“Greg, come in here.” I stood at the doorway. I was starting to believe his story that someone was messing with us.
“I’m eating.” I could tell by the sound of his voice, he hadn’t even moved from his spot on the couch.
I stepped out of the library and back into the living room. “Please. Amy and Justin too. I need you all to see this.”
Greg sat the plate down on the side table and stood. “As you wish.”
Now I knew he was mad. He got that overly polite persona anytime he didn’t want to say what he really wanted to say. “You’re going to want to see this.”
“What now?” Justin hurried to the library doorway. “Did you find the key?”
Darla came out of the library with the box. “No key here. What is this?”
“It’s an ancient symbol of female servitude.” Amy passed Darla on the way to the library. “What’s going on in there?”
“I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.” Darla shrugged, looking at me.
When Greg and I joined Amy and Justin just inside the doorway, Amy turned to me, her eyes wide.
“What the heck is going on here?” Amy said, stepping closer to Justin and grabbing his hand. “How did the books all get put back?”
“Well, it wasn’t magic.” Greg glanced around the room. “Where’s Jake and Esmeralda?”
I took a step back and looked in the living room. Darla had set the box on the coffee table and was getting food. Matt was sitting alone on the couch, eating his chicken.
“Something I should see?” He held a drumstick out from just taking a bite.
“No, you’re fine. Have you seen Esmeralda or Jake?”
Matt pointed to the kitchen. “She went that way, but I haven’t seen him.”
I moved toward the kitchen, remembering the shiny clean version that had been in my dream. This one was aged and dusty and felt just a little sad. But there were no dream people or ghosts that I could see. Esmeralda wasn’t there either, but the door to the cellar was open. I crossed the room and started down the stairs, hoping to run into both of them on their way out. No such luck.
A bare bulb lighted my way down the wooden stairs into the main room. A damp, salty smell permeated the room and I felt a tickle on the back of my neck. Brushing away what I hoped was just nerves and not a spider, I made my way to the potions room. Creaking open the door, I saw Esmeralda studying a book with a dozen or so bottles on the table around her.
She looked up as I stepped into the room. “I feel like there’s something here we’re missing.”
“Have you seen Jake?” Esmeralda had obviously been down here for several minutes working on the spell or potion she was playing with. And there was no one here helping her. She couldn’t have gotten the books back on the shelves and ran down here in the time since I’d last seen her.
“He’s in the attic. He feels like there’s something there we haven’t found that’s going to open up Maryanne’s secrets. I don’t know if an unassisted human eye can find what she hid.” She pointed to the book. “I found this spell that’s supposed to hide things in plain sight. I just can’t seem to find the reversal spell. And if it would wear off, we would have already been able to see it. No spell lasts ten years.”
I guess I didn’t know if that was true or not, but I’d leave the witchcraft divining to her. “The books got moved back. Greg thinks there’s someone in the house who’s messing with us. Would Jake do that?”
Esmeralda stopped what she was doing and turned to face me. She pushed her hair out of her now too-serious face. “No, Jill. Jake wouldn’t play games with this. He’s as invested as the rest of us are in finding out the story behind Maryanne’s disappearance.”
“Why is that?” I wondered, but she ignored my question and turned back to the worktable.
“I’ve got to figure this out. Now that we’re locked back in the house for the night, I feel like I only have a little time left to reach her.” She ran her finger down the page and then stopped. Not turning toward me, she sighed. “Just go find Jake. You’ll see he’s solid.”
“The food’s here.” When I didn’t get a response, I turned away and headed out of the cellar. I wasn’t sure Esmeralda was right, but even I felt the pressure of the ticking clock. This was our last night in Maryanne’s house. Then we’d be back home to our normal lives. We could search the records, but we’d never have this kind of access to the woman’s life before she disappeared. I felt like the box held our answers but we needed the key to get inside.
Every time we solved one puzzle, another popped up. I paused at the bottom of the stairs before I went up into the light. This place didn’t feel creepy or bad, just unused and a little sad. I looked toward the door where Esmeralda worked. Could she find the missing piece? The clue that would lead us to find out what really happened? Or was she just chasing dreams and ghosts like I was?
When I returned to the living room, Greg and the others were eating. He looked up as I walked through the door. “Did you find them?”
“Esmeralda.” I left it at that and went to make my plate. If Jake was hungry, he’d smell the fried chicken sooner or later. “She’s working in the cellar.”
“That place is creepy.” Darla added more potato salad to her plate. “I wouldn’t want to be down there. I guess Matt’s going to have to clean that place out when we do the last run-through.”
“Hey, why me?” Matt pulled Darla next to him. “I thought we were in this thing together?”
“Yeah, not when it comes to dark, damp, creepy places. That’s when you’re my white knight and take care of things for me.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Aren’t Esmeralda and Jake eating?”
“I told her food was here. She seemed distracted.” I sat with my own plate and started eating. I was more nervous than hungry, but I knew if I didn’t eat now, I’d regret it later.
“What about Jake?” Greg asked.
“What about me?” Jake strolled into the living room. He glanced at the table. “I’m starving. Where’s Em?”
“She’s downstairs in the potions room concocting a spell.” I couldn’t believe I said that sentence with a straight face. “I told her there was food.”
“That woman will work for days without eating if you let her.” He filled his plate and sat on a chair next to Greg. “I’ll take her a plate after I eat. She won’t like it, but she’ll eat.”
“So you and Esmeralda grew up together? Were you in a children’s home or a foster situation?” Greg didn’t look at Jake; he focused on his plate.
