HOME OF THE RED FOX - Segment Twenty-One

Chapter 101

         Trying to get Walker’s thoughts off what had just happened, Jack spoke up. “I think Samantha was running, trying to catch up before you and Angela left.”

         “Jack, that’s no excuse, and you know it.” Although still confused by Samantha’s reaction to his anger, Walker felt justified in yelling at her. “She was lucky only to scrape her knee and hands. Those jagged pieces of limestone sticking up all over the floor could have done serious damage. Trust me, seeing her covered in blood once was more than enough for me.” Remembering her recent gunshot injury, he felt his anger growing again. Walker knew fear for Samantha’s safety fueled it more than her inappropriate attire.

         Angela tried to diffuse his anger. “Walker, I can lend Samantha a pair of my slacks if it will help.” She looked startled, though, when he started to smile at her offer. She could see the anger slowly fading away.

         “Angela, it’s sweet of you, but you and Sam aren’t built the same.” Walker looked back at the corridor where Samantha recently had disappeared. “She’d probably trip and break her fool neck on those extra inches of cloth hanging over her shoes.” He returned to face his friends. “No, I’ll have Edith go shopping with her to buy some slacks in town. Until then, I’ll just order her not to come down here.”

         “Um, I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Walker,” Jack said, the memory of the last time Walker had issued Samantha an order about the caverns fresh in his mind. “It might be better if I just mention the dangers here, until you’re ready to let her down again.” Even though they knew nothing about the previous episode, the three San Franciscans urged Walker to agree to Jack’s plan.

         On thinking it over, and not wanting to go through days of Samantha giving him those icy looks again, Walker finally saw their point. “Okay, I won’t say anything to her.” At hearing the many sighs of relief around him, Walker decided to change the subject. “What was so important that Angela and I should stay here?”

         “Come back, we’ll show you.” Mary took the lead towards the back of the chamber followed closely by Jack. Walker shrugged and started after them.

         Randall and Angela shared a glance, still surprised at the depth of Walker’s anger. On thinking it over, Angela realized the true reason for his overreacting and wondered when Walker would admit his true feelings for Samantha.

         Randall, meanwhile, revised his opinion of his host. Before today, he figured he had a clear field for Samantha’s affection, that Walker was not much of a rival. Could I have misjudged him? Randall’s thoughts ran from wondering to hoping he had misread Walker’s feeling for the woman.

         It took a few minutes for everyone to reach the opening from which Jack had pulled the object. It was on the ground still attached to the long piece of limestone where he had left it at hearing Walker’s yell.

         “Oh, damn,” whispered Walker sadly, looking down at it. “I was hoping we were wrong.”

Chapter 102

         Staring back at him was what could only be the skull of a small child.

         Randall stepped forward to keep the other man from picking it up with his bare hands. “I think we should collect all the human bones we can find and take them back to our lab for examination.” Walker nodded without saying a word. He watched as the three forensic agents pulled latex gloves from their pockets.

         Catching his curious look, Mary smiled and said, “Don’t leave home without them.” For the next hour or so, Walker and Jack helped the others find as many bones as they could. Jack first went up to the kitchen and returned with a plastic bag to hold the collected bones.

         Over the years, various animals hunting for food had attacked the small human body, pulling the bones from the opening to strip them of their meat. Just the skull and the pelvic bone, pulled out by Jack using the limestone stalactite, remained inside. Caught in the pelvic bone was a large tattered piece of cloth. This was all that remained of a child’s outfit.

         Finally, when they found no more bones, the group headed back across the cavern to the corridor leading to the outside. Randall held the bag containing the bones and the used latex gloves. No one spoke during the short journey, keeping their similar thoughts to themselves. Was Randall carrying what remained of young Hannah Edgeworth? If so, was her death accidental or was she murdered? If murder, by whom and why?

         All of them left the cavern dirty, tired, and upset by the gruesome discovery of the child’s body. Once back on the ground floor, they parted ways, after agreeing to meet in Walker’s apartment in an hour. Angela motioned Mary to follow her on an important errand. Meanwhile, Randall returned to his room. He packed the plastic bag with its pitiful contents into one of his suitcases. Jack decided to leave Walker alone for the time being and went to his own room for a shower and change of clothes.

         Walker slowly and sadly climbed the flights of stairs up to his rooms. He was not sure which upset him more, finding the child’s body or having Samantha furious with him again. Opening his front door, he decided there was nothing he could do about the woman’s anger. For now, he wanted to know what happened to Hannah, if it was the Edgeworth child in the plastic bag.

         Like Jack, Walker decided to take a shower, hoping to erase the memory of Samantha’s parting shot from his mind. I’m not stupid, he thought, the hot water washing over his tired body. Why would she call me insensitive? His mind kept repeating her words, even after he stepped out of the shower and dried off.

         While pulling on a clean pair of boxer shorts, he heard a knock at the front door that interrupted these upsetting thoughts. Finishing dressing in black slacks and a blue short-sleeve shirt, Walker walked barefoot to the front door. He let in Jack, who had been waiting outside.

