Till Death(56)
For a few seconds, all Cole did was stare. Those pale, frosty eyes warming by several degrees. When I’d told the Groom that it had partly been me pleading with him, trying to get him to see me as a human being that people loved and would miss—as a person who would miss those she loved. In a twisted way, it had worked, enabling my escape, but it hadn’t been far from the truth. I’d been falling in love with Cole back then, maybe even in love with him.
Just like I was now.
Cole’s eyes drifted shut and he lowered his forehead to where our hands were joined. He didn’t speak. I didn’t know what he was thinking, but as I lay there watching him, I knew what I felt upon waking and seeing him sitting there was true. How he felt wasn’t going to change it.
I was in love with Cole Landis.
Cole stayed the night in my hospital room, and I was guessing that badge and charming smile really went a long way with the nurses. I was discharged in the morning and Cole drove me home.
He didn’t bring up what I’d told him last night, but it wasn’t like what I shared was hanging between us. It was just there, now out in the open, and it changed me, how I was around him. I don’t think it was noticeable, and it wasn’t like I wore a sign on my head that announced I’d done the whole sharing-is-caring thing, but it was different for me. It felt . . . good.
I didn’t regret it.
Mom insisted on making him breakfast and fawning all over him while she heaped fried bacon and sausage onto his plate. The grin said he liked the attention, and I liked watching him receive the attention. After breakfast, I followed him out to the entryway.
“I’ll be back soon,” he said, placing his hand on my hip. He angled my body toward his. “Got to take care of a few things. Shower being one of them, and I’ve got to pack a bag.”
“A bag?” I inquired.
The half grin appeared. “Staying the weekend here with you.”
“Really?”
“Yep. Figured we still had dinner plans, but we’d change them so you’re not out running around. Yeah, I know you’re okay,” he said, stopping me before I could actually say that. “But we aren’t going to push it.”
I raised a brow.
“Not going to be gone long.” He cupped my cheek with his other hand. “Promise me you’re going to take it easy.”
“Promise,” I murmured, a little lost in those blue eyes.
A knowing tilt to his lips appeared and then he lowered his mouth, kissing me softly and a little too briefly. I didn’t want to let him go, and that was a strange new feeling for me, one I pondered as I walked back to the kitchen. The scent of fried bacon lingered.
Mom had already cleaned up, and even though I’d promised to take it easy, that didn’t mean I was going to sit around all day. There was only a dull ache in my temple and head, manageable without taking anything for it, and there was something I wanted to see.
I grabbed a flashlight and my peacoat-style jacket out of the back room, shoved my arms through it, and then slipped out the back door. I crossed the veranda, zipping up my jacket as I dragged in a deep breath of cold winter air. It smelled like snow. Not a lot of people thought that incoming snow had a smell, but to me it was always signaled by a fresh, airy scent.
Frozen grass crunched under my boots as I passed the bare trellis. A low stone wall appeared. It had been here since the house was built, and I imagined it marked the original property line. I passed through the opening and crossed the narrow, unused alley before hitting a patch of dying grass. Several yards ahead was another stone wall, this one waist high. A lone mausoleum stood in the center.
My stomach tumbled as I approached the old cemetery. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d been here, as I’d avoided it like it was full of flesh-eating zombies when I was a kid.
Heart thumping in my chest, I entered the tiny cemetery. There were only five headstones. The cement was crumbling, and the epitaphs were indistinguishable, having long since faded.
A horn blew in the distance, causing me to jump. I was a grown damn woman, but the cemetery still creeped me out. We were in the middle of the town, the cemetery within eyesight of many homes, but as I walked to the open door of the mausoleum, I felt like I was a hundred miles away from civilization.
The opening of the mausoleum was dark and yawning. At one time there had been a door, but for as long as I remembered, it had been missing. Taking a deep breath, I stepped inside and flipped on the flashlight.
The creepiest part about the mausoleum was the fact there were no tombs inside. There used to be tombs in here, but they’d disappeared long before Grandma Libby had purchased the mansion and property. No one knew why or where they went, and something about that just freaked me out.
Moving the flashlight, I cast light along the floor, immediately finding the old cellar-type doors. One side was closed, and the other was in shards next to the entrance. Half of the brick wall was down, falling into the blackness of the tunnel. A small pile of red-and-white brick was next to the boards. I wasn’t a crime scene expert, nor did I have any experience in construction, but I couldn’t tell if the bricks had been torn down or had caved in.
During breakfast, Mom had told me that she’d already contacted someone to come out first thing next week, which was roughly around the same time Cole’s buddy was also coming out to install the alarms on the apartments.