Letters in the Attic (6 page)

“I really appreciate it.” Annie put the card in her purse. “You guys are my heroes.”

The police chief ducked his head a little. “It’s what we’re here for, ma’am.”

“Thanks, Reed,” Alice said. “Tell your mother I said hello.”

“I will, Alice. You take care now.”

Alice hurried Annie out of the building.

“I told you so. I told you he likes you.”

Annie stopped short and put one hand on her hip. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. Roy Hamilton likes you.”

“Oh yeah? Well, even if he did, and I’m not saying he does, are you trying to palm him off on me?”

Alice laughed. “I’m not trying to do anything. He’s the one who’s obviously smitten, like every other guy in town.”

“You’re such a comedian.” Annie started walking again. “Who, exactly, is ‘every other guy in town’?”

“You don’t need to look any farther than that guy back there.” Alice gestured toward the town hall. “Don’t deny it now.”

“You’re crazy. I’ve hardly spoken to the chief before today. Besides, I’m sure I heard he’s married.”

“You know very well who I’m talking about, and it’s not Reed Edwards.”

“If you mean Ian, I’d have to conclude that you have an overactive imagination.”

“I’m not the only one who’s noticed.”

Annie rolled her eyes. “Then they have overactive imaginations too. Ian and I are just friends. Is there any reason a grown man and a grown woman can’t just be friends?”

“None at all, except when they aren’t.”

“OK, OK. If ever Ian and I aren’t, you’ll be the first to know. Deal?”

Alice grinned. “Deal. Now let’s go shopping.”

“Umm—maybe that’s not such a good idea just this minute.”

Alice’s face fell. “What do you mean? You said we could go look at clothes and then have coffee. I was planning on some pie, too, if Peggy’s got coconut.”

“I don’t think they’d really want us putting our hands all over the merchandise in our present condition.” Annie held up her hands, displaying ten black fingertips. “Do you?”

“Hmm, maybe we’d better take a trip to the hardware store and see if they have some of that industrial-strength hand soap.”

7

Things were quiet for the next couple of days. Annie looked for more information about Susan on her laptop computer at home, but she didn’t find any useful information. And she hadn’t had a chance to go back to the library for help in the search. Mary Beth hadn’t yet made any definite plans for Tom Maxwell to install her cabinets, so Annie had to hold off on visiting Sandy Maxwell. Besides, she needed to take care of mundane things like laundry and cleaning from time to time. Gram wouldn’t have stood for a less-than-tidy house.

Annie’s twin mysteries were not uppermost in her mind when she picked up the mail from her entryway floor. Not until she saw the unaddressed envelope at the bottom of the pile.

“Somebody was here, and I didn’t even notice.”

She opened the front door, but the street was deserted. There wasn’t even a dog in sight, but still she felt as if someone was watching her.

“Don’t get spooked by this. It’s just a note.”

She made sure to lock the front door before sitting down on the living room couch. For a minute, she just looked at the envelope. It was blank like the first one.

She started to open it and then stopped. Yes, she had touched the envelope, but she hadn’t yet touched the note on the inside. If there were fingerprints on it, they would belong to the author and no one else, right?

She took her purse off the hall table and rummaged in it until she found Chief Edwards’ business card. She had only glanced at it when he gave it to her in his office two days before, but now she found something comforting about the no-nonsense block letters and the official Stony Point Police seal.

She punched in the phone number printed on the card and was relieved when someone answered on the first ring. “Stony Point Police, Officer Hamilton.”

“Roy? This is Annie Dawson.”

“Well, well, just the lady I was about to call. I have some news for you about that anonymous note you got.”

“And I have some news for you. I just got another one. Is Chief Edwards in?”

“Actually, he’s assigned your case to me.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“What does this one say?”

“I haven’t opened it yet.” Annie looked at the envelope, searching for any kind of identifying mark. “I thought it would be better if I turned it over to you without tampering with it.”

“Very good. And when did it come?”

“Sometime today. Before the mail.”

“All right, don’t do anything. I’m on my way over.”

She exhaled. “Thanks, Roy. I’ll be looking for you.”

A few minutes later, he was at her door.

“The cavalry has arrived.”

“Come in, Roy.” She stepped back to let him into the house. “The note’s in the living room.”

They both went in and sat on the couch. She started to pick up the note, but he stopped her.

“Let’s be careful with this one.” He took some flimsy-looking latex gloves from his pocket and put them on. “Now, let’s see what we have.”

He opened the envelope and took out a single sheet of paper. Like the first, this one had a message made up of letters cut from the newspaper.

LEAVE THE PAST IN THE PAST
.

