Lochlan Museum: The Case of the Collectible Killer

by Melissa R. L. Simonin

  “Good for you,” Daphne said.

  “I love my job, did I mention that? I found the most adorable clock! And a beautiful basin to use as a birdbath. Did I mention I get first crack at all the donate items?”

  “Are you serious?” Daphne asked in surprise.

  “Yes! Anything that isn’t antique, or exhibit-worthy.”

  “Wow, that’s so cool!”

  “I know, isn’t it? The museum doesn’t gain anything from the donate items, since Juniper Creek Thrift doesn’t give a return on what they sell. They’re a charitable organization, they deal in donations only. So, yeah. This is one of the perks of working at the museum. Whatever’s left, is then picked up by Juniper Creek Thrift.”

  “That’s so great,” Daphne said.

  “It is. I have a feeling they’ll have to make several pick-ups this week. The sorting room is loaded. That’s good though, considering their store got trashed.”

  “Do the police have any idea who did that, or why?”

  “If they do, they haven’t published the info,” Claire replied. “I wish I knew. It’s going to bug me until I know the answer.”

  “Go get ‘em, Nancy Drew,” Daphne teased, and Claire laughed.

  “Yeah, right. But… Juniper Creek is a small town. It kind of seems like any mystery ought to be easy to solve, right?”

  “Why would that make any difference?” Daphne wondered.

  “It might not,” Claire admitted. “Maybe he has a peanut allergy.”

  “Huh?” Daphne asked.

  “The neighbor. On Friday I told him I had a peanut butter sandwich. Maybe he’s one of those people who are deathly allergic.”

  “Let’s hope so,” Daphne said optimistically. “Otherwise, he’s just plain… strange.”

  “Yeah, he was so friendly at first. Even though this bugs me, I’ve decided whatever’s the matter with him, it’s not worth investigating.”

  “Good for you,” Daphne said. “I’m afraid that’s one mystery that’ll only end up hurting you if you try and solve him.”

  “Agreed,” Claire replied.

  Still, she thought later, as she was getting ready for bed.

  It wouldn’t hurt to try and solve the other one.

  Chapter 3

  Claire brushed her hair out of her face with the back of her wrist, as she glanced at the clock on the wall of the sorting room.

  Eleven o’ clock, and the perfect time to break for lunch. Or brake. She was stopping, after all. Claire stripped off her gloves, and glanced at the packed shelves of items to donate. She took her phone out of her pocket and snapped a photo, then slung her purse over her shoulder and headed for the door to the parking lot.

  Before she could swipe her ID to temporarily disable the sorting room’s alarm, there was a knock on the door leading to the stairs. She made a very wide detour, swiped to disarm that door, and opened it. On the other side stood Gina, the blond haired, blue eyed girl responsible for the ticket counter and giftshop. She was about Claire’s age, and she was smiling.

  “Hi, Gina,” Claire said. “Back for more? I did unpack some additional merchandise since this morning…”

  “No,” Gina laughed. “I think I got all I could fit in my trunk, for now. I was about to go to lunch. Do you want to come along?”

  “Sure,” Claire decided. “Do you have a place in mind?”

  “Taking economy and location into consideration, how about the diner on Main?” Gina suggested.

  “Perfect. Isn’t that close to the thrift store?” Claire wondered, as she ushered Gina into the sorting room.

  “It’s really close. Can’t you find what you need right here?” Gina joked, with a glance at the mass of donate items.

  “Are you kidding? I could stock a department store with those shelves,” Claire replied. “We need pick-up, is more like it. I can’t get anyone on the phone.”

  “I doubt they’re open for business, after what happened,” Gina commented sadly. “It’ll take a week, at least, to clean everything out.”

  “Have you seen it?” Claire asked, as they crossed the sorting room and exited onto the parking lot.

  “No, I haven’t been by since it happened. But I’ve heard it’s bad.”

  “People have got to be speculating as to why someone would do this,” Claire encouraged her.

