by Patricia Fry
Savannah nodded. “Actually, yes.” She shook her head. “They didn’t find anything. Craig says that doesn’t mean it’s not there, but they certainly must have narrowed down the possible hiding places.”
“Just what does Craig expect you to encounter there with this gal?” Michael asked, more seriously now.
Holly shot a look at her sister-in-law. She could tell that Savannah was feeling uncomfortable.
“It’s just surveillance,” she explained. “Hey, remember Pastor Sheila’s daughter? We met her when she visited her mother last summer. She lives in that area. Maybe she even knows the gal we’re looking for. I think I’ll text her.”
“Well, I’m going to bed,” Gladys announced.
“Me too,” Holly said. “I’ll see you in the morning.” She turned back. “Hey, whoever gets up earliest, stick the applesauce bread in, will you? It’ll take forty-minutes to bake.”
****
“Pastor Sheila’s daughter, Kelly, said she thinks she might know who Harriet is,” Savannah announced over a light breakfast Sunday morning. “I sent her a photo and she recognizes her as someone she’s seen in her neighborhood.”
“I thought you gave that photo to Craig for fingerprints,” Holly said.
Savannah grinned. “Yeah, but I took a picture of it first.”
Holly shook her head and raised her hand for a high five.
Savannah continued, “Kelly was intrigued by what I told her—which was a bit of a fib—and she’s interested in trying to identify her for us. Wouldn’t that make our life easier if we could just walk right up to her house, do a search, and find the jewels?”
“Dreamer,” Holly said.
“Yeah, too easy, huh?” Savannah heard her phone chime and she looked across the room at where it was charging on the counter. “That might be her,” she said, walking to the counter and reading the text. “Oh, she says the gal who resembles the one in the picture goes by the name Harriet Bell. I guess she’s no longer proud of her maiden name. She lives alone, just a block from Kelly and her family. Kelly sees a cat in Harriet’s window sometimes. A black-and-white cat. Zowie, can’t wait to tell Craig we’ve already found her.”
When she had the chance to share this information with Craig later that day at the friends-and-family luncheon, he thinned his lips and rubbed his chin, then finally said, “It’s too easy.”
“What do you mean it’s too easy?” Savannah asked. “I went to a lot of work to get that information—a lot of thought and time and conniving.”
Craig grinned at her and asked. “Can you leave tomorrow? With so much information coming our way like this, I’m concerned that we need to jump on it quickly so she doesn’t get spooked and bolt or someone else doesn’t get wind of this lead and beat us to her.”
Savannah thought for a moment, then said, “Yeah, I think I can go tomorrow. What time?”
Meanwhile, Gladys and Helena walked out to the expanse of lawn where the others mingled. They each placed a large platter in the middle of the table. “Homemade veggie-and-sausage pizza,” Gladys announced.
“And a beautiful garden salad,” Iris said as she approached the table with a large bowl in her hands.
“Who wants iced tea?” Gladys asked.
Savannah responded, “Sit down, Mom. I’ll bring the pitcher and the coffee carafe out. Cups and glasses are on the table.”
“I’ll help,” Holly said, rushing to catch up with Savannah.
“Thanks. I was wondering how I’d manage the pitcher of lemonade too.”
Holly glanced around, then whispered, “Doesn’t look like Sharon’s going to make it.”
“I noticed that,” Savannah said. But when she and Holly returned to the table with the beverages, they saw that Sharon had arrived. “Hi,” Savannah greeted. “Please sit wherever you want. What would you like to drink? Lemonade, iced tea, coffee…?”
“The tea sounds nice,” Sharon said, easing into a chair next to Colbi. She patted Colbi’s arm. “Hi, how are you?” She glanced around at the children. “Now which baby is yours?”
“The youngest girl,” Colbi said. “…there with her Grandpa Craig.” She laughed. “Looks like he’s teaching her how to do the tango.”
Sharon laughed.
When Savannah poured Sharon’s tea, she said, “Good to see you. Glad you could make it.”
