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Chapter Twelve
The house was incredibly quiet. I assumed because smart people were asleep. Gripping the railing on the staircase with one hand, I held my flashlight tight with the other and without looking back at Victoria behind me, I asked, “Where is the necklace?”
“Here, I’ll show you.”
She had clearly sped up because she flew right through my body, nearly causing me to tumble down the stairs. My blood turned to ice and the bite of frost had me shivering. I wrapped my arms around the railing tight so I didn’t summersault down the staircase and I scowled at her back. “Now that,” I sneered, “was very rude.”
She didn’t acknowledge me and finished her descent down the staircase, then vanished through the front door. I cursed and hurried after her.
In the foyer, I put on my running shoes, and then I opened the front door and shut it behind me quietly, not to disturb anyone.
As I stepped out into the night, the warm air brushed against my skin and fluttered my hair around my face. I turned on my flashlight, scanned the area in front of me and I caught sight of Victoria, who headed toward the right side of the house. The moon above provided a lot of light, which made me happy, but my flashlight helped, too.
I jogged to catch up to Victoria as she moved quickly through the yard. I passed by a row of large trees and my shoes squished into the grass below. “Will you wait?” I called.
I pushed forward to a run and saw her dodge right behind a huge oak tree. I quickly followed, and once at the tree, I turned and immediately skidded to a halt, since I nearly ran straight through her. I grasped the tree and groaned as a sliver pushed itself into the palm of my hand.
I parted my lips to lash out at her when she squatted, then turned up to me with teary eyes. “It’s here. Look.”
Biting back my curse words, I ignored the sting in my palm and glanced down. Beneath the beam of my flashlight, I only saw grass. I moved closer, lowered the flashlight toward the grass and knelt beside her. “Where?”
She pointed to a spot right in front of the tree trunk and whispered, “Right under the grass there.”
With my free hand, I moved the grass around and something caught the light from my flashlight. “Oh, wait.” Pushing my fingers down into the grass, something cool brushed across the tip of my finger. Then I grasped the cool metal and lifted out a coin shaped item. I nearly said she was wrong and maybe I’d found a quarter, but as I brought it closer to the light I noticed it wasn’t a coin, but a round diamond pendant with a long silver chain. “Is this it?”
She sighed, staring at the necklace with tears rushing down her cheeks. “Yes, that’s it. I saw it catch the light off the moon one night.”
I pushed off the grass and stood, as Victoria joined me. “Okay, great. Where to now?”
Tears continued to trail down over her cheeks when she turned and pointed into the dark night. “This way.” She strode through the yard, and I kept close to her since I couldn’t see all that much in this area. Clouds had swept over the moon and made the night pitch black. The only light came from my flashlight, and it wasn’t nearly enough.
She continued to stride through the large yard, weaving her way in between the tall, thick trees until we came to the edge of the forest hugging the grounds. Looking back to me, she smiled. “Just over here.”
I looked at the forest, then around me at the pitch-black night, and finally focused back on her, totally confirmed I wanted no part in this. “Oh hell, no. I’m not walking into that forest.”
“It’s not in the forest,” she said softly, pointing to the right. “The cemetery is this way.”
Not happy about any of it, I hesitantly followed her as she kept to her word and just to the side of the thick brush was a pathway. Only a few steps along the stone walkway, the cemetery appeared.
The small graveyard had a wrought iron fence and an incredibly spooky gate with vines overtop of the metal. “How old is this place?”
She strode forward and walked right through the gate. “Old.”
I opened the gate and it creaked, totally freaking me out. The trees around me rustled with the wind and I groaned. Why couldn’t Victoria have come to me in the daylight when things weren’t so damn scary? Well, maybe because I wouldn’t have helped her, too busy with my own problems.
I stuffed back my worries and slight fear as the clouds moved away from the moon, which caused a little more light in the cemetery. Using my flashlight, I scanned the area. Only ten or so headstones were present and by the looks of them, they were as old as the house itself. Ready to get out of this place, I turned to Victoria. “Okay, which one is yours?”
She walked forward and stopped at one of the smaller tombstones. “Over here.”
As I settled in next to her, I aimed my flashlight at the headstone.
Victoria Glasgow Hackett
Beloved wife and daughter
1901-1930
At Victoria’s sharp inhale, I turned to her and she now stood in front of the tombstone next to hers, which clearly belonged to her husband since it read, Thomas Hackett, who died in his early thirties. The tears and sadness in her face indicated enough that’s who lay beneath the ground.
