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Hope played something else, wincing when she used the hand in plaster. She looked at Haldyn again. “Well, after that Heather would totally freak if she’d have to leave us younger ones. Mom pawned her wedding ring one day and bought an old upright piano off a neighbor. She and Marcia pushed it all the way home, even though that thing weighs like a ton. Every time Heather was going into panic-mode over one of us, my mom made her play something. Playing again brought Heather back, you know? Our dad and Heather—Grandma Francisca’s piano was their special place. I’d like to listen to Heather play it again, just once.”
She played something soft and gentle with her free hand. “I would climb up and sit right next to Heather and just watch her hands as she played. Grandma Francisca’s piano should have gone to Heather, really. But…we were only given a handful of days to get out after we buried them. We had to leave all of our family stuff—their stuff—behind. Anyway, let’s search this place. See what kind of fun we can have.”
Hope looked at Haldyn. Gave a crooked smile that just broke her heart. “You said I can tear things up? I am so up for that right now.”
“I’ll help, Auntie Hope. I’ll help.” Murdoch patted her on the head, then slipped his arm around his wife’s waist and pulled her close.
“Let’s get to it, ladies and cavemen.” Powell pulled out her phone and a stylus. She was ready, and she had that look in her eyes. One that said…determination. There were tears in Powell’s eyes. No surprise, there were tears in Haldyn’s too. And…Jarrod’s. Haldyn didn’t miss them. Hope’s words had touched that cranky grouch heart. It had Haldyn feeling a bit soft toward him right now, too. “Time to tear this place apart. I want lots of money to donate to the people in this county who actually need it.”
“Start top to bottom, or bottom to top?” Madison asked. She had a look in her eyes too. Determination.
They hadn’t ever confirmed that Victor Scott had been involved in the shooting at the choir hall.
Just proof he had paid the shooters for Shelby after. Madison hadn’t been to Victor Scott’s house before. Neither had Zoey. Hope certainly hadn’t.
Hope had walked there today. Just how close she lived—Haldyn hadn’t realized that. Monsters could be anywhere. That was a lesson she had learned a long time ago.
“Powell and I can make a list of the high-ticket items. You two…Start poking around. No holds barred. Have at it. Tear it apart. No limited warrant to stand in our way this time.” She looked at two of her top forensics techs. Hope’s eyes were damp, but she had her “tough” face on. Haldyn had figured that girl out, after all. Hope Coleson had her own secrets, her own hurts. And depth, real depth she hid beneath her wild chaos exterior. “I never thought I’d ever say this, but…go for it. Search and destroy, Hope, search and destroy. You finally have my permission to search and destroy.”
“All right! So we can…literally tear this place apart?” Hope asked.
Powell nodded. “It is all coming down once we are through with it.”
Hope looked around, eyes narrowed as she took in the entryway. “The floor plan here is a lot like our place, I think. But it’s bigger, and reversed, more like Alex’s place next door, I think. So who’s gets to go in Scott’s secret room first? Iagan plays in ours, mostly, but?—”
“Hold up, Hope-gremlin,” Jarrod came up behind Haldyn. He bumped Hope lightly. She got the feeling he liked the younger woman. No surprise, most people did. After they got past the initial chaos. Or arrested her, and that kind of thing. “There’s a secret room in this place? We never found a secret room or anything.”
“I don’t know if there is one here, but it’s the same general floor plan design as our place. Crispin and I found ours when we moved in. I asked Alex if his house had one when he was in our yard arguing with Cara again. Mostly to distract them—I thought she was going to punch him to defend our pet ducks. I didn’t want Heather to have to arrest Cara or anything. We tried to get Heather to go in Alex’s with us, but she wouldn’t. She’s seriously afraid of mice, people. Seriously afraid.”
“Auntie Heather is the smart one,” Murdoch said. “Even Mickey is terrifying.”
“It’s probably because when Cashie, Cara, and I were little, we were playing with a rat and didn’t realize it. Heather had to rescue us—Heather always rescues us, no matter what.” A look went across Hope’s face Haldyn couldn’t identify. One that had Haldyn’s breath catching.
“That sounds terrifying,” Powell said. “I am with Heather on the rats and mice thing.”
“And me,” Murdoch had to add.
“He screams every time he sees one,” Zoey said, drily.
“She yanked me and Cashie out of the way at once okay. Then Heather got bitten two or three times on the hand when she yanked Cara out of the way. Heather had to have lots of shots and stitches. She’s freaked over rats and mice ever since. Summer and I built stairs for our secret room. The kids play down there now. They hide from bad guys, alien invaders, zombies, that Claireson woman who runs the HOA, that kind of thing.”
“Smart woman, Auntie Heather. Mice are horrible, horrible creatures. Even worse than alien invaders,” Murdoch said. “So where are these secret rooms?”
“I didn’t know anything about hidden rooms,” Powell said, making some sort of notes on her phone. Haldyn suspected Powell was ready to go looking for that very thing—in all of her properties. “How big are they? And if I could only hide from Brianna Claireson I would be a seriously happy woman.”
“Yeah, Summer has a lot to say about Brianna. Heather was serious about biting her at Christmas too. Our secret room is about one hundred eighty-four square feet. Eight foot ceiling. It’s directly behind the basement bathroom. Alex’s is about two hundred and four square feet. We used our ladder and climbed down in his Saturday. His didn’t have anything cool in it, though. Just an old wine rack, and some chairs and tables. A few old paintings. It’s most likely a void in the original house design. But there is electricity. Very outdated wiring we will be fixing as soon as we can afford to. I’m not sure what it was originally used for. I was going to see if I could find any history of the houses here, when I have time. Since they were built over one hundred years ago and stuff.”
“Plenty of room for Victor Scott to hide his secrets,” Jarrod said. Haldyn knew exactly what he was thinking now. No one had thought what they’d found before had been everything. It just couldn’t have been.
“Well, well, well,” Jake said. “I say we go look for a secret room first.”
“I wonder if all of the houses on this particular plan have these rooms?” Powell asked. “I own seventeen other houses in this development, and Mac owns one, too. He just hasn’t moved in yet. It’s three down from yours, Hope, and across the road. Nineteen Hendrick Circle. At least half have this same general floor plan—same builders.”
“Why do I have a feeling Powell is going to be going on treasure hunts?” Zoey asked.
“Not likely. Not if there are mice. That’s why I have brothers. I’ll just make Alex and Mac, or some of the cousins, do it. Feed those Barratt boys to the rodents.” Powell turned to Hope. “Lead the way. I really want to see this secret room.”
“To the basement, then.” Hope wiped her cheek quickly and shrugged. “Adventure time.”
