Authors: Cindy Bell
When Suzie returned to Dune House and found Mary and the plumber talking on the porch she briefly forgot about the photographs.
“
What do you think?” she asked the plumber, who had the name Lester stitched on his gray shirt. She didn't know if that was his first name or last name, and hoped she wouldn't have to use him frequently enough to find out.
“
Nothing to worry about,” he said with a shrug. “Just a bit of a clog, I snaked it out. If it happens again though we'll have to take a closer look at the pipes.”
“
Thank you for coming out at such short notice,” Suzie said politely as she pulled out her check book and scribbled out a check for the amount Mary pointed out on the bill of service.
“
No trouble,” he shrugged again. “Anything for this old place,” he added as he looked over his shoulder affectionately at the large structure. “It's good to see someone finally trying to work to improve it,” he added with a smile.
Suzie smiled in return as she handed him the chec
k. It was nice to know that Dune House was still valued by some residents in the town. After Lester left, Suzie recalled the photographs in her purse.
“
Boy do I have a strange story to tell you,” she said as she followed Mary into the house.
“
What happened at the bank?” Mary asked eagerly.
“
You wouldn’t believe it but Jason could not access the box. Uncle Harry left strict instructions that I was the only one allowed to open it,” Suzie explained.
“
Wow,” Mary gasped. “What was in it?”
“
The only things in the box were these photographs,” Suzie replied as she set the stack of photographs down on the large dining room table that they had yet to polish, “and this flash drive.” She took the flash drive out of the envelope and showed it to Mary and then put it in her pocket. They didn’t have a computer set up yet so they would have to wait until they could look at it.
“
Photographs?” Mary asked with surprise and began to sort through them. “How strange,” she murmured as she watched the scene play out in each photograph. “Why would your uncle want to keep these safe?”
“
I don't know,” Suzie shook her head. “I was thinking I should show them to Jason and see if he knows the people in the photographs.”
“
Suzie,” Mary said softly as she studied the photo of the man grabbing onto the woman's shoulder. “Look at his cufflink,” she said as she pointed to it.
Suzie leaned close
r to take a look. “It does look similar to the one we found,” Suzie said quietly as she studied the photograph.
“
I found some knick-knacks in one of the kitchen drawers,” Mary said as she walked into the kitchen. She opened one of the drawers and pulled out a magnifying glass. “Do you still have the cufflink?” Mary asked as she handed Suzie the magnifying glass.
“
Yes, I do,” Suzie replied and fished it out of her pocket. She laid it on the table so they could both take a closer look at it. Then Suzie leaned over the photo with the magnifying glass. As she held the magnifying glass over the photograph she could swear that she saw initials on the man's cufflink, but she couldn't quite make out the letters. She frowned as she glanced up at Mary.
“
I think there is a lot more to my uncle's death than we are seeing,” she shook her head slowly. “At first I thought it was just my suspicious nature getting the better of me, but now I'm certain. Something happened to my uncle, and I don't think it was a death of natural causes.”
“
What do you see in the photograph?” Mary asked curiously.
“
I can't quite see it,” Suzie admitted. “But I think the man in this photo is wearing the same cufflinks.”
“
If only there was a way that we could see the cufflinks up close,” Mary frowned as she scrutinized the photogragh through the magnifying glass as well. When she brushed her hand across the cherry wood table, she came back with a palm full of dust.
“
I think we had better get to work on some of this cleaning,” Suzie suggested as she tucked the photographs back into the envelope. “It'll give me some time to sort things out.”
“
Good idea,” Mary agreed. “I'll start with the windows so we can get some more light in here.”
“
I'm going to work on the furniture,” Suzie nodded. As the two women set to work, Suzie's mind sorted through all that she had discovered over the past few days. One question bothered her, why was it that her uncle didn't leave these clues to his own son, who was a police officer after all. If he had stumbled across something potentially criminal or dangerous, why hadn't he turned to Jason?
“
This is odd, Suzie,” Mary called out as she stood in the window that overlooked the beach below.
“
What?” Suzie asked and walked over to her.
“
See how filthy the windows are?” Mary pointed out. “All but this one patch here,” she pointed to a perfectly clean, smudge-free section of the glass.
“
Huh,” Suzie said thoughtfully. Suddenly she thought of something and hurried back to the envelope to grab the photographs. She held one of the photographs up to the clean patch on the window.
“
Looks like it could be the same angle,” Mary said thoughtfully.
“
So, it was Harry who took these photos,” Suzie said with a shake of her head. “He must have taken them from here. What was he seeing that was so important to him?”
“
Maybe it was just the emotions they were displaying,” Mary suggested. “Perhaps he thought of it as an interesting photographic opportunity.”
“
Yes,” Suzie nodded a little. “That's possible. I can see that the first photo would capture an artist’s interest. I'm not sure what to think about the rest.”
“
Well, I can tell you this much, the cleaner I have on hand is not going to get these windows clean. I think we need to go into town for some more heavy duty supplies,” she frowned.
“
All right, we could use a break anyway,” Suzie shrugged. “Maybe we can get some coffee at the diner.”
“
Anything to get my mind off Kent's phone calls,” Mary sighed as she followed her friend out the door.
“
Has he been calling you again?” Suzie asked with surprise. It was the first her friend had mentioned it.
“
Yes, he's insisting on knowing where I am, and what I'm doing, and when I'll be back. I just sent him a text to inform him that he no longer needed to know those things once he filed for divorce,” she rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Never again, Suzie. I know you tried to tell me the first time, but please, if you see me falling head over heels for someone just smack me.”
