Nodding, she said, “This has happened a couple of times, and I need to start carrying a water bottle around with me.” Suddenly remembering that he had not seen her apartment furnished and had walked into her almost passing out, she jolted. “Oh, my gosh, Jason! You’ve been so concerned about me you haven’t even looked around!”
They stood together, and he kept his arm around her waist as she showed off the furniture in the apartment, telling him about each piece that had been in her parents’ home.
She loved that he was interested in everything she had to say, asking questions about her parents, memories of her father, and looking at some of her childhood pictures. “Tomorrow, I’ll give you the full tour of everything that is now in my shop.”
“And tonight?” he asked.
Her lips curved into a smile as she said, “Tonight, I thought maybe you’d like to try out my bed.”
Her smile was halted when his lips hit hers, and all other thoughts fled her mind as he picked her up and carried her to bed.
Hours later, in the middle of the night, she bolted upright. Jason was sound asleep next to her, but her heart raced as one word filled her mind. Cellar. Charles was telling Millicent to not go into the cellar! Of course! He would be afraid of flooding but knew that the cellar would be the place Millicent might feel safest.
She slipped out of bed and went to the bathroom, her mind now fully processing what he meant. Washing her hands, she stood in the middle of the small room and pondered. But there is no cellar here.
Rose had wanted to talk to Jason about the possibility of a cellar the next morning when they arose, but he was called out for a towing job before she had a chance. Dressing quickly, she ran down to the first floor, determined to see if she could find a door that would lead below. Standing in the middle of the shop area, her gaze halted on all of the equipment that she could hardly wait to try out. Her plans had been to order ingredients today, but she convinced herself to look for a cellar door first.
She walked over every inch of the shop, staring at the floor, looking for any irregularity that might indicate a door. She knew from all the time she had spent in the shop before the equipment came, including scrubbing the floor multiple times, there could not possibly have been a door that she missed. But not willing to take any chances, she nonetheless went over the entire area.
She made her way back to the office, storeroom, small bathroom, and hallway leading to the back door, finding nothing. Sighing, she decided she would check with Mona at another time to see if there were any old plans of the buildings when they were first built.
She walked up to her apartment and sat down at her table with her computer. Having already checked out the vendors she would buy from, she began ordering the ingredients for her first batch of ice cream.
Once that was completed, she began to think about the space in her storeroom. It was now empty, ready for the deliveries, and the shelves had been scrubbed clean. As she thought about the space, she wondered why the shelves were against the back wall when it would be much more efficient to have them along the side.
Heading downstairs, she entered the storeroom, carefully looking at the large space. Her assessment was correct. If she moved the shelving unit to the side wall closest to the door, she would be able to either put in more shelves or a table at the very back. In fact, as she stared at the space, she decided she could put in top and bottom cabinets along the back wall with some counters. Grinning, she moved to the metal shelves and begin dragging them to the side wall. Once she had them in place, she glanced down at the floor and saw more dust and dirt.
Sighing, she grabbed her broom and began to sweep. The wooden floor planks seemed uneven, and as she swept away more accumulated dirt, a dip in the wood appeared. Squatting to see what was wrong with the floor, she could see a metal handle embedded in the wood.
Realizing she had discovered a door, her heart beat faster, and her hands shook as she reached for the handle. It took several hard tugs, but the door gave a shrill squeak as it lifted. Peering down into the dark, the light from the storeroom above allowed her to see a set of wooden steps that resembled more of an angled ladder than stairs. The musty smell from below rose upward, and excitement snaked through her at the idea of seeing where Millicent and Charles may have stored some of their items.
She ran back into the office and grabbed a flashlight. Shining it down into the cellar, she could see that the floor was made of dirt and was only about six feet down. With the light shining carefully in front of her, she descended the first couple of steps. Sweeping the flashlight around in front of her, the small room appeared empty. Nothing but brick walls, hard-packed floor, and empty space.
