by CeeCee James
I kept quiet. Was I being ridiculous or was he being smug? I couldn’t tell.
He must have realized how he was coming across because his smile softened. “Aw, I’m sorry. I’m yanking your chain. You don’t deserve it. Seriously, I hit him with a nine mm and there ain’t no way he was going to be able to dig that one out at home.”
“So, what do you think happened to him?”
“I think he either has connections we don’t know about, or he ended up holed somewhere for a few days.”
“What if I have an idea where he holed up?”
“You think you can solve that cold case?”
I shrugged. “What about the skeleton discovered at the Valentine’s?”
“Listen, you want me to dig into that, you need to show me a connection between the robber and the Valentines. Right now I don’t have the time to track down every unidentified body that’s found to see if it’s from a burglary twelve years ago. But I’ll look into this, if you promise to see what you can learn on your end.”
My confusion still ensued. He rolled his eyes, obviously done with me. “Just tell me what the Valentine’s are saying about the skeleton. Keep me in the loop.” With that, he heaved his considerable bulk from the chair. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have an interrogation in room two.”
“Of course,” I said, standing as well. I followed him out to the hall, where he went to the left and I went to the right. I waved goodbye to the receptionist, who barely glanced up as I left.
Chapter 20
How in the world was I going to find a connection between the burglar and the Valentines? Why wouldn’t the cop just search it out because of the time frame?
I sat in my car, my head against the backrest. Two steps forward, one step back, I swear.
All right. What can I do from here?
I could find some more information about the Valentines. The microfilm came to mind. Maybe the library could help.
The bronze statue gave my heart a squeeze again as I walked by, but didn’t evoke the tears of last time. I hurried in and found my way back to the same cabinets as yesterday.
All right, little Brookfield Tribune. Let’s see what you have about this family. I yanked open the cabinet and pushed through the film to the way back. I figured I’d need to start around the 1930’s to find some birth announcements.
The clock ticked in the background as I studied the microfilm. I started out enchanted at the old time news and ads, but as time passed I ignored all but the word Valentine. After careful searching—and a tiny giggle of triumph—I found the birth announcement for Gladys. It was formal and flowery, with the basic information you’d expect, but I felt like I won the lottery. In fact, my cheeks hurt from grinning.
Another half-hour and I’d tracked down the announcements for both Charity, and Richard.
But I couldn’t find anything for the baby.
I knew there was an infant. I’d seen the picture. I searched and searched. Everything came up blank, although I did see a birth announcement for Marla Springfield, from the Springfield restaurant.
I rubbed my forehead and then flipped forward year after year. Still nothing.
A tingling sensation twirled in my stomach. Something was up. To be thorough, I checked clear through the next twenty years. There were no more Valentine birth announcements.
But my eye caught something else quite intriguing. Gladys’s formal ball. The announcement declared it was held at their house, with all of Brookfield’s elite attending.
There was a picture of a beautifully dressed Ms. Valentine with a quiet Mona Lisa’s smile so similar to her mom’s. Surrounding her were several young men dressed to the hilt. The picture had these words under it.
Brookfield’s most eligible bachelors took turns swinging a blushing Miss Valentine out on the dance floor.
I sat back and blinked. With all those eligible men, why hadn’t Gladys Valentine ever married? Back then, there seemed to be a rush to get married, with the title “old maid” applied to single woman who—by today’s standards—were still quite young.
It was hard for me to coincide the jaded woman I knew now to the fresh-faced woman in the photo. She was pretty. Her family quite rich. All the ingredients for men from miles around to come wooing. What on earth happened?
Come to think of it, Charity hadn’t married, either. Nor Richard! It seemed quite unusual that all three—maybe four since I still hadn’t found any information on the baby—of the children had remained single.
Something had to have happened. It seemed the rabbit hole of the Valentine family was deeper than I realized.
I scrolled through the end of the year. There was a wedding announcement for Marla Springfield and Kyle Murphy. My jaw dropped. Was that the Valentine’s Kyle? It had to be. The infamous Kyle…wow. Why hadn’t Marla mentioned the name of her husband when we talked at the restaurant?
The list named the rest of the wedding party. I paused when I came to the maid of honor’s name; Gladys Valentine.
Marla had said she’d had a falling out with Gladys. In fact, she said all of the Valentines had quit talking to her.
I kept scrolling. Later that month was an announcement congratulating the heroes who were leaving for the Korea. Among those on the list were Richard Valentine, and Kyle Murphy. I was right. Marla had been married to that Kyle.
I remembered she said she filed for divorce while her husband was in Korea.
Last among the announcements was a notice of death for Elisabeth Valentine. I assumed it was Mrs. Valentine when I saw that she was survived by her children, Gladys, Charity and Richard, along with her husband.
There was no mention of a fourth child.
Who was that baby? There was no birth announcement, nor death announcement for anyone else in the Valentine family.
I rubbed my forehead and started doodling a list. Okay, what did I know about Kyle?
He was taken in by the Valentine’s because their father felt pity for him when his family died, but he turned out to be quite the mess.
He married Marla later and then she divorced him.
