Bouquet of Lies Part 44

"And Edward laughed and I don't remember what he said after that. But he left me there with the bones and it was dark. I couldn't see them, but I knew they were there." Darla s.h.i.+vered. "And I tried to move as far away from them as I could until I started to scream."

"And we heard you," Jake said. "But couldn't find you. But Harper could."

"Yes. Daddy came."

Forty-two.

LACEY STOOD AMID the cops who milled about in the foyer. There were so many, it seemed like overkill. But what the heck. They were here to help wrap up her case. She was grateful.

She watched Uncle D disappear into the library, determined to find the bones Darla remembered. Those bones corroborated Crystal's story which gave her credibility and added to the a.r.s.enal of evidence Uncle D was gathering against Ana and Randy.

Darla sat on the stairs peering through the posts of the banister as if she were in prison. She had been in prison, Lacey thought. All of her life because of Edward. Because of Father, too.

She would never understand why the two of them deprived her and Darla of their mother. It must have been Harriet's influence.

Jake climbed the stairs and sat next to Darla. She leaned her head on his shoulder and smiled.

Watching them, Lacey smiled, too.

Dan walked up and stood beside Lacey. "Looks like things are working out for them." She gave him a fleeting glance.

"They belong together," she said.

"What about us?"

She turned and faced him.

"I took your hand," he said. "You pulled away."

"I called you. You didn't call me back."

"I called you twenty times."

Lacey brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "No, you didn't." But Dan never lied. Now she was confused.

"Okay, nineteen." He stared at her. "You didn't call me back." He walked away.

Lacey took out her phone. It was dead. She closed her eyes. It had been down to one bar yesterday. In all the confusion she'd forgotten to charge it.

Uncle D came out of the foyer. "I need Darla."

She stood up. "I'm over here."

Uncle D crossed to the stairs, and Lacey joined him.

"There are two other rooms off the room connected to the library. As well as a pa.s.sage that extends in a maze through the house. You think you can remember enough to show us where you were? We aren't seeing any chests."

Jake held Darla's hand. "You want her to go in there?" He looked at her. "Are you ready for that?" His face said he wasn't sure this was a good idea.

Darla eyed the library. "I can try."

"Atta girl," Uncle D said.

"Brave," Lacey said, smiling at her sister.

"Scared," Darla replied.

"Only if you want to," Jake said.

"I want to." She slowly stepped down the stairs.

Lacey took her arm. "I'm coming, too."

Jake started down the stairs.

"Just the sisters," Uncle D directed.

Upon entering the library, Lacey and Darla paused. The bookcase to the right of the great fireplace gaped open. Even with the sun brightening the room, the beckoning pa.s.sage was a sinister sight.

"The proverbial bookcase," Lacey murmured.

"Yes, indeed. You'll need these." Uncle D motioned at a deputy who gave each of them a flashlight. "It's wired for electricity but the power's not on. And we're not sure how to turn it on at this point."

Darla pressed the flashlight switch. Then she took her sister's hand and clutched it. Lacey guided them around the couches to the opening.

"No wonder you had nightmares," Lacey commented, standing inside the hidden room. "I would have too."

"It's small," Darla said. "It seemed so big when I was little."

"So you remember this?" Uncle D said.

"Not this exactly. I don't think the box was here."

"There's nothing in here," Lacey said. "Besides darkness, dirt and cobwebs." She stamped her foot and produced a small cloud of filth. Lacey beamed the light on the floor and could just make out a pattern of roses grayed from dust. "And a messed-up carpet."

Uncle D used his flashlight. "There are two doors, as you can see." Each door stood open offering an ocean of blackness beyond. "The room on the right has another door that leads to a corridor. That corridor tunnels off like a labyrinth."

Darla stared at the other opening. "The left." She dropped Lacey's hand and stepped closer. "We didn't go down a corridor. Grandfather put me in this room."

"You're sure? Because there's nothing in there, except. Well. You'll see. We thought perhaps Edward took you down the hall to one of the other five-odd chambers we've discovered thus far."

"No. That room," Darla said, staring. "That one."

Uncle D went first. "Come on, then."

They followed him in and stood fascinated. The side walls displayed serene murals of blue sky, fluffy clouds, yellow b.u.t.terflies and blue birds. One mural included a pink lamb with deeper-pink flowers on its head standing in a meadow of pastel daisies, baby chicks and rabbits.

