Page 212 of The Seven Rings
“She beat me to it. I’m bitter.”
“Bree,” Cleo continued, “all bought— Who am I kidding? Icrushedit! I’d do a cartwheel, but—”
“You can do a cartwheel?”
Both Cleo and Sonya sent Owen pitying looks. “Of course I can do a cartwheel.”
“Prove it.”
“You want me to do a cartwheel, here, on the sidewalk? On High Street?”
He shrugged. “Unless you’re too dainty for that. Or can’t do one.”
“Dainty? Them’s fighting words.”
Cleo handed Sonya her purse, shook back her hair. She shot Owen one last smug look, then did not one but two cartwheels on the sidewalk, on High Street.
A couple coming out of the Lobster Cage applauded.
Dusting off her hands, Cleo took a bow.
“Can you do that?” Trey wondered.
“Yes, but not in this dress.” Ridiculously happy, Sonya smiled at him. “I’ll show you later.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
On her Saturday hunt through basement storage, Sonya ignored the ringing bell, and found a treasure.
“Look at this!” She held up a framed photo she’d unearthed from a broken dresser drawer. “It’s the staff, house staff. A lot of house staff. Oh, this woman, this man? That’s Hobson and Grimes. The head housekeeper, the head butler!”
Cleo reached her first, peered down. “That’s… twenty-three people. I don’t see Molly, so before or after.”
“Take it out,” Trey suggested. “Look on the back. They may have dated it.”
“Let’s hope.”
Owen took a multi-tool out of his pocket. “Let’s see it. Old frame, backing’s wired down.”
“It needs a new one. I can—”
“It’s a good frame.” He continued to work. “Just needs cleaning up.”
He pulled out the backing. On the back of the picture, they found not only the date, but a carefully written list of names.
“January 10, 1933. So after Lissy, before Patricia married Michael Poole Jr. Yes! Mildred Hobson, James Grimes. Look, Cleo, there’s an Eleanor Gruder listed. I wonder if it’s our Eleanor.”
Lynyrd Skynyrd rocked “You Got That Right” from Sonya’s phone.
“Seated row, third from the left.”
Easing the photo out, Sonya scanned across the front row of staff.“There she is! She looks well into her sixties, maybe into her seventies. It’s a really formal shot, so they’re all a little stiff. But she looks happy. They all do, really.”
“I wonder how long she worked here.”
“I Saw Her Standing There” replaced Lynyrd Skynyrd.
“The Beatles say she was just seventeen.” Owen grinned. “Clover’s quick, man. She’s a rocket.”
