Chapter 14
“I know where this is.” Harlow tilted her head. “Dad is right. It was a restricted area, off limits to guests.”
“Would it be possible for you to show me the exact location?” Caleb asked.
“Sure. I mean, it doesn’t look the same now after all these years, but you’ll be able to get a general idea.”
With a quick stop to grab their coats and boots, the trio traipsed out of the cottage making their way to what was left of the main lodge and the manager’s unit where Ginger Wynn, Harlow’s mother, had been staying the night of the fire.
Walking single file along the side of the structure, David led Harlow and Caleb to the back of the building.
A narrow path separated the charred walls and crumbling foundation from a thick row of towering shrubs.
Harlow picked her way over the uneven path. “I don’t remember the shrubs being this tall.”
“Lottie and I keep them trimmed, but they’ve grown in leaps and bounds the last couple of years. I’ll probably remove them and start over once the new structure is finished.”
“By the looks of it, you’ll have some serious landscaping to tackle,” Caleb said.
“A project Dad won’t mind one bit,” Harlow said. “Both he and Lottie have green thumbs.”
“If I recall correctly, so do you.”
“You should see the photos of Harlow’s flower gardens she designed around the monstrous mansion she and Robert are selling.”
“Monstrous mansion?”
“More like a museum,” Harlow said. “My favorite part was the gardens.”
“I take it you don’t miss Malibu?”
“Not a single iota.”
“You mentioned buying Lighthouse Lane,” Caleb said. “How’s it going?”
Harlow made an unhappy sound. “It’s not. CClifton LLC has a contract on it.”
Caleb’s brows furrowed. “CClifton LLC?”
“Correct. Maybe the Clifton family is expanding operations and is looking for an investment property to renovate,” David said.
“Asa and Trish Clifton are thinking about putting Clifton Manor on the market and moving to Arizona. I doubt they’re interested in purchasing a project.”
“So maybe CClifton is Cheyenne.”
“Cheyenne hasn’t mentioned it to me. Why would she want Lighthouse Lane?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Harlow said. “I’m sure she wouldn’t buy a property based solely on the fact that I was interested in it.”
Caleb didn’t respond, but judging by the expression on his face, he had his own thoughts about the matter.
“It could be a weird coincidence and someone else named Clifton wants the place,” Harlow said.
David rounded the side of the building, one without windows or doors. The only thing visible was a dryer vent cover sticking out of the wall.
Caleb eased past David. Placing his hands on his knees, he examined the charred piece of plastic. “You had a washer and dryer in the manager’s unit?”
“More than one, along with a pair of freezers, some storage shelves and a water heater.”
Harlow stood watching as Caleb gently lifted the melted flaps. He removed a flashlight from his jacket pocket and beamed the light inside. “You think the vent cover is some sort of clue?”
“Maybe.” He finished inspecting the cover and lowered his gaze, studying the ground. “The tracks in the photo went all along this wall.”
“Correct,” David said. “Like Harlow and I mentioned, no one should have been back here. There’s another vent cover farther down.”
Caleb kept going until he reached the second cover. He grew quiet while he inspected it. Finally, he straightened his back. “What about your maintenance workers or the groundskeepers?”
“Our lawn crew would have been responsible for trimming the shrubs. It’s possible the maintenance manager was back here checking the dryer vents to make sure they weren’t clogged.”
“But not daily…not often enough where they would have left several sets of fresh prints,” Caleb insisted.
“No. You think someone could have been casing the joint?”
“Maybe. The footprints were made by the same person.”
“I would like to take another look at it when we get back to the house.” Harlow spun in a slow circle. “Dad remembered hearing a clanking sound and saw a flash of light while he was out walking, before he went to bed and the fire started.”
“Coming from this general direction,” David said.
“The prints could be yours,” Harlow theorized.
“I didn’t walk back here.”
“Maybe they belonged to a firefighter.”
Caleb immediately dismissed the suggestion. “Based on the report and the level of heat and flames coming from the building, there’s no way the firefighters would have been this close to the structure.”
“He’s right. The fire was too intense for anyone to have gotten this close. As far as the clanking sound, it could have been anything.”
“So, we’re back to square one,” Harlow sighed.
“Not square one. My gut tells me the footprints are some sort of clue.” Caleb tapped the top of the cover. “And maybe even these vent covers, which were mentioned in the original report, as well.”
“The next logical step is to confirm the distance from the vent cover to the wall,” David said. “I’m almost positive it’s close.”
“Meaning what?” Harlow asked.
“Maybe something. Maybe nothing.”
Using his cell phone, Caleb snapped photos of the covers, the side of the building, the narrow space between the wall and shrubs and then took a panoramic shot of the entire area.
After finishing, the trio returned to what had been the front entrance. Picking through the rubble, they entered the foyer and walked along the hall until they reached the door leading to the manager’s unit.
David and Caleb made their way inside while Harlow hung back, a feeling of incredible sadness and sorrow sweeping over her. This…this was the place where her mother had taken her very last breath.
Her father returned to her side, noting the look on Harlow’s face. He touched her arm, his somber expression mirroring hers. “You can wait here if you want.”
Caleb reappeared. “You okay?”
“I…haven’t been inside since the fire.”
Caleb nodded knowingly, having witnessed more than his share of tragedies…
the loss of a life, of a beloved pet, or of a home filled with decades of memories, all gone in the blink of an eye.
It was the part of the job he dreaded most. Seeing the look on Harlow’s face, even after all these years, made him want to hold her close and take away the pain.
“Your dad is right. You can stay here,” he said softly.
“Clearing Dad’s name is important, and the only way to do it is to face the past, regardless of how painful it might be.” Harlow swallowed hard, a look of determination etched on her face. The Wynn family deserved…and desperately needed to find out what happened.