angle.
Danielle glanced over to the two-story farm-style home Elenore Percy had once owned, and spied an American flag hanging from a flagpole mounted on the front of the house. It waved gently in the afternoon breeze. There was a car parked in the driveway, and a gray cat slept on the first step of the front porch. Like the Jameson property, the house that once belonged to Elenore Percy did not look familiar to Danielle, but she had only seen the inside of the house in her dream.
Danielle turned to Walt. “Do you mind if I walk down the side of the Jameson property where it borders the Percy house? I’ll stay on the Jameson side since no one’s there.”
“Okay, but please stay where I can see you. Just in case.”
Danielle arched her brows. “In case of what?”
“You never know what you might run into when walking around on a vacant piece of property.”
Danielle unfastened her seatbelt. “Okay.” She leaned over to Walt and dropped a quick kiss on his lips. “I’ll stay where you can see me. And I’ll only be a minute.” She glanced in the back seat. “And those two should be waking up pretty soon, anyway. I’d like to get home before my milk drops.”
Walt grinned at Danielle. “Where did the romance go?”
Danielle laughed.
* * *
She wondered if they came to look at the house, but only the woman got out of the car. Ever since they had put up the For Sale sign, more and more people had been stopping by, walking around, and a few made rude comments about her murder. They even made jokes about it, which she found insensitive.
Betsy hadn’t always known she was dead. It had been dark where her killer had left her, and she hadn’t seen her body when the root cellar door had slammed shut.
She didn’t follow her killer, but stayed quiet in the darkness until she felt it was safe for her to leave. By the time she got the courage to escape the root cellar and sneak into the house where she had been staying prior to the attack, Dan was no longer there, nor were her daughters. Their cribs had been removed from their upstairs bedroom.
Not sure whom to trust, Betsy stayed in the house, but hid in the attic when Elenore returned. She remained in hiding until one day she looked out the attic window and spied police cars next door and decided she needed to go to the police and tell them someone had tried to kill her.
When she walked next door, none of the police officers would pay attention to her, as they were all busy looking down into the root cellar, its doors now wide open.
Curious, Betsy approached the root cellar and looked inside. Sunlight streamed in the once dark cavity, and she spied two police officers standing inside the cellar, looking down at something. Betsy moved closer until she stood between the two officers. She looked in utter horror at what had captured their attention.
Curled up on the dirt floor were decomposed human remains partially buried in dirt. She remembered reading once that your hair keeps growing after you die. Whoever this person had been now had long hair, a similar color to hers. One officer knelt down and, with a gloved hand, gently brushed away some of the dirt, exposing the blouse worn by the corpse.
Betsy recognized the blouse. She had made one just like it before she got pregnant. Later, she’d used the leftover fabric from the blouse in a quilt. In that moment, Betsy understood the truth. Her killer had been successful.
After the police removed what remained of her body from the site, Betsy stayed. There was no other option because she didn’t have any place to go. Perhaps the killer would return to the scene of the crime. Didn’t someone once say the killer always returns to the scene of the crime? If she followed the killer, she might find her daughters.
Betsy continued watching the woman from a distance. But then the sounds of babies crying caught her attention. She instinctively knew those cries came not from one baby, but from two. The woman stopped, turned around, and glanced back toward the car she had come from. Instead of coming closer to where Betsy stood, the woman rushed back to the car.
After the woman got into the vehicle and drove off, the sound of the crying babies began to fade. Betsy stared at the vehicle as it drove away. One thought jumped out at Betsy. My babies!
Unable to resist, Betsy did something she hadn’t done since they found her body. She left the property, following the faint cries of two babies.