Sunken Shadows

by Kathleen Brooks

  Darcy shook her head as if to clear it before reaching into her purse and pulling out the songbook. “We need to put this someplace safe. Miss Winnie figured out the last clue.”

  “Praise the Lord!” Reverend Winston said as he took the book. “Do you have all you need then?”

  “Not yet. We need to find one more thing, then we’ll be all set.” Wade took her hand and smiled down at her as she told Reverend Winston about the latest clue.

  “Well, then, let’s go.” Reverend Winston counted out the pews and suddenly disappeared. A second later he was back up but without the book in hand.

  “Is he coming with us?” Darcy whispered to Wade, who just chuckled under his breath. She was glad he was finding this amusing. They were starting to gain numbers and would look like an invading force heading into the archives.

  Wade took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Don’t worry. I just saw Miss Winnie put the dagger in her purse. We’ll be protected.”

  Darcy couldn’t help but laugh. She tried to smother it so it came out as a snort. Wade knew instantly how to drop her stress level. “Then let’s get this show on the road.”

  * * *

  “It’s not here,” Darcy said as she flopped back in her chair. Dr. Adkins had once again been shut out from the room and had thrown a hissy until Miss Winnie had grabbed his ear and scolded him.

  “I’m sorry, but I’m not finding any dancing books either,” Miss Ruby called out from where she was going through a shelf of old books.

  “Me neither,” Miss Winnie said. “And I refuse to ask Mr. Snooty where it would be.”

  “I’ll go ask,” Reverend Winston said as Darcy heard him say a prayer for patience.

  “I’m right sorry, Darcy,” Skeeter said, closing up the vault.

  There had been so many fascinating books and diaries that Darcy itched to study. After she found the treasure, she could write a book about Shadows Landing during the height of piracy. She would let Wade read every chapter after he got home from work. She pictured them snuggled up on the couch, him telling her of his day and her telling him of her research.

  Darcy paused in closing the book she’d been looking through. After the treasure? She’d never allowed herself to think that before. She’d never thought about life after the hunt. She’d only thought about finding the treasure and curating it. But the idea of staying in Shadows Landing, the idea of a life with Wade, a home here, it felt . . . right.

  What if she didn’t find the treasure? Darcy looked around at the people helping her and at the room full of books over three hundred years old. Well, if she didn’t know before, she now knew what to do with herself. She’d tell the history of Shadows Landing. The vise that had been squeezing her since she started her hunt loosened. She had Wade, whom she cared about, and she had people she could honestly call her friends. It hit her like a lightning bolt. This was where she was supposed to be, and Wade was the one she was supposed to be with. The feeling settled over her like a warm blanket on a cold night. The chill left her, and Darcy was filled with warmth and love.

  “It’s too late now, but we’ll go to the Daughters of Shadow Landing tomorrow to see if they have anything in their records,” Miss Winnie suggested.

  “They have records?” Darcy asked as she was drawn from her thoughts.

  “Oh yes. They’ve been organizing festivals and hosting committees since they were a group of pirate wives filling time while their husbands were out plundering,” Miss Winnie told her.

  “That’s right,” Reverend Winston picked up. “All the women in my family belonged. They are the ones who started the park and ordered the fountain. They also run the yearly festival. That’s a really good idea, Miss Winnie.”

  Skeeter’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t have access to their vaults. They’re members only.”

  Darcy pulled her hand from Wade’s and hugged a surprised Skeeter. “You’ve been the biggest help. I can’t thank you enough.”

  “Shucks, Darcy,” Skeeter said as he blushed.

  “I know someone with access to the vaults,” Wade said suddenly.

  “Who?” Darcy turned back to him.

  “The Bell family. Maggie Bell is a friend of mine, and her mother, Suze, is the current president of the DOSL”

  “DOSL?”

  “Daughters of Shadows Landing,” Wade told Darcy.

  Darcy sighed. That’s more people who would know what she was doing. Darcy looked around. No one was trying to steal the treasure from her. They all wanted to see her succeed. “What’s two more people?” She sighed.

