“You’re quite welcome, and that reminds me, I need to order more,” Evelyn said as she pulled her mobile from her pocket and quickly typed in a note.

Turning her attention back to the gardens, Joanna said, “So, why not just knock it all down and turn it into lawns? Why leave it like this?”

“Because Addison doesn’t care. She hasn’t come out here in years, and since we have no visitors, there’s no point in maintaining something that won’t be appreciated,” Evelyn said and then she pointed to a mulch-covered track that wrapped the back of the house. “The only thing maintained is that footpath.”

Joanna looked down and saw a swath of mulch at the bottom of the hill. “It almost looks like a driveway.”

“It used to be one, but we don’t use carriages any longer.”

“Sorry?”

“Come on. I’ll show you, ” Evelyn said, gesturing for Joanna to follow her to the stairs. “Just make sure you hold onto the handrail. If you fall here, you won’t bounce.”

Joanna’s first thought as she approached the stairway was it seemed as if it was an afterthought in the design of the patio. Unlike everything else she had seen so far, the staircase simply didn’t fit. It was void of even the simplest of decorations, and while slate had been applied to the surface of the treads, the balustrade system was the most basic of black wrought iron.

Taking Evelyn’s warning to heart, Joanna gripped the iron rail firmly as she descended the stairs. Reaching the bottom, she turned to look up at the patio now nearly thirty feet above her head. “You weren’t kidding about this being a hill, were you?”

“Not at all, and now I’ll show you just how creative the Egerton’s architect was. Follow me.”

Intrigued, Joanna kept pace with Evelyn on the path as it curved around the house, the slope of the hill slowly becoming less steep as they walked. Her attention held by a long brick building off in the distance, it wasn’t until Evelyn stopped when Joanna saw the tunnel running under the patio.

“What the fu—” Blushing instantly as the expletive almost escaped her lips, Joanna said, “Um...sorry, Evelyn.”

“That’s quite all right. I’ve heard the word before.”

Joann peered into the ominous shaft. “What is this?”

“I believe it’s called a tunnel,” Evelyn said with a snicker.

Joanna playfully glared at Evelyn as she took a step into the dark passageway. The smell of earth was thick in the air, and as a leaf crackled under her foot, the sound echoed off the arched ceiling high above her head. Turning to look at Evelyn, she said, “Okay, so I get it’s a tunnel, and by the light over there, it goes completely under the patio. Right?”

“You are correct.”

“But why is it here?”