Since by now Cassie had spent the better part of a year examining boulders, she decided to reserve judgment. After Oluoma left, she told her teammates, “Don’t anybody wake me til it’s time to stare at some more rocks.”
Chapter 14—Who’s Who?
Leroy Hunt jammed his thumb into the elevator call button for the third time. It was already lit, but he thought he’d give it another poke since he’d been waiting for that blasted contraption since Hector was a pup. He was standing in the lobby of a high-rise apartment building which he’d visited one night about a year before.
Leroy thought back to the chain of events that first brought him to this place. It all started when Miz Sybil, the antique store lady, met with her unfortunate accident. She wouldn’t tell him where she hid the preacher’s stone key. Then she tripped, bumped her head and went to glory. After that, Leroy started tailing her little sister Cassie which led him to a flat on the fourth floor of this very building. That was where he nicked the key that had caused all his misadventures since.
Leroy reasoned that since the preacher’s runaway wife had got enough information to find her way to Miz Sybil’s antique shop, she might have got a line on Miss Cassie’s apartment too. Of course, Miss Cassie wouldn’t have been here since she met with an unfortunate accident of her own on the island of Crete. All the same, he figured to go upstairs and ask around. Maybe somebody had seen something. He pushed the elevator button again. This time he could hear gears grinding which meant it was on its way down.
As he waited, a tiny blue-haired lady with a paper sack of groceries came to stand beside him.
“Afternoon, ma’am.” He tipped his hat and smiled down at her. His momma had taught him to always be polite.
She squinted up at him through her bifocals. “Good afternoon.”
At that moment, the elevator doors opened.
“After you, ma’am.” He held the door for her.
“Oh, thank you very much, young man.” She toddled inside, and he followed.
“Could you press 4 for me?” she asked.
“I’d be glad to.” Leroy complied.
Wasn’t the fourth floor his destination too? He got an idea. He followed her out when the doors opened again and waited to see which apartment she would head for. Sure enough, it was right next to the one where Miss Cassie used to live.
“Ma’am, could I ask you a question?”
She stopped fiddling with her keys for a minute. “Yes?”
“Well, I’m lookin’ for a little gal who might of showed up here some months back. She’s a runaway, and her folks are real worried about her.” He fished in his jacket pocket and produced Hannah’s scared rabbit wedding photo.
“Now let me see.” The old woman took the photo and adjusted her glasses.
“Why don’t I hold that for you, ma’am?” Leroy hoisted the grocery bag out of her arms. He wondered if she was packing a ten-pound ham in that sack. It had to weigh as much as she did.
“Oh, thank you.” This time she smiled. “That’s very thoughtful.” She turned her attention back to the photo and peered at it for several seconds. “Yes, I do believe I’ve seen her before. Of course, her hair wasn’t braided like it is here, but I’m sure it’s the same girl.”
Leroy inwardly danced a jig. “Well now, ain’t that somethin’. Do you recollect anything particular about when you saw her?”
“I certainly do.” The woman sounded vexed. “She was sitting on the floor right next to my neighbor’s door. I thought she was a vagrant. We don’t get that sort of thing in this neighborhood. I asked her what she was doing there. She said she was waiting for someone named ‘Cassie.’”
“Ain’t that your neighbor’s name, ma’am?” Leroy asked cautiously.
“My neighbor’s name was Sybil. That is, she was my neighbor until that horrible robbery at her store where she was murdered.”
Leroy chafed inwardly at her phrasing. Everybody kept tossing around that word “murder,” but the fact was Miz Sybil died of natural causes. A terminal case of the clumsies. It was none of his doing.
The old lady was still talking. “But I recall that Sybil did have a younger sister named Cassie. I never saw her. I suppose she must have taken over the lease.”
“And did our little runaway find Miss Cassie at home?” Leroy nudged the conversation forward.
The old woman shrugged her shoulders. “I have no idea. Somebody arrived later because I heard two voices in the hall. This was all a long time ago.”
“Yes, ma’am. Maybe last October?”
“I think so,” the woman agreed vaguely. She seemed distracted by another idea. “Something strange happened right after that.”
Leroy’s ears perked up, but he didn’t rush her, fearing she might lose her train of thought.
“It must have been about a week after I saw the girl in the hall. That’s when the movers came.”
“Movers?” Leroy was puzzled now too.
“A week afterward. I never saw the person who was moving out but there was a truck, and it whisked all Sybil’s things away.”
This bit of news took Hunt by surprise.
“Is anybody living in that flat now?” he asked.
The old woman shook her head. “No, it’s been vacant, but you could check with the building manager. He’s got an office in the lobby.”
“Why thank you kindly, ma’am. I believe I’ll do that.” He helped her with her keys and gave her back her groceries.
“And you never saw the gal in the photo again?”
“No, never.”
Hunt tipped his hat and let her go on her way.
***
The cowboy opted to take the stairs down instead of waiting for the elevator again. He crossed the lobby and made straight for a black painted door which was partially open. It revealed a squat, dark-haired man whose eyebrows met in the middle. He was hunched over a computer in fierce concentration.
Leroy tapped lightly on the
