Haunted Hibiscus by Laura Childs

Author:Laura Childs [Childs, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2021-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

19

Back upstairs, the place was totally deserted. The guests had left, so had all the fortune-tellers, literary characters, and Heritage Society folks who’d been minding the store.

Good, Theodosia thought as they quickly flipped off all the lights. After a quick check and a callout of “Anybody here?” they stepped outside and locked the front door behind them.

Then it was a mad scramble around to the back of the old mansion to locate the outside exit for that coffin door.

Of course nothing ever comes easy.

“It’s a mess back here. Overgrown shrubbery, brambles, and some kind of thorn bush,” Drayton complained. “And the fact that it’s dark as a coal mine makes our task even more difficult. I can’t imagine where that coffin door is.”

“We have to try,” Theodosia said. “Here, you hold the Maglite, and I’ll scrunch in between these bushes.”

“Easier said than done,” Drayton declared as he watched Theodosia wedge herself into the shrubbery and try her darndest to get closer to the foundation.

“I think I’m . . . No, maybe I need a push,” Theodosia said. She was huffing and puffing now, caught tight in what was a giant, gnarly hedge. “I’ve got to . . .”

SNAP. POP.

“. . . break some of these branches. Then I think I can squeeze through.”

“Better you than me,” Drayton mumbled.

“I’m almost in,” Theodosia said. “I just need to . . .” She inhaled sharply, bulldozing forward with all her might, and finally popped on through. “Okay, I’m in.”

“What do you see?”

“Nothing. It’s like being lost in an English maze back here. Pass the flashlight over, will you?”

“Here you go,” Drayton said as he stuck his arm through the brambles and passed her the light. “Ouch.”

“You okay?”

“Only that I was practically punctured by a bramble,” he said. “Now do you see anything?”

“Hang on a minute. Okay, yes. It’s muddy back here, and the ground is all churned up. Like someone was back here recently.”

“Maybe Sunday night? While everyone was staring at the ghastly figure of poor Willow, the perpetrator was getting away?” Drayton said.

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking,” Theodosia said.

“But do you see where the casket door opens out?” Drayton asked.

Theodosia crouched down and ran the light up and down the side of the house. “I don’t see anything yet.”

“Keep trying.”

“I will, but I’ve got all of eight inches to maneuver in back here. Maybe if I . . .”

The rest of her words were lost to Drayton.

“Theo?” Drayton said. “Are you still there? Are you all right?”

When Theodosia spoke next, her voice came from ten feet away from where she’d been standing.

“It’s here Drayton,” she said excitedly. “I found it. The casket door. It’s concealed extremely well. There’s a kind of crumbly plaster caked all over the outside of it, so it looks as if it’s part of the foundation. Probably done after it ceased to be used.”

“But it’s the door?”

“Has to be because it’s pretty much the same proportions as the door in the basement.”

“Very clever,” Drayton said.

“Okay, I’m coming out.” And then, “This is big.

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