Letters in the Attic

by DeAnna Julie Dodson

“Cousin?”

  Annie bit her lip. “Um—”

  “What’s this about a cousin? Susan didn’t have any cousins.”

  “Well, actually, she did. I guess she never talked about this particular part of the family.”

  Since it was too late to put the cat back into the bag, Annie went ahead and told him about Sandy and Susan’s grandfather and his two families.

  “I had no idea. So what’s this cousin’s name?”

  “Sandy. I don’t guess Susan ever mentioned her to you.”

  “No. And you say she lives nearby now?”

  “Out at Susan’s old house on Elm Street. Do you remember it?”

  “Oh yes, I remember the house. I remember it very well. I just don’t remember any cousin Sandy.”

  “She and her husband moved here almost ten years ago.”

  “That’s kind of a coincidence, isn’t it?”

  “Not really. Sandy tells me she wanted the house because of the family link. I guess with her connection to the Morrises being a little, um, unusual, family ties are important to her. And that unusualness was why I wasn’t supposed to say anything to anybody. I hope you won’t mention it to anyone.”

  “Out here?” He chuckled. “People wouldn’t even blink at a family history like that, and I don’t know who I’d tell it to in the first place. But I give you my word, nobody will hear about it from me. So what’s this cousin like?”

  “Pretty quiet. A real homebody, evidently. She works in her garden mostly. Her husband does handyman work in the area, and she keeps house. She didn’t have all that much to say.”

  “Ah. A plump little housewife. That’s nice.”

  “No, not plump. She’s tall and slim. Actually, she favors Susan a little bit, from what I remember anyway. There’s a definite family resemblance.”

  “And what does she say about Susan? Does she think she committed suicide?”

  “No. She didn’t know her very well. They only met a couple of times, but she says Susan was a Morris and would have figured out some way to deal with her problems rather than killing herself.”

  There was silence on the other end of the line. Then Prescott chuckled once more. “That does sound like Susan, as a matter of fact.”

  “It’s too bad the two of them didn’t have the chance to grow up together.”

  “Yes, too bad. Susan missed out on so much.” He sighed. “There was so much I wanted her to have, so much we could have done if only things had been different. But things don’t always work out the way we want them to, do they? Things happen. People … don’t understand what’s important in life, and that we can’t let the petty things get in the way.”

  “I’m sure Susan knew how you felt about her. That’s what’s important.”

  “I wish she knew how important she is to me still.”

  “That’s sweet.” Annie hesitated, trying to think of something to say that would be comforting and not too saccharine, coming up with nothing. “Well, thank you for talking to me again. I hope I haven’t brought back too many difficult memories for you.”

  “No, I can understand wanting to know the truth about what happened to someone you’ve lost track of. And don’t worry about mentioning Susan’s cousin to me. As far as I’m concerned, she never had one.”

  “Thanks, Mr. Prescott.” She smiled to herself. “Arch.”

  “Goodbye, Annie.”

  Annie hung up the telephone. So was Susan’s death an accident or not? She still knew nothing for certain either way, and there had to be some means of finding out. The question lurked in the back of her mind for the rest of the day. It was still there when she finally sat down that evening to work on her new sweater.

  As usual, Boots wriggled up next to her in the overstuffed chair in front of the living room fire. Annie stroked the gray-velvet head, eliciting some purring chatter.

  “What do you think, Miss Boots? Am I wasting my time wondering about all this?”

  Boots merely blinked her eyes and then laid her head on Annie’s lap.

  Careful to keep her yarn out of reach of curious paws, Annie began to crochet again. Who would want her to stop investigating Susan’s death? Her thoughts turned again to Sandy Maxwell. Were there family secrets that Sandy didn’t want getting out? Perhaps it was Mr. Maxwell who didn’t appreciate the attention. And what was going on between him and Sandy?

  Annie shook her head. He hadn’t known Susan since he hadn’t come to live in the house on Elm Street until ten years after her death. Who besides the Maxwells had any connection to Susan at all?

  There was only Prescott. Annie hadn’t even known he existed until after she had received the second note, and until she called him, he hadn’t known about her. Besides, he sounded eager to know if Annie found out more about Susan and not as if he wanted to cover it all up.

  After a while, Annie laid her sweater in her lap, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes. It was a puzzle, that was for certain.

  She didn’t realize she had dozed off until she heard Boots growl. The cat had been sound asleep, but now she was standing up with her head thrust forward, staring fixedly at the front door.

  “What is it, baby?”

  Boots didn’t move, but she didn’t growl anymore. Maybe she had just had a bad dream.

  Annie scratched her behind the ears. “Go back to sleep, kitty.”

  She tried to push the cat back down into her lap, but Boots resisted, and the fur down her spine and along the length of her tail puffed out like gray eyelash yarn.

  In spite of herself, Annie felt her heartbeat quicken. This was Stony Point, not New York City or Chicago. People here left their doors unlocked and weren’t afraid to walk alone at night.

  She reached to stroke the cat again. “Boots …”

  Once again, Boots growled.

