Corrie and Brett stood at the back of the Irwin home and looked at the Pompeii-style gardens.
Brett's eyes widen in shock at the sight of the gardens. “I can't believe it. It's just like my dreams,” Brett said in disbelief, staring at the gardens.
“Did you say your dreams?” Corrie asked curiously.
“I dreamt about this place. I was with a beautiful girl, and we were very much in love. We would walk in these gardens for hours,” he said, glancing at Corrie. “And I’m now thinking these dreams were a prediction of my future,” he added, glancing at Corrie.
Corrie looked curiously at Brett. “You said you would walk these gardens with a beautiful woman?” she said.
“Well, I’m here with you, so I would say that’s a prediction,” he replied with a loving smile.
Corrie smiled over his comment.
Brett pointed to an area of the gardens. “There should be a statue of an elephant over there,” he said. He rushed down the steps to the parks.
Corrie watched Brett run through the gardens. “Just like my dreams,” she added, then ran after him.
Howard parked his Cadillac and had to turn around to keep an eye on Corrie’s Jeep. He opened up his cell phone and punched in a number.
Sidney worked at his desk. His cell phone rang. He looked at the viewfinder. “What’s going on now, Howard?” he asked.
“They went to a place called Irwin Gardens with that woman,” Howard said from Sidney’s cell phone.
“Great. Keep me posted, and don’t forget to email the incriminating pictures early this evening,” Sidney ordered.
“Yes, sir,” Howard replied.
Sidney disconnected his call and returned to his paperwork with a smirk.
Back home, Dorian sat down with a female realtor at her desk at a realtor's office in Fort Wayne.
The realtor completed filling out a contract.
“All right, Misses Woods, I’ll work on getting your house on the market next week after your husband stops by and signs the contract,” the female realtor said with a smile, counting her commission in her head.
Dorian glanced the contract over. “I’ll bring Brett by your office on Friday since he’s going to be home on Thursday,” Dorian said.
“Very good. I’m looking forward to moving out on this listing,” the realtor said and shook Dorian’s hand.
In the Irwin Gardens in Columbus, Brett ran down a brick walkway.
He stopped at a bronze statue of an elephant with tusks and then looked in awe at the sight of the statue.
Corrie ran up to Brett. She looked at the statue of an elephant.
Brett looked excited, glancing around the garden.
Corrie looked at Brett. She got a strong deja vu feeling
“And there is a bird bath with frogs over there,” Brett called out and ran off.
“I also had,” Corrie said but stopped, noticing Brett running off.
Corrie ran after Brett.
He ran through the gardens.
Brett stopped at a bird bath with frogs at the edge, where water flowed out of their mouths.
Corrie ran up to Brett, out of breath.
“I can't believe I had dreams of this place!” Brett said excitedly.
“You know something else that's weird,” Corrie said
“What’s that?”
“I also had dreams about this place,” she replied between breaths
“You did?” he asked, a little surprised.
“Yeah. The dreams took place around nineteen eighteen,” she said.
“What's going on here?” he said, glancing around the gardens, baffled.
A male employee of Irwin Gardens walked past Corrie and Brett.
“Excuse me, sir,” Brett called out.
The employee turned around. “Yes, sir.” “Where can you learn about the history of these gardens?” Brett asked the employee.
“You're in luck. A brand new historical room at the Irwin home opened up last week. It has old pictures and news articles donated over the past forty years. It’s located on the home's first floor,” the employee responded.
“Thank you,” Brett replied.
Corrie and Brett rushed off to the Irwin home. Brett and Corrie entered the home and walked around the first floor of the Irwin Home, finding the room.
Corrie and Brett walked inside the Irwin Historical room.
Inside are numerous pictures, news articles, and other historical artifacts detailing the history of the Gardens.
Corrie and Brett stopped at an article with a picture of the Irwin Family.
“This house was built in eighteen eighty-four by Joseph Irwin, a Columbus banker and businessman. The house was later enlarged to accommodate four generations of the Irwin family,” Brett read the article.
Corrie and Brett walked around the room, glancing at all the old artifacts from the house. There was ancient Chinese furniture, antique clothing, and other memorabilia from the 1860s to the 1920s.
Brett walked to an area of a wall.
On that wall are numerous pictures taken of the gardens over the past hundred years and were donated by visitors. They were sealed behind a wall of Plexiglas to preserve the snapshots of memories.
Corrie stayed behind and admired a set of one-hundred-year-old China.
Brett glanced at all of the pictures. His eyes widened like he saw a ghost.
Corrie walked up to Brett and noticed his odd stare at the pictures. “What's the matter?”
Brett’s finger shook, pointing to a picture behind the Plexiglas.
Corrie glanced at the picture.
She saw the 1918 picture of Matthew and Meredith with the Irwin gardens behind them.
Beneath the picture was a small card. "Matthew Sims and Meredith Whitestone at Irwin Gardens in June 1918. This photograph was donated by Meredith Whitestone’s Estate in February 1973,” was written on the card.
Corrie and Brett stared at the picture in disbelief.
“I dream about being Matthew and getting that picture taken with Meredith,” Brett said. “I was in love with her in my dream,” he added.
Corrie continued to stare at the picture in disbelief.
