The Gilded Curse: Will the young heiress be the next victim of her family's curse? (19 page)

Lexie took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “No, I’m glad you told me, Russell. So what will you do about the club members? Will you tell them the season’s been shortened?”

“I’m not sure yet how Mr. Prentice will handle it. He’s already cancelled the golf tournament in March just because so many golfers have joined the war effort, and it just doesn’t seem right to have a major golf tournament during the war. We may still have the tennis tournament, but make it a club tournament instead of a major tournament. I’m sure he’d like you to play in it.”

“I don’t know, Russell. I still don’t know how long I’m staying.”

“If it’s up to me, I’d keep you here as long as possible.”

Lexie’s heart lurched. She cocked her head and stared at him.

“Why?”

“To keep you out of trouble, of course.” The familiar grin appeared, and he winked at her. “Robert would want me to watch out for his kid sister.”

So that was it. She was still just Robert’s kid sister. Some things never changed. Why did she think he meant anything else? She gave him a crooked smile.

“So does that mean you’re not going to let me out of your sight? Shouldn’t you be watching out for Germans instead?”

Russell laughed as they approached the door to the cottage. He withdrew a key from his pocket and unlocked the door.

“Never fear. I can do both at once. From now on, you go everywhere with me. No more horseback riding on the beach alone.”

Lexie’s mind flashed back to her horseback ride on the beach where she came upon Abner Jones looking for Germans. Maybe he wasn’t so crazy after all. Or maybe he knew something no one else did.

Chapter 21

L
exie entered the cottage with Russell close behind. Everything looked the same as before, but brighter without the storm. The musty smell still permeated the air, despite the maids’ attempts to clean the house. Must be the old wallpaper, sadly in need of replacing.

She pointed to a stain running from the corner of the ceiling down the side of the wall. “There must be another leak. There’s one upstairs too.”

Russell glanced over and nodded, taking out the pad and making a note.

There were so many things she would do if she was going to stay here again—buy new furniture and curtains, add pictures, replace the mirror over the fireplace—but she wasn’t here to renovate the cottage, just repair it so someone else could make the other changes. It would never be the way it used to be, no matter what she did to it. She squeezed her eyes shut to hush the voices from the past that whispered memories. The past was gone, and she needed to leave it behind.

She rounded the corner and stepped into the kitchen, remembering the last time she’d been there and found Abner Jones inside. An involuntary shudder shook her shoulders.

“Are you okay?” Russell watched her cautiously tread around the room. He walked over to the back door and turned the knob. It opened without hesitation. “Hmmm. Looks like the latch is pulled loose. I know I latched it last time, but the wood is worn. I’ll have someone from maintenance check on it.” He made another note.

Lexie paused in front of the dumbwaiter.

“Want to climb in and play hide-and-seek?” Russell pulled the creaky horizontal steel door open to reveal the mesh metal cage inside.

“No, I don’t think so. Not sure I would fit now anyway.”

He eyed her up and down. “Sure you could. You’re taller, but still small enough to fold yourself up to fit.”

She shook her head. “It wouldn’t be fun anymore, just uncomfortable.”

“I suppose you’re right. Hard to believe we all used to fit in there, isn’t it?”

Lexie remembered how they used to take turns hiding. She couldn’t imagine tall Russell in there now.

“Let’s go upstairs.” Lexie led the way, anxious to leave the kitchen. She scanned the rooms, then the hall, looking for anything unusual.

The stairs groaned with their weight as she and Russell climbed up. At the top, Lexie surveyed the open landing before proceeding to each room. As she entered her mother and father’s bedroom, she had the urge to open the dresser drawers. When she did, she gasped.

Russell ran over to her. “What is it?”

She pointed to the drawers. “They’re all broken. The bottoms have been broken out.” She turned to Russell. “Why? Why would someone do this?”

He shook his head. “All I can figure is that someone thought something might be hidden in the drawers or under them.” He rubbed his chin. “You didn’t open these last time you were here?”

“No, why?”

“I wonder if the damage would have been noticed by the maids. If so, no one mentioned it to me.”

“Let’s check the other drawers, Russell.”

They went from room to room, checking drawers. Every one of them had been damaged.

“Somebody’s certainly trying to find something,” Lexie said.

“Sure appears that way.” Russell squatted down and examined one of the dressers.

“I wish I knew what they were looking for.”

Russell looked up at her. “Apparently, whoever it is thinks you know.”

“Why would you say that?”

“Because they wanted you to come here and find it for them, lead them to it.” He pulled himself up as he focused on her face.

Lexie’s hands flew to her mouth, her heart thumping. “How do you know that?”

“They sent you a telegram so you’d come.”

“So they must be following me … or watching me.” Lexie whispered the words as she glanced around, trembling.

Russell put his arms around her and pulled her close. “It’s okay. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

She felt the tears forming but forced them back. She couldn’t fall
apart and make Russell think she was helpless. But his arms strengthened her and his commitment reinforced her resolve. Much as she wanted to collapse, she fought for control. She pushed back and raised her eyes to peer up at him. “I’ll be all right. Thank you for being here.”

“Looks like you’re stuck with me now.” The warmth of his smile radiated through her. “Are you ready to go?”

She shook her head. “No. I wanted to go to the third floor, too, remember?”

“That’s right.” He nodded. “I almost forgot there was a third floor. I think Robert and I only went up there a few times to hide.”

