The Hall of Shadows

by M. L. Bullock

  Don’t be silly. That’s just your bloody skin that you smell. You need a bath, old girl.

  That’s what Danny would have told me, but he wasn’t here now. And what I was smelling had to be more than some dried blood.

  Nomi…

  I put my hand on the pantry door and walked inside. It was a large pantry with plenty of shelves and bins for storage. There was a wine rack on the far wall, but it looked off. It was usually flush against the wall and was slightly off-center now. I walked toward it, uncaring that my white robe would become completely dusty in here. Yes, there was dust everywhere.

  Vita…

  That’s where it was coming from! I could hear the sounds clearly now. Many voices, not just one. Familiar voices. Danny? I walked toward the wine rack and noticed a slit in the wall. Only it wasn’t a wall…it was a door. How could there be a door here? I thought I knew every inch of this place. I had explored every room, hadn’t I?

  Yes, long ago, but not this room. No, you never explored this room. See what you missed? There’s something here.

  The door opened with a creak, and the voices got quiet. In for a penny, in for a pound, as my father would say. It was dark down there, very dark indeed. But there was a soft glow. I could see it as I stepped down onto the wooden staircase.

  The light was fading, so I walked faster. Where were they going? I wanted to call out to them, to command them to stay, but I did not. I was too afraid. I was in my own home, but this seemed wrong. I felt evil all around me. Evil that Danny knew about.

  “Danny?”

  A long, narrow corridor stretched out before me. In the distance, I saw the light dim until it disappeared completely.

  And then the pantry door slammed behind me.

  Chapter Eleven

  Present Day

  With an urgency I’d rarely experienced, I blazed through the kitchen and hurried into the pantry. I flipped the switch and glanced around the room. It wasn’t exactly as I remembered it in my dream—no, make that vision—but I could clearly see the back wall. There was no wine rack there now. That had been replaced with rickety metal shelves that were thankfully half empty. I set the knife down, slid the boxes of canned goods across the floor and tugged at the shelves. They weren’t connected to the wall in any way and came loose easily enough.

  But that wasn’t the problem. The problem was the wall had been plastered. No doubt there had been an entrance there; why else would she have shown me that? She must be trapped down there. Is that what happened to you, Joanna? I sobbed as I slapped my hands against the unpainted Sheetrock. Who would do this to you? Vivian? Danny?

  With my back against the wall, I glanced around the room. There had to be a way to tear this wall down. There were no tools in the pantry, but I was pretty sure there would be some in the storage building out back. What would I need? Probably a sledgehammer or at least some kind of hammer.

  I raced back to my room and shed my pajamas, trading them in for blue jeans and one of my oldest t-shirts. I tied my wild blond hair up in a ponytail, slid on my shoes and headed outside to find something. I had to get into the hidden room. Joanna needed me to find her. She needed me!

  Without thinking it through, without counting the costs, I searched for a sledgehammer. There were dozens of tools out here but no sledgehammer. I did find an ax, though. I reached for it and tugged it free from the tool rack. It was a heavy thing but not too heavy for me. I could do this. I had to get to the truth.

  “Hey, what are you doing?”

  “Crap, Alex! You scared the hell out of me. Don’t you know it’s dangerous to scare a woman while she’s holding an ax?” I patted my chest and tried to catch my breath. How did he get the drop on me like that? Not like me at all.

  “What are you doing with that?”

  “I’m not chopping up the neighbors if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m doing some…renovations.”

  “Renovations? Since when do you do those? Don’t you have a chapter to finish? A book to finish? Please put the ax down, Joanna.”

  I paused for a second and let that sink in. Alex just called me Joanna. Should I call him on that? Should I say something about it? What should I do? Well, I wasn’t going to change my mind. I had an ax in my hands, and that wall was coming down.

  “I’m not putting the ax down. I have a wall to take down. You can help me, or you can go back to your hotel. Which will it be?”

  “What wall? What are you talking about?”