  “Everyone is. Jake—he’s my fiancé—has a friend on the police force. They have no idea why, or who. None of it makes sense.”

  “They’ve got nothing? What about fingerprints, or shoeprints?”

  “It’ll take forever to lift prints off everything, then it’ll take weeks to run them through the database. Maybe that’ll turn up something,” Gina replied, but she didn’t sound hopeful. “So… how do you like working at the museum?”

  “I love it,” Claire promptly replied.

  “And what was it you did before?” Gina asked. “I know you were a buyer for an antique store, but what does that mean, exactly?”

  “I made the rounds of the local and area flea markets and garage sales, mostly,” Claire answered. “Sometimes my efforts would turn up nothing. But other times… I’d discover what someone else considered to be trash, and not worth fifty cents. It was actually a treasure worth fifty dollars.”

  “Wow, that’s amazing! How did you learn to tell the difference?” Gina wondered.

  “I learned a lot from my employers. Seeing the merchandise in their store taught me a lot. They had websites and books to refer to when pricing. I did a lot of that, and it taught me what to look for. They decided I had talent, so last year when their buyer left, I got the chance to take her place.”

  “That’s really cool. Have you found anything antique yet?” Gina wondered.

  “Several things, actually. The most exciting find is a set of letters sent between a husband and wife, during World War Two.”

  “Really?” Gina’s eyes lit with interest. “That should go in the exhibit!”

  “I think so too, and so did Mr. and Mrs. Lochlan. There was more memorabilia with it. That will eventually go on display, too.”

  “I’ll bet they’re glad they found you,” Gina said. She sounded impressed. “I mean, I know they are. They were thrilled you accepted the job. But this is awesome, it isn’t often that anyone finds something worth exhibiting.”

  “I found it because it was there… otherwise, it wouldn’t matter how much searching I did. I wouldn’t turn up anything,” Claire pointed out.

  “Well, still. That’s really cool,” Gina declared staunchly.

  “I think so too,” Claire smiled.

  Shadows came and went, as white clouds were chased across the face of the sun and the blue expanse of the sky, by a wind high in the heavens. Only a faint breeze reached down to touch the earth, stirring the leaves on the trees of downtown and the colorful petunias in the planters set at intervals along the sidewalk. Claire detected the faint scent of coffee, pastries, and… maybe steak. Whatever it was, her stomach growled in response.

  “There’s the diner,” Gina pointed out, and they followed the crosswalk to the other side of the road. “Juniper Creek Thrift is about five shops down.”

  “It really is in the thick of things, then,” Claire commented. “So it’s across from the… what is that, a computer repair place?”

  “Yeah, it is,” Gina replied.

  “I’d like to drop by there, too, on our way back to the museum.”

  “You have a computer that’s acting up?” Gina guessed.

  “No… my laptop’s fine. I do have a question, though,” Claire replied. Gina turned, and Claire followed her through an open gate past a smattering of outdoor umbrella tables, and toward the door of the diner. “Ooh, nice. Want to sit out here?”

  “Let’s do,” Gina agreed, and Claire followed her inside.

  A chalkboard menu spanned the wall behind the long counter. It offered a variety of hot soups and sandwiches, cold salads and sandwiches, and desserts. An aproned employee stood behin
d the register, taking orders from the line of customers. The tantalizing scent of savory soups and toasting bread filled the shop, as two other employees rapidly filled each order. Square tables and chairs lined the inside of the diner on three sides. The occupants chatted over their meals, the sound of their voices joining the sizzle of the grill as one employee added strips of bacon.

  “I didn’t expect to see this many people having lunch at eleven o’ clock,” Claire commented, looking around at the bustling establishment. Most of the diners were older, though some might be near her and Gina’s ages.

  “I guess everybody else thought they’d beat the rush, just like I did,” Gina replied. “It usually isn’t this busy. Hey, Susan, meet my new friend, Claire.”

  A girl skidded to a halt on her way out the door with her order, and so did the guy with her.

  “And this is Dale,” Gina added.

  “Hi,” Claire said.

