by Kit DeCanti
It was a short hike to the old Victorian mansion; its condition confirmed what the online information declared- it was indeed uninhabited. As Kat approached the large mansion, she wondered what clues it held.
The house was built on a slope and the front entry was a single step up; flanked by large tapered solid wood pillars. The porch continued to the left to what was probably a wood shed. But to the right it widened onto a veranda. Kat followed the veranda around as it looked out over roses that were climbing untamed up the railings, and lovely but overgrown landscape and the main driveway below. Kat leaned on the railing to take in the view. She gazed out over the mountains and in the distance she could see the ocean, which is how the house earned its Italian name- Mare Visa, which translated means Ocean View. Kat felt a rough spot on the railing and looked down and could barely make out the words “east wall” that had been lightly carved into it. “That’s curious,” thought Kat “this is obviously the ‘west side’ of the house”. She continued walking around the veranda while her eyes ‘strolled’ around the grounds admiring the handy work that was still evident and recognized some of the topiary that Mr. Lombardi had recreated at the newer places. Did he create these as well? If not, he certainly would have maintained them.
Kat was surprised to find a back door ajar. Unable to resist a look inside, she slipped in leaving the door open as she found it, and found herself facing a door that obviously led under the staircase and to the left was a long hall leading to the front of the house. For some reason Kat shivered at the thought of opening the door under the staircase. She silently crept along the long wall and found herself in a long hall foyer facing the front door. Two sets of doors lined each side of the hall entry. She turned around and looked up the long impressive staircase, with an ornate wooden banister.
“I wonder how many children have slid down this.” Kat smiled running her hand on the wood smoothed by over a century and a half of use. Midway up the stairway was a landing large enough for a furniture arrangement, and then after a turn in the opposite direction, the stairs continued up to the second floor. Kat took a few steps up and could see a railing at the top overlooking the landing. She decided to explore upstairs a little later- right now her curiosity was with the doors.
Backing quietly down the steps, Kat turned and chose one of the doors on the right and found herself in a large country kitchen. Although it had obviously been remodeled and updated, Kat suspected several times; it retained the charm of the mid eighteen hundreds in which it was built.
Kat could easily imagine a woman wiping sweat from her brow bent over a wood burning stove, pulling cookies out of the oven. She noticed that the second door on this side of the entry also came into this large kitchen.
Back in the hall she opened one of the two opposite doors and walked into a huge and elegant formal dining room. Over a long dusty table which would easily seat sixteen hung a classic crystal chandelier. And just as she guessed, both doors on this side of the hall led into this room as well.
Off to the left through a large open entry was a large library. Beyond the dining room was a smaller cozy room with a window looking out onto the veranda with a view of the mountains and ocean in the distance. Kat headed for it passing the large dark library along the way.
Thoroughly enjoying wandering and exploring the house Kat was about to enter a yet smaller room off to the left, until she realized she was not alone. Someone was coming down the stairs.
Kat slipped into the dark library and climbed into an old large fireplace hoping to hide. She was amazed when the back swung around and she found herself in a dusty hidden passageway full of spider webs.
Brushing the webs aside, Kat quietly climbed up a short stair way hoping the stairs wouldn’t creak, and looked through holes which she guessed correctly were eyes of a picture above the fireplace. She saw a tall figure come into the library and looked around before leaving.
Kat was afraid to go back through the fireplace and so followed a beam of sunlight which led her to another set of stairs and secret passage way. She wanted to keep going and find a way to get out, but she was intrigued by a note scrawled on the wall, “11 19 find them behind 11 19 east wall”. Kat stood there staring at it thinking about the note on the desk back at the Willow Tree Mansion, and the two found at the Cobb Valley Manor. They all had the same numbers “11 19” written on them. Were they connected to this note? What could they mean? “Could be a date… maybe an anniversary of something…” Kat remembered that The Lombardis were married on November nineteenth, but how could something be ‘behind’ a date… “Maybe there is a picture taken at an event…. I don’t know… and how would ‘east wall’ fit in?” Kat was confused, but somehow she knew it had something to do with Mr. and Mrs. Lombardi. And she was determined to find out what.
Suddenly Kat heard the fireplace wall opening down stairs. She frantically pushed and prodded on the wall hoping to find a secret opening. Just in time she found her way through the wall and closed it behind her. She heard running on the other side of the wall as she ran out of the room to find herself on the second story and ran down the long hallway to the stairway. Kat literally flew as her hand slid down the rail and then ran to the front door but it was barred shut. She turned and ran down the hall that led to the back door below the stairway that she had come in through and tried to open it, but found it dead bolted. “It was locked with a key Kat thought wildly!” And then she shuddered, “Guido!”
Kat spun around and opened the door under the stairway and peered down into a dark abyss. Without time to think even about it, she stepped in and closed the door behind her and latched it. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone and opened it up to use it as a flash light, as she made her way down the stairs grimacing with each creaky step. Kat finally reached the bottom and found herself in a stone cellar filled with boxes and crates. Light through a high window made the cell phone light unnecessary. She could hear foot steps, but not directly above. “Maybe he is still on the second floor,” Kat hoped. Her eyes darted around searching for an escape.
