Midnight at the Mansion (The Virginia Mysteries Book 5) Read online

  Midnight at the Mansion

  The Virginia Mysteries Book 5

  Steven K. Smith

  Contents

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  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Steven K. Smith

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  Copyright © 2016 by Steven K. Smith

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  1

  Lunch was on Sam's mind as he walked with Caitlin past the black bear habitat. It was barely ten in the morning, but he was regretting not refilling his cereal bowl at breakfast. Even so, he was glad not to be the black bear's lunch. He watched it stroll across a trickling stream, splashing at the water with a giant paw. Bears made Sam nervous, so he was glad when he and Caitlin moved on to the birds of prey area, another of the wild animal exhibits at Maymont, a former estate that was now a huge park in the city of Richmond.

  “You know what I don't like about Benjamin Franklin?” said Caitlin, as they approached a large, wooden sign shaped like a bird’s nest.

  Sam raised an eyebrow. What did Ben Franklin have to do with anything? “Um…his weird glasses?”

  Caitlin turned to Sam with a confused look. “I love his glasses…”

  “Okay, what don’t you like about Ben Franklin?” It was pointless to resist. Even though she was a girl, Caitlin was one of Sam’s best friends in the whole fifth grade. She knew just about everything, but she also made sure you knew she knew it.

  “He wanted our national bird to be the turkey!” Caitlin huffed, throwing her arms up like she'd witnessed some great injustice.

  Sam thought about that for a moment. “Not such a bad choice. I love turkey...in sandwiches...at Thanksgiving...” His stomach rumbled again at the thought.

  Caitlin frowned. “Exactly. Something you eat is probably not appropriate for the national bird.”

  Maybe she did have a point. They reached the open-air pen containing a pair of bald eagles.

  “Look at them!” exclaimed Caitlin. “Aren't they amazing?”

  Sam nodded. They sure were. He couldn’t stop staring at their sharp beaks and white-feathered heads. He'd seen pictures of bald eagles so many times on dollar bills and other United States symbols that they seemed common, but now, being only a few feet away from the real thing was pretty sweet.

  “See how intelligent they look? I wonder what they’re thinking,” said Caitlin.

  Sam's stomach grumbled loudly.

  Caitlin giggled. “I know what you're thinking.”

  He frowned and squinted to get a better look through the wire mesh. A dart of brown in the corner of the cage caught his attention. “That one’s probably thinking about how many seconds to wait until he eats that mouse. Not a very smart mouse to wander into an eagle’s cage.”

  “A mouse? Where?”

  Sam pointed over to the corner of the cage just as the eagle spread its great wings. With a single flap, it swooped to the ground, grabbing the critter in its talons.

  “Ahh!” shrieked Caitlin.

  “Wow,” Sam muttered, excited by the action. “I think he heard us say ‘mouse.’”

  “That's disgusting,” said Caitlin, turning away. “Poor little mouse.”

  “That's just what eagles eat,” said Sam.

  “Just because something's true doesn't mean I need to think about it,” she replied over her shoulder.

  “Gosh, you don't have to be so squeamish about it,” answered Sam. He’d been so caught up in watching the eagle and the mouse that he hadn’t noticed the man who had walked up beside them until now.

  “Quite something, aren't they?” the man said without taking his eyes off the birds. He was about Sam's dad's age and wore glasses. A puff of black hair stuck out from under the bill of his brown, baseball-style hat.

  “Uh, yeah, they are,” Sam answered, realizing that the man was talking to them. He wasn't supposed to talk to strangers, but he also didn't want to be rude. He didn't know who this guy was, but he seemed okay. It wasn’t like he was offering them candy or anything.

  The man turned and smiled at them. “The eagle has always been a symbol of strength, all the way back to Roman times.”

  “It has?” said Caitlin.

  Sam chuckled. It wasn't often that Caitlin was caught not knowing a fact about something.

  The man nodded. “It became our national symbol back in 1782 when it was placed on the Great Seal. However, there were some who wanted a different bird.”

  “Benjamin Franklin!” shouted Caitlin. She gave Sam a smug grin, happy to show her knowledge off to someone else, especially a grownup. “He wanted the turkey.”

  “That's right,” said the man. “Very impressive. You must be a bit of a historian yourself.”

  Caitlin beamed. “I'd like to be.”

  “She thinks she knows everything,” added Sam.

  “Do you work here?” asked Caitlin, casting a frown at Sam.

  The man smiled. “Not exactly.” He paused, seeming to consider his answer. “But I think of myself as someone on the side of history too. Our resources, like the eagles, need to be protected, you know. It wasn't long ago that these beautiful creatures were nearly wiped out. There were only a few hundred pairs of bald eagles left in the entire country, but laws were enacted to protect them, and now they're doing well again.”