Sharon grimaced. “Well, to tell you the truth, I almost changed my mind. Something came up and I was thinking about leaving town for a few days. I decided against it, though. I don’t want to bail on the committee. There’s a lot to do to get the fundraiser off the ground and we didn’t leave ourselves much time. We want to hold the event while the weather’s still good.”
“Won’t it be held inside?”
Sharon’s face lit up. “We’ve decided to expand and provide an indoor and outdoor dance floor. That’ll give us more room inside and out to set up the games. You know, for the old-fashioned cakewalk and things. Did I tell you we’re making ice cream?” She giggled. “We’re talking about having a kissing booth, but we haven’t decided who’s going to do the kissing. Someone suggested your dog—what’s her name?”
“Lexie,” Savannah said, laughing. “Oh, she’d love that!”
“Yeah, and Colbi says there’s a store downtown that rents vintage clothing and offers discounts for groups. We’re encouraging everyone to dress in period clothing.”
“I love it!” Savannah said, sitting down across from Sharon and Colbi and next to Brianna. When Brianna had ended her conversation with Margaret, Savannah said, “Bri, I don’t think you’ve met Sharon. She was asking me for a doctor recommendation the other day and I told her about you.”
Sharon’s eyes widened. “How nice to meet you,” she said graciously.
“Likewise,” Brianna said. “Yes, come on down to the office when you’re ready for a checkup or if you sprain an ankle or something.”
Sharon nodded. “Sure will. Yes, if I decide to stay, I’ll sure come in to see you. Thanks.”
“You’re thinking about moving on?” Colbi asked. “There really isn’t much here to bring newcomers, is there? No industry to speak of.”
Just then Michael appeared from the house with an armload of juice boxes for the children. Gladys followed, carrying a large bowl.
“What do you have there, Gladys?” Max asked. “Can I help you with that?”
“Yeah, you can help us eat it,” Michael said.
Gladys laughed. “It’s fresh fruit.”
“You folks really dine well, don’t you?” Sharon said.
“Yes, we do,” Savannah agreed. “Come on, let’s eat before it gets cold—or warm.”
Once the meal was over, Sharon joined some of the other guests and carried a few things into the kitchen.
“Thanks,” Savannah said, taking a stack of plates from her and rinsing them in the sink.
“Savannah, can I speak with you?” Sharon asked.
Savannah glanced at the dishes yet to be dealt with, then looked at Sharon. “Well, I guess so. Okay.” She led Sharon into the living room. “What is it?” she asked.
“Well, it’s just that I want you to know I did come here looking for the Verano fortune.”
Savannah frowned and repeated, “The Verano fortune? Sharon, that was not the Verano family’s jewelry.”
Sharon slapped at the air. “Oh, well, that’s what we’ve always called it in the family. Actually, we didn’t know what the fortune was or if it even existed. It was one of those urban legends that trickled down through the family tree. We grew up knowing there was a fortune somewhere that was never found—presumably in the original Verano home, unless, of course, someone had already found it, which was highly possible.” She looked briefly into Savannah’s eyes. “I think I should tell you that…” she paused, “well, I went to Colorado with Harriet, my cousin. We were going to look for the fortune together. I should have known she would ditch me.” She winced. “Sava
nnah, I definitely want the reward for turning her in. She has to be the one who found the stuff and took it, but I don’t think she did it alone.”
“Oh?” Savannah questioned.
“Yeah, I think you should know that going after Harriet could be dangerous. I believe she’s working with someone. In fact he contacted us—Harriet and me. He knew we were related to the Veranos. Dino Verano—you know, the first one—was our great uncle. He was married to our great aunt, Anna Slattery Verano. This guy found us and, I guess, figured that maybe we knew where the jewelry was. He actually seemed to know more about the…hidden treasure than we did. But he thought we could lead him to it.”
“Who is it?” Savannah asked, fully expecting to hear Detective Milner’s name come from her mouth.
