Garnet was in the cafeteria at lunch the next day when she heard a familiar voice behind her.
“Hey, Garnet.”
She whirled around and the plate with her pizza slice slid to the edge of the tray while the can of Diet Coke rolled away under a stack of chairs. “Oh, great,” Garnet muttered. Dan quickly set down his tray and bent to retrieve the can, then placed it back on hers.
“Thanks,” Garnet said, feeling her face flush.
“No problem,” Dan said, picking up his tray again. “Are you sitting with anyone?” His eyes seemed bluer than Garnet remembered.
“No.” Not that she ever did, she might have added.
“Do you want to grab a table? There’s a spot right over there,” Dan said, gesturing with his chin.
Garnet assumed he meant with him. “Sure.” She followed him and they sat down opposite each other. She was vaguely aware of a few stares in their direction.
She was about to pull the tab from her Coke, then thought better of it. After the tumble it had taken, it might be better to wait. She took a bite of her pizza, then asked, “Did you know that Elizabeth’s in the hospital?”
Dan frowned. “No. How do you know?”
“I called the ambulance. I went to her house yesterday after school and found her unconscious.”
Dan raised his eyebrows. “You did? Is she okay?”
Garnet shrugged. “She had a heart attack. They wouldn’t let me see her.”
“Oh, wow. That’s bad,” Dan said, letting the information digest. “I’ll have to call Grandpa. He’s the minister. He’ll want to visit her.” He squirted some ketchup on his fries and stuck one into his mouth. “So, what happened?”
“Well, actually, it was kind of strange.”
Dan stopped chewing. “Strange?”
“Yeah. Okay. I was riding up the street on my bike and this car was parked in front of Elizabeth’s house. All of a sudden the driver just took off and was driving so crazy I almost got hit. I had to swerve to get out of the way. Then when I got to the front door, it was open and Elizabeth was lying on the floor in the front hall. And you know that vase on her side table?”
Dan shrugged. “No, but —”
Garnet waved a hand. “Anyway, it was smashed to pieces and she had this enormous bump on her head,” she hesitated. “I was wondering if someone might have hit her with it.”
“You mean, like someone trying to break in?”
“I don’t know about breaking in. Nothing in the house looked like it was out of place.”
“But who would want to hurt Mrs. Tate? Did you get a look at the driver?”
“No. The windows of the car were tinted. But do you know anyone who drives a blue BMW?”
“Hmm. No, I don’t think so. Anyway, who would break into a house if they drove a BMW? That doesn’t make sense.” Dan dipped another fry into the ketchup and gave a little shrug. “It might have been just coincidence that the car was parked at Elizabeth’s. Someone might have been leaving the park and happened to be a bad driver.”
“Do you think so?” Garnet said, suddenly feeling as though she had overreacted. “But what about the vase?”
“Could’ve been knocked over when Elizabeth had the heart attack. And she might’ve got the bump when she fell.”
“But why was the front door open?”
“Maybe she was about to go outside.”
“I suppose,” Garnet softly agreed. She cautiously pulled the tab off the Coke can and took a sip. “There is one other thing that’s kind of weird.”
“What?”
“Well, I decided I would look after Ginger while Elizabeth’s in the hospital —”
“Yeah. Good idea. Who knows how long she’ll be there,” Dan interjected.
“Anyway, my mother and I decided to leave Ginger at the house for now, and I needed a key,” Garnet said. “I knew Elizabeth had one in her purse. The thing is, when I took out the key, there was fifty thousand dollars lying underneath.” She took a bite of her pizza and watched Dan choke on his Coke.
“Fifty thousand dollars in cash?” he sputtered.
Garnet nodded.
Dan searched her face and let out a deep breath. “See, I told you she might not be thinking clearly anymore.”
“That might not be it.”
Dan’s eyes grew wary. “What do you mean?”
“Well, last Sunday after you left, someone phoned. I heard her talking. There was something about fifty thousand dollars. I don’t know what the call was about or who she was talking to, but she was upset after. And the day I met her — you know, when she fell in front of my house? She had a bundle of cash that day, too, but it didn’t look like as much as what I found yesterday.”
Dan tilted his head. “Do you think someone’s extorting money from her?”
Garnet shrugged again. “I don’t know. She didn’t talk about the call and I didn’t want to ask.”
“Why not?”