  “Thank goodness,” said Caitlin.

  Sam nodded. He was glad the eagles were healthy again. They were too cool to go extinct.

  The man's phone chirped on his belt. His expression changed when he glanced at the screen. Sam couldn't tell if it was worry or anger, but the man suddenly seemed nervous.

  “Kids, I've gotta go. It was nice meeting you. Be careful where you go today.” He pulled the brim of his hat down closer to his eyes and then quickly strode down the ramp from the bird exhibits.

  Sam watched him break into a jog as he turned the corner, following the trail toward the river that ran beside the park.

  “That was weird,” said Caitlin.

  “Yeah, where do you think he ran off to?”

  “It must have been something to do with the message he got on his phone. He seemed nice, a
nd he knew a lot about history.”

  “Maybe he's a killer,” said Sam. “Every time he scores another victim, he visits a bird of prey to be near other predators.”

  Caitlin gave him a sideways glance and giggled. “You're crazy.” She turned to leave. “You're starting to sound like Derek.”

  “Hey, now that is an insult,” yelled Sam. His older brother could be a little goofy sometimes, a real pain most other times.

  “Come on,” said Caitlin. “We’d better go find that brother of yours. No telling what he’s up to.”

  They followed a trail that led across the rolling lawn toward the old mansion at the top of the hill. According to Sam’s mom, a millionaire couple named the Dooleys donated the mansion and the entire one-hundred-acre estate to the City of Richmond when they died about one hundred years ago. Sam hadn’t been there before, but Maymont was one of Caitlin's favorite places. When she invited him and Derek, excitedly describing the trails, gardens, wild animal exhibits, nature center, and the old mansion, it was hard to say no.

  They climbed the sloping trail, surrounded by tall trees—oaks, or maples, or maybe sycamores. Caitlin would probably know but he wasn’t about to ask her. As they approached one group of trees, Sam heard a familiar voice call his name. He looked around but didn't see anyone.

  “Look, up there!” Caitlin pointed up into one of the tallest trees.

  Sure enough, Sam’s brother, Derek, was perched on a large branch forty feet in the air. He wore an orange helmet and a shoulder harness that was attached to a cable and pulley. Sam followed the wire down to the ground where two guys were holding support ropes. The name on their shirts was that of an outdoor adventure company in town.

  Caitlin waved up to Derek in the tree. He was always wanting to climb on or jump off of something. Sam preferred to keep his feet closer to the ground.

  “Watch this!” Derek yelled, stepping off the branch while grasping a handle that attached to the zip line. The men on the ground shifted their weight and held the support ropes tight as Derek flew along the zip line until he reached the stopping mechanism at the bottom of the cable and his feet gently touched down on the grass.

  Sam's stomach turned upside down just watching, but he tried not to let it show. He'd decided that the fewer people who knew about his fear of heights, the less he would be teased about it.

  “What do you think?” called Derek, unhooking himself from the ropes and harnesses.

  “Wow!” said Caitlin. “That looks fun.”

  “Nice job,” said Sam.

  “I'll have to try that sometime,” said Caitlin. “Is it scary?”

  Derek put on a confident face and smiled wide. “Piece of cake. It's fun, like flying.”

  “Just for a few seconds,” said Sam.

  “Long enough to be fun, little brother.” He nudged Sam in the arm. “You can go next if you want...”

  Sam shook his head and looked away. “That's okay.”

  Derek laughed and turned to Caitlin. “Sam's a little bit chicken of heights.”

  Sam felt his cheeks burn red. He slugged Derek in the shoulder. “Shut up, I am not. I just don't feel like it.” Sam took a deep breath, trying to count to ten. That's what Mom told him to do when Derek got him worked up, which was a lot.

  Caitlin rolled her eyes. She walked across the grass toward a steep hill that sloped down behind the mansion, staring down the hill. “Come on,” she called over her shoulder. “I want to see the gardens.”

  “That's a good idea,” said Sam.

  “I can go let the rope guys know you'll be back after you visit the chicken coop, Sam,” Derek cackled.

  Sam shot him an evil stare and started counting again. Staying relaxed around Derek was a full-time job.

  “What?” Derek laughed. “What did I say?”

  Caitlin led the way down a narrow stone path that cut through a grove of trees on the steep hill behind the mansion. The trail opened amongst an outcropping of large rocks that formed one side of a shaded garden. They all stopped and stared at a gentle waterfall flowing over the rocks beside them.

  “I love this part,” said Caitlin.

  “Wow,” said Sam. He felt like he'd stepped into a picture from a magazine. This secluded section was like another world compared to the rest of the park. “What is this place?”

  “It's the Japanese Garden.” Caitlin walked onto a delicate wooden bridge that rose up into an arch. “It's so beautiful, isn't it? This is my favorite part of the estate.”