Chapter 103

         Angela headed for the dining room where she hoped to find Samantha. Mary trailed behind her, wondering about the important errand. They saw the other woman sitting at the back of the nearly empty room, staring blankly into her cold cup of coffee.

         When they reached her, Angela said softly, “Samantha, I have a solution to what’s upsetting Walker.”

         “I don’t care if the nasty brute is upset. He shouldn’t have yelled at me.” Samantha looked ready to cry, and she raised her chin in defiance. Angela sat down, understanding what was bothering her new friend. It was not that Walker yelled, but that he never noticed what Samantha wore. Most women hated men taking them for granted in this way.

         Unknown to them, the so-called nasty brute had noticed her outfit at least one time. The provocative, teal-blue gown she wore on her date with Colin Edgeworth always would stay in his memory. He never told Samantha how her appearance affected him that evening, an oversight he was paying for now.

         Mary finally figured out what Angela’s solution might be. “Samantha, you and I are about the same height. Why don’t we go to my rooms, and I can lend you a pair of my slacks.”

         “Right,” Angela added, “and Walker will have nothing to complain about. Plus,” and she started grinning, “I think seeing you in Mary’s slacks might cure him of not noticing what you wear.” She, unlike her more innocent coworker, knew what would happen when Samantha walked into Walker’s apartment wearing slacks. She patted herself on the back for thinking of the plan. Much as she liked Randall, she hoped Walker would come to his senses and see Samantha for the attractive woman she was. If she had anything to say about it, he would and soon. The three women left for Mary’s rooms, the three men unsuspecting of what awaited them.

         Upstairs, Randall joined the other men, and they relaxed in easygoing male conversation. Half an hour passed before they heard a soft knock on the front door. “I’ll get it,” said Jack, putting down his drink. On opening the door and seeing the women standing there, he broke out in a wide grin. “Oh, you women are wicked.”

         Angela looked innocently at him, “We don’t know what you mean.” She passed by him, but not before giving him a friendly wink. Mary came into the apartment next. She took Jack’s willing hand in hers and walked with him back into the front room. They all stopped to watch the faces of the other two men as Samantha came into sight.

         As Angela knew, Mary and Samantha were approximately the same height. Since dieting in the past months, though, Mary had slimmed down considerably. Her new dark-blue slacks reflected this weight loss. The tight slacks looked painted on Samantha with the material stretched to its limit. A white, lace-trimmed peasant blouse, worn off the shoulders, also fitted Samantha’s upper body snugly. Samantha was a woman blessed with curves many women envied and most men saw only in their dreams. Her outfit showed each and every one to perfection. Her hair, usually back in a tight French twist, hung around her shoulder in a mass of flame-red curls.

         When she entered the room, Walker and Randall stood up, unable to say a word at the sight of her. Randall looked over at Angela, who was standing next to Mary and Jack, all three grinning at the men’s stunned reactions. This gave Walker the needed few seconds to get to Samantha first.

         She calmly looked at her silent boss. “Well, will these do? May I go down into the caverns now?” Not waiting for an answer, she slowly walked the rest of the way into the room, ignoring Walker. She appeared unaware of how the sight of her walking away affected the dazed man. Angela saw, though, and her grin grew even wider.

         “Doesn’t Samantha look nice?” She asked Randall but was looking right at Walker. She glanced at Samantha, who was about to sit down on a sofa, and hoped the tight slacks wouldn’t rip. Evidently, the same thought was going through the minds of one or two of the others since the room became completely quiet.

         Mission accomplished without any further display of skin, Samantha curled her legs up underneath her body. This stretched the slacks’ material even more. “Walker, could you get me a gin and T? Maybe Angela and Mary would like a drink, too.”

         While making her gin and tonic plus the drinks for the other women, Walker found he was unable to stop looking over at Samantha. If the blasted woman thinks she’s going around for everyone to see her dressed like that, she’s out of her mind, he thought. He watched Randall settling on the sofa next to Samantha.

         Angela continued smiling as she found a chair for herself. Her plan was working perfectly.

Chapter 104

         Determined to ignore Samantha’s outfit, and after everyone was seated with a drink, Walker passed out the ledgers he had brought up from the room below. “I found these in the room below us.” He stopped Angela before she could speak. “I’ll take you and Mary down there later.”

         Satisfied for the moment, she opened the ledger he had given her.

         Mary squinted at the handwriting in her ledger before asking, “How are we expected to read his chicken scratch?”

         Jack, who was sitting on a second sofa next to her, took the book from her hands and started to read it. “The first page is dated December 12, 1912. It’s Edgeworth’s diary, Walker, not a financial ledger.”

         Samantha looked up from her own ledger, filled with boring rows of numbers. “That’s a few months after the Titanic went down. Does he mention his wife’s death?” At the curious looks from the three visitors, she explained about finding Mrs. Edgeworth’s diaries earlier in the year and her mention of returning from England on the Titanic.

         “It doesn’t make sense. If she drowned, how did her diary about the Titanic get into Walker’s hidden room downstairs?” It took Mary’s analytical and logical mind to point out such an obvious fact to the others. Her usual shyness had disappeared since their arrival at the mansion, and Randall looked at the young woman with fatherly pride.

