“So you think that’s the clue?” Fiona asked.
“Hey, wait! It looks like there’s more below.” Jolene squatted down again and brushed the snow that had accumulated in front of the stone. Just under the inscription, Morgan could see another line at the very bottom, almost under the soil line.
“What’s that say?” Celeste bent down to look at it.
“I can only see the tops of the letters. I can't make out what they actually are.”
Morgan noticed the wind had picked up considerably and the visibility had faded to almost nothing. A tingling at the back of her neck told her danger was near.
Jolene dug furiously at the soil with her gloved finger. “The ground is frozen. I can’t uncover the last line.” She had to shout over the wind to be heard.
“Something’s not right!” Morgan looked around at her sisters and saw her concern mirrored in their eyes. The wind whipped their hair around their faces as they glanced around uneasily.
Morgan’s heart sank. She could barely see two feet in front of her. She wondered if they could even make it back to the car when the wind increased, picking up the snowflakes from the ground and whipping them around, creating blizzard conditions.
She shouted for her sisters, but the wind snatched the words out of her mouth. The only sound she could hear was the gusting of the wind. The snow—so soft and fluffy just minutes ago—stung her cheeks like shards of ice. She whirled around, totally disoriented, her heart thudding in her chest.
Feeling an evil presence near them, she stumbled backward, the wind pushing at her, causing her to topple over. She crashed to the ground, pain searing her right arm and hip. She struggled to get back up, but the wind was too strong. It pinned her to the ground.
Crack!
Morgan felt a sharp pain above her right ear. And then, there was nothing but darkness.
***
Morgan woke to a mouth full of snow and a splitting headache. Her right side was practically frozen solid and she realized she was lying on the ground. Then she remembered what had happened. Her eyes flew open, focusing on Jolene, who lay ten feet away under a large tree limb.
Morgan, herself, had some smaller branches on top of her, but she easily pushed them off and ran over to her sister. Relief spread through her as she noticed Fiona and Celeste sitting up and shaking snow off their coats. Not Jolene, though. She lay as still as death.
“Jo! Are you okay?” Morgan ripped off her gloves and knelt in the snow, pressing two fingers on Jolene’s neck. Her heart squeezed at Jolene’s ghostly, white cheeks, but she had a pulse and her eyelashes fluttered slightly.
“Jolene! Wake up!” Fiona and Celeste moved the tree limb and joined Morgan beside their younger sister.
Jolene’s ice-blue eyes flickered open and looked around, unfocused. Worry gnawed at Morgan’s gut as she watched her sister push up to a sitting position, her brow furrowed as she looked around at Morgan, Fiona and Celeste in confusion.
“What’s going on?” Jolene asked.
“Good question,” Celeste replied. “There was a storm and you got hit by a tree limb.”
Jolene looked at the large limb Celeste indicated and then past Morgan. Morgan followed her gaze. The snow and wind had stopped, but the cemetery looked a mess. Glancing up, Morgan could see the white, raw wood where the large limb had sheared off from the big, old oak tree. Smaller branches lay strewn about. But that wasn’t the most startling sight. The most startling site was Ezra Finch’s gravestone. It lay smashed in a million jagged pieces. Now they’d never know what that last line was.
“Are you okay?” Morgan asked again as they helped Jolene to her feet.
“Yes, of course.” Jolene made a face. “It takes a lot more than a little branch to hurt me.”
Morgan raised her left brow at Fiona and Celeste. The fuzzy look in Jolene’s eyes had cleared and she seemed fine, but Morgan didn’t want to take any chances. Trouble was, Jolene was stubborn and probably wouldn’t listen to them if they wanted her to see a doctor. Morgan tried anyway. “I think we’d better take you to the hospital and get you checked out.”
“No. No. I’m fine.” Jolene pushed her sisters away and took a step forward. She was a little wobbly, but not too bad. She turned in a slow circle, looking all around them, her forehead creasing in a wrinkle that got deeper and deeper the more she looked.
