The Secrets of Whitelea

|Chapter Twelve|

Chapter Twelve

Bella found herself in the family history room again. She sat at the desk, flicking through the notepads that littered the table top. She had been reading up on everything she could find on the Hamiltons. They were distantly related to the Whitelea family who had founded the village centuries ago but they had died out and the last remaining daughter had married a Hamilton. Since then, they had kept the name alive, making it a tradition for women to keep their names if there were no sons to continue it as they didn't want the name of Hamilton dying out like Whitelea did. Bella had replaced all the history books after scanning through them and had begun to read the handwritten notes that lay before her. There were a lot of things concerning branches of the family that went missing – including one entire branch of the family that had just seemingly disappeared.

The note about Gabriel burned in the back pocket of her jeans. Bella pulled it out and unfolded it, reading it over and over again. She had been trying to find something on the Boudrous but so far there had been no mention of them other than a paragraph that stated that an argument had occurred between the Hamiltons and the Boudrous and that it hadn't been resolved. Part of Bella wanted to run to Lizzy or to James and tell them about her discovery – that Gabriel Hamilton or Boudrou or whatever his name was existed and that maybe he was still alive. And if he was, did that mean he could actually be the one sending the letters? Was Archie innocent in all of this? Was Kuro lying? Bella had searched through the notepads for anything on a Gabriel Hamilton or Boudrou but there had been nothing about him at all. Maybe he had died as a baby and maybe the 'ask' part of the note was a reminder to ask Beatrice about it. Sighing, she refolded the paper and slipped it back into her pocket. She couldn't bring it up with anyone. Telling someone meant that they might ask questions she didn't want to answer. She began to pack up the notepads instead. It was no use sitting here and reading about the past. It wouldn't change the present or the future and it was only making things more confusing.

She locked the door to the room behind her and made her way downstairs to the library. It was a main attraction for the house and many people who visited spent a long time admiring the books that covered the shelves. When she got there, a few visitors were stood gawping at the size of it and Bella realised that she had made a mistake in coming here. She had forgotten that this was one of the days that people were allowed to visit and she realised that she would have no privacy anywhere downstairs, including the kitchen. Turning on her heel she left the room and made her way to the second floor. There she found one of the bedrooms and slipped inside. She pulled her phone out and dialled a number, pressing the phone to her ear as soon as she'd pressed the 'call' button.

"Hello?" A voice answered. Bella smiled and replied.

Elizabeth had gone out for a few hours and had left Kuro to look after Tessa. Tessa had asked Kuro if she could go and play in the garden and he had happily agreed. She had managed to convince him to play a game of hide and seek and Kuro had disappeared to find somewhere to hide. Knowing he wouldn't be watching her, Tessa made her way to the front of the house and began the long walk up the drive. Kuro was probably inside, waiting for her to come and find him but by the time he realised that something was wrong, she would be long gone. Tessa had debated whether or not to just ask him whether she could go but she didn't want to risk him saying no.

Hamilton House loomed ever closer as she made her way towards the large building. She skipped towards the front door and tried to pull it open but it wouldn't budge. Frowning, she tried again. Then she tried to push it and the door swung open for her. She was met by numerous visitors wandering through the hall, looking at the paintings and the decorations. The man who was letting people in smiled at her as she went further into the entrance hall. She didn't return the smile.