Chapter 14
CHAPTER 14
“ M ishaps and mischief, steady companions of yours, I can deal with, but I draw a line when it comes to danger,” Ian said the next morning over breakfast at the kitchen island. “You need to be extra cautious, not only for your own sake but for my sanity. I love you and I don’t want to see you hurt or lose you.”
Flutters consume me anytime Ian tells me that he loves me. I thought it was a foolish reaction at first, liking it to a young girl’s first crush. But I’ve come to realize it stirs my own feelings of love for him that I didn’t accept easily and that I still sometimes find difficult to believe and that I don’t tell him as often as he tells me that I love him.
“Pep, are you listening?”
“I love you!” Popped right out of my mouth. “I don’t tell you enough, but I do love you.”
He smiled, leaned close, and took hold of my chin to lift it gently and kiss me just as tenderly, at first. It didn’t take long for the kiss to escalate, which meant we might be late for our prospective morning meetings.
No such luck. The front door flew open, and my mom waltzed in with a bright smile on her face and Mo rushed to her to receive hugs and kisses.
“Morning, you two,” she said cheerily walking towards us. “Mo is scheduled to go campaigning with me today, but after what happened yesterday, I thought you might want to keep him with you today. I can always take him another day.”
“Not necessary, Mom,” I assured her. “Amy and I are going to the Willow Mansion to go through some files since our membership was approved quickly and as you know?—”
“No pets are permitted in the mansion,” my mom said. “Wagging tails can do a lot of damage there as well as pet owners who don’t mind their fur babies properly.” She frowned. “You need to be careful. News has spread that you have the keys to the mansion and that could be the very reason that vanishing guy showed up here yesterday.”
“I didn’t consider that,” Ian said, a crease of concern wrinkling his brow.
“It could have been a ruse, the fellow making you think he was on your side when he’s the culprit or is in cahoots with the biker,” my mom said.
I knew where she got that from. “You and Dad have been talking.”
“Of course we have,” my mom admitted. “We’re concerned for your safety especially since you can be so stubborn.”
I grinned. “I wonder where I got that from?”
“Your Aunt Effie. You’re just like her.”
Ian turned his head away to hide his laugh.
“I better get going. I have a busy schedule today. Besides campaigning, there’s the Main Street Beautification meeting and the Summer Festival Committee meeting. Please tell Amy not to be late for that meeting, her input regarding the budget is imperative.”
“Amy is never late, Mom, so no worries.”
“I won’t bore Mo with the meetings. I’ll drop him off after I finish campaigning. Now where is his vest?”
I smiled and pointed at the door. Mo was sitting in front of it with his vest in his mouth waiting for her.
My mom beamed with pride. “He is such an intelligent dog.” In minutes, the two were out the door, a cheerful “Toodles!” following my mom out.
“I haven’t seen the Willow Mansion yet. I have a break between meetings today, I’ll stop by,” Ian said innocently but I knew the reason for the unexpected visit.
“Checking up on me?”
“Aye, Ah cannae leave mo ghràdh unprotected,” he said, with a deep Scottish brogue that flitted my heart.
Okay, so he flitters my heart for other reasons as well, but how can it not flutter when he calls me my love in that sexy Scottish accent? I really needed to stop sounding like one of Amy’s beloved romance novels.
“Seriously, Pep, we don’t really know why that vanishing guy was here yesterday. Maybe he thought you weren’t home and came looking for the keys to the Willow Mansion. Maybe he’s in cahoots with Stone and they had a falling out. It could be anything. My concern is for your safety.”
“Cahoots? Really? Practicing for that cowboy modeling gig?”
“Blame your mom. It stuck in my head.”
He had mentioned his concern enough that I realized it really did trouble him, so I tried to reassure him. “I’ll be careful, and Amy will be with me and the mansion is open to visitors today. So, I’m pretty well protected.”
“Good to hear,” he said, sounding relieved.
I didn’t want to burst that relief but there was something I hadn’t mentioned to him. “I’m taking that skeleton key with me to see if it fits any lock in the mansion.”
And just like that worry sparked in his eyes again.
I tried to reassure him again. “I’m not going to let anyone see it or know that I have it. It remains a secret.”
“Secrets can be dangerous,” Ian warned. “Text me when you arrive, while you’re there, and when you leave.”
I went to laugh until I realized, “You’re serious.”
“And so is the person after the treasure.”