  “In the pantry. There was a secret room, but someone boarded it up. I’m about to take it down. Want to help?”

  Alex rubbed his hand through his short hair and shook his head in disbelief. “Are you serious? In the pantry? How can you know this? Wait, I’m sure I don’t want to know. At least let me take a look at it before you go chopping it to bits. The last thing I want is for you to get electrocuted because you cut some electrical wires. Come show me, please.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Death by electrocution does not sound like the way to go. Thanks, Alex.”

  “You’re welcome. Don’t thank me yet, though. I’m not saying I’m going to help other than keep you alive.”

  “Well, that’s worth something, isn’t it?”

  We walked back into the house, and I led him to the pantry.

  “Geesh, I see what you mean. This is definitely a bad patch job, but we can’t know for sure there’s anything back there. It might just be a wall repair, Megan. Look…we can…”

  I didn’t wait for his permission. I swung the ax, and it landed in the wall with a dull thud. Alex swore at me but stepped out of the way. “See anything electrical?” I asked with a serious expression.

  “No, I don’t. Go ahead and destroy the wall. It’s yours to do with what you want, I suppose. But tell me again, why are you doing this?”

  I swung the ax again, and this time it landed in wood. Large chunks of Sheetrock fell to the ground, but the ax wasn’t moving. What had I hit? A beam, maybe? I tugged at the handle, but the blade wouldn’t budge. I wasn’t going to quit now. “Are you going to help me or what?”

  “Fine. But this isn’t how I expected to spend my day.” He snatched the ax from the wall and flipped it once in his hand. “Why don’t we try knocking the plaster down without actually destroying the structure?” I grinned in response as he bumped at the Sheetrock with the square side of the ax. More chunks of Sheetrock fell, but the results were disappointing. There was no gaping cavern before me.

  I sighed in disappointment at the sight of wooden slats. “I swear I saw this space open. It was a corridor, and Joanna was there—she was trapped, Alex. I saw the door close behind her, and she felt so desperate. So afraid. I must be going crazy. I guess I really am going crazy.”

  “This isn’t right, Megan.” He propped the ax against the wall and stood in front of the opening we’d created.

  “I know. I guess you’re right, Alex. I’m obsessed with Joanna Storm. I’m seeing her everywhere. Even in my dreams.”

  “No, I mean this isn’t right. These aren’t interior boards. These wooden slats are old, and they are an exterior wall. They shouldn’t be here. I need a pry bar and a hammer.”

  I stood beside him and stared at the fitted boards. “Seriously? You think there might be something behind there?”

  “Look at the surrounding wood. This was clearly added after, a modification. What if you’re right, what if there is something down there?” His eyes were wide with excitement.

  “Pry bar? That’s like a tire tool, right?”

  “Something like that,” he said as he picked up the ax. We were both sweaty and covered in dust.

  “In the shed. I saw one, and I definitely know where there’s a hammer.”

  Ten minutes later, we were tugging on a board and to my surprise it popped easily. A blast of stale air met us as we hovered in front of the portal. I held up my cell phone and tapped on the flashlight app. Even with this weak beam of light, I could see what I already knew. There were woode
n stairs and something else just beyond. Could be a room, could be a tunnel. We stared at one another and then tore off another four boards before we stopped to catch our breath. I hurried to the kitchen to grab a flashlight. There had to be one in here somewhere. There! I grabbed the plastic light and scrambled back into the pantry. Alex was shaking his head at me.

  “I can’t believe you found this.”

  “We found it,” I corrected him as I powered on the flashlight.

  “I think we should wait, Megan. What if she’s down there? I don’t want you to find her like that. She wouldn’t want that either.”

  I touched his shoulder and looked him squarely in the eye. “You’re wrong, Alex. Joanna wants to be found. She wants to rest, and she can’t as long as she’s missing. As long as her killer is free.”

  “I hate to argue with you, but if someone killed Joanna and hid her somewhere, they would be dead too. Long dead, Megan. Those stairs don’t look too sturdy, and there’s no telling how old they are.”

