Page 96 of Secrets Along the Shore (Beach Read Thrillers #1)

“You own that place?” he asked, taking his seat as though he couldn’t stand any longer.

I nodded. “Inherited this week.”

He squinted up at me. “You…family?”

“Not exactly. I was a student at the Deaf school growing up. Spent some summers here. Headmaster Scanlon left the lodge to me in the will. Big surprise to everyone.”

Evan puffed his cheeks and exhaled as he folded his hands on the desktop. “I’m sure.” He was quiet for a moment, then scratched the back of his neck. “Huh. I hadn’t heard that he passed.” He glanced at a closed door to his left. “Maybe that’s why she hasn’t been in this week.”

“Why who hasn’t been in?” I stepped forward, not wanting to miss a word he said.

He waved a hand with a shake of his head. “No one. Just thinking out loud. How can I help you today?”

There was more information for me to learn, I figured, but Evan held his thoughts close. I accepted it for now.

I got back to business. “I want to sell. It’s too much to take care of. I’m not staying in Montana long. I’ve been living in Coeur d’Alene since I graduated. I’d like to sell the lake house and donate the money to the school.”

Evan looked like he was weighing his words carefully. “I understand. It’s just…”

I narrowed my eyes. “Just what?”

He gestured vaguely, as if words might float from the ceiling. “It’s not the easiest property to sell.”

I nodded. “It’s old. Isolated. Needs work. I understand. I’m sure I’ll need to take a cut in what it once was valued at. I’m okay with that.”

He hesitated again. A slight frown formed.

My stomach tightened. “What is it you’re not saying?”

“It’s just…there’s history. You know what? Never mind. I’ll try to come by tomorrow,” he said, standing again. “Get a look at it. Take some pictures. I’ve got a few appointments in the morning, but I’ll do my best to fit it in.”

I stepped closer. “You don’t want the listing?”

His eyes widened. “No—I mean yes. I do. I just…”

His hand dropped to his side, and he exhaled sharply. “Look, that lodge has…a reputation.”

I blinked. “What kind of reputation?”

Evan looked around like someone might be listening, then leaned in, not realizing he didn’t have to make a sound when he spoke. I would still understand him.

“People around here say it’s haunted.”

I gave him a perturbed look and tilted my head in annoyance. “Seriously?”

“I don’t mean ghosts with chains and sheet costumes,” he said, a little defensive. “I mean…the stuff that happened there. People talk. It’s just…bad history.”

I crossed my arms tight. “What kind of history? The drowning?”

His jaw worked. “That, yes, but more about some other things. Rumors, I’m sure. Just stories that grew over the years. They say kids were abused there. For years.”

My breath caught, not expecting such nonsense. “What are you talking about? I stayed there. I think I would know if abuse was going on. ”

Evan nodded quickly. “Of course. I’m not saying I agree with any of the rumors.

That’s what people said, is all. The school sent kids up there for many summers.

Rumors were bound to start. And honestly, I remember thinking something wasn’t…

right about the place. But I have no evidence against the school or the lodge.

I’m purely thinking from the real estate angle and how tough it’ll be to sell, at least to a local.

They say some of the staff used to hurt the kids up there.

Or turned a blind eye. People got away with things. Rumors like that.”

“No,” I said. “That can’t be. I went there. Every summer. Nothing like that ever happened to me.”

“I’m not saying it did,” he said quickly. “And I’m not saying it’s true. Just…that’s what people believe. What they say happened.”

I stared past him to the framed picture of a happy family standing on a porch in the woods.

A cold coil twisted in my chest. Why did I feel as though his words were accusatory against me?

He leaned closer again. “Some say…a child died there. And I don’t mean the Bishop drowning. In the lodge.”

I snapped my gaze back at him.

He held up a hand. “That’s just a story, Scarlett. That’s all I know. But stories like that…they stick to a place. Especially in a town like this.”

I wanted to shake him. Demand more. A name. A year. Something I could verify. But he looked uncomfortable even saying what little he had.

“So, you’ll come by?” I asked, voice tight in my throat.

He nodded. “I said I’d try. I’ll do my best.”

“Tomorrow morning?”

He frowned and sighed before nodding. “Fine. Sure. I’ll be there. Don’t get your hopes up, though. I’m not sure anyone will want to buy that place. Not if they’ve heard the stories.”

I gave him a long look. “I don’t believe the stories.”

He smiled faintly. “Most people say that—until they do.”

I left before I could ask anything else.

Outside, the wind had picked up. The air had that strange tension to it, the kind that comes before a storm—when the sky holds its breath and the clouds lower just enough to make you feel watched. Maybe Mr. Monroe’s knees were prophetic, and they were right about the rain intruding soon.

Back in the SUV, I gripped the wheel harder than necessary.

A child had died.

Someone beside Becca’s little sister died.

Was that what I’d seen? Was that why the dreams kept coming, the same image over and over—the girl running down the stairs in the pink nightgown, vanishing at the landing?

Was that even Becca’s sister? Or was I dreaming about another child who stayed at the lodge with me?

Was it even a memory? Or had someone else’s whispered rumors seeded themselves in my head so long ago that now I believed them mine?

And why couldn’t I remember Becca’s sister’s name?

Why could no one remember her by name? So far, she was only known as the Bishop girl to the people I spoke to. It was as though everyone had chosen to forget her for some reason.

As I turned the SUV around and headed back toward the lodge, a single thought burned in my mind. Maybe Scanlon left me his lodge to change that. Maybe what I really came back for…was the truth.