Frank, gazing at the artifact with all the concentrated interest of a forensic scientist, knelt there on the fireplace hearth, touching the bone gingerly. "I wonder who…" Recalling himself to the situation, he looked up at Megan, and quickly set the bone down.

"You okay, Baby?" Frank got to his feet, closing the short distance between them. He wrapped his arm gently about her shoulders and held her securely against him. He could feel tremors shaking her. "It’s all right, Megan – you’re all right. Nothing to worry about, here…."

"I’m okay." It took a gulp or two, and another deep breath; then Megan was under control again. "It just spooked me for a minute; that’s all. Why is there a – a body – behind the fireplace?"

"Good question!" Frank shook his head, shrugging his shoulders in puzzlement. "I have no idea. I sure didn’t expect to find something like this when I asked to see the hidey-hole; I was just interested. It seems like a good place to stash a treasure, if someone wanted to." He looked around and spotted Cherise, standing near the entrance to the room; her eyes showing up dark and enormous against the pallor of her face.

"Cherise? You okay?" Frank had to wait a few seconds before she responded. "Why don’t you and Megan go on out of here," he proposed. "Find Joe and Vanessa and Matt, and tell them what we’ve found. I’m going to take a few minutes to investigate this cache a little further, and see what else might be in there."

"O-okay." Cherise nodded tightly. Megan, still glued to Frank’s side, looked relieved at this suggestion.

"I’m going to have to call the police," Frank continued gently. "There’s no way of knowing how old the bone – bones, let’s assume there’s a whole skeleton in there – how old it is. It might have been put here a few years ago, not decades!"

Cherise didn’t look comforted by this possibility. The thought of murder connected with her favorite place was obviously an unwelcome one, something like desecrating a shrine!

Frank looked down at Megan with an encouraging smile. He gently kissed her cheek, and hugged her close. "Baby? Could you send Joe in, please? He and I can secure the scene while we wait for the police." He shook her a little. "Got to put all those things we’re learning in school to good use, don’t we?!"

Aqua eyes stared up at him a moment, troubled – and then Megan smiled wanly and nodded agreement. "Right. It’s a class field trip. Wouldn’t our professors be impressed with our practical experience, huh? Better you than me, this time around. Come on, Cherise," she added, beckoning to the other young woman, who followed her willingly out of the room.

Frank took out his cell phone and stood gazing out of the bedroom window as he dialed. He could see Matt walking along the pathway away from the lighthouse, occasionally pausing to snap a photo.

Once connected to the Bayport Police Department, he asked to speak to Con Riley, hoping against hope that the police detective was currently on duty.

Frank explained briefly, and then waited for the expected reaction. It wasn’t long in coming. The incredulity in Con’s voice resonated through the connection.

Frank laughed, somewhat sheepishly. "I have no idea, Con. I was just checking out a legend, not hunting for bodies. Not hunting for anything more mysterious than missing jewels! It’s not even my paper, it’s Joe’s. And besides," he went on virtuously, "it wasn’t me that found it, it was Megan!"

Con sighed. "You guys give me a headache. Okay, hang tight. I’ll send a team out right away. No, I’ll bring a team. Don’t do anything else with the remains, right?"

"You got it," Frank agreed, and ended the call.

Despite his promise to Con, after Frank had put away his phone he knelt down once again, inspecting the flooring in front of the opening in the back wall. It was scratched and broken up directly in front of the hole, and Frank noted that the mortar looked different in the front of the fireplace – different from the part in the back, closest to the hole…the color just a shade or two off, the texture not quite the same.

Leaning close, Frank peered into the darkness of the hole, then reached into his coat pocket for the Maglite flash he kept there. Shining the light into the cavity, he inspected the back part of the mortar between the bricks minutely. Different….He couldn’t say for sure which part might be older, but the difference was there, and definitely noticeable. The mortar in the back was thicker than that of the fireplace addition in the front. The forensics team from the police department will be able to tell….

"What’d you find, Frank?"

Frank jumped, nearly banging his head on the top of the fireplace opening, as he heard Joe’s voice behind him. "Sheesh, give me a heart attack, why don’t you?" He crawled out of the fireplace pit and sat cross-legged on the floor. "This." He gestured towards the bone lying beside him. "Megan found it first, and I pulled it out of that hole in the wall. Looks human, and I suspect there’s more where that came from…probably a whole skeleton."

Joe made a face, looking slightly queasy. "Lovely."

"I was looking at the mortar in the fireplace," Frank continued. "I’m positive the fireplace wasn’t part of the original house. Or if there was a fireplace originally, it was pulled down and replaced with this one."

