Chapter 11 #3
Her heart pounding in her chest, her gaze darted around for a moment, and then her shoulders dropped when nothing terrifying happened.
She was surprised to find that it was a quiet, enclosed space with a door that led to the outer walk.
The enclosed section was empty with only an ancient barometric pressure gauge screwed into the wall.
Stepping outside, Charli noticed the walk was designed to provide a full three hundred and sixty degree view as it circled the structure. While she could easily see the walk from her balcony across the street, standing here—inside the nest—was a completely different experience.
She smiled at the view. From this vantage point, she could see the ocean in every direction and ships dotted the horizon. Her smile dropped. This was both breathtaking and heart wrenching—in her mind, she could see Amelia out here every day waiting anxiously for any sign of her lover returning.
Charli moved back inside the enclosure and stood at the window facing due south. The thick, old glass was wavy and cloudy, making it tough to see through.
She began to relax and released the deep breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Her eyes flitted along the walls, amazed at the decent condition of this structure considering its exposure compared to the rest of the house.
She ran her finger across the windowsill and grimaced at the layers of grime that came off.
“Ugh,” she mumbled as she wiped her finger off on her pants, making a mental note to change clothes as soon as she got home.
A sudden loud bang at the window made Charli jump and shriek as she stumbled backward.
The heel of her sandal caught in a divot in the wood flooring, and she heard an ominous crack as she scrambled to regain her balance.
She peered out the window and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a large seagull wobbling awkwardly on the walk banister.
That bird must have flown into the window...it wasn’t Amelia...
Shaken and holding a hand over her rapidly beating heart, Charli glanced down at the floor to determine the damage. She groaned when she found a large chunk missing, leaving a gaping hole in the floor board.
Great...just freaking great! How am I going to hide that? Jack and Gus are gonna throw a fit.
Kneeling, Charli peered into the hole, squinting her eyes to assess the damage. To her shock, an outline showed inside—of what she wasn’t sure.
“What the heck?” she muttered, as she ran her fingers along the edge of the broken board.
She gasped as the panel began to lift and Charli stared in shock at what must have been a hidey hole.
It had to be at least a foot wide. The board creaked on ancient and perfectly camouflaged hinges as she laid it back carefully on the floor, bracing herself for any spiders or other creepy crawlers that might come flying out.
Taking out her phone, Charli took several photos of the hole to show Jack. Leaning over, she shone her flashlight inside, and her mouth dropped at what she saw.
“Wow,” she exclaimed under her breath as she lifted out an oilcloth-wrapped bundle and noticed that there were more beneath the first one.
As she unwrapped the first package, a beautiful wooden box with a decorative inlaid design on the top was revealed.
She gently laid the heavy box on the floor by her feet, then peered back in.
“What in the world?” Charli pulled out two additional bundles and unwrapped the protective layers. She blinked in the light streaming through the windows at what appeared to be several black, leather-bound journals—there were five in total.
Sitting back on her heels, she rubbed her forehead. It was like she’d found a treasure trove.
Charli picked up a journal and carefully opened the front cover and frowned at the handwritten title page.
The Diary of Amelia Brown
“Oh my god!” Charli gasped, covering her hand with her mouth. Obviously, the Widow’s Walk had not just been Amelia’s preferred place, but it was where she’d hidden her most private possessions.
Charli thumbed to the next page. Her mouth dropped at the date—1867...that was four years before Amelia committed suicide.
Charli shivered at the thought. She rubbed her hands on her arms as the warmth of the room faded into an icy chill.
When did it get so cold in here?
She jolted when a strange tingling sensation moved purposefully down her cheek and her blood chilled when she remembered Gus’s description of the walk when they’d last experienced paranormal activity. The hair on her arms stood up.
Amelia...
Her breath frozen in her chest, Charli crab-walked backward toward the stairs then lurched to pick up the box and the journals.
She raced down the spiral staircase, nearly stumbling several times, feeling like her heart would pound out of her chest. Panting, she ran the rest of the way down to the first floor and screamed when she slammed into what felt like a wall.
“Whoa! Charli,” Gus exclaimed, grasping her forearms. “What the hell’s going on?”
For a moment, Charli couldn’t catch her breath as she clutched the pilfered items from the Widow’s Walk to her chest.
