Jessie Delacroix and the Sanctum of Shadows (Whispering Pines Mystery Series Book 2)

by Constance Barker

  He took off his Stetson as a firm smile grew above his strong, superhero chin. “Miss Delacroix,” he said with a gentlemanly nod.

  I extended my hand for a handshake, but instead he took my hand and kissed it, bending to bring his face down to my hand. I could tell he had something on his mind, but this didn’t seem to be the time or place for him to ask me out.

  “Nice to see you again, Travis. It looks like business is good at the Starlight. This is my friend, Cammy Jo. Cammy – Travis Yates.”

  He nodded at her. “Ma’am.” Then he looked at me before Cammy could get her hand all the way out for a kiss. Too bad.

  “Jessie, I’ve got a riding party with me here, and the fellas are getting a little hungry. They bought my all-inclusive package, so I wanted to give them a taste of some good southern cooking. I was wondering if I might impose on you to run me a line of credit until tomorrow so I don’t have to run back to the ranch to get my wallet. I’d be much obliged.”

  Cammy put her hand on my shoulder and addressed the charming cowboy. “Of course, she would be happy to, Mr. Yates…but you should probably return the favor by taking her for a ride through the countryside around here when you have the time.”

  I’m sure I turned three shades of red, and I gave Cammy a pinch on the side of her waist.

  “I think I might have to insist on that, Jessie,” Travis said. “I offer each time you come by, but you never take me up on it. Shall we say…Wednesday? Come by my place for dinner, then we’ll ride for an hour and head on up to my brother’s new place. It’s the Grand Re-Opening at the Swamp Fox.”

  “Your brother, Travis?”

  “Carson Yates. He and his wife bought the Ghost Walk and the old nightclub. I’m not much of a dancer, but maybe we can get them to play a line dance number.”

  “She accepts, Mr. Yates. She’ll be at your place at 5 o’clock Wednesday evening.” Cammy squeezed out a look of excitement.

  Travis put his hat back on with another nod. “Thanks much, Jessie – and thanks to your attorney too.”

  He had a subtle sense of humor.

  “She’s actually the one who went to law school,” Cammy said. “I’m just a private eye.”

  Travis seemed impressed on both accounts. “We’ll tie the horses near the carriage house and clean up the gravel after dinner.” He turned and walked back to his horse.

  “Cammy, what do you think you were doing!”

  “What both you and he were too afraid to do yourselves. That’s what.”

  “But it’s none of your business. I felt embarrassed.”

  “That wasn’t embarrassment…it was excitement. Or are you saying you don’t want to see him on Wednesday?”

  “Well…”

  “Because I would be happy to come back to town and go on that dinner date for you.”

  “No. That won’t be necessary.”

  “That’s what I thought. Jessie, this is the kind of guy you put out for on the first date, and then you settle down with him and raise a houseful of handsome little cowboys and pretty little cowgirls.”

  “Cammy! Stop it. That’s not what I want, and he probably doesn’t even like me like that. He’s just being nice.”

  “Uh, Jessie, he definitely likes you like that. Trust me. Any many who can totally ignore this…” she waved her hand from her face down her torso and back up again, like a game show model demonstrating a new refrigerator. “…to give his full attention to another woman likes her a lot. And this man seriously wants to play naked cowboy games with you.”

  “Maybe he didn’t look at you much because he’s gay, and I look more like a boy.” Granny said he was gay the first time we met him because he didn’t undress me in his mind.

  Cammy laughed out loud uncontrollably. “Ohhhh, Jessie, Jessie, Jessie. That hunk of a man is not gay.”

  “But he didn’t look up and down my body like most guys always do.”

  “That’s because he’s a genuine gentleman, Jessie. I should know – I met one once when I was in England. It’s a rare quality in modern men, but this is no modern man. He’s just post-caveman enough to be both manly and civilized. Now don’t screw this up!”

  I had to admit, her little pep talk did get me excited for our date. And she did manage to put into words all the thoughts I was having but didn’t really quite understand.