Somewhat disappointed, she realized she was hoping to find something more about Charles and Millicent’s life. Maybe shelves with some of the dry goods that they used to sell. Sighing at the emptiness of the room, she turned to go back up the steps.
As the light flashed to the other side of the ladder-like steps, her attention snagged on something. Leaning to the side of the steps so that she could have a better view, she pointed the flashlight, illuminating what lay in front of her.
A steamer trunk was shoved behind the stairs. With excitement she moved over and tried to lift the lid. Surprised at how heavy it was, she set the flashlight down and used both hands to lift the metal lid. Bending, she grabbed the flashlight again and shined it inside.
Gasping at the sight, she slammed backward into the wall, knocking the breath out of her. Her mouth opened to scream, but nothing came out. Dropping the flashlight, she scrambled back up the steps into the storeroom, falling on her hands and knees in what now seemed like bright light.
Unable to catch her breath, she hauled herself to her feet and began running toward the front of her store. Finding her voice, she began screaming as she threw open the door and raced into the street toward Jason.
She saw him look up, his eyes wide as they stared at her. She kept running as she screamed, not understanding why he threw his hands up and yelled for her to stop. The squeal of tires and brakes finally penetrated her own screams. The car managed to stop, but her hands hit the hood, and she went flying onto the street.
Jason’s face appeared directly in front of her, his mouth moving, but she could hear no words other than her own.
“Millicent! Millicent’s in the cellar!”
17
The piercing shrill of panic coming from across the street had Jason look up from the engine he had been working on. The sight of Rose flying out of her store, screaming at the top of her lungs as she bolted into the street, had him instantly running toward her.
He watched in horror as a car driving down the street slammed on its brakes when it was obvious Rose never looked as she darted toward him. The car rocked back on its wheels as it came to a stop, but it must have touched her because she went flying down onto the pavement. Yelling for someone to call 9-1-1, he raced toward her, dropping to the pavement at her side.
As his arms reached toward her, she looked up at him, her eyes wide with panic and fear as she continued to scream. Thank Jesus, she’s alive!
“Rose, Rose, what happened? Are you hurt? What’s wrong?”
Her entire body began to shake as she stared wildly around, her eyes not focusing on anything. Then she began chanting something about Millicent and the cellar, and his heart beat wildly as he pulled her into his arms.
The driver of the car jumped out, crying that it was not his fault because she ran into the street. Growling at one of his mechanics, he said, “Get him away from us!”
Another mechanic ran over, carrying a blanket which Jason gratefully took, wrapping Rose in it. Looking around, he roared, “Where’s help?”
With the fire and rescue building just a block away, it only took a moment for them to arrive. As the ambulance came to a stop, Zac leaped down, racing over. Jason knew that he needed to let Zac examine her, but Rose dug her grip into his arms and would not let go. He heard a noise a
round him and glanced up just long enough to see Mitch, Grant, and Lance running over as well, along with what appeared to be the law enforcement leaders from the entire area.
As the others kept the growing crowd back onto the sidewalk, Mitch and Grant knelt on the street next to Jason and Rose.
“She came running out of her store, screaming. She didn’t look where she was going. I think she was just trying to get to me,” he said in a rush.
“Was she struck by the car?” Zac asked, trying to check her eyes as she continued to shake her head back and forth.
“The guy saw her and put his brakes on. I think he just tapped her, but she was running so fast, I can’t really tell you.”
“Do you know what happened to cause her to get so scared?” Mitch asked.
Before Jason had a chance to respond, she swung her head around and moaned, “She’s in the cellar. She’s in the cellar.”
Jason lifted his eyes to Mitch and shook his head. “I’ve got no fuckin’ clue what she’s talking about, but something’s scared the shit outta her.”
Mitch leaned over to get directly in front of Rose’s face and said softly, “Rose, honey. What did you see?”
