by B. J Daniels
She recalled her first impression. Desire and darkness. While she felt drawn to him, she didn’t want him getting involved in whatever was going on at Wellington Manor. The desire she felt scared her. But the darkness terrified her. She feared it was because he had crossed her path.
As he tipped his Stetson, climbed into his truck next to Angus and pulled away, she couldn’t help feeling a sense of regret.
MARSHALL GLANCED BACK in his pickup’s rearview mirror. Alexa Cross was still standing next to her car, watching him drive away. Something in her expression reminded him of the first time he’d seen her standing at the window—and whatever that had been behind her.
He also recalled the way she hadn’t invited him in this morning. That hadn’t been like her. Just as she had seemed to want to get away from that house as quickly as possible.
“Something’s wrong over there,” he said to Angus, who’d curled up on the seat for his usual nap on the ride home.
He didn’t like the idea of Alexa staying at that house, but he reminded himself that it wasn’t any of his business. He had cattle to help move today and a list a mile long of things to do at his house later, and yet his thoughts kept returning to her.
“What do you even know about this woman?” his brother Tanner asked as they moved cattle that afternoon. It was one of those amazing August afternoons when the sky is a crystalline blue stretched from horizon to horizon, with only a few white clouds moving in the breeze.
The sun felt hot against his back as they rode across the same rolling prairie that thousands of buffalo had once roamed. Marshall took off his hat to mop his brow with his sleeve. What did he know about Alexa Cross?
“She’s a newspaper reporter, won some awards for her writing, has a half brother who’s married to a Wellington.” That was the extent of what he knew—at least on the surface.
He also knew her laugh, knew the way she felt in his arms, knew that she was up for a beer at sunrise and that something had her running scared.
“I like her,” he said defensively.
Tanner laughed. “I gathered that since she’s all you’ve talked about this entire cattle drive.” He shook his head. “I never thought I’d see the day you’d get hung up on a city woman, let alone a reporter.”
“She wants to write children’s books,” he called after Tanner, as his brother spurred his horse and took off in a cloud of dust after a couple of straggling calves.
Marshall sat back on his horse, watching the undulating ocean of Black Angus cattle moving across the prairie. Tanner thought he had fallen for this woman? Marshall laughed at the thought, then sobered as he realized he’d never felt this way about any other woman—or so quickly. Both thoughts sent up red flags.
He’d dated, like his brothers, sowing his wild oats but never getting serious about anyone. Then one by one, his brothers were starting to fall in love. He was a little insulted that Tanner had thought he would never see the day that Marshall fell in love.
“All it takes is meeting the right person,” Emma had said once about how she and Hoyt had fallen in love. “You know immediately.”
Marshall heard a shrill whistle, saw his brother Dawson pointing to some calves that had fallen behind. He spurred his horse to ride after them, embarrassed that he’d been sitting on his horse woolgathering instead of working. He’d get a ribbing about it later.
But as he thought about Alexa Cross, he knew he had worse problems than a little ribbing from his brothers.
ALEXA FELT BETTER AFTER her lunch with Marshall. He was so down-to-earth, so…normal. She smiled at the thought. She’d aspired to be normal, or what she had thought of as a child as normal. She really hadn’t had much to base it on—other than her father.
He had been so normal, though, he hadn’t been able to take living with Tallulah and her “gift” any longer. Is that another reason Alexa hadn’t wanted to be like her mother? And why she kept her past life secret? Because she doubted any man could live with a woman like that.
As she drove up the tree-lined lane that led to Wellington Manor, she felt her earlier calm evaporate.
There was an ambulance parked in front of the house.
She pulled her SUV up next to it and hurried toward the front door as an EMT was coming out. “What’s happened?” she cried, thinking of her brother and his recent series of accidents.
“Just a minor concussion,” the EMT said as he loaded his gear into the back of the ambulance. “He’s going to be fine.”
A minor concussion? Alexa ran into the house, crying her brother’s name. She came to an abrupt stop as Landon stepped out of the kitchen with half of a sandwich in his hand and a frown on his handsome face.
“Why are you screaming for me?” he demanded.
“I thought…” The rest of her words died in her throat. She took a shaky breath as she saw several of the others looking at her as if she’d lost her mind. “I saw the ambulance.”
Her brother seemed to realize exactly what she’d thought, and said, “Jayden. A pipe fell in the basement. He has a slight concussion. He’d just come over to help me when it happened.”
She had the feeling he was enjoying her fear, now that he realized it had been for him. But his look also said, “It could have been me, no thanks to you.”
“So you’re still working on that leak in the basement?” she asked because she couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“Upstairs bedroom. I got it fixed,” Landon said and turned back to the kitchen where everyone had been having a late lunch.
She wondered how they ever got anything done as she tried to still her racing pulse. She’d been so sure the ambulance had been here for her brother. As she let out a breath, she felt guilty for her relief that it hadn’t been Landon.
“Is Jayden all right?” she asked.
“He’ll live,” Archer said with apparently little interest. He was reading a book and eating a sandwich and didn’t bother to look up.
