Santa Sleuth (16 page)

Charlotte rolled over onto her back, a movement that indicated that she was bored with my chatter and wanted her belly rubbed.

I ignored her.

“I’d fallen into such a rut,” I continued. “It’s almost as if I was sleepwalking through life until the girls came along and woke me up. Not that I wasn’t living a perfectly useful life. It’s just that my life had become one-dimensional and I’d let it happen.”

I held up a wool jacket that was half of a wool dress suit. The skirt would have to go, but the jacket might pair nicely with slacks and a sweater.

“What do you think?” I asked Charlotte.

She jumped off the bed and wandered into my closet, making it clear she really couldn’t care less what I did with the jacket.

I decided to keep it to wear with the new jeans and knee-high boots the girls had talked me into buying. It was a good-quality cloth, and the neutral camel color would go with a lot of different things.

I hung up the jacket and then stood in front of the full-length mirror. I tried to be objective as I considered my image. While my hair was still the same waist-length style in which I’d worn it my entire life, the girls had talked me into getting highlights to lessen the gray. My skin was smooth and line free due to a lifetime of rigorous adherence to a moisturizing routine, and I’d managed to keep a slim figure, although lord knew it would do me good to add a toning routine to my day.

“Do you think I should join a gym?”

“Meow,” Charlotte commented as she wandered back into the bedroom from the closet.

I took that as signifying agreement.

Between the highlights in my hair, the addition of makeup that Brooklyn had spent hours teaching me how to apply, and the younger and hipper-looking clothes, I really did look as if I could pass for forty, or at least forty-five. I found it hard to remember why I’d never paid any mind to my appearance in the first place.

“I’m thinking that I’ll wear my new plum sweater into town. Plum is a good color on me. My mama always told me that plum brought out the sparkle in my eyes.”

Charlotte jumped up onto the dresser and knocked the novel I was reading onto the floor. I was certain she was trying to remind me not to lose sight of who I was in the process of reinventing who I wanted to be. Charlotte had a point, but up to this moment I’d lived my entire life in the pursuit of academic achievement and had paid little attention to anything else. I’d never dated, fallen in love, or married. I’d never had children nor engaged in relationships or friendships that weren’t related to the academic world in which I’d lived. I’d lived a useful and purposeful life and didn’t necessarily regret the choices I’d made, but the opportunity to veer from the path I’d chosen and travel the one unfollowed left me feeling more alive than I had in years.

I changed into my plum sweater, which I paired with black jeans and a soft leather jacket. I picked up the first of five perfectly packed boxes and started down the hall.

“Let me help you with that,” Pepper offered.

“I’ve got this one fine, but there are four more in my room if you want to grab one of those.”

I carried the box down the stairs and set it next to the front door. My garage was in the rear of the property, but I decided I’d pull my car up to the front curb, cutting the distance needed to load the boxes in half.

The house, which two days ago had been decorated for the holiday, had been returned to its previous state of tidiness after a long day of undecorating. The tree that had stood in front of the window had been stripped of the ornaments the girls and I had purchased and had been left out on the curb for the garbage truck when it next came by.

I had especially enjoyed all the lights we’d strung: the small twinkle lights that had been added to the garland we’d wound along the banister, the festive red and green candle lights that had graced almost every tabletop, and the larger Christmas lights that had been strung around the windows at the front of the house.

“Are you going out?” I asked Pepper, who arrived with the second box. She had on boots and a jacket, indicating that she planned to venture outdoors.

“Chad is picking me up in a few minutes. We are going to a movie.”

Chad Carson was a fifteen-year-old student at Zimmerman Academy and about as close to being a personality double to Pepper as you were likely to find. The two energetic extroverts had been the best of friends from the day they met.

“That sounds like fun,” I responded. “What are you going to see?”

“The new action flick that just came out. I can’t remember the name, but it’s the one with that cutie pie actor Brooklyn is always going on and on about. You can come with us if you’d like.”

“Thanks, dear, but I’m planning to head into town to run a few errands. I should be back before you return, but be sure to bring your house key just in case.”

