“I can do that.”
“If you go into the kitchen, hanging inside the pantry door, you will find a set of keys,” Dee said.
Lorelei went to the kitchen, found the set of keys, and handed them to Dee.
“This one is for the door, and this one is for the deadbolt,” Dee said, holding up the keys. There were others on the ring, but Dee only mentioned the two Lorelei would need.
Lorelei hesitated for just a second before wrapping her arms around Dee, giving her a sincere hug. “I’ll be here all night. And in the morning, I’ll make the coffee and whatever you want for breakfast.”
Dee hugged her back as she said, “I’m early riser so I may have breakfast ready for you instead.”
“Is it okay if I go look at the apartment right now? I can also check around outside and make sure not one is hanging around in the shadows.”
“Of course you can,” Dee said, “just remember to lock up when you come back inside.”
Lorelei hooked the leash to Bindi’s harness and grabbed her overnight bag before leaving the main house.
Once Bindi did her business Lorelei went up the steps to the apartment above the large garage. She didn’t know what to expect, but upon entering, saw it was beautiful. It had all the comforts of home. It was decorated with art from the coast. Silk flowers sat in a vase on the dining room table. A tall avocado plant loomed in the corner. The only reason Lorelei knew what it was was because she always tried growing them from seeds every time she ate an avocado when she was in grade school. The large living area had a couch and two recliners, a large kitchen that could create any meal, and on one wall there was a door and a short hallway. The door led to a bedroom with a queen size bed, dresser, and closet. The hallway led to a bathroom with a full bath. The openness of the apartment was beyond what Lorelei was expecting. The windows faced West, giving her a full view of the ocean, that would be visible when the sun was up. Dee was right when she said she had the perfect place for Lorelei. And she would be right across the street from her own little home while it was being remodeled.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE RISING SUN brought in the morning light, waking Lorelei with a start. She had forgotten where she was for a moment as she sat up. Bindi was curled next to her, who stretched, yawned, then went back to sleep.
“Come on, we have work to do,” she told Bindi as she slid her feet out from under the covers and dangled them over the edge of the couch.
Lorelei got up, realized she took all her stuff to the apartment last night, and decided she needed to get changed and brush her teeth before she did anything else. She grabbed the apartment keys, Bindi staying close to her heals as she left the main house and went back to the small apartment.
She went to the bathroom, then came back into the living area with her toothbrush in her mouth. She brushed her teeth as she looked out at the Pacific Ocean. Sure, there were houses on the other side of the road so she couldn’t see the bluffs, but she could feel the pounding of the waves through the floor and could hear the roar. She went back into the bathroom to spit out her toothpaste.
“We need to get a tide book,” she told Bindi as she came back from the bathroom. She went to find her overnight bag. She pulled out a pair of purple sweats with a UW on one leg, and Go Dawgs on the other. Her t-shirt was from UW also.
It had been hard on Thomas that Lorelei hadn’t gone to the same college as him. She had told him she needed to find out who she was. She couldn’t spend her life known as Thomas’s twin sister: You know the one, she got all the looks while Thomas got all the brains. It wasn’t that Lorelei wasn’t smart, but not many could get past her looks. Thomas could have been a rocket scientist if he wanted. There was nothing her brother couldn’t do when he set his mind to it. Jessica, his wife, was the same way.
After going through the cupboards, Lorelei remembered she wasn’t living here yet, and there would be no coffee for her no matter how hard she looked. Just as there would be no dog food for Bindi since she forgot to pack it last night.
As she opened the door to the apartment, she hadn’t bothered with Bindi’s leash since the back yard was fenced. She was just going down the stairs and across the sidewalk. Lily was already outside and Bindi rushed down the steps to her before Lorelei closed the apartment door.
“Come on in,” Dee said as Lorelei neared the open door. “Coffee is fresh and I have bagels with cream cheese sitting on the table.”
