We cruised along the same country roads we’d been scrambling down for the past week. Everything looked different. The colors were brighter, and around every curve, instead of impending doom, I sensed opportunity.
I pulled into the road and drove around the pond. I rolled the sedan to a stop in front of what had once been the front door, just like the last time. We climbed out.
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“Cool!” DJ yelled.
He immediately started hopping rock to rock across the giant flagstone floor.
“Red ones are lava!” he said.
I took out my new phone and opened the picture. My eyes filled with tears as I saw Nana Murphy, posing for what would prove to be her last photo. I zoomed in. There was the DW. I carried the phone up to the fireplace. I studied the rocks carefully.
Where the initials appeared in the picture, I saw nothing. Leeanne came up beside me. Her shadow hit the fireplace, and there it was. Two tiny initials carved into the stone. I took a deep breath and let it out.
I’d almost forgotten about my quest with everything else that had been going on. Now, here I was about to uncover something. Or not. A growing part of me was hoping I’d never remember. Could my memories match up to my life today? And if they didn’t, would they crush it?
I reached out and touched the rock. It felt cold and smooth. I ran my hands over the surface. There wasn’t anything on the outside. No other carvings, or hidden crevices. I grabbed the rock and pulled. It shifted slightly.
Working the stone up and down gently, I managed to dislodge it, so that it began to slide, little by little, toward me. What if there was something here, but it wasn’t for me. After all, my initials were not actually DW, were they? I might uncover someone else’s secret, and hide it from them forever in the process.
“Are you going to pull that damn rock out or not?” Leeanne asked.
“Damn rock!” DJ said.
“Great, look what you made me do,” Leeanne said.
I laughed. I grabbed the rock and slid it the rest of the way out of the mantle.
Behind was a space. It was several inches deeper than the rock. At the back of it was something rolled up. There was a string around it.
I sat the stone down. I was careful not to break it. It needed to go back in the hole. No one needed to know I’d been here. Even with the Skinners out of the picture, I didn’t know who might be watching and waiting for me to make a move.
My fingers trembled. I reached back. It was smooth, and slick, like photo paper. I pulled it out. The edges of the little scroll were slightly darker. It had been here a while. The string was brittle. It crumbled in my fingers. The edge of the paper was stuck to the rolled-up sheet. As I pulled, it came loose, pulling part of the backing with it. Whatever it was, was fragile.
“Hey, someone’s here,” Leeanne said.
She pointed to the ridge where the man had been in the photo. The ridge that led down to the barn.
The man wore what looked like a sheriff’s uniform. He was definitely watching us. He didn’t seem to care that we’d noticed. He put field glasses to his eyes.
“Is that Crawford?” she asked.
“No, couldn’t be,” I said. “The gators got him.”
But I didn’t feel nearly as confident as I sounded.
“We need to get out of here,” I said.
After everything that had happened, I wasn’t willing to risk Leeanne, or DJ, or even Sarah or Fred. Too many people had died around me to feel safe.
“He can’t see behind the fireplace,” Leeanne said. “Put the stone back and let’s go.”
I picked up the stone and slid it home. It fit neatly, with only one bright spot in the mortar, to show where I’d worked it out. I reached into the fireplace. My hand came back grimy. I rubbed dirt into the white spot. I didn’t know if it mattered. But, it looked as if it had never moved.
I turned away from the man and tucked the photo into my jacket.
“Fred, Sarah, bring DJ,” I said. “We need to go now.”
We walked to the car and climbed in. The man was still there. He might not have recognized us. He might not know this car. So, I backed out, keeping the tag out of his site as far I could. Then I turned and took off down the dirt path as fast as was safe. A cloud of dust kicked up behind, hopefully hiding us from view.
I pulled onto the road and headed for Hobart. I watched my mirror the whole way.