“This was the beautiful woman in my dreams. I had a dream we took this exact picture in nineteen eighteen,” Brett repeated.
Corrie and Brett stared at each other.
“She's the girl I fell in love with,” Brett added.
Corrie looked hesitant. “I had recurring dreams where I was Meredith and fell in love with a guy named Matthew at nineteen eighteen. I hadn't had those dreams for a while until last week. That's when I dreamt I was about to marry a guy named Charles and felt like my life was over. I ran out during our ceremony. Then I dreamt I was old and holding that exact picture. I was crying because I was broken-hearted. Broken-hearted over Matthew because”
“Because Anne, your step-sister, shot and killed Matthew?” Brett replied, recalling his dreams.
Corrie looked stunned. She immediately opened up her cell phone and made a call. “Hi Britney, it's Corrie. Cancel all my students for the rest of the day,” she said into her cell phone.
“Ohh, spending more time with Brett?” Britney asked from her cell phone. “Yeah, something interesting came up,” she replied to Britney.
“I bet. Well, Corrie, have a romantic afternoon with Brett.”
Corrie shoved her cell phone into her pants pocket.
“Come on, we have some investigating work,” Corrie said, grabbing Brett’s and rushing him out of the room.
Howard sat inside his Cadillac and used his outside side view mirror to watch Corrie’s Jeep. His eyes widened, observing Corrie and Brett rushing over to her Jeep. He cranked up his Cadillac.
Instead, they rushed down the sidewalk and ran to the Bartholomew County Library next to the Irwin Gardens home.
“Where the hell are they going?” he wondered. He turned off his car.
Howard waited in his Cadillac. He opened up his cell phone and typed in a text message.
Inside Sidney’s office, he sipped on a fresh cup of coffee Agnes brought to him a few minutes ago. His cell phone buzzed, and he looked at the viewfinder.
“They went to a local library,” Howard’s text message stated.
“Why the hell are they going to a library?” Sidney said quietly, rereading Howard’s message.
Sidney placed his cell phone. “What the hell is he doing?” he pondered, sipping his coffee.
Fifteen minutes passed inside the library. Corrie and Brett sat in front of a reel machine.
Off in the background of the library, Howard snapped a picture of the two sitting side by side at the machine.
Corrie and Brett look at the screen. Images of old newspapers from 1918 whizzed by.
“Go slower,” she told him.
The images of old newspapers went slower. “Stop!” Corrie cried out.
Brett turned the knob, and the images stopped.
“Go back,” she said.
He slowly turned the knob, and the newspaper images went back.
“There’s something,” she cried out excitedly.
He stopped the reel, and it showed the front page of the "Columbus Republican" newspaper with a "July 18, 1918" date.
Brett slowly scrolled down the first page and stopped.
An article with "Pilot Murdered" headlines appeared.
“This doesn’t look good,” Corrie said, looking at the headlines.
“Matthew Sims, a pilot and veteran from the war, was found shot this morning at the back of the Whitestone home. The suspect, a homeless vagrant, was arrested hours later with the gun believed to be the murder weapon. Aaron Whitestone regrets this unfortunate incident that occurred on his property. He stated his daughter is devastated to have this happen below her bedroom window just before her upcoming marriage to Charles Snyder. Matthew Sims died yesterday at the hospital,” Brett read from the article.
Corrie and Brett stared in disbelief at the article.
“I don't,” Brett said with his mouth left open in disbelief.
“Believe it!” Corrie completed his sentence. “I had that dream,” Brett said.
“Me too,” Corrie replied.
Brett and Corrie silently reread the article. Brett touched his chest, and Corrie noticed.
“Does your chest hurt again?”
Brett unbuttoned his shirt and lifted his T-shirt.
“No, but I now understand why I'm getting them,” he replied.
Corrie saw a small birthmark of a round hole to the left of his heart.
“Oh my God,” Corrie said in disbelief. She
touched his birthmark. She became curious and turned the knob on the machine, slowly scrolling through days of newspaper articles.
A minute passed, and Corrie stopped on an article. They both saw a news article dated “August 4, 1918.”
“A day that was supposed to be the happiest day in the life of Charlie Snyder turned into the worst day of his life when his bride ran away from the altar before Pastor Hans Bucker was able to pronounce them man and wife. Aaron White-Stone, the father of the bride, was furious that his daughter had run away and left the city of Columbus. Charlie Snyder was devastated that the love of his life left him stranded at the altar,” Corrie read from the newspaper.
“Oh my God! I had a dream about that,” Corrie said in complete disbelief.
Corrie and Brett looked at each other in disbelief.
“I know somewhere else we need to go,” she told him.
“Where?”
“You’ll find out,” she replied and grabbed his hand.
Way off in the library, Howard watched Brett and Corrie get up from the reel machine and head to the library's front doors.
Howard tailed them.
Brett and Corrie rushed to her Jeep outside the library and got inside.
Howard rushed to his Cadillac and got inside. “Where are you taking me?” Brett asked. Corrie pulled her Jeep out onto 5th Street.
“The Garland Brook Cemetery,” she replied. Brett looked at Corrie as if she were a little crazy. “Why a cemetery?”
“To find these people,” she said.
Brett thought about what she had said and started to wonder if they would find anything. Howard’s Cadillac followed Brett’s Fairmont.