Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
R obin’s heartbeat pounded and then skipped as she stared at the seemingly solid wall where Alice had vanished moments ago. She wiped her hands on her jeans before banging on the wall again. “Alice!” she called, her voice echoing down the empty hallway. “Alice, can you hear me?”
Silence answered her, and Robin’s mind raced with possibilities, each one more terrifying than the last. She and Alice had been exploring the second floor, following the checklist Eloise and Kristen had given them, when Alice had noticed something odd about the wall paneling at the top of the steps.
The landing of the second floor was nothing, just a place to catch a breath before turning left and going into one of the bedrooms, or moving right and doing the same thing. Two suites sat to the right, with one on the left.
She could still hear Alice’s voice. “Look at this, Robin,” Alice had said, running her hand along a barely perceptible seam in the wood. “Doesn’t this look out of place to you?”
Robin had agreed, and they’d spent the next few minutes examining the wall, looking for any clue as to what might be hidden behind it. Then, with a soft click, a section of the wall had swung inward, revealing a dark passageway.
Alice, ever the adventurous one, had stepped forward without hesitation. “I’m just going to take a quick look,” she’d said, pointing her phone’s flashlight into the darkness.
Before Robin could protest, the wall had swung shut behind Alice, slamming closed in a very final way, eating Alice whole and leaving Robin alone in the hallway.
“What’s going on?” AJ asked, and Robin turned to see her hurrying toward her, concern etched on her face.
“Alice went into the wall.” Robin knew how that sounded, and she didn’t care. Panic rose through her, because this house that was supposed to be the magical place they could bond and spend Christmas together had just swallowed her best friend. Literally.
“Alice went into the wall?” AJ repeated.
“The wall?” Kelli asked, joining them. “Robin, where’s Alice?”
She gestured angrily toward the wall. “She noticed something off with the paneling, and the wall opened.” She saw the way her friends looked at her, and she seriously didn’t have the patience or time for this. She banged on the wall again. “Alice! Can you open it from the other side?”
“She went into the wall,” Kelli said slowly, as if trying to piece together each word and have it make sense.
“Yes,” Robin said. “And I can’t get it open again, and she’s trapped in there, and I don’t know what to do.” She pushed her hands through her hair, trying to think.
Think, think, think.
“Where?” AJ asked. “Where did she touch to open the wall?”
“Right here.” Robin ran her fingertips down the seam between the panels. “I can feel it, but I don’t know what she did to get it open.”
Kelli stepped forward to examine the wall where Robin had indicated. “This is crazy,” she murmured. “You can barely see it.”
“I didn’t until Alice pointed it out,” Robin said, trying to keep the frustration out of her voice. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to think logically. “Okay, let’s all take a step back and look at this carefully. There has to be a way to get it open again.” She physically took a step back, trying to see something she hadn’t before.
“Yeah, an axe,” AJ said darkly.
Robin ignored her and moved her hand over a panel, searching for any irregularity that might indicate a hidden latch or mechanism. Kelli and AJ did the same, and Robin could only imagine how the three of them looked, rubbing down the wall here on the second floor landing.
“Wait,” AJ said suddenly. “I think I found something.” She pressed the butt of her palm against the wall, and with a noticeable click, the whole thing swung open again.
Sort of. The wall moved halfway into the wall cavity and halfway out onto the landing, and a dank smell filled Robin’s nose as she stepped over to the opening, already calling, “Alice?”
She shrieked and jumped back when she saw the illuminated face of her best friend. Immediately following that, relief flooded through her.
“Come on, you guys,” Alice said, her eyes shining in the light of her phone’s flashlight. “You’re not going to believe what I found. There’s a whole secret room back here.”
A mix of emotions washed over Robin—adrenaline, fear, relief, excitement, anxiety. No matter what, she did not want this wall to close again, and she quickly kicked off her shoes and positioned them so they’d block the wall from being able to trap them in—or out.
“Are you okay?” Robin asked, stepping right into the wall and hugging Alice. “I started panicking when I couldn’t get the door open again.”
Alice nodded, still grinning. “I’m fine. Come see this.”
