Framed Shadows: Shadows Landing #6 Read online

  Framed Shadows

  Shadows Landing #6

  Kathleen Brooks

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, actual events, locale, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  An original work of Kathleen Brooks. Framed Shadows copyright @ 2021 by Kathleen Brooks.

  Kathleen Brooks® is a registered Trademark of Laurens Publishing, LLC

  Created with Vellum

  Bluegrass Series

  Bluegrass State of Mind

  Risky Shot

  Dead Heat

  Bluegrass Brothers

  Bluegrass Undercover

  Rising Storm

  Secret Santa: A Bluegrass Series Novella

  Acquiring Trouble

  Relentless Pursuit

  Secrets Collide

  Final Vow

  Bluegrass Singles

  All Hung Up

  Bluegrass Dawn

  The Perfect Gift

  The Keeneston Roses

  Forever Bluegrass Series

  Forever Entangled

  Forever Hidden

  Forever Betrayed

  Forever Driven

  Forever Secret

  Forever Surprised

  Forever Concealed

  Forever Devoted

  Forever Hunted

  Forever Guarded

  Forever Notorious

  Forever Ventured

  Forever Freed

  Forever Saved

  Forever Bold

  Forever Thrown (coming Aug/Sept 2021)

  Shadows Landing Series

  Saving Shadows

  Sunken Shadows

  Lasting Shadows

  Fierce Shadows

  Broken Shadows

  Framed Shadows

  Endless Shadows (coming Oct 2021)

  Women of Power Series

  Chosen for Power

  Built for Power

  Fashioned for Power

  Destined for Power

  Web of Lies Series

  Whispered Lies

  Rogue Lies

  Shattered Lies

  Moonshine Hollow Series

  Moonshine & Murder

  Moonshine & Malice

  Moonshine & Mayhem

  Moonshine & Mischief

  Contents

  Family Trees for Keeneston

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Epilogue

  Also by Kathleen Brooks

  About the Author

  Family Trees for Keeneston

  Davies Family Tree

  Keeneston Friends Family Trees

  Extended Family Tree for Keeneston and Shadows Landing

  Prologue

  Budapest, Hungary, 1944 . . .

  Dezo Alder’s body was shaking with fear. He knew what was coming as he walked into the local leader’s office. All of his instincts told him to stop wasting time and to run. His palms were sweaty as his longtime friend, Gellert Balogh, gestured to the chair across from his desk.

  “Thank you for coming, my friend,” he said as Dezo’s heart rate increased.

  “Is this about the Germans?” Dezo asked as he fought to keep his voice even.

  Gellert nodded his head slowly. “Our national leaders had been close to Hitler since he took power. They wanted him to get back some of the lands we lost when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken up after the Great War. We got our land, but at a price. Since Stalingrad and other battles, we’ve lost tens of thousands of Hungarians. Some of our leaders have been trying to find a way out of our alliance with Germany.”

  Gellert had been Dezo’s friend since childhood. They’d grown up in the same small neighborhood in Budapest, but the war changed everything. Gellert Balogh rose to power and Dezo Alder had been placed on the Jewish list as Hungary became an Axis Power. Dezo lost his standing in the community and he’d been forced to close the doors to his family’s art gallery. They’d gone from being a prosperous family to a poor one. However, Gellert had saved him more than once. He kept Dezo and his family safe from deportation and forced military service. Dezo’s oldest son, Elek, had been forced into manual labor but at least he was still able to live at home.

  Dezo hoped Gellert was going to tell him Hungary had changed sides in the war. That they’d negotiated with the Allies. That help was on the way. However, the resignation on Gellert’s face told him that hope was futile.

  “Hitler found out about our attempts to reach out to the Allies. The Germans are here. Hitler’s troops are moving toward the city as we speak. I’m sorry, dear friend. Your family’s name is on the list of prominent Jews that will be turned over to the SS when they arrive. They’ll be here within the hour. I tried to get your names off of it, but not everyone in my office is sympathetic. I can no longer keep you safe from being transported to Auschwitz. If you don’t escape Budapest, you will most likely be taken away. Take Rozsa and your children, dear Elek and Sandor, and get to Switzerland as fast as you can.”

  Dezo felt the impact of the words reverberate through his whole body. He stood on wobbly legs as Gellert handed him a thick envelope. “Papers to help with your escape. I don’t know how long you can get away with using them, but I had to try. I’m sorry, dear friend.”

  Dezo took the envelope and then shook his friend’s hand. “Thank you. I will always remember your kindness.”

  Dezo tried to walk from the building calmly. He didn’t want to draw any attention to himself even though he wanted to tell all of his people to run for their lives.

