by K P Stafford
Dangit! She couldn’t take the risk that the man would be gone by the time John returned, but she had promised Jake she wouldn’t question the man and get herself into any trouble. He was in a public place, so what could it hurt to go over and try to get some information out of him?
She stood up just as her phone rang. She looked at the Caller ID. Apparently her decision was made, she couldn’t ignore a phone call from the sheriff’s office. She didn’t want to take the call either, but that was beside the point. She sat back down and picked up the receiver.
14
Lexi met with the ladies that afternoon at Crystal Scents. They normally met for morning coffee, but Grams had called and asked her to stop by.
When she arrived, the ladies were in a deep discussion. They turned to look at her. Mavis Clark, the town’s Magistrate, who was normally a cranky old bat, was the first one to speak. “Come on in, Lexi. I think I have something you’ll be interested in.”
Lexi walked on in while Mavis kept talking and sifting through the papers in front of her. “As you know, a lot of the old town records have disappeared. We can’t figure out why, but I did go through some old boxes that were stuffed into the corner of the basement at my office.” She found the paper she was looking for while she took a breath. She held out the paper. “I found this one stuffed in a box with other old records, but the strange thing is, this paper had nothing to do with the others. Either someone shoved it in there by mistake, or maybe they wanted to hide it quickly and never got back around to it.”
Lexi hesitated before taking the paper. She’d never heard Mavis speak in such an upbeat manner. Oh, she always had plenty to say, but it was usually mean, rude and dripping with sarcasm. Lexi suspected she’d been drinking. She definitely wasn’t acting like her typical self.
She noticed Lexi staring at her. “Don’t worry dear, I’m just excited to find this paper. I do get excited, you know. I’ll be back to my old grumpy self when all this blows over.”
At least the woman knew she was out of character. Lexi looked down at the paper. The name was the same as the one on the old crypt in the cemetery. William H. Danforth. Her eyes grew wide as she looked back up at Mavis who began to point out a few things.
“As you can see, he owned many of the properties here in town. The thing I find odd is that his home address is missing. It’s been purposely scratched out. So we have no clue who in town now owns that property and what could be hidden on it.”
“You’re right. If we could figure that out and search the place, we might find some of the lost information, or at least some clue as to why the town decided to hide or destroy the old records. It could also tell us what the killer is after.”
Ms. Jensen had been quiet the whole time, but she finally spoke. “What if the killer is looking for that property, too? We don’t know who else could be in danger.”
Agatha piped in, “What if that reporter found the property, and whoever killed Shirley also killed him so he couldn’t tell anyone else. The killer may already know where that property is.”
Grams eased forward to join the conversation. “I think it’s time we all start trying to remember what our grandparents hid.
Ms. Jensen raised her voice, but the words squeaked out of her mouth. “For goodness sakes, Velda, that was over fifty years ago. We were just children.”
“I know, but the elders told us to remember when we got older, and the Cryptex was turned over to one of us. How have we gotten so lax in all these years. Our weekly card games used to include discussions about the things hidden. Now the hidden has become the forgotten.” Grams replied.
“Apparently, someone hasn’t forgotten about the hidden, and they are going to great lengths to make sure this town’s secrets are uncovered.” Ms. Jensen said, wringing her hands as she paced the floor.
“Well, we probably shouldn’t have allowed this to be buried,” Mavis Clark spoke calmly, “but we never expected any of this to come back to haunt us.”
Agatha stood up and looked at the other ladies, “I didn’t even think it was real. I thought the elders were just paranoid and had overactive imaginations. But after what I’ve been through, there’s people in this world who do awful things, and will go to any lengths necessary to get what they want.”
The ladies shook their heads in unison.
Grams reached out and rubbed Agatha’s arm, “It has come back to haunt us. We know it’s real now, or at least someone believes it is. That’s why it’s so important for us to remember, or at least do our best to find out.”
“I’m not so sure we should be digging into it now, either.” Ms. Jensen said. She had been visibly shaken during the whole conversation.
As the oldest of the ladies, she was probably the most afraid of bad things happening. She lived alone, so it was understandable that she would be afraid, especially with no idea who the killer could go after next.
Lexi took the paper Mavis had found and headed back to the office. She wanted to look over the properties listed and dig through some old maps. She hoped some of the locations still existed, but it was doubtful. People buy property, tear down old buildings and replace them with new ones. Maybe she could find a pattern or at least figure out which parts of town were the oldest and which buildings might have some clues hidden somewhere inside.
She thought back to what Grams had said about the Cryptex. John had been upset when he saw it. He’d left the office with it in his pocket the afternoon of Shirley’s death. It hadn’t really been mentioned since then. Lexi had no clue where he’d taken it, but it was time to ask him. The item apparently came with its share of danger and bad omens. The morgue and constable’s office had already been ransacked, as had the library. Whatever the killer wanted had something to do with that item. Lexi looked at the paper in her hand. Obviously, these locations could hold clues too.