Sharon hesitated. “I don’t think it will help you if you know his name. I just want to warn you to watch your back and don’t believe everything—in fact don’t believe anything my cousin tells you.” At that, Sharon smiled toward the women and the few men who were helping in the kitchen and said, “This has been nice, but I really need to go.”
Savannah stood stunned as Sharon walked out the front door and closed it behind her.
****
The following day, Craig, Savannah, and Rags had been on the road for a couple of hours when Craig asked, “So is your sister-in-law leaving today?”
Savannah nodded. “Yes, Michael’s taking her to catch a commuter plane to San Francisco.” She faced him. “Hey, we could have taken her to the airport.”
“Oh, I don’t know if that would have worked out. We’re actually stopping off before we reach the big city.” He glanced at her. “You two get along more like sisters than in-laws.”
Savannah smiled. “Isn’t it uncanny? It’s like we’ve known each other all our lives.”
Savannah broke the silence that followed by saying, “Craig, I had a strange conversation with Sharon yesterday.”
“Sharon?” he questioned. “Oh, the Verano relative.”
“Yes.” She took a deep breath and ran her hand over Rags, who had joined her in the front passenger seat. “Sharon says there’s someone else involved—a man.”
Craig glanced at her. “Yeah, we know that, Savannah. Remember, we’ve got him in jail.”
Savannah nodded. “Yes, at first I thought she meant the crooked detective. But I get the impression that it’s someone who’s still at large—you know, on the run.” She turned to face him. “Where do you think the jewelry is, really? There’s strong evidence that someone found it—why would they blow up the house if they hadn’t found the jewels? But the most likely suspects are still hanging around as if nothing has changed.”
“Yeah?” Craig said.
“Well, you’d think that someone would want to get rid of it as fast as they could—you know, get cash for it and leave the country or something.”
“Red flag, Savannah. Huge red flag.” When she remained silent, he explained, “You have to remember, it’s unique jewelry, one-of-a-kind pieces, and not so easy to exchange for cash or something else that would be easier to unload.”
“Do you mean whoever took it may sit on it for another hundred years?”
He chuckled. “I doubt that. But they may be smart enough to keep a low profile, at least until the heat’s lifted.” He winked at her. “But I don’t think they know how close we are to them.”
“You really think we’re close, do you?”
He nodded. “I believe we’re very close. Whether Milner hid the stuff at the mines or if someone from the Verano family has it, we’re definitely breathing down their neck. And someone’s going to make a fatal mistake.”
“Fatal?” Savannah asked.
“Well, fatal in that, it will kill their dream to be the world’s next gazillionaire.”
She laughed. “Gazillionaire, huh?”
****
It was just after one that afternoon when Craig pulled into a driveway and parked the car. When he saw Savannah gazing at the house, he said, “We lucked out. This place belongs to an officer I know on the force in the city. He let us use it while he’s vacationing on some island.” He chuckled. “He’s a bachelor, so don’t expect any amenities.”
“You weren’t kidding,” Savannah said, upon entering the sparsely furnished home. She checked out the kitchen, looked into the bathroom, then peered into each of the two bedrooms. “I’ll take this one,” she said, dropping her overnight bag in a small room that had a twin bed covered with a black duvet. “I’ll go get the litter box.”
“Got it,” Craig called. “Where do you want it?”
“How about the bathroom?” she suggested, then said, “Oh, that’s not very nice. Sorry, you don’t want to be tripping over that thing and crunching around barefoot in the sand. Bring it here into my room. I’ll put something down to catch the runaway sand.”
“Where’s your cat?” Craig asked.
“Probably checking out his new digs,” Savannah joked. She stepped into the living room and looked around. “Yup. There he is snooping around in the kitchen.”
“Okay,” Craig said, “what’s Harriet’s address? Want to look it up on your phone GPS thing?”
After a few moments, Savannah said, “It’s one street over, half-block up. Want to walk over that way and get the lay of the land?”
“Sure.” He looked down at Rags. “Bring your cat.”
