Page 17 of The Aura Answer
Nick slid into the driver’s seat and studied the sketch from the side. “Deft hand there. Local artist?”
“Bertie Walker, the man who fell through the courthouse ceiling,” she said absently, flipping through the other twoframed sketches she’d picked up. “He liked to do houses and people together.” So the watercolor with the car was doubly unusual.
“They need better frames.” He handed them back and started the engine.
“We have a ton in the attic and garage. You can waste a day or two hunting.” She identified the people and houses in the plain sketches and wondered if she ought to give them to their families. But apparently, they hadn’t liked them enough to pay for them. Bertie always offered.
She returned to the color drawing, and, on a whim, peeled off the paper and cardboard backing to remove the sketch. Bertie had put their names and address on the back of the one he’d done for her and Craig.
He’d done the same here. The woman was Verity Janus, the car was a 1966 Corvette Stingray, and the address was simply the Shepherd Farm. Bertie never added “Afterthought, SC,” as if anyone who saw his sketches would know that.
Verity Janus. Where had she heard that name?
Seven
Evie grinnedas Loretta practically danced into the library carrying a stack of books to install on Gracie’s fancy new shelves.
“Harry Potter will look so good here, and when Aster’s old enough, she can read them too.” Loretta happily set them in proper order, using the new bookends.
Harry Potter was a bit tattered compared to Gracie’s boxed classics. Since Evie didn’t plan on opening any volumes, she admired the pretty wood and the cubbyholes in the new desk. “We won’t need that ratty old desk in the corner. What can we trade that for?”
“A computer?” Dante asked dryly.
“A television,” Jax added.
Electronics, right. Evie snorted and ignored them. She sat on the floor and admired the insides of the cabinet as potential storage for some of the pricey stationery her aunt had collected and no one used for anything except grocery lists.
“If you have the missing drop-down door, I could repair the secretaire and probably sell it for enough to buy a computer or television.” Nick examined the battered mahogany. “Probably need a discreet touch-up to bring the best price.”
Pris arrived with a tray of appetizers. “Taste these, let me know what you think. Dinner will be ready in half an hour. Have you solved any mysteries today? You’ll need the reward if you intend to wire the house for TVs and computers.”
Evie kept her head in the cabinet.
“I found sketches of Bertie’s friends.” Gracie was probably pointing at the display on the table. The old country oak didn’t match the fancy teak shelving.
“I talked to Toby Block. He’s bringing me his father’s computers. Do I get part of any reward or just my usual fee?” Apparently sampling the appetizers, Jax talked while chewing. “I like this. What is it?”
Hoping they were safely past the discussion of what they’d done today, Evie backed out of the cabinet and snatched a few pastries from the table behind her.
“Asparagus tarts with a cornbread crust for the gluten allergic,” Pris explained.
Evie noted everyone moved to the other tray with more identifiable crackers. She wasn’t fussy. She noshed on cornbread asparagus.
Reuben and Roark were otherwise occupied with their respective partners and weren’t present to add their accomplishments for the day. Evie knew the computer geniuses had built lists that included pretty much half the town, but that didn’t put them any closer to a killer.
“No mysteries for me.” Dante scarfed up half a dozen crackers and answered Pris’s inquiry. “I spent the day reading Clifford the Big Red Dog.”
“You did not.” Pris tasted the asparagus tarts. “You spent at least half the day on Zoom calls with your colleagues, arranging the Etruscan dig on the kids’ estate.”
Evie wasn’t about to enter that fight. Pris wanted to stay here and start a bakery/cafe. Dante wanted to go home and dig ancient bones. They both wanted to stay with the twins. Toss up.
“What did you do, O Great Guru?” Gracie had to ask, kicking Evie where she sat cross-legged on the floor. Darned sisters anyway.
“Visited the morgue, checked auras, this and that,” she said vaguely. “Give me that sketch of Tobias and Company. What were they doing on the Shepherd farm?”
“Shooting those accursed hounds, I hope.” Sitting on the desk chair, Jax looked over Evie’s shoulder to study the sketch Gracie handed her.
The Shepherd hounds were notorious for never shutting up. The brothers were the superstitious sort who probably would have hung witches back in the day. They wouldn’t let Iddy train their animals.
