Treasured Legacies (A Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery) (15 page)

Mary looked up from the tenth folder and slowly rolled her
head, getting all the kinks out of her neck. She reached over, without looking,
and lifted her bottle of water to her lips, only to find it dry.
 
“Dang, when did that happen?” she murmured.

She turned to her computer screen, looked at the time and
sat up straight in her chair. “Crap!” she cried, grabbing her phone and dialing
Rosie’s number.

Rosie answered on the first ring. “Rosie Wagner.”

“Rosie, this is Mary and I am so sorry,” she said. “I got
caught up in the case and didn’t watch the time. I know I was supposed to meet
you for lunch.”

Mary could hear Rosie’s laughter through the phone. “So you
really didn’t see me, did you?” she asked.

“See you?”

“I stood outside your office building and waved my hand like
a looney-bird,” she explained. “When you still didn’t budge, I figured you were
caught up, so I got us lunch to go. How do roast beef sandwiches on hard rolls
sound?”

“Amazing,” Mary said, realizing she really was hungry. “Um,
did they include pickles?”

“Of course,” Rosie laughed. “Big deli dill pickles and some
of the cheese and pea salad you like.”

“Oh, Rosie, you are the best friend anyone could ever have,”
she said. “When will you be here?”

“I’m coming up the sidewalk now,” she said. “I’ll be there
in a moment.”

True to her word, a moment later Rosie entered Mary’s office
with a shopping bag filled with their lunch.
 
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing to the stack of boxes.

“Quinn brought those over,” Mary said, shifting them over so
there was a place for the food. “They’re the files for the Maughold project.”

“Well, that was very nice of him,” Rosie said, picking up a
file and glancing through it. “This is really good information.”

Mary nodded as she pulled the food out of the bag. “He’s
been very helpful,” Mary said. “And he’s willing to help in whatever way he can
to help figure this out. He still has feelings for Jessie.”

Rosie closed the file and met Mary’s eyes. “Does he realize
that if he helps us figure out that one of Jessie’s brothers is the killer, she
might not return his feelings?”

Mary paused and took a deep breath. “You know, I don’t think
that occurred to either of us,” she admitted. “I hope I don’t end up ruining
his chances with Jessie.”

“Well, the most important thing is the truth,” Rosie said.
“Isn’t it?”

“I think so, you think so, but I don’t know if the Johnson
family thinks so,” she said. “They’ve been pretty good at avoiding the truth for
fifteen years.”

They both sat down on either side of the desk and
unwrapped
their sandwiches.
 
Mary took a large bite of hers and closed her eyes in pleasure. “Oh,
Rosie, this is just what I needed,” she said.

“You do need to remember to eat,” Rosie admonished. “Not
only does your body need it, but if you go too long without food, you’ll get
morning sickness.”

“In the afternoon?”
Mary asked.
“Isn’t it officially afternoon sickness then?”

“Most women will tell you that morning sickness is actually
morning-noon-and night sickness,” Rosie replied, lifting up a carrot stick and
pointing it at Mary for emphasis. “And you don’t want to go there.”

“So, now that you’re here, eating with me,” Mary said. “How
would you like to review some of these files with me?”

“Sure, my afternoon is free,” she said. “And the sooner we
figure out what happened to Dale, the sooner I can sell that house.”

“Excellent,” Mary said, passing Rosie a ten-inch stack of
files. “You can start on these.”

“What am I looking for?” she asked.

“Well, so far the Johnson farm is the only one that seems to
have been given the incentive offer that multiplied the value of their land,”
Mary said. “I want to see if there are any other parcels with a similar offer.”

“Okay, anything else?” she asked.

“No. I really can’t think of anything else to look for,” she
said. “But if you stumble on anything unusual, let me know.”

Rosie pulled out her phone. “When do we need to stop?” she
asked. “I’ll set an alarm, so you’re not late for something else.”

Mary laughed. “Actually, Bradley is picking Clarissa up for
her appointment with Dr. Springler this afternoon and then they’re going
grocery shopping together,” she said. “So I’m free until about five. It will
probably be pizza night at the Alden household; do you and Stanley want to come
by?”

“That would be fun,” she said. “I’ll let Stanley know.”

Mary pulled her keyboard towards her. “And I’ll let Bradley
know, before I forget,” she said.

Several hours later, the remnants of lunch still on the
desk, Mary placed the last file back in the box and shook her head. “I don’t
see anything in these files that would suggest anything unusual, to say nothing
about corrupt,” she said. “Quinn took very careful notes and documented
everything.”

