Page 45 of Gem Warfare

“Elsie Greenberg!”

“She can’t be. She’s dead.” I patted the walls, searching for a light switch. Finally I found it, pushed it in, and an overhead light flickered on, then kept flickering.

“I know!”

“So you didn’t see her in there. It must have been someone else and now some poor old lady thinks you went nuts for no reason.”

“It was Elsie Greenberg and she was definitely dead.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

“She was in a coffin on her desk,” Lily hissed.

I paused, uncertain if I’d misheard.

“It was open. I saw her.”

“Oh!” I palmed my face. “This isn’t just a wake. This is a viewing! Some people do that. They keep the body at home so people can view it before the funeral service.”

“That is so weird!”

“Apparently, it’s comforting.”

Lily stared at me. “Do I look comforted?”

“It’s comforting for the family. It’s not supposed to be comforting for the two women sneaking in.” I looked around. The stairs were wooden, the walls painted a soft cream. No cobwebs. That was a good sign. The basement was clearly accessed regularly. “Did you see anything on her desk?”

“No, I was too busy being horrified.”

“Was her coffin actually on the desk?”

“No. Some kind of plinth with drapes in the middle of the room. I don’t think there was anything on her desk at all.”

“The paperwork we’re looking for would have been archived years ago, probably when Mrs. Greenberg sold the house.” I turned to look at the stairs as the lightbulb above started to fade. “Let’s head downstairs and look through the files. I bet we’ll find info on Joe Smithson down there. We can get what we need and hopefully, we won’t have to go back into the office.”

“Good because I don’t want to go into the office.”

“Stick with me.”

Lily snorted. “Like I was going to wait up here with a dead body close by.”

“Dead bodies can’t do anything to you.”

“Have you watchedThe Walking Dead?”

“Come on.” I headed down the stairs, shaking my head, trying to make sure I didn’t make any noise on the wooden steps. The stairs curved to the left, then opened up into a wide storage room with windows set high in the wall allowing a stream of natural light. The room was clearly used for storage. There were two Christmas trees in boxes, and a dozen clear plastic bins with decorations for all the seasons. Two couches were covered in plastic and there were several boxes of children’s toys and books and a large rocking horse with a beautiful mane and leather saddle. Across the back wall was a series of filing cabinets. I headed for them, hoping Elsie Greenberg had a coherent system for her paperwork.

“What should we look under?” asked Lily, pulling open the top drawer of the first cabinet.

“The year? Around twenty years ago?”

Lily’s fingers moved over the files. “I think everything is filed by address.”

“That makes it easier. Look for my parents’ street.”

I pulled open the drawer of the next cabinet, scrolling through the card files.

“Not here,” said Lily, closing that drawer and pulling open the one underneath. “They don’t seem to be in alphabetical order.”

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