by K P Stafford
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?
CHAPTER 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?
CHAPTER 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.
Charlie had discovered an old estate with the same pattern in the garden hedges. He and Jake would be going back to the area and flying a drone overhead. They all talked about going out there and walking the woods until they found the place, but the guys insisted they should investigate it from the air before anyone tried to make their way through all the underbrush. They swore each other to secrecy until they learned more. Whoever was after the Cryptex could also be looking for that old estate. Somehow it was tied to the Danforth family name, but Lexi wasn’t any closer to finding answers about that either.
As soon as she, Grams and Ms. Jensen had cleaned up their work area, she pulled out a picture she had taken at the mausoleum to show them the symbol. It was a long shot, but she hoped they could remember something from when they were children. Surely they had been to the cemetery and saw it, or perhaps the woods up at Hayden’s Ridge hadn’t been so thick back then, and they knew the old estate was there.
“I wanted to ask about this symbol that keeps showing up in our investigation. Can you tell me anything about it?”
Grams looked at the picture, but quickly turned away and started cleaning the counter she’d already wiped down. Ms. Jensen looked at the picture and practically did the same thing.
“You two know something and you need to tell me. I need to know why this symbol scares everyone, and more importantly, why it’s attached to my last name.”
Grams stopped what she was doing and looked at her. “Some things are better off buried.” She pointed to the picture. “That’s one of them.”
“But Grams, Shirley was killed because of this. We need to know why. Someone wants whatever is in that Cryptex and it all relates to this symbol. They may even kill again to get their hands on it. Keeping things buried is why all this is happening.”
The two women looked at each other. Grams put down the towel she was using to wipe the counters. “You’re right. We will do what we can to remember.”
Lexi left Crystal Scents with the intention of going to the library. Surely there were some old records left that had some information. She would need to keep it quiet . She couldn’t very well go in there and tell Mrs. Williams what she was looking for. The woman already didn’t like her and would think she was nuts. Mrs. Williams had gotten pretty protective over the old town files that were in the library.
On the way, she decided to stop and talk to Mavis Clark, the town Magistrate, instead. Something gave her a feeling she’d know more about this than the library. She was in charge of town records, and she was also very interested in real estate in the area. It’s possible she knew more than she let on. Lexi turned right at the corner to head to her office, instead of taking a left to go to the library.
Mavis and Lexi had never really gotten along. In fact, no one in town got along with Mavis very well. She liked to stir things up. She and Grams had had their share of rifts over the years. The biggest one was right after Lexi moved back home and a murder had occurred. Mavis liked to gouge old wounds. After that though, they came to a truce. They’d even become friends, in an odd way. Perhaps they decided it was time for the older locals to start sticking together.
When Lexi walked in the door, Mavis Clark looked up at her and smiled. A chill ran through Lexi’s body. Her smiles were always more cause for alarm than her snarls. Lexi reminded herself that was in the past. The woman was a lot nicer now. She pulled the picture out with reluctance, unsure if she wanted to share it with anyone else, plus it always bothered her when Ms. Clark was in a pleasant mood. In fact, she would have preferred her to be in a bad mood. It was easier to tell if she was hiding something.
“I hate to bother you,” Lexi said, as she walked up to her desk.
“Nonsense. You enjoy bothering people.” A smirk crossed her face. “But that’s why I like you. You remind me of me.”
“Oh? I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not.”
Mavis let out a hearty laugh. “I’m not either. What’s that in your hand?” She asked, pointing to the picture.
Lexi sucked in a deep breath, not really sure how to even ask about the matter, but she handed it over to her. “This symbol keeps showing up in our investigation.”
Mavis looked at the picture. Her brows pinched together.
“Since you have an interest in real estate, I wondered if you’d seen it before.”
She handed the picture back. “There’s a lot of people who think the past should stay hidden and buried.”
“Are you one of them?”
Mavis grabbed the mug off her desk before getting up and going to the coffee maker. She poured herself a cup, turned around and leaned against the counter. “I was,” she said before taking a sip from the cup. “But now, I’m not so sure it’s best to sweep things under the rug, especially the old secrets our grandparents wanted to hide.”
She returned to her chair.
“Do you know what those secrets are?”
“Only bits I remember from childhood. Shirley was always aware, and now she’s dead because of it.”
“How do you know her death is related.”
“Because she told me.”
“Excuse me?” Lexi’s mouth dropped open. “How could she tell you? She’s dead.”
Mavis frowned. “She gave me a warning, before she was murdered. I didn’t think much about it at the time, so I pretty much blew it off.”
Lexi reached into her bag and grabbed a picture of the Cryptex. “Have you ever seen this?”
Mavis glanced at the picture, a look of fear shot through her eyes. She took the picture and stared at it for a long time. “I haven’t seen this since I was a little girl. Where did you get it?”
“I can’t say. We’re looking into a lot of things.”
“Shirley had it, didn’t she?” Her voice trailed off, a faraway look on her face as she spoke the words.
The door opened and
Lexi turned to see the retired postmaster, Dell Chimay, walk in.
Mavis quickly handed the picture back, almost shoving it into Lexi’s hands. “I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”
“No problem.” Lexi stammered the words out. “I need to get back to the office. Thank you for your time.”
She turned towards Mr. Chimay and extended her hand, “I don’t think we’ve ever been properly introduced. I’m Velda’s granddaughter, Lexi.”
“Yes,” he said, as he held up a bandaged hand. “Pardon me if I don’t shake.”
“Oh my, what happened?”
“I had an accident. It’ll be fine.” He glanced around at Mavis. Lexi could tell he was anxious to speak with her, so she said her goodbyes. It was no secret that he and Mavis had some kind of real estate competition going on so she didn’t mind leaving. She wasn’t in the mood to listen to them argue over a piece of property. According to Grams, their discussions could get pretty heated.
CHAPTER 18
As she left the Magistrate’s office her phone rang. It was Decatur Williams, from the library. Odd timing, she thought to herself. Apparently the librarian had been going through more old files and ran across some Lexi might find interesting. She had planned to stop by the library, so this was just the excuse she needed. On the way, she decided she’d just get the papers from Mrs. Williams and not push her luck asking to see any more files.
Back at the office, she grabbed a cup of coffee and started rummaging through the old town records that Mrs. Williams had given her. Most of them were practically useless. Lexi wondered why she thought they could be of help, but she found one page that was stuck between two other pages. It was literally stuck, causing her to almost miss it. She gently pulled one of the pages away from it. The ink had faded, and some of the words from the other pages had transposed themselves onto the page she wanted to read, but she could make out the distinct drawing on the page. The symbol from the Cryptex and the old mausoleum. She squinted to make out the words written beneath it, but only the name Danforth was legible enough.