Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“Have you found any connection between him and anyone here?”
“Not yet, but we’re still digging.”
“Not for the treasure that belongs to me.”
I rolled my eyes, and my dad smiled as we turned to find Stone standing nearby.
I was about to call him out for his subterfuge but thought better of it. With the feeling that I was missing something still nagging at me, I didn’t want to play my hand until I was certain I had all the cards lined up perfectly for the win.
“Give it up, Stone, you’re no more related to the Willow family than I am.”
“Prove it,” he challenged with a smirk.
I delivered my own smirk that was far more smirkier than his. “Oh, I’m going to prove a lot more than that, Stone.” I walked away, calling back, “I’ll see you soon, Dad.” I wanted him to know that he better not keep avoiding me.
I glanced back quickly before entering the house and Stone did not look happy talking with my dad, though my dad appeared pleased.
I peeked out the side window flanking the front door once I entered the house and saw the guy from the hospital and garden suddenly appear. He waved Stone away though Stone looked reluctant to do so, but he left, leaving me to believe the guy was in charge of whatever was going on.
“Everything okay, Pep,” Ian whispered when I returned to my seat beside him.
“All is good. I’ll tell you about it later. Did you win the bid on the spyglass?” His happy grin said it all.
We were able to take the smaller items we purchased with us, but pick-up arrangements had to be made for the larger items. We had two days’ time to pick them up or we’d be charged a daily storage fee, something the historical society definitely could not afford. After we made the necessary arrangements for the historical society items to be picked up, Ian and Beau returned to work. Amy returned home, eager to find places for the items she and Beau had bought, and I was equally as excited to get home with my finds and display them.
I unwrapped the few items, pleased with the vintage magnifying glass and letter opener set I had won. The bid went a bit higher than I was hoping but Ian and I split the cost both of us eager to get the magnifying glass, a fitting piece for our hobby of solving mysteries while useful when magnification was necessary.
I took the letter opener and magnifying glass to the library. I wanted to see how well the magnifying glass worked on small lettering. My eye caught on a favorite painting of my Aunt Effie’s that had hung in her library as long as I could remember. It was a favorite of hers, a lake scene, a forest surrounding it. It looked much like the lake area on the lodge property. I recall the day she pointed it out to me, and I heard her voice in my head.
That painting reveals so much more than what you see. Look past what you see to unlock the truth, Pepper.
Look past what you see to unlock the truth was what my aunt had written in her journal to me.
I went to the painting and used the magnifying glass, hovering it over the artist’s name. I took a step back when I saw it clearly… Lander.
It was the same artist who had painted the Willow family portrait.
CHAPTER 25
My mind refused to accept that it was a coincidence.
I recalled another thing my aunt had said to me that day.
The painting will hang there until the day you find the need to move it.
Was that why I had never moved it? Had her words lingered somewhere in my subconscious? Had I now had a need to move it? After all, my aunt was known for hiding things for me to find, important documents, her journals, notes—I was still finding in her books—and who knows what else she had hidden.
I put the magnifying glass down and reached up slowly as if I wasn’t quite sure if I should take the painting off the wall. I had no intention of moving it from where it hung, but curiosity had me wanting to examine it.
Curiosity won out and I took the painting off the wall. I laid it face down on the sofa to protect the painting itself, then I grabbed the letter opener that came with the magnifying glass. I poked a hole in the paper backing, then gently used the letter opener like I would on an envelope, slicing along the edges to reveal the back of the canvas.
I stared at it as soon as it was revealed to me. A journal was taped to the back of the canvas. I carefully removed the thick tape that held it in place and returned the painting to the wall with a mental note to myself to repair the backing, not that I thought I would forget after the astonishing find.