Robin exchanged glances with Kelli and AJ, seeing her own curiosity and apprehension mirrored in their faces. Then, taking a deep breath, she followed Alice
The narrow corridor was dark and musty, the air heavy with the scent of old wood and dust. Robin’s footsteps echoed softly as she walked, her hand trailing along the rough wall for balance. After what felt like an eternity but was probably only a few yards, the passageway opened up into a larger space.
Alice raised her phone, casting light around the room, and Robin gasped. They now stood in what appeared to be an old office, complete with a massive mahogany desk that looked like it belonged in the early nineteen hundreds. Bookcases lined the walls, their shelves sagging under the weight of ancient-looking tomes, folders, and dusty knickknacks.
“What is happening?” Kelli whispered, her eyes wide as she took in the scene.
Robin moved further into the room, her gaze drawn to a large oil painting hanging on the far wall. It depicted a stately couple—a man with a neatly trimmed beard and a woman with piercing eyes and an elaborate updo. Something about their faces seemed familiar, though Robin couldn’t quite place why, where, or when she’d have seen them.
“Look at this,” AJ called from near the desk. She pointed to a stack of yellowed newspapers, their headlines barely legible in the dim light.
Robin moved closer, squinting to read the faded print. Her breath caught in her throat as she made out the words: “Tragedy Strikes The Starlight Manor: Christmas Fire Claims Lives.”
“Oh my goodness,” she murmured, leaning over the newspapers with AJ. “This must be the fire El and Kristen were talking about.”
Alice joined them, her flashlight illuminating more items on the desk. Stacks of letters, old ledgers and journals, and a collection of black and white photographs took up the space. Robin picked up one of the photos, her heart racing as she recognized the exterior of The Starlight Manor, though it looked different—smaller, for sure, without the elaborate porch and turret.
“These must be the original owners,” Kelli said, peering over Robin’s shoulder at the photo. “The Everleighs, right?”
Robin nodded, her mind whirling with the implications of what they’d found. “This is incredible,” she said, setting the photo down and picking up one of the letters. “We need to show this to the others. Maybe it can help us figure out what’s been going on in this house.”
As she unfolded the letter, a small object fell from between the pages, clattering to the floor. AJ bent to pick it up, holding it up to the light.
“It’s a locket,” she said, turning it over in her hands. “There’s an inscription on the back.”
Robin leaned closer, reading the tiny engraved words aloud: “To Elizabeth, my guiding star. All my love, Edward.”
A shiver ran down Robin’s spine as she looked back at the painting on the wall. “That must be them,” she said, gesturing to the couple in the portrait. “Edward and Elizabeth Everleigh.”
Alice nodded, her expression thoughtful. “This is amazing, but why was all of this hidden away?”
“How do you even hide a room behind a wall?” Kelli asked.
Robin shook her head, feeling overwhelmed by the questions swirling in her mind. “I don’t know, but I think we need to get the others. We should document everything in here before we start moving things around.”
“Good idea,” Kelli said.
“I’ll go get the others,” AJ volunteered.
Robin met Alice’s eye. “Let’s start cataloguing what we see here.”
Kelli moved over to the far wall, and she said, “You guys, there’s a window here.” She pulled on a cord, and the drapes started sliding open with an irritating grating sound. Natural light poured into the room, and Robin blinked into it.
“This room did not exist on the floor plans,” Robin said. And she knew, because she’d looked at them when El had sent them out. Multiple times.
“That helps so much.” Alice switched off her phone flashlight and tucked her device away. Robin turned back to the desk, her hands hovering over the scattered papers and photographs. A strange mix of excitement and trepidation filtered through her, as if they were on the verge of uncovering something monumental.
“Where should we start?” Alice asked.
Robin took a deep breath, forcing herself to approach the task methodically the way she would taking a nebulous event and turning it into the wedding of the century. “Let’s start with the newspapers.” She reached for the top one. “Maybe they can give us a timeline of events.”
As they began sorting through the yellowed pages, typing in the dates at the top of them, and then a couple of the headlines, Robin couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. She glanced up at the portrait of Edward and Elizabeth Everleigh, their painted eyes seeming to follow her every move.
“This is so strange,” Kelli said as she returned to the desk. She patted her baby’s bottom and rocked from foot to foot, clearly trying to get the little girl to go to sleep. “Why would someone go to such lengths to hide all of this?”
“Great question,” Alice said, echoing Robin’s thoughts.
