Excerpt!
She knew that the families had been moved to a temporary shelter at the edge of the estate until the new cottages were built.
“I’m almost done,” Spencer called from up above as he bounded down the stairs. “One more to go.”
The last cottage they visited was at the end of the road and situated some distance away from the others. It had an abandoned look to it. There was a dead plant in front of the door, and when they entered, Spencer sputtered as he walked into a spiderweb.
“Watch it!” he said, waving his hand in front of them to wipe the web away.
Immediately upon entering the cottage, Imogene felt a sense of unease. She shook herself, trying to stem such a foolish response, but it stayed with her. The cobwebs were dense here, and unlike the other cottages, a layer of thick dust covered everything. The other cottages had only recently been vacated, but this one seemed to have been deserted long ago.
A yellow rocking chair was in the corner of the room and she stared at it. Had a young babe been suckled in that chair? Or had an old woman watched over her grandchild? There must have been happiness here. But the chair looked lonely and empty, and she turned from it.
She could hear Spencer walking above her, and the overcast sky barely penetrated the two windows facing the road. She crossed her arms over her chest to keep warm from the coldness that had seeped in from the walls.
She glanced vaguely at the fireplace that dominated one wall of the family room and stared at the black soot that had been left after years of use and then disregard. It had not been cleaned for some time and completed the sense of neglect. She was mesmerized by the black soot because the longer she stared at it, the more she could make out a large black void that appeared to be a mouth gaping wide in a scream.
She took a step back, as she had spooked herself, and shuddered. What an absurd thing! There was no face. It was black soot. Nothing more. But she deliberately turned away from the fireplace and looked out the window, wishing she was away from here.
She turned back, looking upstairs, hoping to see Spencer coming down, when she thought she spotted something. Something in the low gray light had caught her eye. She moved her eyes back and forth along the fireplace but lost it. What had she seen? Something had glinted in the dark. The clouds again moved outside, and the room darkened once more.
“Thank you for waiting,” Spencer said, coming to stand beside her. “I’m done.”
A vanished sister. A spooky village. A killer hiding in plain sight.
When Imogene York stumbles upon a long-lost letter hinting at the fate of her sister Felicity who has been missing for over a decade, it leads her to the village of Linwood. Posing as a secretary in the powerful Linwood household, Imogene begins a covert investigation into Felicity’s disappearance.
Her only confidant is Spencer St. George, the village architect with secrets of his own. As fellow outsiders, they forge a connection that transcends mere friendship. But as their bond deepens, so do the dangers surrounding them. Imogene’s search for the truth causes her to cross paths with a killer whose dark impulses are tightly interwoven with Linwood’s past.
As Imogene edges closer to uncovering what happened to her sister, she must confront a chilling truth: the monster she seeks is not be lurking in the shadows… but hiding in plain sight.
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Author bio:
Nicola is a Los Angeles native. Early in elementary school, Nicola had a great fondness for reading and began to write creatively. She graduated from university with a degree in communications and has held a variety of positions in journalism, education, government and non profit.
Nicola has traveled extensively throughout Europe, China, Central America and Egypt and loves all things historical.
She has nineteen historical romance and mystery novels on Amazon.
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