Gus’s eyes squinted and his head tilted. “Are you okay?” He glanced at the box in her arms. “Whatcha got there?”
Charli pointed up. “Amelia...It was Amelia,” she babbled, still huffing from her escape. “Widow’s Walk,” she sputtered, pointing up. “Broke a board in the floor...found these.”
Gus’s mouth flattened. “What? Charli, are you freaking serious right now? You went up to the Widow’s Walk? I literally just told you not to go up there. What part of ‘don’t go up there, it’s not safe’ wasn’t clear to you?”
Charli nodded in agreement, holding a hand to her chest in an effort to calm it down.
“Yeah, yeah,” she replied, still trying to catch her breath.
“You’re right about that.” She held up the items she’d found.
“A seagull hit the window...scared the shit out of me...and I, I stumbled back...cracked a floor board...found these under the floor,” she rambled.
Gus’s eyes bulged. “Are you freaking serious? You found a hidey hole?”
Charli bobbed her head vigorously. “These were all hidden in there. And when I started looking through one of the journals, the room got really cold.”
“Madre di Dios!” Gus’s jaw tightened and he crossed himself several times, mumbling under his breath. He cleared his throat and leaned in. “Did you feel anything? Like any weird tingling?”
Charli took a deep breath. “Yeah. Right here,” she gasped as she ran her finger along her jawline.
“Mierda!” Gus muttered, crossing himself yet again. His gaze dropped to the floor for a moment, then it snapped back up at Charli and narrowed. “Do. Not. Go. Up. There. Again. It’s not safe and we really don’t know what the fuck we’re dealing with.”
“It was Amelia,” Charli insisted, knowing in her heart that she had found something key to their mystery.
Gus shook his head, panic in his eyes. “We don’t know that.”
Charli clutched the box and journals to her chest. She swallowed a lump in her throat. “I do. It was her. I know it was her and she wanted me to find these.”
* * * *
Charli watched with a smirk as Jack spewed his mouthful of wine across the kitchen table and coughed hard to clear his throat. “You did what?” he nearly shouted.
She pressed her lips together to fight off a smile. The man was predictable. Her brows rose. “Are you okay? Do you need a towel?”
“I’m fine,” he choked, dabbing at the mess with a napkin. “Are you telling me that you went up to the Widow’s Walk even after Gus and I specifically told you not to?”
She casually reached up to pull dinner plates down and then turned fully toward him. Leaning back on the counter and planting her hands on her hips, she answered, “Yeah, I did, Jack.” Her chin tilting up to challenge him.
On most occasions, she loved his protective streak. But every once in a while it could be completely overbearing.
“You do realize that I am a grown woman and have been successfully navigating life for over thirty years now without a man telling me what to do, right?” she added, her voice thick with the sass she felt.
Jack blinked several times as if he were processing her words, then his brows dropped as if he were buckling down for war.
“Have you been successfully traipsing through centuries-old houses that are full of rotten floors and foundations, and then successfully renovating them according to regulation?”
He stood from his chair and took a few steps toward her. “Have you successfully managed an entire construction crew with absolutely no injuries in dangerous old houses because you made safety the top priority? And, have you successfully worked inside a haunted house before?”
Charli’s posture relaxed, folding her arms over her chest. Mmmmmm...watching him rant with fire in his eyes made her want to rub her body against his in the very best way.
What was it about this man that made her want to throw caution to the wind?
“That’s just ridiculous, Jack.” She gave him a sassy smile.
Holding her gaze, he pursed his lips and moved his head from side to side as he continued his walk toward her. He placed his feet outside hers and braced his arms against the counter on either side of her hips. Leaning in, his lips nearly grazing hers, he shook his head again.
“Nuh uh,” he whispered. “Working in these houses can be extremely dangerous and that Widow’s Walk is unsafe. I told you that...Gus told you that. What you did today was reckless, baby.”
His body pressed tightly into hers, and Charli licked her lips as a tingle began to move through her body. His gaze dropped to her mouth, watching her tongue, and at that moment, she wanted nothing more than his lips on hers. Something about arguing with this man was the ultimate aphrodisiac.
Forgetting her original argument, she tried to counter. “Well—” she drawled before he interrupted her.