Grave Misgivings

by Lily Harper Hart

  “So, what is everyone going to do today?” Nick asked, winking at Maddie. “I was thinking we could play some really loud music and have that game of two-on-two Max has been begging for.”

  “I hate you,” Max said. “Now you want to play basketball?”

  “He only wants to play now because he knows he could beat all three of us with one hand tied behind his back,” Brian said. “I’m onto his game.”

  “That shows what you know,” Nick said. “I don’t even want to play basketball. I just want to torture you guys. It’s kind of fun. Do you want me to tell you how much I love Maddie again?”

  “Oh, please, anything but that,” Marla said, breezing into the room. Unlike the rest of Aaron’s guests, she looked fresh and relaxed.

  “When did you get back?” Aaron asked.

  “Around ten.”

  “How come you didn’t come in and party with us?”

  “Because you were all sloppy drunk and I didn’t want to be around annoying people,” Marla said. “I went up to bed early. After looking at you guys, it’s clear I made the right decision.”

  “There’s a first time for everything,” Lauren said.

  “You look like you’ve been run over by a truck,” Marla shot back.

  “You look like my ass,” Lauren replied.

  “At least I don’t smell like one.”

  Maddie pursed her lips, worried the breakfast was going to devolve into something truly horrifying if she didn’t do something to stop it. “Where is Cassidy?”

  Marla shrugged. “She’s probably still in bed. She was … weird last night.”

  “That’s because we told her what your true intentions were,” Christy said.

  “Oh, don’t worry, I set her straight about that,” Marla said. “She knows you were just trying to drive a wedge between us. We’re back to being BFFs.”

  “Then she’s dumber than she looks,” Max said.

  “You’re a pig,” Marla said.

  “Oink.”

  Nick pinched the bridge of his nose to ward off the oncoming headache. “I think I’m going to take Maddie to town this afternoon,” he announced.

  “Why?” Aaron asked.

  “Well, for starters, you all are nursing some terrific hangovers and I don’t want to be around for all the grousing,” Nick said. “I also want to check on a few things in town.”

  Maddie remembered their plan to stop in at the house to make sure Maude didn’t sneak back in while they were gone. “I think that’s a good idea.”

  “We’ll be back in time for dinner,” Nick said.

  “I’m probably going to sleep most of the day,” Max admitted.

  “I’m going to mainline aspirin and water and swear to never drink again,” Lauren said.

  “I’m going to take a bath and then a nap,” Christy said.

  “I’m going to do all of that,” Aaron said.

  The sound of someone clearing their throat caused everyone to shift their attention to the doorframe at the far end of the room where a timid looking maid was shuffling back and forth.

  “What’s up, Miranda?” Aaron asked.

  “I hate to bother you, sir,” Miranda said. “It’s just … we were cleaning the rooms, and we noticed that the young lady in the south wing isn’t down here and she’s not up in her room. Do you think it’s okay for us to clean?”

  “I guess,” Aaron said, shrugging. “Do you know where Cassidy is?”

  “I have no idea, sir,” Miranda said. “It doesn’t look like she slept in the bed, though. It’s still made up.”

  Nick glanced at Marla. “You two came back together, right?”

  Marla nodded.

  “When was the last time you saw her?”

  “Oh, um, up in the hallway right before bed,” Marla said. “We talked for a little bit when we got back and then we separated.”

  “Did you actually see her go into the bedroom?”

  “No. It was right around the corner, though. Where would she go?”

  Nick turned his attention back to Miranda. “Are you sure she just didn’t make the bed up herself?”

  “I’m sure, sir.”

  Nick pursed his lips, shifting his eyes to Maddie momentarily before making a decision. “Take me up to her room.”

  “What do you think is going on?” Aaron asked, his eyes suddenly brighter. “Do you think she’s really missing?”

