“Do you see it?” Devlin asked.
I squinted. “What?”
“All the way back.” There was a note of—not excitement exactly—but tension in his voice.
I wiggled forward on my stomach. “What am I supposed to see?”
“Some of the bricks are missing from the back wall. When I shine the light through the hole, there’s nothing but empty space.”
“Meaning…”
“That’s where the flies are going. There must be a tunnel or a chamber behind that wall.”
Now my own excitement started to mount. “I’ve heard about tunnel systems underneath old graveyards. Some of them were used by the Underground Railroad to hide fleeing slaves. Do you realize what this could mean? A discovery like this could be exactly what Camille Ashby needs to get Oak Grove entered into the National Register.”
“I’d hold off on the celebration,” he said drily. “It could be nothing more than a big hole in the wall. But there’s only one way to find out.”
He slithered headfirst into the vault, shoulders disappearing, then torso, then legs and feet, while I rummaged in my bag for the spare flashlight.
“Can you see anything?”
His voice came back muffled. “There’s a room or chamber about twenty feet down.” He backed out of the vault, his dark hair nearly white with cobwebs. But this time I knew better than to brush them away. “The opening is pretty narrow. I couldn’t get my shoulders all the way through, but I think the hole must be about ceiling-high in the chamber.”
“I’m smaller. Maybe I can get a better view.”
He looked skeptical. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. It’s close in there. Kind of creepy when you think about where you are.”
“To you maybe. I’m not just a cemetery restorer—I’m also an archaeologist. We live for this sort of thing.”
He lifted a brow and waved a hand toward the opening. “Be my guest then…”
I checked my flashlight, took one last look at Devlin and crawled willingly—enthusiastically even—into a burial vault.
The crumbling mortar cut into my hands as I inched forward, making me wish that I’d taken my aunt Lynrose’s advice about gloves.
Pulling myself up to the opening, I shined the light into a sea of shimmering white. I’d never seen so many cobwebs. I wondered how long they’d been there.
Balancing on one hand, I lifted myself up and poked my head and the other hand through the hole so that I could angle the light downward, sweeping it back and forth across brick-and-mortar walls and, in the corner, even thicker shrouds of cobwebs.
“You see anything?” Devlin called from behind me.
As I turned to reply over my shoulder, I caught the spark of something metallic out of the corner of my eye.
I tried to swing the light in that direction, but I’d put too much weight on the wall. As the mortar disintegrated, the bricks loosened and I fell against them with a hard clip to the chin.
The shock knocked the flashlight out of my hand and I heard the glass shatter against the hard floor of the chamber.
“What was that?” Devlin asked in alarm.
Before I could respond, the bricks below me gave way and I went tumbling after the flashlight.
Twenty-Six
Was I dead?
I lay sprawled in complete darkness, dazed, breathless, the taste of blood in my mouth.
“Amelia!”
Devlin’s voice penetrated the fog. With an effort, I sat up, rubbing the back of my head, gingerly testing my arms and legs.
“Amelia, can you hear me?”
“Yes. Yes! I’m down here!” I said excitedly and quite unnecessarily. “I can’t see anything. It’s pitch- black.”
“Are you all right? Are you hurt?”
I shook my head, clearing away cobwebs. And other cobwebs.
“I think I’m okay.” I got up slowly, aware now of the sting in my palms and my knees, the bruised ache along my right hip bone. A sharp pain at the base of my skull. And still that metallic taste of blood in my mouth where I bit my tongue.
I felt in my pocket for my cell phone. That would have provided a little light, but I’d left it in my bag. Wobbling forward in the dark, I touched the wall. It was cold and damp, a little slimy. I drew back my hand in disgust.
As my mind cleared and my senses regrouped, panic set in. What was this place? And how the devil was I going to get out?
I lifted my head and stared up into Devlin’s flashlight beam. It flicked over me, raked the space around me, then came back to me.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he called down.
“Yes. Nothing’s broken, apparently.” I took a breath to steady my nerves. The air smelled musty, like a dank cellar. “Can you get me out of here?”
“Yes. But you’ll have to hold tight while I call for help. Just hang on, okay?”
The light momentarily vanished.
“Wait!”
Devlin reappeared over the edge of the vault. “I have to make a call. Get some people out here…”
“I know. It’s just…”
“I’ll drop my flashlight down to you. Be ready to catch it.”
I moved into place.
“On three. One…two…three…”
The light fell toward me, beam straight up. I caught it, fumbled it, then finally had the metal case in my grip.
“I’ll be right back,” Devlin called down. “Just hang tight.”
He was gone an eternity.
But now that I had the flashlight and the relief that I’d managed to escape serious injury, some of my excitement returned. Turning, I brandished the beam across the space, taking stock of my surroundings. More brick walls. More brick floors. Cobwebs glistening like cotton candy from every corner.
On the wall facing the opening, large symbols had been painted on the brick. I saw an anchor, a compass, a broken wheel. All common gravestone symbols.
Below the images was another opening, just large enough for a person to crawl through. I wondered if it led to a tunnel and eventually to freedom.
As I angled the light through the hole, something skittered across the floor and disappeared over the edge of the bricks.
I jumped back, breathing hard.
A rat. Just a rat.
Scurrying away from the opening, I moved the light back over the symbols. God only knew how old they were or how long it had been since anyone else had seen them.
It was an exciting find, but the place was starting to get to me. There was something about that hole—apart from the rat—that worried me. If it led to freedom, it could also lead someone here to this chamber. To me. I felt
