Myths, Murder & Love

Chapter 13

Leon waited until Thallia climbed back into the Bronco before leading her down from the overlook.

Olympia Springs revealed itself differently at street level.

The road crossed a narrow branch of the Crossing River before becoming Main Street. Thallia caught quick impressions as she followed Leon through town. Old adobe storefronts stood beside pale stucco buildings shaded by deep porches. A small market occupied one corner, and farther down, a stone building flying the Utah flag looked suspiciously like the sheriff's office.

People noticed them.

A man sweeping the walk outside a shop stopped to watch Leon pass. Two women talking beside a parked truck turned toward Thallia's Bronco. In the rearview mirror, Thallia caught one of them pointing after her.

The Red Coyote's telephone network had clearly been busy.

Leon continued through town without stopping. Main Street gave way to homes, and the properties spread farther apart. Pioneer adobe mixed with Greek courtyards, terracotta roofs, stone walls, gardens, and stretches of open land.

Then Leon turned onto a narrow lane through an old stone wall.

Within moments, the town disappeared behind the trees.

Thallia slowed.

Four acres stretched toward the canyon wall, most of it left natural. Scrub oak, piñon, sage, and exposed red stone surrounded patches of native grass brightened by April wildflowers. Closer to the house, a rectangular patch of dark earth showed where someone had once kept a garden.

Then she saw the tree.

An enormous Oriental Plane Tree stood beside a small pond, its pale mottled trunk dividing into massive limbs that spread over the water. A narrow irrigation channel slipped through the vegetation nearby, carrying water from one of the branches of the Crossing River.

Thallia stared at it as she drove past. The tree looked ancient.

Beyond it stood the Stone House. Her foot eased from the accelerator.

River stone covered thick adobe walls beneath a weathered terracotta roof. Deep-set windows hinted at the extraordinary thickness of the walls, while simple columns and a shaded courtyard gave the old Utah house an unmistakable Greek influence.

Nothing about it looked grand. It looked permanent.

Leon parked near the house, but Thallia remained behind the wheel for several seconds.

Evalyn had lived here. That knowledge landed differently now that Thallia could see the front door her grandmother had once walked through.

Leon was waiting when she climbed out. He didn't hurry her.

Thallia walked toward him, studying the house as she approached. "How old is it?"

"Parts of it are more than a hundred years old."

She turned toward him. "Parts?"

Leon held out a heavy brass key. "The original house was smaller."

Thallia accepted it. “You know a lot about my house.”

He hesitated. He'd known this house longer than Thallia could imagine. The difficulty was deciding how much of its history he could explain without also explaining his place in it.

“I know a lot about Olympia Springs.”

That wasn't an answer. Thallia tucked the thought away for later. Leon, she suspected, was very good at avoiding questions without appearing to.

She climbed the shallow stone steps and fitted the key into the lock. The heavy wooden door opened with a reluctant scrape. Cool air met her the moment she crossed the threshold.

Thallia stopped.

The difference from the April warmth outside was immediate. Thick adobe walls faced with river stone held the interior naturally cool, and the deep window openings made the three-foot walls impossible to miss.

The entry opened into a broad central room with old timber overhead and worn terracotta beneath her boots. Sunlight entered through tall windows and an opening toward an interior courtyard, warming patches of the floor without disturbing the coolness of the room.

The house smelled faintly of stone, old wood, and dried herbs. It didn't smell abandoned. Thallia wasn't sure why that unsettled her.

She moved farther inside, running her fingertips over the edge of a heavy wooden table. Evalyn had touched these things. She had stood in these rooms and looked through these windows.

A doorway beyond the kitchen revealed narrow stone steps descending into darkness.

Thallia nodded toward them. “Basement?”

“Cellar,” Leon answered. “Your grandmother used it for long-term storage. It stays cool year-round.”

Thallia looked toward the stairs. “You've been down there?”

“Many times.”

There was an ease in his answer that reminded her just how well Leon had known Evalyn.

“Anything down there I should worry about?”

Leon considered the question. “Depends how you feel about preserves older than either of us should admit.”

Thallia laughed. “I'll save that adventure for later.”

Right now, she wanted to see her grandmother's house.

Across Olympia Springs, Jake Mercer knelt beside one of the resort's garden beds, easing a flowering perennial from its pot.

Several flats from Crossing River Nursery waited along the walkway. The resort had contracted the nursery to refresh the gardens for spring, and Jake had spent most of the morning working his way through the new plantings.

Jake sat back to check the spacing, frowned, and moved the newest plant several inches to the left. Better. The resort wanted the beds looking full by summer, not crowded by May.

People came and went around him.

A couple stopped to admire the flowers before continuing toward the main building. One of the resort staff asked Jake a question about the irrigation schedule. A woman carrying a yoga mat stepped around his wheelbarrow and thanked him when he moved it out of her way.

Jake returned to the flower bed.

