Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Summer
T he air was cool when I got out of my car and walked toward the house that had seen better days. I grabbed a jacket out of the backseat and put it on, studying the house.
“What do you know about the property?” I asked Dixie in a low voice, even though Belinda and Magnolia were still sitting in their car.
“Not much. There were a lot of party spots at abandoned places, but no one I know came out here.”
“Do you know anything about the Brewers?”
“Not a thing. It sounds like Magnolia’s grandparents died long before I was old enough to know anything about them.”
I nodded, having expected as much.
“Do you expect to find anything inside?” Dixie asked.
“No, but I feel like we’d be remiss not to at least give it a look. I can’t help thinking Luke would have found something if it was here.” I’d called him on the way over and asked him about the house tour, and he’d urged me to be careful with Magnolia.
“She’s not in good shape, Summer,” he’d said. “I’m worried about her.”
“Me too,” I said softly. “I’ll be careful.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of her and Belinda staying in the car, but I didn’t plan to ask them. “Let’s go inside.”
Dixie and I looked around the living room, then searched the kitchen, checking drawers and cabinets. Dixie found a three-decades-old, faded calendar on top of the fridge with the name of a church printed at the bottom.
“Sweet Briar Methodist,” Dixie said. “Say, isn’t that where Luke’s parents attended?”
“Yeah,” I said with a grimace. His father had not so discreetly been trying to get Luke and me to attend a church service with him. Luke’s parents had both been lifelong members, and there was a possibility they would have known Magnolia’s mother and/or grandparents even though they were younger. But his mother had died several years ago, and his father could sometimes be clueless. I doubted that he would be a good resource.
We headed to the girls’ bedroom, searching the dresser and closet. One half of the dresser was still full of clothes, and the other half was mostly empty.
“They didn’t get rid of any of their daughter’s things,” Dixie said. “It looks like their clothes are all here. Maybe the size will help us figure out how old she was when she died.”
I pulled out a shirt and looked at the tag. “It’s a size small, but it looks like a woman’s small, not a little girl’s small. Which means she could have been any age between ten up to adult.”
“The stuff on her walls makes it look like she was a little girl.”
“Maybe,” I conceded. “Maybe not. I don’t think girls grew up as fast when our parents were young.”
“I don’t know about that,” Dixie said. “Maybe they were just better at hiding it from their parents.”
“Maybe…” I dropped the shirt into the open drawer.
“It’s definitely creepy,” Dixie said. “Maybe that’s why no one comes out here.”
“I don’t see anything personal other than the decor and the faded photos on the bed,” I said, picking up a few of the photos. They were so faded it was impossible to make anyone out. “No school papers. No yearbooks.”
“Yeah,” Dixie said with a frown. “That’s weird.”
I dropped to my knees and after I turned on the flashlight on my phone, I shined it under the metal frame of the bed with the photos.
“Anything under there?” Dixie asked.
“Nothing but cobwebs and dust bunnies,” I said, trying not to sneeze as I made a sweep with the flashlight. I got to my feet and lifted the mattress off the bed frame. Dust went flying and the mattress sagged. “Do you see anything?”
“No…wait! At the foot of the bed!”
I dropped the mattress and moved to the end of the bed, then lifted it again. The fabric of the box spring was in tatters, and it was apparent a piece of paper had been hidden inside it.
Dixie pulled it out and carefully unfolded it as I lowered the mattress.
“Anything useful?” I asked.
She glanced up, then handed it to me. “Maybe.”
I took the paper and pushed out a breath as I silently read the note.
L, meet me at the creek behind your barn at midnight.
T
“There’s no date,” I said. “This could have been written two days before she left town or two years.”
“Or it could have been Magnolia’s aunt’s note,” Dixie said. “This could have been her bed.”
I picked up a few photos from the lavender bedspread. “True, but Lila Steele strikes me as a no-nonsense woman. It seems more likely this was her bed. We can ask Magnolia her thoughts on the matter, but I say we move forward with the presumption this was Lila’s note.”
“So we focus on finding out who T was. They would have been her friend,” Dixie said.
