by K P Stafford
She left the room thinking how odd it was that none of his equipment was in his room. But then again, it could be smart. People had been known to break into these little bungalows. With any luck he knew his stuff would be safer in his car. If not, then they’d have to consider this a robbery gone bad and not part of the ongoing murder investigation.
She clicked the button, heard the sound of the locks popping up and opened the driver’s side door. Typical reporter. He practically lived in his car. Food wrappers, empty coffee cups. It wasn’t as bad as she’d seen in the city, but it was still pretty bad. With a gloved hand she moved some trash around, looking to see if a computer or camera was hiding underneath. She found nothing.
Lexi climbed out of the car and walked to the trunk. She was a bit reluctant to pop it open, afraid she’d find a worse mess than the one she just dug through. She inhaled and clicked the trunk release button on the fob. The latch released and the trunk opened a few inches. Here goes, she thought, as she pushed the trunk lid open. Bingo! The interior of the man’s car looked like a slob lived in it, but his trunk was pristine. Everything was neatly organized; file folders, his laptop, his camera and accessories. Lexi let out a sigh of relief. Hopefully she could find some clues in his files or on his computer. Luckily Jake was headed home, so if she needed a hacker to get into the computer files, Jake was the guy. His hacking skills weren’t a fact he let everyone know about, but since he’d helped with a few cases that required more computer skills than Lexi had, he’d finally told her about them. Now he hacked away at anything that gave them problems.
CHAPTER 12
John sent Lexi home early, knowing that Jake would be returning home. He asked if she’d take the files and computer home with her and have Jake start digging into the contents. She knew Jake would want to be updated on everything that had happened the past few days, so she agreed. She couldn’t wait to see him, but she also couldn’t wait to run some things by him and get his opinion. He was often more objective about things than she was, especially if it involved friends, family or emotions, and so far, this case included all three. It hadn’t been mentioned in awhile, but Lexi was still very concerned about the tomb that had been defaced, her last name on the crypt, and how it all tied into Shirley’s death.
The one lead and suspect they had was now dead. He couldn’t give them any answers. She thought about why someone would kill him. He had been snooping around the town and made enemies of almost everyone. Anyone could have killed him, but the majority of the town’s residents were kind, caring people. Of course, the worst could be brought out in people, causing them to do things they wouldn’t normally do to protect themselves or their secrets. Whoever had killed him must have felt threatened. Or it had been a robbery gone bad, but for some reason, the killer hadn’t had time to get the reporter’s keys to go through his car. She wasn’t ruling out that possibility. She hoped it was the more likely possibility, but the niggling in her gut told her she was probably wrong. She first suspected Decatur Williams, but Finche’s time of death estimate didn’t correlate with the time Mrs. Williams had met with him. Her alibi was solid.
Grams and Agatha excused themselves after they’d all pitched in to clean up after dinner. This gave Jake and Lexi time to catch up and cuddle on the couch in front of a toasty fire. She carried a tray of tea and cookies into the living room so they could settle in.
Lexi snuggled under Jake’s arm, enjoying the quiet and peace. She wanted to discuss things with him, but just being beside him, breathing in his scent, was more needed than anything else at the moment. They had wedding plans to talk about, too. Unfortunately, it didn’t appear that a wedding would be happening anytime soon. She let out a long sigh. The circumstances and not knowing about the Danforth who was buried in the local cemetery raised a lot of doubts. Was she a descendant of the guy? And why had the people of Mystic Cove all but removed his existence from the town records? She hadn’t voiced her concerns to anyone. She knew she had to share them with Jake, but a big part of her was afraid to find out the truth. Afraid that Jake couldn’t handle the truth if it turned out to be bad news.
Jake rubbed her arm and kissed her on top of the head. His presence was warm and cozy. It was nice to have him home. She’d missed him more than she’d ever expected to. Secretly, she hoped he wouldn’t have to go on many business trips like this.
She felt him take in a deep breath, so she raised up and looked at him. “You want to know what’s been going on?”
“Yeah, but I also want to sit here quietly, with you, and not think about anything else in the world. But, I know you and John have a case to solve, and if I can help out in any way, I want to.”
She grabbed the reporter’s laptop and handed it to Jake. “You can start with this. I haven’t even tried to look at it.”
“See, I knew you were ready to jump right in,” he said, a wide grin on his face. “It’s not like you to not be nosy and want to jump into something. Why did you wait for me?”
“I know, but I have a weird feeling about this case, and I think I’m afraid of what I’m going to discover. Besides, we just got the laptop today and I haven’t had time.”
Jake reached out and squeezed her hand. “It’s going to be okay. Whatever we discover, we will deal with it.”
“What if the secrets in this town are something we can’t recover from?”
“Lexi, you know these people are strong and resilient. They’ll be okay. They’re a lot tougher than you give them credit for.”
“It’s not them I’m worried about.”
“Stop worrying, at least until we find out if there’s something to worry about.”