“Well, it’s not exactly any of my business, and to be honest, she was so upset I was afraid to. I had to get her one of those pills,” Garnet replied defensively.
Dan sighed. “So where’s the money now? Still in her purse?”
“No, my mother took it. She’s putting it back into Elizabeth’s account. She works at the trust company where Elizabeth banks.”
“That’s good,” Dan said. He poured the last bits of fries from the cardboard container into his mouth and licked his fingers. “Are you going to visit her at the hospital?”
“If they let me.”
“Do you want to go together? I’ve got track after school but if you want, I could pick you up after supper.”
“Okay,” Garnet said, feeling a slight flutter.
“I’ll be over at seven.”
Jeans or green capris to go with her pale yellow shirt? It was an oddly difficult wardrobe decision for a visit to an old lady in the hospital. Jeans, Garnet decided. She pulled them on, then dabbed a little of her favourite floral scent onto her wrists. The doorbell rang. Garnet peeked through the blinds and saw the black sports car parked at the curb. She checked her watch. Either Dan was a few minutes early or her watch was behind again. Smoothing a hand over her tied-back red curls and lamenting her freckled nose, she took one last look in the mirror before heading down the stairs.
“Come on in, Dan,” she heard her mother say. “So nice to see you again. Garnet should be down soon.”
Garnet slowed herself down, trying to appear casual and relaxed as she entered the front hall. “Hi, Dan!”
“Hi! Ready?”
“Yeah,” Garnet replied, swinging a small purse over her shoulder. “Bye, Mom. See you later.”
They walked out to the car and got in. Dan started the engine and turned the stereo on. He turned the volume up and, to her amusement, sang along to parts of a song as they headed to the hospital.
A different nurse was working at the station today and she let both Dan and Garnet enter Elizabeth’s room without any hassle, though she did ask that they keep the visit short. When they opened the door, they found Elizabeth asleep so they were careful not to wake her. A monitor above her head measured her physical patterns in a rainbow of colours and two IVs pumped all the necessary fluids into her veins.
“She looks a little better today,” Garnet whispered, though the bruise on Elizabeth’s forehead was now a dark purple. “She’s made the first twenty-four hours. The nurse said yesterday that if she makes it through forty-eight hours, her chances increase.”
They sat down on the chairs on either side of the bed, but Garnet soon became aware of an awkward silence. At least in the car, the stereo had been on and Dan had been singing. Now she was conscious of him across from her and she tried to avoid his eyes by looking around the room. Elizabeth’s chest moved slowly up and down as the machines pulsed next to her. The hospital’s ventilation system hummed behind her. People were talking outside in the hallway. It reminded Garnet a little of her last visits with Nana. This was an unsettling thought.
“My mother brought the money back to the bank today,” Garnet said, breaking the silence. “She asked Susan, a lady she works with, what she knew about it.”
“And?”
“Elizabeth told Susan she was helping a friend. They tried to tell her a cheque would be better than carrying around so much cash, but Elizabeth insisted on it. Susan also mentioned that Elizabeth looked kind of sick and that she rested in a chair with her eyes closed while they got the money from the vault. Susan was so worried about her that she asked if she could call anyone to drive her home, but Elizabeth just told her to call a taxi.”
There was silence again, except for the sound of Elizabeth’s even breathing and a beep from one of the monitors. Garnet was aware that anything out of the ordinary would have caused alarms to sound.
“I’m going to start looking for those jewels,” she said. “I think I might have a clue.”
“A clue? What kind of clue?” Dan said, shaking his head as though he were removing cobwebs.
“The angel on the mantel at Elizabeth’s house has some writing engraved on each of its wings,” Garnet explained. “Elizabeth said they’re Bible verses. I think they might possibly lead to something.”
Dan let out a long breath. “Look, Garnet. Remember what I told you about ...” He stopped and swung his chin in Elizabeth’s direction.
Garnet waved a hand. “I know, I know. But I’ve been thinking a lot about this and I think it’s worth at least a try. The thing is, I kind of believe her, you know? I don’t know why, but I don’t think she’s making it up. After you left last Sunday and I found those engravings, Elizabeth helped me look them up in the Bible. One of them’s about a king’s daughter and the other one’s about looking for Christ.”
“Well, that’s convincing,” Dan said, rolling his eyes. “I don’t get the connection.”
“I was getting to that. Elizabeth said that when Reginald died, he said something about the angel and pointed to it. He said the angel would guide her.”
