Blackvine Manor Mystery Read Online Free Page B

about her drive to find answers but this feels crazy.
    She turns around to find her phone and the book falls on the white-tiled floor. When she stoops to pick it up she sees a chapter on meditation. The only note from Amelia is a quick exclamation-pointed line reading: clear your head!
    Alexis smiles at one of her father’s favorite lines, his most used piece of advice. So she takes the warm tea and that chapter and settles down to read. The writing is hypnotic, meant to be a meditation in of itself and she finds everything around fading as she continues.
    “He needs to come so I can forgive him. Come, come here.” The voice is soft but distinct over the sound of running water.
    As the voice repeats, Alexis recognizes the running water as the sound of the faucet in the laundry room. “Please, come, come find me. Bring my love so I can forgive and be free.”
    In a trance, Alexis rises from her red sofa and leaves her studio door open as she treads lightly down the hallway. The voice is soft as is Delia’s face when Alexis sees her reflection in the stairwell window. She sees her smooth hair tied in a bun disappear down the stairs in front of her and Alexis follows.
    The faucet is running again in the laundry room and Alexis goes in to turn it off. Her heart is starting to thump wildly as the meditation is giving way to reality. The faded wisp of a woman is beckoning Alexis to an unused corner of the laundry room. There the floor has crumbled and she now realizes what she assumed was water damage is actually the cleaned up result of a sledgehammer. Her mother must have sought out the same corner.
    Alexis turns sharply, suddenly afraid someone is behind her, but she doesn’t see anyone in the laundry room. She has to know but the terror is starting to choke her so she quickly drops to her knees and starts flinging the rubble away with her hands. She doesn’t have to dig far before her worst fear is uncovered and a scream tears from her throat.
    The white bones of a hand reach out and Delia whispers, “Thank you.”

Chapter Seven
    A LEXIS STUMBLES BACK AS MAXWELL races into the room. He catches her and, seeing the remains, pulls her close and guides her to the opposite side of the laundry room.
    “What are you doing down here?” he asks breathlessly.
    She manages to stand up but is shaky and glad for his arm around her waist. “What are you doing spying on me? I knew there was someone behind me.”
    “I was coming up the front steps when you walked by. I waved and you didn’t say anything. Your eyes were strange, I thought maybe you were sleep walking or something.”
    Alexis considers taking the out he has inadvertently given her. She could agree she was sleepwalking and leave it at that. A quick glance at the corner reminds her that the truth always comes out no matter how it gets buried, so she decides to tell him everything.
    “I know you’re not going to believe me but the truth is my mother is … was … Amelia Tennon.”
    Maxwell cocks an eyebrow at her already. “You don’t know if she’s alive or dead?”
    Alexis grits her teeth. “No, I don’t. She ran away when I was young and I was raised by my father.”
    She tries to pull out of Maxwell’s embrace but he tightens his arm to keep her there as he mutters, “God, sorry. You don’t think that’s her, do you?”
    “No, I know that it’s Delia Charles.”
    A bolt of recognition shoots through Maxwell’s entire body and though he can’t hide the physical reaction from Alexis, he says, “Did you just pull that name out of a hat or what?”
    “No.” Alexis starts thinking aloud. “I think my mother knew her, your grandmother. They both lived here. Except something happened to Delia. She helped a man hide something, something valuable. Her husband found out and accused her of adultery.”
    “And how do you know all that?” Maxwell drops his arm away, interrupting her.
    “I’ve been experiencing strange things ever since I moved