The Grotto's Secret: A Historical Conspiracy Mystery Thriller

by Paula Wynne

  Kelby enjoyed watching how his body became animated, like a boy with a new toy.

  ‘This is amazing, Kelby.’ He yanked more rizado out from under another rock. Kelby watched as he smeared the frizzy leaves across the top of the rock turning it into a sticky paste. He turned to her and smeared the paste between his hands and opened them to her.

  ‘Kelby, this could help Annie. Phytoplankton helps with asthma and skin disorders.’

  Her eyes widened. ‘Really?’

  ‘But I mustn’t get too excited. It hasn’t been tested.’ His gaze fixed on Kelby. ‘I want to take some rizado home to test it. I also need water samples to check the plankton.’ He suddenly stopped wading and cursed, ‘Damn!’

  ‘What?’ She thought he had stubbed his toe.

  ‘I didn’t bring a test tube.’

  ‘Oh, wait.’ Kelby scrambled around and dug in her handbag for the coffee shake bottle. She dipped it into the pond at a spot where the algae wasn’t spreading across the top and rinsed out the dregs of the coffee a few times. Then, she held it high. ‘Ta-dah. A water sample.’

  Roy guffawed. ‘You’re a great companion. You found the map, and now you’ve come up with ways to prove rizado’s properties.’

  Kelby glowed. ‘It’s not sterile, but it should get you started.’ Her voice dropped, ‘I’m not sure how or why, but I feel as though this is another link in the chain at discovering what happened to Gary.’

  ‘Yes, I keep hoping we’ll see something that looks like the symbol he gave you.’

  Kelby gazed around the secluded pond. ‘Me too. This place is amazing. I can see why it’s never been discovered.’

  Roy followed her eyes. ‘It’s hidden behind the woodlands on land that’s been privately owned for hundreds of years. Can’t go wrong there.’

  ‘And it looks like a pile of rocks. Nothing interesting from the outside.’

  ‘And even if it was found, who would know that this,’ he curled his fingers into quote marks in the air, ‘“moss” could heal the world?’ Roy waded back to the grassy bank and stepped up beside her.

  Kelby whispered, ‘That’s why Ana-María’s grotto has kept its secret for centuries.’

  ‘We found her secret. You and me. It’s taken centuries, but we did it. What a team we are.’

  They stared at each other in silence. The thread thickened as though an invisible silkworm wove it around them, encapsulating them into their own cocoon.

  Kelby pulsated with excitement. ‘The possibility of Annie and other people with long-term illnesses being healed is overwhelming. If Gary knew his death might give us a way to save his daughter —’ She choked up.

  Roy dropped the rizado and stepped closer, so close that her eyes struggled to focus on his face at such close range. His breath caressed the fine hairs on Kelby’s cheek. Without thinking, she stepped even nearer to him. They stood for a moment staring into each other’s eyes. Gradually, with a shy awkwardness, Roy pulled her towards him and brushed his lips against hers. A moment later, as though suddenly realising he shouldn’t be doing that, he pulled back.

  But Kelby tilted forward and nuzzled the tip of her nose along each of his eyebrows in turn. Before she had finished, his mouth met hers, this time without hesitation. They stood beside the rizado pond locked in an embrace.

  And the world around them paused.

  Suddenly Kelby’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She jumped and grabbed it, flinching as she read:

  The rich bitch even allows a cat into hospital.

  Her finger flicked open the attached image. Kelby gasped as a spasm of pain bolted through her. In the photo, Annie, still wired up through her nose, smiled at Fat Cat curled up on her hospital bed.

  87

  Grunting in agony, María refused to grab at the tingles shooting through her feet where the leather jerkin had kicked her. Instead, she focused her eyes on the naked body beside her. Her mother’s turbaned head lay on the cold floor slabs. She crawled closer and stroked the turban. It flopped to one side and fell off.

  María jerked back; her jaw dropped. She blinked in disbelief. Her mother’s head had been shaven. Clumps of long dark locks lay scattered in front of the fire.

  ‘Mama! Your hair!’

