Welcome to the sixth and seventh chapters of Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage.

As always, this is a work in progress and there could be (will be) typos, plot holes, and other errors but those will be fixed before the book is published a couple of months from now.

If you want to read the first book in the series, you can find it on Amazon HERE.

If you don’t want to read this story in chapters on a blog and would rather read the fully-finished and polished version, you can pre-order it HERE.

If you want to learn more about my other books you can find links to them HERE

Chapter 6

Lucinda was wearing her bright pink workout gear and sipping one of her green smoothies in the kitchen the next morning. Jacob was sitting at the table sipping a cup of coffee. His Labrador Brutus was at his feet, lying down on his side with his eyes closed.

Lucinda looked up from the newspaper. “When are you going to see Eileen today?”

Gladwynn, standing in the doorway, blinked in the morning sunlight and yawned. “I haven’t thought that far ahead. I don’t even know where I am yet.”

“You’re in our kitchen and you’re going to make yourself a healthier breakfast than you normally do,” Lucinda responded. “Now, what I was thinking was that I would go with you to Willowbrook when you go. Eileen can be a bit prickly and I know how to handle her better.”

Gladwynn paused and dramatically laid her hand on her chest. “Our kitchen?”

Lucinda looked at Gladwynn in confusion. “What?”

“You said our kitchen.”

“Yes, because it is our kitchen. You live here now so the kitchen is yours and my kitchen. Our kitchen.”

“Aw, Grandma. That’s so sweet. I love that you see it as ours now.” She hugged Lucinda on her way to the refrigerator. “But I will always see this house as yours. Morning, Jacob.”

Jacob smiled and nodded. “Morning.”

She knelt down and stroked Brutus’ head. “Also, Grandma, I really don’t think it is a good idea for you to go with me to Willowbrook today. I don’t want you to go into that condo after – you know — after what happened.”

Lucinda took a sip of her green smoothie. “I understand and it won’t be easy but it’s not like her body is still in there.”

Gladwynn opened the refrigerator door.  “No, but still — I think it would feel odd knowing that she died there. I know it feels odd for me and I didn’t even know her.”

Again Gladwynn saw Samantha’s shocked expression in her mind’s eye without wanting to. Gladwynn looked inside the fridge and did her best to focus on choosing what to have for breakfast instead. 

“Then I’ll go for emotional support.” Lucinda finished the green smoothie and set the glass in the dishwasher. “And to be honest I want to get a look at the place, see if there are any clues to what happened.”

Gladwynn shut the refrigerator door and looked at her grandmother with an expression of disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”

Jacob laughed softly as he took a sip of his tea. Gladwynn thought he seemed to be enjoying the show. Brutus was being a very good dog and simply watching as Scout pranced past him with her tail in the air.

Lucinda looked up from the toast she was buttering with a confused expression. “Serious about what?”

“After all those times you told me that I needed to let the police handle the Stabler investigation and now you think I’m going to let you go poking around a crime scene? Yeah, I don’t think so.” Gladwynn pulled the milk out. “Right, Jacob?”

He nodded. “She’s right, Lucinda. I’m sure the police have things under control.”

Gladwynn, who had known Jacob would say she was right, considering he was the town’s retired police chief, added, “Besides, I’m sure the police have already combed that place over and found anything and everything they need to find out if her death was an accident or not.”

Lucinda spoke around a mouthful of toast and shoved Scout off the counter. “I’m sure they have done a thorough job but even the best investigator may miss something when they don’t know the person well.”

“We don’t even know if there was anything suspicious about her death,” Gladwynn said as she mixed chocolate in her milk.

“Which is even more reason that my going with you shouldn’t be an issue.”

Gladwynn groaned softly as she opened the egg carton. She didn’t like the idea of Lucinda going with her, but she also wouldn’t mind a distraction when she went there. Then again, maybe Eileen would go into the apartment for them and neither of them would need to go in.

“Okay, fine. I was planning to stop on my way to work and I have to be at work around noon.”

Lucinda hurried toward the doorway, eating her toast. “Great. I can meet you at 11:15 at Willowbrook.”

