“I’d say, as a builder, that was done because whatever is behind that gate isn’t safe.” Jack turns back to me. “They likely re-extended the rooms inside the house as the measurements fit the plans I have. As children played in there, it was likely sealed to prevent them being injured.” He sighs. “From what Laura told me, she said secret passages, not rooms or staircases. Imagine her uncle discovering his kids had been crawling between the walls? There’d be no way of getting them out if they got trapped, so he sealed the entrance.”
I nod. “Yes, that makes sense. I guess you could open it and see for yourself?”
“I believe that’s a waste of time. There’s nothing on the blueprints.” Jack stares at me. “I’d rather leave it. We’re just buying into Laura’s obsession. I’m not going along that path.”
As we walk back to the house, I stare at the windows and count to where I saw the face. In the morning, I’ll look for the mystery window myself. Third floor, the sixth window across. Three and six, that’s easy to remember. A sudden sinking feeling grasps me. What if someonehadbeen stuck inside the walls and died? What if they never got out? Is that the face at the window no one can find?
TWENTY-SEVEN
Over dinner I decide to slide into the subject of our time in college, to see if he tells me about Caroline. “I had so many boyfriends in college, but none of them affected me like you did.” I smile at him. “What about you? Who were the great loves of your life?”
“Oh, I had a few.” Jack winks at me and his eyes dance with mischief. “I dated all through high school. I admit being on the football team helped. The girls loved us jocks.”
I nod. “I dated a few in my time too.” I take a forkful of fried rice and almost moan in delight. The food is amazing. “No one special. I’ve never had that rush of emotion I had when meeting you. The day after, I couldn’t stop thinking about you and saw you on every corner. It was the strangest sensation. When we said goodnight that first day, it was as if I was leaving part of me behind.”
“I felt the same way.” Jack sighs. “It’s as if I’ve known you forever. I missed you the moment you left me.”
I glow inside; Jack has a wonderful effect on me, like I’m being hugged whenever he’s around. I’m not sure if this is normal. It’s never happened to me before. I need to steer the conversation toward Caroline and Laura. I want him to tell meeverything about himself. I keep my eyes on my plate. “You’ve been married before. Did Laura have the same effect on you?”
“With Laura no.” Jack sips a glass of white wine. “The spark we have was never there, I’m afraid. We were never soulmates. I found her very attractive and after we’d gotten along together, marriage seemed like the next step. My parents encouraged me to marry her. They kind of pushed us together. It all worked out okay. I believed I loved her but it’s not the same as I love you now.” He takes my hand and squeezes it. “I didn’t believe that could happen twice in my life.”
I disengage my hand and cut into the sumptuous duck. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for. I lift my gaze to meet his and see pain in his eyes. “Who was the first and why didn’t you pursue her?”
“I did.” Jack blows out a long breath. “I should have told you about Caroline but it’s painful to recall and I’ve pushed her out of my mind for my own peace.” He holds up a hand to prevent me from speaking. “Caroline was my first wife of two weeks. I met her in college and I loved her so much it hurt. The same as I love you, Willow.” He stares into space and winces. “She loved to hike in the forest so on our honeymoon I arranged for a party of our friends to set out on a mountain trail. We stopped for a rest and Caroline went with some of the others to collect wildflowers growing alongside a waterfall. She slipped and fell into the river.”
I take his hand and squeeze. “Oh Jack, that is so tragic. I’m so sorry.”
“This is why, when I met Laura, I was content with a good friendship more than the animal attraction I had with Caroline.” He shrugs. “I did grow to love her.”
I rub my thumb over the back of his hand. “Did she love you?”
“She was possessive, so I guess so.” Jack shakes his head ruefully. “She was jealous of anyone who took my attention away from her. That portrait is her, larger than life, dominating and what I’d describe as an alpha female. It was difficult living with her the year before she died. She became reckless, spent money like it was going out of fashion, and then she became irrational and delusional. The day she died was the only time in almost a year she appeared to be back to her old self.”
I clear my throat. “Did you try talking to her?”
“Oh yeah, but that ended up in her throwing things at me.” He rubs his chin. “She’d tell me about outlandish events she claimed happened to her and about how everyone was against her. She believed people were watching her and other crazy things.”
I want more and lean closer. “What crazy things?”
“She went up to the third floor searching for a room that wasn’t there.” He looks away and sucks in a breath. “I’ve installed a door to prevent anyone going up there now. That part of the house is old and decrepit. There’s no power. It’s a useless space. The bedrooms are too small to utilize and as the loft is huge, I couldn’t be bothered restoring it.” He looks at me. “Don’t be tempted to go up there alone. It’s likely covered in mold by now.”
I stare at him, uncomprehending. “You’re a builder, why don’t you renovate it? It seems a little odd leaving it like that. You should make it safe. One day you’ll want to sell this place and it will be impossible to sell, if it’s as you say.”
“You’re right, I should renovate it. If it makes you happy, I’ll look into it. I honestly haven’t wanted to set foot there since Laura died.” Jack ran a hand down his face. “She had a morbid fascination with the place. I figure it was the trigger that pushed her over the edge.”
I take back my hand and push my plate away, no longer hungry. “Did you find her help? It sounds to me like she was suffering a breakdown of some description.”
“Of course I did. She was under the supervision of a psychiatrist but toward the end she refused to speak to her.” He rested his hands flat on the table. “The last couple of weeks before she died, I honestly believed she’d recovered. She’d started to care about her appearance again and came out of her room. To me she seemed to be back to her old self. She was over the moon when I told her about the party I’d planned. The week before she died all she could talk about was sailing. It was a dramatic change, as if she had discovered something that settled her. I have no idea what happened to turn her around and never will. The next weekend she was lost at sea.”
I have a thought and turn to him. “The group of friends that were with you and Caroline, were they the same people on the yacht the night Laura died?”
“Some of them were, yes.” Jack’s brow wrinkles into a frown. “I’ve known most of the guys since college, the women too; well, at least two of them: Carol Sutton and Missy Durum. Caroline wanted to spend the second week of our honeymoon in a mountain resort and she didn’t want to get bored so we had everyone along.” He smiles at the memory. “You may not think so, but it was very romantic. Our friends weren’t with us all the time.”
I stare at him in disbelief. The same people? My mind is working overtime. “That’s good to know. Thanks for sharing that with me. It would have been a shock to discover you’ve had two wives and not told me.”
It isn’t only a shock. This is a revelation. The same people, in the same place, at the same time two tragic accidents occurred is a little far-fetched for coincidence. Was Caroline murdered? Do all of his wives end up dead?
TWENTY-EIGHT