“Elizabeth also said he was eccentric.”
“I know, but why are the wings engraved? Why would anyone do that? And why did Reginald point to the angel?” Garnet asked.
“Angels serve as guardians but are also often messengers in the Bible,” Dan explained, shifting in the chair. “Garnet, remember what I told you. There may be nothing to the story. She may have gotten things a little mixed up.”
“I know that, considering it’s been years since all this began. But I really do believe there’s something to it and I’d like to get to the bottom of it. If there’s a chance those jewels exist somewhere, I want to find them. And if someone’s hidden them and they left a clue, then I want to follow it. If you’d only see that angel, you might change your mind. Look, I should probably check in on the cat later. Can we stop at Elizabeth’s on the way home so I can show you?”
Dan stared at her for a moment. “You’re not going to give up, are you?” He threw his hands up in mock surrender. “All right. Show me the angel. Whatever. Then will you leave me alone about it?”
Garnet laughed. “We’ll see.”
A nurse appeared at the door and a moment later, with the help of an orderly, another patient was wheeled to the opposite side of the room. The woman was fast asleep with the covers pulled up to under her arms, and had a monitor and IVs connected to her.
Elizabeth stirred, ever so slightly. The monitor gave a short beep, but she did not wake up. Dan and Garnet decided it was time to leave. When they entered the hallway, Gerdie was walking toward them with a man who looked somewhat familiar to Garnet. He had a large build and appeared to be in his mid-fifties. Garnet tried to think where she had seen him before, then remembered his face was on a business card next to the phone in Elizabeth’s kitchen.
“Hello, Miss Pitt. Stan. How are you?” Dan said.
“Fine,” Gerdie replied curtly in her quiet voice.
“We’re doing great, just great,” Stan added in a deep, confident tone, flashing a smile. “How’s Elizabeth?” he asked, motioning his head toward the room.
“She’s sleeping, but I guess so far she’s doing okay,” Dan replied.
“Glad to hear it. She’s a dear lady and I just hope she pulls through. Your grandfather called Gerdie to tell her the news and we’ve come to see her.” Stan’s grey eyes shifted to Garnet. “I see you brought a friend.”
“Yeah. This is Garnet Walcott. She was the one who found Elizabeth yesterday. Garnet, this is Stan Hunt, Gerdie’s fiancé.”
Stan held out a hand and Garnet shook it awkwardly. “Pleased to meet you. It’s good to know that Elizabeth has friends who check in on her. If it weren’t for you,” Stan hesitated, “she might not be here.”
Garnet blushed. “Anyone would have done the same for her.”
Stan smiled again. “I’m sure you’re right,” he replied.
“Anyway, we were just heading out,” said Dan. “See you.”
Stan nodded. “Goodbye, then.”
Garnet pushed the key into the lock and opened the front door. It felt odd to go inside without Elizabeth there. Ginger sauntered into the front hall with her tail straight up in the air.
“Hello, Ginger,” Garnet said, reaching out a hand to her. The cat rose on her hind legs, arching her shoulders and neck toward her.
“Looks like you’ve made a friend,” Dan said.
Garnet picked Ginger up and stroked her soft fur, then carried her like a baby to the kitchen to check the feeding dishes. She regarded the nearly full bowl of cat food. “Why aren’t you eating?”
As though she had just been insulted, Ginger struggled out of Garnet’s arms and scampered off.
“She doesn’t take criticism well, does she?” Dan remarked behind her.
“I guess not. Do you think there’s something wrong with her? I mean, I’ve never had a cat. I used to look after a neighbour’s sometimes, but that one ate. Don’t you think she should’ve eaten something?”
Dan shrugged. “I’ve never had a cat either but she’s probably okay,” he reassured her. “I’ve heard that’s the beauty of cats. They can look after themselves, sometimes for days if they have to. Anyway, it doesn’t look like Ginger’s starving.”
“You’re right about that,” Garnet agreed, thinking of the cat’s weight when she picked her up. She took the water bowl and replaced it with fresh water before setting it back down on the floor. “Okay. That’s done. It’s showtime.”
They went to the living room, where Garnet picked the angel off the mantel and pushed the knob on the back of it. “See this?” she said, pointing to the tiny engraved letters on one of the wings. “This is one of the Bible verses.” Garnet reached for the magnifying glass that lay on top of the Bible and held it over the engraving.