Gladwynn sighed and shook her head slowly, standing by the kitchen table. The woman’s energy was astounding and she hoped she had that much when she was her age.

She looked over at Jacob who was laughing and shaking his head. “What are we going to do with her, Jacob?”

“I have no idea, but you two do need to remember that the state police are on this. They’ll find out what happened to Sam.”

Lucinda’s head appeared on one side of the doorway. “Oh, Jacob. I almost forgot you. Do you want a lift home?”

The elderly man grinned. “That’s okay. Brutus and I need the walk. Thank you for the offer, though.”

“Okay. See you tonight for dinner then.” Lucinda disappeared again.

He stood and gave Gladwynn a playful pat on the back. “She’s a firecracker, isn’t she?”

Gladwynn raised an eyebrow, looking at the empty space where Lucinda’s head had appeared and then disappeared. “I’d say she’s a bit of an out-of-control firecracker.”

Jacob and Brutus followed the path Lucinda had taken to the front door and Gladwynn returned to making her breakfast.

She’d told Lucinda they didn’t know if Samantha’s death had been an accident but Gladwynn knew deep down it hadn’t been. It couldn’t have been. Not with the expression she’d worn on her face while lying in a contorted position on the floor.

After breakfast, she took her mug of coffee into her grandfather’s office. She chose a book from one of the tall bookshelves and sat in the large leather chair in the corner of the room next to a floor-to-ceiling window that looked like it had been pulled from the set of a movie based on a Jane Austen book.

She pulled her legs up under her, reached over, and turned on the 1940s-style radio on a small table next to her. She quickly found the local oldies station, which most likely wouldn’t play many of the songs she and her grandfather had listened to when she was growing up, but would still provide songs better than the shallow country songs that filled most of the airways in Marson County.

When a song by The Platters came on, she felt like she’d hit the musical lottery. She hummed along as she flipped the book open to her bookmarked page. She was three chapters into her reading session when her cell phone rang. She shot it a quick glare and decided to ignore it. She needed this quiet time before work today. She had another meeting in Birchwood – a municipality where everyone argued or was upset about something or other.

Her phone rang again five minutes later and she tipped her head back and sighed. She should probably check who was calling in case it was her boss.

Laurel’s name popped up on her lock screen and she quickly answered it.

Laurel disposed of the greeting. “A press release just came in from the state police. Samantha’s death is being investigated as suspicious.”

Gladwynn sat forward in the chair and let out a quick huff of breath. “Oh wow. What does it say?”

“Not much. Other than that they are investigating it as a suspicious death. I have a call into Tanner, but you know how he is. He seems to open up to you, though. Think you can give him a call and see what else you can find out?”

“He’s not going to talk to me. I’m considered a witness.”

Laurel sighed and Gladwynn could picture her pulling one corner of her lower lip into her mouth the way she did when she was thinking. “Right. Okay, well, hopefully he’ll call me back soon. If he calls you for any reason, though, let me know, will you?”

“I will certainly do that but I can’t imagine why he’d call me about this.”

Laurel laughed. “Oh, Grant, you can’t be that naïve. Everyone knows why Trooper Kinney is so willing to give you information.”

Gladwynn raised an eyebrow, setting her book on the small table next to her. “Apparently, I am that naïve. What are you talking about?”

“Remember how I told you that Liam hired you because you are a cute little brunette?”

“Oh, Laurel. That is not why Tanner talks to me.”

“Oh, Gladwynn. It is. Everyone else has to call him Trooper Kinney. Even people like me who have known him and his family most of our lives. You, however, call him Tanner and get away with it.”

Laurel’s ex – or supposed to be ex – was Tanner’s uncle. Gladwynn knew that Laurel was teasing her because she was sure that at family events Laurel hadn’t been required to call Tanner Trooper Kinney. She almost giggled out loud thinking of her asking Tanner to pass the salt at Thanksgiving while addressing him as Trooper Kinney.

“Actually, I have to call him Detective Kinney now. He’s been transferred to homicide.”

“See? I didn’t even know that. How would you know that?”

