The Secret (Seacliff High Mystery Book 1) (8 page)

While Tucker was speaking, the pup momentarily paused, then bounded right over to Alyson and sat docilely at her feet, leaning against her leg as if to say
I love you
.

“Wow,” Tucker commented. “He really likes you. He doesn’t usually run right up to new people that way.”

“He’s adorable.” Alyson vigorously scratched Tucker behind the ears.

“Look at his face.” Mac laughed. “His eyes are rolled up in his head like he’s in complete ecstasy.”

“I think we have a match,” Trevor exclaimed. “How about it, Alyson? Want to take this pup home?”

“Definitely.” Alyson stopped petting Tucker the pup and turned to Tucker the person. “What do I need to do?”

“Follow me and I’ll get you all set up.”

After getting a list of directions, shot records, and AKC paperwork, Alyson wrote Tucker a check and loaded her new best friend into the back of Trevor’s car.

“He’s so cute, and so big.” Mac turned in her seat to watch the puppy in the back. “My mom doesn’t like dogs. I have a fish, but it’s not the same.”

“Want to come over and help me get him settled in?” Alyson invited. “You could stay for dinner.”

“Sounds like fun. I could help you go through the rest of the paperwork too.”

“Talk to your mom,” Trevor reminded her as he dropped the girls off at Mac’s car. “I have this really bad feeling we’re going to regret not going to the cops. Money—especially large sums of money—can make people do things they might not otherwise even consider. Seriously, talk to your mom.”

“I will.” Alyson leaned over and kissed Trevor on the cheek. “Thanks for finding the puppy for me. I feel safer already. I’ll be fine. Really.”

“Mom, we’re home,” Alyson called loudly up the stairs toward the attic.

“Be right down,” a faint voice called back

“You guys really need an intercom system,” Mac observed.

“Tell me about it.”

While the girls were discussing the communication challenges of living in such a large house, Tucker walked around the kitchen, sniffing every nook and cranny. After a thorough search, he settled down on the rug in front of the large, old-fashioned fireplace that took up nearly the entire wall separating the kitchen from the formal dining room.

“Looks like he’s settled right in,” Mac observed. “He picked a good spot too. It’ll be nice and warm during the long winter months.”

“I can’t wait to have a fire. This house has nine fireplaces.” Alyson walked over to pet the newest addition to the family.

“Nine fireplaces? That’s a lot.”

“I’m pretty sure they were the only source of heat when the house was first built. There are three on each floor. There’s one in each of the bedrooms, plus one each in the living room, dining room, and kitchen. Actually, the only main room without a fireplace is the bedroom off the kitchen. I guess the maid didn’t warrant any heating.”

“Does the house have another heating system now?”

“Sort of. Someone installed a system on the first floor, but it doesn’t look like it’s worked in years. We’re going to install a whole new system as part of our remodel. In the meantime we bought a load of wood for the fireplaces.”

“Sounds like a lot of work.”

“Tell me about it,” Alyson repeated. “So, do you think Tucker’s hungry?” she asked, quickly changing the subject back to her new puppy.

“Maybe; it’s close to dinner time. I bet he could use some water for sure. He’s been panting ever since we picked him up.”

“Tucker gave me some food to get me going until I could get to the store. I think there are some metal bowls in one of these cabinets.” Alyson began opening and closing cupboard doors, looking for the bowls in question.

“The house is really coming together,” Mac observed, looking around as Alyson continued her search. “And this kitchen is awesome. I meant to mention the other day how much I like the way your mom blended the colors and shades in the new cabinets, countertops, paint, and curtains to match the existing colors in the brick fireplace and wood floor. You don’t get the feeling you do with some remodels, where the new clashes with the old. The room feels fresh and welcoming without losing its warmth and charm. ”

“My mom’s an artist. She has a natural flare for texture and color. She’s doing the whole house with tones found in the earth and sea. I can’t wait to show you my room now that she’s finished. It’s done in blues and grays, the natural colors of the ocean.”

“Sounds cool. Plus a bonus for imitating the school colors.”

“I hadn’t even thought of that.” Alyson laughed. “I guess no one can question my commitment to school spirit.”

Tucker bounded across the room to greet Alyson’s mom, who had finally made it down from the attic.

“This is Tucker,” Alyson introduced.

Mom knelt in front of the pup, who began to thump his tail hard against the floor.

“He’s beautiful.” She scratched him under the chin. Tucker licked Alyson’s mom’s hand in greeting. “He seems pretty mellow. I hope he’ll make a good watchdog.”

“The breeder assured me he’s been trained to be mellow when indoors but, if needed, can be quite an aggressive watchdog.”

“Well, he’s certainly going to be a big dog,” her mother stated. “I guess when you said you were getting a puppy I pictured something lap size. He’s already bigger than most full-grown dogs.”

“He’s going to weigh around a hundred pounds,” Alyson confirmed. “I was going to get him some food and water. Do you happen to remember where those two large metal bowls ended up?”

“Check the cabinet to the left of the sink.”

“Score!” Alyson exclaimed, finding the sought-after bowls toward the back of the cabinet.

“I was just telling Alyson how much I loved what you’ve done with the kitchen,” Mac said. “It has a real traditional country kitchen feel.”

“Thanks; I like the way it turned out. I didn’t realize how much fun it would be to remodel this old house. At first I viewed it as a chore to be completed, but once I got started the artist in me took over, and I’ve had the best time.”

“I’ve asked Mac to stay for dinner. I hope that’s okay.”

“Sure. I was planning on making seafood chowder. I stopped at the outdoor seafood counter on the wharf on my way home from taking you to school and picked up some shrimp, scallops, and lobster. I thought I’d cook them in a light cream sauce along with some diced-up potatoes, carrots, and onion.”