  Zach came out of the pawnshop twirling an old Colt .45 revolver. “Yee-haw, cowgirls! Look what I got! This’ll protect us on out little adventure tonight.” He holstered it in a small black gun belt made for a much smaller modern gun, and the barrel jutted well out of the end. “Don’t worry; it’s not loaded – yet.”

  “Are you sure you need that thing, Zach? I’m not a huge fan of firearms and killing.” Cammy had nearly ducked under the table when the gun-wielding hombre came out swing the gun around…and I pretty much froze in place myself.

  “Sorry for the shameless display, ladies. But I’m a trained marksman. I was just having a little fun with my new toy…er, weapon. And if we’re going out in the dark tonight, you never know what we might run into – alligators, bears – maybe a band of pirates with a noose for each of us.”

  He had a point. “Better safe than sorry, I guess. Just don’t pull it out unless you have to.” The sun was already dipping below the tall pines behind the Inn. “Let’s find Ginny and change clothes. Then we can all grab a bite and take a giant leap into the unknown.”

  They looked at me with an odd expression. “Okay, Rod Serling,” Zach joked. “I didn’t realize we were going into the Twilight Zone.”

  He didn’t know how close he was to the truth. I was really glad Ginny and Cammy were coming with me, and I was pretty sure I could trust Zach. I felt like I knew him, because I had gotten to know his twin brother, Hector, recently, plus Kyle had checked him out too.

  A feeling of nervousness grew in the pit of my stomach as I got up off the porch swing, and my mind raced with thoughts and fears. Should I expose my friends to this unknown risk? Maybe I should just back out and stay home. But…Anika didn’t make me feel like it would be dangerous, and even Granny said I had to go.

  “I’ll run back to my room for a minute and meet you all in the restaurant in half an hour,” Zach said.

  “Sounds good. Cammy and I will find Ginny and run across to my carriage house. Where are you staying?”

  “Kyle gave me the penthouse suite above the dairy Queen.” A playful smile grew on his face.

  I looked at Cammy, a bit confused. “But that’s…”

  “That’s city hall,” Zach said. “And there’s a nice cot there…”

  “In the jail cell?! Kyle is having you stay in the jail cell at city hall? Why…”

  “Settle down, Jessie. Every place in town here and in Stony Point was booked with treasure hunters and the usual antique buffs. It’ll be kind of fun. And it’s right at the other end of Antique Row, so everything is right there – including ice cream.”

  Cammy seemed to see the humor in it, and let out a small laugh. “See you in half an hour, Zach.”

  “The Ghost Walk folks started a new rickshaw service along the Boulevard, Zach,” Ginny told him. “It’s cheap. I take it home to my place above Wally and Molly’s after work pretty often when I’m feeling tired.”

  Carlisle Boulevard went from the front of L’Auberge Hantée all the way through town and across the bridge on the eastern leg of the “U” of the Elvira River. The church, the Grab-and-Go, the gas station, and the Dairy Queen were all on Carlisle on the other side of Apalachee Avenue, and the antique stores and other tourist shops lined the boulevard from there right up to the Inn.

  So the die was cast, and pretty soon we would be on our way. I had no idea at all what we might find in the Sanctum of Shadows.

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  Chapter Eight

  The three of us girls were ready to go, complete with a second set of jogging or swimwear underneath our clothes ju
st in case. Ginny, Cammy, and I sat at a small table on the porch in front of the Nirvana waiting for Zach.

  “Tell us about your lead.” Cammy Jo picked up the last of Carlo’s ahi tuna sashimi strips with her chopsticks and folding it around a dab of wasabi and ginger. Then she dipped it into the sushi soy sauce and caressed it with her tongue. Her facial expression when she tasted it looked more like something from the cover of a romance novel than from the dinner table. It was really delicious, but…

  “Yeah, Jess. I’d like to know a little more too. Where are we going?” Ginny leaned in, expecting an enlightening answer.

  Okay…these are your friends. Tell them.

  “Well…” I looked at each of them and took a breath. “We’re going to the Sanctum of Shadows.”