He studied it for a moment. “Not much to go on in this one, either.”

“It’s got to be about Susan again. What about her past does this person not want me to find?”

“What time did this come?”

“Before the mail is all I know. I’ve been cleaning house, and I swept the entry at about nine thirty, so I know it wasn’t there then. The mail usually comes between eleven o’clock and noon, and it was before that.”

“OK, between nine thirty and noon. That doesn’t really pinpoint it for us.” He narrowed his eyes, inspecting the letters and the paper itself. “Seems like the same kind of paper as the first one. The same kind of envelope too.”

She shook her head. “No, this is one of those safety envelopes, the ones you’re not supposed to be able to see through. The first one was just plain.”

“You’re right at that.” He grinned at her. “Have you ever considered going into police work?”

She couldn’t help smiling back. “I think I stay busy enough as it is.”

“You’ve certainly got somebody stirred up. I’m just glad I’m the one looking out for you about it.”

“And I appreciate it, Roy. I suppose you’ll have to check this one for fingerprints.”

“As soon as I get back to the office. Oh, I told you I had news about the first note. Besides yours and Alice’s and a couple of smudges that belong to the mayor, there weren’t any prints. Whoever passed it along was pretty careful. I’d be surprised if this one was any different.”

“Great. Now what do I do?”

He patted her hand. “First thing, you don’t worry. Like I said, I’m going to look out for you. All you have to do is let me do my job. If you get any more of these, or if you see or hear anything that makes you uncomfortable, let me know. I’ll be right over.”

“I really appreciate it.” She stood up. “Do you need anything else from me?”

He smiled hopefully. “A cup of coffee might be nice.”

“I wish I could, Roy.” She made her smile polite but firm. “I’m right in the middle of cleaning my kitchen, and things are really a mess. Will you excuse me?”

He stood up. “All right. Maybe some other time?”

“We’ll see.”

“Meanwhile, I’ll see what I can find out about this note and let you know. You know, by the time this is all over, you and I’ll probably be pretty good friends.”

“We’ll see.” She opened the front door for him. “Thanks for coming out, Roy.”

“See you soon, Annie.”

Once he was gone, she went back to cleaning the kitchen, glad she had a legitimate excuse for hurrying him on his way. One of these days she would have to have a frank conversation with him about what she did and didn’t see in her near future. For now, she was glad to have him on her side.

****

The next day, with Grey Gables clean enough to impress even Gram, Annie decided to try once again to find something about the man Susan had married. Or something, anything, about Susan herself. Maybe she would just try a random search. Who knew what she might get?

She booted up her laptop computer and opened a search engine.

“Here goes nothing.”

She typed in “Susan Morris” and hit Enter.

Results 1–10 of about 74,600 for “susan morris.” (0.28 seconds)

There was that haystack again, but she wasn’t ready to abandon Susan quite yet. She tried several different search phrases with similarly overwhelming results.

“How about ‘Susan Morris’ and ‘Stony Point Maine’?”

She tapped the keys and got just one result. It was a blog post from May 2002, and the blogger was waxing poetical about the summer of her fifteenth year, and how she had decided to experience everything she could during her lifetime, no matter how long or short it might be. With her brows knit together, Annie scanned the page. What did this have to do with Susan?

She found her answer about three-quarters of the way down the page.

I remember it, because that was the same day they were searching for a girl who had drowned off Folly Beach. I didn’t know her, but the newspaper said her name was Susan Morris, and she was from someplace called Stony Point, Maine. I remember her name because I thought then that someone ought to remember it. Remember her. And I thought it was strange that she had come so far just to drown.

Tears burned in Annie’s eyes. Drowned? Not Susan. Not after everything else that had happened to her. It wasn’t fair.

Annie blinked hard and read the post again. The blogger gave only a first name, Maggie. Maggie of Maggie’s Musings. No city. No state. No contact information. How long ago had the drowning been? Where was Folly Beach anyway?

It took only a second to look up Folly Beach, South Carolina. It was not far from Charleston. What newspaper did they have there?

She typed in “Charleston SC newspaper,” and got the site for
The Post and Courier
and clicked the “Contact Us” link. There she found a list of names and e-mail addresses for various departments and then, at the bottom, a link that said “Archives.”

“Oh, please, please be searchable.”

She clicked the link and found “Search the archives” and “Advanced search.” Yes.

She typed in Susan’s name, but there were only two results. One was an article about healthy eating and the other was a death notice for a woman aged 83. Not her Susan.

Entering “Stony Point” returned articles on the local woods, a golf course, and a historic home.