  “Probably not,” Nick said. “She might just be walking around outside or something. It just seems weird to me that she didn’t sleep in her bed last night. This isn’t her house. Cassidy isn’t generally the type of person who would wander around someone else’s property by herself.”

  “You’re worried, aren’t you?” Maddie asked, her blue eyes wide.

  “I’m … confused,” Nick clarified. “Why isn’t she down here with the rest of us?”

  “Let’s go look at her room,” Aaron said. “Now you’ve got me wondering.”

  “Let’s all go,” Max said. “It will be like an adventure.”

  “I can’t go on an adventure with my head pounding like this,” Lauren said.

  “Then stay here,” Nick said. “I’m sure this is nothing. I just … I want to make sure.”

  Maddie read the look on his face. Normally something like this wouldn’t bother Nick, but he was still edgy after her misfortune in the mausoleum. He hadn’t seen a thing but he’d believed Maddie when she said she had. If Cassidy was legitimately missing, there was a chance something horrible happened to her.

  “I’ll come with you,” Maddie said, standing up. “I want to make sure Cassidy is okay, too.”

  “Come on, love,” Nick said. “I promise we’ll still have our afternoon together once we find her.”

  “I DON’T like this,” Aaron said, his gaze bouncing from one side of Cassidy’s room to the other. “All her stuff is still here and yet she’s nowhere to be found.”

  “Are we sure she’s not out on the grounds somewhere?” Brian asked. “This is a big parcel. She could be taking a walk for exercise or something. She’s an adult. It probably didn’t occur to her to tell someone where she was going.”

  “I sent Miranda out to double check with the lawn crew,” Aaron said. “I haven’t heard anything back and I told them to alert me if anyone saw her this morning. There are too many of them to miss her.”

  Nick rubbed the back of his neck. “Marla, have you tried calling her?”

  Marla shook her head and immediately started digging into her pocket. “That’s a good idea.” She punched Cassidy’s number into the phone and held it to her ear. After a few seconds, she shook her head. “It’s going straight to voicemail.”

  “Leave a message,” Nick instructed. “Tell her to call you right away.”

  Marla nodded and when she was done leaving the message she turned to the rest of the group. “I’m usually the last one to overreact, especially when I’m not the one in trouble, but I’m kind of worried.”

  “How was she last night?” Nick asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “We told them about the conversation we had on the patio yesterday,” Aaron said. “They know that we gave Cassidy a hard dose of reality.”

  “Your reality,” Marla countered. “I … she was fine. We had a few drinks at the fair, but neither one of us was drunk. She was fine when I left her in the hallway last night. I swear.”

  “Are you sure she didn’t decide to go home?” Max asked. “She is the outsider here … even more than Marla. Maybe she had enough and left.”

  “Without her stuff?” Nick asked, gesturing around the room. “I’m no expert, but those look like expensive shoes.”

  “Cassidy wouldn’t leave without telling anyone,” Marla said. “This weekend wasn’t exactly a dream come true for her, but it’s not as if she was depressed.”

  “She seemed a little depressed to me,” Brian said.

  “You don’t even know her,” Marla said.

  “I don’t t
hink you know her either,” Brian said.

  Nick raised his hand to cut off their argument before it got a chance to build too much steam. “We don’t have time for this,” he said. “I think we should split up and search the house.”

  “I think that’s a good idea,” Aaron said. “I’ll take Brian with me. Max, you know the house as well as I do. Why don’t you take Marla with you?”

  “I don’t want to go with her,” Max said. “I’ll take Maddie.”

  “Maddie is staying with me,” Nick said.

  “Of course she is,” Max said, sighing. “Fine. Marla, if you make my hangover worse by … being you … I’m going to gag you. I’m just giving you fair warning.”

  “I hate you,” Marla said, flouncing out of the room.

  “This really is turning into a crappy day,” Max said.

  “THIS house is huge,” Maddie said, running her hand over the wall as she trailed Nick down the hallway. “Where should we start looking?”