  “Hi, you’re new?” Susan asked. Her eyes were friendly, and Claire smiled back.

  “Very. I got here Friday.”

  “How great,” Susan smiled more. Dale had nothing to say, but he smiled too. “You girls should sit with us.”

  “Alright, we’ll be out soon,” Gina replied. Susan and Dale exited the shop, and Gina turned back to Claire. “They’re both really nice. You’ll like Susan.”

  “I’m sure I will,” Claire replied. She was glad to see she wasn’t the only twenty-something-year-old in town. Due to its size and the lack of industry, until she moved there she half expected to be.

  Gina glanced at her phone, then back at Claire.

  “It looks like Jake may be able to join us… I hope that’s alright.”

  “Sure, why not,” Claire replied. There were worse things than being a third—or fifth—wheel.

  The line moved quickly, and soon she and Gina reached the front.

  “Go ahead,” Claire urged her. “I’m struggling to decide between potato soup, or the club sandwich. Or the cobb salad. This is hard!”

  “Okay,” laughed Gina. She turned her attention to ordering.

  “You can’t go wrong no matter what you decide,” she heard Alec say, and whipped around.

  He was standing in line behind her. He didn’t seem shocked, dismayed, or uncomfortable. At all. In fact, he was smiling.

  That made one of them.

  “O…kay, good to know,” she replied.

  She also turned to face the menu, the counter, the register, Gina’s back, she didn’t care what she was looking at, as long as it wasn’t him!

  “I had no idea it was you in front of me, until I heard your voice,” Alec volunteered.

  And that explained why he didn’t run, she thought wryly.

  “Yeah, well… a girl’s got to eat. I guess,” she replied over her shoulder.

  “How’s the job going?” he asked.

  “Fine,” she answered.

  What was taking Gina so long? Claire felt a flash of anxiety-induced impatience. She wanted to hurry up and place her order! That would be a lot less awkward than talking to her neighbor. If she could decide what she wanted. She bit her thumbnail as she stared at the menu.

  Gina paid, and stepped aside.

  Thank heavens!

  “Potato soup, please,” Claire ordered swiftly.

  “You guys know each other?” Gina asked, looking from Claire to Alec, and back again.

  “No,” Claire quickly denied.

  “Yes,” Alec said, and gave her a funny look. She waved away… something, she didn’t know what.

  “We’re neighbors, we’ve met,” she clarified, as she shoved the exact change for her meal at the guy behind the register.

  Now Alec gave her an even funnier look.

  “I had fun talking to you the other night… getting beat wasn’t so great,” he smiled a little uncertainly. “I was kind of hoping for a rematch.”

  She stared at him, then moved over so the next person in line could order. Which would be him.

  Gina looked from one to the other and raised an eyebrow at Claire.

  Claire focused on adding napkins to her tray.

  Gina’s order number was called, and she picked up her tray.

  “I’ll get us a table,” Gina said, giving her another confused look.

  “Great,” Claire replied.

  Alec placed his wallet back in his pocket and moved over to make room for the next person in line.

  “Alec, do you want to join us?” Gina asked.

  Because that wouldn’t be at all awkward. Claire wondered if it was too late to order her meal to-go.

  “I’d like that,” Alec said.

  Gina the turn-coat, left.

  “What’s going on, Claire?” Alec asked quietly. He looked concerned. “I had fun hanging out with you on Friday. I thought we sort of clicked. Was I wrong?”

  She gave him an incredulous look.

  “And… I guess that’s why you practically ran for cover when I started to ask if you wanted to go with me to pick up something to eat? And why you did the same thing yesterday, as soon as I walked outside?”

  Alec’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

  “No, I left Friday because I was supposed to be somewhere, and I was already late. I forgot all about it while we were talking. I hoped we’d have a chance to hang out some more on Saturday, but I had to spend most of it in Ashland. By the time I got back home, your lights were already off. Then yesterday, I shot baskets all afternoon, thinking maybe you’d come out. You did, right as I had to leave again.”

  Claire stared back at him.

  “Oh.”