  He heard shouts in the distance. The earth shook as the road was filled with German military vehicles and tanks rolling through the outskirts of town on their way to downtown Budapest just a short distance away.

  Dezo stopped walking and stared in horror as people on the street clicked their heels together and raised their arms into the air as the troops drove by. Dezo was in grave danger. His family was in danger. His people were in danger. He couldn’t depend on anyone but himself now. He patted the papers in his pocket and picked up his pace.

  “Papa!” Sandor yelled the second Dezo unlocked the door to their gallery. They’d been forced to sell their house in a well-to-do neighborhood for a small fraction of what it was worth and had moved into the small apartment above his family’s art gallery—a gallery that had been in his family for generations that he was now forced to abandon.

  Dezo’s throat tightened as his wife and son ran into his arms.

  “We saw Nazis,” his wife cried into his neck.

  “Rozsa, where is El
ek?” Dezo asked of their fifteen-year-old son.

  “He’s working down by the river,” his wife responded. “Dezo, what’s going on?”

  “We’ve fallen to Germany. Gellert can’t protect us. He gave us fake papers and told us to run for Switzerland. Take only what we can carry. We must leave now.”

  “But we’ve been safe until now, even as others have been deported,” Rozsa protested.

  “We are safe no longer, Rozsa. Pack for me, my dear. Only what we can carry. Sandor,” he said, looking at his ten-year-old son. “Pack your things and some for Elek. I’ll meet you all upstairs in ten minutes.”

  “My sister,” Rozsa gasped. “I must warn her.”

  “There is no time, Rozsa. I’m sorry, love. We must leave the house in fifteen minutes.”

  Dezo left his family in tears as he made his way to the gallery. Masterpieces hung on the wall from Dali, Monet, Munch, Rembrandt, Picasso, Caravaggio, Renoir, Degas, Vermeer, and so many more. How could he abandon this history? How could he leave this part of him and his family’s legacy for the Nazis to take or destroy?

  His heart broke as he grabbed what paintings and sketches he could. He felt his soul rip apart as he cut them from their frames and shoved them between the pages of his ledger books. He wanted to take more, but he couldn’t. Some were too large to pack in the bags they had to carry.

  The door to the gallery shook as someone pounded on it. His time was up. Dezo raced up the stairs and ordered his family out the back door to the car. “Meet me down the block,” he told his wife. Together they walked downstairs, his wife and son carrying all they could take with them before they turned and went out the back. The gallery door was about to be kicked in when Dezo answered it. A young man in Nazi uniform stood looking annoyed.

  “Heil Hitler,” he said, his arm shooting up.

  “Heil Hitler,” Dezo forced out, the words making him nauseous.

  “We have reports that this is a Jewish-owned gallery. I need your papers.” Dezo looked behind the soldier to find three more young men and a truck. “Are you the owner?”

  “No,” Dezo said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the papers Gellert had given him. “I’m just an assistant. The owner left this morning.”

  The Nazi soldier looked over the papers and then handed them back. “You may leave. We are taking all the art for der Führer. Heil Hitler.”

  “Heil Hitler,” Dezo mumbled as he allowed himself one last look at the art his family had collected over generations. He vowed to himself, to the paintings, and to his ancestors that he’d come back for them one day. One day his family’s collection would be complete again.

  Dezo walked out the door and didn’t look back. “Hurry, we must find Elek,” he said as soon as he got into the car.

  Chaos erupted all around them as they drove through Budapest toward the Danube River. People were running in the street in a blind panic. Nazi soldiers were shooting anyone who defied them. Rozsa smothered her cries as they approached the river and a group of Nazi guards held up their hands to stop them.

  “Pretend to be supporters of Hitler,” Dezo ordered his family as he rolled down his window.

  “Heil Hitler!” the guard shouted as he saluted.

  “Heil Hitler,” Dezo responded as his stomach turned in revulsion.

  “Where are you going?” the guard asked.

  “We are returning home from a trip from the country. Our house is on the other side of the river,” Dezo lied.

  “Papers?”

  Dezo took a deep breath and handed him the envelope from Gellert. As the guard examined them, Dezo watched as two men were dragged from a house and shoved to their knees. When they refused to submit to the soldiers, they were shot in the head.

  The guard turned to his fellow guards. “Let them through.”

  Dezo drove slowly through the now German-occupied Budapest toward the river. “Papa! It’s Elek!”

  Dezo slowed the car at the sight of his son walking with his head down along the buildings. He was hidden in a group of well-to-do teens rushing home. “Rozsa, don’t create a scene. Just call him over to the car.” Even as Dezo’s whole body shook, he tried to appear calm as he stopped the car.

