PART 2: The Arrival (Cecillia/Kathryn)

Ever since making dinner arrangements with a new friend, Kathryn Collins, Cecillia was quite excited and anticipated the fast approaching dinner that evening. She had hesitantly asked Elizabeth about the whole ordeal, however, Elizabeth was so preoccupied and withdrawn that she had quickly agreed without question.

A couple hours after Cecillia had gotten back to Collinwood, the phone rang and it was for her. Kathryn had called in order to double check. Feeling adventurous as usual, Cecillia had requested that she and Kathryn walk part of the way up to Collinwood, as to have more time to get acquainted and to show off some of Collinwood's charm.

As time grew closer, Cecillia put on a new dress she'd purchased not long back, and headed outside. She hoped that she would see Elizabeth on her way out, but she didn't. With ever growing excitement, Cecillia set out to wait at the location she'd agreed to with Kathryn. Only going by an approximate time, she had no idea how long she would actually be waiting, nor did she necessarily care.

On her way to the meeting spot, Cecillia thought that at one point she heard talking, like someone was out in the woods. It made her slightly paranoid, however, she was more concerned with meeting up with Kathryn, so she let the feelings and paranoia pass. As she waited, Cecillia began to visualize all the positive things that could come out of tonights dinner; although, she equally passed up a few negatives.

Kathryn dressed carefully for her dinner at Collinwood. She was more nervous than she'd like to have been and wondered who would be present.

At least I'll feel at ease with Cecillia, she thought. It will probably be all right.

She searched her cottage for a flashlight and rearranged things in her bag so it would fit. It will be dark when I walk back to the van. Someone might offer to give me a lift, but I can't count on it, she thought as she checked her hair and make-up one last time. Thank goodness this is a safe area to walk in at night.

She conveniently forgot all the rumors she'd heard about the woods around Collinwood as she drove towards the hill where the great mansion stood. She anticipated the evening's conversation and soon was parking the van at the place where she'd been instructed. She was happy to see her new friend Cecillia waiting there.

After only having to wait five minutes or so, Cecillia saw a van approach and realized that it was Kathryn. She stood up from the large rock she'd been sitting on and waited for Kathryn to get out of her van. Walking over towards her, just as the door swung open, Cecillia cheerfully smiled at Kathryn.

"I hope you don't mind the walk up." Cecillia realized that she probably pushed the decision onto Kathryn. "If you don't want to, you can drive your van up; I myself don't mind the walk. But if we do walk, we must hurry. I have forgotten how quickly it gets dark now-a-days! I know the woods are nothing to be scared of . . ." reassuring herself " . . . but I'm sure that your interest probably lies inside Collinwood itself!"

"The woods are so beautiful; I'll enjoy the walk," Kathryn replied. "I've brought a flashlight so I can make my way back safely in the dark." They walked on in companionable silence for awhile. They could see the great mansion high on the hill sometimes when the turn in the road was right.

"We can use the house as a landmark so we won't get lost," Kathryn suggested. "How do you feel about taking some shortcuts through the woods? We can explore a bit while keeping an eye on the time. The terrain doesn't look to rough from what I can see and I feel like a bit of adventure. What do you think?"

Cecillia blushed a bit when Kathryn mentioned her having to walk back to her vehicle in the darkness; she hadn't thought about that when she suggested the whole thing. "I'm sure that some one can give you a ride back down to your van, or I can walk back down with you; I've had my moments in Collinwood's darkness inside and out."

As they walked, Cecillia thought about what to say, and was relieved when Kathryn finally broke the ice. "I think that that'd be a pretty fun thing to do, oh and don't worry about getting lost, as I've figured my way around the grounds pretty well; of course there is always that slim chance of getting lost. There are quite many ways to get to Collinwood without following the road, most of which I've explored some time or another."

Leading the way, but ever so slightly, Cecillia started onto a barely visible path which was heavily covered with leaves. "Pretty, huh?"

"Yes, it's beautiful and so peaceful here," Kathryn replied. They walked further and then Kathryn suddenly stopped as they got to the top of a small hill. She tilted her head and squinted to see through a group of trees.

"I thought I saw something move down there. It looks like people...two people." The two young women moved down the hill and got closer to where Kathryn had spotted the movement in the small valley. "It's Elizabeth Stoddard and Joe Haskell," she exclaimed. "How odd. Joe has a shovel and he looks like he's burying something. Somehow, I get the impression that they don't want to be discovered. Why else would they go all the way out here, this far from the house?"

"I really have no idea. I do know that cousin Elizabth didn't seem herself this afternoon when I talked to her; it was as if something was bothering her.". Trying to better see the situation, Cecillia nearly tripped and fell on a mossy rock, but caught herself on a tree just in time.

"What do you think we should do," she asked Kathryn, even though she really knew that she wanted to further investigat however didn't want to get Kathryn or herself into trouble. "perhaps we should just pretend we never saw them. I would hate to hide the truth, but I wouldn't want to make Elizabeth paranoid."

Kathryn was watching the scene with fascination while listening to Cecillia. "Look, Mrs Stoddard is leaving. I agree that we should pretend that we don't know, after all it's none of our business." She glanced at her friend quickly before looking back to see what Joe was doing.

"But to be truthful, I also want to investigate. Maybe that's wrong of me, but instead of walking away right now I'd like to move in closer and see what he's burying."

They saw Joe remove something carefully from a large duffel bag and he was handling it as though it were fragile. "That can't be what it looks like," Kathryn whispered. "It looks like a skeleton dressed in raggedy men's clothes. I'll bet that poor Maggie has no idea what Joe is doing right now."

They crept closer and saw Joe covering up the hole with dirt. He was looking around nervously. "Let's find our way back to the road. I'd rather not come across any more surprises today," Kathryn whispered to her friend. "Dinner may certainly be interesting this evening."

While gazing with wide eyed curiosity at Joe, Cecillia couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable with the situation. She knew that this would be one time that she would have trouble hiding things from others in order to save her own skin, but came to the conclusion that it wasn't her fought that she'd caught Joe and Elizabeth in an act of secrecy, so what was there to hide really?

"I can only imagine how tense Elizabeth will be at dinner tonight," Cecillia quickly remarked to Kathryn as the two of them scurried back out to the main road to Collinwood. "I suppose that we shouldn't give Elizabeth any reason to be suspicious that something is up; you have no idea how assertive she can be at getting to the bottom of things!"

"Well from what I know of Mrs. Stoddard, I have a tremendous respect for her," Kathryn whispered. They were trying to get back to the main road as quietly as possible.

"I'm not going to mention what we saw, but if it comes up in conversation and she asks I'm not going to lie to her. The body didn't look freshly murdered and I'm sure she is doing what she thinks is best. There may be lots more old skeletons in the closed off portions of the house. It surely wasn't a Collins anyway. I don't think this has to be a problem."

They got to the road. Kathryn looked at her friend and said, "Amazingly, I'm getting quite hungry now. I wonder what's for dinner."

~end scene~