Maisy jerked upright and looked at Ryder with wide eyes. “Did you hear that?”
He nodded and put one finger to his lips, listening. Three thumps sounded.
“Oh, my God!” Jeri called from the doorway. “Did you hear that? That sounded like knocking from the beyond! What if a ghost got her?”
Chapter Eight
“JERI, there are no such things as ghosts,” Maisy said. She grabbed her friend’s hand and gave it a squeeze.
Jeri was still for a second before she erupted. “How do you know? Auntie El died in this very house. Maybe she doesn’t want you to turn the place into a bookstore. Maybe this is her way of saying no.”
Maisy shook her head. “That’s it. I’m telling Davis you’re not allowed to watch scary movies anymore.”
The knocking sounded again—rap rap rap—and Jeri’s eyes went wide. Maisy shook her head at her and Jeri pressed her lips together.
Ryder crossed the room to a wide bench seat built into the wall beneath the large window. It looked as if the books that had been stacked on top of it had been moved. He yanked on the top. It didn’t budge. He ran his fingers over the frame, feeling for something.
“Perry?” he called to the bench. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you out.”
Maisy let go of Jeri’s hand and crossed the room to join him. He moved his fingers over the front of the frame. He crouched down and worked his way up one side and then across the top and down the other side. There was nothing. “Damn it.”
He rocked back on his heels. He studied the floor around it.
“What are you looking for?” Maisy asked. She crouched down, eager to help.
“Perry. She must have found a hidden room with the entrance built into the bench seat and now it’s shut behind her and she can’t open it.”
“Hidden room?” Maisy asked. “That’s impossible. I would know if—”
She stopped. Would she know? Maybe no one knew. Maybe Auntie El had kept it a secret from everyone. Maybe Auntie El didn’t even know. Intrigued, she started to search the bench and the floor.
“What are we looking for?” she asked.
“I do not like this,” Jeri said. Her voice sounded shaky.
“Picture of calm, that one is,” Ryder said. His eyes were twinkling, and Maisy couldn’t believe he could be this amused while his daughter was trapped behind a wall. He reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “Don’t look so worried. Now that I know where she is I just have to figure out how to get her out. These old houses are notorious for having secret rooms and little hideaways. The Victorians were a wily bunch. We need to find a latch or a lever of some kind. It will blend in but once we find it, it’ll be obvious.”
They ran their hands over the bench and the wall surrounding it. Maisy didn’t see anything resembling a latch and she was beginning to feel frantic not knowing what sort of place Perry had landed in. Maybe there were rats trying to eat her or spiders the size of dinner plates. She shuddered.
“Wait,” Ryder said. “I think I found it.”
A floorboard on the side of the bench was loose. He pressed on it and nothing happened. He tried again in the middle. Nothing. And one more time on the opposite edge. The board came up with a pop. Maisy blinked. The board was on a hinge and it opened to reveal a latch. Ryder didn’t hesitate; he reached in and yanked on the small metal handle. The front of the bench fell open and as it did, the top of the bench was pushed up by an arm from inside.
Maisy felt her eyes widen. In the opening, a young face with dust on it peeked out at them. “You found me!”
“Ah!” Jeri cried from behind them.
“Oh, hello,” Perry said. She smiled at Jeri.
“Are you all right?” Ryder asked.
“I’m great,” Perry said. “Can you believe it? I, Perry Copeland, found a secret room. Seriously, this is the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Ryder beamed at his daughter. “I could not be more proud.”
“Secret room?” Maisy asked. “Really?”
“Come on,” Perry said. “I’ll show you.”
Maisy looked past Perry and noted that the young woman was standing on a narrow stairwell that twisted down into another room.
Ryder propped the top of the bench up and Perry moved down the stairs to give them room to follow her. Maisy watched Ryder in wonder as he gingerly stepped onto the small staircase. He grinned at her from his perch and Maisy felt herself smile in response.
