| |
Television laughter jerked me awake. I glanced at the set to find Lucy and Ethel stuffing their mouths with chocolate. Aaron chuckled. Grandma and Grandpa sat to the side. “I didn’t know you guys were here.”
“Didn’t want to wake you,” Grandpa mumbled. “Grandma brought chicken soup.”
“I’ll get you a bowl.”
Grandma left the room, and I forced myself to sit. Still groggy, I yawned, which made my head pound. “How long was I out?”
“About an hour.” Aaron tickled my toes. “Need a couple more?”
“Not yet.” I knew he meant aspirins. I expected the soup to cure all my ailments. Grandma set a steaming full bowl in front of me, and I said, “Thanks.” I slurped and listened as they talked about what had happened. When finished, I crawled back under the blanket. “We need to figure this out.”
“Where do we start?” Grandma asked. She picked up my empty bowl and stood looking down at me. “There’s no beginning.”
“True, but we can write everything down.” I glanced at Aaron. “Mind getting a notepad and pen?”
“Sure.”“We have three books that need looking into plus ledgers and plat books.” I turned to Grandpa. “They’re on the chest in the back bedroom. Would you mind going and getting them?” Gently, I touched the bump and winced. Darn it. I didn’t want to freeze my head anymore. The swelling would have to go down on its own. I sat back up, and hoped that the evening wouldn’t go too late.
“I’ll keep notes for you.” Aaron sat beside me. “Thank you.”Grandpa set the books on the coffee table while Grandma returned with a tray of coffee and cookies. She set it on the table, also.
“Thanks.” Aaron set a cup right in front of me with a cookie.
“Cheers!” We said in unison.
“Let the discussion begin.” I sipped from my cup. “We have symbols from a grass bowl and my jingle dancer figurine. We should each have copies of the images.”
“Check.” Aaron wrote it down. “We’ll see what else needs printing.”
“The symbol in the bowl center is a waving blanket which means—,”
“Which means writing or other message,” Grandpa said. “Is there more than that?”
“The figurine—, Aaron, can you go and print them?”
Aaron jumped up and went to the back room to take care of that task. After he had left, I picked up the first of the three books. It was the grammar book. “I’ve flipped through these pages but haven’t found anything that catches my eye. Who wants to take a stab at it?”
Grandma held out her hand. “I was always good in grammar. Best subject, ever.” She turned the nearby lamp on and began searching the pages.
“This one is a plat book, a description of properties in that area a hundred years ago. Grandpa?” I gave it to him, and then I opened the old, huge, family Bible.
We perused the books in silence until Aaron returned a few minutes later with the print outs and handed them around. He sat beside me and I showed him the handwritten entries in the Bible.
He studied them for a moment, and then shook his head. “Nothing strikes me as unusual.”
I pointed where the more recent entries had been written. “Look. Here’s Gina’s name, and her parents, plus her siblings. And, here is Ida Gray, who is Harry and Sunflower’s mother. Native American blood is scattered throughout the family tree. I wonder if that figures into this in some way.”
“Problem is, all we’re going on is pure hunch.”
Grandma sipped her coffee and swirled the remaining while staring into her cup. “Nothing is written by hand in this book.”
“Shoot. Take a look at the photos,” I suggested. “There has to be clues someplace, or we’re stuck.” I placed the Bible into Aaron’s lap. “Grandpa, what about you?”
“Not sure, but I may be onto something here.” He passed me the plat book. “Take a look right here.” He pointed at a page. “This has to be what we’re looking for. Just look.”I stared at the page. “Oh my goodness. Aaron...” He studied it and nodded. “Theodore Roosevelt.
Section number twenty-four. That could be it. Let’s look it up.”
“The laptop will work better.” He went to fetch it. “Grandpa, you’re a genius.” He blushed.
I had time to take a bite from the last cookie before Aaron hurried back. He logged in right away and began searching.
While Aaron searched, I filled Grandma and Grandpa in on the days’ events and who everyone is.
“The family must have issues, but so what?” Grandma asked. She shrugged. “Someone wants to sell the land and someone doesn’t. It must be the oil company that they’re all mad about.”
“I get that, but there’s something deeper to it. I’m sure-.” I thought for a minute. “Aaron? Did you find anything worthwhile in your search?”
