Page 13 of Ghost Hunters 2

“I can carry him better,” Bane said.

“Better than the two of us?” Dino asked skeptically.

“Dino, have you been paying attention?” Jillian asked. “Bane isn’t like a normal human being apparently.”

Dino sighed and glared at Bane. “You’d better not hurt him.”

“Why would I?” Bane said and took Matthew from them. He then hoisted the older man over his shoulder.

They followed him out of the main room through the backyard door.

Within minutes, they got him to the kitchen. Bane set him gently onto a chair then steadied him.

“Thank you, Mr. Jessin,” Matthew said.

Bane gave him a nod. “I’ll be back. I saw something earlier that needed...fixing.” He left the room swiftly.

“That man is...” Jillian shook her head.

“Yes, he is something else alright,” Dino scoffed.

Jillian looked over at him and shook her head. She hoped that someday he would like maybe talk to his father and...She sighed then headed over to the counter. Grabbing a washcloth from a drawer, she rinsed it under the faucet then brought it over to Matthew. She handed it to him.

He took it and rubbed it over his face. His hands shook as he removed the dust and dirt from his skin.

Jillian stared at him. “I found something in that room where you were.” She took it out of her pocket. “It is really old but I wondered about it. Seems odd that it was there in the plantation rooms. I mean there wasn’t anything personal in any of those rooms. And if so, nothing would be left of any of it. Like what it would be 200 years old. But I think this isn’t from that time.” She handed the small cloth to him. “Let me get you some water.” She turned away to get it. Then she brought the bottled water over to him.

Matthew kept staring at the hanky in his hand. He shook out the small scrap of material to view the M embroidered in the corner of the cloth. “Oh, wow...This was Tilly’s favorite hanky. She loved flowers and roses were her favorite.” He gently passed his finger over the single rose embroidered next to the M. “She loved the color of the Tiffany rose. She said it reminded her of the early dawn as the sun came over the top of the bluffs.”

Jillian wondered at his soft tone and his whispery breath and she felt concerned as she knelt beside Matthew. “Are you okay? Do you remember how you got down there? In the basement I mean.”

Matthew shook his head. “The last thing I remember is laying down to rest. I was almost asleep when I heard a sound. I tried to open my eyes but all I saw was blackness. I felt something heavy on my body and then I found myself alone in the dark, down in that room.” He paused to take a drink of water then continued, “I tried to call out but I couldn’t.”

“We kept looking for you, Grandpa,” Dino told him.

Matthew turned to his grandson and patted his hand. “I knew you would but I was afraid you wouldn’t find me in time. The longer I was in that room the colder I got.” He hesitated a little and added, “But I didn’t feel like I was alone somehow.” He gazed down at the hanky in his hand. Looking up at Jillian he asked, “Where did you say you found this?”

Jillian glanced at Matthew. “I found it on the table in the main room. I don’t even know what made me pick it up.”

Matthew struggled to get to his feet. When he was standing, he told them, “We have to go back to that room. That must be where Tilly is. She must be in one of the other rooms down there.”

“Matthew,” Jillian cautioned. “You gotta rest, at least until you get your strength back.”

Matthew smiled at her and said, “My dear, I’ll have all of eternity to sleep after I die. Right now, I need to find my Tilly.”

Jillian glanced at Dino.

He shrugged and told her, “He won’t listen. Not when he gets determined. Why do you think we even came here? He refused to stop.”

Jillian had already figured this out about the older man. “Okay, we can go back down there, but this time we take caution. There is something or someone here that doesn’t want us to find Tilly.”

A few minutes later, the three of them set out for the basement.

Chapter Seven

When they reached the entrance, Dino led the way inside. The darkness wasn’t as black this time as daylight tried to reach into the room from the open door. They went to the room where Jillian had found the hanky.

Dino found a stool in a corner of the room and placed it in the middle so Matthew could sit down.