Gladwynn rolled her eyes. “It’s not because I’m a brunette.” She purposely left out the “cute” and “little” references that Laurel liked to use to describe her. “It’s because I saw him at the crime scene and he told me he was Detective Kinney now.”

“Well, whatever. He still opens up more to you than anyone else so maybe you can get some dirt out of him at some point. For now, I’ll see what I can find out. Maybe he will at least tell me if this was a random murder or not so we don’t start getting phone calls from people asking if they should be worried there is a murderer on the loose.”

Gladwynn hadn’t thought of that. Was there a murderer on the loose? Maybe Samantha’s murder had been random. Like a failed break-in or mistaken identity.

“I’m sure he’ll tell you that much at least. Hey, I’m going to get going and get a shower. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

She hung up with Laurel and headed for the stairs, a new sense of foreboding settling in her chest. She’d only seen Samantha briefly once, but her grandmother and her friends had cared for the woman deeply. It would be hard for them to hear that someone had intentionally hurt Samantha and caused her death.

Tanner had no reason to share any details of the case with her, but she hoped he would at least share them with Laurel. She also hoped that he could honestly reassure the residents of Marson County, especially Brookstone, that there wasn’t a murderer on the loose.

She pulled up at the manager’s office of Willowbrook at 11:15, hoping her grandmother wouldn’t be able to meet her so she could delay breaking the news of the police investigating Samantha’s death as a murder. Instead, Lucinda’s dark blue 1987 Lincoln pulled up next to her a mere seconds later and Lucinda waved at her through the passenger side window from her seat on the driver’s side, a broad smile on her face.

The woman swung a hot pink leather purse onto her shoulder as she stepped out of the car. The purse matched a light pink blouse, tan slacks, and pink flats. Gladwynn looked her grandmother up and down and whistled.

“Hello, gorgeous. Nice outfit.”

Lucinda winked and sashayed her plump hips as she walked. “I have to try to keep up with the superb fashions of my granddaughter. She has quite a way of matching clothes together.”

Gladwynn tipped her head briefly. “Does she now? She sounds like a lovely young lady.”

“She totally is,” Lucinda said, looping her arm through Gladywnn’s. “Takes completely after her grandmother.”

The two women walked arm and arm toward the manager’s office, pausing to unhook their arms as Gladwynn opened the door. When she stepped inside, she didn’t see Eileen sitting at the small desk surrounded by a row of filing cabinets, adorned with three spider plants like she expected to. Instead, the only one inside was a petite young woman with blond hair pulled in a tight, high ponytail on top of her head. She was sitting behind a small desk, looking at a cell phone, her feet on the desk.

She chewed loudly on a piece of gum, snapped a bubble, and continued to scroll on her phone for a few more seconds before looking up. At the sight of Lucinda and Gladwynn, she stopped chewing abruptly, dropped her feet off the desk, and sat up straighter. “Hey, Mrs. Grant. Can I help you?”

“Good morning, Bridget,” Lucinda said. “We’re actually looking for Eileen. Is she in the back office?”

Gladwynn gathered by Bridget’s reaction that she’d had Lucinda as a teacher of some sort at some point in her life. Bridget was too young to have been a student of her grandmother’s when her grandmother was a teacher at the middle school, but she might have been in the Sunday School class she had taught up until six years ago.

Bridget’s shoulders fell slightly. “She’s not here. Some ticked-off guy came and she took him to Derek’s condo.” She frowned briefly, then resumed chewing. “It’s so sad two people have died in two weeks and one of them wasn’t even old.”

“It is,” Lucinda agreed. “Listen, Eileen was going to let us in Samantha’s place to find some scripts and notes she had. Maybe she left a key here for us?”

Bridget shuffled through the pile of papers on top of the desk. “Um, yeah, actually, she did say something about a key. I totally forgot.” Several papers fell off the desk onto the floor. Lucinda glanced at Gladwynn and raised her eyebrows.

“Maybe she had it in a drawer?” Lucinda suggested.

Bridget kept pushing through the papers. “No, she dropped them here somewhere.”

Gladwynn stooped to pick up the pieces of paper falling on the floor, gathering them up. Samantha’s name on the top of one of the pages caught her attention as she stood. She stooped to gather a few more papers, quickly moving the paper with Samantha’s name to the top of the pile she was making, reading as she stacked.