“Wait a sec.” I watched him flip from one site to another and back again. “You’re not going to believe this, but TR purchased land back in 1895 and it’s right outside of the Medora town limits. It’s almost butt against the park,” Grandpa said.
“That’s wonderful news.” Grandma smiled.
“What aren’t you telling us?” Liv asked.“The land beside it shows Gina as a part owner,” Aaron said.“Who owns the land on the other side?” Grandma asked.“Ida Gray,” Aaron said.
“That makes sense. Gina stands between the park and Ida,” Grandma said.
“It still shows Theodore Roosevelt on the deed with Gina.” Aaron scratched his head. “That can’t be right.” He looked at me and then my grandparents. “Can it?”
“There must be some kind of glitch.”
“The legal deed must be lost,” Aaron said. “I wonder why the Roosevelt family never claimed it?”
“Could it be that Edith hid the deed?” I asked. “It’s very possible. She may have set it inside and later forgot about it. Now there are few descendants, and they probably don’t know about it.”
“Would she have saved it for Alice?” Grandma asked. “I may have if I was her. Alice deserved to have a piece of land since her mother died right after her birth.”
“True,” I agreed. “Let’s get back to facts. This is all speculation.”
“What else?” Aaron stated, and picked up the pen and notepad and wrote it down.
“Write down the two major symbols. The blanket and the cabin from on my figurine.” I watched him do that. “I think that’s it for now. We’ve started pulling our loosely fitted clues together.”
Grandma yawned. “I think it’s time for us to leave.”
“My thoughts, entirely.” Grandpa stood. I held back my grin because Grandma did also as if on cue.
“Thanks for coming.” They retrieved the pot and I knew the leftover soup was already in the refrigerator.
“Grandma? Are you going to be in the store tomorrow?” I stood, but sat right back down. “Sheesh! I moved too fast.”
“I’ll go if you need me.” They left, and I was already sorry to have them gone. “Bedtime?”
Aaron walked me to the bedroom and helped tuck me into bed. Sleep came almost immediately, but I couldn’t stay asleep for any length of time. Several times I had to get up. Once when I glanced out, I noticed several different cars parked outside that weren’t there before. The next time I woke, the cars were gone. I didn’t think anything of it because the next-door neighbors’ light was outside, and I saw lights within.
Morning came with bright sunlight coming in, and I immediately rose and went for a shower. First I looked in the mirror and found the bump bruised, raw and painful to touch. I showered and dressed. When I styled my hair, I brought it down over my forehead, and the look reminded me of Little Orphan Annie. I went back to the bedroom and found Aaron still sleeping. I leaned over and gave him a kiss.
Down in the kitchen, I poured myself a cup of coffee and went out the front door to pick up the newspaper. I looked across the street as a small car parked in Gina’s driveway. I threw the paper into the house and went across the street. The person climbing out of the car was Sunflower.
“Sunflower.” I waved and went over to her. “Remember me?”
“Oh yes. But, what’s your name again? You’re the lady with the dollhouses, right?” She grinned, and pushed back her long brown hair from her shoulders. “Liv.”
I looked around her to the house. “I’m glad that it’s finally being wrapped up. I hate to see Gina’s house vacant. I miss her.”“We were friends and cousins. That’s the best kind of friendship, isn’t it? Like sisters?” She started for the house, and I followed. Where she got the key from, I hadn’t a clue but she opened the door and I kept in step. “I’m going to pack her things up.”
“Anyone helping?” We stood at the door, with her inside, and me on the outside, trying to finagle a way to go in with her.
“I can manage. Mom might be out later.”“Your mom is Ida Gray, right?”“Yes.” She nodded.“I understand your family has some land over the state line near Medora. Is that true? I love that part of the country.”
“Why do you need to know?”“Curious.”“It’s none of your business, is it? I’ve got work to do.”I took her sudden hostility as a sign to leave, and said, “Goodbye. If you need anything just let me know.” As I walked away, I wondered if the police knew that this was happening?
I heard kitchen noise as I entered the house and went in to greet my husband. I told him about running into Sunflower at Gina’s house across the street. Next, I called the precinct and asked to speak to one of the detectives. When finished, I said, “Sunflower notified them yesterday that this was going to happen.”
“So it’s okay?”