She remembered reading that when Old Man Myers had this mansion built his wife insisted on having a tunnel dug connecting the house to the barn as an escape route in case of an Indian attack. Kat thought that if it were true one end of the tunnel was here in the cellar. She didn’t relish the thought of a dark damp rat infested tunnel and so was relieved when she saw a stair way leading up to the outside. She frantically rushed up the stone steps to the top, but just as she was reaching to unlock the old latch, the handle moved as someone pulled from the other side. A man’s voice swore when he found the cellar door locked from the inside. Kat froze stifling a scream. She backed down the stairs keeping her eyes on the door as the man tugged and banged the door again and again from the outside... she could hear walking on the floor above and someone trying to open the inside door. Kat was desperate now.
Pushing the thought of rats out of her mind she ran across the floor to the wall closest to the barn where she had parked. There was shouting from inside the house and the banging stopped. Upstairs the shouting got louder and the voices of two people, a man and a woman, were yelling at each other.
Kat pushed and shoved- pushing the boxes and crates desperately searching for an escape. Finally the sound of metal caught her attention. And there it was- a trap door. It was disguised as a wooden crate. As scared as she was, Kat spun around and dashed back across the floor and up the stone steps taking two and three steps at a time, and quickly unlatched the door. She couldn’t chance leaving through that door now, because she would be in full view as she ran to the barn. But when who ever was arguing upstairs got into the cellar Kat hoped they would think she left through the outside door and not follow her down into the tunnel. Plus, Kat knew she was going to have to return to this house. And soon! The answer was here somewhere- she just knew it; and she would need a way back inside. And she hoped it wouldn’t have to be the tunnel. But either way it was best if no on
e knew Kat had found the tunnel.
Kat ran back down the steps and back across the floor and hoped that the loud arguing still going on upstairs, would mask the sound of the iron door creaking open. But she couldn’t worry about that now. She pulled open the door and climbed down a ladder and pulled the trap door shut behind her. Kat descended for what seemed a hundred feet, before finally reaching the bottom. Something ran across her foot and a muffled scream escaped her lips. She reached for her cell phone again. And opened it and was thankful for the light. She was also thankful that there was only one direction to go in this tunnel and she hoped it would lead to safety. Kat made her way through a quarter of a mile of spider webs and dampness before she finally could see sunlight at the other end.
She closed her phone and stuck it back in her pocket. And was soon standing below another ladder, and found herself with a new worry. What if they had found her car and were up there waiting for her. She waited and listened, trying to hear above the sound of her own heart pounding in her ears. Finally reasoning that the longer she waited the more likely her car would be found- if it hadn’t already. So, taking a long breath, Kat reluctantly began the long climb up. Having light to climb by, she saw that the ladder was not nearly as high as she had feared. It left her off in the loft of the barn. Peering out a window, she could see her Jeep waiting for her on the other side of the fence like a big safe friend- like her knight in shining armor!
Kat wasted no time trying to be quiet. The panic that she had been controlling took a life of its own. She ran across the loft floor and jumped down a hay shoot into a manger and as she made the last few feet to the fence she reached into her pocket and hit the keyless lock button and unlocked the car doors and scaled the fence.
When finally in the sanctuary of her Jeep, Kat locked the doors as she started the engine; and relied on the Hemi as she raced down the winding bumpy road. Blood running down her leg from a scrape she didn’t feel as she went over the fence puddled on the new floor mat. Kat didn’t care, she kept driving afraid to even look in her rear view mirror or stop until she was in the safety of Los Gatos city limits.
Although Kat had planned on staying another night, she dismissed the idea of the beach and longed for the safety of her own bed and family. Kat pulled off the freeway watching as several cars followed her down the off ramp.
Was that the same little car that followed her off Cobb Mountain? She couldn’t be sure. But she was sure that as soon as her gas tank was full she would be headed home.
Kat was thankful to be in her new Jeep. If it were the ones that followed her on Cobb Mountain- first in a large vehicle and then the small car- they wouldn’t recognize the Jeep. It was a comforting thought. Another comforting thought was that the Jeep did not have permanent license plates yet, and so couldn’t be traced or recognized later.
By the time Kat was back in Lake County and the Jeep was climbing Coyote Grade, she had decided that she was definitely going to call Crossroads Inn Time.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Get Real- Get Well Retreat
Back safely at home with another day of the weekend left; and intrigued by seeing the long time residence of Mrs. Lombardi, Kat decided to do a more thorough background check on her; and was surprised to find that she was a patient at the Cobb Mountain Retreat for depression shortly after arriving in Lake County. Other than that there were no records of her being seen by any other doctor or hospital in Lake County.
“That’s strange for someone her age and condition,” thought Kat. “Of course she could have kept her doctors in the bay area, many people get attached to their doctors and prefer not to change, especially the elderly.”
Hoping to find out more about her, and whether or not she had any visitors or other doctors treating her while at the retreat Kat decided to take a drive up to the Cobb Mountain Retreat. As she drove she remembered the letter addressed to Mrs. Lombardi that Guido’s floozy had dropped at the post office. She couldn’t be certain- but it may have had the logo of the retreat on the envelope.