Joe frowned, looking around at the room with keen blue eyes. "There isn’t a second floor above this room. It’s very possible that whoever built the fireplace added it after the house was built."

Frank nodded, as Joe’s words confirmed his own feelings.

"Do you think the fireplace was added to hide the body?" Joe asked then.

"I think so…" Frank said slowly. "I’m not positive, of course, and there’s not nearly enough evidence – but yeah. I think so."

Joe dropped to his knees and extended a hand for Frank’s flashlight. He stuck the light into the hole and then followed with his head, grimacing with distaste as loosened mortar and brick dust crumbled into his blonde hair. "Ick…." He brushed at the dust and small bits of brick with his free hand. "Can’t see anything from this angle…." He scrambled back and got to his feet, returning the light to his brother. "What should we do next?"

"I already called Con; he’s sending an investigative team out," Frank replied. "They should be here pretty soon. Where are the girls?"

"They’re staying outside," Joe reported. "Neither Megan nor Cherise seemed at all interested in coming back in here, and Vanessa decided she didn’t really want to, either."

"Just as well," Frank nodded approval. "The less people in here in the way, the better."

He turned again to the mysterious hole in the back of the fireplace wall. There was just something about it…something that was drawing him irresistibly. Something that made him want to know more. It’s just your curiosity, Hardy, he told himself – your inability to leave anything unexplained alone. But there it was…there was something….The wall – or something inside that wall – wanted him to know more…to do something more….

Frank swallowed nervously, making sure his back was turned to Joe to hide this action from his younger brother. He flicked on the Maglite, and crawled into the fireplace once again. He ducked his head into the opening, holding the light nearly beneath his chin to get both head and light into the aperture. He could see something – something shining, far back….Ignoring Con’s explicit instructions to leave things untouched – he just said to leave the remains alone! I’m not doing anything with the bones! he told himself – Frank pulled his head back and extended his arm in, reaching for the mysterious shining thing. He snagged it with the end of his light, and pulled it out.

"Whatcha got?" Joe was watching him with evident interest.

Carefully, Frank took a handkerchief from his pocket and used it to pick up the new find. He held it up for inspection. "It’s a coin of some sort – with a chain attached." He shone the flash on it, and his keen eyes picked out the value, and a date stamp. "1867!" He whistled, and held it towards Joe. "This has been here for a while! I’d have to look it up – or talk to Mr. Applegate about it – but I think it’s an old nickel of some kind. A five-cent piece, I mean; it’s not made of nickel."

"Might be a clue to the identity of the body," Joe observed, frowning over the coin but not attempting to touch it.

Frank nodded and pulled it back, staring at it abstractedly as he held it up in the light. It was penny-colored; coppery rather than silvery, and a bit bigger than a modern penny. Frank had never seen a coin like it before, and he was intrigued.

"I’m going to go out and check on the girls, and wait for the police," Joe stated, rising to his feet. "Hang on to your little souvenir, bro – although I can tell you right now, Con’s not going to be at all happy about you digging around in there!"

Frank shrugged. "Yeah, well…I felt like I had to pick it up."

Joe blinked. "Had to pick it up? Why do you think you had to pick it up?"

"Dunno…." Frank frowned and shook his head, then shrugged again. "Maybe I’m just going loopy."

"In that case," Joe cracked, grinning, "you’re admitting it about twenty years too late; you were born loopy!"

Frank’s dark eyes narrowed, a dangerous glint sparking. "Oh, you’re just begging to be thwapped," he breathed, and took a step towards his younger brother, hand raised in mock threat.

"Hah, like you think you could!" Joe dodged aside and hastily departed, his laughter trailing back.

Left alone, Frank held up the coin again, staring at it in fascination. 1867. He didn’t know what it might mean, but he was very hopeful that it might prove to be a solid clue in this mystery of the skeletal remains. Maybe someone disappeared back then; someone who was connected to this coin…of course, coins are around forever. It could have happened much later….

Suddenly, a cold wind blasted through the room, causing Frank to shiver even though he was wearing a heavy jacket. Brrrr! He brushed back his dark hair as another gust of cold wind blew past him, then looked up…and blinked.

A girl stood across the room from him – staring at him with angry, baleful eyes, her expression filled with hate. A slender girl, dressed in an old-fashioned dress with a long skirt and a tight bodice. Her pale hair swirled around her, flowing past her shoulders in a straight fall to her waist. Her clothing appeared filmy, although he could see details. As Frank stared, she reached out a hand in his direction, pointing a slender finger accusingly at him.

He froze in place, unable to move, and heard a soft word echo past him, uttered in a cold, feminine voice: