I stopped, ready to turn back. Then I pictured Aiden, waiting for me. I resisted the urge to run. Of course Aiden had sent the note. He’d explain everything when I saw him. We’d have a good laugh and he’d apologize for bringing me out in the dark. Despite the pep talk, apprehension made me shudder. Still, I pressed on.
I gave the door a tentative push. It groaned in protest. “Aiden?” I stepped inside, greeted by a musty combination of old leather harnesses, grease, and sweet hay. A lantern flickered against the wooden stalls in front of me. The air was thick with the tense nicker of the horses and the creaking of the beams above me.
The adage like a moth to a flame popped into my mind as I crept toward the pale dancing glow. Aiden’s back was to me. He’d wrapped an old blanket around his hunched shoulders. Why wasn’t he moving? A nervous mare tossed her powerful head, eyes rolled in fear as she pawed the straw near him. Had he wearied of waiting and dozed off?
Don’t be ridiculous. Who would take a nap that close to horse’s hooves? Something wasn’t right. I took a step closer.
“Aiden?” No response. My lips parted, seeking air. My mouth felt so dry that it was difficult to call out his name. The hair rose on my arms. “Aiden, don’t play games with me . . . this isn’t funny after the day we’ve had. Answer me,” I hissed.
On shaking legs, I edged toward him . . . so close I detected a faint smell of raw iron that made my nostrils tingle. I stretched out my hand and gave his shoulder a slight nudge, hoping he had fallen asleep. As I pushed, he tumbled forward, sprawling in the hay. The side of his head glittered wet and dark in the lamplight. A scream tore loose from my throat.
Like lightning, hands snaked out, grabbing me—one clamped over my lips, the other, clenched around my stomach lifting me off my feet. “When I set you down, you’re not going to make a sound.” The voice sizzled next to my ear. “Understand!”
I nodded, tried to swallow, but my breath only made clicking sounds within my throat. Slowly, the band of steel encircling me released. I stumbled back, my eyes darting to Aiden.
“I-is he . . .”
“No. Not yet.”
“Are you sure?’
The mountain of flesh that was Nurse Albrecht stepped between the lantern and me. “I’m positive.” The glint of steel flashed in the dim light. She held a knife, the blade twitched in her hand. “I can’t say the same for you.”
I took a step backward. “Then it was you today at the cabin . . . and the notes.” Suspicions confirmed. It brought no comfort. “Why?”
“Cut the innocent act. I’m not prone to your lying tongue. I know who you are and what you are.”
Numbness coursed through me. This couldn’t be real. It had to be one of my nightmares. If I dug my fingernails into my leg, maybe I’d wake up. No use. The flame of the lantern flickered, casting a surreal quality to Nurse Albrecht’s features. Her eyes shimmered with a fiendish light. Dear Lord, the woman was mad. Did I know her? Was the memory buried somewhere deep inside my mind?
I squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself to recall something, anything that would make sense. Think, think, think . . . why couldn’t I remember?
Aiden groaned. Was he coming to?
“Your tricks won’t work this time. You can’t weave your magic over him and think he’ll be yours again. That’s not going to happen.” The steel winked in the low light. “Perhaps I’ll cut your heart out. That should keep you from casting your spells.”
She was insane. “Nurse Albrecht—Hilda . . . please! I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Who? Did she mean Aiden? None of what she said made any sense. I took another step backward.
“Hold it right there.” She lunged, her lumbering figure awkward, but still managing to catch my lower arm with the razor sharp knife.
I cried out, feeling the edge slice through my flesh. I snatched back my hand, now wet with blood.
She wielded the weapon in the air, twisting it. A slow smile oozed across her features. “There’s going to be a lot more of that before I’m done with you. You’ll suffer for the pain you’ve caused. Once you’re out of the way, he’ll be free of your spell forever. He’ll see . . . They’ll all see . . . he’s loved me all along.”
“Who? Who are you talking about? Aiden?” She was old enough to be his grandmother.
“Not even you can be that stupid.” Spittle formed in the corner of her mouth. I swallowed, trying to avert my eyes.
The horse reared, stressed by the smell of blood and the presence of a man in her stall. She pranced with impatience. My heart hedged each time her hooves neared Aiden’s head. “Hilda, she’s going to kill him! Help me get him out of there!”
Her laughter echoed through the barn. “Why would I help you? You and your sorcery . . . you’ve destroyed everything . . . everything that should have been mine from the start.” The eyes of the deranged woman ignited with hatred. “Besides, he stands between me and a fortune. With you both out of the way . . . there’ll be nothing left to keep me from having it all.” She dove at me again. Fire slashed across my upper, inner arm.
Flight instinct took over. I turned to run, but my body, unaccustomed to moving with the extra girth and weight, made me bulky and awkward. I stumbled, my ankle caught, and I fell to my knees. Faltering, I scrambled to get up again, but she grabbed me, grinding my face into the hay. Curling into the fetal position, I did my best to protect my unborn baby. Our eyes locked. She stood poised, ready to strike with the deadly precision of a rattler. I prayed, and waited for the blade to sink into my chest.
Bam. Bam. Bam. The world exploded in sound while my own thoughts seemed to stall.
Gunshots.
The thought took several seconds to penetrate my panic-fogged brain. My chest iced over, frozen in fear. I caught the look of surprise on her face. Three dark stains appeared on the front of her stark white uniform. The circles grew in size until they converged. I shook my head, unable to comprehend the extent of what was happening. Her body thudded to the ground.
Chapter 38
The late-morning sun slanted through the opening of the gazebo, creating a carpet of light on the wooden planks. Jack’s stomach grumbled, but he hardly noticed. Instead, he leaned forward in the rocker, elbows resting on his legs, his chin propped on his cupped hands as he listened to the detective. “What about Addie? How did she make it out of the house?” He balanced on the edge of his seat.
The seasoned investigator reared back in his chair, taking a moment to regard Jack. He didn’t speak right away, appearing to relish the attention of his visitors who hung on his every word. The ice in his lemonade had long ago melted, but it didn’t appear to matter as he took a lengthy draw from it. “She must have been a tough old gal’s all I can say.” He pulled at his chin.
Jack resisted the urge to speed the older man along. They were on the edge of discovering what happened the night of Jewel’s disappearance. “So she made it out and to the police station?”
“Yes, sir, she dragged herself out of there and banged on the neighbor’s door until they got up, dressed, and took her downtown.” He tapped his finger on the arm of the rocker to emphasize his point. “She planted herself right there at my father’s desk and refused to budge until he agreed to listen to her.” Bill shook his head, laughing. His eyes clouded with a mirth of a long ago memory. His shoulders shook as he laughed. “My pop use to love to tell that story. Feisty little thing.”
“Did she have much to say about what happened?” Sam probed. Jack sensed her impatience as well as his own.
He shrugged. “Oh, she had plenty to say. Unfortunately, when the detectives got to the house, they couldn’t find any evidence to back up her claims. The house was immaculate . . . too clean if you catch my drift.” His brow shot up. “That caught my pop’s attention.”
“So your father believed her?” Jack interrupted.
“Let’s just say, as bizarre as her story sounded, he still had to come up with an explanation as to Jewel’s disappearance.”
Bill gave a short, mirthless laugh. “As well as the missing husband.”
“Hunsdon? That doesn’t make sense. My notes show he left for Europe around that time.”
“Later we learned that. But for the first week or two, no one had any clue where he’d gone. In the beginning, all the information we had was both Wiltshires were missing and the maid’s wild account of events. Most of the guys at the station assumed they met with foul play, some even thought the maid had something to do with it. She was pretty out of it, rambling on about the butler buried in the garden and men from the future. It was hard to put any weight in her story. It’s ultimately why we dropped the case. The higher ups decided not to pursue it as a missing person’s case when we discovered Wiltshire had shipped out.”
“That’s crazy.” Jack eyed Bill with disgust.
“You have to understand the country was on the brink of war, Jack. There was a great need for doctors at the time. Ground troops would be deployed in the months to follow, but many physicians left early to help in the RAMC units.