She called him a cheater.
Mrs. Crawford was still in touch with him.
I stared at the list as more pieces started tumbling around. Most notably, the fact that Marla and Gladys had a falling out in their friendship. I knew they had once been close, as evidenced by Gladys being in Marla’s wedding.
I gasped. I knew what had happened, and I knew who the baby was. Gladys must have had an affair with Kyle.
Which meant the baby was the son of Gladys Valentine and Kyle Murphy.
Back in the 40’s, having a child out of wedlock was a huge taboo. Families even sent their daughters away so that no one would know. As an elite family in the town, it would have been a secret the Valentines never would have wanted out. Especially since the baby had come from an affair. They would have been black listed from everything. They would have been ruined.
I remembered the scripture that had been highlighted with the picture of the baby. It had mentioned, “In sin did my mother conceive me.”
The original Mrs. Valentine must have tried to pass the baby off as hers. But when she died, the baby disappeared as well. Where did he go?
So far, I’ve found skeleton’s left and right in the Valentine family line, like people had warned me. But they weren’t helping me on identifying the real skeleton that I’d found in the bedroom.
I figured I’d email Officer Benson with what I learned, although at this point it felt more like gossip you’d hear at the local beauty parlor. Which made me think of Jan from the Post Office. Maybe I should visit her one more time. After all, I remembered how she liked to talk. Maybe if I came with some direct questions, she’d have something more to say.
I glanced at the clock and saw it was about fifteen minutes before five. Without another thought, I grabbed my purse and headed out of the library.
My brain was spinning as I drove, and I hoped Jan was working.
I found a parking spot right in front of the post office and squeezed my car in, then jumped out. I was running for the door just as Jan was coming with the keys.
“Hi!” I said breathlessly. “Is there any way I can get a book of stamps before you close?”
She glanced at her watch, her dutch-boy haircut falling forward. “Sure, we have about five minutes. It’s been kind of quiet around here so I was just going to flip the sign. But we still have time.”
Jan led me to the back. Her sensible shoes squeaked against the linoleum. I don’t know how she could stand that noise all day. She pulled out a book from a drawer and set them on the counter. “One book or two?”
“Oh,” I scrambled in my purse for my wallet. “One is fine.”
“So, how’s it going up at the Valentine Manor?” she asked casually. I bit back a smile. So she wanted to do a little fishing for info, as well. That was good for me.
“It’s going good.” I hesitated a second. “I saw a couple pictures. One of Kyle and Richard in their uniforms."
“Those two were trouble personified.”
“Really?” I asked, leaning against the counter.
“Oh, yeah. They were what we called Greasers back in the day. You have any idea what they were? Troublemakers for sure. Quite the little thieves.”
“Did they ever get caught?”
“Why do you think Mr. Valentine was in such a rush to get them into the military?”
“Sounds like they really did everything together. I bet you’re surprised Kyle never came back to see Richard. Has he ever been back?”
“They had a falling out,” Jan said. “Honestly, it’s no surprise. Kyle Murphy wasn’t ever close to anyone. Not even with his parents before they died. And then, when Marla divorced him, I suppose he didn’t have a reason to return.”
“Speaking of the family, I saw a picture of all of the Valentines together.” I hesitated, not sure how I was going to explain what I saw in the picture. “Interestingly, besides the three kids there was a baby as well.”
“That should tell you something right there,” Jan said with a quick nod.
“Tell me what?” I asked. This was what I was waiting for.
She pushed over my stamps. “Anything else?”
Oh, no! Was she avoiding me? “No, no that’s all.” I pushed over my debit card, and tried again with new bait. “Did you ever think it was weird that none of them have kids?”
“How do you know that?”
“Well, I mean…” I shrugged. Wasn’t it obvious? “None of the Valentine’s are married.”
“Honey, you don’t have to be married to have a baby.”
Oh, she’s hovering over the hook! “But they seem so proper,” I teased out.
She shrugged. “There are rumors. Lots of rumors. I’m surprised you haven’t heard of them yet.”
This is what I was waiting for. I leaned in closer and tried to keep the look of eagerness from my face like I was a cat about to pounce on the canary. “What kinds of rumors?”
“Juicy ones. Ones you should know if you’re selling that house.”
“Juicy, like how?”
Jan shrugged. “Let’s just say if there was a baby, the baby disappeared right around the time Kyle did.”
“Was Gladys the mom?” I whispered.
She glanced behind me and straightened. “There’s a customer behind you I need to help. Will there be anything else?”
I glanced in the room and saw a woman was at the counter filling out a form. It looked like it would take her a minute. Surely Jan had time to answer my question? I looked back to see a stiff smile on Jan’s face. I was dismissed, no doubt about it.
What was it about this town keeping the Valentine’s secrets?
Chapter 21
“I have great news!” Kari squealed through the phone. “We have a buyer for the Valentine mansion!”
“That is great!” Was she serious! This house really was about to be in my rearview mirror after all!
