Tori laughed. “Good thinking. We would have busted your ass and still taken the fee, just to prove a point.”
The woman grinned. “I didn't search anywhere else in that room though. All those wood panels might have something hidden, and there are a few creaky floorboards too.” She paused before continuing, “In all the old movies, they put things in the floor, right?”
He wanted to remind her that this wasn’t a movie. This was life, but he didn't want to contradict the client. After all, the customer was always right. Instead, he went with her thoughts. “Are there any secret passage ways?” Julian asked. “Houses this old had hidey holes in case there was a union or confederate invasion.”
She thought about it. “I don’t know of any. If there are some, that’s something only Lorelei, her father Jonathan, or Fredrick would know. They grew up here, so they’re you’re experts on the place. I can’t dig around too much, or it looks really suspicious. I can only claim so much of my sneaking around to be curiosity.”
Well, so much for that. “Okay, we’ll keep looking.”
“You could always talk to the man who I got my information from,” she suggested. “He really knows everything about this house and family. He’s a wealth of knowledge when it comes to Hesser lore.”
“Can you get me his contact information?” Julian asked.
“Yeah, I’ll have it for you after lunch. Lorelei is having it served on the veranda. I’ll slip it under your plate.”
Tori escorted her to the door. “We’ll see you then,” she said, dismissing the woman.
When she was gone, she faced her husband. “When we head into town, we should have Kane and Christina keep their eyes open around here.”
“Yeah, that’s a really good idea, honey.” Then, he paused. “Are you sure you’re okay from that ride? I’m still scared shitless. I can’t imagine how freaked out you must be.”
Tori gave him her best smile. “I knew that you’d get there fast and save me if I was going down,” she stated, patting him on the cheek.
Julian gazed deep in her eyes and saw the lie. Tori was still shaken up, and she was covering it.
It wasn’t like he was surprised. He already wanted to kill Fredrick Hesser-Jameson. Hearing she was scared would just push him one step closer.
Little did she know, he was already there. This was far from over. As far as he was concerned, Fredrick was going to rue that little stunt.
No one messed around with one of the Littlemoon clan, and especially not his wife.
* * *
Kane’s phone beeped,
When he glanced down at the message, he hopped off the bed. “I’ll be right back. The boss man wants to see me out on the balcony,” he said, dropping a kiss to the top of her head.
“Okay, big guy,” she said, watching him walk away.
Outside, he found Julian standing there waiting. “Want to come here or do you want me to make the jump?” he asked grinning.
“You have longer legs. You make the leap,” Julian said, standing back. When Kane stood on the rail, he wanted to be out of his way in case the giant fell. That saying kept playing over and over in his mind.
‘The bigger they are, the harder they fall.’
When he landed, Julian was impressed that he did it so gracefully. He was glad, since there were balconies above them and the library doors below. One never knew who was listening or just sitting out and enjoying the nice weather.
“What do you need, Julian?” he asked, following the man into their bedroom.
“Tori is in the shower, and you and I need to have a little chitchat, my friend.”
Kane immediately began to look worried.
“What did I do?” he asked. “Are you firing me?”
Julian started laughing at the panic in the man’s voice. Hell no, they weren’t firing him. They needed him on the team. “It’s what you haven’t done that I want to talk to you about,” he admitted.
“What?”
“When are you going to propose to Christina?” Julian had no problem with a frontal attack. He wasn’t going to beat around the bush on this one. What everyone was thinking, needed to be said out loud, and it was better happening between two men than letting the women have at it.
Someone would get maimed.
Mainly Kane.
“I want to, but I’m scared shitless. What if she picks me and tosses her career? How happy could she possibly be, stuck here with some simple man? For God’s sake, she worked in a high-tech lab, finding criminals for a living. She’s got letters after her name and everything. Chrissy is borderline genius, and I’m just some Indian from the Rez.”
Julian understood his worries. When Tori quit her job, he felt the same way.
What if she decided to leave?
What if she one day resented him?
There were so may unfounded worries, which he stressed himself out about. It all made his gut one huge mess. In fact, to that day, he didn't believe he deserved her, or the happiness they found together.
Kane was preaching to the choir.
“If you don’t ask soon, she’s going to leave. That poor girl probably thinks that you’re not interested in her. If she takes off, I’ll lose one member of the team. Then, out of guilt, we both know you’ll follow her. There goes my bodyguard and enforcer,” he teased. “You need to take one for the team and pop the question.”
Julian knew it was so much more, but he wasn’t against letting the man think it would make his boss happy. Whatever it took, that was what they were going with on this one.
Kane raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, I get it. I’ll ask her.”
“Let’s keep our team happy. So get married already, damn it!”
He started laughing. “What are you doing today?” Kane asked his boss.
“We’re taking a little trip to see the historian who gave Jamie Montgomery all her information. We want to see what else the man has on this house, that book, and the ghost.”
