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 |  Chapters 46 through 50.
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| Chapter 46 “Colin, I must apologize for Walker.” This quiet statement came from Samantha, embarrassed at Walker’s odd behavior toward Colin. “He usually is in a better mood, being a morning person, and I don’t know what got into him today.” Her confusion grew at hearing Colin’s boisterous laughter. “Don’t give it a second thought, although he did look a bit knackered to me. You might think about getting him some sleeping pills.” Still grinning, Colin carefully folded his napkin, placed it by his empty plate, and stood. When Samantha also rose to stand near him, he turned serious. “Now, what was all that you emailed me about caverns below this place?” Samantha immediately forgot Walker in her excitement about showing off the three caverns. “Come on, Colin, I’ll show you. This way!” She practically dragged him out of the dining room, oblivious to the amused looks she got from the other diners. Just outside the room, on the other side of the corridor, she opened the door to the stairways leading down to the caverns below. Walking quickly down the stairs with Colin close behind her, she thought to show him the pool cavern first, but decided to save her favorite for last. * * * When Jack and Walker reached the hospital, they went looking for Dr. Ellison. Before they could locate her, Dr. Sherri Delaney accosted them in the medical floor hallway. The usually even-tempered woman definitely was not happy at the moment. Her tightly pinched lips almost disappeared from barely-controlled annoyance. Her brown eyes practically drilled angry holes through Walker, and he waited nervously for her to tell him what was wrong. He didn’t have to wait long. “Walker,” Dr. Delaney practically spitting out the words at him, “you have to either talk to Harriet, Dr. Ellison, or you’re going to have a mutiny on your hands.” “Calm down, Sherri, and tell me what’s going on.” Walker automatically reached out to comfort the irate, but thought better of it when her eyes narrowed in barely suppressed hostility. Having a woman look at him in anything other than admiration momentarily confused him. Jack stepped into the awkward moment with the obvious question. “What has Dr. Ellison done?” Walker breathed a silent sigh of relief when Dr. Delaney turned her attention toward the younger man. Although he was an expert at running his many companies, Walker was an abject failure at understanding the behavior of most women. Dr. Sherri Delaney was an excellent physician, recently hired away from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. With the steady increase of children at the orphanage, Walker wanted her to organize a pediatric unit at his estate’s hospital. When one of his recruiters interviewed her, the thought was that her laid-back personality would be an excellent counterpoint to that of the prickly Dr. Ellison. Instead, the two strong-willed women resembled mongooses fighting cobras. Dr. Delaney, calming down somewhat after Jack’s gently spoken question, answered him, but continued glaring at Walker. Her complaint stunned both men into silence, unsure how to resolve this impasse between the two doctors. Finally, Jack said, without daring to look at Walker, “Well, you always say there are no problems, only challenges. Here’s a challenge for you to really test that theory!” Chapter 47 When Samantha reached the first cavern, she couldn’t hide her excitement at sharing these three underground treasures with Colin. For months during the renovation the previous year, Walker had forbidden her to visit the dangerous areas alone. The memory still stung of his angrily yelling when she fell while running across an uneven floor. Now the limestone floors were even and safe for even the most unsteady of elderly guests. Turning on the overhead lighting, she waited for the full effect of the cavern to reach Colin who came slowly into the room behind her. The lights’ reflection made the walls glow a delicate peach color. Scattered around the room were comfortable chairs located short distances from the three corridors leading out of the cavern. “I’m taking you to the largest area next.” Samantha looked back to face Colin while saying this. She smiled at the stunned look on his face as he looked around the cavern in awe. The smallest of the three caverns always seemed to have this impact when people first saw it. When Samantha turned off the lights, phosphorescence in the walls caused the room to appear a soft dusk-like blue. After letting Colin admire this for a couple minutes, she turned the lights back on. Colin walked towards the back of the cavern where he found three limestone corridors. “Where do these go?” he asked, peering into the middle one. “That one just leads back to this room,” Samantha started down the leftmost corridor, not waiting to see if Colin followed her. Her voice echoed back and prompted him to hurry and enter the corridor behind her. “This will bring us out to the largest cavern.” * * * Eventually, Dr. Sherri Delaney became much calmer with her temper soothed by Jack’s quiet words. Walker, very wisely, let the younger man handle the volatile woman until he had all the facts. The slender physician turned her wide green eyes in Jack’s direction, and Walker tried to hide his smile. Jack had often bragged that he planned on playing the field and wouldn’t settle down with one woman until he’d reached the ripe old age of 65. Here he was, though, only 42 and evidently falling under the spell of curly, blonde hair and a 100-watt