  “I don’t know,” Nick said, his face serious. “I don’t suppose … .”

  “What?”

  “Is there any way to call your ghost here and ask her to help us?” Nick felt like an idiot for asking the question. He had no idea what was allowed on the ghostly plane, or how things worked in Maddie’s world, but a bad feeling had been building in the pit of his stomach since the maid interrupted breakfast with news of Cassidy’s disappearance.

  “I don’t think she has a cell phone,” Maddie said. “I … I’m sorry. It doesn’t work that way.”

  “It’s okay, Mad,” Nick said, reaching over and giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. “It was a shot in the dark. I don’t even know where to start looking here. She could be anywhere. I mean, for all we know, she could’ve fallen and hit her head.”

  “You don’t believe that,” Maddie said. “You’re worried whatever was in the mausoleum with me yesterday attacked her.”

  “I’m not sure if that’s what I’m worried about or not,” Nick said. “I just … this doesn’t feel right to me. I don’t know Cassidy as well as I should given the fact that I dated her for six months, but this doesn’t seem like something she would do.”

  “I’m not saying this because I’m jealous you’re worried about her, but … um … do you think she would hide to cause a panic? I mean, she seemed upset about the attention you were doling out to me yesterday.”

  Nick frowned. “You don’t have anything to be jealous about.”

  “I know,” Maddie said. “I … that was the wrong word to use.”

  “If you had asked me three months ago if she was capable of something like that I would’ve told you no without even thinking twice about it,” Nick said. “After the way she reacted when she found out I was going to break up with her, though, I’m just not sure.”

  “Well, we have to look for her either way,” Maddie said pragmatically. “Neither one of us is going to be able to live with ourselves if we let it go and then something happens to her.”

  “Where do you suggest we start looking?” Nick asked.

  “Why are you asking me? You’re the police officer.”

  “And you’re the one who is magic,” Nick said.

  “I … magic?”

  “I meant that in more ways than one, Mad,” Nick said. “Is there some way you can, I don’t know, find a mystical trail?”

  “I’ve never tried before,” Maddie admitted.

  “Now seems like a great time to start.”

  Maddie nodded, turning back to the wall and screwing her eyes shut. She touched the wall, inhaling heavily as she tried to center herself. She internally said Cassidy’s name over and over again, and then before she realized what was happening, she started walking.

  Nick had no idea what was going on, but he knew enough not to speak in case he shattered the spell. He kept his eyes on Maddie as she navigated down the hallway. When she got to a spot where two hallways met, she tilted her head to the side before drifting down the corridor that led to the right.

  Nick followed her, impressed with how intent she seemed. When she stopped in the middle of the hallway, though, he started to doubt what she was doing.

  “There’s something here,” Maddie said finally.

  As far as Nick could tell, the only thing there was a linen closet. “I don’t think so, Mad.”

  Maddie ignored him and reached for the closet door. She expected it to be locked, but when the handle turned easily, she pulled it open and peered inside. Instead of a closet, though, she found herself staring down another hallway. This one was dark, though.

  “What is that?” Nick asked, moving up behind her.

  “I think we just found a whole other part of the house.”

  They exchanged a look and then Nick grabbed her hand. “You stay close to me, love.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “I didn’t say you wouldn’t. Stay close to me. I don’t want to be separated from you – and that doesn’t just go for today.”

  “I’ll be right beside you.”

  “For the rest of your life,” Nick said, stepping into the bowels of the house.

  Sixteen

  “Do you think Aaron knows this is here?” Maddie asked, studying the walls as they shuffled through the dim space. “It doesn’t look like anyone has been in here for years.”

  “I don’t know,” Nick said, keeping his eyes trained on the area in front of them while he pulled Maddie along behind. “I think it would be hard for him not to know about it.”

  “Why don’t you think he mentioned it when we found out Cassidy was missing?”

  “Maybe it never occurred to him that she could find the passageway. The only reason we did is because you’re … you.”