“It’s in my pocket. Are you sure you don’t want to come?”

“I’m sure. You kids have fun.”

“Thanks. We will.”

After Pepper left the house I went back upstairs for the remaining three boxes. There was a definite satisfaction that came from purging the clothes I’d spent an adulthood collecting, but I experienced a certain nostalgia as well. The sturdy, practical clothing I’d purchased along the way had served me well, even if it no longer fit the new lifestyle I was in the process of designing for myself.

I picked up the next box and headed out of my bedroom. Luckily, I ran into Brooklyn on the stairs, who offered to lend a helping hand. Brooklyn is the eldest of the three and in some ways the hardest to know. She is a perfectly lovely girl, but it is obvious that she has been hurt in the past and therefore guards her heart against future pain by maintaining a barely discernable distance between herself and everyone else.

“Are you going out as well?” I asked as we hauled the three remaining boxes down the stairs.

“Pi is coming to pick me up. He has a gig in Bryton Lake and I’m going to go with him.”

Pi was one of the three Zimmerman Academy students living with Zoe and Zak Zimmerman. He was sixteen, as was Brooklyn, and the two seemed to enjoy spending time together, although I think any hope Brooklyn had of entering into a romantic relationship with the musician has gone by the wayside.

“The roads will be icy when you come home,” I instructed Brooklyn. “Be sure to remind Pi to take it easy.”

“I will,” Brooklyn promised as she trotted out the front door.

I looked around the empty house. I knew Eve and Alex Bremmerton, another of the students living with Zak and Zoe, were around somewhere. I doubted they’d want to go into town with me, but I hated to leave without telling them where I was going. If I knew Eve and Alex, they were probably reading or working on a project, so I headed to the library.

“What are you girls working on?” I asked when I found them huddled over a table.

“A treasure map,” Eve answered.

“A treasure map?”

“Before we went on break Professor Carlton gave us an extra-credit assignment. We thought it would be fun to try to solve the mystery,” Eve explained.

“What mystery?”

“A year or so ago Zoe helped a man named Burton Ozwald find the treasure his grandpa left hidden for his father back in 1940,” Eve answered. “All she had to go on was a letter with a riddle, so she enlisted the assistance of Professor Carlton and a few others to help her find the gold.”

I did seem to remember something about that.

“Anyway, Professor Carlton thought it would be fun for those of us who had time to try to find the treasure using the same clues that were in the original letter. He hid something in the location where Zoe ended up finding the treasure and the first one to find it will receive a bunch of extra credit points.”

“It does sound like fun,” I admitted, “but don’t you both already have straight As?”

“We do,” Alex confirmed, “but the assignment sounded like fun, and a good way to learn more about local history. The thing is, we might have hit a roadblock.”

“Do you want some help?” I asked. The assignment really did sound fascinating.

“We can use all the help we can get,” Eve answered.

I sat down at the table with the girls.

“Here’s what we know so far,” Eve continued. “The original letter Burton Ozwald had was really just a riddle that led to an old masthead that was brought to Devil’s Den by a man named Warren Goldberg in 1908. It seems he owned a sailing vessel at one time, which he sold to fund his journey west. This article,” Eve held up an old newspaper clipping, “says that while he sold the boat to an exporter, he kept the masthead, which held special meaning for him. At some point the masthead ended up in the local bar. That building no longer exists, but during the original treasure hunt Zoe tracked it down to the storage room of the Ashton Falls Museum. Alex and I were able to follow the clues to the museum and, as Zoe had, we discovered a secret drawer. Professor Carlton hid the clue in the drawer in order to replicate the series of events that took place during the original treasure hunt.”

I had to hand it to Ethan. He’d certainly gone to a lot of effort to make studying the history of Ashton Falls interesting.

“The clue in the drawer instructed us to look for the medic’s seal,” Alex continued. “There were a few extra clues I don’t believe Zoe had access to at the time of the real treasure hunt, but we were able to track down the information we needed at the library, where a photo of the old clinic was being held for our project. On the exterior of the building was a seal with the words
legatum sit amet
,
which is Latin for ‘Life Is Love’s Legacy.’ We can’t figure out where to go from there. Professor Carlton did say that Zoe found the treasure, so it seems the riddle is solvable. We just haven’t been able to figure it out.”

