"What did you tell them?"
"To mind their own business. Besides, it would be unethical of me to hand over her mail." He looked at me for a long time. "I wondered about you too. Thought maybe they sent you in. But you're that gal who was nabbed in the CIA, right? The one who had to quit because her name was all over?"
"That was me, yes. I didn't want to quit. I had no choice."
"Well, it doesn't seem like you'd be working for men like them." He turned toward the counter. "I do have something that I didn't tell them about."
Rex and I exchanged looks as we followed him to the counter. Virgil lifted part of the counter and went through, locking it down behind him. Reaching under the counter, he pulled up a letter to Aunt June. It was sealed. There was no return address.
"It's probably junk mail, but I thought I oughta give it to you anyway. She had mentioned you a fair amount recently."
That got my attention. "She did?"
"June was just a friend. That's all. I don't know where you heard such a rumor." Virgil nodded toward the exit. "But I can guess. Me being a suitor is new though. Still, you can't control things like rumors."
I asked, "You said she mentioned me?"
Virgil scratched his cheek. "Oh. Right. Said she had a sort of niece who was all kinds of interesting. That's all. She didn't say more."
"Have you ever been to the house?" I asked. "From all the photos, it seems like she was all kinds of interesting."
"Nope. And as far as I know, no one else in town had either. She was very private."
This information had come up before, and I had to wonder—why have all those photos of yourself with famous people if you didn't let anyone see them? Were they just reminders for her? That was the only explanation I could come up with.
We thanked him for the letter and walked outside. I was turning the envelope over in my hands when Rex's cell rang. He answered it and said a few words before hanging up.
"The jeweler wants to see me," he said.
"You go." I was still staring at the letter. "I'm going to the house. I thought I'd give Kelly a few of the antique dishes. I should probably pack them up before the girls come in like a herd of bulls."
"Are you sure?" Rex looked at the envelope. "I don't know if you should open that. It's probably nothing, but it could be rigged."
I smiled at my husband. "Honey, I'm ex-CIA. I know all the tricks. Don't worry. I won't take a chance."
Rex relaxed. "I think I'll swing by the museum and give the florist another call while I'm there. Need a ride to the house?"
I kissed him on the cheek. "Nope. It's a nice day. I think I'll walk."
Rex drove off, and I turned and headed toward Aunt June's house. My house. I thought about the town, studying the buildings as I passed. This town had so much potential. Aunt June had thought so too. I guess the folks who lived here just couldn't see it.
I used the time to run through the facts as I knew them. The suspects, the motives, all rolled around in my brain. Maybe back at camp we should take another shot at the murder board. We'd ignored it in our quest for ghosts and aliens. Maybe I just needed a good think.
The girls and Kelly had been very helpful. They were sharp. Maybe we'd give Riley a run for his money and open up a competing agency. I laughed out loud. Riley. He'd really hate that.
I reached the house and let myself in, looking at it as just a house. My third. I texted Kelly, who told me that they had another hour there and then they'd be over. I hung up and decided to go find a box to pack those pretty teacups and saucers in.
The garage only had tools in it. I didn't recall there being any boxes in the other rooms. I remembered that the basement was empty, but I'd just glanced down there when we were racing through the house looking for the girls.
The door was beneath the main stairs. It opened with an eerie creak. I flipped a light switch and walked downstairs, stuffing my cell into my pocket. It was empty. There wasn't even a washer or dryer. How did she do her laundry?
It was remarkably clean and dry, except for a spot at the far end where there was a water stain that ran from the ceiling to the floor. Probably from the mines.
I wondered what Rex was finding out. Oh well. He'd call if he had anything.
I reached up to touch the stain on the wall where it met the ceiling. Odd that there wasn't a stain there too. Running my fingers along the stain on the wall, I realized it was totally dry. And that's when I noticed a smudged fingerprint to the right of the mark. I touched it, and the stain became a seam. A door popped open just an inch or two.
Another secret room? How many were there in this house? I pushed inside and found a light switch. The room flooded with light. It was an office. Tables ran all the way around the perimeter of the midsized room. The walls were covered with what looked to be giant murder boards. Photos and documents were connected with string.
Was Aunt June totally crazy? I leaned in toward a photo of JFK's motorcade, taken minutes before the president had been struck down. Next to it was a document and a photo of two men who were not Lee Harvey Oswald. They were holding sniper rifles.
Another set of photos, a foot over, featured J. Edgar Hoover in drag. In one, he was dressed as a ballet dancer from Swan Lake (albeit an ugly one). Another had him as a Hollywood
