A Timely Vision

to Miss Mildred, like everyone speculated. There’s no help there.”

“Maybe Miss Mildred’s will is at her house, if she has one.” I looked up and thanked Cody as he brought our lunch to the table.

Before Kevin had a chance to tell us anything more, Luke Helms joined us. He slid in the booth beside Kevin with an easygoing nod, wondering if he could buy us lunch. “I’ve had a strange morning, and I’m hoping you guys can help me out. It’s about Mrs. Harcourt and some kind of turtle-saving effort.”

“I heard about that,” I said. “She put up flyers in my shop. What does she want you to do?”

“She wants me to have Mrs. Mason sign a legal document that leaves everything to the turtle charity.” Luke thanked Cody, who’d brought over a Coke for him. “I talked to Mrs. Mason about it after the incompetency ruling. She said she has a power of attorney document, but she said she doesn’t know where it is.”

“What about her lawyer?” I asked. When Luke raised his ginger-colored eyebrows, I clarified, “The lawyer who drew up the will.”

“That would probably be Bunk Whitley.” Gramps nodded. “Old Bunk was the only lawyer in Duck for a long time.”

“Not him again,” Kevin muttered. “Don’t tell me he not only vanished mysteriously but took everyone’s legal documents with him.”

Luke sipped his Coke. “I don’t know anything about Bunk Whitley, but there should be a copy of the power of attorney filed at the courthouse.”

Gramps shook his head. “That horse don’t run. Jerry Richards was already there looking for it. Apparently Bunk did his usual slipshod job and forgot to file it.”

“But even if it wasn’t filed officially, wouldn’t it still be legal if there’s a copy of it at Miss Mildred’s house?” I asked.

“It could be.” Luke ordered a burger and sat back. “I guess I came to the right place. You know everything that’s going on, Dae.”

“That’s why we made her the mayor.” Gramps laughed. “It was either that or the editor of the Duck Gazette, but that closed down ten years ago. Not enough local news to fill a newsletter much less a newspaper.”

Kevin was quiet even before his sandwich got to the table. I wondered if he didn’t want to include Luke in the discussion about what he’d found. I didn’t press the issue in case that was true. I ate my sandwich and fries, and listened to Gramps and Luke talk about a small brush fire they’d put out in Southern Shores last week. I could always ask Kevin later what he’d found, if anything.

As the meal was winding down, Gramps nudged me and said to Luke, “You should take Dae up to see Millie. She could find the power of attorney without us ransacking the house. It would save us all some time.”

Having grown up with everyone in town asking me to help them find their lost things, I wasn’t exactly shy about my abilities. But the look on Luke’s face, as Gramps explained what I could do and how I could do it, was strong disbelief.

“You’re kidding, right?” Luke looked at all of us with a grin on his face, waiting for the punch line. “Come on, Kevin, you aren’t from here, and the FBI doesn’t fool around. You don’t believe Dae can find things with her mind, do you?”

Kevin polished off his drink and nodded. “She already proved it to me.” He told him about the hidden key. “You can’t argue with that kind of success.”

Luke stared at me for a long moment. “No one can really do something like that,” he argued. “Not Dae. Not anyone.”

“Try something,” Gramps said, encouraging him. “Go ahead. It’s okay. Dae has found things for most of the people who live here. I’m sure she could find something you’ve lost.”

“How does it work?” Luke smiled and whistled the opening to the Twilight Zone theme. “Do I wait for her to go into a trance or something? Does she have to be possessed?”

“She’s sitting right here and doesn’t appreciate being treated like she’s invisible,” I told him. “There’s nothing to it. Give me your hands and think about something important you’ve lost.”

He started to reach his hands toward me, then pulled them back and looked at his watch. “You know, I have to run. Maybe next time we can scrounge up a Ouija board or something.” He grinned and threw down some money for lunch. “I’ll see you later.”

“Well, that was unpleasant,” Gramps said when Luke was gone. “I don’t understand what his problem is. If she couldn’t do it, nothing would happen. If she could, he would’ve found what he’s lost.”

“She’s still here,” I repeated. “Why is everyone talking about me like I’m not here?”

“Not me,” Kevin chimed in. “I was waiting for Luke to take off before I told you what else I found out today.”

I leaned forward a little to whisper, “Don’t you trust him?”

He leaned forward too until our faces were close together. “I never trust lawyers.”

“If you two are done flirting”—Gramps smiled, then cleared his throat—“I’d like to hear what Kevin found out this morning before someone else joins us for lunch.”

I ignored the flirting part of his remark and hoped that Kevin would too. I sipped some water and waited to hear what he didn’t want to say in front of Luke.

“There were bloody gloves in Miss Elizabeth’s purse. I guess something like gardening gloves. The police and SBI think they go with the garden shovel. They think Miss Mildred was trying to hide them before she had her breakdown. They say she couldn’t deal with it. They believe the blood on those gloves belonged to Miss Elizabeth. The chief was right when he told you the case was all but closed.”

It wasn’t as if I didn’t know about the gloves in the purse. I’d seen them before anyone. But the whole idea bothered me. It all fit together so neatly, crushing Miss Mildred with its perfection. One part bothered me more than the rest. I explained my doubts to Gramps and Kevin. “All of that makes sense, I guess, except for the part about the gloves. You know yourself, Gramps, Miss Mildred has hands like sandpaper. She’s never worn garden gloves.”

“Maybe not,” Kevin said. “But that’s a small detail compared to the whole picture. I’m sure you would’ve picked her up on the strength of this evidence too, Horace. I know I would’ve considered myself lucky to get all of this together.”

“I agree.” Gramps stroked his white beard. “But Dae makes a good point. If you would’ve told me there was a pair of white church gloves in that purse, I would’ve gone along with that. But Millie has the roughest hands in the county and proud of it.”

“I think what Kevin is saying is that it’s not enough to force Chief Michaels or the SBI into looking at this crime from another angle.” I glanced at Kevin. “Right?”

“Yeah. The SBI is looking at Wild Johnny’s death now. They’re done with Miss Elizabeth.”

Gramps laughed. “You know, I was the sheriff for a long time in this county. When it doesn’t involve you personally, you can think whatever is necessary to get a conviction. Knowing Millie the way I do, I can’t believe anyone would think she could kill Lizzie.”

“And yet the chief seems to think so,” I reminded him.

“He’s doing his job, Dae,” Gramps argued. “You don’t know what that’s like.”

“Except it sounds like the chief might be doing his job a little too well,” Kevin said. “He certainly helped put her away.”

“I don’t think he’s involved in setting up Miss Mildred. Other than keeping Silas up-to-date on what’s been going on, he’s stuck to doing his job, like Gramps said,” I replied. “I think the murder is tied to whoever wants those properties. Either Jerry Richards’s alibi is bogus, or Chuck Sparks killed Miss Elizabeth. Either one of them could have set up Miss Mildred.”

“What about the power of attorney?” Kevin asked. “I know Luke didn’t seem crazy about the idea, but he doesn’t know what you can do, Dae. Maybe you should go and see Miss Mildred before it’s too late. If there is a document, maybe you can sense its location from her.”

“I think that’s the best idea,” Gramps agreed. “Why don’t you and Kevin go do that, and I’ll watch the shop?”