Page 58 of The Women of Wild Hill
Brigid and Phoebe could still recall the man rolling his window down a few inches. “You got a body buried in the cellar,” he said. “I saw a foot poking up through the floor. I’m going to get the cops.” That was the last anyone ever saw of him.
NOW FLORA WAS RIDING HERbike through the open gates of Wild Hill. Farther down the drive, rotating red and white lights were painting the trees. As she drew closer, she could see cop cars parked in front of the caretaker’s cottage. Calum, Brigid, and Phoebe were all standing outside, watching the police stream in and out of the house.
Flora reached the house and hopped off her bike, and the girls ran up to her.
“What happened?” Flora asked.
“Is this your house?” A police officer was approaching. His badge readRocca.
“It is,” she replied warily.
“Were you aware that there are bodies buried in your basement?”
“Bodies?” Flora’s knees wobbled briefly.
“We’ve found two so far.”
“No,” Flora answered the question truthfully. “I wasn’t aware. I just inherited the property earlier this month. My daughters and I had nothing to do with it.”
“The three of you aren’t suspects,” Officer Rocca informed her. “One of the men has identification on him that’s almost a hundred years old. The other body isn’t much younger. They’ve been buried down there since before you were born. Do you happen to recognize the name Charles Campbell?”
“I do,” Flora admitted. She’d heard her mother and Ivy speak of him when she was younger. He’d apparently been quite unpleasant. “Charles Campbell was my great-great-uncle. I was told that he disappeared early in the twentieth century.”
“Well, I guess we just found out where he went,” said the cop. “Any idea who the other man might be?”
“No,” Flora said.
The cop nodded. “We’re going to need to search the rest of the basement for other bodies. While that’s happening, the house will be a crime scene. You got somewhere else you can stay for the next few days?”
“I’m supposed to take my girls down to the city tomorrow. They’re doing a summer program at Barnard. I guess we can all go a bit early,” Flora said.
“I’d prefer if you stay in Mattauk, Mrs. Duncan.”
“Ms.,” Flora corrected him with a note of annoyance.
Calum stepped forward. “The girls are old enough to go to the city on their own. We can get a couple of rooms tonight and put them on the train in the morning.”
Flora nodded, but she seemed to know there was going to be trouble.
PHOEBE TURNED TO HER DAUGHTERto explain.
“The bodies belonged to Charles Campbell and Henry Jansson—”
“And Ivy poisoned them both and buried them in the basement,” Sibyl finished the thought.
“How did you know?”
“The ancestors showed me,” Sibyl told her.
“Yeah, well no one ever mentioned a word of it to me or your mom,” Brigid said. “So imagine our surprise.”
“ARE THERE GOING TO BEany more surprises?” Calum was standing at the window in the caretaker’s cottage attic. In the distance, workmen were pouring the concrete foundation of a house being built on Culling Pointe. “I can’t even imagine what people are saying.”
“Why would you bother imagining what people are saying?” Flora asked absentmindedly as she sorted through a pile of boxes.
“I might want to get back into business someday. Now I’ve got this scandal hanging over my head.”
Flora glanced up. “It’s my scandal. Why would anyone think you’re responsible?” When there was no response, she went back to searching through the boxes. “After my parents died, I brought their personal belongings up here to the attic. I always planned to go through them someday. I guess this is the day.”
