Ashes to Ashes
Page 4
She finished setting the table, just in time for Gran and Gramps to set the dishes down. It was an impressive spread for a Sunday lunch, for what should have been only two people. There were mountains of all kinds of vegetables, from beans to sprouts, to sweet potato. The meat was a roast, another tradition in the Parker house.
“Gran this looks beautiful.”
“Thank you dear, but it’s nothing special, just meat and veggies. Now tuck in before it goes cold.”
Jasmine and Gramps did just as they were told, and enjoyed a pleasant meal together.
Just when she thought she couldn’t possibly fit any more food into her stomach, Gran had served an apple pie. She reconsidered and managed to fit in one small piece.
Afterwards, Gramps and Jasmine insisted on washing up the dishes – it was the least they could do. Gran helped of course, she could never bear to see others working while she stood by. She carried the ‘mother guilt’ well, just like all other mothers.
Gran made a pot of tea and served it in the lounge room. An old movie was on in the background. Jasmine recognised it as ‘Singing in the Rain’. An oldie, but a goody. She sipped on some sweet tea and thought it the right time to start a conversation.
“Gran, Gramps, do you remember much about the fire?”
Gran spoke first, “Of course we do, it was a terrible time. Why do you ask?”
“No particular reason, it was just the anniversary the other day of when it happened and it got me thinking.”
“Such a tragedy, but we got through it as a family; we had each other.”
“Yeah, I know. Lucy and I wouldn’t have been able to bear it if we didn’t have you both.” They both gave her a loving smile. “Do you remember what caused the fire?”
Gramps turned his attention away from the television. “Some electrical fault I think. Just an accident caused by faulty wiring.”
“I think I remember it was the wiring of the ceiling fan in Mum and Dad’s room – is that what you remember?” She scanned his face for a reaction.
“I think that was it, yes. It was a bit strange considering it was a cold night, but I guess they may have had the fan on reverse to circulate the warm air.” Jasmine thought back, she had never seen her parents use the fans at any other time other than in midsummer. They were practical and had to watch the budget – running a fan costs money, even if only a few cents an hour. “It all adds up,” Dad would say.
“Maybe you’re right, I don’t know though. Have you ever thought there was anything suspicious about the fire and how it started?”
This time it was Gran who answered. “Honey, if there was anything suspicious they would have investigated it and told us. They said it was accidental so it must have been. We have no reason to think otherwise, who would have wanted to hurt such a beautiful family?”
Jasmine didn’t think she was going to get any more information out of Gran and Gramps, obviously they knew nothing more than she did. And if they did, they were masters at hiding it. She decided to change tactics.
“Did you know Mayor Reynolds disappeared about a week after the fire?”
“Yes, that’s right he did.” Gran seemed pleased the subject had changed and latched on to the new topic.
“Do you know if he was ever found again?”
“No, they never found him. His wife was a wreck. She moved away a few months after he disappeared. She said that the town held too many memories for her. Poor thing, imagine having your husband just up and leave like that. It ruined the family, that’s for sure.”
Jasmine considered this last piece of information. “Well, I think I’d better be off and get ready for work tomorrow. Thank you for lunch.”
“Thank you for visiting, you know we love it when you pop over.”
She gave both Gran and Gramps a firm hug before climbing back into her car and heading towards her apartment.
As she was driving, her mind kept turning over the information she knew about the fire. If it was deliberately lit, then who would have done it and why? Maybe Gran was right, maybe she should just let it go. If there were evidence that it wasn’t an accident then surely the police would have investigated it. After all, they were there to protect and serve. They wouldn’t have just ignored evidence.
But then, how do you explain the fire being started by a ceiling fan? Jasmine knew for certain her parents would not have turned it on, especially after they went to bed. It didn’t make sense. It was cold that night; there was no reason to have had it on.
The two thoughts contradicted each other and completely confused her. She almost missed a red light while her mind was trying to figure it out. Luckily, she made it home without incident.
She sat down on her living room couch, trying to come to a conclusion. She either had to accept the findings and move on, or find out more. ‘There is no way I can forget about this,’ she decided and made up her mind. There were too many questions to just let it rest.
Gran and Gramps may be right, but she would have to work that out for herself before she could forget about it.
She pulled out the note she had received at her desk just a few days ago. She kept it close by in her handbag. She re-read it to see if there was anything else she could possibly glean from it – as if it was holding all the answers and not telling just out of spite. But the eleven words weren’t talking. The note was neatly typed and printed out on an ordinary printer; there were no clues as to what exactly it meant or who had sent it.
She considered who could possibly have posted it to her. The postmark on the envelope was from Avalon, so that meant it must be someone local. That narrowed it down to around one hundred thousand people, at last count. It definitely wasn’t Gran and Gramps, so that made two less.