“Well, the only problem is that I am completely booked for today. Do you feel comfortable enough to swing by the place and get the family to sign it? It’s completely cut and dry. The buyers didn’t ask for anything out of the contract. And when the Valentines have finished, put up the sale pending sign?”
I’d covered that aspect in my online realty class, and was beginning to get the feeling that Kari liked having an assistant. “Absolutely, I can do it. I guess you can just text me the details and...”
“Awesome, thanks! Everything you need will be on my desk.” And then there was a dial tone.
Okay, then.
Of course, it would happen right now. The movers had called and were finally showing up with my things this afternoon.
I was looking forward to my full wardrobe. I pulled the second outfit out of the bag that I’d bought the other day and got ready to go.
Tan slacks, a pastel pink camisole, and a cup of coffee in my hand later, I was out the door. I drove straight to the Flamingo Realty. No one was there, but Uncle Chris had given me the key. I walked inside and over to Kari’s desk where I found everything as expected. I glanced over the forms and saw that the buyer was a company called Diamond Enterprises. I typed the name into my browser on my phone, which came up with a site that said they provided “luxury condominiums and vacation rentals.”
I raised my eyebrows. It seemed like the small town’s fears of getting more traffic in the future were true.
I grabbed the stuff and headed back to my car, being sure to lock the door on my way out.
As I drove, I saw a grandpa walking into a restaurant with his grandson. It reminded me, when was I going to work up the guts to see Oscar? He was half the reason I moved out here. How many more times was I going to drive past his place?
Soon, I promised myself. When I get this Valentine business wrapped up.
I glanced at the Sold sign bouncing on the seat next to me as I rattled down the road. Soon was coming up awfully fast.
I pulled into the Valentine driveway and parked the car. I smiled, so excited to nearly be done with this place. As I walked up to the porch, I saw the carved heart I’d seen before, the one that was scratched out. I leaned down to see if I could make it out any better.
There was definitely a K, which could stand for Kyle. But what was the other initial? Despite being scraped, there was an odd flourish still visible that seemed strange to be a part of a G for Gladys. I puzzled over it, wondering what it was.
The door opened then, making me jerk up.
“Ms. O’Neil,” Ms. Valentine said. She smiled. “Ms. Missler said you’d be stopping by with an offer.”
Her brother, Richard, popped up behind her. “She’s probably going to try and get us to accept something that will rob us blind.”
“Now, Richard. Ms. O’Neil is quite capable. I’m sure she has our best interests in mind.”
My mouth dropped. Was Ms. Valentine being the voice of kindness?
Was a certain fiery place freezing over?
“Hello. Yes. I do have some papers to go over with you.” I fumbled the folder of papers, managing to drop the pen. I picked up the pen and dropped the sold sign. When I glanced up, Richard had disappeared. Ms. Valentine stared down her nose in her usual disapproving way.
“I don’t happen to have much faith in your competence, but it’s important to make a show of confidence in front of my siblings. I hope you won’t make me regret my support.”
I grinned—a bitter one—and stared right back. I’d had just about enough. I’d cleaned this house, stayed all weekend to show potential buyers, talked to police, and overcame my fears just so that I could help sell her manor.
I could feel it bubbling up— a low blow. It was coming. I gritted my jaw to stop it.
“Are you coming in, or are you here to waste my time again?” she asked.
“I noticed this carving here,” I said, lightly touching it.
Her eyes went wide as she glanced at it.
> “It looks like a K and a G. Was that you and Kyle?”
Her mouth opened even wider than her eyes. I immediately kicked myself. I thought for sure she was going to slam the door in my face, but instead she brought her cane around front and leaned on it with both hands.
She raised her eyebrows. “I knew you were snooping. What have you seen?”
Well, score one for her. I wasn’t expecting to be confronted so boldly. But it was true. I had been snooping. And for good reason. I’d found a dead person in her house.
I lifted my chin and answered, “I saw a picture of your family. There was a baby in it, a baby that no one acknowledges or seems to have any information about. Was that baby yours and Kyle Murphy’s?”
Her eyes hardened as she watched me. Her gaze chilled me, like she could see something inside me that I didn’t know myself. I shifted slightly.
“You think I’m Kyle’s illicit lover?”
I licked my lip and nodded. “I think that was a good possibility. Is that why Marla cut her friendship off from you?”
“Well, you’re wrong. Dead wrong.” She laughed then, shocking me to my core. Her eye sparkled with a superiority as though I were ridiculous with my conjecture.
I didn’t know how to recover, to be honest. I stood there, like a catfish that had just been caught by noodling, papers limp in my hand, wondering what to do next. Do I just carry on like nothing had happened?
Ms. Valentine knew she’d won that round. “Now, are you ready to come in, or shall we continue?”
I swallowed and lifted the folder. “Time to sign, I think,” I said.
She led me down the hall, her cane making its characteristic thumping. There was a moment she veered toward the library and I panicked, but then she opened the study door.
“Charity! Richard!” she called.
I went over the offer as quickly as possible like my realty classes had taught me. There was nothing unexpected, which is probably why Kari allowed me to do it. Richard signed and then immediately left. I heard the car gun it outside, and dirt spit as he drove away.