“Yeah, I could use something to eat, I’m starving,” Michael said as an older gentleman approached the desk.
“Help you?” the man said, pushing his glasses higher on his nose.
“Yeah, we were hoping to get a room for the night.”
“All right. Have you filled out this paper with your information. Will you be paying cash or credit?”
“Credit card,” Michael said, pulling his wallet out of his pocket and handing over his credit card then filling out the form.
“Need two keys, I guess? Got a nice room with two double beds, room five. Diner’s open ‘til eight so if you want to eat better get in there. Anything else I can do for you?”
“Thanks, yeah, we’re going to head there right after we dump our stuff. There was one other thing,” Michael said, pulling out his phone. “We’re looking for our friend.” He showed the picture of Josie on his phone. “You wouldn’t happen to have seen her, would you? She got into town a few hours ago.”
The man adjusted his glasses and peered at the picture. “Oh, ah, yeah, Mrs. Buckley. I didn’t realize she was back in town, haven’t seen her in a while. If she’s anywhere, I’d guess she’s up at the big house.”
“Big house?”
“Yeah, the Buckley place up on the hill. Locals call it Buckleyham Palace.” He chuckled. “All in good fun, of course. Head straight out of town on main street and turn right at the first road, follow it all the way up to the gates, can’t miss it.”
“Thanks a lot, we’ll try there after we grab a bite. Oh, any place we can rent a car for the weekend?”
“You’re welcome. Car? Nope, no place to rent a car in Bucksville. If you need anything else, just give me a holler. Name’s Cunningham, Bill Cunningham.”
“Thanks, Bill,” Michael said, stuffing his phone back in his pocket with his wallet. Turning to Damien he said, “Let’s dump the bags and get something to eat, then we can see about getting up to that house.”
They made their way upstairs and left their bags in their room. It was small, decorated with a quaint nautical theme. They headed back down to the lobby and into the café, finding themselves the only ones there.
“Take any table you want,” the waitress called from the counter. They chose a table in the corner, as far from the counter as they could so they could talk without being overhead. The waitress delivered the menus and left them to look over their choices. Within a few moments she was back to take their order then gone again to deliver the order to the kitchen.
After the waitress left, Damien said, “I got a text from Josie. She said she’s made it to her destination safe and is fine. I texted her back and asked again if she could tell me where she was, she hasn’t answered though.”
“The old guy thinks she’s up at the house on the hill.”
“Yeah, but why did he call her Mrs. Buckley? She’s never been married.”
“Maybe he needs new glasses. Maybe she looks like Mrs. Buckley. Oh, maybe,” Michael said, growing excited, “Mrs. Buckley is her real mom and she looks like her?”
“Hmm, could be. That’s the only thing that makes sense so far.”
The waitress returned with their order, each having a simple burger and fries. “You boys from out of town? Don’t think I ever saw either of you before,” she said as she set the plates down in front of them.
“Yeah, looking for a friend.”
“Well, good luck. Bucksville isn’t that big so he shouldn’t be too hard to find.” With that the waitress disappeared, returning to wiping up the counter and cleaning up as she readied to close the café for the night.
“What is Josie doing here? It must have something to do with her birth parents. Could stalker guy be a relative? But why the arguing?” Damien asked, stuffing a fry into his mouth. “Mmm, this is surprisingly good,” he added.
“Maybe he wanted her to come here and she refused? Perhaps they were arguing about that and then she ended up deciding to come.”
“Again, why not tell us?”
“I don’t know.”
“I mean, okay, say it has to do with her birth family. So why not say, 'Hey guys, that guy is my long, lost brother’ or something, just explain it. Why all the secrecy and sneaking around? It would make much more sense for her to just tell us and not keep it secret. Then we wouldn’t be worrying, following her around or chasing her across the country.”
“Well, she doesn’t know we’re chasing her yet.”
“No, but still, she must realize this is coming across super odd to anyone on this end.”
“Perhaps she’s afraid I’ll call her mom again.”
“Okay, so then just say 'Don’t call my mom again’ right? I don’t get it.”
“Me either, fingers crossed we’ll find out soon though.”
They finished their meal, paid the bill and headed out into the night. It was cooler here than it was at home, the night breeze had a crispness to it similar to a fall evening.
“Well, looks like we’re walking,” Michael said. They saw no signs of a cab anywhere on the streets.
“Straight out of town to the first road on the right,” Damien imitated the innkeeper.
“Okay, let’s go!” Michael said as the two set off on foot toward the house on the hill.
Chapter 19
Josie took a deep breath as they rode up the long, winding driveway toward the house. It had been many years since she had been on the estate. A nervous energy filled her and her stomach clenched into a knot.
Henry, one of the estate caretakers, had picked them up at the train station and drove them to the house. He maneuvered the car alongside the front entrance. The house loomed large over them in the waning sunlight. Josie took another deep breath as she exited the car and stared up at the house’s dark frame. It had been decades