Jake booted up the laptop while Lexi started digging through some of the paper files of Norman Davis. Some of the papers were really old. Some were new printouts of old documents. Most of them were about the town, dating back only about one hundred and fifty years. She grabbed the last folder of papers and flipped it open. These files dated back to the late seventeen hundreds, the time of the previous Danforth that had lived Cryptic Cove. As she scanned them, a few local surnames stuck out. The ancestors had still lived in the area.
Jake turned the computer screen towards Lexi. “This is kind of odd. He’s taken a lot of pictures around town, but for some reason he has a lot of pictures of Dell Chimay. I think he was following him.”
“That is odd. He’s a retired postal worker. I’m guessing he’d know almost all of the families that live around here. I wonder what that has to do with anything though.”
“That’s a good question.” Jake said as he scrolled through more images on the computer.
Lexi flipped through the last file folder some more. Inside was a paper on something called coffin torture. It was complete with images. Supposedly, people were put into a metal or wooden cage and then tortured in public, or put on display in the town square so the town’s people could poke, gouge or throw things at the person locked inside.
Another paper in the same file was an order receipt from the local hardware company. She checked the list. Many of the items could be used for such a contraption as this coffin torture thing. She gasped when she read the name on the receipt.
“What’s wrong? Did you find something?” Jake asked.
She showed him the pages and the receipt. “Maybe this is why the reporter was following Mr. Chimay so closely.”
Jake looked at the information. Concern crossed his face. “You should have John check into this. If Chimay caught the guy following him and he has something to hide, he could be a suspect, at least in the death of the reporter.” Jake looked at her, “I want you to promise you’ll let John handle this. I don’t want you going off on your own and confronting this guy. He could be dangerous.”
She stuffed the pages back into the folder and laid it on the coffee table before picking up her cup of tea. “I know. I’ll let John deal with this.” She assured Jake, but her mind was already reeling with questions and gruesome images of someone being put o
n display and tortured in such a heinous manner. What if he had been building this for Shirley, but things got out of hand at her place when he tried to kidnap her or something. She put the cup of tea down and grabbed the folder again. The guy could be building this thing for the upcoming Halloween set at the town square. That wasn’t a far-fetched idea, was it?
Jake turned sideways, his eyes laser focused and his expression serious, “I mean it Lexi. You let John deal with this guy.”
“I will. That thing scares me.” She said, pointing to the folder.
Jake went back to work on the computer files. She could tell he had his doubts because trouble seemed to find her, and yeah, sometimes she did go off on her own to investigate. But, she was trying to do better and not get herself into situations, with bad guys or with Jake.
CHAPTER 13
Lexi showed John the papers and photos that she and Jake had discovered on the reporter’s laptop. There was still a lot to go through, but John agreed that he needed to speak with Mister Dell Chimay and find out what he knew. He grabbed a cup of coffee to go and told her he’d be gone an hour or so. Mr. Chimay lived on a farm just outside of town.
Lexi flipped through more of the reporter’s files, but didn’t find anything significant, so she decided to stare at the diner across the street. It was the first place she’d seen Jake after she’d arrived in town the year before.
She started thinking about the current case. Was it possible that Dell had killed Shirley and the reporter? What would he gain from digging into the town secrets? He was always a friendly guy, but that didn’t always mean anything when it came to secrets; whether someone wanted to hide them or reveal them.
A large man entering the diner caught her attention. It was Dell Chimay. Crap, John was gone to speak to him. She dialed John’s cell phone number and heard it ringing from his office. Double crap! He’d left his phone at the office, which was something he was good at because he wasn’t used to carrying one. Surely he’d be back soon when he discovered that Dell wasn’t at home. Of course, it’d take him twenty minutes to get to Dell’s place and another twenty minutes to get back into town. A whole forty minutes, and that was if he didn’t run into anyone to chat with. Another thing John was good at was chatting with people for long periods of time, sometimes losing track of time.
Dangit! She couldn’t take the risk that the man would be gone by the time John returned, but she had promised Jake she wouldn’t question the man and get herself into any trouble. He was in a public place, so what could it hurt to go over and try to get some information out of him?
She stood up just as her phone rang. She looked at the Caller ID. Apparently her decision was made, she couldn’t ignore a phone call from the sheriff’s office. She didn’t want to take the call either, but that was beside the point. She sat back down and picked up the receiver.
CHAPTER 14
Lexi met with the ladies that afternoon at Crystal Scents. They normally met for morning coffee, but Grams had called and asked her to stop by.
When she arrived, the ladies were in a deep discussion. They turned to look at her. Mavis Clark, the town’s Magistrate, who was normally a cranky old bat, was the first one to speak. “Come on in, Lexi. I think I have something you’ll be interested in.”
Lexi walked on in while Mavis kept talking and sifting through the papers in front of her. “As you know, a lot of the old town records have disappeared. We can’t figure out why, but I did go through some old boxes that were stuffed into the corner of the basement at my office.” She found the paper she was looking for while she took a breath. She held out the paper. “I found this one stuffed in a box with other old records, but the strange thing is, this paper had nothing to do with the others. Either someone shoved it in there by mistake, or maybe they wanted to hide it quickly and never got back around to it.”