“Wow, thanks!” Lorelei said as she walked in. “I hope I didn’t wake you when we left this morning.”
“Of course not, I told you I was an early riser,” Dee said.
“Do you have cream for the coffee too?”
“Who drinks coffee without cream? No one, that’s who,” Dee said as she slowly led Lorelei up the stairs.
“You seem to be moving okay today,” Lorelei said as she waited for Dee to reach the top of the landing, before joining her there.
“I’ve been taking my Ibuprofen and Tylenol and it’s been helping. I felt like an old woman when I tried to get out of bed this morning, so I soaked in a nice hot bath until I felt my normal self. That’s where I was when you thought you snuck out.”
“I must admit, you look more my mom’s age than my grandmother’s age this morning,” Lorelei said as she found cups, along with the coffee urn on the table with the bagels. She poured herself a large cup of coffee, added cream from the small pitcher, then took a long drink. The coffee was a dark roast, with wonderful flavors that filled her senses. Just as she sat down Bindi came charging up the steps with Lily right behind, did a few circles around the kitchen, then ran in between the living room furniture, before heading back down the stairs and outside.
“Lily will be getting more exercise today than she has in four years,” Dee said as she saw the look of concern on Lorelei’s face. Dee poured herself a cup of coffee, added a fair amount of cream and two teaspoons of sugar before sitting at the table with Lorelei.
“I am so sorry!” Lorelei sputtered, “Bindi is such a spitfire and full of energy, which is why I run with her every morning. I did not mean to leave the door open and have her tear around your house.”
Dee reached out and patted Lorelei’s hand, “This house needs excitement. I can’t think of a better way to achieve that than to have a little dog give my Lily a good morning workout. Honestly! Plus, I couldn’t wait for you two to get here this morning! My life has been so boring, I am ready to shake things up.”
“Wait, what?” Lorelei’s hand was almost to her mouth for her first bite of a cream cheese covered bagel, a food she allows herself rarely.
“We need to find who that man was in Jim and Fran’s house yesterday. And I still need to feed their cat!” Dee said as she wiggled in her seat, antsy to go but Lorelei just stared. “I think finding out who was in that house is a priority!”
“We can’t go without a plan. The two of us can check out the house together, but after that, I will see what I can find out alone. And what a better way than by someone who is new to the area, who people don’t know.”
“I can drive, and and you can ask the questions.”
Lorelei shook her head. “This is something I should do alone. I can ask my questions, pretending I am learning about the area while really try to figure out what’s going on.”
“I guess I can see your point,” Dee set her coffee down and grabbed her bagel. She didn’t take a bite. Instead she huffed, “When that cop, or whoever that man was in Jim and Fran’s house, saw me, who’s to say he didn’t recognize you when you found me?” The excitement was dimming a bit from Dee’s eyes but she was still ready to go.
“My hair was up and I was in big baggy sweats. I was at the bottom of the bluff. I don’t think the man was there when I found you, and I am pretty sure if he looked over and saw you lying in the sand, he was not going to stick around and wait for you to be found.”
“I’m just glad he didn’t come down there to finish me off!” Dee drained her coffee cup and
poured another half a cup.
“I was thinking about this last night, and what we should do,” Lorelei said, in between bites of bagel, “is go to the house this morning, feed the cat, and then look around to see if anything is missing. And depending on what we find, we may need to call the police.”
“We can’t call the police!” Dee exclaimed, setting her cup down hard, spilling some of the coffee. She turned to look out the big bay window. Lorelei watched Dee’s eyebrows furrowed. “I could get in trouble for making a false police report last night, and because I think it was a cop.”
“You didn’t make a police report, I was there, you kept saying nothing happened, so you’re fine. I understand you being wary about going to the police, but they need to be informed, depending on what we find.”
“And if I start saying I saw a cop there? Someone in uniform?” Dee asked.