“This is so cool,” she said.
“Now you know why I love restoration so much.” He ran a hand over the edge of the opening. “These old houses are full of secrets.”
He began to walk down and Maisy peered over the edge, watching him. Perry stood below, smiling up at her as her father joined her in the room below. “Come on! It’s amazing down here.”
“All right,” she said. Maisy maneuvered her body into the opening and stepped onto the top step. “Jeri, are you coming?”
“No, I do not do small cramped spaces,” she said. “I’ll wait right here, thanks. If you scream, I am calling 911 pronto.”
Maisy moved down the steps. She could hear Ryder and Perry below, talking in hushed voices. She wondered why Auntie El had never told her about the secret room. The wooden step creaked and for a second, she hesitated. What if she didn’t want to see what was below? What if it was intensely private and had contained some peculiar proclivities of Auntie El that she would rather not know about?
Maisy stepped onto the floor and glanced around her, prepared for the worst. Instead, she felt her heart clutch. The room smelled like honey and lemon, a scent she always associated with Auntie El. In the corner, two comfy armchairs were placed beside a small oak table with a Tiffany lamp, which was turned on and cast the room in a warm ambient light.
On the table, propped on a lace doily, was a framed picture of Auntie El in her wedding dress, standing next to her groom, Edwin Kelly. Maisy traced the photograph with the tip of her finger. She had seen this portrait a million times as its twin was framed and resided on Auntie El’s nightstand, but somehow finding it in her secret room made Maisy look at it anew.
The look of love Auntie El bestowed upon her groom made Maisy’s throat grow tight. Before she could stop it a tear spilled over her cheek and splashed onto the picture frame.
“Are you all right, Maisy?” Perry asked. Her voice was soft as if she was afraid she’d upset Maisy by finding the room.
“I’m fine,” she said. She pointed to the picture. “This was my auntie El. She’s the one who left me this house. She passed away several months ago, and I . . . well, I miss her.”
Perry picked up the picture and studied the couple. She glanced up at Maisy and said, “She was beautiful.”
“She was—inside and out.” Maisy felt another tear spill. She wiped her cheeks and glanced at Ryder and Perry. “I’m sorry. I really am okay. It’s just sometimes I miss her so much. You know, I think I’m fine and then wham, I’m a mess.”
“That’s why they call it ambush grief,” Ryder said. His look was full of sympathy as if he understood how she was feeling. “It gets you when you least expect it.”
“Ambush grief. Well, that’s apt,” Maisy said.
She gave them a small smile to let them know she was okay. She glanced around the room. It was surprisingly empty of books, and it was dusty as if no one had been down here in a long time. A fancy Oriental rug covered the floor and a large wooden hope chest sat off to the side.
Maisy approached the trunk, wondering what Auntie El could possibly have kept inside. Was it her wedding dress? Or mementos from her marriage? Maisy knelt in front of the trunk and popped the lid. She blinked.
“What is it?” Perry asked.
“Files,” Maisy said. “Tons of them.”
The hope chest had been turned into a filing cabin
et. Maisy sifted through the folders closest to the top. Each one had the name of a charity and inside was a receipt for how much Auntie El had given to the cause. Maisy glanced at the chest. It was stuffed with folders, and the dates on the receipts she was looking at were from several years ago.
“Judging by this, Auntie El was quite the philanthropist,” Maisy said.
“You didn’t know?” Ryder asked. He looked at the chest with raised eyebrows, no doubt surprised by the number of folders inside.
“What on earth?”
They all turned to find Jeri on the steps, half-crouched as she peered into the room.
“Come on down, Jeri,” Maisy said. “It’s all right.”
“There really is a secret room,” Jeri said. She was giving them the side eye. “And no ghost?”
“No ghost,” Maisy said. She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling.
“I knew that,” Jeri said. She stiffened her spine, looking like she was trying to smooth out what was left of her dignity. She stepped into the room and glanced around the small space. “Well, doesn’t this beat all?”