smile. “Jack,” said Walker quietly, trying to get his friend’s attention. “Jack,” spoken a bit louder, then a firmer “Jack!” finally got Jack’s attention. Sherri, unaware of the condition she was putting Jack in, started down the corridor away from the two men. “While you’re here, I’d like you to see Itzam. You might see part of what the problem with Dr. Ellison is then.” When she reached the little girl’s room, she stopped and looked over to the bed next to which Dr. Ellison was standing. On the other side, Joshua was frowning at the doctor. Walker could see his young ward was having trouble remaining quiet in the presence of an adult who very obviously was scolding his friend. Itzam had tears flowing down her face, but also was remaining quiet. One thing Jack would not tolerate was anyone making the little Belizean girl unhappy. “What’s going on here, Dr. Ellison?” His angry voice filled the room, causing the doctor to jump in surprise. She had not noticed the three adults coming into the room. “Ask Dr. Delaney,” she said harshly, pointing at the woman still standing in the doorway. She then looked at Walker and gave him an ultimatum. “Either she goes, Walker, or I do!” Chapter 48 Walker calmly went to where Dr. Ellison was standing, arms akimbo, and quickly guided her outside to the corridor. “Now, Harriet,” he asked, his baritone voice low to keep their conversation private, “what is going on here?” He looked over her shoulder back into Itzam’s room and saw Jack tenderly wiping away the little girl’s tears. Although he couldn’t hear Joshua, Walker saw the boy gesturing angrily and pointing out into the corridor. “Walker,” Dr. Ellison said, pacing back and forth in the corridor, her voice rising the angrier she got, “that woman called me a dried-up prune, past my prime, with no idea how to treat children. She said I scared the patients, particularly the younger ones, and told me to leave her patients alone.” Dr. Ellison stopped suddenly in front of Walker. “What the hell does she mean, her patients? Am I or am I not the head of this hospital in charge of all the patients?” “Well, yes, Harriet, but you know I brought in Dr. Delaney to set up a pediatric wing to the hospital. You’ve got to realize she might be a bit territorial about this.” Walker’s gentle smile widened when he remembered the news he got just a couple hours ago. This faltered when he realized what he had to tell her to defuse this situation between the women. “I know you’re overworked, taking charge of both the entire hospital plus your ER responsibilities, but I have some news.” Better to get the good news out of the way first, though, he thought, then maybe it will make the other bit go down easier. Inside Itzam’s room, Dr. Delaney crossed over to where Joshua stood next to Itzam’s bed. “Joshua, are you ready to start doing some work around my bungalow? I left some flats of flowers near the front door for you.” She had decided to live on Walker’s estate rather than make the drive to the nearby town of Westbrook each day. The many small bungalows scattered around the vast property had a variety of people living in them from Felix and his dog Valentine to nurses and orderlies working at the hospital. Dr. Delaney had chosen one set off almost by itself in a section of the woods between the hospital and the mansion. Only a couple other small buildings set aside for those temporarily visiting spoiled the solitude she enjoyed. “I’m going there later today,” Joshua realized what Dr. Delaney was doing to try and deflect his anger and decided to let the subject drop of how Dr. Ellison had treated Itzam. He was very fond and protective of the shy little girl and relieved to see Jack enter the room. “Where do you want them planted?” With the two of them discussing the layout of begonias and petunias, Walker about to tell Dr. Ellison his news, and Jack promising Itzam she would be going home soon, the ward nurses breathed a collective sigh of relief as peace and quiet once again came to the medical floor. * * * Down below the mansion, Samantha was showing Colin the second and largest cavern. “We use this room often for special occasions.” She continued by telling him of the condition of the cavern before the various workers smoothed out the floor and installed overhead lighting. “There were decades of animal droppings and tiny bones all over the place.” Samantha led him across the large area to the back where Colin noticed multiple tunnels. “Is this where the men found little Hannah’s body” He broke his long silence with this question. When Samantha pointed out the largest one, he poked his head inside, the contemptuous expression on his face hidden from her view. If she had seen it, her helpful demeanor would have quickly disappeared. Unknown to Samantha, even before leaving England he already had made plans regarding his ancestors, both Jason and Hannah Edgeworth. However, when he once again faced her, all she saw was the usual friendly visitor. “Samantha,” he said, as if an idea had suddenly come to him, “before you show me the last cavern, since you seem to prize it the most, might I suggest a quick lunch? I am feeling a bit peckish since breakfast was hours ago. What do you say?” “That sounds like a good idea, and you’d get to taste some of Chef Geoffrey’s delicious cooking.” This didn’t exactly fit into Colin’s plan. “I was thinking more of me doing the cooking at the bungalow where I’m staying.” He slowly let his eyes go up and down Samantha’s curvaceous body. “You need to try good English cooking for a change. What do you say?” Although Colin made her slightly uncomfortable with his