Dan moved his head closer. “Matthew 28:5.” He reached for Elizabeth’s Bible and quickly found the verse. “’And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.’” He shrugged. “So?”
“I know,” Garnet said. “But look at the next one. Psalm 45:13.”
Dan flipped through the pages in the front portion of the Bible and read. “’The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.’” He looked up. “At least now it might be discussing jewellery.”
Garnet chuckled. “That’s what I said.”
He moved his finger down the page and scanned the entire psalm. “I don’t know. This verse is about a wedding or something. The subtitle before the psalm says, ’A Song of loves.’” He shrugged. “I don’t get it. I don’t see a connection to jewels.”
“Let me show you something else,” Garnet said, not willing to give up just yet. “It’s in the library.”
“What is it?” Dan asked as he followed her out of the room.
“A portrait of Sofia Tate. She’s wearing the jewels.”
“I think I’ve seen it. A long time ago. Look, the thing is, if Elizabeth’s lived in this house for sixty years and she’s been looking for these jewels all this time, as she says, don’t you think if they actually existed, she would’ve found them by now? And if someone was going to hide any jewels, why wouldn’t they just’ve stuck them in a safe or something?”
“Just look at it,” Garnet said. She flicked on the light, though it didn’t help much, then walked up to the portrait. Dan followed. Garnet glanced over at him and saw that his face had changed. He seemed almost mesmerized as he regarded the portrait in silence. Garnet returned her gaze to the portrait and felt goosebumps prickle her arms. She rubbed them, but couldn’t shake the feeling that Sofia was staring back at her.
When Dan finally spoke, his voice was quiet, almost as if his throat were a little tight. “You know, I remember coming in here once when I was a kid. I went off exploring one day when my parents were talking to Elizabeth. Back then I thought the picture looked a little spooky because of her eyes, that she looked kind of real. But do you know what’s kind of spooky about her now?” Garnet shook her head and Dan turned toward her. “She kind of looks like you.”
Garnet stifled the alarm that rose up in her. “She does not!” she retorted, and quickly turned to glance in the mirror behind her. But Sofia’s eyes reflected back at her again before she caught a glimpse of her own slightly bewildered eyes. “It’s the hair,” she said firmly, as though she were trying to convince herself. “It’s red like mine.”
Dan’s eyes narrowed. “No, it’s more than the hair. The eyes, the shape of her face. She really does look like you.”
“Well, if she does look like me, it’s a weird coincidence, don’t you think?” Garnet’s voice was a little sharper than she had intended, but Dan was starting to freak her out. He gave her a strange look and she tried to soften her tone as she changed the subject. “So. How about those jewels?”
Dan rolled his eyes. “You don’t give up, do you?”
“No. Because I really want to find them. Do you think we should start in here?”
Dan laughed out loud. “You’re unbelievable!”
“I knew you’d see it my way sooner or later,” she said with a smile.
“Okay, so where do we look?”
Garnet surveyed the room. Reginald Tate’s room. His haven with the portrait of his wife watching over him. What had he been like? How did he think? Elizabeth had called Reginald Tate “eccentric.” How does an eccentric person think?
An entire wall was lined with books from floor to ceiling.
“Nana once told me that you can’t always judge a book by its cover, but sometimes you can discover something about a person by what they read. Why don’t we check out these books?”
They soon found that Reginald had owned a large collection of encyclopedias and travel books, law books, and religious books and novels by classic authors. A leather-bound set by Charles Dickens filled an entire section of one shelf and, oddly, there was a duplicate set on another shelf. Reginald must have been a collector, Garnet thought.
Garnet reached up and tugged at a copy of David Copperfield but for some reason, it was stuck in place. She tugged again, harder this time, but it wouldn’t budge. Perhaps, after all these years, it had become stuck to the cover beside it. Garnet tried the next book, Bleak House. Again, it didn’t move. Frowning, she pulled at Great Expectations, yanking it several times until, without warning, something clicked. The book tilted slightly forward and the entire Charles Dickens section of the bookshelf moved outward.
“Hey!” Garnet exclaimed.
Dan, who had been studying the book titles on the other side, hurried over. “It’s a safe,” he said, pulling open the unlocked metal door and peering inside. “An empty safe. Too bad, or the mystery would be solved and we could all go home.”
