Silence descended on the room like a shroud, covering everyone in a heavy, oppressive weight.
David turned looking at the young woman to his right. She was wearing a simple yellow shirt, and denim Capri pants that fit her slim curves perfectly. Her brown hair was loose, falling over her shoulders in soft waves and she looked shocked.
“Perhaps,” he stuttered, his eyes never leaving her blue gaze, “perhaps we could work together.”
Susan glared at the young man, matching his amber stare with a flash of her own. She had worked too hard on this mystery to have to share it with someone she didn’t know. With someone who was trying to clear the name of a notorious scoundrel. “No.” Susan pressed the words between tight lips.
“I guess we’ll never know then,” Mrs. Holmes, lifted her glass of tea with a shrug. “I’m sorry you wasted your time.” She looked back at the young man, whose brows were knit in a hard scowl.
David sagged in his chair. He had worked so hard to compile the information surrounding his grandfather’s disappearance, and his heart ached as he remembered his grandmother’s tenacious disbelief in her husband’s wrongdoing. No matter how many people whispered disparities against Harcourt, Grandmother Watkins had never given in. She was so positive that her husband’s disappearance had nothing to do with making moonshine that she had infected her grandson with the same fervent faith as hers.
Closing his eyes, David willed his heart to settle then looked at the pretty young woman. “Please,” he pleaded. “I’m doing this for my grandmother. She never believed any of the things people said about Grandpa Watkins. Right up to the end she was certain he had done nothing wrong.”
Susan squirmed in her seat, a feeling of unease sliding down her spine as the man’s eyes collided with hers. He seemed so sincere. So honest, that guilt nibbled at her insides. “I, I’ve worked so hard to find the answer,” she stammered. “I,”
“You need help,” Alana snapped. “Now stop hedging and give in. You both have the same goals, might as well pool resources and get on with it.” The old woman’s eyes flashed and a glimpse of the tough adventurous woman she had been shone through.
Susan couldn’t believe her grandmother’s words. She had never known Alana to be so sharp before.
“You can have all the credit,” David urged. “Please don’t send me away empty handed.”
Susan felt her resolve melt under the onslaught of pleas. “Alright, but it’s my case.”
A soft huff from her grandmother’s chair made both young people turn caught in the old woman’s gaze of disgust. “Case, you’d think you were detectives or something. This case has been cold for years, and why two silly young people think they can find the answer when professionals couldn’t is beyond me, but if you are determined, I’ll tell you everything I know.” She turned her bright eyes pinning David to his chair once more. “You need to promise me something though,”
“Anything,” David practically bounced in his seat.
“You have to protect my granddaughter.” She waved a dismissive hand at Susan’s outraged gasp. “Yes, I know you modern woman who doesn’t need a man to look out for her, but we were made man and woman for a reason, and there’s a plan to God making most men stronger than us girls. Now both of you settle down, and I’ll tell you every detail of what happened that day on the mountain. Even things I thought I had imagined.”
David let his eyes wander to the young woman sitting stiff and straight in the chair across from him. He could see the anger dancing in her eyes, but something inside told him that Old Mrs. Watkins was right. Just because this case had been abandoned so long ago did not mean that the parties involved weren’t still lurking somewhere in the shadows, and if they got too close, danger could be a real issue.
If they had worked so hard to cover their tracks back then, what would they do now if two armature sleuths began to poke around where they weren’t wanted?
Deep down the iron entered his soul, and David knew he would do whatever it took to keep one Miss Susan Holmes safe.
Susan looked between her grandmother and the sandy haired man sipping tea in her family’s home. He was a nice looking man, but right now, she would have liked nothing better than to toss him out on his ear. She didn’t need a meddlesome Watkins interfering with her investigation. She could do this on her own.
Pulling her eyes away from the handsome, well chiseled face, she glared at her grandmother who sipped her tea innocently. Gram had never before indicated there was anything more to the story than what she had told them for years.
Was Alana Holmes really going to divulge a golden nugget of truth or was she simply trying to insure that Susan would work with the young man with the nosey disposition?
Gram, as sophisticated as she was, was still very old fashioned in some ways. Susan didn’t need a man to keep an eye on her. Susan lifted her glass of iced tea to hide her smile behind her beverage. Perhaps she didn’t need a man to help her solve this mystery, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t garner something from the partnership. Her blue eyes strayed to the leather journal the young man was opening, and she felt her heart zing with excitement at the idea of seeing what tidbits were hidden within.
She would glean any information she could from David Watkins then run with it until she had solved the age old mystery of the lost horses of Toccoa Falls, and the missing moonshiner that had left so many in a mess. Susan Holmes was a mystery solver. She would follow every lead until the whole town knew she had