         “Why didn’t that occur to us?” Walker stood up and started pacing around the room as he tried putting the pieces of the new puzzle together. “Could she have missed the ship?”

         Jack shook his head after reading a few more lines. “No, she was one of those who died on the ship. Here’s what Jason Edgeworth wrote.”

         “After hearing of the sinking of the Titanic and the death of my wife, we waited a decent amount of time, six months, before Nancy and I married. These last few weeks have shown me what was missing in my first marriage, joy and laughter.”

         “After how he treated his wife, he doesn’t deserve any joy, much less laughter.” These words came from Walker, interrupting Jack’s reading. “Sorry, I just don’t like men who cheat on their wives like he did.” He stopped speaking when he saw everyone looking at him and motioned impatiently for Jack to continue reading.

         “Where was I? Oh, yeah.” Jack’s faint Boston accent became more pronounced as he read the next few sentences. “The next entry was December 18 of the same year.”

         “Nancy, Colin, and I are returning home tomorrow. My son has grown so much in the few short months we’ve been in England. He keeps asking where his mother is. Maybe he will forget her back at our home in the States and accept Nancy as his mother. While packing, I came across the final diary written by Marianne just before she left for Southampton. She must have forgotten it in her rush to be shed of me.”

         Walker nodded on hearing these words. “That explains it, Mary. Oops, sorry again, Jack.”

         “That’s all right, boss.” While the others discussed what they just heard, Jack read ahead a few pages. He dreaded having to read it out loud, but the anticipation on his friends’ faces gave him no choice. “The diary has short passages afterwards, describing the ocean voyage, until they were halfway across the Atlantic. Jason wrote it late one evening.”

         “I’m sitting here in shock, listening to my wife talk in her sleep. The ship’s rolling must have put her into a deeper sleep than usual, as she’s never done this before. If only she had, I would never have married her. She knew where Hannah was all the time we were looking for my daughter and didn’t tell us.”

         “My God, did she kill the child?” This anguished cry came from Samantha, the most tenderhearted person in the room. Walker stopped pacing and walked over to sit on the sofa beside her. Randall was sitting there on her opposite side and saw Walker put his arm around Samantha to comfort her. Even though Hannah had died almost a century ago, it felt to the adults in the room it had happened just today.

         “He doesn’t say or even write where Hannah was during the search. That’s all he wrote.” Jack thumbed through the next couple pages. “After that, there aren’t any more entries until after they returned home. Here’s the last one in his diary.”

         “It’s hard to be around Nancy, knowing what I do now. After confronting her about what she said in her sleep aboard ship, she refused to tell me where Hannah was. Even threats and repeated beatings failed to get any more information from her. I know she must have killed my daughter. I just can’t get her to admit it. Tonight I will end the torture. The knife is ready, sharpened for an hour on the whetstone. She took Hannah’s life, so I’ll take hers.”

         When Jack read the last sentence, Walker remembered the bloody knife he found in the desk drawer. It currently was on the table by the window.

Chapter 105

         “Walker.” Angela quietly brought his attention back to his friends. “What is it? You know something, don’t you?” She followed his glance to the table and saw the handle of a knife sticking out of a wooden box. Without another word, she walked over, ready to pull it out.

         “Angie, wait. I think we should add the knife to the child’s remains and check it out back at the lab.” Randall joined her at the table. “That’s probably Mrs. Edgeworth’s blood on it.” He pulled another latex glove from his shirt pocket and wrapped it around the knife, taking it carefully from Angela.

         By now, Samantha had recovered enough to draw away from Walker’s comforting arm. She looked at him, beginning to be annoyed with him again, as she asked, “What else did you bring up here from the room and not tell us about?”

         “Come on, Sam,” he said, feeling the ice from her words. “I wasn’t hiding anything. I just forgot about the stuff when I saw you fall.” He stood up, towering over her when she remained seated on the sofa. “Well? Don’t you want to check out what’s in the box?” She pushed away his helping hand and managed to scramble to her feet by herself.

         “Mary, the rest of you, wait ‘till you see what’s here.” These excited words came from Angela, holding up a book with thick green covers. It was the same diary Samantha read from weeks earlier, the last one Marianne Edgeworth wrote in and must have left behind in England. Angela had the book open to the last page and was silently reading it.

         “Right, Angela. I figured some of you might want to see it.” Walker decided to ignore Samantha’s stubbornness for the moment. He still did not know why she was so mad at him and knew she would calm down eventually. He watched her join the others at the table, still not sure how he felt about her new look. He felt his body tense up at seeing Randall put his left hand on the curve of Samantha’s lower back. No, he thought, I don’t like these clothes on her at all. I must talk to her about them…just not today.

         Everyone’s attention suddenly was on Angela. They heard the sound of cardboard ripping as she gently eased portions of the diary’s back cover apart. “Did you know there were pieces of paper wedged in here?”

         After pulling out folded, yellowed parchment, she handed the pages to Walker. With the rest of them silently gathered around him, he started reading aloud the terrible words written on it.

Continued in next segment.

HOME OF THE RED FOX - Segment Twenty-Two  (18+) Chapters 106 thru 110 #1082619 by J. A. Buxton