“The historical society doesn’t have much information on Claire or Ignatius beyond their names appearing on a manifest sheet for a ship sailing from Liverpool, England, to New York harbor. I can’t find anything on them after that until they turn up in Pennsylvania with six-month-old Verbena. Without a maiden name for Claire, it is difficult to track where she came from. The manifest doesn’t even show a profession for Ignatius. It’s no wonder your aunt couldn’t find out anything about the couple. They had to have been commoners and probably left the poverty associated with their social status for a better life in America. Though where they got the money to build the town of Willow and the Willow Mansion is anyone’s guess.
“Ignatius was known for being a shrewd businessman but also for his generosity and kindness, and Claire was as well. She did much to help the less fortunate, starting with free meals for the children who attended school in the one-room schoolhouse that Ignatius had built. A smart move since many children attended so they could at least get a decent meal for the day and the town prospered by having so many educated people.”
“They sound too good to be true,” I said, pulling into a parking spot at the mansion.
“Or something in their past made them generous,” Amy suggested. “I intend to continue digging and hope to find something in the files I see today that might point me in another direction. With old documents found or made public through the years and genealogy so popular, I’m bound to find something somewhere that will reveal the Willow family’s past.”
“Don’t look so happy about it,” I said jokingly, her expression serious.
“It’s not that.” Amy sighed. “The Willow Lake Historical Society has remained far too long in the dark ages. They need to update badly to bring in more revenue. Their website is ancient, they have no marketing plan, do little promo—” Amy shook her head. “And worse, I’ve found evidence that Melvin Waters, the last president, may have embezzled a sizeable amount of money.”
“Wow,” I said, not expecting to hear that. I hooked my arm with hers as we walked to the entrance. “I’m sorry I got you into this mess.”
“Are you kidding? You know how much I enjoy working with my clients on their finances and helping work through problems. It’s just breaking the news to Edna and Doris when it is obvious they and others work so hard to keep the society going.”
I left Amy with the two women in the mansion’s office, something we had agreed upon so that I could search for a lock that would fit the skeleton key and maybe reveal the treasure or at least point to its whereabouts.
I avoided areas where people roamed, though the snippets of conversation I heard proved Amy right about the lack of promotion for the mansion. Many of the visitors mentioned that they hadn’t known the place was here and how much they enjoyed stepping back in history.
Frustrated that I couldn’t find a single chest or door that remotely fit the key, I stood looking at the portrait of the Willow family as if they could provide an answer. Verbena sat happily between her mother and father, holding a cloth doll. She was even prettier than the first time I viewed the portrait, now having time to linger over it. She most likely would have grown into a beautiful woman just like her mother while stealing several good features from her handsome father. My eye caught the pearl choker necklace Claire wore, three strands with a teardrop pearl hanging from it. It was out of place in a town that was just forming. It had to have been costly and where and when did she get it? And where was it now? My glance drifted to the artist’s signature. It was difficult to make out but in a strange way it looked familiar. I was almost certain the last name read Lander. I made a mental note to research the artist.
Search of the second floor didn’t prove any better. I tried a couple of door keyholes and a chest in the library, but no luck. I stood at the top of the impressive staircase when I finished and glanced around. Something was off about this area, but I couldn’t put my finger on it, and it frustrated me. I was missing something, but what?
I tucked the skeleton key safely away in one of the pockets of my light blue multi-vest, hearing another tour group about to climb the stairs. I made my way down the Persian carpet that muffled my steps to see several women hurrying away from who I assumed were their husbands, smiling broadly and rushing to hold their phones up to snap photos while the men shook their heads.
I shook my head along with the men, knowing what caught the attention of women young to elderly—Ian.
Sure enough, I was halfway down the grand staircase when I spotted Ian surrounded by a gaggle of women. He patiently took photos with anyone who asked and even signed a book or two that women pulled out of their oversized purses. A couple of female admirers even ran their fingers over the temporary dragon tattoo on his arm which annoyed me. I did not like them touching him.
Possessive, are we?
The idea stung and made me realize that love could go a lot deeper than imagined and make people feel more strongly and do things one would never think of doing. That thought struck a cord and I hurried to look at the Willow family portrait once again, the gaggle of Ian’s fans soon forgotten.
I stared at Ignatius Willow, his one arm hugging his daughter and his other arm around his wife’s waist, keeping both close, not the usual portrait poses of that period. Was he worried that someone might take the two away from him or was he letting everyone know he would never let anything happen to either of them? Or had he done something that had placed them both in danger and remained vigilant that they did not suffer for his error?
I turned, hearing footsteps behind me, excited to see Ian and waited until he got close to whisper, “What if Ignatius was a thief and stole jewels to pay for his way to America and build a future?”
“What got that idea in your head?” he asked, his arm going around my waist and giving me a quick kiss.