  Annie set her crochet on the end table beside her and put Boots down on the floor. She’d call Alice. Then when she took a look around outside, at least somebody would be watching out for her. No, she couldn’t call Alice. It was after midnight. Unless it was a genuine emergency—and the cat’s growling probably didn’t qualify—it would be rude to disturb anyone, even a best friend, this late.

  She picked up the phone anyway and dialed Alice’s number, all but the last digit. Then she checked the front door. It was locked, but she slipped the dead bolt into place as well. She went out to the kitchen and checked the back door. She must have left that unlocked when she’d been out in the yard earlier in the day. She locked it, and then turned off the kitchen lights.

  For a few seconds, she stood there in the dark just listening, but there wasn’t a sound anywhere in the house. Outside, the wind was rustling the tree limbs, and the sliver of a moon did little to illuminate the yard. Maybe it was just her imagination after all. She put her hand on the light switch and then froze.

  She had definitely heard something, and it was definitely inside the house. Just before she dialed the last digit of Alice’s number, she saw a dark silhouette in the doorway to the kitchen.

  It was a little four-footed silhouette with a ball of yarn in its mouth.

  “Boots,” she breathed, and she went over to pick up the cat. “You scared me to death. And that is not for you to play with.”

  She put the phone down on the kitchen table and carefully disengaged the yarn from the cat’s mouth. Then she walked back into the living room and found that her crochet hook was underneath the coffee table. Well, that would account for the clattering noise she had heard.

  “You, missy, had better learn to leave my stuff alone.” She held up the hook for the cat to see. “This isn’t a toy, and I don’t need you to make me nervous.”

  Undaunted, Boots batted at it until Annie pulled it away from her.

  “You are obviously not listening, so we’re going to bed.”

  Holding Boots in one arm, she put the yarn and the hook into her crochet bag and closed it up, protecting it from curious little paws.

  “OK, baby cat, nigh
ty-night.”

  She turned out the lights in the living room and froze once more. She was sure she had seen something move outside the window. Was it just the bushes? Again she stood in the darkness, unmoving. Boots squirmed against her shoulder, but Annie wasn’t quite ready to let her down. She wasn’t quite ready to feel totally alone.

  As swiftly as possible, she went back into the kitchen and picked up the phone she had left there. Once more, she dialed Alice’s number and then hung up before it could ring.

  No, she didn’t know that someone was out there. The doors were locked. She hadn’t actually seen anyone.

  She trembled a little where she stood. Had those notes spooked her enough to make her imagine things that weren’t there? Enough to make her feel unsafe in her own home?

  But if someone was out there …

  She went back through the darkened hallway and into the living room. Still holding Boots, she rummaged through her purse until she found the business card she had slipped into her makeup bag. Reading the number by the light from the hall, she dialed the phone. It rang only once.

  “Hello?”

  “Roy?”

  “Well, Annie, what a surprise.”

  “I hope I’m not disturbing you, Roy. I know it’s late and everything, but I think there may be somebody in my yard, snooping around outside.”

  “Did you see anybody?”

  “No. A little movement out there maybe, but I couldn’t be sure it was actually a prowler. I didn’t want to make an official call to the police if I wasn’t sure.”

  “No, you don’t want to do that. But if it would make you feel better, I’d be glad to come take a look around and makesure everything is secure. Maybe have a cup of coffee?”

  As much as she didn’t want to encourage him, she couldn’t help the rush of gratitude at his offer. “Absolutely.”

  He showed up just a few minutes later. Annie didn’t let Boots down until she went to open the door for him.

  “Thanks for coming, Roy. I’m sorry to get you over here in the middle of the night.”

  “Not a problem. I was still up.” He looked her over, obviously noting that she wasn’t dressed for bed. “Looks like both of us are night owls.”

  “I guess I fell asleep in the chair. Boots woke me up growling at something.”

  “Does she usually do that?”

  “No. Not unless there’s something wrong. I never saw anything, though.”

  “You just get that coffee ready. I’ll have a look around outside and be right back.”

  He was as good as his word. By the time the coffee brewed, he was sitting at the kitchen table eating goldfish crackers. She had offered him a choice of several things she had on hand, but he had specifically requested those. Little John and Joanna would find him a kindred spirit.

  “I never saw a thing.” He tossed a goldfish into the air and caught it in his mouth, making sure she had seen and properly appreciated his feat.

  She acknowledged it with a distracted smile. “No footprints?”

  “Only mine, I’m afraid. It could have been the wind. In all likelihood, it was just that, but I’m glad you called me. I’d rather be wrong on the side of caution than take the chance of you being over here alone if there was a problem.”

  “That’s sweet of you, Roy. But I’m fine now. I’ve been pretty jittery ever since I started getting those notes, and now I don’t know if I’m seeing things.”

  “Then again, something made your cat growl. They can be pretty inscrutable little things, I know, but they’re pretty smart too. Sometimes they know things we don’t.”

  “She is good at reading people.” Annie frowned, looking around the room. “I’m a little surprised she’s not here checking you out about now. She’s usually really interested in visitors.”

  “Probably figured I wasn’t worth bothering about.”

  “Everybody’s worth bothering about.”

  He grinned appreciatively and pushed his nearly empty coffee cup toward her. “That’s good stuff on a cold night.”