“You’re investigating a spirit?” It was his turn to bust his boss’s balls. “I never saw this day coming. We have a spirit for a client.”
He leveled with the man, telling him about the older chef and the stories he told his replacement. It wasn’t so much the ghost he was chasing, but possibly justice for a victim.
“So, you think there was a murder here that long ago?”
Julian wasn’t one hundred percent sure yet, but if there was, he was going to make that his focus, along with the missing Bible. Yeah, finding the book would make his client happy, but solving a murder meant a little more in the grand scheme of things.
At least in his book it did.
Then again, if this woman was Jamie Montgomery’s great-grandmother, she should be concerned that her ancestor was killed by someone.
Right?
“We still have a lot of digging to do, but we’ll get through it.”
Kane didn't mind investigating an old murder. He was, after all, holed up in a luxury house with his woman and more than the comforts of home.
It was all good. Christina was being extra frisky, and that was saying a lot, since she was normally wound up to begin with. He was reaping the benefits of her mood.
When the shower shut off, Julian hustled the man out. “My girl is going to walk out that door naked, and you don’t need to see it,” he stated.
Kane laughed and was about to make a comment.
“Do you want me to fire you?” he asked, knowing what his friend was going to say. His team liked to bust each other unmercifully, and using the women in their lives was a familiar method.
His employee simply vaulted the distance, landing on his own balcony. Thank God there was a tree blocking the view, or everyone who was strolling around the grounds would be able to see him. “Understood, boss man. I’ll behave.”
“Take care of business, Kane.”
He saluted and headed back into his woman.
Now, he needed to figure out how to unfold his plan.<
br />
And get his girl.
Chapter Six
Normally, digging through old books wouldn’t be a whole hell of a lot of fun. Being on desk duty and researching everything had always been his least favorite thing to do.
Yet, when he was with Christina, it all seemed better. She had the ability to make the darkest moments bright with her effervescent nature. She was bubbly, cheerful, and truly a miracle in his life.
Yeah, he needed to get this done.
Just watching her was a pure joy. The way she chewed on her bottom lip, or how the wispy strands of brown hair teased her shoulders, it made him a puddle of mush inside. Something about this petite little sprite had taken him right to his knees.
And every day he was grateful.
“You’re staring at me again, and it’s creeping me out, Kane. What’s wrong?” she asked, not even looking up at him.
He needed a cover and went with the believable.
“I was thinking about sex.”
She began laughing. “I tell you what. I’ll accommodate your little fantasies if you help me find something in these books to give Tori and Julian.”
Kane grinned wickedly. Yay for him. Using that excuse was a surefire winner. “Deal,” he said, digging through one of the dusty journals.
“What kind of book do you have?” she asked, scanning the details in her own ledger.
He was really having a hard time concentrating. She was playing with a piece of his long hair, and frankly, it was turning him on. Trying to focus, he scanned the information. “I think it’s an account register of some kind, but I could be wrong,” he added.
Christina sat up and leaned over his book. Quickly, she ran her fingers down the first column before stopping on a familiar name.
“I think I found something odd,” she stated, pointing out a last name.
“Duvaul?” Kane asked. “Isn’t that the missing woman’s name and also the great grandmother who left the note in the Bible?”
Christina nodded. “Yeah, it is.”
She continued scanning and matching up dates. “Did the letter that Jamie Montgomery found have a date?” Damn, she should know that! These pregnancy hormones were jacking with her brain. When her ex-boss would screw up, blaming the rampant mood swings, Christina really believed that they were just an excuse.
Now, she saw how wrong she had been.
Kane tried to recall the date.
“Yeah, I think it said May of nineteen fourteen, but I could be wrong.”
She ran her finger down another column. “Okay, something is very wrong here.”
Kane’s girl had his attention. “What? I don’t see things the way you do, Chrissy. What are you catching that I’m not?”
She pointed to the first ledger and the reoccurring numbers. “In this book, we have payments from Charles Duvaul for the land that he was renting from the Hessers. They owned most of the valley and let people lease parcels to grow crops and run little farms. Charles Duvaul was trying to raise a family here and make a living. Each month, he paid rent to the Hesser family.”
Christina pointed out the monthly payments to the land owner.
“Okay, and?” He still wasn’t seeing it.
“Then, if you look in this book, the one you have, it’s in reverse.”
“What?”
She tried to explain it for him. Her Kane was big, tough, and an ex cop. She didn't doubt that he would catch on soon enough.
“You have the accounts payable book. I have accounts receivable for the same decade. Once May nineteen fourteen hits, the man stopped paying rent to the family. Why?”
“Maybe he lost his farm,” he suggested.
Christina wasn’t buying that. “Then, take a look in your book under the very first payment from the Hesser family to the Duvauls. When does it start?”
Kane scanned the entry, working it out in his mind. “It started in May of nineteen fourteen.”
Christina was getting excited. “What does it list after it for the reason of payment?”