  “Maybe,” Maddie said. “I … what’s that up there?”

  “I don’t know,” Nick said, increasing his pace when he caught sight of the lights Maddie was gesturing toward. When he got to the end of the hallway his eyes flew open as he realized what they were looking at. “That’s our bedroom.”

  “I don’t understand what this is,” Maddie said, biting her lip. “I … is this the other side of that big mirror?”

  “I think so,” Nick said, letting go of her hand so he could feel around the window. “I think it’s one of those double-sided mirrors. You can see what’s going on in the room from this side, but the people on the other side would be none the wiser.”

  “We’re the people on the other side,” Maddie reminded him. “We’re the people who have been dressing and undressing in that room. We’re the people who … made love … in that room last night.”

  “I know. If it’s any consolation, I don’t think anyone has been hanging around in here and watching us.”

  Maddie wanted to believe him, but she wasn’t so sure. “Nicky, look at the floor.”

  Nick did as instructed, frowning when he realized what Maddie was directing his attention toward. “Someone has been in here,” he said. “Those are fresh footprints, and they’re not ours.”

  “You don’t think … .”

  “Stay calm, love,” Nick said. “We don’t know anything yet. I … .” He broke off when a glint of gold caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. “What is this?” He reached down and snagged the item off the ground, holding it up so he could study it in better light.

  Maddie’s heart lodged in her throat when she recognized it. “That’s Cassidy’s necklace.”

  “Are you sure?” Nick asked.

  Maddie nodded. “She’s worn it every day since I met her.”

  Nick turned, scanning the small alcove for another clue. After a few minutes, he gave up. “I think we should call Dale,” he said, referring to his partner on the Blackstone Bay Police Department.

  “Why?”

  Nick showed the necklace to Maddie. “Because this chain is broken,” he said. “It looks like someone ripped it off of her.”

  The seriousness of his words caused Maddie’s stomach to flip. “Do you think
… ?”

  “I don’t know,” Nick said, running his hand down the back of her hair. “I just know the longer we don’t report Cassidy’s disappearance the worse position it puts us in. We have to take this one step at a time, Mad. This is only the first step.”

  DALE KRESKIN looked dubious as his gaze bounced from face to face in the library an hour later. “Are you sure she’s really missing? No offense, but from the look of most of you, you had a pretty late night.”

  “We’re pretty sure,” Nick said, holding his hand out to Kreskin.

  “What is this?” Kreskin took the necklace and studied it. “Is this hers?”

  Nick nodded.

  “Is that her necklace?” Marla asked, moving up next to Kreskin. “Where did you find that?”

  Nick exchanged a quick look with Maddie. “We found it in the hidden passageways upstairs.”

  “What passageways?” Brian asked.

  “The ones that lead through the walls of the house and allow people to see right into our bedroom,” Nick said, grimacing.

  “Holy crap,” Aaron said, leaning forward. “I … dude, I haven’t been in those passageways in years. I forgot all about them.”

  “Me, too,” Max said, his face unreadable. “We used to play hide and seek in them all the time when we were kids. I haven’t even thought about them in a really long time, though.”

  Marla made a face. “No, that’s not true,” she said. “I saw you go into one the other night. That’s how I knew where to find the doorway.”

  A pall settled over the room.

  “You were in there with Cassidy last night?” Nick asked, opting to take on Marla first. “Didn’t you tell us that you guys came in from the fair, said goodnight to each other in the hallway, and then went straight to bed?”

  “I … um … oh, fine,” Marla said, making a face. “I knew the passageways were there and I wanted to see where they led. We weren’t in there very long. We wandered around a little bit until we saw you guys in your bedroom and then we left.”

  Maddie’s hand flew up to her mouth as her eyes widened. “You saw us?”

  “Oh, don’t get all high and mighty,” Marla said. “You didn’t even know we were there. It’s not like we saw the actual event. We just saw the foreplay.”