Chapter 2
Chapter Two
“A saw?” Natalie repeated Liam’s horrifying words with a feeling of panic and impending doom.
A saw he no doubt wanted to use to chop a big gaping hole into her shop’s meeting room wall.
Granted, the wall wasn’t perfect, the building was historic after all, but at least the wall was currently solid and presentable enough for the next book club meeting happening very, very soon.
He nodded, like it was a perfectly reasonable request. “Yeah. A jig saw. A rotary saw. Anything like that.”
Men.
“No, I don’t own a saw. Sorry,” she added, even though she really wasn’t sorry at all.
Thank goodness she didn’t own a saw. She could only hope his excitement over this wild idea wouldn’t send him to the hardware store to buy one.
“That’s fine. A hammer and a screwdriver will do.” Liam, ever the problem solver, moved past her.
There was no question in her mind that he was heading for her apartment to get the sparse but adorable pink tool box she’d bought for herself when she’d become a business owner.
It had been the pink-handled hammer and screwdrivers that had convinced her to splurge on what he called her little box of lady tools.
And as silly as she knew he thought her very basic tool collection was, he’d rolled his eyes at it enough times, Liam knew she kept it under the kitchen sink.
“Liam, wait! What are you going to do with just a screwdriver and a hammer?” She followed him through the shop and back toward the apartment, taking two steps to every one of his long strides.
“And whatever it is, do you really want to do it now? Don’t you have work to do?
And you didn’t even have breakfast yet.”
Ignoring all her protests in his apparent excitement Liam, tool box in hand and determined expression on his face, made his way back to the doomed section of the meeting room wall.
“Relax, babe. I’m just going to break through a little. See what’s inside.”
The tinkling of the shop bell had her holding up both hands and yelling, “Liam, stop! I think there’s a customer. You can’t be breaking down a wall with a customer in the shop.”
He sighed. “Just shut the door between the shop and the meeting room. It’ll be fine.”
She wasn’t so sure.
“Natalie?” Jules called out from the shop.
“See? Not a customer. Just Jules, your loyal employee. In here, Jules!” Liam called, hammer poised in one hand.
As Jules appeared in the doorway, Liam shot Natalie a devious look then directed his attention back to her college-aged part-time helper. “Hey, Jules. Could you handle any customers that come in? Nat and I are doing a little project in here.”
“Sure thing,” Jules agreed, bouncing off to the shop without question.
“Don’t you have class?” Natalie asked after her.
“My class was canceled so I thought I’d take care of that book delivery that came in. If that’s all right with you.”
“It’s fine,” Liam answered for her.
“Now you’re managing my crew?” Natalie asked, arms crossed.
“Since your crew is only one person and you said you would love a fireplace, yes. I am.” As if that settled it, he raised the hammer and screwdriver, which he held like a makeshift chisel, and struck the first blow.
At the horrifying sound of crumbling plaster, Natalie began rearranging the furniture in her head.
The sofa, moved in front of the hole, could hide the damage…as long as he didn’t go too high. If he did, then she and Liam would have to drag the old grandfather clock in front of it…as long as the hole wasn’t too wide to be camouflaged by the narrow clock…
The steady striking of the hammer, the growing pile of plaster, dust and wood lathe on the floor, turned the potential for an absolute decor nightmare into a reality.
Hissing she watched him widen the ever growing hole.
“Hey. Jules said you’re doing demolition? Is there a leak or something?” The sound of Harper’s voice behind her had Natalie spinning.
Before she could answer her friend’s questions, Liam had flipped on the tiny pink flashlight and as he peered into the hole said, “No. No leak. But there is definitely something in there.”
Harper gasped. “Ooo. Really?
Of course Harper, an author who was always looking for inspiration and her next story idea, was excited.
On the other hand Natalie was a business owner. She had bills to pay, a reputation to maintain and paying customers to please. Often cranky customers who never failed to point out the deficiencies in her shop, such as a giant hole in the wall.
“What is it?” Harper asked excitedly.
“And please tell me it’s not bones,” Natalie added as she groaned and considered the possible scenarios. Finding one human bone buried in the side yard of her shop had been enough for Natalie for one lifetime.
“Oh my God, right?” Harper agreed.
“It’s not bones,” Liam answered as he peered into the gaping chasm he’d created.
“Thank god for that,” Harper said with obvious relief.
Natalie agreed. But her relief was short lived as Liam attacked the wall again, breaking off increasingly larger pieces of plaster and wood. Creating damage she wouldn’t even begin to know how to fix.
Admittedly, Liam going all lumberjack would be sexy as hell. If it was with an axe as he wore a flannel shirt and tackled a pile of firewood amid flurries of snow to build a fire in her potential new fireplace.
His chopping into the wall of her shop though? Not sexy.
Seriously, who was going to fix this damage? How long would it take and how much was it going to cost? All things she had to consider as the man she loved, but who also drove her crazy, hammered away.
She’d never let him mock her pink lady tools again because they could certainly wreak as much havoc as any manly tool on the market.
Finally, he seemed satisfied with the destruction and sat back on his heels.
“So?” she asked, waiting for the payoff for all the damage he’d caused.
“Well, it is a fireplace…” he began.
Harper gripped her arm and squealed, “A fireplace! Natalie, you can have a fire burning for book club. And for your annual Christmas party.”
“I know! That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Natalie agreed, finally letting the excitement of the fireplace outweigh the annoyance of the wall.