Lexi hesitated before taking the paper. She’d never heard Mavis speak in such an upbeat manner. Oh, she always had plenty to say, but it was usually mean, rude and dripping with sarcasm. Lexi suspected she’d been drinking. She definitely wasn’t acting like her typical self.
She noticed Lexi staring at her. “Don’t worry dear, I’m just excited to find this paper. I do get excited, you know. I’ll be back to my old grumpy self when all this blows over.”
At least the woman knew she was out of character. Lexi looked down at the paper. The name was the same as the one on the old crypt in the cemetery. William H. Danforth. Her eyes grew wide as she looked back up at Mavis who began to point out a few things.
“As you can see, he owned many of the properties here in town. The thing I find odd is that his home address is missing. It’s been purposely scratched out. So we have no clue who in town now owns that property and what could be hidden on it.”
“You’re right. If we could figure that out and search the place, we might find some of the lost information, or at least some clue as to why the town decided to hide or destroy the old records. It could also tell us what the killer is after.”
Ms. Jensen had been quiet the whole time, but she finally spoke. “What if the killer is looking for that property, too? We don’t know who else could be in danger.”
Agatha piped in, “What if that reporter found the property, and whoever killed Shirley also killed him so he couldn’t tell anyone else. The killer may already know where that property is.”
Grams eased forward to join the conversation. “I think it’s time we all start trying to remember what our grandparents hid.
Ms. Jensen raised her voice, but the words squeaked out of her mouth. “For goodness sakes, Velda, that was over fifty years ago. We were just children.”
“I know, but the elders told us to remember when we got older, and the Cryptex was turned over to one of us. How have we gotten so lax in all these years. Our weekly card games used to include discussions about the things hidden. Now the hidden has become the forgotten.” Grams replied.
“Apparently, someone hasn’t forgotten about the hidden, and they are going to great lengths to make sure this town’s secrets are uncovered.” Ms. Jensen said, wringing her hands as she paced the floor.
“Well, we probably shouldn’t have allowed this to be buried,” Mavis Clark spoke calmly, “but we never expected any of this to come back to haunt us.”
Agatha stood up and looked at the other ladies, “I didn’t even think it was real. I thought the elders were just paranoid and had overactive imaginations. But after what I’ve been through, there’s people in this world who do awful things, and will go to any lengths necessary to get what they want.”
The ladies shook their heads in unison.
Grams reached out and rubbed Agatha’s arm, “It has come back to haunt us. We know it’s real now, or at least someone believes it is. That’s why it’s so important for us to remember, or at least do our best to find out.”
“I’m not so sure we should be digging into it now, either.” Ms. Jensen said. She had been visibly shaken during the whole conversation.
As the oldest of the ladies, she was probably the most afraid of bad things happening. She lived alone, so it was understandable that she would be afraid, especially with no idea who the killer could go after next.
Lexi took the paper Mavis had found and headed back to the office. She wanted to look over the properties listed and dig through some old maps. She hoped some of the locations still existed, but it was doubtful. People buy property, tear down old buildings and replace them with new ones. Maybe she could find a pattern or at least figure out which parts of town were the oldest and which buildings might have some clues hidden somewhere inside.
She thought back to what Grams had said about the Cryptex. John had been upset when he saw it. He’d left the office with it in his pocket the afternoon of Shirley’s death. It hadn’t really been mentioned since then. Lexi had no clue where he’d taken it, but it was time to ask him. The item apparently came with its share of danger and bad omens. The morgue and constable’s office
had already been ransacked, as had the library. Whatever the killer wanted had something to do with that item. Lexi looked at the paper in her hand. Obviously, these locations could hold clues too.
CHAPTER 15
Friday night was a welcome relief. It had been a week since the death of Shirley and a few days since the murder of the reporter. Jake and Lexi looked forward to the dinner Peyton had planned and prepared. It was supposed to be for planning the wedding, but Lexi had a feeling they’d end up talking about everything else that was happening.
They arrived to find Charlie and Paisley on the living room floor with boxes and plastic pieces.
Paisley looked up with a huge smile on her face, “Look Aunt Lexi and Uncle Jake, Charlie got us these cool drones. We’re going out tomorrow to fly them around.”
Jake headed in their direction to join in on the assembly process. “That’s so cool.” He said as he rubbed the top of her head.
“We can even take pictures and movies with them.” Paisley exclaimed, her face lit up. Lexi’s heart pinched seeing her happy and smiling again after the ordeal several months back. Since that time, Charlie had taken up with her, and they were now best buds. Peyton refused to acknowledge the fact that there was something between herself and Charlie on a personal level, but it was definitely apparent that he’d stepped in as a big brother, or father figure, for Paisley, and she was fast becoming a well-rounded child again.
Lexi headed to the kitchen to help Peyton with last minute details for getting the meal on the table.
As she looked back into the living room, her heart melted at the laughter and smiles coming from the three engineers who were working hard to get their project put together. “Charlie and Paisley sure are close now.” She said as she turned back towards the kitchen. “It’s so good to see that she’s gotten past that whole mess.”