Swallowing deeply, her chest rising and falling with the exertion of breathing, said, “I found…the cellar…from the letters.”
Mitch shot his gaze over to Jason, who said, “She found a box of old letters written from a long time ago. She’s been trying to find out things about the people.”
Her fingers dug deeper, and she said, “I found it. In the storeroom. I went down there, and she’s there.”
He lifted one hand to push her hair back from her face, then slid his hand back to cup her face, his thumb sweeping over her cheek. Her skin felt like ice, and he glanced at Zac, who was still struggling to ascertain any injuries.
“I want to get her to a hospital,” Zac said. “I want to make sure there are no internal injuries or that she hit her head.”
Nodding, Jason shifted her body in his arms so that he could lay her on the stretcher. Rose became agitated and clutched at his arms.
“Mitch,” she cried out.
Mitch appeared at her side, leaning close. Still speaking low and soft, he said, “Rose? Let’s get you to the hospital and get you checked out. “
She swallowed again, blinking as though to clear her vision, and said, “Mitch, she’s in the cellar. In the storeroom. I found her.”
Zac and his volunteer EMT began rolling her toward the ambulance, loading her into the back. He looked at Jason and said, “I know you want to come with us, but she’ll be fine. We’re taking her to Seaside Hospital. Follow in your truck, so you’ll have transportation.”
He looked at her in the back of the ambulance, the desire to stay with her warring with wanting to see what she was talking about. “Baby, I’m going to come in my truck—”
“Jason," she said from the inside of the ambulance, shaking her head, now seeming calmer. “I’m okay. Go see her first, and then you can come.”
Zac shared a look with him before the back of the ambulance doors closed and it pulled away, leaving Jason standing in the middle the street. His mind a jumble of fear and uncertainty, he looked around, seeing that the other law enforcement chiefs had kept the crowd on the sidewalks and was encouraging them to disperse. Now that the ambulance was gone, most of the spectators were walking away, chattering amongst themselves.
Turning, he saw Mitch, Grant, Lance, and Colt, the Sheriff of North Heron County, moving toward the front of Rose’s store, and he jogged over to them. Before giving them a chance to protest, he said, “I’m coming. I need to know what she saw. I need to see what scared her."
He led the group through the shop to the door of the storeroom, immediately spying that the shelves were now on the side wall and a previously hidden trap door in the floor was standing open. “Fuckin’ hell,” he breathed.
Mitch moved past him, his weapon drawn, and said, “Stay here.”
The others moved to the opening, and Mitch descended to the bottom of the steps. A few seconds later, Mitch climbed partially back up, and he reported, “It’s a small cellar, only about twenty by ten feet. Brick walls. Dirt floor. Empty except right behind the ladder-stairs is a chest with a human skeleton.”
Jason stood rooted to the spot, stunned, as the others moved forward.
Mitch continued, “Until the medical examiner comes, we’re not touching anything. We need evidence bags because we’re gonna need to comb the entire area.”
“She found her…” Jason breathed. Seeing the others staring, he added, “The woman from the letters…she lived here in the late 1800s.”
“Chief,” Grant began, “if this is somebody from over a hundred years ago—”
“Until we know from the medical examiner how long this body has been here, then we’re treating it as we would any recovery…a possible crime scene.”
Jason startled at Mitch’s words, and said, “Mitch, I just want to take a look. I won’t get off the ladder. I’m not going to touch anything. But I have got to see what it was that Rose saw. She’s traumatized, and I need to be able to understand what she discovered.”
Mitch gave him a hard stare for a moment, then nodded shortly. “Don’t get off the steps. There are no risers, so you’ll be able to easily see through the stairs. Come down a few steps and look directly down."
Mitch climbed the rest of the way up and handed his light to Jason. Wanting to hurry so that he could get to Rose, he hastened down the first several steps until he could bend and look through the back of the stairs. There, lying in the open chest, was a skeleton. Fragments of blue material covered part of the bones and some dark hair was still attached to the skull. The skeleton appeared to be on its side, curled up.
