Stretching side to side, to work out the ache which had settled into her lower back from being hunched over the keyboard for close to seven hours, Shannon blew out a few long breaths to clear her mind. She hoped her client was going to be happy with the project she had completed. The thought of the fat check being deposited into her account eased her anxiety.
She shook her head. It still baffled her on why she had been wide-awake at just before four that morning. After lying in bed, hoping to doze off again, she had given up and padded down to the front room where she had been working from for the last few weeks. With her laptop balanced on a footstool, she had begun working on the project.
Now, not even noon yet, and she had already completed her day's work and could pursue other activities—like cleaning the cottage or sorting through her uncle's papers—guilt free.
Detouring to the kitchen, she grabbed a fresh cup of tea before she headed into the office.
Papers still covered most of the surfaces, but at least the top of the desk and the one chair were now clear. She headed first for the desk, but decided to take another stab at the computer first.
While the computer warmed up, Shannon went over the print outs of the warnings they'd found the night before. "I wonder if should try doing a timeline? That might give me some idea on when the threats began. It will narrow my search to find something that came through on the computer around the time in question," she said to herself.
It only took a matter of minutes before she had a range of dates she wanted to follow up on. Her search only took seconds. "Twelve files were created or saved in the date range," she muttered as she began opening each of the files.
Most were either spreadsheets or data which corresponded directly to her uncle's business. She'd have to make sure Charlie Keats, the man who had been her uncle's assistant for many years and was now managing the business, got these. She found only one file she couldn't place.
Clicking on it, she waited for it to open. Her mind wandered to last night's outing with Kevin.
He'd been an absolute gentleman. They'd laughed as they shared the pizza and wings and the evening had sped by. For the first time in nearly two years, she'd found herself having slight feelings for a man. Who would have thought it would be Kevin Stivers?
After getting back from the restaurant, they'd spent another hour sitting in the front room talking about the past. She'd been relaxed in his company. Something else she hadn't done in quite some time.
The computer signaled it was done, and Shannon refocused her attention on the screen. "A picture? Why did Uncle Chet make a copy of the Christmas portrait two days before he died?"
Shannon's curious nature got the better of her as she scanned the image. She frowned. The file size was three times bigger than she had expected. She began tapping keys and brought up the history of the picture.
"Hidden layers," she muttered. "Why are there hidden layers?"
She began by separating the layers and investigating each one individually. The only reason she could come up with for having hidden layers would be was stenography; some kind of data hidden within the image. Could that be what Uncle Chet had been up to, she wondered.
Gritting her teeth, she began the arduous task of pulling the layers apart and locating the data packs hidden in the tiny watermarks.
She eyed the painting on the wall. "Dang it, what did you put on here, Uncle Chet?" she demanded of the portrait.
Her concentration was so intense that when the phone rang, she shrieked in surprise. "Hello?" she answered.
"Hey, Shannon, it's Kevin. I'm not sure what you had on your schedule, but I just got back from reviewing your uncle's records and was wondering if you wanted to meet up and I can tell you what I found."
Shannon's heart thudded in her chest, but she was unsure if it was because of Kevin's invitation to get together or from the possibility her uncle may have been murdered. A quick check of the time, and she deemed it was acceptable to break for lunch anyway.
"How about we meet at the diner for lunch? My treat," she suggested.
"That works for me. Say in about fifteen minutes?"
Shannon thought about the shabby jeans and sweatshirt she had pulled on at oh-dark-thirty combined with the fact she still hadn't done anything about makeup. "Could we make it thirty? I've been pawing around in the dust, and need a few minutes to clean up or the health department may throw me out of public places."
Kevin chuckled, "I'll see you in thirty. Bye."
As soon as the line went dead in her hand, Shannon rushed for the stairs bolting up to her room to find something suitable for lunch.
Parking for Oceanside Diner patrons was almost as complex as figuring out which special to order. Unlike most villages that had parking on the side of the road, Heart Island had created parking spaces between the two lanes. It was something she had never understood.
After locking her Rav4, she made her way to the edge of the parking area and prepared to find an opening in the traffic so she could scoot across the lane and still make it on time for her lunch appointment.
Thankfully, one of the oncoming drivers stopped and motioned her on. With a wave she jogged across the street to the door of the diner.
Two men were coming out, and she recognized both. "Mr. Arnet. Nate. How nice to see you both this afternoon."
The sheriff smiled and nodded. "Good to see you as well, Miss Kelly. Too bad we finished lunch, or we'd keep you company so you don't have to eat alone."
Shannon blushed slightly and she hoped neither of the men picked up on it. "It's okay. I'm meeting someone here. We have some, ah, business to talk about."
"Business, hmm?" Dave Arnet said with a smile. "My favorite subject. Are you thinking of selling the company your uncle built?"
"No, not that kind of business. I was going through some of my uncle's papers and came across some things that didn't make sense."
"What do you mean?" Nate asked, placing his hands on his gun belt.
"They were almost threatening in nature. We didn't find any identifying information on the notes. Just one or two lines. Things like, 'You've been warned' or something. Anyway, Kevin was over when we came across them and he was going to check out a few things and update me on what he found."
The sheriff tipped his head. "Miss Kelly, I hope you're not suggesting you're looking into your uncle's death. Max Dorien, the county coroner, did the autopsy. He's very meticulous, so I'm sure everything is in order."
Shannon felt a little twist in her belly. Had she said too much?
"Nate, Dave," Kevin spoke from behind her, and she turned. "Hi, Shannon."
