Till Death(52)

Biting on my lip, I let out a ragged sigh. “I was coming downstairs to get the Ritchies their extra key, and when I reached the main-floor landing, the door to the old kitchen swung open so fast I didn’t get a chance to move out of the way. The doorknob caught me in the stomach.” Using the IV hand, I gestured at my stomach. “I fell back and my foot slipped on the step. I grabbed the railing to steady myself and it broke. That was how I fell.”

“Should’ve gotten the railing fixed,” Mom muttered.

“Mom,” I sighed.

“So you weren’t pushed?” Derek asked.

I shook my head and winced. “No. I think it was an accident. He cursed twice, like out of surprise, but . . .”

Mom clucked her tongue. “But if it were a true accident, he would’ve stayed with you or gotten help. He wouldn’t have just left you lying there.”

There was that.

“We also don’t know who the man was,” Mom continued. “It wasn’t James, and he’s the only man who has any business being back in the old part of the kitchen.”

There was also that. “I don’t think I know who he was,” I clarified. “I didn’t exactly see him. Like I said, it happened so fast, all I caught a glimpse of was a white shirt and a black baseball cap. There was something on it. A gray emblem of some sort.” My brows knitted together. “And I think he was white—no, I’m sure he was white. Other than that, that’s all I saw of him.”

Derek had pulled out that notebook of his and was scribbling away again. “And it’s not possible that it was a guest who checked in?”

“The only male guest who was in was Mr. Ritchie,” I explained, swallowing as I lifted my hand and gingerly touched the side of my head. There was a nice little knot there. “There was no way he made it downstairs.”

“Anyone else who could’ve been in the inn?” he asked.

Mom answered, “No.”

I shifted slowly as I thought back to the hazy moments after I hit the floor. “I think . . . I’m not sure about this, but I think he stepped over me before I passed out. I thought I heard a door open behind me—the main cellar door.”

“You think he went out through the cellar and not back out the other way?” Derek asked, looking over at my mom. “Can you get out of the inn from the cellar?”

Mom glanced at the ceiling, her nose scrunching. “There used to be a tunnel that ran out to the old family cemetery—the one that’s way at the end of the property.”

The old creepy cemetery that used to be overgrown until my father cleared it out while I was in middle school. The team that did the maintenance on the yard also took care of the cemetery.

“Those tunnels, they were used to get people in and out of the house when it was used as a part of the Underground Railroad,” Mom explained. “But my husband closed off that tunnel years ago.”

“Are you sure about that?” he asked.

“Well, of course . . .” Her nose scrunched again. “I haven’t been out to the cemetery in a long time, but I can’t imagine how the tunnel would’ve reopened.”

His familiar eyes came back to me. “I want to check that out. How can I find the entrance?”

“Look for the creepiest thing in the entire cemetery and you’ll find it,” I said, and he grinned. “It’s in the mausoleum. Looks like a cellar door, but that’s what Dad had bricked up, right, Mom?”

She nodded. “You just head out the back of the inn, keep walking past the alley, and you’ll hit the cemetery.”

“Is there any reason why either of you think someone would be in the inn who shouldn’t be there?”

I looked over at Mom. She frowned. “Other than someone getting in there to steal something, no.”

Derek’s gaze held mine. He didn’t say anything, but my stomach started churning. “Mom? Can you see if I can have something to drink? Like a soda?”

“Of course, honey.” She was already on her feet. Leaning over, she brushed her lips across my forehead. “It may take a few minutes. I’m also going to check in with Daphne. She can handle things, but I don’t want her stressing out.”

“Okay, Mom.” I smiled. Once she was gone and the curtain stilled behind her, I turned my head toward Derek. “Did . . . did you talk to Cole?”

“I talk to Cole a lot.” Looking behind him, he grabbed the only other chair and dragged it over. He sat on the edge. “I know he’s been spending time with you. And I know about the issue with the truck.”

My chest rose with an unsteady breath. “I . . . I don’t know why someone was in the inn. I don’t know why the thing with the deer happened or with my car.” I took another deep breath. “Has there been any news on Angela?”

Derek shook his head after a moment. “I’m going to check out the tunnel, make sure it’s still blocked. Whoever was in that stairwell could’ve gone back out the normal way. I’ll head over there now to check it out.”

“Okay,” I whispered, shifting my gaze to the dull ceiling.

He reached over, finding my hand. “You got your cellphone here?”

“I don’t think so.” I’d been kind of out of it after Daphne started shrieking and I’d barely managed to climb the steps to the old kitchen without vomiting. Everything had been funhouse hazy from that point to when the EMTs arrived and brought me here. I had no idea if my mom had grabbed my purse or cell.