Chapter 10

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Chapter 10

Brynn

I stayed with Georgia despite Ethan's objections. I'm no safer from Lindsey here than anywhere else. She seems to have found a way around town, around us, without being seen. How many other buildings have the same kind of hidden hallways in them?

The one place they are certain don't have them is the Inn. Apparently the guys gutted that building completely when they remodeled it. If that is the case, then maybe that's where we need to be.

Georgia called her PI and he is in the city on another case. It will be several days before he can get here. He suggested we begin going through what we found and see what he has to work with.

In an effort to pull my weight with this mystery, I joined Cole and Georgia to dig into the boxes. There were plenty of old clothes, business documents, and photos. Mainly of the town and buildings. It hasn't changed by much. Obviously the businesses have changed hands and morphed into something else but the old brick buildings still stand.

The diner, once a coffee shop and before that a saloon of some sort. The vet clinic was a doctor's office. Not much change there. The Inn was a private residence before the hotel. And Georgia's home, a previous hotel and before that a private residence. Not just any residence, but one of the more wealthy families of that time.

Newspaper articles talked about the family and a tragedy that fell upon the wife of the man who ran the sawmill in town. He controlled the housing market, who could build in the area, who couldn't. He also was accused of killing his wife.

It spoke of a freak accident at the mill. The woman wasn't supposed to be there. But when she disappeared, the town worked together to find her. She was found... in pieces, cut by the motorized saw at the mill. All evidence pointed to the husband. From what the papers said he didn't have an alibi for the time she went missing, he had access, and was assumed to be having an affair, so a motive, but charges were never filed.

The couple had twins. Two baby girls, only three years old when the gruesome accident happened. The father, a pillar in the community from the articles, remained in the home until the day he died. The two children, however, weren't seen or mentioned again after the incident.

After reading the article twice, I decided that this was curious enough to warrant a deeper look. Passing the newspapers that mention the family to Georgia, I explained my thoughts and she agreed it was enough to look into.

"I don't believe in coincidence, Brynn. Especially the kind that could be the reason my family is in danger. We take care of our own, you are a part of this family." Georgia touched my arm reassuringly. "While you were going through these, I found several photos that had me wondering who this family was."

She passes me a small stack of yellowing photos that obviously are from many, many years ago. I began flipping through them and paused looking at one with the woman and her babies.

The same woman and children who were in the articles. They looked happy enough in the ones where the children were babies but as the girls got older, toddlers, something in the woman's eyes changed. She looked scared, haunted. Still there's a pull to her that I can't deny. Something so... familiar.

"She looks..." Muttering to myself, I adjust myself to sit more comfortably on the floor and study the photo.

"Sugar? Do you recognize her?" Georgia stops what she's doing to look at the picture as well.

"I don't know but she looks familiar. I just can't place from where." Passing the picture to Cole, he looks carefully at it as well.

"She looks like you, Brynn." Cole says, handing it back to me. "Your eyes, your facial expression. She could be a relative."

"Maybe..." I wish I could remember more. This is so frustrating. "I'm going to get a drink."

Leaving the two to continue digging, I head back to the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, I drop the glass in my hand, sending glass shattering over the floor and letting loose a blood curdling scream.

Cole and Georgia rushed in, turning away from the opened refrigerator, I buried my face against Cole's shoulder. I'm going to be sick.

Georgia swore loudly and profoundly as Cole wrapped his arms around me. "Georgia, don't touch it. Just leave it. Come on, we need to get Charlie here now."

Cole guided me to the library while Georgia made the call. It was then when some pieces began to fall into place. "Charlie, it was the dog's head in my refrigerator! No, no, not Lump or Max. It was the sweet girl Ethan got for Brynn. She hasn't even met her. I'm sick, sugar. Absolutely sick to my stomach with what that wretched child has done to my family. I want her found and put in jail. Sugar, I'm only telling you this once. If I find Lindsey on my property again, I'll kill her myself!"

Picking up the picture I look harder at the woman and a flash of a memory comes to mind.

It was hot that summer and mama was keeping me in the house. She couldn't take the heat. I was young, really young around seven maybe. She had me helping her put photo albums together.

"One day you'll appreciate having these faces to look back on. This is your history, sweet girl. This is where you came from." She told me as she put the next picture in the book.

"Who is that, Mama?" I pointed to the pretty woman in the yellowing picture with the two little babies in her arms.

"That's your great grandma, baby. She died a long time ago. I don't remember her. These pictures are all I have left of her." She pointed out the two pictures she had.

The two pictures I held in my hand now.

"She's my great grandmother. That's my mother." I whispered, staring at the picture. The memory was overwhelming. "I remember."

