Page 48 of What We Hide
A lump formed in his throat and he felt familiar pangs of guilt—and also a new undercurrent of peace. Looking at his daughter’s grave hurt, but he could also see the beauty and love Savannah had brought to this place. Coming here would never be a happy experience, but it didn’t have to bring searing pain.
He had been gripping the past like shards of a broken crystal sculpture, trying to force the shattered pieces back together with bloody fingers. He needed to let go and accept what had happened. The sculpture could never be made whole again, but the pieces held a broken beauty of their own, especially when touched with healing light. Like this place. There was wisdom here.
Would memories of his failed marriage feel the same way in a few years? Could days like their anniversary become times of happy memory and gentle regret? Maybe, if he could learn to let go with grace.
His eyes fell on the inscription on Ella’s stone: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The verse had been Savannah’s choice, but he had never liked it. It seemed beautiful but depressing—a reminder that one of his greatest treasures lay buried in the ground and a big piece of his heart had gone in the grave with her.
He couldn’t leave his heart buried forever. Maybe that was the point of the quote. Hez had never paid much attention in Sunday school, so he wasn’t sure what the context was for that verse. Perhaps it was actually a warning not to treasure something that had slipped forever beyond your reach. He should look it up someday.
And he needed to visit Ella’s grave more often. A lesson for him resided here.
He walked back toward the path, patting the top of Ella’s headstone as he passed. The black granite was warm and smooth. “Love you, honey. I’ll be back.”
* * *
Savannah couldn’t seem to shake the dark cloud riding on her shoulder ever since Hez served the divorce papers, and it was already October sixth. Her class this morning didn’t start until eight, and she’d hoped an early walk around the pond with Marley would clear her head and help her focus on a different future than she’d envisioned. After notating an even split of their assets, she’d finally signed the papers, made a copy, and brought everything back to Hez yesterday evening. She had also included her engagement ring and wedding band, with a note asking him to sell them and donate the proceeds to the Justice Chamber. She’d had to pray for the strength to do it, and she finally managed to pull the trigger. To her relief, he’d been out, so she had shoved everything through the old-fashioned mail slot in the front door of his condo.
She zipped her hoodie sweatshirt up to guard against the sixty-degree breeze whipping up waves in the pond, then tugged on Marley’s leash to direct him toward the oyster-shell path around the pond. Boo Radley roared in the distance, but he was far enough away she didn’t have to worry about the gator lunging out of the darkness.
The pond path was deserted this early, and the warm glow of streetlamps gave the familiar landscape an otherworldly ambience. Even though Hez had asked her not to wander around on her own, she had Marley with her. Legare Hall loomed in the distance. The unfinished building had fallen into decay, but Jess had mentioned plans to convert it into student apartments. It would take more money than Savannah could imagine to renovate the building her father had started twenty years ago. Its imposing exterior masked the massive work needed inside. Another of her father’s failed grandiose ideas.
Savannah squinted through the darkness toward the gothic-style building. Was that a light? She shook her head. She’d never seen anyone poking around the old building. Numerous signs warned students to stay out. The place wasn’t safe and had been roped off for the past two years after a student crashed through a floor and broke a leg. She’d had to resist the urge to explore herself more than once.
She pulled out her phone to call security when Marley barked and pulled his leash from her hand. He darted toward Legare Hall and didn’t turn when she called for him. He howled in a way she’d never heard, and the hair rose on the back of her neck. She stepped from the path and ducked under Spanish moss hanging from the trees around the hall.
Everything about this felt wrong. An impulse erupted to call Hez, but she pushed it away. He’d made it clear she was supposed to start a new life without him. The smart thing to do would be to call security, but she had to retrieve her dog.
She started up the slope toward the building. “Marley, come!”
Her dog whined from the deeper darkness closer to the hall. Was he hurt? Marley howled again, a mournful sound that made her gasp. She turned on her phone’s flashlight and moved toward where she’d heard the dog. The light made her feel a little better, and its wavering beams touched Marley’s black coat.
“There you are, boy.” She squatted beside him and ran her hands over his coat. No blood. “You okay?”
He whined before launching into a full-throated howl again. “What’s wrong, boy?” She rose and shone the light around the area.
They were near the entrance to Legare Hall, and shattered glass sparkled in the flashlight’s beam. Savannah grasped Marley’s leash, then tugged him toward the pond. “Let’s get out of here. I want to see you in the light.”
Marley barked and jerked away again. Even though she’d been prepared for a lunge, he managed to escape again, and he darted through the entry door into the old building. Why was it even open? Probably students again.
The flashlight on her phone pushed back the shadows and illuminated the way into the dark maw of the derelict hall. She pushed the door open wider. “Marley?” He made no noise, and she lifted the phone higher to shine the light around the space.
The grand foyer rose twenty feet into a rounded dome that had partially collapsed sometime in the past few years. Support beams lay askew on the banister of the curving staircase up to the next story. They’d also gouged some of the mahogany floors, and she winced to see them in such condition. Grotesque shadows danced in the light of her flashlight, and all Savannah wanted was to find her dog and get out of here. It was a treacherous space, and if she wasn’t careful, she’d end up with some broken bones or a bashed-in skull.
She spun in a circle with the light, and her sneakers kicked up dirt. She sneezed at the stale scent of mold and filth. “Marley, come.”
The dog whined from a doorway to her right, and she went that way. It opened to a spacious office, at least judging from the wall of bookshelves. Maybe her father had planned it for himself. Something moved in the shadows just out of range of her light. “Marley?”
The dog whined, and she went toward him. She stumbled over something on the floor and dropped her phone. With the light snuffed out, the room plunged into suffocating darkness. Her phone must have fallen upside down. She knelt and touched the wooden floor, then ran her fingers through the debris. Where was her phone? Her fingers touched something warm and pliable, and she instinctively shuddered and jerked her hand back.
The rising sun’s rays filtering through a big window to the east illuminated a small section of floor, and she spotted her phone. As soon as she lifted it off its face, its light landed on a figure on the floor.
Peter Cardin. His eyes stared up toward the ceiling, but she didn’t think he was conscious.
She squatted beside him and touched her cold fingers to his neck. No matter where she moved her hand, she couldn’t detect a pulse. She laid her hand on his motionless chest. No movement. She tried to find a pulse in his wrist. When she took her hand away, her fingers brushed a piece of paper.
She picked it up and put it under the light of her flashlight. The words on the paper made no sense at first. Death Is a Lonely Business. It was the title of another Ray Bradbury novel.
Someone had murdered Peter Cardin.