“Let’s take a walk,” Mac said finally. “I want to see more of it.”
“Okay. And I can show you Building Seven, otherwise known as the future home of Hotel Hennessey.”
We followed the dirt path for more than a hundred yards and as we strolled I pointed out some of the highlights of the buildings.
“I know the exterior looks shabby, but the company’s going to power-wash it this weekend. They’re covering the cost of the outside upgrades so all the buildings will be uniform. The shutters will all be straightened and painted, and they’ve already started adding new windows and doors.”
“That’s smart.”
“And I think I told you that they’ve already cleaned up a lot of the interior. They had to. It was nasty.”
“I can imagine. It was abandoned for years, right?”
I pointed. “Those three buildings on the south end were closed down in the seventies and boarded up, so those will need some serious rehab work. These four buildings over here remained open until the very end, so they’ve only been abandoned for about twenty years.” I made a face. “But twenty years is plenty of time for rodents and reptiles and insects and plants to do a lot of interior damage.”
He smiled at me. “You would know.”
“Yeah. I’ve chased some of the creepiest animals out of the oddest places.”
We walked for another few yards and Mac had to crane his neck to take in the entire length of the place. “I can see why they chose to name it the Gables.”
I nodded. “It suits, doesn’t it?”
There were literally dozens of gables across the long expanse, and following in the Victorian tradition, hardly any two were alike. Some were more steeply pitched than others; some had decorative moldings along the roof edges; some formed a fancy parapet or a low wall along the edge of the roof; many had dormer windows extending out from the exterior walls. It was quirky and beautiful at the same time. And then there were the gargoyles. Not exactly a Victorian touch, but gothic, for sure.
“It’s huge,” he marveled again, and as we continued our walk, he began to take in the surrounding land. Eucalyptus trees formed a barrier along the northern edge of the property and there were ancient redwoods and pine trees lining the eastern ridge. To the west was an unobstructed view of the ocean and miles of coastline. “I can’t believe I never noticed this place when I was out on the water. How is that possible?”
“The view used to be entirely blocked by the wall and by all those trees and hedges. You couldn’t even see it from the water.”
“Do you know how much of this land belongs to the Gables?”
“Three hundred and twelve acres,” I said promptly, then grinned. “To be honest, I just read that number this morning. I wanted to get a little more information about the place before we came out here.”
“That’s a substantial piece of land. What are they going to do with all of it?”
“You saw the billboard, right?”
“Yeah.” He frowned. “But my natural skepticism is bubbling up. Do you really think they can deliver?”
“I do. At least, I hope so, especially for Jane’s sake. But I’m pretty optimistic. As I said, the entire place has been leased out so it’s already a success from that standpoint.”
He raised an eyebrow. “That fact definitely makes it easier to attract investors.”
“Doesn’t it?” I smiled at him. “And according to Jane, they’ve contracted a major landscaping company to come up from San Francisco to design a park with walking paths and a place to ride bikes, and they’re planning to add a pretty little stream that’ll meander through the property, along with fountains and little ponds and lots of flower gardens. She said they’ll have a couple of interesting bridges that will go over the stream and link up to the walking path. Jane promises it’ll be gorgeous.”
“If Jane says so, I believe it.”
I beamed at him. “And along the north side of her hotel they’ve plotted out a big vegetable garden that will supply her hotel restaurant as well as several food vendors that will be moving into the other buildings. And they’ll have fruit trees, too. Possibly an entire orchard.”
He gazed around. “There’s plenty of room for that.”
“According to Jane, there were gardens all over the property. They not only yielded lots of fresh produce for the kitchens but also provided some occupational therapy for the patients.”
The wind picked up and I held my wavy mop of red hair back off my face. “And I know you’ll love this detail, even though it’s a sad note. The hospital had its own cemetery.” I glanced up to catch his reaction.
His eyes widened. “That really is sad. But you’re right, I do love it. In fact, this just gets better and better.”
I shook my head, chuckling. “Have I mentioned that you’ve got a dark side?”
“You only just noticed?”
Amused, I slipped my arm through his and we strolled north toward the trees. “You’ll be relieved to know that the graves will not be disturbed during the rehab.”
“That’s a relief. We don’t want any ghostly activity.”
I shivered involuntarily. “There’s a problem, though, because some of the deceased were buried in unmarked graves and a lot of the flat grave markers only have a number. No names. So the development company is trying to track down the families whose relatives died while in the asylum.”
“Now that really is awful.”
“I know. But they do have a bunch of gravestones that are still standing and those have full names. Jane says that the landscapers are experienced with issues like this and have promised to respect that area of the property.”
“And they’ve agreed,” Mac said, “because they’ve all seen the movie Poltergeist.”
“Exactly,” I said with a quick grin. “They plan to fence in the cemetery, lay down sod, and plant a few trees. They’ll add some flower beds and little benches. It’ll be nice. There are people around town who have relatives that lived and died here, so the hope is that they will appreciate the effort and feel welcome here.”
His forehead furrowed. “Did Jane’s mom die up here?”
“No. But she died way too young, in her thirties. And it was the same year Jane’s father died. That’s why she only had her uncle Jesse.”
Jane’s uncle Jesse had been my neighbor for as long as I could remember, but about two years ago I had discovered his body and Jane and I solved the mystery of his death. At the time, Mac had only recently moved to Lighthouse Cove, but he had quickly become friends with Jesse and was able to help me and Jane find justice for him.