“You still didn’t make a formal report, so you did nothing wrong by not saying something earlier. And I think they would understand. And if we find something, I will look into it so you still don’t have to call the cops until we need to.” Lorelei popped the last bite of bagel into her mouth, licked her fingers clean, then finished her coffee. She really wanted a second cup, but that would have to wait. She stood, turned and stopped as she took in Dee’s view of the ocean. A few trees were in the way, and the roof tops of houses kept her from seeing the bluffs. What she did see, as she looked out, were the large rock formations and the waves breaking on them, shooting spray up in the air. Lorelei watched, as wave after wave crashed on the rocks. She could feel the pounding surf, in her feet, and in her chest, as the sounds made their way to her soul.
“Why would anyone want to live anywhere else?” she whispered, almost to herself.
“So, I guess this means you’d like to move into that apartment I have,” Dee said.
“I’ll be moving in today, which will take about an hour since all I have is a suitcase and Bindi’s stuff.” Lorelei suddenly remembered, “I don’t have any food for Bindi, I forgot to bring it last night. Can she share some of Lily’s food until I get her’s?”
“Of course,” Dee said. She went to the kitchen and fetched a dog bowl from a pantry that Lorelei hadn’t noticed, and filled it with dog food.
“She doesn’t eat that much!”
“Half is for Lily, and as they eat, we can go across the street to Jim and Fran’s house.”
With the dogs fed, Lorelei and Dee made their way down the stairs and out into Dee’s driveway. As they walked, Dee paced slowed until she was stopped half way to Jim and Fran’s driveway.
“If you see anyone that puts you on edge, just elbow me hard, that way we don’t have to say anything to cause suspicion,” Lorelei said as she watched Dee’s eyes widen.
“What if I accidentally elbow you, if I slip or fall or something?” Dee asked, tentatively taking another step forward.
“Don’t make this more complicated than it needs to be. Maybe just reach over and grab my hand.”
“So which is it?” Dee asked, as she slowly started walking again. “Do I grab your hand or elbow you?”
“Just grab my hand,” Lorelei said.
“What if I can’t reach you? Then what do I do?”
“You stay calm and make your way to me.” Lorelei slipped her arm into Dee’s as Dee turned into the driveway of a large home that faced the ocean. “I am not going to be very far from you, I’m guessing within reach at all times because I’m worried about you.”
“Why are you worried about me?” Dee asked as Lorelei made her way toward the back door.
“Because you had a scare,” Lorelei said, as Dee headed the other direction, toward the front of the house, facing the ocean.
Dee’s nerves were getting the better of her as she started rambling, “I’ve been feeding Mr. Kitty for the last week or so. They usually go on vacation for about two weeks every other month. They are both retired and love to spend time in Paris. Their eldest granddaughter lives there with her husband and now with their first great grand baby, which is why they are gone for a month this time. And to be honest, I am waiting for them to just move there.”
Lorelei didn’t notice the rambling, she was stuck on the name of the cat. “Who names their cat Mr. Kitty? I mean, I’ve known people to name their cat’s Kitty, or Miss Kitty, or some variation, but a male cat?”
“A granddaughter,” Dee hesitated, looked up for a moment, like she was waiting for the answer to float down on the cool ocean breeze, “when she was six or eight?”
“You know, Jim’s retired Coast Guard, and she’s a lawyer. That is how we met.”
“You’re a lawyer?” Lorelei asked.
“No, my husband and I retained her while we had the little shop in Charleston. We had this yard toy, a giraffe mounted on a large spring about this big around.” She made the motion of hugging a tree where her hands met on the opposite side. “The giraffe was made of some sort of caste iron, I think. We had it in the yard for kids to play on while their parent’s shopped.”
“I don’t remember that when we would come visit,” Lorelei said. She remembered two large blocks in the yard, that she and Thomas use to climb, but there was no giraffe.