“Foster. But it was long term. The family who took us in, well, they had a lot of kids. And a lot of adults around to watch us and help raise us. It was more like a family than a placement. I still remember Thanksgiving at the house. Mama Elliott would roast a turkey and we’d have all this food that others had donated. She could make the best meals out of what people gave us. But on the holidays, the donations became more elaborate.”
“What was Esmeralda like as a kid?” Darla sat her empty plate down and watched Jake. “I’ve known her for years, but I just can’t imagine her as a little girl.”
“She was bright and fun and adventuresome. One time when we were out on Bourbon Street, s—”
“They don’t want to hear about my past.” Esmeralda stood at the door, glaring at Jake. “Besides, your stories always seem to favor you as the hero. I don’t remember our lives being that easy.”
“Hey, Em. Food’s ready.” He flashed her a grin. “I can always count on you coming in to add a little realism to my tall tales. For some reason, she always knows when I’m talking about her.”
“It’s my gift.” She crossed the room and filled her plate. “I think I found a clue.”
“Wait, what?” I almost choked on the bite of chicken I’d taken. “Down in the cellar?”
“I think the key is in the attic. The spell did a cloak but it’s delicate. It couldn’t be somewhere that people would jostle it or the spell would evaporate. The only place that she didn’t use was the attic.” She tore off a piece of chicken. “This is really good.”
“You learned all that from a spell.” I was impressed.
“Well, that and the note in her spell book. She really wasn’t having any luck with the spell so she hid the key upstairs behind a picture.” Esmeralda laughed. “What, you think all my information comes from the other side? Sometimes it’s as easy as reading what’s on a page. Or what’s not.”
“Okay, we finish eating and then go search the attic.” I grinned. Sometimes stating the obvious made me feel more in control. “We have a plan.”
It took a while for everyone to get ready. Once we were gathered at the stairs, Greg handed the men flashlights. He looked at me and shrugged. “I only brought four.”
“So the guys get the flashlights?”
He grinned as we were the first to go up the stairs. “That way you all will stay close. This is a double date, remember? We should have just rented scary movies and stayed at your house.”
“But we wouldn’t have found a mystery to solve. Face it, we’re, like, living a Sherlock Holmes story.” I squeezed his hand.
“Honey, we’re more like the Scooby-Doo gang.” But he squeezed back.
“Scooby-Dooby-Doo,” Justin crowed from behind us. “I guess I’m Shaggy.”
“As long as I’m not Velma, I’m cool,” Darla called from the back.
“Sweetheart, you’ll always be Daphne to me,” Matt crooned.
I was sure I heard a kiss from the bottom of the stairs. At least people were still having fun this weekend. Even with the weird things going on, everyone seemed like they were having a good time and getting along. Even Esmeralda and Jake.
“Here we go.” Greg put his hand on the attic door. “You ready?”
“I don’t think anything’s going to jump out at us, do you?” I pushed through the doorway and screamed. Lifting my hands to brush the offending object away, I realized a huge cobweb had come loose from the ceiling and landed on my face.
“Jill, are you okay?” Amy rushed into the room and put her hand on my back.
“Ugh, ugh, ugh. I hate spiders or anything to do with spiders. I told you I needed a flashlight.” My gaze darted over my arms, torso, and legs. “You don’t see a spider on me, do you?”
“No spider.” Amy brushed something off my shoulder. When she saw me looking doubtful at her, she repeated, “You don’t have a spider on you. There was a cobweb, but it’s gone.”
“Let’s divide and conquer. Four couples, four walls. First one to find the key gets a dinner out at Lille’s paid for by the other three couples.” Greg pointed to the first wall. “Jill and I will take this one. You all divide up the rest.”
“We are so going to win that dinner.” Justin shined a light on the wall facing the door. He pulled Amy toward the pool of light. “We claim this area.”
After everyone got settled, I whispered to Greg, “That was not fair. You know I hate spiders.”
“I didn’t ask you to go into the attic first. Besides, the cobwebs were there yesterday when we came up here. What did you think you’d find?” He moved boxes away from the wall. “Why don’t you go through those and I’ll see what else is back here?”
I moved the crib toward the wall and opened the first box. It was filled with antique kitchen items. Bowls, cups, silverware, and cooking utensils I’d never seen before. I pulled a pen out of my back pocket and folded the box back closed. I wrote Kitchen on the top and went on to the next one. This one had more of the same. This must have been the stuff left behind when Maryanne inherited the house. “Darla,” I called across the attic. “You should have Josh appraise some of this stuff. You might get some money out of it rather than just donating it.”
Darla wiped her forearm over her forehead. “You know, I hadn’t thought of that. Thanks, Jill. I might just be able to add a second charity to share in the sales proceeds.”
Leave it to Darla to think of the positive. I would have kept the money to myself. Okay, so I wouldn’t have, but Darla was just so pro charity work sometimes it made me feel guilty for not doing much in that area of my life. The store sponsored a lot of events like books for kids at Christmas, but maybe I should be doing something like serving at the soup kitchen. Or volunteering at the dog shelter. Emma would like that. Of course, then I’d come home smelling like other dogs, and that part, she wouldn’t like at all.
I decided to check out a few options, maybe around Christmastime. I pulled open another box and hit pay dirt.
A hand-knit blanket was on the top and when I lifted it off; a pair of old fashion baby shoes were there along with a faded picture and a bottle of baby lotion. I picked up the picture. On the front the writing was faded but I could see Baby Girl Demerit. The baby looked brand new and was in one of those bins at the hospital I’d seen in old movies. I turned the picture over and in darker writing and a different handwriting, it said Ariel Marie Demerit and a date: August 7, 1961. I’d found proof that Ariel not only existed but she had to be Maryanne’s daughter. Glancing at the crib, I wondered what had happened that had made her store the baby items out of sight.