“The Wiltshires had a butler named Culpeper. You did check out the possibility of what Addie said?” Sam asked.
“Sure, sure . . . they covered all the basis. My pop was no slouch. Like I said, he followed up on all the leads, just couldn’t pin down Wiltshire. They turned that place upside down.”
“Even the garden? Did they find anything there?”
“Nope. Just a half-dozen freshly planted bushes, but never found as much as a chicken bone. There was no evidence, and who’s to say the wife didn’t just take off on her own . . . At least that is what the sergeant told my pop when he called him and his partner in to talk about the case. They were advised to let it drop.”
Jack ran his palms through his hair in frustration. “Wait. You’re saying despite Addie’s account, they ignored evidence?”
“I hear the anger in your voice, young man, but you have to understand my father’s hands were tied. There was no evidence. Can’t have a murder investigation with no body and no proof of foul play. They had nothing to go on.”
“Wait a minute.” Sam practically leaped from the chair as an idea occurred to her. “Jewel had a father. Why didn’t he pursue it?”
Bill winked at Sam and pointed his finger. “I knew you were a smart gal. Why indeed! When detectives went to the residence to question him, they discovered his body.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me! No one found that suspicious?”
“Of course they did. Problem was, it couldn’t be proven he didn’t die by his own hand.” Bill shook his head with regret. “We didn’t have all the fancy forensic science back then. When we found someone with a rope around their neck, it was pretty much an open and shut case. Also, Lynchburg isn’t known for being a hotbed of crime. Again, with no family members to follow up . . . all the leads turned cold; the investigation got pushed to the side. Sometimes you can only work with the facts you’ve been dealt.”
Jack gritted his teeth, feeling a sick anger course through him. Hunsdon Wiltshire once again had gotten away with murder. He wanted to pound something, go back through time and demand justice for all those who had died at the hand of such a horrible man. “This isn’t the first suspicious situation he’s been involved in. Did you look into his background? They found his family murdered.”
“I get it, Jack.” Bill leaned forward and placed a fatherly hand on his shoulder. “We were aware of his history. Here’s the thing. Wiltshire had connections. The guy had plenty of money. I hate to say it, but the whole incident got swept under the rug. The chief, we found out later, was dirty. It was a big scandal. By the time we sorted everything out . . . well . . . it was a mess. We tried to follow up and track Wiltshire overseas. But they informed us he’d been killed in action.”
Jack’s muscles tightened with anger. He rolled his neck to ease the tension in his shoulders. “My gut says he had something to do with her disappearance. I just can’t accept he got away with it.”
“I hear ya . . . held those same sentiments. Pop kept her picture in his top desk drawer. He told me it wouldn’t let him rest at night. A few years later, he wound up going to Europe on his own dime. While he was over there, he tracked down a few of the men in Wiltshire’s unit. There was this guy in particular that recognized Wiltshire when Pop flashed his picture.” Bill leaned forward in a conspiratorial manner. “Here’s where it gets interesting. This fellow tells my dad there were two guys in his unit that look enough alike that they could pass for twins. One had blue eyes, the other green. It was the only way to tell them apart. One was a Brit and the other an American.”
Jack blinked. “So.”
“So,” Bill continued. “He says he ran into the doctor later on. They were in a triage unit, and he looks up to see this guy giving orders. ’Cept it’s Wiltshire—he’s sure of it. Said he didn’t think too much of it at the time because there was so much going on around them. He hadn’t even known Wiltshire was supposed to be dead. But afterward, something about it bugged him. He’d been with Wiltshire the day he received the wounds, carted him off to the hospital himself. His injuries weren’t life-threatening.”
Jack and Sam exchanged a glance. “So are you saying what I think you’re saying? Wiltshire may not have died?”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you. I know how far-fetched it sounds, but the guy swears the doc issuing the commands was Wiltshire.”
“So what happened? Did your father question him?”
“Unfortunately, no. He tried, of course, but the doctor’s a slick one. He stayed a step ahead of us. He got married after the war and stayed in Europe. The wife’s family was sort of nobility or something. We couldn’t touch him. Get this . . . he wound up saving his unit and became a decorated hero, if you can believe that—”
Jack blew out a frustrated breath of air. “No one can be that lucky.”
