Finally Kim drove out to the compound. She felt a little guilty, since she’d told Mark Stevens she’d be there in the morning and already it was approaching noon. As she rounded the last bend in the road leading from the gate and broke free from the trees, she could see a handful of trucks and vans parked near the cottage. There was also a large backhoe and mounds of fresh earth. But Kim didn’t see any people, not even on the backhoe.
Kim parked and got out of her car. The noontime heat and dust were oppressive, and the smell of the freshly turned earth was pungent. Kim closed the car door, and, shielding her face from the sun, she followed with her eyes the line of the trench that ran across the field toward the castle. At that moment the door to the house opened and George Harris stepped out. Sweat lined his forehead.
“Glad you could make it,” George said. “I’ve been trying to call you.”
“Is something wrong?” Kim asked.
“Sorta,” George said evasively. “Maybe I’d better show you.”
George motioned for Kim to follow him toward where the backhoe was parked.
“We had to stop work,” George said.
“Why?” Kim asked.
George didn’t answer. Instead he encouraged Kim to come over to the trench.
Hesitant to step too close to the edge for fear of its giving way, Kim stretched forward and looked in. She was impressed by the depth, which she estimated to be more than eight feet. Roots hung out of the sheer walls like miniature brooms. George directed her attention to the end, where the trench stopped abruptly fifty feet short of the cottage. Near the bottom Kim could see the damaged end of a wooden box protruding from the wall.
“That’s why we had to stop,” George said.
“What is it?” Kim asked.
“I’m afraid it’s a coffin,” George said.
“Good grief,” Kim said.
“We found a headstone as well,” George said. “It’s an oldie.” He motioned for Kim to come around the end of the trench. On the opposite side of the mound of excavated earth was a dirty white marble slab lying flat in the grass.
“It hadn’t been set upright,” George said. “It had been laid flat and eventually covered with earth.” George bent down and wiped away the dried dirt on its face.
Kim took an involuntary gasp of air. “My God, it’s Elizabeth!” she managed. She shook her head. There were too many coincidences.
“She a relative?” George asked.
“She is,” Kim said. She examined the headstone. It was similar in design to Ronald’s, and gave only the specifics, namely Elizabeth’s birthdate and date of her death.
“Did you have any idea her grave would be here?” George asked. His tone wasn’t accusatory, just curious.
“Not in the slightest,” Kim said. “I only found out recently that she’d not been buried in the family plot.”
“What do you want us to do?” George said. “You’re supposed to have a permit to disturb a grave.”
“Can’t you just go around it and leave it be?” Kim asked.
“I suppose,” George said. “We could just widen the trench along here. Should we be on the lookout for any others?”
“I don’t think so,” Kim said. “Elizabeth was a special case.”
“I hope you don’t mind me saying this,” George said. “But you look kinda pale. Are you okay?”
“Thank you,” Kim said. “I’m fine. Just a bit shocked. I guess I’m feeling a little superstitious about finding this woman’s grave.”
“So are we,” George said. “Especially my backhoe operator. Let me go get him out here. We got to get these utilities in before we pour the basement.”
George disappeared inside the house. Kim ventured back to the edge of the trench and peered down at the exposed corner of Elizabeth’s coffin. The wood was in surprisingly good shape for being buried for over three hundred years. It didn’t even appear rotten where the backhoe had damaged it.
Kim had no idea what to make of this unexpected discovery. First the portrait, now the grave. It was getting harder to dismiss these as fortuitous findings.
The sound of an approaching auto caught Kim’s attention. Shielding her eyes once again from the noonday sun, she watched a familiar-looking car kicking up a plume of dust as it followed the dirt road across the field. She couldn’t mentally place the vehicle until it pulled up next to her. Then she realized why it had been familiar. It was Kinnard’s.