“Very funny,” Garnet said, as she dragged over a chair to peek inside. “It must be the safe Elizabeth told us about. Remember? She said she had a locksmith crack it open but there were only papers inside. Who’d have ever guessed it would be here behind some fake books?” She examined it more carefully but soon closed the door and set the shelf back into place. “I guess we’ll have to keep on looking, ’cause you’re right. There’s nothing here.” She jumped off the chair and pushed it back, then checked the duplicate copies of the Dickens novels on the other shelf. These were the actual books.
Dan walked over to the desk and began to pull open the drawers. “Let’s see what we’ve got here. A dried-up bottle of ink, fountain pen, silver lighter, matching cigarette case.”
Garnet turned. Sometimes such items were valuable at antique shops. “Let me see,” she said. Dan handed her the lighter and cigarette case. Though both were slightly tarnished, they were in good condition and Garnet saw that they had Reginald’s initials engraved on them.
She flicked the lighter. It didn’t light and had likely dried up, but when she pressed a button on the cigarette case, the lid popped open and inside were three hand-rolled cigarettes.
Dan bent his head to sniff them. “Bet those are stale,” he said.
“I wonder if he gave up smoking before or after he came down with pneumonia.” Garnet handed the items back to Dan and returned to perusing the bookshelf, her attention drawn to the black spines of two large albums. She pulled one of them down and set it on the desk. The first page had a black-and-white photograph as thick as cardboard with an image of a male teenager posing with a man and a woman whom Garnet assumed were the teen’s parents. Underneath was a picture of a young soldier.
“I wonder if those are pictures of Reginald. The uniform looks like it’s from the Boer War,” Dan said.
“I think so,” Garnet said, turning the page. “Look, here he is with Sofia in these wedding photos. She looks young but kind of old, if you know what I mean. I think people in old pictures sort of look old themselves, even when they were young.”
The wedding poses were formal, likely taken at a studio. Reginald wore a suit and Sofia appeared elegant in a silk wedding gown. She looked small next to Reginald, who had, apparently, been quite tall. Despite being considerably older than Sofia, the set of Reginald’s face made him appear distinguished. In the next photo, a slightly older man, possibly Sofia’s father, Johann, posed with them.
Following the wedding photos came pictures of the couple with a baby in a lacy white christening gown and others when Albert appeared to be about a year old. But after this, there was a lapse in photo updates until Albert was about six or seven years old, when he posed by himself in some photos, and with Reginald in others. As a young teenager, Albert appeared dressed in a suit, first in a photo by himself and then with his father and the man Garnet had assumed was his grandfather. Johann had aged greatly by this time, but he was grinning, as was Albert, as though they were sharing a private joke. Reginald didn’t appear to be in on it, though, as his expression was as serious as it had been in all the other photographs.
Garnet closed the album and pulled out the next one. This one began with a young Elizabeth and Albert taken at the park with some friends, progressing on to their wedding, and finishing with Albert in uniform as he left for the war. The album was never completed and, as she flipped through the empty pages in the back, a loose picture that hadn’t been fastened at the corners slipped out and fell to the floor. Garnet bent down to pick it up and saw that it was of Albert standing in front of an airplane with another young man in uniform. She recognized the man from an earlier photo at the park. Garnet turned it over and noticed some handwriting on the back.
“’Charlie and me in London. August 1941,’” she read. “He must have gone to war with his friend.”
She slipped the picture back into the album and returned to the wedding photos.
“See this?” Garnet said, pointing to Elizabeth. “I’ve seen her wear that locket. Albert gave it to her when they got married. She said it was a gift to Sofia from Reginald when Albert was born. Did you notice Sofia wearing it in the christening pictures?”
“No,” Dan replied.
Garnet opened the first album again. “See? There it is,” she said, pointing to Sofia. “You know, I wonder where Elizabeth keeps it. I know she wasn’t wearing it when she had the heart attack.”
Dan shrugged. “Why do you want it?”
“I was just wondering if she has any pictures in it. Some people do.”
“That’s kind of personal, don’t you think?” Dan teased.
Garnet felt her face go hot and she glared at him. “I’m just trying to gather all the information I can, that’s all. I’m going upstairs,” she announced, and she made for the door.
Dan was only a few steps behind her.