"I remember this, too. But there was other stuff. Lots of stuff."

"Well." Uncle D took out a Tums. "When we saw the murals that's what we thought. The chest was in here and it got moved." He popped the Tums.

"Harriet must have done this," Lacey said. "A tomb for her baby who would never get justice."

"She should have just turned the b.a.s.t.a.r.d in." Uncle D stepped toward the exit.

Lacey pointed the light at the wall between the murals. It was light blue. "Wait a minute." She turned around and flashed the light on the wall with the door. It had a sky and clouds and b.u.t.terflies and birds. She turned back. "Why is this wall plain?" She looked at Darla. "Was it like that? Can you remember?"

Darla shrugged. "I just remember stuff."

Uncle D moved to the blue wall. "I get where you're going." He knocked on it. "Solid." He paced off the room one direction and then the other. "Six-and-a-half by ten. An odd size."

"Someone sealed up the stuff. The bones," Lacey said.

"That wall's gotta come down." He walked out.

Lacey moved closer to Darla. "You okay?" She put an arm around her sister.

"I'm good," Darla said. "I am." She nodded. "I'm trying to figure out why I was so scared in a room full of b.u.t.terflies and a little lamb."

"Because the bones were real. The lamb is not."

"Why would Grandfather do that to me? I don't understand."

"n.o.body understands. Our family was weird."

Darla let out a little snort. "Weird. Should we add that to our list for ourselves?"

"No. We're the next generation. We aren't going to do things the same way."

Darla hugged her sister. When she let go she was all smiles. "I feel so . . . I don't know how to explain it. Different."

"Free."

"Yeah. And safe. I feel safe. And it isn't because Randy's locked up or because I have Jake. It's . . . it's because things are going to be okay. I don't have to watch out."

"Well. No more than the rest of us." Lacey laughed and Darla laughed too.

Darla glanced over her shoulder. "Is he coming back?"

"Oh, yeah. No doubt. With a sledgehammer."

Forty-three.

WHEN LACEY AND Darla returned to the foyer the first thing they saw among the sea of uniforms was Crystal. They both froze.

"That's Mother, isn't it?" Darla sidled close to Lacey so that their shoulders touched. Her voice was thoughtful.

"That's Crystal," Lacey replied, and she felt a twinge of animosity she knew Darla didn't feel because of Darla's tone.

"I can believe my eyes?" Darla said.

Lacey took her sister's hand and squeezed it. "You could always believe your eyes."

The woman had yet to spot her daughters. With hands tightly clasped together, she s.h.i.+fted her line of sight from one area of the floor to another.

She's wistful, Lacey thought, allowing her anger to lessen. This had been her mother's home eighteen years ago. Darla's lifetime. And yet, in the scheme of things, was that such a long time back? Not to mention that she returned on occasion to sneak in at night.

Lacey wondered if their mother had only visited Darla's room. Maybe she wandered all through the house. Maybe sat in the kitchen and remembered happier times or fantasized about what might have been. Could she have been brave enough to have opened the door to Father's room and watch him sleep?

More soft thoughts came. This woman of faded beauty, who wasn't all that old, had given birth to her and Darla. She had actually raised Lacey for three years. As a little girl Lacey would have kissed her mother and told her that she loved her. She would have hugged Crystal and asked for bedtime stories. She would have relied upon her for things.

Lacey tried to remember. She had those few sweet memories of her father when she was very young. Younger than the age most people could remember. That must have been her mind clinging to something wonderful after he withdrew.

But she couldn't remember her mother.

She tugged at her memory, almost in a panic. There had to be something. Anything. A smile. Her voice. Her touch. She took a few steps forward and suddenly something came. A scent. She remembered her mother's perfume. In fact she smelled it now, sweet and familiar. Crystal hadn't been wearing it in the police station, but she had to be wearing it now.

She felt Darla move next to her. "What are you thinking about?"

"About perfume, of all things."

Darla sniffed the air. "That perfume?"

"Yes. Are you ready for her?"

"I've always been ready."

Lacey took a breath. "Well, I've talked to her already. So I'm thinking you could talk alone."

"No. You, too." Darla took a quick look around. "And I want Jake with us. Where is he?"

Lacey didn't see him. She tapped the shoulder of a pa.s.sing deputy. "Where did Jake go?"

"Not sure who that is. We sent someone to look for a sledgehammer in the garage. Maybe it was him."

"Oh."