“
I promise,” Suzie laughed as they drove towards the center of town. A part of Suzie felt a little saddened, however. Despite having many boyfriends over the years Suzie had never met a man who she was interested in spending more than a few weeks with. She couldn't comprehend the idea of inviting someone into her life on a permanent basis. She chalked it up to her being a private person, but sometimes she wondered if she was missing out on something. After seeing what Kent had put Mary through, it was hard for her to believe that any relationship was worth that kind of pain.
When they reached the hardware store to pick up some cleaning items and other supplies, Suzie did her best to put those thoughts out of her mind, and cheer her friend up instead.
“Look, Mary, a new hairstyle?” she suggested as she plopped a bright blue mop on the top of her head.
“
Hmm, I like the color, the texture not so much,” Mary laughed out loud. The owner of the hardware store eyed them warily from the counter.
“
Watch out now,” Suzie called out before firing a few sponges in Mary's direction.
“
Suzie!” Mary huffed as she picked up the sponges. Instead of setting them back on the shelf however, she threw them right back. Soon the two were giggling and avoiding the disapproving glare of the store owner. It felt like they were kids again, finding any way possible to have fun. Suzie noticed that it chased away some of the sorrow from Mary's warm brown eyes. By the time they had all the supplies they needed the store owner was more than happy to see them go.
Mary and Suzie were still giggling to each other when they stepped out of the hardware store. Suzie was startled when she saw the same black sedan she had seen at the diner before, parked right behind her own car. A man was standing beside the car, dressed in a very nice suit, his wavy
, gray hair swept back neatly. Jason, in full uniform, was standing in front of him on the sidewalk and they seemed to be talking very heatedly about something.
“
Jason?” Suzie called out as she walked towards him. Mary took the bags that Suzie was carrying from her so that her hands would be free.
“
Not now,” Jason said darkly as he glanced over at her and then back at the man before him.
“
Jason,” the man said in a disapproving paternal tone. “Don't be rude.”
Jason narrowed his ey
es and glanced down at the sidewalk as if he wasn't sure what to do. Suzie didn't like the way the man was looking at her younger cousin, as if Jason had to answer to him.
“
Hello, I'm Suzie, Jason's cousin,” Suzie explained quickly as she held out her hand to the man. She noticed a flicker of heat in his eyes before he extended his own hand and accepted hers with a polite handshake.
“
Pleasure to meet you, Suzie,” he said quietly. “Sorry to keep Jason from you, but a mayor's job never ends,” he chuckled and released her hand. Suzie glanced over at Jason who was standing uncomfortably beside them both.
“
Mayor?” she asked with surprise when she looked back at the man before her.
“
I'm sorry, it was rude of me not to introduce myself,” he shook his head and smiled. “I'm Thomas Ralley, mayor of this fine town,” he added and winked at Suzie. Suzie smiled in response to his wink, but her eyes naturally narrowed with suspicion.
“
I've been looking for an opportunity to introduce myself,” he added with a shy grin. “I just didn't know when would be the right time. You two ladies have been quite busy, I've heard,” he added as he looked over Suzie's shoulder at Mary who still had her arms full of the cleaning supplies they had just purchased.
“
Quite,” Suzie agreed and felt her smile fade slightly. “I'm glad to have met you, Mr. Ralley,” she added.
“
Oh please, call me Tom, everyone does,” he chuckled and glanced over at Jason. “Must be nice having family in town, Jason,” he said in a mild tone.
“
Very,” Jason spoke shortly and then cleared his throat. “I've tried to convince her that the house is a total loss, but she's determined,” he raised an eyebrow as he looked directly at Suzie. Suzie felt the tension rise in the middle of the conversation though she could not place why it was there. Something about Thomas made her very uncomfortable, as if she'd met him before and had a reason not to like him.
“
Well, we can't give up so easily on things just because they're a little aged,” she chuckled a little. “I suppose it's hard for someone as young as you to understand that Jason.”
Jason pursed his lips and glanced away dismissively.
“Jason is one of our finest officers,” Thomas offered to smooth out the feathers that seemed to have been ruffled. “Without him our police force would never run as well. He's pretty good at not giving up,” he added and then lowered his voice with a playful tone. “I like to think he gets that from me.”
“
Oh?” Suzie asked with surprise as she looked between Jason and Thomas. “Do you know each other well?”
“
He's a family friend,” Jason said quickly and then laid a hand lightly on Mary's shoulder. “Let me help you with those,” he offered as he took some bags from her.
“
I would love to have dinner,” Thomas suggested as Jason was steering Mary in the direction of the car. He paused and tossed a glance in the direction of the mayor.
“
I'm sure they'll be tired...” Jason began to say, but Suzie interrupted him.
“
I'd really enjoy that,” Suzie said with a shrug, she wanted to know just how much influence this man had on her cousin. “Do you have a place in mind?”
“
Cheney's has the best pasta in town,” Thomas smiled as he glanced from Suzie to Mary who was getting into the car. Jason was still staring hard at Thomas. “Say about seven?” he suggested. “Jason, you should join us,” he said, his voice gaining a sterner tone.
“
Well, I...”
“
Oh, that would be lovely,” Suzie said with a broad smile. “We could use the break, and I feel like I haven't had the chance to learn anything about the town, or my cousin,” she added as she looked over at Jason. Jason lowered his eyes and nodded reluctantly.