The Ghosts of Aquinnah

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Book: Read The Ghosts of Aquinnah for Free Online
Authors: Julie Flanders
key besides Mrs. Rogers and me.”
    “ Okay, great, thank you. I may have picked up this paper myself on the ferry or maybe back in Boston and just forgot, I’m sure it’s nothing. I’m sorry again to have bothered you. The room is lovely.”
    “ It’s no bother at all. Please don’t hesitate to call if anything else comes up.”
    “ I won’t, thank you. Good night.”
    Hannah hung up the phone and walked to the door of her room to double-check the lock. Maybe she had simply forgotten to lock it when she’d gone to the cliffs and another guest had entered her room by mistake. That was the most likely answer. Except that she knew she’d locked the door.
    Shaken, Hannah grabbed a straight back chair from the dressing table and propped it under the doorknob. She returned to the bed and picked up the paper again. Grace Pease’s voice echoed in her head.
    “ No one has a key besides Mrs. Rogers and me…”
    Whether they had a key or not, someone had managed to get into her room while she was gone and placed the old newspaper where she was sure to find it. But who?
    An answer crept into Hannah’s mind, but she quickly swept it aside. She wasn’t so far gone that she was ready to accept that. There had to be a rational explanation for all of this.
    She looked at the paper again and knew where to start looking for that explanation. She’d spend the following day at the library. She needed to learn more about the wreck of The City of Columbus.
     
    ****
     
    Hannah couldn’t believe her eyes when she booted up her laptop the following morning at breakfast and clicked onto the official Martha’s Vineyard site. She realized she wasn’t going to be heading to the library after all.
    There, front and center on the page, was an advertisement about a new exhibit at the Martha’s Vineyard museum and historical society in Edgartown. The exhibit featured the most infamous shipwrecks in the island’s history. Hannah had no doubt that The City of Columbus would be included. It had to be.
    Stunned by the coincidence of the exhibit opening right after she had found the newspaper article, Hannah recalled the night she had decided to come to the island after her mystery woman had stared directly into the webcam and at her. She was shaken by the feeling that she was being led. But how could that be? And what could possibly be the purpose?
    Knowing there was only one way to find out, Hannah quickly finished her breakfast and jumped in her car. The beautiful sunshine of the previous day had disappeared and she now found herself driving through a pelting rain. She considered herself lucky to find a parking spot near the museum, as the narrow cobblestone streets of Edgartown could often be a nightmare to navigate.
    Hannah pulled the hood of her raincoat over her head and ran as quickly as she could to the museum, noticing the Fresnel lens of the old Gay Head lighthouse in its usual place on the front lawn as she ran past. She tried to recall the last time she’d been to the museum, and couldn’t. It was safe to say it had been a long time.
    She walked inside and shook the rain from her jacket as she wiped her shoes dry on the door mat. It was easy to find the shipwreck exhibit, as the museum was small, and a large banner hanging from the ceiling pointed to the display. The museum was crowded, which wasn’t a huge surprise given the rain and nasty weather. There weren’t a great deal of indoor recreational activities available on the Vineyard.
    Hannah scanned the room until she found what she was looking for, which didn't take long. As the most deadly shipwreck in the island’s history, The City of Columbus took center stage in the exhibit. A door from the ill-fated ship was encased in glass, and Hannah couldn’t help but wonder how many doomed passengers had grabbed hold of that door as they tried in vain to reach safety. A builder’s plate bearing the ship’s name was displayed next to one of the quarterboards from its

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