  “I can ask at the Sunday service if we can’t find it by then,” Reverend Winston offered.

  “Let’s take it a day at a time,” Darcy told him. She was starting to admit the people of Shadows Landing just wanted to help, but she wasn’t ready to let the whole town in on it. She could imagine hundreds of people following her from building to building to look at historic papers.

  * * *

  Wade could see the tension appear back in Darcy’s body. She’d never told anyone what she was working on before, and in three days his whole family, the sheriff’s department, Skeeter, Gator, Reverend Winston, Miss Ruby, and Winnie knew about it. After what he’d seen of the other hunters, he understood why Darcy was nervous. But his friends would only want to help, not claim it as their own.

  “I’ll call Maggie and see if she can meet us at Harper’s,” Wade said as he tried to sound encouraging.

  Darcy nodded, and he called Maggie as they locked up everything. The group exited the room to find a glaring Stephen Adkins.

  “Skeeter, for the last time, what it the code to the vault? And you have to stop locking me out! I’m the director, and you’re nothing but a ghost-chasing hack.”

  Miss Ruby’s hand flew up to Stephen’s ear before Wade could blink. Miss Ruby had Stephen’s ear between her fingers and bent him down to her level, and she lectured him. “Those schools up north must have made you lose your manners. You don’t talk to people like that. I’m going to call your momma if you don’t shape up.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Stephen whimpered. Miss Ruby let him up and he adjusted his bow tie. “Sorry.” He spun on the heel of his loafer and stormed out.

  Wade looked at Skeeter and knew he was trying to hide the hurt the words caused. “Well, um, I guess just let me know how it goes tomorrow,” Skeeter mumbled.

  “You’ll know since you’ll be with me,” Darcy said as if nothing had happened.

  “You want me to go with you?”

  “Of course. I wouldn’t have gotten this far without your help. You’re invaluable to me and my search,” Darcy said, turning to Wade.

  “Will Maggie meet us?”

  “Yes.” Wade saw that Darcy no longer seemed tense. Now she seemed determined.

  “Great,” Miss Ruby said. “You just text us when you go over, and we’ll meet you all there.”

  “You might need to change the name of your hunting operation to Delmar and Friends,” Wade said with a laugh.

  “I just might,” Darcy said, smiling back at him, and he hoped above all else that she would stay in Shadows Landing with her new friends. And with him. But right then, Wade made up his mind. If she didn’t, they would make it work one way or another because he didn’t want to let her go.

  25

  Now.

  Wade looked at the text from Granger as they walked out of the church. He looked to the end of Main Street where smoke from the fire pit at Lowcountry Smokehouse danced up into the sky.

  Skeeter thanked Darcy and hurried across the street as soon as he saw Gator’s beat up pickup parking in front of Harper’s bar.

  “I wanted to hurt that asshole so badly for making Skeeter feel bad about himself,” Darcy said through gritted teeth.

  Wade held her hand in his as he took her down the alley between the church and the courthouse. It was a narrow alley designed for horse-drawn carriages, but one car at a time could now squeeze through it and fin
d a small parking lot behind the courthouse.

  “You’re loyal to your friends and protective of them. It’s a good trait to have. Rumor has it Stephen is thinking of running for mayor. Right now we’re so small we don’t have one. We’re going to be voting on a measure in the fall on whether we want one or not.”

  “Well, I’d vote for Bubba the gator over Stephen,” Darcy said staunchly before she stopped walking and looked around. A slope of grass ran down to an offshoot of Shadows River.

  “This is where the pirates would hide their boats. As you can see, it’s high tide. It’s deep enough for them to come in and be hidden from Shadows River by the swamp over there. That’s where your friend Bubba lives.”

  “Wow. This is where they hid their ships and offloaded them,” she said as she turned back to look at the church. “I wonder where the tunnel is that heads into the church.”

  “I wanted to see if I could see it, too. I didn’t know it existed until the other day. But that exploration might have to wait. Granger texted. He said to walk by now. I wanted to pop out this way so we walk past Lowcountry as if we’re on the way to the bar. It won’t draw attention that way.”

  Darcy nodded as he threaded his fingers with hers again. “It would look strange if we walked up to it and then turned around and walked away. I’m kind of nervous.”

  “I’m right here with you.”

  Darcy rested her head on his shoulder for a moment as they watched the water flow gently by. “I know. You give me strength.”

  “I don’t do that. You were strong way before you met me.”

  “Maybe courage is a better word. I’m not afraid to fall because I know you’ll catch me.”

  “Always.”

  They walked hand in hand behind the courthouse and out onto South Cypress Lane. The library was across the street from them, and they crossed to stand in front of it. The next building up was Lowcountry Smokehouse.

  “Interesting-looking library,” Darcy said as he looked up at the building. “It looks like a fancy old house better suited to Europe.”

  “It probably was. It was built in the early 1700s by a French madam and served as a brothel. Once people started actually enforcing prostitution laws, the madam turned the first floor into the library and swore up and down the women who worked there were librarians.”

  Darcy laughed as they continued to walk down the street, but she stopped laughing when Hugo called out her name. And it wasn’t just Hugo. Wade and Darcy were surprised as they saw Granger, Hugo, and Cash sitting at one of the outdoor tables, drinking beer.

  “Darcy! What are you doing here?” Hugo asked in faux innocence. He knew she was here. She’d heard Granger tell him so.

  “I think she’s doing her assistant. I’m so proud! It’s like my little bird has left the nest,” Cash said sarcastically before tipping back his beer.

  “What are you guys doing here?” Darcy asked instead of answering. She looked pointedly at Granger as if she were upset.

  “We’re offering our professional insight to our friend here. It’s always good to have a mentor. We all did. Well, you didn’t, but we did, and it’s invaluable to learn the trade from someone who has done it as long as we have. In fact, we tried to get Jules to come, too, but he never called us back,” Cash said as he set down his beer. “You didn’t answer what brought you to this little slice of pirate heaven.”

  Wade felt Darcy tense beside him. “Jules won’t be calling you back.”

  Hugo shook his head and looked at Darcy as if she knew nothing. “Jules always calls us back.”

  “Not when a dog carried his severed head out of the ocean this morning.”

  “You don’t have to make up such a ridiculous story. That’s just wrong,” Cash spat. “If you and Jules think you’re going to work together to beat us, you are badly mistaken.”

  “You think she’d make that up?” Wade asked incredulously. “We were notified of his death this morning. Someone cut off Jules’s head. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”

  “No,” Hugo said, shaking his head. “Are you serious?”

  Darcy nodded next to him. “Yes. Someone murdered him last night after the party—just the way he threatened to harm Leon.”

  The men were all quiet as they looked at each other, then back up to Darcy. “Why did the police come to you?” Hugo finally asked.

  “Because they thought I did it. Luckily, I had an alibi. Do either of you?”

  “You think one of us killed him?” Cash almost yelled. “You’re the one who closest to all the murders. You better run, lover boy. You’re probably next.”

  Wade shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not too worried. Are you? Did it occur to you that you could be next?” Wade paused, then wrapped his arm around Darcy’s shoulder. “We have someplace to be. See y’all later.”

  Wade clasped Darcy’s hand. They didn’t talk again until they were in front of Stomping Grounds. “I think that went well.”

  “Gossip about me will be flying,” Darcy said, letting out a breath. “I guess it shouldn’t matter.”

  Darcy paused, and Wade stopped walking. She was looking in the antique-store window. “They’re selling?”

  “Yes. The family wants to retire. Why?”

  “If the treasure business doesn’t work, I can sell antiques. I can become an antique hunter and maybe get a reality show like Cash.”

  “You can do that for fun after you find the greatest treasure ever lost,” Wade said reassuringly.

  * * *

  Darcy leaned her head against Wade’s shoulder as she looked into the store. Like most of Main Street, it had once been a very large old house, and she instantly wondered about the history.

  “Come on. You’ll love Maggie. Her family owns the large plantation at the edge of town. It’s been in the family forever. In fact, Maggie’s great-great-great-grandmother Ethel still haunts the place.”

  Darcy laughed at his joke and appreciated him helping to cast aside her doubt.

  “No, really. Ethel still haunts the place.”

  “You believe in ghosts?” she asked incredulously.

  “Hard not to when you’re from around here. Ask Skeeter about Eddie.”

  “Who’s Eddie?”

  “The pirate ghost who lives in his old house. Around here there are a lot of very old houses with history in them. Sometimes history doesn’t want to leave,” Wade told her as they passed a clothing boutique called Bless Your Scarf.

  “Is Maggie quirky?” Darcy asked, picturing a female version of Skeeter.

  “Quirky, yes. Crazy, no. Her mother, Suze Bell, is the current head of the Daughters of Shadow Landing. Her father, Clark, runs their family business and her brother, Gage, just moved back to start working with his dad.”

  “What’s the family business?” Darcy asked as they approached Harper’s bar.

  “Making money. While they’re society types, they’re not your New York socialites. Maggie and Gage are named after guns. Gage, the oldest, is twenty-six and is named after a twelve-gauge shotgun. Maggie’s real name is Magnum, and she’s an Olympic medalist as a sharpshooter.”

  Darcy blinked with surprise. “And they all live with a ghost?”

  “Yup. And Timmins.”

  “Is Timmins another ghost?” Darcy asked slowly.

  “No. That’s Timmins,” Wade said as he smiled at the man walking toward them. “He’s the house manager at Bell Landing Plantation.”

  Darcy cocked her head as she watched a man in board shorts, flip-flops, and a mostly unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt walking toward them. “I should have asked him to help instead of Granger. How did he get that bun so, well, messy? It’s perfect. I can never get my hair to purposely look so . . .”

  “Messy?” Wade asked with a laugh.

  “Wade! I am thirsty AF and need to chill. I was helping Mags with this fundraiser thing and I was, like, Ethel you need to swerve. She was all over the place today. I mean, my hair product is gone. Gone! I can’t even right now,” T
immins complained.

  “The ghost took your hair product?” Darcy asked, completely fascinated with Timmins. It was like deciphering a new language, and she loved cracking codes.

  “For real. Who does that? I’m Timmins, by the way,” he said, holding out his hand.

  “Darcy.” She shook it and then looked down. “How do you get your hands that soft? Mine are always cracking because I’m out in the water all the time.”

  “Me too!” Timmins cried as if they’re long-lost siblings. “Living my best life on the waves.”

  “Scuba diving for me.”

  “OMG, that’s my life goal. I want to scuba, but you have to like, take lessons.” Timmins paused as he looked happily between them. “You want to join my friends and me? It’s going to be lit.”

  “Thanks, Timmins, but we’re meeting Maggie,” Darcy said with a smile.

  “That’s cool, though. See you around. I might hit you up for some lessons. YOLO, right?”

  “Right,” Darcy said as Timmins bounded through the open door to the bar.

  “You understood that?” Wade asked.

  “He’s sweet,” she replied.

  “Well, yeah, I just can’t understand half of what he says,” Wade mumbled as he ushered her inside.

  Darcy looked around the packed bar, trying to figure out which one was Maggie Bell. The girl in a pink camo T-shirt, jean shorts, and monogrammed flip-flops wasn’t who she’d guessed. Darcy also felt a little twinge of jealousy when the strawberry-blonde goddess leaped up to hug Wade.

  “I am so glad you called,” Maggie said with wide happy eyes and perfect smiling lips. She turned her green eyes to Darcy, dropped her arms from around Wade’s neck, and flung them around hers. “And you must be Darcy! I have a huge favor to ask you.” Maggie unlaced her arms and sat down at the table. There were three beers already waiting for them. “What’s going on in the kitchen? Ridge interrupted his work on the old Hurston property because of some emergency with Harper’s kitchen. And I don’t know if you saw it or not, but there’s also a help-wanted sign in the window.”