I looked down at the books and materials the girls had spread out on the table. A treasure hunt was just the thing I needed to occupy my mind.

“All right, why don’t we start at the beginning?” I suggested. “What was the original clue Professor Carlton gave you?”

Eve pushed a piece of paper in front of me. It read:

To begin the quest

I give to you

A maiden’s breast

As the initial clue.

“This is the clue that led to the masthead of a mermaid that had once graced a ship but at some point had been removed and attached to a bar,” Eve restated. “As I indicated earlier, at some point it was removed from the bar and given to the museum. When it began to decay it was moved to the storage room, where it still is to this day. This is the clue we found in the secret drawer.”

Eve pushed a second piece of paper in front of me. It read:

To find what’s next

You must reveal

The hidden text

In the medic’s seal.

“I understand that in the original treasure hunt this clue led to the hospital, but I guess Professor Carlton didn’t want us digging around in the hospital, so he provided additional clues that led us to the library,” Alex added. “A replica of the original photo that was used in the first treasure hunt was waiting for us.”

“As we said, when translated the seal says ‘Life Is Love’s Legacy,’” Eve continued. “We don’t know where to go from there.”

I looked at the information the girls had gathered. It appeared as if they had followed the clues correctly, yet I wasn’t able to figure out what should come next either. “I was planning to go into town to donate the clothes I have boxed up. If you want to come with me, we can stop off at the library to see if Hazel has anything else up her sleeve.”

Hazel Hampton is the local librarian.

“I’m in,” Alex answered.

“Me too,” Eve seconded.

Chapter 2

The alpine town of Ashton Falls was busy with shoppers taking advantage of the clear, sunny day as well as the post-holiday sales. I’d planned to do the majority of my shopping at the mall in Bryton Lake, but perhaps I’d check out the local retail outlets as well.

I dropped the boxes of clothes off at the second-hand store that served as a fund-raiser for the local Food for Families program before heading to the library. Ethan’s assignment had me intrigued. Although I’d heard about the outcome of the treasure hunt when it happened, I hadn’t been involved and so wasn’t privy to the details leading up to the end result.

“Did you girls figure out the clue already?” Hazel asked.

“Actually, the opposite.” Eve shook her head.

“We figured out that the seal says ‘Life Is Love’s Legacy,’ but we can’t figure out how this will lead us to the next clue.”

Hazel held out her hand, indicating that Eve should pass the photo of the old clinic to her. She pointed to the seal. “Do you notice anything else?”

The girls and I all frowned as we tried to figure out what Hazel was referring to.

“Here.” Hazel handed Eve a small magnifying glass. “Look at it through this.”

“‘LIV,’” Eve stated. “It says ‘LIV’ all in caps on the bottom of the seal.”

“So what does that mean?” Alex asked.

Hazel just smiled. I could see she was going to let the girls work on the answer themselves. They took the photo and a pad of paper and headed over to a nearby table. Hazel handed them a box of old clippings, telling them that the answer to the riddle could be found within that box.

“Ethan certainly has gone to a lot of trouble to teach the kids a bit of Ashton Falls’ history,” I commented to Hazel.

“He seems to be having fun with it, although I think Eve and Alex are the only students still working on it. Most of the Zimmerman Academy kids went home for break, and those who stayed seemed to have other plans. By the way, I was sorry to hear that we lost Will. He was a good man and an excellent teacher.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “He was. I’m really going to miss him.”

Hazel squeezed my hand. We had similar backgrounds in that neither of us had ever married or had children of our own, despite the fact that we adored children. Hazel had been dating Zoe’s grandfather, Luke Donovan, for a while now, and it seemed they were getting serious. I hoped that I’d find another man to love. Now that I’d had a taste of what it was like to feel the flutter of awakening desire, I found I rather craved it.