There was a name, address, and phone number listed under next of kin. The address was somewhere in Michigan. Gladwynn did her best to memorize the number but knew she wouldn’t be able to since numbers were not her strong point. She did, however, know she would remember the name.  

Mary Kendall.

She wondered if Eileen was pulling the information out for the police. If that was the case then she didn’t need to memorize anything. Tanner either had the information already or would soon.

She couldn’t help wondering who Mary Kendall was to Samantha though. A relative? Her mother? Her stomach tightened at the idea of anyone having to call a member of Samantha’s family and tell them their child or niece was dead and that her death was being investigated as a possible murder.

Curiosity pricked at her, making her want to search through the papers more while Bridget kept shuffling through the rest of the papers, but her conscience whispered at her to put the papers in a neat pile and put them back on the desk. She listened to her conscience and sat the papers down at the same time Bridget lifted the set of keys from under a pile in the right corner of the desk.

“Here it is.” Bridget dangled the key on a golden keychain in front of her.

Gladwynn read Samantha’s condo number on the label hanging from the keychain a second before Bridget thrust them at her.

She looked at the keys and then at her grandmother, who shrugged briefly, then back to the keys. “Shouldn’t you walk us over?”

Bridget shrugged. “I know you guys, or at least Lucinda. You’re good. I’m heading out for some lunch.”

Gladwynn hesitated and then took the key. “Okay then.”

Bridgett stood, slid her purse strap over her shoulder, and picked up her phone, sliding it in the back pocket of her jeans. “Good luck finding the scripts.” She blew a bubble and popped it as she stepped around the desk and walked to the door. “And have a nice day.”

When the door closed Lucinda blew out her breath. “That certainly was an interesting experience.” She looked around her at the chaos on the desk. “This place didn’t used to look so unorganized. Eileen’s either been too stressed or too busy to keep on top of things.”

Gladwynn opened the front door. “I’d have to say stress has a lot to do with it. Losing two residents in two weeks can’t be easy. I’m sure she’ll have things back in shape when life settles down.”

“What was on that paper you were helping to straighten up?” Lucinda asked as they walked across the parking lot toward Samantha’s condo.

Gladwynn glanced over her shoulder. “Noticed that, huh?”

“I noticed you were looking at that private information of Samantha’s a little too long.”

“And apparently you were looking too since you saw it was about Samantha.”

Lucinda sighed. “Don’t try to turn the tables on me, young lady. You’re the one that has a tendency to get too curious.”

Gladwynn unlocked the door and turned the handle, noticing a piece of police tape still stuck to the doorway. She pulled it off as they stepped inside and slid it into her pocket.

Chapter 7

Samantha’s condo looked the same it had when Gladwynn had last been in it, other than the curtains being pulled and a few empty boxes left in the living room. A chill shivered through her as she remembered how she and Doris had found the woman laying upstairs. She offered up a silent prayer that they would find the scripts downstairs and not have to go up in Samantha’s room again.

Lucinda shivered and rubbed her arms. “I didn’t realize how hard this would be. It feels so strange being in here, knowing that –” She drew in a slow breath, closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again. “Well, anyhow, let’s just find the scripts and get out of here as soon as we can. I’ll take the living room and you can take the dining room and kitchen.”

Gladwynn said she agreed and started to turn to explore the rest of the apartment. She caught sight of Marge  walking a small dog down the sidewalk in front of the row of apartment’s across the street.

“Hey, Grandma what’s Marge … ‘s story?” Gladwynn asked as she watched the woman.

“What do you mean?”

Gladwynn shrugged. “I mean, how long has she lived here? Does she have family here? Those kind of things.”

Lucinda looked into the distance as if thinking. “Huh. I’m not sure really. I know she’s lived here off and on for the past 15 years at least. There was about five years she didn’t live here and then she came back. She has a daughter that lives an hour from here. I’ve heard they don’t talk much and I’m guessing by Marge’s demeanor that it might be the daughter’s choice instead of Marge’s. Why do you ask?”

