In the Blink of An Eye by Jerry Baggett (ebook reader for surface pro TXT) 📕

“The lease allows the property owner to inspect the property from the outside at any time. A one-week advance notice is required for entrance into the house.”

He walked out to the gate and back. “There’s no lock on the gate. A snap fastener has a welded chain from the gate, which loops around the fence support post.” He pointed down the road. “The driveway’s three hundred yards long from the road to the front yard of the old farm house. Our great uncle lived here, raised a family here and died here. His children wanted nothing to do with farming or country living, so it ended up in the trust.”

Samantha stared at the house. “It’s a beautiful old home, and well maintained. There must be at least five or six bedrooms in that place.”

“The leaseholder maintains the house. My father visited as a child and often talked about the house. He said there was much more to the house than just bedrooms. Our great uncle and his wife entertained local friends in a large room designed for that purpose. It opened up to an oversized dining room and extra-large kitchen. That would be outdated today, of course.”

He pulled back onto the road. “I phoned for permission to look over the old house but no one got back to me before we had to head out this way.” He glanced back at Sam. “I don’t feel we have a good enough reason to disturb those inside without notice.”

“It’s magnificent,” Samantha said. “Certainly not important enough to disturb the long-term tenant. The pasture surrounding the home is beautifully trimmed.”

“Actually, that’s maintained by grazing cattle,” Dick said. “There’s a stream back behind the pasture, flowing along the edge of the pine forest providing water for the cattle. They tend to gather in the shade there through the middle of the day.”

He started the car. “We’d better move on to the old plantation property.” That’ll take up some time. The law firm said the timber company reported someone had broken through the gate and burned down one of the old homes there. I guess it’s an easy mark for young scoundrels. The damage has been reported to the county sheriff.”

Dick stopped the car. A heavy rock held the gate closed. He opened the gate wide enough to drive through.

He examined the lock and chain. “That chain blocking the service road was deliberately cut to allow entrance with a vehicle. Someone was determined to get in here. What do you suppose they were after?”

“Don’t have any idea,” Grant said. “Could be hunters or young vandals. The road is hardly used, grown over. Perhaps we’ll know more after we look around where the house burned.”

Dick said, “Yeah. The sheriff’s office said heavy rain has flooded the old road into the area where we’re going. You can see why I suggested a four-wheel drive for the trip. It’s always been a little difficult driving over the minimally maintained road.”

He drove through, closed the gate and replaced the heavy rock. “There may be cattle loose inside the fenced area. I haven’t been here for many years. Things have changed a lot. Trees and brush all look different.” He stopped again. “I’ll drive on through the flooded areas you see ahead of us. It shouldn’t be a problem with this vehicle. We’re almost to the old village.”

“Oh my God!” Samantha said. “Stop the car, Dick. I want pictures with my cellphone. This looks like a movie set, from a hundred and fifty years ago. The rain’s stopped and the sun’s out.” She left the car door open and hurried out front.

“Watch for snakes in the grass. Just stay on the road bed,” Dick yelled. Dick walked out in front of the Jeep. “Look here, Grant. There are vehicle tracks in and out of here, made quite recently. The rain did only minimum damage. The tracks aren’t even washed out.”

Samantha had mostly been silent on the ride through the forest. “Dick! You said this plantation community has been maintained since the civil war. Why would your family do that? It must have cost a fortune to keep up a lot of old buildings. Of course, I’m glad they did. Can’t wait to come back again and explore everything more carefully.”

“Back in the car, everybody. It’s starting to rain again. We’ll be back this way after we check out that house that burned. I believe it was the plantation overseer’s home.”

The previous vehicle had left deep tracks in the yard of the old home. Dick figured it had been raining when that car made the trip in and back out again. He guessed it came in and left the same day. He parked over the tracks of the earlier car. “Look at this. Our perps made a deliberate trip in to visit this house and left immediately, right after setting the house on fire. There had to be a reason for that. The heavy rain and humidity doused the fire before the house completely burned. Let’s have a look around inside the remains.”

The kitchen and dining room were completely destroyed. All rooms in front were left intact. Dick kicked his way through the charred remnants of the kitchen. He looked at a burned kitchen stove. An old-fashioned wood stove, he guessed. He looked over the foundation to determine the size of the various rooms that burned. He dragged away several sheets of scorched tin for a better idea of what he was seeing.

He stared at a small area off the kitchen. That warrant’s a closer look, perhaps a small casket. A pantry maybe, or small storage closet. Something’s been buried there underneath the floor. No, only half buried. Dirt had been shoveled over the top to make it look like a mound of dirt. A burning timber had fallen onto the buried object and scorched the wood where dirt had fallen away