The Puzzle (18 page)

I dipped a fry in ketchup, stalling. I didn’t want to look him in the eye. Should I go with a watered-down version of deceit with a little truth thrown on top? I mean, after all, my safety was in play here. Well, maybe not from Clay, since he’d rescued me so often already, but definitely from other sources. I couldn’t confide in anyone, not even him. I didn’t know
who
to trust.

“I thought…”

Suddenly, Martha rushed up to our booth. “Well, hi, Clay, nice to see you.” Her foot was tapping nervously. “I tried your cell phone, Sam, but the call wouldn’t go through.”

“Hi, Martha,” Clay responded, looking at her warily. “Good to see you, too.”

“Would you excuse me, Clay?” She leaned in low and whispered in my ear. “God almighty, Sam! Someone broke into the shop. I didn’t call the police yet. Should I?” She looked me right in the eye, her foot still tapping away.

“Oh, no!” I quickly turned to Clay and blurted out, “A pipe burst in the bathroom at the shop and the plumber is on his way. Will you excuse us? Oh, and by the way, thanks for lunch.”

“Yeah, it was sort of short, but very interesting,” he replied, turning to watch us leave.

I knew it, even before I flew through my store. The back door was pried open. I visually scanned my shop, and then for Martha’s sake, pretended to make a proper search. I was upset.

How could this have happened?

“Nothing’s missing,” I said. “But, I’m seriously considering arming the store and myself.”

Martha shuddered. “Somehow Sam, I just can’t see you brandishing a thirty-eight.”

That notorious laptop was missing…
again
.

I had been outfoxed,
but by who?

Chapter 34

Going Once! Going Twice! Going Hunting?

When I couldn’t come up with any better alternatives and was not having much luck ferreting out any substantial clues, or hanging on to evidence, I decided to go back and follow the trail of the missing laptop.

First, I figured I’d travel down to Franklin and question the auctioneer. Any speculations I had in the past were now seriously challenged. I was in a guessing game of innocence and guilt. Who was fudging the truth and who was being fairly honest with me? Maybe, an unbiased opinion was called for and that was what finally pushed me in the direction of Franklin.

In daylight, the auction house appeared bare and nondescript. There was no mystery to the building any longer, but the information I might obtain there could be interesting. It might shed some light on where the laptop came from in the first place. Who better to ask than the auctioneer? On the night of the auction, he seemed like a tough old bird and a no-nonsense type of guy. I remembered that his name was Pete.

As our initial conversation progressed, I was surprised by how easily he accepted my story that the laptop looked like my husband’s. He then answered my subsequent questions almost as though he had been expecting me to show up. Ridiculous. I was truly getting paranoid.

“That laptop?” he lamented, shaking his head. “Why I was so upset when I found out it went missing. I was hoping to make a nice profit on that thing. Too late for you, too, I guess.”

“If you don’t mind,” I asked. “Could you please tell me where you got the laptop in the first place? Did anyone in particular ask you to sell it for them?”

“Well, no, not really,” he said. “It is sort of a humorous story though. Ned, a neighbor of mine, was out hunting with his coon dog not too long ago. He likes to brag he is this great hunter, but we all know better and let on we don’t care. Well, he was out with Rex, his dog, for hours off the road that winds down the mountain from Highlands into Franklin, and all of a sudden, Rex starts barking off in the distance, going crazy like.” The auctioneer chuckled.

“Ned, he gets all excited and runs like hell, trying to catch up, thinking Rex has scored big time. Boy, was he surprised at what he found when he got there! Old Rex was scratching at a laptop behind a fallen tree, half hidden in the leaves. He wanted to smack that stupid old dog right there on the spot. He said to Rex, ‘Now, what am I supposed to do with this stupid thing? Take it home, stuff it and mount on my wall?’ ”

The auctioneer sat upright, tapping his head with his finger. “That’s when Ned remembered me and the auction. Why not make up for his losses of the day? It had some dirt on it, but maybe it might be worth something. The auction was that night, so he made a hasty retreat down to town. He came in about four hours before the auction started. Yeah, word spread around. Ned had bagged a big one all right.” Pete laughed heartily.

He leaned toward me. “Me and my boys tried to start that thing up, but the battery was dead. We tried looking for a name or identification on it, just some small scratches, dirt and marks, nothing special. We weren’t sure if we saw initials or not. So, I called Jim, our local police chief here in Franklin and asked if there were any reports of missing laptops around here recently and he checked and said none at all. Well, I’m not stupid. I did my job checking. We cleaned that baby up real good and put it on the preview table, hoping to get some interest for that evening.”

“Did anyone show any?” I asked, hopefully.

Pete smiled broadly. “Yeah, lots of people; an older woman, some guys, young and old. I guess they knew quality when they saw it. I had a disclaimer on it, saying I didn’t know if it worked or not, but that didn’t stop anybody from showing real interest. I thought for sure I had a winner there, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, with all those distractions that night, with the fire and the lights going out, I guess it was too attractive to last that long on that table. Somebody took advantage of all that chaos and yelling and just skipped off with it. I can tell you, I was mighty upset.”

“But what about the person standing watch over those tables? Didn’t he see anybody, or anything at all?”

Pete gave a disgusted shrug. “Who, that idiot? I fired his ass right on the spot. I should have never hired him in the first place. And those two old biddies, highly recommending him! I should have known better then to be taken in like that.”

I liked where this was going. “What two old biddies? Did you know them? Where were they from?” I had already done the math and those two were odds on favorites.