  “Pretty cool,” admitted Derek.

  They followed the narrow dirt paths through the manicured gardens until they came to a small pond. A gazebo-like structure sat at one end, and in the middle, a dozen round stepping-stones connected to the opposite shore. Sam had never seen stones like these. They were flat on top and as big as truck tires. He stepped slowly from one to another, careful to keep a stone's distance behind Derek, just in case his brother had any ideas of pushing him in.

  As he reached the end of the stone bridge, one eye on Derek, a large, orange streak moved past him in the water. “What was that?” he said, a bit more nervously than he would have liked.

  Caitlin smiled, pointing into the water. “They're koi fish, Sam. It's a large Japanese koi pond.”

  Derek bent over laughing. “You should have seen your face. You thought you were a goner. They're a little small for sharks, Sam.”

  “I knew that,” said Sam, brushing past his brother. He leapt onto the dirt path, looking back into the pond from the shore. The watermelon-sized fish were all through the water—some orange, some white, and others were a mix of both.

  While Sam was staring at the colorful fish, a commotion sounded from the hill by the mansion. He looked up to see a man running toward the pond at full speed. He leapt over a bush, plowing through the middle of the gardens in a huge hurry. He was heading directly toward Sam on the shore of the pond. Sam recognized him as the man they'd talked to by the eagles' nest.

  Sam dodged to his right to make way, but the man dodged the same direction. They crashed together, toppling onto the ground at the edge of the pond.

  2

  “Oomph!” groaned Sam, as the man sprawled next to him.

  “Are you all right?” the man asked, quickly sitting up in the grass.

  Sam wiggled his arms and legs. Everything seemed to be working. Thankfully the large man had missed landing on top of him. “I think so...” he answered slowly.

  The man stared at Sam with faint recognition. A desperate, fearful expression filled his eyes. Sam noticed a smear of blood on the man's shirt collar. What was going on here?

  Before Sam could ask anything more, a shout came from across the gardens and two more men burst out of the path and down the hill. They pointed at the man and Sam and began running toward them.

  “Save the eagles,” the man whispered into Sam's ear then scrambled to his feet. Or at least that's what Sam thought he heard.

  “What?” asked Sam, but the man had already darted around the edge of the pond. Sam watched him crash through the row of tall bamboo trees that lined the back of the park. He quickly climbed over a chain link fence in a graceful motion, landed, and sprinted off to the left. In a flash the other two men tore past Sam, following the first man over the fence and out of sight. As quickly as they had come, all three men were gone.

  Sam's heart was racing. He tried to catch his breath.

  Derek and Caitlin hurried over to where he still sat in the grass.

  “Sam, are you okay?” asked Caitlin, bending down to help him up.

  He slowly nodded his head. “I think so.”

  “What was that all about?” asked Derek. “Did you trip that guy?”

  Sam frowned, shaking his head.

  “That was the man we talked to near the eagles, wasn't it?” asked Caitlin.

  “Yeah,” said Sam. “But I don't know who the other two were.” He bent down to brush off his shorts.

  “Looked like he was in trouble,”
said Derek.

  As Sam looked down, he noticed something shiny at the edge of the koi pond. “Look at that!” It was a phone. It must have fallen off the man when he crashed into him.

  “Oh, man, bad luck for that guy. It's probably waterlogged,” said Derek.

  Sam fished it out of the water. If it still worked, it probably wouldn't for long. He turned it over and was surprised to see words on the screen. “It says something!” exclaimed Sam.

  Derek and Caitlin crowded around him.

  “What is it?” asked Derek.

  “Buyer coming...Dooley mansion,” Sam read slowly.

  “Dooley mansion?” asked Derek. “What’s that?”

  With an exasperated look, Caitlin pointed up the hill. “It's right here at Maymont, Derek.”

  “Oh, right. I knew that.”

  Sam scrolled down using the buttons on the phone. There was more. “Midnight...8-10,” he said out loud.

  “Midnight, eight to ten?” repeated Derek. “What the heck is that supposed to mean? How could something be at midnight and from eight to ten? Those are two different times.”

  Caitlin leaned closer to the screen. “It says eight dash ten. Maybe it's the date. Midnight on eight ten. August tenth?”

  Sam tried to think. “What's today's date?”

  “August first,” said Caitlin.

  “So someone is going to buy the mansion up there in nine days at midnight?” asked Derek.

  Sam shook his head. “That can’t be right.”

  Derek shrugged his shoulders. “Well, how should I know? If that guy would have stuck around a little longer, we could have asked him.”

  Caitlin stared off at the bamboo shoots in front of the fence. “I wonder if he got away?”

  “Who was he anyway?” asked Derek. “And who were those two guys chasing him?”

  Caitlin explained how they had met him by the eagles. “He said he was a historian, I think.”