  “If you think some rickety stairs are going to stop me, think again. I’m going down. Let’s go one at a time in case they do give way. Better yet, you stay up here. Just in case.”

  “I think this is a bad idea, but I have to admit I’m curious too. Alright, but you have to talk to me the whole time. No running off half-cocked.”

  “Agreed.” I paused in the doorway with the flashlight in my hand. I couldn’t see much beyond the bottom step, but clearly there was a room just beyond.

  Nomi…nomi…vita…

  “Did you say something?” I asked, knowing good and well that it wasn’t Alex I heard. Those were voices from the past, voices warning me not to come any closer. I was never good at following directions.

  “No. Please be careful, Megan.”

  I kissed his cheek and stepped onto the top step.

  Chapter Twelve

  March 1932

  “Danny! It was marvelous, wasn’t it marvelous? Nobody believed that it would be good, but I knew it would be. I mean, you knew it would be brilliant…but I believed you, and it was a beautiful film.” I paced the tiny dressing room and fanned myself as my face flushed. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight.

  Dan’s warm voice filled my ear as he whispered his congratulations. I was so relieved that Fields of Green had turned out so beautifully. So relieved that the Golden Gamma would live to fight for another role, another film, and that my life as Hollywood’s brightest star would continue.

  Yes, I held him tight. My little bit of home. Dan Petit had proven to be a brilliant manager, a genius, really. That devilish Eva Fonterelli thought she could steal him from me with her flirtatious manners and large eyes. I heard she promised him the world, but he’d never even entertained the notion; at least not that he confessed. I’d asked Vivian about it, but she’d merely smiled and reminded me that we three were a cord that would never be broken.

  Danny, Vivian and I would always be together. We were family.

  “Thank you, Danny.” I kissed his cheek and hugged him again. There were tears in my eyes now.

  “Don’t cry, Joanna. You’ll lose an eyelash. Nobody wants to see a one-eyed movie star,” he scolded me playfully as he reached for his handkerchief. He was right, as he always was. I’d have to return to the auditorium soon to meet the fans with the rest of the cast. Fields of Green hadn’t been a one-woman show. It had been a full-on production that had taken nearly six months to complete.

  Funny to think that just a few years ago I was struggling for bit parts in local plays, but somehow Danny had made it all work. He negotiated all my contracts and made all the arrangements. Although I knew part of our success rested on my shoulders, I had no illusions about the matter—I couldn’t have done this without him. I trusted him implicitly, and he’d come through for us.

  With Vivian as my assistant, I had it all; she cared for my every need. Bringing her along had also been Danny’s idea and not one I’d welcomed at first. There were too many strange memories, not to mention her occasional bloodletting, though she was always careful to hide it from me. As much as she could. Wearing long sleeves all the time, even during those blazing hot days in the movie lot trailers. When she wasn’t pressing my clothes or finding my lunch or doing something else for me, she wrote in her book constantly and talked to herself. Her abject weirdness seemed a small price to pay considering how wonderfully she kept me, but there was something nagging at me, an unsettled feeling that sometimes accompanied Vivian’s quiet presence.

  For long stretches, months and months, we would get along famously. She’d read the reviews aloud while I poured our coffee in the mornings. We shopped together…what irony that Father’s wish had come true after all these years! At times, Vivian had been like a true cousin—no, make that a sister—to me. But then some strange melancholy would come over her. I’d hear her crying in the night, mumbling in her childhood language. And when I went into her room to comfort her, she would be sleeping and shaking and crying. She hated my intrusions and would avoid me for days after, as much as she could. She’d ask about going home, home to Morgan’s Rock, and I’d smile and pat her hand and remind her that we had films to make. Things to do. Sunshine to soak in. I loved California.

  But Vivian was right.