“And the letter he sent to corporate about the Johnson
property is factual and professional,” Rosie added. “There’s nothing to suggest
that he was going to try and persuade Dale to do anything he didn’t want to
do.”

Mary chewed her lower lip. “Okay, so what’s the next step?”
she asked. “We still don’t have a valid reason why the Johnson farm was so
important.”

“This is like a big jigsaw puzzle,” Rosie said.

Looking up quickly, Mary smiled at her friend. “Rosie,
that’s brilliant,” she said.

“What?” Rosie asked, confused.

“A jigsaw puzzle,” Mary said. “Quinn told me that every
parcel had a survey done.
 
So, let’s put
all the pieces together to see why the Johnson property is so important.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea,” she said. “I have a couple of
large folding tables.
 
I’ll bring them
tonight and then we can all work on it.”

“Great, pizza and a puzzle,” Mary said. “Sounds like a fun
night.”

“Let’s put these back in the boxes and I’ll help you carry
them to your car,” Rosie suggested. “And then, hopefully, tonight we will solve
the case.”

“There’s one more piece of pepperoni,” Bradley called from
the kitchen.
“Any takers?”

“Well,
iffen
no one else is
gonna
bite, I will,” Stanley said, grabbing his paper plate
and carrying into the kitchen. “I got room for one more piece.”

Walking past Clarissa who was at the kitchen table coloring,
he paused and patted her head. “
Whatcha
drawing
there, sweetheart?” he asked.

“A ghost my mom saw at Union Dairy,” she explained. “I can’t
draw ghost pictures at school because my mom and dad think people might not
understand.
 
Even Dr. Springler thinks I
probably shouldn’t talk about them at school too.”

Bradley’s head shot up and he met Mary’s face, wide-eyed and
concerned. “Did you have a nice visit with Dr. Springler today?” Bradley asked.

Clarissa nodded. “Yes, she was nicer to me today,” she said.
“Especially after I told her about what Maggie and I want to do when we grow
up.
 
But she was a little confused.”

“In what way?”
Bradley asked,
watching Mary get up from the couch and walk towards the kitchen.

Sighing, Clarissa put down one crayon and picked up another.
“She didn’t understand about ghosts at all. She didn’t think Mom and Maggie
could do that,” she said. “She thought I was saying something bad about Mom.”

“What did she say?” Mary asked.

“She said that I needed to not make things up about you,”
Clarissa said. “And that I should love you for who you are and not for a make
believe job I pretend you have.”

Coming forward and slipping her arms around Clarissa, Mary
held her tightly. “I’m so sorry she didn’t believe you,” Mary said. “I should
have thought about that.”

“Did I do
bad
?” Clarissa asked.
“You said I should tell her everything I was thinking about.
 
That I should be honest
with her.”

“Yes we did,” Mary said. “And you did nothing wrong at all.”

She looked up at Bradley. “And tomorrow I’ll go in and
explain everything to her,” she said.

Clarissa wrapped her arms around Mary. “Good, ‘cause she was
saying she might need to talk to the school counselor about my pretending,”
Clarissa said. “And then that would spoil our secret.”

Mary nodded. “Yes, it would spoil our secret,” she said.
“I’ll call her first thing in the morning and get in to see her, I promise.”

“Maybe you could also ask Gracie to give her a call,”
Bradley suggested. “One
shrink
to another.”

“Yes, that’s a good idea,” Mary replied and she bent and
kissed Clarissa on the top of her head. “Sorry sweetheart.”

Clarissa shrugged. “There’s no reason to be sorry,” Clarissa
said. “I get to have my own guardian angel and you help people become
angels.
 
That’s the coolest job any mom
could ever have.”

Smiling, Mary gave her another hug. “I totally agree.”

“So, what’s the name of this ghost you’re drawing?” Stanley
asked, biting into the pizza.

“Dead Erika,” Clarissa said.

Bradley stifled his chuckle and Mary rolled her eyes.
“Clarissa…,” she began.

“Erika Arnold,” Stanley interrupted, looking at Mary.
“You’re helping Erika Arnold?”

“You know her?” Mary asked.

“Yeah, we went to school together,” he replied. “She still
hasn’t moved on?”

“No, she’s at Union Dairy, waiting for a ride,” she said. “I
think she said she was waiting for Adam.”

Stanley placed the pizza down on his plate and shook his
head. “Well, she
ain’t
gonna
get the ride she wants,” he said. “Adam died in the same crash she died in.”

