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Back The Ursulina Save as PDF
Chapters (45)
  1. I know you'll never forgive me...
  2. Part One - Your Father
  3. Chapter One
  4. Chapter Two
  5. Chapter Three
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Chapter Eleven
  14. Chapter Twelve
  15. Chapter Thirteen
  16. Chapter Fourteen
  17. Chapter Fifteen
  18. Chapter Sixteen
  19. Chapter Seventeen
  20. Chapter Eighteen
  21. Chapter Nineteen
  22. Chapter Twenty
  23. Part Two - Your Mother
  24. Chapter Twenty-One
  25. Chapter Twenty-Two
  26. Chapter Twenty-Three
  27. Chapter Twenty-Four
  28. Chapter Twenty-Five
  29. Chapter Twenty-Six
  30. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  31. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  32. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  33. Chapter Thirty
  34. Chapter Thirty-One
  35. Chapter Thirty-Two
  36. Chapter Thirty-Three
  37. Chapter Thirty-Four
  38. Chapter Thirty-Five
  39. Chapter Thirty-Six
  40. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  41. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  42. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  43. Chapter Forty
  44. Chapter Forty-One
  45. About the Author

“You know, if you gave me a clue of what you were looking for, I might be able to help you find it,” Ben told me. “I’ve been through these reels dozens of times over the years. I always think maybe I missed something important. By now, I think I’ve memorized most of them.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I need to do this myself.”

“Well, whatever you say. Anyway, I came up here to say I need to leave. I’m going to drop by the 126 and make sure everything’s ready for the party tomorrow. Are you okay to stay here on your own? Mom will leave you alone.”

“Yes—thanks.”

“Okay then. Bye for now.”

He returned to the doorway, but then he stopped. “Rebecca, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I’m still convinced you’ve seen the Ursulina.”

I didn’t answer.

He gave me a curious smile, and then he disappeared again. I stopped the playback, and I went to one of the windows that looked down on the street, and pushed aside the curtain. Not long after, I saw Ben go outside. He went to his Cadillac, but before he opened the door, he glanced up at the turret, as if he knew I’d be watching him. He put his finger to his forehead in a little salute. I put up a hand. No smile, just a wave.

I sat down in the recliner again. You’d begun to get restless, so I picked you up and rocked you in my arms. I turned on the projector again, and I finished the nighttime reel and went on to the next one. The stack of canisters in the box shrank as the day wore on, and I was beginning to believe that I wouldn’t find what I was looking for. I knew it was a shot in the dark anyway.

But with only four reels left, there he was.

I found him at the beginning of a reel from the first day. Ben was giving his introduction about the date and time of the hunt, and a man passed behind him, grinning over Ben’s shoulder. He was there and gone in a blink. If you didn’t look fast, you’d miss it.

Ricky.

I had to rewind the film to make sure what I’d seen. Then I rewound again. And then again. I must have watched that scene two dozen times before I turned off the projector, and each time felt like a lightning bolt searing my brain.

I wanted to see if he was carrying it, and he was.

Of course he was.

Ricky held a leather strap, swinging it as he walked. At the end of the strap was a camera.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Eight

That was my darkest day, Shelby.