He looked around the basement. Shuddered. “Dark and creepy down here, huh?”
She laughed, aware that she sounded a little uneasy. The whole house seemed to be silent now. And she felt…unnerved to be alone down in the bowels of the earth with him.
I felt safer down here alone listening to ghostly tears, she thought.
“Not at all, not to me,” she said, forcing a bright tone. Was it overly bright? Did he know that she was suddenly afraid to be with him?
He looked past her then and walked over to the wall, then turned to look at her. “You found more bones here?” he said incredulously.
“Brad found them, actually,” she said. The room was too small. There was no way to put enough distance between them. Why the hell was she suddenly afraid of him? Or was it just being alone here with him? Even being alone with Brad had felt frightening, especially when he’d tripped and she’d momentarily thought he was attacking her.
Why not be scared? a voice in her mind taunted. I was in the crypt and the ceiling fell. I was in the subway and someone pushed me onto the tracks. Sure, accidents. Like the accidental explosion right here at Hastings House.
Hank was staring at her as if she had just turned emerald-green.
“Hank, you’ve got an engineering degree, and I’ll bet you know when you’re going to encounter an old post or wall or…whatever.”
He lifted his shoulders, let them fall. “When there are old building plans, I can read them,” he told her. “But…how the hell did you—and don’t tell me it wasn’t you, it was Brad, ’cuz I know that’s bullshit—find bones here?”
“The same thing—I can read. You know how it is. When something doesn’t jive, you have to look for whatever the truth might be.”
“So…who is this?” he asked her.
“A Colonial housewife. Supposedly she left her husband and child, quite a scandal in those days. But women seldom desert their infants.”
“Oh, yeah?” he said, and he sounded a little weary, a little jaded. “Look at recent history. There are women who kill their own infants.”
“But, honestly, it’s not the norm.”
“Ah, yes, women are the fairer sex,” he said.
Did he sound bitter, or was he just teasing her?
“In this case,” she said, “it didn’t ring true to me.”
“So how did you know right where to look for the body?”
“Brad and I talked about a situation, about a time and place…a basement tends to be a good place, and because of the way a hearth is constructed, it’s easier to remove bricks there than from a wall.”
“Well, there you go,” Hank said. “Has Laymon seen this yet?”
“No.”
“But Brad has?”
“Of course. I just told you—”
“Yeah, yeah. Brad was in on the find.”
“He knows it’s here, knows I’m always poking around down here,” she said.
“Oh, really?” He smiled at her. She didn’t like that smile at all. Maybe it was the light. Maybe it was the irrational panic that began to assail her when she was alone in an enclosed space with anyone larger than she was.
She opened her mouth to reply.
She didn’t need to.
He was standing by a stack of boxes. One suddenly teetered and fell, right by his side.
He jumped like a jack rabbit. A wrench bounced from the box and caught him on the knee. He howled with surprise and pain.
“It’s not safe down here!” he exploded.
“Right. We should go up.”
As she spoke, the hatch above them swung open. “Leslie?”
It was Joe, and he sounded deeply irritated.
“Joe!” she called in relief.
“You little liar! You said you were going to stay at the hospital.” He was walking down the stairs as he spoke, then came to a dead stop when he saw Hank Smith. “Hank, I didn’t know you were into archaeology,” he said, his tone skeptical.
“I came to see how Leslie’s doing—same as you, I suppose,” Hank said.
Joe ignored that. He looked as if he wanted to throw Hank across the room. She set an arm on his shoulder. “I did stay for a few hours, and I’m sorry, I meant to call you right away when I left. I felt fine, and I wanted to get back. I’d made an appointment with Brad earlier, and I didn’t want to break it.”
“I guess you were going to show Brad the discovery the two of you made together, right?” Hank inquired politely.
“No, I had to make some plans with him,” she said.
“Do you have a problem, Hank?” Joe inquired.
“You know, it’s getting really musty down here,” Leslie cut in quickly. “I’m going up. Oh, and Joe, we’re going to meet Laymon and Brad for dinner. Mind waiting while I grab a shower?” She was up the stairs as she spoke. Joe followed on her heels, his eyes narrowed thoughtfully. As soon as Hank reached the top, she quickly closed the hatch, throwing the rug back over it. “Hank, it was very nice of you to come by, but I’m fine. I’ll see you over at the dig in the next few days, I imagine.”
“Sure. Take care of yourself.”
“I’ll see you out,” Joe told him.
“I know the way.”