“It sounds delicious.” Mac rubbed her stomach. “My mom’s idea of chowder comes from a can marked Campbell’s.”

“Not everyone has the time or desire to go to all the effort of creating things from scratch when you can just as easily get them from a can,” Alyson’s mom commented. “I’m sure your mom has lots of other things she enjoys and is good at.”

“I suppose,” Mac agreed doubtfully.

“Dinner should be ready in about an hour and a half,” she informed the pair. “You can have a snack if you’re starving.”

“We’re fine,” Alyson said. “I think we’ll go up to my room. Just give a yell when dinner’s ready.”

Alyson and Mac started up the stairs to the second floor, and Tucker got up to follow them.

“Wow, your room is fantastic! I can’t believe it’s the same room I saw last week.” Mac toured the room, then looked out the window to the view beyond. “It’s so strange. I’ve known that this house was sitting up here on the cliff my whole life, but not once has it occurred to me how cool it would be to live here. When you first mentioned your mom bought this place, I thought both of you were crazy. But now I have to admit I’m a little envious. The house is really going to be great.”

Tucker quietly sniffed every corner of Alyson’s bedroom as the girls talked, eventually settling down on the large hooked rug next to the bed. He laid his head on his front legs and watched them as they talked and walked around the room.

“Maybe we should start going through those boxes while we’re waiting for dinner,” Mac suggested, indicating the boxes from the attic, which Alyson had stacked up next to the far wall.

Alyson picked up a box at the top of the pile. “This is the one where I found the check register. I’ll keep looking through it. Just pick one of the others and we’ll get started.”

The girls sat cross-legged on the bed, sorting through their boxes as Tucker watched from the floor. Alyson hadn’t known how much she’d missed just sitting in a room and working alongside someone you considered to be your best friend. She’d been friends with Tiffany forever. The two of them had grown up together and had talked often about living together and sitting on a porch in matching rocking chairs after whoever they decided to marry had long since died. Alyson wasn’t certain why both she and Tiffany were convinced they’d outlive their spouses, but she guessed that because they’d begun their lives as constant companions, it was only right that they end up the same way.

It made Alyson sad that that would never happen. She’d loved Tiffany more than she’d ever loved anyone other than her mother. She wondered if Tiff had reserved side-by-side rocking chairs for the two of them in heaven.

“Look at what I found.” Mac held up a fistful of black-and-white photographs. “They look really old.”

Alyson blinked away a tear and leaned in closer to get a better look. “Is there any writing on them to indicate who they might be?”

“No.” Mac turned over the photos to look at the backs. “This one has a date on it. Nineteen twenty-two.”

“Wow, that’s old.” Alyson took the photo from Mac and studied the middle-aged man holding a young boy who appeared to be around two. “Do you think this is Barkley and his dad?”

“Could be. The date seems about right.”

Alyson continued to study the pair in the photo. “If it is, it’s sad to think about what eventually happened to them. They look so happy.”

“Here’s another one with writing on it.” Mac held up a photo of a baby boy lying on some type of blanket. “It just says Jonathan. No date.”

“The quality of the film looks a little better. I would guess it’s a more recent photo than the first one. See if you can find any other photos with the same people in them, or any photos with writing on them.”

Mac sorted through the box while Alyson continued to study the check ledger.

“Look at this,” Alyson said after several minutes. “There’s a one-time cash withdrawal from the account in August of 1955 for twenty-five thousand dollars.”

“Just before the payments to Mary started. Do you think it was a down payment of some type?”

“Maybe. Or maybe it was a payment to a doctor or midwife; someone who would have quietly assisted with the birth.”

“Makes sense. That might account for the lack of official records. Maybe the baby was delivered at home under a veil of secrecy.”

“It’s too bad there’s no name here. It would have been helpful to have another lead to follow up on.”

“We could ask around town to see if anyone remembers who the town doctor was, or if there was a midwife working at the time,” Mac suggested. “It was a long time ago, but there are several residents who were around back then.”

“Good idea.” Alyson continued to sort through the box in front of her. “I wish I could find the early ledgers. So far I haven’t found anything dated before 1945. Can you imagine how much ten thousand dollars was worth in 1945?”

“You’re right; I hadn’t thought of that.” Mac stopped to consider the implications. “My grandparents were married in 1933 and my grandmother once told me she and my grandpa paid three thousand dollars for their first house. If Barkley was given ten thousand dollars a month from the start that would have been a fortune.”

“It makes sense. If we assume Barkley’s father set up the trust in the first place, the payments would either have started with his death or maybe when Barkley reached adulthood.”

“When did we decide his father must have died?” Mac asked.

“Must have been sometime between 1930 and 1940.”

“Maybe the payments didn’t start until he was older and 1945 is the beginning date,” Mac ventured.

“Could be, but I’ll keep looking just in case. Maybe the early documents, if there are any, are in another box.” Alyson returned the papers to the first box and placed it on the floor next to the others, then picked up another. When she picked up that box a single sheet of paper fluttered to the floor. “That’s strange.”

“Maybe Barkley is trying to tell us something.”

“Maybe. I told you about the gust of wind that revealed the check ledger with the payments to Mary Swanson.” Alyson held up the single piece of yellowed paper. “I wonder what it means.”

“It looks like some kind of code.”

“Do you have any idea how to read it?”

“Not off hand, but if you want I’ll take it with me and work on it. Basically, it’s just the alphabet arranged in box format. Five letters over and five letters down, with
i
and
j
sharing a single space. There’s a series of numbers next to that.”

Alyson studied the diagram but couldn’t make out any patterns offhand. Maybe Mac and her super brain could figure it out.