“Perhaps. It’s a theory that’s certainly worth exploring.”
“Toby said that of all the older boys, Colin was acting the most oddly,” I pointed out. “I guess he mentioned both Colin and Bobby. Colin was acting the most secretive, and Bobby was the most afraid. I think we need to play those angles when we talk to each of them.”
“It’s going to be a tricky conversation. It has been almost twenty-five years since any of this happened,” Cass reminded me.
I blew out a breath. “I know. This second look is a longshot, but it’s the job I’ve been assigned, so I plan to do it to the best of my ability. And who knows, maybe after all these years, someone will slip up and say something that will lead to a clue which will provide an explanation as to what happened to Austin Brady.”
“Maybe.”
My phone buzzed, and I looked at the caller ID. “It’s Hope,” I clicked the answer button. “Hey, Hope. What’s up?”
“Something came up, and I can’t do lunch tomorrow. I was hoping you and Cass could meet me after work today. The library closes at five, and Naomi has already said that she can meet us then.”
“Hang on, and I’ll check with Cass.”
I asked Cass about meeting this afternoon, and he said it was fine with him. We arranged to meet at the library at five o’clock. Once our plans were firmed up, Cass and I returned to our conversation.
“I’m not sure how much of this, if anything, I should include in my column,” I said. “The point of my investigation is to get the information needed to write a series of articles about Austin Brady’s disappearance, but I don’t want to spill the beans and print something we might end up wishing hadn’t been made public.”
“Why don’t you let me look at each column as you write it. Between the two of us, we can figure out what sorts of things should be kept private and which are okay to share.”
“It’s sort of odd to be researching this so far ahead of writing the articles,” I commented. “If by some miracle we actually find out what happened to Austin and identify the killer, assuming there is one, he or she will be arrested before I even get to the point in the series where I sum things up. It will be anticlimactic to give away the ending before the history relating to the event is published, but if we do stumble onto the answer, there is no way I will be able to keep it quiet.”
“I agree with that. If we do figure this out and someone did kill Austin, you’ll need to run with the big reveal right off the bat. I suppose you can use the history of what occurred as part of the bigger article relating to solving the case after all these years.”
“Yeah. I guess. Should we try to speak to either Colin or Bobby today? I know we don’t have appointments, but we do have time.”
“I’d rather wait until we have a chance to sleep on what we’ve learned from Toby. If something bad did happen to Austin and either Colin or Bobby were part of what happened, we don’t want to scare them off before we can come up with a theory as to what might have gone down on that early spring day a quarter of a century ago.”
I looked at my watch. “Since we don’t have to meet with Hope and Naomi until five, I’m going to run home and check in with Gracie and Paisley. They’re working on a sewing project today, and I promised to pop in and take a look at it.”
“Okay. I’ll just meet you at the library. I have a few things to do, as well.”
A couple months ago, Aunt Gracie decided to convert one of the rooms in her home to a sewing room, which she and Paisley could use to create the garments they seemed to be producing almost every week. Gracie had always loved to sew, and she’d tried to get me interested when I was a child, but I was having nothing of it. Then along came Paisley, a lonely orphan with a huge heart and insatiable curiosity, who, quite conveniently, loved to sew. I could see that Gracie and Paisley were having a lot of fun working on their project of the moment each week, and tried to support their effort with regular check ins when I could.
“So, what are you working on today?” I asked, after arriving back at the lake house.
“Short overalls,” Paisley said. She held up a piece of fabric. It had a creamy white background with tiny purple flowers all over it. “This is the material I’m going to use for the pocket on the bib, the straps, and the pockets on the shorts. The shorts, as well as the bib, will be cream-colored denim. I wanted something springy instead of plain blue or white.”
“I think those are going to be awesome. And you have that purple tank top you can wear under it.”
“I did think of that. What are you doing today?” Paisley asked.
“Just doing research for my column. Did you practice the musical number we worked on last Thursday?”
She nodded. “I did. I’m still having problems with the middle part. I might need you to show it to me again on Monday. We are still having our piano lesson on Monday, aren’t we?”
“I’m planning on it. I’ll pick you up from school as usual.”
“Plan to stay for dinner,” Gracie said. “In fact, plan to stay today as well. We’re going to grill steaks this evening since it’s such a nice day,” Gracie said.
“I can stay,” Paisley said.
Gracie looked at me.
“That sounds really fun, but I promised to meet Hope and Naomi at the library at five,” I answered. “I didn’t realize you were going to grill when I made my plans. Cass will be bummed as well that he is missing out on a steak.”
“I guess we could do the steaks tomorrow,” Gracie said. She looked at Paisley. “Would tomorrow work for you? We planned to spend the day sewing anyway.”
She shrugged. “I can do either night. My grandma might want to come too. Is it okay if I invite her?”
“Absolutely,” Gracie said. “We’ll pick up some takeout tonight, and you can bring her some of that as well.” She looked at me. “Will you be back in time to have takeout?”
“No. I’ll probably grab something with Hope and Naomi. I will definitely plan on steaks tomorrow night, however. This will be the first cookout of the season. I can’t miss that.” I glanced out the window. “It looks like Tom is cleaning up the old fishing boat.”
“He got it in his head to do some fishing this year and decided to clean up the old boat. We have the garden to get up and going as well, so I hope he doesn’t get too preoccupied.”
“I’m sure he won’t,” I answered. “Tom always puts your needs and desires first.”
A look of longing crossed Gracie’s face. “He does. Doesn’t he?”
I chatted with Gracie and Paisley a while longer, and then headed up to the attic to work on the columns I’d promised Dex I’d turn in on Monday. The piece relating to the charity event to benefit cancer research was fairly easy. I included the date, time, place, and cost of the dinner, and then I added a few quotes from Nora letting everyone know what a good cause it was and how important it was that the entire community turn out to support this research. Once I finished that, I started on the intro to my article about the new health and fitness facility. I hadn’t had the chance to work out yet, so an article on the machines and classes themselves would have to wait, but I was able to provide an overview of the facility based on my tour. The girl behind the desk had given me a class schedule as well as a list of the packages and the associated monthly fees. I just needed to add a few personal impressions, and I’d have my story.
Once I completed both of the articles Dex had assigned to me, I took some time to organize my notes from the interview Cass and I conducted with Toby, and then I headed outside to enjoy the sunshine and chat with Tom for a while. I’d need to head back into town in about an hour, but it wasn’t often I found Tom alone for a chat.