I turned, his arm remaining around my waist as we viewed the portrait together. “Look at her necklace. That’s not a necklace a woman who lived in a budding town in America would wear. So, where did it come from? Who did it belong to, and where is it now?”
Ian stared at the portrait. “You do have a point. Maybe they were both thieves working together and were near to being caught so they hopped a ship to the New World.”
“The treasure could be far larger than we thought,” I said.
“Unless it has already been found which means the demise of the Willow Lake Historical Society.”
Ian and I turned to see Amy.
“If the Willow Lake Historical Society doesn’t have an infusion of money soon, it will cease to exist and that means the Willow Mansion will fall to the town for unpaid taxes yet again, the Willow Lake Historical Museum will be closed, the two scholarships they hand out, small as they are, will be no more, and the two books the society hoped to publish will never see print.”
“The society’s finances are that dire?” I asked.
“Thanks to Melvin Waters, mishandling or possibly embezzling the money. Edna just told me that Melvin had big traveling plans. I wouldn’t be surprised if he chose countries with no extradition agreements with the United States,” Amy said. “His plans called for far more money than he may have embezzled so I wonder if he found the jewels and sold them.”
“He had to leave his money to someone,” Ian said.
“I’ll find out from the county clerk if he has a will and request a copy,” Amy said. “It will show his assets and how they were to be distributed. Unless he squirreled it away in another country, but I’ve dealt with this stuff before in my accounting business. If he has bank accounts out there somewhere, I’ll find them and get the money owed to the historical society. But it will take time, and the historical society needs an infusion of money now. I’ve got to go. I can’t be late for the Summer Festival Association meeting. The mayor is threatening to eliminate some of the summer festivals due to financial woes and it’s due to the worthless town business manager he appointed last year. The man has no idea what he’s doing. Your mom is going to have her hands full when she inherits the mess Mayor Barrett has created.” She glanced around. “Beau was supposed to pick me up.”
“I’m your ride,” Ian announced gallantly. “Beau got stuck on a business call and asked me to get you since I wanted to see how Pep was doing.”
“Beau has a sharp mind for finances,” Amy said proudly.
Ian agreed with a nod. “Which is why he is my business partner.” He turned to me. “Leaving? Staying?”
“I have a few more places I want to look at here, then I’m going to head home and go through the Willow documents we have so far and see if anything jumps out at me.”
“How about the four of us get together for supper at Treetops around seven?” Ian suggested.
“That would be great,” Amy agreed.
I loved the idea myself and with a quick kiss from Ian he left with Amy. I decided to stroll through the garden area which was off limits to all but historical society members. I wanted to walk around it to make sure the grounds were walkable for Charlie Gibbons when I brought him here.
I couldn’t find Edna, but I let Doris know where I was going and left through the kitchen door that led out back and opened on to what once must have been the kitchen garden. It had been left unattended, though an herb or two peeked through the weeds and through the bricks in the walkway. Further along was what probably had been the vegetable garden, and to the right, in front of the dining room windows spread a vast garden that in its prime must have been gorgeous but had since been left to nature to reclaim.
It was a shame. If it was brought back to its heyday, it would be a perfect place to set café tables and chairs around and have a building where beverages and light fare could be purchased. When Amy saw this area, she was going to go crazy with ideas.
I spotted a building at the far end of the garden and wondered if it could be converted into such a place. I made my way to it, stopping often to spot bushes and flowers that refused to stop blooming and had made themselves one with the weeds.
The building was larger than I expected and boarded up. There was some rot in places, but the structure appeared sturdy and was definitely built far after Ignatius’s time. I walked around the back and spotted a loose board. Naturally, my curiosity demanded I explore.
I moved the sheet of plywood that had some rot to it to the side and that allowed the sun to enter. I was shocked at what I found. Someone was camping out there. A sleeping bag and a small cooler with a lantern sitting on top occupied an area that looked to have been cleaned of debris. It could be some homeless person, but the items looked new. I searched around for any evidence that might tell me who was camping out here but found nothing. Whoever it was made certain to be cautious.
A noise outside caught my attention and I hurried out, thinking it wasn’t a great idea to be caught in there alone with the squatter. As soon as I stepped outside, I spotted someone not too far away, a man, his hooded sweatshirt pulled up concealing a good portion of his face.
My immediate thought—the vanishing guy.
“Wait!” I yelled. “I just want to talk.”
He didn’t hear me, or he had no desire to talk with me. He ran.
Of course, I couldn’t let him get away again. I ran after him.
I barely took a few steps when something smacked me hard in the face and sent me tumbling to the ground.