  As she lifted the shaven locks the burnt bread smell became noxious. María flinched, trying to suppress the bile rising in her throat. They had burnt Madre’s hair.

  From the corner of her eye, María spotted a dagger on the table matted with blood and hair. The sharp blade was about the length of her foot. Her eyes checked the other soldiers, but she couldn’t see if they had the same lethal weapons.

  The leather jerkin turned to the others and said, ‘Should we shave this one too?’

  He lifted the dagger and twirled in around and around. Its tapered point carved a tiny hole in the wooden table.

  ‘La bruja didn’t have any markings of the devil in her hair, but this young one might.’

  La bruja. The witch.

  88

  Kelby’s heart hammered against her ribs. Oh my God! Hairs lifted on her arms. What would this bully do next?

  ‘I have … to,’ She stuttered, ‘to … get back to …’

  ‘Kelby, what’s up?’

  ‘Nothing!’ Her voice trembled, ‘Please. Take me to the airport. I need to get back.’

  ‘Why? I thought you’d want to stay and see this through.’

  Her fingers tightened around her phone. Beads of sweat pinpricked her forehead. ‘I do, but I don’t want to get you involved or they’ll come after you too.’

  ‘Who?’ He grabbed her phone and held it up. ‘Another threat?’

  ‘No. Yes. I mean, please don’t get involved. They don’t know about you and —’

  ‘Kelby. I’m involved. I got you into this. Stop worrying about me! What’s happened?’

  She showed him the image of Annie.

  ‘The bastards! Come on.’ He rolled down his trousers and slipped on his shoes. ‘We’ll get a last minute flight. I’ll call the cops on the way.’

  Roy spun around and leapt across the pond. Instead of picking her way carefully across the water cobbles, Kelby stumbled across, soaking her shoes. She gulped down her panic as her stomach turned to stone and her chest heaved with painful spasms. All she could see in front of her was flashing images of Annie wheezing and spluttering. Doctor Willow had warned that an asthma attack could be fatal. And Roy had explained the connection to heart disease.

  The bastard had gone too far. Her mind buzzed with planning options. ‘Maybe Hawk can help.’

  ‘Okay, you call him when I get the cops.’

  ‘I’ll have to tell Stacie something about what’s going on so she understands the threats.’

  ‘Remember, Kelby, you’re a valuable asset now.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘If they’re after you, it’s because they think you have information they need. They may even think Gary passed something on to you before he died.’

  She turned to stare at him and almost tripped when he uttered his next sentence.

  ‘But that information may help to keep you alive.’

  89

  After hours of hanging around Malaga airport, there was a cancellation so Kelby and Roy managed to catch the last flight home. Despite making several calls to Stacie’s unanswered phone, Kelby hadn’t been able to get any news about Annie.

  Back in England, the dreary evening weighed on Kelby as she sat impatiently beside Roy in a cab that weaved its way to St Adelaide’s. The events of the past day hardly seemed real. Finding a hidden map and tracing it to an ancient secret. Discovering a plant with alleged healing powers. Warming herself in the sun by a tree-lined pond in Spain. With her own Indiana Jones.

  Hearing Gary may have been
murdered and the poor other souls struck down by conspirators, Teresina’s death and the implications of her own car crash, seemed in the distant past.

  It also bothered her that the Troll had suddenly gone off line. His Twitter account had been closed, but he’d somehow found her number. For the hundredth time, she wondered if someone in her office

  was spying.

  When the cab finally pulled up at the hospital’s front entrance, Roy tossed a few notes at the cabbie and leapt out.

  As they entered Annie’s room, Stacie blocked Kelby’s path. Over her sister-in-law’s shoulder she saw Annie looking like her favourite rag doll, slumped back against the pillows. Roy marched past her and started examining Annie. Over Stacie’s shoulder, Kelby couldn’t mistake Annie’s lifeless shape from her earlier asthma attack.

  No Fat Cat on her lap.

  ‘Where’s Fat Cat?’

  Stacie gasped. ‘So it was you! Is that all you’re worried about? Your stinking cat?’

  ‘No! God, no!’

