The window was high up and she could barely see out, but she saw one of the little trucks with its motor running. Nadine’s heart seemed to skip a beat. Sean was here!
But no, Mrs. Aiken got out, went to the back and shoved what appeared to be a rolled-up rug farther back into the truck. It seemed to have been sliding out.
Nicky was in the truck, and he got out and helped her. The rug looked to be quite heavy. She watched as he tied a rope around the end of the rug and fastened it to the side of the truck. He jerked hard on it.
They got back into the vehicle and drove away. Nadine had no idea what those two were doing in the middle of the night—and she didn’t care either. She had her own problems to concern her.
She turned away, leaned against the wall and felt like her life was leaving her. Where was Sean?
She went back to the pew, meaning to sit down and wait for him, but she didn’t. Let him come to me, she thought. He certainly knew how to get in and out of the house. Many times he’d come to her bedroom. They’d laughed as they’d tiptoed about during the night. Sean often went through Bertram’s office. “I like to know what’s going on around this place,” he said. “Who’s paying his bills?” he’d asked more than once. For all their sneaking, they were never caught.
She looked at her heavy bag. Did she take it back to the house? But what happened when Sean showed up later? That bag would be one more thing they’d have to hide.
Turning, she looked at the memorial plaque of a Renlow who’d died in 1856. It was embedded in the wall at floor level. One time Sean had kicked it. He’d been saying that all of Oxley was falling down. In emphasis, he’d struck out at the old piece of stone—and it had clattered to the floor. It was a marvel it didn’t break.
When it fell, they’d stood there in shocked silence. Inside they could see the end of a black coffin, its brass fittings tarnished and corroded.
“Not very big, was he?” Sean said.
Nadine couldn’t help laughing. “Let’s put it back before his ghost escapes and haunts us forever.”
“A Renlow with me always?” Sean gave an exaggerated shiver. “Too horrible to imagine.”
They put the plaque back in place and left.
It wasn’t easy for Nadine to pull the stone out, put the bag inside, then get it back into place, but she did it.
When she’d finished, she left the chapel, locked the door and went back into the house to wait.
PRESENT DAY
Kate was standing in the chapel. It was well lit by the big lights. Sara was behind her camera and everyone was waiting.
Byon had finished reading the narrative, and Kate had done her job of looking out the window. In re-creating the past, Chris and Diana had been out there with the little truck and had lifted a rolled-up rug into the back.
When Byon got to the part where Nadine opened the grave, it made sense for Kate to do that. But she’d just stood there, the prop bag Nadine had lent her at her feet.
Everyone was silent as they stood there watching Kate.
It seemed that the possibility of finding a bag full of jewels overshadowed thinking about what Nicky and Mrs. Aiken had in the back of the little truck—and what they were tying in place.
Now all eyes, including the police inspector’s, were on Kate.
Jack didn’t ask why Kate was hesitating, he just went to her. “This one?” he asked softly.
She nodded.
Kneeling, he tugged on the stone but it didn’t move.
“I glued it,” Nadine said.
“Ah,” the police inspector said. “That’s why you returned to the chapel. We all thought you were praying.”
“I was,” she said. “In a way. But I was so angry I couldn’t think clearly. I thought Sean had left me, that he was scared of...of our future. I wanted to seal him off forever.” There were tears in her eyes. “I should have believed in him. I should have stood up and said that something was wrong. He wouldn’t have left me and our baby. He wouldn’t have—” Byon put his arms around her, and she cried into his big, soft shoulder.
Jack was looking at the stone. “It’s a silicone based glue.” He pulled a small knife from his pocket, opened it and ran the blade around the plaque.
He and Kate began wiggling the stone as they tried to get it out.
Everyone watched in silence. Sara was concentrating on Live View on her camera, recording it all.
Jack caught the stone before it hit the ground. What they saw inside made them gasp. There was a black leather bag, old and crusted with gray mold, untouched for years.
Kate took the handle to pull the bag out, then halted. She had to use both hands for the weight. After all, it was full of rocks—sparkly ones. Standing, she offered the bag to Nadine.
But Nadine shook her head no, and stepped back. She didn’t want to touch it.
Jack started to take the bag but the inspector stepped in front of him.
“May I? There’s something in there that I want.” He took the bag, set it on a bench seat, then started to unzip it. The old zipper stuck but it came loose quickly.
Inside was a pretty green-and-gold scarf. The inspector pulled it out and put it on the seat.
“My father gave that to me,” Nadine said.
There was a white cloth inside.
“That’s not a shirt,” Sara said. “It’s an apron.”
The inspector lifted a flap of the cloth just enough to see the end of a gun. He closed the bag. “This is evidence.”
“I guess there’ll be fingerprints,” Sara said.
“I’m sure there will be. And blood and hair and—”
Nadine gave a cry and Teddy put her arm around her mother.
“Sorry,” the inspector said.
“What about Mrs. Aiken? She—” Sara began.
The door opened and a uniformed policeman entered. “All taken care of, sir. We got her just outside Cheswick.”
Kate and Jack looked at Sara in question.
“I gave the inspector bits of the script as we wrote it. He knew what was going to happen.” She smiled at him. “And he anticipated Mrs. Aiken’s actions.”
“It was the best writer’s course anyone ever had,” the inspector said cheerfully. “To see the work in progress of two such talented, world-renowned authors was an honor. I never thought—”
Byon and Sara were smiling in such a pleased way that Jack stepped forward. Otherwise, the praise-hungry writers and the fanboy just might go on all night. “So you knew beforehand what Nicky and Mrs. Aiken did?”