He loosened another root ball, settled it into the earth, and pressed the soil firmly around it with both hands.

A few guests crossed the terrace above him. Two resort employees stopped near the railing to finish a conversation. A man carrying a briefcase passed behind them on his way toward the main building.

Jake noticed none of them.

He reached for the next plant and pushed his fingers back into the cool earth.

At the Stone House, Thallia stopped walking.

Cold earth.

The sensation struck so suddenly that her stomach dropped.

For one disorienting instant, she could feel it. Damp soil beneath her hands. Cold earth pressing against her palms and beneath her fingers.

Thallia swayed.

The living room tilted sharply, and she reached for the back of a chair. Her fingers slipped past it.

Leon caught her before she hit the floor.

“Thallia!” Fear sharpened his voice as he pulled her against him. “Talk to me. Are you okay?”

She grabbed his arm as another fragment of the dream flashed through her mind.

Cold earth.

Her breath caught.

Leon tightened his hold. “Thallia, look at me.”

The sensation disappeared, and the Stone House returned around her.

Thallia blinked up at Leon. The fear on his face startled her almost as much as what had just happened.

She tightened her grip on his arm and waited for the room to steady.

What the hell had just happened to her?

Leon didn't release her until he was certain she could stand on her own. “Sit down.”

The concern in his voice discouraged argument. Thallia let him guide her to a deep dark leather sofa in the living room.

“I'll get you some water.”

Leon disappeared toward the kitchen and returned a moment later with a glass. Thallia accepted it and took a long drink. He hadn't stopped watching her.

“I'm okay,” Thallia assured him.

Leon crouched in front of her, his attention fixed on her face. “You nearly hit the floor.”

Thallia took a sip of water. “I'm aware.”

His hand settled over hers, steady and warm. “Tell me what happened.”

Thallia looked down at the glass. “I'm not sure. I got dizzy, and then I felt...” She hesitated. “Cold earth.”

Leon sat beside her. “You felt cold?”

“No. Earth. Dirt.” She shook her head. “For a second, it felt like I had my hands in cold soil.”

Leon studied her. “Has that happened before?”

“Not exactly.”

That answer clearly didn't satisfy him.

Thallia took another drink. “I've been traveling, sleeping in strange beds, and living on adrenaline for two days. Add southern Utah heat and breakfast flirting with a sexy sheriff, and maybe my brain finally objected.”

Leon didn't smile.

She nudged his arm. “I'm fine.”

“You scared me.” His quiet admission took some of the humor out of her answer.

“I'm sorry.”

“Don't apologize.” Leon held her gaze. “Just don't brush it off if it happens again.”

Thallia promised she wouldn't. Privately, she decided one dizzy spell wasn't enough to worry about yet.

After a few more minutes, she convinced Leon she was steady enough to continue exploring.

The rest of the house unfolded in quick discoveries. It was bigger than Thallia expected, but everything spread across one level. Four bedrooms had once filled the house. Evalyn had sacrificed two without hesitation, turning one into a library and the other into a sewing room.

That felt like Grandma. Books and fabric had always outranked hypothetical houseguests.

One guest room survived, complete with its own bath, and a tiny half bath near the kitchen took care of anyone who wasn't staying.

A large kitchen opened toward the courtyard.

The refrigerator was completely empty, and several pots near the windows held plants that had long since died.

“Groceries,” Thallia said. “And definitely a rescue mission for the houseplants.”

The master bedroom overlooked the pond and enormous Oriental plane tree. The adjoining bathroom made her stop again, this time for a considerably better reason.

A large jetted tub occupied one corner.

Thallia looked at Leon. “I may forgive Grandma for keeping this house a secret.”

His laugh followed her back into the hall.

They brought her luggage and hat box inside, leaving them in the master bedroom until later. Unpacking could wait.

Thallia checked her phone.

Still no service.

“Right. Utilities.”

Leon pointed toward an old telephone on a table near the kitchen. “The landline was disconnected after Evalyn died. You'll want that turned back on.”

Thallia tried a light switch. Nothing happened.

“Electric too.”

“The water stays on because the property irrigation runs from the Crossing River,” Leon explained. “Heat is wood. There's a stove and two fireplaces.”

Thallia looked around the cool stone house. “So I need electricity, a telephone, groceries, and plants I haven't murdered yet.”

“You've owned the house for less than an hour. I think the plants died before you could be charged.”

“Good. I'd hate to begin my first day in Olympia Springs with a body count.”

Leon laughed.

Neither of them knew how quickly that joke would stop being funny.

Thallia grabbed her new crossbody bag. “I suppose I'm going into town.”

“I need to check in at the sheriff's office anyway. I'll show you where to get what you need.”

She looked around the Stone House once more before following him outside.

There would be time to explore later.

For now, Thallia needed electricity, food, a working telephone, and her first real look at Olympia Springs.