As she glanced around those sitting at the table, Alexa saw that along with Jayden, the only other person missing was Sierra. She started to ask about her but her brother cut her off.
“Sierra took the first shift to make sure Jayden doesn’t fall asleep,” Landon said. “So how was your lunch?”
“Good.” No one at the table seemed in the least bit curious but she continued, “Marshall took me to Northern Lights. The owner makes the best ravioli I’ve ever had.”
“Marshall Chisholm?” Gigi asked, looking up. “Sierra said he had a house on the other side of the pond. So he’s a real cowboy?” she added with a smirk.
“His family ranches. The Chisholm Cattle Company,” Alexa said, wanting to defend Marshall but also not wanting to be baited into it.
“That’s a big operation,” Devlin said with awe. “I heard in town it’s the largest working cattle ranch around here. So was your date the owner?”
“One of six sons.”
He looked disappointed for her as if she’d missed a real opportunity. Gigi wasn’t smirking anymore, at least.
“I need to get back to work,” Landon said as he finished his sandwich.
“Oh, I was hoping we could visit for a moment,” Alexa said as he started past her.
“Archer and I promised Sierra we would have the bathroom done before supper,” he said as Archer got to his feet as well. “Find something to amuse yourself. We can visit later.”
“Don’t forget,” Gigi spoke up. “Sierra said she had something fun planned for tonight after supper.”
Alexa had to bite her tongue not to groan. “Why don’t you come up to my room when you get done with your jobs. Maybe we can talk before supper,” she said to her brother.
She could tell he was still angry with her. Unreasonably, she thought with irritation. But then another person had been hurt in this house. Jayden this time. She wondered though if the accident had been meant for Landon. Or if that was all it had been, an accident.
As she watched her brother head
off down the hall toward the servants’ quarters, where his wife was telling stories to Jayden to keep him awake, she knew he’d gone to check on Sierra before going upstairs to work in the bathroom.
How could she make him see what she suspected was going on in this house? She realized there was only one way.
As she started up the stairs, she saw a bucket of tools someone had left in the corner. Taking a few items she didn’t think would be missed, including a flashlight, she hurried up the steps to the second floor.
Alexa suspected that someone in this house wanted everyone to believe Wellington Manor was haunted. For what reason, she had no idea yet. But for now, it was time to expose the Crying Woman for the fake she was. At least it would be a start in exposing whatever else was going on inside Wellington Manor.
EMMA FELT BADLY ABOUT not telling Hoyt everything after how scared he’d been at the grocery store. But she told herself she didn’t want to upset him further. He’d hardly said a word all the way home, and she could tell he was stewing in a brew of anger and fear, all of it directed at Aggie Wells.
When they reached the ranch house, he said, “Stay here. Keep the doors locked. I want to check the house.”
Emma started to argue but one look at his expression warned her to keep her mouth shut.
She watched him take the shotgun from behind the seat in the pickup, close the truck door and stand outside until he heard her lock the cab, before he walked toward the house.
Emma waited until he went inside before she pulled the envelope from her pocket. Her fingers were trembling.
All the way home from Whitehorse, she’d been going over what had happened and what it all meant. Aggie was still in town. She’d taken a huge chance showing herself the way she had. What if Hoyt had been in the parking lot and seen her?
Had Aggie followed them from the ranch? How else would she know where they were going? With a start, Emma realized that she had become a creature of habit, shopping every Wednesday after lunch when the ads came out in the newspaper.
Emma recalled what Aggie had told her about why she’d been such a good insurance investigator. “I become my subjects. I learn everything about them. I dress like them, listen to the same music, wear the same perfume.”
That was why Aggie had known Emma would run out of the grocery store after her. That frightened Emma more than anything else, because there was a good chance she was dealing with a murderer who knew her too well.
Emma carefully opened the envelope and took out the single sheet of paper. Had Aggie planned to hand this to her? Or had she always planned to leave it on the sidewalk?
Not that it much mattered. Aggie had taken a huge risk getting it to her. That alone showed an unsettling desperation. This woman was a wanted, escaped criminal who just wouldn’t give up in her quest.
And that quest apparently was either to save Emma or kill her. No one knew for sure which it was, Emma included.
She unfolded the page of plain white paper.
Emma,
I’ve found Laura Chisholm. I can prove it. We have to talk. But if you go to the sheriff or do anything that will alert Laura, it will mean your life.
Aggie
Under her name she had written what Emma recognized as a local cell phone number.
The front door of the house opened. Emma hurriedly refolded the paper and stuffed it and the envelope into her jacket pocket as Hoyt returned to the pickup.
“The house is empty,” he said as he put his shotgun back up on the rack behind the seat. “Are you all right?”
Telling herself she just wasn’t ready to talk to him about this, she said, “I guess it is just starting to sink in.”
He nodded, looking relieved. “The woman is crazy and dangerous and I wish I didn’t have to keep telling you that.”
Emma nodded as she got out of the pickup. She wished she wasn’t so stubborn and independent and hard to get along with too.