The familiar mothball scent emanated from the closet as they entered Elizabeth’s bedroom. Garnet immediately spotted a small wooden jewellery box on top of the dresser and she lifted the lid. Among several pieces of costume jewellery and the sapphire engagement ring lay the gold heart locket. Garnet picked it up and examined the engraving of a swirled floral pattern on the front and the smooth back with a few scratches from wear.
As Garnet used her nail to pry open the heart, she was suddenly conscious of Dan behind her, his breath soft on the back of her neck. Her fingers felt unexpectedly clumsy, but despite this, she somehow managed to open it.
“Their wedding pictures,” Garnet said. “That’s what she keeps inside.”
Albert and Elizabeth’s faces had been carefully cut out into heart shapes on each side. He was on the left, wearing his air force cap, and she was on the right in a white hat.
“Can I see it?” Dan asked.
“Sure.”
Garnet turned to hand him the locket, their fingers touching as she passed it. She jerked back slightly and the chain slipped away and dropped to the floor. Dan bent down to pick it up and saw that Elizabeth’s picture had fallen out. He was going to press it back into place when he said, “Hey, there’s something engraved inside.”
“What? What is it?”
Dan held out the locket for Garnet to see.
“’For my Princess,’” Garnet read. “I wonder who had that engraved. Reginald or Albert?”
“Beats me.”
“Let’s check if there’s anything behind Albert’s picture.”
Dan tapped the photograph into his hand and turned the locket back over. “Nothing.” But just to be sure, he turned the photographs over as well. Nothing.
Garnet sighed. “I guess until Elizabeth can talk, we won’t know who the ’Princess’ was. Unless ... “
“Unless what?”
“Well, remember that one loose picture downstairs had some writing on the back. Do you think there might be anything written behind any of the other pictures?”
Dan shrugged. “I guess we could look.”
Garnet returned the locket to the jewellery box. “Let’s go.”
Downstairs, they each took a photo album and sat down on the rug across from each other. One by one, they removed every picture from its fasteners to check behind it. But after some time it became apparent that there would be nothing to find after all. Garnet yawned as she slipped the last picture back into its fasteners, and the grandfather clock gonged in the front hall.
She glanced down at her watch. “Wow. It’s already twenty after ten. I told my mother I wouldn’t be late.”
Dan checked his watch. “Actually, it’s ten-thirty. Your watch is slow.”
They returned the photo albums to the bookshelf, then crossed the floor to leave. Garnet glanced up at Sofia. With her violet eyes so clear and watchful, Sofia appeared almost regal with the sapphires and diamonds against her skin as creamy as the lilies she held in her arms. “You know what? I’ll bet she’s the princess.”
Garnet gave a slight shrug. “I don’t know. There’s just something about her. And, come to think of it, Elizabeth called the jewels ‘royal.’”
Dan stepped back and crossed his arms as he regarded the portrait. After a few moments a strange look came over his face. “Hey, wait a minute. I just thought of something. The word princess. Who is a princess? The daughter of a king, right? Remember, that verse said something about a king’s daughter. She was a bride in that psalm.”
“So?”
“Maybe there’s a connection.” Dan regarded the painting a moment longer, then walked up to it, grasped the ornate wooden frame with both hands, and lifted the entire painting off the wall.
“What are you doing?” Garnet asked.
“It looks like something’s scratched on here.”
“What? Where?”
Dan placed the painting on the desk and pointed to the bottom right corner. “There.”
Garnet moved closer. “That’s just the artist’s name.”
“I know that, but don’t they normally paint it on?”
“Normally. But it looks like this one scratched it into the paint with something sharp.”
Dan squinted as he tried to decipher the writing. “But look more carefully. I think there are numbers. It looks like it says Fischer but then ... underneath he pointed to the faint scratch marks, “it looks like 1 Cor. 13:12.”
“1 Cor. 13:12? What’s that? Another Bible verse?”
“First Corinthians 13, verse 12,” Dan said.
Garnet looked at Dan. “I’ll be right back!” She hurried out of the room and returned, holding up Elizabeth’s Bible. She opened it to the index and found the page.
“Here it is,” she said, and she read out loud. “’For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.’” She rolled her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean? Sounds like more Shakespeare, and I hate that guy. I never know what he’s talking about.”
Dan threw back his head and laughed. “I know. But maybe if we had a different translation, the verse might make more sense. You know what? Why don’t I look it up in my Bible?”