“When do you think this room was walled off?” Kelli asked next.
“I have no idea,” Robin said.
“I’m going to write down all these questions,” Alice said. “Because I feel like they should have answers.”
“Do you think a hidden room with books and letters and even a window—” Robin turned and gestured toward the glass. “Has anything to do with why we’ve been experiencing all those odd occurrences in the house?”
And how could it?
They were old newspapers, not ghosts flipping switches or rats gnawing through wires.
She picked up another newspaper, this one dated a week after the fire. The headline read: “Questions Surround Starlight Manor Fire: Foul Play Suspected.”
“Look at this,” Robin said, her voice hushed. She pointed to a paragraph halfway down the page. “It says here that there were rumors of financial troubles and marital discord between Edward and Elizabeth Everleigh in the weeks leading up to the fire.”
Alice leaned in, her eyes scanning the text. “That’s interesting. That could explain why this room—and all of this—got hidden behind a solid wall.”
Voices came down the hall, and the three of them turned toward the entrance to the hidden office. Moments later, Eloise appeared in the doorway, her eyes wide with disbelief.
She sucked at the air as she took in the scene before her. “AJ wasn’t exaggerating. This is…”
“A hidden room,” Robin said.
“Edward’s office,” Alice said. “At least, I think it’s his.”
“It’s not on the floor plan,” El said as she joined them at the desk. “I wonder what other secret rooms and passageways this place has.”
AJ returned, with Kristen moving slowly behind her. Her breath came in labored spurts, and Laurel brought up the rear, saying, “Maybe there will be a chair here, and you can sit.”
“There’s a chair,” Robin said, pulling it out from the desk. “Come sit down, Kristen.”
But the older woman and Robin’s mentor and beloved friend didn’t continue forward to the chair. Her eyes widened as she too drank in the office. “I don’t know if my old heart can take this.” She pressed one hand to her heartbeat, her fingers almost at her throat.
The room suddenly felt a bit claustrophobic with all seven of them in it, but she pushed the suffocating feelings down until they went away.
“Okay, everyone,” she said, raising her voice slightly to be heard over the chatter. “We need to document everything in here carefully before we start moving things around. Can we split into teams?”
“Let’s take pictures,” El said, her phone already out and ready. “We don’t even know what will be a clue.”
Robin nodded along with Alice, and Kristen finally did come sit in the chair. “Looks like newspapers, photographs, journals, books…” Her gaze swept the office. “Look, they’ve got a filing cabinet.”
She pushed herself up with a groan and walked over to the cabinet positioned next to the bookcase. “These had to be very new at the time.” Kristen depressed the button, and the top drawer popped out so she could pull it open.
She turned back to the group. “It’s empty.”
“Less to go through,” Alice said. “Robin and I have started on the newspapers, and we can take this stack of journals here.”
“Kel and I will work on this bookcase,” AJ said.
“Laurel, Kristen, and I will do the photographs and ledgers,” El said.
The newspapers all came from a single month, and Robin invented a story about Edward as she and Alice catalogued them, took pictures, and leafed through their thin pages. Edward got the newspaper everyday, and he kept them until the end of the month, when the recycling went out.
These all came from the days and weeks immediately before the fire—from the last week of November through nearly Christmas.
“Look,” Alice said softly as she tipped an open journal toward Robin. “It’s Elizabeth Everleigh’s diary.”
Robin leaned in, her heart racing as she read the elegant script on the first page. “My dearest Edward,” it began. “If you are reading this, then I fear the worst has come to pass…”
As she continued reading, a chill ran down Robin’s spine. The diary entry spoke of Elizabeth’s fears – fears of financial ruin, of scandal, of losing everything they had built together. But more than that, it spoke of a deep, unresolved conflict between her and Edward.
I cannot bear the thought of facing our friends and neighbors, knowing the truth of what we’ve done. Edward insists we can weather this storm, but I fear the price will be too high. How can we continue our charitable work, and maintain our social standing, when everything is built on such a fragile foundation of lies?
She looked up at Alice. “It sounds like they were hiding something big.”
Alice pointed to another entry.
Edward will not listen to me, and I’m tired of pressing my ear to the door of his office while he meets with the constable, a lawyer, and his father. He insists we host our annual Christmas Eve party, but I don’t even know if the servants will be here by then. How does he expect me to pay a staff and put on a party when he won’t tell me everything and when our finances are so up in the air?