“What the heck are we doing in a graveyard?”
Chapter Eleven
“If you can’t remember what we were doing at Finch’s, then I think you need a doctor.” Morgan looked across the kitchen island at Jolene’s pale face and regretted letting her sister talk her into taking her home instead of to the hospital.
Johanna gave Jolene a motherly frown. “She’s right. You could have a concussion.”
“Concussion? What happened?” Jake stood in the kitchen doorway, his face a mask of concern.
“A tree limb fell on Jolene and knocked her out,” Morgan explained.
Jake crossed the kitchen and stood in front of Jolene. He tilted her head up toward the light and pried her eyelid open.
“Ouch!” She pulled away, covering her eye with her hand. “What are you doing?”
“Checking your pupils. I used to be a cop, remember? I know a little bit about concussions,” Jake said. “Are you feeling nauseous or dizzy? Any blurred vision, headache, forgetfulness?”
“No. No. And no,” Jolene said.
“Well, you did forget why we were at the Finch farm,” Celeste pointed out.
“I’m fine. I’m not going to the hospital,” Jolene said.
“Her pupils look okay and she doesn’t seem to have any other symptoms. I guess we just watch her and make sure she doesn't show any signs of concussion. We can't force her to go to the hospital if she's too stubborn to know what's good for her.” He shrugged. “How did you guys make out on the farm, anyway? Did you find a new clue? And how did the tree branch fall?”
The three sisters filled Jake and Johanna in on the trip to the cemetery, the clue on the gravestone and the strange, windy snowstorm. Luckily, Luke came in at the beginning so they didn’t have to repeat themselves. Jolene leaned against the counter, unusually silent, taking it all in.
“Do you think the strange storm was some kind of paranormal force?” Luke asked.
“Maybe.” Morgan looked at her sisters and they nodded. “If a paranormal can control energy, then why not the energy of the wind?”
Luke nodded. “There’re forces out there we can’t even imagine. But is this wind person in cahoots with Bly?”
“Good question,” Fiona said. “We don't know who it was or who they were in cahoots with.”
“It sounds like the trip out to the farm was eventful, but did it give you guys have a new lead on the relic?” Jake asked.
Fiona nodded. “Obviously the clue couldn’t have been on the obelisk, so we think it was the epitaph on Ezra’s gravestone. There was a poem on there and we think it might be the clue.”
“Too bad we never got to read the bottom line of it,” Celeste added.
“Why not?” Luke asked.
“The stone must have settled over the years and the very bottom was under the ground line. We could just see the tops of the letters but not enough to tell what letter it was,” Fiona explained.
“And the stone blew to smithereens in the wind storm,” Celeste added.
Jake snorted. “That must have been some wind storm. I don’t think wind can blow up a stone.”
Luke nodded, his face turning serious. “That’s right. Whoever caused that must have some power. I want you girls to be extra careful from here on in. I’ll put more guys on detail watching you.”
Morgan sighed. She would have argued, but she knew it was futile. Luke was serious about safety, especially when it came to her. Which did make her feel all warm and fuzzy inside, except for the part where someone followed her around. At least Luke’s guys were inconspicuous—she hardly knew they were there most of the time.
“But why would Bly—or whoever—want to smash the gravestone?”
“Probably so no one else could figure out the clue,” Celeste said.
“Then it must be really important,” Luke said. “That bottom line could be the key to finding the relic.”
Jake’s right brow ticked up. “Maybe we could go back and piece it together?”
Celeste shook her head. “The pieces are too small.”
Johanna pressed her lips together. “I bet Cal could figure it out if you girls could draw the tops of the letters.”
Morgan thought about that. Cal, an antique dealer by trade, loved history and one of his specialties was codes and encryption. He’d figured things out for them before. Too bad she couldn’t remember what the bottom of the stone looked like. “I don’t remember exactly what it looked like.”