  “I’m glad you liked it.” She stood up and picked up the cup, but she didn’t offer him more. “Thanks again, Roy, for coming by. I’m sure I’ll be fine now.”

  He looked a little disappointed, but he was polite enough to take the hint.

  “Did you find out anything else about your friend?”

  “No. That’s what’s so frustrating about all this. If whoever is sending the notes knew how little I actually know about anything, he—or she—would quit. Why try to scare me if there’s nothing to scare me away from?”

  Roy shrugged and zipped his jacket up to his chin. “We might never find out why. Or who.”

  “In that case, I’m sorry to have wasted so much of your time.”

  “Don’t you believe it.” He gave her a wink. “Not a minute of it has been a waste.”

  “Thanks. I don’t know why I’m so jumpy lately.”

  “Anybody would be, with what’s been going on,” he said as they walked back to the front of the house. “I’d be surprised if you weren’t.”

  “I guess you learn a lot about people in doing police work.”

  “Oh yeah. You figure out what makes them tick. After a while, it gets to be pretty predictable.”

  When they reached the door, before she could do more than unlock it, he turned her toward him.

  “Annie, I—”

  Suddenly, he was leaning toward her, his lips almost touching hers as she pulled away. Before the shock really registered, he released her.

  “Now you know.”

  She had an almost uncontrollable urge to laugh. Not because she thought it was funny, but because she didn’t quite know what else to do. But she held it in. She didn’t want to hurt him, even though she knew she would have to. There was no need to humiliate him on top of that.

  “Roy.”

  That was all she said, but he could obviously read everything in her expression.

  “Don’t say anything. You don’t have to say anything right now.”

  “I have to, Roy. I appreciate your help with everything that’s going on, but I don’t want you to imagine that there’s any possibility of anything more than that. I told you about my husband, Wayne. There isn’t room for anyone else in my heart right now. There may never be.”

  He ducked his head. “I understand how you feel. I just wanted you to understand how I feel.”

  “I may not even be here in Stony Point much longer. It would be silly for us to get involved, knowing that I might be 1,600 miles away next month.”

  “But you might not be.”

  “But that wouldn’t change anything. I still wouldn’t be ready for a new relationship.”

  She didn’t want to have to say more, but she knew that, even if she was ready to fall in love again, it wouldn’t be with him. She softened her expression. “Roy, it’s sweet of you, but I don’t want to lead you on. I don’t want you to keep hoping—”

  “I guess I can if I want to.” There was a shadow of a grin once more on his face. “You’d get to like me if you gave me a chance. You know you would.”

  She smiled too. She did like him better than she had when she had first met him, but liking was all it would ever be. “You’d be better off finding somebody else, Roy. Somebody who’s looking for a guy like you. Somebody who’s going to be here a long time.”

  “You can’t leave now, you know. We haven’t solved your mystery yet.”

  “No, I suppose you’re right about that. As long as I keep getting these notes, I know there’s something somebody doesn’t want me to find out. And that just makes me more determined to find out what’s going on.”

  He leaned one elbow against the door frame. “That’s part of what I like about you. You don’t give up.”

  “Roy.” She exhaled heavily and looked directly into his eyes so there would be no mistake. “Sometimes I have to give up. Sometimes what I want just isn’t going to happen.”

  “But you don’t
give up at the first bump in the road either, or you’d never get anywhere. Look, I’m not asking you for anything. Let me do my job on this case. Let me keep an eye out for you while it’s going on. Who knows where we’ll be when it’s all over?”

  The two of them stared at each other, both refusing to flinch. Finally, Annie shook her head.

  “You win. For now. But I’m telling you right up front, I just don’t see us as anything but friends.”

  “But we are still friends, right? You’re not mad at me?”

  “No, I’m not mad. I just want you to understand how things are.” OK, so she was a pushover. “And yes, we’re still friends.”

  “Does that mean you’ll let me take you to the banquet tomorrow night?”

  “Roy.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. The man was incorrigible. “What did we just talk about?”

  “Well, you are going, aren’t you?”

  “Alone.”

  “All right. I guess I’ll just have to see you while you’re there.” He opened the door. “Good night.”

  “Good night, Roy.”

  She locked and bolted the door once he was gone. After this thing with the notes and the prowlers, who may or may not be out there, was all over, she would have to have a nice long talk with Officer Hamilton. No matter how unpleasant a task it was, she was going to have to make sure he knew how utterly impossible his hopes were when it came to the two of them ever having any sort of romance.

  She was not going to give him any room to say she had led him on. Or that she had taken advantage of his kindness. Or that she had indicated the slightest interest outside of general and not remotely close friendship. He hadn’t been the least bit shy in expressing his feelings, and she had already told him straight out that she wasn’t looking for a new relationship, but it hadn’t seemed to dampen his ardor in any perceptible amount.

  Annie saw Boots investigating her crochet bag and went to pick her up.

  “At least he’s being a gentleman about it, Boots, even if he doesn’t seem to want to take never for an answer. He’d just better not have anything special in mind for the banquet tomorrow night.”

  Boots made a little complaining meow but didn’t resist being taken upstairs to bed.