“Maybe, maybe not. It could have been an enemy trying to patch things up, for all we know.”
“So if we can figure out who T is, we can find out what they know.” She pointed to the paper. “It looks like a guy wrote it. The handwriting’s not pretty at all.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But we definitely need to keep an open mind. About all of it.”
“Based on her age, we know the year she likely graduated. We just need to figure out who would have gone to school with her.”
“We can go to the library,” I said. “They’ll have copies of the yearbooks from years past.”
“There’s a faster way,” Dixie said with a raised brow.
Groaning, I shook my head. “If Maybelline catches wind of this…”
“She won’t,” Dixie said with a grin. “I know how to handle Maybelline. She’s been trying to figure out my personal life for years. I can get the information by giving away very little. She’ll be none the wiser.”
I gave her a pointed look.
“You can talk to Luke’s dad and figure out if he knows anything. At least we know he won’t be gossiping about it.”
“True.” I still thought the library would be the safer choice, but if anyone could get anything from Maybelline, it would be Dixie. “I’ll need to drop you off at the office.”
“My car’s back at the house, so we’ll need to reconnect at some point,” she said.
“Okay. But let’s see if we can find anything else here in the house first.”
We looked under the sister’s bed and under the mattress, but we didn’t find anything at all, let alone anything that would help us with our investigation. Their parents’ room wasn’t much better. All we found was a box with old utility bills and bank statements. I started to pull out some of the bank statements, then picked up the entire box.
“We can go through it all more thoroughly at the office,” I said. “Plus, I want to take a closer look at their financial records. Lila had to have been paying the taxes on the property. Where did the money come from? Especially for the first few years?”
“Good idea.”
Balancing the box on my hip, I headed for the door. “After you talk to Maybelline, you can get started on looking those over.”
“What do you want me to look for?”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I guess you can see if they had enough money to cover the taxes until Lila and her husband could afford to cover it. Or anything that looks weird. Maybe they had a life insurance policy on their younger daughter.” I wasn’t sure if that would make a difference, but any information might help.
“Okay.”
We walked outside and found Belinda and Magnolia still in their vehicle, but Belinda got out and greeted us as we headed for my car.
“You found something?” she asked in surprise as her gaze dropped to the box.
“Just a box of bills,” I said. “But we want to look them over and see if anything jumps out.” I cast a glance toward Magnolia. Her head was leaned back against the headrest, her eyes closed. “I don’t think this will take long, but it could be spread over several days. Maybe you should take Magnolia home.”
Belinda gave me a weak smile. “She’s agreed to go to Pensacola for a couple of days. I already reserved a hotel room overlooking the Gulf.”
I sighed with relief.
“Sunshine and the ocean will do her good,” Dixie said. “And it’ll be easier for us to ask questions if she’s not in town.”
“Agreed,” Belinda said. “We’re going to pick up our things at the hotel in Dothan and head down tonight. If you need us for anything, we can pass back through on Sunday.”
“I’ll let you know if I find anything,” I said. “Well, we did find something . A note.”
“Did Magnolia know which bed was her momma’s?” Dixie asked as I dug the note out of my pocket.
“We both figured it was the lavender one.”
“Us too. We found this under that bed.” I handed the note to Belinda. “We’re going to see if we can figure out who T is.”
She quickly scanned it, then looked up. “That’s good. It’s something, right?”
“Right. We also think the family might have attended the Methodist church in town,” I said. “I know someone who’s been a member his entire life and has a mouth like a steel trap. He won’t tell anyone I’ve been askin’ questions. He can be a little obtuse about the things going on around him, but it’s worth a chat. He might know something about Lila’s sister.”
“I guess word will get out about what y’all are up to at some point,” Belinda said.
“Doesn’t mean we can’t try to keep it under wraps as long as possible,” I said.
“We appreciate you trying,” she said.
“We just want to help Magnolia,” Dixie said. “We want to at least give her this.”
“Thank you,” Belinda said with tears in her eyes. “And Magnolia appreciates it too. Even if she’s not very good at showing it.”
Then she got in her car and they drove away, Magnolia giving the house one last, sullen look.