“How come she doesn’t know that?” Clarissa asked.

Mary looked at her daughter. “That’s a very good question.”

“From what I remember, they were both in the car when it
crashed,” Stanley said. “They were driving out on Highway 75, northeast of
town.
 
The weather was bad, the roads
were slick and Adam was driving too dang fast. The sheriff’s deputy seemed to
think they both died immediately.”

“Do you remember where the crash was?” Mary asked.

Stanley nodded.
“Yeah, right past the
curve near Winneshiek Road.”

“Thanks,” Mary said. “I’ll check it out.”

Looking from Stanley to Mary, Clarissa asked, “Do you like
helping ghosts?”

“Yes, I do,” she replied. “I like it very much.”

Yawning, she smiled at her mother. “I think Maggie and I are
going to like it too,” she said.

“And I think you will both be very good at it,” Mary said,
giving Clarissa another quick hug. “Now let’s get you upstairs and ready for
bed.
 
You look exhausted.”

Slipping out of the chair, Clarissa rubbed her eyes. “I am
pretty tired,” she agreed.

She went around the room, giving all of the
adults
hugs, and then took Mary’s hand to walk upstairs.

“I’ll be up in a bit to read to you,” Bradley promised.

“Okay,” she replied, yawning again.

“I don’t think you’ll get much reading done tonight,” Rosie
said with a smile.

“Darn,” Bradley grinned. “And we were just getting to the
good part.”

In two quick bites, Stanley finished his piece of pizza and
walked over to the sink to wash his hands.
 
After drying them on the towel, he turned to Rosie and Bradley. “Why
don’t we get started on those surveys?” he asked.
“Seems to
me Mary is going to have a busy day tomorrow.”

Bradley and Stanley unfolded the large folding tables and
set them up in the middle of the living room.
 
The combination of the two gave them a working space of five feet by six
feet.

Rosie went through the box and pulled out the Johnson file.
“Let’s put this survey in the center and build around it,” she suggested.

“Okay, great idea,” Bradley said. “Which one is next?”

By the time Mary came down the stairs, the tables were full
of surveys taped on the corners with masking tape. “Wow, good job,” she said.
“Is this all of them?”

“These are the ones adjacent to the Johnson property,”
Bradley said. “Now don’t solve the case until I come back down.”
 
Giving Mary a quick kiss on the cheek, he
hurried upstairs to read to Clarissa.

Mary smiled and shook her head, then turned back to the
table. “So, we have these all laid out,” she said. “Does it make sense that the
Johnson farm was considered a keystone spot?”

“Well,
iffen
this piece were here,
it would make more sense,” Stanley said, pointing to a large bare spot on the
table next to the Johnson survey.

“That must be Sawyer Gartner’s place,” Mary said. “He was on
the county board at the time. He wasn’t selling his property.”

“How do you know?” Stanley asked. “I’ve known Sawyer for a
long time and I can’t see him passing up an opportunity to make some money.”

“He would have to have recused himself from the county board
proceedings,” Mary said. “And from what I understand, he was on the committee
who decided whether or not the project went through.”

“It’s strange,” Rosie said, flipping through a multi-page
document. “This lists all the properties in the project, but we’re missing
one.”

“Does it give a name we should be looking for?” Mary asked,
moving closer and reading over Rosie’s shoulder.

“No, the only one I can’t figure out is this trust,” Rosie
said. “All of the others are listed by owner name.”

“Well, Quinn did say there were some properties their
corporate offices were handling,” she said.

“We got a puzzle with a missing piece,” Stanley said. “Could
be property that somehow connects to the Johnson place, and that would give us
a better idea.”

“I’ll call Quinn in the morning and see if he can get that
file,” Mary said.

“You might want to check the county board meeting records,”
Stanley suggested. “Maybe something was mentioned there about the Johnson
place. It would have been under the Rural Development subcommittee and at the
time would have been a closed meeting because of the sensitivity of the
payments to each landowner. But after ten years, the Freedom of Information Act
kicks in, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I’ll see if I can find any sales records referencing this
trust number,” Rosie suggested. “We might have something in the old MLS files.”

Bradley came down the stairs as Rosie and Stanley were
slipping on their coats. “Did you solve it when I was upstairs?” he asked with
an exaggerated sigh.

Rosie walked over and patted him on his cheek. “No,
darling,” she said. “We just have more questions.”

“Questions?” he asked, looking at Mary.

She smiled. “Don’t worry, dear, I’ll tell you all about it.”