“Jason.”
Hearing Mitch call his name, he startled and hurried back up the steps. Shaking his head, he said, “Jesus, Mitch. Rose saw that. She saw that.”
“Go to her, Jason. Right now, this is a police recovery scene, and there’s nothing you can do here. But she needs you.”
Nodding, he said, “I’m heading to the hospital now.”
"When you get back with her, take her to your place. I don’t want her in here for now, but we’ll need to talk to her to find out what she knows.”
Nodding, Jason took a last look back at the opening in the floor, shook his head slightly, and turned and ran to his truck. There was nothing he could do about whoever was in her cellar, but he sure as hell could take care of Rose.
Lying in the bed of the ER bay, Rose thought back to the discovery, and it was as though she were floating above herself, looking down and watching the events unfold. Moving the shelf. Finding the door. Going down into the cellar. It almost seemed surreal until she remembered the second that her eyes landed on the skeleton in the chest.
She must have gone down into the cellar and gotten trapped. But why wouldn’t Charles have found her? Why wouldn’t someone in town have noticed that she was missing?
She grimaced when she thought of how she panicked and ran out of her shop in a crazed, screaming fit. Lifting her hand to her head, she rubbed her forehead, wincing at the abrasions on her palm. Before she had a chance to chastise herself further, the sounds of heavy boots on the floor were drawing near, and she was not surprised when the curtain pulled back to see Jason standing there. His hair was no longer in the ponytail he wore when he worked in the garage, but the thick tresses were hanging wildly about his shoulders and down his back. Tension radiated off of him, hands clenched at his sides. But it was his pale blue eyes that raked over her body from head to toe and back again that held her captive. His expressive eyes exuded concern and something else she could not identify that had her lift her hand up toward him, beckoning.
He rushed forward, his arm snaking around her back as he pulled her in closely to him, tucking her head under his chin. “Jesus, baby, you scared the shit outta me.”
She patted his back, feeling the tight muscles unde
rneath. “I’m so sorry, Jason. I’m so sorry that I scared you. I lost my head. I don’t know what else to say except that when I saw her there, I freaked out. I just freaked out.”
His arms stayed banded around her as though he was afraid she would disappear if he let go. She reveled in his comfort, then wanted to reassure him. “Honey, I’m fine. I’m just waiting for the doctor to come back again, but I’m fine.”
At that, his arms loosened just enough for him to lean back and peer down into her face. “Have they checked you out completely? Did they do x-rays to make sure nothing’s broken? Did you have a CT scan in case you hit your head—”
She shushed him with her finger on his lips and said, “I’m fine. They’ve done an examination, asked me a dozen questions, took some blood, and the only concern the doctor had was when I told them I had several fainting spells recently.”
His brow lowered as he asked, “No x-rays yet?”
Shrugging, she said, “Jason, I’m not in pain. The car didn’t actually hit me. It had come to a stop, but I sort of ran into it, and that made me lose my balance and fall onto the street. I didn’t hit my head. The car didn’t run over me. I don’t have a concussion.” She sucked in her lips before sighing, “I just freaked out. I’ve never seen a skeleton before.”
“That may be, but I want to know that you’re fine. Let me go see if I can find the doctor.” Kissing her forehead, his arms gave a squeeze before they slid away from her, and he stood. Starting to walk out her ER bay, she called out his name. Turning, he looked at her and waited.
“What’s going to happen? What will they do with her?” Now that the shock of her discovery was slowly dissipating, her heart ached at the idea of Millicent’s lonely death.
“I’m not sure, baby. Mitch will handle everything, and when we get back, he’s gonna want to talk to you. I’m assuming that they’ll take the remains to the medical examiner or somewhere to be looked at.”
Nodding, she remained silent and watched as he offered a chin lift before stepping out into the hall.
Sweet Rose: Baytown Boys Page 14