“Whoa, there, with the questions, young lady. I’ll get to it. They walked in that afternoon of the auction and said they were in town and saw my sign in the window, looking for some help that night with the auction. They said they had a nephew who needed a part time job to make ends meet. They pleaded, saying he was so trustworthy.” Pete shook his head.

“They drew me in good. I asked if he had any experience, and they said of course, and being desperate because of all the lots that I had to sell, I gave in and told them to make sure he was there in two hours, so I could show him what to do.”

“Where were they from? Do you remember their names?” I asked, trying not to laugh. I could just picture what took place.

“Let me see. Oh yeah. They were from the same town as you, Highlands. Not right sure of
their
names though. Betsy…Betsy…Betsy… and maybe …Hannah? Just can’t remember. Like I said. I should have known better. I was like a babe in the woods with those two old pros. I can tell you, but I’ll be damned if I’d admit that to anyone I know. Anything else I can help you with? I have to get back to work.” Pete got out of his chair, which to me was a signal our little talk was over.

“One more thing,” I asked. “Approximately where would you say Ned found this laptop?”

“I think he said about twenty-five feet in off the Franklin road, near Bridal Veil Falls, you know, where the locals go and drive under to wash off their cars?”

“I think I may have heard of it.”

I knew exactly where it was.

He edged toward the door. “Well, is that it? Anything more?”

“No. I can’t think of anything else,” I replied, then shook his hand. “Thank you very much for your time. I hope I haven’t disrupted your schedule too much.”

“No, not at all. I sure hope you have better luck finding and hanging on to that laptop than I did. Don’t forget, we’re having other auctions. Mighty nice stuff, too.”

“No. I won’t forget, and thank you again for your time,” I replied, smiling.

“Sure thing. Anytime at all.”

Outside, I slowly walked to the car, thinking about all the possibilities. My facts so far were unsubstantiated and proved nothing, but had a lot of connections. I felt like I was traveling in circles, always ending back where I started from. There was one thing that bothered me more than anything else.

Could it be that I was being taken for a ride?
And if so,
why?

Chapter 35

Let Me See For Myself

On my return trip up the mountain road back to Highlands, I figured it wasn’t much of a stretch connecting Betty and Hazel with the clever heist of the laptop, but who was this so-called nephew? It was most likely someone they knew and paid off to steal the laptop. I heard people stole anything if the price was right. So, I could probably cross him off my list. But what possessed them? Those two women looked and acted so moral and proper.

Also, by this time, it was anybody’s guess
who
might have that laptop. Getting a charger to match it would be a snap. In no time, if they were lucky, and if it still functioned, it might turn on. But I knew for a fact that, even then, Stephen had all kinds of encrypted codes installed. He was always a protection freak with layers of security imbedded in it to help soothe his paranoia.

Could the log the hunter had found it under possibly have protected it from the elements? How far was it found under the log? I was still amazed by stories of people throwing their computers in the trash or dumping them, only to discover later that unscrupulous persons had salvaged them and retrieved an assortment of personal information, including banking, credit and various other important data. So maybe there was a chance it was still viable.

In the wrong hands, I would never get that opportunity to find out. But I was getting ahead of myself because I had no idea what was on it and what information it was being pursued for. What could Stephen have possibly stored on the computer that had everyone in such
a frenzy
? Who was involved? Why were they chasing the laptop? I slammed on my brakes.

I just passed Bridal Veil Falls.

A gut instinct rushed through me and then ebbed away, as though this place was the moon, pulling me against my better judgment. I slowly backed the car up and parked off to the side of the road. The falls noisily splashed in the background. I hesitated, then got out of the car and started my trek through the woods. I had my fingers crossed, hoping that I would somehow get lucky and find some sort of clue–anything that might lead me to understand who had left Stephen’s laptop there–and why.

I tried to keep sight of my car and veered left and right, and then ventured farther into the woods. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for, except maybe a fallen tree of a pretty good size. After about fifteen minutes of wandering, I finally spotted the low stump of a split tree whose upper half had long since fallen and still remained nearby, starting to decay.

I walked around it gingerly and spotted where it appeared as though a dog or person had scratched out a clearing. It had a slightly flattened area where a laptop could have rested. I squatted down, touched it, and then stood to get my bearings. Where was my car? To my relief, I could see it from here–it was at a slight angle, on the side of the road, slightly above the copse where I stood.

Within moments, I realized the ramification of what I was staring at.

I already knew the answer even before it flew from my lips. “He threw the laptop from his car window, because he was probably being followed that night by someone who wanted his information.” Breathless, I waited for my conclusion to change, but like an obnoxious guest, it refused to leave and pressed down on my chest disturbingly. It was definitely a clear shot to where I was standing, and Stephen was strong enough to throw it.

I was located at the section of the mountain, where the road had not a continuous steep mountainous downward slope. It was a somewhat level area. Maybe whoever had killed him had tampered with his brakes beforehand, and that had probably allowed him to keep going for some distance until they finally gave out at the place where the police found the burning wreckage. Toward the end, he probably fought to keep control of his car. After that mental visual, I promptly shook my head, willing myself back from that nightmarish scenario.

I never would have guessed this alternative in a million years on my own. Whoever currently possessed the laptop may have had to remove the hard drive in order to recover the information. I couldn’t believe they would let it out of their sight, so they might try to bring someone in from the outside. That could possibly take a while, allowing me breathing room and some time to figure out who stole it and who was responsible for Stephen’s death. Then again, maybe they already knew what was on the laptop and just wanted it back to prevent anyone else from finding out.