First In Series Sampler, Volume 1

Chapter 4

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EVEN THOUGH MORGAN was eager to explore the house and settle herself into the library, she got the mundane things completed first. Grabbing a cookie off the plate on the kitchen counter as she walked through, Morgan made her way to the front door. Picking up her backpack and bag, she headed up the stairs. She skipped the second floor and went straight to the third floor, where she found the room that she had claimed in her youth.

The room had always felt magical to her, like she was a princess stuck away from reality, waiting for Prince Charming to come and rescue her. But life quickly taught Morgan that there was no Prince Charming and that she had to rescue herself. It felt good to walk through the threshold of the room that held so many sweet memories from her childhood. She looked around the room and saw fresh flowers on the dresser and smiled to herself. It seemed Aunt Meredith had remembered this was her favorite room as well, and prepared it for her, even though she told her she would have her pick of the rooms.

Tossing her backpack on the bed, Morgan walked over to the window and looked out across the sand dunes and watched the waves come onto the shore. It was mesmerizing, but she quickly pulled herself away from that view and walked over to a door she remembered from her youth. Throwing the door open, she walked out onto the widow"s walk that many of the old houses had on the island. This walkway went across the roofline. Decades ago, brides waiting for their sailors to come home would go to the widow"s walk and look out over the ocean waiting for the ships to come in, bringing home their true loves.

"Well, hello there. Are you the same bird I saw earlier?" Morgan spoke to a fat seagull that sat on the railing and then laughed at herself, knowing the seagull would not answer.

Deciding now would be the perfect time to get the rest of her bags in from the car while she still had the energy, and before she got involved in any of the library books, Morgan raced down the stairs and out to her car. It only took two trips to empty the car, and most of what she brought in went to her room. There was one large bag that she left at the base of the stairs. She would need to talk to her aunt before she decided where to place the tools of her trade. Her pressing box was still in the car, its heavy frame a little too bulky to bring in and take up room in the hallway. She could wait on that.

Looking around the first floor, she realized Meredith had not returned yet. When her stomach rumbled in protest of lack of food, she took her aunt up on her offer of a sandwich and made her way back to the kitchen. Grabbing a cold bottle of water from the fridge, she picked up the plate with her lunch and made her way to the porch. The porch was a wraparound and would connect to the front of the house. Meredith had old wicker rocking chairs scattered around the porch along with a comfortable table, chairs and lounges. She"d arranged the furniture so you could look out to the ocean no matter where you sat. From here, you could watch the approach of visitors coming to call. No matter where you looked, it felt comfortable and welcoming. Morgan gave a sigh of contentment as she settled into one of the large chairs, curling her feet underneath her and biting into her sandwich. Finishing her quick meal, Morgan knew it would be easier to just settle in deeper to the chair and take a quick nap, but she resisted the temptation and made her way back into the house.

When she entered the library, it caught her breath. It was much more than she remembered. Morgan walked around the room, running her fingers reverently along the spines of the books on the shelves, and inhaling the mustiness of the old pages and their stories deeply. There was a massive desk in the center of the room, and Meredith had placed comfortable chairs in convenient corners with reading lamps positioned to give a reader perfect lighting.

"Now, this is my idea of heaven." Morgan couldn"t wipe the grin off her face as she studied the books.

She quickly realized there was no rhyme or reason to their placement. They placed modern paperbacks in amongst books that looked to be easily 50 to 75 years old. Fiction and nonfiction were mixed together, and when she looked a little deeper, she even found personal photo albums squeezed in amongst the published books.

"Oh, Aunt Meredith, it looks like I have my work cut out for me here."

Even though her common sense told her she should categorize the books, she couldn"t help but feel that the library was perfect the way it was. After all, it was a family library, not a public library, and she was sure if she followed the shelves of books, she would see history in front of her. She knew from experience that people bought books at different stages of their lives. The books within easy reach were probably the most recently purchased, and she knew the stack that stood on the desk were current publications.

She smiled as she looked at the spines, reading an assortment of genres ranging from western to romance. There was a smattering of science fiction, but predominately they were mysteries. There were also numerous books that she didn"t recognize. They didn"t appear to be published books, and when she pulled one of them off the shelf, she found they were personal journals.

"Now this is a find." Morgan hugged the book to her chest, realizing the journals were probably records from, and about, her family. Not wanting to overstep herself, she put the book back on the shelf, deciding she would wait for her aunt to give her direction on what books needed attention. From the looks of things, there were a lot of books that needed to have work done to them. Spines were broken, jackets dusty and faded, and some covers looked like they were ready to fall off. Yes, there was plenty of work here to keep Morgan busy for years.

Walking over to a pile of books on one small end table, she picked up one sitting on top. It was a book she"d wanted to read for a long time, and without even thinking, she walked over to a comfortable chair in a corner with a window next to it where she could look out over the ocean. Opening the cover of the book, she was quickly lost in the story.

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REACHING OVER HER HEAD, Morgan turned on the reading light next to her. Her movement brought her out of the book, and she looked around her, surprised at how dark the room had gotten. She"d been lost in the story for well over two hours, and with a jolt, she realized she hadn"t seen or heard her aunt return. Maybe she had and decided to give Morgan the chance to relax. But either way, Morgan put the book down and went in search of her aunt. She wanted to catch up with her and thank her once again for welcoming her back home.

"Aunt Meredith?" Morgan stood in the grand hallway calling out to her aunt, but there was no response. She searched the entire house, but Meredith was nowhere to be found. There was no evidence that she"d ever returned from the beach. Dusk was about to settle, and Morgan was growing concerned. Yes, her aunt knew her way around the island and was probably perfectly fine, but it seemed odd that she hadn"t come back when she said she would, knowing that Morgan had just arrived.

Morgan hated to be indecisive, but she also hated waiting around. Grabbing her cell phone, she went to search for her aunt. Her aunt would probably scoff at her worries, but Morgan couldn"t shake the feeling of unease that was overtaking her. Using the same door she had earlier, Morgan walked from the kitchen down over the sea dunes to the beach. The waves were calm, and there was just the slightest of breezes. She headed toward the rock outcropping where she"d last seen her aunt. As she got closer to the rocks, a mist began to develop, giving the beach an eerie feeling. She looked around her, realizing the mist was where she was standing and had not spread across the dunes. Hoping to find her aunt before the mist became a real fog, Morgan picked up her pace and quickly reached the rocks.

When she rounded the rocks, she was shocked to find a grouping of people standing clustered over something lying on the sand. The mist cleared just long enough for her to recognize that two of the people were police officers, and the third was a beautiful young woman about her own age. The woman turned and saw Morgan.

"She"s the one that did it. I saw her!" The woman lifted her arm and pointed in Morgan"s direction, and the others took a step away from each other, staring at Morgan.

Their movements allowed Morgan to see what they had been staring at, and she gasped. The mist moved but not before Morgan saw the body of Meredith lying prone at their feet.