  Kelby tried to step past Stacie, but her sister-in-law grabbed her arms and shoved her away. ‘Don’t be so stupid.’

  ‘I think you kept it secret in that gross briefcase of yours. I wondered why you carried it. You hide your life in there!’

  ‘For God’s sake, keep your voice down.’ Kelby’s muscles started jumping under her skin, as though they were competing in the hurdle race at Annie’s school’s sports day.

  Rosalind shuffled them out of the room. Kelby glanced at Annie, sick to her stomach at the little weak body wheezing and spluttering, choking on thin air that wouldn’t give her body any release.

  Outside the room, Stacie pointed at Annie. ‘You see what you’ve done!’

  ‘Why on earth would I bring the cat here?’

  ‘Annie told me! Because of the secret!’

  90

  Out of the blue, it dawned on Kelby. Stacie thought the secret was bringing Fat Cat to visit. ‘Wait!’

  ‘No! I cannot believe you’d stoop so low. You knew this would happen!’

  ‘Of all people, you know I’m worried about Annie. That’s why I’m spending so much on this hospital.’

  ‘Fuck you, Kelby Wade.’ Stacie stuck her middle finger right in Kelby’s face. ‘You’re trying to control my family again, like you did Gary. If you hadn’t insisted he got that job, he’d still be here.’

  ‘Look,’ Kelby pulled out her phone, ‘Someone set this up.’

  ‘Don’t give me that bullshit!’

  Stacie slapped the phone out of Kelby’s hand. It clattered to the floor and slid along the corridor as though it also wanted to get away from the argument. Stacie marched off. ‘I don’t want you near my daughter again.’ Stacie yelled to Rosalind and pointed at Kelby, ‘I want her banned from visiting.’

  Rosalind gasped. ‘But Miss Wade comes every night.’

  ‘I don’t care. She made this happen. She brought on Anne’s attack. I don’t want her near my daughter.’

  The nurse looked from Stacie to Kelby and stuttered, ‘But what about Annie?’

  ‘Anne. Her name is Anne, not Annie as Miss Wade calls her.’

  ‘But Annie … Anne loves it when Miss Wade gets here.’

  Stacie threw her hands in the air. ‘Are you listening to me? I am Anne’s mother and I have the right to deny visitors. I am telling you now to get your boss here and ban this woman from this hospital.’

  Rosalind stared in silence. Her eyes darted between Stacie and Kelby. Stacie leaned in and stuck her diamanté studded-nose into the nurse’s face. ‘Do you hear me? Get her thrown out. Now!’

  Kelby ran back to the room, but Stacie was on her heels and dived ahead before she reached the door. ‘Leave my daughter alone!’

  Rosalind waved away Kelby and Stacie, making it clear she didn’t want either of them near Annie.

  From outside the room, Kelby heard Roy ask the nurse, ‘Update please.’

  ‘We checked peak flow and did a chest x-ray. Also checked oxygen saturation whilst on 100% oxygen.’

  He nodded and listened to Annie’s chest. ‘It looks like the attack was severe.’

  ‘Her respiratory rate is so high I can’t hear her breathing clearly.’

  ‘Her airways are restricted. Nurse, please make sure the blood gases are checked immediately.’

  ‘Yes, doctor.’

  He glanced at Stacie and said, ‘It will show how much oxygen and CO2 are in Annie’s blood.’ He turned back to Rosalind. ‘And give her a nebuliser with salbutamol and ipratropium to open her airways, IV steroids and IV aminophylline.’

  ‘Who are you?’ Stacie rounded on Roy. Her wide set shoulders still blocked the doorway.

  Behind her, Annie’s sad eyes filled with tears.

  ‘I’m Doctor Robson.’

  ‘Where’s Doctor Willow?’

  Rosalind answered, ‘He’s off today.’

  While Stacie swayed between Roy and Rosalind, Kelby made a snap decision. Annie was suffering because of her. The cyber bully had hurt Annie to spite her. She had to stay away until she could find the swine — and stop him. She stepped back from Stacie and held up her hands in defeat. ‘Okay, okay, I’m going.’ She looked at Roy. ‘I’ll see you downstairs, Roy.’

