“Sounds like a great plan,” Bonnie said. “If your business keeps growing, you’ll be hiring more help in no time. Well, I’ll head out since you don’t need me to stay. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
“Have a great night, Bonnie. I’ll text you if anything amazing happens tonight.”
“You’re the best, Maegan.”
After she left, the store was steady but nothing I couldn’t handle. I locked up at five o’clock like normal and headed home since Lyric, Memphis, Milo, and Andy were expected to arrive at six. Lulu and Rascal rushed to the door to welcome me home. Lulu would be excited our guests would be bringing their dogs with them, but Rascal would most likely hide under my bed until they left. Andy and Memphis adopted Chihuahua siblings, Bull and Gigi, and Lyric brought his Great Dane to town with him.
As I expected, Lulu sent up an excited bark when she saw her friends and the newcomer while Rascal ran so fast he was a blur of black fur flying up the stairs to safety. Elijah arrived home shortly after, sniffing the air appreciatively.
“Honey, I’m home,” he said, sounding like a husband on the old black-and-white sitcom reruns my nonna loved to watch. “I smell meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans.”
“You smell the green beans?” Lyric asked in disbelief.
“I do when they come from Edson and Emma’s. They add bacon to theirs.” Elijah rubbed his hands together gleefully. “Let’s do story time while we eat.”
“What was the book event you held for Valentine’s Day?” Memphis asked me.
“Blind date with a book.”
“Let’s do that with the takeout containers. I pass them out blindly, and we eat whatever we get.”
“Give me the meatloaf and no one gets hurt,” Elijah playfully growled. At least I thought he was kidding. “Wait, don’t even bother opening them.” He took a deep whiff of the air and picked up a container off the table. “This one.” Elijah opened the container and his loud whoop signaled he’d chosen wisely. “The rest of you guys can do the blind date with a dinner thing.”
“Sounds good to me,” I said. “What about you guys?” Andy, Milo, and Lyric nodded in agreement.
We all dug in after Memphis passed out the containers. “Lyric has news he wants to share with you while we eat, and then we’ll begin our investigation.”
“I’m so excited to hear all about it,” I said eagerly.
“We’ve frequently talked about Anthony but discovering a second tycoon was living in the middle of nowhere really stuck out to me. What were the odds? What was the history between the two men, if there was one.”
I had never thought it was odd that a steel magnate, Wallace Bennington III, had made Blissville his home not long after Anthony Bliss established our town. We knew Blissville was a progressive town back in the day, but I could understand how it seemed strange to an outsider. “They definitely had history,” I agreed. “They were friends in New York City before either of them moved to Blissville. Anthony moved here with his family, and Wallace followed afterward.”
“I think the men were more than friends, Maegan. I think it’s possible Anthony did indeed run away in 1850.”
“Are you basing this on something you found or gut instinct?” I asked.
“A little of both. I looked through two years of newspaper clippings which included many photos of the two men. I think it would be easy for people to miss the fondness in their expressions if they weren’t looking for it.”
“Huh,” Andy said, sitting back in his chair.
“I compared photos of Anthony with Melanie to those of Anthony with Wallace, and there was a noticeable difference.” Lyric tilted his head to the side. “Also, Wallace Bennington III fell off the face of the earth not too long before Anthony disappeared.”
“He moved west, right?” Milo asked. “So many people had wanted an opportunity to find their fortunes during the California Gold Rush, but the rich just got richer, and the poor got poorer.”
“That’s true,” Lyric agreed. “The thing is, I spent hours online searching for information about Wallace Bennington III, and there was not one mention of him living in California. A man like him wouldn’t move west without buying a hotel or something.”
“True,” I said softly. “He announced his departure and the townsfolk accepted it at face value. What about his family? Weren’t they looking for him?”
“He was an only child and a confirmed bachelor. Once his parents passed away, there was no one to look for him. I did some digging, and he sold the newspaper for a song, most likely just to unload it. He sold his steel and iron works company for a shit ton of money though. It was enough to start over with a new identity and the man he loved.”
“Wow,” Memphis said softly. “That sounds romantic.”
Milo winked at him from across the table. “Then Anthony faked his death and followed Wallace west a year later?”
“It was more like eight months, but yes. That’s what I believe. Anthony relied on people believing he perished as part of the curse,” Memphis said. “I think the men changed their appearances as best they could and started over.” It was so cute how he’d become so caught up in the investigation. I knew a big part of it had to do with the man conducting the investigation, but that wasn’t all of it. I knew him well enough to know he was a sucker for a happy ending.
“Back then, it could’ve been as simple as shaving their faces and changing their style of clothes,” Lyric pointed out.