“That’s okay. We have a secret weapon that can help us even if the bad guys destroyed the clue.” Jake looked at Jolene. “Put your photographic memory to use and draw out what the top of that line looked like.”
A look of panic crossed Jolene’s face. “I can’t. I don’t remember.”
Morgan’s stomach sank. Was Jolene’s memory gone for good? Hopefully not. But right now, they needed it. She glanced at her sisters and she could tell they were all thinking the same thing. What other unique skills had Jolene lost in the accident?
Jolene noticed everyone looking at her and scrunched up her face. “What?”
“Nothing,” Morgan answered for them.
“I know what you’re thinking and you’re wrong. I can still use my paranormal gifts.”
Jolene thrust her hand out as if to shoot off an energy spark. Nothing happened, and she put it in front of her frowning face. “Well, I think I can.” She thrust it out again, harder this time.
“Hey, don’t vaporize my favorite crystal lamp over there in the living room. You're pointing right at it,” Johanna warned.
But she didn’t need to worry about the lamp. Jolene couldn’t muster any energy. No matter how hard she focused, the best she could do was produce a teeny, glowing pink drop which formed at the end of her fingertip then fell off, disappearing into nothing before it hit the floor.
The forlorn look on Jolene’s face tugged at Morgan’s heart. She put her arm around her little sister. “Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s just the effects of getting knocked out. I’m sure your gifts will come back.”
She hoped her words were true. Jolene was the most powerful of all the sisters and they’d have a hard time defending themselves without her skills. Morgan made a mental note to try to develop her own defensive paranormal skill.
“So, what do we do now?” Luke asked. “There’s at least two groups in town looking for the relic and if you guys don’t have any clue at all, how can we possibly hope to find it before they do?”
“I wouldn’t say we don’t have any clue at all,” Morgan said. “I think the rest of the epitaph might tell us something, even though we won’t know what the bottom says.”
Luke leaned back against the kitchen island and crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay, tell us what the rest of it was and let’s see if we can figure it out.”
Morgan repeated the epitaph.
When two become one, the healing’s begun.
In my favorite place under the sun
Look to the west. I can finally rest.
Jake made a face. “What kind of a poem is that?”
“You should have seen some of the other ones on the other stones,” Fiona said.
“It’s not a very good poem. But if it’s a clue, then I guess we should try to figure it out,” Johanna added.
Luke looked skeptical. “How do we even know if it is a clue?”
“Ezra’s ghost told me he left a clue before he died in the most important part of the graveyard,” Celeste said.
“And, by all accounts, he thought he was pretty important,” Fiona added.
“So, it stands to reason he left it on his gravestone,” Morgan said.
“But how would he leave it on his gravestone?” Luke asked. “He’d already be dead when it was engraved.”
“Yes, but he might have left instructions in his will,” Celeste suggested.
Luke nodded. “True. We can check on that. And since we have nothing better to go on, we might as well try to figure out what it means.”
“Well, it seems like the second line would be a pretty big clue,” Jake said.
“In my favorite place under the sun,” Johanna repeated. “Who knows where his favorite place was?”
“Maybe Thaddeus?” Morgan suggested.
Celeste made a face. “We could ask him, but his answers aren’t always reliable.”
“Maybe the first line is a hint at his favorite place,” Celeste said.
“When two become one?” Morgan narrowed her eyes and looked up at the ceiling. “Where does two become one?”
“Maybe it has something to do with one of the roads out near the farm,” Fiona suggested. “Like where two roads merge?”
Morgan shook her head. “No, I think it’s something that has more meaning. His favorite place.”
“And the bit about looking to the west,” Jake said. “That’s got to be a clue that the relic is hidden in the western section.”
“Yeah, but of what?” Johanna chewed her bottom lip.
Celeste snapped her fingers. “I’ve got it! Thaddeus said that Ezra loved his wife, Lila-Mae. Remember, he said he was really upset when she died and threw himself into his pharmacy work.”