“She thinks my first wife is still alive,” Hoyt said as if Emma didn’t know that as well.
“What if she is?” Emma said and instantly regretted it when his face clouded over.
“I saw Laura go into the water,” Hoyt said, pain making his voice sound hoarse. “She hated water, didn’t know how to swim well and with the storm and the waves…” His voice broke. “I saw her go under, Emma. I almost drowned trying to save her. There is no way she could have swum to shore from the middle of the Fort Peck Reservoir….” He ran out of words again and gave her an impatient look before stalking into the house.
Emma told herself he was right, of course. But she reached into her pocket to make sure the note was still there. But she couldn’t help thinking about what Aggie had written. She had proof Laura was alive. What if it was true? What if Aggie wasn’t the killer at all? What if it really was Hoyt’s first wife back from the grave?
What scared Emma was that while Hoyt was trying to protect her from Aggie Wells, there could be someone more dangerous out there who wanted her dead—and none of them would see Laura Chisholm coming.
ALEXA RAN HER FINGERS along the expensive wood of the wainscoting, starting from the place where she’d first heard the Crying Woman and moving down the hall to where it ended—and the crying had stopped.
She told herself that someone must have activated the crying with some sort of device this morning after she’d said she was going upstairs to see her brother, because she heard nothing now. But then no one knew she was up here.
But who had turned it off? Or was it on a timer? Either way, someone in this house had set up the device. Not hard to believe, given this new generation that was raised with computers and all the other high-tech toys.
But why would anyone go to the trouble? Why make her and the rest of the people in this house believe it was haunted? She feared the reason had something to do with Landon. He believed the house was trying to either scare him away—or kill him.
Alexa knew someone in this house wanted him to leave. Sierra? That made no sense, since she was the one who was pushing to remodel the house and run it as a bed-and-breakfast. Unless she’d decided the marriage wasn’t going to work out and she knew about Landon’s inheritance. Their mother had left them a lot of money. Knowing her brother, he’d probably told Sierra about it long before their nuptials.
Alexa moved quietly down the wall, feeling her way along. She wasn’t even sure what exactly she was looking for. There didn’t seem to be anything along the wall. Nor were there any doors on this side of the hall other than one at the very end. She tried the door. Of course it was locked. Why have a locked room?
She was about to find out. Using the screwdriver, she was able to open the old skeleton-key lock. The door swung in as if on a gust of wind. The room appeared to be a broom closet—at least at first.
Alexa stepped in and, turning on the flashlight, searched for a secret door. She found the panel in the wall easily enough, since she knew it had to be there. It swung in. Musty air wafted out.
As she shone the flashlight into the dark, dusty space, she found a long, narrow aisle that ran adjacent to the hallway outside this room. What surprised her were two sets of stairs—one that went up to the third floor, the other down to the ground floor and a door outside. A secret passage—and another way out of the house.
Sierra hadn’t taken her up to the third floor during her tour. She’d made the excuse that it was unfinished and full of spider webs and storage items. Alexa would have loved to see for herself, but she had to find the Crying Woman first.
At a sound from the hallway, she froze, listening. When she didn’t hear anything more, she shone the flashlight down the narrow aisle behind the stairway. No spider webs, but footprints in the dust. She wasn’t the first person to squeeze through the opening and into the space behind the wall.
Alexa hadn’t gone far when she found the wires and small speakers. She was looking for what was being used to operate the Crying Woman, when she heard the same sound from the hallway she’d heard e
arlier.
Only this time, she realized it wasn’t coming from beyond the wall. It was from a person in the space with her.
She swung around with the flashlight, but too late. The blow knocked her into the wall. She smacked her head hard, stars dancing in her vision as the flashlight fell from her hand, hitting the floor with a thud just an instant before Alexa joined it.
Chapter Six
Alexa woke in her bed to find everyone standing around her. Her brother was holding her hand and looking scared.
“I’m going to have to insist you not explore this house alone again,” Sierra said, her voice shrill. “You could have been killed. If Archer hadn’t found you…” She looked as if she was going to cry.
Landon put his arm around his wife but still held tight to Alexa’s hand. “Alexa’s all right,” he said, trying to reassure his wife, but he looked at his sister for confirmation.
“I’m fine,” she said, although her head ached and for a few moments, she couldn’t remember what had happened. As it came back, she said, “Archer found me?”
The big man nodded. “I was coming down the hall when I saw you lying on the floor at the end of it.”
“You found me out in the hallway?” she asked, knowing that couldn’t be true. The last thing she remembered was that she had been behind the wall.
“I can’t imagine what you were doing in the north wing to begin with,” Sierra said.
“I’m sure she probably just got turned around. Are you sure you’re all right?” Landon asked again as he saw her check her clothing.
Just as she’d thought, she was covered in dust. As she looked up, she saw all of them watching her. One of them had carried her out of that space behind the wall and left her in the hallway to be found. She wanted desperately to ask Archer how it was he had just happened along when he did. Either he was lying or someone had sent him up to that hallway knowing he would find her.