They passed by the room that had the leaky window and Lexie pointed it out while Russell jotted down a note. The only stairs to the third floor were around the corner in the servants’ quarters. The children’s nannies stayed in the second-floor quarters so they could be near the children. The other servants were on the third floor, which was only accessible by the back staircase which came up from the kitchen.

As Lexie and Russell climbed the stairs, Lexie sensed that someone had been there recently. She sniffed the air, which wasn’t as musty as other parts of the house, a sign that the doors had been opened recently, allowing fresh air to flow through. They climbed the creaky, narrow stairs to the top then stepped out into a small hallway with doors on either side. Lexie and Russell peeked in each of the six small bedrooms, which were much smaller than Lexie remembered with a single bed, tiny table, and short dresser taking up most of the space in each.

Lexie halted in front of one of them and pointed to the window. “That’s the one I saw from outside that looks like someone threw a rock at it.”

“That or they shot a gun at it.”

Lexie drew back and looked up at him. “A gun?”

“Those are fairly small holes, and it’s a pretty far distance to throw a rock that high.”

“Oh my. Someone could’ve been hurt if they’d been standing by the window.”

“Maybe. But they’d have to be standing close to it, since the bullets would go straight up.” He glanced at the ceiling. “See?” He reached up and pulled a bullet from the ceiling. “But Lexie, no one’s been here, so no one’s been shot. It was just a stupid prank.”

Lexie scanned the room, trying to figure out what bothered her. A whiff of cigarette smoke invaded her nostrils.

“Russell! Someone’s been in here recently.”

“Sure they have. The maids probably came up here to clean.”

“That was several days ago. But I smell cigarette smoke, like someone smoked in here not long ago.”

He looked at her askance. “I don’t smell anything.”

“Of course you don’t because you smoke too.” Lexie faced him with her hands on her hips. “I know you smoke when I’m not around to see you. I can smell it on your clothes, your breath.”

“I confess. I still have the habit. Are you saying I was in here?”

Lexie shook her head. “No, of course not. But someone has been here recently and smoked in this room.”

“The maids know better than to smoke inside while they’re cleaning.”

“Maybe it wasn’t a maid.” She studied the floor as she walked around the small room.

“What are you looking for?”

“A cigarette butt, ashes, anything.”

“Do you think someone would put that on the floor?”

She looked up at him and cocked her head. “Maybe not, but I bet there’s some around here somewhere.”

Her eyes traveled to the window pierced by holes. “Out there. I bet we’ll find a cigarette butt outside below the window.” She turned and ran out the door.

“Hey, wait for me!” Russell yelled behind her.

She ran to the servant staircase door, opened it, and ran down the steps. The cigarette smell was even stronger in the stairwell, confirming her suspicion. She ran out the back door and around to the lawn below the third-floor window. Russell joined her, and together, they studied the grass and ground below the shrubs by the house.

“Russell, does Abner smoke?” Lexie kept her head down as she asked.

“Probably. Everybody smokes.”

She stopped to glare at him. “I don’t.”

“All right. Everybody
else
smokes. But honestly Lexie, as fastidious as Abner is about the lawn, I don’t think he’d litter it with cigarette butts. What if this ‘smoker’ put out the cigarette, then put it in his pocket?”

She hadn’t thought of that. But they didn’t see any sign of cigarettes, so maybe that’s exactly what happened.

“Of course, it could’ve been one of the maids when they were here.”

“Maybe, but they haven’t been here in a couple of days, and the odor
was recent, like even today.”

After scrutinizing the ground, they still found no sign of cigarettes. She was about to give up when a glint from the top of the bushes caught her eye. She reached across a shrub and grabbed an object stuck between two leaves.

It was a cigarette butt, a silver stripe around the filter revealing its location. She held it up for Russell to see. He took the item from her, turning it around to examine.

“Looks new,” he said. “So someone’s been in the house recently and they smoke. What does that mean?”

Lexie put her finger to her chin. “They must have been looking out the window.” She spun around and ran to the back door, with Russell following. She ran up the stairs to the third floor and back to the bedroom with the broken window. She crossed the room and gazed out, no longer looking at the window, but beyond. When Russell caught up with her, he was breathless.

“Look.” Lexie pointed out the window.

“Look at what?”

“What can you see from here?”

“The yard, the trees, the river.”

“That’s right. Russell, this is the only room on the third floor that has a view of the river!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! The thought crossed my mind when we looked at the other rooms that they had no view because they looked straight into the trees. But this room is between the trees, so there’s a good view of the water.”

He gave her a quizzical expression. “So somebody came up here to look at the water?”

“I think so. Maybe he expected someone, someone who was coming up the river.”

“So why not wait for them at the boat dock?”

Lexie’s heart stilled. “Maybe they weren’t going to the dock. Maybe they were coming ashore here. Russell, do you think someone on the island is working with the Germans and is helping them get on our island?”

Chapter 22

R
ussell wanted to tell her the idea was absurd, but he couldn’t discount the remote possibility. Should he mention it to the Coast Guard? What if it was nothing, just a maid throwing a cigarette out the window? He’d look pretty ridiculous if that’s all it was. Still, he had to calm Lexie down and not let her imagination get carried away.

“Lexie, I sincerely doubt Germans would want to invade the island. What good would it do since they’d still have to get to the mainland?”

Her widened eyes told him she still worried about the scenario she’d proposed.

“I don’t know, Russell. Maybe use the island as a base to signal their subs? It’s a pretty big island and there aren’t many of us here.”

He shook his head. What she didn’t know was that President Roosevelt was already concerned about the wealthy club members on the island, many of whom were his friends.