obvious flirting, Samantha agreed, and the two of them left the caverns. Heading for his temporary bungalow, Samantha noticed they were passing by the one assigned to the new doctor at the hospital. I must remember to drop by and visit her soon, was her thought when Dr. Delaney’s home disappeared behind some more trees. What happened in the next half hour drove all thoughts of Dr. Delaney from her terrified mind. Chapter 49 Before heading for Dr. Delaney’s home, Joshua decided to ride his bicycle to the bungalow on the opposite side of the mansion where Felix and his Irish Wolfhound lived. It had become a daily ritual of his to take the dog for a long race around the estate. No matter how fast Joshua pedaled, though, Valentine always managed to outdistance him. Some day, the boy swore to himself as he rode down the pathway next to which Valentine lay sleeping, I’ll beat her. My legs just aren’t long enough yet. Valentine woke up at the sound of the squeaking the bike’s chain made and jumped on Joshua before he had completely come to a stop. The patently false stern command of “Get down, girl,” she completely ignored in her quest to reach and lick Joshua’s face. When she managed to knock him over and off the bike, she straddled the laughing boy to completely cover his face in dog slobber. This had become a daily routine of theirs. When he finally got to his feet and wiped his face, Joshua heard the door to the bungalow open. “Hey, Joshua,” called out Felix, a pencil behind his ear and a notebook in his hand. “Have you seen Walker today? He’s turned off his cell again.” Felix frowned when he said this. It was a known fact that Walker disliked the intrusion a cell phone made into his rare private time. He only carried one for emergencies, at the urging of Samantha and Jack, and usually defiantly turned it off. Joshua nodded. “He’s over at the hospital with Jack, at least he was half an hour ago.” “Thanks, I guess I’ll drop over there and see if I can catch him.” Felix started to leave, and then stopped to ask, “Where’re you two going today?” “Dr. Delaney wants some flowers planted, so I thought we’d spend a couple hours there.” Felix nodded. “That should give Valentine some good exercise then. Wear her out if you can, okay? She’s been eating like a pig lately and needs to run off some of those pounds.” He reached down to lovingly scratch behind his dog’s ears. The architect knew Walker had a staff of gardeners who could do Dr. Delaney’s yard work. Letting the children do odd jobs around the estate like that to earn spending money, however, was one way Walker tried to instill a good work ethic in them. Even though the multibillionaire came from a wealthy family, he had worked at increasing his personal wealth all his adult life. Walker was a strong believer in hard work, not caring if it was manual labor or using one’s brain. All the children had chores, and Joshua was the one everyone hired most often for simple landscaping. Waving good-bye to Felix, Joshua pedaled back down the pathway with Valentine easily keeping up beside him. It took the two of them almost an hour to go around the mansion to reach the distant home of Dr. Delaney. They would have made it in half the time if Valentine hadn’t kept disappearing, supposedly to chase the occasional rabbit in the woods. The only traffic they met was a dark blue car that passed them so quickly Joshua did not have time to recognize the driver. He waved at the driver anyway, knowing it must be a staff member or one of the elderly guests from the mansion going to town shopping. Finally pulling up in front the of the doctor’s small home, Joshua immediately saw the flats of flowers she had left out for him. He parked his bike and walked toward the front of the building. The only sound in this fairly deserted section of the estate was of birds high up in the trees and cicadas clicking away in the hot summer afternoon. For the next couple hours, Joshua worked up a sweat digging the soil in the areas Dr. Delaney had mentioned and planting the colorful flowers. Whenever he noticed Valentine was missing, he would check to find her busy exploring the yards around the bungalow. In this way, the afternoon flew by for both boy and dog. With the sun slowly sinking below the horizon, Joshua pedaled back to return Valentine so she could have her late dinner. When he got there, he noticed Felix was not home and decided to bring the dog back to the mansion for a special treat from Chef Geoffrey’s kitchen. Valentine was a favorite of everyone at the mansion and enjoyed all their fussing over her whenever Felix allowed her to visit them. Chapter 50 While Joshua fed Valentine behind the mansion, a new frightened child for Hannah’s Home arrived. Edith would eventually learn bits of the little girl’s sad history from Robyn, one of Walker’s recruiters. Only Emma, though, knew exactly what scared her so much she had wet her pants on the drive to this safe haven. * * * The loud voices in the other room suddenly quieted, replaced by the rapid sound of a gun fired twice. There was a pause, and then one last gunshot. The front door slamming shut was the next sound Emma heard, followed by total silence. Seven-year-old Emma huddled under her bed, trying to make herself as small as possible. She had listened for what seemed like hours to her parents fighting about money and how expensive it was raising three children. At one point, her two older twin brothers had joined them, trying unsuccessfully to stem their father’s anger. Emma no longer heard even their voices after the sound of the gunshots. The night closed in around her with only