Page 38 of The Summer Inn on Plum Island
With the flashlight beams piercing the darkness ahead, Carl led the way cautiously, his steps echoing through the tunnel. The air was heavy with the smell of damp earth and the musty smell of decay. Dawn clutched the leash tightly in her hand, Hicks’s presence comforting beside her as the dog’s ears twitched at every small sound.
As they approached the hidden room, the tension among them grew. Dawn glanced back at Liam, who gave her a reassuring nod. Carl opened the door that led into the room where the journals were. He stopped in the middle of the doorway, blocking Dawn, Hicks, and Liam’s entry.
“Here we are,” Carl announced, his voice low, almost a whisper. He handed Dawn and Liam each a pair of gloves from his pocket. “For handling the journals,” he explained. Dawn nodded, pulling them on with a sense of anticipation tingling through her veins.
Liam put on his gloves and stepped inside the musty old room after Carl. Dawn watched him pull the small key from his pantspocket as he walked over to the small door they had yet to open. It was a sturdy, old wooden door with a rusted metal handle that looked like it hadn’t been touched in decades. He inserted the small key they had found earlier into the lock. It resisted at first, but with a firm, determined twist, the lock clicked open. Slowly, with the others’ flashlights focused on the door, Liam pulled it open.
Inside, they found shelves with dusty books and bundles of papers, some of which spilled onto the floor. The air was thick with the smell of old paper and leather, a library forgotten by time.
“Here, let’s put them in the paper bag I brought.” Dawn pulled the bag she’d folded neatly into her pocket and handed it to Liam.
While Liam piled the contents of the small closet into the paper bag, Dawn pulled out another one as her flashlight swept over the spines of the books, some titles barely readable. She reached for a stack of journals bound in faded leather, the pages yellowed but intact. As she flipped through one, a pressed flower fell out, its colors long since faded to a gentle brown.
Liam joined her, holding up the journal he’d found in the smaller closet. “Look at this,” he said, pointing to a handwritten note tucked in the margin of a page. “It mentions the original owner of the inn and some kind of secret agreement.”
Carl kept watch at the door, his eyes scanning the dark hallway outside the room. “We don’t have much time,” he reminded them. “We need to call the police.”
Dawn nodded, her fingers skimming through the pages faster. She pulled out her phone and started snapping pictures of the pages, especially those with any handwritten notes or drawings.
As they gathered what they could, the sound of distant footsteps echoed through the tunnels, causing Hicks to growl softly. “Someone’s coming,” Carl hissed, his hand instinctively reaching for the weapon he’d secured earlier.
“Let’s move,” Liam said, grabbing a few more journals.
“Shh.” Carl lifted his finger to his lips and, as quietly as he could, pulled the door to the room closed, leaving only a slight crack.
They stood lined up behind Carl as the footsteps drew nearer. Hicks growled low in his throat, and Dawn, her heart hammering so loud she was surprised she’d heard it, crouched down beside the big dog, patting him.
“Shh, boy,” she whispered, soothing him. “Good boy.” He licked her hand, but she could feel he was edgy like they all were.
The footsteps grew nearer, and Dawn frowned as she listened to them. She glanced up and saw Carl lean his ear closer to the dooras the footstep stopped right outside. Carl turned and indicated for them all to step back. As they did, Carl moved at the speed of a striking cobra. The door swung open, and he reached out, grabbing the person and pulling them into the room in a death grip.
“What the heck?” Wade spluttered, then cringed when Dawn switched her flashlight back on and shone in at him. “Hey!”
“Wade!” Dawn hissed. “What the heck are you doing here?”
“We’ve been over this,” Wade told her. “I’m delivering Alex’s boat.”
“Don’t act dumb!” Dawn’s voice raised slightly.
“Oh, you mean here.” Wade wiggled, and Carl let him go. He rubbed his wrists. “Geez, man. You nearly broke my arm.”
“You’re lucky that’s all that nearly got broken,” Carl warned him.
Hicks, the traitor, wined and wagged his tail before snuggling up to Wade for pats.
Wade obliged the dog.
“What are you doing here?” Liam asked Wade this time.
“I heard someone scream,” Wade told them. “Thought it was my sister. I rushed out and saw a woman dressed in a white bodysuit rushing down the hall and flinging something green off her.” He grinned. “Before I could reach her to find out if she was okay, she disappeared.”
“What do you mean disappeared?” Liam asked before Dawn or Carl could.
“She ran past the elevator, and by the time I got to her, she was gone,” Wade told them. “Poof. Like a ghost.”
“Are you being serious?” Dawn watched her brother closely.
“The green thing she flung off her was an iguana,” Wade told them. “I take it she’s your iguana?” He looked at Liam