Robin looked at Alice. “What could’ve gone wrong in Nineteen-Twelve?”
“The Great Depression wasn’t for another couple of decades,” Alice said. “I don’t know.”
Robin felt like they were assembling a complex puzzle, but the final picture remained frustratingly out of reach. Across the room, she could hear snippets of conversation from the others as they made their own discoveries.
“Look at this photo,” Eloise was saying. “This room doesn’t exist in the current floor plan.”
“Maybe it’s behind a wall,” Laurel said dryly.
“I found an article about Edward Everleigh’s business dealings,” AJ called out. “It mentions some questionable investments and potential fraud.”
Robin’s head spun with all the new information. She turned back to the diary, flipping through the pages until she reached an entry dated just days before the fire. As she read, her breath caught in her throat.
“You guys,” she said urgently. “I think I found something important.” She waited until they’d all gathered around the desk once more, then she began to read out loud.
“December 20, 1912
My dearest Edward,
I fear this may be my final entry, for I can no longer bear the weight of our secrets. The walls of The Starlight Manor, once a symbol of our outlandish and out-of-this-world dreams and aspirations, now feel like a prison. The whispers grow louder with each passing day, and I know it is only a matter of time before the truth comes to light.
You say we can weather this storm, that our love and our reputation will see us through. But at what cost, my love? The thought of facing our friends, our benefactors, knowing the truth of what we’ve done…it is more than I can bear.
I have made a decision, one that I pray you will understand in time. By the time you read these words, I will have taken steps to ensure that our legacy, tarnished though it may be, will endure. The fire that burns within me now will soon consume all evidence of our transgressions.
Forgive me, Edward. Know that my love for you has never wavered, even in these darkest of hours.
Forever yours,
Elizabeth”
As Robin finished reading, a heavy silence fell over the room. She looked up to find everyone with the same round eyes her’s had become.
Alice cleared her throat, her face pale. “Are you saying that Elizabeth started the fire here at her own house intentionally?”
Robin nodded slowly, the weight of the revelation settling over her. “It seems that way. But why? What were they hiding that was so terrible?”
El held up a weathered filing folder. It had no shapely tab, but looked like a buff piece of cardstock folded right in half. “I think I might have an idea.” She flipped open the folder. “These are financial records, and they have handwritten notes on them. To me, it looks like Edward and Elizabeth were using their charitable foundation as a front to funnel money into their own pockets.”
She handed the folder to Alice. “I mean, I’m no expert, so.”
Alice said nothing as she opened the folder and started examining the documents inside.
“Okay,” AJ said in a near-shout. “But that doesn’t explain the strange occurrences we’ve been experiencing.” She looked around at all of them, and Robin folded her arms, hugging herself to try to keep warm.
“Are we seriously saying the ghosts of Edward and Elizabeth are haunting the house now, after all this time?”
“We don’t even know if they died here,” Laurel said.
Kristen sighed as she gained her feet again. “Perhaps they’re not haunting the house,” she said. “Perhaps they’re trying to make amends.”
Robin considered this, her mind racing. “The flickering lights, the moving objects…what if it’s not about scaring us away, but about leading us here? To this room, to these documents?”
A thoughtful silence fell over the group as they considered this possibility. Robin looked around at her friends, seeing her own mix of excitement and trepidation reflected in their faces. She couldn’t shake the question—but why? Why did they need to be here, see these things? What could they do more than a century later?
But as she gazed at the portrait of Edward and Elizabeth Everleigh, their painted eyes seeming to follow her every move, Robin couldn’t shake the feeling that they had only scratched the surface of the mystery. What other secrets lay hidden within the walls of The Starlight Manor? And how would uncovering them affect their own lives and relationships?
As if in answer to her unspoken questions, a cold breeze swept through the office, causing the papers on the desk to rustle. Kelli cried out, and AJ sucked in a breath.
Truth be told, Robin did as well. Goosebumps pricked her arms, flowed over her shoulders, and made her shiver.
The lights flickered once, twice, and then steadied.
“Okay,” she said loudly. “Time to vacate this office. Who needs a drink?” She looked around at her friends. “I need a drink—and not a mocktail.”