Page 61 of An Island Summer
“Are you sure?” Tess asked, craning her neck to get a better look at both specimens.
“They’re exact matches. I never noticed until now.”
“Your grandfather knew her, right?”
“According to Rupert,” Meghan replied. “Maybe the promise to return was made to my grandmother. MaybeNannaput the box in the back of the closet, not Pappy.”
“That would make sense if they were, in fact, best friends.”
“Wow,” Meghan said, their histories coming together. “But Rupert said Hester came back to be withhimand when he was already married, she left. I wonder if she went to see Nanna before she disappeared.”
“We’ll never know.”
“Two double chocolate tiramisus,” Chloe called from the bar, sliding the porcelain cups overflowing with whipped cream and toppings toward them.
Meghan took a seat at the table, still thinking about Hester while Tess offered to go over to the bar to retrieve their coffees.
“I can’t help but wonder if all of this was meant to be…” Meghan said, when Tess returned, still trying to get the whole story together in her head, filling in the gaps with what-ifs.
Tess set the coffees down with a grin. “You meandestiny?”
“Oh no,” Meghan said, snapping out of it. “I’m turning into you!” But she couldn’t help but feel it now. Something was indeed happening.
Tess laughed, and swirled the whipped cream and espresso sprinkles with a plastic spoon. “Would it be so bad to be optimistic for once? To feel like there’s some grand purpose in your life?”
“I suppose it wouldn’t,” Meghan replied, for the first time understanding just a little how her best friend saw the world.
Meghan emptied her pocket before slipping off her trousers, Hester’s two mysterious messages lying on the designer driftwood paint-washed dresser of The Seabreeze. Curiously, she stared at them, wondering if Pappy or Nanna had meant to give her the one with the numbers on it. Had they just been in the box when he’d put the earrings inside, and he’d only been trying to keep Nanna’s jewelry secure? Or was there something more to it?
Speaking of Nanna’s earrings, maybe she should put them in the room safe… She walked over to it and stared at it, immersed in her thoughts. Then, suddenly, an overwhelming wave of recognition crashing upon her. “Tess!” she called, unable to move, her heart beating so wildly that she was sure someone could see it if they were standing next to her. “Tess!”
“Yeah?” Tess came rushing in from the other room, her hair in a towel. “What’s wrong?”
Meghan pointed to the safe. “Look.”
Tess inspected the box. “What am I looking at?”
Meghan snatched the slip of paper with the numbers from the dresser and pressed it to the front of the safe, reading the smudged letters in Hester’s handwriting. “Pi… s.” Then she touched the insignia on the room safe. “Pinetop Securities.”
Tess gasped.
Meghan pulled all her thoughts together, the picture becoming murky but still not clear. “And Rupert had been staring at the safe, saying he believed it was Hester’s.”
“See if the combination works.”
“It’s unlocked after the last tenant and ready for us to set it, so the combination wouldn’t do anything, and the safe is completely empty.”
Tess’s face crumpled. “This house wasn’t here when Hester was around. The safe is brand new.”
“But is Pinetop Securities brand new?” Meghan grabbed her laptop, taking it into the grand living room and settling on the oversized white sofa. Tess sat down beside her, eagerly looking on as Meghan typed the company into her search bar.
Pinetop Securities offers first-class security to meet your corporate and residential needs. The longest-running securities company in the Outer Banks, we offer a proven track record of securing valuables for over 150 years…
Meghan looked at Tess, the thrill of finding another bit of the story bubbling up. “I’d say they were around back then.” She returned her gaze to the computer, but her mind was elsewhere. “Hester left behind a combination to her safe.” Then the enormity of what they faced hit her. “But how do we know which box or where?”
“Simple,” Tess said.
Meghan waited, wondering how it could be, in any way,simple.