“I have to ask my grandfather if he knew about this room,” Maisy said. She rose from her kneeling position and closed the chest. She would study those folders more fully at another time. “Or my dad. I can’t believe they knew and didn’t tell me.”
“Maybe they forgot,” Jeri said. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s been in here in a long time.”
Maisy glanced at Perry, who was looking out the very small window tucked in behind the staircase. The girl looked like she was trying to figure out where the room was so that she could find it from the outside.
“Perry, how did you know to look for a secret opening beside the bench?” she asked. Perry started, as if feeling guilty. Maisy reassured her immediately, “I’m not upset. I think you’re brilliant. But how did you know?”
“I remembered a house that Dad restored in New York. It belonged to the Vanderbilts and it had three secret rooms,” she said.
“I remember that one,” Ryder said. He looked at Maisy and Jeri. “Gilded Age stuff, really crazy with the extras.”
“It was huge,” Perry said. “I got lost once for an hour, and Mom and Dad completely freaked out.”
She glanced at her father and he gave her a closed-lip smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Perry cringed as if she hadn’t meant to share personal family stuff. Ryder gave her a one-armed hug and a kiss on the head, letting her know it was okay. Huh.
“Well, you were only four,” Ryder said. He let her go and ran a hand through his hair. “I can still feel the gray hair sprouting just thinking about it.”
Perry laughed and the awkward moment passed. She looked at Maisy and continued, “To answer your question, one of the secret rooms was built into a window seat just like this one.” She pointed above them. “When I was reading today, I glanced over, and it struck me that the bench looked the same. So I had to see if it led to a secret room and it did!”
Perry’s eyes sparkled behind her glasses, and Maisy laughed, as Perry’s delight was contagious.
“Well, I’m impressed that you found in an hour what I never even knew was here for decades.”
“Question,” Ryder said to Perry. “Why did you shut the door behind you?”
“I thought it would be hilarious to hide on you,” Perry said. “But then the door got stuck. I panicked for second because I’d left my phone up in my chair, but I knew you’d find me.”
She gave her father a charming smile and Maisy saw him try to resist the lure. He failed. He tugged on her braid and said, “Always. But be more careful next time. This house is very old and you never know when a step or a railing might give way.”
“I promise.” Perry swatted his hand away.
“You also owe Maisy an apology,” he said. “You can’t just go tromping through people’s private spaces. What if this room had been, well, private?”
“You mean like full of sex toys or bondage equipment?” Perry asked.
“Oh, my God,” Ryder said. “How did you even . . . ? Never mind . . . we’ll talk about it at home.”
“Dad, I’m fourteen,” Perry said. “I know about all of that stuff!”
“What? Who? How? You’re right, you’re fourteen,” he retorted. “Entirely too young to even think about any of that stuff.” The tips of his ears had turned bright red and he looked completely discomfited. Maisy found this ridiculously charming.
Jeri snorted, and said as an aside to Maisy, “Fourteen? Do you remember when you were fourteen? You got busted for letting Trevor Jones get to second base and wasn’t he rounding for third when you got caught?”
Maisy closed her eyes. She loved Jeri, she did, but the woman had not been built with a whisper. Even when she tried to speak quietly, people across the room could hear what Jeri was saying whether they wanted to or not.
Maisy didn’t need to check to know that both Ryder and Perry were looking at her. Maisy felt her face heat up like a bad reaction to a jalapeño. “Jeri, that is not . . . I didn’t . . . don’t you have an appointment?”
Jeri glanced at her phone. “Oh, shoot, I do. I have to go.” She wagged her finger at Maisy. “Do not go into any more secret rooms without me.” She turned to Ryder and Perry. “It was very nice to meet you.”
“You, too,” they said together. Ryder looked like he was trying not to laugh and, for that matter, so did Perry.