“Yeah…” Morgan raised her brows at Celeste.
“Think about it. When do ‘two become one’?” Celeste looked at them with wide eyes and when no one answered, she continued. “When they get married!”
Johanna smiled. “Of course! The second line makes perfect sense, then, because his favorite place would be where Ezra and Lila-Mae got married.”
“You think that’s where he hid the relic?” Jolene asked.
“It’s a good place to start,” Morgan said. “There’s only one problem.”
“What?”
“How do we figure out where Ezra and Lila-Mae got married?”
***
“I can help out with that.” Jolene’s face lit up with eagerness and she hurried out of the kitchen into the east parlor, motioning for them to follow.
Morgan slipped behind the desk next to Jolene while Fiona and Celeste stood in front of it. Johanna stationed her chair beside it and Luke and Jake hovered in the doorway. Morgan looked over her sister’s shoulder as Jolene flipped open the laptop.
The login screen blinked at them.
Jolene frowned at it, her fingers poised over the keyboard. After a few seconds, she quickly typed a username and password.
Wrong username.
“I must have hit the wrong key.” Jolene tried again.
Wrong username.
“Huh. What the heck is wrong with this thing?” Jolene’s voice was edged with annoyance. She tried a few more combinations, punching the return key harder and harder with each failed attempt.
Finally, she looked up at them. “Okay, who changed my login?”
Morgan looked over at Fiona and Celeste, who both shrugged.
“No one changed it,” Morgan said.
“Someone did … or I maybe I can’t remember it.” Jolene’s voice cracked. Johanna reached over and put a reassuring hand on Jolene’s arm. “It’s okay. That’s just part of getting hit in the head. A good rest and you’ll be fine.”
Jolene looked uncertainly at her mother and Morgan’s heart pinched for her. Would Jolene be fine?
“I’ll get one of my carnelians to help.” Fiona hurried out of the room. Her special gift with crystals and stones included a way with carnelian, an orange stone associated with healing. Fiona had used the stone several times in the past to speed up the recovery time for various wounds. Morgan hoped it would work just as well for a head injury.
Morgan leaned over
and typed her login on the keyboard. “We can still get in. Now, where do we start?”
“Google.” Jolene straightened in the chair and started typing, her disposition improving as her typing produced a list of articles on Ezra Finch.
Morgan squinted at the screen. She ran her index finger down the list. “I don’t see anything here about the wedding.”
“Well, I have work to do,” Luke cut in. “I’ll leave you girls to it, but don’t go running off without telling me.”
He shot Morgan a warning look, which she countered with an innocent smile. “Of course not. We would never do that.” She leaned out from behind the desk and gave him a peck on the lips, then ducked her head back down toward the screen.
“I better get going, too,” Jake said. “You girls are the experts at computer stuff.” He headed toward the doorway, meeting up with Fiona, who had a bunched-up towel in her hand. She slipped into the hallway with him for a hasty good-bye kiss.
“Well, looks like it’s just us girls.” Fiona came back into the room and handed the towel to Jolene. “Put this on your head. The carnelians are inside.”
Jolene accepted the towel. She opened it cautiously and peeked inside. Over her shoulder, Morgan could see the orange, glowing stones. Jolene wrapped it back up and applied it to her head like an ice pack.
“Look, here’s an article on his pharmacy.” Fiona, who had joined them behind the desk, pointed to an entry halfway down the screen.
Morgan clicked on it and scanned the article. “Gee, I guess he really was important.”
“Yeah, and there’s a picture of the pharmacy building. It was pretty small, but I don’t remember seeing that anywhere in town,” Fiona said.
“Let me see.” Celeste leaned over the desk and they angled the laptop so she could see the screen. “Oh, that’s right on the Finch farm. It’s about two hundred feet from the house. I remember seeing a pile of debris I thought was an old chicken coop near the barn that fell down.”
A Grave Mistake Page 7