Gladwynn shrugged as she walked toward the dining room. “No real reason. I’ve just seen her around town a couple of times and she looks down or angry or I don’t know.”

“She can be a bit miserable, like I told you, but she’s also been very helpful with the Willowbrook Drama Club and seems to have a good heart. Deep down anyhow.”

Gladwynn glanced at counter tops in the kitchen, but they were spotless, as was the kitchen table. In the dining room the scene was the same and the only drawers were in a China cabinet and she was sure the scripts wouldn’t be there.

She returned to the living room to see how Lucinda was making out.

Her grandmother was standing next to a desk pushed against the far wall and holding a piece of paper. Her reading glasses were out and her brow was furrowed as she read.

“Find them?”

Lucinda gasped and turned around, laying a hand against her chest. “Oh my. You startled me.”

“What did you do forget I was here?”

“No, I just thought you were busy looking elsewhere.”

“It’s not that big of a place and the counters and tables are clear in there. I don’t think she’d have placed the scripts in with the silverware so I didn’t look in the drawers.” She walked over and stood next to Lucinda, looking at the piece of paper in her hand.

Lucinda quickly folded the paper and placed it back in the long drawer in the desk. “I shouldn’t have been reading that.”

Gladwynn tipped her head and folded her arms over her chest. “Were you snooping in Samantha’s things?”

Lucinda drew her shoulders back and tipped her chin up. “I was merely looking for the scripts and this letter fell out.”

Gladwynn quirked an eyebrow. “And what did the letter say?”

“Nothing that we should be sticking our noses in,” Lucinda said as she stepped past Gladwynn. “Let’s see if the scripts are upstairs.”

“But what if the letter is a clue to did this?” Gladwynn glanced back at the drawer. “I mean, I’m sure the police have seen it. They would have looked through all these drawers, right?”

Lucinda kept walking toward the stairs. “The letter was jammed into the top of the drawer and may have been missed when they pulled it out but –”

“Grandma! Did you dig around in there? We were just supposed to be looking for the scripts.”

Lucinda spun around and placed her hands on her hips. “I did no such thing, young lady. I simply pulled that drawer open and saw the corner of the letter poking out of the top so I shimmied it loose in case it was something of importance.”

“And was it? Of importance?”

Lucinda turned back around and started up the stairs. “I have no idea. It could be, it might not be.”

Gladwynn followed her. “What did it say? Who was it from?”

“We will let the police determine if it is important,” Lucinda said as she reached the top of the stairs.

Gladwynn noticed Samantha’s bedroom door was closed, as was the door to the other rooms on the second floor.

“Which one is her room?” Lucinda asked.

Still standing on the top step, Gladwynn reached over Lucinda’s shoulder and started to point at the right door then dropped her arm. “I’ll tell you if you’ll tell me what the letter said.”

Lucinda snorted a laugh. “I will not be manipulated. I’ll find her room myself.”

She headed for the door in front of her and opened it before Gladwynn could say another word. Gladwynn stepped into the hallway and followed her grandmother. Both women stopped at the door as they looked down at small pins on the carpet which Gladwynn knew marked where Samantha’s body had been.

Lucinda surveyed the room with a critical eye, her hands on her hips. “The police don’t seem to have done a very good job at cleaning this room up.”

Gladwynn agreed. “No, they haven’t. Eileen will have to hire a cleaning company before she finds another tenant.”

Lucinda took a deep breath and headed toward the bedside table, pulling open the drawer. “Eureka!” She held up a stack of scripts. “Here they are!” She looked at them briefly. “It looks like she was already making notes for the actors.”

Turning, she paused for a moment and looked around the room. A melancholy expression crossed her face and her shoulders fell slightly.

“The poor woman. She had so much ahead of her.”

Gladwynn’s throat thickened with emotion as she looked at the white bedspread covered in pictures of red roses, a beautiful painting of what looked like a lakeshore on the other side of the room, and a closet door partway open. It looked like a row of clothes hanging inside the closet. The carpet under Gladwynn’s bright red heels was light blue.