  I could not stay away forever. The three of us, in our strange way, needed to return home. It was as if Morgan’s Rock imparted something magical to us, something intangible yet necessary. For Vivian, she would spend all her days in Father’s library. I would visit the stables every morning, as had been my practice long before my Paden arrived. Dan did not live at Morgan’s Rock, as he had his own comfortable estate just north of Rockville, but he too spent many days there every week. His favorite room was the large Great Room. Even when it was cold, he loved that room. And so did I when it wasn’t foggy out.

  Yes, I always returned. For even though I spent grueling days on sets with demanding directors and partied (at least for the photographers) all hours of the night, I had to go home eventually. The ghosts of Morgan’s Rock, Father and Mother, were beckoning to me. After the premiere, we would go back to our hotel and pack. It was time to go. Vivian was elated.

  “There now. Let me do it. You’re making a mess of your face.” I tilted my face up to Dan and allowed him to pat my eyes carefully. “You’re a doll, Joanna Storm. A beautiful, lovely doll.”

  I smiled up at him, grateful for his compliment. But then he grabbed my arm. I thought he would say something else, but that’s not what he wanted. He kissed me. Danny kissed me, and I was so stunned that I couldn’t think to stop him. I didn’t slap him—I wasn’t offended, strangely enough—but I felt a deep sense of regret, a kind of soul sadness. I stepped away from him.

  “Don’t do that again, Danny.” He wasn’t willing to let me go, so I snatched my elbow away from him. “Don’t ruin our night, please. Let me go.” I reached for my capelet as I suddenly felt sick. A cold chill raced up my fingers, hands and arms first before quickly spreading to my entire body.

  “You must know I love you, Jo. You must know that. How can you take Paden as a lover when you know…”

  “Stop!” I warned him as I struggled to toss the soft fabric over my shoulders.

  He wasn’t listening to me; as a matter of fact, I could barely hear him now. Why were the lights so erratic? I clutched the back of the fabric-covered chair to steady myself. Much to my relief, the door opened and I heard another muffled voice.

  “Joanna! Catch her! She’s falling!”

  Vivian leaned over me, her perfect face twisted with concern. The cold feeling had been replaced by a growing burning sensation. My hands and feet began to shake, and terror washed over me. What was happening to me? Why couldn’t I speak? I tried to call out to Vivian, to ask her to find Paden…where was he? Why wasn’t he here? Danny? Are you crying?

  But no words came forth, only a strange gurgling sound.

  And then the memories came. I saw my father reaching out his hand to me. He
was wearing his best suit, the one he wore just for me on my birthday. On the most horrible night of my life. Then I could see Mother standing in front of a black marble obelisk. We were in Egypt! She was smiling, her hat askew with the mosquito netting caught in the wind.

  Mother!

  My body flailed, and I felt my stomach seize as if I were being punched by an invisible hand. What was happening to me?

  More memories flooded my mind. Riding on Magadan through the countryside. Our Kent home in the distance. My true home. Then I was at Morgan’s Rock. I flew through the halls as if I were a ghost.

  Was that it? Was I dying?

  I sped through the hall, my body freed from every encumbrance. I could hear music playing, and there were people singing. Not singing. Chanting. Yes, I remembered now. I’d been in the hidden room, the one past the pantry. I’d been there, but I’d forgotten about it. How had I forgotten?

  I’d been in the dark, lost in the dark.

  And now I was in the dark again. I fell asleep, and when I woke I felt as limp as a rag doll. They were all there, Vivian, Danny and Paden. Staring at me. Danny was the closest now. Paden hung back for some reason. Why? Don’t leave me, beloved. No, he’s not really here. This isn’t right.

  I clutched Danny’s hand and finally managed to speak before I passed out again.

  “I want to go home.”

  I closed my eyes and drifted away.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Present Day

  “I don’t know why I’m so surprised by this, but I confess that I am. I had no idea this was down here, Megan. How did you know?” Alex waved his flashlight at me. The beam of light struck me in the eyes briefly, and I blinked against it.

  “Stop blinding me.” I pushed his hand away and ignored his question. “Is that another wall? I know there’s more. This shouldn’t be here. I saw a long hallway and a room just beyond because there was a torch light.”