Beverly Connor - Dead Past

“What do you think of the treasure story?” asked Diane.

“I don’t know. Leo was a smart boy. I’m sort of thinking he had something buried somewhere. Too bad he went missing. A lot of boys went missing in the war. That was a sad time.”

“Have you ever heard of a Llewellyn family?” asked Diane.

“Well sure, everybody knows them. James Llewellyn founded the town of Glendale-Marsh. Their house is on the historic registry. It’s a ruin-the house was built of shells and cement. What do they call that?”

“Coquina,” said Diane.

“That’s it. Coquina and tabby. I guess being from a museum you’d know about that stuff,” said Elnora.

“We have a display of coquina and tabby with our shell collection,” said Diane.

“All that’s left standing of the old house is some of the walls. I visited it once. You can still walk inside the old ruins. The rooms were tiny. I think the people must have been smaller back then. I know lots more about Glendale-Marsh, but you was asking about the Parrishes. Was I any help to you?”

“A tremendous help,” said Diane.

“I’m glad to do it. It’s nice that someone is interested in the family for a change and not the treasure.”

“Have you ever heard of a family called Sebestyen?” asked Diane.

“Sebestyen, that’s an odd name, isn’t it? Why does that sound familiar to me?” She paused for several moments. “I know why-that was Leontine’s daughter’s married name. Do you know them?”

“I’ve just heard of them,” said Diane.

“I think maybe I talked to their son once a long time ago. What was his name? Glen, or something like that? Let me think.”

She paused for a long time. For a moment Diane thought they had been disconnected.

“His name was Quinn. That was it. He was here. I think he was looking for the treasure. He was asking about the Llewellyn’s, too. His wife taught history, he said, and they wanted to take some pictures of the house and the graveyard. I remember thinking at the time that he looked a lot like Leo. I don’t know when was the last time I thought about that.”

“Do you remember how long ago that might have been?” asked Diane.

“Oh, I don’t know, fifteen or twenty years maybe? That’s a guess. It was quite a while ago,” she said.

“I’ve kept you long enough. Thank you again, Elnora,” said Diane.

“I was glad to do it. It’s so nice that Ruby’s visiting Juliet. She’s missed her so. That child has had a hard time. I guess you know.”

“Yes,” said Diane. “I know.”

“Did you find out what you need to know?” asked Ruby when Diane hung up the phone.

“I found out a lot. I’m not sure it will lead to who’s doing this, but I have some ideas. I’m making progress.”

Diane could see that Ruby was dying to know what her friend Elnora said, so she gave her a rundown of the conversation.

“Well, what does Leo’s relatives and the Llewellyns have to do with Juliet’s kidnapping?”

Diane realized that Ruby and Juliet didn’t know anything about the investigation so far, and the story was much too long and complicated to go into now. Besides, she had to get back before Frank found her missing. The last thing she wanted was to listen to him lecture her on taking care of herself.

“I promise, I’ll tell you all about it when I can. Right now, just sit tight and you and Juliet enjoy pay-per-view,” said Diane.

She opened the door and almost ran into Juliet and the security guard. When museum Security picked Juliet up to take her to work in the morning and brought her home again in the evening, it was also shift changing time for them. The new guard went to the adjoining room and the old guard was leaving.

“You want me to walk you to your car, Dr. Fallon?” he asked.

“That would be nice. Thanks.” She wasn’t expecting trouble, but as long as he was here, she might as well make use of him.

“Dr. Fallon,” said Juliet, “How are you? All we talked about at the museum today was the attack on you in your office.”

“Attack?” said Ruby. “What attack?”

Diane gave them a short version.

“It was nothing, really. Just a few stitches.”

“You had to stay all night in the hospital,” said Juliet.

“Just a precaution,” said Diane. She was inching out the doorway, trying to make a clean escape.

“You mean you got something else stolen from you?” said Ruby. “It sounds to me like that museum is a dangerous place to work.”

“Oh, no, it’s not, really. I can’t go into any of the details of what happened right now. You and Juliet have a good evening. I’ll talk with you tomorrow.”

Diane didn’t want to talk about the code with them, either. She wanted to go home. When she finally got away, the security guard walked her down to the parking deck and to her car. She was glad to have him for an escort. She had an aversion to parking decks. They were always dark and usually devoid of people-a place with few witnesses. She was relieved to get in her car and drive home.

Unfortunately, when she got to her apartment, Frank’s car was there. He had beaten her home. OK, this isn’t going to be fun, she thought as she got out of her car.

Frank opened the door when Diane knocked. She expected a scowl. Instead, his expression was one of amusement.

“You know, I bet myself that you’d be gone when I came back, and damn if I didn’t win a bunch of money,” he said.

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t get Ruby Torkel on the phone and I thought it would be quicker if I just went to her hotel,” said Diane.

She came in and crawled back in her space on the couch.

“Can you stay the night?” she asked.

“Sure. Someone’s got to try to keep track of you. Are you in for the evening?”

“Yes. I’m here. I won’t be going out again.”

“Good. Tell me what you found out,” he said.

Diane gave him a history of the Glendale-Marsh Parrishes.

“They sound like a pretty bad bunch,” she said. “I’m thinking that you were right. The disappearance of the Sebestyen family is connected with their Parrish relatives. Martin Parrish, of the Glendale-Marsh Parrishes, contacted Leo’s twin sister, Leontine, in New York and asked her about the treasure. They expected that she had information on where her brother hid it. Descendants in both branches of the Parrish family knew about the legend of the buried treasure and the secret instructions for finding it. The Glendale-Marsh Parrishes probably believed that their New York relatives had the secret information. When Quinn, a direct descendant of Leontine, came to Florida to look, it alerted his relatives there and they ended up killing him and his family to find the secret. I think young Juliet stumbled upon the aftermath.”

Diane grabbed up the phone and called Jin.

“What did you find out from the authorities in Indiana?” she asked when he answered.

“Hello, Boss,” said Jin. “How you feeling?”

“I’m fine, just hungry for information.”

“They were very interested in what we have,” he said. “They weren’t quite as forthcoming with their info. I didn’t know how much you wanted me to tell them, so I kind of played it close to the vest.”

“What did you find out?” she asked again.

“If you believe what they told me, they don’t know anything beyond what was reported on TV and in the papers. They had completely hit the wall. When they learned that there might be a witness, they got excited. I told them she was a little girl at the time. I didn’t give them her name. They’re coming down to talk with us. I handed them off to Garnett, so I guess you’d better give him a heads-up so he’ll know what the heck these guys from Indiana are talking about.”