Kat pulled into the parking lot and got out of her Jeep, and breathed deep the pine smell that hung thick in the air. There were changes to the retreat since the last time she was here. An addition to the left wing was in full process and more cabins were built on the hillside behind the compound. “Looks like the business of depression is booming,” she smirked, then realized that, even though she knew that her sister had been helped here, Kat had adopted Ron’s distrust of the retreat. He had never said anything to her about it, but once when they were out to dinner someone at the next table was talking about the retreat, and Ron grew quiet, and a ‘look’ came over him that made Kat know that he was disagreeing with people’s praise about the retreat and Dr. Fleming.
“Well, there is just too big a cloud of secrecy surrounding this place,” Kat murmured.
As Kat entered the lobby she was happy to see Cindy, who Kat not only recognized as a local girl but also as the friendly receptionist who helped with the intake of Mr. Watson whom Kat helped get treatment here. Kat thought it would be an easy task to get information from her but when Kat inquired about the Lombardis, Cindy stiffened and told her, although not convincingly, that the Lombardis were not there and that she didn’t recall ever hearing the name. Kat could see right away that she was mistaken about Cindy being an easy mark, so rather than press the issue and perhaps burn a bridge she decided to leave.
As Kat turned to leave she walked to the sliding door that overlooked the amphitheater and lawn, pretending to be enjoying the view.
“What a lovely setting!” she said to Cindy but what really caught her eye was the nose of a black Hummer sticking out of an outbuilding towards the back of the compound.
“I think you should come back when Dr. Fleming or his assistant, Stephanie Hodges is here.” Cindy said firmly pulling the drapes closed and walking Kat to the door.
Kat left but remembered a fire trail from her teen years and four wheeling, and decided to take a drive down the road where it could be accessed. However, after arriving at the entrance to the fire trail, and taking a look at the ruts brought on by heavy winter rains, she wisely thought twice about driving up it. Although her Jeep would be up to the task, Kat wasn’t sure she would be. She hadn’t driven off road in years and it would draw attention if she had to be towed out.
Since her plan about Cindy didn’t pan out Kat needed another insider at the retreat. A sadness fell over her as she remembered the month her little sister, Angel, had spent at the retreat. That had been a dark time for their family. But what ever their treatment, it sure worked miracles with Angel. She was back to the happy well rounded bubbly girl Kat grew up with.
Kat decided to try and talk to an old high school friend who was rumored to have spent some time at the retreat. If the rumors were true, it would have been about the time that Mrs. Lombardi was there. Kat really wished she could get inside now. She was sure that the Lombardi’s Big Black Hummer was in the shed in the back of the compound.
Wait a minute! Kat remembered a friend of Ron’s that worked there off and on. What was his name? She must have something somewhere with his name on it. She remembered taking a phone call for Ron once from him. “What was his name? Jack! It was Jack! That’s his name, and he was a private detective. If I can find him, he just may be the ticket into the retreat!”
With a new plan Kat’s enthusiasm was once again renewed, and she headed home to look through her notes.
Angel had teased her about her ‘hording’ and Kat knew it border lined; on pathology, she seemed unable to let go of things- but for once she was glad she never threw anything away.
“My hording finally came in handy,” she smirked, but as she was going through box after box Kat wished she had a better filing system.
“I’m sure it’ll be somewhere in my old day planners,” she said to herself. Kat had developed a habit of jotting down names and numbers there when listening to her voicemail. “Okay, this is the box with my calendar
s and day planners,” she mumbled, “now what year would it be in…..? Well duh… it would have to be last year,” laughing at herself, “I didn’t even know Ron beyond that, let alone take messages for him.”
Kat felt a strangeness come over her, and she stood up and walked to the window.
“It seems I always have known him. But in reality I haven’t. Seems so strange that there was a time I didn’t even know him. Never saw his face before. Nor heard his voice. I had a life without him before. Can I have a life without him again… now that he’s been here?” she asked her self, softly touching her heart. A gentle tear trickled down her cheek.
Kat suddenly felt very tired, and leaving the boxes and papers spread out on the floor, she lay down on her bed and slept. No dreams. Just sleep. Deep sleep. She slept like she hadn’t slept for well over a month.
Kat awoke a couple hours later feeling like a weight had finally lifted. She knew she could go on. She knew she could build a life apart from Ron. It was like she had a clean slate on which to build.
But first she was going to see this mystery to fruition. She was going to find out where the Lombardis had disappeared to; and exactly what Guido was running from; and who made the accusing phone call- and why. She would find out who chased her down the mountain into the ditch up at Cobb; who tried to run her over in broad daylight in Lakeport; and finally- who chased her through Mare Vista.
Realizing that she didn’t have to go it alone, Kat felt relieved. She went back to the box and pulled out the day planner and without once stopping to dwell on a notation that might be connected with Ron she turned the pages until she finally found a cell number for Jack. Without hesitation, Kat dialed the number. She was disappointed to get only a voicemail, but left a message with her phone number.