“We had that giraffe well before your time, but some little kid bumped his nose on it and the parents tried to sue us, Harry and me. We hired Fran, who had a small practice next to us. We didn’t get sued, but we did have to remove the giraffe. The kids had nothing to do while the parents shopped. So we brought in those big blocks of wood. They were huge, and the kids would play on those. And no one got hurt.”
“I remember those, Thomas and I played on them.”
“There wasn’t anyway for someone to get hurt so we were okay.”
“What do you do now?” Lorelei asked. “This town is so small I am going to have to find something to do.”
“I volunteer here and there,” Dee said.
They walked up a few steps to the deck, and Lorelei couldn’t see anything out of place. Dee pulled a set of keys out of her jacket pocket and unlocked the sliding glass door. They walked in and Lorelei noticed the house was furnished in an eclectic style. Furniture didn’t match, but was put together room by room. She was sure they didn’t go to yard sales, but maybe estate sales. The kitchen and dining room were done in oak, with a large table and a china cabinet. The cabinets were painted. Looking through to the living room, it had the style of an old victorian.
“This is quite a home,” she said as she walked through.
“They like it this way. It was furnished when they bought it and they decided to leave it. Their personal touch is in the art.” Dee said as she filled the cat’s dish with food. Then she rinsed out the water bowl and poured in fresh water.
Lorelei was looking around the living room when Dee joined her. “Do you notice anything out of the ordinary?” she asked Dee.
“I’m not sure,” Dee said as she walked around the room. She stopped by the sofa and looked around. “A painting is missing,” she said as she looked at the wall above the large, stone fireplace.
“What kind of painting?” Lorelei asked.
“I’m not sure what the painting was, but I remember there was a large painting here.”
Lorelei walked up and saw a nail in the bricks. She looked around and didn’t see anything. “Is there anything else missing?” she asked.
Dee walked through the living room and into the bedroom. “I just can’t be sure.”
Lorelei went and stood next to her and saw another empty wall, where another painting could have hung.
“Was there something here?”
“I just don’t remember,” Dee said, letting out a heavy sigh.
“Do you know what the art was?”
“Paintings from their travels. They always brought home something from the places they visited.”
They walked through the large home and looked to see if anything else was missing. Dee couldn’t be sure.
“Someone came in and
took their large painting.” Dee said as she went back into the kitchen. The food bowl sat untouched.
“Where’s the cat?” Lorelei asked.
“I don’t know, he’s an indoor cat so he should be here somewhere.” Dee started calling the cat, but he didn’t come out from wherever he was hiding.
“I’ll look outside,” Lorelei said and went back outside.
She made her way back outside and walked around the house and saw something on the ground. She bent and picked up a matchbook. She continued to the spot where she assumed Dee had slipped. She noticed many shoe prints on the trail. She made her way back inside and showed the matchbook to Dee.
“Do you recognize this?” She handed it to Dee who turned it over in her hands.
“This is from one the casinos that’s in town, The Mill Casino. I wonder if the person who was here dropped it. Jim and Fran don’t smoke, or allow smoking in their house. Maybe we should go there,” Dee said, “and see if the man I saw is there. They have security guards, maybe that was who was here.”
“You can’t go there,” Lorelei said as she took the matchbook back. “Remember, he may recognize you and you could be putting yourself in danger. I can go, take pictures of the security guards. Then you can let me know if you recognize any of them.”
“I couldn’t ask you to do that!”
“You aren’t asking, I’m volunteering. I’ll just take photos with my phone. We can look at them when I get back.”
“I don’t think you can do that,” Dee said.
“Why? What are they going to do if I’m taking pictures?”
“They’ll kick you out, and what if that security guard sees you taking pictures? You could be putting yourself in danger, as well,” Dee huffed.
“Nonsense, I’ll be sneaky and no one will know. I’ll get pictures and come back and we can go through them. And I will be with so many people he won’t risk exposing himself.”
Dee chewed her bottom lip.
“I will be okay, honest.”
The Case of the Stolen Art Work Page 4