Once the couple had found their way to the address where Harriet Slattery-Bell was thought to reside, Savannah said, “It’s not very plush.”
“Plush?” Craig questioned.
“Sharon said her cousin lives high on the hog.”
“Maybe she ran into a bit of bad luck,” Craig suggested. “Or she lied. Or…” he said, grinning, “she’s hiding out here until the heat’s off.”
“Could be. I just expected something more opulent, I guess. So what do you think?” she asked. “What’s our plan?” She chuckled. “Shall we walk around the block until she invites us in?”
Craig grinned at her. “Yeah, we’ll think of something. Hey, I like the lost-cat idea. Let’s take Rags to her door and ask if she knows the cat.”
“Today?” she asked. “Right now?”
“Why not? We have him with us. Let’s take the opportunity.”
Craig knocked on the door and they waited. He knocked again. He pointed. “The cat in the window sees us, but he doesn’t seem interested.”
Savannah laughed. “Yeah, he just yawned.”
The two of them started to walk away when a car drove up, pulled into the driveway, and stopped. They watched as a woman in her late-fifties stepped out. She tossed her head to tame her long, side-swept bangs. “May I help you?” she asked, straightening her expensive sweater over her hips.
Yup, that’s Harriet. She looks just like her picture, Savannah thought.
In the meantime, Craig said, “Oh, um…we found this cat. We were wondering if you know who he belongs to.”
Harriet stared down at Rags. She leaned over and petted him, stood back up, and said, “No. I haven’t seen him before. Where did you find him?”
“He came to our house a couple of streets over. Seems like a nice cat,” Craig said. “He must belong to someone.”
“Have you taken him to the vet to see if he has a chip?” she asked.
“Oh, good idea,” Craig said. “Can you recommend someone?”
“I take my cats to Simpson over on Spruce Street.”
“What’s the address?”
“I’ll have to look it up.” Harriet studied them for a moment and said, “Wait here. I’ll write it down for you.”
Craig watched as she opened the front door and went inside. Great! he thought. She left the keys in the lock. What good fortune. As Savannah looked on in shock, he edged toward the door, took the keys, and pocketed them. When he saw Savannah’s expression, he grinned at her.
Once they had the address and phone number, they walked back
to their place, where Craig studied the keys. “Hmmm, car key, house key, another house key—she may have multiple homes if she’s all that wealthy. This might be her hideout.” He held up small key. “This could be her post office box key, but what do you think this little key goes to? I think it’s a padlock key—maybe to a padlock at a storage facility—you know, where people keep their overflow of belongings when their garage is too full of fancy cars. Or it could be for a locker at a bus terminal. But I doubt they have those facilities in a small town like this.” He removed the key in question and held up the ring with the remainder of the keys. “Once it gets dark, I’ll take these over there and leave them outside her house. She’ll think she dropped them. She won’t be the wiser.”
Savannah shook her head. “You’d make a good criminal, Craig.”
He laughed. I guess it has to take one to know one—I mean, I’ve been dealing with low-life scumbags and sophisticated scoundrels for a lot of years. You eventually learn the mentality.” He winked. “And a few tricks.” Suddenly he stood and began looking around the room, pulling out drawers and opening cabinets.
“What are you looking for?” Savannah asked.
“A phone book.”
“Oh, goodness, Craig, no one uses a phone book anymore. It’s a digital world. What do you want to look up?” she asked, pulling out her phone.
“One of those public self-storage places.”
She began tapping and scrolling, then finally picked up a pen and jotted down an address. She handed it to him.
“That was fast.”
“Yeah.” She held up her phone. “These things are time-savers, that’s for sure. So how are you going to find out which storage unit is hers or even if this key goes to a storage unit?”
He grinned at her. “Watch and learn, but I don’t want you to get too attached to this way of life. It can lead you either way—into the world of law-keeping or the other direction.”
She smirked. “I doubt I’ll be entering either world anytime soon. I’m content being a wife and mother and maybe eventually a veterinarian again.”
