Chapter 15
While Abby and Gabe signed off, Burke sat back to evaluate what had transpired in the meeting. An impressive meeting. Her team’s help and research made his job easier. If only he had such a professional team on his side every day. He’d save so many hours.
Gabe closed his laptop. “You two really think Victor is involved in this theft?”
“Not really.” Abby looked up. “But even without a motive we can’t rule him out. Especially not until we figure out how someone learned about the crown and got into the mansion.”
Burke agreed. “Maybe we should take another look at those blueprints. See if we missed an entrance.”
“I left the plans on the table in the office,” Abby said.
“I’ll get them. Been sitting around far too long today.” Gabe hopped up and tapped the journals. “Keep an eye on my babies while I’m gone.”
He laughed and bolted through the doorway.
“I liked your team,” Burke said. “Even Gabe’s growing on me.”
She chuckled. “He’s an acquired taste. But he’s an excellent investigator, and the most loyal person I’ve ever known.
If you’re a law-abiding citizen. You break the law, he doesn’t have the time of day for you.
All stems from his family. He comes from a long line of lawbreakers, and he managed to escape their way of life. ”
“That’s impressive.” Burke was about to ask for additional information, but Gabe charged back into the room with blueprints in hand. He unrolled them with a flourish and laid the open pages in front of Abby as if it were game time and his team just needed one terrific play to take the lead.
She picked up a pen. “I’ll put an X on each exterior door we’ve checked.”
Burke tapped the main door, and she drew a large black X over it.
“Nice one, Captain Obvious.” Gabe laughed.
Burke did too, grateful for some humor when the stress of this investigation was getting heavier. She drew an X through the french doors in the office and the door leading from the dungeon.
“Wait a minute.” She looked at Burke. “Remember the door covered with ivy? I don’t see it on the plan.”
He ran his finger over the prints to find where the door opened inside. He tapped the paper on a hallway at the right side of the library. “It should be right here, but it’s not indicated on the blueprints.”
“Let’s check it out.” She shoved her chair back and shot to her feet.
Burke fell in beside her, and they sprinted down the corridor. At the far end, an interior door loomed, its frame catching the dim light.
She came to a sudden stop. “We already checked that door. It’s just a closet.”
“Maybe, or maybe it’s a closet with a false back.” He brushed past her and jerked open the door.
Shelves ran deep, stuffed with every kind of linen you could think of—tablecloths, napkins, towels. A mountain of fabric.
He reached past them, having to strain over the depth of the shelves until he touched the back wall. “There are gaps in the plaster.”
“Hurry!” She bounced on her toes. “Let’s empty it and get those shelves out of there.”
He began to remove the items, whipping them out of the way until a huge mound formed beside him and the shelves were bare. He scanned the back wall. Spotted cuts in the plaster. “Looks like a door all right, but doesn’t look like an exterior one.”
“The plaster could just be covering it up.”
“Could be. I’ll remove the shelves, and we’ll see.
” He struggled to free the first one, but then quickly removed the others.
Feeling along the wall, a catch came loose, and the wall popped open.
The opening was door-sized, likely the reason for such deep shelving.
He held up his flashlight, revealing what appeared to be another closet, this one bigger and deeper.
“What is that?” Abby slipped into the opening before he had a chance to determine if a threat existed.
Just in case, he lifted his sidearm, but the closet contained only an old steamer trunk.
Abby put on disposable gloves and dropped to the floor to tug on the tarnished metal hasp. “It’s locked. Can you get something to break it?”
He’d love to comply, but… “We don’t have permission to open the trunk or a search warrant giving us carte blanche.”
She flashed an irritated look up at him. “Victor said to do whatever we had to do.”
“In regard to checking the doors. Nothing more. Technically, we shouldn’t even have lifted up the loose board by the fireplace or opened the closet door.”
She stood and planted her hands on her hips. “Thankfully I’m no longer a sheriff. Private investigators don’t have to abide by those rules.”
“You’re forgetting. You’re a deputy now, and you do have to abide by the rules. So we do nothing but wait for Victor.”
“Wait for Victor to do what?” The deep male voice came from behind Burke.
He spun to find Victor watching them, his eyebrow raised. “What’s going on here?”
“Sorry for the mess.” Abby shifted her weight, but continued to hold the older man’s gaze. “We remembered seeing an outside door covered in ivy and couldn’t figure out where it went. Today we realized it led to this closet and discovered a hidden door.”