“Yep.” I asked, “Any news about the murder in Medora?”
“Nope.” He set two toasted bagels on the counter and we each had one. “What’d Sunflower have to say?”
“Talk about hostile. She wasn’t at first, but then I asked who owned the land right beside her, and she got mad.”
“That’s odd. Why not just say?”
“That’s what I thought.” I shrugged and finished eating. “Let’s go separate in case you get called. “
“Right.”
I placed my empty cup in the dishwasher, grabbed my bag and made sure that I had aspirins and my phone before heading out the door. Aaron was right behind me, allowing me to back out first from the garage. Soon we were both driving down the street and heading toward the store. As I passed Praca, a few questions came to mind, such as what was the role of the barmaid? Are the impersonators back to working their regular jobs, and just exactly, what were they? Where did they work? And finally, how could I contact someone who sells real estate in North Dakota?
I also wondered about the drug. Was the lawyer poisoned? It sure sounded possible. If the drug was unknown in this country, then who may have traveled to buy it? How was it possible to enter the US without customs spotting it? Maybe someone had an inside person who allowed them to slip through at the airport. I needed sit down and do some more research.
Parking side by side, we climbed from our cars.
“I’ll go to the cafe and get us a cup of coffee,” Aaron said.
“Okay.”
I watched him walk toward the restaurant at the end of the block. I trembled as I opened the back door and entered. I hesitated at the workroom doorway because of the huge mess. Anger swept through me. I was sick and tired of being afraid. I tip-toed around the floor mess and brushed aside a mess on the counter in order to set my bag down. The mess wasn’t as bad as it could have been, much to my relief. Only a small amount of paint had spilled so it hadn’t touched the fabric. Thank heavens! The costly fabric didn’t need replacing. Small items such as furniture needed sorting but the perpetrator had dumped only a few boxes. I left the mess as it was, putting off straightening things out until after I went out to the show room.
“Morning ladies,” I called. Slowly I circled the tables, straightening items here and there. “Mrs. Lincoln, how are you? Thank you for sitting and writing letters for our soldiers during the Civil War. It was very kind of you.” I finished walking around and then turned my attention to the days’ business.
The computer began humming right after starting and didn’t take long before I logged into accounts. To my chagrin, there were no new messages in the webmail. I weeded through my personal email and then logged out. Aaron entered with the two cups of coffee and brought one of them to me.
“Thanks.” I took a sip. “Do you have anything in particular that you plan to do today?” I looked up to him. After all the hours he had been working, it was nice that he had a full day off.
“No,” he shook his head, “nothing that comes to mind.”
“I thought about the drug and it being new to the U.S. Can you find out more about it? I’d like to know if it’s the same drug that poisoned Gina and the solicitor in Medora. I think it has to be.”
“I’ll do what I can, but I can’t compromise an ongoing investigation.” He took a sip of coffee and leaned back. “What I can do is research as much as I can about the drug and see if anyone working the case will tell me anything.”
“There had to have been someone who allowed this person entrance into the country without going through customs.”
“I’ll see what I can dig up.”
“I’m going to the workroom in a few minutes to begin the cleanup. What a mess.”
I circled the showroom again, taking time to stop here and there beside different houses to make sure that all was as it should be. I spent a little more time checking the new Roosevelt house, because the furnishings were out of order. This was odd, as I’d just set them where they belonged the day before. At one point, I had to refer back to a photograph of the original, before setting down the bear rug and a bookcase where Edith kept her recipe books. She did like to make special meals for her family. She was such a busy woman, and even hosted weekly musicales for her family and special guests.
I thought of Mrs. Obama, our recent First Lady, and how she strived to make sure that the school lunch programs were healthier. Almost every First Lady since Dolley Madison had a special cause. Dolley had founded an orphanage for the children left without parents during the War of 1812. With the burning of Washington and the fighting, the smallest of survivors needed care, and she ensured that it happened.
I made it to the workroom where I began the arduous job of sorting through the mess. Fortunately, it took less time than expected. I went out to the store to see how Aaron had faired with the assignment.
“Any luck finding out anything about the drug?”
“It was the same drug. Succinylcholine, which originally appeared in Dubai.” He glanced up to me. “Guess what the nickname is? ‘Sux’.”
“Well, this whole thing sucks.”