Mischief in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law, #2)(77)

“This way,” Beau yelled at Sabine when they reached the end of the hall. “This is where Frances went outside.”

The door to the sunroom stood wide open, rain pouring inside. Adelaide was nowhere in sight. Beau held the lantern out in front of them and they ran out the door and into the storm. “Which way?” Sabine yelled, straining to make herself heard over the wind.

“I don’t know,” Beau said, turning from one direction to another. “There!” He pointed to a spot in the far end of the garden. Sabine could barely make out something white before Beau grabbed her hand and pulled her with him.

The rain felt like needles on her skin and almost blinded her. Beau slowed and Sabine knew he was having as much trouble maneuvering in the storm as she was. She pulled her hand from Beau’s and held it over her eyes, hoping to get a better look ahead. Beau glanced back, then did the same, and they crept across the backyard until they were close enough to see what was happening.

Frances was digging like a madwoman around some old blackberry bushes, and Adelaide was frantically trying to get her to stop. So far, it looked like she’d gone at least two feet deep. No matter how hard Adelaide tugged, Frances kept lifting more mud from the hole she’d created. Frances’s eyes were fixed on the ground, never blinking, never wavering, despite the torrent of rain hitting her face. She didn’t seem to hear Adelaide or feel the housekeeper’s hands on her arm.

Beau handed Sabine the lantern and went to assist Adelaide. He tried to take the shovel from Frances, and Sabine saw the shift in her face. Her eyes went black as night and anger coursed through her. She screamed and tried to attack Beau with the shovel, but his hold on it was strong and she couldn’t break his grasp. She let go of the shovel and launched at his face with her hands.

Before Sabine could even take a step to help, Beau had grabbed one of Frances’s arms and twisted it behind her, then wrapped his arms around her entire body. He lifted her completely off the ground and turned toward the house. Sabine took a step toward them and stepped into the completely forgotten hole. She cried out as her ankle twisted on impact and Beau stopped short and turned around to look at her.

“I’m fine,” Sabine said as she moved her foot around, making sure she hadn’t broken anything. And then she hit something solid. She leaned over with the lantern and put her hand down in the water-filled hole, trying to locate what her foot had hit. Finally, she felt something long and hard and worked her fingers around it.

“Sabine, c’mon,” Beau yelled over the storm.

Sabine pulled her bounty from the water, and Frances screamed. Then Sabine took a good look at what she held: a human bone.

Sabine flung it to the ground and jumped out of the hole. Frances thrashed about, screaming like a banshee, and Beau struggled to maintain his grasp. Adelaide instantly dropped to her knees, praying to God Almighty to forgive her.

“Go!” Sabine yelled to Beau, and he started toward the house, struggling to maintain control of Frances. Sabine pulled Adelaide to her feet. “Pray later. You’ve got to help with Frances.” Adelaide nodded and hurried toward the house. Sabine grit her teeth and bent over to pick up the bone. The smooth, hard surface shouldn’t have caused so much emotion, but it was knowing what that surface was that made Sabine almost wretch.

She ran to the house and into the sunroom after Adelaide, then followed the housekeeper down the hall and into Frances’s room, where Beau was trying to keep the woman restrained on her bed. She was soaking wet, and the white gown clung to her scrawny body. Her hair stuck to her face, the silver almost translucent in the lantern light. She turned toward Sabine and Adelaide as they entered the room, but she looked right through them, her eyes wild with fright.

Sabine hid the bone behind her back, certain that Frances would launch off again if she saw it. Adelaide rushed over to the bed and rubbed Frances’s head as if petting a dog. “Now, now, child,” Adelaide said, “you’re going to be fine. It was just a scare is all. You don’t like storms, remember? It’s just the storm.”

Frances seemed to calm a bit at Adelaide’s words and slumped back on the bed. Adelaide picked up a cup of water that was sitting on the nightstand and lifted it to Frances’s mouth. “You just need to drink a little water and relax, okay, child? You’ll feel a lot better once you’ve had your water.”

Beau released his hold on Frances and stepped back from the bed. They watched as Frances took one sip and then another, then quietly drifted off in what appeared to be a restful sleep. “Drugs?” Beau asked.

Adelaide nodded. “She’d had some of the water before she went outside, which is why it kicked in so fast now. But she was so worked up earlier that her body was still moving even though her mind was shutting down. Poor thing. She’s always been afraid of storms.”

Sabine held the bone out to Adelaide. “Maybe this has something to do with it.”

Adelaide nodded. “I thought she’d forgotten, but many years ago it rained so hard and for so long that one of the bones washed up from the ground. Frances ran out in the storm in a fit and saw it. I dragged her away, but it was too late. Ever since then, she’s always been afraid when it rains. That’s why I drugged her as soon as I heard the storm moving in.”

“Who is…was this?” Sabine asked. “And why are they buried in the backyard? Don’t lie to me, Adelaide. I know this is human.”