She swallowed hard and looked at the carpet as she tried to hold in emotion, glad they had found the scripts and could leave. Taking a step toward Lucinda, she slid an arm around her grandmother’s shoulder, keeping her eyes down as her grandmother dabbed a tissue to the corner of her eye.

As she moved her gaze across the carpet, remembering the crumpled note she’d seen, the light from the window glinted off something dark, hard, and round deep in the carpet. She stopped and moved the dark blue fabric of the carpet aside with her fingers, looking closer at the item buried there.

Picking it up she stood, holding it in her open palm.

It was a broken button with two holes on one side. The missing piece must have been where the other holes had been. Gladwynn would have been surprised if the police hadn’t found it when they’d searched the room, but in their defense, if they had missed it, it really had been shoved in there. It could have even been pressed down when the police were searching or stuck on one of their shoes and then left. It was an easy clue to miss if it was one. Then again, maybe it wasn’t even a clue. 

Lucinda stepped looked down at her hand. “Where did you find that?”

“In the carpet.”

“Do you think it’s a clue?”

Gladwynn closed her hand around it. “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t think so? I’m sure the police would have found it when they were searching in here. It probably broke off one of their coats or uniforms.”

She slid the button into the pocket of her light blue capris, glad that the pocket that she had previously wanted to be larger was actually small and kept the button safe against her.

“I think we should take the letter home,” she said as she walked through the bedroom doorway, back into the hallway at the top of the stairs.

Lucinda followed her with the scripts in her hands. “We will do no such thing!”

Gladwynn started down the stairs. “Why not? The police didn’t take it with them, so it must not have been important.”

“I told you they probably didn’t see it. It was wedged in there at the top of the drawer.”

“Or they did see it, didn’t think it was important, and left it.”

“How could they think a letter from Samantha’s mother saying she was sorry she’d waited so long to tell her who her father was wasn’t important?”

Gladwynn stepped off the last step and turned to face her grandmother, her hands on her hips. “Now we are definitely taking it.”

Lucinda stepped down and huffed out a breath. “You tricked me into telling you what that letter said.”

Gladwynn shrugged a shoulder, hands still on her hips. “I did nothing of the sort. I simply said maybe the police didn’t think it was important. It isn’t my fault if you felt like sharing why you thought the letter was important.”

She turned and walked toward the desk, Lucinda behind her.

Lucinda’s tone was indignant. “And what do you think you’re going to do with the letter?”

Gladwynn opened the drawer. “Hold on to it so it doesn’t get thrown out when they clean the place out.” She picked up the envelope and looked at the postmark. Michigan. There was no return address. She held it in her hand and waved it in front of Lucinda’s face. “This is in an envelope, Grandma. It wasn’t like the letter just got stuck up in there. You had to take it out of the envelope.”

Red flushed along Lucinda’s plump cheeks. “Are you accusing me of snooping?” Gladwynn could tell she was trying her best to look offended, but an amused smile twitched at the corners of her mouth. She pointed her finger at Gladwynn. “You are accusing me.”

Gladwynn smirked. “I absolutely am accusing you of snooping and it’s a good thing you did.” She held the letter up again. “This very well could lead to whoever killed Samantha.”

Lucinda followed her to the front door. “If we take it then we are going to give it to the police. That’s my final say on it.”

Gladwynn opened the front door. “Fine. I’ll give it to Tanner. Scouts honor.

“Once again, you are invoking the honor of an organization you only attended one meeting of.”

Gladwynn walked through the doorway. “I know. I know. I’m sorry. The green just threw me off back then, but now I like green so –”

Lucinda scoffed. “You hate green clothes to this day. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you wear green.”

“Okay, fine. I hate green but I still promise to give the letter to Tanner.”

And she would give the letter to Tanner.

Right after she read it.

A man’s angry voice startled Gladwynn as she pulled Samantha’s door closed behind her. She slid the key into the slot to lock it and looked to her left, where she noticed Eileen standing a few feet away, arms hugged around her. A man with dark hair who Gladwynn didn’t think looked much older than her, towered over Eileen, his face flushed red and fists clenched at his sides. He raised a hand, pointed a finger at Eileen’s face and blistered the air with a string of expletives.