“Okay,” Garnet agreed. “Do you think you could come back tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow? Let me think. I’ve got Saturday deliveries. Then I have to go for a run — there’s a big meet coming up next week. Oh, and tomorrow night I’m going out.”
“Oh.”
Dan didn’t elaborate on what those plans were and Garnet didn’t ask, but she couldn’t help but wonder if he had a date. Maybe with Laura.
“But maybe I can drop by for a bit before.”
“Really?” Garnet said, brightening.
“Let’s say around six-thirty?
“Okay. I’ll meet you here.” It was better than nothing. She was surprised Dan had agreed to come back at all. “So, you think there might be something to this, after all?”
“Let’s just say the concept is intriguing,” he teased.
Garnet’s violet eyes twinkled. “Just admit it. You’re hooked.”
They locked up the house and Dan drove Garnet home. “See you tomorrow,” he said as he pulled the car up to the curb.
“Six-thirty,” Garnet said, opening the car door.
“Right.”
Dan honked the horn and Garnet waved from the porch as he pulled away. She turned and noticed a white envelope wedged into the door handle. She pulled it out and unlocked the door.
“Hello!” Garnet called cheerily.
“Hello,” her mother voice echoed from the dining room.
Garnet went to poke her head inside. Her mother glanced up from the computer screen. Her eyes had that glazed-over expression they got when she’d been staring at it too long. She peeked down at her watch. “Wow, look at the time! That hospital certainly has late visiting hours,” she commented with a slight smile.
“Sorry I’m a little late. We went back to Elizabeth’s house to check on the cat and then we started to look around for some clues to those missing jewels I told you about. We might actually be on to something,” Garnet said, a flutter rising up inside at the thought. “We’re going back tomorrow.”
“Well, that’s exciting. And how’s Elizabeth?” Garnet’s mother asked, her tone more serious.
Garnet moved a shoulder up and down. “She slept the whole time we were there. She’s hooked up to machines.”
Garnet’s mother nodded. “I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Garnet turned and, feeling a little hungry, headed for the kitchen. She hoped there were some chips left in the cupboard. She set her purse down on the table and realized the envelope she had pulled out from the door was still in her hand. She glanced down and saw “Garnet Walcott” was typed on the front of it. Who was sending her letters? she wondered. There was no stamp and the back of the envelope was sealed.
She tore open the flap and pulled out a folded paper. Her heart felt like it would stop as she read the short note printed in bold letters in the middle of the page and she gasped.
To the Nosy Little Redhead. Stay away from Elizabeth Tate and her house. Remember, curiosity killed the cat.
The note was unsigned.
Her first thought was of Ginger. Who would want to kill Ginger? But when Garnet read the note again she realized the threat was not to Ginger. It was to her. “Curiosity killed the cat” was only a saying.
She was about to go show her mother the note, then stopped. If she showed this to her mother, she would never be able to look for those jewels. Her mother had already threatened to call the police and she definitely would if she saw this. Garnet folded the paper up and shoved it into her purse. She’d have to think about what to do.
Her appetite gone, she returned to the dining room. “I’m going to bed. G’night.”
Her mother looked up. “Good night.” She held open her arms for Garnet to come and hug her. “Everything all right?” she asked softly into her hair.
Garnet nodded and pulled away. “Yeah, just tired,” she lied, and she started to walk away.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Amy called before. I told her you weren’t home and she said she’d send you an email.”
“Oh. Okay. I’ll check it tomorrow.”
Garnet went to bed, but sleep wouldn’t come. The words of the note seemed like they were branded onto her brain and she couldn’t stop thinking about them. Someone was definitely trying to scare her away — that was obvious. But who and why? And how did they know her name and where she lived? Was she being followed? The thought of that was more than creepy. Was this about the jewels? Who else knew Elizabeth’s story besides her and Dan? After all these years, could a relative of Sofia’s still be trying to get the jewels back? These questions swirled around in Garnet’s head and the more she thought about them, the more questions she had. What was she getting herself into? Perhaps that swerving car really had been more than coincidence.
But if the police were called, what could they do? Garnet had no idea who the note was from and there wasn’t a whole lot of evidence to make a case for anything. The weird thing was, if someone was trying to scare her away, it only made her want to find the jewels more. She believed Elizabeth’s story.
When sleep did come, Garnet dreamt of a cat, one that looked a lot like Ginger, being chased by a snake that swallowed her whole.