Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
I can’t stop thinking about the diary. It’s becoming an obsession.
I need to know what happened to Laura. The diary and what’s inside are like a box of chocolates you keep in the refrigerator and make a rule to only eat one each day, but then you go back multiple times until you take the box and eat them all.
I open the laptop and scroll through the pages.
After reading for an hour, I’m at the entries written a few weeks before Laura’s death.
Unusual things happened to her and I need to spend more time reading every page but, from my quick scan of the entries, I can tell Laura was getting more and more paranoid about everything happening around her, but there’s one thing she mentions that catches my attention.
I read it through and then again to make sure I’m not mistaken.
Is anyone out there reading this? I discovered something disturbing about Jack, before I had Noah.
At first, I dismissed it as a bad dream but I’m sure it led to Jack sleeping in a separate room.
Although we shared a dressing room, once I mentioned it, Jack never came to my bed again.
You see, Jack talks in his sleep. More than once, he mentioned a woman by the name of Caroline.
When I confronted him about her, he was visibly shocked but just said, “She’s someone who died. ”
I couldn’t let it go and recalled him mentioning that he kept every newspaper article published about his life in a trunk in the loft, and one day he’d find the time to make them into a book.
The loft is a place with way too many family secrets and ghost stories to feel safe exploring but I needed a reason for Jack’s evasiveness.
I waited until he’d gone to work, grabbed a flashlight and headed upstairs.
Once inside, I found the trunk and then hunted through the newspapers and found Caroline.
Now I need to confront him and discover the truth.
Swallowing hard, I sit back in my chair.
What had she found? Was it enough to have her murdered?
Is my wonderful caring husband a killer?
I picture his face and the way he holds me with tenderness and can’t believe it.
I suddenly need a drink of water and take my mug to the bathroom, wash it and fill it from the faucet.
Meticulously, I scan the last entries but find nothing more about the mysterious Caroline.
The following entries are rambling and it’s as if she’d forgotten about her.
There’s no option. I need to find the old trunk in the loft.
I check my phone and it’s fully charged.
I stand and head back along the hallway and stop dead.
The door to the bedroom is now closed and the flowers on the table are missing along with the soiled doily.
It was silent in my bedroom and the floorboards creak in the hallway.
I’d have heard someone walking by outside—wouldn’t I?
I stare at the door, uncertain if I should open it and look inside.
Panic rises but I push it down, grasp the doorknob and turn.
The door swings open. The room is in darkness and the blinds tightly shut.
I close the door and walk back toward my room.
I open the next bedroom door. It’s the same as before.
I head downstairs and march into the kitchen.
“Sue, who was upstairs just before? They removed a vase of flowers from the hallway outside my room.”
“No one. Amy cleaned your room when you were down here. I don’t recall seeing her with any flowers.” Sue frowns. “She’s been here since you went back upstairs. She just went out to the vegetable garden.”
I nod but confusion cramps my belly. “The gardener for the vegetables. What’s his name?”
“Bill does the kitchen garden as well.” Sue smiles. “He potters around but the landscapers and garden service come by twice a week.”
That doesn’t explain who moved the flowers and why. I frown. “Does he come inside?”
“Bill? No. None of the outside staff come in here. They deal with George. He has an office in the terrace.”
Trying to act nonchalant, I meet her gaze. “The terrace?”
“That’s what we call the line of outbuildings—the staff quarters.” Sue indicates vaguely toward the back of the house.
More confused than ever, I walk back to the stairs.
I didn’t imagine the flowers, did I? Were they there when I retrieved my mug of coffee?
I can’t recall. I keep my head down to avoid Laura’s piercing gaze and make my way to the second floor.
Each step fills me with apprehension. As I get to the hallway, I search the wall with the flashlight on my phone for the hidden panel Jack insists is there on each floor.
Euphoria grips me as I find it and pop it open.
Inside are light switches and I flick them on.
The hallway lights up as chandeliers glisten, their crystal teardrops sending rainbows dancing across the walls.
I make my way to the stairs in the middle of the floor.
The light hasn’t penetrated this far and I use the flashlight app on my phone and take the stairs.
Cold penetrates my clothes, raising goosebumps on my flesh.
This time I stop and use my light to search for the source and discover a mesh grid on each side of the staircase.
I don’t enjoy going into dark dingy places but I must; I open the door.
I find the light switch easier this time, and placing the chair under the door handle again to keep it open, I search the room.
It’s huge but I figure the oldest things are at the back.
I discover that the boxes are divided into personal effects.
The children have boxes filled with old toys and pictures from kindergarten.
It seems that either Laura or Jack kept everything.
I find an area belonging to Jack and discover boxes with items relating to his childhood.
Under a stack of suitcases, I spot an old trunk.
This must be the one mentioned in Laura’s diary.
Dust billows around me as I move each suitcase to another spot in the well-organized mess.
I drag the trunk under the light and sit on the dusty floor.
The lid opens easily enough and inside I discover stacks of newspapers, each inside a plastic cover.
It isn’t too difficult to find the newspapers containing articles on Caroline.
Each plastic cover has a notation across the front.
I collect the four newspapers and, with care not to damage them, spread them out on the top of the trunk and go through each one.
I estimate the dates on the newspapers come from around the time that Jack attended college.
Even then with his family background he made the social pages of the newspapers.
From what I’m seeing he and heiress Caroline were college sweethearts.
As I go through each one, I discover more.
They were engaged and then—Oh, my God! They were married?
I can’t believe my eyes. My hands tremble and my pulse thumps in my ears as I turn the pages.
The wedding has a full spread and I see Ruby right there with the guests.
My heart races. Why didn’t Jack tell me about Caroline?
Maybe he believed I’d think twice about marrying him if I’d known the truth—Hell yeah, I would.
I’d want to know every small detail. I’m no fool and he likely knows it even after only being with me for a short time.
I pull the next paper from the plastic and turn the pages like a maniac, heedless of the damage now.
I swallow hard at the headline sprawled in bold letters:
WIFE OF JACK HUNTER FOUND FLOATING IN RIVER
Unable to breathe, I scan the report of Caroline’s death.
She fell from a trail and went over a waterfall during their honeymoon.
I read the article twice and then find the report on her funeral.
It’s depressing and the young woman’s smiling face on her wedding day dances through my mind.
A shiver runs through me as I fold the newspapers slowly and return them to the trunk.
I cover them with the other items I’d found.
As I push the trunk back into place and brush the dust from my hands, I stare at my wedding ring.
My husband had two wives, and both died in accidents.
I lift my gaze and meet my reflection in the cracked mirror. Will I be next?