Gladwynn opened her bag and dropped the letter inside. She knew she and Lucinda should leave, but Eileen and the man were directly in front of their cars and she couldn’t figure out how to get around them without interrupting.

“No! that is not what I told you to do, Miss Bristol. I told you to leave his things alone and I would handle cleaning out his apartment. You are clearly completely deaf or completely incompetent. What is absolutely pathetic is that none of you even know who you had living here. My father was a very accomplished and very rich man and why he chose to move here and live in this Godforsaken place I will never know.”

Gladwynn thought she saw Eileen’s resolve wither slightly for a brief moment before she raised her chin, her jaw tightening. “I’m sorry, Mr. Thornton. I can assure you that I had no idea. Derek never spoke of his past. He kept to himself for the most part but helped us out here immensely and –“

“I don’t care what he did here. He shouldn’t have even been here. He was an old fool and he’s made life very difficult for his family in these last two years. Now that you’ve put part of his belongings in storage you’ve made things even more difficult for us.” He clenched his hands into fists in front of him. “Now I not only have to arrange his funeral in this cruddy little town, but I have to figure out how to get all his belongings out of storage so they can be returned to us.”

Eileen cleared her throat and hooked her fingers together, her arms hanging loosely in front of her. “I am very sorry, Mr. Thornton but you said you would be here within a week after your father died and we needed to clear out his things to make room for another tenant. We have a very large wait list for the condos here. It has now been two and a half weeks.”

The man tipped his head back and practically growled.  “Absolutely ridiculous! Where is this storage facility?”

“It’s about a half a mile outside of town. If you come to my office I’ll —”

The man looked at his phone. “Just tell me where it is. I’ll find it.”

“But I can write –”

“Just tell me!”

Eileen’s face turned an odd shade of purple, but she quickly rattled off the directions. The man spun on his heel and headed for his car, slamming the door behind him after he slid behind the steering wheel. His tires squealed as he ripped out of the parking space.

Gladwynn and Lucinda stood frozen in place for several seconds before Lucinda moved forward and walked quickly down the sidewalk toward Eileen.

“Eileen,  hon’, are you okay?”

Eileen pulled her gaze from the retreating car and looked up, startled. Her complexion had begun to return to a more normal shade. “Oh. Lucinda. Hello. Yes. I’m fine.” She touched a trembling hand to the base of her throat, then dropped it to her side. “You can’t be the manager of a retirement community and have thin skin. I’ve certainly dealt with similar situations before.” She smoothed the frizzed strands of hair along her temple down. “Did you find those scripts you needed?”

“Yes,” Lucinda said. “We did.” She handed Eileen the keys. “Thank you for letting us do that.”

“Are you going to need to clean out Samantha’s condo soon as well?” Gladwynn asked.

The question flew out of her mouth before she even thought about how the answer was none of her business.

Eileen drew herself up, pulling her shoulders back and tipping her chin up slightly. “That is something I can’t discuss at this time. I’m in the process of trying to reach Samantha’s next of kin and it would highly inappropriate for me to discuss that with a stranger before I’ve spoken to her family. Have a nice day.”

She turned quickly and walked briskly across the parking lot toward the manager’s office.

Lucinda made eye contact with Gladwynn, her eyebrows raising. “Oh boy. She’s definitely under a lot of stress.”

Gladwynn tapped the button in her pocket. She was glad they hadn’t told Eileen about finding the button or the letter. It might have caused even more stress for her. She might need the address on the outside of the letter, though. Gladwynn wasn’t sure. She’d seen Samantha’s employee paperwork briefly, but not long enough to see if the address for Mary matched the address on the outside of the envelope.

“Who is this Mr. Thornton?” she asked Lucinda as they walked toward their cars. “That isn’t what you said Derek’s last name was, did you?”

Lucinda’s brow lowered in thought as she reached her car and unlocked it with the button on the key fob. “No. His last name was Murphy. Or at least I thought it was. It sounds like maybe Derek had some secrets.”

Gladwynn said “good-bye” to Lucinda and waited to open the letter while parked in the newspaper parking lot.

It was written on a piece of off-white blank paper in smooth black ink.