15
Friday night was a welcome relief. It had been a week since the death of Shirley and a few days since the murder of the reporter. Jake and Lexi looked forward to the dinner Peyton had planned and prepared. It was supposed to be for planning the wedding, but Lexi had a feeling they’d end up talking about everything else that was happening.
They arrived to find Charlie and Paisley on the living room floor with boxes and plastic pieces.
Paisley looked up with a huge smile on her face, “Look Aunt Lexi and Uncle Jake, Charlie got us these cool drones. We’re going out tomorrow to fly them around.”
Jake headed in their direction to join in on the assembly process. “That’s so cool.” He said as he rubbed the top of her head.
“We can even take pictures and movies with them.” Paisley exclaimed, her face lit up. Lexi’s heart pinched seeing her happy and smiling again after the ordeal several months back. Since that time, Charlie had taken up with her, and they were now best buds. Peyton refused to acknowledge the fact that there was something between herself and Charlie on a personal level, but it was definitely apparent that he’d stepped in as a big brother, or father figure, for Paisley, and she was fast becoming a well-rounded child again.
Lexi headed to the kitchen to help Peyton with last minute details for getting the meal on the table.
As she looked back into the living room, her heart melted at the laughter and smiles coming from the three engineers who were working hard to get their project put together. “Charlie and Paisley sure are close now.” She said as she turned back towards the kitchen. “It’s so good to see that she’s gotten past that whole mess.”
Peyton’s face beamed. “Charlie has been really good for her. And he’s really good to her too. I’m afraid he may spoil her rotten.” She paused, “I just hope she doesn’t get hurt if he finds a girlfriend and doesn’t have time for her.”
Lexi let out a snort, trying to hold back a laugh.
“What? I don’t think that’s funny.”
“I’m laughing at you. In case you haven’t noticed, Charlie only has eyes for you, sweetie. He’s not going to
go off looking for a girlfriend unless you completely reject him. And I have a sneaking suspicion that’s not going to happen, because you have feelings for him, too.”
“Don’t be silly.” Peyton turned away.
“I’m not. Everyone else in town sees it. I don’t know why you can’t admit it.”
Peyton shook her head and let out a sigh. “I guess I’m not ready. We both know how my last relationship turned out, so let’s get you married off before we start worrying about my life.”
“Fair enough, but you know this whole situation with Charlie is different. You know he truly loves you and Paisley.”
Peyton grabbed bowls of food, turning away to hide the grin that spread across her face. Lexi didn’t say any more. Instead she left Peyton with the thought of a super great guy being in love with her. It was a good place to end the conversation.
After dinner, they all gathered in the living room. Paisley was excited to finish putting together the new drone. Lexi served coffee and pastries for dessert. It was nice having a quiet evening with friends, but the group also had a knack for turning their conversations towards whatever was going on in town that was hot on the gossip train. Tonight was no different. Peyton asked if Lexi and John made any progress in the case. She didn’t want to talk about the murders in front of Paisley, so she mentioned the paper and the properties listed on it. No harm in discussing an intriguing mystery of town history. But it also meant that she had to face the fact that this town didn’t want any remembrance of the person whose surname she carried. She didn’t have a clue if they were related or not, but she was also starting to lose her belief in coincidences. The niggling feeling in her gut told her she was kin to this person. It wasn’t a good feeling either. Why else would the town try to destroy any evidence that the man had ever existed?
16
Saturday morning at the office had been pretty quiet. It was a nice change of pace. Lexi looked over the paper Mavis Clark had given her with some property listings, along with a few other papers she had found. Nothing was coming together. Most of the properties listed on the paper had been torn down and replaced with new buildings over a hundred years ago, so there wasn’t much to go on, and no chance of them having a basement where old documents could be kept. Or was there? Would they have filled in the holes in the ground and destroyed the basements too, or just built on top of them? She decided she’d walk around town later in the afternoon to look at some things. The town was always quiet during the weekend, so it was the perfect time to just wander around and not have to worry about running into all the busy-bodies that were out during the week.
She laid the paper aside and rubbed her temples, the case was taking its toll on her brain. Movement caught her attention, and she looked up just in time to see Charlie, Peyton and Paisley walk up to the glass door and wave at her. She could definitely use the break.
Paisley bounced into the office. She was as excited as she was the night before when putting her new drone together. “Aunt Lexi! Aunt Lexi! You’ll never guess what me and Charlie did this morning.”
Lexi play-pinched her nose. “You went out to play with your new toys.”
“We did, but that’s not the coolest part!”
“What’s the coolest part?”
“We found something. It’s so awesome.” She turned to look at Charlie. “Show her Charlie. Show her what we found.”
Charlie pulled a USB flash drive out of his pocket. “Can I borrow your computer for a minute?”
“Sure,” Lexi said as she got up and let him have control of the machine. For someone who was raised without any electronic devices, he’d picked up on computers and other stuff super quick. It was like he had a computer brain himself. She was still amazed at how smart the guy was and how fast knowledge went into his brain.