"Hi, yourself," she said. "I was telling the sheriff about what we found in my uncle's office."
"I'm sure you've got nothing to worry about," Dave said before he checked his watch. "I'd like to stay and visit, but I've got an appointment of my own I need to make. Enjoy your lunch. Nate, I'll be in touch soon."
Nate raised his hand in a wave and his eyes darted between Kevin and Shannon. "I can understand you might be a bit concerned after finding something like that in those papers. But I really doubt you'll find anything to be concerned about. I can tell you I spoke to Chet several times in the weeks before he died, and he never said anything about being worried. Don't drive yourselves crazy."
"We'll keep that in mind, Nate," Kevin said. Turning to Shannon he motioned to the door, "Shall we?"
Shannon nodded and waved to the sheriff. "Bye, Nate," she said and headed to the door.
After they were shown to their table at the back of the diner, Shannon leaned forward, her elbows propped on the table. "So what did you find?"
Kevin folded his hands in front of him. "I went to the records office and reviewed the files as I said I would. Nothing jumped off the forms immediately. When I started going over the results, I found a few things that seemed odd to me."
Shannon's face fell. "Do you think his death wasn't of natural causes?"
"I'm not sure. I've come up with enough questions to make me wonder."
"What do we do next?" Shannon asked while she absently stirred her cup of tea.
"We need to talk about our next steps. If—and that's a big if—we had more evidence to indicated foul play, we'd have the body exhumed and run some tests. But right now, I don't think we've got enough to warrant that.
Shannon frowned. "So what, we do nothing?"
"Not exactly. I think we've got enough to be suspicious about. My guess is the answer lies somewhere in your uncle's office. We've probably seen what we need and didn't realize what it was."
Biting her lip, Shannon thought about what she'd found that morning. "I did find something while I was working today," she said and proceeded to explain about the picture.
Kevin's eyes grew huge. "You think he hid messages in the picture? Why would he do that?"
"Stenography is a simple way to hide them. You mask the data as a hidden watermark and anybody can look at the image and never find it. In fact, unless you're aware of the message's existence and go looking for it, it's unlikely anybody would find it. Honestly, I don't have a clue how Uncle Chet knew to do it."
"Do you have any thoughts about what kind of data your uncle would have been hiding?"
This time she shook her head. "No. To my knowledge, Uncle Chet never kept a diary or anything like that. I've been through all of his files, both personal and all for the business, but I've never come across anything that would give me any insight."
They finished their meal while talking about the messages they had found the day before.
"Are you in a hurry to return to work?" Kevin asked as they stepped into the sunlight outside.
"Actually, I didn't sleep well last night, so I got to work very early this morning. The upside is I've already completed everything I needed to accomplish today is already done. So my afternoon is mine to do with as I want. Why?"
Kevin gestured to the stone wall that rimmed the beach. "We've got a sunny day, and I thought you might be interested in taking a walk with me."
The butterflies in her stomach made her instantly regret the meal she had just finished. "That'd be an enjoyable conclusion to our lunch excursion," she said.
They climbed down the steps to the rocky beach. Waves crashed along the shore while gulls dived below the surface in search of their next meal.
"I've always liked walking here," Shannon said softly. "This is one of those places I'd come with Uncle Chet when we needed to talk about things."
Kevin nodded. "This was where I used to come to escape from things, too. Usually it was the fights between my parents." He nodded at her surprise. "Back when we were in high school, they had a bit of trouble. It caused quite a few dust-ups at my house, so I'd come here for peace and quiet."
Clouds began rolling in as they walked along the water's edge. "You probably need to head back to the clinic soon, don't you?" Shannon asked finally.
Kevin scowled at the horizon. "Yeah," he admitted. "Some days I love being the only doctor in town, but other days I want to ditch all the responsibility and run off to the Bahamas. But, I seem to do what's right most times."
He slowly reached out and touched her face. Tracing his thumb along her cheekbone. Heat flared where he touched her, and her stomach clenched tight.
"I'm going to admit I don't know what to do about you," he said finally.
"What do you mean?" Shannon asked, her breath coming out in shudders.
"I feel something for you. I want to try and explore where we might go, together. But I'm positive what's in our past is going to color both of our responses and the things that are happening right now don't lend themselves to forming any kind of a relationship."
She chuckled lightly. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, you're the first guy in more than two years who's made me think about anything along those lines. And before I inflate your ego too much, I'll admit you give me butterflies."
He held out his hand. "Are you willing to take a chance with a guy like me and see where it might go?"
Shannon could swear she heard her uncle's laugh as she took his hand. "Yeah, I think I would."
They laughed for a moment before they began walking back to where her car was parked.
As they stepped off the top step, a horn blared causing both of them to look up.
Two cars down from where Shannon's Rav was parked, a gold colored Mini Cooper sat half out of a spot while a blue Impala was forced to swerve to avoid it and then quickly cut it back in an attempt to miss the pedestrians on the sidewalk. She almost made it. The back end of the car skidded into the Rav.
The sky suddenly erupted in a fireball as an explosion rocked the center of the village. Car alarms sounded and glass rained down all along the street.
"What the heck?" Shannon stammered.
"There was no way that little bump should have caused an explosion," Kevin said, dropping her hand. "I've got to go offer assistance."
"I'll come with you," she replied.
Kevin seemed to hesitate for a brief moment, thinking about something. "That might be best," he admitted. "I think our activity may have really bothered somebody. It may be best if we stick together for a while."