"Are you sure, sweetheart?" Cole sits down next to him and rubs my back. "Take your time."

"I remember. My mom, I was about seven, she had this picture and another one. She told me this was her grandmother. I remember that." Looking into his eyes, I'm adamant about this. I know this happened. I know I'm related to her.

~ ~ ~

"It makes sense." Georgia agrees later as the others finally return. "I said it before, I don't believe in coincidence."

"So this woman had twins. You think the other baby is what? Lindsey's grandma? How does no one know this?" Ethan asks. He has refused to leave my side since they came back from the hospital.

Luckily, Quinn and Hope are fine. Quinn had her stomach pumped which had to be horrible but Hope was fine. Whatever Lindsey had planned she hadn't gotten to Hope yet. Leo is furious.

"From the articles and everything we've found the children disappeared after the woman died. The man lived here alone the rest of his life." Cole passed the stack of documents to Ethan. "It could be the guy decided to sell his kids or put them up for adoption."

"What kind of father sells his kids?" Beckett is disgusted by the thought. "He'd have to be a real prick to do that."

"He did cheat on his wife." Emma put in her two cents. "Given the time and circumstances of the age, it could be that the marriage was arranged and neither of them were happy in the relationship."

"That's true. And unfortunately a very real possibility." Georgia looks like she knows more about that than she wants to admit. "Feeling stuck in a loveless marriage, with a man who has no respect for the marriage or the woman and with young children is a horrible situation."

Beckett ran his hand down Aubrey's hair and kissed the top of her head. "Ma, how do we find out what happened to the kids?"

"There has to be records. Adoption records at least." Aubrey suggests but for some reason I don't think so.

"No, there won't be." My voice is soft but it still stops the conversation around me. "He had money. He had the ability to make those children disappear and not track back to him. But I know in my gut that she is my great grandmother."

I just have to prove it.

"The name is Delfina." Mia rushes in with a huge book in her arms. "When you told me about the family and the sawmill, I thought I'd look at the hall of records at city hall. It goes pretty far back with business owners and who's who in town, especially if they have money or own property. The property owner for this home and the sawmill was William Delfina."

"Good work, Mia." Ethan smiled at her and got an embarrassed blush from her.

"Yes, sugar. That gives us something to go on." Georgia gave her kudos too.

"I have more." Mia plopped the book down on the table and quickly flipped through the pages until she found the spot she wanted. "According to record, Delfina was married to a Abigail Moody Delfina. They moved into the home in 1952. She died in 1957. He died in 1978. There is no record of any children at all. None."

"Then who are those little girls in those pictures? And why did my mother say that the woman was my great grandmother?" I don't understand.

Lindsey

It's mine. It's mine. It's mine.

Some people just don't learn. The house belongs to me. As does the Inn and the stupid coffee shop. All of it is mine! Daddy said so.

They think they're so smart, thinking they can set traps for me. Thinking alarms and guards, dogs and locks can keep me out! I know more than they do. I know! I know! I know!

Slipping through the darkness, I don't chance lighting a match or a flashlight. I don't want to attract attention. They think they have found every way in and out of this house. They think they are safe from me. They know nothing.

The cold earth walls around me, keep the tunnels cold compared to the warm air above. Fall is coming and it's going to get very cold down here soon. It's a good thing I dug into my family history and learned about these tunnels in high schools.

No one ever knew how I managed to sneak out of the house without getting caught. Daddy never knew a thing. Even now he's oblivious to what I've done. That's okay. It's better for him.

Slipping into the dark house I know so well, I go straight to my father's office. He'll be here soon. He's probably still at his office in town. He prefers to stay there most nights nowadays. That has left this big old house for me to roam.

I've roamed plenty. I found the corridors that were once used by servants. I found the tunnels to and from town. I've made use of all of them. In knowing what's here, I've found more in other buildings. And hasn't that been helpful to get back at those who are taking from me.

Going to the desk, I sit down and open the bottom drawer. Pulling out the bottle of whiskey, I set it on the desk and the .45, loaded right next to it. Dragging the binder out, I opened it up and looked at the first page. One after another, photos of her. Brynn.

She took everything that should have been mine. From Ethan, to Moss Bluff Queen to my mother. She ruined my life. Now I'm going to ruin hers once and for all.

Picking up the gun, I checked for bullets again.

Three blind mice.

Three blind mice.

Brynn it's time to run

Brynn it's time to run

You thought you took it all from me

But you didn't think that I would see

The day that revenge would come to pass

Your death is coming to you at last

Your friends will suffer for their loyalty to you

There's nothing left that you can do

I'm your fate

I'm your fate

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