She replaced it back in her handbag and sighed. She resigned herself to the fact the note wasn’t going to magically reveal any other information. There was no magic ink that would suddenly light up and spell out the answers. It would have been cool if it did, she smiled to herself.
She went back to the kitchen table and thumbed through the information she had gathered so far. The newspaper articles were probably the best source of information she was going to get, unless she went and actively sought answers from people. She made a list of everyone that may have some information.
She thought hard. The police would have information, but would be unlikely to tell her anything. The coroner should have some information about her parents’ remains but Jasmine wasn’t really ready to go there yet. The fire department have proved a dead end. Former neighbours from Savoy Street maybe? That was a possibility.
The missing mayor would be good to talk to, but obviously that wasn’t going to happen.
She contemplated this last point for a moment longer. They may not have been able to find Mayor Reynolds thirteen years ago, but that was before the advent of Google. It would be incredibly hard to disappear in the technological age these days. There were surveillance cameras on every corner, not to mention highways, shopping centres, in fact anywhere public really.
If Mayor Reynolds was alive and well, living in anonymity for the past decade, then surely he could be found. After all, people are still finding Elvis on a daily basis.
Sitting in her kitchen, Jasmine made the decision that she was going to find the missing mayor and at the same time get some answers. To her, it seemed like too much of a coincidence that he disappeared only a few days after his personal assistant died in a house fire. If he did have something to do with it, then he was going to be held accountable.
Chapter 5
The following day Jasmine put on a happy face and went to her office, just like every other workday. The only difference about today was that she was on a mission. Not just the usual mission to stay out of Adam’s way, but she was determined to find the elusive former Mayor Reynolds.
On her lunch break, she went back to the library, which was only a short walk from her office building. In the archives room she printed off any clear ph
otos of the mayor that she could find. She also found an article from when he was first campaigning. His profile said he was fifty-two years old, had only one daughter and had lived in Avalon his whole life. He had also been happily married to his wife, Gladys, for thirty-three years.
There wasn’t much else in the archives, but Jasmine did learn Winston Reynolds loved his fishing. He said it was ‘relaxing’. She considered this for a moment, if he had just done a runner and not come to some dark and creepy demise, then it followed he would still love fishing. A person doesn’t just change overnight; they can’t change a lifetime of habits.
‘If I wanted to disappear, I would go somewhere I could live out my days in hiding doing the things I enjoy,’ she thought to herself. It was possible Mayor Reynolds would do just the same. Perhaps he was living somewhere on the coast, she mused.
Jasmine gathered the information and put it into her handbag before going back to work for the afternoon. It was hard to focus on tax returns while all she could think about were fires and missing people, but she managed as best she could. Mondays were usually the day clients rang and asked questions they had thought of over the weekend. She needed to concentrate.
As soon as five o’clock came, Jasmine tidied her desk and went home. She fixed herself a pasta dish for dinner and logged on to her computer. She went straight to Google and typed in the mayor’s name.
There were over one hundred thousand results for the name. She scanned through the first few pages of search results. Mostly they were links to the Avalon Times online website where they would have archived the articles. Most of the same articles she had found in the library were reproduced here.
She continued to trawl through the pages of results. There was nothing new she hadn’t already discovered. The stories were all the same. Winston Reynolds was running for city mayor; Winston Reynolds won the mayoral election; Winston Reynolds disappeared into the night.
There were a few more articles about a part of the council building that had to be demolished. She remembered Scott O’Hara’s article had mentioned this also. It had happened about a year before the mayor disappeared. Asbestos had been found in the walls of the offices and posed a risk to public health. It was probably more likely to pose a risk to their public liability insurance, but that was beside the point – it had to come down. In the process, apparently, many council documents were also destroyed accidentally.
Jasmine had hoped to find some evidence the mayor had been found a few years later, safe and well and living it up in some small seaside town. But there were no articles that even resembled anything like that.
She gave a sigh. She was an accountant, not a private investigator and was unsure about how to find someone that had been missing for five minutes, let alone thirteen years. She did the only thing she could think of: call Caleb. He was a reporter; maybe he would have contacts or something.
“Hi Caleb, are you busy?”
“Not for you, what’s up?” She could hear people talking in the background, as if he was somewhere crowded.
“I need another favour. I’m trying to find a missing person. Do you have any idea how to do that?”
“Who’s missing?”
“The former Mayor of Avalon.”
“Walter Skein is missing?”
“No, Winston Reynolds. He was the mayor over a decade ago. He disappeared one night and apparently no one’s seen him since.”
“Oh. Why do you want to find him? Sounds like he’s well and truly missing.”
“It’s another long story. Will you help?”
“Sure, of course. I’ll just finish up a story and I’ll come over.”