  “I wasn’t making it up,” he declared. “I really did have to be somewhere.”

  Claire laughed a little ruefully.

  “I wasn’t coming onto you. I thought that’s what you thought.”

  “What? No!” he exclaimed, as if it was the most ridiculous thing he ever heard. “How conceited do you think I am?”

  “I have no idea, it’s not like I have a lot of interactions on which to base an opinion.”

  “Okay, well how about basketball and pizza after work?” Alec suggested. “You had questions about your grandmother. I promise, tonight I won’t take off and leave you hanging.”

  “Alright… if you want,” she said, feeling somewhat whiplashed.

  “I do,” he replied. He picked up both their trays—she didn’t even realize her order was ready—and she followed him outside.

  “There you are,” Gina called, waving to get their attention. She and a guy Claire never saw before were sitting at one small table, and Susan and Dale at another. Gina had her arm out, guarding a third. “This is Jake, my fiancé. Jake, this is Claire, my new friend and coworker.”

  “Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” Claire said, as Alec set their trays on the table, then pulled out a chair for her.

  “You too,” Jake smiled. “Gina’s been telling me all week how excited she is to have another girl at the museum.”

  “I wasn’t disappointed to find that out either,” Claire readily replied.

  “So you two know each other?” Jake asked. Claire and Alec shared a glance.

  “Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Claire replied. Gina looked pleased with something. She also looked as though she was preparing a mental list of questions to ask whenever she and Claire got back to the museum.

  “Claire is the girl next door,” Alec smiled.

  “And he’s the guy,” Claire added.

  “Seriously?” Jake asked. “You guys are neighbors?”

  “As of last Friday,” Claire replied.

  “That’s so cool,” Susan said.

  “I think so too,” Alec smiled, as he glanced at her. He looked like he really, really meant that.

  Claire broke their gaze and focused on her soup, and ordered herself to stop trying to analyze her neighbor, who was glad she liked Herschel. That was what he meant, obviously! He was worried she wouldn’t, but she did, so of course he was glad she was the new neighbor
.

  That decided, she turned her attention to the conversation around her. Considering there were three separate tables, there were two separate conversations. And, her and Alec.

  “So, Claire, how do you like your new job?” Alec asked. “And don’t try getting ‘fine’ past me again. I want details.”

  Claire glanced at him and laughed a little.

  “It’s awesome. I love it. I can’t believe how much gets donated to the museum.”

  “You get more than Juniper Creek Thrift does, considering their largest donor is the museum,” Alec replied. “My friend, Chris, has said that more than once.”

  “That’s right, the manager is a friend of yours. Any idea if he’s there today? I can’t reach him by phone, and I need to talk to him. It’s either that, or start renting storage space to hold all the donate items.”

  “Are you serious?” Alec asked.

  “We’re approaching critical mass,” she replied.

  “Then sure, I can get you in touch with him. We’ll go by after lunch if you want. I’ll be surprised if he isn’t there.”

  “Excellent,” Claire said.

  “So… you were at church Sunday?” he asked.

  “Yes. I was late. The Blue Lightning threw a shoe.”

  “I would’ve given you a ride, if I knew you needed one,” he said. He looked sort of dismayed.

  “Sure, because asking for a ride from the guy who thought I was throwing myself at him wouldn’t seem ulterior at all,” she retorted. That earned her some funny looks from the others.

  “I can’t believe you thought that’s what I thought,” he couldn’t help laughing. “I was almost late, myself. I waited around for you to come out. I was going to suggest that we go together, that way I could introduce you to everyone.”

  “Wow. I… would not have guessed that in a million years. I waited around until five minutes after you left, so I’d be sure not to bump into you.”

  Alec laughed again, and shook his head.

  “Come with me next Sunday. I’ll introduce you to everyone. Be ready an hour early, and we’ll go to class.”

  “Alright,” she agreed.

  “Is there any chance I can talk you into going to lunch with me, after?” he asked.

  She stared at him in surprise for a fraction of a second, then focused on opening her bottle of water.