  ‘There! You see!’ Stacie bellowed at the nurse, ‘Guilty as hell.’

  Ignoring Stacie’s comment, Kelby blew Annie a kiss off the palm of her hand and slunk away. Limping down the stairs, her heart ached more than her bruised body. She loved Annie more than anyone.

  Now she had to find out who was threatening her.

  91

  The silent house disturbed Kelby. No blue haze from the TV slipped out of the living room to greet her. No arguing from the cat’s soaps or sirens from the latest evening news. Instead of the comforting hum, the house screamed silence.

  Although Roy and Hawk entered the house with her, it still gave her the creeps. Hawk hadn’t left her property since her break-in and she felt sorry for his pregnant wife at home.

  Exhausted from lack of sleep, and distressed at seeing Annie in that condition, Kelby shuffled into the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee while they decided their next move. Every muscle in her body ached. She held both hands against her temples to try to stop her head pounding. She didn’t want to involve Hawk any more than they already had. Knowledge of the rizado murders would put him in danger. Even though he’d been recruited to protect her, Roy had suggested they keep Hawk on a need-to-know basis.

  Something kept steering her towards searching to see if Gary had left any MG notes. Unlike most men, her brother had been organised and made to-do lists. Despite having the house redecorated, so it didn’t give her painful reminders of him, Stacie had left his man-cave exactly as it had been. If they were anywhere, they’d be hidden there. One thing she could say about Stacie, she had loved Gaa. It was the only thing they had in common.

  Hawk and Roy ambled into the kitchen, still deep in discussion. Behind Kelby, Hawk was explaining to Roy how the stalker must have hacked into their security system to get the cat.

  As she opened the jar of coffee beans, the fresh aroma wakened her exhausted mind. She turned the canister over and poured the beans into the coffee grinder.

  Out flopped Fat Cat’s severed paw.

  92

  María shivered. So it had happened as Tío said it would. They were calling her and Madre witches. They had even searched Madre’s head for devil marking and now they wanted to do the same to her.

  The unbooted soldier stood, stretched and yawned. ‘Let’s make her watch the spider.’

  The thought of a spider crawling over her mother gave María the chills. She wasn’t afraid of any animals, but creeping insects filled her with dread. Seeking comfort for the bubble of guilt billowing in her
gut, María stroked her mother’s spiky head.

  The leather jerkin stopped playing with the dagger. He dropped it back onto the table and marched outside.

  Another loud belch filled the room. The unbooted soldier stood and relieved himself against Madre’s head.

  ¡Puf!

  María yanked the turban to stop the full flow splashing on her mother. She hated how Madre lay there, unable to fight back.

  ¡Dios santo!

  The stench of his urine mingled with the acrid burnt hair. Again, María swallowed the sour bile that shot into her throat.

  From the table the cloaked soldier laughed and grunted, ‘I’ll do that on her bleeding breasts when the spider is finished with her.’

  María balled her fists. The spider must be a lethal creature. She had to do something to save her mother. Using the edge of her tunic she wiped the urine off Madre’s coarsely shaven head. The foul stench caught in the back of her throat, but she refused to cough and choke as her stomach heaved. She would not give these soldiers the pleasure of seeing her discomfort.

  Madre’s hand reached out and gripped María’s arm and yanked her closer. Her eyes were ravaged with pain and discomfort. ‘Promise me again, María.’

  María noticed Madre had used her preferred name for the first time. She stared into her mother’s eyes and read her sorrow and heartache.

  93

  Kelby screamed and flung the coffee canister in the air. As she stumbled backwards, her leg caught the end of the breakfast barstool. She crashed over it and landed in a heap on the marble floor.

  Blood pumped in her ears.

  Roy and Hawk rushed to her side. Roy knelt to help her up while Hawk cleaned up the coffee beans and Fat Cat’s limb.

  Kelby stared at the paw. ‘I hate seeing dead things. In my school science class, I used to faint when it came to dissecting rats and studying anatomy. I spent those lessons in the sick room.’