Page 58 of The Aura Answer
Gracie crouched down to study it. “It’s almost a collage. Maybe of places he liked? There’s the courthouse, and the fruit stand, and the Barn, and his mother’s house. He’s colored in Toby and Verity by the courthouse, Mr. Patel at his stand, his brother and a few of Sammy’s kids at the Barn, and his mother and more of the family at home. It’s just a nice mantel piece of people and places he liked.”
All places to which Block held the mortgage?Nick couldn’t help thinking, causing his insides to grind more. Anyway, half these places belonged to the Satterwhites—
Who were being threatened.Gag.
“We can’t take this to Mrs. Walker if there’s any chance these pieces were the reason her sons were killed,” he warned. Nick used his good camera to take the full-length image.
“We don’tknowhe was killed. He overdosed on bad drugs. That’s not murder.”
Nick wanted to trust that, but his cynical side had taken over this morning. “Someone gave him drugs. And if we’re listening to Evie’s ghost tales, he thought he was attending a party, so why would he break his abstinence at a happy time?”
Not having an answer, Gracie set the first piece aside and picked up the next. “This is my street!”
“These are lovely old homes. Is that you and Aster outside your cottage?” Hiding his discomfort, he snapped the photo.
“It is! This is recent, just after she had her hair cut with bangs.” She studied it in surprise. “This must be one of the sketches he did while following the Turlocks.”
Nick didn’t like the sound of that. He reached in and helped himself to another he’d seen earlier. “Your street is a block or two back from Jax’s office? And is this the street in between?”
“He’s sketching every street from the courthouse back to my house? Why on earth?”
He snapped phone photos of all the sketches and forwarded them to Jax and Evie. “I don’t know, but I don’t like it.” Hereallydidn’t like it. Could his first paycheck take Gracie and her daughter out of town, to somewhere safe?
With a taut expression, she sat down on the hard concrete pad and began dismantling the mantel-sized piece. “Take photos of the backs too. Maybe he dated them.”
“The art would look a lot better in the frames I was working on than these cheap ones, but if we’re selling online, I suppose these are easier. Be careful with that backing. I don’t want to have to buy more.” Preferring to focus on making money, Nick shoved his phone back in his pocket and helped her.
“There’s something else under here...” Gracie lifted off the layers of cardboard and removedtwosketches.
They both stared at the hidden drawing of a street of fancy shops withMain Street USAon an arched banner above. In the upper corner, barely noticeable, was the historic courthouse. Nothing else on the street looked familiar. Even the town’s old-fashioned lantern light poles normally decorated in festive flower baskets had been replaced with modern stylistic arc lamps.
Behind the shops, where Jax’s office and Gracie’s house should be, was a giant parking lot and what appeared to be an enormous, upscale restaurant with outside seating.
“Did Sammy copy this or steal it?” Nick asked in shock.
Gracie turned it over to show a stamp from some architectural design firm and the titleLayman Main Street USA complex, Afterthought, SC.
“Someone stole it. Verity framed it.” Gracie looked terrified. “And now three people are dead. She may have reason to be afraid.”
Wearinga bright green sweater over her denim overalls and her distinctive hair tucked into a knit cap decorated with reindeers, Evie paced up and down in front of the courthouse. The image of the architectural drawing Nick and Gracie had sent burned in her brain. She didn’t have the right words to ask the meaning of this horror. “I don’t know what to say!” she shouted at nothing and no one.
The massive Cajun accompanying her didn’t bother pacing but stood there, arms crossed, waiting for her to work out her tantrum. “Sounds to me like the ghosts do the talkin’, bébé. Just go in and pick a topic. If what Jax and those pictures are saying is right, then you ain’t got nothing to lose.”
“If he’s right, we could lose thewhole town!” she cried. “We could lose the entire town as we know it! How can I halt that travesty by talking to cold air?”
Jax had insisted that Roark accompany her if she meant to go into the courthouse again. She still didn’t see how Judge Rhodes could be a murder suspect just because he knew guns and was present when Block died. He had utterly no motive. He didn’t care about Afterthought.
And Turlock Sr., the lawyer, might be a turd, but that didn’t mean he’d shoot Block, his own client, even if he knew about the Layman connection. The Shepherd twins and Teddy Jr. had probably been in the riot, plus the entire town council, but no one she knew made good suspects.
Laymanwas the only one who had motive and opportunity. He’d been listening to Block’s last speech, and given the cowboy-boot theme, he probably owned a gun. He wasn’t anywhere intown today as far as anyone could determine. She should be fine. She just didn’t know what tosay. Or do.
“We prove the crooked cowboy committed murder to get his hands on Block’s property, and he won’t be allowed to profit from his crime,” Roark pointed out, reasonably enough.
“Crooked cowboy,” she scoffed. “Just because he wears boots doesn’t mean Layman can even ride a horse, much less use a gun. All right, going in.”
Unable to focus on questions, Evie observed the people entering with her: everyday, ordinary people going about their lives, paying fines, sitting on juries... herneighbors. What would happen to them if Layman had a chance to plop a huge shopping mall on top of their homes and businesses?
Cotton fields would start looking attractive.