Kane slid his finger across the line. “It only says ‘miscellaneous’.”
Glancing up at him, she smiled. “I think we’re onto something,” she stated. “Why would a land owner like Joseph Hesser, begin paying out money to a family who they accused of stealing the family Bible?”
“They wouldn’t,” he said.
“Exactly. I think we’re onto something. This story isn’t quite what it looks like. I personally think that this payment was blood money. Someone in the Hesser family knew something, so they gave the family free land, but why?”
The question sat between them and didn't need an answer. They were both aware of why it was happening.
Kane leaned over, kissing her soundly on the lips. “Your mind is incredibly sexy,” he stated. “You found Julian a trail into the past.”
“Yeah, there’s something here, Kane, and I’m going to figure it out if it’s the last thing I do.”
* * *
It was good that this house was full of secrets.
The most important one was the secret passageways. They led throughout the grand old mansion. You could get from one location to the other in seconds, just by knowing which one to take.
And now…
It was making it easy to watch them.
Already, they were digging into the past.
It was odd when they requested the ledgers.
Who wanted to dig around in some musty old books? What could possibly be buried in those pages? They simply held nothing but numbers.
Right?
Wrong!
Now, the truth was clear.
There had to be so much more in them. For now, they would have to be watched until it was time to make a move. The truth needed to stay dead.
That was the ultimate goal in the end.
Silently closing the peephole, it was time to go back out and mingle with everyone.
It was time to be seen, instead of hiding in the shadows.
* * *
In town, they easily found the building that they were looking for. It was a huge brick structure, nestled snuggly into the surrounding quaintness. Like the other businesses, it had a sign hanging outside, announcing the occupant.
They had found their historian.
As Tori and Julian entered, there was the ringing of an old fashioned bell over the door. It was much like ones found in general stores hundreds of years ago. In fact, everything in the office space screamed of the decades past. Apparently, the man who worked here liked his things authentic.
Once inside, Tori and Julian were greeted by an older man with a snowy white beard. He rushed toward them, warmly offering his hand in greeting.
“Hello! I’m William Macavoy. Miss Jamie told me that you were coming to visit me. I’m so excited that you’re interested in the history of Hesser House. I truly hope that I can get you the information that you need.”
Tori found it hard not to be charmed. The man was wearing suspenders and had a cheery plaid shirt on. He looked like a cross between an off duty Santa Claus and an old cow hand.
“Yes, Jamie sent us,” Julian offered. “We were told that you’re the most versed on the Hesser history in town, and we really could use your expertise.”
The man was giddy and practically bouncing. It was obvious that he loved what he did.
“I’m sure I can! I have most of the lore up here,” he said, tapping his head excitedly.
His exuberance reminded Tori of a male Christina, when she found something important. “I love your shop,” she offered. “It’s very authentic and charming.”
Leading them to his sitting area, he chuckled with glee. “I have a love of history and books, as you can see.” William Macavoy pointed at the piles and stacks of books lining the floors and the large shelves. “It’s actually an obsession of mine.”
They took their seats.
“Now, what do you want to know?” he asked, pulling out his notepad.
Julian
told the man about the letter and the real reason they were there. Since Jamie told him they were coming, there was no reason to keep it a secret from him. He could be an asset on this case.
“You know, I think I saw you both on TV. I don’t watch it often, but the nightly news was doing a story about a sleuthing team who cracked an abduction case.”
“Yeah, that was us,” Julian answered, reintroducing themselves as the Littlemoons. “You need to keep that quiet, or our cover is blown and Jamie wasted her money.”
He nodded enthusiastically. “I’ll take it to my grave, I swear! I bet you have an interesting job, almost as much fun as mine!”
Tori told him about their interest in the murder, first and foremost. “We know that the book will tell us about the bloodlines, but we’re more concerned with the fact that a young girl vanished and was then murdered,” she said, and then paused, “or did she disappear on her own?”
William loved a mystery. That’s why he enjoyed history so much. To him, there was so much to learn from the past. As a young man, he would have loved doing what they did, but once he sunk his teeth into history, he was lost.
“It wasn’t uncommon for the wealthy plantation and estate owners to hire young women or men to work on their lands. You see, once slavery was abolished here in Kentucky, they needed cheap labor. While some kids would go off to school, here in the rural areas, they went to work. If the family had land, sometimes they would need to make their kids get labor jobs to help support it.”
They listened to his story with interest.
Jamie had been correct. William was a fount of useful information.
“Joseph Hesser owned most of everything around here. He was on the town councils and ran this place out of his pocket. He also had a fondness for women,” he said, pausing before continuing, “Some say that he was into lots of women, but I’ve only found proof that he was attached to one specific young girl. I’ve done research on the topic, and I can tell you that Bethany Duvaul had worked in the household for him. It was her job to tend the laundry, and when he wanted, she serviced her boss’s needs.”
Lost & Broken (LIttlemoon Investigations Book 2) Page 10