“Hang on,” Liam said, interrupting her joy like a record screech.
She went still. “What?”
“First we have to have a guy from the fireplace shop come inspect the chimney. Make sure it’s safe and usable.”
“That is smart since there is the question of why someone would seal up a perfectly good fireplace if there wasn’t something wrong with it,” Harper pointed out.
Natalie’s hopes began to sink. But with the number of books in the shop, which would become fuel for any accidental fire, she needed to be careful.
She let out a sigh. “You’re right. It probably is dangerous. That’s why they sealed it up.”
Dreams of a toasty warm crackling fire had been nice while they lasted.
“Or, they might have sealed it up to hide all this,” Liam said.
She’d been so busy talking to Harper and dreaming of stockings hung by the chimney with care she hadn’t seen that Liam had pulled a dusty old book and a roll of paper out of the hole he’d made.
“What is that?” She stepped closer but his bulk blocked her view. “What’s in there?”
Liam glanced at her over his shoulder. “Looks like some old as hell books.”
Old books? Those might possibly be the only words that could make this mess worth it.
“What kind of books?” Harper, who loved books as much as she loved wine, stepped closer as well.
“So far, it’s what looks like a ledger. And a map. And possibly some old deeds,” he said.
Everything looked so old. So fragile.
Liam extricated one discovery after the next from the hole. Slowly, carefully. Avoiding letting them touch the soot from the firebox and the plaster dust and broken lathe of the wall like this was a real-life game of Operation.
He placed all the items gently on the floor with the hands of a surgeon, which she supposed he was, even though he only used his doctorly skills on cadavers and not living humans.
“Why would someone wall all this stuff up?” Natalie asked as she knelt next to one of the documents.
“To hide it,” Harper declared. “Because it’s full of secrets. Valuable secrets. Dangerous secrets.”
“I think your writer’s brain is running away with you,” Natalie observed. “But look at this. It’s hard to make out but I think this signature says Mudd.”
“As in Alice Mudd?” Liam asked.
“One of her ancestors, no doubt. The Mudd family were early settlers in this area. They’ve been around here since the beginning. Before the beginning actually, if we’re calling the beginning the year the village was officially incorporated,” Harper explained.
“Still, why hide it all and wall it up? It just seems ridiculous and unnecessary.” Not to mention, it hid what must have been a beautiful fireplace that she could have been using. She shook her head. “I mean, how dangerous or valuable could a bunch of old papers and books be?”
Liam wiped his hands clean on his pants then flipped open the cover of the ledger, letting out a long low whistle. “I don’t know, Nat. I think Harper could be right.”
“Meaning what? These things could actually be valuable?” Natalie asked.
“Or dangerous?” Harper added hopefully.
Liam lifted his gaze from the book in his hand. “Maybe.”
Ugh. Couldn’t she get just one year without a major mystery to solve?
“Can I take a closer look?” Harper asked, gesturing to the pile of discovered artifacts.
Natalie let out a snort. “Please. Have at it. I don’t think I can take on even one more thing right now.” She could not add one more task to her already stuffed To Do list.
“Hey, Nat.” Jules came through the doorway, a paper in her hand. “I found this open and on top of that pile of mail next to the cash register. It’s an invitation. The Salem, Massachusetts historical society is inviting you to sit on a panel for their event.”
Harper’s eyes widened. “Wow. Natalie, what fun. I’ve always wanted to visit Salem.”
“One of the other speakers is Professor Lionel Graves. He’s the guy who wrote that book you just ordered for the shop. The one about Mudville’s founding families,” Jules continued, referring to the page in her hand.
“You definitely have to do it. Will you, please? I’ll go with you,” Harper offered, as if that would make the event less painful.
Natalie drew in a breath. There it was. That one more thing that could push her over the edge. And of course it had come out of that damned pile of mail. She knew it had looked ominous the moment she’d seen it.
She shot Liam a glance.
His smirk made it easy to guess what he was thinking. She should have tossed that whole pile in the trash, like he’d suggested. If she had, she wouldn’t be badgered into going to Salem to be on some panel.
With a sigh, she said, “Okay. I’ll go.”
Harper clapped. “Yay! This is going to be so much fun.”
As fun as a root canal, and this event wouldn’t come with any laughing gas.
“Yeah. Fun,” Natalie said flatly, picturing the kinds of horrors Salem’s ghosts would bring. Women burned as witches for one.
“They included an email address and asked for your answer ASAP. Want me to shoot them an email from the store account?” Jules offered.
“Yes,” Harper answered for Natalie. “If you wait for her to do it, she never will.”
Jules grinned. “I’m glad you said it and not me. I’m on it.”
Natalie stayed quiet. It was obvious she didn’t have to talk as Harper and Jules organized her life for her. It would have been more annoying without the excitement of Liam’s discovery of the fireplace to soothe her.
“What are we going to do about all this?” Liam asked, sweeping a hand to indicate the piles.
The answer to that was clear. “I guess we need to call a meeting of the ghost council.”
Liam groaned. “I was afraid you’d say that.”
“Yes! I’m so excited.” Harper, still new to knowing ghosts existed, bounced with her anticipation. “And don’t forget the LADS. The Mudville Ladies Amateur Detective Society will definitely want to see this,” she added.
A meeting of the ghost council, and the LADS, and a panel in Salem, not to mention the clean-up from Liam’s discovery…
Natalie’s To Do list had just gotten a whole lot longer.