How could this Maggie have read about Susan in the newspaper if there wasn’t an article? And if there was an article, why wasn’t it in their archives? Wait. The searchable archives went back only as far as 1994. Susan had sold her house in 1989, and maybe she had drowned later that same year. Would the newspaper be willing to send her a copy of the article?

She clicked on the link that said “More information about finding stories from
The Post and Courier
” and quickly decided against that idea. They wanted a pretty penny for doing research for anyone not on staff, but she was glad to see that the county public library had microfilm of all issues of the paper from 1931 through 1993. And they had kindly furnished a link.

She clicked through to the library’s index and once again typed in Susan’s name. In the field for “Pub Year” she typed in 1989. The search brought up one article, and she clicked on the box marked “Details.”
Coast Guard and Charleston Rescue abandon search for Susan Morris of Stony Point, Maine, believed drowned off Folly Beach 08/24/1989
. The article titled “Search Halted for Maine Woman Believed Drowned” was dated August 27, 1989.

Annie pressed her hands against the sides of her aching head and realized it was far past lunchtime. A sandwich and a strong cup of coffee would be the best thing to pull her back into the present. Susan was gone, and regret wouldn’t bring her back.

Annie printed out the information available about the article, including the contact number for the library. She would give them a call once she’d had a chance to process everything she’d found out so far. Maybe they’d send her a copy of the article and not expect her eyeteeth in return.

She thought for a minute. Maybe it would be better to talk to Grace again. Sometimes libraries exchanged information with each other more quickly than they did with Citizen Jane.

She spruced herself up and drove to the library. The Circulation Desk was deserted, so she tapped the little bell that was labeled “Ring for Assistance.” A few seconds later, Grace came out of one of the back rooms.

“Annie, good to see you. I’ve been wondering how you were doing. Did you ever find your friend?”

“Yeah.” Annie blinked hard. “I did. And I guess I found out more than I wanted to know.”

“Bad news?”

“She drowned back in 1989, and I never even heard about it.”

“That’s too bad. What happened?”

Annie showed the librarian the information she had found so far.

“I was going to give the library there a call to see what they have on that newspaper article. Then I was thinking maybe you could get the information sent up here, and I wouldn’t have to go all the way to Charleston for it.”

Grace took the printout. “Let me see what I can do. If they’re not too busy, they may be able to fax or e-mail me a copy right away, library to library.”

“I was hoping you’d say that. It won’t be too much trouble, will it?”

Grace smiled. “I told you, I know people.”

Annie wanted to hug her for being so helpful. “Thanks so much Grace! Anything you could get from them would be wonderful.”

“Are you going to be in town for a while?”

Annie nodded. “I have some errands to take care of. Do you think it will be that quick?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I’ll see what I can do before you get back.”

Annie ran her errands and even stopped in to chat with Peggy at the diner, catching her up on this most recent development. When she returned to the library, though, Grace didn’t have any results for her. But by the next afternoon, she called to ask Annie to come see her.

“Success.” She gave Annie a couple of pieces of paper. “A few years ago, I worked with a woman who’s at the library in Charleston now. She was nice enough to e-mail me a copy of the article you wanted, as well as an earlier one on the drowning.”

Annie glanced at the pages. “I really appreciate it. What do I owe you for them?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. She sent them to me as a favor, and I’m just passing them on. Sorry it had to be bad news, though.”

“At least I know for sure.” Annie sighed. “I was really looking forward to getting back in touch with Susan. I guess that’ll teach me not to take any of my friends for granted.”

“You never know how long you have with anyone. I guess we both know that too well.” There was a touch of wistfulness in Grace’s expression, and Annie remembered that she, too, was a widow. “But at least you tried to find her. That was thoughtful of you.”

Annie thanked her one last time; then she went over to one of the overstuffed chairs in the reading area and sat down. The first article was dated August 22, 1989.

CHARLESTON RESCUE SEEKING WOMAN MISSING OFF FOLLY BEACH

FOLLY BEACH – Last night, a woman disappeared from the yacht she and her fiancé were sailing down the coast to Florida. It is believed that the 22-year-old may have fallen overboard during the brief storm that blew into the Charleston area last night around midnight. Her fiancé told police that he was sleeping below deck and did not realize she was missing until early this morning. Authorities have not released the couple’s names, but report that they had sailed from the Portland, Maine, area. The victim’s fiancé was not immediately available for comment.

The poor man, whoever he was. What a terrible blow it must have been to lose Susan just as they were starting their life together.

Annie looked at the other article. It was the one she had originally requested from August 27 of that year.

SEARCH HALTED FOR MAINE WOMAN BELIEVED DROWNED