  Cammy looked at Ginny and then back at me. “What? Where? Is that like a name you gave to an area of the swamp? Or…”

  “I don’t know what it is. I’ve never been there. But it’s up to me…up to us… to go there, find what we can find, and then close portal that was opened to the pirate ship when Arthur dug up the hook hand of Captain Olivant. If we return the hook, we should be able to close the portal. I think. Otherwise the pirate ghosts are going to keep coming and causing havoc.”

  Ginny was all in. “Sounds good. How do we get there?”

  Cammy was not so accepting and gave Ginny an incredulous look. “Sounds good? Is this a prank, Jessie? Are you doing PR for the Ghost Walk now, or what?”

  I needed Cammy to be onboard. She was a PI with good instincts and insights. I looked at her calmly, like this was nothing out of the ordinary. “Just suspend judgment for now, Cam. There are three doors in the basement of the Inn. They are portals to other…places. We have to take the one that will lead us to the Sanctum of Shadows.”

  “I knew it!” Ginny was very excited now. “That’s just what they told us on the Ghost Walk. This old house holds secret pathways to the past and the future…and to distant realms too.”

  “Oh, come on, guys. Do you really expect me to believe this kind of crazy talk?” She smiled condescendingly. “I suppose next you’re going to tell me that we’re going to ride on a flying carpet with the Ghost of Christmas Past.”

  “Oooh! Are we going on a flying carpet ride, Jess?”

  Ginny was too far into fantasyland, and Cammy was way too skeptical. I ignored all of their questions and picked up where I left off.

  “The three doors really scared me when I was a little girl. I used to have dreams about strange beings going in and out of them because I…I’m sure I saw something very strange happen there one time when I was very young. I don’t know what we will find there, but I can tell you this: We have to go, and more bad things will happen if we don’t.”

  “If you’re trying to scare me, it’s working.” Cammy rubbed the goose bumps from her arms.

  “Oh, there’s nothing to be afraid about, Cammy.” There was always something very comforting about Ginny’s take on everything. “This is the house of good spirits. The evil ones are way down the street at the fortune teller’s place.”

  “Look…” I did my best to hide my nerves. “…maybe there’s nothing behind those doors except an old Coca-Cola bottle…”

  “…and the skeletons of a family waiting for the Underground Railroad,” Ginny added nonchalantly.

  Cammy Jo looked at her like she was insane, and I shot eye-daggers at her, since I was trying to calm Cammy down.

  “What?” Ginny protested. “There are lot of stories of the Carlisle family giving safe harbor to slaves here in this old house right up until the Civil War. They brought them as far as Raleigh-Durham on business trips and turned them over to another family there for the next leg of their journey, all the way to Canada.”

  “I’d like to hear more of that story some time.” Zach had just come up the front steps, and the huge man was at our table in only two very long strides. “I’ve got distant cousins in Canada according to that ancestry website.”

  Zach loomed above us like a behemoth in a shiny silver lamé jacket and cap, which seemed more appropriate for the disco, and some kind of military utility belt that held his pistol, a knife, and other tools and gadgets.

  We all got up and went through the front door into the lobby of the L’Auberge.

  “This way.” I pointed to the basement door under the staircase in the lobby and tucked one loose tail of my blue and white checked flannel shirt back into my blue jeans. Then looked I around for Arthur.

  “What are we going down there for?” Zach was a little confused. “I thought we were going somewhere out near the swamp and the pirate ship, not into your dungeon.”

  “We have to start here, Zach. There’s a…path that starts in the basement.”

  They all seemed open-minded about it – so far.

  “Here’s your little Arthur, Jessie!” Anika bounced out of the pawnshop with Arthur right next to her. “Do you have that leash I gave you when I watched Arthur the first time?”

  I did. It was a brightly colored braided leather leash made of red, white, and blue strips of leather…slightly worn, but a nice 8-foot leash for long walks that gave Arthur a little slack for sticking his nose into things that were a little off the beaten path. I hooked it onto his collar.

  “Granny…where are you?” I sent out my thought waves and expected to find her floating around the kitchen or lobby.