  Rozsa opened the car door and stepped out. He could see her skirts swaying as fear shook her body. “There you are, Elek. Now, get in the car so we won’t be late for dinner.”

  Elek’s head shot up and he ran for the car until he saw his mother motion for him to slow down. Dezo’s heart pounded as his son closed the distance between them and finally slipped into the car.

  “They’re killing people, Papa,” Elek said with his face streaked with tears. “They killed hundreds and just tossed them in the river.”

  Dezo put the car in gear and did what he had to do to save the Alder family. He lied, he stole, and he prayed.

  It took two days to reach the farthest western border of Hungary. Dezo and his family parked the car in the small village and prepared to make the rest of the trip on foot. They’d seen all cars attempting to leave the country turned away. This was now their only option. They ate in silence as Nazi guards patrolled the street around them. Dezo pocketed a loaf of bread and ordered his family to do the same before they strolled to a nearby park with their backpacks containing everything they now owned.

  The west end of the park sat next to a forest and mountainous region. Dezo’s plan was to stroll through the park to the forest at the border. They would lay out their blanket and pretend to have a picnic dinner until the park cleared. Then it would be a 600-kilometer hike through the forest and mountains of Austria that were filled with Nazis to reach the Swiss border. They would have to hurry, yet hide the entire way. Dezo knew they were likely to be killed, but he had to try to save his family.

  As the sun set on Hungary, the Alder family slipped into the darkness of the trees, never to see their home country again.

  1

  Spring, present day, Shadows Landing, South Carolina . . .

  Tinsley Faulkner’s long, wavy brown hair had paint in it. How did that happen? She’d had it tied back when she was working on her latest painting, but of course she didn’t see the cobalt blue paint until she was feet from her cousin-in-law’s art gallery.

  Tinsley stood on the cobblestone sidewalk of downtown Charleston, trying to pick the paint from the tips of her hair. That’s when she noticed the white paint on her forearm.

  “I’m hopeless.” Tinsley sighed as she gave up. If anyone would understand her paint-splattered appearance, it was Ellery.

  Tinsley opened the door to the gallery and felt as if she’d just walked into her home. She had her own gallery in Shadows Landing in which she displayed her pieces as well as those by some other, lesser-known, artists. Ellery’s gallery in downtown Charleston was the opposite. She had some local artists, and of course insisted on carrying some of Tinsley’s paintings, but she also got the big names of the art world. However, a gallery was a gallery and the paintings, sketches, and statues instantly calmed Tinsley as she smiled at them all.

  “Aren’t you a lovely one,” she murmured to a painting.

  “That she is. I, however, am not.”

  Tinsley looked up at Ellery making her way slowly toward her. Ellery was nine months pregnant and ready to go at any moment.

  “You’re stunning,” Tinsley said as she hugged Ellery. “I only wish I was talented enough to capture this maternal glow you have in a painting.”

  Ellery rolled her eyes. “I can’t see my feet. I can’t wear heels. I go to the bathroom every five minutes. I swear this kid is playing kickball with my bladder.”

  “And you’ve never been happier,” Tinsley said with a knowing grin.

  Ellery nodded as she rubbed her hand over her baby bump. “And I’ve never been happier.”

  “Ready to get that pedicure?” Tinsley asked.

  “I can’t wait.” Ellery went to close the door, but before she could reach it, two men came in.

  What struck T
insley as odd was not their jeans and baggy T-shirts, nor the fact that their tennis shoes were unlaced and appeared too big for them, or even that they had large tattoos on their upper arms. What struck Tinsley as odd was that they didn’t take even a second to look at the art on the walls.

  “Can I help you?” Ellery asked.

  “Yeah,” the first man said. He was tall, over six feet, and had what looked like a snake tattooed around his arm. The second man stood back with his hands held in front of him. He didn’t look around either. He just stared at Tinsley and Ellery. “My brother and I are looking to sell some art. Do you do that here?”

  “We display and sell for select artists and private owners. We also work with other galleries across the country to display prominent artists,” Ellery answered.

  “See,” the guy started to say before clearing his throat and standing up straighter. “Our grandmother has this painting that she’s looking to sell. She’s really sick and needs help with her medical bills.”

  “Who is the artist?” Ellery asked as the man pulled out his phone.

  “I’m sorry, I’m not very knowledgeable on this sort of thing,” he admitted as he showed her the painting.

  Tinsley looked over Ellery’s shoulder and frowned. She knew that artist. “That’s a Hamburg. Where did your grandmother find it?” Tinsley asked.