Samantha:

I know you don’t understand why it took me so long to tell you who your father was, and I hope this letter will explain that more. I wanted to tell you for years but I was afraid what the fallout would be. No one knows the truth of who your father is, not even your grandparents. In fact, not even your real father knows. I never told him I was pregnant. It would have ruined his life and his chance at success.

Your father is a very smart, very wealthy man.

He looked me up a year ago and wanted to know the truth about why I left the area. It wasn’t the first time he’d tracked me down and begged me to tell him.

He was the one who figured out you were his and he wants to meet you. He’s living in a small town in Pennsylvania now. He’s run away from his family and responsibilities I guess you could say. If it wasn’t for my illness maybe he and I could finally have some happiness together.

I’ve enclosed his letter to you with his address. He asked to meet you six months ago but I waited. I shouldn’t have. I had no idea my health would fail so fast.

I love you. Please, Samantha, forgive me.

Love,

Mom

Gladwynn opened the envelope to see if there was anything else inside. Something that would tell who Samantha’s father had been and if that was why she’d come to Brookstone. She turned the letter over.

Nothing.

Really, though, Gladwynn didn’t need the address or the name.

She already knew.

Why else would Samantha have spent so much time with Derek after taking the job at Willowbrook? The question was, though, why had Derek moved to the area and from where? And why would a wealthy man lie about who he was?

Had Derek’s death been suspicious as well? She hadn’t heard that it had been but maybe the police didn’t think it had been since he had been 85 at the time of his death.

Inside, at her computer, she searched the internet for Derek’s obit, changing the last name from Murphy to Thornton.

There wasn’t an obituary but there were several pages of articles featuring both Derek’s first and last name. Most of the articles were about the Thornton Hotel chain, which Derek’s father had apparently been the founder of. Derek had been the CEO of the chain until about two years ago when he’d resigned and handed over operations to his oldest son, Michael Thornton. A quick search showed that Michael was the man who had been yelling at Eileen earlier.

Gladwynn had never met Derek but a quick consultation with Laurel by showing her Derek Thornton’s photo, confirmed that Derek Murphy and Derek Thornton were the same man.

Laurel shook her head slowly, looking over Gladwynn’s shoulder. “Wow. That’s crazy. I wonder why he lied about who he was.”

Gladwynn wondered too. Was it because he’d found out about Samantha around that time and thought walking away from his business would give him more time to spend with her?

Now that she was sure of the connection between the two, Derek’s death seemed really suspicious to Gladwynn. Maybe not how he had died, since she didn’t know how he’d died, but the fact he and Samantha had died a week apart from each other. Had the same person who killed Samantha also killed Derek?

She let out a breath. Her imagination was running away from her. She needed to take a break from thinking about it all. It wasn’t her job to figure out what had happened. She wasn’t a detective and she wasn’t even writing the story about it.

She closed the browser and shook her head. “I don’t know why he lied, but I can’t sit here and try to figure it out.” She glanced at the gold watch with red roses Lucinda had given her for her birthday. “I have an interview with the Brookstone Town Council about a donation they just received for the riverside park.”

“Borough.”

“What?”

“It’s the Brookstone Borough Council.” She put an emphasis on the word borough. “Remember, New York girl, in Pennsylvania towns under a certain population level are called boroughs. Over a certain population level they are called cities.”

Gladwynn sighed. She still hadn’t gotten used to the definitions for municipalities in the state of Pennsylvania after living her entire life in New York state up until nine months ago. Both Liam and the copy editor, Mindy, had had to correct her several times, either in person or with large red marks on her stories.

“Borough. Right. I’ll get it.” She scooped up her keys and the letter, dropping them in her bag. “Eventually.”

On the way to her car she thought about her theory of Samantha being Derek’s daughter. It was probably true, but she didn’t want to say anything to anyone. Not yet anyhow. What if she was wrong? She could hurt a lot of people by letting it slip to someone.

Did Michael Thornton know that Samantha was his half-sister? If she even was?

More importantly, did Tanner have any clue about the possible connection between the two?

Most likely he did. He was a sharp investigator. Still, he didn’t have the letter and she did.

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