“Ch-yeah.” Bill made a noise halfway between a chuckle and a snort. “You’d be surprised. There are a few lowlifes that manage to get away from punishment in this life, but no man escapes death. I’m not religious, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years on the force, you reap what you sow. Sometimes”—he crooked a finger for weight—“in my line of work I’ve seen it often, the good Lord has a way of taking care of things far better than we can. Wiltshire got what was coming to him.”
“What do you mean?”
“There you are, Mr. Bishop.” A voice caused all three heads to turn in response. A slightly-built young nurse approached. “Mr. Bishop, I’ve been looking all over for you. It’s way past time for your meds. And lunch is ready. Your friends are welcome to join you.” The pretty blonde smiled at them.
“Not now, Melanie.” He dismissed her with a wave.
She gave him a sympathetic nod as if she understood. “Sorry, Mr. B, rules are rules.” She turned to Jack. “I’m sure you all wouldn’t mind if I borrow him for just a few minutes. We’d love to have you as guests if you’d like to wait in the dining room. He does need to take his medication on time.”
Jack watched her expression change into a plea. He sympathized. Bill Bishop didn’t appear to be the sort to be persuaded once he’d made up his mind. “Tell you what, we’re almost done here. Five minutes—tops. If I help him back in would that be okay?”
Melanie cut her eyes at Jack while giving the tiniest hint of a smile. “I suppose. Five minutes.” She pointed her finger at Bill. “Or I’ll hunt you down.”
“Pretty little thing like you shouldn’t be badgering an old man.” Some of Bill’s humor returned when he realized he wasn’t going to be carted off. “I’ve been tracking down people a lot longer than you have. I’ll find you.”
“You better.” She laughed and gave him a little wave as she walked back the way she came.
“Listen, I don’t have much time. But check out that file. I copied all my notes for you. Something else . . . I hate to even say anything . . . you’ll never believe me.”
“Try us. You�
��d be surprised,” Sam urged.
“I know I’m going to sound like a senile old man, but I’m almost sure I saw Jewel once—”
“What?” Jack felt his jaw drop.
“Mr. Bishop, now you come on in here and take your meds.” A plump nurse dressed in scrubs waddled toward them, escorted by an orderly. “You might sweet talk your way around Melanie, but that charm don’t cut no ice with me.” She flicked dark, accusing eyes at Sam and Jack. “You two will excuse us, but I’m going to have to insist he come back to his room now.”
Bill pushed himself out of the rocker a little shaky, grabbed his walker, and scuttled forward. “Dang it, Rosalynn, I’m coming. No need to drag Darius away from his soaps.” He paused and looked at Jack. “Read the folder.”
“We will.” Jack stuck out a hand as he passed. “Thank you so much, Bill. We appreciate your time.”
“Happy to help, young man. I hope you find what you’re looking for. Come to see me when you can. Bring this one with you, eh?” He indicated Sam with a nod. “Better hold on to her. She’s a keeper.”
“You’ve been so helpful.” Sam smiled, extending her hand. “We can’t thank you enough.”
“The pleasure was all mine.” The blue of his eyes twinkled as the furry white brows shot up.
“Mr. Bishop!” Rosalynn planted both meaty fists on her ample hips and patted her foot with impatience.
“Keep your britches on, I’m coming.” The walker rolled across the planks as Bill shuffled after it. He moved pretty quickly once he built up his rhythm.
Jack and Sam looked at each other, amused, as they listened to the two argue until they were out of earshot.
“What do you suppose he meant?” Sam asked.
“Only one way to find out. Ready?”
“Anytime you are.”
*****
Sam sat on the passenger’s side with Jewel’s photo resting in her lap. There was something familiar about the picture. Like the feeling she had when she recognized someone, that sense of awareness, but unable to know from where . . . That little niggling in the back of her mind that wouldn’t let her rest. She chewed on the end of her thumbnail.
Timeless Moments Page 28