“Sorry for tossing everything aside,” Burke said. “I got caught up in the hunt and was in a hurry to find out what was behind the shelves.”
“And what did you find?” Victor’s pointed gaze burrowed into Abby’s eyes.
She didn’t back down. “An old steamer trunk. It’s locked, and we need your permission to open it.”
“Let me look at it first.” He slipped past them, his limp more pronounced and his weight heavier on the cane.
He stopped in front of the trunk and released a long, drawn-out sigh holding a good measure of sorrow.
“Belongs to Estelle. I last saw it in the attic. When she disappeared, I searched up there, but it was missing just like she was. I assumed she took it with her. Looks like she simply had it moved down here.”
He ran a hand over his head, and his whole body shuddered. “Do you think because it was left behind, it means someone did take her, and she didn’t leave voluntarily?”
“Could be.” Burke rested his hand on Victor’s shoulder for a moment. “Abby and I can move the trunk to the library, and we can look through it together.”
Victor gave a solemn nod. “There’s an extra key for the lock with Estelle’s jewelry. I’ll get it while you move this.”
“Thank you.” Abby smiled at him. “And thank you for agreeing to open the trunk. I hope the contents give us answers.”
“After all these years, I’ve about given up on learning what happened to her.” Tears formed in his eyes. “And now the time is here when I might actually learn something, and my feet feel like they’re made of lead.”
Abby moved closer to him. “Would it help if we prayed about it with you? I know you really don’t believe in prayer, but remember we prayed in the boat, and we weren’t harmed.”
He rubbed his hand over his mouth. “You have a point. Maybe there is a God, and I should look into this more. For now, go ahead and pray.”
Burke respected Abby for offering to pray with Victor at this time, especially when the guy once told her he didn’t believe in prayer, calling it mumbo-jumbo. But maybe, just maybe, she’d planted a seed of faith and was nurturing it to grow.
Could he apply this to his life? After Tiffany left him at the altar, he’d figured he could only trust himself.
He learned to rely solely on logic and intuition to see him through.
But maybe he should try to strike a better balance.
Seek God’s direction first and then utilize his own abilities and strength.
Was it time to end this impasse with God once and for all? He sure thought so, but it wasn’t as simple as just realizing what he needed to do. He had to let go of her betrayal and trust again. That was the tricky bit. The hard part. The part he still didn’t know if he could manage.
Sitting on the sofa next to Victor, Abby held her breath as Burke knelt by the trunk and lifted the lid.
A pungent mothball odor wafted from inside the fabric-lined leather trunk.
Victor reached out to clutch her hand. All three of them had put on disposable gloves so they wouldn’t disturb any evidence Sam might recover, but even through the latex, his hand felt cold.
The trunk revealed women’s clothing from the past. At the top lay a lightweight cotton dress, soft taupe in color, with a small floral print. And a big rusty brown blob stained the chest.
“Blood! Is that blood?” Victor whipped his hand to his heart and clutched his dressing gown.
“Looks like it,” Abby said, though she didn’t want to confirm it to a grieving husband.
“Is this one of Estelle’s dresses?” Burke asked.
Fear radiated from Victor’s eyes. “Her favorite for casual day wear. Does this mean someone killed her?”
“It would be odd for someone to kill her, then take off her dress, and put it in the trunk,” Burke said. “But anything’s possible.”
“So maybe she was just injured.” Victor’s voice was filled with hope. “And she was still able to change clothing and pack her trunk to go wherever she was headed.”
“Again,” Burke said, “possible, but we’re looking at a lot of blood. She would’ve had to seek medical attention before going anywhere.”
“Did law enforcement check with your family doctor when she disappeared?” Abby asked.
Victor nodded. “They wanted to be sure she hadn’t been suicidal. And as I told them over and over, Dr. Roach confirmed she wasn’t depressed in any way.”
“We’ll need to talk to him,” Burke said. “Is he still practicing?”
Victor shook his head. “Passed away about two years ago.”
Another dead end.
“Do you mind if we continue to search the trunk?” Abby asked.
“Go ahead, but unlike the things in the closet, please respect her items.”
A sheepish look crossed Burke’s face as he gently removed the dress, revealing a similar one, but in a bright floral fabric. Next came a luxurious ball gown made of green silk. He gently took all three dresses to the end of the sofa.
But Abby’s eye caught on the next items. Small, framed family photos.