What She Doesn't Know by Lina Gardiner

Author:Lina Gardiner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, adventure, mystery, treasure, secret society, island rescue
Publisher: Lina Gardiner

CHAPTER EIGHT

They reached Uncle Phil’s house at midnight.

“Do you still own this?” Sloan asked pulling up in front of the old house.

She nodded. She hadn’t had the heart to sell the house after her uncle’s death. Not only did it hold memories of him, but her uncle had also kept her parents things in the attic.

“You lived here?” Sloan asked.

“Uncle Phil was my guardian. He did the best he could. He was an old bachelor trying to raise a heartbroken teenager. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it easy for him.”

She used to go into the attic and rummage through her parents’ furniture and clothes. Just a whiff of their scent could bring their smiling faces back to her. She wasn’t sure when she began to avoid her parents’ things, but it had been a long time ago. “This old house is all that’s left of my family,” she said.

“I know what that feels like, Raven, I was raised by extended family members. They might have actually cared about me, but not in the same way my own parents would have.”

She had the feeling he’d just shared something he didn’t tell many people.

“Sorry to hear that, but my situation wasn’t like that. Uncle Phil loved me as much as my own parents did,” she said. “What happened to your parents?”

“My mother was murdered and my father was sent to prison for killing her. He was subsequently found hanged.”

“Your father murdered your mother and hanged himself in prison?”

His expression darkened. “I don’t believe he did it because he adored my mother. He would have done anything for her. And, I don’t believe he hanged himself either because he’d never have left me to the relatives, he didn’t even like most of them.”

Raven swallowed. Her throat had gone completely dry. His story, intermingled with the feelings and memories this house elicited was enough to send her into a funk.

“Do you have a key to the house?” he asked while he parked the car in the back where it would be out of sight.

“I carry it with me, always. It’s practically my good luck piece.” She pulled the key chain out of her purse and eyed the pewter Celtic cross. “Considering what I’ve gone through the last few days, it looks like my good luck charm is working.”

He nodded but seemed intent on assessing the house.

The trees around the property were overgrown and shabby and needed work desperately. Guilt at not being there for Uncle Phil mingled with melancholy at the familiar creak of the verandah steps as she approached the front door. Her throat tightened. The old oak door with its beautiful stained glass window looked dull now but in her youth the dragonflies and irises danced to life at night, sparkling with color and intensity from interior illumination. It had always felt magical to her as a child.

“Are you okay to go inside?” he asked.

“Of course I am,” she lied. “If there’s something here that will lead us to the truth, I’m need to find out.

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