He looked up at Lexi. “We went up to the area around Hayden’s Ridge. We wanted to get some video and pictures of the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Those are areas we never get to see up close.”
“True,” Lexi replied. “Unless you want to be a rock climber.”
Charlie laughed. “Not me. I prefer to stay as close to the ground as possible.”
“We found some eagle’s nests, Aunt Lexi.” Paisley piped in.
Lexi turned to look at her. “Wow! That’s really cool.”
“Yeah, but you don’t want to make them mad so we didn’t get real close. Charlie was afraid they’d attack our drones and destroy them.”
“I bet they would.”
“But that’s not the best thing we found,” Charlie said.
Lexi turned back to him. He motioned for her to come around behind the desk so she could see the computer screen. “I’ve got the video loaded now. This is close to the cliffs. We were flying over the wooded area, behind the bungalows up there on the ridge. I couldn’t tell much on the iPad mini when I was flying over, but after we got home and uploaded the videos to the computer and looked with a bigger screen—well, it got quite interesting.”
“Really?” She asked, staring at the computer screen. There were a lot of trees and a few open spaces. One spot caught her eye. She bent over to get a closer look when Charlie paused the video. “Is that what I think it is?”
“I believe so. Amazing isn’t it?”
“Definitely.”
“Now that I know it’s there, we’re going to go back, but we wanted you to see this first. I’ll take the drone in low and check it out a lot better. I may even take Peyton’s laptop. It has a bigger screen than the little iPad, so I should be able to see more on the screen.”
“That’s a good idea. I can’t believe this. Why has no one ever told us that was there?”
Charlie pointed at the screen again. “Well right here, you can definitely see there’s a house, a big house. And if you look down this way a little bit, you can see the remains of some kind of garden. There’s a definite pattern there.”
“Oh my gosh!”
Charlie and Peyton both looked at her. “What?” They asked in unison.
“I’ve seen that pattern before.” She said as she opened the file folder that was lying on the desk and pulled out a picture. “It’s small, but that’s the same symbol that’s on the old Danforth mausoleum at the cemetery.” She walked over to the chair by the windows and sat down.
Peyton sat down beside her. “You think that estate belonged to him?”
“It has to, but that’s not the only place I’ve seen that symbol.”
“Where else have you seen it?”
Lexi sat in silence for a moment. she hadn’t told them much about the object Shirley had been clutching when she died. She didn’t know how much she should tell them. People were getting killed, and it obviously had something to do with that symbol, but she decided they needed to know. Their safety was important, so the more they knew, the more alert they could be to look for strange happenings or people.
“The item Shirley had in her hand when she died. It has that symbol on it.”
“Wow!” Charlie said. “I think I definitely need to go back up there and get some more video.”
“Wait!” Lexi said as she stood up. “That may not be a great idea. Someone is after that Cryptex thing, and this symbol seems to tie a lot of things together. It could be dangerous.”
Charlie walked over and rubbed her arm. “I think you know I can take care of myself.”
She looked up at him. Okay, so he is some kind of kung fu expert, but she was still worried. “Okay, but don’t take Paisley with you. She doesn’t need to be there if anything goes wrong. Actually, I’d feel a lot better if you got Jake to go with you. And don’t tell anyone.”
Charlie snapped his fingers, “That’s a great cover story too. I can’t wait to show Jake my new drone. Of course, we have to go out and let him play with it.” He winked at Lexi. It eased her fears some, but not a lot.
So much for a quiet day. Her nerves were now more on edge than they had ever been. She still couldn’t figure out what the relation was, but
that symbol was not a coincidence. Was it possible the killer was looking for that location? Was there something in that estate that was worth killing over? She knew there must be something really bad up there. Why else would the whole town try to wipe it out of existence?
17
Lexi went by Crystal Scents to find out the latest news from the ladies on her way home . Her Grams and Ms. Jensen were busy making their candles. The aroma filled her nostrils. She took in a deep breath and let the vanilla and sugar cookie scent fill her nose. It brought back memories of her childhood. Grams’ kitchen always smelled so good, but her fondest memories were of her making sugar cookies into shapes. She had animal shapes, cars, houses and people too. They always had a great time decorating them.
“We’re in the back.” Grams called out, so she headed to the back of the store. They were just pouring up the last few jars of the wonderful scented wax. In each jar was a precious gemstone, but once the wax hardened you had to burn the candle to see which gemstone treasure was in the bottom.
“They smell wonderful, Grams. They remind me of baking cookies with you when I was a little girl,” Lexi said as she walked over to the table. The white wax was still transparent enough that she could see the colorful gemstones they’d placed into the bottom of each one. Thoughts of the Cryptex entered her mind. It had something hidden inside it. That she was sure of. Unfortunately, no one alive knew what that was. And no clue how to even open the thing to find out what treasure, or curse, it held. She didn’t even know where it was. John had left the office with it days before, but wouldn’t tell her what he had done with it.