“Very good. And when did it come?”
“Sometime today. Before the mail.”
“All right, don’t do anything. I’m on my way over.”
She exhaled. “Thanks, Roy. I’ll be looking for you.”
A few minutes later, he was at her door.
“The cavalry has arrived.”
“Come in, Roy.” She stepped back to let him into the house. “The note’s in the living room.”
They both went in and sat on the couch. She started to pick up the note, but he stopped her.
“Let’s be careful with this one.” He took some flimsy-looking latex gloves from his pocket and put them on. “Now, let’s see what we have.”
He opened the envelope and took out a single sheet of paper. Like the first, this one had a message made up of letters cut from the newspaper.
LEAVE THE PAST IN THE PAST.
He studied it for a moment. “Not much to go on in this one, either.”
“It’s got to be about Susan again. What about her past does this person not want me to find?”
“What time did this come?”
“Before the mail is all I know. I’ve been cleaning house, and I swept the entry at about nine thirty, so I know it wasn’t there then. The mail usually comes between eleven o’clock and noon, and it was before that.”
“OK, between nine thirty and noon. That doesn’t really pinpoint it for us.” He narrowed his eyes, inspecting the letters and the paper itself. “Seems like the same kind of paper as the first one. The same kind of envelope too.”
She shook her head. “No, this is one of those safety envelopes, the ones you’re not supposed to be able to see through. The first one was just plain.”
“You’re right at that.” He grinned at her. “Have you ever considered going into police work?”
She couldn’t help smiling back. “I think I stay busy enough as it is.”
“You’ve certainly got somebody stirred up. I’m just glad I’m the one looking out for you about it.”
“And I appreciate it, Roy. I suppose you’ll have to check this one for fingerprints.”
“As soon as I get back to the office. Oh, I told you I had news about the first note. Besides yours and Alice’s and a couple of smudges that belong to the mayor, there weren’t any prints. Whoever passed it along was pretty careful. I’d be surprised if this one was any different.”
“Great. Now what do I do?”
He patted her hand. “First thing, you don’t worry. Like I said, I’m going to look out for you. All you have to do is let me do my job. If you get any more of these, or if you see or hear anything that makes you uncomfortable, let me know. I’ll be right over.”
“I really appreciate it.” She stood up. “Do you need anything else from me?”
He smiled hopefully. “A cup of coffee might be nice.”
“I wish I could, Roy.” She made her smile polite but firm. “I’m right in the middle of cleaning my kitchen, and things are really a mess. Will you excuse me?”
He stood up. “All right. Maybe some other time?”
“We’ll see.”
“Meanwhile, I’ll see what I can find out about this note and let you know. You know, by the time this is all over, you and I’ll probably be pretty good friends.”
“We’ll see.” She opened the front door for him. “Thanks for coming out, Roy.”
“See you soon, Annie.”
Once he was gone, she went back to cleaning the kitchen, glad she had a legitimate excuse for hurrying him on his way. One of these days she would have to have a frank conversation with him about what she did and didn’t see in her near future. For now, she was glad to have him on her side.
****
The next day, with Grey Gables clean enough to impress even Gram, Annie decided to try once again to find something about the man Susan had married. Or something, anything, about Susan herself. Maybe she would just try a random search. Who knew what she might get?
She booted up her laptop computer and opened a search engine.
“Here goes nothing.”
She typed in “Susan Morris” and hit Enter.
Results 1–10 of about 74,600 for “susan morris.” (0.28 seconds)
There was that haystack again, but she wasn’t ready to abandon Susan quite yet. She tried several different search phrases with similarly overwhelming results.
“How about ‘Susan Morris’ and ‘Stony Point Maine’?”
She tapped the keys and got just one result. It was a blog post from May 2002, and the blogger was waxing poetical about the summer of her fifteenth year, and how she had decided to experience everything she could during her lifetime, no matter how long or short it might be. With her brows knit together, Annie scanned the page. What did this have to do with Susan?