Jeri went to climb up the stairs and then looked back. “You know, just in case we have upset Auntie El by finding this room, I really think we should stick to the buddy system.”
“You’re afraid to go up there alone,” Maisy said.
“No, I’m not,” Jeri protested. She put one hand on her hip and, yet, she still didn’t move toward the stairs.
Ryder nudged Perry and said, “Please walk Jeri out.”
Perry nodded. With a reassuring smile at Jeri, she said, “It’s all right—follow me.”
She dashed up the steps with the speed of a squirrel climbing a tree, and Jeri shook her head as she followed. Maisy could just see her feet when Jeri called back, “I’ll leave the papers for you to go over.”
“Okay,” Maisy said. “Thanks for coming by.”
“Don’t forget to sign them!”
“I won’t!” Maisy could feel Ryder watching her and she felt like an idiot yelling up the stairs, but really, after Jeri blabbed about her misspent youth, could it really get any worse?
They heard the footsteps move across the floor above them.
“I think I should probably check the latch on the inside so that no one gets stuck again,” Ryder said. “Would you mind holding the light for me?”
“No, not at all, and thank you,” she said. “You don’t have to, I mean, you haven’t agreed to take the job yet.”
“Well, I haven’t finished my official bid, no,” he said. “But after seeing this room and hearing what you want to do with the place, I have to say I’m all in.”
Maisy felt her heart thump hard in her chest. All in. Then she shook her head. These words did not mean what she thought they meant. She knew that. He was talking about the job not about her. She was being an infatuated idiot, but as her gaze met his and his bright-blue eyes studied her face, how could she not wish he was talking about her?
Oh, boy, this was bad. She couldn’t be crushing on a married man she hardly knew, whom she would likely be working very closely with over the summer. She had to shut this down.
She pushed her glasses up on her nose and tried for her most dignified professorial expression. When she met Ryder’s gaze again, he was grinning at her. No man should be that handsome when he smiled. It straight up wasn’t fair.
“What?” she asked, losing her composure.
“Second base with Trevor Jones at fourteen,” he said. He made a tsk noise
and handed her his phone, on which he had opened the flashlight app. “Maisy Kelly, I am shocked.”
Maisy put her hand over her face. “I’m going to strangle Jeri. No, even worse, I’m going to lock her down here and make scary ghost noises.”
“You couldn’t be that cruel,” he said. He started up the stairs, motioning for Maisy to follow.
“Couldn’t I?” she asked. She raised her hands in the air. “I mean, how can I hire you now? It’s completely tainted. You think I was a fourteen-year-old floozy.”
“Who caught you?” he asked.
“My dad,” she said. “It was summer. We were on the front porch swing. I don’t know who was more mortified.”
“Not Trevor Jones, I’m betting,” Ryder said.
“No, he wasn’t.” Maisy frowned. “How did you know?”
“Because I was caught at fourteen doing the same thing, and I didn’t feel one bit bad about it,” Ryder said. “Quite the opposite.”
Maisy barked out a laugh and then clapped a hand over her mouth as it echoed in the small room. Ryder gestured for her to move closer. They were pressed together on the steps and he checked the edges of the opening, much as he had before. He pointed and Maisy shined the light in that spot. He reached up with a pocket knife and began to tighten the screws that held the inside latch in place.
“What was her name?” she asked.
Ryder glanced down at her and she realized they were close enough to be breathing the same air. It was oddly intimate and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to press herself closer or jump back. She opted to stop breathing. Because that seemed a reasonable choice.
“Amanda Cook,” he said. “I’ve never forgotten her.”
“Oh, jeez, I’m hoping Trevor has forgotten me.”
“Guys never forget. I know I’d never forget you,” he said. Maisy wasn’t sure if it was the heat in his gaze or the lack of oxygen from not breathing but she was pretty sure she was going to pass out. Ryder looked like he wanted to say something more but instead he pointed to a spot just above their heads and said, “Light, please.”
The Good Ones Page 7