“Thank you so much. I’ll see you soon.” Jasmine put the phone down and felt relieved. She normally wouldn’t ask so many favours of Caleb, but he didn’t seem to mind. He was always there when she needed him. She thought back to when they had first met.
* * *
“Excuse me, is this seat taken?” Jasmine looked up from her book to see a gorgeous guy staring down at her. He had the most beautiful blue eyes you could imagine. They seemed like endless pools in which she could surely drown, given the chance.
“Uh, no; please, go ahead,” she managed to stammer out. She tried her hardest not to stare at the stranger, but it was too tempting to resist. He smiled at her, a big toothy grin.
“I’m Caleb.”
“Jasmine, people call me Jaz for short.”
“Nice to meet you.” His voice was smooth and fitted his face so very well; it was a perfect match. She tried to ignore him and focus back on her text book. After all, she was there to study. The last thing she needed right now was another guy to distract her. She’d had
enough of the entire male species, at least for a while anyway. Her last boyfriend had cheated on her. Just thinking about getting involved with someone and handing over her heart again was a scary prospect. As far as she was concerned, the guy could be as good looking as he liked, she wasn’t interested.
“I’m going to get a coffee, would you like one?” Caleb asked.
Jasmine looked around; she thought for sure he must have been talking to someone else. The closest people were perched on the bench across the park. She shrugged.
“No, thank you.”
“You sure? I’m going that way anyway. It would be my pleasure.” His eyes looked like he’d stolen them from a puppy dog. How dare he look at her like that.
“Okay, if you want.”
She watched him leave. He looked just as good from the back as he did the front. She steeled herself. There was no way she was getting involved again. Do it once, shame on them, but fool her twice and it’s shame on her. All men were no good cheaters.
Caleb returned after only a few minutes, coffee cups in hand. She reached up and took hers. Briefly, their fingers touched. She felt the electricity. Her immediate reaction was to recoil. She pretended that it hadn’t happened.
“What are you studying?” he asked casually, looking at her textbook.
“Accounting. Apparently, I’m going to be an accountant for the rest of my life. What about you?” She closed the book.
“A double degree in Business and Journalism. Apparently, I’m not sure what I’m going to be just yet.” He laughed. Jasmine couldn’t tell whether it was a serious comment or not. Some people use humour to cover up their real feelings. For all she knew, he could be one of them.
“Well, at least you’ll be an educated something or other. If it was me, I’d go for journalist. They get to travel the world and report on all sorts of interesting things.”
“That’s true. They also have to go to war zones though.” He made a face. “I don’t think I’m tough enough for that sort of full on reporting. I don’t handle guns very well. Not to mention grenades or sleeping in tents.”
“No? Maybe you could be a travel reporter. You would get to stay at all the fancy hotels and report back on how wonderful the massages are. There would be no tents or bombs in sight, just beautiful beaches and waterfalls.”
“Sounds good. That’s it, I’m going to drop business.” This time there was no laughter. Jasmine looked at him, concerned she had just influenced a perfect stranger into making a mistake. His face broke into a grin that spread right across his face. “I’m only joking.”
They laughed together.
“Are you from around here?” Jasmine asked after they had recovered.
“Not originally, my family live in Cliffton. I heard they had a really good business program here and decided to leave the nest. It was about time I got away from my parents, they were driving me crazy. What about you?”
“Born and bred, unfortunately.”
“You’re not a fan of Avalon?”
“Not exactly. I think half of the people that live here treat the other half like dirt. Plus, you know, it’s just a small town, nothing ever happens here. All anyone has to talk about is what their neighbours are doing. Quite frankly, the neighbours aren’t that interesting.”
“You don’t say? Maybe I’ll think about doing that very thing then.”
They drank their coffee and continued their conversation for the rest of the afternoon. Time stood still for them while they talked about the world and solved everyone’s problems. Jasmine forgot about her text book and the studying she needed to do. Caleb forgot about his class that he was already running late for. The only thing that broke up their conversation was dusk setting over the park.
They talked and talked for hours. Before the end of the night, Jasmine learnt Caleb had a girlfriend, and they’d been seeing each other for three months. She was relieved, it took the pressure off and she could keep her vow. A strong friendship was created in that park that afternoon and remained all throughout college.
* * *
She went back to the kitchen and washed up her dishes while she waited for him to arrive. She got the kettle ready to make some tea.
Before she knew it there was a knock on the door. She reached for the doorknob but stopped just short of it. It had only been ten minutes since she had hung up the phone with Caleb. If he had to finish a story before coming over, then there was no way it could be him so early.
She was grateful she had insisted the landlord put a spy hole in the door before she moved in. Jasmine peered through it. As she suspected, it wasn’t Caleb standing outside her front door. It was a man in his forties, tall and very scary looking. He knocked again and Jasmine jumped. She slipped her hand down to the doorknob and as quietly as possible clicked the lock over.