  “Arf!”

  I looked into Arthur’s eyes, and he nodded twice. “All set, Jessica.” Granny was already in my beagle’s little body. They both seemed to really enjoy the partnership, which was getting to be a daily habit for both of them.

  “And here’s your map, Jessie.” Anika handed me an old parchment scroll about half the size of a sheet of paper.

  I unrolled it. “It’s blank.”

  Ginny took it and held it up to the light from the chandelier. “Maybe it’s got watermarks or something. Uhhh…nope. Nothing.”

  Anika just smiled. “It can only be read in the light of the eternal dusk in the Sanctum of Shadows, dear. You’ll see it when you get there.”

  “Sanctum of what?” Zach was apparently not the type for spooky adventures. “Oh, heck no. This isn’t what I signed up for.”

  “Rettenthetetlen,” Anika said with a wave of her fingers, and suddenly Zach became his heroic self again. It seemed that Cammy and Ginny felt more relaxed and fearless after the mystical incantation too. “Jessie, just make sure you three girls go in first.”

  Zach stood up straight and expanded his chest. “Well, no shadow is going to shake me up, I guess. Let’s go.”

  “Follow the footprints of mud. When you get inside, follow your shadows.” Those were Anika’s final words to us before we headed down the stairs to the dimly lit basement. I avoided this place as much as possible, except when I needed supplies or linens from the cupboards along the stairway.

  I picked up the pirate hook and some small flashlights from Lionel in his basement apartment. “Take these in case you need them,” I said to my crew. I took the hook out of the acrylic case and put it in my over-sized shoulder bag with the map. Then I pointed to the darkest side of the basement, where I had never dared to venture before. At least, not since I was five or six years old.

  Zach led the way with a big flashlight from his utility belt, and Arthur and Ginny were right next to him. Cammy and I were mostly concerned about cobwebs, but Zach cleared the path for us. We stopped in front of three doors near the furthest corner of the dank and stale basement.

  “This basement seems a lot bigger than the house above us,” Zach noted.

  It seemed that way to me too.

  “Well, let’s see what we’ve got in here.” Ginny marched up to the door on the end and pulled it open.

  “No, Ginny! Wait! We have to choose the right door,” I warned.

  It looked like a doorway into an endless night with stars and galaxies glimmering in the distance.

  “Well, that ain’t it,” she said, and s
tepped over to the middle door. She started to pull it open.

  “Ginny!”

  A blinding light shone through the crack, and she slammed it quickly.

  “I sure as heck ain’t going in there! Geez Louise. That’s way too bright for my darkest sunglasses.”

  Arthur was sniffing and barking in front of the third and final door.

  “This must be the one,” Cammy said confidently as she walked over to the dusty door with peeling black paint and turned to face the three of us. Her eyes moved from Zach to Ginny and then to Arthur and me. That’s when she broke out into a huge fit of laughter that had her bending over and holding her stomach.

  I was stumped. “What are you laughing about, Cammy Jo? There’s nothing funny here.”

  She held up one finger, as she needed a moment to regain her composure. “Look at us!”

  We looked at each other and shrugged. “Yeah…what?”

  “Don’t you see it?”

  Ginny snorted a couple of times. “I got ya,” she said. “We look like we’re on our way to Oz.”

  I looked again. I was there with my hair in pigtails, my little dog, and I even had the blue and white checkered shirt.

  “I guess I’m Scarecrow,” Ginny said. With her long lanky body and frazzled red hair, she was pretty close.

  “I’ll be the Tin Man,” Cammy suggested.

  Zach was having none of that. “No way! I’m not the Cowardly Lion, Cammy. Look at my silver jacket and cap. And the Tin Man had an axe – I’ve got a gun and a hunting knife in my belt. You don’t have a weapon.”

  “Oh, really?” Cammy pulled a small .38 caliber pistol from her boot. “I’m a private eye. I always come prepared.”

  “I thought you didn’t like guns,” Zach said, a little surprised.

  “I don’t like other people having guns.”