the sound of her breathing breaking the oppressive silence. High cliffs miles away echoed with ocean waves crashing against them. The sound didn’t carry to Emma’s home located deep in the lonely valley. With the sun slowly coming up over the horizon, a gray mist rolled over the cliffs. It filled the valley below and swirled around the silent house. This is how Stanley Wright found things when he parked his small, white truck by the rusting mailbox. Spotting the open front door with bloody footprints coming down the cement walkway, he pulled out his cell phone and called the sheriff’s department in the town 15 miles away. While waiting for them to arrive, the young postal worker cautiously walked on the brown dry grass beside the walkway to the front door. He peered into the empty front hallway and called out, “Hello? Is anyone home? Mrs. Anderson, is everything okay?” Only silence met his questions. His eyes began to water from the unpleasant smell of blood, urine, and feces wafting towards him. A patrol car eventually arrived and pulled up behind the Stanley’s vehicle. Two officers got out with guns drawn. Motioning the young man to stand away from the front door, they slowly went inside the house. The junior officer, Bill Cooney, turned left off the hallway into the dining room. He immediately called back, “Clear!” His partner, Blair Nally, headed for the large living room on the right. What this seasoned officer of over 25 years saw stopped him in his tracks. It caused even this man, accustomed to seeing mutilated corpses, to gag at the scene on the floor in front of him. Lying on her back was an adult woman, a single gunshot wound in the middle of her forehead. Congealed blood around and through her long hair turned it from wispy light blonde to more the consistency of sticky black tar. Her face also had bruises inflicted shortly before her death. Close to the woman was a young boy, his body looking so small next to hers. He appeared to the police officer to be around nine years old. The child was barefoot and wearing only pajama bottoms. The happy puppy designs on them seemed cruel to Blair when above them was a young chest blown wide open by a single gunshot. There was a look of surprise still on the boy’s face, even in death. The stunned officer found another body almost hidden behind a large sofa. This second boy appeared to have tried to escape the massacre, but a gunshot to his back stopped him. He also wore pajamas and had on only one slipper. The medical examiner later discovered its mate near the woman, soaked through with her blood. The boy had actually run out of it in his panic to get away. The harsh sound of vomiting caused Blair to turn around. Behind him, Bill had entered the living room, looked at the bloody remains of the three people, and was in the process of losing his recently eaten breakfast. “Bill, go outside and get some fresh air,” yelled Blair. “I can handle things in here.” A thought came to him. “You’d better call back to town for the ME and an ambulance to get out here.” After Bill gratefully left the house, Blair started through the rest of the rooms, his gun still in his hand. The kitchen proved empty as did the master bedroom near the back of the house and a second bedroom, obviously that of the two boys. Just as he was about to enter another bedroom, he heard his partner calling out to him from the front of the house. “I’m here,” Blair yelled. “Come on back if you feel okay now.” When Bill joined him, Blair noted his partner still looked a bit sick, but some color had returned to his face. “Did you get hold of the M.E. yet?” he asked. “She’s on her way now.” Bill had additional information. “It seems she knows these people, the Andersons, and there is also a younger daughter, Emma, about seven years old.” Blair started swearing at the thought of finding the body of another dead child. He and Bill froze, though, at the sound coming from the darkened bedroom in front of them. They slowly entered the room and traced down the sound as coming from underneath a canopy bed. Bending down to look under it, their eyes met those of a young girl staring back at them. Rather, they realized her terrified eyes were fixated on the guns still in their hands. Both men immediately holstered their weapons. “Thank God,” whispered Bill, “she’s alive.” The girl, seeing the uniforms on the men, slowly crawled out to end crying hysterically in Blair’s arms. The horror story of the night before poured out of her. Leaving her still crying and held gently by his partner, Bill returned to the patrol car to place an all points bulletin for her father, who had disappeared into the swirling fog of the morning. When Robyn discovered the child at the local orphanage, she knew Emma would be safer with Walker at Hannah’s Home. She immediately handled all the paperwork to bring the young girl with her, and contacted Eric, the mansion’s limousine driver, to meet them as soon as possible. * * * A week later and many miles from Emma’s blood-soaked home, Edith looked at Robyn who was guiding the small girl toward her. She noticed the dampness on the front of Emma’s brand new dress and made no mention of the accident that caused it. It was becoming a familiar sight to see children arriving in various states of fright. “Hello, Emma,” Edith said very quietly, but even that made the child hide behind Robin, the only person she now knew. It would take a long time before Emma was once again the happy little girl she once was and not before more tragedy entered her young life. Continued in next segment.
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